shite cars Retroshite

[DodgyBastard]

DSC_0370 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

Today I fitted a new spring to the Camry which failed its mot on Thursday with a broken front spring. The old spring had broken in half so was relatively easy to remove apart from every nut and bolt being old and rusty. The replacement spring was massive and was a bit of a faff to compress and fit but I got there eventually. Hopefully I'll get it in for the retest during the week.

 

DSC_0369 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

It's seems like a waste of a car letting my dad have it, he drives it occasionally and covered 1200 miles last year, it's left in a damp garage which really isn't doing it any favours. I'm tempted to sell it and get him a generic shitter to use when he needs it but I'm unsure what to sell the Camry for and what to buy in its place. My dad likes the car with it's leather interior and cruise control but doesn't particularly enjoy the poor fuel economy from a 3.0 v6 auto.

[DodgyBastard]

Also managed to get the 360 sorted, it turns out that the hose between the tank and the fuel filter had kinked and was struggling to send fuel through, I managed to chop the hose down and catch most of the fuel pissing out, I filled 2 x 20 litre cans and also managed to get petrol absolutely everywhere including up my sleeve and all over my clothes.

To celebrate getting the Volvo going I dug out my spare set of GLT alloys and fitted some tyres to them.

 

360 glt by srblythe, on Flickr

[Felly Magic]

Done for GM in Germany IIRC, had an Ascona, and a mate has a Corsa & Rekord from the same series. Highly detailed and Schucco brand. I bet they weren't cheap when on sale thru dealers

 

 

 

 

 

[Stevebrookman]

How does the Senator drive?

 

Mine was loosing coolant from a split at the bottom of the header tank-I Araldited it from the inside and outside.  Plenty of water pumps about as well.

 

Gauge has stopped working on my Royale-I use a stick for now.

 

Keep us informed!

 

Steve

[Angrydicky]

I also had/have a few of those problems with mine.

 

Coolant leak - mine was a failed soldered joint where the tubes meet the top tank on the radiator. Had that stripped and resoldered by a local rad specialist.

 

Oil leak - they all do that sir. Most of the oil on mine was leaking out of the side inspection plates on the block, don't know if it's the same on the 2.5 but on mine there's two side plates and one at the front. The side ones had had their gaskets replaced with crappy cereal box card and the front one still had its original gasket so it was doing a very good impression of a sieve. All replaced with pukka rubberised cork gaskets (bought the material and cut them myself) then a smear of hermatite and they're dry as a bone. Also did the cam cover gasket while I was at it, this was weeping slightly in a couple of corners.

It's still got a slight weep from the sump gasket but it's a massive improvement as it was pissing oil out when I got it.

 

Lumpy idle/cuts out when cold - mine does this and it's also very difficult to start when it's been standing for more than a couple of days. Someone's blanked off the fuel return pipe to the tank, and I reckon it's a misguided attempt to prevent the fuel draining away and make the car easier to start when cold. It hasn't worked, if that was the intention. The fuel pump went pop not long ago leaving me stranded - had to be recovered home and I bought the last NOS fuel pump from GM6 Spares which has it running again. The roadside tech reckoned the blanked return pipe had put the (crappy aftermarket) pump under undue strain so it had failed.

[Guest Hooli]

I was going to say that no return pipe is likely to cause the needle valve to leak due to excess pressure too.

 

Plus I think the return pipe also means the fuel near the engine is cooler (as it's always being changed) so less vapourisation issues in hot weather.

[DodgyBastard]

Eventually got the correct alloys fitted to the 360.

 

DSC_0618 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_0621 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_0625 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

I now have 2 ex PC cars

 

DSC_0638 by srblythe, on Flickr

[HMC]

Is that the 360 that was/is for sale? Looks great on those alloys.

[seacow]

Looking forward to seeing that Senator round sunny Dunny - its a thing of beauty!

[DodgyBastard]

Is that the 360 that was/is for sale? Looks great on those alloys.

Yes, it's the same car.

 

Sent from my F5321 using Tapatalk

[DodgyBastard]

DSC_0752 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_0754 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_0750 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_0746 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_0743 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

The Senator seemed to be running a bit hot when in slow moving traffic and dying intermittently so I took it back to the unit and had a look at the oil filler cap and there seemed to be a small amount of mayo, the previous owner did mention it losing water and had concerns about the head gasket so at least now it is looking quite likely that it has failed.

I'm planning on having the head gasket and water pump replaced but I'll sort it closer to summer, the Senator isn't really a car for driving in the winter, the blowers are crap too and barely give out any heat.

Any Opel/Vauxhall lickers got a good source for a head gasket set or is ebay my best bet?

[Bren]

GM6 Spares in Cornwall might be worth a try.

[Stevebrookman]

Ebay good for headgaskets. If you want to know torque values or anything about replacing thr HG-let me know as I replaced mine this year. I had tremendous info from Chris on the Omega Owners Forum.

 

I can forward all the advice I was given.

 

Steve

[Stevebrookman]

My heaters are the same-I'm still trying to bleed some air out of the matrix. Was a bit chilly on the way to work yesterday!

 

My Royale is also the same-I just wrap up a little more. There is enough heat just to defrost and keep clear the windscreen.

 

Steve

[Guest Hooli]

I'm surprised the heaters are crap, I had a later Carlton & it got so hot I thought I'd melt.

[DeeJay]

*Liked for pics, not HGF.

[DodgyBastard]

I'm surprised the heaters are crap, I had a later Carlton & it got so hot I thought I'd melt.

 

They were crap in the 1984 Carlton I had too.

 

DSC_0321 by srblythe, on Flickr

[Guest Hooli]

Mine was a '91.

[DodgyBastard]

Spotted this for sale on facebook

 

DSC_0809 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_0811 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_0808 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

Last thing I really need is another car but a 406 with mot until September 2018 for £350 was just too difficult to resist. I'm informed that it's the 2.1 xud with 12v head and a mitsubishi turbocharger. It starts, drives, handles and stops nicely.

Needs a radio code though.

Will be a perfect WBOD and will save some of my other stuff from rusting away if I can stop using them as much.

[barrett]

Before the glow plugs shat themselves I was well impressed with my 2.1 XUDT 406, it's got seemingly endless torque and seemingly a 10mph higher cruising speed than the 1.7s I'm used to. It's a bit 'dull modern car' for me (especially the steering) but I reckon as a WBOD it'd be hard to beat (apart from the fact it won't start if it's cold, obvs)

[DodgyBastard]

The chance of getting a Riva saloon has come up but they are wanting too much for it (£1700) but would swap for my senator which cost me £570.

I'm quite tempted to go for it. Should I?

 

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[Stevebrookman]

I wouldn't.

 

Steve

[Bren]

No

[derskine]

Yes

[They_all_do_that_sir]

The senator is lovely.....but I'm guessing the Lada would be more your thing.

 

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[Mr_Bo11ox]

I say SWAP

[Dick Longbridge]

If it’s to make money, the Ladada is blatantly worth more.

Otherwise, the Senator oozes way more appeal. I do have a soft spot for unloved old GM motors though.

[Zelandeth]

Beware on an M plate that will have the horrendous electronic carb and AFR control.  It's not a simple matter of "stick a Webber on" due to the cat - which (having discussed this with my MOST tester) it being a 1993 or newer car has to be tested as cat equipped.  Even when these carbs are working properly they're not great.

 

...hence me binning the lot on mine and grafting the throttle body injection setup from a 1.7i Niva onto it.  That injection system is dead simple, works ten times better than the electronic carb, and is actually very reliable.  Car drives *so* much better with that setup.  It's like comparing a single carb Saab 900 with a 16V injection in terms of power delivery.  Also gets rid of the distributor, coil etc replacing it with a pair of coil packs.  So again one less bit of maintenance.

 

Only real headache would you believe it has been sorting the accelerator pedal.  Oh, and I had to hack about one cooling fan bracket as it interferes with the crankshaft position sensor.  Overall though it just "bolts on" for the most part.  I've just ordered an injection spec tank and fuel pump from Lada (Scandinavian countries got a 1.7i Riva) to tidy that end of things up.

 

It's not been a cheap project by any means - but I don't plan on selling it any time soon and it's made the car so much more usable.  Especially in slow traffic where the serious lack of brainpower from the AFR module lead to the carb guessing what was being asked of it wrong more often than not, or on the motorway where she used to seriously struggle for power at speed.  70mph really was the end of the world with anything beyond myself on board, whereas she'll quite happily cruise at 70mph now fully laden up hills.  Actually quite believe the quoted top speed now.

 

To be honest, what I've created I reckon is how the late Rivas *should* have left the showroom in the UK.

 

If that car's rust free and doesn't have a stupid mileage though it's probably worth a few quid.  They're not that hard to find though (especially in saloon form - Estates are rarer).  I'd say the Senator would be the pick of the two for me...and that's coming from someone who's suffered from being a fan of Ladas for many years!

[DodgyBastard]

To make matters worse, the Lada is in Thurso so would be meeting around halfway there in Inverness if I went for it. The Lada is in above average condition and has 16k miles on the clock.

[sierraman]

I like the Lada but I wouldn’t have one for first string winter transport. My brother had one years ago, it brought the word slipshod to a whole new level. It’s not a fine wine, it won’t have improved with age. Keep the Senator.