New pride & joy

[buffalo4]

Thanks, Great Write Up
Keep Up The Good Work.. I'm Keeping an Eye Out For This One

[Paul240480]

Thanks LB, that's helped me a lot. I did my drop-links fairly recently & 'Zeb' now glides over rough surfaces

As for your 'Manchester Spanner', my Grandad used to have a 'Manchester Screwdriver'. I guess it was very much the same tool

[Luxobarge]

OK, a bit more tinkering today - I'm having fun, had you guessed?

I started on doing a full and thorough engine service today, so ran the car up to temperature, large bucket under the sump and out with the drain plug (17mm)

Off with the oil filter and didn't get too much of it all over my arms as usual, and left it to drain.

Next job was new Dizzy cap and rotor - I decided the whole air box needed to come out to get at the bottom dizzy screw, so I took that out, replaced the sparky bits and gave the whole area alsong with the air box a good wash. Here it is a bit cleaner than when I got it, with new cap & rotor fitted:



Put the air box back in with a new filter and that's done. Actually, the old filter didn't look too bad, so I reckon that it's been serviced not too long ago in spite of having no service history with it.

Then pulled the spark plug cover and cleaned that up - it had a split in it, so I pop-rivetted an ally plate underneath it until I can get a decent one from a scrappy. There was a lot of oil in the little niggly bits under the cover, so I laboriously cleaned them all out, and took the plugs out. Again, the plugs looked in pretty good shape, nice and clean, so I reckon they're not too old - put new ones in anyway of course. Back on with the cover, and now it was time to re-fill with oil, so gave the sump and oil filter area a good clean and on with a new filter (wipe of oil on the seal so I can get it off next time) and filled with oil. Boy, they take quite a lot don't they?

Did a quick clean of the top engine area and all done:



I'm planning to do a really thorough clean-up of the engine bay when the weather's warmer, but this way I'm cleaning the bits I work on as I go, so it's getting better.

Next job will be to change the coolant, as it's looking really cacky. The inside of the reservoir is a deep turd brown, so I'll take that off and clean it - I'll show you when I do it.

Started the car and all runs fine, so happy days again!

More updates next week.

Hope it's OK to blog like this, I enjoy doing it but if anybody's sick of this thread just say and I'll stop. Cheers!

[jhanani03]

Originally Posted by Luxobarge

Hope it's OK to blog like this, I enjoy doing it but if anybody's sick of this thread just say and I'll stop. Cheers!

Sick of it?? it......

[buffalo4]

Tell us more..
I'm enjoying this as much as you

[JimDay]

It's looking a lot better in every photo mate doing a good job

Noticed your rear bumper is a bit scratched



Would one of these help, available in black or silver

http://www.rearguards.co.uk/index.ph...how&ref=RBP415

[Paul240480]

Keep going LB, it's all good useful stuff

May I be bold enough to say, "take a peek at that engine top mount" or is it on your extensive list already?

[Luxobarge]

Originally Posted by JimDay

Noticed your rear bumper is a bit scratched

Would one of these help, available in black or silver

http://www.rearguards.co.uk/index.ph...how&ref=RBP415

Oh, thanks for that. Yeah, it's covered in a sort of clear plastic film (I don't know if they're all like that?) which has become very scratched as you say.

To be honest I need to keep costs down, and that guard is over £55 delivered, so I might think of something else to smarten it up - the car's going to be used mainly as a local load-lugger, I'm renovating the house and there's loads of trips to the builder's merchants, sawmills etc. - I'm gonna be able to get there a lot quicker though!

I could always peel off the clear plastic film?

Thanks though!

[Luxobarge]

Originally Posted by Paul240480

May I be bold enough to say, "take a peek at that engine top mount" or is it on your extensive list already?

You may indeed - but no, it's not on the list, what's wrong with it do you think? Looks OK to me, certainly no movement in it. I'll keep an eye on it though, at least it's a dead easy thing to change!

Cheers!

[Paul240480]

Originally Posted by Luxobarge

You may indeed - but no, it's not on the list, what's wrong with it do you think? Looks OK to me, certainly no movement in it. I'll keep an eye on it though, at least it's a dead easy thing to change!

Cheers!

It's just that mine looked alright to me & no noticable extra movement of the engine. When I took it to my mec' for a 'once over', he gave it a prod & advised it was 'tatered. When I went to removed it was clearly dead:

Once I'd removed the bracket, it literally fell to pieces!
As you say replacement is easy, mine now has a Supaflex polybush