Ian's S4s refurb

[Barrykearley]

2 hours ago, Chillidoggy said:

Alignment, FFS.

Given up, gone indoors, got the gin out. Job for tomorrow. Or Barry.

You need to swear and jiggle it around shoving it hard with pelvic thrusts the works ??

[Chillidoggy]

Successful alignment after about 2 minutes of glaring and 2 - 3 shoves. Why is it that you can spend bloody hours pushing, shoving sweating and swearing, and then the next morning, two or three shoves, and it’s full insertion?*

 

 

*No euphemisms have been used in this wholly technical report.

[pete]

Wouldn't expect any less from you Ian

[Barrykearley]

I bet you spat on the lugs and forced it home. Never go in dry

[Sparky]

I even lent him my very nice tool for the job.

[Chillidoggy]

Despite suffering from a hangover, bird-flu, and a head full of snot, the wife has once again been in the garage helping out. Good girl!

Suspension is done, clutch housing buttoned up, cross member in, and exhaust frame on. Checked the turbo, no, it hasn’t fallen off yet.

[Sparky]

I hope the turbo is fully braced.  I've heard failure to do so can make your headlamps pop out.

[Chillidoggy]

17 minutes ago, Sparky said:

I hope the turbo is fully braced.  I've heard failure to do so can make your headlamps pop out.

I heard your butt will fall off and you'll get cooties.

[Chillidoggy]

Weather stopped play. Good grief, it's bloody cold out there! The most I've managed is about half an hour, and then I have to retire indoors to thaw out.

I did finish putting the translator back, but I can't check the gearchange yet, because the brake conversion is only halfway through, and I can't fit the new clutch master cylinder, so that will have to wait. In the meantime, I spotted a couple of hoses that have started to crack on the outside, one on the turbo, and the one from the charge cooler to the header tank, so I will have to replace them. This is frustrating, because in the last 3 years, I have replaced every single coolant pipe. Whilst checking underneath, I noticed the bottom radiator hose clip is not on squarely, and as I've had trouble with that weeping before, it's yet another one for the list, which seems to be growing rather than shrinking.

The tailgate is still stood up on its end waiting for the new seal to be fitted round it, but at -3 degrees, that's not gonna happen, either! And one for Barry - yes I did replace the rear crank seal. So that will no doubt be pissing out oil on start up.

[Giniw]

As for the temperature, I use that kind of petrol heater:

It really is efficient* even in a bit garage (with a high ceiling), and rather cheap to fill. It stinks a bit if you buy low quality petrol but otherwise it's quite bearable. Then you need good shoes to isolate from the ground (snow-boots are recommended if you have any ) and even a few sheets of cardboards to isolate from the ground even more.

* Of course don't hope to gain 20°C in the garage, but still, you gain a few degrees even in a big garage, and of course if you put it near you it's really hot enough.

[Chillidoggy]

I'm quite sure I'd end up setting fire to the garage with one of those!

I have a small electric fan heater, but there's only so much work it can do, and right now it's pissing into the wind. Ideally, I'd like an indirect diesel or gas heater, but they're serious money, and in any case they take up too much space. The only solution is too transport the car to somewhere warm each winter for maintenance, but as they've had snow in Spain, I think even that wouldn't be far enough south for me.

[Giniw]

Actually it's probably a good idea to not let it alone in the garage, but it's supposed to shut off if it's tilted. I haven't tried but even if you move it a bit too fast it does shut off.
It really makes a huge difference when working on the car. From unbearable to quite warm actually (like 1-4°C to 6-8°C with the thermometer in the distance, and when you are near the heater it feels warmer than in the house ^^ — ours is rated for 2400W, and we mainly put it in the low power position)

PS: and if you set fire to the garage it will be even warmer!

[Chillidoggy]

So far so good, only one small weep from a union whilst bleeding the brakes. It even has a decent pedal (according to the wife), although I still reckon there's some air in the system. Might try a pressure bleeder, although I've never needed one before it might be easier. Once that's complete, I can move onto the vacuum side of things.

[Barrykearley]

Farmyard exotics are watching with interest.

[swindon_alan]

Farmyard Exotics. Brilliant! 

[Chillidoggy]

One for Barry, as he's so keen....

Should make some more progress this week.

[Barrykearley]

[Chillidoggy]

Small update - Brakes bled, half decent pedal feel, too. This is encouraging, as it points to getting the pedal ratio correct, and I didn't want to be moving the pivot again. I also bled the new clutch master while I was at it, with the wife doing her "Updown Girl" bit once again, until her backside gets numb cos there's no driver's seat, and then I let her take a break. I'm good to her like that.

Tidied up, re-secured and re-routed the wiring around the new master cylinder, I also sleeved some of it which looked like it could chafe, and connected the fluid level warning wires. I had to move the four inboard fuses 180 degrees, as they fouled the servo, so they're now attached to the forward relay section.The original ABS plastic cover for the pump fouls the new master and servo in a couple of places, so I'll have to trim it back as I want it to look as standard as possible.

Last knockings, I thought I'd make a start on the vacuum hose, which I'd stuck on the central heating boiler this morning to warm it up to make it pliable enough to bend around corners. No way I could do it if the temperature was too low, it's like nylon when it's cold! So far things are looking good, I've managed to get the hose up to the coolant tank area, and started securing it. I reckon it'll take another half a day to finish that off.

So, that'll be a whole day, then, because there'll no doubt be some other problem waiting in the wings..........

[Chillidoggy]

I finished running the vacuum hose, or at least the hard bits, and was going great until I discovered the non-return valves I ordered area load of shite. So, I have to order some different ones, which will hold me up from finishing that particular part of the job. I moved on to mounting the vacuum pump, and have came to the conclusion that the UP28/30 pumps would have been a better choice than the UP32, due to them being physically smaller. I'll have to make some mounting spacers up tomorrow. The vacuum hose needs heating to get it to form a bend which is causing some grief, but as  nothing else is suitable for the job, I'll just have to man-up, and get on with it. I'll have to make a decision on wiring, the pump requires a decent ignition-fed live, a relay and pressure switch wiring in. I'm struggling with the ignition-fed live a little, although my thanks to @sailorbob for his advice on the subject, I'm sure I'll get there at some point.

Finished the front end off by trimming the original ABS plastic cover to suit, and I think it looks half-decent. Although the brake system is new, it kind of looks like the original, which is what I want.

[davevr6car]

Looking very good Ian......you'll be amazed with the difference when you're finished. I used a manual vacuum pump in place were the aircon pump is......creates a lot of vacuum.....keep up the good work.

[Chillidoggy]

Kicked off today’s work with some head-scratching about the vacuum pump position, and wiring. I made the decision where to take the ignition-fed live feeds from after pouring over the wiring diagrams, and hope I’ve made the right choice. I finally decided where the pump was going to sit, and machined up some spacers to raise it up off the GRP. Sadly, I neglected to take the thickness of the rubber washers I’d made into account, so I’ll have to cut the spacers down, as I need it as low as possible in order to get a smooth hose bend from the outlet into the vacuum manifold I’m using.

Meanwhile, after a debate about what else was holding up a return to the road, the wife got cracking on getting all the old adhesive off the tailgate where the original seal had been. I do need to repair the GRP holes I cut in the tailgate to remove all the old rusty shite inside before we put the new seal on, so that’s another job on the list.

Progress is definitely slower than I’d like and it seems that it’s one hurdle after another, but what the hell, it’s waaaay more interesting than the day job, so despite the setbacks I’m not unhappy!

[swindon_alan]

Is your Hoover really noisy Ian? Or are they not ear defenders?

[Chillidoggy]

Eh?

[Chillidoggy]

Started the engine today, always an anxious moment when the car has been garaged for 6 months, and Ian’s been pulling it to pieces as per usual. All was well however, no ABS lamps, and no CEL. This could of course mean I’ve either got it right, or the bulbs have both failed, however I remain optimistic. The new vacuum pump runs, although I still have some more work to finish the job off, but so far it’s all looking good. I am at the stage where I wish I’d never started, but hopefully the end result will be a good one, and others may benefit from the toil.

I also have some work to do where some obnoxious scrotebag threw what looked like a gallon of out of date yoghurt over the car, and some of the black underside of the tailgate has been discoloured as a result. I may have to spray the affected areas, as even specialist cleaning by Shan hasn’t worked. It’s such a shame I didn’t get to meet the perpetrator, I’d have loved to have had a little chat with him......

[Barrykearley]

You sure it wasn’t a seagull emptying it’s guts? I’ve had one shite on a car I was driving once - it covered the entire windscreen - over the roof and down the rear glass on a v40 estate. It might has well have chucked a 5l tin of cream gloss over the car