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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.

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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. 

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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 

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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.

20210428_195523.thumb.jpg.eece74643cfbdef31fb7c8456ee6249e.jpg

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!

 

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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.

20210428_195523.thumb.jpg.eece74643cfbdef31fb7c8456ee6249e.jpg

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.

PXL_20210317_220201839.thumb.jpg.ae57ab75e8b39d8871880edf8cd87dc8.jpg

 

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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'

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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.

PXL_20210317_220201839.thumb.jpg.ae57ab75e8b39d8871880edf8cd87dc8.jpg

 

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.

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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. 

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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' 

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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. 

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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.

 

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16 hours ago, puddlethumper said:

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

DSC00983.JPG

DSC00984.JPG

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.

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IMG_20210429_121122.thumb.jpg.999a662101b170110911023a4ad0455f.jpg

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.

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