Project Tickman's stuff. Tidy* up time.

[Tickman]

The polo demanded more attention by snapping the spring on the other side. 

Into the workshop it went with the Insight having a little dry out after a quick trip to Manchester.

Not an old spring either.

These were in bits and have been replaced

I don't really mind using these at all

They are courtesy of @sdkrc after I did his Lexus springs quite a while ago.

After I'd put all that back together I decided to use my time more wisely and gathered the tool chests in the one area instead of virtual as far away as possible.

I then had had enough and went home leaving the Insight to get on with dry January.

[Tickman]

I treated myself to one of these after having a look at the one @dome has 

What an amazing piece of kit, wish I'd got it ages ago.

I changed some exhaust hangers on the Clio.

The exhaust heat shield needed removing to adjust the handbrake and it just undid with my new ratchet.

I've been doing little bits as I've gone along as it is an excellent little car. All this was in preparation for today and resulted in this.

That will do.

Underneath needs a clean up and rust proofed for the future and I'll probably refresh some of the suspension bits as I go as it all seems original from 2001.

[Supernaut]

It's good to see somebody getting along with that ungrateful little shit.

I'm curious to see what the fix for the idle is...

[Tickman]

14 hours ago, Supernaut said:

'm curious to see what the fix for the idle is...

What is this 'fix' you mention...

Being serious the issue is wiring. MAP sensor wiring has a dodgy connection on one wire and the wiring to the idle air control valve doesn't seem to do anything really.

I need to learn and implement wiring skills!

[Tickman]

The Polo decided to put on a EPC warning light which was followed by the engine management light so it wasn't lonely at the weekend, this led to an Ask a shitter question with many answers saying the brake pedal switch.

As it is used by my better half I didn't want to pull it apart and leave it broken.

I used Amazon's handy order a part you might require and we'll will refund if you send it back service.

I've just removed the old switch and it was a bit odd with now moving smoothly so put the new part in and cleared the codes.

Seems happy but time will tell if anything else is wrong, which there obviously is as it is a VAG group car and I never buy the best example of anything because I'm an idiot.

Thank you Amazon for this very reasonably priced part, less than £9 is stupid value.

[Tickman]

Time to get on with stuff.

I order some service bits for the Clio as I've done 5,800 miles since the start of November.

I went to remove the old pollen filter but it was empty, not any more.

Next up was the air filter.

Quite simple right at the back of the engine.

I checked the spark plugs and they seemed ok

Then the oil and filter, wonder when it was last changed I doubt it was long ago 😂

The oil was very thin, it has had a refill from the Manol oil deal that was posted about on here.

That is the 'maintenance' side of things taken care of.

[Tickman]

As I have been racking up the miles I have been driven mad by the buzzing of the rear speakers so I decided something needed done about it.

Halfords didn't stock the correct Pioneer speakers for £30 that I had checked in store so I had to look elsewhere, Amazon came up with the new version of the same speakers for £13.94. Result!

This was the problem

This was the solution

I also fitted one of these as recommended by @loserone

I was then recommended a music player app by @juular and it has been getting a work out since.

This also got fitted from my stock of them.

I do still have to do something about the wiring issue but 🤷‍♀️

[Tickman]

My youngest who has the Aygo purchased from @davehedgehog31 mentioned the right indicator was becoming troublesome. This is a common thing with the switch and it needs a strip and clean which I did on her previous Peugeot 107 also purchased from @davehedgehog31 but this time she was only going to be home briefly as she is about to start her final exams so I ordered a high quality* item from eBay for about £13 and swapped it out like so

Then the clock spring comes off and the whole lot comes off when you squeeze the metal spring clip together, taking the two screws out and moving the speedometer out of the way makes it much easier and quicker.

Once done a quick reassemble and you are done.

The new switch is really cheap shit so I can sort the original one now and refit it before it's MOT is due.

 

 

[Supernaut]

I cannot bring myself to like any posts featuring that fucking Clio, but you are doing some top work as usual!

[Tickman]

22 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

I cannot bring myself to like any posts featuring that fucking Clio

Understandable, I keep applying more 'ignore' to the issues. This time in the shape of better speakers!

[Tickman]

It was the Polos turn today.

Old pollen filter looked fine but I had a new one...

That should make a difference.

Then the air filter. On this car the housing is part of the engine cover with 7,000 screws holding it together. That got changed and all this detritus was disappeared as well.

The sump plug came out no bother with two copper washers and ptfe on it as well. I think it was done up quite tight!

Nothing wrong with the plug or the sump so I cleaned it all back and it was screwed back together.

The oil filter was a bit awkward as I had to take a bracket off to get it away from the engine. It was also rather tight so the new one went on hand tight with a bit of oil on the face. Glad this wasn't done on the drive as this would have made it very awkward.

I also don't have a drive!

Normal service of nothing happening should now resume for a few weeks.

[Tickman]

The MOT on the Insight was coming up so a bit of a look over the car and put a few miles on it were required. It hadn't really been used since the start of November due to the Clio's arrival.

Just over 300 miles were put on it over the last few days and the MOT was first thing this morning.

Happy with that. Now time to spend some money on it.

[Tickman]

Another one done.

Windscreen replaced after last year's test and the speedometer replaced due to the failure of the indicator tell tale.

Seems to be doing ok as a little car. Another one of the previous @davehedgehog31 fleet.

It belongs to my youngest, she has driven and had three cars two of which came from @davehedgehog31 and the other, a Clio, was found by the @320touring TTT App.

 

[Tickman]

Had a few days away visiting places in Scotland, took the Polo which did a great job of just working and I was very impressed with the economy it can give for a 1.4

Today I have been carrying on with sorting out the workshop with a bit of a reorganise and paint of the floor.

Not looking too bad

I had to move stuff about to get the nice clean space to paint so now I've this pile to sort when the floor is dry.

[Stinkwheel]

Youve reminded me i keep thinking i must paint the garage floor, was going to do the standard red oxide type colour but that blue has got me thinking, easier to see dropped small parts against for sure

[Tickman]

3 hours ago, Stinkwheel said:

Youve reminded me i keep thinking i must paint the garage floor, was going to do the standard red oxide type colour but that blue has got me thinking, easier to see dropped small parts against for sure

The tins were in the reject part of my local Johnstone's decorators centre for less than £10 each, I believe they are nearer £80 a tin.

Happily someone didn't like the colour mixed!

[loserone]

That is a fucking win

[Tickman]

I spent a little more time sorting out and bagging up rubbish. It's getting there.

[Tickman]

After having a chat with Peter, the man who sells drive batteries for the Insight, I started on a balance cycle to see how bad the current one is. This involves a full charge, full discharge, charge again, discharge again and a final full charge. 

With the workshop being 15 miles away this took a little planning. First I wired in a power supply for the battery fan then put it on charge for 48 hours and came back to this voltage.

Then discharge cycle for 36 hours and the display says this

Multimeter gives this

A bit difficult to see but essentially 0V

Charge again

Discharge again 

Charge for the final* time

This was just over 24 hours which is why it is a little lower.

I then drove home and it was very different to how it had been to drive previously. I managed to get this

Rather pleased with the difference. My commute is up and down hills and it quite exposed to weather. If the wind is bad it makes a massive difference to the mpg I can get. This is what was quite a good sheltered number but it was quite windy this day. This would likely have been about 68mpg.

I'm going to give it a few weeks and see how it behaves, I need to learn any new driving techniques now I have slightly better battery.

The reset has meant I can get full assist for a lot longer than previous. I previously could get mid 40's amp assist, now I can get 50 and it be for longer than a second.

Well worth the effort.

[Tickman]

Next up the Clio.

At the MOT one of the rear shocks got a verbal advisory of 'might want to get that changed, looks like it is just starting to fail' I ordered up some nich cheap ones from parts in motion and waited for their arrival. A week later I emailed and asked where my parts were?  They were incorrect so we refunded you but this is a link to the correct ones.

Fuck off was my response.

I ordered some from my local factors for less than half that and went to do that today.

It had got quite a bit worse over time...

New one fitted 

Other side too

These are so easy, bottom bolt and the top bolt is really easy to access in the boot too.

Next was the exhaust mount. Anyone that has had one of these in the past will know the captive nuts usually are not. 2 out of 3 were broken so they were cut off and the area got a clean up.

Then the mount had the poly bush fitted

Then it was all put back together with the correct wheels 

Job done.

[Tickman]

After sorting the Clio last time I got in the Insight and headed home. About half a mile later I went to put the window on the driver's side up and nothing happened. A quick mess about proved fruitless so I turned round and got the Clio and left the Insight to think about its actions.

@sdkrc had fixed the switch while it was his and I had managed to get the window working by opening up the motor and 'fixing' something.

Today was the day to get it watertight and hopefully with a functioning window. 

First was strip it all out again 

This was a bit of a faff as the window was fully down but I got it all out.

Motor stripped.

Then I cleaned this up.

Next up was a look at the brushes, this bit fell out.

Because I'm sensible* and keep stuff that might come in handy I have a couple of windows motors for an MR2 so I took that apart and the brushes are very different. A quick touch with a file Ind I have this.

Wire cut off and roughly in place quite securely 

Then I put it back together and tested it with the power probe and amazingly it was successful!

Then I just put it all back together.

Next up is look at wiring stuff on the Clio...

[Tickman]

I've been looking to replace Mrs T's Polo for a while.  I've looked at various cars and walked away from all so far.

I've had a shot of @320touring's Leaf and @davehedgehog31's Zoe and that is certainly one for the future when I can be arsed following up with the council and getting off street parking.

The polo needs an MOT in the next few weeks so perfect time for something to replace it.

I've always bought shit cars that are usually end of life and then managed to get a bit more life out of them. I can't say it has been a choice most of the time but purely a result of the money being needed elsewhere.

This time I've spent four times more than I've ever spent on a car.

I've already paid for it and collection is tomorrow lunchtime ish. 

I'm possibly not going to have too much time to update live tomorrow but I'll see what I can do.

I'm sticking it in here with the rest of my stuff so it is easy to ignore for anyone not interested.

No clues.

[320touring]

Exciting!

[loserone]

You will find your thread moved to the modern section with this kind of behaviour 

[Tickman]

Today is the day, dog walk and some killing time before departure at 11 ish.

[Tickman]

I think I'm doing this buying new daily cars wrong.

First fill

 

[Jim Bell]

I think you've done something absolutely correctly by the look of it!

[Tickman]

So what have I actually bought.

With the amazing support from my better half I've spent a, to me, very large sum of money on something that I'd never even sat in before. 

I saw @Saabnut advertise the Rover P5b and sent him a message saying I was very interested but needed to talk to the other half. I then sent my other half a message saying I wanted to have a serious chat about a car for sale, I got this reply

This made me feel a bit sick as we all know what that could mean. Luckily it was followed up with

Phew. Crisis averted.

I messaged Nick and arranged to go and have a look last week. We arrived, had a chat and a quick look around the car. I was told to take it for a run and see what I thought about it. Off we went leaving Nick behind. 

After the test drive I said I was 95% certain I'd be taking it but wanted to give myself time to chicken out.

I did an insurance quote which came in at £107. I had another chat with the other half and then asked Nick for his bank details.

We were away for a few days so arranged to collect it today.

It will need some bits doing to it and hopefully a reasonable amount of use.

Now I just need to get the Polo through an MOT as I've spent all the replacement car fund and a good chunk more on this.

[juular]

2 hours ago, Tickman said:

First fill of the day

FTFY

[Matty]

2 hours ago, Jim Bell said:

I think you've done something absolutely correctly by the look of it!

Oh fucking hell aye