Grogee's spannering (Maestro , Corsa & Avensis). AN OPEN AND SHUT CASE

[grogee]

Triumph turnout was good. @Cluffyand I realised we wanted all of them - TR7, Dolly and 2000/2500 PI. 

[grogee]

If I'm truly honest with myself, this Mk1 Astra has aged better than the Maestro. Values probably back this up. 

[grogee]

Some Maestros

[grogee]

I don't know who my Secret Santa was last year, but once again thank you so much for your generous gifts, all of which I've been using. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

now its running undo the elephant trunk like wot i showed you- just for evaluation purposes of course 😉😁

[grogee]

Corsa repair day today. I was just about to go outside and attack the scrape on the rear with scratch removal paste, then the heavens opened and priority changed to getting the washing in. Pah. 

The good news is that I've cured the brake squeal (for now). Not really knowing a 'killer' solution, I just took it all apart and re-[copper] greased it. Not before giving the calipers a damn good going over with the wire wheel. 

The weird thing is that it looks like previous person (maybe @SmokinWaffle, maybe his chosen garage) did exactly the same to a greater or lesser extent, so I wasn't confident my tinkering would cure it.

It wasn't just an occasional squeal either, it was a loud 'everyone looks at you' kind of squeal and mostly impossible to drive around. 

Also on today's list was the glovebox replacement, a few Torx screws and a broken clip substituted for a cable tie later and the new (2nd hand) one is in. Unfortunately it's from a car that had Something Big behind the glovebox so it's smaller in capacity, but it does now open and close as Adam Opel GmbH intended. 

Service bits are coming this week so I'll get onto an oil and fluids change sooner or later. 

[MrBiscuits]

What's this? Corsa glovebox action and no pictures of the shark?

[Noel Tidybeard]

doesn't copper grease help brakes seize up?

i'm sure one of the tame AS garage monkies mentioned this very fact this week

[grogee]

12 minutes ago, MrBiscuits said:

What's this? Corsa glovebox action and no pictures of the shark?

Ooh I didn't know about that! Injection moulded personality*.

[grogee]

2 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

doesn't copper grease help brakes seize up?

i'm sure one of the tame AS garage monkies mentioned this very fact this week

We'll see. It's what my garage boss told me to do in 1991 so I've done it ever since, progress be damned. I am considering it a 'win' seeing as they don't squeal any more. 

I had a similar conversation with a JLR engineer regarding lubricating door locks and hinges, apparently received wisdom is now to leave them the fuck alone. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

the exception to that rule has to be arg "M" cars door handles

if the smoll hinge pin on a maestro/montego/metro handle is left dry they can snap off- ask me how i know!

[SmokinWaffle]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

Corsa repair day today. I was just about to go outside and attack the scrape on the rear with scratch removal paste, then the heavens opened and priority changed to getting the washing in. Pah. 

The good news is that I've cured the brake squeal (for now). Not really knowing a 'killer' solution, I just took it all apart and re-[copper] greased it. Not before giving the calipers a damn good going over with the wire wheel. 

The weird thing is that it looks like previous person (maybe @SmokinWaffle, maybe his chosen garage) did exactly the same to a greater or lesser extent, so I wasn't confident my tinkering would cure it.

It wasn't just an occasional squeal either, it was a loud 'everyone looks at you' kind of squeal and mostly impossible to drive around. 

I did indeed - the garage did sweet FA - and it did solve it for a few weeks and I was chuffed - but it came back eventually. Although I didn't clean up the callipers as much. I noticed also that when it is squealing if you put your foot lightly on the pedal so it *just* chirps and hold it steady - it'll do it intermittently (rotationally?) so I did wonder if it was a slightly warped disk - but I couldn't consistently reproduce that either! 

Fingers crossed for you. And yes, the squealing is very much more of a screeching and really can be heard for a considerable distance. Not fun to drive. 

[grogee]

1 hour ago, SmokinWaffle said:

I did indeed - the garage did sweet FA - and it did solve it for a few weeks and I was chuffed - but it came back eventually. Although I didn't clean up the callipers as much. I noticed also that when it is squealing if you put your foot lightly on the pedal so it *just* chirps and hold it steady - it'll do it intermittently (rotationally?) so I did wonder if it was a slightly warped disk - but I couldn't consistently reproduce that either! 

Fingers crossed for you. And yes, the squealing is very much more of a screeching and really can be heard for a considerable distance. Not fun to drive. 

The only thing it might be is a missing shim on the offside. When I looked at the nearside, this piston shim thing was present, but it's missing on driver's side. Unfortunately I've not been able to track one down yet, mainly because I don't know what it's called! 

[grogee]

As for the scratch treatment, I'm delighted with the results. There are a couple of bits that need touch up paint, which I've ordered. But it's a whole lot better than it was. 

Before and after pics:

[beko1987]

Looks good from over here 👍

[somewhatfoolish]

2 hours ago, grogee said:

The only thing it might be is a missing shim on the offside. When I looked at the nearside, this piston shim thing was present, but it's missing on driver's side. Unfortunately I've not been able to track one down yet, mainly because I don't know what it's called! 

Usually called an anti-squeal shim.

[Sunny Jim]

What's the scratch removal paste you used please? My next door neighbour's girlfriend seems to have problems avoiding the drystone walls on our narrow lane and it's been the cause of arguments between them and I'd like some peace and quiet!

[grogee]

7 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

What's the scratch removal paste you used please? My next door neighbour's girlfriend seems to have problems avoiding the drystone walls on our narrow lane and it's been the cause of arguments between them and I'd like some peace and quiet!

It's Farecla G3 scratch remover. But I do sometimes wonder if toothpaste would work... 

[Cookiesouwest]

G3 is good stuff. When I was trading motors, 20 years ago, some G3 could add pounds to the sticker price.

Since then technology has probably moved on, but its still my fave for scratch removal.

[grogee]

Drained the Maestro tank as best I could then took it off the car, but this was not without its mishaps. 

On the plus side, it largely behaved itself and I wasn't faced with broken fixings. Something of a miracle after 35 years. 

On the minus side... Getting the pipes off involved breaking the temporary lines I'd put in for my 'bush mechanic' fuel can supply. I undid one of these which rapidly poured petrol onto my face. With some desire to preserve my eyesight, I turned my head, so the fuel poured liberally into my left ear. 

Initially I rinsed off in the sink but my eyes were still burning so I jumped into the shower to have a good scrub. My ear was stinging so I went to A&E but no parking (building works and roadworks clusterfuck at Warwick hospital).

Anyway it's calmed down a bit but I'd still like to get it checked out. 

As for the tank... As far as I can tell, it's serviceable. There's quite a bit of road dirt to remove before I paint the outside and treat the inside, but I'm hopeful it can be used again. 

[grogee]

Further tank investigations. I managed to drain almost all the fuel out of the tank, this is harder than it sounds so inevitably there was yet more Exxon Valdez spill action going on. 

However now that I'm 'in' I can confirm @Geoff Smith's diagnosis. It is chock full of rusty bits and pieces! I gave the fuel pump a tap on the table on inlet side and lots of fine silt came out. There are larger chunks in the tank itself.

I am not sure if there is a gauze on the pick up pipe, that part of the tank is inaccessible. So it's very likely that all the shit gets sucked into the pump unfiltered. 

Anyway the tank is now drying in the garden, I'm attempting to get as much liquid out as I can. 

I've decided to paint the outside before I do the POR-15 inside, because I'll be creating more dust and dirt with the wire wheel. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 11/07/2023 at 16:54, grogee said:

I went to A&E but no parking (building works and roadworks clusterfuck at Warwick hospital).

now try and imagine trying to pick someone up from Warwick in a 19'9" long 8'3" wide ambulance (the yellow a&e ones are longerer!)

[grogee]

Tommy Tank Time

The Maestro fuel tank has been 'rinsed' (rained on) all week but I found an unfilled pocket of time to prep for painting the outside. 

Used my Aldi cordless grinder and wire wheel to clean it up, then some rust juice. The weather is so crap today I just let it be rained on to rinse it off. 

First coat of primer is on. I've got some mid-grey topcoat in Stores so that'll do nicely for a tank which only I will see. 

Also loaded up the new-to-me Beamer with Car Stuff like ice scraper, high-viz breakdown tabard, various cigar lighter adaptors and chargers. And I found my trusty* old iPod for some tunes and an FM transmitter as a stop gap until I can get a proper aux input sorted. There are various ways to achieve this but all involve some level of diagnostics to tell the head unit to accept/display an AUX option. 

@Bren I know you used an icarsoft thing for your Beamer. Does it have options to 'talk' to the audio unit? 

[grogee]

Also bought some tyres for the Beamer. I think I'm going to hedge my bets and go for 2 (good) partworn and 2 new ditchfinders after payday. 

These Conti tyres for £100 posted look OK and they've both got 6+ mm of tread. 

Do we think it'll chew its rear tyres faster than the fronts? 

[grogee]

Gave the tank a good shake. About two dustpanfuls of this crap came out. 

There was some sort of crystalline stuff in there too. I'm wondering if this is the remains of one of those snake oil 'fuel catalysts' that were briefly popular around the time leaded fuel was phased out. 

It's been draining/drying for a week now so I think the explosion risk has passed, so I'll do my best with the hoover to get what I can out. I was thinking of taping the nozzle to the filler neck and giving it a good old shake to try and persuade most of it out of the tank. Maybe with some compressed air at the same time. 

It won't be perfect but hopefully good enough for the POR-15 treatment. 

[Bren]

Only gets codes and I think you can reset it.

[grogee]

More Vauxhall action today. Bit of a rush job to get the Corsa serviced before our Devon trip this week. It would have been fine were it not for this utterly shit weather, and misplacing my vacuum tool which I need for pulling the diesel through the new filter. @SmokinWaffle assured me it only needs a 'minor' service and I'm sure that's true, but I've got all the service parts as they cost buttons so I'll throw them all on.

Somehow I've managed to accumulate three wrong oil filters for this car, but fortunately one of the wrong ones I bought for our old Alfa is right for this. The moral of this story? Always hoard everything and never throw anything away. 

Some minor cable tie surgery for the undertray, this seems to be standard for all my shitheaps these days. 

Spilled loads of diesel all over the garage trying to be clever with the filter. What with the petrol spill last week, there is now a heady Eau du Fuel wafting from the garage. Luckily we're non-smokers. 

Did a bit of investigation on the missing brake shim. Interestingly there was a service bulletin about squeaky brakes from Voxall. I'll be ordering a shim from our local dealer tomorrow so let's see if they manage to fuck that up. 

[grogee]

Not a great deal of mechanicing today. Started the messy and annoying process of degreasing the Maestro tank. Had a brainwave to seal the filler neck - an old bicycle inner tube with a knot in it, held on with a jubilee clip. 

Unfortunately the reason this was a junk inner tube became apparent as the degreaser pissed out of two puncture holes... Twat. 

The only other action was to remove the Maestro door card to see what options are available for a speaker upgrade. Standard size is 4" and by the looks of things the originals are a bit ripe... 

I've ordered some of these based on zero science or reviews. The main reason I bought them is because I like the weave of the cones, and the magnet looks nice and phat. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

every video i've watched from gaydon seems to show WWL- it get fkin everywhere 🙄

[High Jetter]

Fuck me, bring back Tandy! £35 seems a lot, unless their special