dollywobbler

Ah nuts. Doubt I'm going to have time today as we're currently camping. However, she should be undergoing bodywork improvements fairly soon...

Having watched your latest video about the Berlingo, I think it would be worth getting all 4 injectors sent to a specialist to be tested and reconditioned if necessary, or exchanged for reconditioned units. 
I think the issue is likely to be more like a dodgy spray pattern as those leak off results actually don't look too bad. 
The 2.0HDi isn't unknown for injector troubles and I don't think a set of injectors would set you back too much if it came to that
Regarding removal, it's generally true that they're difficult to remove if they've been leaking and the black death has jammed them in. The reason people say they're a nightmare to remove is when they've been leaking for ages and they're trying to replace the seal. 
With a bit of persuasion they'll usually come out without worry. Take the union off and slot a 3/8 extension over the injector inlet and twist while you gently pry it upwards. This always gets them out for me unless they've been chuffing. 

I have such fond memories of that tree!

I have such fond memories of that tree!

Lovely warm sunny day today. Perfect for spraying cavity wax about!
Ive got some leftover Dynax wax from the Capri so I’ve been using it to do a few bits on the Mercury now it’s warm and dry enough too. The sun and warmth really helps with this as it thins the wax even more and really let’s it soak into all the joins and seems in the panels.



All the insides of the bonnet and boot lid frames and skins are now done, you can see a few rags stuffed in gaps to catch any excess! 
I’ve also used some of the clear thicker wax to spray over the patches of surface rust around the shut lines then wiped them down with a rag (the surface rust was on these bits when it came over from the US) Obviously it’d be better bare metalling those bits and repainting them but it’s a hell of a lot of work and it won’t look the same after. I’d quite like to try to keep this car as original as I can, so I’d rather leave the old worn paint as long as I can and just keep using polish/wax and cavity wax etc to help preserve it as it is. 
 
Ended up getting covered in wax and sweating like a pig doing it, but it’s all worth the effort!

There is apparently a requirement for the test car to be able to reach 62mph as well, not that the route we covered gave much chance of that! Was an entertaining collab that one.

There is apparently a requirement for the test car to be able to reach 62mph as well, not that the route we covered gave much chance of that! Was an entertaining collab that one.

It's a split working arrangement; minimum 39 hours at my home base (Cumbernauld in this case) and 50 hours in London, both over five days. Scotland rate is £12.59/hr rising to £13.13/hr, London is £17.45/hr at present.
The rota is a ten week rotation; 3 weeks London, 3 weeks Cumbernauld, 3 weeks London, 1 week holiday. Stagecoach pay travel (by train, plus a shift travelling each way), accomodation (Travelodge apparantly) and £262 per week expenses on the weeks you are away from home. This is before overtime which is paid at an enhanced rate again.
In terms of my costs, my commute is up from an average of 37 miles per day to a maximum of 52 miles per day, but this is more than balanced out by the actual commuting itself only being three weeks in ten rather than ten in ten - 2600 miles every ten weeks just now compared to around 1100 every ten weeks going forward.
Hopefully things work out and the gig keeps going for a while yet.

It's split working but likely either Barking or West Ham? Won't know until I'm allocated.
It's a £22k a year increase in wages so planning to stick it out for a while 😂

It was a lovely little event, thanks for your efforts in organising it.
I was looking for a moment to give you a walk around and have a chat but sadly every time I passed you you were somewhat surrounded. I'm not particularly good in social gatherings and prefer to sit in a corner.
As for the driving, it is a little mind bending according to friends that have had a go, but it all felt pretty natural to me after having got to know exactly what is acting upon what for nearly two years prior to even getting to turn a wheel! I can quite comfortably cover fair distances cruising at 40-45mph and enjoy covering miles in a vehicle which you actually have to drive rather than be transported within.

Great to see this car today, though sadly I didn't get a good look around. Just enough to make me think a Model 70 is a lot easier to drive...

Great to see this car today, though sadly I didn't get a good look around. Just enough to make me think a Model 70 is a lot easier to drive...

Failed on two small bits of welding in the front inner arches which I hadn't spotted, and a couple of minor lighting issues probably mostly due to dodgy earths (a recurring theme with that car).  So not too bad a result really.

Not had much time for this since taking on the restoration of a G40 body, but made a bit of time for a decent ride out in it this evening.


A thousand miles done since getting it back on the road - this thing'll probably see me out at this rate. 😀

A pleasure. Thanks for a hassle-free sale! Autoshite wins again. 

A couple of shots taken on the way home from a cracking weekend at Rainscombe park. I did mean to capture Brian at Silbury hill but alas someone else was parked in the spot.

Local Lord opens his Manor House for a couple of weeks a year to us general public types, with the proceeds going to local charity. Thought it worth a nosey.
I’ll doubt Lord Mostyn has ever had a Pontiac TransSport on his drive before! 

A pleasure. Thanks for a hassle-free sale! Autoshite wins again. 

A pleasure. Thanks for a hassle-free sale! Autoshite wins again. 

A pleasure. Thanks for a hassle-free sale! Autoshite wins again. 

Collection achieved. Thank you very much to @dollywobbler

Great stuff! Nice to get an update.

Great stuff! Nice to get an update.

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 2.5k 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.

That may be true, but just because it's free doesn't mean it should be less good than it could be. Plenty of folk are putting more effort in regardless of whether anyone pays or not. I don't mind criticism I agree with!