Dave's shonkers - continuing electroshite

[Dave_Q]

Man, I am rubbish at keeping this thing up to date.

 

Anyway sometime around christmas I was doing the cambelt on the 147.

 

All OK except I ended up having to splash out on a Ribe bit set for this mother:

 

 

The old belt definitely tied in with the seller's insistence that the belt had been done, but he'd lost the service book:

 

 

In other news, it's been knocking on for a year since I bought a car and that won't do. 

 

I've won a 156 jtd on ebay for the princely sum of £200.

 

It's done 206k and doesn't have an MOT, but I'm quietly confident. Collection next week. These are the seller's photos.

 

 

As such the Subaru is for sale. I'll get round to writing a proper ad shortly, but I'll be looking for £1600-£2000 depending how many of the 3 sets of wheels the buyer wants with it.

 

 

I've also been toying with the idea of selling my Fireblade to get something worse. About £1750 if anyone is keen.

 

 

PM me if interested in either, not really shite money I know but probably as cheap as you'll find.

[Dave_Q]

Moves have been made.

 

As per it's own collection thread here: http://autoshite.com/topic/27242-alfa-156-sportwagon-collected-welding-advice-pls/ the 156 has been collectified, failed an MOT (miserably) and slightly fixed - at least enough to get reverse gear back so I can get it in the garage.

 

Subaru sold this morning to a man off of here.

 

 

I posted in the Bikeshite thread I was thinking of moving on my Fireblade for something worse.

 

I have definitely got my wish -more on that later this week.

[Dave_Q]

So this happened today, picture courtesy of Cavcraft Enterprises (2 wheel tat division)

 

The hand gear thing is gonna take a while to get used to, but otherwise I'm well chuffed.

[Cleon-Fonte]

As a closet Vespa perv I R MUCH GELLOUS.

[Dave_Q]

As a closet Vespa perv I R MUCH GELLOUS.

 

I'm mulling over bringing it to Glossop next week, although depending on weather that may be in the back of the Berlingo.

[320touring]

So Glossop is on den?

[overrun]

boooosht dear boy booosht [/connery]

 

BWWWWAAAAAAAARP CHOO CHOO CHOO

[Dave_Q]

Soz for the slight clickbait title.

 

Anyway regular readers will recall the theft of my first Subaru, just over a year ago, from outside the university of Bradford.

 

Last week I get a letter from the WYP saying they have some of my property! DISGONBEGOOD!

 

I couldn't get over to Bradford during the evidence office's extensive* opening hours so my lovely wife went over today for me.

 

Yay, a parcel! Bit small for a car though?

 

 

 

Oh. It's just the number plates. Found under a bush by a PCSO in a particularly salubrious part of Bradford.

Was part of a big pile of other number plates apparently. No prints on them or any indication how they got there so sadly no actual prosecution or car findage.

[alcyonecorporation]

The police should have prosecuted whoever made that number plate for apostrophe abuse.

[Pillock]

You'll now probably get the debt collectors round from the insurance company because don't those plates belong to them if they paid out?

[Dave_Q]

You'll now probably get the debt collectors round from the insurance company because don't those plates belong to them if they paid out?

 

You're right there actually. 

 

I will probably ring tomorrow just to check, don't want to be getting into trouble. 

 

I suspect they won't care but I will ask anyway.

[Dave_Q]

Never did ring the insurance, lets hope they don't send the boys round to reclaim their property.

 

Anyway, time for a fleet status update.

 

Berlingo - increasing knocking from the front somewhere, the speedo is doing a French and jumping about all over the place, causing some jerky driving moments as the ECU doesn't know what occuring at times. This is probably a wiring issue, needs to get into the garage to have a look at, garage is currently occupied by:

 

Alfa - About 60% through the welding required for MOT, struggling with motivation a bit and also ran out of welding gas. I've got more now but instead I've been messing about with:

 

 

Suzuki Bandit - One of my stupider ideas, for some reason I decided to buy this from ebay despite it being missing several key bits like wheels. I've got almost all the bits to make it into a whole bike but have already decided it will be being sold as I'm really enjoying:

 

Vespa - as I've currently got 2 heaps in a state of deconstruction, what better thing to do than disassemble a 3rd?

 

I've been riding the Vespa to work a couple of days a week since getting it from Cavcraft. I'm loving it except it's a tad slow at dragging my sizable arse up hills. 

To that end I bought a 150 kit and an exhaust to go on it to get a bit more oomph. I tried to fit it the other week but couldn't get the exhaust off as the big bolt going through the swingarm had seized (common thing apparently) so the engine had to come out. 

 

While it was out I decided to lob some Vactan and paint about to tidy up some crusty bits and hopefully rustproof it a bit.

 

Engine out:

 

Exhaust cut off:

 

This bolt is the wee shite that seizes in place:

 

This was the view with the floor mats removed:

 

More crustyness:

 

 

I chucked Vactan on the rusty bits and then lobbed on some Zinc primer:

 

For the colour paint my paint shop had no clue on Piaggio colours so I got their big swatch o'colours and selected Peugeot Tivoli Blue metallic as the closest match. It looks pretty close to me but my wife and children tell me it's a completely different colour.

 

The horn cover hasn't been painted but the legshields have, not bad IMO.

 

I've used a deliberately* poor level of prep to keep the survivor / shabby look that the thing had before I started.

 

But it doesn't look too bad from 10 yards. I've also rust treated the underside and painted on a "Somercotes Cortina" layer of brushable underseal on the bottom, so hopefully it won't be rusting on my watch.

 

 

Tonight I managed to get the stuck bolt out using sweet, sweet fire and a big hammer, so when my last few engine bits turn up I'll be able to chuck it all back together and go and get on with the Alfa.

[Cavcraft]

That looks loads better now, Dave, nice one. Are you going to arse about with the carb or filter, too? On my last one (a TX200) my mate drilled the airbox and it did actually make a difference, along with a different jet for the carb.

[Dave_Q]

Thanks Billy. 

 

The air filter has already been done and the main jet in there was a 100 which is a bit on the big side for a 125, although the plug wasn't too bad. 

 

I will have to upjet further to suit the kit and pipe - I will start at about 108-110 and work down.

[Cavcraft]

It'll make it a lot more 'rideable' once you've done it. What pipe did you end up with? The Sito+ is a belter and quite well priced. Meanwhile, eyeing up Scomadis but they rival 1970's Skodas in the reliability stakes, it would seem.

[Dave_Q]

The pipe is a SIP road 2, similar to a sito+ but meant to be a bit better.

 

Jackytwoshoes linked it on the Bikeshite thread, it was £50 on ebay, it looks pretty much new so a barg considering new ones are £120.

 

 

Those Scomadis look pretty good but also very expensive for something with a Taiwanese 4 stroke motor.

 

Might as well save yourself a grand and get a Neco Abruzzi.

 

http://www.thescooterwarehouse.co.uk/Neco-Abruzzi-125cc.html

[Dave_Q]

Vespa pretty much finished, for now.

 

 

In this (lack of) light the difference between the colours shows up a bit more. Maybe one day I'll paint the horn cover and side panels.

 

 

I've been out for a couple of short rides, it's definitely louder, and faster. 

First ride I went for a 110 main jet and it wouldn't rev properly as too rich, changed to a 108 which seems OK so far, but will still be on the rich side as stock PX150 is a 102, apparently. I'll try and do some miles on it without giving it too much load and work my way down via plug chops.

 

Still a few things to do mind - the rear brake is now sticking on, I think I might have got underseal somewhere bad on the bottom. Also the speedo still doesn't work - if I can get time tomorrow I may have a look at this, I've put a new worm in but I think I need to have a look inside the hub to see what's what as it still doesn't seem to be turning the cable.

[strangeangel]

It really wouldn't hurt its survivor chic to take a hairdryer to those bloody awful stickers, you know

 

That aside it's coming along very nicely

[Dave_Q]

Destickering is very much part of the plan, in fact if you compare it to this picture shamelessly stolen from Billys for sale thread, you'll see I've achieved around 85% destickering already.

 

 

There's just a few stubborn ones left on the side panels that do need a hairdryer or similar, we don't actually have one here so will need to think of another way.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Nice work!

 

I always found a kettle of boiling water works ace on stickers.

 

Keep us posted on that 150 kit. As mentioned before, those sip road pipes do start quiet and end up being noisy cos the baffles get oily. I don't mind the sound too much but sometimes it can be a bit blarey. And also not quiet as characterful as the more ring-ting ting of a tinnier expansion chamber.

[Dave_Q]

Nice work!

 

I always found a kettle of boiling water works ace on stickers.

 

Keep us posted on that 150 kit. As mentioned before, those sip road pipes do start quiet and end up being noisy cos the baffles get oily. I don't mind the sound too much but sometimes it can be a bit blarey. And also not quiet as characterful as the more ring-ting ting of a tinnier expansion chamber.

 

Will do, bear in mind that I've done the exhaust at the same time so may struggle to separate the effects. 

 

 

Can anyone give me a clue on the speedo for this thing?

 

I've put a new plastic worm gear in but I've still got nothing. 

The speedo works OK if you turn the cable by hand.

I've had the drum off and it looks like the worms in the right place, turning the worm with my finger turns the cable.

But the drum doesn't seem to be turning it.

 

Can the gear on the drum be replaced or do you have to replace the whole drum?

There are some second hand ones on ebay for £20 or so but I don't want to randomly spend out if it could be something else.

[Dave_Q]

Fixed the speedo problem - turns out my new plastic worm gear had got chewed up instantly because the cable had a kink in it. 

 

New worm and cable and it's sorted - the odometer has now gone up for the first time since before Cavcraft bought it.

 

I've also (kind of) sorted the brakes - ended up getting a new pedal for the back brake as it was seized up and I couldn't free it.

The front is still pretty poor, can't see anything wrong with it though. Will probably look out for a disc conversion at a reasonable price.

 

Also destickered the side panels by popular request - turns out the stickers were mainly covering rust and damage on one of them - think it's been dropped on the LHS at some point as there is corresponding damage on the legshield on that side. 

 

 

So I painted them.

 

 

 

I did a very half hearted rub down to prep them, close up the finish is pretty rubbish but it doesn't look too bad from 10 yards.

 

 

Anyway I haven't got much left to do on it now save some faffing with jets and/or mixture, so I really will have no excuse not to get on with the Alfa.

[320touring]

Channelling yer inner giffer with that paintjob;)

 

Actually does look good from 10yds. Good effort!

[Dave_Q]

Close up the paint finish is properly wank.

 

What it really needs is fully taking back to bare metal everywhere, a teeny skim of filler on some of the dents and doing properly.

 

But:

1) Ain't nobody got time for that

2) I'm not planning to take it to any scooter polishing competitions

3) The nicer it looks, the more it becomes some sort of museum/show piece rather than a thing to blat round on.

 

Maybe one day my to-do list will be short enough that a full proper paint job will happen, probably not soon though.

[Dave_Q]

Fleet update time.

 

Berlingo

Just chugging away, as ever. Has a few clunks I'm hoping to attend to soonish, speedo now completely inoperative but satnav/phone based solutions have been working OK.

 

Alfa (156)

Most of the story of getting it MOTd is here: http://autoshite.com/topic/27242-alfa-156-sportwagon-broken-already-alfisti-pls-halp/ the latest update is that I fixed the drivebelt with a new sprung tensioner for £ouchie. Drove it up the road and there was a new issue of it cutting out at 2500-3000rpm.

 

I thought that maybe I had somehow introduced an overboost problem by Mr Muscling the turbo, but the codes are for main relay no power. I have disturbed the relay and wiring to adjust the gear linkage, so will investigate the power supply to the ECU. Pretty glad that it's hopefully minor and I (hopefully) don't have to remove or replace the turbo.

 

Vespa

Nothing to report, working well and taking me to work a few times a week.

 

Rank Bandit

No longer required but not had time to get it running and sell it due to extensive faffage with Alfa. Would sell as it stands for £500 if anyone's keen, It's still MOT'd till October or something, but many of the bits now attached to it aren't the bits that were MOT'd.

 

Alfa (147)

Just failed it's MOT on both top wishbones, a tyre and a bulb, so fairly standard procedure for one of these. Picked up a couple of partworns for £20 and some super-shonk wishbones for £40 the pair, just need to fit.

 

Order of planned works

Make 147 have MOT

Inspect Berlingo and decide what suspension parts are needed

Make 156 drive OK again

Fix Berlingo

Drive Berlingo 1000 miles on Holiday at end of August

Fix and sell Rank Bandit

Start work on CBR600.

 

Did I mention I bought a CBR600? I bought a CBR600.

 

Most of it seems to be there.

 

[Dave_Q]

156 fixed for now.

 

Don't know how well this pic has come out, but when I tried to start it yesterday to move it out the garage it wasn't having it.

 

Prodding the power distribution thingy on top of the battery made some relays click on, so I had it all apart and cleaned it up good.

 

Starts fine now and no cutting out, with bonus side effects that I seem to have also cured my abs light and flashing glow plug light.

 

Hurrah for a simple fix for once.

 

Off to drive it to work now, just like a real car.

[The Moog]

We love simple fixes... Makes up for all the others that require navvy levels of swearing and a big breaker bar

[Dave_Q]

Think it was about time for something to go right with it, after all the time/effort it took to get it through an MOT.

 

Took it to work again today, parked next to this winnerwagon - a GTA.

 

[Dave_Q]

I've got the bit between my teeth now with this 156, after the easy fix the other day I really wanted to try and get to the bottom of the boost / running issue. 

 

Basically since I got it, it's been totally flat below about 2200-2500rpm then it takes off. 

 

I thought this was likely to be a boost control issue so I took some logs. 

 

 

This shows that actual boost is below target till about 2700rpm where it goes above. 

 

This graph is a plot of the difference between actual and requested boost vs rpm over a quick drive to the shop.

 

 

You'd hope this should be a thin(ish) line of dots around zero, this looks like the boost control is all over the place. 

 

I checked the hoses to the solenoid and turbo, they don't look great but don't seem to leak. I read somewhere that the solenoid can fail and if it does it gives these symptoms, ie no boost low down and many boost over about 3krpm.

 

I got a solenoid from a breakers today - zero difference.

 

I then found this thread which gives a good rundown of common JTD maladies.

 

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-147-156-andamp-gt/232563-jtd-jtdm-mcsf-andamp-other-problems-fix.html

 

This lead me to suspect either MAF or EGR.

 

Driving with the MAF unplugged got me some power back, at the cost of a massive smokescreen.

 

I took the EGR valve off and stripped and cleaned it as per this guide here. Sorry no pics as it was a horrid, filthy job, not bad as EGRs go though as the valve is easily accessed and separates easily.

 

The thing was clogged solid with possibly 207k miles worth of soot and was seized in the open position.

 

Got it moving again after a quick soak in a bucket of kerosene, and moderate application of hammer.

 

End result is that the car is now 80% better, you can put your foot down from 1000rpm or so and it actually goes. 

 

Will do some more logs soon and check requested vs actual boost, it still feels like it might not be quite right, it's good but it's just not as boosty as the 147 below 2000rpm.

[Sir Snipes]

Diesel = shit