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Topics - Nick W

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Omega General Help / Facelift zenon headlights

« on: 10 February 2015, 12:20:33 »

My car has just failed the MOT on beam pattern, and I remember someone mentioning a supplier of affordable new light units. But I don't remember who it was, or the supplier.

I might have another go at polishing them inside and out, once I've had a proper look at them
Can anyone help?

Thanks

General Car Chat / Field expedient repair

« on: 08 February 2015, 17:49:18 »

OK, I'll be more accurate, it's a bodge.

Having replaced my ABS pump/ECU yesterday, we bled the brakes today, and got everything working. After walking into town to get some anti-freeze(I know I had some, somewhere

), I left the car idling while I torqued the wheelnuts correctly. When I got to the NSF, there was a spreading puddle of ATF dripping out of the end of the chassis rail.

It turns out that the lower hose on the PAS reservoir had a number of cracks that didn't survive the handling that was necessary to do the job, and was leaking. Badly.

Due to various boring circumstances, I cut off the short piece of hose that was crimped to the hard line(careful use of a Dremel), and have replaced it with a length of garden hose as it was all I could find of a suitable size. A couple of hose clamps, and I now have non-leaking steering ready for the MOT first thing Tuesday morning.

So: yes it looks like the terrible bodge that it is; no I don't expect it to last long; no I don't recommend it as a 'repair' unless it's unavoidable; yes, I'm going to get a length of suitable hose to make a proper repair; yes, I'll probably do that this weekend.

Omega General Help / rear-door glass replacement

« on: 26 December 2014, 11:43:18 »

Following on from the vandalism at the weekend, and despite Parcefarce's best efforts, I now have a replacement for my broken quarterlight. But I'm unlikely to see the car until tomorrow, and am wondering how the thing is fitted.

It looks like a lipped rubber seal, similar to a traditional windscreen rubber, so do I pry out the remains of the old glass and somehow persuade the new one into the hole. Or do I have to dismantle most of the door like I was expecting?

I'm hoping to get this done tomorrow.

General Discussion Area / What was the point?

« on: 21 December 2014, 11:03:23 »

Went out this morning to find that some oppser has thrown a stone through the NSR quarter window. I know that, because they managed to land it in the hat that was on the backseat.
There was nothing stolen, which I refuse to feel grateful about, considering that most of my work tools were in the boot. Although that makes the damage even more frustrating, at least theft is a reason for doing such things. A piss-poor reason admittedly.

Having ordered a replacement glass from Omega Spares(at £30 it's much cheaper than the excess) I'll have to wait for Parcel Farce to 'deliver' the damn thing at Christmas. Which we all know means I might get it some time before my birthday.
So now I have to seal the hole with something(probably perspex and duct tape), before fitting the replacement. Which I bet requires dismantling most of the door.

Sometimes I wonder if owning anything nice is worth the effort.

General Discussion Area / Not part of the plan

« on: 31 October 2014, 16:42:45 »

Go to Bicester and pickup a Transit they said.

So I did.

Now I'm on the M40 a mile before the M25 waiting for Tyreworks to sort a burst tyre.

On a Friday evening.

Any guesses how long they'll be?

Car Parts, bits For Sale & Wanted / Wanted: headlight levelling sensor

« on: 08 June 2014, 18:56:36 »

As per the heading: does anyone have one available?

I managed to break the rear one on the NS trailing arm when I fitted the new rear shocks.

Thanks,
Nick

General Discussion Area / Another winner from Parcelforce

« on: 06 June 2014, 20:55:57 »

So my exhaust came from Poland in 3 days. Parcelforce pretended to deliver it today; there was someone in all day, but they managed to slip the card through the letterbox without anyone noticing.

So, I have three options: have them deliver it another day, but they don't work weekends and there won't be anyone in next week, plus they've already proved that they can't do the job they've been paid for; pay extra to have it delivered to work - that's not going to happen as I've already paid for it; or collect it from the local depot. Which is what I'm reluctantly going to do, but the new efficient, privatised company moved the 'local' depot from 4miles up the road to Crayford. So that's a gallon of fuel and 90 minutes out of my day off, more time than it will take to fit the damned thing.

So it seems all that the bloody useless, <~&king incompetent, piss-poorly organised, shittily lazy #*!s can actually deliver is a bad case of Tourettes, which isn't something I expected to get through the post.

General Car Chat / More than I was expecting

« on: 25 April 2014, 22:27:58 »

After unloading the smashed Lotus Carlton that a colleague brought in this afternoon, I had some time to kill. So I picked up the Sealey Promotional Catalogue and started leafing through it. I was surprised to find the spanner for adjusting the V6 tensioners is on offer, and as my kit didn't come with one, checked the price. £30 reduced from a list price of £50!!!!

For that money, I'll stick with my homemade one; a 30mm 1/2" drive socket with the worn drive bored to take the torx socket, and then welded to a short, bent length of steel bar. Cost, nothing, Effectiveness, 100%

General Car Chat / Off with its head(s)

« on: 29 December 2013, 20:16:41 »

I've suspected for sometime that I've a faulty headgasket, together with a blowing exhaust manifold and at least one noisy lifter, so have been acquiring the bits to do the job. I'm still expecting the headbolts and 3.2 manifolds, but thought I'd make a start today.

As usual with this sort of job, I reckon I could probably knock a quarter of the time taken if I had to do it again, but the heads are now in the boot of the car, ready for cleaning up tomorrow. Some if it is annoyingly fiddly, like the coolant pipe. Surprisingly, all of the exhaust manifold studs and nuts undid easily.

It turns out that the driver's side headgasket was barely holding at the back, and both exhaust manifolds were blowing. I still need to sort out the lifter, but I've had enough for one day, especially as I'm suffering from a chest infection at the moment. It's now time for a hot bath and a stiff drink.

General Discussion Area / Christmas came early

« on: 24 December 2013, 20:41:01 »

Got home just before eight, to find four parcels waiting for me. So I grabbed a knife and started opening them
First was the quickshift for the Omega gearbox for my Standard 12 project. £150, but it looks almost too good to cover with a transmission tunnel.
Next was the throatless electric shear; cheap but it runs smoothly and should make cutting large sheetmetal panels much easier on the hands.

And the last two were related to the Omega, as I'm going to pull the heads soon: a new valve spring compressor as my old OHV one won't work, and an Elring head gasket set that was a £12.80 Ebay bargain. That just leaves the 3.2manifolds that I ordered last night, and a trip to the local dealer for the other odds and ends and I'll be ready to get on with the job. Oh, and some head bolts.

General Discussion Area / Today just got better and better

« on: 22 August 2013, 22:38:52 »

I'm sure computers were supposed to make things easier. Or did I misunderstand the bullshit?

Why the hell is Ryanair's booking procedure so damn complicated? It's almost as if they don't want any customers. How the hell can they claim to 'check you in' up to 15 days before the flight? There's a massive list of T&Cs, but finding the actual check in times requires an almost forensic scrutiny.

Towards the end of a crap day at work, my mother rang at 18:40 to say that she was discharged from the hospital(she had a heart attack last week) this afternoon, and could I get there ASAP to drive her and Dad home. It only took her 5 hours to ring me, after her sister, my sister, Dad's sister and a whole bunch of other people who rang the house to tell me how pleased I must be! They're at their house in France, hence my rush home to try and book a suitable flight, and all the aggro that went with it. Including the damn printer running out of ink just as it started printing the boarding pass.

I've been expecting to have to fly to the Charente since I had the news last week, but once again, she's effortlessly managed to make the whole thing even more stressful. And when I rang my boss to confirm that I won't be in tomorrow, he told me to "have a nice break!"

I'm going to have a good stiff drink, and go to bed before I have a heart attack. Or I might join the cat killing small animals in the garden.

Rant off

General Discussion Area / Today could have gone better

« on: 05 July 2013, 23:44:11 »

I offered to run a mate to Milton Keynes to collect his recently acquired Dutton.
So, we dumped a bag of tools, lockwire, cable-ties and other stuff into the Omega, and drove round the M25 and up the M1.
Collected the car, and set off home.
After doing a couple of simple repairs on the Dutton(doing up a fuel pipe and solving the overheating by rewiring the fan so it turned the correct way), we hit the Friday afternoon traffic on the M25.
At which point, my bloody Omega decided to stop idling.
So I've got my money's worth out of the AA this year as it's been recovered home, and I'll be getting a new crank sensor tomorrow as it's fine now that it has cooled down.

General Discussion Area / Well, that was weird!

« on: 14 May 2013, 22:08:43 »

My last job today was a non-start on a Focus in a petrol station.
When I turned up the customer said that it wouldn't start, and that when he checked under the bonnet there was a rabbit.
What with his heavy accent, passing traffic and other background noise I thought I'd misheard him and wondered what he meant.

So you can imagine my surprise when I opened the bonnet.
And the rabbit sitting on the engine looked at me, turned round, climbed down the back of the engine and disappeared.

After that, it was just a normal jump start.

Omega General Help / MOT emissions fail

« on: 03 January 2013, 13:49:36 »

Just collected my estate from its MOT failure.
The two small bits of welding are not a worry. I was hoping to get away with them, and deal with them later. An hours work should see them done properly.

The emissions part is a concern though.
According to the test CO is 3.06% when a pass is 0.3%, and lambda is 0.95 when 0.97 to 1.03 is allowed.
Now the car does take about 8 miles to get anywhere normal operating temperature, and leaving it idling for 30 mins doesn't even do that.

So, am I deluding myself that fitting the new thermostat will cure this, or should I be looking a bit deeper?

Thanks,
Nick

General Car Chat / Jobs you wish you'd never put off

« on: 02 December 2012, 22:00:42 »

Following on from last weeks post on jobs I wish I'd never started, today worked out really well.

I've been chasing a nasty, jarring knock from the N/S front suspension for ages, and a dreadful wander. Plus it killed the inside edges of new tyres in 6000 miles. Over the last year I've fitted new shocks, top mounts, wishbones with poly bushes, idler arm and centre tie rod. Each improved things slightly, even though the original front shocks were utterly knackered.

Today I fitted new drop links, about the only things left. That eliminated the knock. £20 and 45 minutes well spent.

Had the wheel alignment checked, and although the geometry was reasonable the toe settings were awful. With that brought back to within specs, the car now drives like new. The knock has gone, it doesn't wander, or suffer odd steering over bumps and is really nice to drive. I only asked how much the check would be and when they could do it, and the answer was £29 and when the current job is finished. Just 10 minutes later it was on the lift.

With that done, I went to my lockup and collected the OSF wheel with new tyre and the other new tyre that had been on the buckled NSF wheel. Took them to work; fitted the loose tyre to the wheel I took off, and put them both on the car.

Only thing left to do is balance the front wheels. I couldn't do that because I've no idea how the computer controlled balancer in the workshop works!

So, I wish I'd not put this job off for so long!