Project Coprolalia's Asylum - Further sporadic fleet updates

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, PhilA said:

Was always intrigued by these, with the light cluster in the middle.

Are they actually LED's or plastic filters and bulbs behind?

Actually LEDs except for the main beam one.  *Except* for some very early ones where a blue silicon carbide LED was used - which as far as I'm aware is the first commercial application where one appeared.  Later cars used either an amber LED or an incandescent lamp and filter.

See also: Things I'd (metaphorically) give my right arm to get hold of being a lighting technology geek.  Still irked I didn't learn about the vanishingly rare LED involved when there was a very early Polo which would have had one in my local scrappy back in the early 00s.

[PhilA]

I remember those being advertised in RS back in the day, at about £17 a pop. 

Didn't realize they actually used blue LED, that's surprising.

 

Phil

[Inspiral_Mondays]

I had a pre facelift Mk2 Scirocco GTi  sometime back in the dark ages. It had a bright yellow LED for the high beam indicator and I remember being surprised that VW could get away with this.

[Zelandeth]

My early T25 had red for main beam too.  So they used a fair variety of alternatives.

Pretty sure a couple of other manufacturers have used yellow for main beam over the years too. 

Thinking Volvo used a yellowish off-white in the 440 to name one unless my memory is playing tricks on me...

[Coprolalia]

Minor update time. 

Scirocco

The garage has been cleared of building materials/ waste, and the Scirocco has been moved in as of last month for over-winter work. Will probably do another post soon with pictures of this work.

Jobs list: 

• The wiring needs tidying up (currently the fusebox is cable-tied to the bulkhead) - In progress
• The rev counter doesn't work - incompatible with the new alternator
• The gear selector mechanism hits the exhaust, making a nice tinkling noise for about 200rpm of the range - No update
• Rattle-can blow-over respray and general rust tidy-up 

 

Octavia

Continued reprieve from the bridge/ eBay due to being excellent at being an car. After the last round of tip runs I've cleaned and tidied it up. This included pinning up the sagging headlining with drawing pins, for that high quality finish. I also replaced the catch on the front centre armrest which had broken, so it no longer flops open. The SAIC repair has made a surprising amount of difference, although the EML came back on recently. Around the same time the battery started to fail with the cold weather, and on replacing with a new battery the EML cleared, so suspect it was a voltage issue. She now starts and idles well, and seems to be pulling more cleanly, so I wonder if the erroneous readings were irritating the ECU. 

Jobs list:

• Headlining sagging and torn in places from years of carrying lumber  - Bodged/fixed
• Drivers seat bolster has collapsed due to my fat arse
• Few Many scuffs and parking dings 
• 5p sized rust spot on leading edge of bonnet, similar size piece on tailgate, 10p size piece of bubbling on one wheel arch
• The rear window washer doesn't work 
• The Secondary Air Injection pump (emissions device to pump warm air over the cat) has packed up  - Replaced
• Broken interior trim - Replaced

A couple of weeks back I was pulling out from a side junction left onto a main road. A cyclist without lights or high vis, coming down the wrong side of the road crashed into the left front wing of the Octavia, stoving it in before I could pull out. I was still waiting at the junction. He fell off, but quickly got back on and cycled off, leaving me with a massive dent including damage to the paint and warping of the metal. Frustrating, but again made me glad I drive a bit of a beater.

The dent is in a section of the body hidden by interior panels, so it's difficult to beat out...

[bezzabsa]

had forgot how good the scirocco looks...especially with those steelies..

[Coprolalia]

Working on the Scirocco this weekend. The wiring is proving to be a nightmare. Decided to try and find a spare fuse on the board for a switched live for the radio and new gauges. 

Not only is the board not mounted in it's cradle, but a few people have been here before.

There's lots of plain black wiring from the old immobiliser chocolate blocked in. The loose wire I've tagged with electrical tape is a switched live, just floating about. No idea what it's supposed to be doing.

So plan is to now go through and work out exactly what is live/good and what can be removed. Could be here a while...

[Talbot]

On 1/28/2021 at 10:21 AM, Coprolalia said:

He fell off, but quickly got back on and cycled off, leaving me with a massive dent including damage to the paint and warping of the metal.

Clearly knew he was in the wrong.  What an utter tosser.

On the blue-LED-for-main-beam on VWs, is there an option to use a modern blue LED for an authentic look?

[Coprolalia]

1 hour ago, Talbot said:

On the blue-LED-for-main-beam on VWs, is there an option to use a modern blue LED for an authentic look?

I think a lot of people do, particularly as the old capped bulbs are NLA. I have bought from Brickwerks (https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/main-beam-tell-tale-bulb-t3-t4-caddy.html or https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/brickwerks-blog/search/TELL%2BTALE/?) but they now seem to be out of stock.

From reading other people's builds it sounds like fitting an LED with a resistor works, but it needs the resistor otherwise they just blow.

 

[Crackers]

On 11/26/2020 at 10:22 AM, Coprolalia said:

 

 

Does that reg plate also double as a price tag?

 

...and in that case, can I have it? 😁

[Coprolalia]

Where did we get to?

No update on the wiring. I'm still faffing about with wiring diagrams trying to work out what everything does...

MOT was due, and a couple of little niggles had cropped up I wanted to sort. First was the wing mirrors. The LH side one had started to lose it's silvering, and some time last year one of the local student intelligentsia took a dislike to it, knocking the mirror out and breaking the little plastic tags that hold them in (though not smashing the mirror weirdly). The RH side has had a massive crack down it as long as I've owned it. A few years back I sourced a second hand set, so time to fit them.

Left one was nice and easy.  Smear of what I thought was blue hylomar but was actually blue silicon to seal the door membrane back on.

 

The right hand side unearthed a bit of grot. Looked it had a small leak around one of the screws as well. 

Cleaned up and got the vactan out. Poured out too much, so went round the engine bay. Repainting will be the next job after the wiring is sorted.

Whizzed on a bit of Lidl's finest anti-rust metal paint... Actually finding a use for the local lib dems. Then put all back together. Will revisit this with the dremel for a check over when I do the proper respray.

 

The handbrake had also let go at some point. The saddle-shaped piece of metal which holds the ends of the cables to the handle has a little metal tag/lip/flange that stops it from sliding down and off. This flange/lip/thing had bent. I bent it back and then nipped up the handbrakes. Might need to weld something to it or get a new lever at some point, but ok for now.

 

 

Bung it in for the MOT.

 

The rot advisory is arse-covering according to the classic friendly mechanic I'm using for this. 600 miles since the last MOT.  Must try harder. She's running much better with regular use, and still averaging about 65 mpg around the doors. Slow improvements continue.

[Coprolalia]

Minimal change here. Having a new baby will do that. Not much time for tinkering. At least most of the house renovations are now finished.

Octavia jobs list:

• Headlining sagging and torn in places from years of carrying lumber  - Bodged/fixed
• Drivers seat bolster has collapsed due to my fat arse  - Replaced
• Many scuffs and parking dings 
• 5p sized rust spot on leading edge of bonnet, similar size piece on tailgate, 10p size piece of bubbling on one wheel arch
• The rear window washer doesn't work 
• More broken interior trim - Replaced

The headlining that I had stuck up with thumbtacks fell down. It got stapled back up.

@warninglight let it be known he was breaking an Octavia of the same trim level, so I requested the front seats to replace my collapsed one, a few bits of interior plastic that were broken on mine, and a spare matching set of alloys. A trip up to Manchester provided a convenient handover.

The old collapsed and worn out drivers seat:

Which was replaced with one in much better nick:

One of the alloys had a slight buckle (but was still holding air). £60 to some fellas in a very dodgy backstreet tyre place had it bashed out. Two of the alloys came with snow tyres, so the ditchfinders on the other two will get replaced with all season/snow tyres to serve as a winter beater set.

 

No EML at the moment, and otherwise everything working. I might tackle a bit of the cosmetic rust to keep the old girl.

 

Scirocco jobs list:

 

• The wiring needs tidying up (currently the fusebox is cable-tied to the bulkhead) - In progress
• The rev counter doesn't work - Going to be sorted by the very kind Cobblers of this parish
• The gear selector mechanism hits the exhaust, making a nice tinkling noise for about 200rpm of the range - Needs custom exhaust when funds allow
• Rattle-can blow-over respray and general rust tidy-up - winter priority

The Mrs has also bought me a pressure washer, so both dailies have been cleaned and waxed ahead of the winter.

 

 

[Coprolalia]

I had planned to get to work on the Scirocco over the last few weekends (while dodging family visits). The Octavia disagreed with this plan of action.

First of all, the NSR handbrake cable decided it didn't like moving, thank you very much, resulting in a small brake fire at 60mph when it jammed on. Fixing that got farmed out.

Then the locks started doing this. I am not pressing any buttons.

Google-fu says this is the "nsr locking problem". https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/149920-central-locking-self-locking/

The wiring connectors for the central locking sit in a space in the NSR wing. The CD changer (which stopped working a couple of weeks ago) sits above it, and the pipe for the rear screenwash runs through the space. If the rear screenwash pipe pops off or leaks then it leaks straight onto the wiring. Wonderful bit of design there VAG.

Oh goody. The central locking wiring is in a 4in bath of water.

It didn't smell of screenwash, and after checking the pipe run  there didn't seem to be any leaks. I cleaned the sunroof drains, and then poured water over the car and did some further googling, finding this...

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/243898-help-leak-in-boot-and-cant-find-fault/

The leak seemed to start when I pressure-washed it recently (maybe coincidence). I took some of the inner trim panels off in the boot and the water appeared to be coming in from  one of the roof panel joins. On the outside I  took some of the roof rack trim off and found these tiny hairline cracks through the seam seal.

I've wazzed on some tiger seal and it's almost dry through last nights monsoon. TBC

I've also swapped the decent alloys over for the second 'winter' shitty set, ready for MOT later in the month.

[Coprolalia]

Well then, time has flown. Life got in the way; having two kids, finishing renovating a 1930s house, a PhD and that old fave COVID. 

What's been happening at casa sweary. I'm going to gradually update this thread as I work through sorting photos.

The Scirocco GTD didn't sell on here, so after the arrival of child number one I decided to slow down plans for it for a while. Occasional time was available for tinkering.

One of the first jobs I did was setting a plan to stop any deterioration. Previous owners were quite keen on the old t-cut, meaning the paint is thin. In places the rust had started to come through. I therefore went round and vactan-ed any spots I could see, leading to a car that looked like it had a bad case of pox.

It then sat, untouched, for about a year while I dealt with other stuff.

[Coprolalia]

Some time around January 2022 I had another go at chasing the rats nest of wiring behind the dash.

Access is a pain in the arse, but chased out some of the connectors and found a crimp in one where it had been sandwiched (from factory?) by the gauge binnacle.

 

This was about all I could manage around childcare, however I did find the below photos while tidying at my mothers. 

The Polo is the car I came home from hospital in. The Triumph is being worked on by my grandfather (in the white shop coat) and associate. They ran a mechanics and garage business in Formby, starting in the 1920s and eventually closing some time in the 1970s.

 

Around May 2022 we decided that the Octavia was a bit long in the tooth and generally often damp or requiring niggles fixing. MrsCoprolalia was fed up with me spending my time tinkering rather than fixing the house.  I had got it to a good state, but it was needing constant little bits working on and was starting to look sheddy. We listed it here: 

 

It eventually sold via eBay as a classified ad to a local girl who wanted to learn to drive in it. It looks like it lasted another MOT, and then was probably scrapped in 2023. RIP you old beast.

It was replaced by a BMW 320d rep-spec B47 chain snapper. I'm semi-documenting that on here too, but in the modern section so I won't clutter this thread.

 

[Coprolalia]

The Scirocco has basically stayed laid up since. I spent some of this winter going round underneath with the vactan, then followed that up with a coat of some Hammerite waxoyl underseal I had on the shelf. Not ideal, but enough to keep things at bay. 

Anticipating that we were going to be moving I then had it transported out to a storage unit in Monmouthshire (nearer the new house). Thought I'd also taken a photo of that, but apparently not. It was to stay there for a few months and then move into the new larger garage. 

We're moving from a 1930s house that's been a project to a 2000s new-ish build with a double garage and drive. The hope is that we will have more time for kids and hobbies, and less time spent on house maintenance. Move is the end of this month.

To make things complicated the storage unit have contacted me this week to say that they are now closing, and I need to be out the same week we're moving. 

So this is a bit of a callout. Anyone know of any cheap car storage units in Monmouthshire/ just over the bridge? @pilninggas I think you're over Caldicot way? And any recommendations for shite-friendly garages? 

Cheers!

[Coprolalia]

In the meantime, here's a kind of spotted post (most of my new stuff on the Lazy Spotted Thread) from West's Wood Fair in W Sussex.

Would 100% recommend going. Fantastic little event. https://westswoodfair.co.uk/

 

 

Car park shite:

[pilninggas]

5 hours ago, Coprolalia said:

The Scirocco has basically stayed laid up since. I spent some of this winter going round underneath with the vactan, then followed that up with a coat of some Hammerite waxoyl underseal I had on the shelf. Not ideal, but enough to keep things at bay. 

Anticipating that we were going to be moving I then had it transported out to a storage unit in Monmouthshire (nearer the new house). Thought I'd also taken a photo of that, but apparently not. It was to stay there for a few months and then move into the new larger garage. 

We're moving from a 1930s house that's been a project to a 2000s new-ish build with a double garage and drive. The hope is that we will have more time for kids and hobbies, and less time spent on house maintenance. Move is the end of this month.

To make things complicated the storage unit have contacted me this week to say that they are now closing, and I need to be out the same week we're moving. 

So this is a bit of a callout. Anyone know of any cheap car storage units in Monmouthshire/ just over the bridge? @pilninggas I think you're over Caldicot way? And any recommendations for shite-friendly garages? 

Cheers!

You are welcome to store in my place. Loads of room, as long as you need.

[pilninggas]

+there is a vw independent (eg masochist) next to me (who I gather is very good)

[pilninggas]

1 minute ago, pilninggas said:

You are welcome to store in my place. Loads of room, as long as you need.

It is outside so maybe cover if needed

[Coprolalia]

@pilninggas that is too kind. Will PM you.

[Coprolalia]

Continuing the theme of something actually happening.

The new farm storage unit gave a month's notice. Needed to be out by start of May.

@pilninggas made the kind offer above.

A friend also responded to say that a friend of his dad's had a barn I could use. That turned out to be a 10 minute cycle ride from the new house, yet also 2 miles down a quiet dead end road. The barn is actually a small byre part of a range that are no longer used by the farmer, a nice bloke with an excellent farm workshop who I got on very well with. It's costing me very little. It's not fully secure (2 padlocked and chained gates, plus the farm dogs), and the deal was mostly just because it's empty and unused. I'll probably try to help with topping, hedging, ditching and other stuff I have experience in as well.

Move day. Transport driver was a V8 RR Sport and trailer...

And now tucked up in it's temporary home.

It's covered with a car sheet, and that'll keep the birdshit off. Close enough to the house for tinkering. Dream.

[Coprolalia]

Nearly a year later, the Scirocco is still under that sheet.

Anyhow, live breakdown time! 

Introducing my wife's car, which is now well into shite territory at 19 years old. A 56 plate Yaris 1.3 VVTI.

Tellingly this is one of the few photos I have of it...

She's had it since about 2010 and put about 100k on it in that time. It's been bloody fantastic. In all that time it's had service items, two coil packs, an exhaust and tyres. Some vape-spec Golf ran into us on Gabalfa roundabout (notorious in these parts), necessitating suspension and body repairs circa 2013. Otherwise absolutely flawless. Stunning car.

It's now on 137k, and my wife lacks much mechanical sympathy. Throttle and brake inputs are binary, and it's basically been a short-run hack for commuting/ the station/ nursery, so rarely >5 miles in a hit. The timing chain is a bit noisy and the (original) clutch is on it's last legs. Countdown clock has been ticking.

Now I'm currently on annual leave, supposed to be finishing a teaching portfolio and general house DIY repairs.

Got a call from my wife at 07.30 this morning, as she pulled into Severn Tunnel Junction station car park. "My wheel is pointing the wrong way".

It seems she heard a terrific crack/ crunch going over the final speedbump into the car park. 

She doesn't know what to do, so I send her off to work and plan to go recce.

Load up the rescue gear...

Arrive to pouring rain in the car park.

Oh dear.

Have a nose...

That looks a bit dodgy, what's that line about.

And this ain't great.

Parked in a puddle. Up she goes...

Wheel off...

Well then. Cracked through the rear beam.

Likely terminal between a new beam, suspension strut, timing chain, clutch, and everything else.

Now waiting on big orange taxi for recovery home...

[N Dentressangle]

At least it failed then and not at speed. Could have been much worse:

 

[Coprolalia]

32 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

At least it failed then and not at speed. Could have been much worse:

 

Honestly when I called her the second thing I said, after "it's not good news" was "this could have been a lot worse, you're lucky it happened on a speed bump coming into the car park".

Dread to think if it had let go at 70mph on the M4. @Weird Car had it much worse.

[EyesWeldedShut]

35 minutes ago, Coprolalia said:

Likely terminal between a new beam, suspension strut, timing chain, clutch, and everything else.

Bit of a bummer but she did choose a pretty good spot for it to occur? 
I here @Dave_Q has a good line on how to shift on cars like this.......

[Datsuncog]

Ooh, that's rough. Sad times, dude.

I've a suspicion that similar woes will finish off MrsDC's increasingly crusty '05 Yaris 1.0 - also has a touch of chain chatter, noisy driveshafts etc.

As others have remarked, at least it was polite enough to let go at walking pace while entering a car park, rather than on a sweeping left-hander at NSL speeds!

All the best for recovery/ repair/ replacement (delete as applicable).

[Coprolalia]

And it returns...

Likely to be the end of it's journey with us. The good wife wants a replacement.

The bridge beckons. Anyone fancy a project?

[N Dentressangle]

Deffo one for Cartakeback, that. Remove anything of value and put a knackered battery in.

[Coprolalia]

The Yaris got predictably bridged, though the firm who bid for it through Cartakeback took three weeks to collect it. It got replaced by a very sensible Kia Cee'd, more about which can be found on my moderns thread.

My old car mojo is starting to wake up, coinciding with my youngest daughter starting to sleep through the night.

Went down to the farm where the Scirocco is stored to check it out. Not moved in six months plus.

Fired up after two heats of the glowplugs, drove backwards and forwards, no evidence of vermin ingress. General success.

Small puddle of diesel underneath, which appears to be from a return line rotting out.

Next jobs are to replace the pipe and drive it to a pre-booked MOT for a jobs list.