browntastic 604

[Guest]

Thats not a bad failure for what you started with - good work keep it up

[scooters]

Nice short failure list that! A pass is close and a reward for all your work. Well done mate really inspiring

[dieselnutjob]

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[jonathan_dyane]

Excellent work! How does she drive?

[dieselnutjob]

it seems much slower than the manual one, but very smooth and refined

mind you I haven't really opened it up on a proper road. need a tax disc for that

it'll be a comfortable relaxing thing to drive which is exactly what I want

 

the interior still stinks. guess I'll have to shampoo the carpets or something

[504GL]

it seems much slower than the manual one, but very smooth and refined

mind you I haven't really opened it up on a proper road. need a tax disc for that

it'll be a comfortable relaxing thing to drive which is exactly what I want

 

the interior still stinks. guess I'll have to shampoo the carpets or something

 

I can't imagine having a manual 504 or a 604. It's a car for wafting and no one ever wafted in a manual car

[dieselnutjob]

I don't remember what a 504 is like, but on a 604 the ignition lock sticks down just so that your left knee painfully catches it if you haven't quite got the seat adjusted perfectly right. The clutch is also quite heavy. On the auto it just isn't a problem.

[504GL]

I don't remember what a 504 is like, but on a 604 the ignition lock sticks down just so that your left knee painfully catches it if you haven't quite got the seat adjusted perfectly right. The clutch is also quite heavy. On the auto it just isn't a problem.

 

I don't remember that being a problem, but of course mine was an auto too. Does the gearshift wobble about and make noise in the 604 on bumpy roads?

[The Moog]

took it to MOTEST as well so failure was free! Quite a good garage for all the shite to go through

[dieselnutjob]

the wife's battered (210,000 miles) 806 passed today as well (different MOT station). Two in one day!

[Pete-M]

Well done Phil. You've put me to shame!

 

Mine's still just sitting there.

[dieselnutjob]

yes but now I have to start welding mine

I suspect that yours will go to the MOT already rot free

also yours hasn't got a piece of biscuit tin self-tapped over the split in the front wing

[RobT]

Well done! Get some tax on it and use it whilst the sun is still shining.

[dieselnutjob]

yes I'll get a tax disc tomorrow as it's the 1st

[dieselnutjob]

got tax disc, been driving around. What a lovely old thing it is.

 

I'm not sure it should have gotten an MOT though. I noticed that if I grab the top of the front nearside wheel and wobble it, the whole strut wobbles about. Basically the rod does not seem to be particularly located in the top of the strut/shock absorber. Two new shock absorbers needed then.

 

Took it to quikfit today for a tracking check and they let me look underneath. There are a couple of patches of bear metal / surface rust underneath. I just hope my drill brush thing doesn't go right through. That'll also need sorting before the salt spreaders come out.

 

Lastly the interior stinks, but it seems worse once the interior fan starts up, so I took the cover off above the fan intake and hoovered that out. I found a bit of sound proofing stuff under there. The only way I can think of that getting there is if a mouse took it from under the carpet and went through the ventilation system with it.

[504GL]

got tax disc, been driving around. What a lovely old thing it is.

 

I'm not sure it should have gotten an MOT though. I noticed that if I grab the top of the front nearside wheel and wobble it, the whole strut wobbles about. Basically the rod does not seem to be particularly located in the top of the strut/shock absorber. Two new shock absorbers needed then.

 

If the suspension is the same as the 504, check that the big locknut on the front of the control arm isn't loose. It was loose on mine and was rather noisy, especially on gravel!

 

You can see the locknut poking out in this picture, just to the left of the bit where the jack clips on

 

 

If it is loose you may even be able to tighten it up by hand which will obviously be a dead giveaway. When mine had gone you could move the wheel whilst the car was on the ground.

[dieselnutjob]

I think I just scored a pair of new Sachs shock absorber inserts for the 604 for £30 (£15 each) on ebay. For that price I'll keep them spare even if that isn't the problem.

 

I've rebuilt 604 struts before and it isn't hard. Normally I just pull off the entire wishbone/track control arm (two bolts) and strut in one piece so that I don't have to mess with the bottom ball joint. So much easier than front wheel drives.

 

About an hour to do each side if there isn't any problem. Which is good because that's less than stictly-come-next-american-top-X-idol-factor-with-celebrities-whatever which seems to keep the women folk welded to the telly at the moment.

 

Shame they don't do an eight hour program then I could get the timing belt done on my 607.

[Dead_E23]

dieselnutjob was kind enough to let me have a go in the 604 this afternoon.

 

It's a nice old thing to drive - but cor, don't it pong inside!

 

My brother once had a job in the trade that involved driving posh cars and yesterday was telling me how he didn't relish Italian supercars on warm days because the leather stank of piss. Presumably they must have used urea in the manufacturing process in a way that Connoly hide doesn't. Anyone know anything about that?

 

Anyway, I noticed Tesco had a bargaintastic offer on Neutradol when I was in there buying my dinner so the 604 has a present.

[dieselnutjob]

The two Sachs sock inserts arrived, of course minus the fitting kit. Annoying when I had called the seller and asked him if they were included or not. Idiot.

 

I remembered that I had bought one of these fitting kits from Monroe a few years ago, so I called them again and the guy said he didn't have an easy way for me to buy them, so he posted me two fitting kits for free. Thanks Monroe UK .

 

The front left strut fell apart when I removed it.

 

that might explain the play in the front suspension then.

 

I'm sure Brooklands will weld it up for me.

[504GL]

The two Sachs sock inserts arrived, of course minus the fitting kit. Annoying when I had called the seller and asked him if they were included or not. Idiot.

 

I remembered that I had bought one of these fitting kits from Monroe a few years ago, so I called them again and the guy said he didn't have an easy way for me to buy them, so he posted me two fitting kits for free. Thanks Monroe UK .

 

The front left strut fell apart when I removed it.

 

that might explain the play in the front suspension then.

 

I'm sure Brooklands will weld it up for me.

 

NICE!

[dieselnutjob]

I got both struts welded up and back last week.

On Saturday I rebuilt them.

the springs on the old pugs are so bloody long. I could only get the compressors over 4 turns of the spring.

So clamped up the 4 turns that were compressed

 

this enabled me to get more turns on the spring compressors

 

and to reassemble the struts

 

Drove it to work earlier in the week and got up to 90 on the M25. It cruises at 80 easily and there are no rattles or knocks in the suspension at all. I've never owned a car with only 40,000 miles on it before.

 

Today I put rear seat belts in it so now it can be used for family trips.

[RobT]

 

Drove it to work earlier in the week and got up to 90 on the M25.

 

 

Good on you, I bet that was a sight to behold Got any recent photos of the beast on it's travels?

[dieselnutjob]

Got any recent photos of the beast on it's travels?

 

I can't believe that people are still interested in this.

 

Parked up in the company carpark this morning next to Dead_E23s Volvo.

 

Piece of biscuit tin and self tappers holding the front wing onto the valance.

I like biscuit tin because I can cut it up with kitchen scissors.

 

Blew £200 at lunchtime having a new middle box and the pipes that go to the back box. It's a miracle that they could even find the parts.

 

Autoshite standard taxdisc holder

I would love a 70s or 80s Peugeot one

 

A nice place to be on a sunny day.

[RobT]

That piece of biscuit tin looks fine - if you're going to bodge, do it neatly that's what I say

 

I'm sure driving this makes your daily commute far more interesting!

[worldofceri]

Agreed. The biscuit tin solution looks fine. In fact the whole thing looks mighty fine.

[dieselnutjob]

Today I put a pair of Velleman ignition amplifiers on the 604. I had them on the last one and they worked well.

The points are still there but instead of sinking something like 5 amps into the coil they now only have to supply a few milliAmps into an electronic box.

 

Unlike last time I wanted a more stealth look so I decided to hide them in a box on the side of the glove box.

 

once it's fixed to the side of the glovebox it's totally hidden

 

On the last 604 I had a big waterproof box in the engine bay.

 

Now I find that these units make a clicking noise, which I hadn't noticed before. I don't know why as they are totally electronic with no moving parts.

 

At idle it sounds like a couple of angry Cicadas in the car. When the car is driven they sound like demented Cicadas.

 

I guess I'll have to find somewhere else to house them. Arse.

 

and here is a pic of the paperclip that holds the door trims on

[Skizzer]

This car and thread are chock full of WIN. Top work that man

[dieselnutjob]

My understanding is that I am supposed to set the timing up with the vacuum pipe disconnected from the distributor, and, then when the pipe is reconnected that the timing will advance quite a lot, as there would be quite a lot of vacuum at idle.

 

Is that correct?

 

When I reconnect the vacuum pipe to the distributor the timing doesn't move at all. So I guess that either the mechanism is seized up or the vacuum capsule thing is stuffed.

 

I'm not used to petrol engines.

[M'coli]

I wouldn't be surprised if the vacuum advance doesn't work on a closed throttle but begins on light throttle - as the throttle butterfly turns around it exposes the hole the vacuum advance works on. You might have to stick it in neutral and lightly blip the throttle - the advance should jump suddenly as the throttle is opened and closed if it's working.

[dieselnutjob]

I have two fuel issues at the moment (I think that they are anyway).

 

1. When the engine is stone cold it starts and runs fine. As it warms up it becomes a nightmare to pull away. It idles okay but when you stick it in "D" the load of the gearbox almost kills it and then when you press the accelerator (even gently) it drops to much less than six cylinders and huffs n puffs n shudders until you get a bit of speed up and then it's okay. This makes pulling out of side turnings tricky. If it was a manual I would rev it and slip the clutch but that doesn't work on an auto. As it gets to full temperature it suddenly sorts itself out.

I'm guessing that the autochoke is working but then not switching off until it's totally warm. There are coolant pipes going to the carb.

 

2. When it is warm it doesn't idle in a constant way. It sits at 1000 rpm for a while, then it revs itself upto 1500rpm for 5 or ten seconds, then it goes back to 1000. It does this on a continuous cyclic basis.

 

any ideas?