martynw

Just wondered if anyone had tried to fix one of these up fuel pipe assemblies using the original fittings and some new nylon pipe? It is numbered A912E2335 in the parts manual, SJ say it is obsolete and make an stainless braided alternative, but I prefer the simple look of this if I can do it The inner nylon (?) tube was rubber coated, though that has perished and mostly broken up. I thought I shrink wrap would make that look about right. The long piece also had a plastic spiral wrap on, which I've removed but is perfectly resuable. Any thoughts, warnings or tips? Doh...forgot to attach the photo.

Checked out GH leather. They only have a limited number of automotive leather and warned the colours may fade if I use other stuff as they have less UV stabilisers in them. Colours weren't as good a match as Martrim anyway, so sticking with that.

Thanks - their London place is just down the road from me as well. I will have to visit.

I've found a pretty good colour match for the original leather and fabric as follows. Ochre premium hide from Martrim A wool velvet made by Kirkby Design. Details are Still FR - Natural - K5297/04 The fabric currently retails at £220 per running metre (VAT included) and is 140cm wide. It is a nice deep velvet, but being wool it isn't as shiny and plush looking as some of the others, so keeps that look of being halfway between a velvet and a fine carpet. Details of where to get the fabric and some photos below. I'm afraid the pictures in the car have a different colour cast to those outside due to the lighting, but in both cases you can see how well the three samples match up. The in car pic has the new and old fabric, leather and carpets marked with the same numbers - so 1a is the old fabric, 1 the new sample etc etc. The carpet in the photos is one of SteveV8's i had made up for another car - I'll be ordering a new set soon please Steve. https://www.kirkbydesign.com/collections/plains/still-fr/still/natural

Yes, got the diagram in the workshop manual. Brown/yellow I am happy with, it is white/yellow, pink and purple I can't make sense of. This maybe a faded colour thing, but the only pink I can find is the air con clutch control and that is the other side of the engine bay and already connected up

Bit more progress, new heat shields made up and fitted around the manifold/turbo, new SJ exhaust system fitted, last bits of coolant system fitted and tightened up, clutch connected and bled through though still to adjust, various engine bay wires connected up. Odd thing is I I seem to have some extra wires with nothing obvious to connect them to and nothing I can spot on the wiring diagram that explains them. There is this purple (probably - everything is a bit faded) wire down beside the RH petrol tank Then there is a white/yellow one in the loom that attaches to the solenoid. It also seems the brown/yellow wire that connects to the alternator was previously fitted to the solenoid (which makes no odds as far as i can see) which leaves nowhere to connect the white/yellow one - and I can't see there should have been one there anyway. And finally a pink (?) one that was hanging near the fuel pump. It comes out of the main loom behind the bulkhead at a point close to the alternator, and runs under the fibreglass engine bay lip just behind the bulkhead to the LHS of the car. Clues much appreciated... The only other headache is getting the fuel hose to the fuel pump via a filter without kinking the hose. It seems a strange arrangement having to do a 180 degree turn. If anyone has a photo of how they routed theirs I'd be grateful.

Well I've had the samples from Woolies and spent the morning at the Design Centre at Chelsea Harbour which has more fabric shops than you can ever need. Decent range of samples collected and more due in the post. Nothing is perfect, but definitely some options here. One thing I can't work out is whether the cloth and the leather were originally the same colours in the half-leather cars. The fabric always seems to look lighter now, but this may just be fading, or maybe it was always a lighter colour. Photo below shows a transmission tunnel trim piece with fairly unfaded fabric from a seat-back draped over it on the LHS and various sample swatches everywhere else. The Woolies ones are the small pieces stapled to a card at the bottom RHS. The one that looks a good colour is smooth nylon, so nothing like the right texture. Any old photos or brochures of nearly new cars in the half leather cars would also be much appreicated.

Texture is more like the moquette you get on buses or the tube in London. I've asked Woolies for some sa,please to see if I can get a good match. Will report back.

I'm pulling the interior out of a late S3 with the Lotus Gold half leather trim as it needs a retrim. All the leather has shrunk and much of it has split too. I was hoping to salvage the fabric used on the seat panels, tunnel sides, bulkhead panel and so on, but as I've removed it, it looks like even if I can get it clean, it will be horribly faded. I'd prefer to keep done the original rather than go all leather. Has anyone found a source for a good match for the fabric? It is sort of halfway between a coarse velvet and a carpet.

I didn't remove the airbox so I suppose I am only really assuming the inner flap is moving because I can see the actuator moving when I put my head under the dash. It is bloody awkward to see even then. I did at one stage put a small spanner on the end of the bar and give it a wiggle because I want convinced it was moving either. I don't know if that unstuck it or other fiddling such as replacing vacuum elbows etc did it. Might be worth a go though if you can reach it from the passenger footwell.

My S3 has a bracket underneath the tank that bolts down onto the chassis rail. The benefit of hand built cars is they can all be different I suppose.

Mine looked pretty good, plus I have given it a good coating inside with POR15 tank sealer. I'd prefer to keep the original and it is a fairly easy swap if it goes wrong, so for now I'll chance it. Still haven't found that arch insert on any of the parts lists, which is why I was so confused.

No worries - I've just found this. All makes sense now. Never again will I buy a car in a series of boxes. Probably.

Any chance of a photo? Do I need to drill holes in the engine bay sidewall? And add spacers to provide clearance from the top edge?

This seems such a simple question but I am stumped. I've got a 1985 Turbo model, but with the additional plastic expansion tank and other cooling mods set out in Service Bulletin 1987/26 (see below). From the look of the header tank, it bolts to the side of the engine bay somewhere. However I can't find any holes in the body or engine surround. I'm assuming it should end up somewhere near the front of the arch just behind the petrol tank (see photo) but can't see how. Am I missing a bracket or got completely the wrong end of the stick? Also, if anyone has a full copy of S/B 1987/26 and could upload it or provide a link it would be appreciated. I struggle to find any of the Service Bulletins online - maybe we should start a thread where people upload scans of any they have.