Ian's S4s refurb

[march]

7 hours ago, ian29gte said:

I hadn't realised that there were steel spreader plates, either. It looks as though the RH side bracket fits onto the spreader and through it, but the LH side does not. I wonder what purpose they serve?

The spreader plates help with the load from the internal bracket supporting the exhaust brackets (usually the piles of rust under the boot carpet) - 12 & 12a in the picture.

[Chillidoggy]

Mark, that's a different arrangement to the S4s, which has the exhaust mounts hanging off a steel frame which in turn bolts to the gearbox. I guess it's the V8 arrangement you posted? That would explain Alan's photo, too.

[Chillidoggy]

3 hours ago, Loose Cannon said:

They are the flat clamps on the lower edge of the bumper moulding, you can then reach inside to get at the actual aerofoil hangers! It helps having long arms or someone standing to reach inside the boot

Ah, so you can release them, and get to the aerofoil brackets without bumper removal?

[rocket63]

Rear bumper is pretty straight forward to remove, but expect lots of rusty fasteners and to replace some of the stud plates. Front bumper is a 100 times worse. Fact  You will need to remove the bumper to get to the aerofoil brackets. They are not the same. See the final mage Ian.

Edited April 10, 2017 by rocket63

[Chillidoggy]

About time I had an easy job, 15 minutes, tops. Unbolted the aerofoil, and both brackets out. Ground two of the bracket nuts off in the boot, but the rest was a piece of cake, and timely too, given the state of the brackets and the rusty stud plate, as I remember Nick (fflying dog) saying his aerofoil fell off on the road. In my case, someone had put rivnuts in the brackets for the aerofoil bolts, presumably when the bumper was taken off for spraying, but the cheapskate can I-end never replaced the badly rusting brackets.

So, it is possible the replace the aerofoil brackets without removing the bumper by unbolting the lower studplate and pulling the bumper down to get your hand in.

Beer time.

[Chillidoggy]

Special note for Barry: The balance pipe from hell has now been plumbed in, bastard thing.

[Sparky]

Gauges still secure?

[Chillidoggy]

15 minutes ago, Sparky said:

Gauges still secure?

 

Awaiting refurbishment prior to being correctly secured in new dash.

[swindon_alan]

Are you getting stainless brackets now Ian?

[Chillidoggy]

The current ones have lasted 22 years, and are simple to change.

 So that's a no, then!

[Chillidoggy]

Oh, more previous bodgery!

Just finished putting the rear aerofoil back with new brackets and stud plate (painted up, Alan), when I noticed the LH rear lamp cluster is secured with only one nut. What kind of dickhead does that, FFS?

[swindon_alan]

?

[Chillidoggy]

[Chillidoggy]

Scraped the old headlining off the roof aperture today, which was a right ballache. Plus Shan had a go at treating the grey leather on the dashboard which we're still not 100% happy with, and may use the sealing spray on. She did sterling work once again!

[Barrykearley]

On 13/04/2017 at 16:37, swindon_alan said:

<img class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" data-fileid="52887" src="//s3.amazonaws.com/tlf/tlf/forums/aws_uploads/monthly_2017_04/58ef9b0a61de7_BarryDickhead.jpg.577b1408f6aeeee439ad552abdf61c48.jpg" alt="58ef9b0a61de7_BarryDickhead.jpg.577b1408f6aeeee439ad552abdf61c48.jpg"/> ?

Oi - cut it out 

[Chillidoggy]

Mr. & Mrs SteveV8 have finished the carpet sets, apart from one bit on the sills, which need a different machine foot attachment to complete. He sent me these photos earlier, and it's looking very nice!

 

[Jacques]

Looking really good!

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[eeyoreish]

Interesting that your footwell mats are one piece front to back. Mine has separate front mats and rear mats (clamped under the seats), which I assumed was original spec.

Maybe the later cars were different.

[Chillidoggy]

Steve's made them as per the pattern, which was the original carpet set, and yes, they're one-piece.

I had a sneak preview of the driver's seat a few days ago, it looks really nice.

[rocket63]

9 hours ago, ian29gte said:

Mr. & Mrs SteveV8 have finished the carpet sets, apart from one bit on the sills, which need a different machine foot attachment to complete. He sent me these photos earlier, and it's looking very nice!

 

Fabulous work.  @Steve V8

[Steve V8]

4 hours ago, rocket63 said:

Fabulous work.  @Steve V8

I just cut out the shapes, Mrs V8 should take credit, her work on the sewing machines is incredible, might try and coax her into reupholstering some seats next.

[Barrykearley]

Now that is a great idea.....

[Chillidoggy]

I finally got the charge cooler and heater pipes sorted at the front of the chassis. As part of the rubber hose replacement programme, I'd ditched the original moulded c/c hoses, in favour of some 45 degree silicone bends, barbed connectors and new rubber hose. But the four hoses cross over at the front, or at least they do on my car, so it took an age to get them to sit correctly with the clips positioned so the don't chafe other hoses, or anything else close by. I'm not entirely happy with the way it looks, but I'm sure it will work fine.

This then moved me onto replacing the GRP undershields, but afterwards I noticed the LH oil cooler plastic duct appeared to be loose. This little lot holds the two horns, and the charge cooler pipework, and having had a knocking noise from that area on occasion, I took the shield off to see what was going on. There's two bits of foam sponge glued to a couple of protrusions on the shield which help shove the cooler duct up into place, and these had become compressed over the years. I scraped the old stuff off, and fixed some new foam on both shields, hopefully curing the knocking.

It's getting near the time where I'm going to have to make a decision on what, if anything I do to the engine but I'm putting that one off at least until I can see some light at the end of the tunnel with the interior trim replacement. I'm a bit concerned that I'll lose enthusiasm if I have too much in bits at one time, and to be fair, the engine was running really well, to which Sparky will attest.

[Sparky]

Ferkrissakes drive the bloody thing.

[Barrykearley]

He's Just bloody attention seeking @Sparky don't rise to the bait.....

we all know he will be out in it breaking down soon enough