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

[Ghosty]

TFR is good stuff, I use Comma stuff to clean customers' bikes at work. 

It's in short supply at the moment but we managed to get a 25 litre drum of Gunk brand concentrated TFR, so we should be OK for a while. 

[dome]

Well, it's been radio silence on here for a while, with good reason. The S4 is dead. 

The dreaded timing chain issue struck a couple of weeks ago after particularly enjoyable blast with codes for a misfire appearing on all 4 cylinders on one bank. I limped it home 5 miles which may have been unwise but it sounded OK at the time bar the misfire.  

It'd need the engine pulled to sort as the chains are at the back. Going by the noises it's making now though I think a new engine would be the only way forward. It's done 140k which is well into danger territory for these engines. The chains were always silent on startup though.

However, I quite simply can't be fucked to pull it apart, let alone source another engine. That, coupled with the fact that a local breaker is offering decent money for it dead has pretty much sealed it's fate. 

I'd been aware from the start of the potential for borkage with these and have had timing tools in my ebay watch list since i bought it. If it hadn't just spent the best part of 2 months in bits whilst I did the gaskets and wings I might've been up for a fight. As it is though it can get in the sea. It's in my lockup for the time being.

It was a fantastic car while it lasted but such is life. 

So, naturally, I've bought another car....

[Jenson Velcro]

Oh no, that is one of those cars that gets associated with its particular owner and couldn’t see them being parted. Perhaps sit on it for a bit and see how you feel then?
Still interested to see what you’ve got now though.

[J-T]

What a pisser, but I think I'd probably make the same decision. Onwards as they say!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Bummer on the S4. 
But I couldn’t help looking the Jag up, not all bad news...

[Supernaut]

Aw man.

This is like hearing somebody's lost a pet. As others have already said, that car was associated with you.

[Fabergé Greggs]

That is sad news but I bet its replacement will provide us all with equal entertainment. 

[Bren]

Gutted for you. The chains on these are one of those jobs that unless you can do it yourself then financially it is hard to justify.

[CreepingJesus]

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

+1 for 'if it can live, it must' from here. Fond memories of silly speeds round Bathgate West roundabout, and it disappearing out of sight on the A801 on the way home! Think that was the night I came within a bawhair of losing the TurboBrick at Longannet roundabout trying to keep up...?

[Split_Pin]

Shanner on the S4 Brian, I know you really liked this car too.

As you say though, enough's enough and if  someone is offering you a bearable sum to get it gone then time to move on.

I look forward to seeing what you get next.

[Bren]

What is it's replacement?

[dome]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'll do a proper update on the fleet when I get a chance.

Don't get too excited about the S4s replacement, it's 200bhp down on it. ?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

What a bastard. What happens to the timing chains then, do they slip a notch or something? Are they fine one minute and knackered the next?

[cort16]

Thats a shame on the S4 . Why they put the chains at the back of the engine fuck only knows, the job sounds a right nightmare.

Hopefully you'll have a nice Jag soon to take it's place.

[blackboilersuit]

Gutted for you, that's a real kick in the baws you didn't deserve. Totally agree with your decision to move it on though. Having had a look at the prices of used engines and chain kits if you fell into the rabbit hole of trying to fix it you could end up in financial ruin and still have a car in a million bits on your drive. 

[big_al_granvia]

Gutting mate, cars are like women, no matter how much money and attention you give them they still bite you in the haw maws... At least you have the harry to waft about in.. So what have you bought

[dome]

13 hours ago, big_al_granvia said:

Gutting mate, cars are like women, no matter how much money and attention you give them they still bite you in the haw maws... At least you have the harry to waft about in.. So what have you bought

@Flat4 doesn't know how lucky she is to have you

[dome]

Ok, let’s go back 2 weeks today and see where my fleet is.

 

Audi: fucking fucked mate

Jag: awaiting MOT results-Crispy.

Kangoo. Timing belt on but not tensioned, new alternator setup and EPAS to be installed.

Number of roadworthy cars: Zero.

So, where do we go from here?

Jag first

The MOT results were somewhat predictable.

 

From speaking to the tester the inner wings were crunchy as was parts of the floorplan.

I put on my big boy pants and gave it a poke.

Yep, that's not pretty. 

Enter, stage left, a knight in shining armour in the shape of the warm and fluffy @Tickman

He sent a message last Sunday. 

"looking for someone to weld the Jag?"

"Why, do you know someone daft enough?"

"Yes, bring it up"

Clearly lockdown had got to him...

So, a couple of hours later here was the scene at a top secret location, just off the A90 in Forfar.

 

A day was spent poking, grinding, swearing, shaping metal and welding. The last two were done by Tickman as my skills don't run to that sadly. Yet.

Tickman was so delighted* with the Jag he demanded he keep it for a couple of days to enjoy it. Or maybe there was more rust than first thought...

I as dispatched home with the racecar Baleno GSR so he could have some alone time with it. Cough.

A few days later I headed north to bring the Jag back home with a fresh, non crusty underside.

Album cover...

 

I can't thank John enough for his work.  I wouldn't have known where to start with tackling this!

Stuck the battery back on and... It wouldn't start! Dash was dead. 

After some frantic prodding of the 346 fuse boxes this thing has it was discovered that Tickman had set off the inertia switch whilst braying fuck out of it delicately shaping the metal. A quick click and she was alive

So, back home and discs and pads had arrived. I pulled the back wheels off to trace the horrible noises coming from the back brakes. The pads weren't actually worn down as per the MOT test, the discs were knackered though from sitting and when i pulled the drums off out came the handbrake pins which had been rattling around inside the drums and catching

Straight one

Yeah, that's not right...

The backing plates had corroded where the pins go through so I had to engineer* a solution involving nuts, washers and bolts to retain the drums. This was fun. Back together and new discs on.

I did this on last Thursday night. I also slathered some underseal on. With the retest booked for Friday all I had t do was fit a new number plate bulb and things were golden.

Up on Friday morning and I purchased a pair of bulbs from my local garage and set about RHS-the failed side-nae bother

LHS, the side which had passed (and previously been working): Dead

Voltage at bulb holder-Zero. Hmm. Voltage at connectors on the rear: Zero FFS! 

I pulled off the cover on the hinge which conceals the wires running to the boot-these are well known for failing. Sure enough three broken wires were found. I connected them back up with some crimps for a temporary* solution and aswell as working number plate lights I also had a working boot release. Winner!

I dropped it off to the MOT station...

 

 

 

 

[dome]

And... here we go

 

Whew!

The Jag drives very well, as you'd imagine with such a low mileage. It's far from perfect but with a bit of a fettle it'll be a very pleasant way to waft around for someone. A proper clean is in order, along with a cleanout of the throttle body as it wants to idle at 2k rpm all the time. Current thinking is to have this around while I resurrect the XJ40 as it may be handy to have as a reference/temporary donor of parts whilst troubleshooting. Although the engines are different-the X300 has coil on plug and the XJ40 distributor. 

I may also take the full stainless exhaust off this for the XJ40. We'll see. 

Number of roadworthy cars - 1

[Split_Pin]

Much better news today - yes!

Great work @Tickman, love the album cover too!

Lovely motor this, well done to all!

[dome]

Kangoo up next.

While Tickman had the jag I cracked on and tensioned up the timing belt. It’s not that bad a job the second time around, although the Kangoo definitely has more access. Also the full auxiliary setup was removed while I was doing this.the alternator gets right in the way normally.

i also fitted the cup alternator setup-this does away with the automatic tensioner and replaces it with an old fashioned manual setup.

Make some noise!

It definitely seems to rev easier without having to drive all that extra gubbins off the belt. The characteristic whine on startup these things often have has also gone. 

Last Saturday I started the tricky bit-making the EPAS column fit. The old column was removed and compared with the new one. 

Yup, there's a big lumpy bit sticking out on the LHS of the EPAS column (on the left)

Following tips from Facebook group I unbolted the motor and installed the column to see where it would foul

You can see the hole the motor sits in in the centre of the pic with a soon to be departed bit of plastic trim in the way. The duct feeding the RHS air vent had to be cut too. I can live without it

l 

Trial fit

 

@Fraz was at a loose end whilst waiting for his new sprog to appear so popped over and helped me wire everything in

ECU and controller in place. The aftermarket controller isn't visible but it's where all the wires running vertically on the RHS of the pic end up. 

The power wires were only added last week as i had to find the connectors for these.

That was as far as I could get last weekend until I got the power cables so i thought I'd do a bit of titivation.

Old inlet

I had liberated an inlet from a Clio 182 in the scrapyard which with a bit of work looked like this.

HOWEVER: It turns out my engine, or at least my inlet, is from a 172 and not a 182. Whilst it fitted on and bolted up it ran horribly with the new inlet. There is just enough difference to mean it won't work.

If any Clio 182 owners want a shiny inlet drop me a message! I'll do the same to my 172 inlet at some point-it was just a case of painting the whole thing black and then sanding down/polishing the Renaultsport script.

Last week I finally got the right connectors on it but the EPAS wasn't working  A bit of troubleshooting found a dodgy crimped connection to the rheostat to adjust the assistance. This was rectified by me on Monday and it now works! 

It still needs put back together and driven properly but we're almost at 2 working vehicles! Yaay!

[big_al_granvia]

great stuff on the harry, john is a class welder, some quality workmanship... happy wafting in it

[dome]

So, with the Audi dead i felt I needed (wanted?) a car I wasn't invested in. Just an car. For doing car things.
My default choice in this situation would be Japanese. Working on them over the last few years has usually been a pleasure compared to Euro stuff.

I wanted something i could chuck bikes/the dog in without worrying about it. The shortlist was

Avensis
Accord 
Spaceship Civic

Cruise control was desired and toys would be nice. I like toys.

Perusing the usual sites and everything in my budget was predictably shonky. I was in the process of asking @Fraz to look at an Accord saloon near him when i worked out that although the seats folded my MTB would struggle to fit. An estate would make more sense.

Enter, stage left, another friend of ours in Glasgow who'd heard about the accord saloon. One who has worked for a Honda garage for a long time. He knew of a one owner from new Accord estate going cheap. was I interested? 

Why yes, yes i was.

A 55 plate 2.2 diesel Executive Estate, it was bought by the current owner direct from the garage he'd worked at. Full service history, 44k miles. Yes, 44 ! He'd retired and stopped driving it, not that he'd drove it much anyway. It had languished on the street in Glasgow for some time now.

I wafted across in the Jag on Saturday to Glasgow to have a look at this thing. If it was a goer I'd leave the Jag with Fraz and collect it at some point. 

Now, picture in your head an ex demo, top of the range car with one owner from new and low miles. Got that picture?

Yeah, it's not like that...

Every panel had a scuff or a scrape. And check out the wheels-amazingly fucked. 

A deal was done and I left in my new steed. Thankfully it drives very well-air con is ice cold and everything works apart from the radio which doesn't pick up reception. Cruise control, peeled cow, sat nav, decent stereo. It even has an ELECTRIC TAILGATE!

A quick pit stop at Frazs hose and I checked the tire pressures. These ranged from 12 to, err 70psi ? there's a new battery and the old one was on the back seat. I'll weigh it in so that's cashback!

Levels were all good so I started the journey back to Fife. Note the missing headlamp washers. Fill the screenwash and it all leaks out of these which is handy*

[big_al_granvia]

owner didnt stop when he heard the scrap then, its only cosmetics, stop any rust and use it as a snotter for doing the shitty work. if she is good mechanically then your laughing

[Split_Pin]

Grand purchase, it is indeed nice to have a car that you aren't invested in too much.

[Broadsword]

I'm really impressed by the way you tackled the Jag MOT fail. Those bits of rust are pretty typical of cars that are described as "yeah looks pretty solid M8, just a little hole in the floor", so the MOT could have been worse. Hero points to @Tickman for fixing the rust. Hope you enjoy wafitng around in it. These are so nice to drive.

[SiC]

Such good engines in those Hondas. As reliable as the VAG PD130 with plenty of go. Just don't let the  oil level go to low as fucks the chain. Bit dead until around 2k rpm, remaps fix that. Suspected Honda did it to match their petrol engine style. 

Given the age and low mileage, this may suffer from the two issues these did - cracked exhaust manifold (this year was around the new part revision) and clutch. Both have had modified revisions by Honda that sort these out but given 44k may not have had them. Saying that, I (and 2 previous owners) got 97k out of my original OEM clutch on my Civic. 

[blackboilersuit]

GR9 purchase. Looks like if you could find a colour matched front bumper you could fix the screenwash issue and a lot of the cosmetics all in one go. Or you could just nip off the headlight washer hoses with a cable tie for a zero cost solution ?

[dome]

21 minutes ago, Broadsword said:

I'm really impressed by the way you tackled the Jag MOT fail. Those bits of rust are pretty typical of cars that are described as "yeah looks pretty solid M8, just a little hole in the floor", so the MOT could have been worse. Hero points to @Tickman for fixing the rust. Hope you enjoy wafitng around in it. These are so nice to drive.

Yep, it's all Tickman! I've done a couple of hundred miles in the jag and i is indeed a lovely way to travel. There's a slight vibration at speed which might be the tyres, I'll investigate the grease nipples on the rear UJs too. Have grease gun, will grease.

[Fraz]

Little did @dome know that as we were outside ogling a rough Honda diesel estate. Mrs Fraz was in the house in labour with baby Fraz ? 

 

it’s all about the shite cars for me! 

 

 

I should  add that I am a responsible adult and whilst she was in labour it was the early “ I want to kill you” stages and not the “baby’s head popping out” stage.