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Dollywobbler's Consolidated Tat Thread


dollywobbler

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1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

Yeah, I may need to invest in a seal kit, or new pins, but I'll strip it down when the weather is being a bit more kind and have a look. 

One worrying thing about acquiring the Delica is that it takes me to eight cars. Of the eight, only three are currently road legal, and one of those (the Invacar) is leaking so much engine oil that I really need to sort that out. And the that the offside window glass fell out. Am I a hoarder now?

I got Autofren seal kits for buttons on Autodoc. Pretty sure I got all the pistons and seals for less than 25 quid. Worth a look if you can put up with the slow delivery. 

 

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Playtime.

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Got the Fox and Matiz out for a bit of yard exercise yesterday. Both started well (Matiz after a jump). But the main job was to get the rear hubnuts (ha) undone on the 2CV. 44mm, tightened to over 250lb.ft. Scaffold bar to the rescue! I'll get one rear wheel bearing replaced by a specialist (as specialist tools required) and then fit new wheel cylinders and then try to work out how I calculate 250lb.ft to fit the new nuts...

Also gave the GSA an oil change, but discovered that the new filter didn't fit. Very annoying. Had to refit the old one. As ever, an absolute sod of a job. The filter is right in front of you on top of the engine, but you can barely get a wrench on it, and it was TIGHT. Ripped my hands and gloves apart BECAUSE FRENCH. 

I also adjusted the clutch, for which you need shortened 16mm and 19mm spanners BECAUSE FRENCH. Access is so poor that you can only get one hand in. One hand, two spanners, I tried, I failed. BECAUSE FRENCH. In the end, I managed to get a small pair of molegrips on the top nut, and loosened the 16mm. I've left them finger tight. Clutch whistle has gone away as the thrust bearing is now being properly released.

At least it looks nice, and now drives beautifully.

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Video on the 2CV, Matiz and Fox here. GSA one will follow in a few days.

 

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Oh, forgot the CityRover update. I've been trying to get hold of front strut tops for a while. Found some on Ebay. They didn't get sent. Emailed. No reply. Called and they claimed payment wasn't received. Which was odd. As it was definitely taken from me. Queried with Ebay and it turns out that somehow, their PayPal had become disconnected from their Ebay. Fed up with faffing, I paid again for a pair to be sent out that day. They weren't. 

Instead, they were sent the next day. "Rear mounts in the post," they texted. "Er, it was FRONT mounts I ordered..." Silence. Did more work on the cars, called them back, no front mounts in stock but I could keep the rear mounts, for which they'd refund me. Bit annoying that I do need one rear mount but have already purchased it elsewhere. Front mounts need restocking from China, but should be here in three months... 

Had a frantic search for more. They're still listing the mounts they haven't got on Ebay, but managed to find them on Rimmer Bros for decent money - £30 the pair. Ordered them. Hoping they do actually have them.

Garage is waiting to have all the parts before starting the work, which amounts to little more than fit the strut mounts and weld the sills. Oh, and fit some new tyres.

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No, it turns out Rimmer Bros do not actually have them. They reckon they'll get them next week, but I will not be holding my breath. 

I'm exploring other leads, but it gets rather demoralising when every option turns up a blank. It does rather make you wonder why I'm bothering. I mean, it's not like the CityRover is particularly pleasant to drive after all this! I wouldn't call it rewarding. Should I just cut my losses, bin it (amusingly it's at the same garage as the last car I scrapped, which was also a Rover...) and move on? I mean, Austin-Rover on here has a much nicer one in preservation.

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Cheers. Problem with looking in Europe is the cost of postage goes up, so I'm worried I'm just going to end up spending a ton of money on a car that's worthless. I know I usually don't care about that, but I'm expecting a total MOT bill of over £400, which is twice what I paid for the car...

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make you wonder why I'm bothering. I mean, it's not like the CityRover is particularly pleasant to drive after all this! I wouldn't call it rewarding

but I'm expecting a total MOT bill of over £400, which is twice what I paid for the car...

Umm think you answered your own question. I know you like the unloved, unusual, chod, but you have other cars you clearly love more, that you could spend the money on. The Delica for example is now the prime vehicle for your family. As you are transporting sproglets, better to make that car as safe and good as possible. Plus you clearly love the 2CV and she needs work.

It's not like the City Rover is big enough for a family outing, well not a comfortable one anyway. You can always pick up a CityRover for sweet FA in the future, if you find you have a CityRover hole in your life.

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Personal thoughts? I would sit on it for a couple of months, get something else up and running if you have the inclination to do so and see what comes up for the "Indian Takeaway". Would a fellow shiter or HubNutter (particularly one in Europe or Asia with better access to parts) be able to procure or fabricate and/or weld in the parts needed after lockdown? With @beko1987's idea popping up as I type this it could also be a winner. I would certainly pop a few quid toward said parts, alongside my Patreon subscription, for this car to stay around a few more years, even if not as part of the HubNut fleet.

It would be nice to see Myrtle on the road again. 3-pot engine noise and the purple is a particularly attractive colour for an early Matiz.

As an aside, I've recently re-watched the whole Foxanne story and noticed something on your run to Bromley - occasionally the voltmeter would swing hard to the right for a second or 2; if the regulator is on the blink it might explain the high temperature gauge and iffy fuel gauge, I certainly don't think she overheats. It looks like a boggo ACR Lucas job so should be an easy fix/replace if that's the cause. Leaky/rusty fuel tank may also be the fuel gauge issue - poor earth.

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On 6/10/2020 at 12:20 PM, dollywobbler said:

 

Also gave the GSA an oil change, but discovered that the new filter didn't fit. Very annoying. Had to refit the old one. As ever, an absolute sod of a job. The filter is right in front of you on top of the engine, but you can barely get a wrench on it, and it was TIGHT.

To make this less messy, you can punch a hole in the old filter to allow the oil to drain back into the engine - but a good job you didn't in this case!

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10 hours ago, mat_the_cat said:

To make this less messy, you can punch a hole in the old filter to allow the oil to drain back into the engine - but a good job you didn't in this case!

It actually seemed to drain, which is good. But yes, I'm glad I didn't punch a hole in it, nor resort to smashing a screwdriver through it! Video will be up shortly.

11 hours ago, beko1987 said:

You could give it away as a project to a subscriber? Ad revenue from the video should make the pain go away... 

Ad revenue would be about £50, but I guess that's better than nothing!

10 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

Personal thoughts? I would sit on it for a couple of months, get something else up and running if you have the inclination to do so and see what comes up for the "Indian Takeaway". Would a fellow shiter or HubNutter (particularly one in Europe or Asia with better access to parts) be able to procure or fabricate and/or weld in the parts needed after lockdown? With @beko1987's idea popping up as I type this it could also be a winner. I would certainly pop a few quid toward said parts, alongside my Patreon subscription, for this car to stay around a few more years, even if not as part of the HubNut fleet.

It would be nice to see Myrtle on the road again. 3-pot engine noise and the purple is a particularly attractive colour for an early Matiz.

As an aside, I've recently re-watched the whole Foxanne story and noticed something on your run to Bromley - occasionally the voltmeter would swing hard to the right for a second or 2; if the regulator is on the blink it might explain the high temperature gauge and iffy fuel gauge, I certainly don't think she overheats. It looks like a boggo ACR Lucas job so should be an easy fix/replace if that's the cause. Leaky/rusty fuel tank may also be the fuel gauge issue - poor earth.

Yes, I'm inclined to get it back to the unit and try again at some other point. No rush.

Oh yes, on the Fox, there is a lot to do. I hadn't noticed the needle swinging about, but I do suspect the overheat warnings were false. Fuel tank needs dropping because it's badly leaking. 

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About 10 years ago I gave some serious consideration to buying a MK1 Astra as a daily. While that chapter in my motoring history never happened I did research parts availability of the car in question. One NLA part was the strut top bearings which were unobtanium worldwide and likely to stay that way as the cost of having a batch made was massive. The best known workaround at the time was to weld the centre from a Corsa strut top bearing into the mounting flange for the MK1 Astra.

I'd be inclined to pull the strut top from the car and try to find the closest alternative you can from a car with good parts availability and adapt to suit. While I wouldn't try to make out that this isn't going to be a lot of work it should be very possible since pretty much all cars use McPherson strut front ends and a strut top bearing is basically just a spherical bearing attached to a mounting plate. 

Whatever route you take I agree with previous comments that recovering the car and parking it in a corner of the unit for the time being is probably the best course of action as there are plenty of other fleet members needing attention. 

As for spending £400+ on the car. I tend to apply rather more optimistic man maths. Current (scrap) value of car is £100 tops. So current value plus repair cost is around £500. £500 for a reasonably tidy and functioning car with a full years ticket is a reasonable deal if you were going to buy it so by my calculations you are still winning at life ?.

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It is all starting to make me realise how good a 2CV is as an older daily. You can get everything for one, next day delivery. I just wish I did a slightly better job of looking after mine as most jobs I do seem to be complicated by my own neglect... I'm seriously wishing I'd done more of a mechanical overhaul while the body was off the chassis a few years ago. That said, money was tight with every penny going on the body, so discovering a load of mechanical trauma on top would not have been welcome.

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1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

It is all starting to make me realise how good a 2CV is as an older daily. You can get everything for one, next day delivery. I just wish I did a slightly better job of looking after mine as most jobs I do seem to be complicated by my own neglect... I'm seriously wishing I'd done more of a mechanical overhaul while the body was off the chassis a few years ago. That said, money was tight with every penny going on the body, so discovering a load of mechanical trauma on top would not have been welcome.

 Being nearly 9 months into ownership of a modern-ish classic, I'm beginning to appreciate it. VAG parts availability is pretty well supported and plenty of parts had a long life in plenty of cars so there's almost always an option. 

2cv has the benefit of a massive following and a bit like LR you can get most bits you need. 

Looking forward to seeing the 2CV out again anyway. I had a funny dream that I bought a blue one and the coil broke and I didn't have a spare. Sounds like an AS dream alright.... 

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Moar GSA action.

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Steering rack gaiter had come adrift. Though it'd be a simple cable tie job, but being Citroen, the gaiter attaches to a plastic tube, which goes through the subframe and sort-of clips over the end of the steering rack in a place you can't get to. The plastic is in poor condition, so my guess is the gaiter will pop off as soon as I turn left and stretch it.

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3 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

Moar GSA action.

EaewMLfWAAA15ya?format=jpg&name=small

Steering rack gaiter had come adrift. Though it'd be a simple cable tie job, but being Citroen, the gaiter attaches to a plastic tube, which goes through the subframe and sort-of clips over the end of the steering rack in a place you can't get to. The plastic is in poor condition, so my guess is the gaiter will pop off as soon as I turn left and stretch it.

Even back in 1985 when I was running this 1978 GS as my daily when the clutch wore out I could not find a garage who would do the job for me. This was because every garage I asked said the car was too difficult and awkward. I did it myself in the end with the guidance of my late father who was a long term GS owner and just got on with things.

Citroen GS X2 brown ph3 v4.jpg

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Even back in 1985 when I was running this 1978 GS as my daily when the clutch wore out I could not find a garage who would do the job for me. This was because every garage I asked said the car was too difficult and awkward. I did it myself in the end with the guidance of my late father who was a long term GS owner and just got on with things.
221824315_CitroenGSX2brownph3v4.jpg.326a20d49478234245828685079c4d32.jpg

Exactly why I did the clutch and cambelts on my first GSA back in 2002 ish. No one would touch it, so I had to do them.
You haven’t lived until you’ve taken the front under tray off a Citroen G series. (Others compare it to purgatory)
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32 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Is it the case that you have to drop the rear subframe to change the spheres? That's how it looked when I was under there a few weeks ago.

No, luckily.

The correct way to do it is undo the rear suspension cylinder and remove it from the car.  But thats sometimes easier said that done when the pins are seized. You can also undo the 3.5mm pipe feeding it, unclip it and wiggle/pull/swear it out just enough to access the sphere and change it.

And you never want to have to do the rear brake pipe feed lines, just don't ask. Clean them and cover them in wax or something now and keep your fingers crossed.

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Lovely.

Anyway, to help reduce the fleet a bit, I bought another car. It lands Saturday hopefully. You will like it.

But I really do need to get sensible. I think I need to give up on the CityRover, so it's available for £200ono - no MOT, needs welding and strut tops (or find better struts in a scrappy). 

Tercel is also up for grabs, but I do have an interested party there.  I was going to flog the Fox too, but suddenly people seem to really like it, so maybe I won't.

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I was going to suggest get the work done on the CityR with a view of 'straight to roffle' - but not sure it would fly at £10 a ticket? Maybe I'm wrong, but getting shot sounds easier!

That's the 2nd time the Fox has almost reached the end. I defended it last time, suggesting it was a useful small van - but the Delica kind of makes that argument weaker.

And I'm no business savvy 'tuber - but I'd guess you may have had the most of the monetisation/views out of the Reliant.

 

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17 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

Is it the case that you have to drop the rear subframe to change the spheres? That's how it looked when I was under there a few weeks ago.

It's not that hard a job - a rough guide here, and also some details in my GSA thread

https://fuguttycars.wordpress.com/2018/06/06/a-spherical-challenge/

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