The "Today I did something to my car" thread

cgal093

Washed the Astra..

Jimbob 83

God Dar your ST is so clean compared to mine

I seriously need to black out my grilles and foglight surrounds too ><

jsd1004

Just doing a big service (4600miles) on my Lotus 340r. Replaced belt (Gates), water pump,tensioner and installed piper pulleys. Put in a PRRT. Common mod on K Series engines. Replaced the rad with an alloy one. Replaced the cat with a bypass pipe. Bled the brakes. Oil filter and oil (fuchs ProR) plugs and coolant. Copper greased the brakes. Replaced locking nuts with allen key ones on the wheels. New battery. Hope to have it out tomorrow around Limerick/Killaloe. Hope the weather holds

dharn

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

He won't get it up tonight...

he might get it up, but he wont be parking it anywhere tight !!

jsd1004

OSI wrote: »

Jesus, I thought a convertible was a tough sell in Ireland, but a Lotus 340R? Impressed by your commitment to the cause!

4600 miles in 12 years explains all..

mooman

Rich11 wrote: »

if there is CC, its another thing to worry about in an alfa:rolleyes:

No need to worry, sure the car will have rusted away to dust long before the cruise control starts giving trouble:rolleyes:

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Yesterday evening I hoovered and polished the interior, and also cleaned the interior glass. Today, when I get out of bed, I'm planning on giving the car a quick clean, polish and wax. And fitting a black vinyl sticker that goes on the rear plastic section around the lights on the boot lid. Not 100% sure if I like it, but I'll stick it on for a few weeks and see what I think of it then. Will post pics later!

166man

mooman wrote: »

No need to worry, sure the car will have rusted away to dust long before the cruise control starts giving trouble:rolleyes:

Oh will it? What do you drive?

colm_mcm

166man wrote: »

Oh will it? What do you drive?

It's something worse than a 159 , don't panic

cgal093

Rewired a new electric window switch unit on the Rover 75. Not the most exciting of jobs. Next on the agenda is fixing the electric boot release.

mooman

colm_mcm wrote: »

It's something worse than a 159 , don't panic

A 156, no cruise control or rust issues either. I feel like people tell me it's a **** car so much that it must be true

166man

mooman wrote: »

A 156, no cruise control or rust issues either. I feel like people tell me it's a **** car so much that it must be true

I own a 156 with no rust issues, my Aunt had a 1999 156 with no rust and my dad had an '04 166 with no rust. Funny that..


That said I really want cruise control though..

mooman

166man wrote: »

I own a 156 with no rust issues, my Aunt had a 1999 156 with no rust and my dad had an '04 166 with no rust. Funny that..


That said I really want cruise control though..

Its my third Alfa with no real problems apart from suspension parts, I wasn't having a dig at the cars I was having a dig at that guys attitude to adding the cruise control. I'd imagine retro fitting would be pretty simple. The 159 is surely wired for it already like the later 156 was, I could be wrong though.

L-M

166man wrote: »

I own a 156 with no rust issues, my Aunt had a 1999 156 with no rust and my dad had an '04 166 with no rust. Funny that..


That said I really want cruise control though..

Most cars you can just plug in a stalk?

Although with an Alfa you're probably better off leaving well enough alone.

166man

mooman wrote: »

Its my third Alfa with no real problems apart from suspension parts, I wasn't having a dig at the cars I was having a dig at that guys attitude to adding the cruise control. I'd imagine retro fitting would be pretty simple. The 159 is surely wired for it already like the later 156 was, I could be wrong though.

I think retro-fitting it to the 159 should be relatively trouble free. I reckon they're all wired for it anyway.

Limerick man wrote: »

Most cars you can just plug in a stalk?

Although with an Alfa you're probably better off leaving well enough alone.

I don't think I'd bother with it on the 156. Could be risky and I would rarely use it in that at anyway. Would be nice to have anyway.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

BDJW wrote: »

Yesterday evening I hoovered and polished the interior, and also cleaned the interior glass. Today, when I get out of bed, I'm planning on giving the car a quick clean, polish and wax. And fitting a black vinyl sticker that goes on the rear plastic section around the lights on the boot lid. Not 100% sure if I like it, but I'll stick it on for a few weeks and see what I think of it then. Will post pics later!

Just as a follow on to this. I fitted it yesterday afternoon (it was a nightmare to get all the bubbles out of it!). As soon as I was finished, I was really impressed. Pictures don't do it justice, it looks great in real life, and it changes the look of the back of the car. Pictures of it are below (crappy iPhone pics):

Before:



After:

Daniel S

^^



Much better imo!

L-M

Didn't like it for the first two looks, really grew on me now.

Looks good.

shortys94

Does anyone know the best method of getting mud/cow crap off car paint? Power washed car today and there is still stubborn dirt low down on the body work

MetzgerMeister

shortys94 wrote: »

Does anyone know the best method of getting mud/cow crap off car paint? Power washed car today and there is still stubborn dirt low down on the body work

Actually wash the car with car shampoo and a mitt if you care about the paint. If you don't, just use washing up liquid and a brush.

Drummerboy08

Today I lost a wheel arch liner, and realised one of the tyres has been melting away at the behind.....

shortys94

Cheers, yea I prewash with pressure washer and then use warm water and washing up liquid to scrub down, didn't realise it was so bad for paint, ill make sure to get some car shampoo tomorrow! Cheers, tried using tar remover on the dirt but didn't really do great job

MetzgerMeister

shortys94 wrote: »

Cheers, yea I prewash with pressure washer and then use warm water and washing up liquid to scrub down, didn't realise it was so bad for paint, ill make sure to get some car shampoo tomorrow! Cheers, tried using tar remover on the dirt but didn't really do great job

Washing up liquid is bad for paint because it contains quite a bit of salt. This is good for getting grease from delph and cutlery but it promotes rust on cars.

If it's Turtle Wax or Meguiar's Tar remover, you might aswell use whipped cream. They're both crap although the Meguiars one used be great and I champion everything else of theirs that I've used.

Holts tar remover is great as is Orchard Auto Care Tar cleanse.

shortys94

I'll just use the shampoo in awhile, turns out there is some on garage, hopefully that works out, I've read some differing opinions on washing up.liquid but will avoid it from now on, thanks again!

MetzgerMeister

shortys94 wrote: »

I'll just use the shampoo in awhile, turns out there is some on garage, hopefully that works out, I've read some differing opinions on washing up.liquid but will avoid it from now on, thanks again!

Not a problem! For more tips, go to the detailing sub-forum and go through the huge amount of great threads

colm_mcm

I did this

shortys94

Thanks metzgermeister, shampoo took it off straight away as opposed to the washing up liquid, will continue to use that from now on

MetzgerMeister

shortys94 wrote: »

Thanks metzgermeister, shampoo took it off straight away as opposed to the washing up liquid, will continue to use that from now on

If you wax the car, don't use wash up liquid because it strips all wax and everything like that off the paint. Car shampoo is the thing to use to protect the wax layer

shortys94

Ah cheers, was planning to wax tomorrow, il do a once over with shampoo and wax then, thanks for the heads up, hopefully post a few pics soon for first time, getting new Kenwood head unit installed, thanks again!

Tallon

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