Bear's bangers: IT'S ALIVE! The RX-7 stops wetting the bed...

[bigfella2]

3 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Do you have a link for these please? I tried and failed to get a pair to put on my picasso, I've just slung a set of new tyres on so I'd much rather they didn't get punctured by a spring making a bid for freedom!

Was just a random pic that I could find, try googling the part no given below your reply. Good luck. Pic was from this thread.

http://jimbutterworth.co.uk/5springcatcher.htm

[Bear]

Today - finally got DVLA computer to accept me sorning the Sedici, sorned the C3, and it's the Spark's turn to get attention. It's a really nice little car - gf is having way less trouble with it than the Panda or Fiesta she tried - but the sticky brakes are an issue.

Now, I will try cleaning them first, obviously, but...

...a pair of new calipers is £89. Plus some pads and fitting kit, and derusting the carriers, that seems like a very small amount of money to shell out to eliminate the problem of cheap, shitty 14 year old GM brake components for good for a little while.

Need to make sure I get the right ones, though.

What's really fun is that this is a Spark+. It is so basic the only way into the boot is with the key - to fit a handle you need the wiring and solenoid from a higher spec one. And then you get a switch on the dashboard too.

If she likes this car I can see myself trying to find a higher spec one 😂 But her suggestion was that she still likes the look of the Fiat Sedici so if I clean up the interior, fix the clutch, that might end up being the easiest plan - I doubt it'll be hard to sell the Spark whenever that happens.

It'll have to wait though - Spark brakes, finish C3 coil, then Volvo front wheelbearings and I think bushes. I really like this model of XC70, I'd probably like it more with a sunroof and a petrol engine.

[Bear]

Found the issue!

Seriously though, don't buy used cars from mermaids.

It's actually pretty good, just really badly rust-clogged. I wish I still had a needle scaler.

Gonna need some pads 😂

[Bear]

Wrong colour and took ages to arrive, but, a little Insight is always welcome. 1/24 from Hachette collection.

[Bear]

Because the Spark is such a nice Korean Panda substitute, and because I want my gf to enjoy driving and feel safe, I've ordered new pads, discs and calipers.

It's also had the soapy brush in all the lines around the windows and doors - and in the fuel filler door - and it is looking pretty good now! The caliper still drags a bit after my attempt to clean it up, but it'll pull uphill in 2nd from 1000rpm smoothly now, and if you rev it enough it's not slow at all.

The fun thing, I realised why the dashboard is the way it is. Korea, and ASEAN market drivers generally, still tends towards scooters and motorbikes for single-occupant travel. Asian kids probably love their motorbikes.

So why not make the dashboard look like a motorbike one? It makes perfect sense, and I expect is a nice familiar sight for riders who have had to become drivers and didn't want to give up two wheels.

[Bear]

I suppose it's progress.

This seat has literally been built up from cleaned parts and blended.

But why not both sides?

Because...

Unless I can fix the bent driver's seat base this has all been a waste of time, well, sort of - I could find just an SX4 driver's seat, but it'd cost the same again I expect.

So I bolted the frame down as a secure starting point, then realised I'd reached the limit for standing up working on bits of car.

Cushion chucked on just for reference.

I bet the front seats are closely related to Vitara ones, the transverse Vitara shares the SX4 platform.

[Bear]

I thought I had parts for refitting the Volvo propshaft, and a spare CV boot.

What is in that white box?

*halo of light, heavenly chord plays*

Is this a wheelbearing hub I see before me?

Well, that's this afternoon sorted then. Hope it's obvious which it is (I think driver's side front, can never remember if "goes quiet on right turn" is driver's side front because it's unloaded, or passenger side because the loading took out the slack).

Might try and identify which brand it is and order another to match first.

[Bear]

Stupid iPhone picture rotation bollocks aside... bomb disposal at work.

Citroen springs are stupid and tapered

The struts are long.

Proper tools. £300ish. Not £30. But no use for Citroens... or are they?

Very pleased that these did not get stolen with the rest of my nice tools.

Right ya bastard.

Scrunched. Frightening.

Now... how do I put this back on the car again?

Not entirely convinced I got the strut top bearing right, but it needs replacing anyway really. I just have a lot of fear about those springs. Not an easy design to deal with at all.

[Bear]

How. How can I put spring compressors on this and the last coil sort of stretches like a cat refusing to go in a carrier for a vet trip and won't let the strut move.

PSA: PSA are gits.

I will solve this. And it should be possible to compress sufficiently to drop back in without doing the balljoint - I've seen pictures. But FFS, what a ridiculous amount of spring for the space it gets put in.

I'm looking forward to an easy job like Volvo hubs or replacing all the front brake bits on the Spark.

[Bear]

It does want to fight but it is only small

 

[Bear]

Well, I've never needed to use a slide hammer to remove a wheel before.

At least the passenger side brake disc let me have the retaining screw. And it only shed one MX-5 sill worth of rust when hit with a hammer. Those discs were well past any sensible use.

Drives a lot better now and I still haven't finished bleeding the brakes properly because Daewoo/Suzuki/Chevy beasts use yet another kind of cap and it's on an angle so a universal one won't work easily. Time for two-person bleeding 😕

 

That bracket for the brake hose is perfectly placed to block any sensible 19mm socket, driver or torque wrench. Evil.

[EyesWeldedShut]

7 minutes ago, Bear said:

Time for two-person bleeding 😕

That's now called 'rumpy-pumpy' in our house Child Bride has fully mastered the correct technique, angles and pressures.
To be honest, it's easier than either the MitiVac or EasiBleed -  I just need to time it so that our orbits sync for a few minutes.

[Bear]

I think using a really long pipe with a bend in to fill and bleed after clamping the hoses when changing has limited the amount of air to deal with.::

...because it drives SO much better and stops just fine already. What a difference. £163 total for discs, pads and calipers on Amazon and the car feels transformed to drive. It'll pull up a hill in 5th no problem and potter around sharp slow bends jn town in 2nd almost to walking pace smoothly.

GF seemed very impressed with how it drives now, and I noticed is doing block changes so I think the manual gearbox skills are returning. Spark is getting some fitted luxury mats as a reward (also to stop the universal rubber ones sliding underfoot):

Aero wipers and a good glass polish have also helped brighten things up somewhat!

[Bear]

So, finishing things off, but now i need the Fiat and the Citroen to go away so I can just focus on work and this:

Girlfriend is happy with the Spark. I quite like it, though I can't work out what on earth they were thinking with the rear 3/4 design.

It's like someone had the clever idea to 'hide' the door handle then realised there was an acre of featureless metal and just went 'shove a crease here' then walked off before checking if it related to or intersected any other part of the design.

And this is done and if we hadn't got the Spark (and thus needed the insurance) would be back to nipping around Derbyshire dodging potholes.

[Bear]

One of the nice things about basic cars is that they are easy to improve:

Neat cutout

Less neat

Seriously, there's no flap lever cutout so why...

Is there a gap for clutch foot rest leaving a wedge of uncovered carpet?

Back ones are a particularly nice fit

Test drive revealed +10 to refinement and +5 to precise control. Kerb appeal went up +75 but from -infinity-1 it has a way to go to beat this:

Which is just looking nice after a wash

Fun fact: the Spark+ is actually lighter than the aitomatic Insight.

[Bear]

C3 gone. Covered the Spark less £200 and what I spent on brakes, and that brake spend is covered by the saving in VED...

So who gets attention?

Of course it's not the bloody Fiat.

Looking quite shiny.

So this was not in keeping. It is every bit as horrid to change as I thought.

But now the radio has the second USB port connected for a stick with music on always available - in the glovebox - and the iPhone CarPlay wire is not dangling out of the glovebox but is just a neat USB socket tucked into the gearshift console. I put the phone in the pocket on the bulkhead so this is much tidier.

[Bear]

So what do I do with this:

As you can see, it does move. I connected the battery, chucked a cushion on the seat frame, and it just started and drove out of the place it's been dumped in for a month, no problems.

This sounds healthy and did not leak anything while it was sat.

But beneath here lies the question - how, or even should I bother, to change the clutch.

Yet - it drove okay for the first part of the test drive. It seems like the slip, while definitely an indication of wear, got worse when it was used - and when driven after not being used, it feels fine if you're not trying to push it to slip.

In the history it says new pipes and calipers.

I wonder if they got air in the clutch pipe...

Not that it matters when I still have to deal with this.

It was a huge amount of effort to get the cleaned covers onto the not-damaged rear frame just for one seat - is it really worth it when no-one wants the car anyway?

Yet it only has 98,000 miles and two long-term owners before the one I got it from who had it a month, and me, who has merely parked it.

New remote module (though the driver's door actuator needs cleaning up and lubricating, it's scratchy by key and doesn't work on remote).

New key shell because that's how I got the remote.

Headlights clean up with Turtlewax ceramic one.

Airing it out a bit.

Somewhere there has to be a breaker who doesn't start the day by trashing the interiors of their cars, surely?

[Bear]

F M L...

Yes. Fiesta My Life.

The car that made me sell my HR-V then nearly shit my pants on a right turn, has re turned.

Out friends didn't want to deal with selling it so gave it to us in exchange for some errands and running about.

Never look a gift car in the mouth?

I don't know what to do with it because I wanted to have fewer cars and now I'm back where I started before the blue C3 went. But I'll figure it out tomorrow.

Still drives as well as it did (apart from the mystery scare). I need to check the rear bushes properly.

[Bear]

Pretty sure this should not look like this:

The amount of rust + captive (I assume) bolts into the floor potentially being involved gives me the fear,  but at the same time, it seems daft to ignore it.

Pressure washer died while cleaning it

But at least I got the inner wings free of crap and the scuttle cleaned up a bit.

[Bear]

Looks better:

The badges were held on with dirt apparently.

(All saved, wonder if I can get them stuck on and not wobbly).

[Bear]

I think I'm going to fire the Fiesta at the vultures. Not because it's bad - I really like it in a lot of ways - but it's just a distraction and my roffle attempt underlined the inherent lack of value it has. As pointed out elsewhere, it's looking crusty around the end of the sills so it needs some time spent scraping and sorting, as well as a bush - and once all that's done, and it's got new polybushes and a fresh MOT, is it even worth £750? Probably not, judging by what else is on the market.

Shame, but I'm not wasting that time and money just to be annoyed by the car - if I needed it, it'd be a no-brainer to fix it and use it.

[chodweaver]

They are solid little motors, those. I did a lot of trouble free miles in a 55 plate TDCi one  (though it was on its way to a second attack of the black death, and had exasperated Mrs CW when it was her daily and before she cast it off to me, by running its rad fan till the battery died, due to a brown relay shitting itself)

GLWWBAC

[Bear]

I feel really bad for this Fiat Sedici.

It was just a little hard worked on the interior. If I hadn't been ripped off by ebayer cougarst200, I'd have tidied it up and probably been swearing at a clutch by now.

Brute force, ignore-ance (specifically ignoring the fact I know the frame is bent) and desire to just let the Gumtree "is there anything wrong with it" crowd who clearly haven't read the listing (or title) learn a lesson in "why is a sub-100,000 mile MOTd 4x4 advertised for £600" means I've managed to force a driver's seat - with height adjustment - into existence.

Passenger seat is still a mess because of the rust-welded headrest that fell apart when I tried to remove it, but I can just bolt the old one in.

Not paradise.

[Bear]

Getting there. It'll look very smart being driven onto the scrap trailer.

[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.