Jobs, Progress and Questions!

Jobs, Progress and Questions!

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Monsterlime

Original Poster:

1,205 posts

165 months

Tuesday 20th August 2019
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I have made some decent progress on the Chim, and thought I should just keep it all in one thread. I may put a less a "questiony" thread in Readers Cars, but this is a better home for what I have done and what issues I am trying to sort.

Firstly, progress!

I have bled the coolant after fitting the otter switch and both the gauge and Rovergauge are fairly happy with the temps, woo! The fans come on at the expected temp as well.

Also, a full oil change has been completed, not without a couple of boo boos (never actually done it before..first time doing it on my TVR, brave or stupid?), especially getting the wrong oil filter. Thankfully, since I have a Serp, I got away without having to prime the oil pump, even though I had to nip to ECP (in the other car) to get the right oil filter midway through! I did also overfill it a bit, thats what I get for reading the Internet and ignoring the bible, will not do that again!

When the Mrs first saw the car, she said it looked like the batmobile, and since the centre caps on the Imola's were missing and I didn't feel like spending £80 straight away with Racetech to get them, I went a bit rogue..



I suspect not to eveyone's taste, but they are just a bit of fun for now and were cheap.

Finally, I have fitted the new temp gauge sender in the Rover hole but I haven't been able to get it all the way down, it seems very tight etc. I'll need to look at it a bit closer another day, and make sure I haven't been a moron, but it was definitely going in fine and then just seemed to stop.

The main issue though that I am trying to solve (and may have caused another..) is that when I change gear, the rev counter jumps about. I did do some logging on Rovergauge, although the laptop went to sleep part way through the drive (must fiddle with power settings for the next go), but even looking at the logs I did get, what I see on the rev counter is not reflected in the logs.
After some reading, I decided to replace the ignition coil and amplifier, and got a Bosch one with amplifier off eBay to try, and this is where I think I have made an error. Instead of just removing the coil from the bracket and sticking with my current ignition amp, I took the whole mounting off, which mean't I had to undo a bolt on the Plenum to remove the bracket.

Switching the cabling over etc was fine, but when I went to refit it all, the bolt going into the Plenum never tightens up. It seemed to have some sealant/gunk on the thread which I cleaned off, but still, it seems to tighten but then just keeps turning, which also means the bracket for the coil is loose and moves about. I suspect this might have also broken the Plenum seal itself as at one point on a quick test drive (to see if the rev counter was sorted), I got a serious amount of hesitation, but unfortunately this was the point the laptop had powered down and then the hestitation never came back.

I should get the bolt out and take a picture, but at no point did I overtighten it, it just never really tightened up when I put it back. Any thoughts? Am I just being a cabbage and should try harder? I have ordered some new bolts, they aren't expensive so its worth a try.

After I sort this, next job is to get some new tyres, Rainsport 3's (I have 16" Imola's all round), in the following sizes -

Front - 205/50R16 87Y
Read - 225/50R16 92Y

Is that reasonable?

I am also watching eBay for a decent set of the E38 Brembo's, at which point I'll tackle the brake upgrade.

ianwayne

6,244 posts

267 months

Tuesday 20th August 2019
quotequote all
The fronts were 205/60 x 15 on early cars and then 205/55 x 15 (225/50 x 15 on 500s with power steering). I realise you may not get the correct speed rating in these sizes and on my last Chimaera I settled for 205/55 x 15 with a V rating. A 205/50 x 15 may look a bit lost in the arch.

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

108 months

Tuesday 20th August 2019
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The temp sender may have a tapered thread and won't go in all the way

Monsterlime

Original Poster:

1,205 posts

165 months

Tuesday 20th August 2019
quotequote all
ianwayne said:
The fronts were 205/60 x 15 on early cars and then 205/55 x 15 (225/50 x 15 on 500s with power steering). I realise you may not get the correct speed rating in these sizes and on my last Chimaera I settled for 205/55 x 15 with a V rating. A 205/50 x 15 may look a bit lost in the arch.
Thanks, but I have 16 inch Imola's front and rear, rather than 15's at the front. However, pretty sure I can get a Rainsport 3 in 205/55 for a 16 rim (they also have a Y speed rating).

Would a 55 profile be better? That would mean going to a 55 profile at the rear as well though, since the wheels are the same size.

Monsterlime

Original Poster:

1,205 posts

165 months

Tuesday 20th August 2019
quotequote all
Penelope Stopit said:
The temp sender may have a tapered thread and won't go in all the way
Yes, I've just re-read ChimpOnGas's thread and realised I've probably over done it a bit, although it definitely worked etc, so will keep an eye on it.

The Plenum bolt is definitely more of a concern right now. I need to re-check that bolt, and sort it. I didn't check the fault codes when running Rovergauge (dont ask why, didn't even think about it) but my long term fuel trim, when I got home, was +100% on both banks, which could be all sorts of things but it could be sucking in air from a leak I've created between the Plenum and the base. Going to link up the log I did get and hopefully someone with more knowledge of the 14CUX can take a quick glance.

Link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/6akurowi1eqvfsg/2019-08-...

ianwayne

6,244 posts

267 months

Tuesday 20th August 2019
quotequote all
Monsterlime said:
Thanks, but I have 16 inch Imola's front and rear, rather than 15's at the front. However, pretty sure I can get a Rainsport 3 in 205/55 for a 16 rim (they also have a Y speed rating).

Would a 55 profile be better? That would mean going to a 55 profile at the rear as well though, since the wheels are the same size.
Doh! My mistake not noticing you have 16" front wheels. 205/50 x 16 has only 5m more in diameter than 205/55 x 15. Within the tolerance of wear on a tyre so would be fine.

That said, early Chimaeras had 225/55 x 16 on the rear.

Monsterlime

Original Poster:

1,205 posts

165 months

Tuesday 20th August 2019
quotequote all
ianwayne said:
Doh! My mistake not noticing you have 16" front wheels. 205/50 x 16 has only 5m more in diameter than 205/55 x 15. Within the tolerance of wear on a tyre so would be fine.

That said, early Chimaeras had 225/55 x 16 on the rear.
Thanks, thats great!

Unfortunately the Plenum has been less simple. I took another look at the bolt, and it looks to be sheared off to me, but I can see through the hole in the Plenum, so there is nothing stuck. The bolt just turns though.




What do we think? I'll try one of the new bolts when they arrive, but it seems odd? The bolt isn't threaded either, from what I can see.

In other fantastic news, I noticed that the brake fluid reservoir has a crack in it, and that crack is wet. Googling is indicating a Mk3 Fiesta part, is that right? It looks..delightful, so might pay someone to do that. tongue out

phillpot

17,105 posts

182 months

Tuesday 20th August 2019
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That looks more like its been sawn off not sheared off?

Classic Chim

12,424 posts

148 months

Tuesday 20th August 2019
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phillpot said:
That looks more like its been sawn off not sheared off?
yes fashioned

You might get it to nip up with a bit of thread lock but maybe you need your plenum/base off to check threads.
The correct bolt might just work. Goodluck.





Monsterlime

Original Poster:

1,205 posts

165 months

Wednesday 21st August 2019
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Is the Plenum base removeable, is this the trumpet base? While the stuff on the bolt was not thread lock, it looked more like sealant, I am guessing it has been bodged and left in the past so my confidence about the thread in the base is low.

Will see what a new bolt does, but am not optimistic!

I suspect I'll need to add a thread tapping kit etc into my toolbox.

Monsterlime

Original Poster:

1,205 posts

165 months

Wednesday 21st August 2019
quotequote all
Is it worth replacing the brake master cylinder at the same time as doing the reservoir? The TVR Parts version is £175, but have seen the Fiesta ones on Fleabay. These come with both the cylinder and the reservoir, the cylinder may not be the right one, but can be had for about £40. In that case, I'd just remove the brake cylinder and use the reservior.

Oldred_V8S

3,714 posts

237 months

Wednesday 21st August 2019
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Monsterlime said:
Is the Plenum base removeable, is this the trumpet base? While the stuff on the bolt was not thread lock, it looked more like sealant, I am guessing it has been bodged and left in the past so my confidence about the thread in the base is low.

Will see what a new bolt does, but am not optimistic!

I suspect I'll need to add a thread tapping kit etc into my toolbox.
The thread in the base could always be repaired with a helicoil.

ianwayne

6,244 posts

267 months

Wednesday 21st August 2019
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Monsterlime said:
Is the Plenum base removeable, is this the trumpet base? While the stuff on the bolt was not thread lock, it looked more like sealant, I am guessing it has been bodged and left in the past so my confidence about the thread in the base is low.
Yes, if you remove the plenum (you will have to bend back the edge of the grill below the wipers to get it off; I replaced the rivets with screws on my last Chimaera to make this easier), the trumpet base is held onto the inlet manifold by 6 bolts. It is often fitted using some instant gasket so it may take some 'tapping' to get it off. It is also located on 2 spigots. Here's from my last Chimaera;



It's worth taking off the plenum to check them anyway. One of mine was actually loose and lying on its side!.

Steve_D

13,737 posts

257 months

Wednesday 21st August 2019
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Oldred_V8S said:
The thread in the base could always be repaired with a helicoil.
The bolt in that position does not engage as far as the others due to the thickness of the coil bracket.
The thread in the plenum base is probably stripped but you may get away with simply buying a longer bolt for that position. Being longer it will engage in the thread below where it is stripped.
As an experiment see if the bolt will tighten if you fit it without the bracket or washer.

Steve

Monsterlime

Original Poster:

1,205 posts

165 months

Wednesday 21st August 2019
quotequote all
Steve_D - Thats a good idea, thank you. I had considered trying the existing bolt without the coil bracket, and honestly not sure why I didn't, but won;t have time to try for a bit now as it is my daughters first birthday and fiddling with cars is not a high priority for certain members of the family. wink

I am going to remove the plenum as well, at some point, to check what is under there, since it has likely been removed at some point. Nothing in my paperwork suggests why, but it does have silicone hoses from the plenum to the AFM and then onwards to the air filter. I just need to pick up a gasket set and some sealant etc before I tackle that.

Re the brake reservoir, is it worth changing the master cylinder at the same time? This is apparently the right part - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Master-cylinder-TRW-PMH... I think?

Monsterlime

Original Poster:

1,205 posts

165 months

Thursday 22nd August 2019
quotequote all
I found 5 minutes will the wife was out, and the bolt does tighten up ok without the bracket. Once the new bolts arrive, that should "fix" that issue, and I can schedule in the Plenum removal for once I have the gasket etc.

The brake reservoir is now definitely my top priority.

phillpot

17,105 posts

182 months

Thursday 22nd August 2019
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The bracket can't be that thick, I'd imagine it's only catching a couple of threads, tighten very cautiously!

ianwayne

6,244 posts

267 months

Thursday 22nd August 2019
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Monsterlime said:
I found 5 minutes will the wife was out, and the bolt does tighten up ok without the bracket. Once the new bolts arrive, that should "fix" that issue, and I can schedule in the Plenum removal for once I have the gasket etc.

The brake reservoir is now definitely my top priority.
There is no gasket used on the plenum, only RTV sealant to take up the imperfections. Don't over tighten the bolts on re-fitting because it's important you have an airtight seal around the plenum base. You'll have all sorts of running issues otherwise.

Monsterlime

Original Poster:

1,205 posts

165 months

Friday 23rd August 2019
quotequote all
Thank you! I will be careful on the bolt. My existing one is about 85mm, but when dropped in without the coil bracket it tightens up nicely, although you can feel it coming through the plenum base, so a 90mm will work but might need a little trimming.

The Plenum has definitely been off before, the mesh under the windscreen has definitely been bent up and not put back.



I'll pick up some sealant and get the plenum off and check out what is lurking under there.

ianwayne

6,244 posts

267 months

Friday 23rd August 2019
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Looks like you have the edge trim missing off the mesh grill too. You can see it on the right hand side of this photo (not my car, I did a google search!!). Not critical but covers the sharp edge: