The Car Thread

[JD™]

You wanna talk about alignment?

[SamKidney]

26 minutes ago, JD™ said:

You wanna talk about alignment?

Any effort in aligning a Defender is wasted because they have no directional stability whatsoever. 

I like them, but truely awful to drive on the road*

 

*much like the Civic is great fun on track, but is dire anywhere else. 

Edited September 29, 2017 by SamKidney

[Luke Rainbird]

Where were we? Ah yes, mega close to having fun then it all went t*ts up. Of course.

With the box out and in the garage, I was keen to give everything a quick once over in case I was able to spot anything I’d previously missed. I wasn’t. This is both a blessing and a curse, as I’d quite liked to have found a glaring issue I’d previously overlooked to give me that warm fuzzy feeling of having put it right. At the minute, no such luck.

Checked over lines and fittings, all fine.

On that note, I’ve seen folk removing/bypassing the clutch delay valve. Any experience of this here on UK-MkIVs? Whilst it’s not causing me any issues so doing no harm being there, I’m thinking about replacing the entire clutch line with some fresh braid and it’d be a good opportunity to remove it. It’s a common mod in the BMW scene but less so with VAG, which makes engaging/releasing the clutch a tad quicker. I suspect it’s a little too harsh for daily use so unlikely to do it myself, but would be keen to hear any experience from folk who have.

DMF looking horrendous. It’ll be replaced at some point, but works fine for now for daily use. When it eventually goes I’ll fix it, but for now I just need the car driving again. Besides, I’ll be in no rush to pull the box again any time soon. Fly, PP and clutch plate given a thorough clean to ensure they’re good to go again.

I bought a fresh seal for the gearbox input shaft to ensure things were as fresh as possible while it’s out. Received the wrong part and not in the mood for waiting so have left the existing one in place. It wasn’t leaking, so hopefully won’t have any issues.

Bolted up the new slave and called it a night.

Went to bed with loud rain outside. Woke up to much the same.

With everything saturated, I wasn’t overly keen on getting under the car and the forecast gave heavy rain all day, particularly through the early afternoon. Still chucking it down, I admitted defeat and left the car. My parents arrived to say hi and watch the wedding video we’d just received, and on finishing that there was a break in the downpour.

Dad had kindly offered to lend me another trolley jack to help move things about, and despite insisting that he hadn’t planned to help had a set of overalls in the back of the car. Good job too, as with an extra set of hands/eyes on things everything was considerably easier that it would have been without him. Thanks dad!

Strangely, when we went to move the box back into place it became apparent that there was no way it was going back in through the hole it came out of. I’m not entirely sure how, but it seems I defied the laws of physics when pulling the box. We ended up disconnecting the clutch and PAS lines, removing the mount from the box itself and removing the OS drive cup too. Frustratingly the tapered bush on the cup shaft (if that makes sense) came out in more pieces than it should have, though I’m reliably informed that this is a common occurrence and it’s not an issue to reinstall like this. Second opinion more than welcome, though for now I’ve left it (not yet refitted regardless) as I wasn’t able to immediately track down an in-tact replacement.

Due to rain and not wanting to stop mid-flow with dad holding up the box, I didn’t take any photos during the install. Here’s one to show the box back in situ though to prove I’m not making it up.

Ended up using a combination of trolley jacks and the mounting bolts to get things roughly into place, before a big shove and nipping up the bolts to pull things together. A 19mm 12-point on the free end of the crank allowed us to check for resistance and make sure things were lined up correctly, and after a bit of a reshuffle we were content and nipped the bolts up fully.

As a result, things now look like this. I’ve yet to reconnect everything else that’s currently off (PAS, clutch hose, ARB, ball joint, dogbone mount) but that’ll wait until it’s not raining. Or tomorrow, depending on how impatient I get.

I’ve ordered a fresh 3l of Motul 300 Gear oil to replace what’s currently in the box (same oil, but has been thrashed around track for a couple of years by @Prawn). Shall swap that out once it arrives. Need to bleed things up and check all round, but with any joy the car should be just about back on the road by next weekend or so.

Let’s hope it make it past the 10 mile mark this time round.

[Tom Booth]

Ticking jobs off on the ford now! It's a nice feeling.

Bonnet no longer pops onto safety at 50mph (Blob of weld on the bonnet peg to build the edge that had worn away).

New dashboard instrument lighting loom, Not knowing your fuel level at night in a car that does 18mpg at best is a gamble .

New tie rod bushes, sway bar bushes and top/bottom ball joints. I love how easy everything is mechanically on this car.

Rear leaf spring shackles and rubbers ordered to renew those. Should hopefully get rid of the last squeak coming from the car.

I need to sort some kind of radio in there, currently I'd happily drive around with nothing listening to the v8 but I can see the novelty is wearing off for Jenny, I will be getting the old ford radio rebuilt to accept an iPod and stuff but till then I need a simple solution..

Has anyone ever used one of these? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263004722827

I'm no expecting amazing things but plug my iPod in and it just plays, I thought about a regular head unit under the bench seat but I don't think there's room under there.

 

[george_seamons]

Delete the restrictor 'Bird, much better without it

 

I was waiting for you to say you couldn't get the box back in the way it came out. Been there, done that! I always remove the driveshafts and driver's side drive cup, and in the 1M I usually took the subframe off too, for the extra few bolts it made it 10x easier!

[Luke Rainbird]

Managed to get it out without removing much at all, only the OS shaft being a pain right at the end. Going back in was a completely different story :lol:

Once things are run in and working well I'll get around to all the little tweaks. Shall add that to the list in that case. Need to check size of fittings - think they were M10x1.0 off the top of my head but as always best to check, as if I buy those it'll doubtless end up being 3/8"...

 

Any joy selling the S3 yet?

[Greetings]

Got a gopro in the car (Hero HD by the way, still great quality!) to record peoples' reactions. Love driving them around sooo much, this guy's face says it all.

Also met this girl on Tinder a few days ago, she was really excited when she heard about the track so I invited her over. Had a great time, she didn't want to leave the car  

Improved my PB by 0.5s but can't quite get the suspensnion dialled with the harder springs. The car feels like a mess.

Also got the opportunity to drive around in a cup Cooper S. Absolutely amazing car. Handling wise it's on another planet compared to the M3. Very flat through the corners, the turn in is amazing, brakes like a mid engined car and has virtually no FWD nastiness to it. The cup car as it stands costs less than 10 grand with a set of new FZ201 tyres. 

[MadManMike]

I'm not a fan of how they look, but there's no denying that the Mini is a fantastic car. I've suggested a less sporty one for my g/f's new car, they seem pretty reliable, drive nicely and are pretty practical.

I bet that one is a blast on track.

In my car news: Still no car. It's been off the road since mid July and I'm seriously missing it.

Gonna message the chap now and hopefully I can pick it up next weekend.

[Luke Rainbird]

 

Nothing substantial to report. Rain stopped for 28 minutes yesterday, so I ran outside and got a couple of small jobs ticked off.

Refitted earth on the casing. It was looking a little grubby so I gave it a quick clean, though realistically only a small ring in the center is needed.

Went to refit the PAS line, spent half an hour hunting for the banjo bolt I’d put aside in a safe place to no avail. Eventually found it here. Refitted and new crush washers on the pump end whilst access was easy.

Pulled the NS balljoint off and refitted drive shaft. Steering angle to make the drift kids jealous.

With a few other minor details too, I should be about ready to stick the front end back on next time I get an dryish hour to spare. Cable tie needed for PAS line, evidently.

Once the car is complete again (waiting on a new taper ring for the OS driveshaft) 
I’ll give it a drive or two to make sure things are in a reasonable state, then give the entire coolant system a good flush through. I’m happy that the charge line is nice and clean, but things were a little grubbier in the remaining stock coolant lines and it’s led to some discolouration of the fluid. Not helped by the galleries in the block being a little nasty either. Good flush through with some Wynn’s should help no end.
 

[Tom Booth]

I need to go over the cooling system on the ford some time. I let it get low on coolant a few weeks ago and it ran pretty warm. It's not been the same since, uses a fair bit of water. According to the forums the rad design in these is shit and regularly just dumps stuff out the overflow if it thinks there's a problem. I think it got too hot, shits been moved out of the galleries and crevises and now settled in the rad. For the £45 It is I'm gonna stick a new water pump, stat, housing and hoses on there and flush the rest out. Worst case is a rad's only 95 plus shipping so it may revert to that too.

[Luke Rainbird]

I gave things a thorough flush through post-build, but obviously since running up to temp a few times it's helped free a few of the deposits that weren't hit by the hose. Have swapped out the coolant (and obviously with nothing connected at present it'll be getting fresh again this week) but throwing some chemicals in the mix to help ensure things are as clean as possible inside won't hurt. Once that's done I'll probably stick a clean header tank in there to replace the grotty one.

[Danny]

@Tom Booth any experience with rad flush style things in your mini / old cast iron engines?  The coolant in the mini has always been pretty ming even after flushing it through multiple times.  If the cars been sat a week or so its clear as a bell so it must just be sediment in the water.

[Tom Booth]

I've only done it a few times, the first time I bought a load of 1"id flexi tube (or ejateber sizr the lower hose is) and put it on the lower rad hose, then took the top hose off and just blasted the hose through the engine till it ran clear then did the same with the rad. Gonna do the same with the ford I think then fit new parts..

Painted my boot finally!

[Danny]

I’ve done the hosepipe thing before (a standard hose pipe fits inside mini heater hose perfect). I guess I’ll just give it another good flush. 

[MadManMike]

So apparently my chap has been "let down" by his MOT tester, so my car is going to a garage behind the unit it's stored in.

The last MOT test was over a month ago and my car is new to them, so what do we want to bet that this garage are strict as fook and find loads wrong with it?

[Danny]

Get it back and take it where you usually go? Have you seen any pics of the work yet?

[Luke Rainbird]

What's taken so long to get it patched up dude? Seems like an age since you handed it over?

[MadManMike]

Haven't seen any pics yet, no.

I could take it where I usually go, but the car is an hour and a half away, I'm reluctant to drive it with no tax and MOT for that distance.

It's taken so long because I told the guy there was no rush and over the past few weeks I haven't chased him at all because my damaged hand meant I couldn't drive a manual anyway. My hand is sufficiently fixed to drive again, so I want her back now

[Greetings]

More spam

More to come. 

The car rolls so badly despite the ridiculous spring rates and ARB's. Going to sort that out in the winter with some roll centre adjuisters. 

[Tom Booth]

Jeeeesus I love that car.

[Luke Rainbird]

She looks to be enjoying her time with you, so I'd say the time/effort/money you've put into the car have been worth it so far

Edit; Have just taken delivery of 3l Motul gear 300. All being well, should have the car back together over the next 48 hours then top up/bleed all fluids by the weekend. We'll see.

Have been watching a number of Ben Rushworth's videos on YT recently, following Nick's recommendation. Well worth checking out if you get the chance

[Greetings]

It's funny but I met my ex shortly after finishing this car back in 2012. As the car got more and more f*cked, so did our relationship and when it got pulled apart, we broke up. So like you say, there must be a strong correlation here  This girl is definitely a keeper, she's so much fun to be around. Work in progress  

[SamKidney]

I took a girl out in my car once. 

 

Said she didnt appreicate the noise, or smell of Hammerite, the lack of carpet or any interior trim and said the harnesses were uncomfortable. 

 

We we got drunk later and f**ked anyway so I called it a success. She didn't want a lift home in the morning though. 

[Luke Rainbird]

[Tom Booth]

Bench seats seemed like a good idea for car nookie, then I remembered we've been together 10 years so it's pretty much birthdays and if we're not too tired on Christmas..