Dabooka

Be as cool as him.

Or her.

Or them.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166633596456?itmmeta=01HRAMX8NCWW9NT0Z39BEGK3X4&hash=item26cc22e628:g:9HIAAOSw-zpl6IM4

If I could follow this thread twice I would… 

I didn't know the 2nd gen MR2 had 90 odd full convertibles sold in the Japanese market. Aftermarket conversion I think.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/803374081601878/

The E38 is the car I might struggle parting with the most! It's not impossible to find another one in similar condition (although it does need cosmetic attention) but I feel finding one for somewhat similar money in a similar spec would be near impossible. Unfortunately that's the problem with almost any car I own!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2129469074089716

Im not sure if I'm gonna announce anything in here beyond what I've written above but I appreciate the enthusiasm.😄 Let me know if you are interested in anything specifically.
Anyway, quick update on the Senator. Thanks to @24vdiamond I finally have a replacement Opel bonnet badge which I will put on the car at the earliest opportunity. It also came with the nut and locking washer for the steering wheel so once again thanks for the easy transaction!
The crusty sills are at least protected from further damage now, at least until this gets dealt with properly with the sparkly stick. Rust-Anode and a bit of paint should keep things under control for a while.

I could have easily covered this up with wob to look like brand new but that wasn't really the point.

The core support got a little love as well, surface corrosion on there so really just a cosmetic improvement.
Some more progress on the E65. For some reason its battery went flat over the last 2 weeks, which wasn't a problem before. It might have been because the amp under the driver seat wasn't plugged in (which would be odd) or because the driver seat fell over (not yet bolted in), triggering the interior alarm. If it isn't that then thats another issue to investigate. Unfortunately I've confirmed that there is still water somehow making its way into the car through the sunroof. It's not a lot and the drains are free but this is something that just needs to be fixed to avoid any damage to the new headliner. People suggest it could be the sunroof seal, even if it looks fine. I'll have a very close look at it tomorrow after work.

I had a closer look at the radio tuner which likes to fail on these even without water damage, this obviously doesn't look promising. I tried to clean it but no luck, another part to add to the list, I plan to update the entire infotainment system to the post-facelift spec anyway.
With the interior now pretty much back together I had a moment to slap the V12 kidneys on the car. Normally an easy job but naturally one of the bolts seized in the aluminium bonnet and had to be removed with some violence. I now have a cordless Dremel that will replace the old one as best tool anyone can have in their toolbox.

In case you are wondering why I bother, the V12 kidneys (top) are shaped slightly differently and are nice and thicc now, clearly a symbol of status and exclusivity.

Done. If you are shaking your head looking at this, if you own the car you do notice and appreciate the subtle difference!

In other news, I dropped off the Celsior at the garage yesterday to have the exhaust mended. This is the same place that fabricated the stainless steel exhaust for the Corona, welded in the cat section for the Oxford green E38, built the exhaust for my ivory Mark VIII and possibly more that I can't think of now. Japanese-market exclusive post-cat sensors meant that the shop had to be extra careful removing them.

Seems like they managed to do just fine, I picked up the car tonight and its nice and quiet again. I'll get a slow tire leak sorted tomorrow, I'm hoping that this will be the last big bill on this car to get it onto reliable daily shape, the rest is really just convenience and cosmetics.

If I could follow this thread twice I would… 

If I could follow this thread twice I would… 

Quick post before a bigger update on the Senator rust repairs and E65 interior tomorrow.
I mentioned it a few times before, me and my other half have been looking for a house together for quite a little while now. After probably about a year of searching we might have finally found the right place for us, and from what I can tell the seller's and our own price expectations aren't very far apart at this point.
This means I might have to sell a few cars over the next few weeks/months to bolster our deposit, and the Audi A8 Sport of many shiters might be the first one to become available.
Why? Because out of all the cars in the fleet this might be the overall best one I own and therefore to sell without having to worry about things breaking a week later. I know that some of you have already voiced some interest and I have sent/will sent a few PMs soon. Since I need the money it will probably be slightly under market value here (so starting with a 1), which is still a mind boggling value considering the condition of this car. This seems to be a pattern lately, selling the good cars only to keep the stuff that needs work...
Anyway, today's rain was on and off so I basically spent most of the morning/afternoon starting various cars that are not moved much during the salty season.

The 33k mile Infiniti Q45 was one of them. Started right up, I cannot wait to actually start improving this one, which will mostly involve raising the coilovers and throwing all the tacky V8 badges and LED lights in the bin.

I havent driven the Cadillac in a little while and the cobble roads around the estate proof that nothing quite rides like a Cadillac. Even the hydropneumatic Citroens I've driven can't really compare at around town speeds, it's just sooo smooth... This might however also be a candidate for being sold on if I really need to, so should anyone be interested in a 77k mile DeVille...

The Riviera hasn't seen much action at all since it arrived. It does however now have new bonnet struts which will make working on it about 200% more fun. Another one that might have to go, should anyone be interested in what will be the cheapest Buick Riviera you'll ever see for sale.

I've also started the Corona Exiv, SL500 and Alfa 166. Someone must have knocked into the Alfa's wing mirror recently as I noticed the housing being cracked today. While I still have a spare mirror it is not the same paint, and this pearlescent style paint will certainly not be easy to match/find a replacement for either...

I'm not 100% sure yet if I should let the Alfa go. It would be impossible to find another one in this spec, however I might just put it up for sale for an optimistic price and see if anyone bites.
Thats it for the moment. The E65's windshield replacement that was planned for today hasn't happened as Autoglass can't get their shit together and the Celsior is booked in for exhaust work on Monday so I'll probably drop it off tonight or tomorrow. That should hopefully be the last big bill it will need for the foreseeable future now that everything has been done on it. Let me know if you are interested in that one, too...

Tyne bridge from Gateshead. Possibly pre-war

Every street in that godforsaken town is one way they just keep fucking changing it around. All the time.

Never looked so good

Wakefields Coach by the Gibraltar Rock, Tynemouth

i think if you zoom in very close, you can see a young master gm buying “three pair of sports socks for a pound”   
 

Harbour View garage, Sunderland. 

The weather was good enough this weekend to actually get something done and make some progress on the Celsior. As previously mentioned the transmission cooler line was the most important thing to tackle now that its back on the road. As you can tell, it's been leaking right where the bracket was holding it in place:

Fortunately this is indeed a pretty low pressure line so some quick sawzall action later we cut the offending section of hardline out:

Lucky for me it was close enough to the oil cooler that I just needed to replace the existing hose with a longer section. Toyota added the S-shape to clear the swaybar, I cannot see a reason why a long enough hose wouldn't do exactly the same without ever rubbing through.
As mentioned before, it made sense to do a quick gearbox service while the atf was low. Toyota actually isn't using a gasket to seal the transmission pan but a sealant (ThreeBond 1281 to be exact) instead. I could see that it was weeping in some areas around the pan so now would be the best time to tackle it.

Naturally things had to come as expected and the inevitable total mess unfolded in due time, despite the pan actually having a drain plug. Normally removing a transmission pan isn't a particularly hard thing to do. Doing this on the drive with hardly any room to maneuver underneath the car is just one of those moments that make a garage with a lift that one thing I will not compromise on in the future. Toyota attaching half of the dipstick tube directly to the oilpan didn't help either, just another proof that all manufacturers have idiotic engineering moments. Fishing it back in while not disturbing the fresh sealant was NOT fun.
For those who wonder what the inside of an LS400 tranmission looks like. The filter is just held on by 3 10mm bolts, the seals were rock hard so probably still the original one.

The inside of the pan. The ATF that came out of it didn't look bad at all. Some sludge as to be expected at this age, the magnets didn't really catch any metal debris either.


Pan properly cleaned, removing the old gasket naturally took a little while. Now with new sealant applied:

Pan back on. I've let the sealant cure over night as I wasn't sure how quickly you could fill the transmission after applying it. Apparently its supposed to be perfectly fine after 10 minutes but I cannot quite believe that.

It better not leak again in the next 20 years or so... I've tried filling it using my patented paper funnel technique this morning, naturally this immediately failed and made even more of a mess. I then found a better funnel which also left a mess as for some reason it takes absolute ages to fill the gearbox via the dipstick tube.

I've replaced the PCV valve and grommet while in there. The old one was still alright, I can't remember whether I cleaned it at some point. Considering the grommet was rock hard nothing probably ever got replaced there before.

The hole. Naturally half of the brittle grommet disappeared into it when I pulled it out. Fortunately there's a baffle right underneath it so I was able to fish it all out with surgical precision.

Finito. Getting the new grommet in required a socket and a big hammer.

Since this weekend was the big Celsior weekend I decided to tackle a few more things, the misaligned fuel door was next. I cannot remember it looking this way, not sure if the bodyshop tried to force it open to fill the tank (it read empty) or something.

Because this is Toyota's billion dollar flagship the inside of the fuel door was hidden behind a plastic cover. I could tell that the cover didn't quite perfectly fit the door hinge though. Lets take a closer look with the cover removed:

It looks like the sheet metal holding the pin was bent back slightly. I would have expect the mounting bolts on the vehicle side to have come lose but I'm pretty sure this was the issue. Nothing a bit of force can't fix though. Much better:

Everything reassembled (sans 3 unobtanium clips). Love the service stickers, everything that reminds me of its previous life in Japan is worth preserving.

I've had another look at the fuses to see if there might be an indicator of why the radio doesn't output any audio. It'll most likely be an amp (also unobtanium as this is a Japan only audio system) but it was worth a try. I've also cleaned the driver seat belt and applied some silicon spray, its actually retracting a bit better now.
That concludes this weekend's improvements on the Celsior. I'll call Powerflow tomorrow to see if they want to fix the exhaust leak. There's a coin sized hole in the side of it now, straightpipes m8.
Quick update on the 540i Touring. Took half a year's worth of scrap to EMR in it which netted me 37 quid. The Alfa 166 Twinspark cat was completely unidentifiable so it went straight on the scrap heap, it was breaking apart internally anyway. Nobody wanted the front bumper either. If anything breaking the Twinspark 166 proved that absolutely nobody in the UK is willing to fix one of these up. It'll be one of most other Italian cars that will be completely wiped from the face of the earth in a few years time (in this country anyway).

It had to be done. Scrapyard action shot!

It also got a wash! I was finally having some time to quickly clean the engine bay. Its not coming across 100% in the photos but it was utterly filthy before. I might actually be able to spot some leaks now.

 

Until next time!

Weekend away with the in-laws survived. For a moment I thought the driver front wheel must be losing air the way it looked, one wheel needed welding half a year ago and it wouldn't have surprised me if the rough country roads caused another hairline crack. It must be a very slow leak though as the tyre pressure was still fine after checking back home again. Will keep an eye on.
Other than that all good , definitely can feel the 3.0TDI struggling a bit with the car full of people and luggage. I also backed it into the pole right in the middle of the drive I forgot about, no harm done fortunately...
Back home the Ms' Fiat received some attention, the passenger door handle hinge must have been snapped for well over a year. Fortunately an easy fix once the door card is off, only held on by 3 bolts and the usual clips. One 10mm holds one side of the handle on, a torx bolt the other end. That gives you enough slack in the assembly to remove the snapped hinge from the handle. Looks much better now.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235381150679
Properly sexy as fook.

The A8 is now in daily duty and naturally proves to be an excellent grocery getter (just dont think about the DPF eventually clogging up from short distances). I need to figure out whether the power trunk lift needing some help can be an easy fix, its a great feature to have and just makes the car feel fancy and modern. Right now its not able to build up enough pressure to lift the lid the first 20cm or so, automatically closes just fine though! The towbar probably wont stick around for long either, I won't have space for a trailer anytime soon.

I refilled the washerfluid and noticed that the hood struts aren't doing their best anymore either so I'll probably order a new set before not too long. Here's the current taillight situation discussed above. I've contacted a few people breaking A8s and naturally all of the last facelift taillights were already gone or damaged. Fortunately something that doesnt need rectifying immediately, its purely cosmetic. Unlike when doing this kind of retrofit on a car like the BMW E39 (Celis angeleyes or taillights from the facelift) this year A8 already used LED tech properly for the rear lights, so should be a simple plug&play once I find a set.

Speaking of E39s, I ordered everything needed to rebuild a set of pre-facelift amber headlights the 540i Touring was originally coming with when new, pretty much the opposite of what people would normally do. I found a set of almost brand new Hella headlight lenses on FB marketplace for an absolute steal, had I known that a lot of the trim comes with the new lenses I could have saved myself spending quite a bit of money on a rebuild kit. Fortunately stuff like this is easy to sell for the same money again.

Since I wanna stick with having Xenon like I have on the Touring right now (despite the car not coming with it originally it still has headlamp washers and the rear ride height control, should be safe to use) I probably will need to replace the dipped beam lenses with whatever used Xenon headlight set I end up working with. All of this stuff is still easily rebuildable/replaceable, naturally things got a lot harder with the facelifted E39 later. If all goes to plan I'll end up with a like-new set of headlights for a fraction of the price you'd pay for a pair of Hella headlights now.

That's weird. Looking at the US spec equivalent, it's marked 65-75-85 fahrenheit (18-24-30 Celsius). 
Strange, because all the cars I've had with "exact numbers" marked on the dial (not just low, warm, high or blue to red) over here have been calibrated 60-90f (15-32c).
I guess they thought the numbers had some sort of Zen.

Recent edition of the Chase.
Question : what feature on a car has an intermittent setting?
Answer by contestant : Headlights.

Peugeot 2008 (first-gen): Strange aircraft-throttle-like handbrake lever, just pointless. Also, little oddment tray directly under handbrake lever - don't put anything bigger than a coin there, or you'll mash your knuckles into it when you release the handbrake. Plus a solid metal gearknob (gets cold in winter and hot in summer), a couple of cup holders buried underneath the dashboard, and a row of buttons down on the right-hand side of the steering column that are masked perfectly by the steering wheel.

former department store Binns is now a wetherspoons 

Never looked so good