Blake's Den

I remember those Sapphire Cosworths from back in the day! Back when ram raids and joy riding was very common.

In sort of Land Rover related news.......I've been fitting a Warn M6000 winch to my trailer. I picked up the winch from a local auction and it came with a very rusty Defender winch bumper. I trimmed this down and used it to mount the winch to the trailer. I was really pleased with how it worked out. Here is the video of the install I tested this out by winching the Santa Fe on. Despite a week battery it did the job really well: So why did I do this? Well it will allow me to pick up other projects cars more easily. And this is exactly what I did today . A full update and reveal will be coming soon......

Yeah, Subaru rust. I've been there before, twice! The last time resulted in me utilising an Arnold Clark we'll by any car thing to get rid of it.

A mini Mini update (see what I did there?!) I had my Rover Mini Cooper MPI in for its MoT today. It passed with no problems. I was shocked to find that I had only done 200 or so miles in it in the last 12 months 😒. I must try harder this year. Also, I made an quick video update on Project Designer (my 1989 Designer special edition). The update is pretty much there is no update! But I decided to do the video as there has been quite an influx of new subscribers to my channel and many of them don't know about this project. Also, people keep asking me when it will be finished 😀

I decided to do an audio upgrade on the Defender. I say upgrade but in reality it's an install as it has nothing in it! This is base model motoring, even the interior light doesn't come on when you open the door. I decided to go for a Bluetooth speaker rather than a radio or cd player. I decided on a Tribit StormBox Micro and I'm really happy with it. It looks fairly discreet compared to other Bluetooth speakers plus the sound is really good from it. I can even hear it above the 300 Tdi engine 🤣

Slightly Land Rover related........I have acquired a Warn M6000 winch from a local auction. Bought sight unseen and of course it didn't work when I connected a battery to it! I ended up stripping it down and rebuilding it and now it does work 😃 It came with a Defender winch bumper but it is in poor condition. Plus I already have a winch bumper on the Defender and I want to change it back to standard anyway. My plan is to attach the winch to my trailer in a way that it is removable. I've got an idea how to do this by chopping up the bumper that came with the winch - look out for this coming up in a future post/video.

The Santa Fe was in for its MoT test today. Good news, a pass with only one advisory which was the same as last year (play in a ball joint). I have had a problem with squeaky suspension. There must be a dry suspension bush somewhere on the front end. I've sprayed all that I can access easily with GT85 and it has made it quieter but I know that it is not a long term fix.

So for those who don't understand the above.........I have finally hit 1000 subscribers on my YouTube channel! It really blows my mind knowing that 1000 people want to watch my videos. When I set off on this journey I never wanted to be the next big think or a copy of someone else. I'm just me doing what I do and if a video helps out one other person then that makes me happy. I'm still quite a long way of our resident HubNut @dollywobbler who at the time of writing is about to hit the 100,000 subscribers mark. Again, mind boggling numbers. So if you haven't subscribed then head over to www.youtube.com/@blakesden and see what you are missing out on

Thanks! I can't believe it 🙂

Not much to report on the Defender lately as it has been running fine and not needing any attention. The only problem that I have had is that it failed to start in the really cold weather, I think that was due to the veg oil solidifying. All good now since I topped it up with diesel. Anyway, I put the Defender to good use today to pick up a new toy - a Bateson 27-16 tilt bed car transporter trailer. I've been after a big trailer for a while and after a couple of false starts I finally managed to get this. I've got two AS worthy things to transport on it in the very near future so stay tuned!

I'm still using this regularly. Now onto 35000 miles! However winter driving has highlighted the fact that the headlights are quite crap. I'm guessing that they were average when new, even with upgraded bulbs, mainbeam on and the front driving lights on it still isn't great. Anyway, upon inspection, I noticed that my headlights and clouded up again, the passenger side being the worst. I quikcly attacked them with some T-Cut and they are much clearer now. See for yourself here! I drove it in the dark yesterday and the brightness has improved a bit. It still isn't as good as these modern LED projector lights but at least I can see a bit better now.

Erm, it came with no instructions! I couldn't see anywhere obvious to add oil too so I will assume no. Yes, the decibel scale is logarithmic (so not linear). Using an aribitary value of 70db (equialvent to the noise inside a car on a motoray), then a whisper (other chocolate bars are available!) at about 30db is 1/16th the loudness of 70db. Foing the other way, a thunder clap at 120db is 32 times as loud as 70db.

I'm just happy that it's louder and a better sound 🙂

Another small video update on the Rover Mini Cooper MPI. For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to have some air horns on a Mini. When I got my MPI nearly 14 years ago I didn't think that it would be possible to fit any as the engine bay is so cramped. I recently acquried a set of small air horns that my dad had fitted to his Suzuki Swift Sport. After looking at them I realised that they might just squeeze into the Cooper's engine bay. I butchered another Rover horn to get the wiring plug so that I didn't have to hack into the MPI loom and I managed to get the horn to fit nicely. It is a snug fit but it is a fit! Also it is about 6 decibels louder than the old horn and quite a sharper sound so overall I'm happy with the result.

It opened in 1986, alegro's were made up until 1982. So entire possible.

Yes, I do want to do it. It actually doesn't seem to be too bad of a job to do at home. Just need to find the time and the willing!

This! Exactly, it owes me very little and I quite enjoy driving it. There is a smugness about sitting in traffic next to a £70k BMW knowing that I'm just as comfy as the BMW driver 🙂

Another Santa Fe update. During my winter commuting I noticed that my mirrors we not clearing in the cold weather. I assumed that was because I didn't have heated mirrors. However when I popped the passenger side mirror glass off I found to my surprise a heating element! A quick test with the infra red thermometer showed that the passenger side was working as intended, the drivers side was not. They should both turn on when the heated rear window is active. A quick strip down of the driver side mirror revealed badly corroded contacts on the 12 volt feed to the heating element. A quick clean up and hurrah it now works! Obligatory video update and click-bait thumbnail below:

I'm not sure what the long term plan is to be honest. It's a survivor so it does warrant some money being spent on it. But at the same time I do fancy changing to something else which is more suited to my needs.

Yes I've watched that one!

I'm not sure what the purchase price was new, I haven't been able to find that in the history that I have. But I suspect it was the most expensive Hyundai that you could buy in the UK at the time. The coupe must have been a close second. Yes it is quite a dated design. Whilst mine is a 2005 model it was launched in 1999. Given an average 36 months design and development period that means that the concept was laid down in 1996! It doesn't feel old though, it is quite refined and very comfortable. The styling is very late 90's early 00's and it has a face that only its mother could love😆

Yes you could get the CRDI in the Santa Fe, it was a popular choice. More popular than the 2.7 V6 anyway!

Seeing this prompted me to Google search for this Closely followed by this

The fuel leak which first took the car off the road returned (again!), I was driving the other day, stopped and jumped out to post a letter whilst leaving the car running. Round the back there was a strong smell of petrol but no visible leaks. Further investigation during daylight hours revealed that the fuel line had fatigued due to it being tightly routed. There was a pinhole leak where fuel was squirting out at atomising hence no visible puddle under the car. I think that I caught this almost straight after the leak started. The temporary fix was to relocate the aftermarket fuel non return valve from the engine to the back which increased the pipe length and reduced the bend. I replaced this today with a 90 degree quick fitting as per the original Hyundai design. I also had a leak at the front after I moved the non return valve. The drive to work was uneventful. When I started the car to come home it was running lumpy and had a very strong smell of petrol. I popped the bonnet to find fuel squirting all over the engine and the battery! Luckily I had some tools to fix it there and then, cut the pipe a bit shorter and remade a join which solved the problem. I'll be replacing the join at the front with a quick fitting too. I also took the opportunity to test how smooth the engine is. I balanced a £2 coin on the intake manifold (no expense spared) and it didn't fall over! Who needs a Rolls Royce when you have an old Hyundai 😅

No problems, no rush 😃