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The last project

Soneji

Active Member
Right, got the car off Chris in August time after its MOT fired through and met him in town, taxed it and headed out to stick it on the car.

Didn't take long before we went out in it heading up to his grans way. I felt like a bit of a learner at first as it had been months since I'd driven, years since it'd been a valver. Engine was a bit lumpy and smokey, to be expected from it not being in regular use. Throttle cable was heavy and pretty much had it but there was a like new replacement in the boot which slided nicely to do later.

Struggled to get very fine/low rev control so cue a comedy 3 or 4 stall maneuver to pull it out. After that started to slowly get the hang of it.

Off we go and it was alright although I was taking it relatively easy, but there were some handling issues down to it needing aligned and being on the wrong springs riding high due to the big brake setup abut that was rectified later. These combined were causing some pretty strong binding on tight cornering and some odd road response/feedback.

The brakes kick in quite good, but it was running very hot though. My shitty control with the gay throttle cable was causing problems at junctions in the smaller towns, and stalling it while hot was causing either the starter to swell and jam or something in teh assembly, it was proving resistant to start up again at points for a few moments.

Anyway, after a refreshing drink and natter off we go again and back down the road. Without stalling this time.

When we get back we go have a look at the bikes, stand about talk man stuff etc. Chris was doing stuff with the bikes and went round the front to get something and noticed a puddle under the grey hatch so we went to investigate.

Opened the bonnet and the metal coolant pipe that runs along above the flywheel was pissing out rather furiously out of a tiny 1mm hole, all down the radiator I think.

Probably a mixture of it not being run as long as that for years, the heat and the fact those pipes are bastards. Chris gets tape, I patch it up and he gives me another pipe (not as good looking, but better overall lacking of hole condition)

Wind wind wind round the pipe with the tape, and start it up. Doesn't leak. Sorted for now. Actually, that ended up lasting for weeks before I replaced it but I was 'pushed' into that. It only bubbled up.

Anyway, I needed to go back to chris to get the springs swapped over as I didn't want to buy compressors even though I needed them for the red one, but it was still drivable anyway with the issues.

Was heading down to peebles a week or so later and as I came to draw up to the first set of lights in penicuik I noticed the temp guage rise above its normal second bar. Ie shooting to the fucking top.

I thought another hole, and I had the tape from before in the glove and pulled into the tesco carpark conviently placed 100 yards to my left.

Far end, dump it. Out bonnet up, pissing out the bottom hose down by the water pump/radiator split.

Cue rage/facepalm, 20 miles from home with about two of these hoses there. :evil:

But, never give up plus I hate buses.

Into tescos, two bottles of 5ltr water £1.23 each or something, no gaffer tape or the likes or anything fucking helpful, and a roll of kitchen roll was my supplies from there.

Small auto shop place across the road shut.

Waited for it to cool for a bit (periodically checking temp guage) and then pulled the bottom hose off the radiator and got the rest of it out.

Tried a stupid game of 'dab dry' the remanants of coolant that just won't fuck off and trying to electical tape it before it dribbles lol, but its a very restricted space down there with everything in situ.

Repeated fail.

Cue various people going 'ooooh doesn't look good' etc. Notice some old man (70's at least) in an old astra, over I go "any chance you've got gaffer tape or know anywhere in penicuik that would?" feeling a bit stupid now I'm asking.

Low behold, the old guy's some fucking builder dude. Into his boot and;

+ roll of gaffer tape

Cue another bunch of people coming up when I'm trying to now dab and gaffer, with very similar success to before.

Last guy to come up was a 'mechanic', ummed and awwed then said he'd come down with some plastic and zip ties.

Guy put his tea off to come down (what a star!!) but I ended up doing most of it anyway. Cut plastic to fit, zip ties and lots of gaffer tape, filled it up and let it get pressure and thermostat opening etc

By now its about three four hours, and my forearms are cooked.

A few drips at hot idle. Not bad, nothing like the mini torrent before. Anyway, we both think its going to hold and I leg it.

I think I watched the guage as much as the road on the way home, but it held. But it got there. In fact. Drove it for several days like that until it needed water.

Then set about replacing the cooling system;

tapedpipe.jpg


I was going to use the one in the house for the red one as it looked emaculate, however (luckily i noticed) under close inspection it had a rust hole just between the pipes. So used the replacement chris gave, even though visually it was the worst it was however the most solid.

Got that on, changed the bottom pipe;

burst.jpg


Replacement;

likenew.jpg


I'd now kind of lost confidence in the cooling hoses, so swapped them all with the hillpower ones I got years ago. Stuck a new thermostat on it two old one was ageing (no pic at present just got it done).

It was still overheating though obviously, and running generally hot. So few days later it was put on the drive, and ran through for HOURS.

Back to front everywhich way I could get it to go. Was going to use the new radiator from the red one but just hosed the grey's one out and cleared the fins. I hadn't done the bleed valve properly though and got air bubbles, so had to redo it day or so later.

Back in with some coolant and fresh header tank (that quickly got discoloured anyway) and it finally ran a lot cooler. Never had hot starting issue since.

Not long after I scooted back through to see Chris and in the space of an hour we (losely) got the lowering springs on it, which means it now matched the lowered rear. Made a big difference to the feel, tried to adjust the tracking as best we could but it was still a touch 'funky'. But better, the new ride height had alieviated most of the binding etc.

Next was the exhaust which had been blowing, and slowly getting fartier.

This was the offending bit;

thehole0.jpg


Yes, it is welded together, made it a bit more cuntish to get off and downpipe had to come too and a bitch to try and save. The lambda had also started hunting and prevented from moving for 10-15s at start up, so that was changed too..

Rest of the system off;

exhausta.jpg


The downpipe springs were also somewhat butchered;

rogered.jpg


But I had both good used replacements and new, didn't use the o-ring however;

downpipestuff.jpg


Thankfully the scorpian off the red one came into play and sounds a lot nicer anyway. Certainly a lot quieter, and the lack of hunting and improvement of mpg and engine response etc. (again no photos, just got on with it. re-occuring theme here)


[BREAK=Part II]

The 16's it came on needed new rubber while still having some tread, the fronts were causing a rolling vibration so done a wheel swap between the cars for now. 15's make the car feel much better, but its so low I can't get hydrolic jack under the car anymore at the front without other jacks.

There were still handing niggles, namely the seemingly new rear shocks bouncing. It was upsetting the car quite a bit, and the disparity between stiff front and rear was big. So;

rearshockers.jpg


Got them cheap, listed as 16v parts only.

So;

rearshockoffwoohoo.jpg


(old GAS one on ground)

That was the hard side. The lower bolt was just loose, which I think allowed a bit of unit movement which gave the bolt a mild bend. It was a tight **** to get out. Even right to the end I was using my feet in the arch on the bar and standing on it - took about an hour. When putting it back together with copper grease and a replacement bolt it took a minute with the ratchet.

The ones coming off were GAS shock absorbers, and not very old at that. The new ones stiffened it up a lot, but its sitting near the bump stop now. Need to drop the bar a bit, but the ends look a bit troublesome.

He's a shot of the new o/s one. Although managed to stick it on without the washer, so had to undo & redo :roll: :p

whatsmissing.jpg


With them done overall it was a big improvement though, the rear now matches the front in stiffness.

Not long after this I decided I'd had enough of the throttle cable and changed it would be. Should have done it earlier as I ended up slipping the clutch which didn't help clutch was like new but there was a wobble on pulling away. Anyway got the old cable out followed by string, and then about 20 minutes trying to jam my hand in behind the turret. eventially got it through and start at the pedal and chris appears then takes over :p

We then take it out for a spin and mpg test and throttle response feels much much better, can feather it now. so much so that I felt like I had a lead foot for days after. Now able to pull away easier now, and using the clutch good over a long period eventially sorted out the resistance and wobble. The thrust washer is a bit worn however, the chatter comes and goes but that doesnt seem so bad now either oddly.

...Some time later...

With the car on the lowering springs for the front camber to sit right with megane parts the the ride height is low, and springs give a hard ride which started to take its toll..

It rogered the o/s balljoint, not smacked off anything but just the poor road and repairs up here etc and the rather track like ride and off tracking. It was still shiney/new looking parts, and had only covered 5k but still had play so if it goes it goes. So off to ECP and a new bj.

Took a bit to relieve the hub of the old O/S bj stub, but eventially got it on.

(only pic of job)Compressing new one with the scissor;

compressingbj.jpg


You can see the TRE there too, which was the same age. Still shinyish.

Anyway, off to get it tracked at the local place and got it straightened up afterwards. Think it was a total of 6 degrees out toe in, and that was after doing it by eye between me and chris which aint that bad. Felt like night and day pulling away however. But while it was up it was evident that the ARB bushes had seen better days.

So the tracking came with 30 go back guarantee anyway, ordered new genuine ARB's.

Few days later other ball joint gives up :evil:

This was particularly annoying as the car had had new wishbones that had only covered a few thousand miles and with the timing after getting it lazered etc

I now deliberated swapping all the three last ball joints in it, but just decided on replacing the now N/S B/J and doing the ARB bushes and leaving the TRE's alone. So that I did.

sloppyhole.jpg


newarbs.jpg


Got the balljoint done quickly but the ARB was being a tool, and I had to clean up the clamps for the new bushes to sit etc. It needs new bush clamps, but I'll get them later. Little bit grease on news, although i used a bit too much on one side. By the time I got up to the wheel shop it had nearly slipped right out, and the clamp had been torqued to spec!! :eek:

So, back down the fucking road. Jacked up. Bar down. Bush off. Wipe. Dab. Squeeze like a bastard. Torque up. Down. Back up and off for re-setting again. Straight again.


Only pic of the job being done, which is it done. Odd I know;

nsassembly.jpg





...tbc....
 
Last edited by a moderator:
it was unbelievable when that metal pipe burst, imagine a new looking pipe then a pinhole leak on it. Theres no way anyone would have bet on it leaking.

I used all the ph2 hoses as well as they looked in better condition that the original ph1 pipes, turns out that the old dodgy looking ph1 pipes should have stayed on it.

The welded decat was ridiculous as i noted in the original report but there was no way I was messing with it, I never had spares in case it messed up badly. George had a spare at least and it made the car a lot quieter.

throttle cable annoyed me as I had bought it from that Steven guy from Berwick, turned out it was a dud and I had to get another anyway. I helped George fit the replacement and it was much better.
 
good to read some random people rallied round when the car pissed itself.
 
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