What did you do to your x40 today???

[canis]

Yesterday, I decided to attempt a field repair on my father-in-laws Kia Picanto. It's a hateful car, and I hate it as much as it hates me. There is not a single thing to like about it, it is utilitarian in the extreme. I'm not joking when I say this, and it hurts me, but I really would rather drive a Lada Riva.

So it's been making this god-awful squeeling noise, probably a fan belt, and while driving it yesterday I noticed the fans suddenly speed up synchronously with the squeeling abating. Alternator, then.

I opened the bonnet. Nothing complicated here, no tensioner pulleys or anything, just a traditionally moveable alternator with a tensioner rod. I wound it up a few times. Then I wound it up a few times more. I didn't know how much to wind it, so I wound it up once more for luck.

While I was in here, I might as well check the oil. Nothing. Not a drop. In fact it was so dry, oil had burnt onto the stick. I drove to Halfords.

The girl in Halfords loves me. We exchange a lot of banter, she's a sweet little thing, must be only about 17, "Back again?" she quips. I buy oil for the Kia, she charges me £15, and we talk about the good value. She tells me it's something to do with Black Friday, a concept unknown to me apart from news reports of old ladies being robbed of television sets on american shop floors, on the nine o'clock news.

Thus, the first visit was over. "Actually, do you sell ... nevermind, I'll put this oil in... I'll be back" I stammer out, my thoughts racing faster than my mouth can talk. She laughs, and I head out the door. I begin pouring oil into the Kia's engine. Mayonaise on the filler cap. It's not even done 40,000 miles, it's truly a wretchedly nasty piece of bargain basement junk, why anyone would pay good money for this heap of steming crapola I cannot guess. But here I am. And I'm pouring in the oil, wondering how much I should put in. I poured about half the can in, and dipped it. Too much. Damn it, I'll have to take some out now!

I decided to let it thrash around in there, hopefully it'll clean everything up, absorb any soot and burnt bits, and I'll change the oil in a hundred miles or so. After all, I still have half the can left, evidently more than enough.

I return to the shop, perchance obtaining some heat-shrink tubing. I'm going to need it to splice in the "new" lambda sensor (P1.5) to the old one's plug (P1). This was the second visit. She really is a lovely little thing, this girl, almost makes me want to return again.

And so I return home, finally able to set about the day's business of fixing up the old Volvo. I went to splice the lambda sensor. But the wires for the P1.5 are different colours to the P1. I prob'ly could've figured it out but I couldn't be arsed, so I just put the old one back in. It was at this point I discovered why it sounded like it was blowing, a tiny hole right next to the (unused) second lambda sensor. I kept packing it with exhaust putty until it shut up.

The exhaust clamp wasn't doing it's job. And I thought it needed moving about half an inch along. So I took it off, broke it, drove to Halfords again. This was the third visit.

"Is that it now?" she jokes.
"I certainly hope so. Sorry to keep giving you these silly little transactions."
She takes the payment digitally for the triflingly small amount graciously.
"Right, that's it, I'm really going this time. Otherwise I might as well just move in!"

Drove home, fitted it, broke it, modified it, fitted it again only to realise I've put it half-inch off again, in exactly the same place the last one was. It'll have to do.

I ran the engine awhile to set the putty. A little later, I opened the door to the sweet warm interior I'm used to, instead of that nasty damp smelly Kia rubbish. I can't wait to be back in this thing!

Did a few bits of bodywork, and called it a day. Fell asleep, had a wild dream I now can't remember and woke to my wife's call asking me to collect her from work. Back in the Kia I go.

Today, It was icy cold. Literally, the bucket of water nearby had a skin of ice. Wearing two sets of clothing, I set about today's task, which was to attempt a crude rear alignment and set the suspension properly. It had occured to me that they should be torqued into place in the suspension's natural position. So I loosened everything off, wiggled everything to make sure no bolts had siezed to the bushings, and lowered the car onto wooden blocks atop metal stands by it's trailing arms, so it's weight was being bourne by the suspension.

This meant a lot of fiddling around with jacks, and was rather time-consuming. Once done, I wiggled the bolts again to allow the bushings to be in an unstrained position before torque.

I had no choice but to figure out the piddlin' little brackets which hold the ABS wires. I cursed all the way through this task, as I hate ABS anyway, and I've no idea if they're exactly right, but they'll do. There's no mechanical interferance and nothing is under strain, so it's good enough. All in all, the whole process was far less painful than I had expected, but my fingers were getting numb with the cold.

I needed to change the bolts for the shock absorbers, as I'd put the wrong ones in and only noticed after I found the right ones. The plan was to hammer in the new bolts pushing the old ones out in the process. This didn't go very well, the old bolt shot across the floor and the new bolt went crooked and the coil spring did it's best to defy me and break free. About an hour messing with a bottle jack and more bits of wood and a crowbar, and eventually the job was done.

By now I had got used to the cold fingers slowing everything down, but I was ready for a cuppa tea. The sun had long set, the kids were home, I didn't waste any time. I hauled the lead lamp from under the car by it's cable into the garage. Threw all the tools onto the bit of carpet I use, rolled it up and threw it into the garage. I fetched all the jacks, gathered up all the bricks, blocks of wood, and other incidental items, thres down the door and headed kitchinward for a cuppa tea.

Just sat down with me cuppa in time for my wife to call. Back in the Kia I go...

[canis]

Well, no matter how much I pleaded my case for leaving them off, my wife absolutely insisted the sill covers be put back on.

First things was to go around the rear suspension painting all the nuts and bolts. To achieve accurate torque values without buying new ones, it was vital they be cleaned up to new condition. Every single thread had to be immaculately clean and dry. Naturally, this process removed any rustproofing they once had. Being bare metal, they needed priming first. So first thing, prime them all.

While the primer dried, I got to work on the front wing. This was on it's second skim of filler, on top of the squirty foam I filled the wing's internal cavity behind the indicator. If you ever found cardboard in a car and thought "cowboy" this is why ; You can't just fill a massive hole, the filler needs something to stick to. The hole needs to be hammered into a concave crater, so the filler can adhere to the metal. In this case, the hole was way too big for even that, so something must go behind it. Traditionally cardboard was used, but I used squirty foam and I'm very impressed with the result. The alternative was plating the hole, with all the associated problems of heat deformation, therefore more filler. Or a new wing, which was out of the question.

The filler rubbed down, I got a coat of primer on, and considered the next move. I "dusted" the nuts and bolts to rub off any excess primer and reduce drying time. Impatiently, I decided to go for it, and went around with the red gloss and black underseal as appropriate. Satisfied the rear suspension was finally finished, I set about my next task.

Fitting the wheel-arch shield was next, and I set about cleaning up the self-tapping screws. The job was less problematic than I had anticipated, which told me the repair to the sill had been satisfactory. Only the cage nuts for the rear bumper remain unfinished. A little more tidying up in the wheel arch with underseal, and that's another job done.

By now, I had put the nearside back on it's wheels, and had jacked the offside. The car looks quite peculiar at this angle, but it made work much easier. I dug out the shultz gun, brand new, and hoped my ailing compressor could manage it. But the result was better than I expected. Thus, the floor and sill were now under sealed entirely up to just under the sill cover.

Fitting the sill cover required making two new holes, as the originals were buried in fibre-glass, so it wasn't as simple as it might have been, but nevertheless achievable. I'm dubious about the clips, which I bought new, but I guess if they held it on before there's no reason to assume they won't in future.

All in all, a productive day. Starting to really come together now.

[Jebus]

Sold it

Due to some unforeseen problems and bills had to get rid of a car, and while I love my T4, it need belts done and has potential for more being needed than my crappy Vectra so had to use my head and keep the vauxhall and say good bye to my T4, I am sad, annoyed and bloody ****ed off had to do this, still got my 940 and means can sort that out.

[druid]

Well today was a pretty good day (for me) I changed the bottom engine mount and fitted the temperature sensor while I was at it. That was a full day for me, tommorow I have do do the through bolt nice and tight and put the undertray back on. 3 hours today and it was enough. Tommorow 1 hr tops!

[canis]

Three hours in December is enough for anyone!

Today, I painted the plastic trims and the sill cover on the offside, just in time for the rain to begin. Just a very slight drizzle, hopefully it'll be alright. I jacked the car from the nearside, and shultzed the underside and sill. Fitting the cover on this side was easy as all the original holes were present. It was at this point I realised each cover has six clips, meaning I only had four remaining in the packet. Why sell them in tens if the car has twelve? I rescued two of the old ones, and thanked my lucky stars I hadn't thrown them away. Despite the ease of refitting, the sill is hiding some nasty rust just starting to bubble under the paint, and a long shallow dent under the passenger door. I think this sill will need changing at some point, hopefully not to soon.

The front bumper has torn the fixing at it's offside corner. These holes are essential for secure mounting to the wing. I attempted a repair by gluing a washer top and bottom, I hope it'll suffice. If not, I'll have to get inventive.

I really wasn't feeling it today, and stopped working after only a few hours. But the car is on it's wheels at last. I've not finished yet, but I think I have rounded the final corner and the end is in sight.

[druid]

Originally Posted by druid

Well today was a pretty good day (for me) I changed the bottom engine mount and fitted the temperature sensor while I was at it. That was a full day for me, tommorow I have do do the through bolt nice and tight and put the undertray back on. 3 hours today and it was enough. Tommorow 1 hr tops!

And an hour it was, the transformation is unreal so it shows what a knackered bush will do.
It's almost like new shocks have been put on - over speed bumps or under exeleration/braking it's so smooth it's like a volvo.

[canis]

I was wrong about the rain. It has speckled the paint awfully. With the masking paper still attached, I gave it another coat, but to no avail. I will have to rub the paint down now, and begin again.

I decided I wasn't happy with the towbar attached by the welded nuts provided by Volvo. I'd not noticed it before, but with a good effort I could wobble it up and down. Expecting a towbar to receive a lot of this action, I'm not comfortable with it. Okay, so I doubt it'd break free completely. Probably the bolt which goes through the towing eye would not break away. So it might not cause a forty-two car pile-up on the M6 - it would still be embarrassing if such an event should occur. So I drilled a few more holes, utilised some bolts with matching nuts left over from the donor's dismantle, and it very secure now. I'm satisfied no amount of pulling can break this thing away from the bodywork unless it tore the entire back end of the car with it!

Got the bumper back on, only a slight modification required, a small rectangular notch where the bar emerges from underneath. The biggest headache was actually the running lights. The connectors are very good at resisting severance. But time had hardened them, and refitting was complicated by the slightly destructive disconnection. With the tongues entirely removed, I resorted to electrical tape to hold the connectors together lest vibration should work them loose. After bolting the bumper in place, with a helping hand from my wife, and attaching the bumper to the wheel-arch shroud, I gave the lamp an experimental tap. It flickered. Damn it! It'll have to do for now, enough is enough!

Almost ready for MOT. The 'to-do' list is getting shorter.

[canis]

Well, it's been an odd few days. A few nights ago, I slept early, and woke early, and got a bit bored. Since the weather was dry, I decided to give in to temptation and hit the Volvo.

So sat in the spare wheel well, with a lead lamp clipped to the roof, I began attempting to refit the upholstery. This is shockingly bad design for Volvo. I really hadn't expected such a hodge-podge of stupidly fiddly, ill-fitting clips. I had enough spares to do the job, but by God it's bad design. This was clearly the work of a 16 year old Youth Employment Avoidance scheme. Even when fitted correctly, it's not exactly firm.

Of particular annoyance was the seat-belt modification for luggage restraint. The method it attaches to it's metal bracket is very flimy, and mine is broken. So I glued it with epoxy, the mating faces rubbed with P320 to ensure good adhesion. This bond is very strong, yet I still managed to break it while trying to get this stupid upholstery to sit around the plastic cowel. There doesn't seem to be any logical method for doing this. The bolt which holed it all in place is obstructed by the upholstery. The upholstery must be fitted before it goes into place. Something's gotta give, and in my case it's the glue. So it's still broken, loosely fitting the upholstery, held in place by nothing other than the tension of the belt. So that was an hour of my life I can never have back.

The annoyances continued. I had to remove the seat backs again, to get the upholstery behind the bolster cushions on either side. Once again, it's not exactly a perfect fit, and held in place by nothing more than a puny poxy little plastic screw in a plastic plug diesgned to expand with the insertion of the screw, thus filling the hole and securing the upholstery. It's a futile bid. The screw has no grip whatsoever, and actually doesn't need any screwing, thumb pressure along can push it home. The plug into which is drives is pathetic, the upholstery remains loose notwithstanding the plug's best lame effort, and all in all is very disatisfactory. I love the car, but this is bad design, and wholly unbecoming of a quality car manufacturer. You don't egt this in a Mercedez. Every clip can be re-used, none of them break, and they are suitable for the purpose. The upholstery fits, and stays fitted. Volvo's effort in this job has been genuinely slack.

I got the plastics fitted with the many spare metal clips I had from the donor dismantle. It's at this point it became clear why the years of rummaging through big boxes of lego was training for this moment in time, as I clawed my way through the plastic box of Volvo nuts and bolts. These did fit, and the clips did actually work, but once in place the ability to wiggle them was apparent. Again, I would've expected a more exact fitment, and maybe a scre or two wouldn't be bad... just a thought. Instead of trying to make it look like it's held by magic.

I reattached the spare wheel cover, this was simple enough except for it's size, which is nobody's fault but nevertheless was beginning to frustrate me. By the time I was putting the seat backs into position, cold tired and getting annoyed was making the job harder. One bolt in particular was "out to get me", a full 20 minutes of trying to get it into the holt without cross-threading, it resisted all my efforts until I was practically frothing at the mouth. It went in the end. It might as well have done that anyway, instead of driving me have mad into the bargain.

That was enough! I made a cuppa tea and sat down. Normally at about this time, I make tea and toast for the family who are just starting to wake up. But I'm sat there with a thousand yard stare, gibbering into my cuppa tea, unable to speak. I did the school run in this wretched smelly Kia I'm having to use, and which I'm told I should be grateful for, and took the cat to bed.

That evening, I couldn't stop myself. One of the courtesy lights above the rear doors wasn't working unless it is struck. Upon striking, it will flicker, and then extinguish until being struck again. Wouldn't take a moment to just whip it out and have a look. Half an hour, and it's still in! The plastic tongues just refused to let go, the lamp stayed stubbornly in the roof lining. What magical incantations must one chant to do these trivial tasks? Again, would a screw or two hurt so much? Is the crosshead so unsightly that this effort is worthwhile? I don't think so. Never known such an uncooperative piece of car. Worse than a starter-motor on a Viva!

Once again, my tolleration bottomed out, and realising I was now in a rage I walked away. Okay, I punched it a few times first, but I could quite easily have punched it a few more.

It was clear I was losing grip on my sanity. This bloody car is dragging on and on. I'm feeling like it's never going to end.

Under strict instructions from my wife to take a day off, today I only fitted the rear plastic panel. With self-tapping screws straight through the top into the metal - job done. It might not be as pretty, but it's a darn sight better than these stupid feckin clips, warped plastic tongues, broken bits, etc.

Anyway. Tomorrow is another day.

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by canis

Well, it's been an odd few days. A few nights ago, I slept early, and woke early, and got a bit bored. Since the weather was dry, I decided to give in to temptation and hit the Volvo.
Instead of driving me have mad into the bargain, I did the school run in this wretched smelly Kia I'm having to use, and which I'm told I should be grateful for, and took the cat to bed.
Okay, I punched it a few times first, but I could quite easily have punched it a few more.
It was clear I was losing grip on my sanity.
Anyway. Tomorrow is another day.

UMM! I think he might have lost the Volvo plot!

[Antz]

Got bored of replacing the stock Pierburg boost solenoids on my T4 so I treated it to a Mac 3 port boost solenoid made in the USA.

Nice bit of kit, 2 easy wires and should be more reliable than the standard ones since its rated to 120psi and a lot of subaru owners use them as improvements over the standard solenoids on them.

See how it goes.