Imhotep's ever changing fleet - MG ZS180, Toyota GT86 - Finally, working air conditioning!

[Imhotep]

2 hours ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

Looking good are you planning on running both the Toyota and MG as daily drivers? I guess the MG is the more practical family car.

I’ll run both, I’m on a very limited mileage policy on the ZS, and I can’t use it for commuting. However that does mean it’s less than £300 a year to insure, will likely use the ZS in the warmer weather, but I do need it for a few tip runs before Christmas, then I’m going to take it for test and hope for the best as the test is due in 5 weeks. 
 

I may be over with some brake disks and pads at some stage as it needs some and I don’t like messing with brakes lol. 

[Imhotep]

MOT for ZS on Friday. Have a feeling it’ll fail. I have this feeling because immediately after booking it in, the washer pump died. Hoping these have one pump for the front and one for the rear so I can just swap them over as a bodge until I can order a new washer pump. 

Not much has happened over the holidays with the cars. They’ve mostly just been driven about. MG to blow out the cobwebs and the GT86 as it’s the daily runner. They did both get treated to a wash mind:

 

Toyota I’ve decided to put my own anxieties about the engine to bed and buy the upgraded oil pickup pipe. Hopefully that’ll prevent any oil starvation issues that seem to be all I see about them (then again it could be like N47s and timing chains, where it’s actually not a huge issue if you maintain the car).

We’ll see how the MG gets on however money is tight for a few months now so if it fails it’ll likely be locked away until May/June when money improves. 

[Imhotep]

Of course what does help if your washer isn’t working is checking if there’s fluid in it. That’ll do it. Have to over complicate everything don’t I?

However… the fluid must have gone somewhere as it was full when I parked it up. After a short 10 minute wait…

I think if I max the bottle and take it for test it might be okay, provided it doesn’t leak all over their floor! I’ll see if I can get something to hold it just for now…

[Imhotep]

Good day out yesterday at the Severns meet. Car got a fair bit of attention actually to say it was parked next to an arguably much more interesting Sierra Cosworth. 
 

Anyhow. MOT day today for it. Failed, obviously. Thought it might. Being sat in storage really didn’t do the brakes any good, handbrake was jammed on when I went to collect it and we had to free it off, and the front discs are obviously warped. Needs new discs, pads and the OSR caliper freeing off slightly. Garage wanted £373, but it’s January and I don’t have that so for now it’ll go in the garage and I’ll sort it when it’s a bit warmer. Honestly I’m mostly grateful there’s not even a mention of rot on the fail sheet.

[JMotor]

Liked for the attention the ZS got. 

Shame about the MOT. But all fixable as you say. Plus you've got another car to use, so not stuck for transport. 

Probably isn't the issue. It's worth giving the front caliper slider pins a check as these can seize in the carrier. Was always an issue on the 45's I've owned in the past. 

[Imhotep]

43 minutes ago, JMotor said:

Liked for the attention the ZS got. 

Shame about the MOT. But all fixable as you say. Plus you've got another car to use, so not stuck for transport. 

Probably isn't the issue. It's worth giving the front caliper slider pins a check as these can seize in the carrier. Was always an issue on the 45's I've owned in the past. 

The brakes aren’t overly expensive thankfully, just hard to get. All the local suppliers want silly money for discs. I can order some and wait a few days and get them for half the price. I think about £100 will see this back on the road again.

[Imhotep]

Always wait until I’m poor don’t they?

 

Cheap OBD reader to the rescue!

 

Knock sensor, driver side. That’ll need doing. Under the inlet manifold because of course it is…

[Imhotep]

Been advised by a man much more clever than me that knock sensor faults on an FA20 can be quite serious, and could be a precursor to rod knock. Now this may seem like massive overkill for the sake of a £40 sensor, but I’m going to get it locked away and trailered to a specialist just for a once over. I’d rather pay someone who knows what they’re doing a few hundred pound to call me an idiot with anxiety than have to pay £3000 for a replacement engine. 
 

So with that in mind, I’ve been on the internet again today and bought some MTEC brakes for the ZS. These should (hopefully) arrive before the weekend. If they do, I have as usual roped in @Heidel_Kakao to help me replace them as I don’t like working on brakes at all. I’ll also get it booked back in for a retest on Monday and then the MG will be back as a daily runner for a bit. I’ll aim to get the Toyota looked into around my birthday (end of May). 
 

Never rains, it pours.

[mintwth]

40 minutes ago, Imhotep said:

a specialist

Got one in mind? 

If you're Brum way, there's Rogue Motorsports near Southam which has a decent reputation for their work on 86s

[Imhotep]

Just now, mintwth said:

Got one in mind? 

If you're Brum way, there's Rogue Motorsports near Southam which has a decent reputation for their work on 86s

Was thinking Fensport as I have a friend that lives very near there who would help with transport 

[mintwth]

Fensport has an excellent reputation on 86s.

[Imhotep]

Right. Snow has stopped play for a bit. Especially with my leg which has (as my youngest calls it) ‘the big pain’ due to the cold weather and the pins/plates in my femur. 
 

Haven’t really left the house for a bit. So I had to do… Something today. I’ve been fed up of the Rover 45 steering wheel on the ZS since the day I got it. It’s not the right colour and it looks silly. That was changing today:

 

Even with the battery disconnected, I don’t like dealing with airbags. I also dropped it. Whoops.

Old one ready to come off

 

Needed some convincing with a rubber mallet and some wiggling but it eventually popped off the splines and left me with this:

 

The above freaked me out at first because it moved independent of the steering rack. I was worried I was meant to align it. Turns out it’ll do that itself as I discovered when I refitted the new wheel:

All back in, a couple of splines out but it’s something I’ll sort in a few days when it’s thawed out and I can drive it up and down the garage block to check if it’s straight without having to slide on the ice.

 

The smallest things seem to make the biggest difference don’t they?

[Heidel_Kakao]

Looks much better, I am probably going to change the steering wheel on the XJR as I am not a fan of the wood rim and would prefer a full leather one.

[Lord Sterling]

Looks good.

Reminds me of my changing the wheel in the S-Type. Same thing happened with that thing that moved independently. Didn't seem to make a difference and popped itself correctly back in place when I fitted the new steering wheel.

[Imhotep]

1 hour ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

Looks much better, I am probably going to change the steering wheel on the XJR as I am not a fan of the wood rim and would prefer a full leather one.

Wood is awful in winter and awful in summer, I’d be doing the same if I was you, I wanted a basic wheel on all my Mondeos for the same reason 

57 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

Looks good.

Reminds me of my changing the wheel in the S-Type. Same thing happened with that thing that moved independently. Didn't seem to make a difference and popped itself correctly back in place when I fitted the new steering wheel.

That S Type looks so much better with that new wheel mind. I was aiming to do it but never got around to it 

[Imhotep]

Some things have been done. Mostly ZS brakes.

As ever, went to see @Heidel_Kakao who as usual helped, this time with transport too (more on this later). Big thanks as usual!

Went to sort brakes on MG. They don’t actually look too awful here (I mean they’re still well overdue replacement but they don’t look as bad as they actually are):

Getting these off ended up with me breaking two slider pins. We had to go to GSF to get new ones, who oddly, have them on the shelf. For any ZS180 owners, rear calipers are the same as a Honda S2000. Only thing is the S2000 and the ZS have entirely different part numbers for certain things (not the sliders mind). Find an S2000 reg plate for use on the parts sites. 

Anyway. Pads out. And then they immediately fell apart:

 

Despite them looking thin there there’s actually about 3mm left on the old pads. Not entirely sure what’s happened here.

Here’s what I mean about the discs looking far better than they are…

 

Anyway loss of light stopped play so the aim is to do the other 3 pads and discs either this weekend or next week. On the upside though while we had it apart I discovered the car was polybushed:

[Imhotep]

Knock sensor replaced on Toyota and it seems a lot happier. The one removed was apparently cracked and fell apart as soon as it was removed. Might explain the issues it was having. Thankful it was just that. Haven’t used it much since but no hesitation, no EML and no strange noises, so I’m happy!

Finally found an AC dryer for the ZS too, once that arrives and has been fitted it’ll be off to the local air con place to have the system recharged. I’ve been looking for one for ages, so I’m very happy I’ll finally have the AC working again. (I’ve had the whole system tested. The only issue was the dryer leaking slightly), next up is the AC on the GT86, but that uses R1234yf so I’d rather get it diagnosed before spending many pounds on a recharge that’ll likely just leak out again.