The new news 24 thread

[Pete-M]

Impreza timing belt replaced. Easy job once all seven timing points are in the right places. Unfortunately, that's the awkward bit.

 

 

Not amusing trying to line that little lot up when once bank of cams is 'loaded' and can only be turned the correct way at the correct time to line 'em all up.

 

Still, doesn't need doing for another 45k.

[The Moog]

Did over 1k in the volvo over the last few days. Performed superbly especially as I thought it was slowly falling apart. Way back from Scotland I was getting 43mpg on cruise control until I got to Manchester and spent 3 1/2 hours in traffic.

 

Have to say was massively surprised with it.

[Cavcraft]

Nice

 

You'll be amazed how quickly the gear changes become second nature (even if I am a Campag man )

 

Yeah, hopefully they'll become second nature. I notice another racer in Halfords had slightly similar gears but had a seperate handlebar mounted lever for shifiting up, this one does the lot (up and down) on the brake levers. The large stems and bar widths are a bit of a PITA as seemingly nothing (rear light, computer, bell etc) will go on the damned thing and I fear a spot of dry bumming at a bike shop till is likely to follow.

Mind you I may attempt a Frank Spencer-esque/Autoshite sat nav holder for the bars for when I start to get a bit more adventurous.

[cobblers]

Picked one of two old shit thermostats when I stuck the engine in the van, and I picked wrong. I tested one which was deffo shit, so I put the other one in by default. It was closed at room temp, but it must have opened really early. The stat housing was also a bit rough, so I ordered a new housing and stat off T25 MEGA SPECIALISTS "Brickwerks". They sell decent gear and seem to know what they are talking about, but they don't half know how to charge for postage (£5.odd post for a sugar cube sized spigot bearing - I'm in the wrong job!)

 

Anyway so I've not got the temp guage wired up yet cos I'm dragging my heels about swapping the clocks. I bought a VAG COM dongle off ebay for £7 to plug in and do diagnostics, remap it to 500bhp etc. I wasted ages trying to get it to work assuming the issue was either my really new laptop or my really old ECU. After about 12 hours pissing around I gave up just bought another identical one for £7 and it works fine. In hindsight I could have just worked that 12 hours and used the money to buya proper super mega licenced one off Ross Tech rather than pissing around with cheap copies, but mehhhh.

 

I tested with the old stat,and the van took about half an hour idling to get the coolant up to 80C, with the fans clicking on at 96. Motorway driving just dropped it down to 50ish so the problem is pretty obvious.

 

With the new stat the engine got to 80C in about 5 minutes, and sits at 81-84 no matter how hard I drive it (there's about 20 litres of coolant to warm up!), and the fans do kick in if I leave it stood for ages.

 

Anyway, I'm dead impressed about being able to plug my 1987 van into my laptop and have it tell me all sorts of mosly useless things.

It doesn't even flag up any fault codes which I reckon is good going all things considered.

[Cavcraft]

Nice

 

You'll be amazed how quickly the gear changes become second nature (even if I am a Campag man )

 

Indeed! Just been for my first gentle spin on it and had the hang of the gears by the top of the road! Pull the black lever to the left to change up a gear, pull the brake lever to the left to change down-simples.

It didn't seem that fast (even thought I wasn't pushing it) but when I looked at the time when I got back from my usual 4-ish mile circuit it was a hell of a lot quicker than on the Trek.

[Volksy]

 

 

You'll be good at playing this now!

 

[skattrd]

I've just had a bit of time up the garage and a catch up on the progress of things:

 

Mitsubishi - heads off, pistons/rings etc look ok. Head gasket had gone and the heads had a bit of a skim, it needed quite a bit taking off, but it should be ok. Now awaiting gasket set from Mitsubishi dealer, hopefully sometime next week.

 

R25 - failed MOT it needs a little welding, not a lot, there was a patch of filler on the nearside sill the tester poked through, but thats all it needs. Apart from a couple of bulbs I've changed. It should be MOT'd and for sale with 1yr+ ticket next weekend.

 

Bora - Service time again, just changed the oil, cleaned the air filter checked fluids. I also repaired the passenger electric window (snapped clip) pain in the arse. New cables, clips but quite fiddly getting the door back together afterwards. All done, I now have a passenger door that can be opened from inside and outside with central locking that works on all doors. The window had been wedged up with a lump of wood and the innards of the door missing since January.

MOT is due in 2 months and I'll give it another service then and if it passes ok then I'll change the clutch. It's high but only slips when being aggressive, so hopefully it should last another few weeks. The mileage will also be around 200k by then, a nice round figure and a new clutch will be the reward for the MOT and 200k

[dollywobbler]

It's been an exciting old weekend here. After the tree drama, we decided to make a dash for Bala in North Wales anyway. The weather seemed to be easing at bit at the time. Made it to Bala with a few exciting deep-water sections, but the drive home was rather more alarming. Lots of standing water, which is very hard to see in the dark. Hit one stretch at 40mph and the resulting wall of water totally obscured my vision! Slowed us down a lot though. Got home, after avoiding a few closed roads. Went to bed and got a bit of a shock.

 

Aberystwyth is very flooded, especially all the roads we'd driven along in the night. Went out to see what's what earlier but the BX still has the occasional binding caliper syndrome - not the one I replaced, which is a relief at least. Hoping I can tweak the handbrake adjustment. I've a feeling it's not releasing cleanly on that side.

 

Went out in the 2CV after that, ignoring some Road Closed signs because I'm a local and they obviously don't apply to me. Further on, we discovered that the signs were worth obeying!

 

This Range Rover was VERY stuck. The terrain was awful. Huge landslide and it was very, very soft. It was like trying to drive through very wet, very loose concrete - though the bank he'd driven into wasn't helping. Tried digging it out with no joy but fortunately a Discovery with a tow rope turned up and we were able to drag it out.

[skattrd]

Incredibly trivial news, whilst testing the towbar electrics on the boring earlier I noticed the fog light on the car wasn't working. I've just checked the fuse and that was blown, I've changed that so now the car has no faults (apart from worn clutch and loads of cosmetic bits). I fear something is going to break.

 

Today I found out something I didn't know. For the new MOT if your car has a towbar then electrics need to be tested and working BUT only if its a euro (13 pin) connector. UK (7 pin) connectors do not need to be tested for the new MOT.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I've just sold my Avenger for the full asking price. Result!

[mk1_4dr]

Well done Mr B.

 

In other news: the Golf is broken, again.

[rml2345]

Well done Herr Bollox!

I've now done about 500 miles in the rejuvenated Yaris but every little muffled rattle and squeak is now a cause for paranoia that the "Light of DOOM" will return.

Not so much fun then

[vulgalour]

Turns out methodical testing and diagnosis of the connectors and earths on a Lucas wiring system are an inferior solution to rage-unplug-replug. All the lights on the Princess now work as they should.

[vulgalour]

Is this the right place for this? Perhaps it should be in the eBay Tat Thread instead... I've got some stuff up on eBay, some of it is old toy cars which may be of interest. I should be getting more stuff up on eBay, some of which will be more old toy cars and some of which might be a few bits and pieces of full sized cars.

 

Here's a link: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/stoneorchid/m.html

 

A taster of some of the classy* items:

 

Volvo 760? Why yes, there's one of those up for grabs starting at 49p.

 

Since I'm full of fail when it comes to getting paid work done just lately, I'm going through my personal belongings and seeing what I've got that I can sell... there's not a lot tbh, but every little will help I'm sure.

[cort16]

BMW's sold. It looks like it's getting broken, which is a shame but it's not like it's rare or unusual and the boy was waving the money in my face.

I spent all yesterday chopping up fibreglass arches I bought for the SD1. They're meant for an MR2 and fit the back of the SD1 perfectly but the fronts have required a lot of chopping and re-fibreglassing. All done now although they'll need rounded off and fillered up.

 

I also got gifted a cracking set of ramps and axle stands for nowt from a garage clear out. It's always handy to have extras.

 

Some re-assembly required.

IMG_0350 by cort16, on Flickr

[dieselnutjob]

This week my glasses broke. Just fell apart in my hands.

Friday went to see the doc and she says she thinks I have a hernia *

Yesterday went to the opticians.

My prescription has changed so I need new sunglasses as well.

Result is a spend of about £400

 

I was so fed up at the end of this that I really needed to do some tinkering.

 

I have been planning to put cruise control on our 806 for about five years, and last year driving to Italy and back really regretted that I hadn't.

Yesterday I got it working.

The only place I could splice the three wires from the stalk was into the 88 pin connector on the back of the ECU. When I found that two of the wires were not the same as the wiring diagram I did start to wonder if I should be cutting them.

Anyway it worked first time except that pressing the stalk in the "slower" direction made the car speed up and vice versa. Just swapped two wires on the stalk this morning and now it's perfect.

 

* I have a feeling this is going to totally F up my summer. My 607 needs a timing belt and I think I probably won't be able to do it

[skattrd]

DNJ - have you tried online opticians? my glasses cost £200+ from the high street, but online I get them for £25 upwards and I have an expensive prescription. My sister has a more normal prescription and can get glasses made up from about a fiver.

 

Theres loads out there, but the one I use most is: http://www.selectspecs.com/

[dieselnutjob]

what I really want is an online surgeon who won't be sticking pointy things in me

[Rod/b]

I had an inguinal hernia fixed about a month back. Make sure you find a surgeon who will do a laporoscopic (keyhole) repair and you'll be back on your feet in no time. I had 3 10mm incisions done and the op took 45 minutes. I was back on my feet inside 4 hours and back at work inside a week with no pain meds the whole time. I was told to lay off heavy lifting for 3 months but i've been lugging a fair amount about with no problems.

[vulgalour]

Hernia ops are a sensible thing to have, hernias can become very unpleasant. Mine was courtesy of the NHS last August and left me with a several inch long scar and odd cramps/pulling sensation when it's cold weather. Took me a month to be fit enough to drive and until January this year to be back to anything like normal on the mobility and lifting front which was a bit annoying. I forget which kind I have, but it wasn't the nasty stomach crimping one that can cause all the horrors.

[Skizzer]

Yesterday, though, I extracted the starter motor out of the Rover 75 and ordered a solenoid repair kit, so that should get sorted next weekend if the rain stops.

Solenoid repair kit arrived in the week (from RepairKitsUK eBay shop) - dead easy to replace the very worn old contacts and the plunger, and for once not too much of an embuggerance to refit the starter motor (in spite of the need to wrestle past an octopus of hoses). Good news is it's fixed the starting problem - yay! So I also treated the Rover to four new tyres, since the old ones had all seen better days and one of them was porous to the point of flat. Now just needs a coolant flush and we're good to go rush-hour motorway cruising again, and ABS sensors soon for the MOT (probably only needs one, but which?).

 

Downside is that, having disconnected the battery for obvious reasons, I hope I can find the radio code or I'll be condemned to wafting in silence. That would be a shame, as the (standard) sound system is really rather fine.

I can't find the radio code . But I see there are some websites that either tell you the code from the VIN number or sell you software that does it - anyone have any experience of these? Recommendations?

[RobT]

DNJ - have you tried online opticians? my glasses cost £200+ from the high street, but online I get them for £25 upwards and I have an expensive prescription. My sister has a more normal prescription and can get glasses made up from about a fiver.

 

Theres loads out there, but the one I use most is: http://www.selectspecs.com/

 

I spent £250 on some recently but will be giving them a go next. Bloke at work uses them and he's got about 12 pairs now, last pair were a fiver and they looked OK to me. You need to measure your pupillary distance yourself but it 'aint rocket science. My eyes are too close together apparently!

[skattrd]

Next time you get your eyes tested ask your optician to measure your pupillary distance (pd) as well.

There are guides on youtube on how to measure it, don't do it yourself, get a friend to help

[philibusmo]

Well with me being the only computer engineer in the world without a working computer for 7 months now and the Cressida having sold I decided that it is about time I actually spent some money on something other than cars for once and set to work buying up some new computer bits. SO here's a list for computer nerds to spaff over...

Intel i7 3770K Ivybrige CPU

Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard

Asus Nvidia 560ti 3GB DDR3 GPU

Corsair G60 water cooling

OCR 128 GB SSD (OS Drive)

2x WD 500GB HDD (files and backup drive)

xClio 650W modular PSU (soon to be replaced)

 

But now for the more interesting and relevant bit...

Here is the case I was using, and like pretty much all other computer cases is vulgar and looks like a transformers bollock.

Short of going back to 1998 and getting a case the same colour as a prosthetic limb, there really isn't much choice in stock cases, just variations on this theme. So I have decided to modify my case to be more in-keeping with my modern man-about-town lifestyle.

I'm thinking something more along these lines...

So after a spot of research and designing the other night, I made a rough plan and set to work on butchering my case. Today was perfectfor it as it was lashing down with rain soI was unable to do anything to the Fiesta or Lancia.

Cutting through plastic with a hot knife produces some horrific fumes, followed by 3 hours of filing and then filling in the dips where that nasty piece of white trim was with car body filler.

I have some walnut and chrome vinyl on the way and have big plans for what to do with the window on the side.

More updates before long.

[loserone]

Nice idea butchering the modern case to make it look like an old radio - most people (myself included) butcher an old radio (or television) and shove the PC inside!

 

*Disclaimer. Despite "Working in IT" and having an interest/half a degree in CS, that spec list made no sense to me at all :S

[dollywobbler]

I reported on the BX forum this afternoon that I enjoyed a near-problem-free drive out in the BX today, but then had to admit that I'd lied after seeing the list of 'foibles' that resulted. The car started second time, as it always does when cold at the moment. Then these things happened.

 

1) The clutch went a bit funny. It's biting early, but not biting hard. Suddenly bites properly at the last minute. I reckon its shagged.

2) The nearside brake caliper was binding by the time we reached our destination, despite me poking it with a spanner earlier and muttering naughty words.

3) By our lunchtime halt, the offside brake caliper was binding but the nearside one seemed ok. FFS!

4) Some knocking up front. It's either anti-roll bar links or wishbone bushes. Both have been replaced so I didn't think they were very old. However, that was two years and about 40,000 miles ago.

5) A stop part way back and neither front brake was binding.

6) All the way, the power assistance for the steering was 'variable.' My wife told me to slow down at one point because she thought we were skidding around a bend. "No dear, the steering's just f*cked! It's fine."

7) I am reminded that the heater is stuck permanently on hot. That's fine. Open a window! Then it rains. Heavily. Close a window! Yet you need the blower on to keep the windscreen clear. It's getting hot in here...

 

I'm taking this car to Cambridgeshire at the weekend. Looks like I might have a busy week ahead. I've no idea what's going on with the brakes. Flexis perhaps? It's a very intermittent binding. I couldn't really replicate it when investigating this morning.

 

Do you ever have days where you wish you owned a car that worked? (Actually, the Maverick is on form at the moment to be fair - got us to Bala through many a flood with no problems at all. The 2CV and Mini are both full of rain.)

[myglaren]

I need a new desktop, current one freezes long and often, only use it for banking and printing these days.

 

 

Looks nice

 

As does:

 

 

Somewhat out of my budget though.

[philibusmo]

Nice idea butchering the modern case to make it look like an old radio - most people (myself included) butcher an old radio (or television) and shove the PC inside!

 

*Disclaimer. Despite "Working in IT" and having an interest/half a degree in CS, that spec list made no sense to me at all :S

 

I would do that, but I have spent up on the components and so have a budget of approximately £20 for the case. Also I know that this case works really well as a computer case, is easy to use, take apart and has good airflow. As I know this setup is going to be running pretty damned hot, I thought it would be best to fuck around with what I know works rather than kill all my money's worth of computer bits by having them melt themselves.

[dieselnutjob]

1) The clutch went a bit funny. It's biting early, but not biting hard. Suddenly bites properly at the last minute. I reckon its shagged.

 

Happened to a mates BX. The pedal box had split along a fold near the the pivot point of the clutch pedal.

 

Also there is a bellcrank on the top of the gearbox that the end of the clutch cable locates into. These split as well.

[catsinthewelder]

Liking the retro PC mods,

 

I've wandered through a few threads of similar stuff on the steampunk forum but as ours currently lives inside a cupboard, in the bottom of the desk I've left it alone. Probably for the best as computers are about the only thing I refuse to even attempt to repair.

 

Do you ever have days where you wish you owned a car that worked?

 

Oh yes, Our BX has clutch issues and the blower knobs are at best iffy, the 1100 has no speedo at present and fills with water and the bus also leaks, is loosing all it paint from the roof and has worring noises.