Stanky's Car Fixing Thread - New Battery Day 25/10

[Stanky]

3 hours ago, lisbon_road said:

On ebay if you search for breaking Sirion, a few come up.  Including one that looks as if the windscreen has been the victim of a machine gun.  I don't know about different models and stuff.

No joke getting a windscreen out.  I've got bonded glass out by using a cutting disc to cut out the screen with some metal all the way round then gently sawed through in short sections and pulled them off.  Takes a while mind. 

haha, yes I see what you mean - "target has been neutralised, returning to base"

[Toe]

Guess a direct line to Pilkington won't work, know of some in the past and that has worked but it is a long shot

[Stanky]

I've found an old thread from Retro Rides which suggests an outfit called 'Uroglass' in Bolton who might also be able to help, I'll give these guys 48h to get back and tell me that it turns out someone hadn't updated the warehouse inventory management system then assume its going to be OK.

I can pull the MOT slot and SORN the car, but I'd really prefer not to.

[Stanky]

After an anxious wait, today my new windscreen arrived!

Massive thanks to @mintwth, Alternative Windscreens were able to source and fit the last M100/M101 Sirion windscreen in the UK today. I did have a chat to them about  'what happens if I break this one?' and theysaid that they are happy to fit a 2nd hand one if I could source it so that is an option.

Next job is to tweak the exhaust again, it sits a fraction too low after my most recent modifications and knocks against the rear axle (I think) on left hand turns which is a bit annoying. Its a fine balance because if its too low it hits the subframe, and too high and it chafes on the rear bumper so I need to fiddle about with it and get it right.

Then its MOT time next Friday

 

 

[Stanky]

I managed to get out and fix the exhaust earlier, it was hitting the bodyshell in the pinch between the rear beam and the bodyshell - its an awkward spot. I ended up swapping the hangers around so it sits lower in the centre section, and higher in the rearmost section and now clears a lot better. I also enlisted my youngest daughter to do the pre-MOT checks of lights, tyres, horn, screenwash, oil, coolant and brake fluid and it should be OK I hope.

I'll get it tested then I want to redo one of the joints on the exhaust, its gastight but I'm not 100% happy with it. I had a go at fiddling with it but then decided that its currently fine for the MOT and maybe it'd be best to leave it well alone until after I have a new ticket on it.

[Stanky]

Dropped the Daihatsu off for its MOT tomorrow and skated back home in between rain showers. Fingers crossed its all ok. I've checked everything I can so we'll see what the tester reckons in the morning. 

Its racked up a fairly unimpressive 1000 miles since the last test (and I fixed the advisory from last time) so hopefully it'll be OK. 

[Stanky]

Never doubted it m8

The garage complimented me on how tidy it is so I'm a happy boy. I think the 'oil leak' is actually where I slopped some down the block when I last topped it up, but whatever - another year's ticket on the car! I'll be able to bring it along to the Solent Shiters meetup in a couple of weeks too.

[Stanky]

Today was MOT day for the Lexus, I'm always a bit nervous about the first MOT on a vehicle in my ownership in case it had previously been tested by S. Wonder & Sons famous 'MOT by post'. I knew that the tyres it has were a bit sketchy. It proudly wears a pair of Sunny tyres on the front axle and some Jinyu Gallows-pro on the back axle and can be provoked into some Tokyo Drift antics rather easily on a wet roundabout. They have legal tread depth, but are rather lacking in grip, I think the datestamp is 2019 and they're just cheap and have gone plasticky. I'd held off buying new rubber until the MOT on the basis that I didn't want to have put £400 of new boots on a car with some sort of catastrophic accident damage or similar, and having a legit test at a garage I trust would tell me if there was anything serious wrong.

I'm pleased to say though that it passed with flying colours - the garage were very complimentary of it, only noting that three tyres were worn to below 3mm but otherwise it was in great condition. 

The MOT history on this thing is pretty impressive, the only fails it seems to have had have been on tyres - previous owners clearly wanted their money's worth from them! But otherwise its clean pass after clean pass.

I'll look at getting some new tyres ordered up for it in the next few days now I know I have a solid base to work from. 

Pleasingly, I have the Dacia to MOT tomorrow, its first test. Its only done 15k miles in 3 years so should go through OK, but its at the main dealer (where its also getting serviced by the book to maintain the warranty) so we'll see what bullshit they try and find with it. 

[mintwth]

44 minutes ago, Stanky said:

Today was MOT day

Ditto. Assuming you used the usual place, I was in there this morning. 

[Stanky]

44 minutes ago, mintwth said:

Ditto. Assuming you used the usual place, I was in there this morning. 

Just seen, thanks for being the 'decoy' fail for the day! They looked busy, were you in the scenic or the gt86? 

[mintwth]

The Megane. Just means the suspension refresh will get done a bit sooner. I was wanting to get it done in the next month or so anyway

[Stanky]

Wow, three for three this year!

Dacia has breezed its first MOT, I got an email saying one tyre was down to 4mm and did I want it replaced, but the same email also said the brand new spare which I bought myself was at 6.5mm, and that has literally never been used so I think someone might need their tread depth gauge calibrating! its now having the filters and brake fluid changed as per the schedule to keep the warranty going. 

I'm not unhappy about that.

[Stanky]

I knew the tyres on the Lexus were a bit iffy, they were 5 years old and nearly worn to the tread markers on the back. The fronts had some tread left but were budget brands. The front tyres were Sunny 'Sport Macro' and the rears were Jinyu Gallopro. They were OK in the dry, though it really wasn't hard to get the traction control light flashing if you needed to zip out of a junction, and they were quite noisy on the motorway.

They were also pretty sketchy in the wet. I'd had a couple of 'Tokyo Drift' moments leaving roundabouts at really quite tame speeds in the wet so knew they needed doing.

The MOT picked up on them being a bit crap. I'd been holding off changing them until the MOT verdict came in, but a clean bill of health (other than the tyres) meant I could pull the trigger on some new rubber with no nagging doubts.

I'd been seeing what options I had. it has 225/45/17s on the front (which were fairly cheap and plentiful) and 245/45/17s on the back (which were not cheap, or especially plentiful). Almost all of them were XL rated which was a bit annoying as it does the comfort no favours. The Lexus wasn't specced with XML tyres from new, but the only not-XL rear tyres I could get were about £170 each which I couldn't quite stomach. Anyway, in the end I opted for a full set of Kumho Ecsta PS71s from Oponeo for £304 all in, and had them fitted earlier by my local tyre fitter for £20 a corner including disposing of the old ones, valves and balancing which I'm fairly happy with. I checked half a dozen supply & fit outfits and they all wanted £500+ for Kumhos or similar so £385 feels a lot better.

I've run Kumho tyres before and been pretty pleased with their performance and longevity. All the reviews seemed to praise their wet grip which is a big consideration for me. Living in the Effluent South were rarely get snerr or sustained subzero temps but it does rain a lot which is where I've found the key difference between budget tyres and mid-ranges really comes out.

Anyway, all fitted and done now. I need to wear these in a little bit but even driving home at 30-40mph the new tyres were definitely quieter than the old ones so seems to be money well spent.

EDIT - I've now looked at reviews for the Sunny NA305 that were fitted to the front of the Lexus, someone has described as being something "I wouldn't even fit these to a wheelbarrow." which made me chuckle

 

[Stanky]

I would like to sincerely apologise to the residents of Fareham for what happened on Thursday evening

As I left my Tai Chi class, feeling very relaxed and at one with the universe, the exhaust on the Daihatsu sort of disassembled itself a bit. The centre pipe (with silencer) had wiggled free of the front pipe and fell off. Sadly for Fareham I didn't have a 16mm spanner on me, and the clamp was done up a bit too tight to be able to wiggle the centre pipe back on. I decided that I could call the breakdown people and wait hours for them to come and then spend 30 seconds with a spanner fixing it, or just YOLO it home. Guess which one I chose?

Yeah, sorry about that. I tried to keep the revs down as much as possible, and drive as slowly as practical, but nothing was going to disguise the fact that there was only 2' of straight pipe to quieten* down the noise of Daihatsu's finest. It was OK at idle, and there was a weird spot at approx 1983rpm where it was actually no louder than normal, but anything else was A BIT LOUD. Especially pulling away from junctions and extra especially going up hills.

Happily though I made it home without the rozzers pulling me over, and I've been able to loosen the clamp, slide it all back together with some exhaust paste and do the clamp up REALLY TIGHT this time. Now I know its a bit prone to this I can check it more regularly!

mercifully, the centre and rear bit didn't hang down very far so it didn't get smacked clean off the car on some of the potholes round here

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Stanky said:

I would like to sincerely apologise to the residents of Fareham for what happened on Thursday evening

As I left my Tai Chi class, feeling very relaxed and at one with the universe, the exhaust on the Daihatsu sort of disassembled itself a bit. The centre pipe (with silencer) had wiggled free of the front pipe and fell off. Sadly for Fareham I didn't have a 16mm spanner on me, and the clamp was done up a bit too tight to be able to wiggle the centre pipe back on. I decided that I could call the breakdown people and wait hours for them to come and then spend 30 seconds with a spanner fixing it, or just YOLO it home. Guess which one I chose?

Yeah, sorry about that. I tried to keep the revs down as much as possible, and drive as slowly as practical, but nothing was going to disguise the fact that there was only 2' of straight pipe to quieten* down the noise of Daihatsu's finest. It was OK at idle, and there was a weird spot at approx 1983rpm where it was actually no louder than normal, but anything else was A BIT LOUD. Especially pulling away from junctions and extra especially going up hills.

Happily though I made it home without the rozzers pulling me over, and I've been able to loosen the clamp, slide it all back together with some exhaust paste and do the clamp up REALLY TIGHT this time. Now I know its a bit prone to this I can check it more regularly!

mercifully, the centre and rear bit didn't hang down very far so it didn't get smacked clean off the car on some of the potholes round here

We've all been there I think!

Worst one I ever had was on a non turbo XUD powered 306 when the downpipe without warning sheared off about 8" down from the manifold.  This was in a period before I could afford breakdown cover, and I was about 20 miles from home, in the middle of nowhere in Aberdeenshire.

Speed on the way home was limited to about 40 - as above that the resonance from the exhaust noise became so bad that I couldn't SEE properly.  Worst part was that I had to drive another sixteen miles to the nearest exhaust place the following day to have it sorted!  At least for that trip I was able to arm myself with ear defenders.

[Stanky]

Bit of a fleet update since I've now accumulated enough jobs to make it worthwhile typing them out.

It being the school holidays I've been busy out and about with the kids to keep them amused. We went down to Crealy/Sooty World as my youngest is Sooty-mad currently. It was a good day out actually. Entry wasn't as pricey as I was expecting as we'd booked in advance, and food & drinks in the park were less wince-inducing than I was expecting too. We took the Dacia as my wife likes the higher-up seating than the Lexus, despite the Lexus having working air con, and the Dacia not. Then, a few days later we went up to Suffolk for a few days, again in the Dacia which was a very warm journey! I had the presence of mind to run the tank down before the Devon trip and reset the trip counter too. I was pleased to see that the trip computer was surprisingly accurate, according to the meter we averaged 55.3mpg over 15 gallons, and according to fuel-light-to-fuel-light we got 54.6mpg which I don't think is at all bad for 4-up plus luggage at motorway speeds, with predictable holdups and detours to avoid the worst traffic on the M25. The Dacia is booked in for a regas in a few weeks time, since its newfangled it needs R1234YF gas which is three times the price of the old stuff. I have opted to take it back to the main dealer since they're no more expensive for the job being done than ATS or anyone else, and if they find it to be damaged or leaky then I can just demand it be fixed under warranty there and then.

I did notice that the tracking seems to be a bit out on the Dacia as the front nearside tyre is wearing a bit on the outer shoulder. I might swap the tyres front to back soon and see if the same happens. By and large it doesn't go far, doing local jobs but it does get used for longer family trips too.

I had a rare day to myself today as my wife and the kids went out to some activity or other so I was able to strip and re-grease the sliders on the rear brakes of the Lexus. This is the only known weak spot of the IS250s, the slider design is a bit daft and they can seize up, giving weird pad wear and reduced brake performance. I had already replaced one caliper which was utterly seized earlier in the year, the other one was free enough that a clean up and re-grease got it working fine, but I resolved to make it a 6-monthly job to do. Happily it all came apart fine, the sliders were a bit dry but not at all corroded or seized and I was able to do both sides with new silicone grease without being nagged or rushed to finish. so thats another job done and dusted.

I have to say that after racking up so many miles in the Dacia, its nice to be back in the Lexus! I went out for a skate this morning in it, and its just effortless to drive. The Dacia isn't bad, but you need to use the gearbox a lot to keep the turbo spinning otherwise you really do find out what a NA 3 cylinder pez engine is like! It drives fine, but the Lexus is just so comfortable, easy to drive and feels so much more planted.

Since the Lexus was up on stands with the rear wheels off anyway, I also took the time to fix* one of the other little niggles. The rear bumper has had a bit of a biff at some point prior to my ownership which has snapped the plastic above the lower fixing screw on the drivers side. Its not a huge issue, but its a bit flappy and was bothering me. Here it is:

Its split right round so the bottom of the leading edge is free to move about. I'm not quite sure how to fix this properly, probably some araldite would do the job, but would also reward being reinforced on the back somehow? Anyway, as a stop-gap I used a different professional* solution

Annoyingly, I only had one slim black cable tie, so used that plus two green ones to secure the two pieces back together better and I'll have a look at getting some epoxy glue and some sort of mesh/matting to go on the back at some point. The repair is so low down that its basically invisible unless you are lying down, but its still a bit ugly. I suppose the best option would be to remove the rear bumper and replace it with another 1G1 silver one, but I could do without that hassle and expense for the time being.

The Daihatsu is going well, and the exhaust is staying put now I have applied some exhaust assembly paste to the joint that slipped apart. I have booked a ticket to the new (?) 'Caffeine & Machine' place at the Meon Hut crossroads next month. They seem to have lots of different things on all week, I've got a ticket for their Japanese 'Daikoku Nights' event so we'll see how that goes. If its good I'll see about arranging an AS meetup there, I'm not sure its going to be welcoming to eclectic oddities like my Daihatsu or its going to be full of Nissan GTRs and fire-breathing RX-7s and I'll be shoved into a corner and mocked. We shall see.

 

[Stanky]

I wasn't entirely happy with how bright the copper paint came out on the MX5 Enkei daisy wheels for the Daihatsu and its been at the back of my mind for a while that a darker bronze colour might suit them better. I was going to go for Volks/Rays racing bronze, but a discussion on a Dai forum led me to look at Fiat 'Marron Volcane' instead. As luck would have it, WLW paints on ebay were able to make me up a can and send it out for under £14 so I had a trial run to see how it'd work out.

I masking taped off one tyre and aerosol'd over the copper

it was just a quick 2 coats to see how it would come out, its closer to what I had in mind so I tried out fitting it to the car

Fits over the calipers fine, despite being a 14" wheel (the standard ones are 15") but im not convinced. I think the tyres are too low profile and don't fill the arches properly which makes it look weirdly proportioned. I think it needs to either have tyres with more sidewall, or to be lowered and/or have spacers fitted to allow the wheels & tyres to fill the arches more. I'm also not sure that the colour contrast really works. Maybe the silver on the boadywork is too purpley but it doesn't seem to work as well in the metal as I was hoping.

I'll have a think, but I might just sack the idea off entirely. Maybe I'll do one more go with some aerosol wheel silver paint and see what they look like then go from there.

On the plus side, the colour is great. Anyone looking for bronze wheels - I can recommend Fiat 750F 'Marron Volcane' paint from WLW!

[Stanky]

So, something a little bit different tonight. 

A few weeks ago I happened to be driving down the A32, I used to drive this daily but a change of jobs a while back means I rarely go out that way any more. At the crossroads with the A272 there is a pub which closed ages ago and was empty for a long time, but earlier this year was bought and refurbished by Caffeine & Machine, a car-centric chain of pubs. They have made the pub quite nice, and it has a big car park area where they have displays, there is a 'theme' for every night of the week, though all are welcome. Its ticketed, to ensure they're not overwhelmed but is well worth the price. 

Anyway, tonight was 'Daikoku Night' which is loosely themed around the Daikoku car park in Tokyo which is a well known place for Japanese car culture types to congregate - think modified cars, classics & custom vehicles of all kinds. Anyway, I booked a ticket and my and eldest_daughter_Stanky went along this evening, have some pics

I'll not leave commentary on each one, but there were some great cars on show. The people were really welcoming and my Daihatsu got loads of attention - including being noticed as the rarest car there by a few people! The ticket was £10 and you get £5 off food with the QR code. The food was really good, I had a burger which turned out to be home made and very tasty and my daughter had a pizza which she said was really good. They have loads of drinks on tap including a couple of alcohol free beers (which I had two of) and plenty of soft drinks. 

I'll definitely go back again and it might be a good venue for an AS meetup too. Its not snobby at all, the staff are hugely enthusiastic and they really make a point that everyone is welcome there.

[mintwth]

Oddly enough I was there this evening too. Didn't spot you or the Daihatsu  but I didn't get there till it'd  gone dark.

There are meets most nights (not always what's advertised on their website - e.g. tomorrow's advertised as a Mustang night but there's a Japanese owners meet on too).

 

[Stanky]

5 hours ago, mintwth said:

Oddly enough I was there this evening too. Didn't spot you or the Daihatsu  but I didn't get there till it'd  gone dark.

There are meets most nights (not always what's advertised on their website - e.g. tomorrow's advertised as a Mustang night but there's a Japanese owners meet on too).

 

Ah, we left at a bit after 8, sorry to have missed you! Are you a regular there or just now and then? 

[mintwth]

I'd say now and then but must have been about 10 times since it opened. Tend to pop in when I'm passing, there's something interesting on or other people I know are going.

[Stanky]

Annoyingly the exhaust disassembled itself again today, I took the Daihatsu to collect my youngest from school and pulled out of a T-junction a bit vigorously, spun up the inside front wheel and then it got suddenly louder. I knew right away what had happened and limped it home. On the plus side my daughter was delighted at the 'speed noise' it made!

Anyone got any suggestions on how to sort his out properly? The silencer is currently clamped in place and exhaust paste is used - what happens when it loses traction is that I assume the wheels spin up, the engine rocks back and fourth and it pulls the exhaust section that runs from the downpipe out of the clamped joint of the silencer. Clearly the clamps aren't holding it tight enough.

Do I drop the exhaust off entirely and have it welded? Is stainless harder to weld than mild? I assume so...

Or do I drop it off and have some flange joints welded on so its still three sections, but which bolt together rather than are slid over one another and clamped?

Answers welcomed.

[stuboy]

use the old type horseshoe clamp instead of the flat band clamp?

[Stanky]

4 minutes ago, stuboy said:

use the old type horseshoe clamp instead of the flat band clamp?

I do have a pair of them, are they actually better than the flat bands? Will be free to try at least!

[Zelandeth]

Sure there's not a soggy engine/gearbox mount allowing excess movement?  Worth checking that before driving yourself insane trying to get an exhaust to behave.

[Stanky]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Sure there's not a soggy engine/gearbox mount allowing excess movement?  Worth checking that before driving yourself insane trying to get an exhaust to behave.

Entirely possible, I'll have a good look and see what I can discover. The mounts were disturbed when I changed the clutch (engine & gearbox out job) so are a definite possibility for being at fault.

[Stanky]

Thanks to the suggestion of @stuboy, I have removed the old band-type clamp and replaced it with a horseshoe/u-clamp instead. It seemed to clamp much tighter than the band one so we'll see how I get on when I take it out next.

I did also notice that the exhaust was sitting too low, and resting on part of the front subframe which I was able to rectify by lifting the middle exhaust hanger by one peg, getting it to sit right is a complete pain in the rear! There are two points where there is bugger all clearance (front subframe in line with the front driveshafts & rear end where the exhaust goes over the rear beam) and getting it to line up properly and not touch at one or other of these points is nightmarish.

Anyway, thank you for the input, I'll see how it behaves over the next few weeks and may revisit the engine mounts later. Replacing them is almost certainly going to be an engine-out job which I'm not especially keen to repeat, certainly not this side of next summer.

Incidentally, I need to adjust the clutch a bit because the bite point is a bit too low, and 1st gear can be a bit tricky to get unless the pedal is hard down to the floor when you're at a standstill. Possibly a task for tomorrow. The gearshift is altogether a bit crap at slow speeds but becomes superb once you're giving it some beans. Keep it on cam above 4000rpm and it snicks between ratios beautifully.

[Stanky]

Not much in the way of news. The Daihatsu exhaust has stayed intact, though I've held off on quick getaways in 1st gear which seemed to be what caused the disassembly issues previously. Short shifting into 2nd then hoofing it seems to be the way to go for rapid progress without the exhaust falling to bits. I've joined it with the U-clamp and that does seem to be working for now.

The pinnacle of excitement in Lexus ownership has been replacing the worn-out engine cover clips. Several were missing entirely, and the ones which were left were in a sorry state

 

The legs which splay out when you push the pokey bit in had all snapped off so were a bit ineffectual. Ebay came up trumps with this novelty selection for £4 delivered

which yielded enough suitable clips to replace all of the originals

Which I'm very pleased with. Oh, and I had to change the coin battery in the key fob too, because the dashboard told me it was low on wednesday of this week. 

I've stuck about 5k miles on the Lexus since I bought it 6 months ago and it has been impeccably behaved. Other than a few things to get it up to standard shortly after I bought it, it has just worked. I know its not very AS, but if you want a car that just works then you could do a lot worse than a 2nd gen Lexus IS. It even delivers 34mpg on a mixed cycle (actual) and nearly 40mpg on a run. Hands down, this is the best car I have ever owned.

[Heidel_Kakao]

I would like to try a second gen IS at some point to see how it compares to the gen one, it's just a shame they only did the Sportcross for gen one.

[Stanky]

55 minutes ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

I would like to try a second gen IS at some point to see how it compares to the gen one, it's just a shame they only did the Sportcross for gen one.

It would be the literal perfect car for me if they did the 2nd gen IS250 in estate form.