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99 SV Rebuild


Davo456
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I purchased a RHD 99 SV last year (one of 9 fixed headlight cars in the UK), and I thought I'd document a little of the history and what I've had done to it here.

 

Here's the car in 2008 photographed by Tim Dunlop:

 

 

IBZ15b_zpsf13e515e.jpg

 

IBZ15c_zpsf41ce49c.jpg

 

IBZ15f_zps601a0089.jpg

 

note the VT style front bumper and lack of the top headlight cover strip (to hide the Nissan word on the headlights).

re. the front bumper - I'm informed by Mike Pullen (Diablo expert in the UK, that back in the day you could order anything with anything - hence we see now VTs with SV engine lids/air ducting, SVs with leather interiors etc.

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Unfortunately in 2009, it suffered an accident, and the insurance company thought it was not financially worth repairing at the time - cost of parts and labour Vs value in 2009.

 

Reputedly (I've yet to confirm it), the car was stationary at traffic lights and a lorry clipped the back of it.

 

2009_catd0.jpg

 

2009_catd1.jpg

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So the 5th owner had it repaired and sold it to the 6th owner, and I first saw the car in June 2011, like this...

 

IMG_20131023_00287.jpg

 

Note the changed wheels (they were replaced in 2010 to black ones from a 2008? car)

The car had quite a lot of mechanical work done on it, with receipts to back it up from 2010 to 2013.

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After owning the car for several months, and getting a Workshop Manual, and learning about the car more, I realised things weren't quite to my liking with the repairs that had taken place.

 

basically there was something wrong with the paint on the rear wing - the Blu Scuro colour looks purple in certain lights, but the offside rear (OSR) wing, never changed from Blue.

 

I took this into my local body shop and we started to look into it more:

 

2014_03_27_08.25.01.jpg

 

Basically the OSR wing was misshaped, and needed realigning

It was a second hand wing that had been fitted from a yellow non SV car (with fuel filler cap) and had the SV fuel panel welded in - this was starting to fall out.

 

3.4.14_001.jpg

 

Inside the wing was also missing the carbon fibre funnel for guiding the air from the air intake to the radiator (other side vent shown here):

 

2014_04_01_12.15.25.jpg

 

The rear bumper was also from the same yellow car, and had a hole in it, which had filled it with water (quite a common issue I've been told since) - according to the guys, it weighed a lot when they took it off full of water!

 

27.3.14_007.jpg

 

The bottom of the drivers door was also corroding at the front (another common issue), and required new metal fitting in:

 

10.4.14_001.jpg

 

However, more investigation revealed a far more serious problem, the floors were starting to corrode badly

 

10.4.14_011.jpg

2014_04_24_12.09.43.jpg

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After all the metalwork was sorted, it was time for paint

 

first prep was with the panel fitted to the car, to ensure correct alignment

 

2014_05_01_12.31.03.jpg

 

then each panel was primed, and painted inside

 

2014_05_27_15.45.53.jpg

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2014_05_27_15.46.37.jpg

2014_05_27_15.46.14.jpg

2014_05_27_15.46.21.jpg

2014_05_27_.JPG

 

 

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The black sections of the door and rear wing were painted first

 

2014_06_03_15.05.03.jpg

2014_06_03_15.05.20.jpg

 

finally colour was applied

 

2014_06_05_09.32.01.jpg

2014_06_05_09.32.09.jpg

 

and the parts refitted

2014_06_13_11.41.13.jpg

 

Unfortunately I haven't got photos off all the work, but the wing mirror internals were replaced as the springs had stretched (thanks please check with our franchised lamborghini dealer sponsors.com for the repair kit)

The rear fog light and reversing light were replaced (thanks Sudesh)

And the wheels were painted with silver centres (as per the 2008 pictures, which I preferred to the 1998 replacement black wheels that were fitted previously)

 

So the major rebuild was now complete

2014_06_25_07.14.34.jpg

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next job was to add some of the carbon fibre light covers which were missing in 2008 (if ever fitted, as I've seen a lot of cars without them):

 

2014_07_09_08.20.43.jpg

 

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Next in July 2014, I thought the front side lights and indicators looked rather tired, so thanks to my good friend Sudesh, we went from this...

 

2014_07_19_15.43.17.jpg

 

To this - with LED sidelight bulbs fitted

 

2014_07_19_15.43.28.jpg

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On the Silverstone trip I found an issue with the cooling... the temperature would continue to rise in the cabin even when the controls were set to 17 degrees C

 

After some initial investigation, and replacement of the one of the fans without success, I narrowed this down to the heater control valve which routes hot water to the passenger compartment - when the valve fails, it fails open.

 

A replacement part was obtained from Lamborghini, and required changes to the wiring connectors! Maybe I should have bought the generic identical part from Amazon instead!

However my main issue with fitting it, was finding it - in LHD drive cars its behind the passenger side dash - which in a RHD car is where the steering column is.

In the RHD cars, it is actually in the door sill here...

 

2014_03_26_09.35.23.jpg

(pic from earlier rebuild - valve in middle of lower sill, underneath door)

 

Here's the valve btw before fitment...

 

2014_08_27_19.13.17.jpg

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Ok, so I missed this one out earlier...

 

I have also repainted the engine cover from the middle of the V in the engine, back in January when the nights were dark and cold

 

2014_01_04_15.22.48.jpg

 

after being sat in the house for a week, my wife asked me to move it incase she snapped it - little did she realise this piece of carbon fibre is in excess of £1200+VAT from Lamborghini.

 

 

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latest work has been to replace the handbrake pads - took a while but I finally found a inexpensive set of handbrake pads for the Diablo, that also fit the Murcielago standard and LP640, Gallardo models - the EBC DP1719 at £43.30.

 

They also fit the Dodge viper and Ferrari 355, 360, and Scuderia models as far as I can tell.

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future plans (which I'll document here) include:

 

  • tidying up the dashboard - the screw heads are dirty and some bits of it are badly scratched (particularly the ashtray)
  • changing the stereo - not that I need a stereo, as I have the 12 cylinder orchestra to listen to - but more because I think a rear view camera may be a good idea to be able to see what's being me - the SV engine lid is not very good for visibility
  • carbon dip the rear light surrounds, and engine bay side panels and air intakes
  • replace the SV at intake flexible pipes in the engine bay
  • replace the vacuum pipes on the factory sports exhaust, as I'm not convinced they work
  • repaint or replace the wheel bolts, as the heads show signed of rust

 

I'll tackle these during the winter, when I have less chance to take it out and drive it.

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