The £250 Zafira B - Fin. Bean can time!

[twosmoke300]

A whole different cim to what is normally searched for on google I expect

[beko1987]

I have done fuck all to this since changing the spark plugs... However, it's been in the back of my mind that the front brakes aren't fantastic, and a 50% off flash sale at euro car parts bingo had me pulling the trigger on Eicher's finest mid range mediocre discs and pads (and pads for me). Got them fitted last weekend

 

 

Not too bad on the quick glance you may say...

 

This was one of those jobs that was made 40x harder by the fact that I would not be surprised if they haven't been apart before, or at least not for the time amys sister owned it.  Removing the pad retaining bolts was a faff, good old Vauxhall, leave the end few MM of the bolt in thin air, so it can rust up nicely. Had to use the breaker bar for the ENTIRE length of all 4 bolts... Which cleaned them up nicely and they went back in fine. Then it took 8 different torx bits before I finally found the one that hammered in the best and cracked off the disc retaining bolt

 

 

Then the disc tried to laugh at me by not coming off the hub but I gave it a massive smack and told the cunt who was boss as it tried to land on my foot...

 

New discs on

 

 

Again the pads had life left, but not much

 

 

Done! Caliper slider bolts cleaned and greased, and both corners bled, so this has all 4 corners bled too

 

 

The massive lip on the discs was the main reason for changing them, I'd just been putting it off until it was cheap to do, and £46 all in sounded fair enough to me

 

 

That'll do for another 6 months until something else breaks...

[Kiltox]

Good job mate.

[beko1987]

Good job mate.

Slowly getting there. Debating wether to save up for a cambelt for it. The belt itself looks spot on, not many funny noises from the bay etc... Might wait until after the mot in, erm, this year sometime and see.

[Kiltox]

If it’s not going to need various other massive jobs I would do it - those engines are reliable with regular oil and belts.

 

Happy new year btw

[beko1987]

It's not had regular oil... Might see if its shat itself by autumn

 

Happy new year to you too!

[beko1987]

Oil time! Fuck it was cold this morning, the defrosted windows was me turning the car on to warm the oil up a bit

 

 

Stuff! Yes blah blah expensive oil... it was cheaper than the triple QX the gooner got in it's grade, so rah

 

 

The oil smelt a bit burnt, probably not surprising given the crap we know is sitting on top of the engine quite happily

 

 

What wasn't so funny was the sodding oil filter was probably older than Eva, and came away when removing, so I had to spend 10 minutes carefully smashing the top piece off without fucking the filter housing

 

 

Much better

 

 

New air filter, gave the MAF a good blast with cleaner too

 

 

Lobbed new oil in, fired it up, job done etc. Packing up and bollocks, there's the new oil filter seal. Ah well, the old one seemed fine, it's not leaking, I've put it in the toolbox incase it's needed

 

 

Turned the SERVICE indicator off for the first time in our ownership following a youtube video

 

 

And a quick MPG check, incase it improves any, which I doubt it will

 

 

The sun had come out by now, so it was on to the gooner!

[Wingz123]

Nicely done

[Hendry]

You serviced her car after all the shit shes hit you with Beko? would be me mate

 

Seriously though, didnt realise when they added VVT to the 1.8 Z18XERs they changed the oil filter design, my Astra with the Z18XE non VVT lump had the metal filter outside the engine rather than the paper one inside a housing. 

 

Looking forward to seeing you do some more detailing world-esque cleaning on this and the Goona in due course. 

[beko1987]

I'd already bought the stuff, plus I like working on the cars, so when the moment arises, I'll grab it! Plus it ferries the kids around

[Parky]

Keep an eye on that oil filter - you should be alright if it is tight enough but check for leaks!

 

In your situation I would have serviced it too - as you say it ferries the kids around plus it allows you a modicum of moral high ground

[beko1987]

I will, the old seal was fine, cleaned up nicely, I forgot they came with a new seal, it's been a while since I've not had to do a spin on filter.

 

Moral high ground and an hour of spannering, it was lovely

[Parky]

I've just gone out to mine and faffed for a bit. Suns out, hands dirty, marvellous!

 

All I did was swap rear wheels for the front. My MOT advisory was front tyres have seen better days (3mm) but my rears were much healthier at 5mm so I swapped them over. As we still have a few months of winter I felt having more tread up front made sense.

 

I think my tyre pressure gauge is shagged though. Seems to think I have 150psi in each tyre! Oddly my foot pump gauge has jammed up too so a trip to Sainsbury's machine is on the cards.

 

Only other issue was the rear wheels had seized on the hub - took a heck of a wallop to free them. Little skim of copper grease should stop that next time

[beko1987]

I've just gone out to mine and faffed for a bit. Suns out, hands dirty, marvellous!

Pretty much what I got from the morning too!

[beko1987]

Oops

 

Date tested1 February 2018 FAIL

Mileage121,349 miles

MOT test number2211 0700 6979

Test locationunavailable until further notice

Reason(s) for failure

• Nearside Front coil spring broken (2.4.C.1a)
• Offside Front coil spring broken (2.4.C.1a)
• Offside Rear coil spring broken (2.4.C.1a)

 

 

 

So, coil springs! Rears are easy, their the same as the Meriva, which just needed the shock undoing and the axle dropping until they fell out. Fronts however... Never done them before, presume the strut needs to come out?

 

Also, regarding springs, the word on the facebook owners club is the SRI doesnt have different springs, and is only 'lowered' by the stupid trim and bigger wheels, which is ace if true, as I can just fit boggo springs like

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAUXHALL-ZAFIRA-B-MK2-1-6-1-8-PETROL-05-13-FRONT-SUSPENSION-COIL-SPRINGS-X2-NEW/302219200748?epid=551682502&hash=item465dab08ec:g:ggUAAOxyGqZSXWDl

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Zafira-B-Rear-Coil-Springs-x-2-2005-2014-BRAND-NEW-PAIR/142618819511?epid=557605098&hash=item2134be7bb7:g:tm0AAOSw9hdaKBWq

 

and I'll need a set of spring compressors, unless anyone here would be willing to lend me a set if I pay postage both ways? I've read the stories on here about how fun* they are, so that's something to look forward to.

 

Shame really as it would be a clean pass otherwise! And regarding any questions about why I'm fixing it if we are splitting up? Because she won't be able to do it, the garage quotes me £335 for 3 springs fitted (which probably isn't bad labour wise) and we don't hate each other that much! She took it for the MOT though, wish I was there to see her face when they said it failed, she rang me in a bit of a panic until she told me what was wrong and I breathed a sigh of relief it wasn't emissions or rust or something more tricky

[Kiltox]

I have a set but it’s probably not economical to post them back and forth, they were cheap.

[SiC]

If you can, I'd say get a garage to do it. Car springs are bloody dangerous things, even with the correct tools.

 

A family friend on my wifes side is a experienced professional mechanic. Being in his early 50s, he's done thousands of spring changes in his career. Except 2 years ago one failed in front of his face when removing a strut from a car. The resulting force and ejection of parts led to him being off work 6 weeks and had to have reconstruction surgery on his skull.

[Parky]

Three broken? Blimey. Presume you are going to change all four?

[Talbot]

and I'll need a set of spring compressors, unless anyone here would be willing to lend me a set if I pay postage both ways? I've read the stories on here about how fun* they are,

I bought two sets of spring compressors to be able to do my panel van front springs a while back. They were £8.99 a pair, so I would say you're better off buying some.. the postage will be more than that.

 

Or, you could do what I did when I was a cheapskate student. Wrap a ratchet strap one wrap around the coils. Attach each end of the ratchet strap to immoveable objects (we used two landroves) and tighten. To release, take the handbrake off one landrover and allow it to all settle. Superbly dangerous. Saved £8.99 at the time.

[beko1987]

Three broken? Blimey. Presume you are going to change all four?

Of course! Can't quite believe the garage only quoted for the 3 broken ones, although I imaging 99% of their customers would think they were rip off charging for an un broken one...

[beko1987]

I bought two sets of spring compressors to be able to do my panel van front springs a while back. They were £8.99 a pair, so I would say you're better off buying some.. the postage will be more than that.

 

Or, you could do what I did when I was a cheapskate student. Wrap a ratchet strap one wrap around the coils. Attach each end of the ratchet strap to immoveable objects (we used two landroves) and tighten. To release, take the handbrake off one landrover and allow it to all settle. Superbly dangerous. Saved £8.99 at the time.

Yes there's a set for a tenner on ebay, if I keep it pointing away from my head I'll risk it. Was half hoping someone right local to me had a pair I could pop and borrow!

[alf892]

I can post out for free from work if that helps?

[beko1987]

I can post out for free from work if that helps?

Wouldn't say no! Seems a bit of a waste buying a set and potentially never using them again... How quickly would you want them back though? Aiming to do it next weekend

[cort1977]

Can you not borrow them from a parts shop?  In the US autozone etc. lends out tools like that if you leave a deposit on ca credit card, is there nowhere that does that in UK?

 

Take care, fucking horrible sphincter twitching process doing it.

[Slowsilver]

 

and I'll need a set of spring compressors, unless anyone here would be willing to lend me a set if I pay postage both ways? I've read the stories on here about how fun* they are, so that's something to look forward to.

 

I have a pair you are welcome to borrow.

Cheap and nasty but have worked well for me in the past.

Heavy = expensive to post but since you're only a tame oxen you appear to be not far away from the silver's gaff (in Buckingham, not far from Six-Cylinder's Field of Dreams). Maybe if you are up this way some time you could pick them up.

Let me know if this would be useful and I will PM you the address.

You could also have a sneak preview of the remains of Bob the Renault 6 while you are here.

 

 

[oldcars]

Spings scare me. Not a job i would have the bottle for.

[Tickman]

I have a set of these:

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/hilka-pro-craft-coil-spring-compressor-kit-2-piece-set/45986?tc=JT5&ds_kid=92700023752918467&ds_rl=1247848&ds_rl=1245250&gclid=CjwKCAiAksvTBRBFEiwADSBZfGNzepM8LhEy3G6v9U-v6vqQdU1N4FQNSnJ4N28K5VP0Cg8S0oq5XhoC9M4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CLjYrr6UhdkCFUEj0wodFWQFdA

 

I've done the Volvo 940, a Fiat Punto and the Toledo springs with them with no bother (other than the physical effort) and would recommend for the cost.

[beko1987]

I have a pair you are welcome to borrow.

Cheap and nasty but have worked well for me in the past.

Heavy = expensive to post but since you're only a tame oxen you appear to be not far away from the silver's gaff (in Buckingham, not far from Six-Cylinder's Field of Dreams). Maybe if you are up this way some time you could pick them up.

Let me know if this would be useful and I will PM you the address.

You could also have a sneak preview of the remains of Bob the Renault 6 while you are here.

 

20180201_160711.jpg

 

This could work, I'm off to Peterborough this weekend, and although tomorrow might be tricky as we won't leave until late, I could divert Sunday on the way back? Might be tea time though? I'll be coming through mk, it's not far from there is it?

 

Then I'll drop them back at some time another weekend, when I can stay and give Bob a lick

[Stanky]

I'm with Shumarialto and the others, I'd not go anywhere near this job. One slip or further snapping under tension and you stand a very real risk of becoming a 'death by misadventure' statistic.

 

Pay someone else to do the job, take the edge off the financial hit by buying the parts yourself and supplying them.

[Slowsilver]

Sunday teatime will be fine.

PM sent.