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Have you checked the engine mounts as they maybe allowing the engine to move about too much which is breaking your seal on the exhaust, or you could get a flexi joint off a newer motor at a breakers and weld that in! Good to hear you're keeping her as she looks in a prity tidy condition  |
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Apr 20, 2012 11:46:44 GMT
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Engine mounts I thought weren't great, but apparently they're fine so it's probably not that. The engine doesn't vibrate and move anywhere near as much as it did before we set the static timing properly as is evidenced by the lack of dash and rear view mirror vibration when you're sat in the car. Welding bits of other exhausts in isn't really an option, lack of cash and welder put paid to that, not to mention the current exhaust being in pretty good nick.
I think the best course of action is to get the missing clamp-bracket sorted out to calm down the vibration on the exhaust and fit some cast clamps to the manifold-downpipe join. I think that will get everything tightened up where it needs to be so that the flexi joint can actually do what it's designed to do again.
Just a case of waiting on deliveries and saving money again. I do hate being on a shoestring budget.
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Apr 20, 2012 11:58:31 GMT
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Yer as you say when you get the proper stuff it should be sorted, l know what you mean l swing from being cash rich to time poor then the other way rounf lol  |
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PHUQ
Part of things
Posts: 864
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Apr 20, 2012 15:03:59 GMT
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I've finally gave in and got a cast manifold to downpipe clamp for the Marina after suffering the same problem- well worth it, it's much more solid now.
I really like the Princesses and this looks like a nice one- certainly looks clean underneath for a "drive find" car.
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rob: Just a matter of time, turns out Dad was having trouble getting the part, but it is now in the post so that should be here very soon. PHUQ: I keep being surprised at how not-bad this one is, especially given what I've seen go through eBay for similar money to what I paid. Love your Mud too, I believe it's on my bookmark list. Today's update involves checking stuff.  That's 13 1/4" from wheel centre to arch lip. It should be 14 1/2" instead so I have to get that pumped up. Happily, Captain Slow (no, not Mr May) gave me a jolly useful list and there's a hydragas pumping place a stone's throw from home. The front suspension sits at about 14", but I'm guessing this will change when I get the rear pumped up properly. Checked the CV boot that my brother had said was split. I couldn't see the split but Dad had a rummage around and came away with greasy fingers, thus proving there is indeed a split. I can get a replacement for this fairly easily and for not a huge amount so that's on my to do list. When in traffic today, I pushed the screenwash button and nothing happened. The motor has stopped making any noise when the button is pressed even though there's plenty of screenwash in the bottle, so I think that's conked out or I've blown a fuse, something to check in daylight. Exhaust clamp is in the post, finally, so that can be fixed soon I hope, the current blow is returning about 20mpg which is shockingly bad even for a Princess. I'm considering taking the Princess for a 'health check' so I can find out exactly what's needed for the next MoT in September. I'm still learning so it would be good to have a checklist. Currently, my to do list in time for the MoT is this: >Driver's side CV boot >Adjust reverse gear sensor so reverse lights come on reliably >Adjust headlamps properly >Pump up suspension >Little bit of welding to floors >Stop exhaust blowing >Investigate why screen wash no longer works >Investigate play in steering column >Replace driver's window mechanism
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Last Edit: Apr 28, 2012 4:17:07 GMT by Deleted
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Apr 28, 2012 11:25:37 GMT
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Angyl, remember that it should sit at 14.5" at the FRONT AND BACK. If it ends up sitting higher at the back the rear trailing arm bush pivot won't have been properly tightened, and this is a damn dangerous position to be in. The rebound straps should retain a slight curve, and not be allowed to go straight.
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Sam Skelton
1977 Triumph Stag
1988 Citroen CX22 Croisette x2
1993 SAAB 9000CSE 2.3T
1993 Citroen XM CT SEi
1994 Citroen XM 2.1D
1996 Jaguar XJR
1997 Jaguar Sovereign 3.2LWB
1998 Range Rover Vogue SE
1999 Mercedes-Benz E430 Elegance
1999 Rover 820Si
2000 Citroen Xantia HDi110 Exclusive
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Apr 28, 2012 12:55:27 GMT
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yup, I know about the retaining straps thanks to the Princess forum. The front sits marginally higher at the moment, but some replies on the Princess forum leads me to believe that where I am at the moment is actually okay, I just need to keep an eye on things.
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Apr 30, 2012 20:22:30 GMT
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Update time again. As a reminder, this is my list of stuff to check from last time and what I've decided: >Driver's side CV boot - yep, that's buggered. Actually a steering rack gaiter. >Adjust reverse gear sensor so reverse lights come on reliably >Adjust headlamps properly >Pump up suspension - Actually, I probably won't need to do this as it's not far enough off from where it should be so I'm leaving it alone for now. >Little bit of welding to floors >Stop exhaust blowing - still waiting on that part arriving. >Investigate why screen wash no longer works - fixed! >Investigate play in steering column - gone away, automagically. >Replace driver's window mechanism Today has been relatively good so after doing my post and shopping errands I decided to have a poke around the Princess to see what I could see. The first thing I wanted to find out was which of my sealed beam headlights were good and which weren't. I had 4 that came with some brackets I wanted to use on the Polo, one of which already proved to be good and ended up replacing the blown unit on the Princess shortly after buying her. For some reason I never got around to testing the other three. One didn't work at all, and another worked at first but when I turned it to main beam white smoke filled the bowl as the filament dimmed and burnt itself out, it was a very pretty thing to watch.  So that was two in the bin. Happily, this one is still good so I do still have a spare bulb should I need it in the future. Upgrade my lights? Nah, the sealed beams are adequate and I like how they look.  Next, I wanted to find out why that washer jet pump had stopped working. First stop was the fuse box.  All present and correct, so it's not that. Worth noting that I've brought the cover in and I'll be filling in all the letters anew with white paint which is a job I've been putting off for no good reason.  It's quite neat that on the back of the fuse box cover there are clips to hold spare fuses in the likely event that the ones in there fail.  Perplexed, I turned the motor around on the side of the washer bottle and noticed the plug was loose. Pushed it back on properly and hey presto, my washer jets work again. That was easy.  Next was to investigate the boot that had split. The weird play I was getting in the steering column has vanished, I have no idea why, but I don't mind that it has. Underneath the car I spotted this, which is some of the paste and tape we used to attempt to seal the exhaust, blown out from between the clamp and the pipe. The new clamp is due to arrive today (which it hasn't) or tomorrow so I'm still unable to do anything about the exhaust until it arrives.  Steering rack gaiter. Pretty mullered, this was only split part way before but now it's completely gone all the way around.  I've been wondering how best to preserve and/or replace the various stickers in the engine bay. The ones on the head have been painted over badly and the Autosol I have seems to clean the flaky old paint off rather nicely, but the one on the driver's inner wing hasn't fared so well over the years.     Finally, although I didn't get a shot of it, I think I found a repair to the bottom of the driver's side front wing. The edge of the arches look quite solid but there's a 3" by 4" rectangle at the bottom of the trailing edge that has underseal over it which will likely need redoing. Not a massive problem. My housemate asked me when I was going to get everything fixed on the Princess and it made me realise there's really not that much *to* fix as far as I can tell, at least not mechanically. I've not found anything that I wouldn't consider to be expected as part of the annual pre-MoT type service so I'm feeling rather positive about the old girl at the moment. |
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Last Edit: Apr 30, 2012 22:28:05 GMT by Deleted
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Teensy little extra update to add to what I'd already done. I have been painstakingly hand painting the text back on to the fuse box cover with white Humbrol paint and a 4/0 size brush to reasonable effect. I've not done this sort of work since my wrist injury flared up last year, so I'm quite pleased with the result, even though it's not perfect. Rather than give it a second coat, I'm leaving it slightly faded looking so it looks more like the bits that were still visible before the repaint. Normally, I'd've just splodged the paint on and used some fine wet-and-dry paper to take off the excess, leaving the paint in the recess of the stamped letters. Unfortunately I couldn't do that as the numbers weren't stamped deeply or evenly and in some places I had to guess completely at what shape things should be. This is the before. And this is the after.   This is another little cosmetic job off my list and a tiny step towards bringing the Princess up to the standard I want her to be. Obviously it's not perfect, but I don't want the car to be perfect, I want her to wear a bit of age but not in a forced patina sort of a way. |
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retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member
Winging it.....Since 1971.
Posts: 3,726
Club RR Member Number: 94
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Looking good,you may be able to get a few of the stickers reproduced.
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1974 Hillman Avenger 1500DL1992 Volvo 240SE1975 Datsun Cherry 100a flying custard1965 Hillman SuperMinx Rock N Roller1974 Austin Allegrat Mk1 1.3SDL1980 Austin Allegro Mk3 1.3L1982 Austin Allegro Mk3 on banded steels2003 Saab 9-3 Convertible 220bhp TurboNutter1966 Morris Minor 1000 (Doris) 2019 Abarth 595C Turismo (not retro but awesome fun) www.facebook.com/DatsunCherry100a |
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What I started off doing today was some exploratory demolition of a flower bed which, before I began, looked something like this (photograph taken last year, but it shows what was there well enough). Bear with me, there is a reason for showing off my manly* rock moving skills.  After much grunt work, I'd uncovered a big concrete slab. I'll extend this a bit and reuse the big rocks to build a new retaining wall before more digging and demolition, possibly moving the shed too, so we can plonk a small single garage here. The reason for doing this job first was to get the little cars out of the way a bit.   As you can see, there's still a skinny line of dirt and rocks to remove, but it was getting on and I was just about done from all that lugging.   Next thing was to see if I could get the Princess at least a bit out of the way using this space. I knew I probably couldn't, but it didn't hurt to try.  Once that wall is down and the new wall built to the left, the Princess will just squeeze on there, which means either the Polo or my housemate's Peugeot will both sit on there very happily and it gives me some flat working space at home.   However, I knew it wasn't ideal for my housemate when he got back from work so I thought I'd put the Princess back in her usual spot, but for some reason decided to reverse her in instead of driving her in... which is when I hit the house. You'd think nobody could be that special, but here I am, licking windows.    Turned her around to assess the damage a bit better. Swore at myself a few times, then at the car, then apologised to the car, then realised I was talking to myself...      So, that's the best panel on the car now dented, well done me. When I said I was going to spend my week off working on my cars, this is not what I had in mind. Best of all, it's a bank holiday so I can't go and get any grey primer to sort out that panel until Tuesday. Bumper off tomorrow to inspect the damage properly and see what I can do about the shallow dents I've gained. Shame about the inverted pimple on the bumper corner, up until now that's been a really good bumper and I've probably wrecked it now. I am not happy with myself, this was a really stupid thing to have done. |
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PHUQ
Part of things
Posts: 864
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Aww, erm, bother!
Did something vaguely similar with the marina, muchos annoyance. Hope it can be tidied up without too much grief (and cost).
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You wouldn't believe how many times I reversed my cars into innocent, immobile objects... I know the feeling... |
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Hey, don't worry too much, I think we have all done something similar at one time or another. I can remember spending a significant amount of time fitting a wing to my Mini to then promply crash said wing into the garage...  |
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Last Edit: May 6, 2012 20:17:02 GMT by RRT 22R
1950 Ferguson TE A20
1971 VW Beetle 1300
1972 VW Beetle 1302S
1977 Leyland Mini 850
1983 Austin Metro 1.0 HLE
1984 Honda Acty TN 550
1989 Rover Mini 30
1990 Rover Mini City E
1990 Mazda MX5
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MonzaPhil
Posted a lot
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought
Posts: 2,456
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Oh bumhats, at least it's just metal and paint, another job on the "to do" list.
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This is now a clicky linky!  |
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Autosupplies are open tomorrow mate, the boss only lets them close on xmas day
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Thanks for the tip off, there's an Autosupplies not far from home  I just assumed everywhere would be shut, so that's perked me up a bit. I'll give them a ring before hand so I can find out how much a small tin of grey is going to be. |
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I can make you feel less silly.
Dealing with odd drives and getting cars into awkward places used to be my superpower. Like "Get out of the car and let me park it" superpower.
And then I got a New Beetle.
My old house had a little, couple of bricks high wall next to the entrance. I had parked alongside this wall. Out I came from the drive, like I had done thousands of times before.
"Crunch".
You know how all new Beetles have that dent in the sill on the passenger side, just behind the door?
3 days old. I scratched the wing, too.
And just to prove that I'd completely lost any sense of spatial awareness, I then cracked the nose of the Scorpio on a parking meter.
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I backed into a signpost in my Transit that said "No Parking" in Bristol, parking up in the space.
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MiataMark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,971
Club RR Member Number: 29
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Driving out of Bath there is a Land Rover garage, slowing down to have a look I decided to pull in at the end of the row to have a closer look. What I didn't see was the low barrier that took out the cill of a less than month old BMW (company car thank god). At least it was longer than the one before which the neighbours Uncle reverded into when it was a week old, that took out a door.
Mark
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1990 Mazda MX-52012 BMW 118i (170bhp) - white appliance 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4 2003 Land Rover Discovery II TD52007 Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon JTDm
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I just assumed everywhere would be shut, so that's perked me up a bit. I'll give them a ring before hand so I can find out how much a small tin of grey is going to be.
