The new adventures of Brownnova! Another Saab joins the fleet… 13/10/24

[brownnova]

That is a third option... 

[brownnova]

Opted against the aluminium tape and booked the retest for Thursday... reason being that I’m trying to develop a good understanding with this tester and he was accommodating about a couple of items such as the state of my rear wings (could’ve been a fail if someone was being picky) as he understands it’s a work in progress and will be done, so to present for a retest with a bodge might make him less inclined to be accommodating next time... he passed the C5 today too.

So I decided to do the removal ready for when the pipe arrives so I can quickly pop it on

 Got the time right down for wing removal, reckon it was off in about 5 mins this time, and the delay was only because the heat tube was held on differently to the other one, and being cardboard I didn’t want to tear it! 

From the top the exhaust had looked fine... on the hidden side... 😳

Yeah that’s fail!

DHL say part arriving Monday, my tester only does Thursday & Saturday so Thursday it is! 

[brownnova]

Exhaust bits arrived yesterday, but yesterday’s task was chasing the creak on the Saab... 

Today however! 

Car was like this for easy access

One of the real joys is that working on anDeux Chevaux can be so simple. 
 

Mere minutes later: 

Small blow in the middle where the clamp had seized and wasn’t pushing the pipes together properly, so it was lucky I’d bought the full set of clamps.

And refitting the wings seems fiddlier than removal, but car all back together and ready for its retest! 

[brownnova]

This truly is a superb vehicle... 

Now with new balljoint (which I asked for) and new brake pads (which I didn’t) it’s pushed back into family car usage as often as possible... tonight we went to Chester zoo for their Christmas lanterns. Our first time in England for a good few weeks!

Needs the lighting relay sorting (plays silly buggers sometimes) and the washer bottle hose reconnecting (it perished and disconnected) before it’s impending MoT due at the beginning of next month. Oh and find where the boot leak is... 

[brownnova]

Two little jobs today: 

#1 
9000 has a windscreen washer leak, it’s a pipe which keeps detaching. Fixing this involves removing the undertray, and reattaching the pipes. It’s rubber to plastic pipe, so zip tie was deployed to hopefully keep things together... 

Of course just as I was about to start it rained! So front in to the garage it is. 

However, there was still a small drip of screenwash... turns out there is a slight leak from where the metal pipe joins the washer bottle. A bit of leak stop putty sorted that.

#2 was to fix the exhaust mounting on the 2CV

When I replaced it the old exhaust was side exit and therefore had no need for rear mounts. The new one was a rear exit so did need them... cue some Heath Robinson improvisation. 

Got me through the MoT whilst I waited for the proper mounts to arrive.

Simple job but that’s better! 

By now it was cold and dark... no time to tackle anything new! 

[Cord Fourteener]

Looks good to me 👍

[brownnova]

The day dawned sunny, so I thought I’d better do the one job I’d promised myself I’d do this holiday. Sort out the garage. The combination of a shoulder injury and general lackadaisicality meant it hadn’t been done yet... 

2CVs out of the garage... 

Running sweetly of course! 

Ok so the garage was a bit off a mess... 

Much better! 

Of course I wanted to remove the Yugo too... but It didn’t want to move (flat battery, and sticky throttle meant no start), so I left it be. 
 

This left me musing Fleet plans for 2021

9000: needs an Mot this week, barring absolute catastrophe of a biblical proportion it’ll be getting whatever it needs done. Semi- retirement from daily duties in 2021, would like to give it a bit of TLC, it’s been a bit neglected this year. Few little jobs would make a big difference.

Yellow 2CV: needs more adventures this year. Interior could do with a slight refresh.

 Green 2CV: need to get it welded on the rear and, and new wings, and then tidy it up cosmetically over time. 

Yugo: towards the back of the queue project wise, I keep noticing more things it needs doing... should really get on with it! 

MX5: think I’m going to throw this one to my MX5 specialist friend, hopefully he’ll get the running issue sorted, and then it needs new suspension all round. The mot expired on Christmas Day too, so it’ll likely need some bits for that, but it’s barely been used this year. I want to use it a lot more in 2021!

Nova: If I’m determined of one thing, the Nova will see the road this year!

900: next out, I like it, but have a list of cars to try and this one is the one I’ve not become too  attached to yet. One the 9000 is MoTd this will go up for sale.

Camper: use and enjoy

 C5: maybe replaced with a Volvo V70... 

I want a few in and out cars this year, want to try a few different things... see what I like! 

[brownnova]

“It’s too cold to do any big jobs on the car” says I... I’ll just do the quick job of removing the electric strut on the boot of the C5... 

This had snapped under load recently and so the simplest solution seemed to be to replace the electric strut with a gas one. 

Once I had it all stripped down... 

I realised that the strut mechanism and lock mechanism were all a bit intertwined, a quick glance at the broken strut revealed that it wasn’t as broken as I had first thought, so as long as I could find an end which was the same size and screw thread we’d be good and I could reattach the electric strut... if only I had another PSA vehicle kicking about... 

A-ha! Like a glass slipper on Cinderella it fits! So all the strip down was in vain! In order to access the electrically locked boot on the scrap 206 I had to attach a battery, would be rude not to see if after a year sat on my drive it would start...  first time as well... 

[brownnova]

Avid readers of my motoring musings will know that the MX5 is in the naughty corner following an incident where it stranded me on the way to A-Level results day... well thanks to government algorithms it was a shit show and maybe I actually dodged a bullet. 
 

Anyway it died and wouldn’t go again... and then ran badly... 

Ive tried various things and it still wouldn’t go properly. It’s booked to go to a specialist on Monday, and he’s going to pick it up on a trailer (at a cost!).

So today I decided to have one last look... opening the passenger door made me look twice!

Yes that is several gallons of frozen water... (the roof had come unlatched and the waterproof cover blew off in a storm letting the rain in.)

Having posted this on the grumpy thread @gm pointed out that the ECU lives in that footwell and it could be the issue... now this makes sense. That footwell is nearly always damp since I had the roof changed. So could that be my issue all along. As I couldn’t get it to run enough to get it to my garage I decided to start emptying the water in situ. Which wa a bloody freezing. So out came the front seat and I scooped water out until i pulled the carpet back and found some drain plugs... 

My immediate fear was... what state are the floors going to be in? Am I going to have floors?

Thankfully MX5s don’t rust.... 

Annoyingly I lost the light by this point and couldn’t get the ECU out, so that’s a job for tomorrow. Then I’ll dry it out and hope that was the issue all along! 

[Minimad5]

If you get MUCHO stuck with MX5 ecu, I have a complete Eunos engine (minus sump) with ECU and other bits.

Yours for less than what it owes me ... pop me a P.M if you happen to need or want it all. 

[gm]

yikes - looking at the rust on that metal plate, its been damp for some time - I think you may have found your problem  

if drying it out doesn't help, at least a replacement shouldn't be hard to come by

who is the specialist you are using ? I know there's a chap called Mark down in Barry who does a lot of work on mx5s, seems to be well regarded. 

http://totalmx5repair.weebly.com

 

[Zelandeth]

Floor mounted ECUs have always sounded like a recipe for disaster to me.  Especially on a convertible where water ingress statistically seems far more likely.

Is there any possibility of relocating it to somewhere less at risk of being drowned, or is the loom short enough that that's likely to be a huge pain?

[gm]

45 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Is there any possibility of relocating it to somewhere less at risk of being drowned, or is the loom short enough that that's likely to be a huge pain?

there's enough slack in the wiring that it can be tucked up behind the glovebox, I did it with mine when I had the same problem.

[brownnova]

8 hours ago, Minimad5 said:

If you get MUCHO stuck with MX5 ecu, I have a complete Eunos engine (minus sump) with ECU and other bits.

Yours for less than what it owes me ... pop me a P.M if you happen to need or want it all. 

If it’s not the ECU I think I’ve checked most of the rest of what it could be. Compression wasn’t good when we checked it, but I don’t necessarily trust either the tester or the chap that did the testing... however if the worst is confirmed and it’s new engine is required I shall definitely be dropping you a PM. Thank you very much 😀

7 hours ago, gm said:

yikes - looking at the rust on that metal plate, its been damp for some time - I think you may have found your problem  

if drying it out doesn't help, at least a replacement shouldn't be hard to come by

who is the specialist you are using ? I know there's a chap called Mark down in Barry who does a lot of work on mx5s, seems to be well regarded. 

http://totalmx5repair.weebly.com

 

Thankfully the brown on the plate is mainly the backing of the carpet which has come off . It seems fairly un-rusty, but the car has never been every good at keeping the water out in the whole time I’ve had it.

Amusingly the specialist is called Mark, but he’s in North Wales in Penrhyn Bay. He started an MX5 North Wales Facebook group and now is the Mecca for North Wales MX5 owners! He does really good work and isn’t too expensive.

[barefoot]

I'd also reccomend PM Sportscars just up the road from me near Derby.

 https://pmsportscars.com

[brownnova]

Mazda’s date with the specialist brought forward to tomorrow... don’t think it’ll have anything done tomorrow, just collected.

Which means no chance to get the ECU dry... but he has spare ones at his place to try. 

[brownnova]

In other news I expected the fleet to be a little more frozen this morning... 

[New POD]

19 hours ago, barefoot said:

I'd also reccomend PM Sportscars just up the road from me near Derby.

 https://pmsportscars.com

I've used them.  A couple of times, and also bought some parts off a breaker.  I'd suggest that the MX5 is hardly a complex car, and 99% of what goes wrong any DECENT mechanic should be able to fix.  I used them to convert manual steering to PAS, a clutch and a cam belt. 

[brownnova]

Cheers gents, a little far from me, but a good tip which will help someone I’m sure 😊

[Cord Fourteener]

While we are on tips, @brownnova where do you take your Saabs? 

I'm looking for a decent Swedish specialist that I can take my Volvo to, not that it needs anything doing just yet.

n.b. I know not all Saab mechanics also specialise in Volvo but I'm sure some do.

[Cord Fourteener]

Oh, and is your C5 an estate? I might be interested in the future... Although it's also V70 or 850 I want. But I'm C5 estate curious.

[brownnova]

1 hour ago, Tim_E said:

While we are on tips, @brownnova where do you take your Saabs? 

I'm looking for a decent Swedish specialist that I can take my Volvo to, not that it needs anything doing just yet.

n.b. I know not all Saab mechanics also specialise in Volvo but I'm sure some do.

I take it to Michael Foulkes in Kinmel Bay, he’s a Saab specialist. There’s another in Wrexham called Higher Oak garage who have a good reputation as well. 

[brownnova]

Amazingly this morning when I came to move the Mazda from its corner it started and ran perfectly!

So it was under its own steam it got to here.

However it decided to not behave again after a minute or two and had to be winches onto the trailer.

Its off for its holidays now... hopefully to return all fixed and running so I can use it again!

Meanwhile I can set to on the other fleet members... when the temperature is above freezing! 

[Cord Fourteener]

1 hour ago, brownnova said:

I take it to Michael Foulkes in Kinmel Bay, he’s a Saab specialist. There’s another in Wrexham called Higher Oak garage who have a good reputation as well. 

I've been to Higher Oak, they were decent, though it was only for a rocker cover gasket! And a quote to weld my bulkhead back together.

[Cord Fourteener]

I think you need to swap your Unpredictable mx5 mk1 with my rather more predictable mx5 mk1 that functions precisely the way it was designed...

[brownnova]

Continuing the water based theme.... 

The MX5 had had a welding repair on its sills (surprise surprise) a few years ago for an MoT. But the dozy beggar had welded up my drain holes. One back one worked a bit, and the other side the front one works a bit. Whilst in for its work I asked Mark to see what he could do... 

Water was pouring out for quite some time apparently! 

In running news the ECU looked like this... 

Yeah that’s fucked then. Well suspected @gm New ECU fitted, fresh fuel filter, good run of injector cleaner, fiddle with the throttle body and it now runs well again! 

Next: let’s see what it needs for an MoT! 

[brownnova]

9 hours ago, brownnova said:

Next: let’s see what it needs for an MoT! 

Answer: According to the fail sheet... 16 things... 

[Cord Fourteener]

38 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Answer: According to the fail sheet... 16 things... 

Some stuff then!

But once it's done, and now you've got it running and draining then it's plain sailing. Or driving...

[brownnova]

Many minor bits, but also four counts of corrosion.... 

News on the extent of the rot tomorrow. 

[Cord Fourteener]

26 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Many minor bits, but also four counts of corrosion.... 

News on the extent of the rot tomorrow. 

Corrosion? On a an MX-5?

No way!

On 2/11/2021 at 10:07 PM, brownnova said:

Thankfully MX5s don’t rust.... ! 

🤣🤣😂

Seriously, I hope it's not too painful to get it through.