Supernaut's Cars - E36 323i / mk3 Megane / S1 Land Rover

[Supernaut]

I went to Grampian Transport Museum today and saw some weird old shit.

The sharp edges on the Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust looked properly dangerous! No rope whatsoever around it...

[TrabbieRonnie]

Haven't been there since the kids were little, looks to have changed quite a bit.

Are you heading to Buckie Cars and Coffee on Sunday?  It's the sign up event for the big show in the Summer too.

I'm going in the RX8 I think, putting it's rust on full display will maybe shame me into some wet and dry/rattle an action by the time the show rolls round...

 

[Tayne]

Is all the Top Gear nonsense on permanet exhibtion or will it bugger off soon.

[Supernaut]

16 hours ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

Haven't been there since the kids were little, looks to have changed quite a bit.

Are you heading to Buckie Cars and Coffee on Sunday?  It's the sign up event for the big show in the Summer too.

I'm going in the RX8 I think, putting it's rust on full display will maybe shame me into some wet and dry/rattle an action by the time the show rolls round...

 

I'm not aware of a cars and coffee in Buckie! Details? A few of us usually meet at the Fennel in Inverurie on the first Sunday of the month though.

I'll likely be in the BMW, the Land Rover still has no seats nor insurance. Aiming for the one at Alford towards the end of the month.

12 hours ago, Tayne said:

Is all the Top Gear nonsense on permanet exhibtion or will it bugger off soon.

I believe Grampian Transport Museum bought them outright.

[TrabbieRonnie]

It's the first ever I think...

Not sure if it's going to be a regular thing or not?  

[captain_70s]

I mind the last big Buckie car show I attended. Bitterly cold, blowing a gale, hammered it down, my Tennants can exhaust repair destructed driving back to Cullen. 😂

[Tickman]

Middle of summer then...

[Supernaut]

Am I supposed to know what the LGP is in Buckie?

I assume some sort of park?

 

 

Also, inspired by Beko's USB port installation in his Qashqai, I've ordered a 4 pack consisting of a trad 12v socket, two USB ports, a voltmeter and a switch. All mounted in a plastic panel. But I'll mount them in a RAF blue aluminium panel and mount it in the Land Rover.

It'll be useful to be able to power a tyre inflator or charge phones etc in it.

[captain_70s]

58 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

Am I supposed to know what the LGP is in Buckie?

I assume some sort of park?

At a guess.

[Supernaut]

Just went to the local tyre place with a wheel off the Sorento (in the back of the Megane) for a puncture repair. £15!

I've given them more business for Monday afternoon as they quoted me a very fair price for a full set of Kumhos for the BMW.

The set of Rainsports I got for it in 2021 are showing their age after 15k miles of my driving. They are notoriously soft tyres so it's to be expected. They definitely don't drive like they used to, so they're due.

[Tayne]

Just hit the east side of the LGP

On a mission tryna find Mr Warren G

 

 

 

 

 

[Supernaut]

It got insured and taxed today, plus we got the two least worst front seats back from the upholsterer in the meantime.

I only went 3 miles away and back again. Utterly terrifying.

It steers and stops just fine but feels flat as a pancake. Ignition timing is the likely culprit.

I need a drink!

[captain_70s]

Advance until it pings when hot and under load, back it off until it doesn't, job jobbed.

Book figures don't have modern petrol in mind, although I'm guessing these were tuned for maximum misery 70 octane "pool petrol".

[beko1987]

3 hours ago, Supernaut said:

Just went to the local tyre place with a wheel off the Sorento (in the back of the Megane) for a puncture repair. £15!

I've given them more business for Monday afternoon as they quoted me a very fair price for a full set of Kumhos for the BMW.

The set of Rainsports I got for it in 2021 are showing their age after 15k miles of my driving. They are notoriously soft tyres so it's to be expected. They definitely don't drive like they used to, so they're due.

The rain sport 3's I had on one of my old zx's wore out within 20k. Beautiful the 9 trips in biblical rain , but soft otherwise

[Supernaut]

19 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

Advance until it pings when hot and under load, back it off until it doesn't, job jobbed.

Book figures don't have modern petrol in mind, although I'm guessing these were tuned for maximum misery 70 octane "pool petrol".

Aye, it was actually pinging a bit under load.

We advanced it quite a bit just to get it to idle on modern E5. Perhaps a bit too far!

I had to change down to 3rd on hills. My memories of driving a series 3 are that you can keep it in 4th at anything above 25mph uphill or down dale. I reckon this should be similar.

 

The water temperature gauge got to about 80 Celsius on the roughly 6 mile roundtrip, which seems reasonable. Oil pressure was I think 40 psi? when hot. I think the gauge is in psi...

[Supernaut]

Since the initial drive last week we've set the ignition timing to about 12-13 degrees BTDC and tweaked the carb. It's much more happy now.

So how about some power sockets from this century?

I used a couple of already existing holes in the bulkhead there, hence the gap between it and the "dashboard".

[Supernaut]

Every Friday, a fish van sets up at the village about 3 miles from here. So we have fish every Friday, but not for religious reasons.

Perfect opportunity for a wee test drive. Fish fetching part two happened earlier.

This time with the ignition timing tweaked, it runs like a top. It pulls cleanly without sputtering and will sit at (an indicated) 45mph without issue.

Driving this has awoken part of me that was asleep for about 20 years. Back in 2005 when I first got my license I daily drove a 1975 series 3.

I just jump in this, banging it through the gears and wrestling with the steering and I feel at home.

[comfortablynumb]

20 hours ago, Supernaut said:

just jump in this, banging it through the gears and wrestling with the steering and I feel at home.

They're one of those vehicles you either gell with, or can't cope with 

I've been into landies for as long as I can remember, all sorts but nothing modern

If I don't have one it's like someone has cut off one of my arms!

[Supernaut]

Went over to the autojumble in Alford today. In the BMW, not the Land Rover (yet)!

Didn't buy anything but spotted some tasty morsels.

[Supernaut]

I must admit that not everything is peachy with the Land Rover.

The stainless steel exhaust on it is fucking CHRONIC.

 

Turns out that mild steel rear silencers for them are very reasonable, at about £40 or so.

We're also looking at sourcing heat shields that go inside the wheel arch and under the floor. £50 for a repro set. Not bad.

I'm also tempted to get a mirror to mount on the driver's side wing so I can run it without the door tops. £15!

 

I expected parts for it to be ££££££

[artdjones]

34 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

I must admit that not everything is peachy with the Land Rover.

The stainless steel exhaust on it is fucking CHRONIC.

 

Turns out that mild steel rear silencers for them are very reasonable, at about £40 or so.

We're also looking at sourcing heat shields that go inside the wheel arch and under the floor. £50 for a repro set. Not bad.

I'm also tempted to get a mirror to mount on the driver's side wing so I can run it without the door tops. £15!

 

I expected parts for it to be ££££££

Good parts can be expensive. There's lots of low price Chinese junk around.

[Supernaut]

2 hours ago, artdjones said:

Good parts can be expensive. There's lots of low price Chinese junk around.

In the case of series Land Rovers, a lot of the expensive parts are utter junk too.

 

I decided against drilling new holes to move my wee 12V panel over, mostly through laziness. So I made a blanking panel out of an offcut.

[Supernaut]

Hmm.

The Megane has started making a mysterious thumping from the left rear, almost like it's reverberating through the boot floor.

I've checked the bolts on the shock absorber, the wheel, and the brake caliper. I also tried completely emptying the boot (as the spare wheel is unsecured).

Still does it.

I opened the left rear door and jumped up and down on the sill with all my force and couldn't get it to make a peep.

The exhaust also seems to be secure.

 

What could it be...?

[Supernaut]

Lols. Not even an advisory.

[Supernaut]

I found the clunk from the back of the Megane.

The 19mm fucking NYLOC NUT on the bottom of the left rear shock absorber took about 1/6th of a turn clockwise.

No more clunk.

 

Then the postie arrived with my order from Opie Oils. Oil and filters for both cars.

May as well while I'm in here:

[Supernaut]

I fitted a wing mirror to the Land Rover yesterday. This means that I should be able to drive it with the door tops removed - as it has a mirror on the windscreen too.

 

 

I've noticed the climate control in the BMW is going a bit senile, though.

The air con compressor has been disconnected for a long, long time by the looks of it but that's not the problem. If I set it to 16 Celsius (the lowest it'll go) it blows ambient air through the vents. Good.

If I set it to 16.5 Celsius it blows as hot as it possibly can. Effectively the heater is either off or on. Nothing in-between.

I tried taking the panel out and cleaning the little intake that sucks air through a sensor and it didn't make any difference to this behaviour. Any experts on old BMW climate control?

 

Or does anybody want to swap me another 6-pot manual E36 but with the basic dashboard and heater controls?

[Tayne]

Does your one have a hedgehog?

[Supernaut]

Not that I'm aware.

It has this style of climate control:

It seems that the fan (I've tested it and it works) blows into an air temperature sensor built into the unit. Hmmmm.

[SiBriers]

Not sure the hedgehog would explain that behaviour (that's usually certain fan speeds not working or the speed wandering).
On E46s, the top centre fan outlet has a heat control - without air con this could be as you describe - ambient air until the thermostat opens and hot coolant reaches the heater matrix.
Also possible that the heater control valve (on the passenger front inside shock tower on E46) has locked up or is getting stuck - supposed to blend the amount of engine coolant the heater matrix sees.

[Supernaut]

I think it's actually just behaving as intended.

I set it to 16.5 this morning and it blasted me in the face with maximum heat... for a couple of minutes before calming down a bit. It's just a bit much with the dashboard vents right in front of my face in such a small car!

I also changed the oil today as it's that time of year. It's only done 4k miles in the past year though.

Oh yeah, it crested 190k miles a couple of hundred miles ago.