Ian's S4s refurb

[Sparky]

Has Shan ever considered a career in aircraft deep clean?  Waiting for a flight and watching them landing, I believe a few may need a very good seeing to today.

[Dan E]

5 hours ago, Chillidoggy said:

Nope, it’s definitely coming off, she was adamant about it. The woman is THE legend in Bickley, so who am I to argue?

FTFY 

[Chillidoggy]

7 hours ago, Sparky said:

Has Shan ever considered a career in aircraft deep clean?  Waiting for a flight and watching them landing, I believe a few may need a very good seeing to today.

I suspect that the plane may not be available until a seriously deep clean was carried out, which could take a week. This would be followed by her vetting would-be travellers prior to boarding more thoroughly than airport security. Any non-desirables would be refused boarding, and deported to Scunthorpe by stagecoach. The lucky ones permitted to board would have to remove their shoes at the door, any kids would have to sit bolt-upright with gobs firmly closed, any noise, and that’s it - they’re out. On the wing.

So, it’s a possibility but somehow I just can’t see it working.

[Dan E]

You want to try to get through airport security with half a metal head. My surgeon Robert Bentley who is a Mr, Mr, Mr ( look it up) still says it won’t set it off but it does every time 

[Sparky]

Nah, that'll be all your Sarf London bling.

[Chillidoggy]

7 hours ago, Sparky said:

Nah, that'll be all your Sarf London bling.

It’ll be the knives.

[Chillidoggy]

Dreaded binnacle job done following seat removal so I could get to the bolt. I can only imagine that the GRP removal mods I did last time aided its removal and refitting, and without damaging the new walnut dash, too. I even managed not to break the windscreen. 

Turned out there was nothing wrong with the parking brake warning lamp (and low brake fluid level warning), the lack of illumination was due to me having stuck the bulb holder in the blank hole adjacent to the brake lamp socket. I changed the original flasher relay for the new electronic version, and replaced a few more bulbs with LED’s, I’m waiting for the remainder of them to arrive this week to complete the job.

I haven’t bothered changing the dashboard lamps, but I do need a new rheostat relay, as illumination is best described as haphazard, sometimes they’re bright, sometimes not. I did ask the chap down the road from me to borrow his relay to double check, but his GT3 has no dimming facility, the lamps are either on or off. Guess I’ll have to take the plunge and order one.

[Giniw]

If you need a few typical resistances values from one which is working I can probably have a look at mine. The dashboard illumination is never very bright, but the transition is very smooth on all the range so I suspect it works as it should.

[Chillidoggy]

On 27/02/2019 at 00:20, Giniw said:

If someone wants to get rid of a few external (or internal) rims parts, please let me know

My original outer rims are surplus to requirements now.

 

[Chillidoggy]

I confess I was a bit concerned as to whether my wheels would seal properly on fitting the tyres, or whether they’d be more leaky than a government-arranged, post-Brexit, ferry contract.

Took them to the tyre garage, they all fitted ok, and so far (an hour), there’s no sign of any leakages. I’ll check them again tomorrow but if it all looks good, the Sikaflex has done a decent job. I might have over egged it a bit, and the seals weren’t as neat as I would have liked, but for a first effort, it wasn’t bad. I’m also keen to see how the new Yokohama’s perform. They look the part, and have a treadwear figure of 200, so they could well be nice and sticky.

I’ve popped the wheels back on the car to get them out of the way, and got rid of all the cardboard boxes the wheels came in, so I can actually move in there now. And so it’ll be on the the next job on the list, to finish off the LED lamp fitting. I’ll have to remove some of the GRP from underneath them, but the new LED’s still haven’t arrived yet. The ones that have look very well made, which takes a bit of the sting out of the prices.

[Dan E]

That car would make me seriously consider selling the TE, the cats and my son for. Looks stunning mate 

[Chillidoggy]

On 18/03/2019 at 17:58, Dan E said:

That car would make me seriously consider selling the TE, the cats and my son for. Looks stunning mate 

Right. Forget the son, been there done that and it’s too expensive, for the same reasons don’t even think about throwing the wife in, either.

Tell you what, I’ll take the TE (despite the lack of air-con) and the Bremont Waterman, and you’re on.

 

 

Wait, what? You haven’t got a Bremont? Deal’s off, mate.

[Sparky]

No Bremont?  Peasant.

[Chillidoggy]

Back on track, I fitted the LED headlights from Classiccarleds.co.uk. The H1 and H4 uses some kind of transformer which means it’s not a straightforward bulb swop. I found some double-sided foam pads to stick them to the inside of the headlamp pods , keeping them out of the way of the reflectors, and did the same with the connectors. The resultant light looks to be bright white, as opposed to the yellowish white from the standard bulbs. I’ll have to get them aligned when the car is back on the road, though.

i had intended putting the boot floor back in today, but as usual the pedant in me just couldn’t ignore the state of the gearbox removal infill panel, so ended up doing more GRP work to rectify it. In case Sparky’s reading this, yes, it’s up to the same standard as the chassis mount repair.

The intention is to coat the edges of the boot floor with Mirrorglaze, then use RTV on the body below, effectively forming a rubber gasket. If I get it right, this should then stay on the body should I need to remove the boot floor again. Sorry, when I need to remove the boot floor again.

I did put the battery back in, and the engine started first turn of the key, which was good. I did see a CEL, but out that down to the electrics on the solenoids being unplugged. Time will tell.

 

[Sparky]

Having spent some time over the weekend around the S4s drinking beer and shooting guns, I need to state here that his mount repair is undoubtedly the best and tidiest I've ever seen.  I suspect it's also been polished by Shan.

[Dan E]

On 24/03/2019 at 17:25, Chillidoggy said:

Right. Forget the son, been there done that and it’s too expensive, for the same reasons don’t even think about throwing the wife in, either.

Tell you what, I’ll take the TE (despite the lack of air-con) and the Bremont Waterman, and you’re on.

 

 

Wait, what? You haven’t got a Bremont? Deal’s off, mate.

I have a G-Shock 

[Chillidoggy]

7 minutes ago, Dan E said:

I have a G-String

FTFY

[Dan E]

I will chuck that in as well but Sparky has borrowed it as apparently he can’t do cambelts without it. No I don’t know why as I have never asked. Something to do with chaffing 

[Chillidoggy]

A bit of progress on the vacuum brake front. Due to the dire shortage of vac pumps earlier this year, I was forced to remove my own pump in order to fulfill a kit, and ordered another when the supply situation eased. This was all well and good, however unbeknown to me I’d managed to put the new pump box in a bag full of rubbish. Thankfully my in-house garage cleaner spotted it, called me a twat, and hooked it out of the bin bag.

So, the pump has now been refitted, and vacuum checked with no leaks. I’ve decided to revert back to the PNM 6-pot front kit for the next set of trials, so that’s next on the agenda, along with the new LED fog lamp bulbs, so I should be able to get out at the weekend for the first time in six months.

[Choppa]

Very interested to hear your verdict on the beam from your LED headlamp conversion once it's on the road again.

[Chillidoggy]

10 hours ago, Choppa said:

Very interested to hear your verdict on the beam from your LED headlamp conversion once it's on the road again.

Yup, I'm also intrigued, they look much brighter in the garage, but I need to get them lined up, and tested on the road.

I now know PNM is selling a conversion which looks very nice, but I wasn't aware of it prior to buying my LED bulbs. I think I paid about £120 for the four bulbs, but they do look to be very high quality, and fit the original headlamp shells.

[Chillidoggy]

New pair of Gaz rear dampers arrived yesterday to replace the one I found leaking. I also have the car booked in to get the headlamps lined up this morning, so will soon be able to decide whether the LED conversion has been a success. I now only have the fog lamp bulbs to fit this morning before all the external lamps are LEDs. 

[tomcattom]

How are the LEDs shaping up?

[Chillidoggy]

12 hours ago, tomcattom said:

How are the LEDs shaping up?

They lined up OK, I’ll be at the Classic & Chips meeting Wednesday night, so should be able to test them then.

[Chillidoggy]

LED conversion.

Oh. My. God.

It’s literally like night and day, and arguably the most cost-effective improvement I’ve made on the car so far. Couple it with the 4-main beam modification, and the result is truly astonishing!

I recommend that if you’re going to convert, you don’t buy cheap LEDs. I bought from https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/ superb quality kit.