Here is the latest, I have pulled the battery pack and measured all sub packs, all but one show from 16.60 to 16.73V, the dodgy no.5 is way below with 15.34V.
In the meantime, I've ordered a set of sticks from Yabo (it was between them and Ennocar @ $1130 but delivery was stated at min 10 days) on Alibaba for $993 including shipping to UK. I based my selection on the number of positive, global reviews, price and delivery time. The sub packs arrived yesterday, 8 days after placing an order, all showed respectable 15.76V.
It's after midnight now, I've just finished rebuilding the pack, it measures 173,36V and it's going into the car tomorrow morning.
Question: is this voltage enough or should I grid charge it first?

 

They're likely at > 50% SoC.

No grid charge.

Before driving, allow the car to idle charge until it stops

 

P.S., a tip...

Since you have access to "half" stick voltage measurements, i.e., you should be able to get a measurement of the 6 cell stick, not just 12. It's a good idea to get as refined as possible and use those measurements in addition to the 11 12 cell subpacks.

Furthermore, while it's tedious and annoying, it's pretty darn easy to poke through the shrink with voltmeter probes allowing measurement of individual cells. If your 22 6 cell sticks are close, it's probably not worth doing, but if you have an outlier, it's pretty important to measure individual cells. It's regularly the case that a stick with low voltage will have 1-2 cells as outliers to the others in the stick - pretty conclusively indicating a cell failure.

 

Hi Steve,
Your advice is invaluable as ever! The pack took about 3 minutes to charge to 8 bars first time, I repeated the proces once more and it took about a minute.
Took the car for a short 5 mile drive and the difference was obvious, gas mileage reached 50mpg in town so, looks promising.
As I previously mentioned, with 86k miles on the clock it's a great car, now even more so. We plan on making changes to our lifestyle in the next 6 -18 months so, I hope the battery will last till then. I'll report on its performance.
Thank you again for your support!

 

Glad to hear it. The question with Chinese packs is, "how long?"

1. Drive it regularly. Don't let it sit.
2. If you have to let it sit more than a week, do the forced charge with a 12V disconnect and idle charge.
3. Pretend you have 5 fat guys in it. If they aren't all cool and comfortable, the battery is being damaged. Use the A/C as needed and run it in AUTO mode as it will manage itself. Aim the center two vents so they "lob" their output onto the rear deck where the battery air intake is.
4. Drive conservatively. Gentle acceleration especially at "launch" and extended braking distances.
5. Use sunshades and any other means you can to reduce interior temperatures. If weather permits, leave a gap in the window when sunny.

Good luck!