Andy's awful autos: Vanden-blah

[AnthonyG]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, I hope 2023 turns out better for you.

That Hippo looks a bit of a bargain though for £500, with lowish mileage and FSH. BTW who are the 3 amigos? Is it a set of dashboard lights that like to come on in concert?

[Andyrew]

8 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

Sorry to hear of your troubles, I hope 2023 turns out better for you.

That Hippo looks a bit of a bargain though for £500, with lowish mileage and FSH. BTW who are the 3 amigos? Is it a set of dashboard lights that like to come on in concert?

I think it should be a good motor, its a very low risk given it scraps for 400 quid. 

Should clean up and look minty fresh. 

The three amigos is exactly that.  Usually  abs/ hill decent /traction control related lights. 

Happens on disco 2s alot.  On the freelander new owners old disco is always tied in with a wheel bearing being shot but i believe an earthkng issue for the module can also cause issues. 

Googling seems to suggest on Freelanders its the abs rings on the CV joints breaking or a duff sensor.

 

 

[Andyrew]

One last fondle before you go. 

Sadly the little red mazda is leaving, i love driving this little shonky several shades shed and im so glad i bought it. Ill be sad to see it go but its time to get rid of cars and get old (and new) projects going again.

The mx5 has been in the workshop since i bought the panda so the brakes had crusted up and i had noted a n.s caliper sticking. All 4 were replaced when i first got the car so ive swapped it under warranty.

Up we go. 

The 20 quid 2nd beam jack really is very handy. 

Rears stripped, cleaned up with the DA and re greased

Fronts recieved the same treatment and a new caliper nearside. 

While the wheels were off rotated then and gave the tyres an inspection and picked out any stones and wedged in crap. 

Tomorrow it gets a bath and an oil change and fingers crossed im off to collect the sprinter of which i done the MOT repairs on this weekend gone, we will see how that pans out.  After that we are collecting the freelander! 

Possibly Going to be a busy day 

 

 

 

[Andyrew]

Its collection time! 

 

[Andyrew]

No surprises as to what it is but its officially mine now. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

that's an impressive roof rack!😆

[Floatylight]

1 hour ago, Andyrew said:

No surprises as to what it is but its officially mine now. 

So you're starting, AutoShite TV? Or you watch some very obscure specialist interest satellite channels?

[Andyrew]

42 minutes ago, Floatylight said:

So you're starting, AutoShite TV? Or you watch some very obscure specialist interest satellite channels?

When i use to work in this industry id go out and do some on site repairs to these types of vans. 

Every single one i seemed to go to a job the engineer/ operator of the van would test the repair id done buy setting up and picking up the most obscure porn from around the world! 

I recall being on a street in london for a well known tv station with the audio of some woman expressing her enjoyment rather loudly coming from the van. 

[Andyrew]

Grimness!

[crad]

van looks clean as to me without my glasses on

 

well bought i say

[Andyrew]

Cleaned up and a final pic with the photogenic tree.  

if your thinking you should buy an mx5. Just do it, you wont regret it. 

 

Well you might come MOT time but until then. Just GIB!

[Andyrew]

Claggy Clatter club. 

With the mx5 delivered to its new home i was in need of a ride back, mr6 was going to give me a lift back but as the trusty Zx had shown its issue was still around i offered to have a nosey at it and use it for a few days to see if theres any pattern to its spluttery starting. 

what a lovely thing to drive it is.  Just does being a car nicely.  A charming bit of lag then off we go, I do love old diesels.  Handles nicely and just feels like a good place to be.  Except for the ice cold water that pissed through the interior light panel when i was turning left today!  Gets a thumbs up from me.

The Astra went in for its MOT today and recieved a fresh ticket.  Id done zero prep, the cars filthy and the back was full of 3 tyres a headlight and 10 sprinter repair panels. Not how i like to take cars to my tester but thats just how it went. 

Really must give this car a clean. Its pretty grim! 

[Andyrew]

Finally a proper introduction of  TZY ( pronounced "Tizzy" ) the sprinter,  previously nicknamed that by the Broadcasting company it was used as the run around wagon.  Its been to europe many times, hauled genrators up and down the country and generally raised eyebrows when entering very expensive stadiums and arenas when used for sight work. 

2.7 5cylinder lump rocking a tad over 150bhp (when it was new) and when on boost pulls surprisingly quickly. 

Just shy of 250k on the clock and a rather interesting paint finish. 

Rusty on the outside but surpringly very solid underneath. 

Could be worse could be better, but this silver shitter sure makes me smile. 

The plan then? 

Do my usual. Go through it mechanically and get it reliably sorted. New brakes, tyres, shocks etc etc.  

It will be being converted into a camper, not a full on home from home type. A nicely insulated van, lined and carpeted with heating and bed/s.  Roof vents, a pair of side widows and maybe somedisco 2 alpine windows as i have them and the surrounding metalwork. (See soup classic motoring on youtube) 

As much as i like the rough bodywork it will be eventually painted one colour as its not exactly a good look to entering campsites. 

[Andyrew]

Brush painted lower half, bad rattle can black bumpers and a dissolved headlight trim thats long since left the chat.

My MOT duct tape failing to hold up reveals thats Door bottoms are overated.

As too are door handles. 

 

 

 

[Andyrew]

ODB

The freelander , arrived at the workshop a week or so back.  Some tinkering has happened on sundays and occasional evenings when the owners around. Its had filters changed.  The fuel filter was original and i can see why. What a stupid design buried under the fuse box and ecu housing. 

The brakes stripped and cleaned up. New wipers, new maf sensor. Fixed a couple of damaged vac lines and  all that it left too do is fit 5 replacements tyres, and an abs ring on the o.s joint then its MOT time.  Maybe mid next week.

As the weather was nice and we were ment to be doing something in the afternoon today it just recieved a good bath inside and out and the massive bumpers treated. And its looking very sharp indeed. just a good machine polish ,many coats of wax and new plates to go on now. 

 

[Andyrew]

Another month and some tinkering has occured. 

With a mix up over the MOT date see this beauty dumped at the workshop with a wifi back box and my silver steed astra went away for a few days.  

What should have been an easy new exhaust and a check over turned into a mess due to shit parts.  EEC exhausts = complete shite. 

Anyway, MOT acheived. 

Cars performkng nicely. Tyres rotated which revealed the back tyres hadnt been balanced when the tyre place fitted them causing a steering shake at 70mph now they was upfront,  so a few days later i rebalanced them and all is well. Overall still a good wagon.

 

 

[Andyrew]

The Astra aboves replacement however is being a pig. All issues are from lack of use i guess and well its a land rover.

Front abs ring cured the light on the dash. Upon a test drive the car shut off and died then stated again now rocking a battery light! Wtf. 

Yep one dead alternator. It did sound rather tired bearing wise.

With the done a rare sight of a land rover with no dash lights! A set of good tyres were swapped onto it and we are now test ready . . .

We back it into the workshop and the three amigos lights return.  Then dont then do.   Say every ten key turns its 50 50 if they stay on. I decided we should just go for the test anyway the following week and see what happens. 

We try to see if there is any consistancy to the lights and cycle the ignition on and off and call it a night. 

A few days later i need ODB out of the way to get in a rather sickly peugeot partner and upto trying to start the freelander says no. 

Crank crank crank. Not even a splutter. 

WTAF. 

Its towed out and left outside for the night to think about what its done. 

So what has it done? Shat the fuel pump in the tank. Those final few on and offs were its last fuck to give. 

 

 

 

 

[Andyrew]

In my car realated news, this happend in TZY.  Okay so i missed the moment by 73 miles.

Fresh oil and filter, 9 bastard litres! 

A new side door handle was fitted

The Air filter was about due

The rear door later was spaced out to get the door to shut tighter and now rattle around like a bucket of spanners.

A smidge worn out.

 

[Andyrew]

OMGHGF

The Chuggy buggy. A 1.4 pug partner wheelchair wagon turned allotment car. 

2 months ago it parked up fine but upon the owner re starting it many a cough and splutter occured. It then smoked (steamed) its way down the road to her mechanic. 2 months its been there with the diagnosis of a fucked engine and none being availible to fix it and they guy wasnt willing to take it on. 

She tried all the other good places and everyone else said nope. I know all the garages as they are customers of my work and they are busy guys and shite like this is not up on the list for them even tho the owner is finacially well off and didnt care what the final bill would have been. She is a friend of My good friend gary whos had ups and down in his life and she has stepped in to help him and drag him out whenever she can and if hes willing to help her with the car then im willing to help him.

One steamy trip to the workshop later we whip the plugs out and i shove my camera down the bores. One very wet pink piston in cylinder one confirms our problem.  The oil is still fresh looking so i dont think any harm has occured in the bottom end. Either way the owner is happy to gamble.

Many items removed quickly to get the head over to a friend who recons them for a living. 

Piston Liners all feel level. A plate was put over the top of them and strapped down then covered up.

Head was dropped off yesterday morning. Pressure tested, hot washed and skimmed. For a heavily discounted rate thankfully!  Theres some heavy corrosion but its okay and just good enough to not require welding up. 

 

 

[Andyrew]

Rocking a fat headache that didnt want to bugger off i didnt want anything challenging today.  The fuel pump was all reconnected and a test fire of the freelander reveals we are now back up and running. The cheapo questionable brand i got however decided that fuel level readings are not its job. So another unit is on order and ill collect it tomorrow from work. 

The headlights needed a bit more of a polish on TZY and even before i got the van id picked up some new trims for under the headlights. A quick splash of some silver i had and some clear got those painted. While off i spruced up the grille as it was chipped and badly sprayed flaky black

Id started cleaning off the rattle black on the bumpers but its just so ingrained. I think repainting them with bumper grey will be easier and better.

 

[Andyrew]

After finishing up putting lipstick on a pig. I had a quick look at the puglet. Yesterday my friend was down to clean up the block and remove the water pump in prep for the new one. 

It was a bit of a late start and with the first bolt removed the second decided to shear. Great! I hear some swearing while im wrestling a fuel pump into a freelander.  Mate come our with broken bolt in hand. I said this is now the time to walk away, go home and have some dinner. Anything else tried tonight will go tits up and so we left it there. 

Handily the stud has snapped in the water pump housing which is located in a part thats actually bolted to the bottom end. Thank fuck for that! 

Tonight i removed said lump. Its a water pump housing thats aslo engine mounting point. Odd but handy.

Tomorrow ill weld a nut on and hopefully it comes out without a fight. 

[Andyrew]

Another shite shuffle. 

Today see some moving around in the workshop. The vp1500 thats been with me far to long is back up on the lift to get it gone in time for the 50th. 

While i fired My agro up the other day it probably wont be going as i dont think ill get the time off.

The safrane was fired up and move around the yard and has decided to stumble when in gear. Ive no idea why this is as its never done it before. 

Vp is now up on the lift for the finishing of the welding and putting the fuel system and interior back in. New tyres and suspension pump up  also required. 

 

 

[Andyrew]

In other news the "chuggy buggy" has gone back to its very happy owner and running good. A new thermostat is going to be fitted also some Discs and pads sometime soon. 

The freelander recieved another new fuel tank sender and a water leak though the boot window fixed.  A new window regulator was also fitted on one of the rear door. 

 

One key thing this week tho is ive come to the conclusion that im just not getting any enjoyment from working on cars anymore.  Proabably stems from having too many unfinished projects and things to do but so far this year i struggle to enjoy anything really and cars tinkering used to keep me amused but now its just like doing chores.

Ohh well, is what it is. 

 

[High Jetter]

Sorry to hear that, hope your 'mojo' returns soon.

[Dj_efk]

Sack off all the projects and focus on just one or perhaps two that you can drive and enjoy doing so.

[Andyrew]

 

[Rocket88]

After that breakfast, massive poo count……

[Andyrew]

19 minutes ago, Rocket88 said:

After that breakfast, massive poo count……

Confirmed. .

 

1

[Andyrew]

Pease pottage brunch 

[Andyrew]

Collected