Skcat

Not much been going on, been too busy too mess around with cars these last few weeks. Did a CBT which was a bit of fun so the first bike I've had a go on is a little honda grom, a little small for me however. Borrowing the montego from its new owner at the moments as I had to swap some cars around for mots! New brake fluid and a replacement front shock made it ride and stop a lot nicer. A car I will miss but I will get to drive now and then I'm sure.

I've only had failures on emmisions and one skoda favorit that was rotten through. Other then that even on old cars a visual check of all the bulbs, wipers, plates, shocks, springs, brake hoses and stuff normally just passes in my experience. I was worried about emmisions on my 1994 petrol montego so I changed the oil, all filters and put fresh plugs in at the service book spec (0.85mm) then filled it with premium fuel. The tester said it was at euro 4 standard which ain't bad for a old O-series!

I guess it depends on the area! Still a shame. The diagram I made yesterday seems to be correct. So spliced a aux cable into the multichanger but without the data that goes through PCI bus the head unit will never allow you to select the cd changer. I'm trying too buy a pre made one from America now. At the very least this jeep radio is a good upgrade and looks as modern as I can get away with in the dodge. Tuning is far better on this unit, and it has RDS which I appreciate! It looks much better in person, the orginal radio will be kept in dry storage.

I loved the roadmaster but the size was a issue. Not for me, But just for parking anywhere in this country. If I had a yard I would have a caprice classic or a fleetwood brougham in a second. The Dynasty gives you a big car feel in a midsized package. I believe Scandinavian countries tend to grit the roads not salt them. I think this is because the salt will melt the snow at day but overnight it can get so cold the standing water even with salt will still freeze into ice. That's why you will see 90's corrolas and Nissan driving about around the snow something we would think would kill these cars! I bought a radio from a Chrokee with the cd multichanger plug on the back. (this style but in better shape) This was fitted too a 1997 cherokee I think. Then I found this pin out for a 1999-2000 cherokee, hopefully they are the same! Then I got one of those audio cables and chopped it in half. Then made this crude chart with the help of a multimeter. hopefully it will be accurate. I hope I can make some progress on it!

I was wondering why the dodge was burning through petrol so quick. I don't have a odometer but I'm estimating I'm getting around 15mpg. When I got the car I quickly looked at the o2 sensor and saw it looked new so thought nothing of it. Today I gave the wire a pull and the whole sensor just pulled up from behind the engine. Turns out the previous owner had snapped the old o2 sensor flush in the exhaust manifold and could not extract it. It probably produced a check engine light on the dash so they plugged the new sensor in and left it dangling in the engine bay. This is What was left of the old o2 sensor. You would think Being recuded to a little bolt would make it easy to remove but it was a slight battle. The photo does make access look easy though. Took about half a hour to work it free with heat. I have a feeling this is the orginal sensor as the car is so low milage. Considering the pervious owner did this I did not trust they picked out the correct part so I used a new bosch sensor from my spares I knew was correct. Hopefully I will be getting the correct mpg now I think it should be low 20's to high 20's. Time for some jank! The battery was loosely sitting in the engine bay. I just cut out some scrap metal and made a clamp with a spare M8 bolt. It really isn't pretty but now the battery is secure. And I had not realised the "hood" and "trunk" had the lights missing so I replaced though along with a missing number plate bulb. It has a lot more punch now its not running so rich, I'm sure more tuning will yeild better results.

New odometer gears have been bought. Around 5 grams of nilon cogs for £37, but should sort it

Been driving it a bit, all the speakers are ruined. So I replaced the front ones to start, made a big difference. The cruise control did not seem to work to start with but the more I fiddled with it and got it working. Sadly the odometer does not work, should try and sort that out. Ordered a new oil pressure switch as apparently they go bad and read low. And mine reads low!

And now it's finally on my drive! Chuffed so far even with a bit of rot I found hah! Should be a good one. Might even be able to get some parts off the other car.

The montego is already pending a new home! The plan all along was to find him a good maestro but when I saw this montego I knew I had to snap it up before anyone else did, I've scratched the maestro/montego itch now though.

I was pretty shocked too see the Dynasty had adjustable cruise control! The first one I had only had the popular package which got you aircon and cruise (im sure the vast majority of dynastys had this). This one however has the "luxery equipment" package which gets you loads more. The standard bench moved back and forth as one unit but thankfully the LE one splits in the middle and Is electrically operated!

From my research into the Dynasty and New yorker (if you wanted to be fancy) were developed as a modern car too replace full sized malaise era cars. The styling was inspired by 70's caddilacs. So although grandad can no longer drive his 8.2 litre eldorado coupe that's almost 6 meters long. The compromise would be a compact (by comparison), fwd, v6 car with ABS. But you still get an American car with the old smooth ride, a bench seat and a collomb shifter. By the late 80's with EFI engines and with the 55 speed limit being lifted I feel like technically the malaise era should have ended. But the market for these kind of cars took a lot longer to dry up. I'm excited to get it home and to start fiddling. I need to find a replacement white sidewall trim!

I got myself a Dynasty! But not the last one I test drove, another one that came up for sale: So much better with the correct wheel trims and cornering lights, I Need to go collect it soon.

The montego now has a fresh mot! Passed emmisions without a issue. Had a new shock absorber which makes the ride much better!

Big want for that, The correct colour tailgate is even on ebay at the moment.

In Iceland currently staying in reykjavik. Its odd seeing a mix of European and American cars. I never thought I would see dacia dusters and chevy impalas just parked side by side! Have some photos, it's not helping me seeing all these k cars! And this thing: