The new news 24 thread

[Skizzer]

Enough already with the cutting disc man picture.

[dollywobbler]

Left home at 6:41am and drove to an enormous warehouse fulls of rammel. Weather looked cap and I needed to get a shift on. XM it was then. Arrived in Brum just before 9am and had a great day at the resto show. Lots of pics on Twitter but you'll have to wait for a report.

[Richard]

I spent this afternoon changing the turbo in the V70.

 

 

It made no difference to the boosting, but it had to be done. I'll get the broken studs dealt with and either sell the old turbo, keep it as a spare or refit it.

 

The lashed up waste gate is a symptom rather than a cause, a previous owner has tried to trace the fault and made things worse. The MAF and TC control valve aren't doing anything, unplugging them makes no difference to the live data. I believe the MAF was replaced so I'm suspecting a wiring fault or maybe even a blown fuse, I'll be doing some more checks tomorrow.

[trigger]

I had a day playing Cortinas with my dad.



Started of on the Mk3 finishing the 5 speed conversation, moved the exhaust to clear the gearbox mount and fitted the speedo cable which typically ended up being broken, the plastic lug that holds to the rear of the speedo head is broke so it's held in by its own force, I'll change it if it stops working.

Took it for a road test and it all works ok, the gear lever is a bit long and it's a bit notchy though the gears, to be honest I think the old box was better but it's nice to have a 5th now.

After that I moved onto the Mk1, took a look at the brakes to see why the pedal was hard, it's had all new calipers and cylinders but I think the old pads have glazed so I've ordered a new set of EBC pads for £12, the rear diff was empty so put a litre of EP90 into it, adjusted the clutch too. The fuel pump is also very weak at getting the fuel up so I've got to source a new one, I keep seeing glass topped AC ones which I think fit?

Whilst I was at it I also removed the old AA badge and reblacked the CORTINA badge on the bonnet which looks miles better I think and finished by giving it a good polish ready for a show I'm running tomorrow morning.

[coalnotdole]

I keep seeing glass topped AC ones which I think fit?

 

 

 

I love the look of the glass bowl AC pumps and had one fitted for a while to my Scimitar, The pump i had was NOS and looked immaculate but a few weeks after fitting it I had problems with air leaking in round the seal (you could see the bubbles) It resulted in not enough fuel getting to the carb, I rebuilt it using new rubber parts and thought I'd fixed it. However come the summer it developed fuel evaporation problems - hot starts were a nighmare and it had no power of suction if you parked facing uphill. This meant you had to find a willing passenger or passer by to squirt deodorant into the air intake while the engine was cranking over...

 

In the end I gave up and fitted a later syle all aluminum one and have had no further problems. It might be that modern ethanol disagrees with the glass bowl type, or they need to be used in conjunction with a fuel return pipe....

 

You might find they work better running a smaller displacement engine, with cooler under bonnet temperatures.

 

 

[spike60]

I bought an early BMW 530d estate with a shagged gearbox, replacement supplied, for No1 son today. The seller was a bit of a 4wd perv, he had 3 Land Rovers and was bringing a 4th home as soon as BM gone so will deliver for free. Main reason for posting was as part of his perversion he also has a Simca Marmon 4wd truck he bought for the portal axles but is now going to resurrect. Should stand out on the school run!

[coalnotdole]

Straight 6 Coupé news...

 

After a few months of messing about with non standard zenith carbs I eventually decided the only way to get the straight 6 running the way I wanted was to replace the Triple SU setup. Unfortunately this system is quite sought after by zodiac / zephyr 6 owners who regard it as the best period modification available short of fitting a Mays Head and triple sidedraft webers. Used examples frequently fetched north of £1000 which was well beyond my budget.

 

So a plan was hatched to make the replacement parts needed... Starting with the inlet manifolds... I was fortunate enough to find someone in the owners club willing to lend me an original and I set about finding a local foundry who could remake it...

 

 

I must have emailed about 20 companies trying to find somewhere who could create a copy without needing to sell my internal organs... I eventually came across a jobbing foundry in east sussex willing to take on a small job.

 

The original was prepped to be used as a mould, with plywood caps over the surfaces that would need to be machined:

 

 

heres the result:

 

 

The difference in colour is because the new items have been heat treated, this should make them easier to machine.

 

 

 

3 New Castings,

 

 

I've also bought a spare cylinder Head on ebay, Parts for the ford Straight 6 can be difficult and expensive to get hold of... They are popular for period racing and those into racing 50's & 60's cars have much deeper pockets than I do. So I was really pleased to pick this MK3 Head up for £10

 

 

It needs a skim, but otherwise seems to be in pretty good order,

 

 

Trial fitting:

 

 

 

Next stage will be to get the new inlet manifolds machined....

[Noel Tidybeard]

405 disgraced itself this morning with a flat battery. Nit been used for 4 days and already flat which sucks. Also my jump pack has decided to give up the ghost (will add to the must buy list).

 

The battery is fine, I think it is the negative battery connection.

 

It has a stupid screw on connector which doesn't seem to be making a great connection. I will probably cut it off and replace it if it isn't that hard to do.

new battery (golf cart type) £35 new power pack £90

guess which route i took

[Angrydicky]

Trigger, re: the fuel pump struggling to deliver fuel resulting in loads of cranking before it'll start, that's an old Ford thing. Dad's Consul was so bad we had to unscrew the pipe from the carb and inject petrol directly in to get the thing started. The previous owner had tried three fuel pumps (glass topped type) and fitted a non-return valve in the fuel line in an effort to cure it. It now sports a BMC style electric SU fuel pump mounted on the bulkhead. I imagine a lot of OSF types would have a heart attack if they looked under the bonnet to see a BMC pump there, but it works and is so much better than the Ford ones

[daveb47]

T0 everyone that is having problems with fuel pickup.

In the past i have fitted one of these,just a few pumps and you are off.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Outboard-Engine-Petrol-Primer-Bulb-Fuel-Boat-Large-in-Line-Hand-Pump-Primer-/150378805522?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2303467912

[trigger]

Yesterday we had to remove the pipe just before the carb and suck the fuel up from the tank until the glass fuel filter was full and then connect it again. That worked.

[skattrd]

I fitted one of those hand pump/primers to the Merc to overcome the air getting in the fuel line and priming after changing the fuel filter. I also fitted one to the Beta, because it's a Lancia and has a crap mechanical fuel pump.

 

If I was you Trig I'd just buy an electric pump, facet or similar, fit a regulator and inertia switch. Sorry, but function beats originality in my book - you can retro-fit the shitty oem fuel pump when you want to sell it.

[cort16]

Could you fit a pump underneath nearer the tank so it's not in the engine bay?

[coalnotdole]

Straight 6 Coupé news:

 

At some point yesterday the local fabricator had been round and left a stainless drip tray on the front step! I've had this made specially for the straight 6, I've got a perfectly good steel one but decided to get one done in 304 stainless for the hell of it. It is after all the year of shiney... The plan will be to get it professionaly polished locally, I've been told of an affordable polisher over Shoreham way so will give him a go to see if we can get rid of the few machining marks.

 

 

 

Having the drip tray finished allowed me to mockup the carbs on the bench and try and get my head around how all the linkages should work. I've never seen this setup installed on a car and have only had a handful of photos found online to use as a starting point. I'm going to need to order a variety of spacers and gaskets for the head to manifold joints and manifold to carb. The central spacer between the carb and manifold appears to need a bracket to allow the choke linkage to pivot correctly. something I'd not previously thought about.

 

 

The Hs4 Carbs are all new old stock, They will need needles and springs changing before they can be used as currently they are setup for something else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll also need to sort out a balance pipe but that can wait until after the manifolds are machined.

 

Sorry Its not very autoshite. I suppose the shite solution would have been to create a new carb setup using mismatched triple zeniths tied together with mig wire, old spoons and some steel found in a skip... I r fail!

[vulgalour]

Triple SUs on a straight six engine.  I don't care how autoshite it is/n't, that's a nice thing to see.

[cobblers]

Yesterday I went down my mams and dragged the T25 out of the garage to work towards MOTing it.

It hadn't been so much as started or moved once in about 8 months, but I got there and it fired straight up like I'd turned it off ten seconds ago! It's a cracker.

 

Anyway I took it for a cheeky run round for a bit and it drove fine, but I remembered that the passenger front caliper was a bit sticky last time we used it, so I took the wheel off and worked the piston in and out a few times.

 

Then I noticed the upper ball joints looked FUCKED:

 

They have covered under 1500 miles and were new on for the last MOT about 18 months ago. The van has been garaged and only used during summer!

Honestly the utter shit euro car parts sell is unreal. They are the second set I had after the previous ones split the gaitors in about 8 months as well. These were under warranty which took me about an hour to get them to do.

 

After having them off, it looks like the thread on them was way too long and the nut has actually bottomed out on the shoulder of the taper before really being torqued up solid in the hub carrier- I thought they felt "strange" when I nipped them up when fitted. Because the thread was so long I had to do the final tightening with some adjustables as I don't own a deep 24mm socket so I thought it was probably just that. Luckily the wheels didn't fall off and it's notfretted and damaged the hub carrier.

 

 

Anyway I bought some new ones from GSF instead and they were right. Probably won't last the 160k and 27 years the original lower ball joints have lasted though.

[richardmorris]

citroen clubs trip to the car museum in eton -mostly ww2 but some other stuff too. Gruber's little tank from allo allo!

[Rusty_Rocket]

Then I noticed the upper ball joints looked FUCKED:

 

They have covered under 1500 miles and were new on for the last MOT about 18 months ago. The van has been garaged and only used during summer!

Honestly the utter shit euro car parts sell is unreal. They are the second set I had after the previous ones split the gaitors in about 8 months as well. These were under warranty which took me about an hour to get them to do.

 

 

I feel your pain, have had problems with ecp/ ebay junk too

 

What is slightly annoying is that ecp give their budget brands German-sounding names to make buyers think they are getting worthwhile parts.  The reality is, Eicher stuff is made in India and I'd imagine the rest of the 'own brand' rubbish is Chinese/ Indian too.

 

I do use ecp- their website is easy to use and they have branches everywhere, but I must admit I go for the dearer option parts whenever possible.

[Lacquer Peel]

Eicher brake pads are made in the UK, a third world country.

 

Scotland in fact!

http://www.fleetpoint.org/fleet-industry-news/news-by-date/euro-car-parts-back-uk-production-eicher/24383/

[Rusty_Rocket]

That's strange.. because the discs I bought for the 106 a few years back had made in India on the box! 

[Lacquer Peel]

Maybe the discs are still made in foreign lands, it just mentions pads there.

[Rusty_Rocket]

Or maybe just the box 

[cros]

T0 everyone that is having problems with fuel pickup.

In the past i have fitted one of these,just a few pumps and you are off.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Outboard-Engine-Petrol-Primer-Bulb-Fuel-Boat-Large-in-Line-Hand-Pump-Primer-/150378805522?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2303467912

When I was twat enough to fill my wifes diesel metro with petrol, complete with that squeezing-the-last-little-bit-in business to round it up to the nearest pound, I was very glad of the bulb pump Peugeot used to fit on their diesels.  I stood on a freezing forcourt for half an hour pumping most of the tank out with it. Cost me a fortune in rip off priced plastic cans, but at least I was able to use the mixture in my lawnmower. Wankers cramp doesn't cover how my wrist muscles felt.

[Bren]

Replaced the rear wiper motor on the SD1. The new(used) one had a broken wire in the multiplug, I took one of the pins of the old plug and used that.

 

Removed the e post covers and speaker covers so I can fit the replacements I have - I will need a big tin of evo stick.

 

I will sniff whats left.

[beko1987]

I feel your pain, have had problems with ecp/ ebay junk too

 

What is slightly annoying is that ecp give their budget brands German-sounding names to make buyers think they are getting worthwhile parts.  The reality is, Eicher stuff is made in India and I'd imagine the rest of the 'own brand' rubbish is Chinese/ Indian too.

 

I do use ecp- their website is easy to use and they have branches everywhere, but I must admit I go for the dearer option parts whenever possible.

 

I fear this on the ZX, £12 balljoints... Luckily I reckon I could do the pair in 30 minutes now so when they do go hopefully I can wait until summer to do them?

[JohnK]

Managed to look at the Ka's 'dumping coolant' issue.

 

I gave it the once over this morning and the expansion bottle looked new. On checking the pile of receipts with the car I identified it had been bought new on 17th March.

 

None of the rubber pipes or clips had been changed which I found odd, so I changed them for all new ones and also the cap for one from a scrappy, as the one on the pattern expansion bottle looked poor.

 

Heater control valve wasn't the culprit I don't think but seeing as I had the part, I swapped it out anyway as they're a common failure so thought it wouldn't hurt.

 

Fresh coolant and system bled, everything seems to be running ok.

[HillmanImp]

Xantia has sold for £165 on ebay to someone on the French car forum. He did email me about the £200 it was up on here for but I took a gamble and it didn't pay off but as it is dealing with shite, its not a lot of money. I will just be glad to see the thing off my drive so I have room to buy something else. 

 

I suspect the 'new' car I buy will not be shite it will just be shit as after getting shot of the Shaguar for next to nowt and buying the Xantia I am in a bit of bother with Mrs Imp and I am expected to toe the line get some sensible family motoring. Admittedly it will still be dirt cheap, probably about 10-15 years old but it will be as dull as dishwater and bland enough never to grace these hallowed pages of beige.

[gordonbennet]

Glad ECP and similar ball joints have been mentioned, the bottom ball joints on the 90 series Landcruiser are the sort that are under pressure to ''spring'' apart continually...shit bit of design there Toyota...and rarely it's happened that they've done a Marina and fallen apart on the road when worn, so even though mine appear perfect i was considering replacing them as a preventative measure....the pix of the ball joints above that look like they've been on since 1962 instead of 18 months mean i won't be risking ECP's nor any of the other normal 4x4 suppliers aftermarket tat either,  one of those things worth paying for OE quality.

[cort16]

1.6 Petrol Focus

 

The good thing about having a steady ship in the fleet is it allows you to buy other shite as you can just say "it doesn't matter we can still use the Focus/Juke/Astra/Vectra"

[Barry Cade]

Yesterday we had to remove the pipe just before the carb and suck the fuel up from the tank until the glass fuel filter was full and then connect it again. That worked.

And every time you burp for the next 24 hours, it'll remind you that you are a shiter!