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Father Ted

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FINALLY new water pump arrived for the Cav. 

Between work calls I boshed on with a new gasket, pulley on, alternator reattached and belt tensioned. The latter is a well though out affair. Access to the tensioner is from under the bumper, slot an extension on, stand up, foot on the ratchet to tension and then tighten up the bolt on the adjuster fron the top. Very easy with the radiator out.

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I had a crack at removing the pistons from my seized up Volvo b20 block today. Diesel and Coca-Cola totally failed to get them moving so I was at a loss on what to do. The block has a cracked bore rendering it scrap but I needed the con rods from it to go into a replacement block I found on eBay, (more on that later) 

I spent a couple of hours breaking a piston up in situ which was a massive waste of time as the rod was actually bent when I finally removed it, much to my irritation. The pistons themselves were very brittle and seemed to have reacted with something, the metal being very dark, almost like slate. The other three pistons warranted a more direct approach. Slits were sliced into the block and a hammer and chisel were brought into play.  After much smashing of cast iron all the rods were out, although they’re so corroded I don’t want to use them anyway. At least the whole experience was educational. 

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Having put the vectra back together without replacing the master cylinder I bled the system - still the same as before. A friend took it to a vauxhall guy who could find nothing wrong. I am away for two weeks so I will have snother go when I come back - something isn't right.

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5 minutes ago, Slappy said:

Literal shite news via the Angry People in Local Newspapers Facebook group (may x-post with @Parky's  kiwi adventures...)

https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/19504135.wickford-man-mitsubishi-colt-recalled-25-years-buying/?fbclid=IwAR2KYZ3sTa1Q9bEXAEySNuynAEiJ20JckOZozm7KT79hvKE3Oowr8mXyMyc

Superb!  I might try and get the local garage to sort mine out.  Maybe persuade them there was also a recall for door dents and the light blue metallic paint needed to be replaced with a safer dark green metallic because reasons.

His is in good nick though, makes mine look proper shonky!

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12 hours ago, Lankytim said:

 The pistons themselves were very brittle and seemed to have reacted with something, the metal being very dark, almost like slate. 

Very hot engine, probably sucked in water and hydro-locked, bending the rod and cooling the pistons rapidly.

Phil

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1 hour ago, PhilA said:

Very hot engine, probably sucked in water and hydro-locked, bending the rod and cooling the pistons rapidly.

Phil

I *might've" bent the rod with a hammer but trying to bash it out from underneath (with a suitably cut piece of wood). I'm wondering if it's all frost damage ,the cylinders could've filled with water over the years and had plenty of time freeze and thaw. 

The hot engine being quenched by water in the bores does make sense though, the water pump was definitely knackered prior to being laid up, perhaps the head gasket went and allowed a load of coolant into the bores. I was surprised how easily the head came off, none of the bolts seemed particularly tight- often a sign of the engine getting very hot. 

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3 hours ago, Slappy said:

Literal shite news via the Angry People in Local Newspapers Facebook group (may x-post with @Parky's  kiwi adventures...)

https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/19504135.wickford-man-mitsubishi-colt-recalled-25-years-buying/?fbclid=IwAR2KYZ3sTa1Q9bEXAEySNuynAEiJ20JckOZozm7KT79hvKE3Oowr8mXyMyc

Some grade-A gumtree sale potato style photos too

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Looks spotless, fair play to the guy!

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27 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

I *might've" bent the rod with a hammer but trying to bash it out from underneath (with a suitably cut piece of wood). I'm wondering if it's all frost damage ,the cylinders could've filled with water over the years and had plenty of time freeze and thaw. 

The hot engine being quenched by water in the bores does make sense though, the water pump was definitely knackered prior to being laid up, perhaps the head gasket went and allowed a load of coolant into the bores. I was surprised how easily the head came off, none of the bolts seemed particularly tight- often a sign of the engine getting very hot. 

Either that or it went through deep water when running and that killed it.

You'd have a hard time bending that rod with a bfh/wood combo.

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Progressing with building the Cav back up.

PAS pump belt tensioned up, radiator and intercooler buttoned together and installed, fan switch bolted in and some pipes loosely installed.

I need to work out how to safely fasten the wiring for the fan switch as its quite a bitnlonger than necessary and is quite near the PAS pulley. 

Friday, beer o'clock now.

More tomorrow.

Mrs_Pin wants to collect some planks of wood at B&Q next week and as this is currently the most practical car in the fleet, she was asking when it would be fixed. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll be good to go!

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Much passing happened on the Micra
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For ignoring the rusty patch on the sill for 3 years and 3 winters, I'm impressed. It's now the size of a 2p coin and is just under a foot away from the rear seatbelt mount. He says it'll need doing before the next MoT. I agree and will try to sort it out when I'm back from holiday, along with giving the car a general look-over and tidy up should it be needed. At least my rear wheel cylinder replacement did the trick and cured the brake faults.

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Middle-aged man drove LS400 on 110-mile round trip and it went very nicely indeed shock.

For some reason I'd been wary about taking the Lexus anywhere too far, as it's a complex thing that has seen only minimal maintenance for a good few years with innumerable ways to go wrong, but the recent trip to FOTU proved that I should have more faith in it. Had to do the long trip to the main office yesterday, so decided to give it another decent run out.

I'd hoped to get away with using the remnants of the tankful of fuel that was in it from FOTU, but as it'd already done 250+ miles on that and the bottom third of the gauge drops rather rapidly I thought I'd better chuck a bit more petrol in. As it'd started off with a full tank last time I thought I'd do the same this time so I could scare myself with a brim-to-brim check on 'economy'.

Morrisons pumps said E10 for normal 95 stuff*, so I moved across to  one that did 97. In the end I squeezed-in £70's worth, which seemed a bit grim for 257 miles but a quick bit of maths showed that to be just under 24mpg, which I suppose isn't bad for a 4-litre V8 that probably needs a good service.

On my cross-Norfolk route of mostly open A-roads it was so ludicrously smooth. In some ways it's much like my RX450h, with no apparent form of propulsion much of the time - it just glides along. A few overtakes were dispatched with no drama.

Once I get the house move out of the way I need to think about how to treat it better than as cheap, disposable fun. With the likelihood being that I'll only have a couple of older things to keep going I can give it a bit more attention.

*Funny thing here is that when I got the cash desk the lady asked me why I'd moved across from the first pump, so I explained that I didn't want to use E10. She said it wasn't actually in the tank yet, so I could've saved a few bob. Ah well, it'll be interesting to see how it goes with 97 stuff.

 

In other news, the big shed clear-out has started. I've rented a 20' container at a nearby storage place and have started getting a few loads down there. There's an awful lot to contend with and I need to make a start as we could be in our last 3-4 weeks here. If the move goes belly-up then it can stay there until something does work out, or I'll bring it all back again. Shelving plans have already been worked-out for the new place, I think I'll have room for everything but I want to paint the garage walls and floor before I start filling it up - I know I'll never have the opportunity again! The storage place will be ideal to hold stuff until I can bring it all back to its new home.

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Day trip to Kendal yesterday;MrsR had a clinic appointment so we booked in at the Suzuki garage to talk about our next Motability car, which fitted neatly after the clinic.  We've ordered a new Suzuki Vitara, but he couldn't guarantee a colour.  I told him as long as it is an actual colour rather than the grey half of the paint chart, it'll be ok.

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