The Car Thread

[Danny]

4 hours ago, george_seamons said:

My S3 is on ebay if anybody is interested. 430bhp hybrid turbo setup, absolutely huge spec list:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152713096438?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

What happened to keeping it standard? lol.

[george_seamons]

23 minutes ago, Danny said:

What happened to keeping it standard? lol.

That was over 2 years ago...things change

[Tom Booth]

Mustang steering box is here...

It feels brand new! Nice and free with no slack. Bolt pattern looks perfect to bolt straight up so rather then being a donor it might go straight on. Where the steering shaft comes out the top and goes through that top hat bush kinda setup, mines missing that totally. Looks like some hack has removed it for whatever reason and it's not supporting the bearing properly hence the failures. I'm missing the huge washers on the bolts too so I figure it's had a quick knob up job some point in its life and this is the result.

I just gave it a washdown and if it looks like it'll fit I'll slap a coat of paint on there. Excited to work on cars again suddenly which is nice, I love jukeboxes but it's fun to be doing something different again.

[Luke Rainbird]

Sounds like a winner TB. I've missed/forgotten the discussion around this - assuming this is a pretty early Mustang box? That said, the evolution of things is quite handy for parts bin raiding!

Get it sorted and clear a few jukes so I can visit and you can paint my car yeah?

[Tom Booth]

It's a 1964.5(mk1) mustang box, they ran them in mustangs for 3 years before they swapped out for a tilt steering column that splits about 2 inch after the box, whereas this one when you crash has a 48" steering shaft that harpoons you straight in the face. Safety, yo. The bolt pattern looks about bang on from memory but the actual shape is slightly different so might not be too successful but we can try.

Strangely though they only used this setup in fairlanes for 6 months-ish, which means its an absolute twat to find replacements and stuff for them hence my steering rack conversion ideas. Hopefully even if this doesnt bolt straight in itll beva great donor for my box and keep it on the road till I sus out/can be bothered to convert.

If your car fits through a 3ft wide door bring it whenever dude

 

[Luke Rainbird]

Sweet stuff. With a bit of luck you've done well there, and as you say even if it won't bolt straight up you should be able to rinse it for bits!

...and the state of my car at present, driving it through the wall to get it in wouldn't leave it any worse than it already is!

[JD™]

2 vehicles to MOT this month. The dead cert just failed and cost me £600, bring on the expensive one!

[Greetings]

Onboard from last weekend. Boss got in touch, wants me to codrive on the 30th and 1st. Hoping to dial in the suspension by then. Looking at a 50% increase in spring rates and more camber.

 

[Tom Booth]

Mustang box isn't a direct fit, it's out one 1 bolt out of 3 by about 10mm.

The steering shaft is about 2cm longer then the fairlane and the pitman arm is a touch shorter but that's not too crucial.

I really want to use the mustang box as it looks brand new and feels 'Proper.

Do I chance it and drill the chassis to accept it?! I can get the shaft shortened no trouble.

[SamKidney]

Spotted a certain yellow/blue kit car earlier on my way home... @Wrayvon 

It looks awesome! 

 

Busy day tomorrow replacing an engine in a friends Ek4 VTI, he's purchased a B16B from an ek9 type R with a DC2 s80 lsd gearbox and 4.7 final drive.. very posh. 

Giving me the old engine for my time. One burnt out valve to replace, some new rings and stem seals and it'll be a good en to sell on 

[Luke Rainbird]

3 hours ago, Tom Booth said:

Mustang box isn't a direct fit, it's out one 1 bolt out of 3 by about 10mm.

The steering shaft is about 2cm longer then the fairlane and the pitman arm is a touch shorter but that's not too crucial.

I really want to use the mustang box as it looks brand new and feels 'Proper.

Do I chance it and drill the chassis to accept it?! I can get the shaft shortened no trouble.

If the shortening is a cheap and painless exercise and the only niggle is the new hole, then provided there's decent meat there to take it get that b*****d drilled, painted and rivnutted already.

[Tom Booth]

The steering box bolts through the chassis rail with some gnarly m12 bolts, so my plan of attack is..

Fit mustang box using 1 bolt to mock up. I can measure the length of the column then and get that sat right.

Make 2 spreader plates from 2mm mild steel, one either side the chassis rail so when I drill it's got good support around it.

Fit everything up..

Profit.

My thinking is Fairlanes are a right twat to sort the obscure parts for such as steering box bearings, they're either the later mustang bearings, earlier falcon or non of the above and parts bin specials. If I fit a 64 mustang box I know from then on any parts I need I know what it is.

Seems abit of a major attack but makes my life abit easier.

Plus if it all goes titties to the sky I've still got the option to steering rack it.

[Luke Rainbird]

 

Copypasta, but I think I'm relatively up to date in here to this point.

-----

So the car has been sat for a week or two again whilst life gets in the way some more. As a result, progress has been way slower than ideal but I managed to steal a few hours here and there.

Racked up some miles in Soph’s Golf.

Stumbled upon this delight.

As you’ll have seen, I’d had a TIP stuck together recently.

Now with added MAF boss, so I can connect everything up.

With that sorted I was able to connect up the vast majority of the engine bay pipework and electrical system, though it was a complete mess.

One incredibly minor step towards improving this was to tidy up the rocker cover a little. Really it needs a fresh lick of paint (ideally powder, but that will have to wait) however it’s all about the marginal gains at this point. I’ve been running TFSI coilpacks for a few years now, but always without adapters. I’m still not sure why people pay the ridiculous sums some places charge for adapters, given these are fresh from the dealer for a couple of quid each. Not necessary for function, but dress things up a touch which can’t hurt. Quick trim to the bottom so that they sit flush and away we go.

The final piece of the puzzle was the oil drain. I’d put one together to get the car home, however it was fouling the driveshaft so couldn’t stick around. In the end I pieced one together from the top half of a k03 line, and the lower from a k04-023. Not perfect, but perfectly functional. Don’t appear to have a photo of the complete line, so this’ll have to do you.

I also received a rather helpful package. @adam- had incredibly kindly offered to whip off the immo on a pair of spare ECUs I plan on using, and after a bit of a chat he also stuck on a copy of his current map. Whilst it’ll obviously need tweaking to my specific hardware, we’re running surprisingly similar setups so it’ll act as a great start point for me. Besides, Adam actually knows what he’s doing on that front, where as my understanding is incredibly limited, so he’ll undoubtedly have done a far better job than I can.

Today I spent a couple of hours making some more progress in the bay. Still a state, but progressively working through and improving stuff.

Tidied up some of the surplus lines. Hardlines at the bulkhead have been put back of course  as one of them is used for coolant, though I’m not yet sure whether I’ll find a use for the other or remove it completely.

Also pulled out the mess below the inlet mani. When I’d done the n249 removal on getting the car I’d done a fairly quick job of it, intending on revisiting to clean it up down the line. Evidently this didn’t happen.

Whilst it needs sorting properly, I pinched the check valve from this lot to allow me to retain the brake booster setup. I’d like to replace these hoses with something neater, but it’s another thing on the “functions but looks gash” list for now.

Prior to check valve, but this shows how awkward this line now looks without the stock k04-023 charge pipe in place. I’ll figure something out.

Next up, a bit of wiring. I’ve mentioned it before, but I am NOT an electrical engineer. I’ve worked on pretty comprehensive setups on board nuclear submarines and when it’s big macro stuff it’s not so bad, but the smaller and more fiddly it gets the less I enjoy it. I’d like to tuck the injector wiring to help the overall aesthetic, and was dreading having to extend wiring and keep things neat. Fortunately I was able to strip back the insulation and gain enough length to avoid this for now, but when I fit the 630cc set I’ll probably have to revisit. For now, split a few bits of the loom and taped up neatly.

Another relatively small job, but one that should help towards the overall feel of the car, was the shift bracket bushes. Frustratingly I’d planned on getting a good set of measurements for these to share so folk with lathe access could make themselves a set, but my vernier is well and truly dead. I took some rough measurements, but they could do with verification really. Will get them drawn up and share at some point.

One of the studs in the gearbox casing pretty much fell out, which isn’t ideal. Given it only holds this I’ve epoxied it in for now, and if I have any issues in the future I’ll sort it properly.

With that, I put the bay back together. Looking marginally better than before, though still plenty of love needed.

After a quick check of fluid levels and the like, I figured I was in a relatively good place to turn the key and take the car for its first actual drive. Key in ignition, turned and NOTHING. Balls, battery was beyond dead.

I popped out to my parents’ place and nabbed a trio of potential chargers. From what I can make out, one of the CTEK units is old hence being replaced though I’m not certain which. Presumably the one in a clear case is the newer one. For now, I’ve rigged the battery to the other charger and will see if it’s fit for duty in the morning.

And that brings us up until this evening.

[Wrayvon]

On 23/09/2017 at 0:48 PM, SamKidney said:

Spotted a certain yellow/blue kit car earlier on my way home... @Wrayvon 

It looks awesome! 

 

Busy day tomorrow replacing an engine in a friends Ek4 VTI, he's purchased a B16B from an ek9 type R with a DC2 s80 lsd gearbox and 4.7 final drive.. very posh. 

Giving me the old engine for my time. One burnt out valve to replace, some new rings and stem seals and it'll be a good en to sell on 

Haha I thought that was you! Wasn't sure at first hence I was looking so quizzical

[Tom Booth]

Job 1, shorten the column. Pitman arm is next...

 

Edit.. It is straight, the shaft was weld in a channel then the sleeve over the top. It's the sleeve that's on the squonk

[Tom Booth]

Pitman arm shortened and plated up for strength. Just bought another mustang steering box though for spares that looks like it should come with the correct arm.

Gonna get it all fitted back in tomorow and get it back on the road for the rest of the season!

[Danny]

@Tom Booth

[Tom Booth]

It's had a few parts just to keep it going... exhaust, brakes, trans..

6 pot wilwoods

I think they're fantastic cars. Mustang power, full size car comfort and ride, 4 doors for whores, built like a tank and just look awesome. There's a guy on the fairlane pages in Lancaster somewhere with a 67 on air ride. Looks pretty similar to a early fastback mustang but huge. It's an awesome car!

If love to supercharge mine in the future, drop a 351 Windsor in there and a big blower just for 4 door stealth ..

[Tom Booth]

Speaking of Fairlanes...

Mustang steering box got me to work and back! Steering felt best it ever has too so hopefully it's the end of that saga.

[Tom Booth]

Got me to work this morning too, what is happening?

There's a car meet about 30 miles away from me, the first time the steering box broke was outside the meet at the pub hosting, second time was the morning of the last meet. I'm gonna go for it today, will I make it?! Tune in later...

[Tom Booth]

Made it like a champ!

[Danny]

But will it make it home? Tune in next time for another exciting episode of fairlane roulette. 

[Tom Booth]

I'm sat at home now you turd

[Luke Rainbird]

Good to see it's lasted a couple of journeys, @Tom Booth. Fingers crossed a good sign it'll stand up to general use moving forward!

 

Here's another lengthy update on the Leon. Apologies if it's a touch disjointed, it's a few other forum posts combined. Any suggestions welcomed!

 

Battery charged yesterday evening (not overnight as I didn’t know the state of things so played it safe). Checked the charger this morning and all looked good.

However the battery itself had other ideas…

Unconvinced as to whether or not this was going to work at all, I figured it best to just chuck it in the car and turn the key. As you can see, I made it off the drive and things were running so I’ll call that a win for now. I think the battery is on its last legs, but I’ll be popping in a smaller unit and relocating semi-soon, so it’s not the end of the world. Ignore the airbag light - still haven’t fitted my passenger side resistor after fitting the Corbeaus.

Quick scan with VCDS pulled up a couple of niggles but nothing major. Also scanned with Torque Pro (for ease) and had a couple of codes relating to the rear lambda sensor (which isn’t fitted, so no biggy) and one suggesting cam timing was out. I’ll double check this, however having looked through photos I took during the engine rebuild (I documented a far what for this exact reason) it all looks ok. I’ll keep an eye on this.

So, the engine ran, hadn’t blown up, and I’d made it off the drive. I’m going to call that a success, but not so much as I’d have liked for good reasons:

I had virtually no brakes. When I say “no brakes” I mean “NO brakes”. Clearly I wasn’t getting servo assistance at all, so my very short (~2mi) test drive involved a lot of engine braking and some gratuitous handbrake useage. I think this is down to me being a ‘tard and sticking the check valve in incorrectly. Having revisited this is my thinking:

Shall give it a whirl over the next week and see if it’s solved things. If not, I’ll pick up a new check valve and look to tidy up the pipework as it’s a mess anyway. Note that missing clips in photo above have been replaced!

2. I had no PAS. Pretty sure this is simply down to a leak though. I’ve ordered new crush washers which should be here on Tuesday or so. Fingers crossed that’s all there is to it. If not, it’s a good excuse to replace the lines with something new and to relocate the reservoir and tidy up the bay a little further too.

It’s progress, Jim, but not as we’d like it.

I may just be the first person ever to nearly drown from removing a gearbox. Utterly torrential rain last night made things somewhat fun, as did the fact it was dark but I was keen to make progress and get the box out so that I can order any parts ASAP. Stil, got there in the end.

Note to self - don’t try and cut corners. It’s significantly easier to just remove the NS driveshaft and give yourself loads of room to haul the box out. It also means you don’t end up having to sort it out at the most inconvenient time when the box is hanging out, resulting in scraping the casing on the DMF

This has resulted in what is effectively a load of very fine swarf, though I’m confident that it’s all from me being a mong rather than as a result of the CSC issue and should clean out just fine. WIll give the clutch assembly a good clean and blow through too to be on the safe side.

Frustratingly, the CSC itself shows no obvious signs of being knackered. I’ve only had a quick look and will check it out more thoroughly over the next few days, but it’ll be getting replaced regardless. I can’t think what else it could be given the symptoms (pedal to floor, no other leaks visible, brake fluid dripping between bellhousing and block). Whilst I’m not one for replacing parts without knowing exactly what’s to blame, I’m also not keen to do this again!

Didn’t get long last night to explore things, so in the end I just did a few small tasks.

Replacement slave cylinder collected.

Gave the bellhousing a good clean/check - all appears to be in order so happy with that. Gave the CSC threads a quick clean through.

Swapped out the existing gearbox mount (iffy thread on one point) for another in better shape.

Inspected the clutch assembly - happy with it all. Gave it a can or so of clutch cleaner in situ but will strip down and inspect/clean further over the weekend. Bits of casing in the flywheel teeth. Nom.

Only difference between new CSC and the one I pulled out was this. Looks very much like a pressure relief valve though I don’t think this is the case. Doesn’t appear to be sealed up properly on the old one, though probably nothing of relevance. Won’t be getting refitted anyway.

The hunt for dead (it’s nearly) October continues...

 

Still can't see any obvious failure point, so I'm going to have a good look around tonight and see if I can find any other hints. Will give the master a good check, as well as the line (which I'd like to replace for peace of mind, but shouldn't really need it). Just don't want to have to pull the box again if I can avoid it, want to drive the bloody thing!

[SamKidney]

I had my scabby DC2 wheels refurbished this week. Black, of course.

Allowed me to remove my awful prelude wheels. Need to attend to the alignment, the NS2R have some interesting wear on them, either camber related or toe. 

I'm rather happy with the teggy wheels. 

 

And in sad sad news I learnt that the ol' faithful BrieOhSix has gone to meet its maker.  Bye bye good car.