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Topics - Nick W

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General Car Chat / Jobs you wish you'd never started

« on: 25 November 2012, 16:47:37 »

Today's little mission was to change the HBV(because some clumsy bastard broke the vacuum fitting off it), and replace the broken cambelt cover and cable tray. I've had the new cover for over a year, and found it recently when clearing out the cellar

HBV went well, as I'd fitted jubilee clips when I changed it last year.

Belt cover came out in 3 pieces, as it was in worse condition than I'd thought. But it turns out that the replacement won't fit as it's a different shape in the lower LH corner. Cue lots of swearing.

So I'm cycling to work tomorrow. And it looks like I'll be fitting the replacement in the dark when it arrives in the week.

Car Parts, bits For Sale & Wanted / MV6 bits for sale

« on: 03 November 2012, 20:35:20 »

A few weeks ago I bought a job lot of MV6 parts for my hot-rod project, but only need the engine and gearbox.

As a result, I have a radiator, almost new cat back exhaust system plus a diff. The bloke I bought it from insisted that it's an LSD, but removing the cover revealed a normal open diff.

These are all from a 3.0l manual saloon, so are no use as spares for my auto estate.

I'd like £60 for the lot, or £30 each. Collection only as they're big or heavy.

Or, I'd swap for an engine sump and oil pickup from a Vectra V6.

General Car Chat / Earning its keep

« on: 16 September 2012, 22:26:57 »

This is why I have a big estate.

This morning we made a 170mile round trip to Aylesbury to collect an MV6 3.0l engine, manual gearbox, diff(allegedly an LSD), wiring, prop, radiator and exhausts for my Standard12 hot-rod project. We unloaded all of that into the lockup where the car lives and headed home.

I collected the roofbars from the outside bog, along with some rope, ratchet straps and some timber.

Then, we got back into the car and went the other way around the M25 to Arundel to collect the 2 halves of a beach buggy body that a mate had just paid £21 for. After jamming the back half of the body in the boot, and tying the front half onto the roofrack, we drove 95 miles back to the same lockup, and heaved the bits on top of the Standard. I should point out that this garage also has the chassis, wings, bonnet and doors for a 30's Morris 8; a Capri axle and Vitesse front suspension for the Standard; 2 mobility scooters;engine crane, two engine stands and a pile of assorted crap in it. I'm running out of space!

Then we went for a couple of beers and a curry.

It's been quite a fun day, and the Omega did exactly what I bought it for; swallowed all of the heavy, dirty junk and transported it all effortlessly to the destination. It's also done almost 30mpg over the nearly 400 miles I've driven today.

It's a bloody good car.

General Car Chat / RWD XE transplant questions

« on: 18 April 2012, 00:50:25 »

Some background:
I'm fitting a late XE into my Avenger, and am using the stock EFI. But, I didn't remove it from the donor car and have had it knocking about the garage for some time.

Using a Carlton sump and gearbox, fabricated mounts, plus a generic RWD exhaust manifold, it's in the car.

The car has had an Astra radiator for some time, so I've made a new stainless water rail, and top hose, plus will be using a Golf expansion bottle.

I've fitted a Discovery submerged fuel pump, and run new fuel supply/return lines with a 2.8i Capri fuel filter.

I'm now at the wiring stage, and have connected: the rigidly mounted injector plugs, the MAF and TPS sensors, the subloom for the ICV and knock sensor(probably), the vacuum sensor at the rear of the inlet manifold, the DIS pack, and the cam sensor. There are 3 earths that connect to the inlet manifold. On the other side of the engine I have both the water temp sensors, the crank sensor, the lambda sensor, the battery connection with the ignition timing plug and the big grommet for the bulkhead leading to the ECU and relay. There is nothing else on the engine.

So, can anyone tell me what the 7way multiplug(that has 5 wires in it) on about 10cm of wire that comes out of the loom between the DIS plug and the cam sensor plug at the back of the cylinder head is for? And if so, can I ignore it?

I'm no stranger to EFI swaps, having done several Fords, but this is my first Motronic one.

Also, the exhaust manifold is a 4 into 2 into 1. Putting aside that it's down to Ashley's usual poor standards, can I weld the boss for the lambda sensor into one of the '2' parts of the manifold, or must it go into the final collector?

Thanks in advance,
Nick

General Car Chat / Stunning

« on: 07 April 2012, 20:23:23 »

Opposite a garage I delivered a car to this morning was an undertakers who have recently upgraded their fleet with these http://www.limousines.co.uk/jaguar.ihtml . The hearse looks good, although that's not a flattering picture.

The stretched XJ saloon however looks absolutely stunning, unlike most stretched cars these days.

General Car Chat / Dammit. MOT surprise

« on: 11 January 2012, 20:04:25 »

Dropped my estate off for it's MOT on the way home from work this morning.

It turns out that the O/S strut to hub was loose(don't understand how but it actually drove OK), both rear tyres were knackered(flat spot on one and a split on the inside sidewall on the other), one number plate light didn't work(which it did when I checked them yesterday-bloody thing) and serious brake judder on the rears.

So I changed the blown bulb, tightened up the strut, bought two new tyres and cleaned the rear discs/hubs etc in the hope they would come back in spec. All with the car about 1/4 mile up the road as Southern Water hve the road outside my house dug up to replace the water main and fit new meters.

The re-test showed no difference, so now I've got to replace the warped discs, new pads and I'll probably replace the slightly crumbly handbrake shoes while I'm in there.

This is the most expensive MOT I've ever had.

Today was not a good day. My next day off is Sunday, when I've got to put yet another driveshaft joint on my sister's 1300 fix my brakes and repair the broken throttle pedal on the Avenger. It's bound to piss down all day.

Still the tester did say that he was surprised at how smooth and quiet the engine was!

Newbie Welcome Area / Another new member in Kent

« on: 09 March 2011, 20:15:06 »

Hello, although I've been lurking here since I got my car 6 weeks ago, I've just around to joining.
Having put 1800 miles on it in the last fortnight on holiday, I must say that I really like it; wafting along at 100mph, cruise control on, bootful of booze my bike on the back and 2 passengers, all in virtual silence. Even the 27MPG is better than the 525 I used to have, nor is it anything like as irritating!
Just got the misfire to sort, and replace the cambelt as although it's halfway between the interval it was done about 4 years ago. As it's the most expensive car I've had, that's not a chance to take.

Nick

General Discussion Area / Damn it

« on: 01 April 2011, 20:46:37 »

Spent this afternoon changing the cambelt on my estate.

Finding all but one of the mounting bobbins for the multi-rams and SAI were broken was only the start.
Some butcher has pulled the cabletidy out of the belt cover, and broken both; the cambelt cover is now almost in 3 pieces, so I'm going to have get a replacement at some point.

Taking the cover off revealed Tippex marks on all the pulleys, and the tensioner marks were nowhere near each other, so I expected the timing to be out. Using the locking set soon proved it, all four cams were a whole tooth out!

After lunch, I put it all back together, struggling with the marks on the belt, and on the fourth attempt, got it all timed correctly.

Reassembled all the front bits, made some spacers to replace the bobbins, and it started first time. Left it idling while I tidied up and topped it with coolant. It now idles smoothly, unlike before when it hunted by about 250RPM, so that's a success.

After running it around the block, I found that there was a lot of slack in the throttle pedal; fitting the clip that was still stuck to magnetic tray sorted that, but not the water leak from the O/S radiator hose.

It's now dark, and the engine's hot so I'll be taking the Avenger to work tomorrow, and hoping for a quiet day so I can fix it completely.

I'm going for a beer!