The "Today I did something to my car" thread

flyingsnail

Today I got two new tyres put on my car.

Gary ITR

I removed my dash and alarm. My god that was one good alarm install, really meticulous work

Mc Love

Gave my car a well deserved wash - shiny shiny

MetzgerMeister

Mc Love wrote: »

Gave my car a well deserved wash - shiny shiny

+1

Mc Love

einheisserschre wrote: »

+1

A friend of mine actually asked if I had bought a new car

homer90

.... Painted my towbar :rolleyes: it was bugging me.:D



Also peformed a kidney transplant ...

no1beemerfan

Love them E34s!

fasttalkerchat

Swapped the drivers and passengers locks because the drivers one is seized. Sealed the door panel and started work on fixing the.bumper.

johnos1984

Yesterday and today I have began the restoration of my MGF.

So far I have sanded down and treated any rust spots on the front subframe and spare wheel well (inside and out).

First coat of rust treatment has been applied on all of this and also any other areas affected by surface rust in the front section.

I then swapped the steering wheel for a nice leather item.

I sanded down and painted the yellow metal door trims a nice shade of British racing green and assembled the door cards. They look smart now.

I then went to swap over the original seats to a nice set of TF black leather items. While the drivers seat was out I decided to pull back the carpet a bit and check the floors. All sound proofing was soaking in water and surface rust was present.

Next job is now to strip the interior :mad:

Bonnet release mechanism has now also been removed and I'm hoping to bodge a repair on the cable as it's a pain to remove.

Tell you what though, if I ever decide to sell this someone will be getting a well sorted car.

Other jobs left to do, replace wiper motor and mechanism, fix drivers window mountings, fit new set of MGF Minilite alloys, find more rust

Gary ITR

Good work there dude. They are the jobs that will stand to you in the end

I got the last of my interior out, just have to get the wiring loom out now and do a job on it. The car had 3 alarms over the course of it's life so it's butchered in places and needs to be repaired.

Thankfully there's not much sound deadening from stock in the ITR so that's a job I won't have to takle. I have scrapers and a blow torch ready to go now to remove the manufacturers glue. That will probably take me up till Christmas (I only really spend an hour a day at the car and I have a new arrival coming at the end of the month) After that I'll be on to the building of the car starting with seam welding, ya know the fun stuff :pac:

Gary ITR

Oh by new arrival I mean another car lol :pac:

franksm

Gary ITR wrote: »

After that I'll be on to the building of the car starting with seam welding, ya know the fun stuff :pac:

Yeah, sticks to anything - arms, shoulders, sides of the bath, the kettle, door handles. Any pics of the ITR work ? Sounds interesting.

Love reading this thread - don't have much going on myself at the moment, but I'll be painting an MX5 in a cocoon in the driveway at some stage in Spring. Getting some bad sills welded in the mean time.

johnos1984

Gary ITR wrote: »

Good work there dude. They are the jobs that will stand to you in the end

I ended up removing all the interior this evening.

Nice bit of surface rust on parts of the floor and on the rear bulkhead panel.

Didn't have the time to sand it all down but I'll leave the air at it for a few weeks now to give it time to dry.

New bonnet release cable is required which is a bit of a pain as it runs the length of the car but t'will be worth it in the end.

Here is my old engine mount which I replaced for the obvious reason



And my rusty floor



And rear bulkhead panel

L-M

So, NCT time.

When I put the Recaros into the Golf, the airbag connectors were different, so i didn't connect them = airbag light.

Finally said I'd go about it today, lifted up the passenger seat and for some reason decided to check would it fit, and it clicked straight in :rolleyes: Dunno what I was thinking. Delighted, I moved onto the driver side to find there was no connecter on the seat, which I think is why I didn't connect them in the first place.

So, down to the shed, snipped the connector off the original seat, brought the seat in to the kitchen table, snipped and joined a few wires and put the seat back in.

Also gave the battery a pre winter charge. Going to change the coolant (from water) to antifreeze tomorrow so I really hope it doesn't freeze over tonight.

I'll be getting it scanned tomorrow to clear the airbag light to see if my handy work did the trick, and also to see which ABS sensor I broke when fitting the coilovers (was a bit hammer happy, lol).

After that, fit a new bonnet holdy upy thingy, give her a service and book the test. I can't see it failing on much, tyres are good, there'll be no lights on. If anything it'll be the coilovers which are about 3 years old at this stage. time will tell!

Damokc

My alloys were looking really shabby with the lacquer on the polished lip peeling,flaking and causing white worm.The front two also had brake dust caked onto them.So I ground off the lacquer back to the metal and wet sanded the lip as much as I could to get some shine back. I then compounded the spokes to get the brake dust off. They're not perfect but they're a damn sight better than what they were at the start!

126 by Damien Casey, on Flickr

127 by Damien Casey, on Flickr

123 by Damien Casey, on Flickr

125 by Damien Casey, on Flickr

124 by Damien Casey, on Flickr

Any ideas on what I could use to seal them some bit again? I've read some other forums and people advise against lacquering them again as it wont last and will have to be sanded of again when the water gets inside it. Frost makes sh1te of it too.

dr.fuzzenstein

Limerick man wrote: »

Also gave the battery a pre winter charge. Going to change the coolant (from water) to antifreeze tomorrow so I really hope it doesn't freeze over tonight.

You had just water in there?:eek:
Won't that corrode the channels?

-Corkie-

Sold them at last....

Rich again..:cool:

VolvoMan

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

You had just water in there?:eek:
Won't that corrode the channels?

I don't think using water can destroy an engine as much as people say.

I've come across several cars that have never seen a drop of coolant by their owners and are still going strong.

VolvoMan

VolvoMan wrote: »

I don't think using water can destroy an engine as much as people say.

I've come across several cars that have never seen a drop of coolant by their owners and are still going strong.

'twould take a while, the engine would certainly show no ill effects for years and years and years once it didn't get too cold, the rad etc would rust quickly enough though.
The Prelude I had was filled of rusty water, dunno how long it had been running on water only, I was afraid to flush it so just threw in a litre of coolant/antifreeze.

Owen

Towed the GTM Rossa to my Mother's garage. Have it side by side with the 84 Tripper in my Mother's garage. Got a huge surprise when I finally got to look at it up close, fitted with Spax fully adjustable suspension, uprated tie-rods and arms, HiLo suspension, new subframe, Porsche 944 seats. Everythings in pretty good order, but the bodywork needs a right going over.

The engine supposedly turns, but doesn't fire. So that's this weekend's game plan, throw in a gallon of fresh petrol, rebuild the carb, and then go prodding around to find out what's wrong. Once I get the engine done, I'll strip the interior out, and start prepping panels for paint.

Nissan doctor

VolvoMan wrote: »

I don't think using water can destroy an engine as much as people say.

I've come across several cars that have never seen a drop of coolant by their owners and are still going strong.

You should see what the cooling channels etc look like when you strip the engine down!

VolvoMan

Nissan doctor wrote: »

You should see what the cooling channels etc look like when you strip the engine down!

Our S70 had a coolant leak for going on 8-9 years, meaning you couldn't keep the stuff in it and had to resort to topping it up with water all the time.

The engine was still sweet as a nut until it was laid up, so I hope there isn't any resulting damage as you say.

L-M

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

You had just water in there?:eek:
Won't that corrode the channels?

Well, it's fine 12,000 miles later, so I'm to too bothered.

Anywho, booked the test for Saturday at 1.30... Let the games begin

VolvoMan

VolvoMan wrote: »

Our S70 had a coolant leak for going on 8-9 years, meaning you couldn't keep the stuff in it and had to resort to topping it up with water all the time.

The engine was still sweet as a nut until it was laid up, so I hope there isn't any resulting damage as you say.

9 years without any corrosion inhibitor and it's sitting idle now?
I reckon there would be lots and lots of metal floating around in the system now.

robbie_998

Just saw my car drive away from the garage. Off to rathdown Honda it goes

Hello 05 colt

E39MSport

robbie_998 wrote: »

Just saw my car drive away from the garage. Off to rathdown Honda it goes

Hello 05 colt

Hope you noted your mileage. A certain garage put 100 miles up on my Prelude.

robbie_998

E39MSport wrote: »

robbie_998 wrote: »

Just saw my car drive away from the garage. Off to rathdown Honda it goes

Hello 05 colt

Hope you noted your mileage. A certain garage put 100 miles up on my Prelude.

I did ....... Also left it with them with the petrol warning light on too so haha on them !

dr.fuzzenstein

RoverJames wrote: »

9 years without any corrosion inhibitor and it's sitting idle now?
I reckon there would be lots and lots of metal floating around in the system now.

Not to mention water channels and rad silting up.
You might get away with it, but it's madness and the reason why so many old classics overheat.
Had a '73 Cortina with the 2 litre Pinto engine, was forever flushing, nothing but sh*t came out, still no good, rad ruined, heater matrix ruined.
A friend has a Spittie of the same age, he spent days flushing the block, he reckons the last cylinder still gets no coolant.
For the sake of saving 30p on coolant it's not worth destroying the engine, heater, radiator and god knows what else.
Would never run an engine with water only, no more than I would put olive oil into my engine.
Last time cars could be run on water was probably pre-50's.

Owen

Started work on the GTM this evening, and then stopped pretty quickly. Turns out there's no battery for a start, and the inside of the fuel tank's got a bit of rust. So tomorrow I'll get a battery for it and start work on the engine, and I'll flush the tank out properly and seal it up again. Plan is to get the engine running in the next week hopefully! Got a pleasant surprise as it's an SU carb setup, and electronic ignition rather than points. Less to go wrong (Which is a very good thing on a car which has no grounding points of it's own )

no1beemerfan

Serviced - oil, oil filter, airfilter and sparkplugs on the wife's Focus II. One thing I like the car is that everything is so easy to get at. Done in under half an hour. €62 for everything in the motor factors and that was with fully synthetic oil too.

challengemaster

NCT'd it, flew through

L-M

Hah! My wiring worked, airbag light gone.

Still have to sort the ABS but I didn't get a new one in time so I'll just throw it through tomorrow and see what else it fails on.

Sigh, slightly nervous. I'll be taking off the front splitter incase it hits off the rollers, lol.

Selling some scrap boss :pac:

EPM

What's the story with it being blue on the book and showing up primer white?

challengemaster

EPM wrote: »

What's the story with it being blue on the book and showing up primer white?

Ahahah, I think you just made him about a hundred times more nervous!

pudzey101

Serviced My car for the 1st time:) strapped for cash got all the bits for 32e (inc 5l Oil) handy when you know people lol

Took me less than 45mins and saved me a whole load:)

Also completed it by using the "how to service a car" in the DIY section here:)

kearney13

Ignition barrel gone in the aul caddy second time its a lot of hassle having to start up your motor with a wire from the battery straight to the starter and you do get funny looks when its done outside your local centra haha!! getting a button put in it for it to start its more convenient and how cool is a button start aul caddy and its a cheaper and longer lasting fix

-Corkie-

pudzey101 wrote: »

Serviced My car for the 1st time:) strapped for cash got all the bits for 32e (inc 5l Oil) handy when you know people lol

Took me less than 45mins and saved me a whole load:)

Also completed it by using the "how to service a car" in the DIY section here:)

Good man. Its great satisfaction aswell doing it yourself aswell as saving cash..

L-M

EPM wrote: »

What's the story with it being blue on the book and showing up primer white?

Time shall tell! I was gonna give it a good clean out, but there be rain, and I be hungover.

Do-more

There's a dead ant at the bottom of the rev counter dial in the wife's Polo which is buggin' the hell out of me.

Can anyone tell me if it's a sealed unit or if there is a reasonably easy way (i.e. dis-assembly instructions) to get it out?

It's a 2010 mew model Polo.

Cheers

D-M.

L-M

Do-more wrote: »

There's a dead ant at the bottom of the rev counter dial in the wife's Polo which is buggin' the hell out of me.

No pun intended :pac:

Voodoomelon

kearney13 wrote: »

Ignition barrel gone in the aul caddy second time its a lot of hassle having to start up your motor with a wire from the battery straight to the starter and you do get funny looks when its done outside your local centra haha!! getting a button put in it for it to start its more convenient and how cool is a button start aul caddy and its a cheaper and longer lasting fix

Reminded me when I got some funny looks when I was jumpstarting me own car. Battery is in the boot and because of the way the car was parked, i could only jump it from the battery terminal under the bonnet, which is located at the back of the block across a large engine bay.

Jump leads were about 1.5 feet too short, so got 3 sets of vice grips, clamped them all together off each other in series and attached them to the battery terminal. Current flowed through them no problem, success! :pac:

barura

kearney13 wrote: »

Ignition barrel gone in the aul caddy second time its a lot of hassle having to start up your motor with a wire from the battery straight to the starter and you do get funny looks when its done outside your local centra haha!! getting a button put in it for it to start its more convenient and how cool is a button start aul caddy and its a cheaper and longer lasting fix

I had to do that with a polo I had. You can actually splice into the starter from the leads that go to the ignition barrel. I got a pic here somewhere if you want it?

kearney13

barura wrote: »

I had to do that with a polo I had. You can actually splice into the starter from the leads that go to the ignition barrel. I got a pic here somewhere if you want it?

Thanks but I had the button put in today its a grand fix, now to tackle the wiper problem the wipers just turn them selves on a lot its a loose fitting. I heard it a common problem in VW's only thing is the steering wheel has to come off and it might cause a problem with the airbag and the DOE is up soon so I think I should wait

L-M

challengemaster

What'd it fail on, lights?

L-M

challengemaster wrote: »

What'd it fail on, lights?

Nah, few little bits and pieces. One shock leaking.

It's silly some of the things on it, but I'd say about three hours and I'd have it ready to go Just funny to see two pages.

MetzgerMeister

Limerick man wrote: »

Nah, few little bits and pieces. One shock leaking.

It's silly some of the things on it, but I'd say about three hours and I'd have it ready to go Just funny to see two pages.

When I got the MPS, my mechanic told me that one of my rear shocks was leaking before I went for the NCT and it passed

L-M

einheisserschre wrote: »

When I got the MPS, my mechanic told me that one of my rear shocks was leaking before I went for the NCT and it passed

I had the shock the wheel of yesterday cleaning an abs sensor and it wasn't leaking >.>

ottostreet

Cleaned the inside of my car properly. Pretty happy with it. Exterior is well under way, but not finished yet!

L-M

Snapped my driveshaft!

Possibly should of believed the kinda folk at NCTS when they said it was about to snap, lol.