Hedgehog Motors - The ̶L̶e̶x̶ Rex Files

[davehedgehog31]

The stress-o-meter had been off the scale of late, between moving house and life in general. Having moved house however and having access to a drive I thought I should probably buy something else to sit on it. I acquired this Kangoo from the @chancerfire sale. 

As mentioned in his ad, it's really clean and straight for a 14 year old van. 

I knew it absolutely needed rear wheel bearings and a handbrake at a minimum, I also decided to stick four tyres on it. Rather than mess about with the rear brakes I just bought the whole kit and caboodle, shoes, fitting kit and adjusters. @chancerhad already put the handbrake cables on recently and they were in good order. 

Bearings were manually brayed out with a big fuck off hammer and a it from a brake caliper tool. Used the outer race from the first bearing to beat the second out. I had a right war with a circlip, but did get it out eventually. Freezing the bearings for a day previous got them in with some light percussive persuasion. Gave the drums a good clean up and they were in decent enough nick so were reused. 

Built up the back brakes, which was pleasingly easy. I don't have specific tools for drums, easiest way I found with these was to build them up minus the bottom spring, put one shoe against the pivot point and pull the other towards you over the front. Install spring under no tension and lever the shoe back in behind the pivot point with a big screwdriver. 

Adjusting the threaded adjuster under the van gave us full application of the handbrake after about six clicks. 

It got four Michelin tyres, they worked out about £50 a corner fitted, which was very good value I thought. 

Without having even bothered to look at the front end, I put it in for an optimistic MOT. 

It looks a bit more drastic than it actually was. Came down to front brakes (which I'd actually already bought), pair of ball joints, pair of ARB links and a rack gaiter. 

I ordered supplies. I rather stupidly ordered full suspension arms when the ball joints are just held in with two bolts. On reflection though, doing the full arms probably wasn't much, if any more work while I was in there anyway. Went for Lemforder arms as they've always struck me as decent quality in the past and it wasn't a job I fancied doing twice. 

Work begins. I recently bought this new SGS 3 tonne jack, it was £71 and has been a great buy for the money. Lifts things high into the air and feels much more stable than my old dinky jack. Only issue is the weight for moving it about, but worth the hassle in my opinion. 

What ensued was a bit of a battle to be honest, it was a job that seemed to require a real mixture of tools. I ended up with most of the contents of my sockets and spanner sets littering the ground. There was nothing particularly tight, just found angles and access a bit of a trial. The ARB links are an odd design and took a bit of fucking about. Got there in the end though. Passenger side built up;

I don't have any photos of the other side as it was a bit of a race to try and get most done in daylight. Brakes ended up being assembled in the dark and rain ahead of an 8:30am retest on Wednesday. 

Success! It got a wheel alignment too just to finish it off.

Think after all the work I've got a really well sorted and economical van. I don't have much need for it, but may have plans to change that.

[cort16]

4 minutes ago, davehedgehog31 said:

The stress-o-meter had been off the scale of late, between moving house and life in general. Having moved house however and having access to a drive I thought I should probably buy something else to sit on it. I acquired this Kangoo from the @chancerfire sale. 

As mentioned in his ad, it's really clean and straight for a 14 year old van. 

I knew it absolutely needed rear wheel bearings and a handbrake at a minimum, I also decided to stick four tyres on it. Rather than mess about with the rear brakes I just bought the whole kit and caboodle, shoes, fitting kit and adjusters. @chancerhad already put the handbrake cables on recently and they were in good order. 

Bearings were manually brayed out with a big fuck off hammer and a it from a brake caliper tool. Used the outer race from the first bearing to beat the second out. I had a right war with a circlip, but did get it out eventually. Freezing the bearings for a day previous got them in with some light percussive persuasion. Gave the drums a good clean up and they were in decent enough nick so were reused. 

Built up the back brakes, which was pleasingly easy. I don't have specific tools for drums, easiest way I found with these was to build them up minus the bottom spring, put one shoe against the pivot point and pull the other towards you over the front. Install spring under no tension and lever the shoe back in behind the pivot point with a big screwdriver. 

Adjusting the threaded adjuster under the van gave us full application of the handbrake after about six clicks. 

It got four Michelin tyres, they worked out about £50 a corner fitted, which was very good value I thought. 

Without having even bothered to look at the front end, I put it in for an optimistic MOT. 

It looks a bit more drastic than it actually was. Came down to front brakes (which I'd actually already bought), pair of ball joints, pair of ARB links and a rack gaiter. 

I ordered supplies. I rather stupidly ordered full suspension arms when the ball joints are just held in with two bolts. On reflection though, doing the full arms probably wasn't much, if any more work while I was in there anyway. Went for Lemforder arms as they've always struck me as decent quality in the past and it wasn't a job I fancied doing twice. 

Work begins. I recently bought this new SGS 3 tonne jack, it was £71 and has been a great buy for the money. Lifts things high into the air and feels much more stable than my old dinky jack. Only issue is the weight for moving it about, but worth the hassle in my opinion. 

What ensued was a bit of a battle to be honest, it was a job that seemed to require a real mixture of tools. I ended up with most of the contents of my sockets and spanner sets littering the ground. There was nothing particularly tight, just found angles and access a bit of a trial. The ARB links are an odd design and took a bit of fucking about. Got there in the end though. Passenger side built up;

I don't have any photos of the other side as it was a bit of a race to try and get most done in daylight. Brakes ended up being assembled in the dark and rain ahead of an 8:30am retest on Wednesday. 

Success! It got a wheel alignment too just to finish it off.

Think after all the work I've got a really well sorted and economical van. I don't have much need for it, but may have plans to change that.

Nice one, you finally made you're move to Drongan then? 😄 

[loserone]

That looks proper stonks that Spike.

[Jim Bell]

All the greats have a van. 

Van Morrison. 

Van Damme. 

Van Diesel. 

Van Gough. 

You can do it too, with Kangoo. 

[chancer]

Good to see the van finally MOT'd. Didnt realise it needed balljoints and other bits for test or I would have said. That should be it good for another few years now

[davehedgehog31]

16 minutes ago, chancer said:

Good to see the van finally MOT'd. Didnt realise it needed balljoints and other bits for test or I would have said. That should be it good for another few years now

Don't be daft man, par for the course with a 14 year old van, there were advisories for a few of the bits anyway so half expected. Was nothing that could really be picked up driving it. 

[davehedgehog31]

On board the Galaxy. SB on the M74 with @jaypee

 

ETA circa 40 mins. 

[loserone]

Happy Fuji heavy industries!

[hairnet]

19 minutes ago, davehedgehog31 said:

On board the Galaxy. SB on the M74 with @jaypee

 

ETA circa 40 mins. 

mak hum by snax

[davehedgehog31]

And collected. That is hopefully all. 

[loserone]

Ooh, is that £600 a year to tax? Or just old enough?

[Datsuncog]

😬

Best of luck!!

[Ghosty]

Tebay?

 

[davehedgehog31]

It is indeed in the hideous tax bracket and it was indeed Tebay. 

Spied the Legacy on Autotrader and comms were exchanged. @jaypee and I went down a week past Sunday. It was about 5 minutes from Tebay services at a lovely big rural house. The run home was uneventful and we enjoyed a chippy in a very rainy and dark Moffat. Definitely felt like winter was setting in, so was the ideal time to buy a car like this.

The chap selling it had a good collection, including an E39 M5. The Subaru had been his wife and his car for the last 12 years and had been a well maintained workhorse. It was competitive money, with a years MOT and a spare set of winter steel wheels with Nexen M+S tyres. There's a fair bit of documentation with it, although he said he had done mostly his own maintenance at his previous address where he had a lift etc. 

It's an Outback with the 3.0 Flat 6. Nice spec with full electric leather, working AC, Cruise etc and a few nice extras like a detachable tow bar and genuine Subaru rubber mats, boot liner and dug guard. As has been mentioned it's in the hideous tax bracket, although for some reason the insurance was extremely cheap, like less than the diesel Rover 45. 

Plan for this one is to run it over winter (and possibly next summer given working AC) and spend NOTHING on it, something I'm not very good at.There's a rattle from the front which is probably a drop link, both were advisories and it's taking all of my willpower to not buy parts. I can tolerate plenty shonkiness, but suspension noises make my teeth itch. 

I know of these things propensity for rust. I poked my head under and I couldn't prod holes in anything, but the sill covers will be staying where they are. 

It's a weird car to drive. With the 4WD and plenty power it can cover ground quickly. The ride is very, very firm for what it is, but that is combined with pretty light steering, so it's not really a drivers car. Still, it always feels very well planted and surefooted. Hoping for some fairly inhospitable weather this winter to test it. 
 

[dome]

4 minutes ago, davehedgehog31 said:

 The Subaru had been his wife and his car 

Please say you fitted a seat cover before you drove it home 🤢

[davehedgehog31]

4 minutes ago, dome said:

Please say you fitted a seat cover before you drove it home 🤢

🤣 Good spot,  just going to leave that there.

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, davehedgehog31 said:

There's a rattle from the front which is probably a drop link, both were advisories and it's taking all of my willpower to not buy parts. I can tolerate plenty shonkiness, but suspension noises make my teeth itch. 

I dunno what droplinks are made of these days, but the ones fitted to mine were already completely ruined only about a year after replacement.

It was, however, a fairly cheap and easy* issue to remedy.

*once I stopped trying to remove the rusted old ones 'properly' and broke out the angle grinder.

 

I get what you mean about it not being so much of a drivers' car - the Forester was, to my mind, rather more of an enjoyable steer than the Outback. 

But those heated leather seats were absolutely glorious last winter. My arse hasn't been nearly as happy since.

[Split_Pin]

I can confirm that DVLA dons it's biggest Dr Martens to deliver its £52 boot in the baws to me each month.

Nice motor though!

[Blake's Den]

I've said it a few times now - these are very under rated cars. My old Outback was easily the best car that I have ever had, it did everything and didn't grumble about it either. Rust killed it in the end

[davehedgehog31]

I've tended to post photo heavy updates in the News 24 thread occasionally. 

Since I last updated here it's been all change. Out; 

Subaru Outback
Rover 45
Lexus LS400

In and out; 

Ford StreetKa

In;

Fabia Estate
Lexus GS450H

No change;

Renault Kangoo

Generally speaking I've been getting a lot more done car wise, life continues to be very busy and I don't get a great deal of tinkering time, but I've upgraded my facilities and have a large, lit and dry carport which has made a big difference in productivity in the limited time I do get. It's nice being able to get on with stuff in any weather and means I can leave stuff out overnight etc. 

Three cars is definitely my optimum fleet size and I'm doing well at keeping on top of what I have, rather than constantly acquiring new stuff.

Got a bit of a backlog of updates to get through, so a few photo heavy posts to come over the next day or two. There's been a tonne of work in the interim lost to the News 24 thread, but will try and keep here updated instead in future.

[davehedgehog31]

In addition to the above fleet, Miss Hedgehog has a 2010 Volvo C30 D5. I am not a fan of this fine vehicle. 

To recap, it was making a hideous noise from the auxiliary belt region. It has a setup with two aux belts. One is driven from the crank pulley and drives the AC pump, another belt is then driven off the AC pump and turns the alternator. So two belts, two tensioners. Upon inspection the lower belt was flapping about like mad in typical bad tensioner style, replaced both tensioners and both belts and it was still the same. 

In the process of doing so, one of the Gates tensioners sheared off the part of the casting that you put the Torx T50 bit in to take the tension off and install the belt. A prolonged argument and ebay case followed with Car Parts in Motion before they'd actually refund it, another seller for the cunts list. 

Some googling turned up a few posts of people experiencing similar symptoms due to a bad alternator clutch. It has some kind of smart charging alternator which can vary the demand from the alternator to improve fuel economy fractionally. A good idea at the time perhaps, less so at 13/14 years old. 

I bought a new used alternator from eBay with a good clutch and set about replacing it. Access was great*;

Eventually I managed to extract the thing, it was like a jumbo jet out a pigeons arse. Required removing the thermostat housing, various air hoses and moving the front bumper and radiator over a bit to get it out. A fucking PITA. 

By this point, working methodically and keeping things tidy had gone out of the window.

My coolant from Amazon arrived in tip top condition. Fortunately I got a full refund for it and it had only shed about half a litre so I still had plenty. 

After getting it back together and finally managing to get the thermostat housing sealed up it was taken an inaugural run. Noise is gone, thank fuck. 

I don't like it very much. They're such a sharp design and have aged very well, but the driving experience just doesn't tally up. The steering is lifeless, the gearbox is a bit crap (auto) and it's all just a bit vague. It can make decent progress, but definitely isn't a drivers car. 

Various other things annoy me, the column stalks are horrible, the interior is drab in spite of red carpets and it just feels like a less practical MK2 Focus. The engine has been shoehorned in, it's merely ok on fuel and isn't really that fast. I can't help feeling the 2.0 Peugeot diesel in 136bhp tune would be a better option all round if it had came attached to a decent autobox. 

Still, the seats are comfy and it has cruise. 

 

[sdkrc]

More Fabia updates or I'll unsubscribe 

[davehedgehog31]

1 hour ago, sdkrc said:

More Fabia updates or I'll unsubscribe 

Very well. 

Fabia has been doing as Fabia does, uneventful miles. The two front tyres were a bit close to the bone. I treated it to four new Goodyear Vector All Seasons jobbies and retained the rear two as spares. Change out of £290 and they came out to my house to fit them. 

Put it in for an alignment, a bit silly as I knew there was a recently appeared clonk from the front end. They informed me my bottom ball joint on the passenger side was away and refunded my appointment. Fair play to Hellfrauds Irvine. 

When it comes to everyday "appliance" type cars there is a lot to be said for going for the most common car/platform possible. Parts are easily available and cost washers, there's a wealth of knowledge online and if you do decide to farm anything off to a garage they don't look at you like you landed from the moon. I can think of a lot more interesting, obscure, engaging or comfortable things to run, but as AN CAR the Fabia fits the bill perfectly. 

Case in point, a decent brand ball joint was £8 and a pair of Febi drop links £14. 

The patient;

This was a real piece of piss. Ball joint is just bolted into the wishbone. Two of the bolts sheared off, but that was no issue. Had the old one off and new one on in about half an hour including jacking the car up. Other side looked healthy so left well alone. One drop link suspect so just chucked both on. One bolt required use of angle grinder but no bother. 

Knock be gone and just needs the alignment done now for a full bill of health. It will also be getting the Lanolin rust proofing treatment before winter, should be a pretty formidable WBOD between that and it's skinny all season tyres. Soon to click over 100k miles and a ton of life in it yet.

[davehedgehog31]

I had put my name down for Shitefest 23 in Wales at some stage in the distant past and found it rapidly approaching. The weather forecast looked absolutely fucking dismal and I didn't fancy two nights in my mouldy Tesco value tent. I'm a man with a Kangoo with a recent test and new timing belt, so a plan was hatched. 

This would likely only be used once this year, so a real budget build. All materials cost roughly £50 so there are inevitable compromises. I am useless at this kind of thing and was limited to a jigsaw and drill driver as far as woodworking tools go.

On the Monday of Shitefest week I headed to the Peoples Republic of Falkirk to pick up a hacked up foam sofabed mattress which @juularkindly donated to the cause. Calling at B&Q en route for a big sheet of ply. They'll cut it up in the shop for you which was handy, the 2.4 long sheet would never have went in the van otherwise.

I had a bit of an idea for a single bed setup. The load bay was a bit too short, so knew I'd require some kind of extension. Started off by building a base from two bits of ply;

Measured and cut a piece for the upper bit too. Clamped both together and drilled holes through both pieces to make sure the upright legs lined up. 

Measured up and cut a load of uprights. The timber from the frame came from a kids swing... I ordered one about 18 months back and they sent (most of) two and never asked for it back, spoils of war and all that. Attached to the base. 

Put the top on and screwed down to complete the sandwich. Added some additional wood for bracing. If doing a second iteration I'd plan this better. 

 

Slung that lot in the van and knocked up a removable extension piece. This makes it into a 190cm (I think) bed. The insulation on the sides is from an aborted attempt to insulate and ply line it quite some time ago. Should finish that off really.

The foam @juular gave me was in the wrong shapes, so I hacked it up with a bread knife and used some contact adhesive to glue it back together, it's basically a permanent bond. 

Some soft furnishings went in. I attached some old curtains on a bungee cord and put some velcro tape round the outside to keep it against the edges of the van for the purposes of privacy and keeping out the light. A selection of animal cushions were added which I think really tie the decor together. 

You'll see here the party piece. I added a couple of drawer runners and some spare ply to make a little retractable table for cooking etc on, it proved very handy actually, even in the dire weather.

Some plastic boxes that roughly fitted underneath were added and secured using some screw in eyes and bungee cords. 

State of the art leisure battery setup. Two old car batteries of questionable heritage ratchet strapped to an anchor and a 12v crocodile clip socket. I plugged these both into the smart charger before leaving and they managed to keep my 12v cool box cool and charge my phone the full weekend. 

 

Added some insect nets, although the weather would mean these were very much not needed.

The day of Shitefest arrived, I dropped my lad at my parents and met @AnnoyingPentium at Abington, we then proceeded to drive South in some pretty hideous conditions. The Kangoo decided to shed it's NSF inner arch liner near Carlisle, I have no idea why it chose then. Otherwise it was great. The AC is ice cold and it's very comfy, it's short gearing, lack of cruise and boomy interior count against it, but I've had far worse vehicles for distance work. 

I had a really comfy sleep on the Saturday after scuttling somewhere in the region of 12 of my 16 cans. I was grateful to nurse my hangover in the comfort of the Kangoo. The table was used when weather permitted and overall the setup was great. The bed was actually very, very comfy. 

I set off quite sharp with @Supernaut and we made great time up the road with no unexpected interruptions. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip and will try to get away somewhere else on my own for a night or two before the weather turns. 

[davehedgehog31]

If the work on the Fabia was easy, cost effective and quick then the most recent jobs on the Lexus GS450H would be the antidote to that. The weight, complexity and relative value of the fucker makes everything  a bit more nerve wracking for your mildly incompetent driveway mechanic. 

It has a bit of a list to be cracking on with;

• Front grille shutter inop
• Blind spot monitoring inop - Techstream says OSR sensor. 
• Brakes tired all round 
• Clean up, treat any surface rust and protect with lanolin rust proofing stuff. 

I am armed with Techstream which is the Toyota dealer diagnostics software and also have the full workshop manual. Both are probably pretty essential. 

I shunted it onto four jack stands. I knocked up some sill adapters from wood and got it lifted. Pretty nerve wracking, but have it securely in place now. Will be adding some additional safeguards before going underneath. 

It's hard to know where to start, but both bumpers will need to come off for the BSM sensor and grille shutters respectively along with all other plastic body linings to do a proper job of the rust proofing. I've previously used the Lanolin stuff to good effect on the Kangoo and have a compressor and the gun to spray it on and into cavities. The car is ten years old but has only spent two winters up in Scotland, now seems a good time to get ahead of it. I've seen first hand how quickly Japanese stuff can go downhill on the salt here. 

Rear bumper came off I even used masking tape on the panel edges to protect the paint when undoing the clips. This is the type of thing where the workshop manual gives the location of all fixings, I'd definitely have burst something without it. 

The BSM sensors sit at the corners of the rear bumper. The fault code stored indicates an internal malfunction with the sensor, I decided to play parts darts and put on a second hand replacement. I cleared off the code in Techstream and it didn't come back whereas it had previously, but won't know if it's properly fixed until it all goes back together I suppose. 

Next up would be the front end....

[davehedgehog31]

Second item on the list for the GS was the front grille shutter. Has the same gadget as a lot of newfangled motors where it opens and closes shutters over the radiators to alter air flow and warm up or cool down quicker. The slats were sat open, so I could hardly care less but it displays a persistent warning on the dash at all times. 

To get at the actuator motor the car's face needs to come off. Similarly to the rear bumper, this was made much easier with the workshop manual as there's about a million clips which are hard to see. Managed not to burst anything. 

Eventually we're left in Mad Max configuration;

And with one extracted grille shutter mechanism. 

The actuator motor is in the centre of it and is just a little plastic box with two rotating metal tabs and an electric motor inside that turns them. It looks like it has been heat sealed together in some way. I suspect water has got in past the seals of the rotating parts at some stage and soaked the internals. I could probably have opened it up and had a go at fixing it, but given how much of a ball ache it was to get at, I've opted to replace. 

They seem a relatively common issue. There's no third party replacement and the only one for sale on eBay is £270. The dealer is seemingly twice this price, utterly outrageous. I found one on from Japan on a site called Amayama for £117 delivered, although I await to see if I'll be scanted for import taxes and charges. 

I also took the front brakes apart. I had been getting juddering through the pedal under moderate braking and it had been noted on the previous MOT. I'm not convinced however that it's constant but couldn't tell you what conditions it particularly appears in. For a big auto car it's actually not that severe on the brakes as there's quite a strong regen effect and you can shift down through the "virtual" gear rations with the little flappy paddles.

One theory online on judder like this that isn't always repeatable is pad deposits on the discs. FWIW, the pads that are in it produce huge amounts of brake dust. 

Ordinarily I'd just stick a new set of discs and pads in, but given the discs are £600 a pair I'm somewhat* reluctant. There is a lip on them but they're well within thickness spec, so I've asked about having them machined. If I can't get them machined then I think I'll give the surfaces a thorough clean up and put a new set of pads in to see if it improves matters any. 

As documented elsewhere, an alternative is to fit the smaller callipers and smaller (normally priced) discs which came fitted to non F-Sport or Premier models but I've really struggled to find the callipers at a reasonable price second hand. 

Have to say, this is a slow burn, I'm getting half an hour here and there to work on it and it's going to sit in bits for longer than I'd like. 

I think next I'm going to get the back brakes stripped off and then crack on with removing the rest of the plastic undertrays etc, cleaning and then setting to it with the Lanolin stuff. There lies another quandary though.... 

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, davehedgehog31 said:

Second item on the list for the GS was the front grille shutter. Has the same gadget as a lot of newfangled motors where it opens and closes shutters over the radiators to alter air flow and warm up or cool down quicker. The slats were sat open, so I could hardly care less but it displays a persistent warning on the dash at all times. 

To get at the actuator motor the car's face needs to come off. Similarly to the rear bumper, this was made much easier with the workshop manual as there's about a million clips which are hard to see. Managed not to burst anything. 

Eventually we're left in Mad Max configuration;

And with one extracted grille shutter mechanism. 

The actuator motor is in the centre of it and is just a little plastic box with two rotating metal tabs and an electric motor inside that turns them. It looks like it has been heat sealed together in some way. I suspect water has got in past the seals of the rotating parts at some stage and soaked the internals. I could probably have opened it up and had a go at fixing it, but given how much of a ball ache it was to get at, I've opted to replace. 

They seem a relatively common issue. There's no third party replacement and the only one for sale on eBay is £270. The dealer is seemingly twice this price, utterly outrageous. I found one on from Japan on a site called Amayama for £117 delivered, although I await to see if I'll be scanted for import taxes and charges. 

I also took the front brakes apart. I had been getting juddering through the pedal under moderate braking and it had been noted on the previous MOT. I'm not convinced however that it's constant but couldn't tell you what conditions it particularly appears in. For a big auto car it's actually not that severe on the brakes as there's quite a strong regen effect and you can shift down through the "virtual" gear rations with the little flappy paddles.

One theory online on judder like this that isn't always repeatable is pad deposits on the discs. FWIW, the pads that are in it produce huge amounts of brake dust. 

Ordinarily I'd just stick a new set of discs and pads in, but given the discs are £600 a pair I'm somewhat* reluctant. There is a lip on them but they're well within thickness spec, so I've asked about having them machined. If I can't get them machined then I think I'll give the surfaces a thorough clean up and put a new set of pads in to see if it improves matters any. 

As documented elsewhere, an alternative is to fit the smaller callipers and smaller (normally priced) discs which came fitted to non F-Sport or Premier models but I've really struggled to find the callipers at a reasonable price second hand. 

Have to say, this is a slow burn, I'm getting half an hour here and there to work on it and it's going to sit in bits for longer than I'd like. 

I think next I'm going to get the back brakes stripped off and then crack on with removing the rest of the plastic undertrays etc, cleaning and then setting to it with the Lanolin stuff. There lies another quandary though.... 

Toyota parts prices are vicious. @St.Juderecently got shocks for his air suspended Land Cruiser from Australia, and after duty and carriage for 12000 miles still made a vast saving.

[St.Jude]

9 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Toyota parts prices are vicious. @St.Juderecently got shocks for his air suspended Land Cruiser from Australia, and after duty and carriage for 12000 miles still made a vast saving.

Can confirm.

Toyota wanted £1,800 for a pair of rear shocks for the Land Cruiser (as they're electronically adjustable things). Cheapest I found in the UK was nearly £500 for one. With the import duty, delivery, I bought two proper Toyota shocks for my truck for about £330.

I was going to suggest Amayama but you've already found out about them @davehedgehog31. I can also recommend Foreign Car Spares in Birmingham. They were helpful when I was getting a fuel filler neck for the RAV4. They only deal in Japanese cars and are reasonably priced.

[davehedgehog31]

2 hours ago, St.Jude said:

Can confirm.

Toyota wanted £1,800 for a pair of rear shocks for the Land Cruiser (as they're electronically adjustable things). Cheapest I found in the UK was nearly £500 for one. With the import duty, delivery, I bought two proper Toyota shocks for my truck for about £330.

I was going to suggest Amayama but you've already found out about them @davehedgehog31. I can also recommend Foreign Car Spares in Birmingham. They were helpful when I was getting a fuel filler neck for the RAV4. They only deal in Japanese cars and are reasonably priced.

Cheers for the pointers. I think I had actually used Amayama in the past for some bits for the RX. The delivery times are the only real drawback, looks like when you buy they just source the parts from a supplier locally and then post them on. 

On the rust proofing front, I have decided I'm going to go with the Corrolan stuff again for undercoating this, ordered some more at lunchtime. It's pretty rustic and you can smell the sheep-y origin of the Lanolin, the bright yellow colour of it is a bit stark and it does make any future maintenance jobs a bit grubby. It has however lasted really well on the Kangoo and I'd rather be able to use the car over winter without worrying about it dissolving. Have seen how quickly Japanese cars can deteriorate on salty Scottish roads. 

Kangoo application last year;

Lanolin products are popular at the minute, Lanoguard seem to be the biggest player. My understanding is that their stuff is a bit more user friendly, you can spray it on with a standard trigger spray bottle but is in turn less hard wearing. The Corrolan stuff is very thick and needs warmed up beforehand and blown on with an air compressor but forms a gloopy layer once applied and not easily washed off by road spray. Could be removed with a pressure hose or thinners if required. 

A plus for Corrolan is that it's pretty cost effective. There are two separate products. "Active", which is a thinner cavity wax product that can be sprayed out of the bendy nozzle into any box sections, sills, door bottoms etc  and "Pure" which is the heavy duty undercoating product for floors, arches etc. 5L tubs are £40-50. I used around 1L of the "Active" and 3L of the "Pure" to do the Kangoo, but could definitely have got away with less of the latter, I put it on far too thick in places.

The main thing I like is that although not totally opaque, it can't entirely hide any developing rust like the rubbery underseal products of old.

I'll try and document the process a bit for anyone interested. Fabia will be getting the same treatment too. The Volvo can fuck off. 

Brought to you by the Lanolin marketing board.

[hairnet]

scottish man not liking volvos shocker

excommunication?

is the 450 lightly more complicated or is it whole other world job?