Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - Buick Revival & a VERY GREEN Jag!

[juular]

@MrsJuular swapped the rectifier and regulator in her LS400 alternator as it succumbed to the usual problem of being covered in steering fluid.

Tagging here, as at the time she found a relatively cheap way to get the right parts for it.  

[Schaefft]

15 minutes ago, juular said:

@MrsJuular swapped the rectifier and regulator in her LS400 alternator as it succumbed to the usual problem of being covered in steering fluid.

Tagging here, as at the time she found a relatively cheap way to get the right parts for it.  

Yeah, that's what I did and will do again, these are easily rebuildable once out of the car. Carbon brushes as well.

[Schaefft]

Had a closer look at the dealer sticker, unfortunately unreadable:

The bookpack realvealed a few more interesting details, excuse the obscured name and address:

Having been delivered only a couple of days after first registration the dealership might have not registered it in their name first after all? Also "Riviera White" and Cotswold" leather seem to be UK market specific names for the Lexus color options, possibly to broaden the appeal for the British customer.

Interesting leaflet about how to save fuel in your 4.0l V8 fullsize saloon.

And the last service records, the final 3 probably with the next owner at that point. The owner numbers still don't stack up though as I'd be number 5, not 7. Possibly Lexus at the beginning and a dealer in-between. That or a change of address that was counted as new owner (happened to me before).

[loserone]

20 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

dealer sticker, unfortunately unreadable:

Lexus park lane.   Bet DMB could recreate 

 

Address was

56-59 Park Lane

 

LONDON

 

W1K 1QB

 

Call 020 7355 4737

[Schaefft]

4 minutes ago, loserone said:

Lexus park lane.   Bet DMB could recreate 

 

Address was

56-59 Park Lane

 

LONDON

 

W1K 1QB

 

Call 020 7355 4737

Ah yeah, that would make sense considering it's been serviced there for years. A recreation would be great.

[Wibble]

1 hour ago, Schaefft said:

Had a closer look at the dealer sticker, unfortunately unreadable:

The bookpack realvealed a few more interesting details, excuse the obscured name and address:

Having been delivered only a couple of days after first registration the dealership might have not registered it in their name first after all? Also "Riviera White" and Cotswold" leather seem to be UK market specific names for the Lexus color options, possibly to broaden the appeal for the British customer.

Interesting leaflet about how to save fuel in your 4.0l V8 fullsize saloon.

And the last service records, the final 3 probably with the next owner at that point. The owner numbers still don't stack up though as I'd be number 5, not 7. Possibly Lexus at the beginning and a dealer in-between. That or a change of address that was counted as new owner (happened to me before).

When we moved and I did the change of address section of the V5 for the Senator, it came back as a new keeper. Pisses me off still, so that could well be the case.

[yes oui si]

That's an absolute honey @Schaefft.

17/10, would.

[Schaefft]

The Lexus isn't the only thing keeping me busy at the moment. I'm making good progress on the Range Rover but it still needed the lower tailgate strap sorting, these must be quite common to go. 

That'll be the issue then:

Oddly enough the other side looks perfectly fine despite also being an original strap. Since Land Rover/vendors want silly money for an original part (and there arent all that many other suppliers) I went for the Britpart route. Their reputation seems "mixed" at best as even simple components usually don't fit or are clearly not well manufacturered.

Well, lets just assume the original one is a little stretched. We'll see if the Britpart strap will adjust over time or just snap... The Range Rover thanked me by blowing the rear right brake hose:

Blown probably right where the clip traps all the dirt. Fortunately that section of hardline is part of the hose so I'm crossing my fingers that the fittings will just come off and I can replace the hose without any trouble...

In other news, the Alfa 156 has passed its MOT. 

I had to replace the indicator relay in the end as it kept getting stuck, a common issue that requires the steeringwheel to come off on these facelift cars:

Fortunately a pretty straight forward affair, old relay on the right, new on the left:

As mentioned in the roffle thread, the rear passenger caliper is sticky (an issue it might have developed in the drive to the station considering the drive back from storage was trouble free) so I will replace that on the weekend hopefully.

In other news, the Caprice has developed a gearbox slip!

15 minutes into our trip to Grasmere in the Lake District (perfect car to take there) it didn't want to engage 3rd or 4th anymore... I checked the fluid level and it was low, I'm hoping that I haven't cooked the clutch packs as I don't need another car needing a gearbox... The BMW E65 took over for it instead, here on the famous Hartside Pass:

It certainly never gets boring around here...

[Schaefft]

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT that a Landrover product is a liability. After spending two hours yesterday replacing the driver rear brake hose (without destroying the rusty hard-line in the end fortunately) it's the driver side front airbag today that's suddenly leaking:

I can actually hear it leaking slowly so unless jacking it up on one side somehow compromised an airline (or causes the car to deflate the front very slowly for some reason) overextending the airbag ruptured it. Buying a relatively low mileage example with gearbox issues was supposed to give me a car that's cheap for one particular reason and otherwise decent but the Range Rover breaks quicker than I can fix it.

The next step will be finding out what aftermarket strut is actually worth it's money. I've replaced front air struts on my Mark VIII plenty of times so it should hopefully be fairly straightforward.

It also doesn't help that LR decided to put non-removable chrome covers on each lug nut which a few years on are all different sizes due to rust jacking now. The Dremel had to come out for one of them. Doesn't help that Halfords went nuts when torquing one of them either.

It also had to come out for that brake line fitting as well:

While in there I noticed that one of the CV boot clamps had snapped and started to fling the grease around. I replaced it with a leftover from the Alfa boot job which hopefully will do a good enough job.

Also, for some reason the dash screen is constantly staying black after starting the car now so I'll have to investigate that...

So yeah, one step forward, two steps back. Not particularly confidence inspiring considering I want to pull a trailer all the way to Germany and back next month...

[DirtyDaily]

Dunlop bags tend to be decent and not too expensive. Easy to change too. Sorry its being a pain, jacking them up does tend to weed out old bags.

[Cookiesouwest]

Maxpeedingrod are also good. Fitted to my S211.

I was dubious. They are cheap. But they have a good reputation.

Aerosus also decent

[dome]

Yeah mine had Dunlop airbags fitted and they seemed fine.

I replaced all my wheel nuts as the original ones do swell up under the chrome covers. I forget where I got mine from but I probably spent ages looking around and then bought some reassuringly expensive ones that were the exact same as the cheap ones🫣

[DirtyDaily]

Edit: lower strut pinch bolts can be a twat to remove. Air hammer or heat + sledgehammer are both ways around the issue, buy new bolts and very slightly ream the holes in the upright to prevent them seizing again.

I also had a little grief with the bottom pinch bolt. I just used a breaker bar to get the bolt spinning and eventually that freed it up. I suspect heat wouldnt harm also

[J-T]

I would echo the above , had the same happen to mine, I fitted a Dunlop full strut assembly, which I think was about £300. It was a pretty easy job, other than the pinch bolts which even my big bastard electric ugga dugga gun wouldn’t shift (they looked horrendous so I tried these first). I ended up soaking them in plus gas for a week, then trying again and they relented.

[dome]

Here's my technique for getting the strut bolts out. Good luck!

 

[Schaefft]

Leak confirmed at the bottom of the airbag, where they usually like to leak from. I'll order a Dunlop strut since they appear to be the OEM, at least until MY2007. Some new lower strut bolts might not be a bad idea either.

In other news, the Alfa 156 received its brake caliper so its ready for collection next weekend. I think the piston was somewhat seized but I've never seen sliding pins as stiff up as these were, despite no corrosion present. Neither was the grease though.

No clue why the lower sliding pin is different from the upper? They are both the same bolt head size and manufacturer so I'd assume they are both standard?

In other other news, I've bought an X300 XJR radio for my XJ6 from a guy on FB Marketplace. He didn't have paypal but his feedback looked really good so I sent him the money via bank transfer (I know). The radio actually arrived and even turned on. Only turns out that the code he was given is not for this radio, practically making it worthless unless you actually own the car it was from (dealer won't hand over the code otherwise, if they still can that is).

Of course the seller is pissy now as he cannot be blamed for selling me a radio with a code that doesn't work. I've asked for my money back and an adress to send the radio to AFTER he blocked me from messaging him on marketplace (he probably wasn't aware that I can message him privately still). After some mild threats to expose his BS he wants to send me the money in 5 days now. I'm taking bets whether this will happen or not...

As usual, just pay via Paypal. If the guy doesn't have Paypal or Ebay there's usually a reason...

[colino]

As a persistent Jag botherer, which also suffer from unfortunate swollen nuts, I found that Sealy (no doubt others too) make a socket with 18.5 and 19.5mm sizes.

[Schaefft]

8 hours ago, colino said:

As a persistent Jag botherer, which also suffer from unfortunate swollen nuts, I found that Sealy (no doubt others too) make a socket with 18.5 and 19.5mm sizes.

Yeah, they are even larger on the RR but 2mm larger sockets (or a hammer) were the solution. Ideally I wouldn't need different sockets for each lug nut though so I might have to order a replacement set should I have enough of it.

Anyway, I've ordered the strut via Ebay from Maltings 4x4 yesterday only to get a call today that they actually don't have any stock after all. They offered me BMI (Delphi) ones for 60 quid more which would be a fair price for them. However, BMI being Chinese and having bought Delphi a long time ago, I'm not sure whether that premium would still be justified 10+ years after Land Rover stopped buying from them.

I ordered a Dunlop strut for 8 quid more from Island 4x4 in Kent instead. I don't think I'll have time to replace it before next week anyway.

[DirtyDaily]

From memory lexus wheel nuts are the same but not rubbish!

[Dave_Q]

Something like this not available for the radio code?

https://ebay.us/m/3BrH0j

[Schaefft]

4 minutes ago, Dave_Q said:

Something like this not available for the radio code?

https://ebay.us/m/3BrH0j

That'll be for later Jag radios from the X308 onwards most likely.

[auntiemaryscanary]

I read the thread title as "Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - L322 keeps breaking, RR fire".

I re-read the last couple of pages in mild panic until I realised my error. Apologies, may no Shiter every experience such a calamity.

[Schaefft]

The strut for the RR arrived last week but I didn't have time to sort it yet. However, two other British fleet members have received some attention recently. The moon mileage XJR6 is finally running again! Thanks to the help of several forum members a few months back the issue was isolated to a faulty MAF. With those being XJR6 exclusive finding one proved near impossible until I managed to spot a wrongly advertised MAF with almost completely faded label for sale in Lithuania. Some Photoshop magic revealed just about enough of a hint of a part number to confirm it's the right one. Fast forward a week:

The XJR6 in its resting place. Replacement MAF installed and confirmed to be the right one:

The neutral safety switch briefly playing games on me aside the car started right away and I could immediately tell that the engine was happy again 🎉 Happy enough to attempt some donuts in the field:

Just in time for it's next Mot, too. Fingers crossed this was the last thing it needed before I can put it up for sale.

The other car was the MG ZTT. Aside from the exhaust still not being right (old clamps are junk) it was the timing belt (3 belts in fact) as the biggest job left on the list. With recommendations bringing up a mobile MG specialist travelling through the country to do all kinds of MG things (there's no shortage of blown head gaskets) I thought that might be a good way to go. A month later and he showed up today, his Rover 25 filled to the brim with tools.

Not many photos taken as he arrived late and wanted to get as much done in the daylight as he can. 4 hours later and he was done. My previous oil and coolant changes were kinda pointless as the water pump and dipstick had to come out but oh well.

Hard to judge the quality of work other than it still running! I'll call that a big success! No obvious leaks either so fingers crossed I can move on to the exhaust and list this one for sale as well. With the LS400 recently arriving and the Alfa 156 sale having turned into a part ex I certainly could use the space.

In other news, the wipers on the E65 7-Series have annoyed me enough with their skipping across the windshield that I've tried RainX for the first time in my life. The great news is, even in heavy rain or spray from trucks I don't need to use wipers anymore! The bad news, the wiper seems to be skipping even more now. It just doesn't make any sense, it must be out of alignment or the spring is bad.

MOT coming up for it as well although at still under 55k miles it shouldn't be too much trouble.

[Schaefft]

Oh, and can you believe it - I did end up getting a refund from Jaguar radio guy. He didn't want me to give his address to send it back either so I now have a decent radio without a code. I guess it would now actually makes sense to fork out the 100 quid for the repair service and get that code.

[Split_Pin]

If that's David Mobile MGRover mechanics he's always recommended throughout the FB Groups.

[Schaefft]

38 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

If that's David Mobile MGRover mechanics he's always recommended throughout the FB Groups.

It was indeed!

[Schaefft]

MOT day for the XJR, would it pass without prior prepwork (aside from the hours of sorting out it's running issues)? Well, unsurprisingly a stop to the local petrol station was in order first...

I haven't driven the Jag on the road since replacing the MAF so I was somewhat cautious about booting it to the MOT station (24 miles just to get there). It did arrive without issues fortunately, the car reminding me how surprisingly comfortable the XJR suspension setup actually is across some of these windy country lanes.

And believe it or not, it did make it through the test, again! Although it didn't have much time to break considering its been off the road for almost the entire time. 114 miles between tests might be a new record.😂

Scaryoldcortina was also able to resolve a mystery that came with the car, the purpose of this bottle I previously ignored, still plumbed into the vacuum system:

Read the label and its pretty clear, one previous owner thought a lead additive might be benefitial for the AJ16S powered Jag (which runs unleaded). Why I don't know, it's clearly been in there for ages. Could be helpful with the addition of the LPG system, preventing damage to the valve seats? Who knows! It's gone now, one potential vacuum leak less.

The Jag also made the trip back home, a wopping 50 miles in total. Listing to Nik Kershaw through the surprisingly good Alpine stereo made the journey quite enjoyable. With my newfound trust in this old banger I'm actually contemplating whether to keep it for a little while longer (despite needing the space...). It needs rear subframe bushes as they cause knocking (unlikely to happen) and a gearbox mount (easy), plus rear brake hoses eventually as they haven't been replaced in a long time, so they are getting a little crusty. I think it could still run better as well so I'm inclined to keep digging deeper. I'll see how I feel about all of that in a few days with so much other work still left to do on other cars. For now I'm just glad to keep this 233k mile XJR on the road for a bit longer.

[Six-cylinder]

I had to have the subframe bushes done on one of my past 4.0 Sovereigns, what a difference it made.

[Schaefft]

Back to the MG ZTT. Now that the timing belt is done sorting out the exhaust properly was the next most important job. The mid section got replaced but the clamp for it fell apart removing it so it was always slightly leaky. Up on the ramps it goes:

Wrong clamp:

Correct clamp:

I then faffed around for an hour trying to make sure that the exhaust isn't hanging too low. It's a pretty strange setup Rover has gone for. You see the two hangers right at the front in the photo above. There isnt a single hanger beyond them all the way to the backbox which is held on by a metal strap (which itself hangs from two rubber hangers). There's nothing holding the exhaust up for most of its length as far as I can tell. It clearly worked from the factory but I certainly couldn't make it work so I added an extra strap that holds it at the perfect height now.

I then moved on to "while I'm in there" and decided to remove the rusty tow ball as this MG will realistically never tow anything in its life again:

Doing things properly the wiring had to go as well, which meant disassembling half the cargo area:

Begone! If someone needs a Rover 75/MG ZTT towball assembly, let me know...

I replaced all broken clips and reassembled everything. We now have a ZT that looks and sounds well!

It still needs a wheel alignment and new tires ideally. I also think the electric motor for the intake runner valve adjustment might need rebuilding as it feels a bit weak for 190hp. I have to add up what I've got into it so far though, if I'm taking things too far I might not be able to recoup what I've got into it. It's already a pretty well sorted ZTT in a desireable spec though, hopefully someone will be interested once its up for sale!

[320touring]

@Schaefft that bottle is for lube for the LPG system. Because the fuel is dryer.

 

I'm of the mindset it's like those little nets full of lead shot you got to put in your tank when unleaded came in. An effective way to part fool and funds.