Lotus Elan, range rover, TR7, Streetka, mx5, minor,

Any updates? Looking forward to see how you go on. I've just gently removed the inlet manifold from a combined moggy manifold so I can use a mini inlet when I get round to fitting my new head etc.

Ahh brilliant . Yeah just weld that window thing and shape the teeth in your dinner! I would need a two day lunch break 😂

Nice save! To me these are always very satisfying repairs.

Fiesta did have enough charge and after a bit of use has sorted its self out, other than that I've done little more than drive the cars, hopefully that will change now, yesterday I took voluntary early retirement.
First will be to replace all the fuel lines, check the injectors and fit a new ECM and fan hub to the range Rover. Then new seat covers timing belt and AC condensor/ drier/ hoses to the mx5.

Also got 2 bathrooms and a kitchen to fit this summer plus my Daughter is just buying a house, I might need to go back to work for a rest!

That said I'm currently sitting in the car park of Kings Lynn hospital after the Father in law sat in the sun all day with no hat.....

Thanks,first week didn't go entirely to plan father in law was kept in and seems to have lost a significant amount of eyesight, hence 3 200 mile round trips (fortunately I keep my company car in retirment), the last being to recover his 2016 citroen C4, god awful thing fills up with diesel fumes and is no great drive, 120 miles in that is enough for anyone. When I got home I ordered £300 of parts for the mazda (belts waterpump seals etc), hope to hide down the garage for a day or 2 and get this done soon.

Finally spent 1/2 hour on one of the cars today, now I've fitted a new bathroom here, knocked 2 rooms into one and fitted a new kitchen at the in-laws I'm now starting on my Daughters new house, It's not to bad but suffered the ususal bodges, so far I've re-routed most of the wiring to the sockets in line with the current safe zones rather than randomly spread around and behind skirting, ripped out 2 redundant and the current hot water system to move the tank into the loft and a load of shonky mismatched skirting. Most of it's being re-plastered starting on the 18th so it all needs to be in by then. The house is 18 miles away so I've been commuting there every day in the Range Rover, generaly it has been performing well, 15mpg is a bit expensive but it's only for a couple of weeks. One thing that has been really anoying is a loud rattle from the dash at around 60mph, the dash on these is a typical 70's hard plastic affair and fairly robust (the factory fitted aftermarket AC is terrible quality though), the only issue with the dash was one of he bottom screws had fallen out and easily fixed, the rattle though came from the instrument cluster, the bottom fixings for the facia were broken.




so I cut these off which solved the rattle,




one of the top two fixings was also broken.




That was easily fixed with a couple of washers, for the bottom I resorted to 2 strips of foam.






Currently it has a tumble drier and dishwasher in the back for tomorrow!

replaced the Street Ka heater valve, a quick 20 minute job and nowcthe weather has gone south we have AC which works much better. Large pile of parts has arrived, new front springs, dampers, wheel bearing and a second hand knuckle/ bearing/ hub. Intention was to fit tje newcwheelbearing in the secondhand knuckle but the wheel bearing in it feels perfect and the knuckle had very little corrosion (ABS sensor even came out easily) so I don't think it's seen much use and will just fit the entire assembly, also needs 2 new front tyres, good job parts are cheap for these. On the TR we used it for a few journeys and my wife declared the ride do bad she was never getting in it again, It has 200lb dprings about a 30% up on standard and I thought the rear was hitting the rather hard aftermarket bump dtops but a quick look under the back revealed the axle is about 60mm clearvof them, then I thought I'd check the adjustable dampers, Both were on the hardest setting (I must have left them here when I freed off the adjusters a couple of years ago) the ride is transformed now, so I treated it to 4 new tyre. Her other complaint was exhaust smells, well you are never going to get rid of what comes out of the tailpipe but having the downpipes full of pin holes can't help, Rimmers still do downpipes for SD1 manifolds so that will be another £250. I also splashed out £700 on a Tornado ECM for the Range Rover, the Lucas 4CU is on it's last legs, particularly on cold start, hopefully might get some of the cost back on fuel savings as it seems to run rich everywhere except at high loads.

Fiesta passed it's MOT (after a new set of tyres as 3 had cuts through the tread to the reinforcement)

Had a play with the range rover's new ECU, starts fine but doesen't run very well at all on it, I think it may be the injectors, the old one runs much richer, which I think masks the fact they are all over the place, Tomorrow I plan to pull them all out and from the 2 sets I have make one fairly well matched set, the hoses need changing anyway so it's something thats been on the cards for a long time.

Ka MOT is next Thursday so I've also got to change, both front springs/dampers, a knuckle(wheel bearing), and steering tie rod, that's what I know about before even getting it on the ramp, so could be a busy few days!

contacted the ECU supplier and they agree it must be a ECU fault, need to package it up and send it back. In the meantime with 8 matched good injectors it's running very well on the old ECU. Today has been on the Street Ka changed both front springs and dampers, one knuckle/wheelbearing and the Fead Belt. For a almost 20 year old car it all came appart easily, only thing which broke is the ABS sensor bolt sheared off and the sensor was broken, fortunately a good one came with yhe new/secondhand knuckle.

one side done.




using the 4 poster as a spring compressor saved a lot of time.



block of wood jacked up under the spring seat made getting knuckle off easy.




other side done.




the FEAD belt was a nightmare though, no space to get to anything, even with the RH engine mount and the PAS reservoir removed it was a right fiddle, thought I might have to remove the headlamp which in turn means the bumper but after 6 or 7 attempts got it back on in the end, no more screaching now.

also started fixing a couple of body work issues, a bit of surface rust on the sill, cleaned back to shiny metal and painted with zinc primer.




front bumper where my son's camping trailer rolled into it.




aim is tidy from 5 feet away, rattle can topcoat tomorrow. and 2 new front tyres should see it through another MOT.