Jump to content

Domes shonky autos - Manta progress!


dome

Recommended Posts

I had a phone around to see if any scrappies would take away the remains of the Corolla to no avail-all the local ones I spoke to weren't interested because it didn't have an engine. 

 

I dropped a mate who occasionally breaks cars a message to see if he knew of anyone-he offered to take it and let me keep any bits I wanted. He could even do it the next day.  Result! 

 

This meant a slightly hectic start to Hogmanany as we stripped out the parts we'd sold/wanted to sell. I decided to keep wheels.calipers and lights. All reasonably small and easy to store parts. My mate has more space so he can take a crack at selling the rest before he weights it in.

 

Front end stripped-bumper had to come off to get the lights out

 

post-7629-0-44460100-1546360421_thumb.jpg

 

The plan was to roll it onto the trailer and then remove the wheels and lights so I went round it freeing off calipers.

 

After a brew it was decided to leave everything attached to get it to his yard, he would then remove and return the parts.

 

Shortly, it was on and ready to go

 

post-7629-0-01762400-1546360435_thumb.jpg

post-7629-0-29739000-1546360482_thumb.jpg

post-7629-0-34228000-1546360450_thumb.jpg

 

I popped along last night and recovered the wheels and brakes before Hogmanay shenanigins began. Job done. Out with the old and all that.

 

Into the new year with only only one Toyota in the fleet now but two engines

 

Happy New Year Shiters!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Filled up the A2 for the first time today since putting it into service as my daily. Fuel economy over mostly short journeys has worked out at 49mpg.  Not as amazing as I'd hoped for given how much Audi spent designing the thing to be economical.

 

However, it seems to be not that unusual looking at the likes of Fuelly, especially now it's getting colder and is mainly doing short runs (10 miles or so). 

 

It warms up OK and the heater starts to warm up after a few miles even in cold temperatures so I'll live with it until it starts to give me problems

 

Water useage-zero. It's not done more than 5 miles or so at motorway speeds though which is where Tayne was seeing it using water. 

 

Interestingly the figures for miles travelled vs fuel costs between my 2 Audis are very similar. 

 

A2 240 miles to £28 

S4 230 miles to £28 at 54ppl for LPG 

 

I picked up an engine stand this weekend for MR2 engine prep, will need to get the gearbox off the Corolla engine and mounted on that to swap over sump and other gubbins.  

 

I'd like to get the red MR2 up to the house in the next week or two to crack on with getting that engine out. There's talk of a North coast 500 trip in April and more importantly Knockhill track days in March...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

more importantly Knockhill track days in March...

 

have you booked yet ? only 5 places still available, don't miss out. I've got one but may be in the middle of moving house, I'll still make the effort to come along if I can though :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

have you booked yet ? only 5 places still available, don't miss out. I've got one but may be in the middle of moving house, I'll still make the effort to come along if I can though :)

 

Not yet, that's a bit ambitious at the minute plus also skint because January :( 

 

Also Sods law-if I book it the car won't be ready and if I don't it will and the track day will be sold out...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Other things vaguely of note on the A2- I tried to wire in my old DAB radio but the antenna broke off the end of the wire. I'm still able to get a reasonable signal without the antenna using just the wire so that'll do until I can be arsed to get a new one.

 

With the back seats out it has loads of space for the size of car-coping with tip runs and taking my bike easily. 

 

I'm considering investing in some tyres for it-the ones on it are past their best and one of the rears needs balanced.

 

It drives OK but definitely feels a bit baggy, there's nothing obviously knackered though so I'll live with it as it is, I suspect it's just the effects of having done 184k. I may have a poke around under it at some point if I get the chance though.

 

The best thing about driving it for a week commuting is getting back into the S4  :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Same engine in the two Roomsters we've had on fleet never seemed to better 52mpg

 

I put that down to the poor wee 1.4tdi having to work it's balls off to make any progress

 

Interesting to note the difference the LPG conversion makes on the S4. Often wondered if converting an already mingebag petrol like a C1 or Aygo would deliver extreme levels of mingebaggery

 

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn’t realise lpg was so cheap . Running an v8 at the same cost as an eco diesel means you’re doing something right in life .

 

The mpg on the Audi doesn’t sound great it might get better in longer journeys . Has it got much get up and go or is it pretty dismal? The 1.4 petrol we had was okay but not great, it got about 40mpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I checked the level tonight quickly after cycling and it looked down a couple of mm, I was sitting on a slight slope though. I did 15 fastish miles home including 10 motorway so will check it in the morning on the level.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn’t realise lpg was so cheap . Running an v8 at the same cost as an eco diesel means you’re doing something right in life .

 

The mpg on the Audi doesn’t sound great it might get better in longer journeys . Has it got much get up and go or is it pretty dismal? The 1.4 petrol we had was okay but not great, it got about 40mpg

LPG varies pretty wildly in price-my local station is between 65 and 70 ppl. It's cost effective for me to do a 20 mile trip to Kirkcaldy to get the Morrisons at 53ppl

 

The A2 has a pretty narrow power band but it's got a wee bit of poke. It'll light the tyres up in the wet in 2nd.

 

This may* be down to shit tyres more than an excess of power though...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

I'm considering investing in some tyres for it-the ones on it are past their best and one of the rears needs balanced.

 

I don't think the tyres it has on are the correct size for the car, it should have something a bit narrower. the winter wheels that i had fitted were 15" with smaller tyres and noticeably lighter, the car was a much better drive (they originally came off a polo)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slight update on this.

 

I parked up at work at the back of 8 this morning and nipped out just now(4 hours later) to check the water. 

 

The level was down a bit-still more than half way between min and max but when I took off the expansion cap to top it up there was a fair amount of pressure in there.

 

 I should probably man up and do the head gasket sooner rather than later shouldn't I?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did a bit more tonight to the corolla engine.

Firstly we split the engine and gearbox to get it mounted on the stand. The driveshafts were a pain to get out but we got there in the end.

 

Then to mount it on our engine stand. I've never used one before sonic was a bit of a learning curve. I had to space the mounting fingers to clear the flywheel which took a bit of trial and error. Still, done now. Note Yamaha cast into the head, because n/a with over 100bhp/litre689b7e1de19da3020a00707dba9e705b.jpgc11a6a1e80ddea64c7e6270db72994eb.jpgc67e45dc90be45238ae92b72497db86b.jpg

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slight update on this.

 

I parked up at work at the back of 8 this morning and nipped out just now(4 hours later) to check the water. 

 

The level was down a bit-still more than half way between min and max but when I took off the expansion cap to top it up there was a fair amount of pressure in there.

 

 I should probably man up and do the head gasket sooner rather than later shouldn't I?

 

Yes, you should.

 

I want to know what’s actually wrong with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slight update on this.

 

I parked up at work at the back of 8 this morning and nipped out just now(4 hours later) to check the water.

 

The level was down a bit-still more than half way between min and max but when I took off the expansion cap to top it up there was a fair amount of pressure in there.

 

I should probably man up and do the head gasket sooner rather than later shouldn't I?

Still think you should try just changing the bolts first, fair enough if it doesn't work you will have lost £6 and maybe a couple of hours of your life.

Doing the head gasket is quite a labour intensive job, and it looks like you have enough on with the MR2.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, you should.

 

I want to know what’s actually wrong with it.

 

So do I! I kinda did it the wrong way by deliberately avoiding situations which would make it use coolant-[insert one of Supernauts "This is fine" Memes here.]

 

I could probably tootle around on small journeys and continue ignoring it but that'll just annoy me. 

 

 

Still think you should try just changing the bolts first, fair enough if it doesn't work you will have lost £6 and maybe a couple of hours of your life.

Doing the head gasket is quite a labour intensive job, and it looks like you have enough on with the MR2.

 

A fair point but the more I think about it the more I would rather just do it properly. Although, it is such a minor failure that there's a chance head bolts would cure it. I doubt I'll get another set for £6 though!

 

Put the corolla engine into the a2...

 

Christ no-it was bad enough in the Corolla, in the A2 it would be suicidal!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm currently leaning towards trying to get some engine swap progress happening before touching the A2.

 

With this in mind I'm considering using K Seal or something with my thinking being that if it cures it then great, if not it'll be getting stripped down and flushed out anyway.

 

I'm not sure I'd trust this method though, as long as the coolant loss isn't too bad I might just carry on using it for shorter local runs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Some updates to follow on the MR2 front, this pic is of the new engine and red MR2 meeting for the first time. More to follow.

42c0749c8d38fb3cd2baf4dfd7548a99.jpg

 

 

In the meantime the A2 is plodding on and doing car things very well. But, it's not a Grand Cherokee. Does anyone want to make me an insulting offer for it?

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The trickiest bit was the stuff that was easy on the corolla. Clutch slave and water hoses involved me getting right underneath it. Luckily it's pretty clean under there so wasn't a bad job.

 

On the brief drives in this car I've noticed a clunk from the rear left. I put this down to 2 of the engine mounts only being fingertight...

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...