320touring

Yaaaaaassssss. Best doggo, piss coloured car and a decent chap doing the driving... Autoshite gold!

Was a grand thing to drive when I had a shot😀

Good knowledge! That shall be the next port of call!

Latest on this is it just continues to plod along. Had a run out in the borders with some mates - @cort16 @Supernaut @captain_70s @jaypee and @Lacquer Peel. Great times, some fun roads/rally stages and a most enjoyable day. Didn't get any more photos as too busy GLF. I was going to book onto a hill climb this Sunday - last chance for the year. Went into my emails on Thursday night to get my club membership number and found an email saying it was cancelled due to low numbers (7). This was despite the website showing 14 spaces of 30 booked. All a bit weird. May try to do some trackdays instead - as trying to remain well behaved on the public highway..

On Wednesday, I went over to fit the new oil pump to the Oxford. This only took place as @Supernautwas able to procure some 8mm spring washers for me - cheers again! The new pump spins easily by hand, whereas the old one was stuck fast. New one in position The sump and new gasket were installed, and oil poured in. I pulled the spark plugs and turned the engine over using the starting handle. In short order, we had oil at the filter housing. The new filter was fitted and the engine cranked on the starter. Oil pissed everywhere.. The old filter was refitted and we tried again. Same result. Here it sits in disgrace. I decided to tidy up rather than continue as I was getting frustrated. I have some ideas in hand, so will try them shortly. At least the bottom end is all new and buttoned up, and the oil pump sorted.

The odd thing is the EML comes on INSTANTLY when you go full throttle. It comes on before the gearbox has even kicked down. I dunno if the knock sensor feedback loop is that quick?

Never tried it. Was oil in the filter and pressure on the gauge .. when I parked it up last week

What a fucker of a day that was🤣 Got sump cleaned up, and all the RTV off the sealing surfaces new gasket on, with cheeky wee cable tie trick to hold it on. It lets you get the bolts in loosely so the gasket is located - then just snip the ties once it's fully supported new oil filter was selected from the stash Oil pump was fitted with new gaskets and refitted Tried starting it, wouldn't fire. Fuel pump working fine. Pulled oil filter, no oil in it. Sump off, pull oil pump, can't turn it by hand. Refit checking it is aligned with dizzy drive. Turn it over by hand using starting handle. Engine stops hard. Remove oil pump, engine spins freely. Packed up and came hame! New pump is £41 Will order new pump and split old one later Could do with new spring washers for it too.

What a fucker of a day that was🤣 Got sump cleaned up, new gasket on, oil pump refitted, new oil filter on for the Oxford. Tried starting it, wouldn't fire. Fuel pump working fine. Pulled oil filter, no oil in it. Sump off, pull oil pump, can't turn it by hand. Refit checking it is aligned with dizzy drive. Turn it over by hand using starting handle. Engine stops hard. Remove oil pump, engine spins freely. Anyone any thoughts?

Thanks, I'm pleased it's finally getting somewhere

i took an early finish at work today, so was able to get over to the unit for 3 today. Determined to make progress, I enclosed my dad to assist in getting some niggling issues sorted. First up was to try and sort the drivers handle so it didn't constantly come out of the retainer at the non lock end. Some tape was applied to make a firmer fit, And the handle location was altered using this screw. Next up, sorting the passenger door. Since I have had it, it had to be unlocked using the interior handle, and the exterior handle would never operate correctly. It turns out that despite having NO seatbelts, the bloody car has child locks on the FRONT doors .. Moving this lever resolved the issue. Whilst working on the doors, I took the opportunity to re-locate the doorcards. They use diamond shaped metal clips that you can tap into holes in the door skin. Before After Whilst I was sorting them, my Dad cleaned all the surfaces in the front - it looks a million times better! I stuck some Saab 9-5 mats in. As they line up ok. I got the choke cable retaining nut properly tightened, so the cable and handle no longer flap about. And it locks on properly I then got distracted by the gear surround .. The metal retainer was in pretty poor condition, so I elected to remove the 4 crews and pull the plate off. The gear lever gaiter was not in braw shape either. The retainer was attacked with a wire wheel Then given a couple of coats of primer Before receiving some wheel silver and lacquer I'll smarten up the screws and refit. I may get round to polishing it one day but it was an easy win. By this time @dome and @Supernaut had arrived, so it was time to get stuck into the remaining brake work. I'll spare the photos - it was exactly the same job as the other side. Except one of the cylinders worked . So it now has 4 new wheel cyls on the front, and two new Flexi lines. We learned from previous experience and pulled the line that links the two cyls off completely. This made it much easier to reattach it to the new cylinders. After some dinner, we got the adjusters sorted, then bled the brakes with new fluid. The pedal feels much more positive, the brakes operate and release on each of the 4 corners, and the handbrake is very effective. Much success! I was then feeling confident and decided to tackle some serious work. As the car had been seriously overfuelling due to the fuel pump having a blocked pressure cutoff (fixed by @blackboilersuit), the oil was very thin. Seeing this as an opportunity, the decision was made to drain the oil and pull the sump. The oil obviously had a fair whack of petrol in it, but thankfully no glitter! The sump came off easily, revealing a story of many types of RTV sealant.. seeing that, I decided to pull off the oil pickup and give it a good clean. Initially, it didn't look too grand. But the application of some soapy hot water and a brush made major studies in cleaning it. You can also see the oil pump here which I had started to clean up too. Here's the finished article : all the mesh is clear, there is just some rinsing water in the spaces. Next up will be some more engine/sump cleaning and a fair few new gaskets I think. Lastly, a picture of the oil filter. This is a spin on adapter used to replace the original canister type. They are apparently notorious for leaking, and this one had telltale drops at the bottom of the filter. I'll order up a new filter and get it all cleaned and reassembled. Then I can get the sump on and get it filled with new oil 😀

"it's an XX year old tub, scrap it and get a mk2 focus"🤣 Looks like a pain in the hoop

Went over to do more on this today. @Supernaut and @dometurned up and were an epic help. Drained the diff, ptfe'd the plugs and refilled. Vactan'd the rear of the car, refitted dampers. Got it turned round and figured out why the pedal was shite. Fitted two new wheel cyls and a new Flexi line to front left. Brakes now much more positive.

@Supernaut and @dome came over to the unit today to give me a hand with the Oxford. We got a load done, and I'm feeling much more motivated to gitter dun and get it on the road for a bit this year😁

Went over to do more on this today. @Supernaut and @dome turned up and were an epic help. Drained the diff, ptfe'd the plugs and refilled. Vactan'd the rear of the car, refitted dampers. Got it turned round and figured out why the pedal was shite. Fitted two new wheel cyls and a new Flexi line to front left. Brakes now much more positive. Got drivers front to do on wed I think.