Jenson Velcro

All my decisions on diff and gearbox ratios have been based on the rev counter reading. Which I recalibrated myself to change it from 2 sparks per revolution to 4...
It appears as though I miscalculated somewhere along the line
I've checked the gearbox ratios, and it's closer to 2k rpm @ 70mph, so no need to change anything! I have to say I was happy with the way it drove and it didn't feel stressed on the motorway, just that it seemed sensible to lower the cruising rpm. This would also explain why it seemed to keen to rev past 6k rpm!

Next up was something rather more serious.
Over the past thousand miles or so I had to start adjusting the valve clearances frequently.  So much that I could do the entire job in 25 minutes.  The engine would start to rattle a bit, I'd tighten the tappets a bit, the engine would shut up before rattling again after several heat cycles or another hundred miles.
Some of them became quite concerning.  Specifically exhaust on no. 6 which always needed a turn.

I knew what this probably was and being a V engine it's a bugger to check.  So I blew most of the engine apart to remove the followers.

Sure enough they are buggered!  Some much more than others, at best these have done 5k miles.  Two words, aftermarket SHITE

Now in fairness I never followed the traditional cam break in procedure for this engine.  To get a fully rebuilt engine to immediately start first time and run at 3k rpm for 20 minutes with a fully blead rock solid cooling system is rather more difficult than you might think.  So long story short this engine did a fair bit of cranking and idling before being driven in anger.  This may have contributed to the short life of these followers.

However (and luckily) the cam itself was just fine.  This is a new old stock Ford cam to the standard profile for a 2.3 cologne.  Despite the followers beginning to fall apart the cam has shrugged it off and it certainly seems to be made from far higher quality materials.  The crazy paving pattern is the last of the black protective coating wearing off (which is supposed to happen).


Cams for these engines are usually aftermarket and of the mild, rally or race variety.  I bought a set of followers and a mild cam from Kent Cams.  While the original cam looks fine and has only done a few thousand miles I didn't want to risk it and was curious about fitting a mild cam instead.  The 2.3 is not known for its speed and a bit of extra power would be nice.  

I put the engine back together.  Followed the cam break in procedure and instantly regretted it.  The mild cam has an awful lot of valve overlap for a "mild" tune.  This caused a huge amount of scavenging at idle and generally made the engine run very very poorly.  No amount of tuning would improve it and I couldn't get the idle to reliably go below 1k rpm.  On the road it felt nasty and would try and cut out at every junction.  I was rather disappointed because that meant...
Take the whole bloody engine apart AGAIN...
 
I put the original profile cam back in.  Reassembled the entire engine and checked everything thoroughly along the way.  

Result!  It runs lovely again and the noisy valve clearances are long gone.  Back to its old self and I'm looking forward to putting in some more miles.  The Kent Cam lifters have been broken in according to the instructions twice now as a precaution.  I hope they stand the test of time as the alternative lifters are either unbranded or from a company I've never heard of (like the first set).  I've also done several oil changes along the way and checked said oil upon draining for anything nasty.  I'm using 10w 40 from Millers with additional ZDDP additives.
While these bits are the main issues I've had over the past year or so I've done lots of other small cosmetic and mechanical jobs such as...
Curing the break squeal with the correct clips on the pads Replacing the boot trim with a mint undented one  Fixing a vacuum leak from the air box General cleaning/degreasing and painting to keep the engine & underside looking good A lot of the issues that have cropped up since putting the car back on the road have now been resolved.  I've learned a lot along the way and with each fix the car gets more trustworthy and nicer to drive.  Although there have certainly been some rather frustrating moments/long days.

As the foo fighters sang " Done, done and I'm on to the next one "
Drove the van to my lockup and tucked it in:

With a hole in my garage, the itch started again. Definitely not encouraged by @Skizzer @320touring @Kiltox and @RobT, one copy of 2cvgb later, a couple of phone calls and today this arrived:

Definitely needs some work - but it's honest. Chassis is solid (genuinely, not acadiane solid) but the floors less so. 
So what is it? It's the Citroen a series that I haven't owned - 1967 Citroen Ami 6 Break. My wife was ecstatic* to see it arrive today.  Doesn't look great now, but look at it - just needs a bit of love.

Bench seat at the front, single spoke wheel. Lovely. I'm a happy bunny. Friday has been taken off to start stripping the interior out and forming a plan of attack.

I is officially old,
I removed the lowering springs from my Golf!!
Before.

After.

I'm actually glad I did and it feels much nicer on the bumpy country roads where I live.
The front springs are the originals that I removed years ago,the rears are actually from a mid 80's Passat estate as the coils are slightly thicker but they needed to be shortened a wee bit to suit,these were fitted for quite a while when it was a daily driver,but then I went all pineapple and lowered it!!🤣

Tyred!
When i picked up the changer and balancer, i bought myself a bag of 100 tyre valves, i thought they would last me a lifetime but i was wrong. Im approaching half way through!  Counting them up id say ive done 46 tyre swaps and balance since i got the two machines.
Last week id done Rikens on father rews ignis

Toyo nanos on a work van

And today see the shitfire get some matching toyo boots all round and a car dealer spec wheel refurb. 

 

Travels over. It's a windy night in Calais - we may have a choppy crossing. 933 miles to this point.
Apart from a couple of new tyres I had fitted this trip the Mercedes has been big problem free - the drivers electric window sticks, the sun roof has become reluctant and the front suspension has developed a squeak but nothing to hold up progress.
Hope you enjoyed that scamper around the French auto scene.

And on my return…
 

Let’s give this shit a whirl…
 

So I’ve just done a buy and thought it might be of interest to some of you. 
No dramatic collection fred as the friendly driveway dealer seller agreed to deliver from Derby down to Sussex but here are some pictures. I’ve seen very few of this generation of A6 on AS, probably as they are to most eyes boring as hell and just fairly mundane tutonic motoring but I’ve always loved this age Audi, and I’ve wanted one of these for a few years to scratch the same itch that my outback did. 


This one is an 03 Allroad in 2.5 v6 TDi and Spanish gearbox. An unusual interior that I’ve not seen before in one of these, presumably a special order of some kind, and a few mod cons which mostly work. It has lots of good bits, air suspensions goes up and down with no issues, nearly new Pirellis on every corner, and the engine feels tight with just over 100k miles in its 20 years. It is trying hard to be an actual colour, a fetching sort of burgundy red which looks brown or even black depending on the angles, and it has only had one previous owner from new who, unbelievably, took it to Audi for every single service and MOT, so a whopping 19 stamps in the book including 2 cambelt changes.  Naturally I won’t be continuing this run of ludicrous expense and will try and do stuff myself or send it to my friendly local mechanic. 

 

 
There are a few things on my snag list already, the drivers door actuator doesn’t sense if the door is open, (TADTS) meaning the car regularly tries to lock with the keys inside, the gearstick mechanism is very dry and rattly, there are various bits of trim that want replacing or fixing, the paint is scratched and quite dull in places – the car shows signs of not being regularly cleaned and possibly parked under a tree for much of its life when you look closely- and various soft touch plastics have gone all sticky and gross and want sorting. Also the steering wheel is absolutely minging with some kind of thick black sticky residue all over it. It does clean off but is so thick and gross I’ve just ordered a replacement second hand wheel for £25. 
I'll try and keep this thread updated when I do stuff as I will be dailying this for all commuting, kid and dog hauling duties.  When it was new I hear the Allroad was the one of the most unreliable cars in North America so there should be lots of fun bits to do. 
 

I've done 1100 miles in the last couple of months, and it's been running nicely. It's taken me to some scenic places...


...and pulled a few trailer-loads of firewood around.

But that running well came to an abrupt end yesterday evening. I was driving down to the FoD, around 150 miles from home, when I turned the radio off and noticed a faint squeaking from the gearbox, like a dry bearing. It went away under load, so I wasn't hugely concerned. 
Until the rear wheels suddenly locked up at 65mph on the M40! I quickly dumped the clutch and coasted onto the hard shoulder, feeling slightly sick. This feeling grew when I tried to restart the stalled engine, and it didn't even turn over despite being in neutral. If I started it with my foot on the clutch though, it did run, although the gearbox input shaft was locked solid.
I was quoted a maximum of 90 minutes wait for recovery, but 3.5 hours later I was getting rather hungry after not having eaten for 10 hours. So I decided to rustle some burgers up.

Unfortunately, someone reported a 'car on fire', seeing smoke apparently coming from a stranded vehicle, so the Highways Agency paid me a visit. After a bit of reasoning with them they left me to it, and recovery arrived just as I was tucking into my cheeseburgers.
There was nobody available to take me home, so was relayed to the field where I set about drawing my sorrows. I was picked up this lunchtime by a different company, who could only take me within a 60 mile radius.

So they took me to their yard, where I dropped the Stellar in the compound...

...and drove home in a loan Fiat 500.

Question is, what's wrong? I had a long-standing leak which I thought I'd cured last Spring, 3000 miles ago.  Certainly it went from visibly leaking all over the propshaft and flung onto the exhaust (and noticable drips underneath), to no obvious sign of a leak. I was going to check the level during the September service, but now wonder whether it has lost oil slowly without me noticing. 
Or damage was done during previous low oil levels? Either way, although once cool it un-seized enough to noisily trundle along, it sounds fairly terminal. Gear changes are more difficult, and there's a fair amount of transmission drag.
Feeling pretty fucked off with things at the moment, although hopefully I'll be able to think more positively in due course.

The public at car boot sales: 
I overheard an encounter today, a chap was selling what looked to be a bathroom extractor fan for £1. Guy comes along and opens it up, but there were a couple of screws missing, apart from that it looked brand new. 
He asks the seller if he has the screws, he says no but they're only self tappers and it's a quid. 
Guy starts saying about how it might be no good, puts it down, asks more questions, "Would you take 50p" ... then says if it's all there I might have taken it, but if it's got missing screws I might as well buy it from the shop.
For fuck sake, it's an extractor fan for a quid 😆😆 they're £20 in Screwfix, add a couple of self tappers which anyone much surely have lying around and you've saved yourself £19! 
He says he'll have a think about it, puts it down and walks off. The seller then mutters to his other half "why did we even bother coming here, some people are such hard work" and I don't think truer words have been spoken 😅

Re-flashed the field on the dynamo and cleaned the points in the regulator.

Got it adjusted up.

That'll work. I don't know why people are afraid of these control boxes, they work okay.

Spent a good chunk of the day pfaffing with the car.

Pulled the clutch master off, wasn't overly optimistic.

Well, there we go. The bore is perfect. Put a new seal kit in and buttoned it up.

Stuck that back in place and hooked it up.

Took the wheel off for better access to the slave, that's seen better days.

Still, replaced the slave cylinder, which was 110% stuck solid in place. Got it all bled up which returned a good pedal.

Stuck a new solid state fuel pump on and flushed the lines through. Net result, it'll move by itself now. Still starts really nicely too.
 
Phil

Well, it's finally being used in anger. Youngest son has borrowed it for a trip to the Lake District. The Autoshite Honda Civic he co owns with me has a tow bar. Says it makes him feel very smug as he watches folk struggling with tents and he can just flip it over. 

AutoShiters,
  I'm just beaming. You folks are such an amazing (special? 🤔) bunch of folks. 😁
  Got in from work and making sure the MGB GT is ready for the MG Centenary celebrations tomorrow. It's had a service and quick once over (yesterday) with a local mechanic, thumbs up and it's good to go 👍🏽👍🏽
 
  Never, ever did I think my little MGB GT would be taking part in such an event.  🥲
 
  It's been an uphill struggle...
  Initial ownership of car (25 years ago!), finding my very first car again, bringing it home, going through @spartacusillness and death & then trying to get the MGB GT back on the road... 
  & it is only back on the road again because of Autoshite. 
  Thank you... I cannot thank you folks enough 🥲
 
  So the MGB GT will wear its AutoShite badge with pride as we join in on the MG Centenary Rally tomorrow, which will finish at the British Motor Museum.  Here, it has a reserved priority parking. 
 
  I won't lie, it's a bitter sweet ending as I know @spartacuswould've loved to have been part of this event. 
 
  Anyway, I'll keep this thread going and again THANK YOU !!! 
 
 
@Mally
@ruffgeezer
 

My view out of the office window at the moment 

Out to B&Q today for odds and ends and while sitting in the car park noticed this chap making a beeline for me. Turned out to be a junior sales exec from a Volvo show room across the road; he saw me pull in as he was queuing for lunch in McDonald’s came over to ask if I’d bring the 164 over to their showroom for their social media person to take a few pics. Definitely a first for me, but a lovely experience. Really good to see young guys si enthusiastic and knowledgeable about their marque //takes off flat cap and slippers 

Well, that didn't go to plan! On the Friday the house sale went through without a hitch (my brother and I decided to sell my late mothers house as rental had become too much stress with less income than money in the bank) proving that there are some good estate agents. Yourmove in Montrose advertised it, did viewings, handled offers and saw the sale through keeping us fully informed for their 1%.
Monday was a day catching up with a few bits around the house, Tuesday was spent at the hospital in Aberdeen getting more tests. Wednesday morning, before heading to the shed, I checked the work email, and first thing Friday morning I was flying to Rotterdam to join a pipelay vessel the Lorelay, from where I am typing this. I have now had 12 days at home since the 28th March!
Whilst I have been away and @GingerNuttzhas been keeping me sane with pictures of progress on my Rover P5B, my other friend has been quietly putting this

 
B
back together again after its recent weldfest and respray. I have not wanted to ask how he was getting on as the plan is for me to go and help, but being away is making that difficult. Today, out of the blue, I received this in an email

That makes me very happy......

As title says 'Life,' and I reported my wife's death 3-1/2 years ago.
It's only right to mention that  I have somehow managed to find a new lovely lady.
It's very new,  but we are off to Sunny Beach quite soon on holiday.

Had this out today to make a push for finishing it off.
It’s not run since late last year so I’ve charged the battery overnight, connected it up and went for a fire up. Took a couple of goes to pump fuel up but once the carb filled up it fired straight into life! Settled down to a nice idle and revved clean so no issues there. The starter has stopped hanging on too which is a bonus.
There really isn’t much to do now tbh. 
I’ve cleaned up and lubed the ignition barrel as that was stiff on the key, then refitted the plastic under dash tray trim making sure it’s clear of the pedals. Then fitted the indicator self cancelling ring, then bolted the steering wheel back on.
I spent ages last year trying to find the bolt holes for the sun visors and drinkers side roof grab handle, gently poking around with a piece of wire (the holes are under the headlining!) and couldn’t find them so I gave up! Found all of them straight away today. Go figure! 
So these are all now fitted too.


Next job was to tighten up the steering column UJ in the power barn! 
Pinch bolts tightened, but the UJ itself was a bit stiff so I gave it a good dousing in penetrating oil and worked it free, then gave it a bit of thin spray grease. Seems ok now.

Seatbelts were next. Centre stalks just bolt through the floor pan near the transmission tunnel. Poked a strong pick up from underneath through the carpet to find the hole then made a X slit with a Stanley knife, cleared the carpet fibres away from the holes and they bolted straight in. 
Then finished fitting the belts themselves, one big bolt into the B post and then another into the bottom of the inners sill. Bolts were a bastard to tighten up! Probably carpet fluff and the new paint clogging the threads. I should have run a tap down them first really…

 
I’ve also re-glued the edges back to the back board on the tailgates tiny interior trim panel. It’s just a basic hardboard panel with black vinyl glued on but the edges were all lifting off. 
Loads of cleaning up and dusting off the interior bits too. Just little jobs.
I’ve sprayed clear cavity wax into the bonnet hinge areas too, up under the scuttle panel to prevent future corrosion issues.
So what’s left?
Fit clips/seals/chrome trims to door tops.     
Glue carpet down properly on captains side inner sill and fit sill top trim. (Need to turn car around to do this).   
fit small rubber draft seals to each door (2x each side).  
Fit tailgate lock seal and adjust striker.   
Check brakes are bled properly.  
Finish last few areas of cavity wax (front chassis leg box sections).
Get tracking sorted as it’s visually miles out!    
Wash the paint and hoover cabin out!
I think that’s about it tbh! I reckon I’ll be done tomorrow other than the tracking.
I think I’m going to get my local trusted garage to do the tracking but I’m going to get him to put it on the rollers and double check the brakes are good and also just get him to cast his eye over it underneath to make absolutely sure nothing has been missed. It’s been a major rebuild and over a fair bit of time too so things do get missed or forgotten about.
Its incredibly close!

2 more 

I thought I had a wheel bearing on its way out. Turns out it must have been those old tyres! 

Snow two months ago!


I'm cooking steaks off the side of it. That roof tent really is lovely to kip in when I can be arsed to put the struts in to poke the "dormers" out.
Bacon for breakfast.

Scenic route home
 




 
 

The sun is out and I had some time to myself so went along to the local autojumble. Nothing worth buying but plenty of interesting vehicles