Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

Wise Old Elf

Small fix; I spotted I had become a one eyed monster today, front right dipped light gone. Changed the bulb, still gone. Checked the fuse, all ok.
A year or two ago, the headlight connectors had imploded, well burnt away. It's a 04 focus, MK1.
Picked up some connectors in Halfords but must have been in a hurry as I'd bodged the connections together with the existing wires. The bodged stopped working it seems, so hooked them together with proper connectors and all well again.

Toyotafanboi

In celebration of the car passing it's NCT yesterday, I said I'd treat it to the service that it was long overdue. When I bought it, the car had a full Honda service history, it had recently went over 120k kms at which point it's due an oil change, it's first ever set of spark plugs and a gearbox oil change.

I said I'd go for two of the three as the gearbox is going good and I think it's best to leave well enough alone because I'm sure if something goes wrong with the i-shift box the car will be a write off because nobody will know how to fix it, so I done the engine oil and plugs.

Also said I'd treat the bodywork to a few touch ups where necessary. There were one of two marks that were annoying me because so they were scratched down to the black plastic. I touched them up with VW LD7R grey which is pretty similar and it was also free, one of my favourite prices.









If you can't really see the touch ups, that must mean they are somewhat decent.

joujoujou

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

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[...]

Nice shoes.

Toyotafanboi

Puma Suede Classics, a timeless runner.

Atlantic Dawn

joujoujou wrote: »

Nice shoes.

I thought first you meant the Turanzas

joujoujou

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I thought first you meant the Turanzas

Didn't even notice them to be honest.

=====================

Long time overdue wheel caps for 26 years old alloys I got some time ago.

The worst thing is there's no option to buy genuine ones, and the ones you can buy, will not fit, so had to adapt what I got off ebay.

Tools required - file + sandpaper + what you see below:



Before and after:



All 4 done:



Set of stickers off ebay:



And here ya go:



Final word: I am NOT happy. Old design is not compatible with caps you can buy today. I'm pretty sure I will loose them very quickly. Anyway, I did what I could with what I was able to get, the only option I can see is to find someone who can 3D print something better. If you know someone, give me a shout.

Autochange

shietpilot wrote: »

Not many pictures but I wasn't planning to make a post

Fitted a new clutch kit to the E36


Somehow got the box back on


Picked up a chassis to front subframe X-brace


Fitted the X-brace


Resprayed the rear parcel shelf with fabric paint as it was fading from black into a purple


Picked up a new set of black leather door cards for the rear


Fitted the door cards, sprayed the C-pillar trim and fitted headrests for the rear seats


Going to go at the full headliner and get it black soon enough. Also searching for front door cards at the minute

You did the clutch on axle stands? Big respect

shietpilot

Autochange wrote: »

You did the clutch on axle stands? Big respect

Yep Not the first time and not the last

pablo128

shietpilot wrote: »

Yep Not the first time and not the last

It beats a pair of scissor jacks in fairness.:pac:

shietpilot

pablo128 wrote: »

It beats a pair of scissor jacks in fairness.:pac:

nogoodnamesleft

Started tinkering with my new car over the weekend (well new to me ). My 5 series comes with the professional package but it was running maps which were from 2014. Acquired a cable from ebay to allow me to query the car via E-Sys to permit me to install the latest mapping. Now running the latest and greatest mapping.



I also invested in a dashcam due to a number of recent incidents in addition to a huge number of people who break read lights by a considerable margin (>2sec frequently!). After much deliberation and not wanting to go messing with SD cards every time I wanted to get footage I decided to get a Blackvue DR650-2Ch which has wifi. Its also very discreet which is what I like.

I have it hardwired on a switched live circuit (same circuit as the cigarette lighter). The dash cam circuit is fused via a 2A fuse on a fuse tap (the cam itself draws only 1A collectively for both front and rear cams).


I dont know why BMW decided to put the front fuse panel a foot or so behind the dash accessible via a postbox (for the want of a better description)! I ended up removing the lower part of the dash to get the necessary room to do the wiring to wire an auxiliary 12v power point hidden in the dash end. I wrapped the 12V power point in wiring loom tape to prevent rattles and cable tied it and the excess cable to keep it tidy.







All fitted, working and discreet:

nogoodnamesleft

Both are difficult to spot: External view:

job seeker

OOOops! I forgot to post my progress here. So I'll just post the link and if you like, you can have a look!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057781018

blade1

About to NCT it right now.

blade1

And passed!
If it didn't I probably would have had a banger there on the spot!:pac:

wotzgoingon

What age do they start testing for emissions?

blade1

wotzgoingon wrote: »

What age do they start testing for emissions?

As far as I know,never on a hybrid.
Tested like an electric I think.

Atlantic Dawn

blade1 wrote: »

As far as I know,never on a hybrid.
Tested like an electric I think.

Interesting you got it there and then, have heard people testing a Prius and other hybrids and having to wait for it to come in the post as emissions can't be tested at standstill. They have possibly changed things and about time too.

blade1

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Interesting you got it there and then, have heard people testing a Prius and other hybrids and having to wait for it to come in the post as emissions can't be tested at standstill. They have possibly changed things and about time too.

Yeah they must have got more used to doing hybrids.
I mentioned it to him when I went in that the car won't rev unless in drive and he said no problem, it won't be tested for emissions.
Didn't do the normal brake test either.

Cee-Jay-Cee

eringobragh wrote: »

Agreed usual precautions taken - that tool just makes the whole job so much harder ,I should know I used to have one! Having said that the only stubborn plugs I've dealt with are the 99 fiesta ones

When putting back use piece of garden hose to thread them on to avoid cross threading then torque to manufacturer specs with some copper grease on threads.

I'm sirry but there is absolutely zero need to use a torque wrench to fit spark plugs. Put them in, tighten them up fully till the crush washer closes then unscrew it again a turn or too and re-tighten hand tight plus 1/2 a turn to be sure. They do not need to be stupidly tight and certainly no need for a torque wrench.

I've been servicing my own cars for close to 30yrs and never had a problem taking a spark plug out. Put a small dab of oil on the threads before fitting and you'll never have trouble removing them.

pablo128

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

I'm sirry but there is absolutely zero need to use a torque wrench to fit spark plugs. Put them in, tighten them up fully till the crush washer closes then unscrew it again a turn or too and re-tighten hand tight plus 1/2 a turn to be sure. They do not need to be stupidly tight and certainly no need for a torque wrench.

I've been servicing my own cars for close to 30yrs and never had a problem taking a spark plug out. Put a small dab of oil on the threads before fitting and you'll never have trouble removing them.

The plugs on older Fords are a tapered fit, and don't have a crush washer. If they are overtightened, they can be a right bastard to loosen.

It mightn't be common practice but its a good idea to torque those type of plugs.

eringobragh

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

I'm sirry but there is absolutely zero need to use a torque wrench to fit spark plugs. Put them in, tighten them up fully till the crush washer closes then unscrew it again a turn or too and re-tighten hand tight plus 1/2 a turn to be sure. They do not need to be stupidly tight and certainly no need for a torque wrench.

I've been servicing my own cars for close to 30yrs and never had a problem taking a spark plug out. Put a small dab of oil on the threads before fitting and you'll never have trouble removing them.

Sure I have the torque wrench and a pretty decent one at that anyway so no harm really torquing to specs

JohnBoy26

eringobragh wrote: »

Sure I have the torque wrench and a pretty decent one at that anyway so no harm really torquing to specs

absolutely no need to though.

joujoujou

Some manufacturers put tightening angle diagrams on the box, like below. Simple and handy.

vintagevrs

Would love to see the test conditions there claiming the difference in performance. I would have thought running the same car over and over again to a 150km/h would have at least a 1s fluctuation in times regardless of sparkplug used.

vintagevrs

The LSD in my car had lost some of it's bite and needed some new clutch plates So today with the help of a friend I dropped my diff and went at it. All went well, one hiccup with a rounded bolt prob held us up by two hours but other than that very straightforward. Immediately can tell the difference now in the behavior of the car. Very happy.

shietpilot

Good job man What size diff is that? Medium?

vintagevrs

Yeah it's medium case. The car came with a 4.1 open which was tired. The shorter ratio meant cruising was a but of a pain too with high rpm. This is a medium case LSD I put in it almost a year ago. Was told it was perfect, it wasn't.....

Should have serviced the diff before fitting it but still learning. Would have saved fitting it twice.

New gaskets and seals, new clutch plates and oil and it's running sweet now.

King of the cone next year for me now

shietpilot

Have you looked into adding an extra clutch plate for 40% lock instead of 25%? Seems like it's an easy mod on BMW LSDs, replacing a spacer with a clutch pack.

vintagevrs

Yeah it is very straightforward but I want to leave it stock to get a feel for stock first. I was looking into that and also modifying the ramp angle.

A potential issues on adding an extra clutch pack is then you have two clutches on one side and only one on the other. Some say this makes no difference and others say you get more lock on one wheel. TBH I can't get my head around it so not sure if it would have a negative effect.

I think adding an extra clutch main benefit is that it will last longer as there's 50% more material in there so should last longer.

Changing the ramp angle I believe makes the most noticable difference. Makes the most sense to me . It changes the locking behaviour as it will lock up much easier with a more shallow ramp, meaning you don't have to rag the **** out of it or dump the clutch for slidy mc drifts.