Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

lafors

Did the brakes on the 6er, needed doing. Wear sensor hasn't gone off but I could tell by the thickness.

Started getting the lovely grinding noise a couple of days before the new pads arrived (Ferodos), you'll see why in a second.

Here's the original thickness


Getting to the brake fluid reservoir is a pain on this car, have to remove both cabin filters and housings to get to it on the driver side.






Wheels off, two calliper bolts caps removed(at the back), two bolts out, out with the homemade calliper holding tool a.k.a. zip ties for hanging it off the spring so it doesn't hang on the brake line.

Then instead of a 60euro piston compression tool i used a 7euro 6" g-clamp.


And this is why it was squealing, no pad left at all on the inner driver side!!


Callipers cleaned of old brake dust and build up using brake cleaner... Wear a mask or you'll be inhaling it all!

Copper grease on all the contact points and some on the wheel hub ring so I don't have to hang off the wheel the next time I have to remove them.

New pads...


Other side was the same just need to replace the wear sensor too.
Took a couple of hours but I'd do it faster and cleaner next time

Discs definitely need replacement next time.

Voodoomelon

Good job, those pads were bad! My fronts need attention soon too, not because they're worn but because of a popping noise on braking at super low speeds, I think the caliper pins need greasing.

lafors

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Good job, those pads were bad! My fronts need attention soon too, not because they're worn but because of a popping noise on braking at super low speeds, I think the caliper pins need greasing.

I was told the caliper pins on the 6/7 don't need to be greased as they're not metal on metal? Maybe just cleaned?

Next job for me is the top coolant supply hose which has a leak, it actually looks like it's corroded!



Ordered up the hose and a new fan belt as the coolant was dripping on it and it's squealing on start up now. Annoying as I just replaced the fan belt recently.

fryup

replaced the spark plugs on my mitsu colt yesterday

everything honk dory, but the last SP i took out was super tight i had to use a pipe as leverage all the way ...is this normal

the engine was cool and plug looked normal

wotzgoingon

fryup wrote: »

replaced the spark plugs on my mitsu colt yesterday

everything honk dory, but the last SP i took out was super tight i had to use a pipe as leverage all the way ...is this normal

the engine was cool and plug looked normal

I'm no expert but I always change my oil and plugs myself and never came across that with multiply cars over the years. Have come across tight oil filters though.

Diabhalta

Just some messin with plastidip today...

wotzgoingon

˙ǝɯ oʇ ǝuᴉɟ ɯǝǝs sǝɹnʇɔᴉԀ

CianRyan

How was the new plug going back in?
May have been threaded or may have just been over tightened, either way it sounds like the last person to do them was an ape.

I generally wouldn't bother greasing pins unless they were looking particularly bad or if I was fitting a new caliper. If they're sliding fine I wouldn't worry. I would keep and eye on that caliper though, wear seems very uneven.

lafors

Diabhalta wrote: »

Just some messin with plastidip today...

Does it come off easily?
Like if you washed it would it just scrape off?

Diabhalta

lafors wrote: »

Does it come off easily?
Like if you washed it would it just scrape off?

No, you have to peel it off. It's like a wrap but a bit softer. I peeled off what was around and it breaks in gaps. But it has to be done carefully or you will peel off everything. I sprayed like 4 layers on it (10-15min waiting for it to dry).

I will be spraying the wing mirrors as well, paint is peeling on them and it doesn't look good so better this than the bad looking paint.

lafors

Diabhalta wrote: »

No, you have to peel it off. It's like a wrap but a bit softer. I peeled off what was around and it breaks in gaps. But it has to be done carefully or you will peel off everything. I sprayed like 4 layers on it (10-15min waiting for it to dry).

I will be spraying the wing mirrors as well, paint is peeling on them and it doesn't look good so better this than the bad looking paint.

Nice one

Where did you get it? Online or brick&morter shop?

blackbox

Replaced the auxiliary belt on my MR2 roadster this evening. (1ZZ-FE VVTi engine) Old belt had started to shred.

Using a 19mm socket you can move the tensioner pulley against the spring, however this is quite difficult to do with one hand while you try to slip the belt on with the other.

TOP TIP: I used a ratchet strap wrapped around the engine mount bracket to pull the socket handle and hold it in position while I slipped the belt over the tensioner pulley.

.

jharr100

Yesterday afternoon I installed some parking sensors ... first time doing them and I am pretty happy with the outcome. .
They were only 15 quid on ebay and the maroon colour match on the avensis is very close.
Took less than an hour too..

Harcrid

Did that myself a few years ago. Took me a long time and a lot of measuring before working up the courage to drill the holes!

jharr100

Harcrid wrote: »

Did that myself a few years ago. Took me a long time and a lot of measuring before working up the courage to drill the holes!

Absolutely, once the first hole is drilled I just measured from there. Youtube was a great help to be honest! From what I gather though, the Avensis is one of the easier cars to do , good access behind the bumper and a gromit next to where the control box can go. Its not a job I would ever rush though!

LawlessBoy

New tyres on the front of my passat this morning. Went for continental 225/40/18

shietpilot

Spent the past weekend changing the flywheel, clutch and clutch slave cylinder on my Focus. Horrible job to do and putting the gearbox back on my own was mission impossible.

I put it back together and had massive problems with bleeding the clutch. When I took out the clutch line it looked like it's missing an O-ring or something and I tried a universal O-ring the clutch line was just squirting brake fluid all over on top of the bellhousing.

Thankfully with the help of some Boardsies I got the part number for a new seal and got it sorted in the end! The old seal must have got stuck in the old clutch slave cylinder and I decided it's a good idea to throw the old parts into the bin before I had finished the job You live and learn I suppose!

I bought all the parts from my local Ford dealer and they came out cheaper than from the motor factors or anywhere I could find besides Amazon Deutschland. I decided to go with the Ford parts for peace of mind.

New clutch slave:


New DMF:


Car ready to be stripped:


Drained the old gearbox oil:


Gearbox removed:


Old clutch and pressure plate:


New flywheel, clutch and pressure plate bolted in:


Next I got the gearbox back on, tried to bleed the clutch and ran into my problems at which point I got very annoyed and stopped taking pictures. The worst part about running into problems on a Saturday night/Sunday morning is that you won't be able to find anywhere open to sell you any parts you need. I finished with the car yesterday night (Monday).

The clutch pedal feels super soft compared to before and bites very early. No more bag of spanners sounds from the flywheel at idle either

Noccy_Mondy

What was the final cost, if you don't mind me asking?

shietpilot

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

What was the final cost, if you don't mind me asking?

€510ish. I also replaced the turbo oil return pipe gaskets because I spotted they were leaking a bit!

Noccy_Mondy

shietpilot wrote:

€510ish. I also replaced the turbo oil return pipe gaskets because I spotted they were leaking a bit!

That's fair good. Cost me 900 for the mondeo last Feb, incl of labour. Went with sachs in the end.

shietpilot

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

That's fair good. Cost me 900 for the mondeo last Feb, incl of labour. Went with sachs in the end.

The Ford flywheel was GAT which is owned by SACHS, clutch and pressure plate were SACHS and the clutch slave cylinder was FTE.

wotzgoingon

shietpilot wrote: »

The Ford flywheel was GAT which is owned by SACHS, clutch and pressure plate were SACHS and the clutch slave cylinder was FTE.

That is fair good work done. Drive shafts have to come off as well don't they?
One thing I hate about working on your own car is being on the ground lying on your back so uncomfortable. A lift makes the job so much easier.

shietpilot

wotzgoingon wrote: »

That is fair good work done. Drive shafts have to come off as well don't they?
One thing I hate about working on your own car is being on the ground lying on your back so uncomfortable. A lift makes the job so much easier.

Driveshafts, cat support to give access to one of the driveshaft so naturally I removed the cat as well, chassis brace under the cat, starter, air box, battery box and all the pipework from the intercooler outlet up to the intake.

Working on the back was horrible I must admit but at least I have it sorted before the colder months

Ded_Zebra

Great work Shietpilot! Fair play to ya!

vintagevrs

Technically I didn't do anything to the car but did order a new exhaust today. I was going to go with a stainless system but when I went to a place recommended to me I didn't get a good impression from them. I also wanted something oem looking and quiet so in the end, I ordered an OEM exhaust, luckily still available. Figured oem would be oem looking!

Hopefully be here in a fortnight.

Here's the old one with optional sporty high flow side exit hole

Mister Jingles

Got these fitted recently :cool:

Mister Jingles

Also swapped out the Ford 6000 radio for a sony unit. Not the most handy job to do.

pablo128

A while back I had a blown headlight bulb, or so I thought. It turned out the connector block on the bulb had fried, and one of the wires had burned through. The wiring is contained in the headlight so it had to come out. I had wiring with female terminals there from a fuel pump so I used them to repair. They have a heavier cable so I figured they were ideal.

The whole job only took about half an hour including removing/refitting the headlight. They fly out once you know how.

Cheensbo

Was pacing around the 'dina this evening and spotted this:


Popped off the wheel and grease everywhere:


Wheel is caked in it


All cleaned off, but I cannot for the life of me find the source, the cv boot is a1, no rips or tears in it, drive is sat perfect into the stub.. any ideas?



Also, replaced the bushings in this the other day - this is the rear diff mount, now I no longer have a godawful booming clunk when I change gear


Apologies for the upways photos btw, I could have sworn I held the phone sideways

Cheensbo

This was a while back, but while I'm on a roll,

Back story: I gave the motor to a garage to fit a new clutch kit, as it's a bastard of a job and pretty much requires the engine, transfer & gearbox to come out all as one with the subframe still attached etc - I decided to pay some professionals as a job like this is waay beyond me.

3 and a half days later - job done - Picked it up and after a bit of driving I noticed the boost guage going mental with the slightest bit of throttle, popped the bonnet and discovered this:The vacuum pipe to the turbo actuator had not been replaced :mad: why? because the starter motor had been broken on the way out, and was replaced with one with a larger body that didn't allow the pipe to be re-fit :mad:



So I whipped it off:


And got out the Aldi special butchering kit:


Now I had just about enough room to re fit the vacuum pipe to allow the actuator to open the wastegate and not overboost by about 2 bar :mad:


Moral of the story? If you want something done right - do it yourself



After this I noticed a misfire and a lumpy idle, the culprit a dodgy coil boot:



Went to kilcock and got 4 'new' boots:



Wiped down the spring with a cotton bud and some rubbing alcohol and job oxo:



Got a new air filter, can you tell which is the old one?


All back together, well, after I cleaned out all of the intake pipework & intercooler with petrol, by jaysus there was some buildup of oily sludge!!


Still on the list of things to do:

New o2 sensor,
Remove factory downpipe/cat as it's fecked and replace with aftermarket downpipe & "high flow" cat.
Need to build some heat shielding all around the engine bay, particularly between the manifold, turbo and the intercooler.
I might also fashion some sort of oil catch can/interceptor to stop the blow by getting to the intake.