Topic

Getting my TF ready for an MOT next week (if the garage is still open) - Fixed the passenger door handle & replaced the rear brake light. Couldn't pry it out normally, but the lens on my old brake light was badly cracked anyway, so I could get to the push-pins once I chipped enough of the broken lens off...

Nothing on my VVC, yet, but will in a minute.

I have found a new and worthwhile home for the project 1.8i, it is going to a school catering towards difficult lads, to work on in their fully equipped garage classroom.

I have done a couple of bits on my wifes ZR160 today.
1) the bolt holding the inner cover for the VVC belt in place come out, got caught in between the belt and the cover damaging the belt and the outer cover. Luckily the outer cover damage highlighted the problem before the belt failed.
I was able to loosen the bolt holding the exhaust cam using my impact drill so didn't need to lock anything and was able to pop the belt on, took longer to take the airfilter out than replace the belt.
2) Replaced no.1 lambda probe as it was causing massive over fuelling. I had asked the garage to replace it with one I had supplied when they did some welding on one of the sills. When I collected the car they said they weren't charging for changing it as it hadn't cured the problem so must be something else.

Psacn still said the sensor wasn't reading.

So last weekend I stripped out the airfilter etc and tried a 22mm spanner on it, no chance. I went to Halfords and bought a lambda probe socket. the probe was so tight the socket would spread slightly and slip. Halfords are out of stock of deep 22mm sockets and don't know when they will have stock from China. It would seem no one else has them either but I managed to source an impact version on eBay which arrived yesterday.

I trimmed the wires off the top, caught the socket on and after a little bit of loosen/tighten/loosen etc the probe came loose.

New one in and the problem seems to be cured, only been an issue for 18 months.

Changed the oil and filter, and checked the clearance between the coolant hoses and the exhaust pipes ( the reason I lost the head gasket last year). The cable ties i had used to restrain the pipes had gone brittle from the heat, so replaced them with metal cable ties - tight enough to keep the hose away from the exhaust but not so tight as to deform the hose.

Also discovered that my rear tyres are bald : so new set of Falken 310s all round on Monday

I took the VVC out for a quick run,
front tyres are still horrible so steering is interesting but I knew it would be,
the knackered rear track arm is still knickered so rear handling is, um interesting but I knew it would be,
the tickover is still all over the place but I wasn't surprised about that either,
and the clutch needs bleeding

but the new gear change is so much nicer.

It is just a shame that of the 4 days I have been off I have been collecting a daughter from the airport after she made a Covid 19 return from Australia rather than going to New Zealand for a year, replacing the knackered macerator so said daughter has a self isolation loo, fixing wifes ZR and fixing up a work station for said wife so she can work from home as part of her companies Covid 19 reaction.

Took the hard top off now that summer has arrived, and made a replacement part for a broken air vent from an old number plate ( painted it black before fitting)

Well done..first time I looked at the pics I thought you were one of those folks with a 3d printer

I installed a new exhaust hanger on the Daytona exhaust on my wife's F. The exhaust is SS but the hangers are mild steel and the hanger was cracking. The welds may not look good but SS welding does flow like mild steel welding, seems thicker.



I also installed a Mike Satur heat shield and I added an additional layer of insulation between the heat shield and the boot floor. Hopefully the additional thermal break will reduce the temperature in the boot.

mowog73 wrote: wrote:

I also installed a Mike Satur heat shield and I added an additional layer of insulation between the heat shield and the boot floor. Hopefully the additional thermal break will reduce the temperature in the boot.

That is interesting. I am taking my rear bumper off on the next decent day to fit a rear grille. Putting a bit of extra insulation under the boot seems a sensible idea. It always gets hot in there. What did you use for insulation? I assume it needs to be pretty heat resistant.

Bruce.

BruceTF135 wrote: wrote:

mowog73 wrote: wrote:

I also installed a Mike Satur heat shield and I added an additional layer of insulation between the heat shield and the boot floor. Hopefully the additional thermal break will reduce the temperature in the boot.

That is interesting. I am taking my rear bumper off on the next decent day to fit a rear grille. Putting a bit of extra insulation under the boot seems a sensible idea. It always gets hot in there. What did you use for insulation? I assume it needs to be pretty heat resistant.

Bruce.

Its mylar foil insulation that you can buy a roll of.

I lined the boot inside with foam and aluminium sheet. Actually an exercise mat from Lidl!
That is very effective at keeping the boot cool as I lined the firewall too.

Incidentally, it also helps the fit of the carpet, lol.

Spare set of brake calipers ready to fit. Gives me a nice little project while I am stuck at home.
The front calipers are ones that have been on the car before, but were in need of drastic refurbishment.
The rears are brand new, as one of my spare set had a busted handbrake mechanism, so I decided to replace both with new.
My current front calipers are not too bad tbh but seeing as I am removing the ABS module shortly to refurbish the tray it sits on, I decided its time to cycle my brake calipers and put a nice shiny set on all round. The back calipers that are on at the moment are ready for replacement anyhow, so its a perfect time to swap them all round.
I may even remove the brake servo and repaint this too.

Sundance

Here is a shot of one of the old front calipers before refurbishment...



And after ....



And the new rears, albeit the carriers are used but scrub up well.....

Great job with the brake calipers Sundance.

I spent time last evening trying to adjust the exhaust tips on the Daytona exhaust to align and even with each other. What a pain in the butt and not the best design in terms of where the joint is. I could not get them to align properly, only close. I'm glad they are down on the car so hopefully the misalignment won't be too noticeable.