Minimad5

Disco recovered:

Sister’s 110 in the middle.

Cabin filters by size.
 https://www.wixfilters.com/Lookup/FilterBySize.aspx

They say you should learn from the mistakes of others. I’m obviously a bit slow on the uptake, especially given another shiter’s recent experiences of old British metal. 
Not content with one car capable of throwing ruinously expensive bills, and timed perfectly to coincide with a global recession, I spent a load of my now near worthless pounds on this:

The best bit:

Back in a bit, there’s someone at the door in what looks like a white coat, holding something that looks suspiciously like a rolled up straitjacket.

Well done for not just slapping a load of filler on this 👏 
Neat looking repairs too 

I've finished off both pillars now, and cut away the rusty lower lip. Ahhhh.

The inner panel is in a similar state. I will have to rethink my plan, but reckon I'll have to cut out more of the front panel for access - which means it'll be more difficult to neatly weld in a length of standard angle section. However I can probably use that to weld in a functional repair to the hidden panel, and buy the proper repair panel for the visible outer repair.

I've now trimmed the repair section for the other side. I'd wanted to have the joint on the curved section under the seal, both for neatness and also to minimise distortion. However on the passenger side I needed to cut out that little bit more, as the metal was quite thin.

I've also cleaned up both sides ready for welding; I've since painted with weld through primer but didn't get a photo.

Collection complete. Arrived at Exeter 12 mins late, not bad for the UK🙄
Compulsory wollard below.
Looking forward to the drive home.
An absolute pleasure to meet petrolblog, a thoroughly nice man .

And we have 2 winners! Congrats to @SEATMad for being first.
This is the baby. It's an executive auto, pampered by the original owner and the current owner. Really looking forward to getting her. Various forms of transport will be involved including a fellow shiter starting proceedings.
Collection starts at 8.40am tomorrow.

Hope it's one of these sexy bastards.
Chod speed anyway.

Obviously I've glossed over parts, and made this appear to be a simple 'Throw on some new bits and MOT'
But some diagnostic work and time has gone into this, for instance the vacuum leaks, wasn't a simple case of 'Yeah this pipe', the drivers seat repair and fettling of door locks. 
So now I'm at a loss, its a fully working car that just does what it needs to do, in comfort and relatively reasonable MPG (even the blooming Aircon works), but it's just not me 🤷‍♂️
If anyone wants to literally give me what it owes me, I'll happily try dig out reciepts etc for proof .... but it's open to be purchased.

'Ooft, must eat juice being a V6'

The autobox seems to change up early, meaning you're never stressing the engine, it just wafts, BUT press the sport button and its a different version of events, I can see why they chose a V6 in the mental Clios.
A few weeks (month ?) Of wafting around in this, and I won't lie it is THE most comfortable car I've owned, I even lent it to a friend, and even he said 'this floats along similar to my old Bentley, just needs less aggressive tyres to be silent' , genuinely not making that up !!! .
Anyway non of this work would have been worth it, if it couldn't pass a MOT

MOT WHILE YOU WAIT. 🙈 These sort of places never normally end well, but:

Yep, advisory free PASS.

Eva found phoenix laying on the bathroom floor a little while ago, blood everywhere, he'd fallen and died in her arms as she screamed carrying him down the stairs 😭😭

Rip little buddy, oh boy here comes depression again 😭😭😭

While idly looking at some vans for sale last week I noticed a Caddy van for sale that had extra door seals compared to mine. As mine has Dumbos ears for mirrors, causing some wind noise at motorway speeds, I decided to look into it . So as I'm a sad twat I did some googling and apparently a 'comfort equipment level' spec was available from new, managed to find the part numbers and did some looking around.

Item number 9, ouch at £51 per door though.

Hmm £7.99 for 16 feet of the stuff - thats more palatable.


Looks just the job, thanks auto x bert.
Quick wipe round the vans door frames.



Comfort equipment level achieved 👍.
Remarkably it makes a noticeable difference to wind noise at 70mph, well pleased with that.
Although I'm sure it will detach itself within a week and resemble a 2015 Ford Focus - why do they always look like that?
 

Today I have to say goodbye to my Dad.
I already miss not being able to show him my latest car purchase.

We didn't order a car to transport us to the Crematorium as I felt the 75 was a perfectly fitting vehicle. It was also the last car he took a ride in.
I have made sure that April is a packed month with 2 holidays and a new car to be attending to.

It is indeed. 
I had to replace a couple of missing tyre valve dust caps today. 
I didn't need to remove the bumper.

I knew who was going to be appearing on this before even clicking the link!  Nice to finally meet you, Dan.

Unfortunately, back in April of last year, my Granddad, the man who got me (and my brother Rich) into cars, and engines, and building, and welding, and all the other stuff that causes me so much trouble, passed away at the age of 84 (fairly ripe old age, given some of the stuff he got up to  😂
Over the years, he has been involved in all sorts of stuff that people on here might be interested in, not least of which is that from about the early/mid 60s, through to 1984, he, along with my Nan owned and ran a VW/Audi dealership, in Walsall in the West Midlands called 'Jem of Walsall'
Nan passed away about 6 years ago, so now me and Rich have the interesting, hilarious, surprising, heartbreaking, confusing, annoying and all the other emotions you can think of task of clearing his house, garages and yard of a lifetime of car/boat/general tomfoolery.
I am likely to have loads of stuff to post up here over the next few months as I uncover it (and actually find time to do so), and as long as people are finding it interesting, and want me to carry on, I will do so, as it doesnt seem right for none of this stuff to ever see the light of day again other than just within our family.
Granddad took a load of cine film, so I will start with a few of those, as I think they might be of interest:
First up is a general view around the garage, in 1969, in the snow:

Next up, also in 1969, a little trip around one of the workshops, and the parts department:
 
 
And lastly for this first instalment, slightly earlier I think, probably 66 or so, him tying some souvenirs bought on a cruise onto the roof of his Dads Rover, and then another shot of the front of the garage
Makes me laugh, as his Dad checks the tying on in the exact same way as he has always checked any tying on we have done - I know where he got it from now  😁
 

Assuming anyone is interested at all, I will try and update this reasonably regularly (there are bloody loads of just cine films alone, let alone pictures, stuff we are finding in with his things etc etc) but obviously we are pretty busy actually sorting all this lot at the minute, as well as normal family life etc.
Let me know what you think, whether people want me to keep posting things, and shout if any questions - I could chat about him till the cows come home - he was my hero, and I don't half miss him....
Jem Molyneux  May 1937- April 2022

'Ooft, must eat juice being a V6'

The autobox seems to change up early, meaning you're never stressing the engine, it just wafts, BUT press the sport button and its a different version of events, I can see why they chose a V6 in the mental Clios.
A few weeks (month ?) Of wafting around in this, and I won't lie it is THE most comfortable car I've owned, I even lent it to a friend, and even he said 'this floats along similar to my old Bentley, just needs less aggressive tyres to be silent' , genuinely not making that up !!! .
Anyway non of this work would have been worth it, if it couldn't pass a MOT

MOT WHILE YOU WAIT. 🙈 These sort of places never normally end well, but:

Yep, advisory free PASS.

This nifty chap turned up (old one pictured)

So we've had new plugs, new coils (x2 - Still awaiting others to be in stock) , new injector and a new Airbag plug.
Checked everything was plugged in before refitting the inlet manifold, broke open the new gaskets, torqued down to spec, and ...
It fired straight into life 🥳, so decided to treat it to a new air filter, as I wasn't too sure when the last service was (Juley ?)


A quick trip around the block, and I could still hear a air leak - Can't be manifold as all gaskets are new here, but peaking beneath the throttle body, I found this

Rang up Peugeot/ Citroen dealer, and they basically said 'LOL NO', so unfortunately had to sleeve it, with some pipe. Refitted and no more unmetered air. The idle seemed to be much smoother now too.
So the next few days I put some miles on it, as I wanted to make sure all this work (and more) was worth it.

267 miles later, I can confirm it's a good car.
So with that in mind, it got MORE NEW STUFF

New brakes all round - discs, pads and shoes.
 

At this point I was waiting for the injector to turn up, so turned my attention to other things.
Airbag light was illuminated, thankfully the previous owner @406V6 was spot on with his diagnosis - Drivers seat being the culprit. Didn't grab any pictures of this, as I was kneeling on gravel, and just wanted to get done, but found the offending item:

With that snipped out, a new plug and socket was fitted

 
Did it work?
Did the injector turn up ?
Will it ever see the road again ?
*Dramatic music* Stay tuned for updates 

So with everything out the way and a  compression test done, I had a niggling in the back of my mind - 'Do we actually have good spark, is the injector getting a pulse??'
One way to find out

Apologies for the poor picture, but with a noid lamp -  (Freshly purchased from https://www.sealey.co.uk/product/5637205125/6pc-noid-light-set ) , it was confirmed we had injector pulse.
And Halfords spark tester  (https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/electrical-diagnostics/laser-ignition-spark-tester-in-line-208694.html ) , it was also confirmed we had spark, but a rather weak looking one. Tried a new coil and things looked much healthier, result.
Old plugs removed and replaced 

I actually forgot !
You have to take the inlet manifold off, in order to get to the rear bank -

As you can probably see, it covers the back 3 cylinders.

Hhmm lovely, lots of instant gasket.
Thankfully before pulling anything apart, I thought to order a set of gaskets (Did so too, as I was adamant I could hear a vaccum leak)

Also making an appearance is the new coil (No idea why Beru / Behru came in BorgWarner boxes)

Obviously I missed Ceri dropping this off, so he as always, parked and secured this in a Professional manner. 
Once home I cracked on:

Lets try understand what is going on 

She's certainly unhappy about cylinder 5, but why ?
The previous owner told me he'd spent good money on having new coils and plugs fitted, so at first I ruled them out and ordered an injector, so whilst waiting for that to be delivered I cracked on, removed the engine cover and investigated further.


Three different makes of coil, now my OCD / finicky head really dislikes mismatched brands, so I hit up euro car parts - Non in stock, tried local factors - no, Autodoc - x2 Behru in stock. Ordered, and add to email list when back in stock.
Lets not waste time waiting for parts 

Checked compression of all cylinders, and all returned satisfactory results.

Obviously I've glossed over parts, and made this appear to be a simple 'Throw on some new bits and MOT'
But some diagnostic work and time has gone into this, for instance the vacuum leaks, wasn't a simple case of 'Yeah this pipe', the drivers seat repair and fettling of door locks. 
So now I'm at a loss, its a fully working car that just does what it needs to do, in comfort and relatively reasonable MPG (even the blooming Aircon works), but it's just not me 🤷‍♂️
If anyone wants to literally give me what it owes me, I'll happily try dig out reciepts etc for proof .... but it's open to be purchased.

'Ooft, must eat juice being a V6'

The autobox seems to change up early, meaning you're never stressing the engine, it just wafts, BUT press the sport button and its a different version of events, I can see why they chose a V6 in the mental Clios.
A few weeks (month ?) Of wafting around in this, and I won't lie it is THE most comfortable car I've owned, I even lent it to a friend, and even he said 'this floats along similar to my old Bentley, just needs less aggressive tyres to be silent' , genuinely not making that up !!! .
Anyway non of this work would have been worth it, if it couldn't pass a MOT

MOT WHILE YOU WAIT. 🙈 These sort of places never normally end well, but:

Yep, advisory free PASS.