Rust Collector

Who's a dickhead?
I'm a dickhead.
The piston rings arrived today, and wouldn't you know it? The parts seller was correct, they weren't the right ones I needed - I needed 1.75mm thick rings, these were 1.5mm. 
At this point, I've ordered another set from Autodoc and thrown in the towel - this isn't going to NL any more. I can't get it rebuilt, MOTd and tested in a suitable timeframe. Disappointing, but it's entirely my own bloody fault
To cheer myself up, I made a lunchtime trip to a random address in the next village over armed with some cash and came away with this:

A brand new Hella remanufactured alternator for the MX5, for just £50. Bloody stoked with that result! Had to drill one of the bolt holes out to remove the thread in there (I had to do it on the old one too) but that was it.
I'm getting good at fitting these now!

Took the battery off charge and went for a test start:

And all is working once again.
To celebrate, I moved the MX5 and uncovered an old friend.

Going to look at the exhaust this weekend to see if the replacement exhaust section I've got will bolt straight in, or if I have to get a new flange welded on.
Whilst the Beat aired out, I cracked on with the bits I had received yesterday, starting with the No.1 crank bearing hockey stick seals. These had a dab of hylomar applied to hold them in place.
In order to get them fitted in place without rolling or puckering, the Haynes manual recommends using thin strips of metal to allow the bearing cap to be fitted.
Step forward, the glorious Tennents can.

This was suitably chopped up and the cap manoeuvred into place.

Once in position, the crank bearing caps were torqued up. Following advice from Phill, he recommended turning the crank after every cap is torqued to check for free movement. This all felt fine so I'm happy.
The tails of the seal need to be trimmed to 2mm but it's advised to wait 24 hours for the seals to settle, so that's what I'll be doing. A smearing of hylomar was applied to the corners of the cap to ensure a oiltight seal.

After that, the exhaust manifold studs were fitted.

And the clutch lever arm bush was fitted. This ended up being a bit of a faff, as the new one had slightly thinner lugs than the original, and wouldn't hold in place.
I tried hammering the lugs to expand them, but they weren't playing ball, so I melted the lugs flush to the arm with a soldering iron, drilled a couple of holes and attached it with screws and washers. The bush was filled with rubber grease and the contact points of the release bearing got a thin smear of moly grease.

With that, I'll down tools on it until the rings get here. There's still a tiny chance I can get it all together and tested in time, but it seems unlikely now.
Cheers.

Medway City Estate

Failure is no problem at all, but it'd be nice to not have to wear the test fee if it fails catastrophically which is what is luring me to these folks.
Is it the Ashford branch that you use? I think Brands Hatch is nearer me but they don't do timed bookings unlike their other centres.

Another Year. FFS. 

This happened today...
So just shy of 3000 miles since I bought it. 
Not exactly uneventful or cheap miles. (Should buy some shares in Bosch). But it's getting better...
It did reward me by absolutely disgracing itself by cutting out repeatedly as I tried to reverse parallel park uphill on the high street. There was obviously a bus waiting to get passed, and a load of initially admiring dad's watching as they were picking up their sproglets from the after school club next to Morrisons. 
It's done three weeks of city commute since it last stretched it legs. So it'll get a run on the weekend.  As per the fable of CDC's 190. The Potentiometer may get unplugged. 
I've a new one in the stack of parts. But need to obtain a decent multimeter before I head back into the black hole of KEJet shenanigans. 
 

Managed a days 'Tinkering' on Saturday. 
Job #1 SUCCESS!
Replaced the seizing blower fan, of course the replacement was LHD, so a mirror image of the original (Autodoc didn't state that they were handed). Managed to swap the new motor into the old housing and also reattach and sort out the small air sampling fan which had fallen off. This sits next to the blower under the dash, but sucks air through a tube which runs up the 'A' pillar, across the headlining to a small vent near the sunroof controls. The tube had detached which meant that the air sampler was taking its measurements from air under the dash and not engaging the rudimentary climate control.  Seems to work now, even varying the temp controls has an effect, and the fan is no longer blowing fuses. 
Job #2 FAIL
Had a look at the rear electric windows. The NSR has a blown motor by the looks of it, as I couldn't coax it into any semblance of life. On the OSR the small plastic slider has disintegrated, so the arm is no longer connected to the window. I have some new sliders, that are correct. However the motor needs to come out to fit them, as the stupid design means you have to hammer the slider to flatten out the connecting 'rivet'. Someone prior to me, has hard wired the wiring to the motor. Great. So to repair these I'll need two new motors. 
Job #3 FAIL
Investigated the central locking. Which works from the passenger door, but not the drivers. Need to find a replacement microswitch for the drivers door lock. Also the NSR door will unlock, but not lock when the central locking is used, the vacuum actuator has a couple of diaphragms inside, one of which is blown. I ordered a new actuator, which was slightly different to the original. So now need to order some larger diameter vacuum hose as well. 
Job #4 F*CK KNOWS
I put new Bosch plugs in and a Bosch air filter on, as it was on ancient NGK plugs and a no brand air filter. The old plugs were badly fouled, given how rough it was running, I'm not surprised. Driving around all day on Saturday and Sunday. it ran like a dream. This morning however (it has pissed it down all night) it ran like a complete bag of shite, cutting out at every opportunity until it was fully warmed up. I think moisture is getting into somewhere it shouldn't.

These were all in between assisting M.Imp with the crank seal/cambelt replacement on his recently acquired Volvo 740. Which seems to have been a success.  
 

Ordered some new window sliders for The Big. As the rear windows don't. 
They are a common fail on these. Another job for the weekend...
Autodoc packaging is a little excessive..... 

I checked it ages ago and didn't recall anything dire, but just to refresh our memories:

There's nothing there worrying me too much. I'll check the front discs again but I don't recall them being gopping when I had the wheels off before.
I'm hoping that the hour or so drive to the test station should help free the car up and get it in the mood for a pass.
Or cause it to explode, and not be eligible for recovery due to a lack of MOT.

Before I finished off last night I spent a few minutes pumping furiously on the driveway. My thought process being that if I primed the fuel system before going to bed then when I woke up in the morning I would be able to check that everything was still hard.

I gave it a few pumps and it still felt fairly rigid which is encouraging.
Hopefully I’ll get this all wrapped up tonight and have her running. If I can get her starting reliably I will be well chuffed, as the laboured starting and not knowing if it would actually start was really spoiling what’s otherwise a pretty decent car (I hope).
Provided she starts and runs ok then I’ll do the ABS sensor on the off side rear, give her a quick once over for any obvious faults, give her a wash and then get her in for a ticket.
I’d quite like to try the nearby* ‘no pass no fee’ place, @grizz is this who you use?
https://www.thetestcentre.co.uk

I managed to make a bit more time for tinkering this eve. Not many photos I’m afraid as I just wanted to crack on.
First up was that breather hose.
The part listings online had the specs for it as an 18mm id. I did not bother removing one and measuring the hose tail. I lived to regret this.
It turns out the ends of the hose are a larger ID than the main body of it, so the 19mm oil hose I ordered didn’t fit.
I don’t want to wait for Autodoc to deliver a proper hose, and all the spares on eBay etc. are also located in Europe.
I had a scout around the garage and I discovered that my manual shite water pump that I keep handy in case of small floods has the perfect sized oil rated hose attached to it.
Bodge time:

It’s better than it was at least. The original pipe had cracked around about 75% of its circumference, and fell off in my hand. I’ve just cut it back to make it fit into a sleeve I cut from my hand pump. Job jobbed.
Then after some fucking around, swearing and pulled back muscles, I managed to get the spare pump in place.

Im really bloody hoping that woodruff key is located properly.


It’s all gone into place so I’m hoping that the key is still there and hasn’t been mangled. Once it’s all back together I’ll leave the timing cover off temporarily and bar it over first.
Im hoping to finish up tomorrow, all being well.

It can't be anything too important as there's no fluid pissing out anywhere. I'll have a look on a parts diagram later just out of curiosity.
On the subject of non-working parts, a browse of some Citroen forums has revealed that I don't need to worry about the waxstat thing. It's designed to reduce cold start emissions by advancing ignition timing, but is of no detriment to reliable operation when it fails and apparently TADTS.

I think the battery has possibly been killed by a parasitic drain and the car being stood. If you did have a receipt handy and it doesn’t put you out then it might be worth a try on the warranty.
Don’t worry, I was only towing the trailer on the farm tracks to move it. I’ve seen how that tow bar is mounted and I have zero faith in its ability to handle any amount of force on it. The neck of the ball hitch is bent as well, just for good measure 😂
Sometimes once the kids are in bed and it’s that hour or two before I go to sleep, I get really restless and wound up and have to go and tinker with something. 9 out of 10 times I break something and end up even more frustrated, but the mirror switch was one of those small wins on an evening that would otherwise have been wasted staring at the tv!

I’ve been back on the case with the fuel pump tonight.
The main job was to disconnect the last of the hoses, fuel lines etc.

That’s the only goal I set myself tonight, but the kids were in bed and felt motivated so I carried on.
A while back I bent a 45 degree angle in a spanner by mistake, and made a shit joke about it undoing bolts around corners. Anyway, it turns out they’re actually a thing and they’re needed for this job:

You can’t really get the four nuts holding the pump on any other way.
Getting leverage on the rear nut is not easy, so once again my copper tube fetish came into play

Whilst undoing those nuts I was alarmed to find a severed hard line under the LHM pump as I yoinked it out


Likewise, the goo inside this waxstat thing appears to be fucking off and doing it’s own thing. The spare pump is the same.

Proof that I somehow managed to avoid losing the woodruff key for a second time:

Theres a tool for getting the pump shaft free from the sprocket. I don’t own that tool, and I promise I absolutely didn’t use a club hammer on the spare pump and a pry bar on the one in the car. To be fair, there isn’t much force needed to release the pump at all. I reckon you could do it by hand if you were patient enough.
Success:


I didn’t expect to get the pump pulled out this eve, so I’m pleased to have done that. I’m now indoors enjoying a gin and tonic and knuckles bruised like I’ve been on a night out in Newhaven.
I now need to decide what to do about that PCV hose. I can get a replacement from Europe for £20 which will arrive fuck knows when. I can get a length of the same diameter oil hose from CBS by Thursday for a tenner, but I’ll have to bend it to shape and hope it can manage the radius needed. Choices, choices…
Also, does anyone know if I should be worried about the orange goo escaping the waxstats?

Well that was a more than averagely productive lunch break. 

I checked it ages ago and didn't recall anything dire, but just to refresh our memories:

There's nothing there worrying me too much. I'll check the front discs again but I don't recall them being gopping when I had the wheels off before.
I'm hoping that the hour or so drive to the test station should help free the car up and get it in the mood for a pass.
Or cause it to explode, and not be eligible for recovery due to a lack of MOT.

I'm sure you've looked at the MOT history, check the last advisories for sure. (im not saying trade one make garages might have in the past had a sympathetic tester, but i wouldn't rule it out either)

Before I finished off last night I spent a few minutes pumping furiously on the driveway. My thought process being that if I primed the fuel system before going to bed then when I woke up in the morning I would be able to check that everything was still hard.

I gave it a few pumps and it still felt fairly rigid which is encouraging.
Hopefully I’ll get this all wrapped up tonight and have her running. If I can get her starting reliably I will be well chuffed, as the laboured starting and not knowing if it would actually start was really spoiling what’s otherwise a pretty decent car (I hope).
Provided she starts and runs ok then I’ll do the ABS sensor on the off side rear, give her a quick once over for any obvious faults, give her a wash and then get her in for a ticket.
I’d quite like to try the nearby* ‘no pass no fee’ place, @grizz is this who you use?
https://www.thetestcentre.co.uk

@Rust Collector correct. 
 
They will fail stuff. 
 
But I also like to see that they point out some fail stuff to customers.  
 
 
 

Before I finished off last night I spent a few minutes pumping furiously on the driveway. My thought process being that if I primed the fuel system before going to bed then when I woke up in the morning I would be able to check that everything was still hard.

I gave it a few pumps and it still felt fairly rigid which is encouraging.
Hopefully I’ll get this all wrapped up tonight and have her running. If I can get her starting reliably I will be well chuffed, as the laboured starting and not knowing if it would actually start was really spoiling what’s otherwise a pretty decent car (I hope).
Provided she starts and runs ok then I’ll do the ABS sensor on the off side rear, give her a quick once over for any obvious faults, give her a wash and then get her in for a ticket.
I’d quite like to try the nearby* ‘no pass no fee’ place, @grizz is this who you use?
https://www.thetestcentre.co.uk

Before I finished off last night I spent a few minutes pumping furiously on the driveway. My thought process being that if I primed the fuel system before going to bed then when I woke up in the morning I would be able to check that everything was still hard.

I gave it a few pumps and it still felt fairly rigid which is encouraging.
Hopefully I’ll get this all wrapped up tonight and have her running. If I can get her starting reliably I will be well chuffed, as the laboured starting and not knowing if it would actually start was really spoiling what’s otherwise a pretty decent car (I hope).
Provided she starts and runs ok then I’ll do the ABS sensor on the off side rear, give her a quick once over for any obvious faults, give her a wash and then get her in for a ticket.
I’d quite like to try the nearby* ‘no pass no fee’ place, @grizz is this who you use?
https://www.thetestcentre.co.uk

I managed to make a bit more time for tinkering this eve. Not many photos I’m afraid as I just wanted to crack on.
First up was that breather hose.
The part listings online had the specs for it as an 18mm id. I did not bother removing one and measuring the hose tail. I lived to regret this.
It turns out the ends of the hose are a larger ID than the main body of it, so the 19mm oil hose I ordered didn’t fit.
I don’t want to wait for Autodoc to deliver a proper hose, and all the spares on eBay etc. are also located in Europe.
I had a scout around the garage and I discovered that my manual shite water pump that I keep handy in case of small floods has the perfect sized oil rated hose attached to it.
Bodge time:

It’s better than it was at least. The original pipe had cracked around about 75% of its circumference, and fell off in my hand. I’ve just cut it back to make it fit into a sleeve I cut from my hand pump. Job jobbed.
Then after some fucking around, swearing and pulled back muscles, I managed to get the spare pump in place.

Im really bloody hoping that woodruff key is located properly.


It’s all gone into place so I’m hoping that the key is still there and hasn’t been mangled. Once it’s all back together I’ll leave the timing cover off temporarily and bar it over first.
Im hoping to finish up tomorrow, all being well.

Before I finished off last night I spent a few minutes pumping furiously on the driveway. My thought process being that if I primed the fuel system before going to bed then when I woke up in the morning I would be able to check that everything was still hard.

I gave it a few pumps and it still felt fairly rigid which is encouraging.
Hopefully I’ll get this all wrapped up tonight and have her running. If I can get her starting reliably I will be well chuffed, as the laboured starting and not knowing if it would actually start was really spoiling what’s otherwise a pretty decent car (I hope).
Provided she starts and runs ok then I’ll do the ABS sensor on the off side rear, give her a quick once over for any obvious faults, give her a wash and then get her in for a ticket.
I’d quite like to try the nearby* ‘no pass no fee’ place, @grizz is this who you use?
https://www.thetestcentre.co.uk

Before I finished off last night I spent a few minutes pumping furiously on the driveway. My thought process being that if I primed the fuel system before going to bed then when I woke up in the morning I would be able to check that everything was still hard.

I gave it a few pumps and it still felt fairly rigid which is encouraging.
Hopefully I’ll get this all wrapped up tonight and have her running. If I can get her starting reliably I will be well chuffed, as the laboured starting and not knowing if it would actually start was really spoiling what’s otherwise a pretty decent car (I hope).
Provided she starts and runs ok then I’ll do the ABS sensor on the off side rear, give her a quick once over for any obvious faults, give her a wash and then get her in for a ticket.
I’d quite like to try the nearby* ‘no pass no fee’ place, @grizz is this who you use?
https://www.thetestcentre.co.uk

I managed to make a bit more time for tinkering this eve. Not many photos I’m afraid as I just wanted to crack on.
First up was that breather hose.
The part listings online had the specs for it as an 18mm id. I did not bother removing one and measuring the hose tail. I lived to regret this.
It turns out the ends of the hose are a larger ID than the main body of it, so the 19mm oil hose I ordered didn’t fit.
I don’t want to wait for Autodoc to deliver a proper hose, and all the spares on eBay etc. are also located in Europe.
I had a scout around the garage and I discovered that my manual shite water pump that I keep handy in case of small floods has the perfect sized oil rated hose attached to it.
Bodge time:

It’s better than it was at least. The original pipe had cracked around about 75% of its circumference, and fell off in my hand. I’ve just cut it back to make it fit into a sleeve I cut from my hand pump. Job jobbed.
Then after some fucking around, swearing and pulled back muscles, I managed to get the spare pump in place.

Im really bloody hoping that woodruff key is located properly.


It’s all gone into place so I’m hoping that the key is still there and hasn’t been mangled. Once it’s all back together I’ll leave the timing cover off temporarily and bar it over first.
Im hoping to finish up tomorrow, all being well.