Grogee's spannering (Maestro , Corsa & Avensis). FLEET ADDITION

[mintwth]

10% = 17 🤔

Wow! 😯

You're doing well for a 170 year old! 😉

[Wgl2019]

53 minutes ago, grogee said:

10% of me, the untamed 17 year old me, wants to get an aftermarket dump valve to replace the standard one. 

PTSHHHHHHH!

Don't. Needs to be a recirculating type or it causes issues. Maptun do a metal version but no woosh tish action....

 

https://www.neobrothers.co.uk/maptun/performance/engine-upgrades/performance-turbo-system/performance-dump-valves

[grogee]

1 hour ago, Wgl2019 said:

Don't. Needs to be a recirculating type or it causes issues. Maptun do a metal version but no woosh tish action....

 

https://www.neobrothers.co.uk/maptun/performance/engine-upgrades/performance-turbo-system/performance-dump-valves

You've saved me from my own stupidity. Thanks. 

[grogee]

23 hours ago, Sh'Eds said:

I will have a proper look for the fourth in the morning and let you know.

Massive thanks for bringing the bushes round, really nice of you. Appreciate the gesture. 

They have gone in the Box of Bits that I Haven't Fitted Yet. Hoping for some time next week for more tinkering, we'll see. 

[AnnoyingPentium]

2 hours ago, grogee said:

10% of me, the untamed 17 year old me, wants to get an aftermarket dump valve to replace the standard one. 

PTSHHHHHHH!

You should. YOLO and aw that.

Edit - oops never mind.

[grogee]

Wife's Alfa needed a new tyre after her blowout (I said BLOWOUT) on Saturday. 

I checked online and a suitable Avon ZV7 was £105, so searched good old eBay and found one for £35 posted, 5mm tread. Fortunately it arrived today so I got my tame wheel man to fit it and I put it back on the car. 

I think it's an 'XL' one whereas the others aren't, but otherwise the tread matches and it holds air so that's a result in my book. 

Had a look at the battery with my tester too, it's on "40% REPLACE" which tallies with the fact it was reluctant to turn over this morning. An Exide replacement seems to be about £65 which is reasonable, seeing as it's a big old unit. 

[grogee]

I haven't posted to this thread for a while because I haven't done any spannering on my own cars, instead I've been under @Cluffy's Jag and sorting out a neighbour's Pug 207. 

Anyway I was feeling smug and thinking I'd cured the MILf light for good by fitting a new (upgraded metal) charge air bypass valve. But no, the light is back, I haven't read code yet but assuming it's the same. Next parts darts target will be the solenoid valve that controls the vacuum around all the pipes (which are new). 

I've got a pile of parts to fit including new front and rear discs, pads, hoses and park brake shoes. The handbrake is a bit sticky and although not essential in an auto, I'll need it for MoT. May as well get some clean and new bits in and lube up the linkages.  I can also hear a 'duvduvduv' of a wheelbearing on the way out, but luckily I have a replacement thanks to @wesacosa.

I've also got a load of audio gear to put in like a new antenna, DAB radio, handsfree kit etc. 

Another new fun* fault is the one that @djoptix warned me about, sticky flaps. For whatever reason I can't get air to come out of the face level vents, which is only really a problem in warm weather. Got a nasty feeling this will involve quite a bit of interior trim removal. 

Fortunately I can get the Puma out of hibernation soon so I'll have alternative wheels if I'm doing something complex like pulling the dashboard out. 

Hoping for a few quiet days WFH and some decent weather after the shitshow we've had recently. 

[grogee]

Did a quick look through Saab WIS and found a bulletin about sticky flaps... Going by the VIN numbers affected, mine falls into the range to need this doing. Best of all it only requires pulling the driver's side lower side/console trim off. 

[grogee]

Aerial day. The Saab's 'shark fin' antenna was naked and although not leaking or anything, I decided it needed attention. 

This antenna is actually for old GSM phones. There are two other 'aerials' built into both rear 3/4 glasses, probably for some 'diversity' FM nonsense. 

Pleased to report no broken clips and the trim was remarkably straightforward to remove. Quite obviously Swedish and not French. 

The new antenna is joint FM and DAB. Not sure I'll use the FM bit but I need to be a bit clever about how I integrate the DAB tuner which uses existing head unit FM input. 

Being Chinese the new aerial has quite an uneven gasket so I 'helped' it seal (hopefully) with some bathroom sealant underneath. Fingers crossed. 

What a lovely sunny day. I decided that I'll be doing various bits to the Saab's brakes which might stretch over a couple of days, so the Puma has been brought out of hibernation. I do have some cheapie Goodyear seat covers to put on the Puma's Recaros which are a bit fragile. 

[grogee]

Wires. I'm fitting a DAB receiver which needs a switched live and it also uses the original antenna 'in' and taps into it. That's clever except the Saab uses a head unit where the aerial connector is semi-integral with the head unit cage. 

A bit of light hacksawing saw to that, allowing me to connect the aftermarket antenna to the original head unit. 

Also tapped a switched live off the cigar lighter. Soldered - none of your Lucas bollox here. 

Once finished, you tune to a set frequency (87.6 I think) and that's what the DAB uses. It changes the radio text to tell you what station you're on, and there's an RF remote to control it. I like it because it's neat and tidy and also gives you an aux input. 

Got to get my phone kit working too. I've used an 'official' Saab interface lead but even though it's connected in the right place, I can't seem to get any life out of it. More investigation required. 

The only other wiring twatting about involves routing a USB supply up behind the mirror/passenger sun visor and then I can plonk the dash cam there. 

Hoping for more dry weather but the forecast is a bit iffy this week. 

[Cluffy]

On 2/27/2022 at 12:10 PM, grogee said:

Aerial day. The Saab's 'shark fin' antenna was naked and although not leaking or anything, I decided it needed attention. 

This antenna is actually for old GSM phones. There are two other 'aerials' built into both rear 3/4 glasses, probably for some 'diversity' FM nonsense. 

Pleased to report no broken clips and the trim was remarkably straightforward to remove. Quite obviously Swedish and not French. 

The new antenna is joint FM and DAB. Not sure I'll use the FM bit but I need to be a bit clever about how I integrate the DAB tuner which uses existing head unit FM input. 

Being Chinese the new aerial has quite an uneven gasket so I 'helped' it seal (hopefully) with some bathroom sealant underneath. Fingers crossed. 

What a lovely sunny day. I decided that I'll be doing various bits to the Saab's brakes which might stretch over a couple of days, so the Puma has been brought out of hibernation. I do have some cheapie Goodyear seat covers to put on the Puma's Recaros which are a bit fragile. 

Looks tonnes better!! We need a road trip of the correct proportions to really test the next audio install....

[grogee]

Brunt Frakes today. I did have some posh braided hoses to go on but the Flexi hoses that are on there look in good nick so I'll wait until they're a bit crusty. 

Likewise the old pads were Brembo with at least 12mm of pad material left. I've decided to re-use them on new discs because:

- it's a heavy automatic car. It won't be long before I've worn them out

- the old discs weren't scored, but warped. Or disc thickness variation. Basically pulsing through brake pedal. 

I did try to establish what discs they were but there's no brand stamped on unlike the new Brembo discs. 

Quite surprised to see they're just a single pot caliper.  That's fine from a complexity point of view but I was expecting something fairly substantial for a 250bhp heavyweight estate. 

Is there a bolt on upgrade available using GM/Vauxhall bits?

After that was all nailed together I had a look in the cabin for an ignition feed to power the dashcam. Turns out there's a blanking plate to the right of the steering wheel with an orange connector behind it. This has ignition and earth so I've tapped into it to power a 12v to 5v USB port. Then I'll run a usb cable behind the trim to pop out behind the rear view mirror, and power the dashcam with it. 

Final little job was fitting a new horn sounder to my Puma. Note DIY racing puma cold air intake! There's a mod on the Puma forum involving some drainpipe and epoxy putty to convert the standard intake to the more free-flowing Racing Puma setup. 

[grogee]

Wrestling with rear brakes on the Saab now. I'm renewing the rear brake shoes because the handbrake is a bit 'sticky'. I wouldn't bother except it's an MoT item so I've got into the habit of using it when stopped. 

Anyway I've got the old stuff off and the rear left hub feels a bit crunchy. That ties in with the 'dufdufduf' I can hear sometimes. 

Getting the old one off is going to be a challenge. Access is limited because of the super-duper Saab multi link rear suspension which is crowded around the rear carrier. Anyway I've got the fixings off but it's fused into the carrier so my next move will be a BFH to get it out. 

I've applied seam sealer to my amateur welds. Fantastic stuff, it completely hides the shitness of my welding. 

To get the new handbrake stuff back in, I've ordered a piece of tube 10mm ODx1.5mm wall thickness. This should sit in the spring cup and allow me to tweak the pin around while pushing down on the spring to get it seated. 

Not sure about the handbrake springs yet, but I do have a Chinese spring puller thing which hopefully will help me. 

[RoverFolkUs]

I hate doing inboard drums, such a pita with the hub in the way!

[Wgl2019]

On 3/3/2022 at 5:14 PM, grogee said:

Is there a bolt on upgrade available using GM/Vauxhall bits?

Yes ...... https://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=200791

Vxr Vectra kit if I understand correctly. I think there are some other options available from the likes of Abbott racing but they cost more than our cars are worth!

 

[grogee]

Twat alert, I've been trying to get the hub off but there are two extra nuts hiding behind this bracket. Quite pleased as I was dreaming up all sorts of weird methods for getting it off, all of which would have failed!

Washed the fleet today, proper two bucket wrong'un. Got the young Master Grogee (7) involved, I am a terrible teacher (no patience) but he was enjoying it and getting stuck in. 

Tomorrow I'll bolt the Saab's sill covers back on, the seam sealer is applied to my welds now so hopefully nice and waterproof. The wheelarch liners will take some creative repairing because the studs welded onto the body broke off when I tried to undo the plastic nuts. Cable ties to the rescue.

[grogee]

Right it's off and I've got backplate on the bench. Still not straightforward putting it back together even on the bench. Nigh on impossible with hub in place. Bastards! A pox on those bastard springy shoe clip cup things. 

New hubs to go on at the back, since I had to take them off to renew & clean handbrake gubbins, I may as well replace at £30/side which should cure the bearing noise. 

Note: pic shows adjuster back to front which I've now corrected. 

While I'm waiting for the hubs to arrive I can get the sill covers back on. 

Mrs Grogee has asked that we use the Saab for our trip to Devon early April. Compared to using her diesel Alfa it's another £50 on fuel. I think if I can't get A/C working consistently we'll have to use hers. But she's wanting the extra space of the Saab for lanky 15yo and to be fair it's not much fun in the back seat of the Alfa if you're tall. 

[grogee]

I've treated the Saab to a new bumper. Because that means I can put off investigation of the Heath Robinson HVAC system a bit longer. 

As you can see the silver bit is ok but the black trim inserts have gone weird. A second hand one the same* colour was £110ish, so I've taken a gamble. 

Anyway today's fumbling was replacing the sill covers, sounds simple but needed some advanced bodging for the front fixing which had sheared/busted. Gorilla glue to the rescue. 

Also checked the Puma for MoT-readiness. It's been making a rattle which I think I've tracked to a loose brake clip. Those crappy springy u-shaped thingys that slot in to hold the Flexi onto the body. Should be sorted now, and lights/wipers ok so am reasonably confident of a pass - assuming my DIY headlight alignment worked ok last year.

When I tested the windscreen washers the stuff that came out smelled a bit 'fermented', I think I've seen this happen before where the car is sat idle for a long period. Anyone else come across this?

[Wibble]

Not quite but, back in about 1996/7 I bought a 2 year old Rover 418SLDT and no matter how many times the screen wash was replaced, every time it was used you’d get an overwhelming smell of puke 🤢 

[rainagain]

Re the screen wash have you tried running diluted bleach through it to kill off any bugs? Also I'm jealous of the pre facelight interior you have. Mines lost all the many many buttons that make it look like an aircraft cockpit. 

[grogee]

1 hour ago, rainagain said:

Re the screen wash have you tried running diluted bleach through it to kill off any bugs? Also I'm jealous of the pre facelight interior you have. Mines lost all the many many buttons that make it look like an aircraft cockpit. 

I'll give it a go, how dilute would you suggest? 

Successful pass for the Puma today, so all good for another year of trundling. I'm planning to do cambelt during Easter break and a full service with it - while the belt's off I'm intending to change crank and cam seals. All easier said than done - access is horrible and the crank bolt is a billion Nm tight. 

Booked Saab in for next month so I'll need to get rear hubs back together but that's one or two less fail points - new rear hubs, discs and handbrake shoes plus mech all cleaned and greased. Having been up close and personal for a while, I can't see many fail items unless there's a bush I've not spotted. I will need an exhaust in the next 12 months I think but I'll wait for a 'bargain' to fall into my lap. 

[rainagain]

Well done on the pass, I can't remember what dilution I used last time I did this. I think I just chucked a glug in and left it over night before running the pump till it was dry, I then flushed it again with just water, emptied that and added normal screen wash mix. 

I had a stupidly tight crank bolt on my Volvo S80, even using the starter motor I couldn't shift it. I read that sometimes they are fitted with thread lock so I used a heat gun to heat it up, once it was hot it came up just with my weedy impact wrench. Looking at the threads I found the previous person had used a metric shit tonne of thread lock on it.

[AnnoyingPentium]

I can never look at a Saab like this without thinking of the story my technical teacher told us...

He used to buy and sell cars on the side and he had this Saab 9-5 for a wee while, and when picking up his daughter from nursery gave her a mega bumper packet of Haribo, of which she scranned the whole poke of them. Driving further along the road she brought the whole packet back up, all over the windscreen, vents, and every nook and cranny imaginable. Of course, you'd be expecting the sick to smell rotten. Well he said it smelled quite perfumey, like haribos in a way. Anyway, he could never quite get it out the vents of this 9-5 and when selling the car on to someone else, they actually commented on how nice it smelled. 🤣

And that, right there, is possibly my best contribution to this thread.

[grogee]

Thanks for the advice, chaps. Step 1: bleach in screenwash. Step 2: Haribo O/D then boke it back up, gotcha. 

The bumper Copart sent is the wrong fucking colour. Knew it was too good to be true. But tell me, if you'd seen this pic, you'd have said it matched mine, yes?

[grogee]

But it doesnae. I'm returning it, and also expect a right arse of a job taking it to post office ("it's too big/wrong packaging/don't like it").

I've bought some (second hand) black plastic inserts instead so I'll start taking the existing ones off tomorrow. 

[Cookiesouwest]

16 minutes ago, grogee said:

Thanks for the advice, chaps. Step 1: bleach in screenwash. Step 2: Haribo O/D then boke it back up, gotcha. 

The bumper Copart sent is the wrong fucking colour. Knew it was too good to be true. But tell me, if you'd seen this pic, you'd have said it matched mine, yes?

Yes I would have said that's a match

[grogee]

One of the rear brakes is back together. I went to a local fastener supplier for new nuts for the hub, which the HBoL says you 'must' use. Weirdly our little town has two fastener supply places but the first was bulk/B2B only unfortunately. 

The second wasn't pleased to see me but managed to get rid of me in my greasy scruffs by supplying 10x M10x1.25 nylock (fine pitch) for a fiver. Fine pitch seems to be a bit hard to get apparently. Anyway 'please phone us before visiting next time'. Yeah, you have a lovely day too. 

Then I dismantled the rear bumper to replace some trim bits. It's weird, I've bought side trims but they seem to be integral on mine, not replaceable. Has anyone got any suggestions for getting the overspray off the matt black plastic???

[Popsicle]

35 minutes ago, grogee said:

Has anyone got any suggestions for getting the overspray off the matt black plastic???

Mask the bumper off and spray some plastic happy black paint on?

Or some very fine wet and dry sanding the overspray off?

[Cookiesouwest]

39 minutes ago, grogee said:

One of the rear brakes is back together. I went to a local fastener supplier for new nuts for the hub, which the HBoL says you 'must' use. Weirdly our little town has two fastener supply places but the first was bulk/B2B only unfortunately. 

The second wasn't pleased to see me but managed to get rid of me in my greasy scruffs by supplying 10x M10x1.25 nylock (fine pitch) for a fiver. Fine pitch seems to be a bit hard to get apparently. Anyway 'please phone us before visiting next time'. Yeah, you have a lovely day too. 

Then I dismantled the rear bumper to replace some trim bits. It's weird, I've bought side trims but they seem to be integral on mine, not replaceable. Has anyone got any suggestions for getting the overspray off the matt black plastic???

Petrol on a rag?

[grogee]

I will give both of these a try and report back. Thanks team