Andy's awful autos: Vanden-blah

[Andyrew]

17 hours ago, SiC said:

I'm currently thinking Quickjacks now. Made by Bendpak - once of the largest lift companies out in the states. 

While it doesn't go as high, it goes far enough that I won't have a huge amount of spare room above in my garage anyway. They're also way lighter and smaller so easier to pack out the way when not in use.

Cheaper, but not far off the scissor lifts.

If youve got the height go mid rise lift if the price is similar. 

With the car up in the air tinkering is much more pleasant, no being on your knees or on the floor is the best part. 

[Andyrew]

Lifts getting there. The floor is all kinds of cattywampus so its been a mare to line up. Its also bastard heavy! 

It was  Wired up last night and now just needs some tweaking. 

 

[Andyrew]

Its not mine! 

Okay so i know everyone loves a rough car getting (maybe) some love so lets get some pics up. 

Hows about a 1998 mx5 1.8i. 60k old lady owner whos given up driving and its had the cat stolen while parked up. A mint car sourced from a specialist years ago. Then parked by touch! 

 

[Andyrew]

[Andyrew]

[Andyrew]

Sulphated battery and mx5 usuals. Not too bad tho. Arches are mint! Athough dented!  Low pressure steering line leaking.

[Andyrew]

Exhaust removed.  Given the cosmetic challenges of the car and the fate undecided by the owner. Ive opted to do the most cost effective repair. I just replaced the cat section and will fully weld the exhaust system making it one whole peice by removing the rear ballsed and leaking rear flange.  The OG mazda box is a bit scabby but even that will outlast a shit aftermarket one.

Aftermath of cat theft

 

Rear section looking a bit unhealthy

rear flange. Sheared stud was like that when i  got here. Flange has all but dissolved.

 

 

 

[Andyrew]

Rear flanges removed and ready to tack in place. Ill get a buddy to help me drop the whole system off in one then weld it up off the car. 

[Andyrew]

Zap zap, spray spray. Not pretty Good enough for an exhaust

 

[Andyrew]

4 poster install finally done. 

It verrrrkkkks! 

Jacking beam has leaked all of its fluid out. So thats next on the list

[Andyrew]

Up we go!

The allegro then.  Its blue. Very very blue.  When the car was delivered the clutch bite point was all over the show im told.  Talbot and chris tried to bleed any air out and after this the pedal failed to return. A good start it wasnt, and from then on the loves been a bit low for this blue turd. Clutch master solution worked (more on this later) 

With the heatwave i just left the car parked over at my parents place as i knew the care had a duff rad so really didnt want to use it. 

Ive booked it a place at redbourne classic car show as a mojo boost target to get some jobs done.

Some basic faults appart from the overall cosmetic issues with the car then. 

Bad points.

Wheel bearing loose and knocking its arse off. Gear shift as loose as a cock in a sock. Leaking radiator and awful brakes. Rather large oil leak/s. The most Concerning is oil from an area of the sump that has chemical meatal smeared onto it. Broken engine mount. 

Good points?  It runs okay. Nips along just fine. Its solid where it matters Suspension mounts etc etc. 

 

 

 

 

[Andyrew]

The n.s wheel had loads of play in it. I could physically clonk the bearing play. 

Id ordered 4 new wheel bearings for all round at work, fronts about 8 quid each and a tenner at the rears as the rears sound a little grumbly. On some paperwork that came with the car wheel bearings were mentioned so i expected to find some new bearings when things came appart. 

There was also play in the trunions/kingpins/swivels/whatevertheyarecalled.

Hub off

Wheel bearing inner race popped out revealed 3 homemade shims. I assume to lower the preload on the new bearing. The bearing looked nice and new so i decided to just re assemble without the shims. 

Everything back together. Swivels Cleaned out and packed with fresh grease the last remaining shim removed to tighten things up a smidge tho they are fairly worn. I Need to pick up a grease gun later in the week and fill them up in situ. 

Pulling the caliper dust boot revealed some sorry looking pistons. With no new pistons to hand a smooth back and grease is all i can do for now and keep an eye on them.

Back together and i forgot to take a photo so have a bad behind the wheel shot!

So did the play disappear? Not really its about 70% better. May just nip the crown nut a smidge but id like to check the play when the bearings warmed up after a run and see how it feels. 

While underneath i found a massive amount of play in the steering rack. It feels like a support bush worn out inside so maybe i can repair it. Thats another days problem for now tho.

 

[BeEP]

2 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

While underneath i found a massive amount of play in the steering rack. It feels like a support bush worn out inside so maybe i can repair it. Thats another days problem for now tho.

It will definitely be the bush as you suggest; standard on every Allegro which hasn't already had it replaced!  The club have stocks of bronze bushes to replace the original.

[Andyrew]

I mentioned earlier that the clutch master was on its last legs and my first encounter its was dead.  With nothing off the shelf availible and not wanting to shell out 260 odd for a NOS  one on ebay.  This left me hunting for another option.  Someone like past parts where i believe mr @Angrydicky works could probably fixed it but im a low budget kind of guy. Disco 1s have a similar looking master but a larger internal bore and they are very very cheap to buy, I handily had a dead discovery with a new ish master , So i pinched it and the associated pipework, chopped the pipe and pinched the union from the aggys original and questionably re flared the end of the steel pipe as a prototype. Maybe i will re do it one day in fresh copper (probably not) bolts perfectly in the original holes too.

Seems to work just fine. 

 

[Angrydicky]

I don’t work there anymore. But yes they can rebuild it.

[BeEP]

There was an article in the club magazine a few years back, written by our spares secretary, describing how to do exactly what you've done!  (ie adapting a Land Rover master cylinder to fit, as Allegro ones are hard/expensive to find).

[Andyrew]

12 hours ago, BeEP said:

It will definitely be the bush as you suggest; standard on every Allegro which hasn't already had it replaced!  The club have stocks of bronze bushes to replace the original.

Thats good to know.  The racks soaked in oil (just like everything else on the underside) so its probably in need of a freshen up. 

 

[Andyrew]

The gear selection was laughbly bad. A mount had fatigued and while i had bodged it with big cable ties a more proper fix was needed. Today i did a fix.

Weld weld, spray spray 

Fitted

[Andyrew]

The little engine mount that couldnt

Along with the busted gear mount, 5he ns engine mount had completely failed and dropped down from the bond of the rubber failing.  The NS mount was another not availible jobby, well There was one but it was mighty expensive ( theres now a cheaper on on there around £40 mark) but id seen a OS mount for an auto at a cheaper price. It looked similar, handily @Six-cylinder still had the VP 1500s old engine and that had a mount attached.  Its the same looking rubber part and plate its just bolted to its mount rather than bonded.  So the plan was to drill some holes and fit an auto one in its place. 3 out of 4 bolts snapped so that became another issue.  A whip to the local agri shop and some bolts and square nuts were purchased.

You can see below where the failed mount had been resting an inch or so lower

Auto mount unbolted from its home. 

New bolts

Shite ground off and some additonal holes added. 

Square nuts tacked in place and some rattle can matt black and that was it foe the evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andyrew]

Once again, ive purchased a sorry sight. 

£325 of  brokenish fiat with (at the time ) one day of MOT that was heading for the frag pile.  With the scrappy my way offering £330 and @NorfolkNWeigh able to deliver said vehicle to my workshop i felt there was zero risk, even if the thing was a complete shed. 

Whats wrong with it then?

127k

Dented door

No handbrake at all

Very grubby inside and the silly light blue, easily stained interior making things look worse. 

Some very very dead front shocks, 

Blowing exhaust with rattle.

Some geometry issues upfront 

 

Plans?

Deep Clean it 

Fix it with the the minimalist of cost. Id guess its worth maybe 500 quid on a very good day so the buget is very tight, 

Cost 325

MOT 40 

so the budget is £135 which doesnt go far! 

 

 

 

[Andyrew]

First up. Lets dig into some dirt. 

 

seats ooooot!

 

 

[Andyrew]

Free fork and a pen!

There was so much glitter!

 

[Andyrew]

While funky the light blue seats are a water mark and grime nightmare. The seats got the trail run of me using my new (too me) wet vac.  Drivers seat wants another go as i learnt more when doing the passengers seat. 

Scrubbed and vac'd

And bolted back in the wagon

 

 

[Andyrew]

The handbrake did zilch and the pedal felt a little low. 

Mr weigh mentioned a very expensive repair bill that got the handbrake working for about 2 weeks or so last MOT.  So i hoped for a mistake and simple fix. 

Boots off

Wheels and drums off revealed new ish discs and pads up front and new shoes at the rear. 

However.

Nearside wheel hub. The self adjuster had fallen down and was rubbing on the rear flange.  Theres ya problem! 

The offside adjust has bits lost from it so it wont self adjust. A lip on the outter of the drum means the shoes were set wrong so they could get the drums back on. both adjusters have been cleaned up and manually adjusted the lips removed from the drums aswell so we now have a lovely handbrake and good pedal feel. 

[Floatylight]

34 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

The handbrake did zilch and the pedal felt a little low. 

Mr weigh mentioned a very expensive repair bill that got the handbrake working for about 2 weeks or so last MOT.  So i hoped for a mistake and simple fix. 

Boots off

Wheels and drums off revealed new ish discs and pads up front and new shoes at the rear. 

However.

Nearside wheel hub. The self adjuster had fallen down and was rubbing on the rear flange.  Theres ya problem! 

The offside adjust has bits lost from it so it wont self adjust. A lip on the outter of the drum means the shoes were set wrong so they could get the drums back on. both adjusters have been cleaned up and manually adjusted the lips removed from the drums aswell so we now have a lovely handbrake and good pedal feel. 

Would of thought this should be worth way more than £500 when you've finished with it based on the current market

[beko1987]

Yey the vax worked! How did you find it? Did it leak much? 

I found another 2 packs of bags for it too if you wanted them? Can tuck them in the barn at the FoD for you when next there

[mk2_craig]

2 hours ago, Andyrew said:

First up. Lets dig into some dirt. 

Y THO 

[Andyrew]

Just because everybody loves a new filter old filter shot.

2.8 ish litres of the finest 10w40 sloshed down its neck and that one job ticked off. 

 

[Andyrew]

6 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Yey the vax worked! How did you find it? Did it leak much? 

I found another 2 packs of bags for it too if you wanted them? Can tuck them in the barn at the FoD for you when next there

Its great!

Once i got used to it i think its a very useful bit of kit.  I changed the o rings on the connectors, which cured those leaks. Theres still a drip on the socket at the front but its only minor. 

 

 

[Andyrew]

Angle of the dangle. 

The N.s mirror was tacked in place with 4 blobs of RTV silicone. The casing wasnt busted so it hadnt taken a wallop. Maybe just broken inside. Lets sort that out. 

First thing was the little toggles holder had unclipped itself. Probably from trying to be adjusted, this clipped back in. The mirror is a very low end pattern part so the overall quality is shite and very creaky. 

Carefully uncliping the glass revealed the centre hub. The  3 adjustment cables push through from the back and the little nipple on the end clips comes though a larger hole and moves inwards to clip in place so all three keep tension one each other.  The black one had ripped through as the plastic had failed. 

I wrapped a small cable tie around the metal cable and wedged it down into the void. The now ment the metal cable stuck up too far out of the hole.  Using a 'jet' lighter (that id actually found under the carpet in the 107) i heated the nipple untill it was cherry red then pushed it down into the cable tie, melting it and essentially glueing the little cable in place. 

A bit of grease around the swivel mech of the mirror. Cleaned off the old silicone and wacked it back on the car.  The mirror glass quality is laughable.