project Broadsword's Fleet Thread

[DoctorRetro]

Do a 0-60 run in the Kelisa! 

Post the results in the new year, when it gets to 60 ?

[Broadsword]

Time to update the thread as we have ticked over to a new year.

A spot of bad news on the Lupo this morning. Turned the key and the engine barely cranked. Tried again and it did nothing, not even a click. I have plenty of electricity and the car bump starts fine so I'm fairly certain the starter is dead. It has given some subtle clues towards that over the past few months. There is no relay and the wires are undamaged. One final check will be to see if 12 volts get to the wires on the ignition switch. Amazingly a replacement starter motor is currently about £28 on ECP. It looks like a 5 min* job to remove the starter. I'll have it off tomorrow for a look, but at 150k miles it's entitled to fail and the car has seen some very heavy use.

The Range Rover is currently off the road since the insurance expired and I haven't got round to renewing. I'll wait for the month to tick over and it will be back then. I need to fix the oil leak. Fortunately I struck lucky at UPullit and there was a diesel there P38 there. I got quite a nice parts haul, one of which was the entire oil cooler with the hoses. What I learnt about it is that the oil lines into the oil filter housing are a push fit, with a clamp holding it on. I can't see a clamp on mine, just loads of silicone sealant. Now that the spares are to hand I can dig deeper. Ideally it's just the O-rings or maybe even the clamp missing/bodged. If there is more damage I'll just replace the whole thing, so all the bases are covered. I also scored a replacement HVAC panel, which I refurbished for the hell of it and sold surprisingly quickly. The next day I started mine up the pixels started going. Oh well, I'll just use the knowledge gained from fixing the now sold spare and fix the existing unit. It's quite easy.

The Perodua was fun on account of the thrill of winning a roffle, but ultimately it needed shifting on and has been re-homed. It helped pay for Christmas.

Then the MX-5 happened. This put right my bad luck on MX-5s. I wanted a proper go in one since having a test of Snagglepuss's and realizing they are amazing. I did buy one off here in the autumn, but it turned out to be more broken than hoped and I bailed out. One landed in my lap which is both working well and much more solid than all the others I have seen for lemonade money. Having had a proper go in it, it has confirmed that yes they are utterly amazing, even the NB. I've had a little tinker with this one and now have a bit more of an idea of what they are all about. All the info on this car can be found in the for sale thread. If I could run another car longer term on the fleet I certainly would keep it till the summer, but I can't so it will move on, and I'm not willing to part with the Jags at this point, they are just too good. I would keep a ratty very MX-5 cheap one for longer I think for a laugh. One like that roffle car from last year would need to land on my lap (what happened to that one anyways?). As a car, the MX-5 fits like a glove.

Both the Jags are behaving very well indeed. I'm waiting for better weather for Jag tinkering, but in the meantime they are just being enjoyed and hosed down regularly to keep salt off. Really for supposedly such troublesome cars, the X306 and X100 have been great. Obviously the LPG thing on the XK8 means I'm not having to worry about filling up all the time. A full tank of LPG is about £25, beat that! Upcoming XK8 jobs are bonnet cables and front brakes followed up by a tidy up and then start thinking about the MOT. For the XJR I would first like to replace the secondary timing chain tensioner as it amazingly still sports the original. It should have the redesigned second generation unit. After that it might be time to think about changing the S/C lower pulley for more turbine-like shove. I'm still on the lookout for back boxes to fit to the XK8. It's great, but too loud.

At the end of February I have another special test drive of a manual XJR6 lined up. This time it's an auto car converted to manual, well known to XJR6 lickers on various user groups. I'm really looking forward to seeing it as it's an example that has been VERY thoroughly gone through and is probably pushing around 400 BHP.

Coming back to the Lupo. It's a great car, but I'm thinking I want to quict while I'm ahead. In short, fix the starter, replace front brakes, MOT, then start looking for a Fiat Panda diesel. It's the only logical alternative for very frugal dailying, and Jim Bell has with his convinced me that I want one. Other benefit of the Panda, although it isn't as simple as the Lupo, is that it isn't going to shake any bones and is a good few years newer. I'll be keeping my eyes open. I could keep the Lupo, but subjecting it to a second heavy year's use might just start to tip it over to the tired side and I don't want to be the one who kills it. If someone wants first dibs, let me know.

[Shirley Knott]

Bad luck on the starter motor, at least it's cheap and easy to fix. I'm glad the Lupo has *mostly behaved itself during its time with you, its an awesome little car that I was genuinely very fond of when I had it. I'm pretty sure @davehedgehog31 was after one of these at one stage? Being a later example with £30 tax I should imagine it would appeal to lots of folk after a super frugal city car.

RE MX5's, it's not a particularly popular view in roadster circles but I actually found the NB models better to drive than the NA. They do pretty much do the same thing as the first model but with a more rigid chassis and far less scuttle shake. 

[Broadsword]

Good news! The Lupo is fixed. Turned out the wire to the positive terminal on the starter had broken. I used a bit of spare battery earth strap to effect a repair and cleaned up the starter carefully to ensure the contacts are good. The brushes were not particularly worn so I think the starter itself is fine. Result the car now leaps into life and it was quite satisfying to fix the starter as opposed to just buying a new part.

Also I wanted to try the tonneau cover which came with the MX-5. I may be obsessing over a very small detail but I think it looks fabulous buttoned up with the roof covered up. The problem is that the more I look at the Mazda, the more I want to keep it on... Quick someone save me from the temptation!

[Broadsword]

Today I managed to get some MX-5 fettling done despite the appalling weather. I got soaked through doing it, but progress was made. It's now on the road so deserves a little extra attention. Sadly I didn't get a drive of it with the roof down by the time everything was done. At least it continues to keep the rain out of the cabin rather successfully, which I count as a win.

First up was attending to a new issue, which was erratic idle. The intake pipe was a bit on the loose side, but MAF clean and air filter perfect. The culprit was a grubby throttle body. Cleaning has cured the issue.

Then I took a disliking to the very grubby coolant expansion tank and set about cleaning it out, which prompted a coolant flush. I had some Liquid Moly coolant flush going spare and decided to do that at the same time as the oil and filter change. The engine also got a flush with a suitable Liquid Moly product. During the oil change I was disappointed to see a Crossland filter on there. It didn't appear to have a drain back valve. Also the oil filter is really tiny on these engines for some reason. Anyway, I drained the oil (I think it all came out), put on a Mann filter and refilled with 10W-40. The oil that came out was quite black but free of any contaminants. This was all in quite poor weather but the job got done and with everything buttoned up the car runs lovely now. It feels quite quick. More prodding of the underside shows it's not too bad at all. Lots of welding has been happening, that's for sure.

Lastly I took a look at the windscreen washer bottle as that was as bad an eyesore as the coolant expansion tank. It's very easy to remove so I gave it as good a clean as I could. Another little satisfying job done.

I just need some dry weather to get the roof down and give it a hoon. Also, in the very wet it's rather tail happy.

Also a quick question regarding the charcoal canister. It has a pipe just hanging in the breeze on mine. Looks like the outlet. Where is it supposed to connect?

[Cooper1]

Loving this thread  

A fellow P38 sufferer  

[Broadsword]

13 minutes ago, Cooper1 said:

Loving this thread  

A fellow P38 sufferer  

More to come on the P38 soon, but it is still happy... for the most part. So much chod, so little time.

[Cooper1]

1 minute ago, Broadsword said:

More to come on the P38 soon, but it is still happy... for the most part. So much chod, so little time.

Can't wait! 

In my experience a happy P38 is a rare thing

In all seriousness they're lovely things

Your fleet is great, i need more chod myself  

[yes oui si]

This the sdi Lupo? Could be interested if it's not £silly or if you fancy this 307sw...

[egg]

On 1/26/2020 at 11:13 PM, Broadsword said:

Also a quick question regarding the charcoal canister. It has a pipe just hanging in the breeze on mine. Looks like the outlet. Where is it supposed to connect?

It's the same on my Mazda 323, and I believe it's meant to be like that. I'm getting a fuel smell when starting from cold, so it's clearly no longer doing much for me....

[Broadsword]

On 1/26/2020 at 11:57 PM, yes oui si said:

This the sdi Lupo? Could be interested if it's not £silly or if you fancy this 307sw...

Yes, it is the ultra frugal Lupo, aka. Pocket Panzer. I’ll post an update on it after the MOT. The aim is to be working on it this weekend to get it up to scratch for the test. I would only swap towards a a Fiat Panda diesel unfortunately as that is what I was thinking as the replacement.

21 minutes ago, egg said:

It's the same on my Mazda 323, and I believe it's meant to be like that. I'm getting a fuel smell when starting from cold, so it's clearly no longer doing much for me....

I did some digging and that pipe is indeed supposed to vent to atmosphere. I think it should clip down on the subframe but has come adrift. After so many years it no doubt becomes saturated and is basically useless. It is pretty easy to remove the system, but I doubt I’ll bother.

[egg]

Yes, the canister 'delete' seems a common mod. I did look into a new canister, OEM is silly money, although Chinese ones are available...(sorry, link covers my model not yours)

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32811042287.html?spm=2114.12057483.0.0.2d7673f3WKoZ04

[The Moog]

You can just remove the cannister, it frees up a load of space. I did.

[Broadsword]

Today I won an auction for another Range Rover P38. It's a bit more battered than the current one but it is what could be described as desirable AS spec as it is trim level DT. Also it's a manual. It will be an 8 hour + trek tomorrow retrieving it but excitement levels are high. If all goes well the current black Range Rover will become up for grabs. Wish me luck as two P38s is genuine recipe for disaster!

[Cooper1]

You can never have too many p38s  

Quite fancy a DT manual myself, the DT was the "TL1" spec which is indeed base, does it have leather/PVC seats of valour? 

[Broadsword]

11 minutes ago, Cooper1 said:

You can never have too many p38s  

Quite fancy a DT manual myself, the DT was the "TL1" spec which is indeed base, does it have leather/PVC seats of valour? 

It has what looks like plush vulgalour seats. It will be very interesting to compare the experience of manual vs auto. Also, double interesting is that this has EAS, and I haven’t driven a P38 on air before!

[Cooper1]

3 minutes ago, Broadsword said:

It has what looks like plush vulgalour seats. It will be very interesting to compare the experience of manual vs auto. Also, double interesting is that this has EAS, and I haven’t driven a P38 on air before!

Nice!!

Keep the EAS it's vasty superior to coils in every way.. 

 

easy to maintain too.. 

[Broadsword]

Collection aborted. It really wasn’t as described, it was throwing up problems left right and centre, then it was revealed it has basically standing for 4 years. Suspension pump on (loud) constantly. The final straw was when my fist went through the boot floor. The guy got aggressive very quickly so a swift exit was made. Sad times, can’t win them all. Somehow the eBay sale was cancelled writhing 5 minutes of departure. I’m very familiar with eBay, but can’t quite fathom how he did that so fast.

[Agila]

2 hours ago, Broadsword said:

Collection aborted. It really wasn’t as described, it was throwing up problems left right and centre, then it was revealed it has basically standing for 4 years. Suspension pump on (loud) constantly. The final straw was when my fist went through the boot floor. The guy got aggressive very quickly so a swift exit was made. Sad times, can’t win them all. Somehow the eBay sale was cancelled writhing 5 minutes of departure. I’m very familiar with eBay, but can’t quite fathom how he did that so fast.

Frustrating but consider it a massive bullet dodged.

[Broadsword]

Very true. It was still useful to see what the DT was like though. I really liked the manual gearbox. The HVAC panel was fully manual, with rotary dials. No digital screen, which is also a bonus in my book. Finally the cloth seats were more comfortable than the leather ones. I couldn't get much of a feel for road holding with EAS, but on the short test drive it was clearly superior, and it was pretty good on very muddy tracks. Ironically there is a DT P38 parked around 500 yards from my house. Maybe I should become friends with the owner. In short I would consider a povvo spec DT P38 an upgrade, but looking at the one I did today highlighted the fact the the current P38 I have is in remarkably robust shape, relatively speaking. Further thoughts were that it would be neat to have some fresher tyres on the current P38. The wheels are in excellent condition, but the Michelin tyres are a bit old.

Speaking of tyres I've managed to do at least one deal today. Namely some Michelin Alpin 4 winter tyres in good condition for the MX-5 for very little money. They are on steel wheels, but I'm actually keen to go on to steelies. The plan is to paint them gloss white, which against the dark green I think could be quite fun.

Also, weirdly, the Perodua has returned to the town I live in. I've seen it twice today.

[Broadsword]

As has been the trend since October; it has been far to wet, dark and cold to work on cars effectively. Nonetheless I've managed to do some fettling today. It was the turn of the XJR, which wanted a bit of a drive anyway. I've had an X308 third brake-light sitting on the shelf, kindly donated by a fellow shitter, waiting to be retrofitted. UK X300s for some reason never came with a third brake light. I think from a safety standpoint it would be prudent to have one. Also, the wiring already exists for it for export markets. The procedure for fitting it is as follows:

1. Remove the back seats completely (just a few screws).

2. Remove the parcel shelf (pop the two plastic rivets at the front and disconnect the two small speakers at the back).

3. Identify the spare plug, which I confirmed was for the brake light with a multimeter.

4. Cut the plug off the loom and the X308 light as they are incompatible.

5. Splice the wires together and test you handywork.

That's about it. I haven't put everything back together as the rear of the interior needs a clean. After replacing a couple of bulbs on the brake light it was working well enough. It's dead easy to remove if I don't like it, but I think it's worth having it after someone rear ended me in an XJ40 some time ago.

Then one of the local small cats came to inspect the big cat! When I get another moment I will try fitting the boost gauge, which has been sitting on the shelf forever now.

[Shirley Knott]

Boost gauges are always good, no exception to this rule. Extra brake lights can't hurt either.

That cat looks somewhat overweight. I'm a dog person really but there's something strangely pleasing about a properly obese well fed cat I recon.

 

[The Moog]

Good job. Nice to add stuff in simply like that.

Looking forward to the boosty goodness.

[Broadsword]

Some MX-5 love today. I collected a set of Michelin Alpin 3 winter tyres on steel wheels this morning. The price was excellent and both the wheels and tyres are in great shape. Not too long after the wheels were on the car. I quite like the black steelie look. The allys will go with the car when sold so future owners have the option. On the road the car has come quite a long way from when I got it, not that much effort was needed. Thanks to the service the engine is very happy now and pulls cleanly though the revs. Very pleasing, but it's not too powerful so you don't get into trouble speed-wise. The grip is awesome now. I'm pleased the effort was made to get a decent set of matching higher end tyres. It's just magic to drive. While swapping wheels over I had another poke around underneath. No nasty surprises, lots of good metal all over thankfully. The exhaust looks quite recent too. I even used the factory jacking points without anything caving in!

There was just enough time for some top down driving before sunset. It was awesome. All in all a successful day. I would like to remove the charcoal cannister tomorrow, but there is this storm on the way. The engine bay looks much tidier now and that last little mod would finish things off nicely.

[yes oui si]

Nice. I think I prefer it on the steels. I have a 'thing' about four stud five spoke wheels... They just look wrong unless the design has a raised or sunken center to seperate the bolt holes from the spokes

[Cooper1]

A rotten boot floor is rather rare on a P38, the DT spec is a breath of fresh air for someone into P38s it is nice to have a simple one! 

An EAS compressor constantly running is a hint to a leaking airbag or valveblock, it is constantly trying to stem an unending leak, which will burn the pump out.. 

Airbags tend to have a life of 8 years, Dunlops that is, Arnott gen II's can easily see twice that, however it is advisable to rebuild the valvebody with new O rings every few years, it is a cheap job and quite quick to do, and ensures a good EAS. 

My Airbags are on their last legs, 7 years old now, best to replace before they fail etc 

 

Shame is was a pile O shit. 

 

I'd keep hunting!!   

 

[Broadsword]

13 hours ago, Cooper1 said:

A rotten boot floor is rather rare on a P38, the DT spec is a breath of fresh air for someone into P38s it is nice to have a simple one! 

An EAS compressor constantly running is a hint to a leaking airbag or valveblock, it is constantly trying to stem an unending leak, which will burn the pump out.. 

Airbags tend to have a life of 8 years, Dunlops that is, Arnott gen II's can easily see twice that, however it is advisable to rebuild the valvebody with new O rings every few years, it is a cheap job and quite quick to do, and ensures a good EAS. 

My Airbags are on their last legs, 7 years old now, best to replace before they fail etc 

 

Shame is was a pile O shit. 

 

I'd keep hunting!!   

 

Excellent info there. That P38 went back on auction the same day for 3 days and sold for £300 less than when I won it. The listing was amended slightly adding the line "other minor faults". Really dishonest selling. I guess at £580 anyone would have bought it so I doubt it will come back for round four. Another DT went though yesterday at £1550, but it was probably quite a good one. I wonder also what with the HVAC panel being just rotary dials on that you get less problems with controlling the heating, maybe the hot air blender system is more reliable?

[Broadsword]

Somehow I managed to dodge the worst of the storm today to give the Lupo a quick onceover. It got an intermediate oil and filter change, quick interior sweep, scrubbed washer fluid bottle and a check for obvious MOT fails. MOT booked for Wednesday so fingers crossed!

[Cooper1]

5 hours ago, Broadsword said:

Excellent info there. That P38 went back on auction the same day for 3 days and sold for £300 less than when I won it. The listing was amended slightly adding the line "other minor faults". Really dishonest selling. I guess at £580 anyone would have bought it so I doubt it will come back for round four. Another DT went though yesterday at £1550, but it was probably quite a good one. I wonder also what with the HVAC panel being just rotary dials on that you get less problems with controlling the heating, maybe the hot air blender system is more reliable?

Dishonest sellers are the bane of the P38 market, many are selling neglected examples. 

The DT i think will be one of the first to appreciate, i know this forum isn't geared towards that sort of thing but i think it is a fact. Back in 1999 my Dad bought a Diesel Range rover classic in alaskan blue, 2.4 VM manual Vogue G27PNF. 

He gave it way in 2004, whereabouts are unknown.. 

my point is, i tried to find a diesel RRC when looking for my P38, and very few existed, the ones that did were either spanish imports or fully restored 4 doors. 

All of which were fetching £7000 - £15,000 which was roughly 3-4k over the equiv petrol model, in varying grades of decay.. 

In 1999 and the early 2000s the RRC diesel was the most undesirable model, usually very low spec, however now because they were cheap they were candidates for mutilation by offroaders and farmers, + they were just scrapped when the MOT failed, 

Now though, the few that remain are like gold dust to enthusiasts   

 

Rambling aside i'd try to find a good DT.. 

Manual is preferred, watch for a rough 3-2 and 2-3 upchange, that signifies a worn synchro in the R380 tranny. 

Avoid models with a powerbox and make sure it fires over when hot!! 

HVAC is generally more reliable when in the "toggle" form over the digital one, maybe because the manual HVAC was less popular, due to it being only on the TL1 base models. 

Watch for a "chirrup" sound in the passengers footwell when on overrun from A road speed, this is a signifier of the morse chain the the transfer box slapping the casing. 

Also make sure you keep an ear out for a whine around the footwell area, and make sure it can make tight left and right turns without the front wheels skipping, if they do it is a worn VCU which is common on examples with dissimilar tyres and bad tyre pressures. 

 

Airbags are a good shout too, look at the bag, and check for cracks around the base, this is common on old bags HA Fnarr!!  

Also give them a feel, old ones feel crispy and odd, ahem.. Fnarr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

they're quite cheap to replace and about a 20min job per corner, as they are a piece of pish to remove!!

 

Check the airtank around under the drivers seat next to the chassis, as it can corrode, 

 

More to come when i can think!!!

 

C1

[Broadsword]

The Lupo failed its MOT on a bulb (I swear it failed on the way to the MOT station) and the front ARB link on the driver's side snapped (I'm also pretty sure that was not broken last week, but it was fair enough as the passenger side had been done recently). Before that was attended to it was time to look at yet another car. This time a 1968 Triumph Herald 13/60. It looks a mess right now, and the clutch has stuck on, but all the oily bits have been done and all the parts to put it back together are there. It's very solid and even has a few days MOT left, runs on unleaded, disc brakes up front, electronic ignition etc. There is a stainless steel exhaust to go on it as an added bonus. It needs a full respray, but it's so small I reckon it can be done one panel at a time Flipping Bangers style with rattle cans. It's the oldest car ever to enter the Broadsword fleet by a long way, but I think it's going to be a very interesting and achievable project. I have yet to sort out transportation. It will be necessary to get someone else to shift it as I'm short on time this month.

It was a fairly long round trip just to look at the Herald, but spirits were high as the deal was done and I think it's remarkably good for a 52 year old Triumph. Weather was horrid again, but once home I decided to push and fix the Lupo's MOT failure points. Amazingly I had everything done in 15 mins flat. So all in all a productive day! Have a couple of snaps from the for sale ad for the Triumph...