RichardKs wanderings: The Box

[stripped fred]

I thought you had a Fiat pickup?

[RichardK]

On 9/26/2021 at 8:12 AM, stripped fred said:

I thought you had a Fiat pickup?

That was leased and went back in 2019, I would have kept it but “controlling abusive ex and debt”. My current test car is a Hilux but I don’t own or lease a new car anymore…

Not that this is a bad thing. I keep driving this instead of test cars.

[RichardK]

A little change

[RichardK]

Polishing this car is like painting the Forth bridge, I swear. It’ll all be done eventually.

Windscreen washers playing up after I changed wipers. I suspect back pressure has caused the pump to fail but the pumps are cheap; now I think this is a good time to chase up the undertray.

[SRi05]

Had a scroll through the thread, the Jag and BMW are looking great 👍 good work on both

[RichardK]

I really don’t need three bangers - but the BMW is too nice a concept, the Mazda too small and silly, and the Jaguar is just endearing. I hate it and like it in almost equal measure; if I earned loads of money I’d probably spend a fair bit on it getting everything right.

Definitely prefer X350 to Bentley Arnage/Spur/old Eight/Mulsanne though. If it was the sort of car I wanted, it’s where I’d sink the cash.

[colino]

Jag washer pumps, "fail" on a regular basis and ironically when they have been lavished with loads of screenwash additive.  I snip the pipe near the bulkhead (to make it convenient) and using a dinky tyre compressor blow down the pipe until the air is spinning the motor. (I then blow the other way to clear the jets).  Join the pipes with a joiner from Amazon or your friendly aquarium shop and that normally does the trick.

 

 

 

 

 

[RichardK]

That’s what I did apart from the snipping bit - blew down the pipes from the wipers with an inflater gun and the screenwash tank foamed over!

[RichardK]

Today’s job: fixing the door lock.

Solution? The spring in the interior door handle is broken. Replace handle or spring.

Still doesn’t answer why the total closure isn’t working on that door but maybe it needs the switch pack connecting. It does lock and unlock on the remote now.

Also good grief that trim did NOT want to come off.

[bezzabsa]

Tidy old Green Barge

[RichardK]

Like a barge, I’m still fighting locks.

The driver’s door handle spring has broken

But, little things.

[gadgetgricey]

Still miss my old X350. If you ever decide to sell drop me a pm.
 

[Agila]

15 minutes ago, gadgetgricey said:

Still miss my old X350. If you ever decide to sell drop me a pm.
 

It was fur sail at one point. 🤞

 

[RichardK]

2 hours ago, gadgetgricey said:

Still miss my old X350. If you ever decide to sell drop me a pm.
 

It's still for sale, I just gave up trying - and indeed, I'm about to try again as I am interested in the RAV4 .

If I don't take it for an MOT or do any more work, £1350 takes it (MOT is up in a month or so); it's just got an XJ6 3.0 SE grille and XJ6 badge, I'm waiting for new tension springs for the inside door handle so the door trim is off, and I'll pop a new washer motor in it if I can't get that unclogged. Will still need the brakes servicing (they stick on a bit after a bit of driving, so the sliding pins need cleaning and greasing and TBH the discs could be nicer anyway), but I think it would pass a reasonable MOT as long as the front undertray is secured.

Just put a new cabin filter in as well.

[gadgetgricey]

Annoyingly due to moving house, Jags are no longer an option. 
Too long for the garage, and also my parking space. (Overhangs into single track road used by residents to reach their own space)

Please someone buy this as it looks a beauty and can confirm they drive fantastic.

[RichardK]

If i had more funds to throw at duplicate cars, etc. etc. - I do like driving it, a lot, but I can't care and feed for too many luxurious cars at once - and now I'm after a 4x4 the XJ6 has to go to be sensible!

[RichardK]

No pictures because I was working with a spring, but the springs from China arrived and remarkably, I managed to trim one of them to the right length, apply the right bend to the end of it, and fit it.

It needs rather more force to open than I expected despite being the same number of winds and a similar diameter of coil, the only issue being that the angle of the torsion points was quite different so it's under torque rather than at rest. Either that will eventually kill the door handle frame or the spring will calm down.

Either way, the door handle won't be popping loose out anymore. And may surprise any future drivers as to how much force is needed to get out of the car 😕

Of course this means I now want to get that car back and fix the door trim and handle when I already have a ton of projects and things I want to do!

[RichardK]

Covid break/FFS. MOT expired on all three cars.

Have been looking at MX-5s for a while. Coworker is tempting me with their NC - I prefer NA for the pop up lights but I have to say the NC’s comfort and ride is pretty compelling.

That and the apparent lack of rust…

If it passes probation I’ll consider selling the 323i properly, but my gut feeling on that is hold fast and keep fixing a little bit at a time.

[Broadsword]

Be very careful with rust on the NCs. From what I've seen they might look perfect on top, but underneath they can hide absolutely horrendous rot.

[RichardK]

21 minutes ago, Broadsword said:

Be very careful with rust on the NCs. From what I've seen they might look perfect on top, but underneath they can hide absolutely horrendous rot.

Well, if it's hiding some, it's hiding it well. See news 24 for pics underneath... It does have that thick Mazda rubber sealant that traps nastiness though. Also not a single advisory for rust in MOT history. Also cost rather less than most (not all) I've seen advertised...

[RichardK]

Cursed objects: Early 2000s “professional” hands free kits. Removed without drama though I suspect there’s still a rats’ nest of ISO loom adaptors in there. The iPod adaptor kit appears to be Mazda branded and sort of fell out of the glovebox; I shall tidy that wiring (I reckon I can feed the iPod connector to the rear cubby) when it’s not raining.

Had a more exploratory feel of the rear arches inside the plastic cover. Feels like a solid clean unscabby edge.

Needs a wash in there and obviously I’m about to use this thing in winter/salted roads so many washes and rinses then jenolite/waxoyl.

Got someone potentially collecting the Jag on Wednesday (Facebook though so not counting any chickens), they sounded sensible and had a natter about it.

[RichardK]

So, the MX-5 is mine - I've been fishing for one for a while, including a couple on the forum, and generally fixated on NAs for the pop-up lights - NA prices are batshit though for my budget - £1500 for non-roadworthy projects, the knowledge they rust and have had time to do so, and they're kinda cramped and unrefined.

Doesn't stop me loving the shape. But a colleague recently started a family and his wife's NC MX-5 had been sat in the company car park for months getting damp and flat battery sad. We were chatting about them and he mentioned possibly selling it, so a few weeks of faff and I finally went over to jump start and try it.

Now it's mine the Jag needs to go because of it, and the BMW 323i might, but what is my NC like? I think of these as being 'the forgotten MX-5s', and didn't like how they looked when new -  a bit soapy, a bit like a 100NX.

It's got a whack of history, is a Berkshire/Sussex car, has 103K on the clock, is a 2.0 Sport with six-speed, LSD, no A/C and a manual roof. 3 owners - Penny/Alan from around 2018 (and only sold becaue they have a new baby), Sophie L-R from 2010 to 2018, and a previous owner for three years before. It was bought as an approved-used Mazda for the second owner.

Bad paint from a door/handle repair (documented) is the only downside. I've removed a Bury bluetooth kit but kept the iPod KA-300 adaptor until I get the car a double-DIN kit.

It's been given a quick clean as it had been used a lot and then parked up at the office since around June. Only issue I have with it is a noise from the back that sounds like a wheelbearing, but the car drives far too well - there are suggestions on some forum posts that the noise can be down to road noise and trim and drain holes, and it definitely gets louder with the roof up and there's a loose fabric arch liner edge.

But if it is a wheelbearing so what, it's a 100,000 mile car. It's allowed a wheelbearing. Oddly enough MX-5 specialists seem to be utterly visible on all the forums so finding one who won't screw me over on a repair seems very likely.

So far I like the NC more than the NA from behind the wheel. I do like pop-ups but this is far more comfortable.

[RichardK]

Red

[dome]

i like them. That's the same spec as the one i bought to get the Manta running gear from, although mine was a special lightweight(Scottish winter) edition.  Have you looked at the 2.5 conversions you can easily do to these? Loads of torque

I'd be interested to hear your views on the best forum for these, especially for hands on stuff?

There may be some parts kicking about from the one we broke-let me know if you need any bits. 

 

[RichardK]

Thanks - I'm still learning, so no expertise here at all, but all advice about the oily bits welcome.

2.5 no - I'm not that person, and this is not that car, I drive too many interesting things for work to sink my own funds into modifying an MX5 (bearing in mind I don't have the facilities to do engine work myself)  and I think the cost/benefit would just lead me to buying a different car - but I am curious about the BBR upgrades with throttle bodies and over 200hp from the 2.0... I forget if the six-speed box has weak spots, as I am sure it did in the RX8.

Bits-wise I think I am good so far - all the trim looks okay and nothing seems broken yet... Give me another weekend with it!

[grogee]

Tempted on the Jag but the borked AC puts me off. Has it got any gas in it at all? IE if you touch the port valves does it squirt some R134 out?

Full disclosure: @djoptix 's Saab is first in line for me though may not end up being for sale so the Jag is a tempting alternative. 

[RichardK]

24 minutes ago, grogee said:

Tempted on the Jag but the borked AC puts me off. Has it got any gas in it at all? IE if you touch the port valves does it squirt some R134 out?

Full disclosure: @djoptix 's Saab is first in line for me though may not end up being for sale so the Jag is a tempting alternative. 

It attempted to work in summer but there was no cooling, suggesting low gas rather than no gas (no gas, no compressor). Spidey sense (and a UV light) say condenser and O-rings, definitely O-rings. It’s a 17 year old car for scrap parts money, so borked AC is a given, but I can understand not wanting to take it on.

If it doesn’t go on Wednesday (chances of no-show from FB being high) then I’ll check the AC at the weekend.

If I do end up MOTing it, it will not be cheap, mostly out of sheer bloody minded spite for the length of time it’s been up for sale, how nice it is, and how this all started with me being up for a deal and then fixing it so it could be driven, only for said deal to fall through  

[RichardK]

This bugged me:

So:

Jenolite where there are small paint chips:

Make sure where it drains is very clear:

And done.

Just trying it on:

[RichardK]

[RichardK]

What to do when your car is not very practical…