Project Korean Cortina - going back in time!

[mat_the_cat]

Better go and have a look at that starter tonight then!

[mat_the_cat]

My feet are cooking! But fortunately the engine isn't. Yet...

 

[chaseracer]

^ M6, north of Brum...?

[mat_the_cat]

Correct. Next guesses?





But traffic has now been forgotten, after a sprint through the Blackwall tunnel, and now this!

EDIT - this is the spares car in front...

[RayMK]

Such dedication to the cause .  Judging by the bump that one's had,  you won't need to divert past my place on the way home. 

[mat_the_cat]

I *did* get your overrider (and will reply to your PM), but I confess that I headed straight back home as after a 502 mile trip I am now a broken man. Mainly because it took 9 hours (including lunch and fuel stops) to do the first 250 miles, through no fault of my own although it was not completely incident free.

 

However, seeing as we are going away this weekend in the van I have to be up reasonably early, so I'll explain more later...

[Skizzer]

 

Hell's teeth, I nearly had a heart attack until I realised that's the spares car.  Thought something horrid had happened on the M40.

[chaseracer]

^ Me too!! 

[mat_the_cat]

Never again will I complain about tourist 'traffic' levels in Wales! Probably the most stressful journey I've done!

 

The car is stored at his workplace, so he was initially going to hang around after work for me to arrive. But after hitting problem near Brum I said I'd let him know when I got closer, so he could go home and come back nearer the time. This is when the car started to give me grief I'd guesstimated at the right size restrictor in the return fuel line, to allow some flow at idle to prevent vaporisation, yet not too much so the pump can keep up with engine demands at full throttle. This it seems isn't optimally sized for prolonged traffic on a hot day!

 

After about half an hour of near stationary idling, it started to get a little 'fluffy' when pulling away unless the throttle was fed in very gently. This caused several stalls - not normally a problem but more so in the middle lane of the M6 with a dodgy starter motor. And no usable hard shoulder. Anyway, after a while things started moving a bit and just the slow airflow through the engine bay was enough to stave off problems.

 

As I was running late I decided to skip stopping to eat, and let him know when I was an hour away. All looked good until I was 10 miles/20 minutes away, which ended up taking an hour and a half - in fact a whole hour just to do 2 miles. After about 45 minutes the vaporisation was getting quite bad - even cutting out if I allowed the engine to idle. The starter problem was worse in the heat too On more than one occasion I was stopped, and unable to get started for a while. People honking and shouting, you get the picture. It helped if I revved the engine, but this increased the heat coming through the bulkhead! On top of this I was starving, thirsty and exceedingly grumpy.

 

When I eventually got there I was very happy to see he'd remembered some of the things I'd mentioned, and started getting them off while he was waiting Such a relief to finally head homewards. On the plus side, at least the engine cooling system is fine as the gauge never budged over half way, although was pinking badly for a few minutes after finally getting moving. I will assess my haul tomorrow!

[mat_the_cat]

Hell's teeth, I nearly had a heart attack until I realised that's the spares car.  Thought something horrid had happened on the M40.

 

Ha! I've edited the original post now...

[RayMK]

Bugger.  You're more of a man than I  am.  I would have turned back home at the slightest excuse.  Traffic is bad enough, but trying to nurse older car symptoms when there's no easy pull-off is headachingly stressfull.  I could cope when I smoked a pipe, now I just give up.  Must be getting old.

 

Thanks for obtaining an overrider.  No rush.  £s waiting.

[mat_the_cat]

Turned back? The question of why am I doing this crossed my mind several times!

 

But there were a couple of good moments - firstly on the M6 when a couple of girls in the queue alongside me looked at the car and smiled. Although it may have been pity...it's sometimes difficult to tell. I did my best to keep my cool for a brief moment at least, and prayed I didn't stall it while they were watching.

 

And secondly on the North Circular, two blokes in a car were pointing and gave me huge grins. I felt compelled to give the throttle a boot, which seemed to meet with approval and a thumbs-up

[rainagain]

I was watching the latest episode of Roadkill (24 hours of lemons), the fuel was boiling so they wrapped the fuel line in tinfoil to help reflect the heat in the engine bay and the fuel filter in an old beer can sounds like a straight AS win idea.

[colino]

Isn't Roadkill the programme where the guys think that every fault can be cured by taking off the bonnet?

[mat_the_cat]

I was watching the latest episode of Roadkill (24 hours of lemons), the fuel was boiling so they wrapped the fuel line in tinfoil to help reflect the heat in the engine bay and the fuel filter in an old beer can sounds like a straight AS win idea.

 

Nice idea! Although my plan is to avoid traffic jams from now on...when I was a student I always used to travel late at night which I much preferred. A shame that little things like having a job requiring an early start mean it's more difficult now.

[dollywobbler]

Blimey. I took a whole three days to get to the south east and back. You win.

[mat_the_cat]

It's been a busy week, but this is my 'haul' from last Friday.

 

 

I already have many parts, so this is just the ones I'm missing, and a few parts as spare spares for things which I'v found to be weak points. I'm on my third ignition switch for example, the rear reading lights go a bit brittle, and when I first got the car (and there was a Stellar in most scrapyards) a struggled to find a non-sagging interior mirror.

 

My front windows have a lot of wear in the mechanism so should be able to rectify that now! Plus the fuel sender is slightly erratic and very pessimistic. Notice the overrider, Ray - I'll post it out this week.

 

The sill strips have now been cleaned up (on had been painted poorly in silver) and straightened by heating in front of our fire until thy were floppy, then laying on a slate slab. Ready for fitting now.

 

Lastly, I couldn't resist the mudflaps! Unfortunately one of the fronts was missing, and the other was torn so I only have the rears. Fitted them tonight and they look pretty good.

 

 

(Bonus shot of one of the 3D printed wheel centre caps in position!)

[Felly Magic]

You can't beat playing with a pair of flaps. Sorry couldn't resist the pun. Keep up the good work mate

[mat_the_cat]

I put the sill strips on this evening, although they could still do with a final going over with trim restorer. First of all I filed down the head of a nylon bolt so it would fit in the T shaped slot at one end piece - this is threaded into the base of the front wing. Then I bonded on the end piece to the main trim with Sikaflex 252 (as I had some spare to use up!)

 

 

The whole trim was stuck to the car with Sikaflex 221, and it finishes off the sills nicely

 

 

(Doors not shut as it fouls the gaffer tape temporarily holding it in place).

 

And just in case I am ever in danger of getting bored, here is my next project!

 

 

My plan is to convert this old motorbike trailer into a camping pod - put a plywood floor into it, build some sides, and a hinged lid.  (Complete with slot mag wheels which you might be able to just make out!) Should be easier than a tent at next year's Shitefest. I'll start another thread for it once I get started...

[tooSavvy]

Sagging interior mirror?

 

My proton Mpi was trez limp >> scrappy 3series gave a mirror with a lockring, set & twist

 

TS

[mat_the_cat]

Latest tinkerings include replacing the choke cable with one from the banger Stellar:

 

 

No much different in looks (although it matches the headlamp washer switch better now) but it's more secure in the dashboard now - now flopping around. I've also had a lucky score on eBay with a brand new window mechanism (after getting a pair from London) - £11.50 including postage!

 

I've been in touch with Hyundai regarding bits over the last few weeks, and this is the latest reply I have received (bear in mind I haven't said much about the car, only that I am restoring it). I'm not quite sure whether they're taking the piss!

 

"Thank you for your further email. I am delighted  to hear you have located a replacement trim that you required for your incredible Hyundai Stellar.

I have checked with our parts distribution center to investigate if there is any availability of the under bonnet light as you have requested.I am very sorry but this part is not available.

I am very sorry I am unable to procure this part for you.

Thank you for contacting Hyundai Customer Services.I wish you the very best of luck restoring your clearly much loved vehicle."

 

Ah well, plan B for that as well then. I'll leave you with a photo...

 

[mat_the_cat]

Probably a bit of a dull post, this, but it makes me happy...

 

The original under bonnet lamp I had replaced long ago with an obviously DIY affair, when the integral tilt switch failed. No joy from Hyundai, and only fitted up to 1987 so little chance of a used replacement!

 

 

But I found a similar looking (from what I remember!) holder, and fitted that with a separate tilt switch hidden in the bonnet.

 

 

I really needed to replace the fuel sender, as the original read full for the first 20 miles after a fill, then quickly fell to half and then dropped as normal. So even when showing empty there'd still be near enough half a tank left. I got a spare sender a couple of weeks ago (from a later car), although it was a little rusty on the outside:

 

 

But worked smoothly. Problem was, the 'new' sender had a range of 0-100 ohms, and the gauge expected 10 to 180 ohms. Even after playing around with zero and span adjustment pots I couldn't get it reading right at both ends of the scale.

 

Enter this  little device which I found:

https://www.spiyda.com/magento/index.php/fuel-gauge-wizard-mk2.html

 

So I wired it in (the wrong way round at first!!!) and after a fair bit of adjustment got it reading spot on over the whole range of the gauge. There's even adjustment for linearity, as on some senders the resistance doesn't change linearly with fuel level - presumably if the tank is non-uniform in profile over its depth.

 

 

Then I fitted the cleaned up sender...

 

 

...and connected it all up.

 

 

The old one had just plain spade connections, which will corrode over time. Happily, the replacement has a waterproof connector, which I've soldered into the original loom.

[mat_the_cat]

 

A mini milestone today (although I missed the 'money shot'), meaning that I've done 2,500 miles in 3 months! And 4,000 since completing the engine swap. Quite a few more than I thought I'd be doing...better change the mileage limit on the insurance.

 

Sadly though, we're getting frosts now so won't be long before gritting starts, even though it melts as soon as the sun hits. I don't really want to be taking it out with salt around So I'd better make the most of it while I can!

[Anglevan]

Doing a grand job with all the finer details - well done.

 

Quick question regards the gauge device. I could do with something similiar, i'm running a Silvia pump / Sender and want to match it up with the guage in my Anglia. I've checked on that site and it's asking for ohms range. The Silvia is up to 90ohms for the sender but I cant find out what the gauge for the Anglia is working at.

How did you find out with yours? Looks like this bit of kit could be my soloution. My other option was to fit the Anglia sender into the tank !!!

[mat_the_cat]

All I did was play around with resistor values to get full and empty on the gauge, but specifying the resistance the gauge requires is only needed if you want the device already set up for you when you buy it. If you cant find out, just twiddle the pots (a little at a time!!!) until the gauge reads OK. Or ask the seller if he knows what resistances it needs, he seemed pretty clued up and may well know what a Ford gauge normally expects.

[Anglevan]

Cheers, will get one ordered and see how it goes.

[Lankytim]

Off topic (ish) but I'm after an engine and box for one if these of you know of one?

[mat_the_cat]

Sorry, but the only contact I know of is the one you posted up in the eBay tat thread. Maybe worth a shot, as he was saying they often used to put Crossflow engines in banger raced Stellars, as the original's distributor was quite vulnerable hanging off the front.

[mat_the_cat]

As some may remember, I've spent a bit of time trying to improve the sound system in the Stellar - specifically getting music from my phone to play easily and safely. Initially I was playing them through an FM transmitter spliced into the aerial line, which wasn't perfect sound wise and also rather quiet. The aux-in lead had a button through which I could control basic playback functions, so was safer than using my phone screen!

 

When I upgraded the head unit to the one I'd always wanted in my youth, I could then use the CD changer input as an aux-in, which improved sound a little but it was still quiet, and control of tracks wasn't the easiest with the button on the lead. But then I found that back in the early 2000s, Pioneer did an accessory which connected to the CD changer port, allowing a USB input! Full control from the head unit, and track titles too Presumably discontinued as it didn't encourage people to upgrade their head units...

 

I'd been looking for a while but any that did come up were used and over £100 Until I found one BNIB for sale over the pond for $25 - better still it was Canadian dollars so only £12.50! It was on a community sell/swap webpage, so I applied to join. Unfortunately they wouldn't let 'outsiders' in, so I emailed one of the admins to explain the situation. She agreed to contact the seller, but sadly they didn't want the bother of packaging it, finding the cost to the UK etc.

 

So I thought that was that. But the admin then offered to buy it and post it herself, and when I told her to add something on for the time and trouble, told me she didn't want any extra, just to pay the favour forwards! Anyway, long story short and all that, here's what arrived today:

 

[thedupleman]

Interesting to read and I share your pain on spare parts....a pony pickup is hard to get bits for too, thankfully as yet the scoupe is not too bad