The "Today I did something to my car" thread

Hal1

I love those led bulbs. I've done the boot, reverse, and the reg plate leds so far. The CREE Q5 led bulbs on ebay are good but a bit more expensive. I was going to change the fog light bulb too but we don't get much fog here .

dgt

Fiesta: Got it washed, again

Bravo: Fixored a water leak in the most craptastic and pikey manner I could before daylight went :rolleyes:

Alfa: Fixed my drivers switch

This might help other 166 owners too

These are 156 switches






156 switches certainly don't fit, but the buttons do




Refitted


This was also annoying me


Not anymore


2 less niggles to worry about

Voodoomelon

dgt wrote: »

This was also annoying me

That your vents look like an goggley-eyed alien?

dgt

Voodoomelon wrote: »

That your vents look like an goggley-eyed alien?

I can see where the oatmeal gets his inspiration from :pac:

whyulittle

Got a letter from Opel a couple of months back advising me to bring my car in to fix some known problem with the horn. Didn't bother as it was working fine, and it looked like they just wanted to get me in ahead of my NCT.

Last week or so, the horn stopped working while the car was moving, but would work when it was stopped. So brought it in to the main dealer in town today to get it fixed.

They did what they needed to do, tested it before I left and worked fine. Got onto the road and tried it, not working.

Brought it back, doubled what they did first time, tested and worked alright. Tested it again going out the gate and worked fine.

Got back on the road, and not working.

Bloody annoying, I need my horn!





















*Cue horn jokes.

Fiona

whyulittle wrote: »

Bloody annoying, I need my horn!





















*Cue horn jokes.

Ill help you fix your horn

dar83

New alloys fitted! Would have had pictures had it not taken 5 and a half hours for them to be fitted and it being dark by the time I got the car back.

Note to self, don't leave car with them... Wait in reception for it to be done, or else deal with being bumped down the queue continuously.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

dar83 wrote: »

New alloys fitted! Would have had pictures had it not taken 5 and a half hours for them to be fitted and it being dark by the time I got the car back.

Note to self, don't leave car with them... Wait in reception for it to be done, or else deal with being bumped down the queue continuously.

Why did you get them to fit them? Would you not have done it yourself? Wouldn't take more than half an hour!

dar83

Needed them balanced and tyres fitted to them...

Not spmething I can do myself unfortunately.

dr.fuzzenstein

whyulittle wrote: »

Got a letter from Opel a couple of months back advising me to bring my car in to fix some known problem with the horn.
Bloody annoying, I need my horn!

*Cue horn jokes.

Opel not giving you the horn then?:D
You need one of these stickers then:

Mr Benevolent

Fitted two new H7 bulbs (the Lidl special offer ones) as dipped headlights. Vast improvement over the old ones and make a BIG difference on dark roads. Definitely recommended.

Confab

Confab wrote: »

Fitted two new H7 bulbs (the Lidl special offer ones) as dipped headlights..............

How much do Lidl charge for a pair of them Confabers?

Mr Benevolent

RoverJames wrote: »

How much do Lidl charge for a pair of them Confabers?

€6.99. Deal goes on till Monday as far as I know. Well worth it.

puppetmaster

Confab wrote: »

€6.99. Deal goes on till Monday as far as I know. Well worth it.

Spotted them in Aldi today for the same bread

eringobragh

Confab wrote: »

€6.99. Deal goes on till Monday as far as I know. Well worth it.

Deal goes on til they run out of stock

vectra

Hoovered out the vRS and wiped everything down with a solution of APC and warm water.. Treated the leather to a coat of CG Liquid Leather.
Weather permitting the outside to be dealt with tomorrow

EPM

vectra wrote: »

Hoovered out the vRS and wiped everything down with a solution of APC and warm water.. Treated the pleather to a coat of CG Liquid Leather.
Weather permitting the outside to be dealt with tomorrow

FYP:D

dr.fuzzenstein

Not the car, but the garage.
Massive cleanout and removing the last of the muck from the last time it flooded.
The guy who built the house very cleverly put a weedy little drain behind the garage with a cover that gets blocked up by a few leaves.
The water then drains under the back door into the garage and out through the front, leaving mud and debris along the way.
Everything has to be stored on pallets or it will get ruined.
Will some day have to take a jackhammer to that drain and improve the situation, because as of now, every time there's a downpour the drain clogs and the garage gets flooded.
Nasty.

.... would you try putting a sieve upside down over the drain cover If the drain isn't on the way into the garage obviously.

dr.fuzzenstein

RoverJames wrote: »

.... would you try putting a sieve upside down over the drain cover If the drain isn't on the way into the garage obviously.

There's a stairs down to the backdoor of the garage. The drain is just at the backdoor.
And the letterbox is in that door, I'd trip up the posty.
Up until now that door wasn't really an entrance into the garage, due to being blocked by crap, but now is a viable back entrance.
Upside down sieve sadly no option at present.:(

challengemaster

Found the badges I took off the car arranged like this before heading to the meet today

dgt

More rustproofing was carried out, pictures later...

eringobragh

The plastic grill in front of my windscreen is fading and that 'back to black' shit lasts about a week..I saw somebody with a heatgun on here tackle a Ford Ka's bumper with great results.

I remembered I got an Aldi heat gun for 15euros or so about 4 years ago and never used it.

Heres the results, quite happy with the difference:



Initial Differences:

Before



After




End result:

Before



After

vectra

Excellent result.
I remember suggesting that to Lightning one time for his Rally Ka

Gary ITR

vectra wrote: »

Excellent result.
I remember suggesting that to Lightning one time for his Rally Ka

+1 well done dude

I did the same thing on my Mk2 Golf, I then went over it with shoe polish of all things and it was black until I got rid of the car

-Corkie-

I serviced my Passat today. I had everything packed away and finished when I seen the sump guard on the grass....:mad:

Gary ITR

-Corkie- wrote: »

I serviced my Passat today. I had everything packed away and finished when I seen the sump guard on the grass....:mad:

The undertray?

I serviced my aul lads E200, parked it outside, then I spotted the undertray deside the ramp. I fecked it in the bin

eringobragh

Gary ITR wrote: »

+1 well done dude

I did the same thing on my Mk2 Golf, I then went over it with shoe polish of all things and it was black until I got rid of the car

Cheers man and it was only a quick job..5 minutes and it was good as new.

-Corkie-

Gary ITR wrote: »

The undertray?

I serviced my aul lads E200, parked it outside, then I spotted the undertray deside the ramp. I fecked it in the bin

Ya it was the undertray..

Gary ITR

-Corkie- wrote: »

Ya it was the undertray..

Do what I did then lol!

vectra

Gary ITR wrote: »

+1 well done dude

I did the same thing on my Mk2 Golf, I then went over it with shoe polish of all things and it was black until I got rid of the car

LOL
I remember doing my Tyres with shoe polish :P

Gary ITR

vectra wrote: »

LOL
I remember doing my Tyres with shoe polish :P

If it works it works!

-Corkie-

Gary ITR wrote: »

Do what I did then lol!

Its back on again after a lot of swearing...:)

Gary ITR

-Corkie- wrote: »

Its back on again after a lot of swearing...:)

Well I just got away with it, Mick in Urban was/is the ultimate professional, if he'd have seen me I'd have got a kick in the hole, freebie job or not

Fiona

Discovered that my fuel relay switch is fooked after I just got a new fuel pumped installed :mad:

Gary ITR

mrs crilly wrote: »

Discovered that my fuel relay switch is fooked after I just got a new fuel pumped installed :mad:

That's a pian in the arse, problem solved now though?

Fiona

Gary ITR wrote: »

That's a pian in the arse, problem solved now though?

No himself car got towed home today by the aa man, he took out the relay box and the back seat and was checking out the pump, pump is fine cos it's only new, ruled out alternator issue and starter motor.

He says it's an intermittent problem with the switch, was saying something about a problem with the switching sensor for the relay??

He was of the opinion that my fuel pump might not have need to be changed after all, going to have to have a 'friendly' chat with my mechanic to find out what investigative work he did before he changed the pump.

Think I might bring it to Courtneys on the North St, they come highly recommended, pain in the arse to get to though. The AA man did tell me that the fella who put my alarm on my E30 Gary is a whiz at bmw electrics so I will drop him a text as well.

Fooking hate fooking stupid cars right now :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

dgt

Winter salt rusts cars...

This is a pig of a job to do. A pig because the bolt is usually seized in the arm and unless you have a cutting torch, forget it!













All the rustproofing was done by me. When I got it first, it had none atall. The back was going crusty, I got it in time :eek:


I think the axle has had it :rolleyes: have a few to choose from and put in so I'm not too worried. Just the job to do this again :mad:

Just need to put in the bigger arb, new handbrake cables, fix the trailer socket and job done

That old arm ate up a relatively good tyre too :mad:

PaulKK

-Corkie- wrote: »

Its back on again after a lot of swearing...:)

The ones on the Passat are a right PITA, they should do them like BMW and have a handy little flap in the undertray that you just open with one screw to reveal the sump plug:

-Corkie-

I suppose one could improvise and cut open a small flap.

conzy

I put the car up on a lift to check out my rear springs, it appears to be sitting about 10mm lower on one side and cracked springs in the E46 is common but I couldnt see any problems I might get the Eibach Pro Kit anyway to stiffen up the suspension a bit. Painted the hubs and calipers silver while it was on the lift, makes it look a lot cleaner

PaulKK

conzymaher wrote: »

I put the car up on a lift to check out my rear springs, it appears to be sitting about 10mm lower on one side and cracked springs in the E46 is common but I couldnt see any problems I might get the Eibach Pro Kit anyway to stiffen up the suspension a bit. Painted the hubs and calipers silver while it was on the lift, makes it look a lot cleaner

Is she lower on the drivers side?

They all sit a little lower on that side, full fuel tank

-Corkie- wrote: »

I suppose one could improvise and cut open a small flap.

It'd probably save a lot of swearing alright

conzy

PaulKK wrote: »

Is she lower on the drivers side?

They all sit a little lower on that side, full fuel tank

Yeah 2/3 of the tank or more is on the drivers side but theres only 30 litres or so in it. The main reason I noticed that something was not right was when I went for a spin yesterday with a few of the lads at midway and going over a hump in the road it would bottom out in the back and the wheels would rub the arches

MetzgerMeister

conzymaher wrote: »

I put the car up on a lift to check out my rear springs, it appears to be sitting about 10mm lower on one side and cracked springs in the E46 is common but I couldnt see any problems I might get the Eibach Pro Kit anyway to stiffen up the suspension a bit. Painted the hubs and calipers silver while it was on the lift, makes it look a lot cleaner

Pics or GTFO :P

conzy

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Pics or GTFO :P

I didnt go red or green or anything mad! Just looks better than rust

MetzgerMeister

Great job! It looks like electroplating.

Did you use primer and lacquer too or just paint?

EPM

Decided to swap from 18s to 17s, just put my wanted advert up:(

Needs to be done to increase comfort as much as possible. Also looking at leather recaros too if they'll fit.

Top Dog

EPM wrote: »

Decided to swap from 18s to 17s, just put my wanted advert up:(

Needs to be done to increase comfort as much as possible. Also looking at leather recaros too if they'll fit.

Want a set of 16" steels? I'm sure I could convince my dad that 18's would look well on his Octy .... then again, probably not. He didn't even notice that I'd gone from 17's to 20's :rolleyes:

Curious though - what profile are the tyres? Used to have 18's on the Laguna with 45 series tyres, and didn't find them much different to the factory 17's over 15k miles (apart from the 18's being stronger and not buckling every other month)

vectra

EPM wrote: »

Decided to swap from 18s to 17s, just put my wanted advert up:(

Needs to be done to increase comfort as much as possible. Also looking at leather recaros too if they'll fit.

Don't do anything drastic like that just yet. Come and drive my car first. You decide then what's best for you

whyulittle

whyulittle wrote: »

Bloody annoying, I need my horn!

Fixed with a good frustrating thump of the steering wheel today!