Be Excellent To Each Other

Finally got this sorted - wasn't a bearing or a hub or anything as sinister, it was the front tyres. The run flats had worn on the inner edges, even though there was plenty of life left in the tyres the way that they had worn was enough to make a lot of road noise. Finally got round to changing them this morning for a pair of non-run flats. Mainly driven by economics in that a pair of mid range non run flats were a similar price to a single decent run flat. Noise gone and the car feels significantly better, no longer tram lines down the motorway for a start.

Remember me saying that the Tomcat is broken? I (literally) dragged it to the workshop yesterday and got my sockets on.
First job was to swap the starter motor out, as it was broken. Land Rover used the standard technique for mounting the starter, which was to place it on the hardest to reach place on the engine. Once that was off, the exciting game of fitting the new starter was dealt with, and it still didn't turn over. I decided that buying a starter for £20 delivered perhaps wasn't the best idea.
I pulled the original starter to bits, found a burnt out wire and soldered a new one on. Swapped the starter again. Still didn't work, and then the magic blue smoke came out of it. There may have been some swearing.
Swapped the new starter on again, then threw a breaker bar onto the flywheel to see it it turned by hand. It didn't. It rocked back and forth, though.
Out with the plugs and the bar would turn, and it quickly became clear that the right-hand bank of cylinders (1, 2 and 3 at least) were full of petrol, and that's why it wouldn't turn over. I knew this because it was pissing petrol out everywhere.
Pulling the plenum chamber off let me get at the injectors, and rather than failing closed it appears that injector 1 had failed open, and was just pouring fuel into the chamber - so much so that it eventually overflowed back into the other chambers.
Some switching around of the cables on the injectors revealed that it was only injector 1 that was broken, so I've got a new one of them on order.
I've also got to change the oil, for obvious reasons. That's annoying because I only did it about 100 miles ago.

I also replaced the front bearings again. Habit.

My MOT is overdue and I blame Eric Pickles. I never, ever, forgot it when I was an employee of Her Majesty as I had a reminder in my GroupWise calendar, but when he chucked me out I forgot to put a reminder elsewhere.

This government has a LOT to answer for.

WTF?

I'm not sure obsolete was the word he was actually looking for there...

Nah, obsolete can mean "no longer produced".

Still, though - fuck

Oh, and a faint low rumbling at speed from the left hand front of the car, that changes with wheel speed rather than engine speed, is going to be a wheel bearing isn't it?
The 500 has only done 13000 miles, so that would be a trifle disappointing if so.

Could be, could be a different bearing. Open the window and see if the noise changes when you go around corners.

Will do, it's very faint though, I doubt anyone else would think there was anything wrong unless they are used to the car.

My car is making noises but I'm pretending I can't hear them.

my car makes a Squeak, a Donk-a-donk-donk and a Rattle. also a Whrumm and a Eh-eeh if its in a mood.



Fire extinguisher at the ready I hope

You'll have to let MrsZ out when you get hungry.

Nah, the petrol was coming out of the other side.

It looks like i'm going to be back in Peterborough in a few weeks, this time for at least 3 months.
110 miles a day isn't the best thing for the Abarth really, so I should probably be doing that commute in a different car.

Current situation is:
I have only 1 parking space at the flat, yet already have 2 cars.
Mrs T hardly uses her micra at the moment.
I get paid 45p a mile
The micra does 50mpg

Obvious solution right?

That's what I thought, so I'm currently looking at 7 series Beemers on Autotrader

If you can tie it in with a bit of man maths as well, all the better.

If I ever end up with a sizeable commute again, the Twingo will have to go.

Handy that the Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ is due soon, then. I'm already prodding Helen in that direction, but she won't let me replace all the bits (since it looks like the Subaru and Toyota parts bins have been well-raided for it).

build your own!

Indulge my engine nerdyness a moment...



Tonight I got the heads put on at long last and turned it over by hand. Nothing got bent hooray!!
Now on to the terrifyingly difficult job of building the fuel injection system... Kalmaaaar?

Awesome mate; I thought an Essex block could only be bored out to 3100cc anyway (as per RS3100/Savage et al), not to 3.2!
Specs look awesome too. Are you going to dyno the monster and what is it going in? (drool)

I think the RS3100 originally had Bosch J-Tronic injection didn't it?

Cheers you can actually get them all the way out to 3.4 that involves changing out cranks and endangering cylider walls so I didnt bother!
Well I will dyno it in car when I get it in but that might be a while. Yeah they did plant a nasty old mechanical FI system on but I dont like it, EFI all the way

Which car is it going in? hmm, well thats a dilema actually and perhaps I can just get beex to decide for me, the options are:
1) I buy a capri of cheapness and drop it in that
2) shoehorn it into this thing

Gotta be a Capri (any Mark but pref. Mk 1 for RS3100 replica, with X-pack, blue and white Cologne colours... filth!) or Mk II Cortina (Savage replica).

MGBs are nice motors (like the Gulf Oil paint job!), but c'mon, this is an Essex we're talking about here, it just has to be an old Ford!

edit - rather than EFI, why not fit chuffin' great twin-choke carbs!

'cos theyre £350 each and the manifold to hold them is like £500!
Budget constaints and taste would steer me away from a mk1 but we've had this discussion

39.2 mpg bitches! Wooo!

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/trooperlooper/500

Good job! What system are you using to fuel it? MegaSquirt ( ) is rather good.

Yes mega squirt ( ) 3 with msx for full sequentialness. I believe you run micro squirt? How do you find it?

I run the ignition-only system MegaJolt, which I'm very happy with.

I've heard nothing but good things about MegaSquirt ( ) though.

Now that the Celica has been resprayed, I've had quotes for having the interior retrimmed in half leather/half alcantara, as well as for the Castrol rally livery being stuck to the outside.

Then, finally, my GT-Four project will be finished.

Then you'll sell it and buy something else...

Given how much money I've poured into it so far, I don't think so!

ah, must have misread that. MS (:hat:) is extremely clever and brilliant, the problem is I am not so getting the tune right is proving to be somewhat of a mindfuck.

Do you not like the Mk 1 Capri mate? Personally, I think it's the best - or at least the most desirable of the bunch, particularly in 3.0 form (most especially with a sorted 3.2 Essex under the bonnet).

Mind you, I wouldn't say no to a Mk II JPS replica in black and gold with this engine, or a Mk III Brooklands 280 lookalike come to that. Capris? Hey, they're all good.

Mate of mine used to have a Cortina Mk II Savage way, way back in the day, with a reworked 3.1 Essex/Janspeeds etc. I absolutely *loved* it; what a total brute. Eeeh, the don't make 'em like that anymore; we were only 19-odd at the time. All that mattered to us was going as fast as possible, with the best achievable handling, braking and noise, within our minuscule budgets from our own earnings.

It might still be a bit like the good old days back in my homeland of Essex, but kids these days all pootle round in brand spanking 1.0 Corsas and Renault 'Campus' type stuff, as bought by their parents on finance, and all the matters to them is the stereo and (tasteless) add-on bling that does nothing for performance or handling... I suppose that's largely the fault of insurance companies, as much as anything else.

As I think JC noted on one of his blogs, it appears that being a petrolhead is a generational thing and we are, in fact, a dying breed; the presumption that the next generation of young blades will be just as eager to get their mitts on the fastest 50cc 'ped, then 125, then their hands dirty souping up their first car etc. to impress their young girlfriends, as we all were, and all those before us, just doesn't hold even remotely true. Most of them are far more concerned about the latest bloody iThing, bollocks on Facebook/Twatter/TV, or whatever. We would not have given a toss; I didn't even have a TV for about 5 years. (Still, at least that's a good deal safer, I guess).

Oh well, that's progress/evolution I guess. Check this out; Capri Heaven!

http://bodieofci5.tripod.com/ci5theprof ... s/id4.html

Interesting reading.
The mk1 was too reserved for me, just a personal taste thing but I like my cars lower, wider and agrrrresive. like the mk3. Also rectangular headlights do nothing for me!

If I went the capri route it would be as follows: Mk3 shell with brooklands 280 lookalikey stuff, the LSD from a 2.8i and good old fishnet recaro interior

Totally agree about the insurance thing, the proof is New Zealand, I lived there for 9 months or so. Brilliantly insurance is not compulsary over there so you see everything from 1000 bhp supercharged camaros to skyline godzilla twin turbos and RX7s mmmmmm. the car scene is massive, theres performance parts warehouses everywhere. If you crash into someone of course you get sued for damages but because its not compulsary, car insurance is dirt cheap! win win win!

Just what I need after some deadbeat idiot plows into me -- the added fun of chasing said deadbeat through the courts for years afterward in a futile attempt to claim back money he doesn't have to cover the damage he caused. Brilliant.

but you have nice cheap fully comp insurance so its ok

Ploughs.

Hmm, I thought third-party insurance was provided by the government as part of the road tax?

[edit]Covered by the fuel tax, apparently.

Oh aye, that rings a bell. And still the fuel is cheaper. Aaahh newzealand.

I appear to have bought an immaculate 1 owner 735i for £1350...

oops.

Tell you what, I'll give you £1350 for the 500. That should cushion the missus.

I think Mrs T will be ok, she is basically going to get the 500 to potter around in

Anybody want to buy a 1.0 Micra for £500

Sounds like a winner mate. What age/mileage is it?

1999 facelift model, 116k, FSH etc...

or were you talking about the micra

Cracking mate, 1 owner! Great stuff; probably got another 100k in it
(And no, I wasn't talking about the Micra! )

Currently at the car wash in the micra.
Hand wash, wax wash, wheel wash, interior valet and hand wax polish. All for £10. How is that possible and to stay in business?

It's a CIA front. Check for earpieces and shifty expressions.

The most surprising thing? It was run by English guys!

I got all that done to mine recently because it had been sitting in a shed for a month and it was looking a bit sad. 40 quid!!!

In September I rented a car from Hertz for 2 days at a cost of about £30.

Due to undeniable stupidity I managed reverse and tap a post outside the front door of the Hertz branch as I was returning it. It was literally a tap though, loud enough to make a noise that was audible through the open door of the branch. Out marches a jumped-up branch manager, glances at the bumper, and says 'that'll be a full respray'.

On actual inspection the damage was a tiny scuff to the paintwork. No crack, no dent, and the scuff mark itself was less than 2cm in diameter. If you didn't actually bend down to look right at it, you wouldn't notice it. Had they not heard me pull up, they'd never have noticed it. Indeed, their assessment when marking up the car for damage before you take it out ignores anything smaller than 25mm in size, so in the theoretical scenario where the scuff had already existed, they wouldn't have originally noted it as damage.

I immediately confront the manager on this 'full respray' nonsense, pointing out my above reasoning, and the fact that you wouldn't take the car off the road to have it repaired for so tiny a scuff. He is predictably twatty in his response and starts going on about how the car cleaners would have noted it as damage (cleaners - now qualified to certify car damage!), but ended up saying that no decisions would be made by him as the car would be examined off site, blahblahblah. I left it by telling him that any claim for damage would be seriously fought.

Bear in mind that was over 4 months ago, and I've heard nothing since. Until today when £300 was taken out of my account without notice or permission, using my card details on file. I suspected, and had it confirmed when I rang this morning that this charge is for the damage sustained when returning the car. I have immediately disputed it and told them that should they fail to refund the cash, I'll be instructing my bank to reverse the transaction.

I am not underplaying the damage, it really was the smallest scuff you could imagine. £300 for this is clearly taking the piss, so I shall be fighting it as far as it needs to go, not least because the cheeky fucks have just stolen it from my account without notice or justification, and according to google this 'Wait for a few months, then steal the cash without warning' is a pretty common practice.

Their standard insurance includes a £600 excess, for which they think they're entitled to half. Their SuperMegaBollocks cover with £0 excess more than doubles the cost of renting the car.

If it has gone through the paint then it might indeed need the bumper taking off and respraying to fix it properly. The manager might be an arse but I'm not sure what basis you would have to dispute that you owe the money.

Oh man, this is going to be like that time CG tried to buy a new Aygo for less than sticker price
*gets popcorn*

Dont worry EBJ, I'm sure you'll win this one, just like how you got that cheap Yaris that time.

Kalmar: hi5!