Cooper1 Posted May 25, 2020 Author Share Posted May 25, 2020 Right..Where do i start!! The steering wheel is now finished..First off the stock finish had to be abraded off, and the new paint needed a key. So i raided my Granddads wood work shop and got some really rather gritty sand paper! With that i gave my wood a good rub "fnarr" Dad thought i was mad!! However a good few thick coats of Rustins Mahogany varnish has seen it good..The results..Not too bad eh! -----------------------Next up I decided to get some petrol and odds and sods, not doing a Cummins Luckily hereford is full of narrow roads with high hedges which bounce noise back at you, and 1/4 of the way home i notice a "bang bang" noise coming from the front suspension.First thought is the car is cursed, however i had to find the issue..once home the front wheels came off. Prying and pushing on all the balljoints, showed the Drag link balljoint had failed in a magnificent manner, and was about the fall off!! The nuts really didn't want to play ball!! I got the drivers side balljoint out with some effort!The passengers side however was being a pain in the ****! So my big blue spanner came out..I honestly don't even undo nuts anymore, cut cut them off, so much less hassle!I cut through the but on this side - it being a pain in the ****!!And removed!Great...A new drag link is on order..I can swear this thing is cursed!! one step forward etc etcHands are sore from hitting myself with a hammer!! Hopefully a good few parts come tomorrow!! Broadsword and paulplom 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted May 25, 2020 Author Share Posted May 25, 2020 Just a before and after! Well happy with the result!! paulplom, burraston2006, Carlosfandango and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted May 26, 2020 Author Share Posted May 26, 2020 Next up was a simple little repair.. ? The power steering fluid reservoir can "sweat" some oil out and it makes the thing a dust trap, it looks odd and shouldn't leak!! The old seal is pretty well ruined! New seal vs old one, you can see the difference! ? And fitted! No more leaks present!! Result! ------------ Oh and a small little thing done today was a full detail on the 18" comets.. Just one pic at the moment, as i have parts coming tomorrow for a full update!! I hope!! Carlosfandango, paulplom and burraston2006 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 Next in the ever growing list is the Drag link as posted above.. The new one arrived today, which was surprising! Hats off the the delivery people who put up with an Idiot buying long awkward car parts!! A good idea when replacing a part like this is to keep the old one for reference. In this case the old one i know to be set correctly, so i used it as a guide and set the new one to near enough the same length A tape measure helps In any case you don't want the wheel too far off centre LOL I got it bang on, which i'm happy with.Bolting it up is relatively straight forward, in this case 2 19mm nyloc nuts In the above pic you'll note the blue poly bushes.. They also arrived today..Fitting them is as simple as removing the U clamps, which are 18mm bolts and sliding the new ones on.. Poly bushes resist deformation under load, and don't degrade like rubber does, so a worthwhile upgrade..Blue is comfort biased apparently The old ones were worn to excess..Upon taking it around the block i noted it handles better than ever and the infernal knocking is gone, the new poly bushes are a vast improvement too! However as this car likes to kick me after spending on it, the sunroof seal departed the roof and almost flew off Some glue saw it good.. Brother with the camera!!Nice shirt eh! Carlosfandango, Broadsword and paulplom 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broadsword Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 More great work as usual. I keep thinking I need to leave the odd thing broken on my P38 otherwise it will punish me by coming up with a new and unusual fault! Cooper1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 2 minutes ago, Broadsword said: More great work as usual. I keep thinking I need to leave the odd thing broken on my P38 otherwise it will punish me by coming up with a new and unusual fault! A good rule is to never fix all the faults Mine has rewarded me by letting all the baffles in the exhaust fall out and rattle! Broadsword 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burraston2006 Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 Funnily enough mine has done that. I'll be ordering a new zorst this week. Cooper1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulplom Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 Ever thought about a conversion? Cooper1 and Carlosfandango 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted May 28, 2020 Author Share Posted May 28, 2020 3 hours ago, paulplom said: Ever thought about a conversion? Looks like good fun, but i think towing a trailer would be easier paulplom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted May 28, 2020 Author Share Posted May 28, 2020 When I did the drag link it was noted that the steering damper was worn out.. ? So i put in an order for a nice shiny Terrafirma one Pulling the old one off is easy as pie, 2 15mm bolt heads and 18mm nuts see it removed. New one bolted on, it was a tad harder to fit thanks to having to extend it a tad, the old was one dead it had no resistance Once done I took the old girl around the block, and it handles superbly, it is meant to dampen the shock through the steering wheel That it does very well.. Once home I poured a glass of Coke and sat on the tailgate, just relaxing in the breeze This is why i love these old RR's ?? Coprolalia, paulplom, Broadsword and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlosfandango Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 I spent a lovely summers evening in a very remote part of Co.Kerry with a pal - in a pub drinking dirty big pints of Guinness. We had driven my P38 to the pub and luckily met a young lady who agreed to drive us home due to our inebriation.. We flipped down the rear door, sat on it and off she went. That was one of the most memorable lifts home I’ve ever had. Bloody love my P38 (and Kerry) Apologies for hijacking the tread. Keep up the good work! Carry on. CFD paulplom and Cooper1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted May 28, 2020 Author Share Posted May 28, 2020 They're very easy cars to love Even when things seem to just fall off them! ? Always faniced one, bought one in a moment of madness, and have enjoyed every minute of owning it, even when it breaks! Twiggy and Carlosfandango 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted May 28, 2020 Author Share Posted May 28, 2020 Next little fix was the rather drunken body lean... Its always had it dunno why, from what i can gather the PO fiddled around with the heights or a garage did and fooked them up... It was especially annoying because an idiosyncrasy of the P38 EAS system is it'll level to the lowest corner when turned off, so in Wade mode it would drop stupidly low! ? One issue with me personally is my lack of patience "depression related" not for here though! So today twas the day i'd sort this lean.. The before.. Note the wheel gap difference between NS and OS.. Annoying!! To rectify it, you have to tell the computer what height it should go to, the only issue is you cannot punch in the heights in Inches or cm etc etc the height sensor just see's a set number with no relevance, every car has a different set of numbers.. In the last 2 months i had the EAS go to shit and it needed a new compressor, so in that haste i bought the cable and downloaded the FREE Eas unlock software from RSW solutions and today i decided to plug the cable in and set the heights. This is all the computer shows you. A random set of numbers, which you have to fiddlefuck with to get her to the right heights, oddly you can only input +2 increments, What i did in a nutshell was jack it up on the passenger side and used my Great eyesight "not" and a tape measure to get it near enough.. and here we are now.. Dead level! Very happy with that............. Right up until the point i turned it off!! Tick tick tick goes the valveblock and it looks like i have a fat chick in the passengers seat permanently!! Fuck this i go.. And pull the trim off under the passenger seat and remove the EAS delay relay and replace it with a standard 4 pin relay, this effectively turns off the self levelling the minute the key is turned off.. No pictures as i was red with rage at this point, i might of booted the fucking original relay into the next village. so no pictures probably ever!! Upside is, it sits perfectly level 100% of the time!! Nice...... very happy with that!! Carlosfandango, HarmonicCheeseburger, paulplom and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted May 29, 2020 Author Share Posted May 29, 2020 This is the relay in question.. It sits around here behind the trim panel.. It has around 7 pins IIRC replacing it with a 4 pin stops the auto adjustment when the key if turned off. However after every little fix the car likes to reward me with another fault! This time the exhaust decided it didn't want to be solid anymore, and a few holes appeared!! LOL And when driving it there was a horrible banging and clanking noise, turns out the baffle plates have all fallen out the centre muffler!! And are rattling around, the upside to this is, she sounds very throaty! I've been expecting this, as the exhaust is original and always been crispy ? Also considering she has been a Pembroke/Swansea/Bristol car since around 5 years ago i'd say a mild steel system lasting that long in the sea air is quite good! Oh and I did use the rear bumper to lean on while I was looking and I heard a "twang" and the bumper sagged ? You can't make this shit up!! Turns out the bracket off the chassis needs fabricashun and weldage.. So a massive ziptie has been employed! This is a common issue in P38 circles, not too bad an issue, just patience!! Oh and there is this... And this.. She needs some Love care and attention with regards to the interior and the body, mechanically she is pretty fit... "he says" paulplom, rainagain, Coprolalia and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 The old girl was sat under a tree for the last week, unfortunately the local birds decided to shit all over her!! ? A good old clean was in order Quality control cat was happy with the result Next thing to update is the water ingress issue, i've posted about this quite often however i think it is cured!! Since fixing it I had to wait weeks for it to rain so i could see if the sealant worked, Over the past week it has belted it down!! I gingerly stuck my hand under the carpet and it was dry!!!!! ? ? The sigh of relief was immense! H rainagain, Carlosfandango, burraston2006 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burraston2006 Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Just had a new centre section and both tail pipes fitted to mine on Friday. I got mild steel Brit Part ones from lrparts.net. Cheap as chips. Git all 3 for under £200notes. Not sure how long they will last, but I plan on getting rid of the Green Beastie soon. Cooper1 and Carlosfandango 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 Sounds like a good price there!! I'll probably go down that route!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 Right.. EAS levels should be done and dusted tomorrow, due to my woefully short memory i can't remember if i've said that before!! Anyway, dropping some food/supplies at my sisters "2 metre style" i noted the amount of leanage!! There is quite a bit of leanage, even worse when you have passengers!! So the elimination of the "drunk" lean should be tomorra or the next, depends on whether it is pissing down or not! Twiggy and Carlosfandango 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted June 20, 2020 Author Share Posted June 20, 2020 Right..EAS Shenanigans!My main issue with this old P38 is the suspension sits off kilter and it annoys me to a great degree! Note the height from this picture!That was standard!! ---------------------------------The first thing to do on the road to EAS levelling is to make the calibration blocks which fit inbetween the bumpstops and axles.I borrowed my Granddads broom and made it a tad shorter From bottom to top is..."wade mode""standard""motorway""access" To punch the heights inPut the suspension on high, jack it up a bit more (one jack on the front crossmember just in front of the radiator, the other one under the towbar) and put your blocks in, starting with the highest. Release the jacks, then poke the rocker on the dash for access height. so it drops down and sits on the blocks. Open the door to inhibit it. Go to the Heights tab in the software and click, Get Sensor Heights, make a note of the readings for each corner. Go to the Calibrate tab, click Read All and you'll see two sets of numbers. Top ones are what it is programmed to now and the bottom set of numbers will show the same numbers. Change the bottom set to what you have just noted down and click Write. If you then click on Read All again, you'll see that the top set, the programmed heights, will have changed to what you have just input in the bottom set.Jack up, take your blocks out, fit the next set (Standard) and do the same thing for each height setting. The result of my labours! I've got my monster truck back too!! To give a sense of perspective those posts the gates are attached to stand at 6"2 On the road you can be eye to eye with a Transit! Driving her is great. it is even better than before, she no longer leans and the handling is superb.. Ride has improved even more so too! Next up with every light there is dark..I parked her on the road and came back to this..I know I didn't do this myself..Not happy. Robson3022, paulplom and rainagain 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted June 21, 2020 Author Share Posted June 21, 2020 the scratch has come out with some effort I used my Machine polisher with some Meguires Scratch X this worked rather quickly as the LR paint is extremely soft.. It was then top coated with this Before And the after The rest of the body was also treated to a good coat via machine, to save my arms Lol It came out surprisingly well!! very happy. H Coprolalia, paulplom, Twiggy and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted June 24, 2020 Author Share Posted June 24, 2020 Just to prove this thing actually moves here are some pics from some random B&Q car park She is sitting 100% level and the ride is far superior! It looks alright! I did accidentally reverse her into the hedge after misjudging the lack of length in the spaces lol Carlosfandango 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asimo Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 Your patience with this is amazing. Cooper1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 Been a little while since posting on here... Some interior cosmetics distracted me from the endless mechanical melody's. ? The carpet in this thing have gone through several scrubbing sessions, however a few careless months have made the interior not only look sad but feel and smell it! ? The products I needed to use had to have muscle. Vanish foam and powder seemed to fit the bill! here are the proverbial before pictures! Passengers footwell Boot carpet. door pocket. The cleanup required a load of scrubbing with the foam.. All the surfaces were treated to this.. Followed by the powder once the carpet was dry, this was more to make it smell fresh inside! Once worked in it was hoovered off with "George" The passenger side carpet seems to have lost its colour, hence lack of "wow" factor! Threw a mat in there! The crap was cleaned off the door card, The drivers side carpet was also treated to a good clean, the seats too were scrubbed down.. rear too even though it was clean back there for a change! Much tidier, smells a good bit better too, the carpet is soft aswell!! the dark patches are the pile, it needs to be brushed, another thing on the list! C1 500tops, Craig the Princess, Carlosfandango and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 "Mechanical issues" Yep... ? On my way home from Work I had a dalliance with a Range Rover Sport, both up us coming down the M5 we were well within the limit etc etc Kicking her down to 3 and pressing the Sport button we made progress after letting off the throttle there was a horrible rattle noise from the front end, assuming it was terminal, being as i had just stretched her legs, we pulled off into the services, Fortunately it was the belt tensioner falling off! ? lol Managed to get home.. Parts had to be ordered!! When they arrived it was straight off with the plastic shrouds and the fan.. I just dropped the fan down, just to make taking bolts out easier. The tensioner is held with one bolt, While I was there it seemed prudent to replace the alternator too, reason being the bearing in there was shot too!!!! Fitting is very simple, being the Thor v8! Lots of space, A complete shot! Oh and this was the noise.. paulplom, Coprolalia, Carlosfandango and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 "Loose Ends" ? Another little thing popped up, The idle has always been questionable when cold, however recently it had started to idle stupidly high.. This was her cold idle which doesn't do the Auto box anygood, so i had to wait until she was hot and the idle dropped down before I could drive anywhere! There were two things I needed.. #1 The throttle position sensor. #2 Idle air control valve.. It seemed odd, however the code reader showed both had packed in! Parts. Old and new. it is held on with 2 5mm bolts. Next up this little gizmo that manages the idle.. This is the new one fitted, the original had seized, I took the IACV apart with a Hammer And found the spindle had seized in the open position hence my high idle, the needle roller had locked up! Needle roller More to come! paulplom, Coprolalia and Carlosfandango 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 LPG shenanigans! ?️ Since I put her on the road I've been running her on petrol for 3 reasons.. pez dropped to £1 a litre, and LPG pumps aren't pay at pump, and with CV19 I didn't want to wander into a cashier 8 times a week like a bellend trying to feed this things thirst! 7 And lastly it hasn't worked since the MOT! So last week some investigation was required into why the system didn't work.. Pulling the cover off the tank allowed access to one of the valve solenoids. First off I cracked off the line to make sure there was Gas in there, yes the gauge says half a tank, however i tapped the needle and it dropped down and back up!! Defo froze mt spanner 7 Old coil/solenoid off. New once checked. And fitted This didn't help.. So investigation moved to the reducer, this has a temp sensor on it, if it fails the car won't switch.. Mine was quite green! Stripping off the loom tape gave me access to the wires. A good bodge is to splice the wires together, a temp fix mind you! Result.. Much happier, LPG is cheaper and cleaner!! she runs sweet on the GAS! Makes my commute affordable too! paulplom and Carlosfandango 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 "oil leaks". Not fixing them... Just filling it back up again!! LOL Coprolalia 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 Sorry for the Photo bomb the last 2 pages!! Over the last few weeks I've been running errands, and recently I dropped off my Nephews birfday presents! I took a pic of the car, just to prove it moves! She's sitting prefect!! well happy! Next up were these little foam pieces... I've been pondering where they go for Months. Excuse the rubbish on them, damn spiders!! After some thinking I realised They go in the upper tailgate to filter out the air, there are vents in the upper tailgate to allow air in, unfortunately dirt and crap can get in!! Foams fitted" :) Coprolalia, Carlosfandango and N Dentressangle 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper1 Posted July 23, 2020 Author Share Posted July 23, 2020 Today more parts arrived for the Old bus..This time a service Kit for the Tranny I did a quick drain and refill a few months ago, however a full fluid and filter change has been looming for a good while now, and with the miles that are getting piled on her, it was due! Draining the fluid was a laugh, trying to balance an old bottle and take the drain plug out at the same time, only created a small environmental hazard Once it went from torrential downpour to incontinent poodle i had to bung the drain plug back in to stop the fluid dripping in my eyes and face! The sump is held on with these clamps/bolts, which are ingenious and provide provide a fixing that almost always snaps in half mine didn't though and the sump fell off! This was the important part for me, I was hoping not to find either a sump full of clutch material or metal chunks!There were some filings in there, but not bad considering the sump hasn't been off since 2003 at the 25k service!Climbing back underneath revealed the filter that needed to come off, 3 T27 torx bolts.New one on! - The bolts that hold the valvebody to the gearbox were also nipped up, as some of them were loose, this is common on all Autoboxes and it can cause a loss of line pressure if left too long. Shiny!! Sump cleaned up with new seal!Sump refitted and Oil topped off. She was taken for a good drive to get the oil in all the important places " any excuse to drive it really!" A 150mi Jaunt up and down the M5 did it! Verdict is....She shifts up and down the gears beautifully, there was a slight jerk when changing up between 1-2 but that has gone, to be fair i'm happy with there being new fluid in there! Probably more to come when it breaks again! Just to compare old/new.New on the right - old on the left. Twiggy, Scruffy Bodger, N Dentressangle and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJK 24 Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 Great thread, great car! Probably unusual these days for one of these having some much TLC and preventative maintenance thrown at it. I’m sure most are experiencing a managed retreat which is sad really. Keep up the good work ? Cooper1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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