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scdan4

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  1. Like
    scdan4 reacted to Marina door handles in Dad Inlaw's bike collection going to Auction.....   
    This is one for the bike pervs!
    My sort of Father in law (I am not actually married to his Daughter but its close enough!) liked motor bikes and didn't really like selling them. He also had a bad habit of taking them apart and then he would get distracted and start working on the next bike and then the next bike. This habit/hobby interest started in the Sixties but fortunately he was fairly selective and as a ships engineer would spend a good 6 months or so at sea unable to purchase more bikes! 
    Fast forward to January 2024 and sadly he left for the great race circuit in the sky, leaving behind a collection of 12 motor bikes, only 2 were properly complete. He didn't label anything as " he knew were everything was", this meant in the shed and garage there were piles of parts, draws of carburetors and gear sets etc but with no clues as to which bikes they belonged to! This isn't a dig at him, like most of us he hadn't spared too many thoughts about dying!  But it has inspired me to actually label up my various car parts for my 3 project cars, so should I get run over by a number 42 bus, my other half will find off loading all the cars and bits that bit easier! 
    After talking to the Mother in Law a decision was made  that it all bikes and bits needed to go, she suggested scrap! We suggested auction as it might help towards her care home fees especially as one of the bikes is a none matching numbers Vincent Black Shadow! 
    Anyway after a bit of shopping around My better half got Bonhams to agree to deal with all 12 bikes. A couple of weeks ago the first batch of bikes got collected they were the Vincent, a Norton International, a little Honda Elsinore scrambler and a Suzuki 150  - photos to follow as my other half has those...
    Today the rest of the bikes and bike frames went... Including a Moto Guzzi, Norton Rotary,  Yamaha Vmax, Honda Gold wing (early 4 cylinder) Honda CB750 and a Sunbeam.
    Guzzi and Goldwing (the Goldwing looks like a bobber, its not its just been stripped back to its frame).


    V-Max, Norton and CB750, plus a spare Honda Engine....



    A Sunbeam in a shed...

    A van's load bed of mostly bike parts and bits...

    I'm not really a bike person but it was nice to have a proper (and last) look at these, I can certainly appreciate the engineering and they are all quite interesting in their own ways.  It was sad to see them go a real end of an era for me. I believe most of them will be auctioned as reasonably complete projects, I hope they find good homes! 
    More pics to follow hopefully, thanks for reading!  
     
  2. Like
    scdan4 got a reaction from Mike D in 61 Chang Jiang. Perfect for essential journeys.   
    This fucking thing 😂
    Road it around and although it was shit, it worked, looked cool and everyone was happy.
    One day it refused to start. Absolutely nothing, despite having been fine the week before. Chucked a condenser and points at it which achieved fuck all, chucked a new coil on which also did nowt and then life got in the way.. .. .. we sold a business (where it mainly lived),  moved house ( where it also lived) and during that it went to stay with a mate of a mate who was going to 'fix it' but just left it outside to patina more 200 miles away inaccessible from the new house where there wasn't space for it because builders. Bah. Poor thing.
     
    Some time later.
    It's now had new carbs as the others had no seals left (because ethanol I assume) and the mounting faces were very warped. The old ones put as much fuel into the general atmosphere as the engine, very stinky. An obvious problem so surely that's why it doesn't run. Nope , much kicking later reveled no desire to fire or any sign of life.
    The wiring was suspect with lots of blue crimp terminals and the feed for the absent sidecar having just been sheared through, so a rewire was done with the loom being more appropriately fabric wrapped, and hidden away from sight more and with the nasty hex head stainless bolts replaced with black button heads, so it's looking great. A broken wire was found on the back of the generator as we went so hooray that must be it. New battery, battery clamp and master switch whilst we were there.
    Kick. Kick. Kick. Fiddle with new 'baselined' carbs. Kick kick kick oh fuck off.
    Still no go. Checking over and the spark strength is very poor. The whole distributor unit is wobbly, worn and shit. So more new bits were bought, an electric ignition upgrade unit this time with another new (but matched coil. ) Followed the instructions. Put the tank on, kicked it without much hope and it started 😁. A-mezz-in. Modern tech has it's uses.
    Sat there idling nicely. Generator light firmly and brightly on 😖 so not there yet, but it's closer to done than it has been for some while 
     
     
     
  3. Like
    scdan4 got a reaction from Tepper in 61 Chang Jiang. Perfect for essential journeys.   
    This fucking thing 😂
    Road it around and although it was shit, it worked, looked cool and everyone was happy.
    One day it refused to start. Absolutely nothing, despite having been fine the week before. Chucked a condenser and points at it which achieved fuck all, chucked a new coil on which also did nowt and then life got in the way.. .. .. we sold a business (where it mainly lived),  moved house ( where it also lived) and during that it went to stay with a mate of a mate who was going to 'fix it' but just left it outside to patina more 200 miles away inaccessible from the new house where there wasn't space for it because builders. Bah. Poor thing.
     
    Some time later.
    It's now had new carbs as the others had no seals left (because ethanol I assume) and the mounting faces were very warped. The old ones put as much fuel into the general atmosphere as the engine, very stinky. An obvious problem so surely that's why it doesn't run. Nope , much kicking later reveled no desire to fire or any sign of life.
    The wiring was suspect with lots of blue crimp terminals and the feed for the absent sidecar having just been sheared through, so a rewire was done with the loom being more appropriately fabric wrapped, and hidden away from sight more and with the nasty hex head stainless bolts replaced with black button heads, so it's looking great. A broken wire was found on the back of the generator as we went so hooray that must be it. New battery, battery clamp and master switch whilst we were there.
    Kick. Kick. Kick. Fiddle with new 'baselined' carbs. Kick kick kick oh fuck off.
    Still no go. Checking over and the spark strength is very poor. The whole distributor unit is wobbly, worn and shit. So more new bits were bought, an electric ignition upgrade unit this time with another new (but matched coil. ) Followed the instructions. Put the tank on, kicked it without much hope and it started 😁. A-mezz-in. Modern tech has it's uses.
    Sat there idling nicely. Generator light firmly and brightly on 😖 so not there yet, but it's closer to done than it has been for some while 
     
     
     
  4. Like
    scdan4 got a reaction from Asimo in 61 Chang Jiang. Perfect for essential journeys.   
    This fucking thing 😂
    Road it around and although it was shit, it worked, looked cool and everyone was happy.
    One day it refused to start. Absolutely nothing, despite having been fine the week before. Chucked a condenser and points at it which achieved fuck all, chucked a new coil on which also did nowt and then life got in the way.. .. .. we sold a business (where it mainly lived),  moved house ( where it also lived) and during that it went to stay with a mate of a mate who was going to 'fix it' but just left it outside to patina more 200 miles away inaccessible from the new house where there wasn't space for it because builders. Bah. Poor thing.
     
    Some time later.
    It's now had new carbs as the others had no seals left (because ethanol I assume) and the mounting faces were very warped. The old ones put as much fuel into the general atmosphere as the engine, very stinky. An obvious problem so surely that's why it doesn't run. Nope , much kicking later reveled no desire to fire or any sign of life.
    The wiring was suspect with lots of blue crimp terminals and the feed for the absent sidecar having just been sheared through, so a rewire was done with the loom being more appropriately fabric wrapped, and hidden away from sight more and with the nasty hex head stainless bolts replaced with black button heads, so it's looking great. A broken wire was found on the back of the generator as we went so hooray that must be it. New battery, battery clamp and master switch whilst we were there.
    Kick. Kick. Kick. Fiddle with new 'baselined' carbs. Kick kick kick oh fuck off.
    Still no go. Checking over and the spark strength is very poor. The whole distributor unit is wobbly, worn and shit. So more new bits were bought, an electric ignition upgrade unit this time with another new (but matched coil. ) Followed the instructions. Put the tank on, kicked it without much hope and it started 😁. A-mezz-in. Modern tech has it's uses.
    Sat there idling nicely. Generator light firmly and brightly on 😖 so not there yet, but it's closer to done than it has been for some while 
     
     
     
  5. Like
    scdan4 got a reaction from RayMK in 61 Chang Jiang. Perfect for essential journeys.   
    This fucking thing 😂
    Road it around and although it was shit, it worked, looked cool and everyone was happy.
    One day it refused to start. Absolutely nothing, despite having been fine the week before. Chucked a condenser and points at it which achieved fuck all, chucked a new coil on which also did nowt and then life got in the way.. .. .. we sold a business (where it mainly lived),  moved house ( where it also lived) and during that it went to stay with a mate of a mate who was going to 'fix it' but just left it outside to patina more 200 miles away inaccessible from the new house where there wasn't space for it because builders. Bah. Poor thing.
     
    Some time later.
    It's now had new carbs as the others had no seals left (because ethanol I assume) and the mounting faces were very warped. The old ones put as much fuel into the general atmosphere as the engine, very stinky. An obvious problem so surely that's why it doesn't run. Nope , much kicking later reveled no desire to fire or any sign of life.
    The wiring was suspect with lots of blue crimp terminals and the feed for the absent sidecar having just been sheared through, so a rewire was done with the loom being more appropriately fabric wrapped, and hidden away from sight more and with the nasty hex head stainless bolts replaced with black button heads, so it's looking great. A broken wire was found on the back of the generator as we went so hooray that must be it. New battery, battery clamp and master switch whilst we were there.
    Kick. Kick. Kick. Fiddle with new 'baselined' carbs. Kick kick kick oh fuck off.
    Still no go. Checking over and the spark strength is very poor. The whole distributor unit is wobbly, worn and shit. So more new bits were bought, an electric ignition upgrade unit this time with another new (but matched coil. ) Followed the instructions. Put the tank on, kicked it without much hope and it started 😁. A-mezz-in. Modern tech has it's uses.
    Sat there idling nicely. Generator light firmly and brightly on 😖 so not there yet, but it's closer to done than it has been for some while 
     
     
     
  6. Like
    scdan4 got a reaction from Jenson Velcro in 61 Chang Jiang. Perfect for essential journeys.   
    This fucking thing 😂
    Road it around and although it was shit, it worked, looked cool and everyone was happy.
    One day it refused to start. Absolutely nothing, despite having been fine the week before. Chucked a condenser and points at it which achieved fuck all, chucked a new coil on which also did nowt and then life got in the way.. .. .. we sold a business (where it mainly lived),  moved house ( where it also lived) and during that it went to stay with a mate of a mate who was going to 'fix it' but just left it outside to patina more 200 miles away inaccessible from the new house where there wasn't space for it because builders. Bah. Poor thing.
     
    Some time later.
    It's now had new carbs as the others had no seals left (because ethanol I assume) and the mounting faces were very warped. The old ones put as much fuel into the general atmosphere as the engine, very stinky. An obvious problem so surely that's why it doesn't run. Nope , much kicking later reveled no desire to fire or any sign of life.
    The wiring was suspect with lots of blue crimp terminals and the feed for the absent sidecar having just been sheared through, so a rewire was done with the loom being more appropriately fabric wrapped, and hidden away from sight more and with the nasty hex head stainless bolts replaced with black button heads, so it's looking great. A broken wire was found on the back of the generator as we went so hooray that must be it. New battery, battery clamp and master switch whilst we were there.
    Kick. Kick. Kick. Fiddle with new 'baselined' carbs. Kick kick kick oh fuck off.
    Still no go. Checking over and the spark strength is very poor. The whole distributor unit is wobbly, worn and shit. So more new bits were bought, an electric ignition upgrade unit this time with another new (but matched coil. ) Followed the instructions. Put the tank on, kicked it without much hope and it started 😁. A-mezz-in. Modern tech has it's uses.
    Sat there idling nicely. Generator light firmly and brightly on 😖 so not there yet, but it's closer to done than it has been for some while 
     
     
     
  7. Like
    scdan4 got a reaction from LightBulbFun in 61 Chang Jiang. Perfect for essential journeys.   
    This fucking thing 😂
    Road it around and although it was shit, it worked, looked cool and everyone was happy.
    One day it refused to start. Absolutely nothing, despite having been fine the week before. Chucked a condenser and points at it which achieved fuck all, chucked a new coil on which also did nowt and then life got in the way.. .. .. we sold a business (where it mainly lived),  moved house ( where it also lived) and during that it went to stay with a mate of a mate who was going to 'fix it' but just left it outside to patina more 200 miles away inaccessible from the new house where there wasn't space for it because builders. Bah. Poor thing.
     
    Some time later.
    It's now had new carbs as the others had no seals left (because ethanol I assume) and the mounting faces were very warped. The old ones put as much fuel into the general atmosphere as the engine, very stinky. An obvious problem so surely that's why it doesn't run. Nope , much kicking later reveled no desire to fire or any sign of life.
    The wiring was suspect with lots of blue crimp terminals and the feed for the absent sidecar having just been sheared through, so a rewire was done with the loom being more appropriately fabric wrapped, and hidden away from sight more and with the nasty hex head stainless bolts replaced with black button heads, so it's looking great. A broken wire was found on the back of the generator as we went so hooray that must be it. New battery, battery clamp and master switch whilst we were there.
    Kick. Kick. Kick. Fiddle with new 'baselined' carbs. Kick kick kick oh fuck off.
    Still no go. Checking over and the spark strength is very poor. The whole distributor unit is wobbly, worn and shit. So more new bits were bought, an electric ignition upgrade unit this time with another new (but matched coil. ) Followed the instructions. Put the tank on, kicked it without much hope and it started 😁. A-mezz-in. Modern tech has it's uses.
    Sat there idling nicely. Generator light firmly and brightly on 😖 so not there yet, but it's closer to done than it has been for some while 
     
     
     
  8. Like
    scdan4 got a reaction from Joey spud in 61 Chang Jiang. Perfect for essential journeys.   
    This fucking thing 😂
    Road it around and although it was shit, it worked, looked cool and everyone was happy.
    One day it refused to start. Absolutely nothing, despite having been fine the week before. Chucked a condenser and points at it which achieved fuck all, chucked a new coil on which also did nowt and then life got in the way.. .. .. we sold a business (where it mainly lived),  moved house ( where it also lived) and during that it went to stay with a mate of a mate who was going to 'fix it' but just left it outside to patina more 200 miles away inaccessible from the new house where there wasn't space for it because builders. Bah. Poor thing.
     
    Some time later.
    It's now had new carbs as the others had no seals left (because ethanol I assume) and the mounting faces were very warped. The old ones put as much fuel into the general atmosphere as the engine, very stinky. An obvious problem so surely that's why it doesn't run. Nope , much kicking later reveled no desire to fire or any sign of life.
    The wiring was suspect with lots of blue crimp terminals and the feed for the absent sidecar having just been sheared through, so a rewire was done with the loom being more appropriately fabric wrapped, and hidden away from sight more and with the nasty hex head stainless bolts replaced with black button heads, so it's looking great. A broken wire was found on the back of the generator as we went so hooray that must be it. New battery, battery clamp and master switch whilst we were there.
    Kick. Kick. Kick. Fiddle with new 'baselined' carbs. Kick kick kick oh fuck off.
    Still no go. Checking over and the spark strength is very poor. The whole distributor unit is wobbly, worn and shit. So more new bits were bought, an electric ignition upgrade unit this time with another new (but matched coil. ) Followed the instructions. Put the tank on, kicked it without much hope and it started 😁. A-mezz-in. Modern tech has it's uses.
    Sat there idling nicely. Generator light firmly and brightly on 😖 so not there yet, but it's closer to done than it has been for some while 
     
     
     
  9. Like
    scdan4 got a reaction from catsinthewelder in 61 Chang Jiang. Perfect for essential journeys.   
    That looks well useful and is gently comical, "they've never been packed the same way twice" Gives a bit of insight to the work practices 🤣
    How old is it actually? 

     Engine and gearbox stamped with the same number, but that's Quite a big number, so maybe not that old? But... 

    Frame plate. Bottom field stamped 61(gap)1 and It's a 6 volt with only a kick start. That makes me think it might be 61 as claimed. 

    It's still a handsome beast in my opinion 

    It will get a declutter and wire and cable tidy. Less is more with this one. 
    Someone has cared for it, tidy lock wiring on the tank mountings 

    Stainless fixings here and there 

    Recentish Date written on battery 

    The tail light is unutterably gorgeous 

    And the air cleaner seems to be, deliberately and as intended, full of horse hair? 

    All in all a pleasing nose about. Then had a good fiddle and prod. And then.. 

    MOV_0059_000.mp4  
    It only bloody worked. 😁 Brum Brum. 
     
    I had to put it away then as I had no helmet and insurance and it was taking all my self control to not go out for a ride. 😁 
     
     
     
     
  10. Like
    scdan4 got a reaction from PicantoJon in 61 Chang Jiang. Perfect for essential journeys.   
    This fucking thing 😂
    Road it around and although it was shit, it worked, looked cool and everyone was happy.
    One day it refused to start. Absolutely nothing, despite having been fine the week before. Chucked a condenser and points at it which achieved fuck all, chucked a new coil on which also did nowt and then life got in the way.. .. .. we sold a business (where it mainly lived),  moved house ( where it also lived) and during that it went to stay with a mate of a mate who was going to 'fix it' but just left it outside to patina more 200 miles away inaccessible from the new house where there wasn't space for it because builders. Bah. Poor thing.
     
    Some time later.
    It's now had new carbs as the others had no seals left (because ethanol I assume) and the mounting faces were very warped. The old ones put as much fuel into the general atmosphere as the engine, very stinky. An obvious problem so surely that's why it doesn't run. Nope , much kicking later reveled no desire to fire or any sign of life.
    The wiring was suspect with lots of blue crimp terminals and the feed for the absent sidecar having just been sheared through, so a rewire was done with the loom being more appropriately fabric wrapped, and hidden away from sight more and with the nasty hex head stainless bolts replaced with black button heads, so it's looking great. A broken wire was found on the back of the generator as we went so hooray that must be it. New battery, battery clamp and master switch whilst we were there.
    Kick. Kick. Kick. Fiddle with new 'baselined' carbs. Kick kick kick oh fuck off.
    Still no go. Checking over and the spark strength is very poor. The whole distributor unit is wobbly, worn and shit. So more new bits were bought, an electric ignition upgrade unit this time with another new (but matched coil. ) Followed the instructions. Put the tank on, kicked it without much hope and it started 😁. A-mezz-in. Modern tech has it's uses.
    Sat there idling nicely. Generator light firmly and brightly on 😖 so not there yet, but it's closer to done than it has been for some while 
     
     
     
  11. Like
    scdan4 reacted to Minimad5 in That V6 406 (D9)   
    I actually forgot !
    You have to take the inlet manifold off, in order to get to the rear bank -

    As you can probably see, it covers the back 3 cylinders.

    Hhmm lovely, lots of instant gasket.
    Thankfully before pulling anything apart, I thought to order a set of gaskets (Did so too, as I was adamant I could hear a vaccum leak)

    Also making an appearance is the new coil (No idea why Beru / Behru came in BorgWarner boxes)
  12. Like
    scdan4 reacted to Minimad5 in That V6 406 (D9)   
    Obviously I missed Ceri dropping this off, so he as always, parked and secured this in a Professional manner. 
    Once home I cracked on:

    Lets try understand what is going on 

    She's certainly unhappy about cylinder 5, but why ?
    The previous owner told me he'd spent good money on having new coils and plugs fitted, so at first I ruled them out and ordered an injector, so whilst waiting for that to be delivered I cracked on, removed the engine cover and investigated further.


    Three different makes of coil, now my OCD / finicky head really dislikes mismatched brands, so I hit up euro car parts - Non in stock, tried local factors - no, Autodoc - x2 Behru in stock. Ordered, and add to email list when back in stock.
    Lets not waste time waiting for parts 

    Checked compression of all cylinders, and all returned satisfactory results.
  13. Like
    scdan4 got a reaction from 320touring in 61 Chang Jiang. Perfect for essential journeys.   
    This fucking thing 😂
    Road it around and although it was shit, it worked, looked cool and everyone was happy.
    One day it refused to start. Absolutely nothing, despite having been fine the week before. Chucked a condenser and points at it which achieved fuck all, chucked a new coil on which also did nowt and then life got in the way.. .. .. we sold a business (where it mainly lived),  moved house ( where it also lived) and during that it went to stay with a mate of a mate who was going to 'fix it' but just left it outside to patina more 200 miles away inaccessible from the new house where there wasn't space for it because builders. Bah. Poor thing.
     
    Some time later.
    It's now had new carbs as the others had no seals left (because ethanol I assume) and the mounting faces were very warped. The old ones put as much fuel into the general atmosphere as the engine, very stinky. An obvious problem so surely that's why it doesn't run. Nope , much kicking later reveled no desire to fire or any sign of life.
    The wiring was suspect with lots of blue crimp terminals and the feed for the absent sidecar having just been sheared through, so a rewire was done with the loom being more appropriately fabric wrapped, and hidden away from sight more and with the nasty hex head stainless bolts replaced with black button heads, so it's looking great. A broken wire was found on the back of the generator as we went so hooray that must be it. New battery, battery clamp and master switch whilst we were there.
    Kick. Kick. Kick. Fiddle with new 'baselined' carbs. Kick kick kick oh fuck off.
    Still no go. Checking over and the spark strength is very poor. The whole distributor unit is wobbly, worn and shit. So more new bits were bought, an electric ignition upgrade unit this time with another new (but matched coil. ) Followed the instructions. Put the tank on, kicked it without much hope and it started 😁. A-mezz-in. Modern tech has it's uses.
    Sat there idling nicely. Generator light firmly and brightly on 😖 so not there yet, but it's closer to done than it has been for some while 
     
     
     
  14. Like
    scdan4 reacted to Volksy in Benzin' (I want to get off Mr Benz Wild Ride)   
    I’m still deep in the throws of KE-Jetronic insanity. The S Class has steadily been getting worse and worse.
     
    I had a mobile classic car tuning specialist out to have a look at it the other week. He was recommended by my local Bosch Specialist* 
    We put it on an Exhaust gas analyser to get a measure of how it was running. Badly was the answer. I knew it was running rich, given the wallet raping fuel consumption. So we dialled the mixture back to within a tolerable spec. 
    Essentially I bought the last year of this model that did not come fitted with an O2 sensor, Those with an O2 sensor have a ‘Duty Cycle’ which can be read from the diagnostic port with a multimeter, which is a kinda basic code reader, different percentages suggest which parts of the system are faulty. 
    On mine the fuel mixture is controlled as the engine warms up by monitoring the water temperature rather than the exhaust gases, so there is no ‘Duty Cycle’ to monitor, only the CO level in the exhaust. This means that aside from measuring the specs of each individual component of the FI System (of which there are many) and ensuring that you do not have even the slightest vacuum leak the system, it is notoriously hard to diagnose. To set this non duty cycle system up, it can only be done on an exhaust analyser, tinkering with it without any form of reference will potentially brick the system.
    So how did it drive with the mixture set correctly? Terribly. No power, the gearbox did not know what to do with itself, it was continually cutting out etc etc. F*cksticks.
     
    The car is now really starting to try my patience, and as I discussed with the tuning guy, cars with KE-Jetronic fall into an expertise black hole. Essentially they are too new (and complex) for the classic repair/tuning community to want to get involved or understand how to repair or deal with them. Any modern garage has the same issue, those techies who did know how to deal with KE have now retired/died/been sectioned.
    My neighbour used to run a Bosch centre many moons ago, and for a bottle of wine took a gander over the car. We have found what could be a vacuum leak from the rubber ‘boot’ that attaches the injection unit to the inlet manifold, so I now have one awaiting to be fitted this coming weekend. This means stripping off the FI system, then splitting the base off the fuel distributor as the boot is clamped between the lower and upper halves, which to be honest is a somewhat daunting task. 
    The theory being that the vacuum leak has been there for a while, and a previous owner has tinkered with the mixture (which should only be adjusted as a last resort - Mercedes put caps and seals on those adjustments for a genuine reason - mine have all been removed) to try and adjust around the fault(s). 
    Mr. Imp has an Exhaust Analyser thankfully that I can borrow, so hopefully once the system is air tight, I can set the mixture to the correct level. Whether this will stop the random cutting out that I have experienced since owning the car, as the vacuum/mixture system is of course connected to the ignition system, remains to be seen.
    These also have a reputation of burning through alternator voltage regulators, which also can cause mystery issues. Essentially the slightest fluctuation in charging voltage sends the prehistoric electronics into panic. This is regulated by the OVP relay (covered earlier in this thread) which, if detecting a spike, cuts power to the ECU’s causing no end of running issues. These can happen so quickly that the charging system doesn’t even register that there is an issue, so won’t illuminate the dash light. In fact the ABS system is the first to register that there is some shenanigans going on, and will throw that light on instead. I have noticed that on the odd occasion it has thrown the ABS lamp, especially if I’ve given it a bootful to try and clear its throat so to speak. A new one for the alternator was £20, so that will be fitted on the weekend also. 

    There is a particularly nasty looking 300SE being broken on Faecesbook down in Nottingham, but attempts to get the seller to let me know what he wants for parts off it have come to no fruition. He’s said I can come and remove the bits, but not how much he wants for them. The idea was to purchase the Fi System for a source of spares.

    Well, let's see how the weekend goes…….
  15. Like
    scdan4 reacted to Tommyboy12 in Tommy's A-series Misery - Collection caper!   
    It's been a minute. There hasn't been a lot to report over the last month. I've been travelling with work so the fleet has sat mostly idle. I did enjoy a rather large F150 in Texas for ten days. It impressed me with it's sheer pace considering it's size. Apparently it was the 400hp twin turbo V6 version. Quick in a straight line but terrible ride quality. I did take it off-roading over the weekend and unfortunately it wasn't very good as it was only the RWD version with road tyres. But I still gave it a go.

     
    Roll forward a week to today and the sun has been shining today so I took out my MGF for a spin. Despite it being a rather rough example it doesn't look too bad in the rolling countryside. It isn't the quickest car with the CVT gearbox but it makes for a nice bumble round the country lanes.

     
    After I went out for a spin I set about some more welding. It feels like a long time since I last did any welding. Partly because it has been! But today I did manage to finish off the rear panel. When I took off the boot hinge panel the boot floor was also rusty. So I started by cutting all that out.

    Then replaced the central section.

    Then set about cutting out the other corner

    Unfortunately I made the mistake of not measuring twice and ended up cutting the panel too small as can be seen here... A bit of cardboard aided design helped fix that. Although I also had to cut out a bit extra due to thin steel.

    New panel under the rear light too

    Then onto the hinge panel

    Finished off with a lovely coat of brown direct to metal Hammerite

    And that's it for today! There's still a hole in the wheel well to fill which can be spotted earlier on in the pics but I ran out of time today. That'll be next weekends job as well as hopefully starting on the rear floors in the passenger compartment

  16. Like
    scdan4 reacted to 320touring in Rank Taxi Two. The Octavia Returns! Time for a stoat 19/03/24   
    The only option was a 50/50mix of TFR and water, plus a floor scrubbing brush.
    Progress was swift and vengeful. 
     
    It was done a panel at a time.
    Skoosh on,
    Sit for 30 secs
    Attack with scrubbing brush
    Decimate the ecosystem
    Rinse off with water to avoid the TFR stripping the paint.
     
     
    The results were spectacular!






     
    After a pass over with a wash mitt it is almost passable.
     
    It'd benefit from a polish and a wax - just to seal the paint and stop any recolonization of the panels.
     
    Lastly, on the way home it was topped off with finest derv.

    Bearing in mind this is a 55L tank, I'd say it was needing some fuel.
     
    Then it was off for a jaunt up to Kinross for a stoat with some shiters

  17. Like
    scdan4 reacted to 320touring in Rank Taxi Two. The Octavia Returns! Time for a stoat 19/03/24   
    this is what came out the carpets and seats..
     
     
    Anyways, we moved on to the Exterior.
    As @Dave_Q mentioned above, these were a run out "Taxi Special".
    Any colour you want as long as it was metallic black
    Windy windows in the back
    No AC
    No trip computer.
     
    So it should be black? Only in the shutlines!

    The car itself is painted, not wrapped. 
    It appears to be something that is almost like a lime wash😂
     
    Handily, this lends itself to propagation of numerous lifeforms as photographed below.



  18. Like
    scdan4 reacted to juular in 1964 Volvo 122S - Amazonian rustforest. Electroshite.   
    Some more stuff tackled. Trying to keep in my head all of the things I thought about fixing while on the Rustival trip. Writing notes? How quaint! Just stay awake at night trying to sift through jumbled thoughts until 3AM.
    It would probably be good to sort out the broken headlights.  Brief recap. A few weeks ago I fitted a latching relay which allowed me to control the full beam entirely through the flasher stalk instead of the antiquated floor switch. This worked brilliantly until it didn't.  Turns out that £3 of Chinese "INDUSTRIAL CONTROL" electronics aren't suited for, you know,  anything.  So the PCB basically melted (it wasn't even carrying notable current).  Before the Rustival trip I simply reinstated the floor dip switch to get us on the road.
    Turns out I wasn't wrong to try and get rid of the floor switch because as soon as it got dark, I went to switch between main and dip on a dual carriageway and lost all headlights. We pulled into a layby, consulted the wiring diagram, and crimped a couple of wires together so that we had headlights (but no mains).
    Time to fix that permanently.  
    The solution here is to use a 'proper' relay, in this case one designed for an old VW bus / beetle. The relay number is DNI 0127. There are also Meyle and Durite equivalents, so they are easily come by.
    Step 1, remove floor switch and hurl it into the depths of the garden.
    Step 2, crimp spades on the end of the wires to the floor switch.  Also tee-solder the smaller red wire into the bigger one, as that's more structurally sound than crimping two wires into one spade.

    Step 3, RELAY

    Here is the pinout.

    And here is what that looks like in real life.

    Step 4 : Replace the fuse you blew because you forgot to disconnect the battery, and touched the permanent +12V against the metal dash. Oh wait, there's no continental fuses left..  

    So it turns out this lighting setup is even better than the one I set up previously with the INDUSTRIAL CONTROL relay.  
    - When the dipped headlights are off, the flasher stalk operates as a main beam flasher.
    - When the dipped headlights are on, the flasher stalk toggles the main beam on and off like a modern car.
    - The relay also serves the purpose of being a relay for both the mains, flasher and dipped.  So it takes away the load from the light switch, provides full current to the headlights (brighter!)  plus it means I can remove the flasher relay and wiring in the engine bay as it is no longer required.
    So far this seems a far more robust and efficient setup, time will tell.
    Engine and gearbox mounts replaced.  The gearbox one was particularly hanging and the propshaft was bouncing off the bottom of the transmission tunnel.

    A set of high performance air filters attached.  The purpose being twofold. The generic SU HS6 pancakes I had on would sometimes smack against the clutch master cylinder reservoir on hard cornering or acceleration.  I also felt they were strangling the engine as they were so thin and miserable looking.  These by comparison are offset specifically to fit the Amazon, and are significantly more chunky.

     
    Y THO   |  Y THO

     
    Test drove this and was quite impressed.  The wishbone poly bushes have sharpened up the steering a fair bit. The engine and gearbox mounts have changed the gearshifts significantly, and overdrive seems to snick on in a much more dignified fashion. 
    A little bit of the induction roar from the pancakes has actually disappeared, but it still sounds great when opened up. I'll take it.
    Next up, I'll be fitting the sports exhaust, more polybushes, and doing a number of electrical upgrades to make it more reliable.
  19. Like
    scdan4 reacted to SEATMad in SEATMad's gone mad... 1988 Mitsubishi Colt GLX 1500   
    Congrats to @grogee for guessing correctly.
    Meet my latest financial burden. 1988 Mitsubishi Colt GLX 1500.





  20. Thanks
    scdan4 reacted to SiC in ❗❗🚨 Major Autoshite Server Maintenance and Downtime - Completed 🚨❗❗   
    Welcome back!
    If you can read this then the migration is done and you're on the new server. The search is currently rebuilding, so you may find that doesn't work quite right. Usually that takes a day to complete. Please let me know if anything isn't working properly or anything appears missing (especially email notifications for hotmail/icloud users). 
    A fresh backup is currently running which will drive the server quite hard. That'll take a few hours. Hopefully by tomorrow everything will have settled down and be up to full performance.
    For the most part, everything should be pretty much identical. It'll be a success if it is.
    Thank you for your patience!
  21. Agree
    scdan4 reacted to Dave_Q in ❗❗🚨 Major Autoshite Server Maintenance and Downtime - Completed 🚨❗❗   
    Anyone moaning about this should ask their grandparents about when daveb47 had the keys, the site randomly went down for days and days on end with no real explanation other than sob stories about how he was doing it all as a volunteer and it was very upsetting to be asked to be competent, featuring bonus donation tin rattling.
    Having a couple to a few hours downtime, publicised well in advance, in order to upgrade the site for real operational reasons, is nothing for people to be wittering about.
    Kids today, etc.
  22. Like
    scdan4 got a reaction from UltraWomble in The Bikeshite Thread   
    Found it (under stuff at the back of the garage)
    Fixed it (brushed off the cobwebs, fresh fuel and a caliper check)


     
    Happy days.
    Fortunately the other 2 bikes are broken so there's a chance it will get used this year 🤣 
  23. Like
    scdan4 reacted to fatharris in FatHarris - tales of a motoring moron ***More engine work***   
    Another productive few hours.
    Ran the BX for 15 minutes to get the oil/Berryman mix up to temperature before draining. The exhaust fumes fill the garage quite quickly, so I tried helping it along with the spare Laguna pipe 😅

    (It did not help.)
    After fifteen minutes of idling, I cracked open the drain plug and noticed just how thin the oil coming out was. I know I'd added about 800ml of Berryman, but even with that factored in, it was too thin.
    I slapped another coat of primer onto the areas I'd applied Puraflex to.


    And left the oil to drain as much as possible.
    Had another check of the LHM system and started preparing it for a first run. Pleased with how the repairs look now everything is back in place. OSF sphere screwed back on and looking fine!


    Once the oil fully drained, the sump plug was refitted, a new oil filter attached (old one was stamped 2016, which would tally up with the lack of use it has had since then) 

    And the oil topped up to roughly the correct level. The car wasn't level so I didn't want to overfill it.

    Next job was to reattach the front wheels, I also slid a set of ramps underneath the wheels to give a bit of clearance.

    As I was planning on priming the LHM system, I needed the cooling system to work, so I ended up changing the thermostat. Was going to do it at the same time as the timing belt, but there you go.

    The LHM belt was reattached to the pulleys and the HP pump supply line was disconnected and primed.

    MrsH was roped in at this point to start the engine whilst I connected the supply line. For some reason, the LHM pump belt lost its tension so this was resecured.
    And after a few minutes, success! The car was suspended on LHM for the first time in nearly a year.

    Early indications are promising for the engine smoke too, there seemed to be a lot less clouds on acceleration. Once the engine got warm and the levels were re-established, I started exercising the suspension by alternating between max and minimum extension. The struts are a little bit sticky and creaky but nothing too unexpected for a car that's been sat a while.
    I bled the cooling system of all air and was dismayed to notice the temperature gauge still wasn't giving a reading, despite the new thermostat proving serviceable and the top hose getting hot. I shut the engine down and suddenly:

    Ah, everything IS working fine, it's just me being the idiot. I've had a prod with the multimeter and found the 'earth' terminal I was connecting to is a perfect earth in Key position 1, but 12v comes through when set to ignition.
    Luckily, I added plenty of spare wire to the earth wire so I can simply connect it to a proper earth point instead of being lazy.
    Anyway, seeing as it's mother's day, I'm knocking it on the head tonight to enjoy some time with MrsH. I'll pop in tonight to put a final coat of paint on the welding repairs before moving onto the next section.
    Last thing I did was place four clean rags at each corner to check for static LHM leaks. Hopefully they'll still be clean tomorrow!

    I'm currently debating whether it is even worth doing the head gasket any more. Any advice? 
    Cheers.
  24. Like
    scdan4 reacted to fatharris in FatHarris - tales of a motoring moron ***More engine work***   
    A man in a van dropped this off today - I already feel safer 🤣

    Checked the white rags for leaks - none present, and the car stayed at max height for nearly 24 hours, so I'd call that a result.
    I've also moved the temperature gauge earth return to a proper earth point and ran the engine up to temperature - this time the gauge worked, so that job can be ticked off.
  25. Like
    scdan4 reacted to fatharris in FatHarris - tales of a motoring moron ***More engine work***   
    Not many photos today, because a) I only got a few hours in the garage today, and b) I was both in a hurry and in a bad mood, so I just cracked on.
    Chopped the rest of the grot out, what remains is crusty but saveable. When taking the remains of the initial rusty bit out, it was evident that the vertical inner wing skin that it welds onto was heavily deteriorated under the seam sealer. Seeing as there was another adjacent grotty bit within that section, I drilled out a few spot welds and removed it as one large section.

    This left me with three sections removed in total, although a fourth one will have to be made to cover the original hole - there was simply nothing left to make a template with. Three of them will be made with 1mm steel, the remaining one is part of the suspension turret plate and will be made in 1.8mm steel. The removed section (the bit at the top of the photo) is only a mounting surface for the 1mm bridging plate on the arch and has no structural implications at this point.

    Metalwork cleaned up for welding. The patch near the suspension turret cleaned up with a light sanding and proved to be solid, thankfully. It'll be given a further wirebrushing, before Kurust and primer.

    First panel knocked up. Still needs a little bit of a fettle to make it perfect, but it's a start.



    Called it a night after that. The next two patches to make are simple strips, the final one can't be measured/cut out until the others are welded in.
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