JT’s fleet: Home, home with the Range (rover)

[New POD]

1 hour ago, J-T said:

Come and drive up and down the east lancs road everyday then tell me it’s dull up here!

The East Lancs Road ? Spoiled by Woolybacks driving like sheep. Imho. 

[J-T]

Not much to report in Alfa land. I had that breather elbow out and replaced the O ring but it’s still leaking, annoyingly. There was evidence of liquid gasket in there so it must have been like that for a while. I’ll try adding some of my own.

The leaking fuel line mentioned last time just needed undoing and the union rotating to get a better angle to tighten the hose clip. Nice and dry now.

The exhaust had started to rattle against the anti roll  bar at certain times. When I had a look underneath it has poly exhaust mounts but the rear one must be getting tired. I’ve tightened a jubilee clip round it for now which has made it better but it still catches every now and again. I’d like to change the exhaust really, it’s getting grating now everyday, it’s too boomy and from the cat back doesn’t make much difference performance wise.  I found a used standard system at a specialist when I first bought it but decided against buying it as the back box looked a bit ropey. I found the pics again the other day in my email and looking at it again, it just wants painting, so I might ask if he’s still got it, money permitting at the end of the month.

It had a little hiccup the other day, when I was sat in traffic. There was a cough from the engine, and all the electrics died for a split second. This happened a further 3 times. From previous work on it, I knew the battery earth lead wasn’t making a good connection to the battery as the terminal connector was knackered. 

Looking at it a bit further, the ends didn’t look in great shape either, seen here bright green at the gearbox end

Nice new one on then. I know you can get universal stuff for this but whenever I buy anything like that I always spend 20 x longer twatting about to make it fit, end up needing a tool I don’t have etc and it ends up costing the same as a genuine part but fitting less well. This one also has two earth points and several connections at the battery so I couldn’t be arsed.

I ordered one for a newer model as they have a quick release connector which are loads better 

Touch wood, that’ll be sorted now.

I got it up on stands the other week, gave it a good scrub underneath and re-applied the XCP spray. I can’t recommend that stuff enough, it’s now gone 3/4 through winter and when the wax coating is cleaned off, it still looks just as good. 

[dome]

I missed this, what a car! 

Did you do the full NC500?

[J-T]

Unfortunately not no, just part of it. I’d love to go back and do the rest.

 

Exhaust - did a deal on that and a used alternator (I think it’s still on its original alternator and if you can find a new one they can be north of £400, so I wanted one ‘in stock’ to refurb if needed) with a specialist up in Penrith. He’s fitting it as part of the deal at the end of the month. I’ll post up some comparisons before/after if I can work out how. I must be the only person making one of these quieter!

[Dave_Q]

I missed this, what a car! 
Did you do the full NC500?

I'd like to propose this be moved to the main forum, it's worthy of many more views and not a modern by most normal people's standards.

[J-T]

It’s at that awkward age where it doesn’t quite fit into either. But yeh I suppose 16 years old as a ‘modern’ is pushing it to most ?

 

[Pillock]

*waves the thread moving wand*

[Sudsprint]

Just read this right through. Brilliant story of the pain and pleasure of Alfa ownership -with a happy ending.

[J-T]

2 hours ago, Sudsprint said:

-with a happy ending.

Please don’t jinx me 

[Dave_Q]

Please don’t jinx me 

Spoken like a man who is not on his first Alfa

[J-T]

Took a drive up to Penrith the other day and finally binned that awful fart cannon exhaust off. I’m really happy with how it sounds now, no horrible boom but still has a nice rasp, although I prefer the look of the tailpipes on the old one. I did record a before and after but for some reason, the new setup sounds louder than the old one on my phone so it’s a bit pointless! It definitely isn’t louder in reality. 

Mr. Specialist had a good poke over it whilst it was up in the air and declared it a good’un which will do for me. Noticed a couple of things, as ever...the rear engine mount is tired, the rear transverse arms are cheapies so the bushes are too soft. He also found why it was going for a walk every time I accelerated...the bolts on the o/s bottom wishbone were finger tight so it had about an inch of movement ?

He was saying they quite often get over-tightened and strip the threads, but they tightened up ok. So I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on that!

The rear engine mount is a bit of a pain as you can’t get good ones any more. Alfa still supply them but even they now stock crappy ones that only last about 12 months. Le sigh.

 

 

[J-T]

This is getting some attention over the next few days, I've started on a deep clean. I'm not really the two bucket type, but I'm keen to keep it nice and it's been a bit neglected the past few weeks. I'm starting with the wheels and under the arches. I'd lathered it all in XCP rust prevention to protect it over winter; it's good stuff but attracts dirt after a while.

The wheels were needing some attention too

It's come up pretty well again after a good scrub. I sprayed on a mix of strong APC, left it to dwell a little, power washed, sprayed again, scrubbed, power washed again. I'm a big fan of this XCP stuff, it's really done its job over winter.

The wheels got a similar treatment, then polished with some autoglym

Here's one of the rears done

Whilst I was in there I noticed this brake looked like it had been dragging slightly so decided to investigate. Undoing the caliper bolts revealed a stuck slider, which was removed after considerable effort with mole grips. I cleaned it up with wet & dry, lubed it up with plenty of red grease and worked it in & out which got it operating smoothly again.

I took all the pads out, cleaned up the sliding surfaces and lubed them up with copper grease. The piston was really stiff to wind back in so I gave it a bit of excersise in and out a few times which seemed to free it up a little. Once I'd got it all back together though, I had to literally stand on the pedal several times to get the piston back in contact with the pads and the handbrake working so I've probably got trouble bewing there. I hate these shitty rear calipers with the handbrake on the back, I've had loads of cars with them fitted and they were an utter pain in the arse on every single one. They just hardly ever work properly, they seem to last about 3 years and then need 6 monthly fettling or replacement.

I'm going to be carrying on with the big clean over the next few days, it was a bit too sunny today to be doing the paintwork. I'd like to get the engine bay a bit cleaner again as well. The previous owner polished the cam covers, the cam cover covers (no really), the plenum and the throttle body. It looks lovely but it takes loads of upkeep. Inevitably, the front cam cover cover is now tarnished from rainwater etc being forced through the grilles and drying on it. Can anyone recommend a decent polishing kit or pads etc to get this back into a shiny state - I'm guessing it'll take a bit more than some autosol or similar and I've not done it before. I have a dremel if they do one?

[somewhatfoolish]

Does no-one make an aftermarket rear engine mount in polyurethane?

[J-T]

Autolusso sell one but they transfer more vibration through the car. I think that’s gonna be the only option though without replacing it every 12 months 

[J-T]

Fin.

Has anyone any experience of this metal polishing lark to get my cam covers nice again? How much of a faff is it?

[J-T]

Fancy a laugh? 
I decided to do the oil & filter today as it was about 6k since the last change. Here’s the filter access. No, look harder, centre of the pic

So, we’re at the rear of the block up against the bulkhead here, the tube to the right is the driveshaft, to the left you can see the rear bank down pipe & lambda and the 2 pipes in the centre I think are both rigid oil cooler lines. According to the workshop manual, the official method is to remove the down pipe. In practice, there is just enough room to squeeze the filter through by undoing the bracket for the oil cooler lines and levering them to the side. You then have to double your hand round to unscrew or screw in the filter.

Thankfully it was only hand tight as there is feck all room to get any kind of removal tool on it.  I don’t look forward to the next time!

[Mrcento]

On 2/29/2020 at 8:42 PM, J-T said:

The rear engine mount is a bit of a pain as you can’t get good ones any more. Alfa still supply them but even they now stock crappy ones that only last about 12 months. Le sigh.

This'll be pretty much the end of that period of Fiat/Alfa where seemingly not a single person in their entire company knew how to make a rear engine'gearbox mount. They're a problem on almost every model from about 94-2005. They all absolutely tear through them. Even things like the 899cc Cinqs would eat them in about 10 months. Tended to give a hell of a bang if they ever fully let go too, was always coming off the throttle and the mount arm would smack the road as the entire engine and box assembly swung  back...would make pretty sparks on the road though for anyone following ??

If it's anything like the Fiats, Best solution is to get as decent an after market one as you can find and just tiger seal the fuck out of it before fitting to reinforce it. .

They tend to take the acceleration/deceleration twisting loads more than anything so additional vibrations aren't really an issue unless you do the same to the front mounts.

[J-T]

1 hour ago, Mrcento said:

This'll be pretty much the end of that period of Fiat/Alfa where seemingly not a single person in their entire company knew how to make a rear engine'gearbox mount. They're a problem on almost every model from about 94-2005. They all absolutely tear through them. Even things like the 899cc Cinqs would eat them in about 10 months. Tended to give a hell of a bang if they ever fully let go too, was always coming off the throttle and the mount arm would smack the road as the entire engine and box assembly swung  back...would make pretty sparks on the road though for anyone following ??

If it's anything like the Fiats, Best solution is to get as decent an after market one as you can find and just tiger seal the fuck out of it before fitting to reinforce it. .

They tend to take the acceleration/deceleration twisting loads more than anything so additional vibrations aren't really an issue unless you do the same to the front mounts.

Apparently it’s only in the last 12 months or so that the Alfa ones have been problematic. Before that they were noticeably better quality than the aftermarket offerings but it looks like they changed supplier and now just supply the same softer mount in ‘Ricambi Originale’ packaging 

[J-T]

Some bonus Corolla content here...

I was that bored and running out of productive tasks that I decided to sort the cataracts that had afflicted the J-T household’s resident appliance vehicle

I already had some wet & dry in, so I ordered some cheap polishing pads off eBay that fit in a drill. I started with 400 grit and worked through to 2000, then G3 compound, then G10.

Came up pretty well! They look a bit better in the pics than in real life but still 1000x improvement. Dunno how long they’ll last but I whacked some Autoglym sealant on so we’ll see.

I also wet vac’d the seats the other day as they’ve always looked a bit rancid. Again, came up really well. I do always admire how this car just gets fucking on with it, never a hissy fit, never anything out of the ordinary at all. In 5 years it’s needed a front caliper, a couple of tyres and a service every couple of years as it only does 4/5k per year.

I got it into my head that I’d have a go at fixing the aircon as it’s never worked. I assume it’ll be the condenser but obviously I need a dye test to check. I remember you used to be able to get a kit for this - a can of R134a mixed with dye but this seems to have been outlawed so looks like that’ll have to wait until I can take it somewhere. Ho hum.

[mat_the_cat]

On 4/19/2020 at 6:33 PM, J-T said:

I assume it’ll be the condenser but obviously I need a dye test to check. I remember you used to be able to get a kit for this - a can of R134a mixed with dye but this seems to have been outlawed so looks like that’ll have to wait until I can take it somewhere. Ho hum.

https://www.autoairconparts.co.uk/uv-dye-injectors

This place does the dye, so still available.

[J-T]

Sorry yeh, the dye is still available, but you used to be able to get it mixed in with an aerosol can of R134a gas to refill the system. I think the the dye in the link can only be used with a proper vacuum fill/drain AC machine. It’s the aerosols they’ve stopped doing as I think R134 gas is now banned to the general public.

[rainagain]

I fitted a poly rear engine mount to my 307 hdi after the previous one failed after less than six months. Yes it definitely increases the in car vibration. However I wonder if you’ll notice it as much as I do with yours being a V6 petrol, where as mine is an old diesel. I got used to it very quickly, you ‘feel’ the engine is running when idling. Once above idle there’s no difference.

 

I’d be tempted to try one. they’re really easy to fit and remove compared to a standard bush. So you could try it and then fit a normal one if you don’t like it. Mine came with two big washers you can remove to make it softer. I was planning on removing them but as I said I got used to it. 

[sporty-shite]

On 2/29/2020 at 8:42 PM, J-T said:

The rear transverse arms are cheapies so the bushes are too soft. 

 

 

I've got a set of four used arms here you can have if you like. Get them polybushed,  then you can swap them straight over. Only in Westhoughton, so not too far.

Let me know, and I can dog them out. 

[J-T]

56 minutes ago, rainagain said:

I fitted a poly rear engine mount to my 307 hdi after the previous one failed after less than six months. Yes it definitely increases the in car vibration. However I wonder if you’ll notice it as much as I do with yours being a V6 petrol, where as mine is an old diesel. I got used to it very quickly, you ‘feel’ the engine is running when idling. Once above idle there’s no difference.

 

I’d be tempted to try one. they’re really easy to fit and remove compared to a standard bush. So you could try it and then fit a normal one if you don’t like it. Mine came with two big washers you can remove to make it softer. I was planning on removing them but as I said I got used to it. 

Yeh I do plan on trying one. They’ve been showing out of stock for a while and Autolusso have shut down anyway so I’ve just been waiting for it to come available. Another job that means a down pipe has to come off ? Actually, thinking on, I had a mk2 golf GTI years back that had a solid rear mount. That was pretty annoying though, hopefully it won’t be as extreme. The old NVH isn’t exactly its strong point anyway, once the manifold cats have been removed.

56 minutes ago, sporty-shite said:

I've got a set of four used arms here you can have if you like. Get them polybushed,  then you can swap them straight over. Only in Westhoughton, so not too far.

Let me know, and I can dog them out. 

From a 147? Yeh that would be great! 

[Sir Snipes]

Intentionally releasing R134a is a criminal offence so specifically making an r134a product with a dye seems pretty moody.

[Tepper]

1 hour ago, Sir Snipes said:

Intentionally releasing R134a is a criminal offence so specifically making an r134a product with a dye seems pretty moody.

It's no different from commercial A/C techs topping up a system that's low on gas and adding dye so that the leak can be identified when it loses gas again. Obviously it's not ideal to be spewing R134a all over the shop but that's what goes on.

[sporty-shite]

11 hours ago, J-T said:

 From a 147? Yeh that would be great! 

Yes. Our old GT failed test on one Bush, so just put a full set on it. Kept them in case I bought another 147/156/GT. 

[J-T]

10 hours ago, sporty-shite said:

Yes. Our old GT failed test on one Bush, so just put a full set on it. Kept them in case I bought another 147/156/GT. 

Aye, I’ll take those off your hands if they’re going spare, thanks.

[J-T]

Urgh. Today’s job turned into a bit of a mission. The Alfa’s had a torn inner CV boot for ages and I managed to find some new complete driveshafts months ago (outer CVs are NLA and driveshafts in very short supply), so I decided to swap it out. Not many pics as things escalated.

The strut sits in this ‘fork’ which connects it to the bottom wishbone. In theory, to get the driveshaft out, you split the top wishbone balljoint (which was a TWAT), remove the long bolt connecting the fork to the bottom balljoint and the pinch bolt connecting the shock to the fork & remove the fork, disconnect the steering arm & ARB droplink and you should then have enough room to push the driveshaft out of the hub and unbolt it from the flange(ha).

It all came apart relatively easily (my new LingLong Happy Spirit impact gun came in very useful) except for the pinch bolt connecting the fork to the shock. This is a 10mm allen head, runs through the shock casing and was seized solid - you can see the end of it in the pic above. My BFO breaker bar, nor impact wrench would shift it and it’s in a difficult place to cut off and I didn’t have a replacement. This meant I couldn’t remove the fork, the centre gap of which is not wide enough to extract the driveshaft.

I didn’t wanna give up as it was all apart, so decided to try and remove the full strut with the fork attached. Me standing on the bottom arm gave just enough clearance for the top mount threads to foul the top of the wheel arch lip by 5mm or so, meaning it wouldn’t come out.

By this point I was losing the will, got the strut bolted back up and realised the bottom wishbone was gonna have to come off instead. This meant re-jigging my jacks & stands as the GTA has extra chassis stiffening plates that cover the wishbone mounting bolts, which I was using to support the car. Once it was all undone, the wishbone came off relatively easily, finally allowing for the extraction of one driveshaft...probably about 4hrs had now passed!

Of course, the new one could then be fitted which involved threading 8 nuts on to the back of the mounting bolts blind, with no room to move your hand...cue much much swearing. Then I had to refit the bottom wishbone, which point blank refused to line up with its mounts. It was taking me so long, I ended up consulting a YouTube video that an Alfa specialist had made, and I quote “getting these back on is always fun and takes a great deal of messing”. Well at least it wasn’t just me, but he wasn’t joking.

Around 6hrs later for a job the probably books at 2, if that...

I’m now sore all over.

 

 

[J-T]

I'm still piling the miles on this thing. Touch wood, it's behaving. I was becoming a bit concerened about just how many miles I was putting on it; it had done 78k when I bought it and it's now almost on 85k. I'd like to try and keep it below 90k, by not 'wasting' miles slogging it up and down the east lancs to my part time job, and also I start a proper job in september which will involve me driving it 4 miles each morning to be left in a train station carpark all day and, it never completing a warm up cycle. This can only mean one thing....ANOTHER CAR ?

Yes, another purchase has been made to take the weight off using the Alfa all the time. It was constructed in the same year I was, is the definition of a 10 footer, I have never driven it and it needs to make a 90 mile journey home when I collect it on Thursday. I paid far too much money for it, but it seems these, like everything else are going into the stratosphere price wise for good examples (of which 'mine' definitely isn't!) so it was now or never. I've bought it via a telephone bid at a classic car auction...you know what, I'm going to stop here because writing this out demonstrates how fucking stupid this actually is. I'll waz some pics up on thursday providing it makes it home. In the mean time, guess away (if you're arsed).