Chris H
master of boobies
Perusing Gumtree I spotted an ad for a 19 diesel, I say said I. Rare to find a 19 for sale anywhere these days up here.
Anyway no pictures, poor description, no tax or ticket, not even a clue to age or mileage. Anyway saw it and thought what a shed, body damage on every panel etc etc.
Still I knew I could get it cheap. So met the boy, he could talk. A load of crap as well it turned out.
Haggled him and got it for 60 quid, end of the day I could weigh it in and get more than that. The fact the engine was sound, started first turn every time and revved fine sold it. There's a water leak though.
So got it home, drove ok, pulled a bit and was pretty slow but revved freely to 5krpm. Brakes etc were fine, but its running solids up front.
Spec wise, remote locking, electric sunroof but manual windows and front fogs clear ones no less.
145k miles.
Anyway problems so far, car has a gangsta lean, the rear offside 2 fingers between arch and tyre, passenger side 5 fingers, seems the torsion bar was set wrong.
Front indicators held in with tape.
rear washer missing, hole covered with tape
nearside wing and door trim missing
offside doors both smacked in a side on collision
offside wing damaged
offside bumper mounting corroded away so nothing holding the bumper
water pump leaks
And many more no doubt...
Problems fixed so far, clock, remote locking, interior light, radio, also bent the offside rear door back into shape roughly, will be replacing the doors when I can get a set though
Anyway pictures of the beast!
smacked doors
awesome
note gangsta lean
all gauges work
original radio, cassette deck heaven with pop off face bit and original case!
before a bit of crowbar treatment
after
this is where the bumper mounts, not much there really
Got 2 weeks to get it ready and MOT'd.
[BREAK=Work begins]
24th June 2009
Well time to rock and I want to rock as twisted sister put it.
Water leak first, as I already knew the pump was leaking and probably the main issue. So lets start with that.
Wheel off, liner off and this is what was revealed
I think it may be leaky :lol:
Pulley off
Pump off
So what did I do next? Well I went round the back and took off a 16V pump that was newish and fitted it :lol: So that was free, also being the closed back design it flows better which will help cool the awesome high output from the beast...
Since I had the cambelt covers off I decided I'll do the cambelt as well, so £14 quid for that and a new belts fitted. No pics of the procedure but its very easy, but the bolts are a nightmare if you have big hands and arms.
This is the bumper on the offside, nice eh
The outer was also separate from the inner, I clipped it back together, much better. Will plate the hole and drill a new mounting hole for the bumper
Also poked a hole on the inner wing but no pics of that. Only a small one.
Next job was the front brakes, the discs were screwed, the pads were screwed the torx screws for the discs were also screwed.
Anyway as I'm awesome I had it all sorted in a jiffy.
Behold the wonder that is the solid 238mm Girling front disc setup.
Disc off, seen better days
Solid carrier on the left, vented on the right
Vented 238 and the solid one
238mm vented disc and caliper carrier, this is TD/GTT/RSI/Coupe spec now.
New pads at the top, screwed wobbly ones bottom
After all this work I decided to like a fool press the fuel filter housing button, then it burst so the car won't start now as its leaking its diesel out. So off to the scrappy tomorrow for a replacement. If nothing suitable then a hand priming bulb and inline filter will be fitted.
So todays total
Car £60
Cambelt £14
Brake upgrade £free
Water pump £free
Total so far £74
[BREAK=Coming along nicely]
25th June 2009
Well first job was to adjust the torsion bar. Easy enough, bar came out cleaned it greased it and adjusted it so its within half a finger of the drivers side now. No pics aside from 1 but you know the drill
I then adjusted the rear brakes, the passenger side as in this photo was dry and new shoes, drivers side was similar but the handbrake pivot had seized, freed it off and it works a charm now. Also girling brakes, unusual, normally the bendix you get which I prefer on the rears.
Then Kevin came round after he finished work to take me to sort out the diesel issue. Went to the scrappy and no suitable filter housings were about, so diesel pug priming bulb and went and bought a new universal fuel filter. Back home fitted up primed it and the car runs again perfectly.
I was then left to get on with things and I decided to route the clutch cable correctly. Well actually I started by getting the air filter out for a look see. So had to remove the airbox as the screws were rotten, got them out with no damage though. I then looked at removing the air box bracket, I noticed the main looms holder wasn't fitted, its meant to go over the stud
Bracket off, it was only held on by 2 fixing points instead of 3, note the ridiculous routing of the clutch cable
That clean area is where a bolt for the bracket should be
This brace from the top mount to the box also was missing the bolt
Anyway new bolts fitted, everything put back to how it should be and clutch is lighter again, its the lightest clutch on a 19 I have ever used.
Next job was the front door, this picture shows the usual trim that had fallen off the window and also shows that the window only goes that far down before being stopped by the impact bar
After I beat it back into shape, came out quite well from what it was, the trim now fits on right as well
And thats all for today, not much left to do now really, need to get the brake lights working which is really the only mot issue left.
Previous total £74
Priming bulb £2
Filter £1.66
Diesel 5 Litres £5.40
New total £83.06
[BREAK=New shoes]
26th June 2009
First off checked my other air filter housings and found one with a new airfilter in it so put that into the diesel. Free clean air.
Fixed the brake lights, 2 blown bulbs. Took em out the grey 16V.
Then it was time to wash it, so it got a really good going over, came up a lot better than expected. Used a bit of polish to remove the rusty runs and also used some bumper black crap on it.
I also decided to see if I had any 13's round the back, nope, only 15 inch steelies with questionable tyres. So best option? Take the Megane Lyras off the grey 16V, get the 2 new tyres fitted and put them on the diesel.
So off down to my old work and I swapped the tyres over, was free so suited me. Thing is I now add the cost of the tyres to the total. Other issue is the other 2 are borderline so need changed as well. I hate 16's as the tyre cost is excessive.
Heres the car with the 16's and after its wash
So need to vacuum the interior out, sort the rusty patches, sort out the indicators and get 2 tyres.
Tomorrow off for paint, primer, bodyfiller and so on.
Previous total £83.06
Airfilter £free
Brake bulbs £free
Wash £free
Alloys £free
Tyre change £free
Tyres x 2 £23
Total so far £106.06
[BREAK=Why no progress...]
Saturday 27th June 2009
Due to an ongoing conflict with the now previous upstairs neighbour he decided to threaten the baby and the mrs and try and smash up the cars whilst I was at my mothers, typical hero, this clown batters his mrs then threatens mine. I slapped him about a few months back obviously not enough.
Anyway I came rushing round with my old mum to find him and his mrs had left the area.
But the cars he was trying to smash up were my chammy and the diesel. Thankfully due to him being a gay woman beater he done little damage. Shame can't be said for him when 'karma' :lol: catches him.
He tried to rip off the spoiler he only bent the tailgate a wee bit.
you can just see kevins blue mini, thankfully that wasn't touched
he damaged the light panel
he also tried to kick in the window 3 times as theres 3 footprints on it, what a pathetic woman hitting ladyboy this chap is.
Anyway I have done some work now and will list this in the next page
[BREAK=Finalising things for mot]
1st July 2009
I bought a few things for the beast, new wiper blades, paint, body filler, underseal, oil and filter and 2 front tyres.
The tyres sadly had to be used to be sensibly priced, now I will never get my deal ont he 2 new ones for 23 quid again. So onto ebay, found 2 part worn michelins and made an offer, got them for 40 delivered. They arrived yesterday
Not perfect but good enough
Some of the new stuff
Oil change
lovely
I then worked on securing the offside bumper better until I weld it and also pull out some damage etc
Anyway wings secure, locking wheel bolts fitted, 2 new and 2 newish tyres, and so on, ready to go for MOT, needs that bit welded but its not a failure.
Previous total £106.06
Tyres £40
Other stuff £36
New total £182.06
[BREAK=MOT]
2nd July 2009
MOT passed this morning
Ready to rock then pretty much.
Previous total £182.06
MOT £30
New Total £212.06
[BREAK=1k miles on]
5th September 2009
Well now the car has been used for 2 weeks and done just over 1 k miles a progress update is due I feel.
The following didn't happen today but rather over the last 2 weeks at varying times.
We'll start with the cooling system.
The previous owner filled the system with radiator seal every day due to the leaking water pump, so the cooling system was in a bit of a state. So I wanted to the flush it through to remove crap and up the efficiency back towards standard.
The other issue was when driving and trying to maintain steady progress (foot to the floor doing 70 ish its really slow) the temp gauge would go up and the cooling fan would cut in, which is not supposed to happen.
Now in case you don't know the diesel has the biggest radiator in the 19 family, its also copper cored. Now you get all sorts of fools saying copper is best, yeah it is but only if your willing to replace it every couple of years. Give me a decent aluminium one anyday. The main issue is corrosion, the fins corrode and fall out, so I was expecting some of that when I removed it.
The plan was new stat, radiator clean as best as I could and a flush through.
Pictures.
Radiator removed
Top hose removed with thermostat housing
Probably the original thermostat
The radiator, not looking to clever is it, this is the fan side of the thing, the exterior side was worse.
Outside, not easy to see but its in a poor shape
After doing this the temp sits a little lower, but it really needs a new radiator, I'll think about changing it at some point, it doesn't overheat or get to hot so its not a major issue at the moment. The heaters hot and the coolants staying clearer for longer, when it stays clear I'll put in the right coolant mix.
The other real issue with the car is the central locking, the boot and drivers door ALWAYS unlock and lock off the plip. Sometimes the passenger rear door does as well. The passenger front and drivers rear door however do not, they were very stiff to pull the locking button up on as well. Now this isn't an issue if there is only the driver in the car but there is generally the 3 of us so reaching over is getting annoying.
So passenger door card off and locking mechanism out.
Right away this is an issue, it was partially seized, it took real effort to move.
The motor was taken off it operated in free air ok, but light loading with your fingers and it would die, obviously damaged from fighting the seizing mechanism.
Anyway I free'd off the mechanism and lubed it well so it moved easily, so the button inside the car pulls up easily, however the motor still doesn't shift it. Same with the back door, lubed and it moves freely but not enough power to unlock it off the plip. So need to sort out 2 motors really.
Next job was replacing the blown heater panel light, I took pictures and will do a how 2 guide on this, but heres a pic of the blown bulb for those that like pointless pictures.
The car really needs a new fuel tank as put 20 quid in and it leaks out which isn't ideal. It needs rear dampers. Needs 16V front struts. Theres an issue with the steering, feels like either a TRE is starting to go or the rack mount, came on then got worse quickly. The dog bone mount needs sorted. And finally it needs to be made faster, the fueling needs upped badly.
Diesels even NA ones like this one have a good bit of potential. For economy and emissions compliance and in some opinions so they never outshone the petrol models the diesels are quite pathetic. If you up the fueling and as long as the timing is right you'll get a lot more power. So thats something urgently needed as the car is beaten with ease by 1.2 clios etc, not just beaten a small bit but destroyed by them.
Anyway turning up the fuel is easy, but the problem lies in the pump cover, on the TD's the cover is a black screw in affair and same on some NA pumps, this is Lucas CAV pumps I'm talking about, however on this one the cover is a white plastic pop in job, it spins easily round with your fingers. This picture shows it
So I need to get another cover as its almost 100% likely that without a spare that one will break and we can't use the car then.
[BREAK=Rear Mount repair and coolant]
Friday 18th September 2009
Well as I was using sickaflex on another car I decided to repair the burst rear mount on the diesel.
2 bolts and it was off in a few minutes, hard to see but its split where I'm bending it, its awful the engine is all over the place.
Anyway well packed with the goo, this will set pretty hard and the mount will be fine for a good while.
I then drained the coolant flushed it through a bit and filled up with more water, a lot of stuff came out again, this is good, means a lot of rubbish is getting dislodged. Two or three more flushes and it will be spotless. Still needs a new rad though.
[BREAK=Upgrades]
25th September 2009
Well at the scrappies I saw a ph2 1.4, so I got some bits off of it, ns window reg, door pockets, speakers, handles, switches, looms, rear boot lock thingy (for grey 16V), nsr door trim and a few other bits and bobs, all for £20, bargain!
Anyway first job was to fit the electric windows etc, so remove old door looms, fit new ones, remove old regs fit electric ones, then cut the existing door cards for the speakers and there we have it, electric windows and 6 speaker sound system, awesome. Much better, makes the car feel more modern and complete.
Pics of the doors now
I need to dig out some blanks for the winder holes though, think I have some out the back, but I may end up sticking a 16V interior in still.
The final exterior trim piece, this has also made the car look a lot better, theres nothing missing now, its got some white overspray on it and faded but I'll sort that
Just need to sort out the rusty patches now.
Also rear dampers are pretty much dead and the fronts still to high. Will get sorted soon enough.
Forgot to update the total costs as well, since got tax and the new bits
Previous total £212.06
Road Tax £190
Scrappy bits £ 20
New total £422.06
Still a bargain!
[BREAK=Upgrades again]
8th October 2009
A few days back I changed the rear dampers to the 16V units, big difference in handling as expected but a bit bouncy now, seems like its on the bumpstops but not to bad. The fact it corners a lot flatter makes up for it.
I was going to change the front struts to 16V units but broken springs put a stop to that, see project black death for more info.
So I changed the headlights to 16V units, a worthwhile upgrade, the ph2's even in 16v form are no match to the ph1's lights.
So had to take the grey grille off and the headlights, there was some seizure issues so I had to free them off. But to do this I had to get the lights and grille out, so drivers light out no issues, passenger light I had to take the grille attached to the bracket and also undo the support bracket off the front slam under the indicator
Bracket, now off the old headlight
The seized lower middle screw holding the grille to the headlight, snipped the clip and it was off
Note crappy rad, but front end stripped of lighting
Issue with the wiring is the single beams have separate plugs the 16V are integrated, ph1's again better, so had to splice this in on both sides
16V lights fitted and working fine
They are much better at night than the single beams and they look better.
I was at the scrappy yesterday and found buried a ph2 diesel, it has a new rad in it and a working filter head, so going back tonight to get it I think. The rad really needs changed, it doesn't overheat or anything but it sits a bit warmer all the time than ideal
[BREAK=Rad change]
10th October 2009
Well yesterday I went back to the scrappies and got the rad, airbox bobbin and the diesel filter head.
I fitted the airbox bobbin, this was missing and I used a cable tie in place as a temporary measure. But now its back to how it shoudl be.
Then onto the filter housing, got a new filter for £2, bargain, then I had to fit it, all fitted up and sorted, only I forgot I had to cut the hose slightly so need to get a longer pipe from the filter to the pump at some point
Then I washed the new rad, washed it through the fins and flushed it out, it lifted the bugs and some paint off the fins and inside was clean which was nice. So here it is
Valeo sticker
The old rad, looks terrible!
Well it works, ran it at a fast idle then let it idle just before the thermostat open, when it did the temperature dropped on it, then revved it at a fast idle until the fan kicked in, it cycled on and off in about 5 or so seconds, sits where it should even up long steep hills so well happy.
Going to flush it through a few more times as it eventually turned slightly cloudy, when its clear and stays clear I'll drain it and add coolant, needs to be soon its getting awful cold at night up here.
Previous Total £422.06
Rad and bits £ 30.00
New Total £452.06
[BREAK=New tank]
12th October 2009
Well yesterday some clown decided to hit the back of the diesel, now I grabbed the baby and walked away as i was going to basically give him the final beating of his life so let her deal with it. His bumper and headlight all smashed.
The twat hit into the back of us, hes trying to say its our fault. Him not stopping and hitting us is out fault, apparently we should have smashed through all the traffic in front clearing a path for him or something.
Anyway I walked away with the baby and got home, looked at the car, small scuff on the rear bumper, I thought nothing else of note, however there is more as you will see later.
The new fuel tank came today
I then removed the old tank, then I spotted something, something bad...
Thats a crack, then this is the wheelarch side
Yes the offside rear chassis rail is fractured, this is new, I had the wheel off when I done the shockers and it was fine, its not now so the old guys impact must have done this. Now thing is she told the insurance company today there is no damage to our car, but thats not the case, not sure what to do here, the cars a write off with that damage, it just needs a bit of welding which I can get done for free but the insurers will write it off for sure.
So do we get it written off, buy it back then sort it? or sort it and ignor eit happened? There in lies the rub as they say.
New tank, beside the soon to be gone 206 GTI
Old tank, as you can see its a bit of a state!
New tank fitted
Well I got Kevin to get me a can of diesel £5,put that in, got another 5 litres out of the old tank, so another £5's worth.
Then went down to the petrol station and filled the tank. £44 so just under 45 litres from there, its a 55 litre tank filled almost to the brim.
Nice not having to worry and only put 10 - 15 quid in at a time.
Whats more annoying is all this time and money and effort spent and some old twat skelps the arse of it, theres no other damage anywhere else, I had a real good look.
Previous total £452.06
Tank £ 59.99
New Total £512.05
[BREAK=SOLD!]
14th December 2009
Well due to the mrs using the scenic the diesel was surplus to requirements. A guy phoned me at college I said the mrs can deal with it.
I swapped the alloys to the scenic a while back so it was with the iffy steelies form the scenic.
Sold for £400.
Working it out, the car actually cost zero, the total was £522, but that included the tyres and some diesel. The tyres alone were £75 got that back as they are on the scenic, and other bits and bats
So a few months motoring for free, not bad.
Of course this never included my labour which would have amounted to a few hundred pounds if a garage did the work.
Anyway no pictures, poor description, no tax or ticket, not even a clue to age or mileage. Anyway saw it and thought what a shed, body damage on every panel etc etc.
Still I knew I could get it cheap. So met the boy, he could talk. A load of crap as well it turned out.
Haggled him and got it for 60 quid, end of the day I could weigh it in and get more than that. The fact the engine was sound, started first turn every time and revved fine sold it. There's a water leak though.
So got it home, drove ok, pulled a bit and was pretty slow but revved freely to 5krpm. Brakes etc were fine, but its running solids up front.
Spec wise, remote locking, electric sunroof but manual windows and front fogs clear ones no less.
145k miles.
Anyway problems so far, car has a gangsta lean, the rear offside 2 fingers between arch and tyre, passenger side 5 fingers, seems the torsion bar was set wrong.
Front indicators held in with tape.
rear washer missing, hole covered with tape
nearside wing and door trim missing
offside doors both smacked in a side on collision
offside wing damaged
offside bumper mounting corroded away so nothing holding the bumper
water pump leaks
And many more no doubt...
Problems fixed so far, clock, remote locking, interior light, radio, also bent the offside rear door back into shape roughly, will be replacing the doors when I can get a set though
Anyway pictures of the beast!
smacked doors
awesome
note gangsta lean
all gauges work
original radio, cassette deck heaven with pop off face bit and original case!
before a bit of crowbar treatment
after
this is where the bumper mounts, not much there really
Got 2 weeks to get it ready and MOT'd.
[BREAK=Work begins]
24th June 2009
Well time to rock and I want to rock as twisted sister put it.
Water leak first, as I already knew the pump was leaking and probably the main issue. So lets start with that.
Wheel off, liner off and this is what was revealed
I think it may be leaky :lol:
Pulley off
Pump off
So what did I do next? Well I went round the back and took off a 16V pump that was newish and fitted it :lol: So that was free, also being the closed back design it flows better which will help cool the awesome high output from the beast...
Since I had the cambelt covers off I decided I'll do the cambelt as well, so £14 quid for that and a new belts fitted. No pics of the procedure but its very easy, but the bolts are a nightmare if you have big hands and arms.
This is the bumper on the offside, nice eh
The outer was also separate from the inner, I clipped it back together, much better. Will plate the hole and drill a new mounting hole for the bumper
Also poked a hole on the inner wing but no pics of that. Only a small one.
Next job was the front brakes, the discs were screwed, the pads were screwed the torx screws for the discs were also screwed.
Anyway as I'm awesome I had it all sorted in a jiffy.
Behold the wonder that is the solid 238mm Girling front disc setup.
Disc off, seen better days
Solid carrier on the left, vented on the right
Vented 238 and the solid one
238mm vented disc and caliper carrier, this is TD/GTT/RSI/Coupe spec now.
New pads at the top, screwed wobbly ones bottom
After all this work I decided to like a fool press the fuel filter housing button, then it burst so the car won't start now as its leaking its diesel out. So off to the scrappy tomorrow for a replacement. If nothing suitable then a hand priming bulb and inline filter will be fitted.
So todays total
Car £60
Cambelt £14
Brake upgrade £free
Water pump £free
Total so far £74
[BREAK=Coming along nicely]
25th June 2009
Well first job was to adjust the torsion bar. Easy enough, bar came out cleaned it greased it and adjusted it so its within half a finger of the drivers side now. No pics aside from 1 but you know the drill
I then adjusted the rear brakes, the passenger side as in this photo was dry and new shoes, drivers side was similar but the handbrake pivot had seized, freed it off and it works a charm now. Also girling brakes, unusual, normally the bendix you get which I prefer on the rears.
Then Kevin came round after he finished work to take me to sort out the diesel issue. Went to the scrappy and no suitable filter housings were about, so diesel pug priming bulb and went and bought a new universal fuel filter. Back home fitted up primed it and the car runs again perfectly.
I was then left to get on with things and I decided to route the clutch cable correctly. Well actually I started by getting the air filter out for a look see. So had to remove the airbox as the screws were rotten, got them out with no damage though. I then looked at removing the air box bracket, I noticed the main looms holder wasn't fitted, its meant to go over the stud
Bracket off, it was only held on by 2 fixing points instead of 3, note the ridiculous routing of the clutch cable
That clean area is where a bolt for the bracket should be
This brace from the top mount to the box also was missing the bolt
Anyway new bolts fitted, everything put back to how it should be and clutch is lighter again, its the lightest clutch on a 19 I have ever used.
Next job was the front door, this picture shows the usual trim that had fallen off the window and also shows that the window only goes that far down before being stopped by the impact bar
After I beat it back into shape, came out quite well from what it was, the trim now fits on right as well
And thats all for today, not much left to do now really, need to get the brake lights working which is really the only mot issue left.
Previous total £74
Priming bulb £2
Filter £1.66
Diesel 5 Litres £5.40
New total £83.06
[BREAK=New shoes]
26th June 2009
First off checked my other air filter housings and found one with a new airfilter in it so put that into the diesel. Free clean air.
Fixed the brake lights, 2 blown bulbs. Took em out the grey 16V.
Then it was time to wash it, so it got a really good going over, came up a lot better than expected. Used a bit of polish to remove the rusty runs and also used some bumper black crap on it.
I also decided to see if I had any 13's round the back, nope, only 15 inch steelies with questionable tyres. So best option? Take the Megane Lyras off the grey 16V, get the 2 new tyres fitted and put them on the diesel.
So off down to my old work and I swapped the tyres over, was free so suited me. Thing is I now add the cost of the tyres to the total. Other issue is the other 2 are borderline so need changed as well. I hate 16's as the tyre cost is excessive.
Heres the car with the 16's and after its wash
So need to vacuum the interior out, sort the rusty patches, sort out the indicators and get 2 tyres.
Tomorrow off for paint, primer, bodyfiller and so on.
Previous total £83.06
Airfilter £free
Brake bulbs £free
Wash £free
Alloys £free
Tyre change £free
Tyres x 2 £23
Total so far £106.06
[BREAK=Why no progress...]
Saturday 27th June 2009
Due to an ongoing conflict with the now previous upstairs neighbour he decided to threaten the baby and the mrs and try and smash up the cars whilst I was at my mothers, typical hero, this clown batters his mrs then threatens mine. I slapped him about a few months back obviously not enough.
Anyway I came rushing round with my old mum to find him and his mrs had left the area.
But the cars he was trying to smash up were my chammy and the diesel. Thankfully due to him being a gay woman beater he done little damage. Shame can't be said for him when 'karma' :lol: catches him.
He tried to rip off the spoiler he only bent the tailgate a wee bit.
you can just see kevins blue mini, thankfully that wasn't touched
he damaged the light panel
he also tried to kick in the window 3 times as theres 3 footprints on it, what a pathetic woman hitting ladyboy this chap is.
Anyway I have done some work now and will list this in the next page
[BREAK=Finalising things for mot]
1st July 2009
I bought a few things for the beast, new wiper blades, paint, body filler, underseal, oil and filter and 2 front tyres.
The tyres sadly had to be used to be sensibly priced, now I will never get my deal ont he 2 new ones for 23 quid again. So onto ebay, found 2 part worn michelins and made an offer, got them for 40 delivered. They arrived yesterday
Not perfect but good enough
Some of the new stuff
Oil change
lovely
I then worked on securing the offside bumper better until I weld it and also pull out some damage etc
Anyway wings secure, locking wheel bolts fitted, 2 new and 2 newish tyres, and so on, ready to go for MOT, needs that bit welded but its not a failure.
Previous total £106.06
Tyres £40
Other stuff £36
New total £182.06
[BREAK=MOT]
2nd July 2009
MOT passed this morning
Ready to rock then pretty much.
Previous total £182.06
MOT £30
New Total £212.06
[BREAK=1k miles on]
5th September 2009
Well now the car has been used for 2 weeks and done just over 1 k miles a progress update is due I feel.
The following didn't happen today but rather over the last 2 weeks at varying times.
We'll start with the cooling system.
The previous owner filled the system with radiator seal every day due to the leaking water pump, so the cooling system was in a bit of a state. So I wanted to the flush it through to remove crap and up the efficiency back towards standard.
The other issue was when driving and trying to maintain steady progress (foot to the floor doing 70 ish its really slow) the temp gauge would go up and the cooling fan would cut in, which is not supposed to happen.
Now in case you don't know the diesel has the biggest radiator in the 19 family, its also copper cored. Now you get all sorts of fools saying copper is best, yeah it is but only if your willing to replace it every couple of years. Give me a decent aluminium one anyday. The main issue is corrosion, the fins corrode and fall out, so I was expecting some of that when I removed it.
The plan was new stat, radiator clean as best as I could and a flush through.
Pictures.
Radiator removed
Top hose removed with thermostat housing
Probably the original thermostat
The radiator, not looking to clever is it, this is the fan side of the thing, the exterior side was worse.
Outside, not easy to see but its in a poor shape
After doing this the temp sits a little lower, but it really needs a new radiator, I'll think about changing it at some point, it doesn't overheat or get to hot so its not a major issue at the moment. The heaters hot and the coolants staying clearer for longer, when it stays clear I'll put in the right coolant mix.
The other real issue with the car is the central locking, the boot and drivers door ALWAYS unlock and lock off the plip. Sometimes the passenger rear door does as well. The passenger front and drivers rear door however do not, they were very stiff to pull the locking button up on as well. Now this isn't an issue if there is only the driver in the car but there is generally the 3 of us so reaching over is getting annoying.
So passenger door card off and locking mechanism out.
Right away this is an issue, it was partially seized, it took real effort to move.
The motor was taken off it operated in free air ok, but light loading with your fingers and it would die, obviously damaged from fighting the seizing mechanism.
Anyway I free'd off the mechanism and lubed it well so it moved easily, so the button inside the car pulls up easily, however the motor still doesn't shift it. Same with the back door, lubed and it moves freely but not enough power to unlock it off the plip. So need to sort out 2 motors really.
Next job was replacing the blown heater panel light, I took pictures and will do a how 2 guide on this, but heres a pic of the blown bulb for those that like pointless pictures.
The car really needs a new fuel tank as put 20 quid in and it leaks out which isn't ideal. It needs rear dampers. Needs 16V front struts. Theres an issue with the steering, feels like either a TRE is starting to go or the rack mount, came on then got worse quickly. The dog bone mount needs sorted. And finally it needs to be made faster, the fueling needs upped badly.
Diesels even NA ones like this one have a good bit of potential. For economy and emissions compliance and in some opinions so they never outshone the petrol models the diesels are quite pathetic. If you up the fueling and as long as the timing is right you'll get a lot more power. So thats something urgently needed as the car is beaten with ease by 1.2 clios etc, not just beaten a small bit but destroyed by them.
Anyway turning up the fuel is easy, but the problem lies in the pump cover, on the TD's the cover is a black screw in affair and same on some NA pumps, this is Lucas CAV pumps I'm talking about, however on this one the cover is a white plastic pop in job, it spins easily round with your fingers. This picture shows it
So I need to get another cover as its almost 100% likely that without a spare that one will break and we can't use the car then.
[BREAK=Rear Mount repair and coolant]
Friday 18th September 2009
Well as I was using sickaflex on another car I decided to repair the burst rear mount on the diesel.
2 bolts and it was off in a few minutes, hard to see but its split where I'm bending it, its awful the engine is all over the place.
Anyway well packed with the goo, this will set pretty hard and the mount will be fine for a good while.
I then drained the coolant flushed it through a bit and filled up with more water, a lot of stuff came out again, this is good, means a lot of rubbish is getting dislodged. Two or three more flushes and it will be spotless. Still needs a new rad though.
[BREAK=Upgrades]
25th September 2009
Well at the scrappies I saw a ph2 1.4, so I got some bits off of it, ns window reg, door pockets, speakers, handles, switches, looms, rear boot lock thingy (for grey 16V), nsr door trim and a few other bits and bobs, all for £20, bargain!
Anyway first job was to fit the electric windows etc, so remove old door looms, fit new ones, remove old regs fit electric ones, then cut the existing door cards for the speakers and there we have it, electric windows and 6 speaker sound system, awesome. Much better, makes the car feel more modern and complete.
Pics of the doors now
I need to dig out some blanks for the winder holes though, think I have some out the back, but I may end up sticking a 16V interior in still.
The final exterior trim piece, this has also made the car look a lot better, theres nothing missing now, its got some white overspray on it and faded but I'll sort that
Just need to sort out the rusty patches now.
Also rear dampers are pretty much dead and the fronts still to high. Will get sorted soon enough.
Forgot to update the total costs as well, since got tax and the new bits
Previous total £212.06
Road Tax £190
Scrappy bits £ 20
New total £422.06
Still a bargain!
[BREAK=Upgrades again]
8th October 2009
A few days back I changed the rear dampers to the 16V units, big difference in handling as expected but a bit bouncy now, seems like its on the bumpstops but not to bad. The fact it corners a lot flatter makes up for it.
I was going to change the front struts to 16V units but broken springs put a stop to that, see project black death for more info.
So I changed the headlights to 16V units, a worthwhile upgrade, the ph2's even in 16v form are no match to the ph1's lights.
So had to take the grey grille off and the headlights, there was some seizure issues so I had to free them off. But to do this I had to get the lights and grille out, so drivers light out no issues, passenger light I had to take the grille attached to the bracket and also undo the support bracket off the front slam under the indicator
Bracket, now off the old headlight
The seized lower middle screw holding the grille to the headlight, snipped the clip and it was off
Note crappy rad, but front end stripped of lighting
Issue with the wiring is the single beams have separate plugs the 16V are integrated, ph1's again better, so had to splice this in on both sides
16V lights fitted and working fine
They are much better at night than the single beams and they look better.
I was at the scrappy yesterday and found buried a ph2 diesel, it has a new rad in it and a working filter head, so going back tonight to get it I think. The rad really needs changed, it doesn't overheat or anything but it sits a bit warmer all the time than ideal
[BREAK=Rad change]
10th October 2009
Well yesterday I went back to the scrappies and got the rad, airbox bobbin and the diesel filter head.
I fitted the airbox bobbin, this was missing and I used a cable tie in place as a temporary measure. But now its back to how it shoudl be.
Then onto the filter housing, got a new filter for £2, bargain, then I had to fit it, all fitted up and sorted, only I forgot I had to cut the hose slightly so need to get a longer pipe from the filter to the pump at some point
Then I washed the new rad, washed it through the fins and flushed it out, it lifted the bugs and some paint off the fins and inside was clean which was nice. So here it is
Valeo sticker
The old rad, looks terrible!
Well it works, ran it at a fast idle then let it idle just before the thermostat open, when it did the temperature dropped on it, then revved it at a fast idle until the fan kicked in, it cycled on and off in about 5 or so seconds, sits where it should even up long steep hills so well happy.
Going to flush it through a few more times as it eventually turned slightly cloudy, when its clear and stays clear I'll drain it and add coolant, needs to be soon its getting awful cold at night up here.
Previous Total £422.06
Rad and bits £ 30.00
New Total £452.06
[BREAK=New tank]
12th October 2009
Well yesterday some clown decided to hit the back of the diesel, now I grabbed the baby and walked away as i was going to basically give him the final beating of his life so let her deal with it. His bumper and headlight all smashed.
The twat hit into the back of us, hes trying to say its our fault. Him not stopping and hitting us is out fault, apparently we should have smashed through all the traffic in front clearing a path for him or something.
Anyway I walked away with the baby and got home, looked at the car, small scuff on the rear bumper, I thought nothing else of note, however there is more as you will see later.
The new fuel tank came today
I then removed the old tank, then I spotted something, something bad...
Thats a crack, then this is the wheelarch side
Yes the offside rear chassis rail is fractured, this is new, I had the wheel off when I done the shockers and it was fine, its not now so the old guys impact must have done this. Now thing is she told the insurance company today there is no damage to our car, but thats not the case, not sure what to do here, the cars a write off with that damage, it just needs a bit of welding which I can get done for free but the insurers will write it off for sure.
So do we get it written off, buy it back then sort it? or sort it and ignor eit happened? There in lies the rub as they say.
New tank, beside the soon to be gone 206 GTI
Old tank, as you can see its a bit of a state!
New tank fitted
Well I got Kevin to get me a can of diesel £5,put that in, got another 5 litres out of the old tank, so another £5's worth.
Then went down to the petrol station and filled the tank. £44 so just under 45 litres from there, its a 55 litre tank filled almost to the brim.
Nice not having to worry and only put 10 - 15 quid in at a time.
Whats more annoying is all this time and money and effort spent and some old twat skelps the arse of it, theres no other damage anywhere else, I had a real good look.
Previous total £452.06
Tank £ 59.99
New Total £512.05
[BREAK=SOLD!]
14th December 2009
Well due to the mrs using the scenic the diesel was surplus to requirements. A guy phoned me at college I said the mrs can deal with it.
I swapped the alloys to the scenic a while back so it was with the iffy steelies form the scenic.
Sold for £400.
Working it out, the car actually cost zero, the total was £522, but that included the tyres and some diesel. The tyres alone were £75 got that back as they are on the scenic, and other bits and bats
So a few months motoring for free, not bad.
Of course this never included my labour which would have amounted to a few hundred pounds if a garage did the work.
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