Project Domes shonky autos - Grand Cherokee departs, Kangoo titivation and 911 dug out.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

4 hours ago, dome said:

Just to clarify in case anyone has any doubts, this is insured as what it is through a specialist broker and the DVLA WILL be informed of the engine change. 
There's none of this "still 1.5 on the logbook M9 so cheap tax" as tax is bloody expensive anyway (£230).

I wouldn't worry. You don't have to justify yourself on here.

 Does this mean the MR2 2ZZ is pushed to one side? Always enjoy updates with the little J beast as well!

[dome]

1 hour ago, Dick Longbridge said:

I wouldn't worry. You don't have to justify yourself on here.

 Does this mean the MR2 2ZZ is pushed to one side? Always enjoy updates with the little J beast as well!

Nah, she's still earning her keep. It got a shock replaced under warranty by KYB as it shat all its oil out, other than that it'll be getting a fettle for some more track days this season. Duncan has it as his daily so it gets some use. He's on holiday this week so I might take it a spin at some point though?

[dome]

Some more progress on this (sorry @Tickman!!)

However, this is to be my daily so i need it in order. Also I hit a pothole with the S4 and am struggling to get anyone to repair the wheel and resore all 4 for under £300. I'm therefore not too keen on driving it too much just now. The tyre looks OK but I don't trust it. 

Last week i went to my mates unit where we (OK, mostly his mate) fitted 4 new Rainsport 5s  in place of the 10 year old Nexens. I have grip again!

The trip computer seems to work, here's what it reported on a steady 10 mile commute

Exactly what I want to see! (I know, it needs a clean inside...)

On Saturday morning I fitted the new inner tie rod. A chopped down 32mm water pump spanner made this easy to do and it drives a lot better now the steering gear has no free play...

Here's what I have beneath the arches

New standard Renault dampers
Random lowering springs-I'd like to find some slightly longer ones but it'll be a bit of a lottery and raising the rear torsion beam to match will be a pain in the ass.
New discs and pads
New H&R spacers(required for the 15" wheels to clear the rear and it does look pretty good on them and doesn't seem to rub. 
And generally decent condition for 16 years old and 155k miles on the shell. 

A new set of plugs arrived so they got fitted, here's the state of the old ones...

On Sunday I went to B&Q and bought some MDF, several hours later i had a bulkhead fitted.

Plan is to carpet the cabin side-can anyone advise on a suitable (cheap) covering?

It's made it a good bit quieter, it's still fooking loud though so i think completing the exhaust is the next mission. Then i can look at the EPAS conversion and timing belt change. They'll need to be done at the same time ideally as the whole aux belt setup changes when you convert to EPAS.

[Crackers]

I love this van. 

That is all. 

[dome]

Well, as we're all going stir crazy at home what better time to update this thread?

So, in February i went on holiday to Budapest. Remember when we could do things like that?

We took the Audi to the airport and on the way I remember feeling a particularly nasty pothole. It seemed to drive fine so i never thought any more of it. However about a week after we got back i went to give it a wash and noticed this.

Arses.

I got some quotes to get it repaired and them all refurbed at the same time. Bugger me it's expensive? I also looked around at alloys for sale but couldn't find anything I liked. i eventually found a place in Glenrothes who gave a decent quote. The S4 got advisories on it's 2 rear tires at its MOT and obviously the front needed replaced after the impact so a full set of Rainsport 5s were ordered up. I've fitted these to the Kangoo too and first impressions are good. 
Side note- since I've bought Rainsports for both my fleet the rainfall in Scotland has dropped. You're welcome. 

Of course after i dropped the wheels and tires off at the place we're now in lockdown so i can't collect them as they are shut. It's not an issue just now as I can't drive it anywhere anyway, i also decided to start doing some more work at the same time.

It's getting:

2 new wings- i got a set from a local bodyshop painted for a good price.
Rocker cover gaskets replaced
Oil check valves replaced-these stop oil from draining back out of the heads when you switch it off. 
Oil change at the same time
Some of my underseal from 18 months ago needs redone.
New aux belt

It currently looks like this, an absence of a T45 Torx bit to complete the removal of the front end has slowed things down.

Once it's in service position (the front end can be moved forward a few inches to allow access to the front of the engine, or removed completely by draining the coolant and AC lines) I can get access to carry on stripping it down.   

Kangoo

I finally got round to fitting the rest of the exhaust yesterday. As the Kangoo system exits on the opposite side to the Clio 172 system i bought some modification was necessary-i had to chop the pipe going into the back box and modify this to get the over axle angle right.  I've got it mounted up now and ready, I haven't driven it yet to see if it's going to need modified but it seems a lot better noise wise and looks well hung, Fnarr.

I also, courtesy of Mr Tickman, acquired an EPAS steering column from a base model Clio which will be used for the conversion. A separate controller has also been ordered to fool the EPAS ECU into working, this also gives me a wee knob I can use to vary the level of assistance. I'll get the timing belt kit ordered up and that can be another lockdown task-I'll be removing the aircon pump and p/s pump when I do this. 

[hairnet]

do they do copies of that s4 wheel?

8 minutes ago, dome said:

Well, as we're all going stir crazy at home

 and looks well hung, Fnarr.

 this also gives me a wee knob I can use #

snortle

[dome]

28 minutes ago, hairnet said:

do they do copies of that s4 wheel?

snortle

They do but I'm not a fan of aftermarket/replica alloys. These aren't the original alloys for mine but are the same as the facelifted S4. They suit the car though so I'll keep them on it. 

[hairnet]

a8 monoblocks

[dome]

Aaaaand not much has happened. Works been stressful so mojo for fettling as been low.

I needed to get the last 2 bolts out to get the front end off so had to wait for new torx sockets to arrive as mine were looking  a bit ropey. I eventually ended up having to grind one off. That gave me the access I needed to get the inlet manifold off

Eep.

Ah, well. Best crack on then

Manifold off and you can see the oil filter housing at the back of the engine. This was one of the sources of leaks. I'd partly cleaned it up before i took this but it was pretty manky. 

The valley gasket lies under the alloy section in the middle of the V.

Cover off and yeah, the gasket was fucked.

Bonus shot of the fucked snub mount from the front of the engine, a new one of these was ordered up too.

There's 2 valves under the rocker which stop oil from draining back out of the heads,  this was the other reason I was in here. s4s are known for rattles from the timing chain on startup. Mine wasn't bad at all but it seemed sensible to change them at the same time.

In true tight Scotsman fashion I'd googled the part numbers and found the cheapest option.

Behold, cheaper than genuine Audi parts...

 

I got these fitted and the new gasket and had to stop there as I was missing the gasket for the oil filter housing. I was sure I had this ready to go on but it's disappeared.  

This still hasn't arrived so that helped* with my motivation.

 

 

[Tickman]

Thanks for the loan of your mojo, I'm sure it will leave me soon and head back to you.

[dome]

Some other things needed attention while it was in bits.

Firstly, aux belt. This was hanging together somehow.

Euro took over 3 weeks to deliver a new one helpfully.

Snub mount which locates the front end fitted along with the aux belt.

There's 2 new wings painted and ready to go on,  I sprayed the insides of them with some Dynax. These will be the last things to go on, knowing me I'd drop a spanner and scratch them...

They're pattern ones but fit seems good and the paint job and price were both decent. 

First coat of wax, a couple more and they were looking good and ready to go on. Later...

 

Not sure about this but the coat of high temp black paint I'd put on the calipers a year and a bit ago looked shit. I can always paint them black again though. Pretty sure red paint on calipers gives 10% across the rev range though.

 

Slightly more sensibly after seeing the state of the valley gasket I decided to drop the sump to clean it out. Also there seemed to be a leak from the gasket, although the leaks from the rocker covers and valley gasket had put oil everywhere so it was hard to tell.

 

This was easy*-only had to drop the coolant to remove a pipe running along the front of the sump, drop the anti roll bar for the rear and then undo the 20 odd bolts holding it on.

 

Nice and shiny thankfully and the sump was debris free.

 

 

Sumps back on and hopefully oil tight. I'm going to stick some cheap oil in it and run it for a short while before flushing it out and replacing with the expensive oil it normally lives on. Hopefully it'll be able to keep it inside in future...

Oh, and the rocker cover gaskets. I fucked these up by not cleaning the crap out of the torx heads before trying to undo them, this resulted in me rounding off 2 on the LHS bank. Fucksticks.

Yeah, these were fun. Dremel was employed and I had to undo the LPG vapouriser and ABS pump to get access. Fun times

Here's under the drivers side rocker. All pretty clean

I gave the covers a lick of paint when they were off. They're now back on but I need to wait for a couple of new bolts before I torque the last one up.

And that's us pretty much up to speed. Once the oil filter housing gasket comes back i can get it back on and then the inlet manifold. Just need the wheels back...

 

 

[dome]

Just realised I haven't updated this!

Finally the parts arrived so i could put it back together. Over a month to get the gasket for the oil filter housing, which sits under the inlet manifold meaning i can't put it back together until it arrived. 

Oil filter housing back on.

 

Before I put the inlet manifold on I used the hoover to clean all the crap that had built up from around it

Inlet manifold back on

Once back together I turned it over on the starter to build up oil pressure then fired it up 

Yas! Always a good feeling. 

I ran it up to temp with just water in the cooling system and the cheap oil and then dropped both. I'm glad I did as there was some crap in the filter which had obviously got into the engine when it was in bits. I'll do another change fairly soon to be on the safe side.. 

With this done I could fit the new wings. I was pleasantly surprised with the fit-they are pattern wings and were cheap. i supplied the paint code and the bodyshop painted them and delivered them for under £200!

 

In process-the door is open, the panel gap is actually OK

And back together

The newly refurbished wheels arrived back out of lockdown at the same time as the gasket so I could crack on and get it back looking like a car for the first time in over 2 months!

 

 

The fit isn't perfect at the bottom of the front of this wing, a little tweak is needed. Other than that it's pretty good

And with it's stablemate on the fleet-currently in my lockup while Locost work goes on but I need to get it out soon as I miss driving it  

 

The Audi is going well, 100 miles in and no signs of oil leaks. I'm calling that a result!

[hairnet]

:P

@Fraz go round and show him ya numberplate again :D

 

[320touring]

That looks ace!

[Split_Pin]

I very much liked scrolling to the first pic with the cars face all back together and then the first start. All looks and sounds perfect, I bet you are pleased.

[Fraz]

On 6/10/2020 at 6:57 PM, hairnet said:

@Fraz go round and show him ya numberplate again

 

The rocktavia has new suspensions specifically for this reason ?

[cort16]

Good paint match on the wings normally silver is a nightmare. Seeing the rocker covers off you do hope who ever decided to put the timing chain at the back of the engine has been demoted to designing ash trays on Skoda Fabias.

[hairnet]

18 minutes ago, Fraz said:

The rocktavia has new suspensions specifically for this reason ?

no saab noo?

 

[Fraz]

18 hours ago, hairnet said:

no saab noo?

 

Negative. The saab was replaced with a jeep and now an Octavia Vrs diseasel ?

[hairnet]

will it need a remap for s4 baiting or is @dome too old for all that shit

 

[dome]

2 hours ago, hairnet said:

will it need a remap for s4 baiting or is @dome too old for all that shit

 

Speak softly but carry a big stick?

[hairnet]

carton of bensons :P

 

[dome]

Just ordered this for the Kangoo.

Coming soon* to a beige site near you-Kangoo cambelt change with added electronic power steering conversion.

Kangoo cambelt change how to:

1. Remove dashboard

?

[Split_Pin]

I don't miss mine!

[dome]

Oh and my mate has got himself a CNC machine so made me this while he was learning how to use it?

[hairnet]

'no tools left in vehicle overnight........apart from the front'

(kidding)

 

[dome]

With the Locost back on the road and off to it's new owner soon and the Audi going well after major surgery it seemed wrong not having a vehicle in bits.

The Kangoo, whilst running really well, came with no cambelt history and with these engines that is a) a pain in the ass to change and b) increasing the chances of the aux belt failure which can wrap itself round the pulleys and wreck the engine.

At the same time I had a power steering leak to deal with. Anyone who's been around these cars will likely have heard of the problems the systems can give as they get older.  My tame Clio breaker had broken otherwise functional cars for the sake of a leaky pipe. @320touring can feel my pain.

Also, mine had the disconnected air con pump still there and whirring away merrily but not doing anything.

Lesser Clios came with an electronic power steering setup with a motor and gubbins in the column. This is a popular mod both for Clios and other cars, especially in motorsport. A control box is needed to retrofit it to other cars. The warm and cuddly @Tickman was breaking a 1.2 Clio belonging to @stereotype so the column was purloined from it. The controller was purchased from ebay as was a genuine Renault belt and pulley kit along with waterpump.

This will mean the auxiliary pulley only needs to run the alternator. This is achieved by running the setup from the stripped out Clio Cup model which had no  aircon. A shorter belt allows you to run only the alternator. This was also duly purchased so everything was ready to go.

Still with us? Well done.

Monday night I started the strip down. 

The Kangoo has much better access at the front than the Clio-mo faffing about removing bumpers and headlights (so far)

Checking the belt and dephaser and they look OK, but with no history it's not a gamble i want to take. 

Within a fairly short period of time i had all the unnecessary things removed bar the power steering pipes.

The two pipes on the rack were undone, these get looped together on the rack. 

The sort of access at the front Clio owners can only dream of...

Although it's the same as a Clio at the sides-that's the waterpump pulley undone but it can't come out til I jack then engine up/down/swear at it a bit more. The waterpump has play making this a worthwhile endeavour.

I left it there. Next thing is to undo the column at the rack and link the pipes on the rack. I'll try and get as many pipes out of the engine bay but it's a convoluted mess of a system. Then i'll do the belt change and get the old column out and swapped over. I'll remove the dash to do this as it'll make things easier and let me do the wiring properly*

As long as I don't get too distracted by my new purchase(s) that is...

 

[dome]

So, as I said in the News24 thread a new purchase has been agreed. The plan was, and still is for an Opel Manta to replace the Locost. Because of my hatred for welding and rusty bodywork/dodgy”restorations” the goal is to go to the continent and rescue a Manta coupe of some sort, spec unimportant, ideally white and solid. Obviously that’s not happening this year though so it can wait.

Meanwhile since getting a dog a couple of years ago I’d walked past a very unloved looking Jaguar XJ6 whilst walking round the village. Speaking to a chap  knew who stayed next door I was told the chap was getting on and couldn’t look after it. Oh and there’s another one in the garage!

I kept in touch but other things distracted me. I was desperate to know what was in the garage though!

Things finally aligned so I went along on Saturday for a look.

First the X300.

This has sat outside since getting driven home from its last MOT 3 years ago. It has been started regulary though and ran and sounded fine when I was there. Sitting outside hasn’t been kind to the paint though-lots of lacquer peel and some crustiness appearing round the arches. The interior was lovely though and it seemed willing to live again. Plan is to get it home this weekend, give it a damn good clean and check the obvious stuff and chuck it in for an MOT.

Underside. Hmm. We'll see. I'm not touching it til the tester has had a prod. It seemed solid from the rusty bits i prodded though. it has been welded before according to the MOT history which may be ominous

 

 

Then it was time to see what was lurking inside the garage...

Oooh

Oooooh! Hello!

TWR steering wheel, because Racecar. Or because the previous owner specced it for better access apparently....

Steel wheels and trims FTW!

 

This was apparently parked up 18 years ago after developing a leak from the transmission cooler. Although the chap told me he'd bypassed the cooler with a rubber pipe. Apparently on around 70k miles. 

So, there we are. Plan is to get the X300 home soon and clean it up. Then we'll see what the MOT man has to say before I spend any money on it. Hopefully it can see the road again though. It'll hopefully get sold on once i've smoked around in it a bit and got it working properly to allow me to devote my attention to the XJ40-that's the one I really want to see alive again. I've said I'd split any profits from it with the owner as part of the deal.

The XJ40 i'll need to go into full resuscitation mode-drain fuel, oil down bores, new battery etc and see if it'll start. Ideally I'd do that where it is and drive it the half mile home home but that might* be ambitious. 

 

 

[big_al_granvia]

for jag bits speak to my mate ali mcmillan in motherwell, he has a yard full of breakers and a fleet of touring cars to fall in love with. http://www.mcmillanjaguar.co.uk/ both him and his no2 scott are really top blokes, feel free to say your my mate (refer to me as big al the post 7 flaggie)

good luck with the big pussy

[hairnet]

so bye bye racecar

to possibly buy a rally car

then you buy two limos?

WTF?

early one like the one we saw in france or the later run out sort?

carry on