Bear's bangers: fucking AVAS Scr-Ampera and Poor Life Choices

[Bear]

What's involved in making the best of a dishonest eBayer's crap?

A lot.

I couldn't refit that seat back - it's disgustingly rusted - so I've stripped the cover to wash, and dismantled all the plastics and things to effectively retrim the original seat frame.

Really can't believe this guy got the seats from the car he's breaking and just decided to keep the money and sell them instead of saying they were no good.

[Bear]

Aaaaaaaargh

Fucking washing machine mystery mishap.

I

am sick

of this car's interior.

Fetch me a lumphammer and an angle grinder.

[Bear]

(Whether I use them on the car or the person that sold me the interior is undecided but I am Very Angry and need to break something now).

[Bear]

That will have to do.

Not helped by another facebook messer with "can't you do it cheaper the clutch will cost to replace" "It is already £500 cheaper than similar examples, exactly how much cheaper did you want".

£350.

If that roffle doesn't sell, I an seriously just going to wreck this car. It has been such a distraction and thing that I cannot ignore or defocus from.

[Bear]

Seriously, replacing four seat covers base and back, rebuilding frames, everything involved. Ugh.

[Bear]

Shit! A Volvo crashed into my house!

I mean, I just get confused because I put my old carpet in the garage...

Time to do the front wheelbearings.

I had to evict the Boxster which gave me a shove to finish waxing it.

And finally vacuum the boot

It is such a nice shape

And that interior

Does make quite a difference.

But do I need two low black '90s sportscars?

Still. I wish the Apple IIgs would sell, because I don't want to sell this just to pay bills 😭

And where is that coolant leak hiding? WTF was the car up to! I am almost wondering if I spilled washer fluid and it just took a while to make it down to the front,  but I have topped up about 700ml of distilled water.

[Bear]

Long strut

Streeeeetch

P2 Volvo owner trigger warning

Meaty

I'm going to have to get the driveshaft out aren't I...

[Bear]

I still think the Porsche needs the 666 plate. Not sure about A4 on the Insight though.

Volvo certainly likes marking where it sits.

Which is currently the garage since I need A Tool to deal with the wheelbearings.

[Bear]

Right, so, Volvo XC70 P2 front wheel bearing. It's a module one so doesn't need a press or other shenanigans to change, but that doesn't mean Volvo want it to be easy.

Removing the caliper and disc is straightforward enough - I just undid the two caliper bolts and tied it up on the coil spring. But the bolts securing the hub unit are fed from behind and recessed/obscured by the driveshaft, so the driveshaft has to come out.

The new unit came with new stretch bolt for this task, and it has 13mm. 13mm didn't fit the original, but when I put the 14mm on the impact driver, I got a chewed up bolt in return. I should have persevered with the 13mm perhaps.

The chewed up bolt was dealt with by ordering this from Amazon: Thinkwork 32-piece impact bolt extractor set (£45.99)

There are cheaper sets with fewer sizes, obviously I only needed one... but I like to be ready.

I already had the steering angled right to do the right wheel - since I was fairly sure this would help with driveshafts. It did. Undoing both strut bolts on @ruffgeezer's recommendation over undoing the balljoint a lot of places suggest, removing the upper bolt and letting the knuckle swing down and back on the steering link and lower bolt kept everything connected but allowed enough travel and flex in the driveshaft to push it out and angle it out of the way.

Which meant I could get the socket and impact gun on a short extension and spin out the four bolts. Removing the hub did not require a puller - I tried the clever approach of leaving the bolts in loose and hitting them with a hammer, then missed and hit my hand with the hammer, at which point I got annoyed and smacked the disc side of the hub outwards with said tool.

That broke the rusty bond and then it removed easily. Note that attaching a slide hammer to it did NOT achieve this, it needed a direct impact. PITA. Or hand. I've yet to managed to miss something I'm hitting with a hammer and hit my own arse with a mallet.

Yes, I wirebrushed outside and cleaned up inside the carrier before fitting the new bearing. Lots of rust flakes and lots of dirt got released during this process, a marked contrast from the engine bay.

The hero. You only buy tools like this when you REALLY need them, at which point you need them to work, and damn it, it worked. Once I got the old driveshaft bolt out it's clear it will work again, too, rather than having chewed up itself and become useless with one job. And yes, you need the impact gun, it's sort of pointless trying to turn it with a ratchet.

Reassembly is the reverse, as the HBOL says. Put wheel hub in, fit the four bolts, torque to 20Nm, then 45Nm + 60 degrees, refit the driveshaft (I cleaned the splines, I wonder if I should have put some grease on but there didn't appear to be any when I took them off), fit the driveshaft bolt, torque to 35Nm + 90 degrees. I couldn't transfer the washer over, but I'm not convinced the new washer has any rubber compound - it felt like just a thick washer. Refit the two strut bolts, torque to 105Nm + 90 degrees.

Fit brake disc, fit caliper (100Nm for the two bolts to hub carrier), put wheel back on, marvel at the number of creaking noises the car makes as the suspension settles, 

A quick test drive suggests that the epic amount of wheelbearing noise was almost entirely down to this offside front one, so I'm not sure I need to do the nearside front after all - might do it anyway.

[ruffgeezer]

Fucking well done that man.  It's never fun when something seems to battle you then whole way.

[Bear]

It lost!

It sounds happier now, maybe only needed one side...

Relaxing with a film:

[Bear]

THE FIAT HAS GONE!

Admittedly I took £250 for it from some very excitable Romanians who arrived as a trio in a Zafira, the gangster wagon of choice for Chesterfield, but I do not care about the £350 loss (lies), I am just happy the bloody thing isn't here to annoy me anymore and I don't need to deal with magical vanishing enquiries.

Just to break my heart a bit more I missed a beautiful* 1999 yellow SLK on Facebook marketplace for £600. I called too late and it sold.

*not MOTd, rusty front wing, but 84,000 miles and looked unmodified and reminded me a lot of mine when I got it.

[Bear]

The Great Ground Lubricator can now occupy the drive,  and I can allow myself new Boxster tyres.

[Bear]

Interloper 1

"Can you take it for MOT?"

Fails: rear shock, handbrake, front balljoint.

Shock - replace pair.

Bad one...

Easy.

Next!

Sleeve rusted to lower bolt. FFS. I don't have angle grinder that can fit and operate safely.

Much swearing and hacksawing later.

Bastard.

Okay. Balljoint. Now I have fear.

Hmm.

Wait. That doesn't look too rusty.

Prep.

Done! 20 minutes! Now to torque up the balljoint clamp.

Why is it not getting beyond a few torques?

Why won't it...

FFS...

Much swearing later. The new screw just stripped the threads with barely any torque. This is a Febi part, too!

Handbrake

I hate drum brakes.

Easy to fix though. The tab for the self adjuster was just... missing.

Phew.

Interloper 2:

New discs and pads on a friend's Duster.

Easy except...

FFS. I hate when companies do this.

Sorted though. New headlight bulbs and it was done - I had to reconnect a loose headlight adjuster,  very old school.

Finally:

The wires had broken inside the rear pads - I pre-emptively bought Brembo rear pads just in case they were worn, but since I couldn't fit the new wire in used them anyway replacing some Textar pads that had a few miles on.

Realised that the Porsche may be easier to service than I think, I can see the coils when I have the back wheel off. And the suspension parts might clean up well when I have time to make it look really nice.

[AnnoyingPentium]

9 minutes ago, Bear said:

New headlight bulbs and it was done - I had to reconnect a loose headlight adjuster,  very old school.

I think they just disconnect for fun. I hit a pothole once in ours and ended up not being able to see where I was going.

[Bear]

31 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

I think they just disconnect for fun. I hit a pothole once in ours and ended up not being able to see where I was going.

It looks like it's a  emergency "avert your eyes" system 😂

[Bear]

"Can you give us a lift to Heathrow?"

"Sure. When?"

"In the future, days have no meaning"

Translation: "On a hot sunny Friday at the start of a bank holiday weekend oh and there's fitba' as well"

Me eight hours later:

The Volvo did alright:

Though the stretch between "I wonder how to reset the the MPG" and "need to stop and check oil because paranoid" is even better.

Going to use some of the fuel money to get the AC regassed.

I think I am too paranoid about the oil drip crank seal thing. The car just gets on with it and the wheelbearing was unpleasant but easily rectified.

[N Dentressangle]

Just put some of this in it:

it does actually work!

[Bear]

Well, the Volvo leaked a LOAD of stuff today when I moved it.

Water.

From the AC condensate pipe.

Except I though the AC isn't working. I wonder if the vacuum leak/hiss isn't the brake booster, but it's something to do with the climate control servos...

But, not to be outdone, I finished the Porsche brake pads and wires - took it for a drive, and no warning light!

Instead, it's peed about 200ml coolant out of the nearside front. So the radiator leak is still lurking, but... only shows up sometimes.

Found a good road where I can really boot it and rev. Maybe I excited the coolant too much.

[Bear]

Also, the  XC70 really doesn't seem to lose that much oil. It does drip a bit but I think it pools in the undertray then spills a bit at some angles.

I do like that bus really. Wonder what it'd be like with four new Pirelli Scorpions on and the AWD reconnected. Other than "very expensive".

[Zelandeth]

19 hours ago, Bear said:

Also, the  XC70 really doesn't seem to lose that much oil. It does drip a bit but I think it pools in the undertray then spills a bit at some angles.

I do like that bus really. Wonder what it'd be like with four new Pirelli Scorpions on and the AWD reconnected. Other than "very expensive".

Do remember that there's seven and a bit litres of oil in the engine as well, so it's not like many moderns where you lose 10ml of oil and the engine explodes.

Also don't try to drain it into a 5 litre pan when you change the oil...

[Bear]

One out...

One in, until I get organised to get the actual planned one in...

[mat777]

6 minutes ago, Bear said:

One out...

One in, until I get organised to get the actual planned one in...

Ooh, I'm getting strong Audi 100 Avant vibes....

Who's the lucky new custodian of the Insight.... And did you pass along the "Al Gore for President" bumper stickers? 😉

 

[Bear]

8 minutes ago, mat777 said:

Ooh, I'm getting strong Audi 100 Avant vibes....

Who's the lucky new custodian of the Insight.... And did you pass along the "Al Gore for President" bumper stickers? 😉

 

Bang on!

Four rings of success...

Getting some shopping

It is not likely to be sticking around, since my mission is the Ampera - I will let the new owner reveal themselves if they wish! And... I can't remember! I did remember all the paperwork bits, but can't remember if I kept the sticker with the other bits or lurking elsewhere...

[Rocket88]

‘‘Tis mine…..

[Surface Rust]

That Avant is lovely, they got it so right. It still looks so slippery and futuristic (to me anyway).

[Bear]

15 minutes ago, Surface Rust said:

That Avant is lovely, they got it so right. It still looks so slippery and futuristic (to me anyway).

I did not have an Avant when they were just bangers, so this is exciting as I always wanted one - but badly timed as I was trying to cut the fleet down and the Ampera is supposed to replace two cars with one 😂

But being back behind the wheel of 1980s VW Group is both familiar and amazingly different to modern cars. I kinda want to do all those little detail fixes I do and make this one good, and enjoy it.

[Bear]

Yes, the plate matched the dealer sticker in the window, but it was a faded sticker. So could it be...

I miss those VW group plate logos. This makes me inordinately happy.

Service history to just 20,000 miles ago, too!

But the radio has been swapped, it should be a Blaupunkt Windsor. I thought missing out on autoreverse was a bit stingy even for Audi on a car like this 😂

[Bear]

Bit of tidying, found previous owner's AA card

So the extra from @Dick Cheeseburger's die cast roffle seems to have a home!

Might relocate it as it looks a bit bulky there.

Job 1: de-stickycoat the plastics, I hate that stuff. But I also hate the idea of losing the finish Audi achieved - I wonder if I can redo it.

Job 2: redo the headlining. The board is fine, the fabric is not. This seems well worth doing.

Of course I might just sell it and/or the Volvo when I have the Ampera, as per original plan...

[mat777]

Ahh, it looked beige in the teaser shot but definitely looks better in gold (speaking as the owner of a gold Omega!) 

I'm imagining that the second half of the numberplate is also what half of the forum members will be uttering upon reading your thread update 🤣