The black hatch

Tue Nov 29, 2005

Got myself a new project! Well, I got it about a month ago actually, but only just got round to doing anything.

This project will run alongside the rebuild of a megane coupe ‘F7R 710’ 2 litre 16v engine which I bought on ebay a few months back.

engine project: F7R 710 engine

The two will be combined when finished to produce an uber beast black 19 16v

So without further ado, the car itself!

The phase 1 19 16v was only made for about a year in total from late H reg into J reg. This one is a very early H-plate example from the first couple of months of production, so it’s very rare and (to a 19 16v enthusiast) an ideal candidate for restoration. The early H reg ones are apparently made of better quality metal than the later ones and are less prone to rust. Bodily, it’s not mint as it stands, far from it, but it is in very respectable condition considering its age and most importantly, there is virtually zero visible rust to speak of.

2 owners from new, second was a woman.
132k but the engine runs smoothly and quietly and the car drives very nicely, obviously been serviced properly and mechanically looked after.
Leather interior
FRSH until about 90k

I saw the car advertised as a non runner that the guy needed to get rid of quickly because he was moving house that week. The guy basically gave me the car, but asked for some cash to cover the full tank of fuel and the new Pirelli tyres he had just put on it a month earlier, which I thought was fair enough I gave him £75 for it.

He told me that he wasn’t sure what the problem was but described the symptoms and I thought it sounded like the alternator was up the creek. So we took an alternator and some tools when we went to get it but were prepared to tow it if need be. We changed the alternator in front of him, in the dark, and drove the car away.

Big thanks to Stan for taking me over to get the car, helping change the alternator and allowing me to store it at his work etc.

The list of faults I noticed on the way home:

Brakes are 'OK' at best
Sunroof doesn’t work properly (roof lining card has dropped)
Key snapped in drivers door (original plip key too so no RCL)
Passenger side window doesn’t wind down, just blows the dash/instrument lighting fuse
Fan doesn’t kick in
Driver seat a bit ‘wobbly’ (needs tightening down on subframe I think)
Heater control knob broken off
Tail light bulb blown :P
Silly GB sticker on the bumper

The drive back was fun as we got stuck in a bit of traffic and the fan wouldn’t kick in so it started to get really, really hot. Here’s me at a petrol station on the way home trying to get the fan to come on



We put it ‘in storage’ at a private ‘secure’ car park next to Stan’s workplace until I could bring it back to my house.
















It has the tin sump rather than the ally version, also the heated throttle body not present on later cars and a slide-only sunroof, where the later ones had tilt and slide.

The plan is that the car will be stripped almost to the bare shell, all rust treated and removed, fully undersealed, then the car will be reassembled with the rule that nothing goes back on without being cleaned/painted/refurbed/renewed, as appropriate. Timescale for the whole project is about a year maximum.

The idea is to restore the car as near as is feasibly possible to new condition. But I want to do it on a shoestring budget, firstly for the satisfaction of it and secondly because there is no point spending any real money on a 15 year old car that I would probably never be able to sell even if I wanted to (which I won’t ). Therefore I will be keeping a running total of everything I have spent on the car and pinching pennies wherever possible. What this basically means is keeping my eyes on ebay/messageboards etc. for new parts I am going to need and picking them up cheap as they appear.

I actually had most of the parts I need for the car from a phase 2 I stripped earlier in the year, but I had to bin most of it when I moved house

Total spent so far: £75