SKcats fleet. Full weeb spec on the GS300.

[Skcat]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

Is the Dynasty a K-car?  I always thought they were bigger than that.

It's larger version of the K-platform! The Dynasty was developed to appeal to people down sizing from a full size body on frame car. As a result I believe a lot of work was put into making it look and feel as big as possible (and it does look big in person) even though its pretty much the same size as a 940.

[Scrubworks]

On 7/8/2022 at 11:50 PM, Skcat said:

The owner told me it ran better with points rather then the accuspark he fitted, it ran extremely quietly and well by my opinion. @Scrubworks will probably chime in about it! 

My engine ran just as well, if not better with the Accuspark system. Electronic ignition kits are also maintenance free, which really is the main attraction. He probably hasn't reset the timing properly, or the hall effect sensor is too far away from the magnet ring; sometimes they need to be pushed in a bit.

[3VOM]

On 7/10/2022 at 8:02 PM, Skcat said:

Project Nigel : https://www.youtube.com/c/ProjectNigel

Rover aficionado from Rochdale-ish. I think ghosty has met him.

[Skcat]

1 hour ago, 3VOM said:

Project Nigel : https://www.youtube.com/c/ProjectNigel

Rover aficionado from Rochdale-ish. I think ghosty has met him.

I got to meet and talk briefly! If I knew he was coming I would have asked him to bring some parts he has I've been eyeing up! 

[Skcat]

And the cause of the breakdown:

It was a bit steep at £20 but its all orginal I suppose. 

[Skcat]

Did the fuel filter today, it was not too bad but why not do it with everything else. Took a look at the belt and it looks fine Tensioner looks a little old but spins nice and free. Will probably change it all out of caution depending on what my plans are for the car. 

Just sourced a drivers side rear arch (which will be needed) £80 does not seem bad to me, but it's from facebook marketplace so let's hope It turns up. The guy has a maestro and says they are diffrent so it's of no use to him. 

[Skcat]

Ugh put down a load of money for the Dynasty but it turns out it's been registered as scrapped. 

I don't understand how that's possible as the dealer has just put it though a MOT (it failed) but they never mentioned anything... The car has not been In a accident but the previous owner has clearly scrapped it then continued driving it... What on earth is going on with it.

[Skcat]

Well I've spoken to the DVLA and they confirmed the car was scrapped in October 2021, the log book was issued to its "current" owner in July 2021...

I have been advised that if the "current" owner contacts the DVLA to tell them the car was not scrapped and it was a mistake they will issue a new V5 and my V5 can then be applied for. If the owner can't be contacted the car can never go back on the road. 

Issue is the dealer took it in part ex around 2 months ago and who knows if that person was the current owner. I can't enquire due to GDPR. 

So either the dealer puts pressure on the last owner, Then we get a up to date v5 and all is good.

Or it transpires someone found this car in a junk yard with the v5 in the glovebox and brought it too the dealer. I don't understand why this would be the case as the car is In relatively good condition and has not been written off!

I just find it funny even though the car "no longer exists" it's been on the road for the last few months with no mot, tax or insurance issues. 

[406V6]

Back in around 1994 on holiday in the USA I had a Dynasty as a hire car. Previously I’d mostly had GM hire cars such as the Pontiac Grand Am which always drove fairly well. The styling of the Dodge sets the scene for something that ought to handle like a battleship but actually I thought it drove very well. The (4-cylinder in this case) engine was refined and torquey while the handling was fine on US roads.

[Skcat]

Just bought a ticket for festival of the unexceptional! Any of you guys going? 

[Skcat]

That was fun! Even got to meet @95 quid Peugeot.

Got so excited I fargot to put suncream on and my head is now raw! I always do it once a year. Got home and found my dipped beam stopped working. It seems my headlight stalk is being a bit iffy but I took it out and reconnected it and it's working fine now. 

The other day I picked up a scuttle as one of my nozzle jets was a weird bit of bent metal.

And fitted the new nozzle:

I admire the little bodge probably done by a mot station but I'm much happier too have a orginal nozzle, the weird bodged metal one really stuck out too me. 

Need to find a home for the spare scuttle now. 

[Skcat]

In Iceland currently staying in reykjavik. Its odd seeing a mix of European and American cars. I never thought I would see dacia dusters and chevy impalas just parked side by side! Have some photos, it's not helping me seeing all these k cars! 

And this thing:

[Skcat]

The montego now has a fresh mot! Passed emmisions without a issue. Had a new shock absorber which makes the ride much better! 

[Skcat]

I got myself a Dynasty! But not the last one I test drove, another one that came up for sale:

So much better with the correct wheel trims and cornering lights, I Need to go collect it soon. 

[PhilA]

Enjoy the squishy velour malaise.

[Scrubworks]

6 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Enjoy the squishy velour malaise.

Isn't this about 10 years too late to be malaise era? It has the brick styling though.

[PhilA]

3 minutes ago, Scrubworks said:

Isn't this about 10 years too late to be malaise era? It has the brick styling though.

No, this is the tail end of the malaise. 

 

It lasted a long time under the Chrysler pentastar.

[Skcat]

3 hours ago, Scrubworks said:

Isn't this about 10 years too late to be malaise era? It has the brick styling though.

From my research into the Dynasty and New yorker (if you wanted to be fancy) were developed as a modern car too replace full sized malaise era cars. The styling was inspired by 70's caddilacs. 

So although grandad can no longer drive his 8.2 litre eldorado coupe that's almost 6 meters long. The compromise would be a compact (by comparison), fwd, v6 car with ABS.  But you still get an American car with the old smooth ride, a bench seat and a collomb shifter. 

By the late 80's with EFI engines and with the 55 speed limit being lifted I feel like technically the malaise era should have ended. But the market for these kind of cars took a lot longer to dry up. 

 

I'm excited to get it home and to start fiddling. I need to find a replacement white sidewall trim! 

[PhilA]

Ultimately, by American standards of the time they were high tech vehicles.

A flood of cheaper smaller efficient Japanese cars in the late eighties meant they had to buck their ideas up a touch. 

But, at the same time they couldn't lose their user base. Very Rover 800 in ethos, in-house R&D was too slow, too costly, too full of accountants. Thus, the 90's respawned a number of alliances between manufacturers, all while pretending it was a genuine home grown American automobile.

[Skcat]

19 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Ultimately, by American standards of the time they were high tech vehicles.

A flood of cheaper smaller efficient Japanese cars in the late eighties meant they had to buck their ideas up a touch. 

But, at the same time they couldn't lose their user base. Very Rover 800 in ethos, in-house R&D was too slow, too costly, too full of accountants. Thus, the 90's respawned a number of alliances between manufacturers, all while pretending it was a genuine home grown American automobile.

I was pretty shocked too see the Dynasty had adjustable cruise control!

The first one I had only had the popular package which got you aircon and cruise (im sure the vast majority of dynastys had this).

This one however has the "luxery equipment" package which gets you loads more. The standard bench moved back and forth as one unit but thankfully the LE one splits in the middle and Is electrically operated! 

[Ian_Fearn]

Absolutely love the Dynasty. Let me know if you’re selling the Montego!

[Skcat]

13 hours ago, Ian_Fearn said:

Absolutely love the Dynasty. Let me know if you’re selling the Montego!

The montego is already pending a new home! The plan all along was to find him a good maestro but when I saw this montego I knew I had to snap it up before anyone else did, I've scratched the maestro/montego itch now though. 

[Ian_Fearn]

My cousin announced to me a few weeks ago that he is hunting for a countryman. There were about 3/4 advertised on the FB group 2 weeks ago that he tried to buy but its all gone very quiet. 
Let me know if it becomes available 😁

[Skcat]

And now it's finally on my drive! 

Chuffed so far even with a bit of rot I found hah! Should be a good one. Might even be able to get some parts off the other car. 

[Skcat]

Been driving it a bit, all the speakers are ruined. So I replaced the front ones to start, made a big difference. The cruise control did not seem to work to start with but the more I fiddled with it and got it working. 

Sadly the odometer does not work, should try and sort that out. 

Ordered a new oil pressure switch as apparently they go bad and read low. And mine reads low! 

[Scrubworks]

2 hours ago, Skcat said:

Sadly the odometer does not work, should try and sort that out. 

Tenner says it's the exact same problem as Volvos of that era have. Plastic drive gear etc.

[Skcat]

8 hours ago, Scrubworks said:

Tenner says it's the exact same problem as Volvos of that era have. Plastic drive gear etc.

New odometer gears have been bought. Around 5 grams of nilon cogs for £37, but should sort it 

[Skcat]

I was wondering why the dodge was burning through petrol so quick. I don't have a odometer but I'm estimating I'm getting around 15mpg. When I got the car I quickly looked at the o2 sensor and saw it looked new so thought nothing of it. Today I gave the wire a pull and the whole sensor just pulled up from behind the engine. 

Turns out the previous owner had snapped the old o2 sensor flush in the exhaust manifold and could not extract it. It probably produced a check engine light on the dash so they plugged the new sensor in and left it dangling in the engine bay. This is What was left of the old o2 sensor. 

You would think Being recuded to a little bolt would make it easy to remove but it was a slight battle. The photo does make access look easy though. Took about half a hour to work it free with heat. 

I have a feeling this is the orginal sensor as the car is so low milage. Considering the pervious owner did this I did not trust they picked out the correct part so I used a new bosch sensor from my spares I knew was correct. 

Hopefully I will be getting the correct mpg now I think it should be low 20's to high 20's. 

Time for some jank! The battery was loosely sitting in the engine bay. I just cut out some scrap metal and made a clamp with a spare M8 bolt. It really isn't pretty but now the battery is secure. 

And I had not realised the "hood" and "trunk" had the lights missing so I replaced though along with a missing number plate bulb. 

It has a lot more punch now its not running so rich, I'm sure more tuning will yeild better results. 

[Schaefft]

Completely missed this. Good thing the sensor snapped off above the nut then... Looking good though, I've never driven one of these, they are much smaller than they might appear though.

Also, maybe I should visit Iceland after all... All these cars look so clean for a place that must have a 9 month winter!

[Skcat]

On 8/30/2022 at 9:09 AM, Schaefft said:

Completely missed this. Good thing the sensor snapped off above the nut then... Looking good though, I've never driven one of these, they are much smaller than they might appear though.

Also, maybe I should visit Iceland after all... All these cars look so clean for a place that must have a 9 month winter!

I loved the roadmaster but the size was a issue. Not for me, But just for parking anywhere in this country. If I had a yard I would have a caprice classic or a fleetwood brougham in a second. The Dynasty gives you a big car feel in a midsized package. 

I believe Scandinavian countries tend to grit the roads not salt them. I think this is because the salt will melt the snow at day but overnight it can get so cold the standing water even with salt will still freeze into ice. That's why you will see 90's corrolas and Nissan driving about around the snow something we would think would kill these cars! 

I bought a radio from a Chrokee with the cd multichanger plug on the back. (this style but in better shape) 

This was fitted too a 1997 cherokee I think. Then I found this pin out for a 1999-2000 cherokee, hopefully they are the same! 

Then I got one of those audio cables and chopped it in half. 

Then made this crude chart with the help of a multimeter. hopefully it will be accurate. 

I hope I can make some progress on it!