Project Domes shonky autos - Car that lived by the sea in Scotland in rust shocker*

[Fraz]

I have to confess - it was me who missed the c on the end of the stronger head bolts part number.

[Zelandeth]

Holy kittens that's a bloody big supercharger...

[wuvvum]

Or a very smoll man.

[bigfella2]

Dome I will make you a deal, I will chip in the difference price wise between the bolts, give me your PayPal details.

 

Only thing I ask in return is the value in tickets when it roffles. Am intrigued as anything to see if this works.

[Kiltox]

purchased 5/09/18, fitted by mot garage on 11/09/18 at 181682 miles

 

 

 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F262315997634

 

Two year warranty !

Good old eBay. Supplying useless suspension parts since 2001.

[dome]

Dome I will make you a deal, I will chip in the difference price wise between the bolts, give me your PayPal details.

 

Only thing I ask in return is the value in tickets when it roffles. Am intrigued as anything to see if this works.

Thanks for the offer but I couldn't resist this deal on Amazon last night for the standard bolts...

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[Dave_Q]

Yo, as it happens I've done a bit of bolted joint design.

 

Its not always the case that more is more, in fact 12.9 grade bolts are not recommended for general use as they can suffer from hydrogen embrittlement from the process that gets them to the required level of hardness and strength. Generally you would be advised to use a larger diameter 10.9.

 

Obviously VAG know what they're doing and have determined that it's worth the risk to commonise everything else by using the same diameter, supplier quality has an influence so I guess the OEM ones are OK as we don't hear of PD150s with snapped head bolts.

 

Anyway, the amount of clamping force you get from a bolt is determined by the tightening torque, not the material, and the tightening method is the same for both (40Nm, then 60Nm, then 90deg then 90deg) so the clamp force will be the same. Haven't got my maths to hand but I think that both materials will be in yield at this point but below UTS.

 

The difference between the 2 is that the 12.9 grade bolt has more headroom between the tightening stress and the failure point (1200MPa UTS vs 1000 for 10.9) meaning that in an application with high PCP (PD150 or tuned cars) the 12.9 will last longer.

 

TL:DR version: Strength =/= clamp force, if head bolts were going to fix it the standard ones will probably be fine, until you let 320touring near it with his laptop.

[Fraz]

[dome]

Not a lot to report here. My car fettling mojo has been at a low of late. 

 

The smoll Audi has been sitting at work awaiting a new bush-Mark(GM) managed to score me a free bush from the ebay seller of his wishbones which were waiting for me on my desk today. 

 

I did give it a wash so it looks presentable, if immobile.

 

 

I'd also ordered a pair of polybushes for £25 with a view to them being easier to install than the standard ones and not much more expensive. These turned up at the same time and are a different size to the regular bush so summits up there.

 

New bush here

 

 

And the existing bush minus its plates. It seems solid enough

 

 

From looking at the new bush I think i see the problem-the bolt for the wishbone only sits on the alloy plates at either end and not on the sleeve of the bush. The plates on the wishbones from memory are steel and a bit shittier quality than these new ones. 

 

I may be able to get away with fitting the spacers to the existing bush-the bush itself has no play. If not I'll press out the bush and fit the new one.

 

 

 

I've not done the head bolts or coolant sensor yet-I want to get the thing driveable first.

 

 

[dome]

Some MR2 fettling has also taken place but not enough. Over the weekend I've removed the new uprated suspension from the black MR2 and fitted the standard suspsension I bought from Tickmans breaker.

 

Behold my spacious* working environment.

 

 

I also tried welding a nut onto the sheared bolt in the chassis

 

Looks OK?

 

 

This picture tells the story. 

 

 

Suffice to say the sheared bolt is still in situ. I ran out of gas about the same time as I ran out of patience. 

 

I really need to do some welding practice this winter on some scrap metal to build up some (any) ability.

 

The black MR2 also got new rear discs and pads in preparation for sale.

 

Apart from that sheared bolt we need to swap the good roof off the red one and some general tittivation and it'll be good to go. I suspect selling it at this time of year will be easy*

[spartacus]

I'm only looking on a phone but I'd say you need a little more heat and try to lay a bead around where the threads meet. I've even found that not winding the nut all the way on and filling the void with weld does the trick. Often it's the heat introduced that frees off the knackered bolt.

Full marks for being out in a cold garage floor doing that in this weather though.

[dome]

Success, almost. I nipped out on my lunchbreak and fitted the 2 new washers to the existing bush and after a bit of faffing managed to get the bolt up and everything seemed tight. 

 

HOWEVER, like the collosal spunktrumpet that I am during the process of getting it lined up I've manged to pop the driveshaft back out of the hub so had to take it all back apart again. 

 

I abandoned it as I'd already overran my lunchbreak, will try again soon....

[dome]

I'm only looking on a phone but I'd say you need a little more heat and try to lay a bead around where the threads meet. I've even found that not winding the nut all the way on and filling the void with weld does the trick. Often it's the heat introduced that frees off the knackered bolt.

Full marks for being out in a cold garage floor doing that in this weather though.

 

Welder was turned up full and wire feed down to a minimum. I was hoping the heat would help free off the bolt but I can't get a good enough weld onto it. This is almost entirely down to my lack of ability. 

[spartacus]

With a couple of Japanese cars to go at you'll get plenty of practice!

They snap those undertray bolts off for a joke, it's like they're made of aluminium.

[stonedagain]

Welder was turned up full and wire feed down to a minimum. I was hoping the heat would help free off the bolt but I can't get a good enough weld onto it. This is almost entirely down to my lack of ability.

Try welding a bigger nut on, you'll get more weld into it.

[dome]

 

Hmmm. Went back out on my lunchbreak and got it back together, there's still play in the bush though with the new spacers on either end. I think I'll need to change over the bush but it can wait-the whole novelty of working on cars in my lunchbreak has worn off-there's no time to do things properly.

 

I'll get it home at some point to do it there

[Kiltox]

I’d love dibs on that Audi when it’s unfucked and you’re bored of it, guess there’s a queue

[dome]

I limped the Audi back home on Thursday as working on it during lunchbreaks wasn't happening. It's tucked up in my garage awaiting attention. I've swapped over the coolant sensor so far but haven't had a change to look at the bush.

 

The black MR2 sale prep is taking longer than it should but I got a bit more done today once the hangover from my works do last night had worn off.

 

First things first, remove the roof from the black car. As you can see it was a little* past its best.

 

 

An online guide was pretty helpful so the roof was soon off at mine.

 

Then down to the home of the red one via my lockup to pick up the hardtop.

 

Second time round and the roof was off in no time.

 

 

We also cleaned out the drains in both cars and cleaned the soft top

 

 

We're swapping the drivers seats over too, having these out helped with access.

 

I also swapped over the hardtop fittings to the red car. It'll be getting ran with no soft top so I need to cut down part of the old soft top frame as it's needed to mount the seatbelt and hardtop fittings. It'll be fine just now with the rear mounts though.

 

Light was running out but I've got the soft top in place on the black car and hopefully watertight, there's still a load of bolts to fit too and all the trim.

 

I'll get the job finished off in daylight. Sometime. Was hoping to have it sold before Christmas but I'm struggling with time and daylight

[Tayne]

Did the gauge start working when you put the new sender in the Audi?

[dome]

Did the gauge start working when you put the new sender in the Audi?

I've not fired it up yet, it was a quick 5 minute job after MR2 shenanigans. Will find out when I get the bush fixed and take it a spin

[dome]

So, we cracked on on Sunday and got the roof fitted. The instructions I found showed how to take one off but were hazy in putting one back on. We got there in the end, I was still aching 2 days later from being contorted in the back of the thing. 

 

After a bit of a polish she's looking well

 

 

I've still got the lambda sensors to swap over but it's been advertised.

 

I'm mildly ashamed to say I've not got the sheared bolt out yet. It's for a chassis brace so not essential, unless the new owner plans on tracking it.

 

It's up for sale now so we'll see what happens this close to Christmas. Any shiters who are interested give me a shout...

[dome]

I had a crack at the A2 tonight, first chance I got since bringing it home last week. It's in the garage so first thing i did was jack it up and remove both front wheels to compare the 2 sides to see what the difference was

 

Here's the LHS which is fine

 

 

And the RHS where the problem was

 

 

The only difference seems to be the bracket on the subframe that the bolt goes through, running down the front of the wishbone. It looks misshapen on the RHS. On removing both bolts the LHS wishbone was a tighter fit into the subframe

 

Slightly confused, I did what seemed to be the sensible thing and whacked it with a hammer.

 

This worked-I bolted the RHS back together and the play was gone.

 

Go figure?

 

Victory was not quite mine yet though, on refitting the LHS I managed to cross thread the bloody bolt. It took fucking ages to sort and ended up with me jacking up a spanner against the bolt on the way in to get it to line up. I should've took a picture but I was massively fucked off.

 

I've stuck the battery on to charge and left it for the night.

 

I've no idea what's happened to that bush to give it play, there's no sign of an impact on the subframe. I'm open to ideas?

 

Still got head bolts/gasket to do. Think I'll drive it for a bit first though.

[gm]

I wonder if the garage might have bent the frame getting the old one off when they swapped the wishbones ? then the bush just took time to work loose ? lets hope its done the job and its one less thing to worry about.

[Saabnut]

I am willing to bet that MR2 was a lease car when new, probably to a Toyota employee. At the time my brother was the CFO of Toyota Motor Finance, and was entitled to 3 company lease cars so I had the third! The first year I had a red MR2 (same colour as your track car but on a Y plate) and the second year I had a Silver one, registration GY02 YSB. My brother left during the second year so the silver one went back early.

[dome]

I am willing to bet that MR2 was a lease car when new, probably to a Toyota employee. At the time my brother was the CFO of Toyota Motor Finance, and was entitled to 3 company lease cars so I had the third! The first year I had a red MR2 (same colour as your track car but on a Y plate) and the second year I had a Silver one, registration GY02 YSB. My brother left during the second year so the silver one went back early.

 

Interesting!

 

The red one is on Inchcape motor group plates and I found a business card from the salesman whilst swapping seats over.

 

Inchcape were (are?) the UK Toyota importers and Lord Inchcape owns the country estate I grew up on in Ayrshire. 

[dome]

I wonder if the garage might have bent the frame getting the old one off when they swapped the wishbones ? then the bush just took time to work loose ? lets hope its done the job and its one less thing to worry about.

 

Possibly. It's weird. I guess the only thing to do is put some miles on it and see what happens...

 

Oh, I also need to pop the DAB radio out and fit an aerial-I've got one of those attach to the windscreen jobs somewhere, I'll see how that works.  My magnetic one won't be much use!

[cort16]

I had the same problem with the DAB in my Avantime. I just gave up in the end.

 

Do you think the subframe and all the mounting points are aluminium or is there some steel in there?

[gm]

there was a dab antenna stuck on the windscreen but the elements were broken and I just cut it off at the cable. that stereo is a horror anyway, doing the simplest of tasks seemed to be needlessly complex, I ripped it out and fitted my alpine, so much better. 

[dome]

I had the same problem with the DAB in my Avantime. I just gave up in the end.

 

Do you think the subframe and all the mounting points are aluminium or is there some steel in there?

 

Re the DAB-I have good success with a magnetic external aerial, it is a bit ugly though as the cable goes in through the top of the door aperture. I'd consider drilling and mounting a permanent aerial in the A2 if it starts to behave itself-it's got winter beater written all over it.

 

The subframe is steel-part 21 in the picture.This is the bit I fettled with the hammer.

The bolt (No5) goes through this, through the wisbone bush and into 22 which is alloy-that's the bit I managed to cross thread.

 

[gadgetgricey]

DAB wise, get one of these.

 

https://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/stereo-fitting-accessories/autoleads-magnetic-dab-antenna?_br_psugg_q=dab+aerial

 

Got one fitted in each of the cars with DAB, and very rarely drops out.

Both inside the car fitted to the boot rear window.