JiB|JiB +MGASTMET+

Bye all!

2011-08-12T10:50:00.000+01:00

This was fun keeping up to date, but I can't update anymore as I have sold all my vehicles!
Thanks for reading!
David

Nobody loves messing around with an MGF for four months

2011-03-08T21:59:00.000Z

In honestly the worst four months of my entire life, I finally finish meddling around with that meddlesome, finicky auto-mobile now known to my neighbours as 'you f*cking stupid car'.

In early December, I decide to relocate the MGF from my house to the destination I've been known to fiddle about with cars on now and then (my folk's driveway), and about the same time, a new engine appears! Those of you living in the UK from December - January will remember the consistently horrid weather. I remember lying on my back in snow, under an MGF, undoing seized bolts, rounding the heads off, and going through three angle grinder discs in a week. My hands now look like I've been playing 'Thumb War' with Freddy Krueger, and I am now contemplating permanently wearing gloves, as this takes the piss. There is a deep cut and scars on every bendable part of my poor, withered handies.

Here's a little breakdown of the past four months:

I attempted to remove the whole engine from the top of the car, but found the bolts impossible to do from the top, so took the subframe out from underneath,


Cold weather pictured (all over)

Subframe = free engine trolley

I treated and painted the subframe, with zinc primer, stonechip and 2 PACK PAINT. Come and get me FERRIC OXIDE!

I did some bits on the engine, and put the gearbox on!

I put the engine in the subframe and put it back in the car!!

I readied everything, started the car, and was confronted with a loud tapping noise. Pushing the clutch down stopped the noise, which later revealed I'd forgotten to tighten the clutch plate bolts! I'm not taking the engine out again, I thought, so I left the car for a couple of weeks as I couldn't handle it again in this weather, and then came back a few days ago with a determined look on my grid, and spent six hours a day on it. Gearboxes are never nice, and this was no difference. Spent two days mating the gearbox up to the engine, and getting soaked in various engine fluids. :(

Also noticed the pipes were leaking, so replaced with S/S ones, which will never leak again, I tell you:

So after everything was DONE, I started the car up again, and had no drive. A quick check confirmed one driveshaft was out. Is THIS the END, I thought, as I drove the car up and down the driveway?


Yay!

The only job left to do now is to get the hydragas suspension pumped up, as there is about 3 inches clearance under the car. I could never drive it anywhere at that height (although it does look cool - I don't know why people don't lower their F's, it looks much better), it'd seesaw on the slightest bump in the road, and as I'm surrounded by speed bumps, there is NO chance I'd get out. So the garage man with the pump will have to come down.

Here's a picture of my Metro:

It's had everything changed, but is waiting for a slot so I can get it MOT'd and on the road. I've driven it and it is indeed superb to drive, it's like the Whizzkid but less rattly. For a 10 year old car design it feels solid and eager, the K-series suits the car excellently, it'd be better with the 1.8, but I think I'll leave that for a while. I can't wait to fill it up with petrol that costs £1.30 and rising, I hope it does good mpg.

Nobody loves a Rover

2011-02-12T21:45:00.009Z

'Tis a sad moment in my car history as I say goodbye to my red Astra GSi after nearly 7 years of ownership. I wish I could've relayed it's final year in blog format, but I've been lacking enthusiasm with anything computer related, but here's the jist of of what has happened since I sold my Whizzkid.

In June 2010, the original owner of the Whizzkid contacted me and said he wanted to buy the car back. I sold it to him for a tidy sum, and looking for a new car, I peeked out from my window and saw a sad shape - my Astra. I decided to get it back on the road,
The car witnessed the road after having a paint job and several new bits,
Shortly after witnessing said road, the engine killed itself,
I sold the engine, and bought a V6, which I put in,
I realised that V6's weren't that great, and as I no longer drove in a spirited fashion, I saw no point in 30mpg driving like a grandma, so left with the option of swapping the engine for another one in sub zero temperatures (see below), I put it up for sale,
The car took ages to sell, and when I'd given up, someone came to view and drove it off,

And that's it really. There's been a lot going on, but I have another project on my hands:

It's a Rover Metro GTa with a complete GTi upgrade. I'm not sure on how it got upgraded, as it seems like it is a GTi with a pessimistic 'I'm not that great' complex. I won't delve on it too much, and just assume it's a GTi.

The differences between the GTa and the GTi are:

GTi got the same front brakes as the MGF (vented), GTa got smaller solid brakes,
GTi has damper support brackets on the front,
GTi has a rear anti roll bar,
GTi has lightening style interior, GTa has a different pattern,
GTi has side skirts and front bumper extension, these were an option on the GTa,
GTi came with seven spoke wheels, GTa had five spoke,
GTi came with a 16v multipoint injection 1.4, this may have been an option on later GTa's, but they commonly came with a 1.4 8v SPi (or earlier ones came with a carb),

It probably also had a few typical povo Rover/BL extras like rubber floor mats, cigar lighter, etc.

I had bandied around with the idea of getting a Metro and putting my old MGF's engine into it, as they have the same subframe. I've had a mysterious history of wanting something and then have someone pop up with the car for pence, and local as well. This was the case here, and selling my Astra left a huge space open for something as small and economical as the li'l Metro. Who'd have thought something as undesirable and uncool as a Metro would have been so unwanted and so destined for the scrapyard. "LOL"

Bearing in mind the car had sat for over three years, and the previous owner bought it in 2000, I was unsure what I'd find. These have a reputation for rusting, and when I turned up I expected it to just comically break in two when I opened the door, but (touch lots of wood), preliminary inspection (lying on wet pavement to tap about underneath) showed it was quite solid. It's resting place has managed to protect it from the elements, as I believe gritting the road in the winter is the reason why so many cars rust away. It has it's rust, I managed to peek along the other side and saw a length of surface rust all the way on the sill and the corner of the door. As there is a 'guard dog' loose in the area where it has been stored, I didn't want to put my appendages into anymore dog dirties.
There are good points. The engine was a main worry. I bought new petrol and put a new battery on it, and it ran on the turn of the key (after priming it with some oil). A single tap from the lifter, but what a result there.

There's also about 50 marble tiles in the boot.

So, what am I getting myself into - here are my worries:

I may have not found a severe amount of corrosion,
The MOT tester will vomit in combined hysterics/terror as it creaks up on the ramp lift,
I'll tow it home and it'll fall into bits,

I'm not worried about having to replace most of the mechanical parts on the car like running gear, but I'm wary of the scrutiny of the MOT tester. They seem so strict these days, and I don't want to end up spending more on retests than I did on the car, and that money can go on new parts for it. I'm confident it'll be OK ... sort of!

I've started buying new stuff for the car, all genuine Rover parts. I guess a new lockset and an oil filter doesn't really constitute a complete restoration, but it's a start. And the fact I opened the car with the key from my MGF had me searching for part numbers. There's a constantly revolving line of NOS parts on ebay as all the stock dwindles and motor factors attempt to shift it on for pence. I've also ordered new brakes! Woohoo!

In the next week, I'll have the oil changed, the new brakes on, the underside undersealed, the rusty arches, sill and door cleaned up, the lockset put in, the engine bay valeted (jet washed), the seats through the washing machine, and possibly change a couple of old tyres. I'm aiming for an MOT on about Wednesday, or possibly earlier. I have purchased a new A-frame towing dolly, which will come to good use, as another worry was getting gripped by the filth being towed home behind another car.

In the meantime, I have been doing a lot of work on the MGF, which involves:

Taking the entire subframe out,
Taking the engine out,
Completely renovating the subframe,
Putting a new engine in,
Putting everything back together again.

All this throughout another body breakingly cold winter. The whole thing took from mid December up until now. I've done a proper job, and taken things slowly. Also there are only a few hours of daylight. The only reason I have not finished, is because, in proper MGF fashion, things have broken along the way. The car also won't go into gear, so I've started to take the lot apart again (another couple of full days), to do something that should've taken 5 seconds in the first place - put the clutch release bearing on properly. Argh. I will update properly in coming posts, but I'm slowly realising I've done quite a bit over the past year.

If that's not enough, I cleared my garage out, and my black Astra sits in front of my house, almost looking like it's given up waiting to be put back on the road. It's definitely sick of me buying a string of red 2-door cars - losing the red Astra has given it some hope though!

Problematic MGF is (still) problematic

2010-05-03T23:55:00.003+01:00

The days are long, the flowers are blooming, the skies are blue, and it's about that time of year where I start to turn the air blue. I made a conscious effort to avoid even opening a car's bonnet for any maintenance whatsoever in the winter months (which ended up with my coolant freezing - three times), which didn't happen. I'm not going to apologise for not updating as it's been SHITE.

I didn't make much progress through the winter, apart from aging further physically, and becoming more miserable, here's why:

It was the coldest winter for decades
It wouldn't stop snowing
The snow quickly turned to three inch thick ice
My new battery died in my Whizzkid
My starter motor died in my Whizzkid
My coolant froze three times (twice in Whizzkid, once in MGF)
I got laughed at when I was walking to McDonalds for a coffee at 1am, and I slipped on ice. But I didn't just slip on the ice, I kicked my leg above my head, with a painfully loud 'shout', before crashing onto my arse.
I had the worst car to drive in winter (Whizzkid).

The MGF wasn't driven much as I believe when the coolant froze, it cracked either head or block and it was followed with constant overheating, typical of the K-Series engine.

I'm going to skip the past four or so months as it was a complete mess when it comes to cars (more going backward than forwards), and since a few weeks ago I have made a stupendous amount of progress on the WK and MGF, which I will cover in the upcoming blogs.

I cut the corrosion out of the WK (in the footwell) and welded new metal in,
Changed the manual steering for PAS 'EPAS' (electronic) steering in the MGF,
Changed the interior in MGF for red/black leather seats, and red/black steering wheel,
Painted MGF's wheels black,
Failed MGF on MOT
Rebuilt calipers on MGF

I'll leave it there for now!

Big jobs pt1

2009-10-11T13:43:00.010+01:00

The MGF has recently been throwing a load of stuff out of it's pram. It's barely been on the road, and now the water pump is leaking. Could not drive it at all, as topping up with water was a pain in the bum and possibly dangerous for the engine, so a month after it sprung a leak, I held my breath and did the neccessary belt removal to get at it!

These 16v jobs are easy, even in the ridiculously confined spaces of the F's engine bay. However, I managed to 'mess up the easy part' (tm D Blakeborough) and keep the cam locking tool on when trying to remove the crank pulley using the old (and useless) pressing the brake pedal down. The crank pulley moved, but the cams didn't, and it took about 10 teeth off the belt and -possibly- damaged the frickin' valves in the process! I carried on anyway, assuming there was no damage. Put the new pump in, new belt, timed everything up, started her up, and it's not firing on cylinder 4! Belt off again, timed up, and the cylinder is still colder than a Wizard's underpants. "JESUS" I thought, and then put off taking the flipping head off (as part of an UBER service), replacing valves, headgasket, inlet and exhaust gasket.

The 'replacement' valves - these are damaged! I can't tell!

So what was a basic 40 quid waterpump and belt service is not escalated beyond a 200 quid job, with special (and not cheap) tools I'll only ever (hopefully) use once. I checked the gasket, and it's in good shape. The dowels are also steel - they left the factory with plastic ones - a sign it's been replaced! The previous worries about overheating were possibly down to overfilling the the expansion tank. God knows with these cars.

Rewing about a month, the previous radiator had been replaced, as it had no fins left. They had all disappeared, and a trip to the scrap yard uncovered one that had a few more fins on for five quid. However, this one leaked and was falling to bits. I bent off the leaking rims, drove it for a couple of weeks, and thought I'm going to have to do this the proper way. So I put the new one in, and it still overheated (due to the water pump - which I uncovered by having a poke behind the belt cover).

And now we're at the stage where the head is off, I'm afraid to touch it as the valves close and open, but there's a strange white carbon deposit (is this normal?!) on the flat part. A kindly gent gave me his old valves to test in my engine - when I took everything off, I was expecting at least two to be bent over, but there is nothing. Like I'd replace a couple with the replacement ones, I think I'll actually buy a new set and then have someone put them in for me (while taking the tools I bought back to where they belong), and maybe skim the head if it hasn't already. Everything looks fine though. Touch wood, I might actually put the new gasket in, put the head back on, time it up like a pro, etc. I can't see any damage!

The head now sits in a big plastic shopping bag awaiting me to gather up the courage to fix it.

The other car, the Whizzkid has been performing superbly, apart from the ignition coil (original, 28 year old one) packed up. A new one was brought over by a colleague, and he even sorted my points out (shudder), and it's now running about 95%. He rocked the car back and forth while looking at the points in the distributor, which were then adjusted. Aparrently, they were closed when they should've been open. I am told I need a 'dwell meter' to get them 100%. These are ebay rarities, going for a few quid, or a motor factor jobby going for 50 quid. The car will be going away for the winter, and replaced by a rejuvinated black WOBster Astra, which is receiving parts from the red GSi, which I have now deemed 'served it's use' and has sat on my parent's drive for well over 6 months. The starter motor has seized, the wiring is playing up, and it's now time to go! :(

Li'l matey

2009-08-22T21:02:00.007+01:00

I was hoping I would'nt regret this as I really want to put my Astra on the road again, funded with the sale of my last car, and then sort out my blackie Astra, but I think two Astras are far too much, and lack of funds do not contribute to still silly insurance costs and 101 pound tax every six months, and then there's £10 per 70 miles under current (and rising) petrol prices.

It made sense that my next car could be 1.4 or less, small, old and unsual, and even 'rare'. I excelled myself and found this:

It's a 1981 Suzuki Whizzkid. It is powered by an F10A enginein the back that has a capacity of 970cc, and an enviable power output of 47bhp through the rear wheels. It is also just over 600kg kerb weight, runs on tiny 12" wheels, and has a cubic foot of storage space (including the glove box) ... without the spare wheel.

I can say the performance is spritely, kind've like a mini, or a mouse across a kitchen floor, only better. Cornering is good, although any bump will result in a shortlived rolling about in a display of comedy proportions as it eagerly (and magically) corrects itself and continues on it's way. The ride is very good, for what it is, but every bump is amplified right through your arse. Speed bumps were but a twinkle in a council Hitler's eye, and this car leaps into the air like it had sat on a pin. It's not crashy like suspension is worn out - the dampers have limited travel and it just isn't too keen on typical cratered British roads.

Speed runs out at 95mph, but I doubt I'll ever reach that. I've hit 72mph through not trying. I've driven a Land Rover that had no poke over 40mph, and reaching 60mph took minutes. This is not like that - it rolls along to it's peak easily and without too much whinging from the engine. Changing through the four gears at full pelt takes ten seconds if you're looking after the petrol, but it allegedly redlines at 7,500rpm. I'll never take it there, I just don't want to break it!

So far, I'm very happy with it. It's nice to see such an old and rare car that's been so well looked after. It has minimal rust patches - if I could imagine the car in another way, it'd be rotten. I doubt it was rust proofed on export, so it's a little miracle - there are less than 47 cars in the UK (from an initial 7,000 introduced).

If I'm being picky, it needs bigger, wider wheels, just to improve cornering grip a bit. If it's going to lose it, I don't want to be in it! I have to re-waxoyl the underneath and general cleaning up. It's mechanically sound, and I want to keep it that way! The economy is superb. I've been everywhere, and I've knowingly put ten quid in every 120 miles when it reachs 1/6 tank.

I'm afraid to take it to bits, but I'll possibly clean up some components, as they could do with a bit of painting.

Christ, I am so sorry!

2009-08-18T16:32:00.007+01:00

I have been really, really busy and sort of 'starting from scratch' with my cars, having done something I never thought I would!

In May I got rid of the Locost and all it's parts (including the engine! and wheels!). I saw it sitting there next to my Starion, and it was in the way. I had an offer, and I just took it and it was gone!

I then welded up the MR2 and stuck it on ebay. It sold for a bit more I sold it for (not recouping any costs of course). I presume the new owner broke it for parts, it had a really good engine and Koni suspension, etc. He could've tripled his money!

I then messed about with my Starion again. I changed the clutch release fork - not before having to take the gearbox out ... AGAIN, and getting covered in gearbox fluid. This stuff STINKS and will never come out of your clothes! Everything was bolted up and everything worked. Next thing was to get it back on the driveway and 'get it running!'.

To cut a long, long story short, I bought more parts for it, including everything that it could be, and I could not get it started. I got an offer and sold it in June 2009, again, for a bit more than I bought it for, but still cheap in comparison. What a confusing car that was, and what a huge amount of money I spent on it, the last amount of parts came to:

Fuel Pressure Regulator
Stainless Steel Braid Fuel Line
Air Flow Meter with box, etc
Super Unleaded

No more, the second I filled up the tank, cleaned everything, and tried to run it and it would work, it had to go.

I then went out and bought a Porsche 924 in late June. Possibly the best car I have ever owned. Apart from wear related to age (including a knocking coming from the back that I couldn't trace) and a number of electrical gremlins, it was faultless. I did 3000 miles nearly in a couple of months and even now it was a rare sight on the road and a 'headturner', even getting a comment about it being a 'shitty old Porsche'. I stuck an 80's Blaupunkt stereo in there, and removed it when I realised the speakers had long since perished. It had a bit of fiddling before I sold it in mid August when I sadly could no longer afford the petrol (although it was fairly cheap to run), the same couldn't be said about the insurance which was on 'classic' which cost me 120 pounds a year.

I am now back at square 2004 with a 1993 black Astra LSi and a flame pink 1991 Astra GSi. The former gathering a fifth yearly coat of dust in the garage with various Porsche and MR2 parts piling on top, the latter sinking on it's deflated tyres, circuitry waterlogged and malfunctioning, paintwork slowly succumbing to the rain, tree sap and sunshine. I have had an offer for it but I can't separate, although I should. It is now in the stages of needing severe care. I don't know what to label the black one - there's no doubt it will be in that garage way into the second decade.
I am selling the majority of my spare parts in my garage that I have blatantly been hording, and recycling the plastics (broken steering surround anyone?), including the 'smoov boot' that my Astra originally came with (free sale). The MGF is still here, I replaced the gear selector cable after it snapped when a stupid chavvy Aston Martin blindly and foolishly cut us up.

I am meant to be picking up a new/old car this week!

Sorry!

2009-03-12T18:15:00.002Z

I have been away from the computer a bit. This is due to finding a job etc.

However, I am now back at the Starion - it's even up in the air with the gearbox out! I also have sold the Corolla and bought an MR2 mk1 - this has had 1/2 the work done already. It needs a bit of welding, and I'm not sure if it's worthy of the scrapyard at the end of the MOT (this month).
The MGF even passed it's MOT! Hurrah!

Unfortunately, it's bad news with the Locost Seven and the black Astra. I have decided the Seven has to absolutely go, and am selling it either complete or in bits, if I can manage to not get messed around with potential buyers. The black has to go as well unless I come into money asap.

I have a new forum!

http://nibi.co.uk/phpbb/index.php

It's called Old Mitsubishi Owner's Forum! This is to add support to non-existant UK support base! See you soon!

1984 Toyota Corolla 1.3 GL

2009-02-05T10:14:00.005Z

I'm back now, I've had a little break from cars for the past month.

I saw this ugly 26 year old looking thing yesterday going for scrap metal money with road tax and MOT, and immediately wanted it.

It's 1298cc Toyota Corolla 'Liftback' on carbs. It has a brown interior. It is lacking creature comforts like air con, electric windows, power steering. In fact, it doesn't have a radio, and the wiring scares me. And it's green. Also, I haven't put any pics up of the REAR, because - goddamnit, it's beyond ugly, the ugliest rear end on a car I've ever seen.
Other than that, it drives perfectly, starts instantly on snowy, cold mornings, the ride is soft, it has no knocks, the bodywork is in A1 condition, and I think it's economical (though after 50 miles, it's not looking good from 3/4 to 1/2 tank). It also has those springy sofa like seats which I'm not used to.

Another thing is, the MGF finally passed it's MOT a couple of weeks ago.
The failing handbrake was beyond my control it would seem. I had -another- garage look at it, and they said it -might- be the brake pads and discs (which is understandable, with it losing the 'pressure'). So I did this, and then put it through the MOT at the garage that advised me. When I arrived, the man said 'it's failed on the rear brakes'.
ARGH! I could've just thrown that stupid car into the river. But then he said 'only joking, it passed'. Bastard!
I think it's now a problem with the MOT centre, and not with the car. Don't think I'll ever be going there ever again. What tester fails a car because the parking brake -WORKS- 100%, but is a few percent off the suggested level. It worked on the steepest hill I could find!

The brake discs were an utter pain to remove. Talk about 'corrosion', every nut on the back was stuck, but the brake discs were STUCK TO THE HUB! Literally welded with orange hatred.
I had to use an angle grinder, and a big hammer to crack it off. I thought I'd damaged the hub! It was a horrible job that need new bolts etc. The second side was easier as I knew what not to do. I cut a groove into the disc on both sides and drove a screwdriver into it with the hammer to crack the disc open like a nut. It worked, and everything was cleaned up and re-brakeified. This car has eaten up three cutting discs so far!

Prior to this, I drove down to London on New Year's Eve in the Astra. I never worry about the car on journeys like this, it's always proved to be fine in hot and cold weather over high miles, whatever, it just does it without complaining.
Not tonight though! While sitting in extreme traffic, I watch the temp gauge climb as usual. It was bouncing off 100 with the fan kicking in. However, one time it didn't bounce, and went right over. "The car is overheating" I said, and a minute later, I hear a WHOOOSH, assuming someone's crashed their car behind me right? The plume of steam that engulfed my car had me worried though. I lept out and pushed it to the side of the road with the assistance of some friendly Asian lads. "It's the head gasket," I though. I'm 200 miles from home on New Year's Eve, and my head gasket has gone.
I checked the oil cap. It was oily. I checked the expansion tank. It was dry, but no sludge.
Maybe I had been the luckiest man that night. A quick check with a torch, and I find a split pipe. Luckily again, I had my big tool bag in the boot. We were minutes away from a 24 hour Kwik-E-Mart place that sold big 5 litre bottles of water for 1.50 each. I bought two, repaired the pipe (it had split right next to the terminal - lucky), and filled it with water. I started the car up, and it drove again.

Returning to the car a number of hours later, I wearily drove the car home, keeping an eye fixed to the temp gauge, chameleon style. The heat from the vents was really hot, I had to keep the sunroof open to keep it bearable. Fortunately, the gauge didn't rise over normal, but it didn't stop me from being 100% paranoid all the way home. We pulled into a service station 100 miles from home to swap over, and it was then I realised I could change gear. It wouldn't even go into gear, the gear stick was loose like an arm, it could no longer be defined as a device to change gear with.
Once again, I lept out and examined the problem. The pin that holds the lever to the gear linkage had disintigrated. I despaired once again. It took 1/2 an hour to get it working again - I removed the pin that holds the rear seat in the hinge and it did the job. It didn't stop me from going through red lights to avoid changing gear though, I didn't stop until I was in front of my house.
Unlucky, but lucky I had the sense to take all my tools with me!! Amen.

I took all the interior out of the Astra as it was full of water. The holes in the bottom had lost a cap and had taken all the filthy water in over the past two years, so hopefully, it's now going to dry out.

Happy Christmas! FAIL

2008-12-25T00:49:00.002Z

Unfortunately, the MGF DIDN'T pass it's MOT yesterday.
After spending nearly 800 quid on parts (the latest of which were brand new rear calipers at 100 quid each), it failed on:

Lower arm mounting point on sill still corroded
Handbrake still under efficency
Steering arm ball joint had play

Including advisories on:

Tyre worn
Tyre worn
Rear disc scored

So, everything is cured, apart from the things I didn't fix! It's odd that they didn't pick up the advisories from the last MOT? It's a frustrating and random experience MOT's, the testers are either incompetent or just Hitlers. The handbrake should've been cured, I couldn't even push the car with it on (opposed to my dad's Fiat which could), and the sill being welded etc still needs attention? Must be somewhere else.
I have further ordered new parts and will get welding that sill again! Really wanted it ready by xmas, but never mind.

I'm going to try and put the Starion into a garage and get that sorted as well, or get the Astra sorted.

7 day mission - fail!

2008-12-20T01:30:00.002Z

Didn't get the car finished today, so won't be going into MOT tommorow!
Set about it today, with about 2 hours to do everything and the clutch master cylinder gave up. It literally didn't want to pump any fluid, after cleaning it out three times!
The flexi hose didn't work out either, it was too corroded on one end, so just used some solid brake pipe for now. It's a bit of a bodge!
Hopefully tommorow, I will get everything done for a Monday MOT. It's really, really, really pushing it now!

MGF Ball Joints pt.2

2008-12-18T19:34:00.008Z

Yay, it's time to do the other side!!!
I had a lot of difficulty removing the wheel nuts for starters. Why oh why oh why do tyre fitters use an air tool to tighten them up? I managed to to destroy the nut and had to sacrifice a socket by hammering a smaller size onto it AFTER applying a blow torch to it for 1/2 an hour. Ridiculous. The wheel then refused to budge and required a load of boots to it to shift it. This put me in the mood and I went straight for the angle grinder in preparation.

It's a bad sign when nearly every single bolt/nut has had to have an angle grinder to remove. If it didn't come off or even slightly rounded, I went at it with the grinder of doom, I wasn't wasting 1/2 an hour trying to tempt these bastards off. It's either comply or die and luckily, EVERY bolt on this side stayed put and I killed them. MWUHA. MWUHAHAHA. MWUHAHAHAHA. DIE!! DIE!!!!!

DIE!

This only took half an hour with the added trouble of -putting it back together again-. I used new nuts and bolts in the process, destroyed two -somehow- as I went along.

I removed the bolt off the steering arm (this will probably rotate so clamp it shut with a trolley jack on a breezeblock). Tap it with a hammer to release the taper. You can now move the hub around freely without having to use the steering wheel. I attacked the bolt on the bottom of the hub that connects to the lower arm. If, like me, you have little patience, you will cut a big chunk of the nut with an angle grinder - this has two advantages:

You have a choice of going further and cutting the bolt in two,
The heat an vibration will free the 'lock' that corrosion has on it.

You should use new nuts/bolts anyway, so this is the way it should be done. The top bolt on the top balljoint is easily removed, it comes straight off. The bolts holding the ARB links, which are probably broken will be corroded, so cut straight through the middle with the grinder. MWUHAHAHAHAHAHA! I even cut straight through the rubber, sending plumes of black smoke out!!!

The top balljoint has a taper, and needs a bvalljoint removing tool to separate. I tried the first one - a fork type. This didn't work (as usual), so tried the screw type. This works, as usual. They separate with a crack, with the separater usually flying out, so it's best to cower away while you tighten it up. ;)

To remove the bottom, I hammered a screwdriver into the 'clamp' (you'll understand when you see it) and pulled the hub up. It came up first time, but the other side needed some pursuading (no, I didn't attack it with the angel grinder ;) ). Usually a bit of wiggling, and more hammering screwdriver. Putting on is a pain as you have to line the bolt up in the hole.

I used my MFKB tool to remove the top ball joint. This balljoint is screwed into the top of the hub, and it's a big, mean old bastard that doesn't want to budge. It's held in by a washer that is bent up to prevent it from unscrewing ... hahahaha, it's on so tight I don't think the collapse of a star will budge it. Here is the MFKB tool:

It's called a Stilson Grip and is a plumbers tool for releasing old nuts that have sat in water for decades. It is very old fashioned and refuses to take any nonsense from stupid, stubborn nuts and bolts and you can hear it calling them rude names as it unscrews them. If it could get anymore harder, I have attached an extension bar. I reckon it has more torque than any other tool available.

I've done this type of thing to release the top nut on McPherson struts - you put a big bolt through the hole in the desk and just undo the nut (as you can see in the above picture). It works on everything, but is tricky to seat the Stilson on the 2mm wide nut. Later nuts have a wider width, and tighten is just a reversal of removing (with less feelings of impending doom). Make sure you put the new washer on the ball joint and then tighten up to a similar amount of torque (just a bit less). Congratulations, you can now put it back in the car.

As the lower arm passed the previous MOT, I left the old one on (even though I bought a new one). I don't have time to change it (one day left), and have a shed load of things to do still.

I put the ARB links on both sides, and bolted everything up (having to cut a bit of length off the bolts to prevent the steering from not moving). Look, they're nice and shiny!! But the bolts are too long, and will 'foul' the hub as it turns! (cue angle grinder).

^ Actual 24 carat gold connectors ^

Trying to get one of those clutch flexible pipes is proving to be hard and expensive. A single 8 inch bit of rubber pipe costs over 50 pounds. It's identical to brake hose (which costs under 5 pounds). Since when did British cars have such expensive parts? I went to the scrappers who have a green MGF in. I took the hose off that (and a load of unions :D ) and he didn't charge me anything for it (as is looked in a sorry state). Hopefully, I'll get the unions off and clean it up, otherwise this will be post-xmas completion. :( I will probably end up paying that 50 quid in the end though.

There is not a lot to do now. It's the clutch hose and the little tiny bits of metal needed to weld in. I can't believe I was going to get charged 350 quid ... yes, 350 quid for this?! It has taken me 1/2 an hour (including welding and filling). I'll give it spray of 1 quid primer and 5 quid Halfords 'Nightfire Red' rattle can. I'm aiming for a Saturday morning MOT, which means going back to the same place as before (the place that made up most of the faults - and the reason I'm faffing about here). Hopefully it'll sail through. If not, Sunday is there, and Monday will sort it. Fingers crossed it gets through Saturday though (which is one day away).

7 days and counting

2008-12-16T23:10:00.009Z

Today really marked the final stretch for the MGF - there is not a lot left to do, and all the parts have arrived. New ball joints, new ARB links, new pipes, new cables, new welder, new compressor, etc. I'll begin by not listing all the bad things that have happened (like spending 4 hours trying to get the bonnet open again, etc).

I started work proper on Saturday. Removing that lower arm ball joint. There are three taper rivets, which are near molten when they are put in. I had to angle grind the tops off and I left it there while I checked the brake pipes. God damn it, they WERE corroded. Not only that, the clutch pipe was worse! I released it from it's clips (all of which broke) and it cracked right open. It was totally gone. I connected the single pipe running from front to back, and thought about getting some clutch pipe - it looked thicker than the 3/8 brake pipe, and later investigating at the motor factors revealed 1/2 pipe which looked similar. But they didn't sell any unions for this pipe, so I'm going to have to be unbelievably gentle with the two that are on there and re-use them! Bloody hydraulic clutches!!

I bought some really decent Titanium drill bits to take care of those rivets. I hate the idea of drilling stuff out - I can't do wood drilling, never mind metal, but these make easy work of those rivets. 3 minutes max on each and they popped out with a few bangs of a hammer on a screwdriver. Phew! These were worrying me, I thought I'd be hear til January a la Starion, but no probs. I swapped the ball joints over (greasing everything up) and then put the hub back in place. As the ARB links had not yet arrived, I left this till later, it's an easy job anyway ... looking at the other side of the car, I noticed that link had gone as well ... good job I bought a pair.

I had to get into the bonnet, so I managed to damage (see destroyed) the mesh on the bumper). I ended up taking the bumper off (an easy job - two big bolts behind the indicators, and four more on the inside of the wheel well) and getting in through there. As I had damaged the mesh, I thought I might go down to Halfords and buy some Ripspeed grille mesh. I also bought some Mig welding gas as well, so I didn't look like a chav. It was expensive at 30 quid for a small piece, but it had to be done, and it's a small amount compared to the rest I've spent on this thing.
And to be honest, it's made a massive difference. The chrome mesh looks millions of time's better than the faded dull grey of the old! I've got enough rest for the lower grille and the side vents as well! The grille is easily cut using wire cutters (carefully, each snip is closer to another 30 quid to Halfords), and then it's just attached using screws. If this was GM, it'll have to have it's own ball joint and gasket. Good old British Leyland! Probably money well spent. Anyway, I got into the bonnet, and then to prevent any problems ...

I replaced the bonnet cable which was a 'no no' on the MOT sheet. I got it working again, but it was corroded inside and wasn't really moving anymore, and the moment I got locked out I went inside and ordered a new one. I took one look at this and thought 'This is going to be a bugger of a job on Starion proportions'. It looped from the radiator, through the bulkhead, down under the carpet, through a box section, out the other side, up behind the seats, through another bulkhead and onto the lever in the boot. It had a load of grommets, and I thought I'm going to be here til January etc etc, but five minutes later and I had it all through - I'm starting to like this car, thought I, everything is simple and in the right places. If it only takes ten minutes in total to do this and remove a bumper ... I also -hopefully- fixed the hood, as it was letting in water somewhere. Driver's seat was pretty damp and there was a ton of condensation inside. Hope this isn't the deal with convertible cars!

When I got the bonnet open, I changed the battery terminals for new ones that actully fitted 99% of the batteries out there. There's nothing like terminals -leaning- on the battery poles. They could neither be tightened or loosened. Get out! They were from Halfords, and they also went on the Starion. Might even put some on my Astra, but he gets nothing, so to hell with him. Especially cars that won't stop leaking after the sump gasket has been replaced. :( :(

While the MGF isn't nearly in the same league as the Starion for 'money spent on it', it's not far off. It's amazing how much I was working out when I had the MOT sheet - 60 quid max I think I said, and it's gone well over 10 times that now. Ball joints alone cost a bomb.

I travelled to Liverpool to purchase an ebay welder and compressor. After losing bid after bid in the dying seconds, I saw this as a 'Buy It Now' for pence so immediately clicked away. A good price seeing as if you bought them new, they'd cost just under 600 quid. I think I'll get on with the welding near the end of the week. The things that are left are (including jobs I've made for myself while repairing other things):

Replace O/S ball joint(s) (upper joint needs replacing - might do lower if I can be bothered)
Replace both ARB links (I had to use an angle grinder on one side ... )
Replace clutch pipe and be carful with one end - the hose metal is corroded!
Remove rotten metal and weld in new and use zinc primer
Waterproof/seal hood with waterproof sealing stuff
Buy handbrake cable and install

Probably a few other things I forgot to add. ;)

MGF Ball Joints Pt. 1

2008-11-16T15:52:00.004Z

As expected, the Yanks have made me (and 34 other people) redundant, over fears of maybe losing 1/999th of their previous year's profits. Apart from desperately attempting to get another job in an industry that is unaffected by financial trends - yet is shedding jobs all over the place.

The rest has been sort of trying to get the MGF ready for an MOT.

I've been going over the car, and checking against the MOT list. Most are -made up-. There is no play in the ball joints, the corrosion to the seat belt anchors point is untrue, as the mounts are on the seats. Plus, there is no corrosion on the suspension top mounts at all. What was this tester looking at exactly? I haven't checked the brake pipes, but I'd guess they're fine. Maybe he saw the lacey sill skin and just thought 'what the hell', and went ahead with a quick test full of crap while he had a cuppa tea.

Anyway, I have bought everything, and know changing all the bushes and ball joints = hugely improved ride! The bushes are in such a state, the ARB links are knackered. Getting everything apart was a pain in the arse, and once again, needed a sledgehammer, the MF-Stilson Grips and a blow torch. I used experience to know how to get rounded off bolts off and it didn't take longer than 2 hours like it used to! I hammered a smaller sized socket onto these, and carefully turned them with fire applied for about 10 minutes, and they came away no problem!

"Heat"

Every corner has upper and lower wishbones, consisting of a pair of ball joints. I'm replacing both on all corners, and all the links and bushes. You can feel how worn out they are driving the car. The whole lot are perished and dried out, like you'd get on a 50 year old boiler. I've never really working on a British Leyland car, and I'm hoping this isn't indicative of the quality on them. Rubber on a 10 year old car shouldn't looked this bad! I'm not looking forward to taking everything off in winter temperatures.

I then got the rust off everything, primed the metal, and then painted the lot in strong outdoor paint (in 'Bitter Chocolate'), and assembled everything. There is a bit of surface rust which will all be banished. :)

Goodbye Starion

2008-10-26T23:34:00.005Z

I finally said goodbye to my much detested Starion today, as it was pushed off the driveway and towed off down the road.
Here is it's new home!

It is snuggled up next to the space frame of my kit car, which I had to reposition, on my own, after measurements revealed the Starion wouldn't fit in where it was. I'll have to push it in and out to work on it, and I have to put the fuel tank back in.

The MGF has now moved out of the garage and taken it's place on the driveway. I now have an aim of within two weeks to get the car on the road, it needs for the MOT:

Two new balljoints (lower/upper)
Offside sill totally replacing
Handbrake cable sorting
Bonnet cable replacing (jams open bonnet, and can't open well enough)
Brake pipes replacing

It needs purely because it needs it:

Rear vinyl screen replacing
Seized and corroded nuts removing, and red oxide/general rust prevention
Oil change
Wing

However, I got lucky and found a green MGF in a scrappy near me, and plundered for a rear screen, leather gearknob, and gaiters (all for 20 quid - screens are £80 second hand on ebay). These were put on quite easily (although the rear screen needed rivets removing and new ones put in). The sill is in a terrible mess, you can put your finger through it on the whole length. I have purchased two cut off sills on ebay for £30 (including £12 p&p). I need to retrieve an old ebay purchase of a wing, of which the seller just couldn't be bothered contacting me over courier. I am currently bidding on a Snap On Mig-welder, so I will be able to do a few patchwork on the underside and sills etc.

Back to the Starion, I have a new AFM unit (with pipes and surround etc)., that might cure it, but once again, it probably won't (although it was the only thing that was left on when I changed the engine). I have an image of sticking it in (with everything connected up), and then starting it and it purring like a kitten. I'll kick myself (literally), but I doubt it will.

I was driving home t'other day from work feeling ill, and I exited my Astra to go in the shop, and my door departed from the body. One of the pins came out, and it didn't make me feel better as I wrestled with it to stop it ripping off under the weight. When I got home, I resorted to engine crane (these things weigh a tonne - I've done this by hand too many times), which made it a bit easier. It has been bumping the bottom of the sill when you close, and I realised the door shut wasn't positioned properly, so moving this had the door closing with a nice clunk.

I will update the blog more regularly as I do up the MGF and have a better place for the Starion. However, the nights are finally in (clocks gone forward, and it's dark by 5pm now :¬( ), so I can't do any work in the week at all.

Slow Progress

2008-10-07T19:35:00.007+01:00

Here's a compressed 10 second video summary of my month's activities on the Starion!

I haven't been looking at the car much, apart from 'looking' at it with a face of complete disgust and rage, every time I drive or walk past, with grinding teeth, etc. Fortunately, I haven't put a match to it - I did, however, smack the oil cap with a pair of mole grips. The cap disintegrated, and I spent 1/2 an hour getting the bits from inside. I also scratched the wing, as a semi accident. I didn't attempt to -avoid- scratching it, it just happened. It's not deep anyway. I can't help but think if I'd just bought that ECU from a bloke in Ireland on ebay and a new injector, I'd be driving this car. Having it running and -driving it- feels like a vague dream ... It's a very different car now, I don't look at it as a mode of transportation, more as some kind of disease, like a tumour or something. At least tumours don't take £1,500 of you, and lacerate your hands to shreds!

As a strange contradiction, I have put my Starion keys, BACK ON MY KEYRING. I keep losing them, and this adds to my fury, prior to wondering what the hell is (still) wrong with the stupid thing. Four months later, and it still sits on my parent's drive.

The past month has been spent occasionally starting the car and to be honest, getting the same results.
I have had a few interesting incidents, where I put the spark plugs on the wrong way (I was wondering why fire was coming out of the air filter pipe). I corrected this, and it's running rough.
I think a good mechanic with a bit of time could sort this out now. I'm not sure at all what is wrong with it. I changed the Knock Sensor when I received a load of bits from Australia, and haven't changed it back, maybe I should. I'm 99% certain it has nothing to do with that, but I've run out of ideas. I have set the whole thing back to standard. No dump valve or boost gauge. It's -how it was- when I bought it (only in worse condition).

I have removed the fuel tank and have put the fuel pump in the engine bay, bypassing the fuel lines and the filter (of which I have bought another of - over 100 pounds on fuel filters in three months). It's now sucking fuel out of a coke bottle. It sucks a lot. I'm not sure where it's going, but it glugs a whole 550ml bottle in seconds. Must be in the (short) fuel line ... until I went round the back, and saw it was pissing the whole lot out of the return pipe onto the floor! Wah!! The piccie to the left shows the coke bottle with rags around it (to stop it moving with the engine - and to create some kind of molotov-cocktail-esque blazing conflagration when it all goes wrong)
I'm not sure I want to put the tank back, so might actually put a 20l race tank in there, or a custom one made from aluminium with a Bosch pump.

At the moment the car isn't idling at all.

The car is actually for sale! If you want a nice clean Starion that doesn't work!

Can you see the wire running from the fuel pump to the connector in the back along the side?

My Astra sucessfully made another journey to London and back. I think the pump is on it's way out, as it's not doing well under load - or it could be spark plugs, as we have violent popping and flames from the exhaust over 4000 rpm - not good. Typically, it doesn't seem to bother it either way. :) I have so far completed over 70k miles in it!

Tramp's pee

2008-09-13T20:50:00.002+01:00

After everything is all bolted up, I am left with a bag of bolts and nuts (maybe from the old engine?), and a single pipe sticking out from the fuel tank ... where does this go? I haven't got a clue! I'm hoping it's just a vent pipe, but I don't fancy having this spurting petrol in case I roll it in some crazy situation! It has to go somewhere!
I also bound the old clutch slave cylinder, so put the new one in. The fork repair paid off, and the clutch is now HOW IT SHOULD BE. That's one job crossed out for definite.

The car is still running like shite. I believe the yellow petrol has something to do with it ... I will get the lot out and put new stuff in there. I can't remember how it got in there - it has a yellowish tinge, and I believe it's what is making it run like poo. High octane cars might not like slightly contaminated petrol. :)

All that needs to be done now is:

Flush petrol out and put new in
Repair front wing
Put brass washers on slave cylinder pipe (it's leaking)

Fork out, gearbox back in

2008-09-10T20:54:00.004+01:00

Spent the past three late afternoons getting to the bottom of the bent fork problem.

The fulcrum on it is made of a separate metal element, which has just had enough. I removed the bolts on the gearbox on Sunday night; removed the propshaft (tightest bolts ever - and turning them meant applying torque to the rear wheels ... :( ), exhaust downpipe and separated the box and retrieved the fork. At last it's out!!!

The little bugger did indeed have a totally perished fulcrum, it was totally bent inside the cavity. I carefully pulled it out, and set it up right so it wouldn't be doing this again in a hurry. I'm glad I did this, bodge jobs would've failed with the metal I was using. The fulcrum is very strong metal! It's another case of 'throttle body gasket' again. I was using tin (from a tin can) which knackered the first pedal application. The pics aren't the correct adjustment, I did that after:

Pulled out,
As it should be,
Attached to the release bearing.

Tonight I greased up the correct areas on the fork and put it back in. Aligning the box and the engine this time was a synch, as was mounting the box onto the body. It needed a jack and a bit of muscle lifting it. It's one of the reasons a car is heavy, and it's not easy lifting it into position with one hand, and bolting it up with the other, while making sure the shaft sits correctly in the flywheel. A couple of takes, and I managed everything. No fuss this time around it all bolted up properly, and I even -finished- everything, apart from torqueing the necessary bolts.

As with every job on the car, everything that is fixed, something else breaks. The old clutch slave cylinder bound on the housing - how it did this? Funk knows!

The car that doesn't want to be driven

2008-08-30T23:34:00.003+01:00

I won my ebay engine crane, and managed to drive out and pick it up on a Tuesday afternoon. It's incredible I thought I'd be driving this car round on a Sunday evening and then be going on a short holiday during the week. Neither of which happened, because,

My car is a cunt

That's it, no further points. It has got to a stage where it's just making problems to piss me off - I'm totally sure I don't even want to drive it anymore, there is not an ounce in me that is eager to drive it to and from work everyday, or even go to the shop to buy some KY Jelly for it to rape me up the arse again.
I changed the engines over in two hours. I then spent two days getting the gearbox lined up and bolted up (which has to come out again due to somehow damaging the clutch fork in the gearbox). Another day connecting everything and realising the same problems existed as previous, it can't idle and can't take any load. It's a fuelling problem (yawn). The slave cylinder on the gearbox for the clutch has also imploded. I change the filter and it runs until I decide to change the cylinder for a new (expensive) one, which doesn't work, and then I presume the filter gets blocked again and I have to spend more of my life working to pay to replace parts that last 15 minutes in this fucking wretched heap. It would piss me off to see someone getting their hands on this car and getting it driving thanks to putting a pipe on somewhere, which is why it's not dismissed from my life, and I don't have space to dismantle and sell the parts, so I am stuck with it. The two things that scare me is the time taken on car (99% of day/evenings free) and money spent - just over £1500 so far.

New engine arrives

2008-08-25T13:29:00.006+01:00

In keeping with the theme of this 'restoration' of the Starion, the retrieval of the engine went about as smoothly as a graph of my blood pressure/anger level throughout the day.

I was meant to pick it up on Monday, however, ended up picking it up at noon on a Bank Holiday Sunday. This meant arranging a van and an engine crane within three hours of getting out of bed. This was pre-arranged a few days before, but both were un-arranged such is life. This meant I had to get my engine and wheels in the boot of my Astra, which is already scraping on the arches. You can imagine what it was like on the unbelievably crappy un-kept poverty spec roads of Rock Ferry (where I picked it up).
I shredded a tyre, the cabin stank of rubber. I now have the space saver on the back, and the car looks muscular and impressive (yet, strangely, handles better than the widey spare???).

So, I finally get my poor car back to my folk's house, which must now be feeling a bit worn out by now. I remove the wheels from the car and put them alongside the pile of wheels in the corner of the driveway. This was going to be tricky I thought. While I've lifted heavier engines, I've never had to figure out a way of removing an engine from a boot two foot off the floor. I considered taking the seats out, and moving it out of the front doors, but instead got some wood and a chain.
Levering the engine out resulted in a snapped plank, and nearly breaking my neck thanks to the stack of tyres I was levering the wood against. By now, the engine had puked the remaining oil out of the dipstick pipe, and had flooded the boot and the rear sear well with the remaining coolant. I swear I am never using this car for these types of job again. I miraculously gained some strange stamina and manouvred the engine around the boot in preparation to pull it out, and over the lip of the boot. I built a platform using tyres and a board of wood. I then pulled the engine from the car, and eased it onto the platform! It was out of the car! I then moved the car forward, to prevent the bugger engine from somehow easing itself back in the boot. Another platform was built further down and the engine was eased down onto this. It was now 1 foot off the floor! A bread crate was produced, and the engine dropped into this and dragged to the safety of the corner of the driveway! Success!

In the mini-hiatus' of desperately trying to remove the engine, I changed the wheels over. I am pleased with the girth of the wheels at the back. There are two 1mm spacers on the back, but they're going to scrape on the arches (probably), but they're wide enough without. :)

I removed all my old wheels to my garage and tidied up. Tommorow I will pick up my ebay win engine crane and continue with the transplant!

Engine removal #1

2008-08-20T10:38:00.005+01:00

With the nights starting to close in, I have about two hours after work to do little bits.
I have removed the inlet manifold and basically all the piddly the stuff that needs to stay in or I don't need. I did this in 1/2 an hour, and I'm not sure if I'll even have to get under the car to do the gearbox, but probably will. I can see the mounts from above, it should be not as hard as I thought.
I then remembered I was going to try the ECU on this car to see if it's faulty!!
I'll clean the bay up and give it a quick spray and check all the wiring is okay before I put the new motor in.

I also bought a new fuel filter!

The Astra is still running, though I drove it through a Fjord (thanks to local flooding) and the temp reader now reads about 75 degrees celcius. It is also spluttering a bit, it is past a good servicing! One it will get those new panels on the back and it'll be as good as new. It'd be nice in white as well. If I could get the new panels prayed white, all it would need is the roof spraying...

FAIL

2008-08-17T16:57:00.004+01:00

I finally got a Boost Sensor, or MAP Sensor ... actually, I got one off a local Starion user, and two more off someone in Australia, along with three Knock Sensors/E101 Ingitor units.
Bear in mind, THIS WAS DEFINATELY THE PROBLEM with the car. I eagerly plumbed it into the vacuum hose and the connector, and got it running. A few laps around the block and a quick trip to the petrol station to fill up with Super Unleaded and everything seemed fine.
It was until I arrived at the same place it always cuts out (a left turn at the top of a hill), it cut out. Same thing, same place, same problem. It's not the sensor.

A couple of things since then have pushed me towards getting a new engine for the car. To be honest, I have about 20% of the passion to get it back on the road as I had when I bought the car. I suspect the problem is with the ECU, but try getting an ECU for realistic money, so the person I bought the sensor from is breaking a car near me. The second thing is, if you hadn't noticed, the engine is knackered. It spits water and soot from the exhaust, it varies from white, to black, to blue smoke on start up, which then disappears before it cuts out, it has sooted up new spark plugs, and for some reason, gauged a bit cut along the length of the cam belt. I can live with this fiendish overfuelling, but the cutting out thing is impossible to live with. I will try the ECU just to confirm my suspicions.

I now have a plan - I plan to take a week off start from Friday 22nd August.
I will buy engine prior to this, pick engine, ECU and alloys up on weekend.
Try ECU.
Car breaks down, because it's some wiring problem ...
... but in theory, it will be the ECU, and then drive it round until the overfuelling destroys the engine, at which point I will replace it with the new one!

I will keep you informed of the progress

MGF Hydrogas pumpage

2008-07-25T23:58:00.001+01:00

Today I had a bit of driving round to do. I had to:

Go to North Wales and get some bits off a scrappy Astra GSi,
Go to Mitsubishi in Sandycroft and order more parts.

The GSi was completely stripped, apart from the interior and bits of plastic I will get at some point. They had a Lancer Evolution III in there though, with the engine ready to be taken for 400 pounds. If it wasn't for the out-of-my-league aluminium gearbox fabrication and the fact I've got to further damage my body doing hard work again, and the fact my dad will have kittens if he sees me with an engine crane on his drive, I would've bought it there and then. It's on the list though!

Mitsubishi was another experience as well. They are a strange lot, who don't like to give parts numbers away (even though I made a mental note of it - and forgot it), and only order parts on chassis numbers. The place is a bit of a mess as well - for a place that sells 30k+ Lancers, they should do a bit of tidying up. I waited for 1/2 an hour for them to find out the parts number, and was then told I wouldn't be able to bring it back if it's the wrong part - which sorta goes against 50 year old Trading Standards laws, and it'd take two weeks to arrive. I decided I would order my parts from Australia, it would be quicker.

I then took the MGF up to St Helen's to get the Hydragas suspension pumped up. The car doesn't use springs, it has a pair of dampers for the front and rear suspension which have nitrogen and fluid filled spheres which keep the car level. These had emptied over the course of being stood for so long, and I'm almost betting they will be empty again and need new spheres to replace the old ones.
The car ran fine, apart the bottom literally dragging along the road for some of the way - I had to avoid speed bumps, it simply wouldn't go over them at all, I didn't realise the car was so low!

The temperature gauge came pretty close to the red line, which had me thinking the head gasket had gone - argh. When we arrived, I checked the coolant, which was boiling, but there was no sign of whitish oil contamination - the coolant was still green after over a year! When I took the cap off (carefully), a lot of air bubbles came out of the system. I let it cool down as the people pumped the dampers up. They used some kind of primitive hand pump on a box which looked like something from WWII - this injected nitrogen and suspension fluid into the car, and they measured it all round to set to a standard height.

For 25 pounds they spent 1 hour doing this - I was expecting to pay around 100. I drove home and noticed the difference - it wasn't scraping the road for starters. I was worried the car was going to seriously overheat, but there was no fluctuation on the temp gauge at all - I think there was an air lock in the coolant somewhere, and the pressure and heat expansion managed to clear it. I even went down a one way slip road after being sent the wrong way several times by my Tom-Tom.

Next on the list is replacing the brake pipes and the handbrake and bonnet open cables. I will do this when I've had a rest from messing about with cars for a bit. Was nice to have a break from something as complex and ancient as the Starion, the MGF doesn't even have ABS or PAS, it's just an engine and a fuse box.

Clippy

2008-07-19T15:23:00.001+01:00

This car is a fucking cunt

2008-07-16T21:45:00.003+01:00

THIS ... FUCKING CAR

There, I feel better now. How I hate it's randomness.

I've made no progress of late, as I haven't touched it since Saturday. I have been doing the usual web trawling - there really is not a lot of information on Starions. The forums are based on the 2.6. There is no information on the 2.0 at all. All the service manuals are American and Australian. I could say I can empathise with all the classic car restorers, but they've got it better than I have, at least there's a community - I am totally on my own with this thing, and I haven't got a clue what's wrong with it.

I'm going to try and break down what's wrong with it:

It can't idle properly

When the car is first started, 50% of the time (it's different each day), it cannot idle. Tonight, for example, the car wouldn't start. An hour into it, it was spluttering, but it wouldn't idle at all. Not sure if it was firing on all cylinders or fuel was getting through, I haven't a clue.
What it could be: Injectors, Vacuum leak, Fuel filter, ECU is not working properly, Idle Controller, etc

The boost gauge sometimes doesn't work

See previous posts - sometimes the boost doesn't read, sometimes it does. Sometimes it affects the running and idling of the car, and sometimes it doesn't.
What it could be: I've been told it could be the MAP Sensor (see bottom), the Boost Sensor, ECU.

Exhaust spits out black soot

Car spits out black soot and 'water' (?) from exhaust under load. Otherwise known as overfuelling, or fucked.
What it could be: Injectors, number of sensors, etc.

I fixed the cruise control unit that broke when I impaled my hand with a sharp implement. I used a straw from a Capri-Sun, used a smaller straw, pushed the small straw through the big one, melted the big straw to the small one, used heat-shrink tubing around the two, put it in the hole, and then used silicon sealant to seal it up. Unfortunately, I broke the homemade straw in a moment of careless-ness, and will have to use some kind of hardening compound to create a straw to put the vacuum pipe on, it was too flimsy.

Homemade straw,
in the Cruise Control Unit.
Broken home made straw in the Cruise Control Unit.

I am purchasing a MAP sensor, correct injectors and a second hand ECU, and that's it. I've been told it's the MAP sensor, as this is the symptom of the boost gauge going funny. Generally changed the vacuum hoses for proper fuel pipes (the only stuff I could get).
Here are some devices that detect vacuum, the box senses boost (and the boost gauge doesn't work with it unplugged)

Tube Vacuum Device and 'Boost Sensor'
Boost Sensor
Tube Vacuum Device (don't know what it is)
How they were plumbed in - they're loose!

So will have to get them mounted somewhere, as I was told they need to be grounded. I can't find the MAP sensor. Cleaning these up proved fruitless. The fourth picture shows two vacuum units mounted to the inside wing, and one of these has a pipe 'un-piped'. I closed it off, and it still ran like shit. I shook the fuel filter slightly and this may have improved the running, but I really am scraping the bottom of the barrel now. I'm going to try and replace the idle motor sensor for one I know works tonight.

QUNTZ!

2008-07-15T18:49:00.001+01:00

I received my first ticket today!!

I wasn't even driving it. Some c*nting job's worth planted a sticker on the car, which is taxed and MOT'd (and still on Totopop's trade insurance) for the heinous crime of:

"Reg. not conf. to regulations'

He must've been too busy as he has used punctuation to shorten his infant school scrawl. I think he means: "The registration plate is chavvy". There, it took me 3 seconds to write that.
So what this means is my perfectly readable numberplate, which was on the car I just bought, and is not being in use, while meeting the general criteria of being on the road (even though it's not in use!), will get it confiscated and crushed if I do not pay the 30 pounds fine within 14 days.

There is nice, dark place where they can stick this Fixed Penalty Notice. Up their AR$EHOLES. And it'll give them something to do retrieving it, instead of scoping the area for victimless 'crimes' such as this one. Jesus christ!

Epiphany

2008-07-12T22:53:00.005+01:00

I replaced the throttle body gasket and coolant today - coolant was orange, previous owners obviously just used water. Gave it a good blast with the hose, and used some proper coolant and de-ionised water. It's still having problems, so have decided to stick a replacement engine in there at some point AFTER I've put the proper injectors in. It's not liking something, two things maximum are not doing what it should. There is only so much you can tinker with, and it makes sense to spend 500 quid on a working engine with new gaskets and belts, and a recon turbo. If the injectors cure it, fine, but with regard to more head-scratching - I'm not interested anymore, and there is no real source of information for these cars.

The AA man said last night the Achilles heal with these cars is the engine is on steroids (he helped his mate get his on the road). I think he meant it's not matched well with the turbo. He said it's a little engine trying to be a V8. I do think it's time to renew it, regardless of the replacement it had 14 months ago. You don't know what kind of driver it has had in the past, and looking at the coolant, I think I can guess. I'd never be that apathetic with an engine. I don't have any plans to upgrade anything on the car, I like it the way it is, and the surprise on the AA guy's face when he found out it was completely standard.

I was thinking of getting rid, and getting a Mitsubishi Sapporo or a mid 80's Nissan 300ZX, but think I'll keep hold of it.

ALSO, went down to the MGF, in order to loosen some of those rusted bolts (job one on the list). Managed a couple, and then just sacked it off, wasn't in the mood! Rover used a combination of iron, salt, and water when casting these bolts, everyone is perished, while the surrounding area is fine. In comparison, my Astra, the one I always moan about has given me a few moments, but has pretty much been solid and reliable.

Recovery

2008-07-12T01:42:00.003+01:00

Car wouldn't start, with new battery or fuel. Not sure what was up with it. Replaced the Coolant Temperature Sensor. AA was called out. He claimed it wasn't overfuelling, as he couldn't smell fuel - he went round the back and then claimed he could smell fuel on turn over. It was also getting spark. Was it overfuelling? It was still spurting out that black soot. Will position a blow torch and give it a few blips.

He towed me along while I had it in second, to clear out the cylinders. After about 400 yards, the car burst into life. I took it down the motorway and hit 80 mph quite easily. I would've pushed it further, if I were not being followed by the recovery truck and my dad in his Fiat Bravo. :)
I felt the car needed some severe punishment, so when it inevitably attempted to cut fuel, or whatever it does, I floored it to red line, and it seemed to clear it. The boost gauge was doing it's thing again. Finished up at 1am.

Tommorow, check possible dry joints on 'Ignitor', and other bits!

Parts Race

2008-07-11T18:38:00.009+01:00

Here's a graph (late peak is creating humourous, but crappy early 90's graph):

Left work at 4.37pm for to head into Sandycroft, Deeside's 'Gallagher's Of Mitsubishi' and pick up my:

Coolant Temperature Sensor
Throttle Body Gasket

Exit from work was busy. Got a fairly clear run, before meeting the dreaded A57 roadworks traffic which was 1.5 miles long. My Tom Tom was telling me I would arrive at Deeside by 5.05pm.
I was greeted with more than enough of that flashing stream of red lights, and general slow-ness in the sea of crappy, injection moulded rep mobiles. I followed a Golf weaving through the traffic, as he seemed to know the quick bits.

By the time I entered North Wales, it was 5.15pm, and I was getting a 5.26pm prediction from ol' Tom Tom, and that's without taking more roadworks into consideration. I couldn't miss this AGAIN! To cut to the chase, I got there at 5.27pm, and got my stuff.

I arrived back at my folk's house to the sight of this!

If you can recollect the previous night's adventure, of course, my car was sat five miles away, in a side road. I have a plan to take my car up to the Starion. Put my Astra's battery in. Attempt to drive Starion back to Gan's house. Walk back up (with dog, it'll kill two birds with one stone), drive Astra back to Gan's house. Ponder driving Starion back to mum's house.

Here are my parts I'm hoping to fit sometime this weekend. I'm planning on returning it to either Gan's or my mum's house tonight, so won't be working on it, though I may put the new CTS in. Money is running out, so no more parts or super unleaded to go in, so I won't be trying any more journeys and new parts out for a while now.

spawn die spawn die spawn die spawn die

2008-07-11T00:05:00.011+01:00

Another day, another problem.
Car wouldn't hold idle properly, at one point it shot up to 7000rpm before I turned it off.
The spray of black soot coming from the exhaust was interesting as well. It had never done that before, and I was starting to get complacent with the same old thing, I'm glad it's catching me off guard with random faults. The soot is water (?), which quickly evaporates (?), and leaves a black powder, which can only be removed with a brush and soapy water. Been told it's overfuelling. It only sprays over 3000 rpm, which is when the secondary injector kicks in ...
Before settling down as usual, I took it out and broke down five miles from my mum's house at 22.30. Brilliant!

I bought some really thick earthing cable from Maplin. I'm told it's £3.50 for a metre. I asked for 2m of black cable for 7 pounds, I got red cable. No I want black, he then brings brown and says 'it's sort of black'. Then I'm told it's 7 quid for a metre. Argh. It looks nice and clean though. Look at the difference between old and new. I can use "jump lead" cable, which is less pretty.

Main grounding position
Old ground connector
12mm wire and battery eyelet connectors
Old wire and new wire

Hooked it up with big eyelets from Halfords (2 for 2 quid - bargain as usual ...). Cleaned up ECU connector, cleaned up a lot of things with a file and carb cleaner. ECU inside was missing a screw which earthed it to the body. Thought this would matter, but it didn't.

Here's where the boost gauge holds (photo on the left), and doesn't move. Tonight, it freed up without cutting out (photo on the right). It generally holds no boost at this level. The picture on the right is just feathering the accelerator.

Will leave work early tommorow regardless and pick up CTS, it's overfuelling, and it needs sorting. When I realise that's not the problem, I will take everything off the engine - manifolds, turbo, hoses, sensors, everything that can be unbolted.

I've nearly run out of ideas, but it might be:

CTS
Random damaged wire
Wastegate solenoid
ECU is shot (there was a bit of water on the connector)

So kiddies, it's overfuelling and it's cutting out. Are the two linked?
I'm now going to head back to my mum's house were my Astra is, as I need it for work - it's 00.20.

Maiden voyage

2008-07-09T23:01:00.011+01:00

Last night I shot out at around 00.30 and bought some cheap mineral oil (4 litres for 10 pounds) and a couple of bottles of coolant. My pa kindly shot out and got me a new filter, as I'm in Warrington and there's absolutely nothing here, and traffic is always a major pain in the ass, it's like they're making it tortuously painful to actually leave of an evening. The past six months have been spent removing a roundabout on one of the exits (the main one), and it's like being anally raped everynight. My quest to leave early to get to Deesidein North Wales (1/2 an hour away), ended up an hour's drive to get anywhere near the place, so it was again abandoned. It's at the end of the motorway, how hard can it be.

As soon as I got to the Starion, I jacked it up and got to work at draining what was possibly 1/2w oil from the sump. I had no idea water could 'water down' oil in such a way. It had emulsified, and it was good to get it out. There was more than I expected (a full 4 litres, which is capacity), but I couldn't see this on the grey dipstick as it was just so thin! And grey! It took a while for the lot to come out, about 1/2 an hour to the last few drops. I couldn't find my filter remover, so dug a screwdriver into the side and spun it round by hand. It took ages, and 'oil' (I'll call it 'grey milk' from now on) was was everywhere!! I was preying this new filter was a good fit as I had bought one from Halfords for another car not too long ago, and the thread was not cut properly, so I was left with expensive oil, going through the old filter. :(

Jesus wept, this was taking ages, so I sat off and had a brew.

Oil into bucket
Oil in bucket
DIY filter removal

When all was done I put the new filter on, and filled with oil. The last I left it last night was noticing the oil wasn't right, so I left it. It was running good, so I was hopeful. I left the car idling for 10 minutes - which is a record! The injector change and conector clean up had done something obviously - or had it? But could I actually take it out? Was it going to cut out again?

I tidied up and took it for a blast, but using no boost. It went well, a good five or so minutes to the petrol station for Super Unleaded, and a few more. I had done 4 miles in the car so far, before tonight, all ending in cut out. Tonight was different, IT WAS RUNNING! Until I floored it and it cut out - I hadn't tightened up the hose from the turbo to the filter, and it blew it clean off!

I drove up to Gan's which, and drove some more, what must've been an hour of driving.

Here's a video to show I'm not bullpoo-ing.

It was shortlived though. An hour or so into the journey, it once again, starting bunnyhopping and cut out. FFS! I thought. It started pretty quickly, and once again, cut out down the road. Each time, it started again, so I thought why not test it to see what happens.
I basically floored it, and closed the throttle and it gave a full in gutsy, blow-off, and then it cut out again! That was odd, I thought, as I don't have an external dump valve. I checked the turbo piping, and noticed the little stopper where the dump valve should be had been blown out! A quick sprint up the road to where it dumped it's load, to find the little purple Dandelion & Burdock bottle top in the middle of the road. It was put back in and I set off again.

Now it was cutting out more regularly, and I had noticed a variation in the boost gauge. Bear in mind I hadn't noticed this before, which may mean, it was a NEW problem, but there was a tell-tale sign when the car WASN'T working, and when it WAS! The picture to the right is when it's NOT working, and this is what the gauge SHOULD be doing! On idle, the boost is at '0'. In my case when everything is going fine, the gauge isn't working! It rests at -14, and I notice it creep up incrementally. As soon as the gauge is responding to what is going on, it's cutting out and the injectors are going ballistic, (as they were two weeks ago). And it IS boosting because it blew out my bottle top and the (loose) hose. I'm no turbo expert, so will have to do some checking on this.

This is a good result though - it's no longer smoking (no blue/black smoke), and even the condensation smoke (grey/white) diminished completely. Everything works, oil pressure is great, water temp is spot on (reacts to idling, speed, and using the internal heater blower), fuel consumption is just as it should be, etc. It's like my Astra, which in reflection, is so reliable, the only problems I've had with it are ones I've made myself. It has never broken down on it's own accord! It's just this, and it doesn't appear to be a major malfunction, as it's intermittent. I'd even say it was a short circuit, as it doesn't seem to be -anything- related.

Ruby

2008-07-08T20:52:00.006+01:00

Here is the MGF which is now owned by my girlfriend, which she has named 'Ruby' (due to it's colour ... red).
This was purchased in August last year. It was a recovered car, which had been abandoned by someone fleeing debts and bailiffs (not a Steve McQueen in 'The Getaway' kind of fleeing), in a secure residential car park. It had presumably been sat under a torrent of rainwater, as the front off-side corner is suffering from some rust damage, which has failed it's MOT, due to it's proximity of the seat belt anchorage. The MOT tester put his intrument through the sill. I hadn't noticed this, but did when he brought two pages of red paper after testing it.

It has failed so far on:

Hydragas dampers deflated - suspension too low!
Sill needs replacing - mount points in danger of being near to rust!
Brake pipes need replacing
Handbrake cable needs replacing
Possible new plate metal on suspension mount
New wishbone balljoint

I think that's it. When you write it down, it isn't too bad, a couple of day's work. The car really is very nice to drive, and it feels safe enough. I liked it a lot when I drove it to and back the MOT centre, even up and down the motorway, MR config cars feel totally stable.

It's grey, it's liquidy, and it's not oil

2008-07-08T20:11:00.006+01:00

I took heed of advice (not from any sane person to give the car a rest for a couple of days) to CLEAN my injector connections, and replace my 'clips' (the bit with the wire on). I used some new small files and gave them a good filing, only to remove a surface of white oxidisation and reveal shiny metal underneath. I was told this is a common problem here.

I also used screw extractors on the bolts that hold the top half of the TB in place and whipped it off. The old injectors were held in TIGHT, there was no budging them at all, and without damaging them (much) I managed to prize them out of their hidey holes, and experimented with the old and the new. The old ones DIDN'T run. One of them is definitely knackered and is open 100% (you can suck through it). The other works fine and resistance is A1. So, after messing about, the detail of which I'm not going to go into (as it's boring), I have the usual good nice running, nice idle, with normal throttle response. The pic on the left is the housing with the OLD injectors in. Notice how they look old and horrible. They were a pig to get out, and the 'o' rings leaked when put back in. I've 'binned' one of them, as it was just horrible looking.

Both injectors were stamped 'C39-1'. Without having knowledge of codes, these are designated for the 2.6 engine. The ones out of my engine are stamped 'C7Z-3'. Here are the old injectors. The one on the left is the '3' and the one horrible looking one on the right is the '1'. I ran the engine and I have to say it ran noticably better with the '3' and the '1' in place ... that was until I saw smoke rising from the turbo!

I quickly stopped the car, and checked the intercooler pipes for leaks, and then checked the oil. Immediately, I notcied something wasn't right. I could see a level on the dipstick, and closer examination revealed a watery, off-black liquid, that looked like grey milk. There was no oil in the car, apart from this stuff. What was it ... and where did it come from?

Here's the moment I saw this, but without the swearing that followed.
At around 23 seconds I stare (with the camera) at the turbo, and it sort of gets confused from there.

I came to the conclusion (though with the unbelievably random nature of this car, I wouldn't be suprised if a tramp had been pissing in my oil cap for a laugh every night), that the amount of water leaking from the throttle body gasket had got into the oil supply. I knew quite a bit had been leaking, but holy crap, not this much. I know I will be warned it might be a head gasket failure, but I know it's water contamination, as it's not 'head gaskety', I know it's not. Fortunately, I hadn't been running the car long, so I hope nothing's damaged. The turbo is fine, and I'll give it a proper servicing ... sometime next week!

I'm going to do some work on the MGF tommorow, so why don't you join me tommorow as I remove a few rusted bolts, inspect the crazy Hydragas suspension system, and check and replace the brake pipes. It's a completey different car, and it's a good laugh to drive.

Results of Idle Motor Test

2008-07-07T22:29:00.009+01:00

My MPS and ISC tested fine on the resistance meter, it's all operating. However, my sanity test is showing true signs of imminent total failure, therefore I need to take a break from the Starion for a short while.

Here's a fun test I ran: (from http://starquest.i-x.net/viewtopic.php?t=242 )

1. Engine must be at operating temperature. All accessories OFF, front wheels in forward position (Minimal RPM strain from power steering pump)
- Engine cannot be run for any periods of time lasting longer than 10 - 60 seconds.

2. After engine is warmed-up, turn ignition off.
- See entry one.

3. Loosen accelerator cable so it is completely slack
- RESULT! I CAN DO THIS!

4. Loosen TPS screws and rotate TPS all the way clockwise and secure screws
- EXCELLENT! I can undo my un-seized screws!!

5. Turn ignition switch ON for more than 15 seconds then turn OFF . (This sets ISC to it specified position.)
- YEEHA! I can turn the car to 'not engine running mode' for 15 seconds.

6. Disconnect ISC motor connector
- OKAY! I can ... no hang on wait. The ISC motor shares the same loom at the TPS (MPS will now be known as TPS from now on). How can I disconnect one, and keep the other connected, especially when the other one REQUIRES CONNECTION.

7. Start engine
8. Set idle speed with adjustment screw. (850 RPM +/- 100 RPM)

- Oh shit, I've got to start the engine. Here we go. chugga chugga chugga, idle at 200rpm, idle at 100rpm, , , , , 200 ,,, chugga chuga. Argh, not enough time to change idle 'screw'. Try again. Okay, I can't manage that, as the engine isn't idling. I'll skip this bit.

9. Stop engine
- Yep, already done for me.

10. Connect voltmeter to top terminals on TPS connector. (See page 14 -12 of Factory manual)(B)= Black & (GW=Green w/White stripe) Mike C likes to pull the rubber insulator out of the top of the connector to get a good connection on the wires. I like to use T-Pins to probe in through the top of the connector then attach with alligator adapter clips to the voltmeter
- TPS connector ... ISC connector. Which one is which ... Okay, so found the black and white/green wire! Connect new analogue voltmeter. I did what Mike C did as well.

11. Ignition switch ON do not start engine
- Okay chap. Oh god, voltymeter reads somewhere in the region of 2-4 v!

12. Loosen TPS screws and slowly turn TPS counterclockwise/clockwise to set correct voltage.
- Okay then. Twisting some.

13. Set voltage to 0.45 - 0.51 ( optimal=0.48 )
- Set it to 0.48 (as best I can with an analogue gauge).

14. Tighten TPS screws without changing setting achieved in step 13.
- Tightened!

15. Snap Throttle plate ( pull up on "throttle lever" vertically and let go ) (use throttle lever not cable incase cable kinks or binds)
- Snap!

16. Re-check and if needed re-adjust TPS to correct voltage
- Nope, it's great!

17. Re-connect ISC motor connector.
- Er.

18. Start engine
- Okay ... see 7 and 8.

19. Adjust idle to (850 RPM +/- 100 RPM)
- See above

20. Shut engine off.
- See above

21. Turn ignition to the ON position for 15 seconds then turn to OFF position
- Yes.

22. Tighten and adjust accelerator cable - 1+ mm free play
- Yes.

23. Make sure ISC control switch (just) touches stopper on throttle lever (lever accelerator cable is attached to)
- Yes.

24. Start engine
- See 18.

25. Confirm Correct Curb Idle Speed
- WTH?

RESULT = ENGINE WON'T IDLE TO DO IDLE TEST.

So, I am now onto the conclusion, that in order to at least get the idle set up properly I need to give it a few hours of preparation, and get the old injectors on just to see the difference in fuelling (I know one works).
I need to do the brake pipes on Gan's MGF, which I will put up, possibly tommorow, as it's a nice simple car to work on! Phew.

Stage One - "Entering Nightmare" stage

2008-07-07T21:06:00.004+01:00

Firstly:

a) One week into buying my SECOND multi-meter in 6 months, it has, once again, been thieved with no trace. So, back down to B & Q for -another- one. These things aren't cheap, especially when you are on the third one. This time I'm leaving it in the car.

b) I can't seem to see my Halfords screwdrivers which are good at not stripping the tops of screws, so that's handy.

-THANK YOU TWATS-

Anyway, much like Friday evening, the car is starting but ... yes okay, you should know the story by now.

I've been pointed in the direction of the IPS (or is that ISC)/MPS. Allegedly, these mean 'Idle Speed Control' and 'Motor Position Sensor' - the latter of which is the sensor for the IPS motor, or ISC? I think the MPS is also called a TPS ... 'Throttle Position Sensor'...

So it's a good idea to check this: http://starquest.i-x.net/viewtopic.php?t=242

Actually, I've also been pointed in the direction of possibly having the wrong injectors. Apparently 1987 2.0l injectors are different to 1988 2.0l injectors. They even have different colours to differentiate ... sometimes ... or sometimes they don't. So you have to get the injectors off an identical car if you are buying second hand. I have 2.6l injectors. It's doubtful they're doing any good and just adding problems to all the other problems, like the ISC not being set-up correctly, or there being a bit of carbon deposit on the 'clip' (ie. 'connector').

So we could have a car that cannot find an rpm to idle at because the ISC isn't set up and/or the primary injector is or isn't providing enough fuel or something? There also could be faults with grounds being knackered, or sediment in the fuel tank which may have knocked the original injectors out.

When I bought the car, I was warned on the advert, that this car is a nightmare. I was warned when I turned up, with a sort of half laugh (like a 'when you said you'd shagged your dog, I didn't think you were actually serious?' laugh), that the car = 'it's going to be a nightmare you know'. I was then warned once again about the similarity to a sleep induced horror scenario I was about to encounter after I handed over my money.
My actual first thoughts were 'the wiring looks dodgy, I'll solder those four wires, and she'll be running like a dream'. I felt cocky, as I thought I was getting a bargain. Everyone warned me.

Two weeks later, and I'm starting to dread hooking up my eighth multi-meter with my bloody, worn hands on a cold December afternoon, while the icy wind scoops up more of my grease stained internet print-outs, and blow them down the road, and I slip of the spanner and my knuckles collide with the block, etc. I've made progress, but it's still a non-runner. And I've had it round the block, but I still don't know what's wrong with it.

So, for some reason, I've ordered a new Coolant Temperature Sensor, and a Throttle Body Gasket which arrive in Mitsubishi/Gallagher's in Wirral at 10 am tommorow morning. I've taken the 'that might not work, so I'll replace it' method. It actually could be the CTS, but it's highly unlikely it isn't as it doesn't operate the same way as the Vauxhalls do (the CTS is the source of all problems on those - scratch on the bumper, it'll be your CTS!)

I can't do it this month, but depending on price, I am going to buy a pair of injectors brand new from the same place according to the chassis number so I can at least feel confident I'm not taming some wild stallion that is just out to kick the shit out of anything that moves. I hear they're very, very, very, very, very, (etc.) expensive, and could maybe cost more than I paid for the actual car. They might not, but I'm on good information that they could cost an obscene amount of money, which might put the car on a bit of a pause while I remortgage my kidneys.

The beginnning - 6th July 2008

2008-07-06T18:37:00.010+01:00

I hate the fact that there are seized screws bolts in my car. Every single one on the TB has seized and I doubt I'd have been able to sleep tonight at the thought of it, so I removed each and everyone, but not without a little disaster! While using light taps of a hammer/chisel on a particular screw, I went straight through the frigging TB! At least it wasn't my hand!

With everything finally off, and cleaned everything (carbon, oil, etc) up with Winn's Carb/Injection Cleaner and grease every orifice and moving part on the TB. The previous accident was replaced with the old base, and everything was assembled together with new bolts.

The gasket had also, er, 'perished'. To say the gasket would've been 'okay', would've been an insult to the entire heritage of engineering...

Here's what the official Mitsubishi Throttle body gasket looks like:

And here's what the official Mitsushitty Throttle Body Gasket looks like:

What was I thinking?! While probably not letting any coolant through, I doubt it was doing what it was supposed to do, as it was partially obscuring some of the cavities, and god knows what else.

Previous to all this malarky, I was squirting Carb Cleaner into various pipes, and took a video of the the throttle during engine running and after it cuts out. I'm not sure if it should be doing this with the engine NOT running? The car cuts out at 00.50 and it starts dancing like a worm in traction at 00.56.
... not sure what to do now, other than wait for a new gasket and Coolant Temp Sensor. I've been told to flush the whole fuel system and put new filters in, which is a good idea.

The problems - 6th July 2008

2008-07-06T04:06:00.006+01:00

Okay, so yesterday evening I was repairing a vacuum pipe on the cruise control 'controller', with one of these. It's like a screwdriver, but with a point on the end, it's very sharp, a bit like a knife ... it is a knife, I could go out and stab someone with it.

I slipped with this implement, and my brain registered:

- The thing I'm modifying has broken,
- The tool is now plunging beyond the control unit,
- My hand is holding the unit,
- I've struck my hand with the knife-like tool,
- The knife is stuck in my hand.

I immediately withdrew my hand, to find the point had plunged a couple of centimetres in the outer palm of my hand. Not just nicked the surface, it was inside my hand! I had enough time to get a photo (as I wanted a complete blog), but I had to stop the blood running first! Here's a pic though. I've had an uneasy time using it, the pain during the tap part was intense, but it's okay now. I've done this a few times, but not as bad as this. I must stop doing this now, as the next time I will lose a finger, a hand, an eye?

So, as I was saying last night, the car is running fine for about 3 minutes, before it gets to some kind of temperature defined as warm, and then it is difficult to keep going. The control relay is tapping and it's not having it. I put the old relay in with the metal cover off (just to see which relay was tapping - the fuel pump ;) ). It ran fine, before glowing red, and the spring on the relay came off in a molten glob and went straight into the carpet.
So I got the new one, and removed the huge and annoying aircon unit (one of many behind the dashboard), and then mounted it on where it was originally. Fortunately, it didn't vapourise, but it continued to tap and whatever, and not be a man about it, instead of some whinging woman of a relay. It wouldn't stay solid and was all over the place. Like at 30 degrees it's like 'ohh, i don't know what to do, oh it's too hot, i've forgotten what I'm suppose to do' etc.

With the car cutting out, and the ignition left on, the throttle control (which moves the cable when idling) is still moving erratically. It whizzing back and forth, as if the car is still idling. I can't hear properly due to to traffic and general old age, but a solenoid is clicking when the throttle control is finished. One of the three vacuum hoses on the bottom of the body is spraying a mist of petrol when removed. The body is a mass of sensors and hoses, it's difficult to determine what's in there, but I now think the problem is with either the Throttle Position Sensor, the Exhaust Gas Recirc valve (which is soon to be removed anyway), or the MPS (which I don't know what it stands for, but it sensors the position of the accelarator pedal).

And then again, it could be the Coolant Temperature Sensor, as it's temperature related.

Another annoying thing is every single screw on the throttle body (which was second hand), is seized, so I'm going to have to spend a couple of hours drilling and tapping and using GM stuff as these screws are really soft.

I will head down to my friendly Mitsubishi dealer and order some more parts. Mainly:

Throttle Body Gasket
Coolant Temp Sensor

Here is a complete thread on vacuum/idling probs:

http://starquest.i-x.net/viewtopic.php?t=1127

Nearly there - 5th July 2008

2008-07-05T22:26:00.000+01:00

I've included here a vid of the engine running, no problems at all, a bit of whitish smoke, a little spot of mayonnaise on the oil cap, just running it in - I think the fact there was little coolant in the engine may have had something to do with? The CTS wasn't grounding? Dunno, it's running fine now, apart from conking out (luckily) a few metres in front of my mum's house, but unlike last time, it ran fine shortly afterwards. I floored it, and it conked out!

I have narrowed it down to maybe an ECU or control relay problem, possibly a grounding fault? There is an erratic ticking noise from the control relay - which results in erratic idling and fueling, (which could be a receiving or transmitting fault), I'll have to look at it, it's intermittent, which means something is loose or whatever. I've arranged the ECU/CR, and it seems to make a difference. Going to remount the CR anyway.

Here's a video of the engine in full swing.

It moves around the block - sort of - 5th July 2008

2008-07-05T11:52:00.000+01:00

I rose at 8am, and was at it again by 9am on the dot. It was lashing down outside, so I donned my waterproofs, and did the timing in the light.

It wasn't as successful at the previous night - never mind cutting out under load, it wasn't even idling. An hour later of:

Using timing gun (i hate doing this) - Cuts out in various lumpiness
Taking apart throttle body again, and making sure crappy gasket is okay (will make a new one out of suitable material today ;) ) - possible difference, less roughness amongst more 100% roughness
Taking more stuff apart
Examining rotor cap - maybe improved things a bit
Putting coolant in - engine whirred as it started and it idled
Cleaned coolant temperature sensor - took full on load!!

I doubt the coolant or the rotor has something to do with, but it was now revving with no hesitation, but idling a bit lumpy - letting it drop below 1k had it jerking a bit, but it would now rev!

Here's a video of the rev needle. It doesn't seem too bad.

I was even confident to take it for the first drive - around the block! Wahey! Off boost, it's a fairly normal car, but on boost, the car is typically lovely, and as much as I dislike them, it had a nice subtle whoosh from the internal wastegate.

Alas, it was short-lived! The car was having non of it! Here's a video of the car, stuck about a mile away from the house. No load, once again. You may notice the difference in environment, and lack of oil on surface - this house has seen 15 years of oil leakage purely from me!

Now, however, we were not getting blue smoke, but black smoke - a good sign in my eyes. No more blue smoke, I presume, because no more crud in the system? If you're really into seeing black smoke vaguely being emitted from the back of a car, you can see this here!

A quick call to my brother and i'm once again freewheeling home, feeling a bit foolish as people watched the odd looking car being wheeled back on the end of a rope.

What next? I don't know. A quick check on the Starion forum, reveals 2.6 engine injectors and 2.0 engine injectors are not actually the same. But I need more than that. :?

It starts - 4th July 2008

2008-07-05T11:42:00.000+01:00

I received the parts - from a 2.5 engine (read 2.6).
I hastily put them on the car assuming it would start on the button, assuming the problem was with the parts i had just replaced, assuming there was nothing wrong with the car prior to it failing on the injector and coil. This was 8am in the morning, and the postie had just dropped off the parts at my ma's house. By 9am, I was getting spark and fuel, but it wasn't getting that bite to start it. Examination revealed the gasket between the throttle body was knackered and I thought it's never going run on fuel and water, so got another shower and headed off to work.

I spent some of the day buying gasket sheeting and making a rather crappy throttle body gasket. I knew this was the problem, so wanted to test my horrible creation out.

Arriving back at my ma's home, I got at it again - I wired the coil up correctly this time, and found new homes for the missing wires, and put my new gaskety thingy on. 5 minutes, it started in a plume of blue smoke! Not allowing any load at all, but at least voltage had found it's way to the spark plugs. It was even able to move on it's own steam (which is what it felt like), off the drive and onto it's new home, the bit road of next to the pavement.

More messing about this time, I thought about making an appearance at home, but returned 2 hours later with an assistant to keep the accelerator going. More rubbish this time, it won't take load, and more blue smoke. :( I got the timing gun out, and pretended to turn the dizzy about to see any difference, but not a lot. I left it for the night - I had a bottle of cider while sitting in the front garden, like a homey.

Here's some nice pics of the interior, which is awesome!!

Mitsubishi Starion 2.0 Turbo - 25/06/2008

2008-06-25T15:33:00.000+01:00

I have taken purchase of a 1989 Mitsubishi Starion.
It is factory, apart for the huge twin exhausts and alloys. I plan on keeping it this way, but put the original alloys on. It has the original stereo!!
Amongst the typical gadget, it has cool stuff (that normal cars don't have) like an LSD, an intercooler, proper leather bucket seats, air con, an awesome tiny boot (with compartment underneath), a new engine in May 2007, and probably more important for me, not a lot of rust.
The Astra was plagued with darned rusty arches, and has been a bug bear for me, what with getting the surface flat, and painting, and scraping them against walls, that type of thing.
The Starion has rust, but it's treatable ... but not by me. Never again! Spraying, welding and filling is an artform!
The worrying thing about the car is how tidy and clean it is.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work. It's currently at the mysterious stage, I have now scratched through my skull into my brain trying to figure out what's going on. Fortunately, I'm confident the new Ignition Coil, Injectors, Ignitor, Throttle Body, and Control Relay will solve it, as it's getting no spark, and too much fuel (1050cc injector stuck open). It has worked, without the fuel pump and throttle body lifted off (running off the pool of fuel in the inlet - with a bang), on a couple of cylinders, but that was it.

Here's a video of it 'running'.