mat_the_cat

You took a dump in the services car park whilst crouched behind the front wheel?

Good news and bad news. I don't have to worry about the paint being hard enough tomorrow, that's the good news. Bad news is that Auto Windscreens sent me a message today saying they are struggling to obtain the glass. If they'd said this with more than 24 hours notice I'd have made sure I had a screen there waiting!
Anyway, I did get a coat of green on last week.

Before masking off the inside and aiming a jet of Dynax S50 at the seam.

Watch this space for further developments; the real ballache is I have to clear all 3 vehicles out into the open, as I have concrete arriving on Wednesday to lay the floor.

Good news and bad news. I don't have to worry about the paint being hard enough tomorrow, that's the good news. Bad news is that Auto Windscreens sent me a message today saying they are struggling to obtain the glass. If they'd said this with more than 24 hours notice I'd have made sure I had a screen there waiting!
Anyway, I did get a coat of green on last week.

Before masking off the inside and aiming a jet of Dynax S50 at the seam.

Watch this space for further developments; the real ballache is I have to clear all 3 vehicles out into the open, as I have concrete arriving on Wednesday to lay the floor.

Shall we try something different?
I woke up today and gave the Beat some air - the interior still needs a scrubbing from the winter mildew.

As documented earlier, the Beat failed the MOT in November for high emissions and leaking exhaust gases. I took it to a local fabricator who made a link pipe for it at the cost of £270, took it back to the MOT centre and it still wasn't passing. 
During the exhaust work, it was noted that the rear of the catalytic converter had melted. Luckily, I had finally sourced a second hand unit from someone in the Beat club, and I've been waiting for an opportunity to do something with it.
I never actually had the chance to check over the work that the exhaust people did, and I'm pretty disappointed with the work I saw.
The exhaust was blowing and holding no pressure when I covered it when I picked it up. Saw this extra nut haphazardly screwed onto one of the cat securing posts - it's not even the same fucking thread pitch!
It was also given a slathering of exhaust paste at both ends of the link pipe in a failed attempt to stop it blowing.

The other end of the cat had been chopped off and replaced with a generic flange, so I took the cat and link pipe off and went off to the exhaust place to source a new flange....
....and once again, I came back empty handed, with nobody in the area supplying bits for making exhausts.
That being said, I /did/ have a suitable flange, it just happened to be welded to the broken cat!
I took a couple of reference photos to the rough position and angles of the flange:

You can see from the comparison photos that the old cat had been shortened, they would have just chopped the end off just behind the weld of the old flange.

First things first, the donor flange was chopped off. Had to be careful not to damage it 😅

Marked up the cut on the new cat. Added a slight angle on it to match the previous one. Just had to cut between the lines 😅

Once that was cut, everything was refitted to the car, and the rear exhaust was supported, to give the correct angle. The loose flange was reattached to the link pipe.

Took a bit of time to get it supported in a manner that didn't allow contact with the subframe, but once I was happy, I applied a couple of tacks to the flange, and removed the cat to go back on the bench.

It was quite a gap, but this is never an exact science 😅
Anyway, it doesn't have to be pretty, but it's welded up and survived the hammer test.

And bolted in. Thankfully, this bolted in nicely and I even managed to close up the flange gaps that the previous people failed to close, without resorting to paste!

Firing up the engine revealed that there's no blowing now, and there's pressure when I put my hand over the backbox, and nothing touches the subframe so that's a proper result!
However, I did notice a couple of rust scabs underneath, so now is as good a time as any!
Raised the car up on all four stands.

And gave it a thorough pressure wash on the underside, ready for some more work tomorrow.

Either way, this is ready for another MOT, so this is just some extra-curricular activity now 😅
Cheers!

Good news and bad news. I don't have to worry about the paint being hard enough tomorrow, that's the good news. Bad news is that Auto Windscreens sent me a message today saying they are struggling to obtain the glass. If they'd said this with more than 24 hours notice I'd have made sure I had a screen there waiting!
Anyway, I did get a coat of green on last week.

Before masking off the inside and aiming a jet of Dynax S50 at the seam.

Watch this space for further developments; the real ballache is I have to clear all 3 vehicles out into the open, as I have concrete arriving on Wednesday to lay the floor.

This last week has been awful for moisture, so I couldn't paint (even under cover) until today. Had to clean up the bare metal again, and painted in BH Etchweld followed by a zinc primer.


Then the exciting part...4 coats of colour! (Think this was only after the first coat or two).

Before going over with 3 coats of lacquer. Really *really* hope it's fully hardened by a week on Monday! 

Good news and bad news. I don't have to worry about the paint being hard enough tomorrow, that's the good news. Bad news is that Auto Windscreens sent me a message today saying they are struggling to obtain the glass. If they'd said this with more than 24 hours notice I'd have made sure I had a screen there waiting!
Anyway, I did get a coat of green on last week.

Before masking off the inside and aiming a jet of Dynax S50 at the seam.

Watch this space for further developments; the real ballache is I have to clear all 3 vehicles out into the open, as I have concrete arriving on Wednesday to lay the floor.

As the current custodian of an LT I’ve read through this whole thread at least twice and as well as learning a lot I’ve found it all extremely encouraging. Keep up the good work!

I’ve recently acquired a 2.4TD engine that I hope to swap for the original NA, with the eventual hope that my LT will go up hills, something it’s so far been reluctant to do. 

Good news and bad news. I don't have to worry about the paint being hard enough tomorrow, that's the good news. Bad news is that Auto Windscreens sent me a message today saying they are struggling to obtain the glass. If they'd said this with more than 24 hours notice I'd have made sure I had a screen there waiting!
Anyway, I did get a coat of green on last week.

Before masking off the inside and aiming a jet of Dynax S50 at the seam.

Watch this space for further developments; the real ballache is I have to clear all 3 vehicles out into the open, as I have concrete arriving on Wednesday to lay the floor.

I prefer to use Tayna for car batteries now, prices seem fair and when I had to return one because it had gone too flat for my trickle charger, the fees weren't extortionate and process was efficient.

Last day of leave from work and once again, no parts arrived. So, more cleaning and little jobs instead.
The remainder of the gearbox was sprayed with degreaser and left to work in for a bit.
First shitty job was the bonnet catch.

Absolutely caked in old sticky grease and grime from 30 years of spraying any old shite onto it.
Bit more degreaser and some aggressive scrubbing got it looking presentable again.

Whilst re-lubricating the latch and operating the mechanism, it was clear that something wasn't quite right. The big spring on the left hand dislodged and was gouging into the catch.


I held the spring in place with steel wire and twatted the top of the bracket to bend it over to retain the screw - job done.

Was going to adjust the cable as there was quite a lot of slack in the system.

Nice and simple, just one tiny screw to undo aaaaand...

Never mind, it works just fine, I was just being picky.
Next small job, the temperature sensor earth return terminal had came away from the cable - my old crimping tool was well past it. Annoyingly, I ran out of my tiny ring terminals, and with the clearance available, a generic one wouldn't work.

In the end, I drilled out a male spade terminal to match the screw thread size and it fits perfectly.

Anyway, with that done, I cracked on, and cleaned the rest of the gearbox up.

Not perfect, but a hell of a lot better than what it was! Decided there was no better time to change the driveshaft seals. Old ones looked fine, but I had new ones so it made sense to change them!



Both sides were changed, and rubber grease syringed into the seal cavity.

I also greased up the gear change rod ball joints.
In all honesty, there's very little I can do now until the last of the engine parts get here, so I'm going to take a break.
LOL, as if.

Herman has been sat on the drive since November, and his MOT has lapsed. There's currently an ABS fault that I need to look into, but as it was the first dry day with no BX work in months, I decided to start small and fit some bits that I've had on the shelf.

For years and years, I've been told I need to change my throttle cable by Phill because it was corroded and the pedal felt stiff throughout the range of travel. I bought two replacement OE cables last year.
First up, the throttle pedal cable.

Surprisingly easy to strip and disconnect at the pedal box end, although the bulkhead clip was a bit of a twat to undo, due to the sound deadening. Brute force force got it out though. Followed the routing and it was adjusted and ready to go, resulting in a much smoother and lighter pedal.

Next one was even easier, this was for the traction control.
The actuator had to be unshipped for access to the other side of the cable. With a strong clip either side, I ended up taking it into the garage, clamping the free end of the cable in a vice, applying constant tension to the cable whilst simultaneously undoing both retaining clips.


But it worked just fine the was a pleasant job.
Sadly, whilst it needed changing, it wasn't the one I was intending to change, I was after the one for the cruise control actuator:

The cable in this one is also pretty shagged, and at £90 for a replacement one, I'll be trying my luck at the scrappies in due course. It does work for now so it's not urgent.
Whilst the airbox was out, I noticed some paint fretting and light corrosion on a contact surface. Treated it with Kurist, and applied some anti-chafing tape to the affected area.
Anyway, with that all done, it was a quick and easy reassembly.


Didn't start it up as the battery is still on conditioning charge in the garage.
Up close, you can see the replacements were required!

Anyway, I did decide to knock it on the head early for the night. I tidied the tools away and hoovered the garage floor, ready for the next evolution.
Tomorrow, I'm back to work and we have a torque wrench tester. Going to take mine in so I can see what I need to set the torque wrenches to, in order to get the 20 and 60nm figures required for the head bolt torquing.

Cheers!
 
 

Latest addition to the fleet here.  1975 Rover P6 3500.

Today was a Welding day! and i have done the small section at the back of the sill shown on the previous post with the last photo. 

A Fabricated a new Lip for the little box section where the trailing arm bolts into and got it welded up. 

 
Next up was the little piece that is welded from the Reinforcing plate inside the box section to the lip. 

Once that was alll welded and ground flat, i then worked on getting the inner sill panel that goes over this box section. I did a few modifications to the panel i made to make it fit right adding some release cuts at the top so i can bend it into the shape it needs to be. 

I got that all welded in and flattened the welds down. I also did the plug welds around the lip of the box section. 

All Grinded Flat:

Thats it all Zinc Primed and protected! 

 

Reminds me of an ex of mine.

Probably about the same number as these repeat posts!

The idle speed problem was a really simple fix! The throttle return spring, for some reason, was pushing on the wrong part of the quadrant so minimal tension when shut.

This is just an internet photo, but it was around 90° too slack, pushing on the circled moulding rather than where it should be.
To celebrate @Puglet took it out for a drive this evening, once the tourist traffic had died down.

Looking rather nice! (ATCNBE...)

Another job off the list!

Thanks, that's very kind of you.
The air filter housing finished its bath, but was in rather worse condition than first thought - some of it there was no good steel to dissolve back to!

My welder is out of action, so I taped up the inside and used epoxy (3M 2216) to build up a layer.

Then a coat of paint and new filter.

Job done, and looking a lot better! New coolant level sensor also fitted.

Next was the lights - a headlight was misty, an indicator cracked, and both had been changed for the facelifted clear type fitted to the later models.

I took the lights off, and again was really pleased how good condition the metalwork was behind.


I took the opportunity to spray some cavity was around, including injecting it into the chassis legs.

It also seemed a good idea to clean up all the electrical connections and coat with silicone grease. Both headlights were dried and sealed up, before refitting with the correct amber indicators. 

Tail light surrounds now match.

Have been to the post office today to see whether we could get the tax changed to historic, but as I had pretty much expected it looks like I'll need to contact the DVLA directly regarding that. The only date which their computer brings up is the 1999 import date, and there's no option available to them to change the tax class.  Sure that will be a barrel of laughs to sort.  Will need to wait until a day where I'm feeling particularly patient.
The Trabant as of yesterday has now officially ticked over 1000 miles since arriving here in December.  
Edit: Front mud flaps have now also been fitted as I got tired of them getting in the way in the garage.

Did find some crunchy bits in the underside of the offside sill which will definitely want remedial work before next winter.  Looks like a very old patch which has reached the end of its useful life.  Nothing that's imminently terrifying, but I suspect if my MOT tester had prodded the area I'd have been left with a hole to fix.  Plus one drain hole is definitely bigger than the one on the other side of the car.  On the plus side it's about as easy a repair as you could wish for so I'm really not bothered by having found it.  Par for the course on a vehicle of this age which doesn't look like it's ever had anything beyond a couple of running repairs before, and will be properly sorted in due course.

This last week has been awful for moisture, so I couldn't paint (even under cover) until today. Had to clean up the bare metal again, and painted in BH Etchweld followed by a zinc primer.


Then the exciting part...4 coats of colour! (Think this was only after the first coat or two).

Before going over with 3 coats of lacquer. Really *really* hope it's fully hardened by a week on Monday! 

Minor update - both A pillars and (quite a few) rust spots on the upper lip have been cleaned up, phosphate treated and ready for masking and etch primer.

I'm hoping for some decent weather so I can bake the paint before the screen is fitted, but not massively optimistic. Thinking at least a week to harden. 

This last week has been awful for moisture, so I couldn't paint (even under cover) until today. Had to clean up the bare metal again, and painted in BH Etchweld followed by a zinc primer.


Then the exciting part...4 coats of colour! (Think this was only after the first coat or two).

Before going over with 3 coats of lacquer. Really *really* hope it's fully hardened by a week on Monday! 

Brakes built up. Surprising how easily everything went back together. The back plate and all its trimmings are completely rot free. Nothing fell to bits. 
 
Drum is on, just need to bleed the cylinder up and hopefully job is done 
 
 

This last week has been awful for moisture, so I couldn't paint (even under cover) until today. Had to clean up the bare metal again, and painted in BH Etchweld followed by a zinc primer.


Then the exciting part...4 coats of colour! (Think this was only after the first coat or two).

Before going over with 3 coats of lacquer. Really *really* hope it's fully hardened by a week on Monday! 

This last week has been awful for moisture, so I couldn't paint (even under cover) until today. Had to clean up the bare metal again, and painted in BH Etchweld followed by a zinc primer.


Then the exciting part...4 coats of colour! (Think this was only after the first coat or two).

Before going over with 3 coats of lacquer. Really *really* hope it's fully hardened by a week on Monday! 

This last week has been awful for moisture, so I couldn't paint (even under cover) until today. Had to clean up the bare metal again, and painted in BH Etchweld followed by a zinc primer.


Then the exciting part...4 coats of colour! (Think this was only after the first coat or two).

Before going over with 3 coats of lacquer. Really *really* hope it's fully hardened by a week on Monday!