The new news 24 thread

[HMC]

Fabulous photo!

[Split_Pin]

If I'm honest, it's not looking good for this car.

I tried all afternoon trying to sort this.

The loom that came in the post is of course different as the one on the car has more wires coming out of the plug under the seat and going elsewhere, whereas the loom part I have is isolated with just 2 wires and not integrated with the rest of the wiring harness under the seat.

The plug was correct though and I spent ages splicing it into the loom and then resplicing it a different way when that didn't work. As the old plug had been ripped out I had no frame of reference. 

Unfortunately the MOT is due next month and it obviously won't pass like this. It seems so silly just because of a little plug and although I do have the patience, I have so little invested financially in this car, I already have another, better example on fleet and I have a hankering for something 90s again. This means that the generous offer of £350 from CTB makes sense. 

Sorry, Saab.

 

[Jazoli]

Can you not use the new one as a reference or is it completely different?

[Split_Pin]

28 minutes ago, Jazoli said:

Can you not use the new one as a reference or is it completely different?

Weirdly, the new one has 1 brown wire and 1 brown and yellow, the loom on the car has one brown and one blue.  Plus where it plugs into the connection under the seat, there's 2 extra wires that go somewhere else.

I tried both formats but neither worked, unless you need Tech 2 to the lamp off again. That's where the 75 is great as the airbag light goes off as soon as you've fixed the fault (squeezed the connectors together under the seat 😅)

[Saabnut]

I will match (or even slightly better) the CTB offer and give it a chance to live on a bit. Only downside is I cannot collect for about 10 days or so as I am stuck on a boat offshore Norway, due back around the 10th but nothing is certain in this game.

[Yoss]

Felicias fixed! 

The new coil and distributor arrived today. How do they make a whole distributor for £25?

Complete with distributor cap and rotor arm. 

Admittedly, having had a dig around inside the old one, the innards appear to be a cylindrical piece of metal with four holes in to act as a chopper. 

Also found the plug on the old one was broken and held together with a cable tie. That can't have helped. 

And the rotor arm was definitely shagged. 

 

So I changed the distributor first and was disappointed to find it made no difference. Ah well, never mind, there's no doubt the rotor arm and cap needed changing so it's not wasted. 

Moved on to the coil. That's pretty simple, two bolts, three wire plug and HT lead. It was at this point I realised I hadn't refitted the HT lead to the distributor cap. Doh. Needless to say it fired first time. So it could have been the distributor after all. Never mind, it works now, I'll leave it at that. 

I've not been able to test it properly as it's still in the garage and there are two cars in front of it on the drive and I can't be arsed to switch them all round. That's for tomorrow. 

 

[Jazoli]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

Weirdly, the new one has 1 brown wire and 1 brown and yellow, the loom on the car has one brown and one blue.  Plus where it plugs into the connection under the seat, there's 2 extra wires that go somewhere else.

I tried both formats but neither worked, unless you need Tech 2 to the lamp off again. That's where the 75 is great as the airbag light goes off as soon as you've fixed the fault (squeezed the connectors together under the seat 😅)

You will probably need to clear the codes before the light goes off, any decent scantool should do it as long as it can read airbag modules, a delphi will I'm sure.

[Split_Pin]

There's a boy 10 minutes away that has Tech 2 who's going to scan it for me to see what's what first.

I've seen a Topdon Smartdiag Mini Bluetooth reader on ebay which looks pretty comprehensive although the subscription options after the first (free) year look confusing.

I'm a bit torn as it's a really clean example that goes very well but because I'm not invested in it, it's too easy to just walk.

[brownnova]

My 9000 got it’s mot retest today, so after 7 months of not using it, it’s back on the road. 

The headteacher was away today so I parked in his spot! 

All is not totally well in 9000 world though, the AC clutch which failed has been disconnected, but the pulley still sounds really rough, although it’s not glowing red hot and is driveable now. So some work will be needed to make it useable! 

[stuboy]

13 hours ago, brownnova said:

My 9000 got it’s mot retest today, so after 7 months of not using it, it’s back on the road. 

The headteacher was away today so I parked in his spot! 

All is not totally well in 9000 world though, the AC clutch which failed has been disconnected, but the pulley still sounds really rough, although it’s not glowing red hot and is driveable now. So some work will be needed to make it useable! 

 

[Vantman]

@brownnova Try this chap for 9000 spares---https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/478760910383943/?ref=search&referral_code=marketplace_search&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3Ab4484646-3228-409a-9557-653b3d9449a9

[wuvvum]

Not got as much done on the fleet over the last couple of days as I'd been hoping as the weather really hasn't been conducive to being outside, but still managed a few odd bits. 

The fuel pump on the 75 now has a switch to turn it on and off, and a more appropriate gauge of wire running to the pump itself.  It also now has an inline fuse - I borrowed the wire that runs down the nearside of the car to the towbar bypass relay, I'm not going to be towing anything with the car any time soon.

I also got the bottom ball joint bolt out, and after a liberal dousing in GT85 the ball joint moved with only moderate whacks from the lump hammer.  I also got the hub nut cracked off (which involved jumping up and down on the 2' breaker bar, it was bloody tight) and the track rod end nut undone - to my surprise despite being rusty as feck this came undone quite easily, I didn't even have to resort to holding the ball joint in place with an Allen key.  So in theory it should now be a relatively quick job to get the strut off to change the spring - I didn't attempt it today because it was far too bastarding cold this morning and by the time it finally started to warm up mid afternoon I'd decided I couldn't be arsed.

I also had a bit of a play with the Volvo - checked the ignition side of things and the points were barely opening, so I reset the gap but that didn't really do anything to help the running.  I tried substituting the old electric pump in the place of the new mechanical pump but that didn't help either - that was also a bit of a daft thing to do as when I took the plugs out for a look (which I should have done first) they were all soaking wet, so there's definitely no problem with fuel getting through.

So I've taken the carbs off, which wasn't too bad of a job - there was one mounting nut which was an utter pain in the arse to get to but nothing was seized and everything came apart pretty easily.  One evening next week when I've got a bit more mojo I'm going to strip them down on the dining table (the joys of being single) and see what's what.  I may still be barking up the wrong tree of course thinking it's carb-related, but my diagnostic skills are somewhat limited and I can't afford to start playing parts darts, not with the price of old Volvo spares...

[Split_Pin]

I've calmed down a bit now with the Saab 😅 hopefully I can get a new drivers seat loom or even a complete seat if the loom doesn't unplug.

Don't post when you've been fiddling with the car for 2 hours, with no success.

[grogee]

10 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I've calmed down a bit now with the Saab 😅 hopefully I can get a new drivers seat loom or even a complete seat if the loom doesn't unplug.

Don't post when you've been fiddling with the car for 2 hours, with no success.

I can get a pic of my loom if it helps? Is it a 9-5? Also I have tech 2 and I'm in Midlands, although in Devon this weekend. Anyway happy to help once we're back after Monday

[grogee]

This is our view from our bedroom window this morning, we've got two nights. We come most years back to the same place, lovely owners and spotless cottage. Invariably, the weather is grey and cold!

Seeing Mother Grogee this morning then off to football this afternoon. 

The Alfa indicated a healthy 48mpg on the way down, including at least one DPF regen that I noticed (the instantaneous MPG plummets, but it's otherwise unnoticeable). Good to know it's DPF-ing though, I'm not sure it gets much of a chance when Mrs Grogee trundles to work and back. 

Mrs Grogee's birthday today, she seems pleased with gifts and breakfast was crossiants so we're doing well so far. 

[stuboy]

Oh looking at the Rickman as checking what wiring needed for replacing headlights and front chasis legs need looking at ..

[wuvvum]

I wouldn't have expected a kit car of that age to have a cat on it.

[paulplom]

Agreed in principle to buy this with a nearly full mot for £650. I'm going tomorrow to give it a good check over. I'll give it to fil to use till the boy passes his test at the end of the year. It doesn't look too bad but it does have one rusty wing. I wonder if they bolt on.

[Zelandeth]

Yep, wings bolt on.  Keep an eye on the oil level as some seem to like a drink and make sure the clutch cable is properly adjusted so it doesn't cook the release bearing.

Other than that they're pretty bulletproof little motors.

[Yoss]

Mrs Yoss is attending some sort of vintage jumble sale type thing at one of these vintage* places you find on industrial estates. She wanted to arrive in style so naturally wanted to take the Favorit. It wasn't that dirty but did have a  big sooty black puff all over the front where it had been parked behind the Triumph. 

I foolishly thought I'd give it a quick wash before she left despite waking up to find it was - 2 outside. I tried the hose more out off hope than expectation and sure enough it was frozen solid. So I just filled the bucket with hot shampooy water then sponged it on and chamoised it off but even then it was turning back to ice before I could chamois it off. 

I've just rung her and she's made about £150 so far so I hope it was worth it. I realise she would have made the same with a dirty car but I wanted it to be clean if it's on display to the public. Sort of. 

[Split_Pin]

I went to Upullit in Inverkeithing this morning as they had 2 Saab 93 Convertibles in.

I managed to extract the seat loom from the car, it was a right old war as I not only had to remove the seat but also dismantle the actual seat itself. I wanted to get to each plug rather than cut the loom. At least now I can see how things come apart.

So one nice uncut, undamaged driver seat loom and it was only a tenner. 

I also scored a new aerial to replace the burst one on mine.

[puddlethumper]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

I wouldn't have expected a kit car of that age to have a cat on it.

Probably an after market addition.

[MJK 24]

On 3/29/2022 at 8:25 PM, camryv6 said:

Believe it or not the new tyres are supposed to be on the back, so the back doesn't break away, and tyre pressures and torqueing wheels should be standard practice.

I understand this to be true.  But virtually all your braking is done at the front so I usually ignore this pearl or wisdom and put the new tyres on the front too.

[Fumbler]

Shit, I've just realised that I've now had the BX for one whole year.

[Jazoli]

Gave the old bus a valet and polish today

still shines up nicely for a 20 year old car, I'm actually quite happy to have a silver car for a change as they require a lot less polishing than a black or 'colour'

[Split_Pin]

Looks well indeed how are you getting on with it?

[Jazoli]

18 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Looks well indeed how are you getting on with it?

Its pretty nice and I'm happy enough, I've had to do a few jobs such as replace the wiper motor, fix a few electrical niggles (airbag light, dodgy bulb connections) and service it but other than that its running well, it could do with a suspension refresh as it's a bit baggy but it has done 180k, a full set of arms/TRE's and ball joints is only £150 so I'll do it once it's proved itself.

It's like getting into an old armchair, it's just so comfortable and smooth, I'm just wafting around listening to the excellent dolby sound system, I had a look at the average mpg the other day and won't look again 😅 but as I'm doing so few miles it hardly matters.

Its nice to have a practical car again, I managed to take a king size bed to the tip last weekend, no chance of that happening in the Saab, I'll probably run it till it breaks although I'll be getting the FiL's S80 soon which will leave me with a dilemma.

[N19]

I was trying one of those drill brush contraptions to see how much muck was in the Mondeo carpet...

I'll file that under "lots". Need to attack it properly with a wet vac!

[paulplom]

5 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Yep, wings bolt on.  Keep an eye on the oil level as some seem to like a drink and make sure the clutch cable is properly adjusted so it doesn't cook the release bearing.

Other than that they're pretty bulletproof little motors.

Cheers.

I've got a '61 pug 107. I have a pretty good idea what to look for. Our clutch seems to bite high as it happens. I haven't investigated yet though.

Fil's '02 S80 D5 will be sold cheap I've heard. Just passed it's mot and ahad a service last week. Towbar too iirc. A bit rough and ready but would make a decent work horse with a massive boot. 40+ mpg too.

Scrap value may buy it. I'll keep up to date if anyone's interested.

[loserone]

1 hour ago, paulplom said:

Fil's '02 S80 D5 will be sold cheap I've heard. Just passed it's mot and ahad a service last week. Towbar too iirc. A bit rough and ready but would make a decent work horse with a massive boot. 40+ mpg too.

Scrap value may buy it. I'll keep up to date if anyone's interested.

👀