Decker Dave's Decluttered Dross Dribblings

[rml2345]

I must be some sort of ham fisted idiot then as when the head gasket was done on my 740 I changed the timing belt and put it on correctly... 

Glad you've got to the bottom of things though, even if it does mean sending it back to Killie. 

[chaseracer]

FARK.  

For three bags, you'd expect a level of competence considerably greater than that thus far evidenced...

[juular]

It does look like they've done a good job otherwise, the engine sounds smoother than I ever thought a redblock could.

It's pretty inexcusable to fuck up the cambelt on what is probably one of the simplest engines you could do one on! It was tempting to just fix the timing but I really think Killie should know how badly they fucked it up.

[davidfowler2000]

Minor sitrep:

27.4mpg on mostly motorway.

Plugs are fouled. Exhaust looks like it's connected to a very tired XUD.

[Talbot]

"I've just thrown an awful lot of remarkably expensive fuel straight out of my exhaust pipe".

[Talbot]

On 4/2/2022 at 4:53 PM, davidfowler2000 said:

Yes rented from the council and a weird voltage so that folk don't wire their own 240v sockets to the light circuit.

AC tho, so a 9:1 transformer on it and you're in business.  Maybe not for a welder.

[mat_the_cat]

32 minutes ago, Talbot said:

AC tho, so a 9:1 transformer on it and you're in business.

Ah, but most folk wouldn't know their Autobots from their Decepticons, let alone be able to wire up a transformer correctly.

[davidfowler2000]

So took it back to Killie today.

"So ye reckon the timing belt is a tooth out?"
I'll show you the video
"Aw aye ah can see that. Right leave it with us and we'll get it sorted"
When will you get round to it?
"Well that van will come out either tail of tomorrow or first thing Wednesday so should have it back by Thursday at the latest"
Well I can't (won't) leave it here. It's the best part of two hours on public transport from here to get home and I'm not doing that again. I'm off Wed/Thurs next week and I'll be sticking around while it's done.
*much fumbling*
"Right bring it back first thing on Wednesday morning next week and we'll get it in."

Much annoyance. Took it a drive to Dundee and back to get the mileage up for it's 500 mile post build checkup so I've only got about 60 miles left to do by next week. I'm sitting here waiting for dinner to be ready and I'm getting angrier as time goes on. The reason I went to Kilmarnock was because The Engine Room in Motherwell said on the phone "We really only do fleet stuff now, not a lot of private stuff. We wouldn't be able to get to it until March... try Kilmarnock".

[Talbot]

That is properly shit service.  A schoolboy error and a rather poor response.

[Dave_Q]

At nearly FREE FOUSAND pictures of the Queen, or Andy Murray, or whoever you get on Scottish money it should be bob on and have the coolant exchanged with that Goldschlager stuff with the actual gold flakes floating in it.

Poor service, hope it gets sorted for you.

[beko1987]

Sad but I hope its easily fixed when you get it back. 

I'd be checking everything that they've got to remove to re do it and noting if it's not broken, incase they smash it apart ASAP to get you gone away next Wednesday... 

[davidfowler2000]

The saga continues. I was able to drop the car off on Tuesday seeing I got away early from work. I got the bus back to Kilmarnock town centre and asked for a return seeing I'd be back the next day. Only when I got off the bus did I notice the driver issued me an all-day ticket. FUCK. SAKES!

So back down on the Wednesday and I decided seeing as the train gets in to Killie with a 40 min wait for the bus, I'd just hoof it as it's about a 40 min walk.

Got to the workshop, car's ready to go. Starts it up, floors it in drive with my foot on the brake and it climbs well over 2500rpm. MUCH BETTER. Just a shame it took so long. Then it was round to @davehedgehog31's to pickup and give a lift back to Glasgow for dinner and refreshments with @jaypee. Running is much better. Power is smooth and progressive. Low down torque is good - you drive these engines mostly at about 50% throttle 'cos pushing harder and going on to the kickdown usually just makes more noise than anything.

Fuck Stagecoach.
Fuck everything about Kilmarnock, the absolute midden of fuck it is.

Next task is to get it smartened up for Festival of The Unexceptional.

[davidfowler2000]

The state of the engine is still being assessed but all seems at least OK.

In Other News...

[davidfowler2000]

More HAWT AKSHUN

The wheels, all 4, are going for powder coating cos the last refurb isn't holding up (just paint)

     

Have a talkie...

As mentioned the paint is dirty...

 

And 'lo... they are clean(er)

  

 

[davidfowler2000]

This morning

 

[High Jetter]

Tired?

[davidfowler2000]

Out of boredom I have bought more stuff for the trailer. An inverter charger to give me off grid 240v. Laptop for scale.

[AnnoyingPentium]

On 4/14/2022 at 3:59 PM, davidfowler2000 said:

Fuck Stagecoach.
Fuck everything about Kilmarnock, the absolute midden of fuck it is.

Agreed. 

[hairnet]

you haz volvo

you haz dog keeper outter

will you be purchasing canine?

nice wheelz m9

 

[davidfowler2000]

Various happenings have been happening. Variously.

Let's start with the 740. Now that it's back from it's engine rebuild it's time to get the rest of it attended to. Firstly the wheels went for refurb and as per usual they went to EK Blast and Powercoat for the sparkle silver treatment. See above for the wheel-off treatment of the brakes.

       

The wheels were dusted off and the outer faces given a ceramic coating. Let's face it, they're never going to be this clean again unless I get them reblasted. While they were in, I got them to do a wee modification...

You may have noticed the stainless centres are a bit stained in that video so it was round to Mr @captain_70s for a shot of his tube of autosol to see if anything could be done with them or if it was a case of taking them to a professional metal polisher to machine polish them. Results were VERY satisfactory...

  

Left photo: Disc on right has been polished, left is stained.
Right photo: HDR'd oot it's tits to show the staining on the left and right discs. Centre disc has been polished.

All done. Note the tube of autosol in that photo. I got my own during the latest Volvo repatriation at the weekend featuring @cms206and @Dave_Q. I'll use it with the drill polishing pads to give them a final buff before FoTU but I thought I'd give it a bash on something else...

Next task for the 740 is the bodywork. It's going in on the 23rd to get the sill rears fixed (rust) and all the stone chips / scratches / scrapes. All wipers are going for blasting back to bare metal. The windscreen and rear wiper arms are getting powder coated, the headlight wipers can't be coated 'cos I can't get the plastic covers off the hinges so they will be painted after blasting.

 

Today's task was more tinkering with the trailer...

 

Before:

  

Mid-task update:

  

Completion*

The inverter / charger still needs to be tested on the mains hookup and there's an earth wire to be installed but other than that it's fairly complete. Unless I get a chance during my week off work (w/c 23rd May) the first outing will on the weekend of 3rd / 4th / 5th June.

[davidfowler2000]

Today I dropped off the 740 at RM Bodywork in East Kilbride to get it tarted up again. No pics because morning. Walked home to my parents' where I had left the 205 and got a lift home the night before, had lunch then started tinkering again. I wanted to get the trailer 100% for next weekend for it's first trip away where a Mr @juular of this parish will join me in his campervan for an evening of dinner and drinks somewhere up the north east coast before going to a mutual friend's barbeque on the way home.

I had noticed recently that I could open the rear tailgate of the trailer in the locked position with a sharp tug. The striker plate installed by the builders was sub par so I had to fashion a new one with some angle ally I had lying about...

That's so much more solid and there's no movement in the tailgate when it's locked. Previously it would move about 10-15mm before it hit the striker plate then a bit of effort would take it past the lip, totally negating the point of the lock.

With that done, more of this...

Details...

Further...

I had to change one of the settings switches on the inverter to change it to remote control via a switch which disables the on board control. I may one day buy and install one of the control panels or bluetooth dongles that use the VE.Bus port to get more details diagnostics via a screen, light indicators or my phone. Maybe. Probably not. Remote control is handy though so that switch will do the job a treat.

More!

Final tidy up...

Then on the way home I decided to go for a wee back roads hurl...

     

[davidfowler2000]

First outing with the trailer this weekend. A wee tour of Angus and some Aberdeenshire with a visit to Mr @Tickman with @320touring, @jaypee, @captain_70s, @sdkrc and @juular on the way back.

Also a little meet and greet with Mr @Inspector Morose during a recent delivery.

 

[juular]

The combination of the 205 and the chrailer gets absolutely loads of attention on the road.  It's such a great little thing, you can park it up almost anywhere. The 205 plus trailer is shorter than a lot of the motorhomes we saw over a few days.

Cheers for the company @davidfowler2000

[hairnet]

Many squair many tea?

[davidfowler2000]

Today I had to get on a bus. It was crap. So crap I didn't even bother taking a photo of the outside of it. It was a 61 plate Enviro 400 with all the power of a garden mower and suspension so bad it felt like the entire rear sub frame was trying to make a break through the floor going over any sort of bump.

It dropped me at a grim place...

And I then walked 10 mins to pickup Autoshite #1...

       

Bodywork repairs carried out by RM Bodywork in East Kilbride. I also got the wiper arms powder coated along the road at EK Blast and Powder although I couldn't get the headlight wipers coated because the plastic cap at the base is riveted through and won't come off so they just got blasted and I'll paint them satin black.

Home...

Wiperseses...

Shiny...

Painted bumperses...

Little wipers stowed until paint can be applied...

After a quick refreshment I brought down all the stuff to wash the car to get the dust and bird stuff off.
After results...
    

And then I broke out the autosol to give the wheel centres a final going over, the front grille a tidy up and the exhaust a second right good going over...
     

Time for a Chinese dinner then up to the lockup to swap it for the V70 which is going for service and MoT tomorrow. The 205 is staying out on trailer duties...
          

 

[stuboy]

looking very smart

[davidfowler2000]

Ahh yes... summer time. When the weather is actually nice enough to do something to / with the car without being in abject misery.

The 205 has had hot start issues for a wee while now. The cure so far has been to put it in 5th, hold the key in the start position and give the car a shove to jog the starter motor off it's dead spot. It's been getting worse and on the way back from Shitefest it completely failed at Gretna services necessitating a push start from TTT Solutions ( @320touring and @jaypee) so I thought it was time to finally do something about it.

Refurb or a new one from ECP at £45? I'll take the new one thanks. Tools were required to extricate the old motor from the car so I had to go get them from the lockup in Cumbernauld...

It was warm that day. Bear in mind... peely wally Scotsman...

3 x hex head bolts. Easy eh? RONG!

Two were get-at-able but the third was too tight for my hex sockets to get to. The hex in the photo is hard against the clutch lever so I can't get the drive socket on to it. This was remedied by the judicious use of @juular's 8mm allen key just enough to crack it off. I have imperial keys and the 5/16" was close enough but I wouldn't have trusted it to start it.

     

New one installificated...

With that done it was time to do Festival of The Unexceptional. In the 740 of course!
I have already done much moaning about work but tl;dr - I finished work at 2345 after handing this cunt's arse to it as much as I could all the way from Largs. 4 mins early arrival. Would have been earlier if I hadn't caught up with the 2345 arrival from Wemyss Bay...

Straight down to the car park, got changed, drove out the said car park at 2355 and went direct, non stop to the hotel in Peatboghorror arriving at 0451...

Bed for two and a bit hours then up at 0830 to meet @320touring, @jaypee and @blackboilersuitfor breakfast before heading for a day out...

We did a touristy. British Museum, Covent Garden, Camden High Street and Regents Canal...

       

Back up the road to Peebo where we were joined by @Skizzerfor dinner in Middleton's Steak House.
Fuck. Me. Sideways. Best dinner I've had in years.

Then across the main square for a wee night cap...

FoTU was the next morning. We were joined by @Kiltox for breakfast and @rml2345 shortly after (who had left at 2300 the previous evening!) for a convoy to the show to be further joined by @juular and WOMAN_juular as well as @captain_70s and WOMAN_70s, @dollywobbler and WOMAN_wobbles and a few other shiters that we bumped in to. I forget everyone who was there. I won't bore yous with my photos. There's plenty YouTube show reports and photos on other threads...

  

We came prepared this year...

But a 7 hour day always gets the best of most folk...

Time for UP EH ROAD! Convoy with @captain_70s, @rml2345, @blackboilersuit and TTT Solutions. Stopped at Blyth for FUEL_70s (see my services thread... here), Ferrybridge for dinner...

...and Southwaite for a tea. Southwaite of course being WOMAN_70s' FAVOURITE services in the entire world.

So that was done. Oh and the following week, Mr @Talbot was in the locale so stopped by to go in to Glasgow city centre for dinner and the obligatory run on the Subway back to my bit...

I think that just about covers everything.
---ENDS---

[davidfowler2000]

It's that time of year. The 205's undersealing was done round about this time last year so it was time for an inspection and top up if needed.

I was going away for a few days so the plan was to leave it with them but I got a phonecall saying it had done a naughty before they even got to moving it to put it on the lift...

Apparently the 205 barrels have an anti-pick device that is sometimes known to not reset properly when you remove the key and therefore you can't put the key all the way in. It also means you can't pick it. A bit of phoning and waiting, an auto locksmith came out and quickly determined it had to be drilled out...

That at least let the steering lock off so it could be pushed about the yard. Top notch to the boys at Preserve and Protect at Johnstone for doing the underseal top up for free and for working on a car that needed manually handled and also big thanks to the guys at CS Performance next door for helping out in the initial poking about stage, finding an auto locksmith and also providing said locksmith with a mains powered drill, lights and any tools and THEN helping to push the car about for the undersealers and even THEN storing the car in their workshop while I was away. For £0. Absolute top notch guys. They even offered tools if I needed them to get the car going once the new ignition barrel came in the post.

With that done it was a familiar sight...

I've been on soooooo much public transport this week with 2 days in London and a day in York. Back to Johnstone on one of my own routes to collect the car and see if the barrel was right at least electrically...

With that, it was time to just get the fucker home. The guy at CS even hoovered out the metal shavings from the drilling of the old barrel.

With everything working, the underseal guys spoke to about the work done and the V70 confirmed booked in to get undersealed it was time to head home. Thusly.,..

I'll put the dash back together at some point. I've also ordered a new wiper stalk to replace the sometimes dicky one I've already got.

[hairnet]

what a cunt on that was  is that a 205 thing or a because french thing

them boots are summat else

peely wally? thats harsh not like its your fault

740 minus hubcaps ftw although with is nice too (aye)

omg its the purdoms

are the sctsch calming doon frae londinium prices noo

 

[davidfowler2000]

That's not gone particularly well...