Saabnuts Assorted Shite Blog - A Shite Week Lacking Progress

[Felly Magic]

I bet Aimsee on youtube would be having a crisis over that Sonnet

[Saabnut]

So far I have covered 200 miles with the Sonett without problems, returning home each time with a grin. Last night I called to see my friend as he has the clutch out of the Cobra, so we have started to try and identify what is fitted. Been a bit of a surprise, as whilst I knew the original owner had spent a fortune on building the car, just how much is staggering. The flywheel is alluminium with a sintered ring for the clutch (that explains the free revving then) and the friction plate appears to be a paddle hybrid, with a standard lining on one side and paddles on the other. The only marks are the word Valeo on the pressure plate and a logo a bit like a globe on the friction plate. I have contacted Cheng Lim at Thunder Road Cars (the Cobra race specialist) to see if he has any ideas. Tracking a replacement may take a while.....

[Guest Hooli]

Time for an upgrade to cure the slip on the rollers?

[Saabnut]

Time for an upgrade to cure the slip on the rollers?

 

Indeed!

[Sigmund Fraud]

Clutch friction plate logo looks like an EMPI one, though I suspect the whole thing is custom made.

[Junkman]

Do you want to put some dismal half arsed rubbish in like that shit you took out, or are you going to put something appropriate in its place?

[Mally]

Somewhat silly question, he's asked Thunder Road.

 

I'm actually interested, my son has a similar vehicle.

When the inevitable happens I will need to know.

[Saabnut]

Do you want to put some dismal half arsed rubbish in like that shit you took out, or are you going to put something appropriate in its place?

 

Open to all and any sensible suggestions. What would you suggest?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I think he means it should be auto...

[Mally]

He probably does, that's still silly though.

[Saabnut]

A bit of progress! Thunder Road put my mechanic on to Roadcraft UK who specialise in this stuff. From the photos/dimensions they identified the clutch components and the ally flywheel, and they had them in stock! By the time I had phoned them they were out of friction plates, but the next batch are on their way from the states, so should be here in a couple of weeks. All ordered and waiting....

 

And the cost? Much, much less than I was expecting at around the 900 quid mark for all components and shipping. Happy with that.

[Saabnut]

Yesterday I had half an hour to spare, for the first time in about 2 years I decided to have a look at what junk was on Gumtree locally. Straight away I was taken by a motor 6 miles away, full description being "this vehicle is a runner but no MOT, alloy wheels and canopy in good condition" with an asking price of half a bag. Phoned, and 45 minutes later I am viewing, and agreeing to buy. The seller informed the vehicle had been replaced and she could not be bothered retesting it and just wanted rid, despite her neighbour being 100m away and an MOT station who had tested it for the last 5 years. She also told me I had been the first to call, and she had had another 37 calls!

 

Deposit paid and I collected last night, paid the balance and the seller said she had received a further 20 calls, some were abusive when told it was sold (wtf?) and one asked how much I had paid as they would pay more! It drove home fine, and I went over it checking lights, wipers etc. There was a missing reflector on the rear, so I cut down a reflector from a broken P6 Rover rear lens from my scrap pile, and applied it with duct tape.

 

This morning, to get a true view of its condition, I took it for an MOT to get a "to do" list. Advisories were issued for a boarded up rear door window, a minor oil leak and corroded fuel lines. Apart from that it passed, so well chuffed. I have been and bought copper pipe to replace the fuel lines, and oil/air/fuel filters ready to give it a service.

 

And what does 500 quid get you? This:

[Zelandeth]

Nice bargain... assuming the body isn't holding the chassis together.

[Saabnut]

Never been welded and none needed. Usual surface rust but nothing a pressure wash and Waxoyl wont fix!

[Inspector Morose]

Holy shit! If that’s what £500 gets you up there, I’m moving. (Well, admittedly you could say I’m already moving there, one car at a time)

[Guest Hooli]

Billy bargain!

[dome]

Shit, well done! I've never owned a pickup so it's a box that needs ticked.

Aren't these bad for omghgf? I'm sure I've seen broken ones on my travels through the land of broken cars for sale

[Jim Bell]

500£?!

 

Did I read that right?!!!

 

Well done indeed man.

 

05, 24 and 31 please.

[Saabnut]

Yes, this one turned out to be one of those that you normally hear about after and think "shit, I would have had that". This is my second L200, the last one was a 1997 andthat got exported to Zimbabwe after I had bodged got it through an MOT after 3 years hard work. I kept the number on retention and think I will put it on this one (P24 OAK)

 

Mechanically they are pretty robust (rot is a different matter) but the secret to avoiding HGF is to keep the header tank topped up. These suck and blow water into the header tank in normal warm/cool cycles, but if the header tank level drops it can suck in air and cause problems. Topped mine up today!

[Saabnut]

For many years I have adopted an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach to car maintenance, but after the MOT advisory for rusty fuel pipes on the Mitsubishi I decided to have a poke and see how bad they were. The front half of the pipes were fine, but the rear half looked very crusty and a quick scrape resulted in a leak from the return line. Damn. So yesterday I decide to fix it (see grumpy thread) resulting in solid lines but no running. It is many years since I have worked on a diesel system so had my friend call in by last night to see what I was doing wrong.

Good news, I was doing nothing wrong! Bad news, the supply pipe had split just where it comes out of the tank. The rest of the evening was spent draining the fuel tank (good job I filled it after the MOT then) snapping off rusty mounting bolts etc. Just before midnight the tank was on the floor and both stacker pipes had snapped off the very, very rusty plate on the tank. Ebay to the rescue and new parts ordered, today is going to be wire brush and paint day to protect the tank before it goes back in.

 

Should have left the pipes alone, but it is obvious they would not have lasted long.

[Jim Bell]

Best to do it at your leisure rather than in an emergency panic I guess. Looking on the bright side and all that.

[Saabnut]

Was distracted by other shitely goings on but today I wire brushed the tank, treated it with Jenolite, primered it and painted it. Not the best job but should help to protect it for a couple of years and as no one will ever see it again it will do. First bits ordered (M5 nuts and 8mm fuel pipe) arrived with the postie just after lunch, and the final parts required (the stacker pipes and plate) arrived around 5pm. Tomorrow I have lots to do, but hopefully will get the stacker pipes swapped and at least start replacing the fuel tank.

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

That is bargains chodding..... I'm curse-word far off to see your place and investigate chad on a nuclear scale but watch from afar.

 

Really is best you got the thing to leak and fixed instead of having it drop you in the shit somewhere abandoned to nature with a trailer on the hook.... My Pajero MK1 sender did the same thing with the fuel lines.... although I noticed a petrol smell - I didn't stop ad check...... got home and inspected while getting then new munchkin out of the back..... fuel pissing out everywhere.... how it didn't hit the exhaust and blow us up I have no clue. Lesson learnt and everything checked immediately from then on in....... 

 

What's the plans for it? Sell on or replace Holden of much greatness?

[Saabnut]

This one is going to be a keeper. I really like the Holden but 9mpg limits its use to local work, think I will keep it as a toy unless someone decies they need it in their life. The Mitsubishi is basically going to replace the P38 as the long distance tow car. The P38 will be appearing with a forsull tag on a certain beige forum very soon.

[Saabnut]

A busy day yesterday, spent the morning stripping and cleaning then regreasing and re-assembling the wheel bearings on my medium car transporter trailer (the one of many blowouts) ready for a trip from Aberdeen to Prescott hill next weekend for the Saab National with the Sonett. That completed without drama, it was back to the L200 where the old stacker pipes were removed, new ones fitted and new rubber connecting pipes fitted. Two snapped bolts that hold the tank in were drilled out and the tank replaced. Everything connected up and the replacement copper fuel lines were fitted, and as the system was drained a new fuel filter fitted, although the one removed looked pretty recent. Bled it through and it is up and running again. No photos as a pretty non photogenic sort of job.

 

Toay it is hissing it down, so looks like I shall spend some time tidying up the workshop as it currently looks like it has been used as a practice site for Hiroshima.

[beko1987]

 

Toay it is hissing it down, so looks like I shall spend some time tidying up the workshop as it currently looks like it has been used as a practice site for Hiroshima.

It looked like that when we arrived for shitefest!

[Saabnut]

I have been a bit remiss and not updated this for a while, so here we go. First the Sonett, did a day at Prescott and went up the hill 7 times without issue, however after the last run it started pouring petrol from the overflow pipe, but as it was the end of the day, decided to leave it until later. After its holiday at BeEPs place and mine in France, once home I eventually looked at it. Could find nothing wrong and it started and ran well. Guessing it had just got too warm (it was a hot day at Prescott) and it was running well, I took it for a test run. After 3 miles I stopped in the village and checked for fuel, all good, so carried on. Got to the dual carriageway and put my foot down, as I changed from 3rd to top, it backfired and coasted to a halt. A quick check showed the bolt that holds the distributor clamp to the block had made a bid for freedom, resulting in a free floating distributor. A phone call later and it was towed home in disgrace. FFS, this car is really testing my patience.

 

So, on to the new addition in the fleet, the L200 Warrior.  Since I bought it, it has been 2wd only, despite fitting a new set of tyres! When in France I noticed a pipe to the rear diff hanging loose, so re-attached that but it madeno difference. The flashing green light on the dash is the most common fault according to google, and it usually indicates a vacuum leak on the 4wd system, or a faulty solenoid on the front diff.  As the rear diff lock did not work either, coupled with the detached pipe found, made me suspect a vacuum leak somewhere. Today I went down to a friends in Perth who has a 5 tonne 2 post lift to investigate.

 

A check of the pipes showed no damage and a vacuum present at the diff, so that seemed to rule that out. We removed the actuator switch an cleaned it and the contacts up. Refitting it got rid of the constant flashing green light, but when 4wd was selected, brought it back and still only 4wd. The solenoid seemed to be free so we were running out of ideas. All the front vacuum pipes appeared to be new, so it was starting to look like the reason the previous owner replaced it was troublesome 4wd selection. Whilst looking around, I was surprised to see that all the brake pipes were the original pipes. I was particularly surprised as the MOT history had shown repeated failures for rusty brake pipes over the last 3 or 4 years! I mentioned this to my friend, who then tried something stupid, ie swapping the two vacuum hoses on the front diff over. Bingo, fully functioning 4wd and rear diff lock.

 

Now, call me a cynical old git, but whilst it could have been a genuine mistake, coupled with the non replaced replaced brake pipe, I am thinking the MOT guy was trying to pull a fast one.

[Saabnut]

Today was a bit of a sad day as one of my longest residing finest automobiles projects in waiting departed for pastures new. Bought 20 years ago, it has sat in 2 different barns waiting its turn. After 20 years, I had to be realistic and accept it was not going to happen so I put it on the market. It has sold and gone to the best of homes so I am happy with that, although I realise I will never get the chance to own another low mileage Saab 99 Turbo 3 door. I used my usual carrier that I use when I don't have time or inclination to do it myself. Cheap, reliable and willing to take non runners, I am happy to pass on his details to anyone who needs things moving.

 

I have also decided that getting older has not helped my liking for L200 pick up trucks. I last had one about 10 years ago and got rid because of the bouncy ride and crap seating position for long journeys. The new to me L200 suffers the same problems, despite being a generation or two younger. It is also just as gutless when towing heavy trailers. Earlier in the week, a friend asked me to drive a Discovery back to my place for him to collect later. Driving it home made me realise how much I liked my last one (foolishly sold to buy a Disco 3 - the worst car I have ever owned) so a deal was done and my friend will not be collecting it!

 

I have been over most of it with just a final check on a few bits underneath to be done tomorrow, and it can go for MOT, after which the L200 will go on the market.

[drum]

Note of interest submitted on the L200 please Nick.

[Guest Hooli]

Last proper Discos that shape. If it's not got two live axles it's not a LR.