Discussion
Short Driveway CSI today.
Last night was Friday for me so...
Take work to work day.
I chopped the base plate from a Fiat Coupe' tubular manifold and welded a new plate to fit my Bravo.
In theory it should work.
Historical Driveway CSI's from...
2016...
Is it possible to change the headlight on a mkII Renault Laguna without taking the bumper off?
Nope. It's a four hour job.
2013...
Just demonstrated to my youngest nephew that you can make a spark plug work using static electricity generated by him bouncing on a trampoline.
Forgot to mention the electricity had to pass through him though.
2011...
Good news bad news.
Good news is the hole in the floor of the car is welded up.
Bad news; there a bigger hole in the carpet and it smells of smoke a bit.
Don't worry car fan's it was a Vauxhall Corsa.
24th April 2016
The "C" in Driveway CSI today should be "confession" the only reason I've had to change my wishbone is because I put the suspension leg through the old bush.
I have also only had time to do the one because it was a pain in the faff until I worked out what I was doing wrong. With a normal car you can slacken the anti-roll bar by loosening the mounts. With the Bravo the mounts are inside the subframe. So I put the anti-roll bar under more tension by lowering it on to a bit of wood. That problem solved and the captive nut on the new wishbone decided it didn't need threads any more so I had to put a new nut over the top of the bolt and spot weld it to the one on the mount.
Grrrrrrr!
This was before I discovered you can use a strap to pull the anti-roll bar ends out of the way instead.
Last night was Friday for me so...
Take work to work day.
I chopped the base plate from a Fiat Coupe' tubular manifold and welded a new plate to fit my Bravo.
In theory it should work.
Historical Driveway CSI's from...
2016...
Is it possible to change the headlight on a mkII Renault Laguna without taking the bumper off?
Nope. It's a four hour job.
2013...
Just demonstrated to my youngest nephew that you can make a spark plug work using static electricity generated by him bouncing on a trampoline.
Forgot to mention the electricity had to pass through him though.
2011...
Good news bad news.
Good news is the hole in the floor of the car is welded up.
Bad news; there a bigger hole in the carpet and it smells of smoke a bit.
Don't worry car fan's it was a Vauxhall Corsa.
24th April 2016
The "C" in Driveway CSI today should be "confession" the only reason I've had to change my wishbone is because I put the suspension leg through the old bush.
I have also only had time to do the one because it was a pain in the faff until I worked out what I was doing wrong. With a normal car you can slacken the anti-roll bar by loosening the mounts. With the Bravo the mounts are inside the subframe. So I put the anti-roll bar under more tension by lowering it on to a bit of wood. That problem solved and the captive nut on the new wishbone decided it didn't need threads any more so I had to put a new nut over the top of the bolt and spot weld it to the one on the mount.
Grrrrrrr!
This was before I discovered you can use a strap to pull the anti-roll bar ends out of the way instead.
From today in 2015 I had a cold start issue with my Mercedes 190E and was about to junk the BOSCH K-Jetronic stuff and fit a carb' when...
Finally got down with OVP today and all but the coolant level light is out. The car is completely different animal. No wet nursing a spluttery cold engine, no back firing just after starting the old girl up, no flat spot and I can now sit at 30mph in fifth without the car feeling as if she's about to stall. What a difference a fuse makes.
On that topic this is one of the most accurate speedometers I have ever had on any car. 30 is 30, 40 is 39.5, 50 is 49.5, 60 is 60 and 70 is 70.5mph for a car this old that is amazing. My Panda for example 30 is 28, 40 is 36, 50 is 46, 60 is 58 and 70 is 67.5 My old works 2010 Corsa 30 was 28, 40 was 37, 50 was 47, 60 was 54, 70 was 63 and 70 on the Sat' Nav' was between 75 and 80 according to the speedo'. Of course this means if I get pulled for speeding
I can't use the...
"Sorry officer it's an old car"
...excuse that has saved my licence more times than Henrik Lundqvist has saved for the Rangers this season.
Today in 2012
First job of the weekend done. Dad had managed to knock a chunk of filler off the Corsa exhaust so I scraped the rest off and replaced it with M.I.G weld. Bodge for a bodge, it a Vauxhall after all.
Finally got down with OVP today and all but the coolant level light is out.
The car is completely different animal. No wet nursing a spluttery cold engine, no back firing just after starting the old girl up, no flat spot and I can now sit at 30mph in fifth without the car feeling as if she's about to stall. What a difference a fuse makes.On that topic this is one of the most accurate speedometers I have ever had on any car. 30 is 30, 40 is 39.5, 50 is 49.5, 60 is 60 and 70 is 70.5mph for a car this old that is amazing. My Panda for example 30 is 28, 40 is 36, 50 is 46, 60 is 58 and 70 is 67.5 My old works 2010 Corsa 30 was 28, 40 was 37, 50 was 47, 60 was 54, 70 was 63 and 70 on the Sat' Nav' was between 75 and 80 according to the speedo'. Of course this means if I get pulled for speeding
I can't use the...
"Sorry officer it's an old car"
...excuse that has saved my licence more times than Henrik Lundqvist has saved for the Rangers this season.
Today in 2012
First job of the weekend done. Dad had managed to knock a chunk of filler off the Corsa exhaust so I scraped the rest off and replaced it with M.I.G weld. Bodge for a bodge, it a Vauxhall after all.
Working in the rain last year. The anti-roll bar drop link was fitted incorrectly. The washer was inside above the lower bush. This meant the rubber had wrapped itself around the nut so there was no way of getting a socket on it and the washer had been wedged into the void and rusted in solid.
I had to cut the wishbone in half to get it off, undo the bush from the top mounting to the anti-roll bar and then with a combination of a heat gun, WD40, a vice and big hammer get the bush out of the half wishbone. I cleaned the parts up and refitted them in the right order. I'll replace both drop links as soon as because they both looked tired.
"LK; remember that Skoda you bought eighteen months ago for £200?"
Yep.
"I've just bought an identical one for £180".
Wow! £20 depreciation in eighteen months? That's about the same as 0.00016 of a second if you buy a new Citroen.
Using a Guinness widget to seal a pipe while I flushed my 190E radiator in 2015
Yep.
"I've just bought an identical one for £180".
Wow! £20 depreciation in eighteen months? That's about the same as 0.00016 of a second if you buy a new Citroen.
Using a Guinness widget to seal a pipe while I flushed my 190E radiator in 2015
Historic Driveway CSI from this day in 2014
Interesting Driveway CSI today. M.O.T prep' for my Punto and the joys of lowered suspension.
My 1100 mile old exhaust flexipipe has scraped the floor/speed ramps/potholes and had a hole. Dutch boy weld for now but I'll have to take it off and shorten it by a couple of centimeters later.
Brake lines are cleaned, headlights are aimed and now I need to wait for the cool air so I can give the old girl a decent wash.
Top tip there, never M.O.T a dirty car. Imagine if it was your job how would you like poking around someone else's filth. Save that for tabloid journalists.
Interesting Driveway CSI today. M.O.T prep' for my Punto and the joys of lowered suspension.
My 1100 mile old exhaust flexipipe has scraped the floor/speed ramps/potholes and had a hole. Dutch boy weld for now but I'll have to take it off and shorten it by a couple of centimeters later.
Brake lines are cleaned, headlights are aimed and now I need to wait for the cool air so I can give the old girl a decent wash.
Top tip there, never M.O.T a dirty car. Imagine if it was your job how would you like poking around someone else's filth. Save that for tabloid journalists.
Not much going on with Driveway CSI at the moment.
The Mitsubishi Trojan I covered in Waxoyl before Winter needed new front shocks fitting. You guessed it, because every nut and bolt was covered in waxoyl it took three times as long as it should have and was a monumental pain in the faff.
I also had to get a set of fidget spinner spanners (£26.99) to reach the inside nuts on the top struts.
Someone tried to steal the wind deflectors I fitted to a mates car last year so now they are Tiger sealed in.
I have made the front half of the bracket to fit the supercharger to my Bravo. It's still too big and I will need to move my radiator across to accommodate it or cut the inlet end of the charger off but I have no budget left this month for the output flange plate, front mounted intercooler set up and custom serpentine belt to dive it. Until it's mounted and I have wrapped a tape measure around I won't know how long it'll need to be anyway.
My GSXR250RR project has stalled as I need to find bodywork or do what I can with what I have. This will mean plastic bumper filler by the bucket load and I am not a fan.
The Mitsubishi Trojan I covered in Waxoyl before Winter needed new front shocks fitting. You guessed it, because every nut and bolt was covered in waxoyl it took three times as long as it should have and was a monumental pain in the faff.
I also had to get a set of fidget spinner spanners (£26.99) to reach the inside nuts on the top struts.
Someone tried to steal the wind deflectors I fitted to a mates car last year so now they are Tiger sealed in.
I have made the front half of the bracket to fit the supercharger to my Bravo. It's still too big and I will need to move my radiator across to accommodate it or cut the inlet end of the charger off but I have no budget left this month for the output flange plate, front mounted intercooler set up and custom serpentine belt to dive it. Until it's mounted and I have wrapped a tape measure around I won't know how long it'll need to be anyway.
My GSXR250RR project has stalled as I need to find bodywork or do what I can with what I have. This will mean plastic bumper filler by the bucket load and I am not a fan.
Driveway CSI Bravo edition.
The occasional misfire and general lumpiness was due to whoever fitted the plugs last time stripping the threads from the number of coil pack and not replacing the "O" ring around the oil filler neck so number one pot was full of clean but spark sapping oil.
As a little tribute to a former friend I now have a ropy car with a clean top engine cover.
Because the oil went into the number one cylinder when I took the plug out my Fiat's exhaust smoked like a Ford for a couple of miles.
The occasional misfire and general lumpiness was due to whoever fitted the plugs last time stripping the threads from the number of coil pack and not replacing the "O" ring around the oil filler neck so number one pot was full of clean but spark sapping oil.
As a little tribute to a former friend I now have a ropy car with a clean top engine cover.
Because the oil went into the number one cylinder when I took the plug out my Fiat's exhaust smoked like a Ford for a couple of miles.
From this day last year...
Driveway CSI and the Fiat Coupe donor car postmortem.
The head bolts weren't torqued down properly. 1, 2, 9, 10 were to spec', 5, 6, and 8 were nowhere near. 3, 4 and 7 were close enough to be okay. Water had got into cylinders two and four and where the car was sat the liners are ruined. So bad the pistons are rusted solid.
Tool of the job today goes to a piece of kitchen roll.
My T55 bit didn't fit the M12 head bolts (I let someone borrow my M set and never got them back).
I can't afford the £40+ for a new set just to take a had off out of curiosity (and some cleaning, porting and valving later) so to fill the gap enough for the T55 to work I used kitchen roll. Just as well the bolts weren't torqued properly eh?
Someone did this...
...to my Punto in 2014.
Driveway CSI and the Fiat Coupe donor car postmortem.
The head bolts weren't torqued down properly. 1, 2, 9, 10 were to spec', 5, 6, and 8 were nowhere near. 3, 4 and 7 were close enough to be okay. Water had got into cylinders two and four and where the car was sat the liners are ruined. So bad the pistons are rusted solid.
Tool of the job today goes to a piece of kitchen roll.
My T55 bit didn't fit the M12 head bolts (I let someone borrow my M set and never got them back).
I can't afford the £40+ for a new set just to take a had off out of curiosity (and some cleaning, porting and valving later) so to fill the gap enough for the T55 to work I used kitchen roll. Just as well the bolts weren't torqued properly eh?
Someone did this...
...to my Punto in 2014.
A little bit of track day prep' for the Bravo today.
New timing belt and CV boots.
A couple of tips for anyone working on the front of the car like this.
1/ Drive the car up on ramps and lift the side with a sturdy jack.
2/ Use the ramp you remove as an extra chock.
Also if you need to keep your brake caliper out of harms way. Get a bit of wire, cut it an inch shorter than the hose and bend a hooks each end.
Should be long enough to hang from the top strut hole and copper line end.
New timing belt and CV boots.
A couple of tips for anyone working on the front of the car like this.
1/ Drive the car up on ramps and lift the side with a sturdy jack.
2/ Use the ramp you remove as an extra chock.
Also if you need to keep your brake caliper out of harms way. Get a bit of wire, cut it an inch shorter than the hose and bend a hooks each end.
Should be long enough to hang from the top strut hole and copper line end.
The track day went really well. Even though I took it a little too seriously at times.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I also have an Alfa 156 V6 to take on the daily driver role as I think about getting something even more track focused.
I'm sure they'll be some Driveway CSI's involving that car before long.
In the mean time I have been messing with gardening tools.
My brothers chainsaw was running perfectly and suddenly stopped.
My guess was it could be electrical so took apart and cleaned the switches. Took the spark plug out and found this...
...ball bearing was shorting out the spark plug gap.
No idea where it was from or how it got there but the chainsaw is now fixed.
His strimmer was running like a crap. I guessed it was air in or out. Sure enough the filter was capped in carbon and crap from where a misfire had burned it.
Once cleaned and refitted it ran a lot better but not quite enough for my liking. I popped the exhaust off and opened the port about a millimeter each side. Now it cuts the steel sides of my shed. Woooooo-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa!
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I also have an Alfa 156 V6 to take on the daily driver role as I think about getting something even more track focused.
I'm sure they'll be some Driveway CSI's involving that car before long.
In the mean time I have been messing with gardening tools.
My brothers chainsaw was running perfectly and suddenly stopped.
My guess was it could be electrical so took apart and cleaned the switches. Took the spark plug out and found this...
...ball bearing was shorting out the spark plug gap.
No idea where it was from or how it got there but the chainsaw is now fixed.
His strimmer was running like a crap. I guessed it was air in or out. Sure enough the filter was capped in carbon and crap from where a misfire had burned it.
Once cleaned and refitted it ran a lot better but not quite enough for my liking. I popped the exhaust off and opened the port about a millimeter each side. Now it cuts the steel sides of my shed. Woooooo-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa!
The first 156 Driveway CSI today.
It sounded like the rear brake pads were squeaking so I bought a new set...
"What's your number plate mate?"
Alpha Six Uniform, Juliet, Bravo.
"A6 UJB? Is that a private plate?"
Yeah, it came with the car. Shame really as my initials are RJB.
"You should change your name to something beginning with U. Like Eugene".
Anyway. I got the car home and noticed the rear wheel bearing had recently been done. The dust cover had a hole in it where it had been poked off with a screw driver (from the looks of it). Popped it off and the nut hadn't been secured to the end of the shaft and there wasn't a great deal of grease.
I took the nut off, filled the chamber with grease, popped the nut back on, torqued it to spec', knocked the security collar into the grove, replaced the cover, put the wheel back on, dropped it off the ramps and went for a drive.
Silence.
Oh well I have a new set of pads for when they need changing I guess.
It sounded like the rear brake pads were squeaking so I bought a new set...
"What's your number plate mate?"
Alpha Six Uniform, Juliet, Bravo.
"A6 UJB? Is that a private plate?"
Yeah, it came with the car. Shame really as my initials are RJB.
"You should change your name to something beginning with U. Like Eugene".
Anyway. I got the car home and noticed the rear wheel bearing had recently been done. The dust cover had a hole in it where it had been poked off with a screw driver (from the looks of it). Popped it off and the nut hadn't been secured to the end of the shaft and there wasn't a great deal of grease.
I took the nut off, filled the chamber with grease, popped the nut back on, torqued it to spec', knocked the security collar into the grove, replaced the cover, put the wheel back on, dropped it off the ramps and went for a drive.
Silence.
Oh well I have a new set of pads for when they need changing I guess.
Another 156 Driveway CSI today. The engine warning light has been on since the MOT (it's on the advisory list).
OBD-mebob came up with nine fault codes.
The first being the air temperature sensor.
Had a look in my shed to see if I had one from my Spider, GTV or Fiat Coupe then noticed it was unplugged.
Plugged it in. OBD'd cam up with one fault for the sensor, deleted and the warning light hasn't been on since.
The car is now even spritelier, smoother and the AC works. My guess would be without the air temperature sensor the ECU was set to zero and the car was belching fuel as well so I might be able to get more than 25mpg now.
OBD-mebob came up with nine fault codes.
The first being the air temperature sensor.
Had a look in my shed to see if I had one from my Spider, GTV or Fiat Coupe then noticed it was unplugged.
Plugged it in. OBD'd cam up with one fault for the sensor, deleted and the warning light hasn't been on since.
The car is now even spritelier, smoother and the AC works. My guess would be without the air temperature sensor the ECU was set to zero and the car was belching fuel as well so I might be able to get more than 25mpg now.
Checking in to let you know that this thread is being read and enjoyed. It's been quiet between your updates so I don't want you to think there's no one reading these posts.
Can you give us a quick run down on your current cars and where they stand? It's tricky to keep up with what's recent and what's a throw back to 2014 repairs.
Can you give us a quick run down on your current cars and where they stand? It's tricky to keep up with what's recent and what's a throw back to 2014 repairs.
Gassing Station | Home Mechanics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff