It's all Jackie Chan's fault...
Discussion
A few months ago I was testing a really rather nice twelve year old single malt. For those who don't know 2003 was the best year for Whisky. Wet Spring, warm dry early Summer harvest and wet Autumn to fill the springs with fresh clean water. Some of the ten year old single malts bottled in 2013 were some of best I have ever tasted. I'm a bit of a Whisky connoisseur like cork sniffers but Whisky fanatics never spit into a bucket. So as it's 2015 twelves are the ones to look out for (a little tip there if you get a a bottle for someone as a secret Santa and want to sound like you know what you're on about).
Back on topic I had extensively sampled the bottle when Jackie Chan's "Thunderbolt" happened to be on the telly.
The next morning I was the proud owner of a eBay special FTO.
At least it was a GR manual so it wasn't a total loss.
I read the listing for the first time to discover the owner believed the car needed a new clutch as it was slipping and sounded like the release bearing was shot.
"No problem" I thought I have a clutch kit from my old Evo in the shed and it should fit and be more than capable of taking the 190-200bhp from the mighty two liter V6.
A close look at the photo's revealed GPX bumpers without front fog lights. I guessed some kind of brake ventilation at the time.
So why is it Jackie Chan's fault...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdARz-PL7eY
This and one of ex's had a GPX automatic that I never felt right in. Not due to my justifiable hatred of automatic transmission in general it was quite a good car but the potential of the engine was never fully available even in sequential mode. Anyone who has owned or driven one will hopefully know what I mean by this.
So not knowing where the tow hook is I made a plan to collect the FTO and have a tow frame just in case the clutch is too far gone to make it.
This was all well and good but my mate's van wasn't available and the only other thing I could find with a tow hitch was a MkIII 1.4 Astra.
As luck would have it the clutch wasn't the problem. As soon as the ca was started for the first time I could hear it was something more serious. With my mate behind the wheel (he has a trade policy) and me following in the back up Astra we made it home. I took the car up and down a private track (office) a few times to confirm my suspicions. The clutch was fine, the noise was coming from the gearbox. Most likely the centre main shaft to the gearbox itself. I have known these to fail on Evo's, Carisma's and Colts so I wasn't surprised.
So the adventure began and I have to leave it here for now as I need to get ready for work. More later.
Back on topic I had extensively sampled the bottle when Jackie Chan's "Thunderbolt" happened to be on the telly.
The next morning I was the proud owner of a eBay special FTO.
At least it was a GR manual so it wasn't a total loss.
I read the listing for the first time to discover the owner believed the car needed a new clutch as it was slipping and sounded like the release bearing was shot.
"No problem" I thought I have a clutch kit from my old Evo in the shed and it should fit and be more than capable of taking the 190-200bhp from the mighty two liter V6.
A close look at the photo's revealed GPX bumpers without front fog lights. I guessed some kind of brake ventilation at the time.
So why is it Jackie Chan's fault...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdARz-PL7eY
This and one of ex's had a GPX automatic that I never felt right in. Not due to my justifiable hatred of automatic transmission in general it was quite a good car but the potential of the engine was never fully available even in sequential mode. Anyone who has owned or driven one will hopefully know what I mean by this.
So not knowing where the tow hook is I made a plan to collect the FTO and have a tow frame just in case the clutch is too far gone to make it.
This was all well and good but my mate's van wasn't available and the only other thing I could find with a tow hitch was a MkIII 1.4 Astra.
As luck would have it the clutch wasn't the problem. As soon as the ca was started for the first time I could hear it was something more serious. With my mate behind the wheel (he has a trade policy) and me following in the back up Astra we made it home. I took the car up and down a private track (office) a few times to confirm my suspicions. The clutch was fine, the noise was coming from the gearbox. Most likely the centre main shaft to the gearbox itself. I have known these to fail on Evo's, Carisma's and Colts so I wasn't surprised.
So the adventure began and I have to leave it here for now as I need to get ready for work. More later.
Edited by Liquid Knight on Tuesday 3rd November 13:16
sy534534 said:
I bought my evo4 after seeing one in Jackie's 1998 "Who am I?" Still driving it daily, but not like that!
That's why I had an Evo clutch in my shed. While I was in the application process for Top Gear presenter I suggested Jackie would be a fantastic "Star in a reasonably priced car". As well as being sponsored by Mitsubishi he went through all race and rally school stuff. Bloody good diver, very nice chap and probably a lot more entertaining to interview than most of the people that show's had on in the past. Hmmmm, RIP Top Gear. It's going to be TFI with a cars or two from now on.
So where was I?
Oh yes.
Are we sitting down?
I suspected the gearbox centre shaft was making the noise and it had play. If it were my car and I noticed the noise I would have have pulled the box out, replaced the top bearing and seal as soon as but I had bought the car like this and had no idea how long it was noisy and therefore how much damage had been done internally. I had three options...
1/ Take a £150 gamble, replace the seal and bearing hoping bits of the old bearing hadn't found their way anywhere more interesting.
2/ Take a £50-£200 gamble and buy a second hand gearbox.
3/ Take my gearbox out, strip and recondition it for £300+ depending on how much damage is done.
While looking at my options I found a rotbox of an FTO manual on eBay a lot closer but with a rebuilt engine and reconditioned gearbox for £500. I offered £300 and collected it the next day.
A few days stripping later I had a free gearbox because other parts I had taken off sold for more than the outlay.
Bonnet, springs and rear shocks - £150
Engine (off to a F2000 single seater) - £150
Front brake calipers - £30
Tail light lenses and bits of interior trim - £40
Petrol filler flap - £10
MAF sensor and HKS filter - £20
Boot spoiler - 99p
Other switches, bits and bobs - £10
I have a few choice parts left and some I'm going to keep "just in case".
So I can now finally get going with the project right?
Wrong!
The car has these...
...odd looking wheel nuts. I put a photo' up on my Facebook page and my American friends identified the nut as a Summit Racing Pro-Comp wheel nut.
Of course Japanese import car with American wheel nuts. Makes perfect sense. I later found they were the same as sold by Driftworks over here in the UK but I had already placed an order to Summit Racing for a key.
That makes even more sense. Driftworks nuts on a front wheel drive.
Anyway Driftworks don't sell the keys seperately and Summit Racing don't ship to the UK so I got them to send it to my one of my American friends so she could forward it over here.
With a little extra time on my hands I relocated the battery to the boot...
...for three reasons.
1/ The alarm system on this car is brilliant; but if you disconnect the battery for a while you have to reset it and that's not something I want to faff with.
2/ I can fit a bigger battery in the boot space so it puts less strain on the fragile Alternator (from experience they are destined to fail prematurely and you need to take the drivers side drive shaft out or undo the engine mount and lift it at an angle to get the old one out). There are perfectly good FTO's in scrap yards across the land because the alternators have failed and it's a faff of a job, literally worth more than the car to get a garage to do it.
3/ Where the battery sits under the engine bay is an ideal location for a turbo to go if anyone wanted to take that route.
You may have noticed a few extra holes in the black car. Well...
...there are a few rust spots to deal with sometime...
...where replacement panels aren't available...
...it's easier to cut them out of a tidy car...
...than start from scratch.
More later...
Oh yes.
Are we sitting down?
I suspected the gearbox centre shaft was making the noise and it had play. If it were my car and I noticed the noise I would have have pulled the box out, replaced the top bearing and seal as soon as but I had bought the car like this and had no idea how long it was noisy and therefore how much damage had been done internally. I had three options...
1/ Take a £150 gamble, replace the seal and bearing hoping bits of the old bearing hadn't found their way anywhere more interesting.
2/ Take a £50-£200 gamble and buy a second hand gearbox.
3/ Take my gearbox out, strip and recondition it for £300+ depending on how much damage is done.
While looking at my options I found a rotbox of an FTO manual on eBay a lot closer but with a rebuilt engine and reconditioned gearbox for £500. I offered £300 and collected it the next day.
A few days stripping later I had a free gearbox because other parts I had taken off sold for more than the outlay.
Bonnet, springs and rear shocks - £150
Engine (off to a F2000 single seater) - £150
Front brake calipers - £30
Tail light lenses and bits of interior trim - £40
Petrol filler flap - £10
MAF sensor and HKS filter - £20
Boot spoiler - 99p
Other switches, bits and bobs - £10
I have a few choice parts left and some I'm going to keep "just in case".
So I can now finally get going with the project right?
Wrong!
The car has these...
...odd looking wheel nuts. I put a photo' up on my Facebook page and my American friends identified the nut as a Summit Racing Pro-Comp wheel nut.
Of course Japanese import car with American wheel nuts. Makes perfect sense. I later found they were the same as sold by Driftworks over here in the UK but I had already placed an order to Summit Racing for a key.
That makes even more sense. Driftworks nuts on a front wheel drive.
Anyway Driftworks don't sell the keys seperately and Summit Racing don't ship to the UK so I got them to send it to my one of my American friends so she could forward it over here.
With a little extra time on my hands I relocated the battery to the boot...
...for three reasons.
1/ The alarm system on this car is brilliant; but if you disconnect the battery for a while you have to reset it and that's not something I want to faff with.
2/ I can fit a bigger battery in the boot space so it puts less strain on the fragile Alternator (from experience they are destined to fail prematurely and you need to take the drivers side drive shaft out or undo the engine mount and lift it at an angle to get the old one out). There are perfectly good FTO's in scrap yards across the land because the alternators have failed and it's a faff of a job, literally worth more than the car to get a garage to do it.
3/ Where the battery sits under the engine bay is an ideal location for a turbo to go if anyone wanted to take that route.
You may have noticed a few extra holes in the black car. Well...
...there are a few rust spots to deal with sometime...
...where replacement panels aren't available...
...it's easier to cut them out of a tidy car...
...than start from scratch.
More later...
Edited by Liquid Knight on Tuesday 3rd November 13:17
So I had a bit of a wait for the Summit Racing key to arrive...
...all twenty nuts are the same and I keep the key hidden so it's even safe to park in Milton Keynes.
So first job was to take the drive shafts out. A bit of a faff if you're working alone but I lock the brakes with a bit of sprinkler pipe...
...so Japanese car, American wheels and nuts; quintessentially British rust.
Remove the pin with the aid of WD40, parts washer fluid and a tent peg to knock it through gently. I've found knocking it through is better than trying to pull it with pliers. Loosen the main nut...
...put it on the other way and replace the socket...
...and only ever hit the socket with a hammer.
This makes like a load easier when you remove the uprights, pull the hubs forward and remove the shafts.
With that done I had to go back to work and life got in the way again.
Here's a top tip.
When working on ramps if you can't get a axle stand under the car or need the space to perform the task at hand; drive the car up ramps as normal, jack up one side and turn a ramp a hundred and eighty degrees. Now the car can not roll off and you can work reasonably safely.
More later.
...all twenty nuts are the same and I keep the key hidden so it's even safe to park in Milton Keynes.
So first job was to take the drive shafts out. A bit of a faff if you're working alone but I lock the brakes with a bit of sprinkler pipe...
...so Japanese car, American wheels and nuts; quintessentially British rust.
Remove the pin with the aid of WD40, parts washer fluid and a tent peg to knock it through gently. I've found knocking it through is better than trying to pull it with pliers. Loosen the main nut...
...put it on the other way and replace the socket...
...and only ever hit the socket with a hammer.
This makes like a load easier when you remove the uprights, pull the hubs forward and remove the shafts.
With that done I had to go back to work and life got in the way again.
Here's a top tip.
When working on ramps if you can't get a axle stand under the car or need the space to perform the task at hand; drive the car up ramps as normal, jack up one side and turn a ramp a hundred and eighty degrees. Now the car can not roll off and you can work reasonably safely.
More later.
So I managed to get the old gearbox off and sure enough...
...the friction plate was covered in the oil...
...from the knackered seal...
...the bearing basket had disappeared completely. Bits in the bell housing and I guess the rest is floating about inside somewhere.
There was about 8mm of movement at the end of the shaft and the locating liner was shot...
...With the new gearbox in place I hit a couple of common hurdles. The gears became sloppy. 2nd, 4th and reverse nonexistent. One of the rubber bushes at the end of the selector cables was split. I found a pair of solid ones from my old Cinquecento Sporting and replaced both only to find...
...the bracket that should look like this was...
...in kit form. I replaced the glued in rubber blocks with metal spacers, welded the bracket together and now I have the best gear change I have ever had from a cable manual Mitsubishi.
Since starting the project the lady who expressed an interest in the car lost her job so do I keep or sell the old girl?
...the friction plate was covered in the oil...
...from the knackered seal...
...the bearing basket had disappeared completely. Bits in the bell housing and I guess the rest is floating about inside somewhere.
There was about 8mm of movement at the end of the shaft and the locating liner was shot...
...With the new gearbox in place I hit a couple of common hurdles. The gears became sloppy. 2nd, 4th and reverse nonexistent. One of the rubber bushes at the end of the selector cables was split. I found a pair of solid ones from my old Cinquecento Sporting and replaced both only to find...
...the bracket that should look like this was...
...in kit form. I replaced the glued in rubber blocks with metal spacers, welded the bracket together and now I have the best gear change I have ever had from a cable manual Mitsubishi.
Since starting the project the lady who expressed an interest in the car lost her job so do I keep or sell the old girl?
Had a go at selling the old girl and it was an ocean of timewasters offering between a half and two thirds the asking price, scamers who wanted to leave a deposit and disappear, an idiot who wanted to drive straight to a concourse contest and other various wasters of Oxygen.
So; time to take care of the advisory bodywork from the last M.O.T.
So; time to take care of the advisory bodywork from the last M.O.T.
As soon as I think this'll be a straight forward job my FTO keeps giving.
My car is an incredibly rare A26 Coronado Sand Metallic. Sadly the old colour chart for A26 no longer says A26 for Coronado but A26 is now Symphonic Silver. Symphonic Silver used to be A26A but that code is no longer in use and as Coronado Sand is such a rare colour it has been replaced. Unless my original search was incorrect.
My car is an incredibly rare A26 Coronado Sand Metallic. Sadly the old colour chart for A26 no longer says A26 for Coronado but A26 is now Symphonic Silver. Symphonic Silver used to be A26A but that code is no longer in use and as Coronado Sand is such a rare colour it has been replaced. Unless my original search was incorrect.
When they said colour match...
...they bloody well meant it.
While that was drying a different colour to how it went on (wrong time of year for outdoor painting). I started the other side.
Attacked it with a hammer.
Attacked it with a grinder.
Trimmed the donor car plate to fit (after cutting out the inner skin and making a new plate and arch flap from scratch).
Attacked it with my welder. Nowhere near my usual "filler free" standard but it'll do. Etch primer ready for filler and paint tomorrow.
...they bloody well meant it.
While that was drying a different colour to how it went on (wrong time of year for outdoor painting). I started the other side.
Attacked it with a hammer.
Attacked it with a grinder.
Trimmed the donor car plate to fit (after cutting out the inner skin and making a new plate and arch flap from scratch).
Attacked it with my welder. Nowhere near my usual "filler free" standard but it'll do. Etch primer ready for filler and paint tomorrow.
Finally got round to some fillering.
First layer sanded down and keyed with black as a guide for the next layer.
As a rule of thumb you need a pea of hardener for every golf ball of filler; but if you ever need a golf ball of filler you have failed as a welder and should give up ever trying to do body work again.
I hate the stuff. So much that the tin I have I had to warm up in a bucket of boiling water to make it malleable.
As always you need to make a little too much so you can have a set guide...
...while I was waiting for that I decided to fit the JDM delimiting chip.
1/ Find the speed sensor plug on the back of the box below the selector linkage. Unplug it and pull the plug up to the engine bay where you can work on it easier (the standard car this is a pig of a job because the battery is in the way).
2/ Strip the outer casing back to reveal the three wires...
Yellow : Pulse wire.
Black : Earth
Black and white : 12V positive.
3/ Strip the live and ground wires and cut the pulse wire.
4/ Twist the wires to the chip to the wires on the loom...
Yellow to pulse wire from the plug.
Grey to the pulse wire to the loom.
Red to the black and white wire.
Black to the black wire.
(I've used masking tape to secure the plug so I had a stable platform to solder the twisted wires together better).
5/ Once you've soldered the twists together wrap each connection before wrapping the whole harness so the chip ends ip near to where the sensor loom joins the main loom...
...plug it back in and you're FTO is now de-limited.
If you haven't relocated the battery to the boot like I have you will need to elevate the front of the car, get underneath to unplug the speed sensor and carefully feed the wire up to the engine bay to work on it. Keep the car in the air as you'll need to get under it again to plug it back in. Bit of a faff and make sure the exhaust is cold before venturing around it.
First layer sanded down and keyed with black as a guide for the next layer.
As a rule of thumb you need a pea of hardener for every golf ball of filler; but if you ever need a golf ball of filler you have failed as a welder and should give up ever trying to do body work again.
I hate the stuff. So much that the tin I have I had to warm up in a bucket of boiling water to make it malleable.
As always you need to make a little too much so you can have a set guide...
...while I was waiting for that I decided to fit the JDM delimiting chip.
1/ Find the speed sensor plug on the back of the box below the selector linkage. Unplug it and pull the plug up to the engine bay where you can work on it easier (the standard car this is a pig of a job because the battery is in the way).
2/ Strip the outer casing back to reveal the three wires...
Yellow : Pulse wire.
Black : Earth
Black and white : 12V positive.
3/ Strip the live and ground wires and cut the pulse wire.
4/ Twist the wires to the chip to the wires on the loom...
Yellow to pulse wire from the plug.
Grey to the pulse wire to the loom.
Red to the black and white wire.
Black to the black wire.
(I've used masking tape to secure the plug so I had a stable platform to solder the twisted wires together better).
5/ Once you've soldered the twists together wrap each connection before wrapping the whole harness so the chip ends ip near to where the sensor loom joins the main loom...
...plug it back in and you're FTO is now de-limited.
If you haven't relocated the battery to the boot like I have you will need to elevate the front of the car, get underneath to unplug the speed sensor and carefully feed the wire up to the engine bay to work on it. Keep the car in the air as you'll need to get under it again to plug it back in. Bit of a faff and make sure the exhaust is cold before venturing around it.
I've just had an interesting quote from the Meerkats and my FTO may no longer be for sale by the end of the weekend. One last hurrah before I keep the old girl.
Since I deleted the £895 advert and replaced it with a £1,295 delimited and bodywork repaired advert I've had more emails in two days than I had in two weeks.
Suspiciously cheap or does a day's welding and a tiny bit of filler make that much difference?
Since I deleted the £895 advert and replaced it with a £1,295 delimited and bodywork repaired advert I've had more emails in two days than I had in two weeks.
Suspiciously cheap or does a day's welding and a tiny bit of filler make that much difference?
Don't worry...
...this isn't filler. It's a relief map of the tropical island I'll buy if I win the Lotto jackpot tonight. I'll need it because...
...if a certain someone finds out I used her hair drier to finish off the wet and dry I'll need to leave the country.
Etch-primed and leave for 24 hours before 2000 back, primer, 24 hours, 2000 back, paint coat one, twelve hours, paint coat two (repeat as many times as needed), 24 hours and lacquer.
I need a booth.
...this isn't filler. It's a relief map of the tropical island I'll buy if I win the Lotto jackpot tonight. I'll need it because...
...if a certain someone finds out I used her hair drier to finish off the wet and dry I'll need to leave the country.
Etch-primed and leave for 24 hours before 2000 back, primer, 24 hours, 2000 back, paint coat one, twelve hours, paint coat two (repeat as many times as needed), 24 hours and lacquer.
I need a booth.
militantmandy said:
Liquid Knight said:
Night shift and insomnia. Kind of how I ended up with the car in the first place. 
Fair enough! Seems like a huge amount of effort to me...but then I don't got the skills!Gassing Station | Japanese Chat | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff