Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

LawlessBoy

These came in the door for me this morning. When i bought the car it had an illegal german reg on the back and a worn plastic one on the front. Decided to just go with standard pressed metal ones.

dr.fuzzenstein

Looks the shizzle. Where you get those?

Voodoomelon

These are the no.1 guys.

http://www.eireplates.com/

LawlessBoy

That's where I got them. Can't complain with the quality and a two day turn around from when I ordered.

dar_cool

Failed NCT on advanced corrosion on brake pipe on all 4 corners and top arm bushes were shot. Replaced the whole arm as it was easier than messing around replacing individual bushes.




Picked up a power hand flaring tool which was great as it done copper pipes and the original steel pipes.

rex-x

Naughty boy using copper for brake lines

dar_cool

rex-x wrote: »

Naughty boy using copper for brake lines

What's wrong with using copper for brake lines?

shietpilot

dar_cool wrote: »

What's wrong with using copper for brake lines?

Copper brake lines are too soft.

Copper-nickel lines are not but they look like copper lines.

Interslice

dar_cool wrote: »

Failed NCT on advanced corrosion on brake pipe on all 4 corners and top arm bushes were shot. Replaced the whole arm as it was easier than messing around replacing individual bushes.




Picked up a power hand flaring tool which was great as it done copper pipes and the original steel pipes.

Suspension looks nice and fresh. They're a hoor for seizing bolts into bushings.

TheBigGreen

The backroads!

Toyotafanboi

here's a bit of a run down of my NCT prep from today. OK, none of these things would top most peoples pre NCT list but first impressions are everything. all the photo's are in portrait because i took them on my phone and despite what people say, portrait is what comes naturally on a phone :P

you don't want to be greeted with a sticky key barrel and then when you do get into the car find the worlds most naff gear knob, the test would be concluded before it had even begun.

so i swapped my epic retro 8 ball for the original perished patina'd leather option.




3 in 1'd the **** out of the barrel and rammed the key in and out around 50 times until it free'd up. the key is like a hot knife through butter now. and yes i do feel like a peasant with no remote central locking.




said i better check out that check engine light too, first impressions again. Some emissions something or other. turned it off, flew the test :pac:





then i said i'd try some Conor McGregor-esque tactics and just stood in the garden staring the car down for a good 10 minutes, saying motivational **** in my head telepathically to it "fail to prepare, prepare to fail", "you don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great" and so on.

i wasn't going to wash it because it looks mean as **** dirty.



then i took her to the test center and parked across the road, just to let the car get used to the idea and steady both our nerves before i went in.



obligatory pic of the car through the glass. the car was very close to the glass, so i thought it would be intrusive on the inspector to take a close up pic, particularly when i would rather stay on his good side.



and in the end, things went ok. failed on headlight alignment only i was convinced the fail dangerous stickers would be coming out, so this was a pleasant surprise, an early Christmas gift from the Celica to me!

MetzgerMeister

I've had 1 car with flush door handles and it was an MG ZR. I actually prefer them to the other stick-out style. They look awesome on the e39's. Pity more manufacturers don't use them.

GvidoR

Awesome post, especially the McGregor part. :pac:

Toyotafanboi

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

I've had 1 car with flush door handles and it was an MG ZR. I actually prefer them to the other stick-out style. They look awesome on the e39's. Pity more manufacturers don't use them.

Now you mention it, they are very similar to the ZR handles.

Nobody will appreciate this more than yourself perhaps but they are soul destroying when you want to dry the car, the whole panel gap around the handle is one giant water trap and just when you have the car nice and dry the tension will break and a big trickle of water goes down the door :mad:. usually i go around the car with the wet vac and just hold it near the handles to dry them :pac:

MetzgerMeister

That's very fooken true!!! Water traps are a PITA. I'm considering one of those blaster things that blast hot air in order to rid water from cracks.

LawlessBoy

No pictures unfortunately but yesterday i gave the car a full service and did the front brake pads.

One of the calipers was seized and gave me an awful time, honestly the worst job ive ever had to do on a car. Itll have to be replaced but i havent got the money this side of Christmas to get it done, and its not at the dangerous phase yet in my opinion. I just did my best to free it up my pumping the brakes and pushing the piston back in a few times.

Only a few things left on the pre NCT list now including new front headlights to get rid of the awful built in DRLs and a hazard relay switch along with a few minor bits and pieces.

Mar4ix

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

turned it off, flew the test :pac:

Are you using ELM 327 diagnostic cable ? that paid version software ?

Toyotafanboi

Yeah a genuine ELM 327 - serial port cable bought from Rugged Computing in the UK, 95% on ebay are knock offs I believe.

the program is called EasyObdII and is free to download a lot of places online, I think you can pay a subscription for more versatility but I havn't the use for it. It's good for free anyway, you can read and erase codes but also view live readings from most sensors, MAP, MAF, intake temp, coolant temp, oxygen sensors, ECU speed and RPM readings as well as record live on the road data, log it and play it back later.

Download here

http://www.easyobdii.com

shietpilot

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Yeah a genuine ELM 327 - serial port cable bought from Rugged Computing in the UK, 95% on ebay are knock offs I believe.

Jaysus. This has to be the first time I hear someone saying those words :pac:

OBD scanner is a must for any DIYer though. If you take out the head unit in a Volvo XC90 without disconnecting the battery, the air bag light will come on for example. Complete pain but it's just so handy to have one.

Of course you could unplug the battery but it's not easily accessible on that car so I don't bother

Mar4ix

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Yeah a genuine ELM 327 - serial port cable bought from Rugged Computing in the UK, 95% on ebay are knock offs I believe.

the program is called EasyObdII and is free to download a lot of places online, I think you can pay a subscription for more versatility but I havn't the use for it. It's good for free anyway, you can read and erase codes but also view live readings from most sensors, MAP, MAF, intake temp, coolant temp, oxygen sensors, ECU speed and RPM readings as well as record live on the road data, log it and play it back later.

Download here

http://www.easyobdii.com

I have genuine vag com and for toyota, elm 327 i have spurious, i think there was a problem to use it, dustin on shelve, never tryed that program, see how it goes. Would that elm 327 with that program do many cars? I still strugling with ford, opel, but wont buy genuine heads, as each of them cost over 300 e.

Thanks.

shietpilot

Mar4ix wrote: »

I have genuine vag com and for toyota, elm 327 i have spurious, i think there was a problem to use it, dustin on shelve, never tryed that program, see how it goes. Would that elm 327 with that program do many cars? I still strugling with ford, opel, but wont buy genuine heads, as each of them cost over 300 e.

Thanks.

Have a look for a spurious DS150 on Adverts/DoneDeal.

They do a lot more cars than an ELM327 and can connect to more interfaces in the car like gearbox, airbags, multimedia systems etc.

shietpilot

shietpilot wrote: »

Jaysus. This has to be the first time I hear someone saying those words :pac:

OBD scanner is a must for any DIYer though. If you take out the head unit in a Volvo XC90 without disconnecting the battery, the air bag light will come on for example. Complete pain but it's just so handy to have one.

Of course you could unplug the battery but it's not easily accessible on that car so I don't bother

Had a brain fart one day doing a job on the S60. Triggered the airbag light taking out the stereo and heating controls. 99.9% of the time I disconnect the battery doing anything like that in any car but didn't that day for whatever reason. I have a cheap ebay OBDII scanner but it doesn't knock off airbag lights. Had to pay my mechanic €20 for 10 seconds of his time :mad: Lesson well and truly learned.

shietpilot

Snotaul Goodman wrote: »

Had a brain fart one day doing a job on the S60. Triggered the airbag light taking out the stereo and heating controls. 99.9% of the time I disconnect the battery doing anything like that in any car but didn't that day for whatever reason. I have a cheap ebay OBDII scanner but it doesn't knock off airbag lights. Had to pay my mechanic €20 for 10 seconds of his time :mad: Lesson well and truly learned.

Pay your mechanic €20 or get a DS150 for €45~ :P

Mar4ix

shietpilot wrote: »

Pay your mechanic €20 or get a DS150 for €45~ :P

Are you selling them? Those ds150.

shietpilot

Mar4ix wrote: »

Are you selling them? Those ds150.

I bought mine from China on AliExpress.

This is the exact one:
aliexpress.com/item/New-2014-R2-VCI-DS150e-CDP-Plus-PRO-without-Bluetooth-For-DELPHI-DS150E-Truck-Car-Auto/2013763343.html

Works great. I think they're selling on DoneDeal/Adverts for around €70.

dr.fuzzenstein

Snotaul Goodman wrote: »

Had a brain fart one day doing a job on the S60. Triggered the airbag light taking out the stereo and heating controls. 99.9% of the time I disconnect the battery doing anything like that in any car but didn't that day for whatever reason. I have a cheap ebay OBDII scanner but it doesn't knock off airbag lights. Had to pay my mechanic €20 for 10 seconds of his time :mad: Lesson well and truly learned.

€20 is not so bad, imagine if you had gone to the main dealer, they would have spotted you 10 miles off, waited for you with a reception committee, band, parade, grand-stand and 2 hours of speeches by local dignitaries before ass-raping you for probably 10 times that.

dr.fuzzenstein

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

€20 is not so bad, imagine if you had gone to the main dealer, they would have spotted you 10 miles off, waited for you with a reception committee, band, parade, grand-stand and 2 hours of speeches by local dignitaries before ass-raping you for probably 10 times that.

I did the whole thing at this post. Well done sir!

20 wasn't bad at all. Went to Aidan Frahill out in East Link and told him the story. He gave me this "you fcukin eejit" look and said he normally charges 40 for it :pac: Was more pissed off that I let it happen in the first place.

Toyotafanboi

Mar4ix wrote: »

I have genuine vag com and for toyota, elm 327 i have spurious, i think there was a problem to use it, dustin on shelve, never tryed that program, see how it goes. Would that elm 327 with that program do many cars? I still strugling with ford, opel, but wont buy genuine heads, as each of them cost over 300 e.

Thanks.

Yeah, get a legit ELM327, the problem with most of the replica ELM327's is poor connectivity or simply not working at all on some cars.

I've ever only had the free version of that program and i've used it personally on loads of cars, definitely VW, Skoda, Opel, Nissan, Toyota, Ford, Fiat, Mercedese, Hyundai, Peugeot, Renault...

Sounds like you have a bad cable?

Mar4ix

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Yeah, get a legit ELM327, the problem with most of the replica ELM327's is poor connectivity or simply not working at all on some cars.

I've ever only had the free version of that program and i've used it personally on loads of cars, definitely VW, Skoda, Opel, Nissan, Toyota, Ford, Fiat, Mercedese, Hyundai, Peugeot, Renault...

Sounds like you have a bad cable?

I havent used yet properly with proper software, just were trying software which came with it on small cd, non work properly. Paid for that cable odd 25 e if i remember from ebay. I shall try to give a go with that one what you are using.

nd

Changed the timing chain on the corsa I bought to fiddle with.

Before

after

no longer sounds like a diesel!

two very helpful links for this particular car

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ikjwnxd5E

http://workshop-manuals.com/vauxhall/corsa-c/j__engine_and_engine_aggregates/dohc_petrol_engine/timing_gear_case/repair_instructions/remove_and_install_timing_case_(z_12_xe_z_12_xep_z_14_xep_without_air_conditioning_lhd)/