Project Dean's French follies.

[dean36014]

Also have bought off eBay the correct coloured wing for the c2. I'm not expecting much for 25 quid delivered but it will hopefully look better than the black wing on it.

[Heidel_Kakao]

Good to see the XM getting some love Got to be up there for one of the most awkward alternator changes I think.

[dean36014]

I thought at one point I'd have to remove the engine mount, then decided to remove the ecu box and managed to wiggle it out thankfully.

[DSdriver]

Green XM heater blowers work on max temp only (or did when I had it)

[beko1987]

Blower motor resistor?

[dean36014]

Heater blowers don't work full stop at the moment, i'm going to do the fuse 2 mod and see if i can at least get a single speed.

[dean36014]

So today I put a maxi fuse in to bypass the under bonnet fusebox to try and spark some life into the heater fan. No such joy unfortunately so stripped out the dashboard under the glovebox and removed the fan assembly. Motor was seized solid, managed to get it moving again with some lubricant but motor is dead when connected up to a battery direct. Going to see if i get the motor out and clean up the bushes, and i've ordered a new speed controller off Ebay for £12. With a bit of luck it will live again. Also discovered if you leave it parked on high suspension for a few days it leaks lhm from the lhm feed pipe to the offside strut mount. Its where the steel pipe is swaged into the rubber pipe which runs round the engine bay. I'll just not have to leave it on high overnight again, as its fine at normal height. 

[dean36014]

Spot the difference.

Old, rusty and knackered

New bargain eBay find.

All fitted up and heater blowers all fixed and working on every speed.

Another job ticked off the list

 

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[dean36014]

Well ventured down the ex wife's and stripped the leaky doseur valve out the other Xm. It was definitely leaking!

Going to strip it and put new seals in and hopefully that will sort the leak out. At least the bulkhead got a quick, free, lhm rust proofing.

While I was there I stripped the heater motor out of this one too as it only worked on full pelt. A new module was only 12 quid delivered. Dismantled fan, screw on new module and refit. Fan now works on all speeds. A bonus for the new owner when I put it up for sale this month.

Old and new

 

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[dean36014]

Well I finally got round to fitting the doseur valve back to the Xm after replacing the end cap on it. Left the engine running for 30 minutes with the brake pedal wedged down and it appears to be leak free. Need to tax it and road test it a little then put it up for sale.

 

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[Marm Toastsmith]

Fixed! Well done. Nice car. Good luck with the MOT, I'll surely be tempted when it's for sale...

[dean36014]

It's still mot'ed until April sometime. Just want shot so will sell as is.

[Marm Toastsmith]

It's still mot'ed until April sometime. Just want shot so will sell as is.

 

Ah, sorry, I'm getting confused!

 

An XM for sale! Uh oh...

[dean36014]

Ah, sorry, I'm getting confused!

 

An XM for sale! Uh oh...

Mr 6 cylinder has first dibs, but if not its up for £450 as is. Known faults are, spare wheel carrier knackered and rusted away, wheel is in boot, carrier is available if anyone wants to repair it. Sunroof glass is poorly aligned, lifted up on one side, switch needs a clean too as it can be temperamental at times. Bad case of laquer peel to the roof, spoiler, wing mirrors. Crack in front bumper on nearside.The only lcd display it has has bled plus the outside temperature needs a new sensor fitting in the wing mirror(supplied) Gear indicator on dashboard doesn't work. Tyre fitter crease to nearside sill.

Good points, mot until April 22nd, tyre advisories have been sorted as I fitted volvo alloys with good tread. Oil leak was as the engine was a little dirty underneath. New exhaust and cat fitted before last mot. Drives great, 2 litre 16v automatic, towbar fitted by previous owner to tow a trailer tent. Interior is nice clean and tidy. Heater fan just fixed so all speeds work. All brakes look recently replaced before I purchased it. Some history showing cambelt replaced twice, last time about 20k ago I think from memory. Waxed underneath and looks nice and solid. It is a good starter xm, being a base model there are less bits to go wrong!

[beko1987]

My xm had a non working gear indicator. Was the bulb, if I shine a torch/direct sunlight at it I could see what it was saying.

 

Was fairly easy to work out if it was in neutral reverse or drive, and I didn't fancy having the dash apart so I left it alone!

[dean36014]

I can't see at all so I'm assuming its knackered, and definitely best left alone! 

[dean36014]

Well as you've all probably seen my Xm hatchback is now in the hands of Mr 6 cylinder. So I'm back down to just the four cars. The daily C2, shonky the bx for longer trips, and two projects, Xm estate and the bx St Tropez. I'm fairly confident I should be able to cope with maintaining these as my health gets worse.

Anyway the Xm now has all the dashboard refitted. It now needs the cambelt fitting, a service and a good check over to see any faults that will need sorting out before a MOT. It also appears to have a leak of something unknown as yet underneath the engine. I need to get it up on axle stands next week and start having a look underneath. Although I was surprised to see a intact spare wheel carrier underneath, I'll make sure that gets a good coat of paint.

Today's news is the C2 now has the correct coloured front wing, looks much better. Just wish I found the drivers seat more comfortable.

 

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[DSdriver]

I think there is a receipt for the cam belt being done... about 15 years ago

[dean36014]

One reason why I want to change it. Just need to get a waterpump but I'll get it off first to make sure I find the correct one. Need to put some cardboard under the engine bay and work out if the stain on the concrete is an old one or wether the xm is depositing vital fluids from somewhere.

[dean36014]

Right seeing as it's a nice day and the first time in ages I've felt slightly human it's time to do a messy job on the Xm estate. Dragged the large and extremely heavy trolley jack out the shed and got the front end up in the air and supported on stands. Tried my new Ryobi cordless impact gun out and it make short work of removing the wheel bolts. Wheels off and buoyed on that successful found a 22mm impact socket and tried the bottom pulley ready for when I change the cambelt. Initially I thought it wouldn't budge it, then after about ten seconds of clacking away it shifted. Well pleased with that.

Now I've had a sheet of cardboard underneath the engine bay for a few days as it's dripping vital fluids. With easy access I could see a slight weep from the sump bolt and lots of lhm everywhere. Tracing the lhm ever upwards and I found where a pipe has had a joiner put it and it was positively pissing out, so mystery leak number one found and hopefully will be an easy fix.

Out with the contraband bottle of tfr and the engine bay, bottom of engine, suspension and inner wings got a good soaking. I shall have to acquire another spray bottle full from somewhere now. Let it soak a while and out with the pressure washer.

A nice clean engine bay.

A check round the brakes and suspension showed discs and pads look recent and in good nick, but new flexi hoses are needed as they are showing signs of perishing. Nothing obviously amiss with the suspension, no split bushes and ball joints all seem ok and all gaiters too.

Next, a search for the dreaded rust. Nearside seems all good, inner wings good and sills solid but the flange is creased due to bloody tyre fitters and their trolley jacks. Hopefully that will straighten out with a hammer and dolly.

Onto the offside and the usual rust was found in the bottom of the inner wing where a small box section goes across the front of the floor pan. Need to get the carpet out and check inside but should be reasonable easy to weld although a lot of it will involve welding upside down which I hate.

Front of sill seems solid but it's just starting to feel crunchy around the rear jacking point so that's going to need cutting out and repairing too.

So that's end of play for today as everywhere is soaking wet and needs to dry out. I'll get that welding done and the front end all waxoiled up. If that's all the welding needed I'll be surprised but it's a damn good start. So need to find some brake hoses, a new battery box as it's broken, or repair it, and change cambelt. After putting everything away my back stated end of play for the day anyway.

Tomorrow I'm off to collect the C4 from Guildford, and tonight I'm collecting some original alloy wheels for it .

 

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[beko1987]

Awesome! Nice luck with the easy lhm leak too!

 

This time...

[dean36014]

Apparently it's the return from the accumulator block so low pressure, makes things much easier

[spartacus]

That looks like a good days work. Good luck on the collection tomorrow, not only from the selfish point of view that the C2 sale depends on it!

I'm looking forward to casting my eye over this done collection of yours soon.

[dean36014]

Collection is much reduced now unfortunately. But 4 cars is enough for anybody really.

[dean36014]

Put the box back on the road on Friday, and he promptly developed a problem. The first of the water temperature warning lamps came on, stayed on for a few minutes then would turn off. I deduced that the thermostat was sticking after laying the car up over winter. So out with the socket set and whip the thermostat housing off for an inspection.

Yep that went well.

Blow torch and molegrips got one broken bolt out but the top two refuse to move. Welded nuts on to the remaining bolt and they just snapped off flush to the housing. So I've drilled them out but then couldn't find my m8 fine pitch tap anywhere. So new tap and replacement bolts ordered off eBay and hopefully he'll be back on the road soon.

The new C4 is plodding around nicely, albeit slowly due to the seized turbo. I've made the decision to put a new turbo cartridge in and replace all the pipework over Easter when I don't need it. I've managed to fit a remote locking kit so I don't need to keep unlocking it from the passenger door. Also spotted a leather steering wheel on eBay for a ridiculously cheap price so that's awaiting fitting at the weekend. Due to the c4's party trick of the centre of the wheel staying stationary it's a little more involved than it would be normally swapping a wheel.

Rather posh wheel for £14 delivered.

I have to say that now it's all cleaned up the inside is a nice place to be. I'm loving the dashboard, the centre binacle reminds me of the shape of a CX dashboard. Even with a busted turbo and stuck in limp mode it's doing nearly 50mpg on my commute to work.

 

 

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[dean36014]

Boring updates.

Got a couple of the tyres swapped onto the new xm alloys. I think they look so much better than the steel wheels and hub caps. Waiting for the better weather so I can start on the welding.

I made a little covered area outside the back door of my house over Xmas. It means you can if desired use the outside looking and not get soaked. It also makes a handy little storage area protected from the weather. I've needed a work bench for ages. So I made one using scrap wood I've found left in my truck after the load has been taken out. The total cost was 11 quid on shiny new 4 inch screws. It was the most basic of woodwork with no fancy joints but it's very solid.....and heavy!

The C4 keeps plodding along slowly. I'm going to order the turbo cartridge and all new pipework for it shortly making use of PayPal interest free credit for four months.

Hopefully shonky the bx will be back on the road soon once it stops raining and blowing a hoolie. I now have the correct m7 tap to sort the threads out on the thermostat housing. Looking forward to having him roadworthy again.

 

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[dean36014]

I'm now a Mercedes owner again, a 1996 c180 with lpg. Was nice wafting home in an automatic again. Stopped on the way home and filled it up with lpg, 57p a litre! Swapped it onto gas and its a little bit lumpy at idle but other than that it worked fine. I'm guessing the worn timing chain isn't helping matters there as it will affect the timing. It has gone straight into the tent ready to start replacing the chain. Had a quick nosy under the bonnet and noticed the rad is weeping so i'll replace that too as they are only 60 quid. The rubber pipes from the lpg solenoids to the injectors are well perished too so I'll do them too whilst its in bits and give it a full service. The brakes seem to have a bit more travel than i'd like, wonder if that is because the ABS light is on? Might as well replace the brake fluid whilst it's up in the air. Going to check all the ABS sensors and clean up the rings and see if that helps. Other than that it's pretty good. I've already bought a replacement rear bumper as its damaged but it will need painting. I think with some hot air gun action I'll be able to save the front bumper as its got a split under the grill area and get the split to join up and fibreglass the rear up. Other than that it will make a tidy example with a bit of love. The fact it's lpg will probably mean it will be a keeper, the seats really suit my dodgy back.

[dean36014]

Been playing with the merc today and made a pleasant discovery. I decided to investigate the timing chain noise properly now i wasn't being watched by the vendor. Stuck a screwdriver into the auxiliary belt tensioner and the noise instantly vanished. The bush in the end of the shock absorber had disintegrated being it was metal on metal hence the rattling noise. One new tensioner purchased for £20 instead of having to dismantle the engine to replace the chain, well chuffed. A good shufty around increased the parts list too, two tyres(known about), two rear brake flexi hoses, two front shocks, one bottom ball joint and a radiator. As the brake pads were all getting low I decided to order them too, brake discs were all fine thankfully. Managed to score a a pair of bilstein shocks for £50 which was a real bargain. Had a good luck underneath and it's pretty much rust free. A little surface rust around the rear sunbframe mounts which will clean up nicely and the front spring perches are all rust free. It's even sat on four axle stands on the sill jacking points with no crunchy noises. Looks like the C4 will be heading out the door next month.

[dean36014]

Fitted the gas strut thingy to the Merc today, started engine up and now rattle free

Comparing the new and old struts it's just the bush in the end that's given up, the actual strut works fine.

I've ordered new 6mm LPG hose to replace the pipes from the log solenoids to the injectors. Didn't much fancy driving it on lpg when the pipes are this perished.

Picked up a decent rear bumper today for £20, shame it's the wrong colour but I'll get it painted later in the year. When I was removing the old, damaged one I was amused to find a plastic milk bottle wedged in there as a base for all the filler ladled on top of it.

Now waiting on all the parts I've ordered to arrive so I can fit them and get it on the road in April.

 

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[dean36014]

Look at that classy car in the pub carpark. Yes the white one!

 

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