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Harrison's Garage - Mini City, back on the road!


rob88h

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Focus W_FOB - The Circle of Shite (To be sang as if in the Lion King)

As is life, the Focus broke down when I went to pick up the spare part to finally fix the Volvo and get that back on the road! It seemed a bit symbolic that I can only have so many working cars at any one time.

Upon joining the A12 I experienced heavy heavy vibrations. “Great”, I thought, “flat tyre”. A lay-by was coming up so I jumped in and jumped out. All for tyres were ok so my next thought was brakes. The right front was super hot and clearly binding (and stank). 

Frustrated I stomped the pedal a bit then tried rolling forward in the lay-by and it rolled nice and freely. Quick fix. 

We’ve got some miles to cover this weekend, and I didn’t fancy a motorway breakdown with the wife and dogs, so rather than going to the pub I did an F1* calliper and discs/pads change (yes both sides)

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New brakes never cease to be satisfying. 

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I also got rid of the boiled fluids as a good excuse to use my new tool again. The driveway is becoming a bit of a three generation Ford garage.

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Post bedding-in. 
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Sierra DieseL

A line up of my Fords is a photo I’d like. The Granada is a bit behind in its roadworthyness (predictive text aptly wants roadworthy mess). I’m not even sure if it would start right now. Must try harder. 

Speaking of trying harder, I’ve been chipping away as some of the Sierra jobs. Some nitshit yet MOT essential jobs like hanging the rear view mirror and clamping down the battery - the original clamp and bolt was hiding underneath the battery, result!

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I also changed all the aux belts for new ones. The engine timing is on a (presumably for life) chain. I’m slightly annoyed that the two alternator belts have slightly different printed section spacing. I lined them up on the crank pulley end but they don’t match up. 

With my OCD put safely back in it’s box and buoyed by my recent Volvo electrics diagnosis successes I decided to tackle some of the suspect wiring jobs I’ve spotted. (Also @wesacosa made me feel a bit guilty about some of the safety in this wiring bodgery I’d inherited and ignored). The first and easiest was the speaker wire rear demister; aka fire hazard. I say easiest because it turns out it’s not actually the rear demister. Instead it’s a brake light and the wire was simply routed around the demister and tucked into the screen rubber. 

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I’m very much guessing this is not OEM, and not a requirement on a car this old, so may strip it out before the MOT. 

Next was my “mystery purple wire”.

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It was jammed into the fuse blade of the dash lights, but the other end went to what I found out to be a fuel cut off solenoid. In the bag-of-bits that came with the car there was a fly lead with the same connector as the fuel cut off solenoid. The plot thickens. The other end was a spade connector, giving me something to look for in terms of original wiring at least. I did find it! and continuity checked it to ground. Nada. At least I know why the mystery purple wire is here now. Tracing it back I found this:

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Kill switch, bingo! With it switched I have continuity on the original* wiring. I put all that back together and it’s now running without the mystery purple wire in the fuse bodge. I guess the guy who got this running before I bought it never found the switch, but found that the fuel cut solenoid wire was at fault so just added the wire in. So close. 

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There’s not much more procrastination to do on the Sierra, I really should just stick it in for MOT and see what happens…

…probably fail on this rust. 

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It passes the poke test, but hey, if it needs it it needs it. 

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6 hours ago, sierraman said:

Do you find the oil burning on the Focus presents much of an issue at MOT time? 

The Bell Tolls for this Focus around its emissions I recon. The last MOT was passed, but it was towards the upper end of the Hydrocarbon limits. On the same MOT I also had the fortune of the advisory [6.1.2(a)] Exhaust has minor leak of exhaust gases – which I’m sure helped reduce the tailpipe emissions. That was at 160k miles. We’re getting close to 170k now, the oil consumption has increased, and the exhaust is repaired. We’ll see how it fairs on its next test in January… For now, I’m just giving it weekly checks and ensuring it stays above minimum fill level with whatever motor oil I’ve got handy.

 

3 hours ago, Bren said:

Tell us about the granada?

The Granada, the Granada. It has been sat for about a year now, poor thing. It’s become a victim of short-term distractions in the project queue, always with the well-meaning intentions of a quick turnaround so that I can then return to the Granada. That’s not really happened in practise though, what with the 480 then becoming the Fiesta, the Taxi, the Audi, the Rover, the Sierra etc… That and I’m still regularly working on the Mini and the 440 and Focus on the side.

My intentions are: 1), Buy less distractions (hopeful). 2), Finish off the Sierra to a level I’m happy with. 3), Get stuck back in on the Granada! In that order

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The only car worse off is the rotten MX-5 that doesn’t even get a look-in these days.

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3 minutes ago, rob88h said:

The Bell Tolls for this Focus around its emissions I recon. The last MOT was passed, but it was towards the upper end of the Hydrocarbon limits. On the same MOT I also had the fortune of the advisory [6.1.2(a)] Exhaust has minor leak of exhaust gases – which I’m sure helped reduce the tailpipe emissions. That was at 160k miles. We’re getting close to 170k now, the oil consumption has increased, and the exhaust is repaired. We’ll see how it fairs on its next test in January… For now, I’m just giving it weekly checks and ensuring it stays above minimum fill level with whatever motor oil I’ve got handy.

 

The Granada, the Granada. It has been sat for about a year now, poor thing. It’s become a victim of short-term distractions in the project queue, always with the well-meaning intentions of a quick turnaround so that I can then return to the Granada. That’s not really happened in practise though, what with the 480 then becoming the Fiesta, the Taxi, the Audi, the Rover, the Sierra etc… That and I’m still regularly working on the Mini and the 440 and Focus on the side.

My intentions are: 1), Buy less distractions (hopeful). 2), Finish off the Sierra to a level I’m happy with. 3), Get stuck back in on the Granada! In that order

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The only car worse off is the rotten MX-5 that doesn’t even get a look-in these days.

I feel lousy today. But this has cheered me up. 

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1 minute ago, wesacosa said:

was that as soon as you set off or a later surprise 

This was after about half a mile - from mine to “the estate”. When I first booted it out of my street the only word for the amount smoke it made is BIBLICAL. Caps required. It’s a pity I didn’t catch that! A mix of Blue, White and Black. All the smoke.

It got loads better in just driving to where I could film. Then I found a dual carriageway with a roundabout each end and did a few laps. It’s calmed down now. 

Bear in mind this is the 1st time this thing has been out of 1st gear and idle since about 2003. I did a bit of revving when bleeding the coolant, but no load. 

I can’t believe they want these things banned from Cities. Nanny State. 

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The Sierra DieseL MOT was not achieved. Not today. BUT, ever the optimist, things aren’t that bad. 

1) The horn was in-op, despite it working when I did the pre-checks last night and working still when I picked it up after the test. Maybe just some coaching on where it is and/or how hard to press it is required for the MOT Man. Or, there is a ballache mystery fault. Hopefully the former. 
b.) The exhaust is knackered. I’d eyeballed it at home (rather it had eyeballed me with rust flakes) when I was underneath messing about renovating the brakes and I thought it was* passable [literal] at the time. What I think has now happened is that all my thrashing about to clear the smoke yesterday has been a bit too much for the old exhaust and it’s blown and opened up along a rusty fault line. I’ve never seen anything like it. 

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It sounds well fruity now. This probably helped it pass emissions lol, and if I can get it back in on time for the re-test, the emissions won’t need re-doing. Top Tip for passing emissions - use an exhaust like a sieve so at the tailpipe it’s effectively like taking the emissions measurement a car length away from the car! Then simply replace the exhaust for the re-test. Obviously Sierra MK1 diesel exhausts are seemingly pretty Unicorn. I’m trying to get one shipped from Motomobil. I’m not messing about with sections, this lucky Sierra is getting all three sections replaced. 

So for now it’s back to “driveway 1984” until the exhaust arrives.

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Not a bad result really!  

That smoke just looks to me like a car that's not been under load for ages, precombustion chambers, head, exhaust etc will all be loaded up with crap.  Old fuel wouldn't help either.  Imagine it will be a load better after a decent run.  Old diesels can be quite spectacular like that though!

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11 minutes ago, rob88h said:

M.O.T. achieved, 

The Ford Sierra DieseL,

Is now road legal.

 

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Just realise the plate it was issued is rather appropriate for it

"A-DMV" A Diesel motor vehicle :mrgreen:

 

very pleased to hear its road worthy once more!

needs to meet up with @BorniteIdentity's :) 

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I had a go at diagnosing the Mini. My initial thought was that my random cut-outs were loose battery related as the battery tie down bar had come off. 

On looking in the boot I realised how bad things are getting rust wise, so applied some Chemistry to see if I can get a little more life out of it. 

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Chemistry!

Then a bit of “the good stuff” POR-15. I’ve realised I’ve essentially painted a shadow-board of the spare tyre, haha. 

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Long story short. The battery’s not the problem. It’s probably something in the ignition circuit. A job for the future!

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