The new news 24 thread

[Mike D]

10 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Wheels look similar to Ronals

They are!  Ronal R10 Turbo BPS's

[Rocket88]

2 hours ago, wuvvum said:

They're a good engine those 1.8 turbos.  I understand they will also fit in a Peugeot 403 with some minor modification.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[Barry Cade]

 

3 hours ago, wuvvum said:

They're a good engine those 1.8 turbos.  I understand they will also fit in a Peugeot 403 with some minor modification.

[vulgalour]

That Golf looks just tweaked enough, nicely considered mods making the best of what's already there.  The colour helps loads too, nice to see a Golf that isn't black, white, silver, or red.

[dome]

Latest poor life choice has been made

[Craig the Princess]

Big thanks to @BeEP for the use of his Maestro van to collect some concrete blocks earlier.

[Bren]

I had an autobox service on the 545  today - I took it to Preston. It needed a mechatronics sleeve as the old one was leaking - the oil pan had a date stamp of 2010 which was a relief as I expected it to be the original.

Not a lot of oil came out - I have no oil on the undertrays or my drive so I can only assume however did the job did not add enough oil.

To say the car has been trandformed is an understatement - the shifts are smooth and hardly noticable. Before the first few changes would make you lurch in your seat.

[sdkrc]

44 minutes ago, dome said:

Latest poor life choice has been made

RIP YO BANK

[captain_70s]

49 minutes ago, dome said:

Latest poor life choice has been made

Shares in Isopon dutifully taken out.

[MiniMort]

Well in an interesting and very fortunate turn of events today I interviewed Chris Goffey for my motoring online radio show/podcast! He was such a nice guy and had so many funny stories to tell about his time Road testing for Top Gear, Wheels and Autocar

[puddlethumper]

Last Saturday while popping along on the M1 coming home from seeing a mate there was a bang. At first I thought I had run over some debris, but hadn't seen anything in the lane. The loss of a bit of power made me realise that it was an injector pipe going bang. Didn't stop  till the next junction and had a look. Yep, squirting diesel all over the engine. Decided that stuffing a rag around the pipe and getting it home would work ok. Had an appointment for Monday at DFTR Auto for some sill welding for the mot next month so left it with them and went hunting a pipe. 

Now I thought it would be a simple task to get one, as these engines were put in a lot of Pug/Cit stuff. Straight on Ebah and found nothing. Internet in general ? Bugger all on the shelf. Ok, can't be too hard to get one made shirley ? Rang a Diesel pump/injector guy I know and he said he could make one but not till next week. Bugger ! So I suddenly remembered a guy, Dean Hunter, who has Pug/Cit stuff from the 70's, 80's and 90's. Why I didn't think of him earlier I'm buggered if I know as I've had bits off him before. Rang him and got an Email address so sent pics of the pipe off with a rule to see the length. Rang later and he was puzzled coz he couldn't find one. Oops, sorry Dean my engine is out of a Cit Xantia. Send pic of engine. Upshot is it's in the Post, first class, so hopefully get it tomorrow. I hate being without wheels. 

[New POD]

7 hours ago, sierraman said:

That’s what I like to see, nicely installed and neat. Not a mass of cables spliced together. 

The only minor improvement, and I'm slicing hairs here, is that I'd like the air filter in a neat black plastic box which looks more standard (even if not) I don't like to think of air being sucked in from a warm/hot engine bay.  I mean why bother with an intercooler, if you aren't going to duct cool air into the inlet?

Plus I are jealllloooous 

[puddlethumper]

While round at DFTR I spotted something familiar and an old Datsun.

[Split_Pin]

Made a start on the timing belt on the Cav. Got stuck trying to get the crank pulley off though. One of the screws had been replaced with a bolt at some point so I got that out but even my impact gun wouldn't touch the other 3.

Obviously the engine kept turning when I tried a breaker bar on the others. I'll need to find some way of stopping the engine turning.

I've never done a timing belt before and I forgot how much I hate scrabbling around under cars in a stupid wee garage. Wish I hadn't started the job now!

 

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, MiniMort said:

Well in an interesting and very fortunate turn of events today I interviewed Chris Goffey

As you do. He was great, a genuine bloke. Mayb not quite showbiz enuf though

[Cord Fourteener]

2 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

As you do. He was great, a genuine bloke. Mayb not quite showbiz enuf though

A, if he made his living who's to say he's not showbiz enough.

B. If you are a celebrity and still a nice human being then in my book that's great. 

[SiC]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Made a start on the timing belt on the Cav. Got stuck trying to get the crank pulley off though. One of the screws had been replaced with a bolt at some point so I got that out but even my impact gun wouldn't touch the other 3.

Obviously the engine kept turning when I tried a breaker bar on the others. I'll need to find some way of stopping the engine turning.

I've never done a timing belt before and I forgot how much I hate scrabbling around under cars in a stupid wee garage. Wish I hadn't started the job now!

 

Big ratchet on the central bolt while using a smaller ratchet on the smaller bolt? Then pushing down on both, the smaller one should undo without the engine turning too much, if at all. Big one is tightening and so won't cause that to come undone. 

That's basically how I got similar bolts undone on my E28.

 

[High Jetter]

19 minutes ago, Tim_E said:

A, if he made his living who's to say he's not showbiz enough.

B. If you are a celebrity and still a nice human being then in my book that's great. 

If you are still a nice human being then I'll talk to you. We all put our trousers on one leg at a time, irrespective of 'achievement'

[Split_Pin]

7 hours ago, SiC said:

Big ratchet on the central bolt while using a smaller ratchet on the smaller bolt? Then pushing down on both, the smaller one should undo without the engine turning too much, if at all. Big one is tightening and so won't cause that to come undone. 

That's basically how I got similar bolts undone on my E28.

 

There's not much room from above so I'll try that from below. Knew I should have given it to a garage to do but I don't really want to spend any more money on it as I'm thinking of possibly moving it on. I felt that a years MOT and a new belt kit would help that.

[SiC]

44 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

There's not much room from above so I'll try that from below. Knew I should have given it to a garage to do but I don't really want to spend any more money on it as I'm thinking of possibly moving it on. I felt that a years MOT and a new belt kit would help that.

Don't be silly! Your more than able to do it. There is always a way of getting these things sorted, just requires a bit of thought and perseverance. If you get stuck, have a think about it and maybe carry on the next day. Small chunks at a time. Once done you'll have the massive satisfaction of doing it yourself.

No rush doing it either, you're not exactly being paid per hour for this job. The Clio Cambelt took me a month and the BMW belt took me over a week! BMW book time is only like 2 hours too. 🤣

Edit: Also looks like you've still got the wheel on, make sure you take that off as it will massively improve access. 

[Split_Pin]

I should probably have sold it when I got the MOT pass to be honest! 

The wheel was back on just to put it down off the axle stand for the night, in my haste I forgot to take a photo with it off.

I'm reet fed up with the car now but at least I don't regret selling the Corsa.

[MiniMort]

8 hours ago, High Jetter said:

As you do. He was great, a genuine bloke. Mayb not quite showbiz enuf though

Very talkative. And I'm pretty sure he's driven anything that qualifies as shite. Apparently he rolled a Maestro onto its roof on its launch day. As he was hanging from its seat belt, all of a sudden, he heard a little synthesised voice say 'Oil pressure low' 

[SiC]

31 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I should probably have sold it when I got the MOT pass to be honest! 

The wheel was back on just to put it down off the axle stand for the night, in my haste I forgot to take a photo with it off.

I'm reet fed up with the car now but at least I don't regret selling the Corsa.

Can you get to the started ring on the flywheel? Sometimes you can without removing the starter, or the starter is easy to remove. If so, jam a prybar or fat flat headed screwdriver in there. I personally leave the cars up on axle stands until the jobs done. 

Yeah I get fed up of cars when they're playing hardball to fix. Like when I threw my toys out of the pram when the BMW was a bit bunged up on the cooling system. 🤣

However you just got to plod on and it'll be sorted eventually. The only way out is to get it sorted. There is always a way, this stuff isn't complex, it's just spinning wrenches. Just time consuming with it fiddly and awkward at times. 

For me, the pain of doing the jobs and satisfaction you get when you complete them (especially stuff you've not done before) does help bond me with the car! That effort to get it back on the road was your blood, sweat and tears. 

[Tigerfox]

Started Grandson training

[Sigmund Fraud]

14 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Made a start on the timing belt on the Cav. Got stuck trying to get the crank pulley off though. One of the screws had been replaced with a bolt at some point so I got that out but even my impact gun wouldn't touch the other 3.

VWs use a similar design, with hex bolts that are extremely easy to round off. I normally remove them with an impact driver and the largest hammer I can find.

You may also want to try some heat, in case some fool (or, in some cases, the factory !) has previously loctited the bolts into place.

 

[dollywobbler]

16 hours ago, puddlethumper said:

While round at DFTR I spotted something familiar and an old Datsun.

Aye. Myrtle waiting for some holes to be replaced by metal. Very sad about that Cherry shell. They did loads of work on it, then it seems the chap ran out of money and now the bodyshell needs doing again. I thought it was due to be collected by now as it has since been sold.

[artdjones]

On the road now. I can't help noticing how much better to drive it is than my Doblo, which it's replacing. It feels faster, even though the Fiat has 10 hp more, and is better both in ride and handling. And doesn't have the Doblo's soft accelerator response. The Doblo's natural speed feels like 45mph whereas this floats along at 60.

[barefoot]

Today I have mainly been collecting repaired vehicles from garages, starting with the works Renault Master wheelchair bus, this has had a new MAF sensor fitted and is transformed. This may be up for sale shortly if anyone on here is interested, it's actually rather nice now its been sorted out properly. Then the chap who's been servicing the Scirocco brought it back with a new cam belt, new brakes, ball joints and a very nicely sorted feel to it. I gave him a lift back to his little garage & then drove home to find that my camper van was just being dropped off as well. This has had a new gearbox and now drives almost as silently as one of these ever will.

And then, using BACS, I all but emptied my bank account.

 

[Split_Pin]

Well the Cav crank pulley torx bolts have rounded off and I cannot fathom how to route the aux belt back on to even get the thing mobile again.

That will be my first and last ever attempt at changing a timing belt.

FUCK. MY. LIFE.

 

[Burnside]

On 4/25/2021 at 11:19 PM, Split_Pin said:

I replaced the rocker cover gasket on the Cavalier yesterday, very easy job indeed. 

Cams still look in great condition given that its done a quarter of a million miles. There's also absolutely  no sludge inside the cam box at all and the underside of the rocker cover was the cleanest I've seen, with a new- looking gauze filter.

I think its also leaking a touch from the camshaft end seal as when I replaced the distributor  cap and rotor there was a small amount of oil there. Not bad enough to bother me but an observation nevertheless.

According to the service history the timing belt was last evidenced in 2008 so I'm hoping that my Gates kit arrives sooner rather than later. The engine behaves well so I think it would be a shame to risk it and play roulette. I'm undecided whether to do it myself or not. On one hand I'm sure its easy but on the other, labour costs to change it would probably not be more than an hour or 2. I'll just see how I feel the day the postman brings it!

I've also found @Burnside s thread on it in the Cavalier owners forum and I'm reading through it. Seems to have had a clutch and replacement box around 2009, all still good there.

@Split_Pin with the cambelt history. It's had 3 replacements in my ownership. The second one was in 2012 and the last one was done prematurely about 18mths/ 2 years later.

This happend because the replacement water pump failed. So I think I managed to get a warranty claim, which is probably why there no receipt in the service history.

Each time it had a full kit including tensioner & water pump. Plus antifreeze which I switched to the Red (long life). So that was changed every 4 yrs. It should have been due on age about 18mths + ago. 

The gauze filter was replaced about 18 mths before I sold it, via my local motor factors. 

Gearbox was swapped out with the engine from memory.  Although later on it had to have a new end cover seal fitted, due to a leak and I changed the oil again with genuine GM oil. Also had a genuine replacement gear linkage fitted about 4/5 years ago as the original fell apart too. 

Hope my old thread on the owners club doesn't send you to sleep btw!