Project Tickman's stuff. Tidy* up time.

[Tickman]

So picking up where I left off I needed a piece to join some stuff together so I bent an off cut and drilled some holes.

 

 

Then I stuck it in place.

 

 

I then made a piece that stuck the inner sill to the bits I have already done but the pictures didn't come out for some reason.

 

Next was to drill some holes in the outer sill piece.

 

 

Then use some clamps.

 

 

I did some squeezing of the trigger and some hitting with a hammer and got this.

 

 

That is all the metal bits stuck back together.

Next was a really weak piece of chassis leg on the drivers side at the back of the car. 

I got some thicker metal and battered it over in the vice (too thick for the folder) to make a U and put it over the weak piece after it was cleaned up. I started welding it in.

 

 

When I got to the inner side the brake lines and fuel lines are right next to this so I obviously stripped out the tank fuel tank and moved all the pipes put a sheld in the way and took loads of time keeping the area cool.

 

 

After that I cleaned up and put rust converter on quite a few places.

 

 

 

Until next time.....

[Uncle Jimmy]

Shrinker looks useful....Did you buy it recently?

[Tickman]

Shrinker looks useful....Did you buy it recently?

It is very useful, bought not too long ago second hand from ebay and it looked like it had never been used at all.

[Split_Pin]

Loving the rear sill panel you made there, those look like excellent folding tools you have.

 

I have fond* memories of making 'patches' for old cars that my work had but I'm afraid it was battered about in a vice!

[Tickman]

Loving the rear sill panel you made there, those look like excellent folding tools you have.

 

I have fond* memories of making 'patches' for old cars that my work had but I'm afraid it was battered about in a vice!

Not too dissimilar really!

[Tickman]

I have done some more on this today.

I finished the drivers side and set to the passenger side with a very unhappy chassis rail which had been patched twice so I did this.

 

 

I measured for the U section I would need and got the markers out.

 

 

Then into the folder and fold.

 

 

Then turn it round.

 

 

And fold.

 

 

Amazing* fabrication*

 

 

Stuck in the gap and welded for the next 40 minutes so as not to set the underseal and carpet on fire.

 

 

Then I welded up the blow at the bottom of the down pipe on the manifold, no pictures, imagine an exhaust with a split where it was welded then imagine the crack welded over.

Time to check the board of jobs and it would appear that I have covered the failure points. I wonder what my MOT guy will find for me. I am also assuming the emissions failure was related to the split exhaust (hopefully)

 

 

There is a fair bit of tidying up after myself to do before I take it anywhere and I need to get some paint on the bits I have ruined fixed.

[gm]

I think I must take credit / blame for the bits that have been ruined, it looks like you are doing a thorough job of putting everything right. Keep up that good work

 

You might be looking at an advisory on a couple of those tyres, I had a different set of wheels on it when it was in for test last time.

[Tickman]

I think I must take credit / blame for the bits that have been ruined, it looks like you are doing a thorough job of putting everything right. Keep up that good work

 

You might be looking at an advisory on a couple of those tyres, I had a different set of wheels on it when it was in for test last time.

There appears to be quite a lot of patches, not all are fresh by any stretch of the imagination.

 

No worries regarding the tyres all expected and in hand. 

[320touring]

Man that chassis rail is thin metal..

 

Good efforts!

[Tickman]

New stuff is less thin!

[Tickman]

General tinkering day today.

Rear brakes of the Toledo adjusted up making the handbrake much more useful.

A few rust spots treated just to keep it at bay and a general tidy up.

Routine stuff so no pictures because I was just getting on with it.

Tomorrow might be a greasing session which will be thrilling*

[Tickman]

No pictures as I was a little messy today.

Some chassis black has been spread about various places underneath and today was underseal time.

A few years ago I bought a Dinitrol kit with a gun that goes on the compressor and has quick release tubes that either go in chassis legs or is quite directional.

I used the directional one today and except for a slight mishap where it was basically pointed at my face all went well.

 

I 'think' all the previous failure points have been addressed and now I need to look for insurance and get it in for an MOT to see what else is found!

[Tickman]

I took the MX5 for an MOT on the 21st and my MOT guy found a few issues that were not dealt with.

One was a patch of welding needed at the front that I could only see while the car was over the pit which is why I had missed it in my thorougher* prep of the car.

The front left caliper was leaking, rear left handbrake was poor and emissions fail with a CO of over 4.

Caliper replaced, handbrake adjusted and welding done it just left the emissions which I had no way of testing.

I did oil, oil filter, air filter, new plugs and a bottle of Wynnes emissions magic.

 

Today was the first chance to get back so I took an indirect route from Forfar to Carnoustie using quite a bit of the rev range. It took me an hour to do a at most 30 minute journey and lots of fun was had.

 

I arrived at the garage and had a quick chat then got the car in. Headlights were adjusted (these were also a fail but I didn't count it) and emissions were tested with the result of 0.034% yes that is 0.034% I am well impressed with that.

Welding and caliper checked from underneath and a check of the handbrake resulted in one of these:

 

So officially 

 

 

As Carnoustie is quits a nice place I took this:

 

Obviously on the way home it started to hail so I put the roof up, then I got home and taxed it

[Split_Pin]

Great news on the pass, looks like a lot of effort went into that. My Aunt lives in Carnoustie, used to be there at least twice a year, it's a cracking place. Not been for about 5 years now though as she prefers to get away and come down. The front near the Golf Hotel is a grand place for pictures.

[Tickman]

Toledo time,

Sonic has on quite a few occasions given trouble starting. This has involved the bendix on the starter not being thrown out when the key is turned. It is completely unpredictable so after one occasion where it didn't even want to work after being persuaded with the jack handle (the usual what is handy tool) I decided I better have a look.

With the front up on ramps access to the bottom bolt is very easy and with the top being almost as easy from above it took a short amount of time to have this on the bench. First I cleaned 45 years of muck off it and had this:

 

I was quite surprised by the spacers and locating plate as I haven't seen one like this before. 

 

Testing the movement of the bendix by hand I could feel it was notchy. I had some Graphite lubricant in a spray from Lidl and used that to get smooth movement. I know that I cannot leave it wet in any way as muck from the clutch will stick to it and make it just as bad if not worse so I cleaned off any residue that had not evaproated with a dry cloth and movement was very smooth still.

 

I put it back in and it seems to have made a difference, as if it is meshing better with the flywheel. It turns over more consistently and doesn't do some of the things that I had put down as being 'Triumph' so I am happy with that.

 

Next was keeping it stopped, Chuck has been having trouble with the handbrake, this is mainly not being able to pull it on enough to keep the car still on real hills (of which we have a few in Dundee) so I had another look at this. I managed to adjust the cables and now it holds much better, I think a little backing off of the cables is required to get a comfortable height.

 

I checked the fluid in the master cylinder and it was a cloudy mess. This was all new last year but the car has had quite a baptism of fire regarding use level compared to the semi retirement it has been used to. I sucked all this out with the oil pump thing and flushed about 750 ml of fluid through the whole system. 

I wish I had done this months ago as it has made a massive difference to the feel and performance of the brakes.

 

Next on the fleet list is an MOT for Malcolm the camper closely followed by Sonic's second MOT with me.

 

Until next time (which will be hopefully sometime next week) 

[dome]

Oi, stop making so much progress, you're making me feel bad!

 

Got one of these stickers yet?

 

 

[Tickman]

Oi, stop making so much progress, you're making me feel bad!

 

Got one of these stickers yet?

 

s-l300.jpg

I am just trying to catch up on the progress you made last year....

Also hope any potential thief will have seen me in the car and will assume correctly that no hair products will ever need to be nearby, if they are looking for polish I might be in trouble though.

[Split_Pin]

Good to see sortage of some niggly bits and bobs. I admire your mojo right now, I can't even bring myself to do an oil change these days!

[320touring]

Does it mean its faster now mistah?

[Tickman]

Good to see sortage of some niggly bits and bobs. I admire your mojo right now, I can't even bring myself to do an oil change these days!

Little tasks getting done boosts mojo, that has been the main mojo builder.

 

Does it mean its faster now mistah?

Much* faster!

[Tickman]

Malcolm the camper needed a new MOT, I went to a different MOT place as my usual place had a doorway too low

It predictably failed but only on both sidelights not working, one headlight insecure and a rear wheel bearing. Not too bad.

I ordered the wheel bearing kit (about £22) and started messing about with the side lights which I discovered were rusty connectors, that was quite easily sorted with a bit of sand paper and I treated it to new bulbs (£1.75). Lastly was the insecure headlight, this I fixed by pushing the headlight back onto the ball/socket thing.

I took it back and left with one of these. 

 

After this win the universe was out of balance and imminent doom was not far away!

The Volvo decided that Friday afternoon was a great time to restore balance and completely shit its water pump.

This was a slight inconvenience as Marianne was going out later and had offered to be designated driver. She had not driven the MX5 at this point so took it for a quick spin and came back grinning like the Cheshire Cat!

 

Today after the Ice age had started to melt I thought I better get the Volvo fixed! I stripped out the 'old' pump (only about 2 years old, probably a shit ECP one) and fitted a new one. This would have been dead easy if access was better but was still not to bad. After the pump was fitted I did a compression test as had suspicions of a failed Head gasket. 150 PSI exactly over all 4 cylinders. The plugs all even with that nice brown colour and after putting it back together the slight 'miss' seems to have gone away.

 

So that is another one 'fixed' but I will be checking the water level after every drive fo the next week or so.

 

No doubt the universe is now in danger again, hope I don't have to be the one to regain the balance though.

[Tickman]

 

5 minute walk through the park to get here.

[Tickman]

Really nice* upholstery.

[Tickman]

That didn't take long. Just have to walk up here now.

Most of the hill is out of view!

[Tickman]

Collection made, now on the way to the workshops.

[Split_Pin]

This looks suspiciously modernz sir!

[Split_Pin]

I hope those 2 illuminated bars between the dials fluctuate as the car speaks to you in a slightly camp voice.

[Tickman]

This looks suspiciously modernz sir!

 

Indeed it is. Newest car I have bought!

I hope those 2 illuminated bars between the dials fluctuate as the car speaks to you in a slightly camp voice.

No voices (except in my own head)

 

Introducing the obviously named Nicole:

 

Getting a bit full in here:

 

Drives really nicely, has a few issues but nothing that is frightening.

I have bought much worse for a lot more money, hopefully I will not have to buy again!

[Supernaut]

I'm guessing that's Chuck's new vehicular transport?

 

You could also call it Slow Poke, going by the number plate.

[LessThanEqual]

My mate has one of these with the 1.2* on 140k with a fucked clutch and it smokes oil from the engine bay. Still goes though. And these have the best bucket seats ever.