Few more things done to the snot rocket ....
Discussion
1st off my seats were getting a bit threadbare on the bolster so good ol ebay and won some cheap mk2 seat covers .... mmmm velour....
good fun stripping the seats down and rebuilding them
end result tidy looking chairs again.
If your thinking of mk2 saet covers on mk1 seats ,The only difference between mk1 and early mk2 seats is the head restraint , they are slightly taller on the mk2 base cover you willl need to make a few little slits to allow the seatbelt buckle to be reattached .
then i went fly killing ....
then took the dog out...
then this morning a package from torquay arrived Cheers Aran
removed the oil pressure gauge and stuck it in my cluster
good fun stripping the seats down and rebuilding them
end result tidy looking chairs again.
If your thinking of mk2 saet covers on mk1 seats ,The only difference between mk1 and early mk2 seats is the head restraint , they are slightly taller on the mk2 base cover you willl need to make a few little slits to allow the seatbelt buckle to be reattached .
then i went fly killing ....
then took the dog out...
then this morning a package from torquay arrived Cheers Aran
removed the oil pressure gauge and stuck it in my cluster
OllieWinchester said:
Good work there. I absolutely love having a 'real' pressure gauge, gives you a much better insight as to whats happening in the engine, especially in terms of warming up.
absolutely. Just thinking aloud. Would the sender need replacing aswell? Does an OE gauge work "digital mode" i.e. pressure or no pressure or can it read across a range?
Edited by tuttle on Tuesday 7th July 18:14
Let us know how you get on with the "real" pressure gauge in there.
It's one of the few things I don't like about the later Mk1s - a proper oil pressure gauge is the petrolheads' equivalent of a masonic symbol; a dial that to maybe 98% of the population means nothing and seems to move about at random, but to "the few" is an instant car health meter and auxiliary temperature gauge.
Regarding seats, I seem to be one of an (apparently privileged few) set of people to be on original seats with no rips or tears in my Mk1. I guess it's just had a string of exceptionally light and thin owners. :-)
It's one of the few things I don't like about the later Mk1s - a proper oil pressure gauge is the petrolheads' equivalent of a masonic symbol; a dial that to maybe 98% of the population means nothing and seems to move about at random, but to "the few" is an instant car health meter and auxiliary temperature gauge.
Regarding seats, I seem to be one of an (apparently privileged few) set of people to be on original seats with no rips or tears in my Mk1. I guess it's just had a string of exceptionally light and thin owners. :-)
Luckily mine has a proper pressure gauge, and yes, it does give a very useful indication of how your running.
I'd be interested to know how long the seat swap took?
Did you do anything to the foam? My squabs feel a bit squidgy, but I'm not sure if thats standard or whether the foam has softened/collapsed a bit.
Mr drivers seat is just about starting to show wear aswell, so I'm interested in some seat repair action.
I'd be interested to know how long the seat swap took?
Did you do anything to the foam? My squabs feel a bit squidgy, but I'm not sure if thats standard or whether the foam has softened/collapsed a bit.
Mr drivers seat is just about starting to show wear aswell, so I'm interested in some seat repair action.
Cant stop watching the bloody pressure guage now ! ive noticed coming home tonight i had better pressure in the cooler air than i did the hot air earlier , either that or im looking at it the wrong way !
Snot , the seats take about an hour each , you will need small and medium cable ties because you will need to pull out the hog rings to remove the old covers , you do need to strip the seats right down but its not a bad job , looks scarier than it is
Snot , the seats take about an hour each , you will need small and medium cable ties because you will need to pull out the hog rings to remove the old covers , you do need to strip the seats right down but its not a bad job , looks scarier than it is
You will need the sender as well off a 1.6 to get the guage to work .
to fit it you need to snap the terminal off the old sender get a 26mm i think socket on it to remove it ,
when fitting the new one put some thread lock on it but not too close to the front and wind it in and nip it up with a large socket on the back.
it only has to be tightened to 13nm so not too tight i went hand tight then just gave it a little more on a ratchet.
to fit it you need to snap the terminal off the old sender get a 26mm i think socket on it to remove it ,
when fitting the new one put some thread lock on it but not too close to the front and wind it in and nip it up with a large socket on the back.
it only has to be tightened to 13nm so not too tight i went hand tight then just gave it a little more on a ratchet.
DennisTheMenace said:
Cant stop watching the bloody pressure guage now ! ive noticed coming home tonight i had better pressure in the cooler air than i did the hot air earlier , either that or im looking at it the wrong way !
Shirly the warmer oil is the less pressure it needs to be under to acheive the same flow....assuming it's viscosity drops with increased temperature....which shouldn't happen a lot with fully synth oil but probably a little bit.I'm no expert mind.
, as long as its reading thats the main thing When i 1st start it goes all the way up to just below 6 then as it warms it sits around 4 and idles when warm is between 0 and 2 so 1 , don't take the reading as gospel , if in doubt get the oil pressure checked with a mechanical guage
Edited by DennisTheMenace on Wednesday 8th July 16:13
DennisTheMenace said:
When i 1st start it goes all the way up to just below 6 then as it warms it sits around 4 and idles when warm is between 0 and 2 so 1 , do take the reading as gospel if in doubt get the oil pressure checked with a mechanical guage
That reads exactly the same as mine Dennis 
DennisTheMenace said:
You will need the sender as well off a 1.6 to get the guage to work .
to fit it you need to snap the terminal off the old sender get a 26mm i think socket on it to remove it ,
when fitting the new one put some thread lock on it but not too close to the front and wind it in and nip it up with a large socket on the back.
it only has to be tightened to 13nm so not too tight i went hand tight then just gave it a little more on a ratchet.
Thanks for the fitting advice Denny; it certainly rang a bell with me that the sender on the engine also needs changing when doing this mod, cheers to fit it you need to snap the terminal off the old sender get a 26mm i think socket on it to remove it ,
when fitting the new one put some thread lock on it but not too close to the front and wind it in and nip it up with a large socket on the back.
it only has to be tightened to 13nm so not too tight i went hand tight then just gave it a little more on a ratchet.
FELIX_5 said:
Don't mean to hijack this thread, but while we are on the subject of oil pressure gauges. My 'proper' oil gauge reads about 4 when cold, then reads about 2/2.5 when warm, but when just idling it drops to nearly 0!! 
Is this normal??
Low oil pressure on an engine at hot idle isn't usually that much of a cause for concern, especially if the engine has done a few miles, as long as the pressure builds with the revs and you have good pressure at cold, then you should be fine. Is this normal??Just my opinion of course, I am not a mechanic etc...
FELIX_5 said:
Don't mean to hijack this thread, but while we are on the subject of oil pressure gauges. My 'proper' oil gauge reads about 4 when cold, then reads about 2/2.5 when warm, but when just idling it drops to nearly 0!! Is this normal??
Is your car circulating coolant okay? Is this normal??Mine normally sits just below 30 (imperial gauge - equivalent to 2 on the metric ones I think) when idling, but once I had a drivebelt start seriously slipping while stopped in traffic on the M25... coolant temperature went down to about a quarter way up the gauge and the oil pressure at idle dropped to about half of where it normally sits.
This is one of the reasons why I like having a proper gauge.
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