Grogee's spannering (Maestro , Corsa & Avensis). PIMP MY PARTNER

[grogee]

Behold! The Press of Bodge. 

Guess what, it didn't work. 

Larger bars and plates have been ordered. 

[grogee]

No more pussyfooting. Got in there with this contraption, a gearbox support thing that adapts onto a jack (more or less). Yes it's a bit shonky but it's better than a little jack cup thing. 

There are three mounts for the gearbox and one for the engine for some reason. Two are easy to get off and the 'snubber' one is stuffed in between the box and the subframe and is consequently a bit of an arse. 

Luckily the mounting rubbers look good and not too knackered - I half expected them to turn to dust. 

Clutch plate itself doesn't look too worn out, I've seen worse. I'm a bit confused as to how the pedal was so high unless there's some adjustment I haven't spotted (there's none on the release lever end). 

I've taken the flywheel off to change the crank seal, I'm glad I did because I can just see a drip starting under the current one which is probably 30 years old. 

The bad news is that my replacement clutch kit is buried in a pile of boxes, because Operation Shed has relegated my storage boxes to the summer house temporarily. Thoughts and prayers, people. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

self adjusting clutch cable after '84/85

[grogee]

I didn't post a pic of my gearbox jack thing. It was £50 off the Bay and is an angle-adjustable 'platform' that bolts to the bottom of a jack. 

There's a chain that goes round the top of the box for extra not-falling-offness. 

I would say I need to get more familiar with it but it's a useful addition to the driveway toolbox. 

Local shiters are welcome to borrow. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351279015010?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=vHy21yaLRSi&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=2Z40wC2iSsq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[rainagain]

Great work and that looks like a handy tool, I made something similar out of part of a pallet when I changed the clutch and flywheel on my 307. 

[grogee]

44 minutes ago, rainagain said:

Great work and that looks like a handy tool, I made something similar out of part of a pallet when I changed the clutch and flywheel on my 307. 

I like that. You win on saving £50 and also on points for style. 

I actually bought it for Operation Autobox on my Beamer, but it seems I may have access to a two-post lift for that job, if my mate's lift is wide enough to accept the 5 series. 

Having it on a lift just makes the distance to ground larger, and therefore the risk of losing a foot is greater. But I will hopefully have mate's assistance to lift said box when pulling it off the car. 

[grogee]

It's hot as a motherlover. 

I was soaked in sweat putting these springs onto their new (used) Leda struts, and it's not exactly a physical job particularly as I'm using an impact to turn the spring compressors. 

Of course, like a bellend I forgot the top rubber spring seat on the first one so had to undo it and re-do it. 

Given that I was a sweaty mess there didn't seem to be any harm in venturing into the Reserve Shed to find the clutch kit. 

Naturally it was in the worst place possible so I had to heave out all the boxes before I found it. 

Honestly though the new clutch friction disc doesn't look any thicker than the one I've just removed. Annoyingly this clutch 'issue' seems to be simply a case of the pedal not auto-adjusting. 

Having said that the crank seal is definitely leaking so it would all have to come off to fix that anyway. Swings and roundabouts. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

show us your clutch cable man!

[High Jetter]

25 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

show us your clutch cable man!

OK. I like to think am open minded, but,..:)

[grogee]

10 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

show us your clutch cable man!

At least buy me a drink first

[grogee]

A cursory look at the cable suggests this is a manuel adjust, with the clip thing being moved along the ribbed bit to take up slack. Ah well, at least I've been able to change this leaky seal using the time-honoured FUCKEN PUT WOODSCREWS IN THERE MATE. 

Gave it a bit of a spruce with some brake clean then tapped* in the new seal with the old bent one. The old one made by Angus apparently, not a name I'm familiar with. 

I've also been cleaning up the flywheel face and the clutch pressure plate face - although it was in waxy packaging it's old enough to have rusted a bit. 

Then, because Another Brick in the Wall was playing and I couldn't interrupt it, I applied some CV goop to the CV joint and put the retainer clip on. There's plenty of goop already in it so I've hopefully caught it early enough that there's no damage to the joint. 

[grogee]

Today I managed to actually change the wheelbearings after quite a lot of faffing about with extra bits for my press and some bearing pusher things. 

I realised my existing press wasn't up to the job but only because of the limited span that meant I couldn't support the knuckle while pushing the drive flange out. 

£20 or so later and quite a few days and I received some wider metal bars and wider plates what for pushin' on. 

This was enough to push out the drive flange but it left the remains of the bearing in place. I needed a 68mm round thing which I just didn't have knocking about so I bit the bullet and bought a £50 bearing puller set. 

Good: Really good selection of bearing pusher cap things, lots of diameters to choose from, so it should be useful in the future. 

Bad: the supplied M18 bolt & long nut for pulling was made of cheese, but a replacement shouldn't be hard to source. 

Anyway with a combination of the press, these tools and some mild swearing I got the old ones out and new ones in. @Cluffy came to the rescue with a set of those tripod puller things to get the inner race off the drive flange. 

It's a bit sphincter tightening because of all the force involved. Sometimes it goes BANG a bit scarily, and all the while I'm expecting an explosion of sharp metal shards heading for my abdomen. 

My philosophy, as ever, is that I would have paid A Garage an hour's labour at least which would have cost the same as the tools I needed to buy. And now, I'm equipped with the tools and knowledge* needed to do it next time. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 9/10/2023 at 12:09 PM, grogee said:

A cursory look at the cable suggests this is a manuel adjust, with the clip thing being moved along the ribbed bit to take up slack.

 

no my old fruity that is in fact the correct self adjusting cable- the clip only goes in one place and all the slack is taken up by the spring

the adjustment is done by the big black conical doofer that sits against the bulkhead

[grogee]

12 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

no my old fruity that is in fact the correct self adjusting cable- the clip only goes in one place and all the slack is taken up by the spring

the adjustment is done by the big black conical doofer that sits against the bulkhead

Iranu indeed Mr Tidybeard. The cable was obviously self-adjusting with the efficiency and reliability I've come to expect from BLARG products. 

A new cable is going on once I've contorted myself under the clutch pedal to hook it in. I may take the driver's seat out and put a camping mat down to save my back. 

But first, gearbox back on using the Jack Fitting of Fright. Onward! 

[grogee]

With the weather closing in I've realised there's not a lot of time to get things buttoned back up before the Rains come. 

This is particularly irritating. It's been dry all week but I spent Mon-Thurs doing work that turned out to be a complete and utter waste of time, then frantically catching up yesterday and this weekend. So of course next to no time for spannering. 

Fuelled by instant coffee and porridge I leapt* outside to try and manhandle the gearbox back on. I have to say this jack attachment thing is pretty useful and it has an adjustable-angle platform which helps when lining things up. 

I think with two people we may have been able to grunt and thrutch it onto the splines, however I was working solo so I found some extra long M12 bolts to just keep things aligned. Then I slowly wound in nuts to pull it together. 

You're definitely not supposed to do this, damaged shaft blah blah blah. But by using common sense I could tell if it bound up, so I just tweaked it a bit at a time until there was room to fit the proper bolts. 

Work has been suspended while I take Master Grogee swimming, but I'm quite pleased with progress in the hour or so of fiddling this morning. 

Little bit worried I may not have room to get the rear mount in but with the box attached to the engine I should be able to jack it this way and that to gain access. 

[grogee]

Bit more fumbling and crawling around under the car and all three mounts are back on the gearbox now. I've put most of the bellhousing bolts back in, but the starter isn't in yet. Think I'll do the clutch cable while there's plenty of bits off. 

Then I need to refit:

Driveshafts

Starter

Speedo cable and gubbins

ARB

Front suspension with its fresh balls and struts

Knuckles with their new bearings

Fill up the gearbox with PG juice

[grogee]

A few more bits and bobs back on, as I worked in between showers. 

I knocked the drive shafts back in using a BFH and a block of wood on the end, did the trick nicely. 

Then juggled all the suspension bits back in place. Bit tricky with the lower arms and ARB, which didn't want to 'sit' properly while I did the bolts up. Yes I know you're supposed to do them up with the weight on the wheels - so sue me. 

There were a couple of fiddly bits around the crank sensor bracket and speedo drive which I couldn't remember how they went together but got there in the end. 

Threw in some MTF 94, she takes two litres if you please. A spritz of spillage on the drive for good luck, of course. 

I had a quick fumble to find the top of the clutch cable on the pedal but I couldn't reach it so may end up contorting myself to find it tomorrow. 

I've made a little bracket to lift the rad hose away from the block, as its chafing a bit. But I need something wider than a cable tie to support it. Some sort of plastic tube of the right diameter... I'll think of something. 

Looks like I have at least some of the weekend to get finished, which is nice. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

take the horseshoe clip off cable so inner can go through a loooong way to hook on the pedal easier

[Noel Tidybeard]

...or are you suposed to do pedal 1st then clutch arm 2nd 🤔

[Noel Tidybeard]

ah alook in haynes book 1067 says do both!

[grogee]

Yeah @Noel Tidybeard pedal first then clutch arm. The pedal bit is a right fiddle, you can see it alright with the fuse cover off but there's not enough room for Actual Hands to twiddle the hook onto the, err, hook. Saying that it was a bit easier with the dashboard bottom cover panel thing removed. 

Then pull the cable through the actuation lever and fit the end fittings on. I did think I'd have to lever the arm up to get that on, but there's enough slack to get it on without a fight. 

Then last you push the spring back and fit the horseshoe clip. As I did so it made a satisfying farty noise as the gubbins did their self-adjusting. 

Made good progress this morning, gearbox selector is back on and splash shields repaired and fitted. Just need to finish fitting the air filter and coil bracket thing then connect up the hoses. 

I do need to investigate the fuel leak too, but I might save that for tomorrow. I'm hoping my friend JB Weld can assist here. 

[grogee]

I think it's back together. When I look in the Nuts & Bolts box there's not really any significant fixings left over. 

I still need to do the old hokey-cokey with the hub nuts, although I might get Mrs Grogee to press the pedal while I do them up to 203 Newts. 

Sadly she's bargained with me and I have to put up some sort of trellis bollocks first. Harumph. At least Argyle are winning 4-0.

 

Edit: five - nil v Norwich. Bloody hell

[grogee]

So today I attempted to fix the pinhole leak around the fuel tank return line spigot with JB Weld. With the line removed I carefully cleaned it up with acetone then smeared some fresh epoxy all around the offending area. 

Unfortunately I underestimated how long it would take to cure and it's still pretty soft. 

No matter - how about I have a go testing the compression? @Cluffy kindly lent me his kit so I thought it would be useful info, at least so I can do a 'before and after' when I've fitted the new cylinder head. 

Shirley with the fuel pump relay removed, there shouldn't be any fuel flow so the removed return line shouldn't matter. 

Wrong! 

Big puddle under the car. Still can't work out how that happened with no power to fuel line, but anyway... More serious problems are afoot. 

When I turned the starter I just got a whizzing noise, it sounded like the starter wasn't engaging with the flywheel. Then for good measure, the starter kept whizzing even after I'd released the key. 

I should qualify this by stating that during the rebuild I fitted a 'new' (reconditioned) starter which I'd hoarded a while ago. I now suspect it's junk with a sticky solenoid. 

I've thrown the old one back on as that's a known good one. But not tried it yet due to aforementioned fuel shenanigans. 

[grogee]

Got round to checking the compression after changing the starter back to the old one. Turns out the recon starter was FUBAR. Sticky solenoid and it wasn't engaging with the flywheel properly. I'm well out of the Ebay 'complaint' period but I'll fire off an email just in case the seller has a conscience. 

After doing a second or two churn with the throttle flat to floor all cylinders came in at around 130PSI. Good, in that they're all about the same so no major issues. But bad because I'd expect a bit more than that. My theory is that the pitted exhaust valves are leaking a bit which would explain that, plus I have a fix coming with the new head. 

I haven't fired it up fully yet because I'd like the JB Weld to cure overnight. Will give her a razz tomorrow if I can clear the decks with work. 

I've taken the opportunity to set the Spax rear dampers to 'middle-ish' to match* the Leda fronts which are on click 15/30.

[grogee]

IT LIVES. I just took the 'Stro for a celebratory spin to Tesco to buy a prawn sandwich #elitesandwich. 

The difference in the clutch is night and day. Feather light pedal, nice bite halfway up the travel. Having studied the old parts fairly thoroughly over the last couple of weeks, it's not obvious why it should feel so different - the clutch parts I removed didn't seem to be worn in any significant way. 

There's more good news, the steering is also much improved. Again, the new bottom ball joints and track rod ends didn't appear to be very different to the items I took off (and the top mount bearings were re-used). But it's like someone has fitted power steering, it's so much lighter. 

I did count the number of turns for the old TREs and made sure the new ones went on the same amount, but I've a feeling my tracking is out now. Firstly the steering seems keen to go 'over centre' after a bit (where it wants to wind itself to max lock). Secondly when I went round a roundabout I heard the tyres squealing - pretty sure it didn't do that before. 

With the adjustable dampers set halfway the ride is firmer but the tyres (60 ish section) are still doing a good job ironing out the worst. 

I've got a bit of brake disc scrape noise now, I am hoping it'll go after a decent run and use of the brakes. But no fuel leak as far as I can see so the JB Weld seems to have done the trick. 

Annoyingly I've lost a clip that was holding on the dash lower cover. I'll just cable tie it on for now I think. 

[grogee]

5er front wheel bearings. I'm fitting the absolute cheapest bits possible based on the fact that we're near End of Life for the old frauline. I think the pair was £70. No, I don't value my life. 

It's a bolt-on part but many bits have to move to get access to the bolts. As expected I've found some more surprises* that will need dealing with at a Later Date. 

RHS track rod end knackered. Rear lower control arm ball joint knackered. RHS brake shield MIA. I've priced up parts and none of them are cheap... All part of the Ultimate Driving Machine experience I suppose. 

While in the RHS I had a go at sorting out the front bumper which has had a prang at some point. The usual combination of cable ties and new spire nuts and screws has restored some semblance of alignment. 

Anyway I've done one side and turned the car round for Part Deux. That can wait for tomorrow, I can't be arsed with any more today. 

[grogee]

The other side BMW wheel bearing is done too, and there were more joys awaiting discovery.

I did the usual ballache removal of the track rod end, where despite wire-wheeling everything the nut wouldn't come off the TRE thread because the torx fitting to hold it steady was wank and not up to the job. I got a slitting disc and slit through the nut, trying not to damage the threads in the process. I got it off in the end with only superficial* damage to the TRE threads. 

On this right-hand side, the ball joints seem OK but the front control arm front bush is splitting and it's easily spotted by the MoT man. This is the most expensive control arm on the front suspension but luckily there is a press-in bush available for £20ish, so being quite skint I've ordered that along with the parts required for LHS. Still £140ish in total plus I've bitten the bullet on new Khumo's for the rear at £100 each. I've been searching for ages for a tyre deal I can stomach and nearly pulled the trigger on some Kormorans, but decided to search Asda tyres and found these Khumo's within budget. 'Big name' brands were £120+ which I couldn't justify.

At some point I'm going to have to get the LHS track rod end off the track rod. I had a go at bashing the locknut off with an open ended 22mm spanner but the fucker wouldn't budge. My next effort will involve the blowtorch I think, I hope it gets the desired results.

On the plus side, I've managed to straighten the front bumper so it's not poking out from the wings and looks slightly less borked.

[Tenmil Socket]

9 minutes ago, grogee said:

The other side BMW wheel bearing is done too, and there were more joys awaiting discovery.

I did the usual ballache removal of the track rod end, where despite wire-wheeling everything the nut wouldn't come off the TRE thread because the torx fitting to hold it steady was wank and not up to the job. I got a slitting disc and slit through the nut, trying not to damage the threads in the process. I got it off in the end with only superficial* damage to the TRE threads. 

On this right-hand side, the ball joints seem OK but the front control arm front bush is splitting and it's easily spotted by the MoT man. This is the most expensive control arm on the front suspension but luckily there is a press-in bush available for £20ish, so being quite skint I've ordered that along with the parts required for LHS. Still £140ish in total plus I've bitten the bullet on new Khumo's for the rear at £100 each. I've been searching for ages for a tyre deal I can stomach and nearly pulled the trigger on some Kormorans, but decided to search Asda tyres and found these Khumo's within budget. 'Big name' brands were £120+ which I couldn't justify.

At some point I'm going to have to get the LHS track rod end off the track rod. I had a go at bashing the locknut off with an open ended 22mm spanner but the fucker wouldn't budge. My next effort will involve the blowtorch I think, I hope it gets the desired results.

On the plus side, I've managed to straighten the front bumper so it's not poking out from the wings and looks slightly less borked.

I've had these tyres on my car (245 40 18) for a couple of years and they've been absolutely fine!

[Tenmil Socket]

2 hours ago, Tenmil Socket said:

I've had these tyres on my car (245 40 18) for a couple of years and they've been absolutely fine!

In fact, I've just booked in to have these tyres fitted on Saturday.

[grogee]

This morning I spent an hour or two in the garage making a battery backup for the Maestro clock and radio. 

This is because I'm going to fit a remote earth relay that cuts the battery when the car is parked, for two reasons:

1) For some reason I can't be bothered to investigate, the ECU isn't switching the main relay to earth with the ignition on. This means I've got a bodged 'always on' relay fitted but it drains the battery after about a day. 

2) There's no security measures in this car other than a crook lock and handbrake/gear lever lock which I don't bother fitting when I just pop to the shops. It would take someone under a minute to break in and hotwire it. 

At least with a (hidden) earth relay I've added another layer of complication to thieves looking to drive it away. The remote relay comes with two remote control key rings, and apparently only draws 20 micro amps in standby. 

Unfortunately I didn't have any beefy black battery cable in the correct gauge, but I do have red. I've sleeved it in that corrugated plastic sheath which is black and I'll label it too. 

My kingdom for a 70s Dymo.