MikeKnight

NO MORE BATTERY DRAIN, WOOHOO!
No more charging the fucking thing every god damn night. New battery fixed the issue and I'm so glad I swapped it to UK configuration.
However, I'm forced to put off doing the other work on this as my Rover 75, which has BRAND NEW front shocks.. is now creaking horribly on the front shocks.

That's all I have from the pictures taken years ago when I reluctantly started work on it.
We no longer have the "carpets" (they're just plastic in this model) after the person we trusted to retrim it refused to finish the work and we had to take him to court. He retaliated pettily by throwing the carpets out along with the templates.
It's been sitting outside for at least 4 years now as a shell so the condition will have deteriorated a little though it's been mostly covered up so shouldn't be too bad.
Vulgalour did begin taking the filler in the arches off to prep them for repair but was pulled off of it by my dad for apparently no reason. I'm starting to suspect my dad gets off on watching cars rot in a corner.
 
 
 

That's all I have from the pictures taken years ago when I reluctantly started work on it.
We no longer have the "carpets" (they're just plastic in this model) after the person we trusted to retrim it refused to finish the work and we had to take him to court. He retaliated pettily by throwing the carpets out along with the templates.
It's been sitting outside for at least 4 years now as a shell so the condition will have deteriorated a little though it's been mostly covered up so shouldn't be too bad.
Vulgalour did begin taking the filler in the arches off to prep them for repair but was pulled off of it by my dad for apparently no reason. I'm starting to suspect my dad gets off on watching cars rot in a corner.
 
 
 

Yes it is! Anyone interested just pop along and take a look at my ad.
Shiters get a discount, £3000 instead of £4000 if a Shiter buys it.

Don't destroy your wrist on the cranking handle if it has one, you need that for work. ?

NO MORE BATTERY DRAIN, WOOHOO!
No more charging the fucking thing every god damn night. New battery fixed the issue and I'm so glad I swapped it to UK configuration.
However, I'm forced to put off doing the other work on this as my Rover 75, which has BRAND NEW front shocks.. is now creaking horribly on the front shocks.

NO MORE BATTERY DRAIN, WOOHOO!
No more charging the fucking thing every god damn night. New battery fixed the issue and I'm so glad I swapped it to UK configuration.
However, I'm forced to put off doing the other work on this as my Rover 75, which has BRAND NEW front shocks.. is now creaking horribly on the front shocks.

Modified the battery setup today so I can fit UK batteries.
Nice thick bolts and good quality thick copper core. Don't want any fires now. ?

I tested the battery to see if there was much of a drain.
Here it is fully charged overnight but not connected yet.

And here it is connected. 0.1V drop is acceptable, after all the security system does stay active and I think the boot was open at this point so there was a single bulb drawing power.

Now just to see if it drops off overnight, in which case I'll know there's a bad drain or poor ground somewhere. I hope not though, I hate tracking down that shit.
Next jobs are fixing the A/C system and reading codes so I can figure out why the minor fault (Service Vehicle Soon) dash light keeps coming on.

The guy told me he'd call back if he couldn't get the gearbox fault to clear and we could swap back over.
I was diplomatic, I told him "yeah I'm a decent fellow, I'd honour that".
Then blocked his number.

Modified the battery setup today so I can fit UK batteries.
Nice thick bolts and good quality thick copper core. Don't want any fires now. ?

I tested the battery to see if there was much of a drain.
Here it is fully charged overnight but not connected yet.

And here it is connected. 0.1V drop is acceptable, after all the security system does stay active and I think the boot was open at this point so there was a single bulb drawing power.

Now just to see if it drops off overnight, in which case I'll know there's a bad drain or poor ground somewhere. I hope not though, I hate tracking down that shit.
Next jobs are fixing the A/C system and reading codes so I can figure out why the minor fault (Service Vehicle Soon) dash light keeps coming on.

Modified the battery setup today so I can fit UK batteries.
Nice thick bolts and good quality thick copper core. Don't want any fires now. ?

I tested the battery to see if there was much of a drain.
Here it is fully charged overnight but not connected yet.

And here it is connected. 0.1V drop is acceptable, after all the security system does stay active and I think the boot was open at this point so there was a single bulb drawing power.

Now just to see if it drops off overnight, in which case I'll know there's a bad drain or poor ground somewhere. I hope not though, I hate tracking down that shit.
Next jobs are fixing the A/C system and reading codes so I can figure out why the minor fault (Service Vehicle Soon) dash light keeps coming on.

Modified the battery setup today so I can fit UK batteries.
Nice thick bolts and good quality thick copper core. Don't want any fires now. ?

I tested the battery to see if there was much of a drain.
Here it is fully charged overnight but not connected yet.

And here it is connected. 0.1V drop is acceptable, after all the security system does stay active and I think the boot was open at this point so there was a single bulb drawing power.

Now just to see if it drops off overnight, in which case I'll know there's a bad drain or poor ground somewhere. I hope not though, I hate tracking down that shit.
Next jobs are fixing the A/C system and reading codes so I can figure out why the minor fault (Service Vehicle Soon) dash light keeps coming on.

I'm having lots of fun embarrassing barry boys.
It's large so these wankers keep thinking its slow and try to overtake in their chavved out corsas.
4.9L V8 says no. Emasculation achieved. Back behind me, pleb.
The Cadillac is ridiculously quick, but having a lead foot makes the MPG plummet to single figures. Also can't go around corners quickly.
But straight line? It's a god damn rocket.

I'm having lots of fun embarrassing barry boys.
It's large so these wankers keep thinking its slow and try to overtake in their chavved out corsas.
4.9L V8 says no. Emasculation achieved. Back behind me, pleb.
The Cadillac is ridiculously quick, but having a lead foot makes the MPG plummet to single figures. Also can't go around corners quickly.
But straight line? It's a god damn rocket.

I'm having lots of fun embarrassing barry boys.
It's large so these wankers keep thinking its slow and try to overtake in their chavved out corsas.
4.9L V8 says no. Emasculation achieved. Back behind me, pleb.
The Cadillac is ridiculously quick, but having a lead foot makes the MPG plummet to single figures. Also can't go around corners quickly.
But straight line? It's a god damn rocket.

I'm having lots of fun embarrassing barry boys.
It's large so these wankers keep thinking its slow and try to overtake in their chavved out corsas.
4.9L V8 says no. Emasculation achieved. Back behind me, pleb.
The Cadillac is ridiculously quick, but having a lead foot makes the MPG plummet to single figures. Also can't go around corners quickly.
But straight line? It's a god damn rocket.

I'm having lots of fun embarrassing barry boys.
It's large so these wankers keep thinking its slow and try to overtake in their chavved out corsas.
4.9L V8 says no. Emasculation achieved. Back behind me, pleb.
The Cadillac is ridiculously quick, but having a lead foot makes the MPG plummet to single figures. Also can't go around corners quickly.
But straight line? It's a god damn rocket.

Tried to get the A/C re-gassed today but the compressor isn't engaging its clutch for some reason. Might be seized. Thankfully the workshop book tells you certain pins to short in order to bypass its control system and engage anyway, so I can determine if the sensor or the compressor itself is at fault. Also the high pressure side valve is leaking and it might have a fail-safe that stops it engaging in this case, so I'll change the valve out first.
I cleaned inside the car today, it was a long day, it was so bad.. so so bad.. I don't even want to think about it.. I've probably picked up consumption from it..
Anyway, I cleaned the carpets and found all this yummy coffee! Anyone for espresso? A really good crema head on this one! ?☕

SERIOUSLY
THE CAR WAS FILTHY
FUCKING FILTHY
It's at home now at least, fully insured and taxed. Was only £180 for the whole year fully comprehensive.
I'm going to need a new battery though, even though still displaying its green "I'm okay!" light this one doesn't seem to hold as charge very long.

I'm having lots of fun embarrassing barry boys.
It's large so these wankers keep thinking its slow and try to overtake in their chavved out corsas.
4.9L V8 says no. Emasculation achieved. Back behind me, pleb.
The Cadillac is ridiculously quick, but having a lead foot makes the MPG plummet to single figures. Also can't go around corners quickly.
But straight line? It's a god damn rocket.

I'm having lots of fun embarrassing barry boys.
It's large so these wankers keep thinking its slow and try to overtake in their chavved out corsas.
4.9L V8 says no. Emasculation achieved. Back behind me, pleb.
The Cadillac is ridiculously quick, but having a lead foot makes the MPG plummet to single figures. Also can't go around corners quickly.
But straight line? It's a god damn rocket.

I'm having lots of fun embarrassing barry boys.
It's large so these wankers keep thinking its slow and try to overtake in their chavved out corsas.
4.9L V8 says no. Emasculation achieved. Back behind me, pleb.
The Cadillac is ridiculously quick, but having a lead foot makes the MPG plummet to single figures. Also can't go around corners quickly.
But straight line? It's a god damn rocket.

I'm having lots of fun embarrassing barry boys.
It's large so these wankers keep thinking its slow and try to overtake in their chavved out corsas.
4.9L V8 says no. Emasculation achieved. Back behind me, pleb.
The Cadillac is ridiculously quick, but having a lead foot makes the MPG plummet to single figures. Also can't go around corners quickly.
But straight line? It's a god damn rocket.

I'm having lots of fun embarrassing barry boys.
It's large so these wankers keep thinking its slow and try to overtake in their chavved out corsas.
4.9L V8 says no. Emasculation achieved. Back behind me, pleb.
The Cadillac is ridiculously quick, but having a lead foot makes the MPG plummet to single figures. Also can't go around corners quickly.
But straight line? It's a god damn rocket.

I'm having lots of fun embarrassing barry boys.
It's large so these wankers keep thinking its slow and try to overtake in their chavved out corsas.
4.9L V8 says no. Emasculation achieved. Back behind me, pleb.
The Cadillac is ridiculously quick, but having a lead foot makes the MPG plummet to single figures. Also can't go around corners quickly.
But straight line? It's a god damn rocket.

First job today after having had the incorrect seal orientation pointed out was to remove, dismantle, and rebuild the slave cylinder.  A very easy job, happily, and the seal doesn't appear damaged or deformed in any way so I reckon we'll get away with it.

What I hadn't expected was how much it would improve the gear change.  The gear change has always been a bit rubbish in this car, I'd been told they were just like that, and the rubbery and then notchy selection of first has been a feature of this car since I bought it back in 2012.  Because that's how I thought it was supposed to be I just accepted it.  Now, the gear change is much improved, the rubberiness is gone, as is quite a bit of the vagueness.  I was honestly quite surprised and it must have had this seal in the wrong way around for at least as long as I've owned the car, and probably for quite a while before that.  Next, I wanted to take the car for a quick test run, and maybe even an errand if I was feeling confident.  First up was I spotted a minor weep from the mechanical fuel pump blanking plate, this is quite common and usually because one of the bolts isn't quite tight enough.  Wound the bolt in a bit further and... it stripped the thread.  That's not the first time this has happened on this particular bolt and I had already fitted two longer matching bolts to compensate.

Had a rummage and could only find a bolt that was too long and some washers, so I got it together well enough for a test run.

The test run turned into a trundle, the car was behaving really well and I was so impressed with the gear change improvement that it seemed sensible to just get everything done.  Oh yeah, people are staring again, like stopping what they're doing and staring.  How do I forget that keeps happening with this car?  Made it with no bother all the same, the valve train has quietened down a bit too now it's had chance to warm up and cycle the oil about a bit more.  Temperature stayed nice and stable, all the gauges pointed where they should, everything was great.

I was after some bolts to replace that bodged in one, a length of pipe for the BX to test an air leak theory, and some gloves since I ran out today.  Got two out of three, nowhere had any gloves which really shouldn't have been that surprising.  Trundled home and found that the water or whatever it is appearing at the head gasket join is actually coming from the Wellseal used on some of the joints so I assume it's just a component of it that's running off as it gets warm.  Wiped everything clean and it hasn't reappeared in any noticeable amount so that was reassuring too.  Tok out the bodge bolt and washers and replaced it with one of the new ones and that almost went well too.

Mmm, bolt nice and snug... what's that noi-fweeeEEEE*pop*.  Er... what?

There's a bit missing on the casting now.  The bolt holes that go in for the mechanical fuel pump plate are blind ones, they don't go into the engine itself, they're just cast on the top like this.  The end of the bolt that's always caused problems and popped a tiny bit of the end of the casting out.  I could see there was something stuck in the bottom of the bolt hole and with a bit of wire, prodded it out and ended up with a blob of white-ish silicone sealant that was so black on one end there's no reason it was never seen by anyone and removed.  This is an old issue, again predating my ownership of the car, since I've never used this sort of sealant before.  I can only assume the blob of sealant is what kept making the bolt undo itself but now I had a brand new bolt in with a presumably better thread, the sealant couldn't push the bolt and instead pushed on a very thin part of the casting.  There's no cracks or leaks, like I say this is a blind hole that doesn't go through into the engine.  I did have the car running for a while at idle and with fast throttle and nothing was pushed out through this hole so I'm confident I don't need to dismantle things to fix it.
Otherwise, the car has behaved impeccably.  It doesn't run on at all which is a problem it's had before, especially on very hot days like today, it manages to keep at a steady temperature even in traffic, and the brakes inspire confidence even when faced with Southerners suddenly appearing alongside and then cutting in front of you.  It's actually been really nice just to get out in the car, even if only for a handful of miles.  I might even treat it to a wash, it's been so good today.