Discussion
The drift MX5 is now a track day MX5...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
...almost.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
...almost.
Easy Driveway CSI today.
The MX5 running issues I put down to a faulty air flow sensor or fuel filter. I went for the easy option. Replaced the air flow sensor and the car now runs fine. 😉
The speedometer has never worked so I ordered a new cable and as the car wasn't on ramps took the dash apart. The cable was not attached went up and down the drive to see the cable rotate, plugged it back in and the speedo works.
New diff and bigger wheels so accuracy is an unknown but after a few swear word days it was nice for things to be a little less eventful.
The MX5 running issues I put down to a faulty air flow sensor or fuel filter. I went for the easy option. Replaced the air flow sensor and the car now runs fine. 😉
The speedometer has never worked so I ordered a new cable and as the car wasn't on ramps took the dash apart. The cable was not attached went up and down the drive to see the cable rotate, plugged it back in and the speedo works.
New diff and bigger wheels so accuracy is an unknown but after a few swear word days it was nice for things to be a little less eventful.
Paddock CSI and apart from the cheap brake pads lasting about twelve laps the only mechanical issue of the day...
...the gear selector gaiter split soaking my hand in warm gearbox oil and making a mess of the otherwise concourse dash.
Duct tape and a sponge cut in half and she was back on track until the pads wore away to nothing.
(photo taken after a warm up session and one quick-ish session)
...the gear selector gaiter split soaking my hand in warm gearbox oil and making a mess of the otherwise concourse dash.
Duct tape and a sponge cut in half and she was back on track until the pads wore away to nothing.
(photo taken after a warm up session and one quick-ish session)
Liquid Knight said:
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.
Nice big jack you have there. 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.
No axle stands ? I assume they are out of shot?
Tip for you. If you haven't got axle stands, pile up 2 wheels under the car in case the Jack fails.
Bit of a strange one today.
My brother got recovered last week in his 53 plate 1.8 Tino with a broken RH front spring.
Car was abandoned at our parents house by a spec lift van.
So today, after a trip to Folkestone Library for a Covid test (negative) I trundle over with a boot full of tools and a new spring.
Not too bad a job once I`d shifted the 2 fooking tight bolts that hold the strut to the hub carrier. Put it all back together, stick the wheel back on and lower it down.
Get in, start it up, pull away and clang clang clang from the LH front.
Get out to look aaaaaaaannnnnd the frigging LH spring is in 2 pieces as well. FFS.
Rinse and repeat next week then.
My brother got recovered last week in his 53 plate 1.8 Tino with a broken RH front spring.
Car was abandoned at our parents house by a spec lift van.
So today, after a trip to Folkestone Library for a Covid test (negative) I trundle over with a boot full of tools and a new spring.
Not too bad a job once I`d shifted the 2 fooking tight bolts that hold the strut to the hub carrier. Put it all back together, stick the wheel back on and lower it down.
Get in, start it up, pull away and clang clang clang from the LH front.
Get out to look aaaaaaaannnnnd the frigging LH spring is in 2 pieces as well. FFS.
Rinse and repeat next week then.
Hammer67 said:
Bit of a strange one today.
My brother got recovered last week in his 53 plate 1.8 Tino with a broken RH front spring.
Car was abandoned at our parents house by a spec lift van.
So today, after a trip to Folkestone Library for a Covid test (negative) I trundle over with a boot full of tools and a new spring.
Not too bad a job once I`d shifted the 2 fooking tight bolts that hold the strut to the hub carrier. Put it all back together, stick the wheel back on and lower it down.
Get in, start it up, pull away and clang clang clang from the LH front.
Get out to look aaaaaaaannnnnd the frigging LH spring is in 2 pieces as well. FFS.
Rinse and repeat next week then.
I always replace all four springs at the same time. My brother got recovered last week in his 53 plate 1.8 Tino with a broken RH front spring.
Car was abandoned at our parents house by a spec lift van.
So today, after a trip to Folkestone Library for a Covid test (negative) I trundle over with a boot full of tools and a new spring.
Not too bad a job once I`d shifted the 2 fooking tight bolts that hold the strut to the hub carrier. Put it all back together, stick the wheel back on and lower it down.
Get in, start it up, pull away and clang clang clang from the LH front.
Get out to look aaaaaaaannnnnd the frigging LH spring is in 2 pieces as well. FFS.
Rinse and repeat next week then.
If one has broken the others will be weak. If the others are weak the new spring will make the car handle like crap.
Good practice doing it one at a time though.
Liquid Knight said:
Hammer67 said:
Bit of a strange one today.
My brother got recovered last week in his 53 plate 1.8 Tino with a broken RH front spring.
Car was abandoned at our parents house by a spec lift van.
So today, after a trip to Folkestone Library for a Covid test (negative) I trundle over with a boot full of tools and a new spring.
Not too bad a job once I`d shifted the 2 fooking tight bolts that hold the strut to the hub carrier. Put it all back together, stick the wheel back on and lower it down.
Get in, start it up, pull away and clang clang clang from the LH front.
Get out to look aaaaaaaannnnnd the frigging LH spring is in 2 pieces as well. FFS.
Rinse and repeat next week then.
I always replace all four springs at the same time. My brother got recovered last week in his 53 plate 1.8 Tino with a broken RH front spring.
Car was abandoned at our parents house by a spec lift van.
So today, after a trip to Folkestone Library for a Covid test (negative) I trundle over with a boot full of tools and a new spring.
Not too bad a job once I`d shifted the 2 fooking tight bolts that hold the strut to the hub carrier. Put it all back together, stick the wheel back on and lower it down.
Get in, start it up, pull away and clang clang clang from the LH front.
Get out to look aaaaaaaannnnnd the frigging LH spring is in 2 pieces as well. FFS.
Rinse and repeat next week then.
If one has broken the others will be weak. If the others are weak the new spring will make the car handle like crap.
Good practice doing it one at a time though.
The 2 strut bolts were seized solid.
They finally surrendered but took an entire canister of blow torch gas, 2 sockets and a breaker bar down with them.
Local garage quoted £140 to supply & fit one spring. The 2 springs only cost £50, so worth the effort.
Needs 2 new tyres though as both were damaged by the broken spring ends flapping about.
I recently had to sell my MG ZS V6 and get something more comfortable for Mum. Arthritis has reached her spine and the bucket-ish seats and sporty suspension were too harsh for her. So I have a Volvo S40, 2.4 sadly automatic but LPG for a little bit of future proofing. LPG is less than half the price of petrol and now we're headed out of lockdown demand and therefore the price will go up even more. Already from £1.01 to £1.24 a litre locally. Also nearly every single electric car I have seen has been fully automatic. So this is a suck it up buttercup exercise in reality.
But; whoever did the last cam' belt change was a twunt of the highest order.
One of the engine mount bolts looked to have sheared off...
...and the other snapped while doing the school run...
Dropping the engine into the undertray...
...about an inch and a half from the looks of other engine bay features...
...so much so that the drive shaft CV was on the front subframe by the time I crawled home.
Now here's thing. Underneath the skin the S40 is basically a Ford. The Volvo engine has to marry up to a Mondeo mount. To do this there is a plate that goes between. Aluminium plate with high tensile steel bolts. Not a marriage made to last and it was only a matter of time before they got divorced. Why do I blame the belt changing twunt?
Every single bolt including the 10mm and 13mm one holding the plate to the engine needed a breaker bar to get off and one of the big bolts had rust where it had been sheared for some time.
My CSI guess is the whole thing had been done with an air or electric ratchet set too high, they knew the bolt had sheared but let the car go anyway.
So I needed to remove the plate so I could weld a nut to the end and try to remove the studs or drill them out. Nope it looked like two pieces but the belt had to come off to get to it so I bolted it back to the engine and used the welder carefully...
...until it packed in after twenty years of service. RIP buddy.
New 19mm bolts in place to replace the 17mm head 19mm threaded ones...
...and we're back on the road.
Oh after I found my CV strap thingy...
...gave it a good clean and sorted the boot out. It had been that long since I used it last.
But; whoever did the last cam' belt change was a twunt of the highest order.
One of the engine mount bolts looked to have sheared off...
...and the other snapped while doing the school run...
Dropping the engine into the undertray...
...about an inch and a half from the looks of other engine bay features...
...so much so that the drive shaft CV was on the front subframe by the time I crawled home.
Now here's thing. Underneath the skin the S40 is basically a Ford. The Volvo engine has to marry up to a Mondeo mount. To do this there is a plate that goes between. Aluminium plate with high tensile steel bolts. Not a marriage made to last and it was only a matter of time before they got divorced. Why do I blame the belt changing twunt?
Every single bolt including the 10mm and 13mm one holding the plate to the engine needed a breaker bar to get off and one of the big bolts had rust where it had been sheared for some time.
My CSI guess is the whole thing had been done with an air or electric ratchet set too high, they knew the bolt had sheared but let the car go anyway.
So I needed to remove the plate so I could weld a nut to the end and try to remove the studs or drill them out. Nope it looked like two pieces but the belt had to come off to get to it so I bolted it back to the engine and used the welder carefully...
...until it packed in after twenty years of service. RIP buddy.
New 19mm bolts in place to replace the 17mm head 19mm threaded ones...
...and we're back on the road.
Oh after I found my CV strap thingy...
...gave it a good clean and sorted the boot out. It had been that long since I used it last.
No pictures but...
Customer has a late model full size Chevy pickup towed in complaining the transmission won't shift. He'd had an under bonnet fire and it melted most of the wiring harness, which he had repaired.
Not what you think, the workmanship was superb. Soldered and shrink tubing at every wire splice, all neatly bundled with zip ties. A real work of art except..., every single wire was blue.
Customer has a late model full size Chevy pickup towed in complaining the transmission won't shift. He'd had an under bonnet fire and it melted most of the wiring harness, which he had repaired.
Not what you think, the workmanship was superb. Soldered and shrink tubing at every wire splice, all neatly bundled with zip ties. A real work of art except..., every single wire was blue.
Issue: Right headlight bulb gone on an E65 7 series.
Cause: It happens.
Book solution: Remove front bumper, remove right headlight, replace bulb, reassemble.
Alternative solution: Remove upper and lower airbox, replace bulb, reassemble.
Probable time: An hour either way.
Bodge: Remove front right wheel, look for access panel, fail to find one, remove wheel arch liner, look for access panel, fail to find one (again), eyeball location of bulb cover, cut access panel into chassis with angle grinder, bend back, realise you nearly cut the wiring harness to bits, replace bulb, reassemble.
Bodge time: Longer than the right way.
Evidence: https://imgur.com/a/si9UgHC
Bodge artist: Some t
t out there, you know who you are. tt.
Cause: It happens.
Book solution: Remove front bumper, remove right headlight, replace bulb, reassemble.
Alternative solution: Remove upper and lower airbox, replace bulb, reassemble.
Probable time: An hour either way.
Bodge: Remove front right wheel, look for access panel, fail to find one, remove wheel arch liner, look for access panel, fail to find one (again), eyeball location of bulb cover, cut access panel into chassis with angle grinder, bend back, realise you nearly cut the wiring harness to bits, replace bulb, reassemble.
Bodge time: Longer than the right way.
Evidence: https://imgur.com/a/si9UgHC
Bodge artist: Some t
t out there, you know who you are. tt.
Martin350 said:
The way you constructed your post did make me chuckle!
But I'm sure you didn't find it funny finding that.
There really are some bodging tts out there!
Cheers, sometimes all you can do is shake your head, others should give theirs a wobble.But I'm sure you didn't find it funny finding that.
There really are some bodging t
ts out there! Hereward said:
The lack of headlight bulb access on some cars is shocking. It's a major safety feature and the designers should be shot.
My 1996 SL engine bay is crammed full of V12 yet bulb changing takes about 1 minute - release the metal clip, remove the dust cover, reach in and remove bulb.
Got to agree with you there, what's daft is the left side is completely unobstructed, unless you have the later 750 where they put a second airbox on that side too My 1996 SL engine bay is crammed full of V12 yet bulb changing takes about 1 minute - release the metal clip, remove the dust cover, reach in and remove bulb.
The S40 is dead.
She'd start, run but as soon as I touched the right pedal the engine would cut out and exhaust would smell of petrol or gas.
So fly by wire pedal sensor issue or body itself.
No OBD and no warning lights so I had a look at the fuse box. Pulled one out, it looked fine but as I put it back there were sparks and I don't want to get into gender politics but the ECU decided it wanted to be a smoke machine.
...and that is the last time I will ever buy a post 1995 Volvo. Too many Ford parts waiting to fail.
She'd start, run but as soon as I touched the right pedal the engine would cut out and exhaust would smell of petrol or gas.
So fly by wire pedal sensor issue or body itself.
No OBD and no warning lights so I had a look at the fuse box. Pulled one out, it looked fine but as I put it back there were sparks and I don't want to get into gender politics but the ECU decided it wanted to be a smoke machine.
...and that is the last time I will ever buy a post 1995 Volvo. Too many Ford parts waiting to fail.
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