Boxy, but good. 1989 Volvo 740
Discussion
Finally got Mrs1roll in the car to have a listen, since my hearing is pretty useless really.
She said "Sounds more like the fan with a leaf stuck in to to me, rather than a metallic noise...Airy..". Somewhat reassuring.
Did about an hour and a quarters drive with it yesterday, noise still there but nothing like what it was when it first happened. Turned onto a nice long clear straight and let it run up close to the redline and it pulls along just fine.
In the meantime a new toy turned up:
More tools are always good, especially when they have flashing lights on them
Although when I removed the distributor, I made sure I put it back in exactly the same place, I'd been relying on whoever else had it off in the past doing the same. Since it was up to operating temperature after our little run, I decided to have a play.
Operator error at first had me thinking it was faulty when the inductive tacho part said it was doing 2,410rpm at idle. I then noticed there is an arrow on the pickup that has to point towards the plug. Interesting that this makes a difference.
Once it was hooked up correctly, I wound the hot idle down to 900rpm (you may remember I have it set to around 1100 in P so its comfortable when in D), removed the vacuum line to the ECU and pointed at the crank pulley.
It's as close to 12deg BTDC as it can be given the accuracy of the markings on the timing cover, which is good news. Advance seems to function too.
So thats that off the list of things to do/check for now.
While I was doing this, I spotted this little electical gizmo that I hadn't really acknowledged up till now, and I don't recall seeing on my previous cars:
Now to me, that looks like a solenoid valve attached to the idle speed air circuit. I suspect for idle speed compensation when engaging drive. If that is what it is, it clearly doesn't work but it would be very good to fix.
Starting point I guess would be to undo the allen bolts and remove the whole assembly and drench in carb cleaner.
Anyone know if there is either a gasket, or an 'o ring' behind it?
I had another play with the endoscope too. This is the underneath of No3 manifold-head joint.
Its hard to get in focus, but I reckon that is soot?
I'm not touching it until the XC is through its MOT just in case it all goes wrong...
I've got a set of Elring gaskets, I've ordered some new copper flashed nuts, and also a full set of Volvo studs (actually ordered them from the Volvo penta website as they came up cheapest that way)
I'l replace the nuts as a matter of course, but if the studs are ok once the manifold is off and clean up alright I won't risk snapping one in the head for the sake of it and the new ones can go in the spares box. Fingers crossed.
I really hope that is it.
Before then, I've got a 50 motorway miles to do in the week. I'll take it steady and she'll chug on!
She said "Sounds more like the fan with a leaf stuck in to to me, rather than a metallic noise...Airy..". Somewhat reassuring.
Did about an hour and a quarters drive with it yesterday, noise still there but nothing like what it was when it first happened. Turned onto a nice long clear straight and let it run up close to the redline and it pulls along just fine.
In the meantime a new toy turned up:
More tools are always good, especially when they have flashing lights on them
Although when I removed the distributor, I made sure I put it back in exactly the same place, I'd been relying on whoever else had it off in the past doing the same. Since it was up to operating temperature after our little run, I decided to have a play.
Operator error at first had me thinking it was faulty when the inductive tacho part said it was doing 2,410rpm at idle. I then noticed there is an arrow on the pickup that has to point towards the plug. Interesting that this makes a difference.
Once it was hooked up correctly, I wound the hot idle down to 900rpm (you may remember I have it set to around 1100 in P so its comfortable when in D), removed the vacuum line to the ECU and pointed at the crank pulley.
It's as close to 12deg BTDC as it can be given the accuracy of the markings on the timing cover, which is good news. Advance seems to function too.
So thats that off the list of things to do/check for now.
While I was doing this, I spotted this little electical gizmo that I hadn't really acknowledged up till now, and I don't recall seeing on my previous cars:
Now to me, that looks like a solenoid valve attached to the idle speed air circuit. I suspect for idle speed compensation when engaging drive. If that is what it is, it clearly doesn't work but it would be very good to fix.
Starting point I guess would be to undo the allen bolts and remove the whole assembly and drench in carb cleaner.
Anyone know if there is either a gasket, or an 'o ring' behind it?
I had another play with the endoscope too. This is the underneath of No3 manifold-head joint.
Its hard to get in focus, but I reckon that is soot?
I'm not touching it until the XC is through its MOT just in case it all goes wrong...
I've got a set of Elring gaskets, I've ordered some new copper flashed nuts, and also a full set of Volvo studs (actually ordered them from the Volvo penta website as they came up cheapest that way)
I'l replace the nuts as a matter of course, but if the studs are ok once the manifold is off and clean up alright I won't risk snapping one in the head for the sake of it and the new ones can go in the spares box. Fingers crossed.
I really hope that is it.
Before then, I've got a 50 motorway miles to do in the week. I'll take it steady and she'll chug on!
New Boots and Panties!!
I'd been putting this off on the off chance that a set of unkerbed 15" alloys might have come available, but after spending some time on the M5 in the pouring rain last week, I decided delaying any more was stupid.
I was acutely aware of the state of these two which although legal, were certainly past their best. My joking suggestion that the cracks add to the tread depth didn't hold true:
Erm....:
They've certainly done their time!
And the other two, some 2020 dated Avons, had worrying looking cracking on the inner sidewalls.
Its been quite a while since I've had to buy my own tyres. Previously I'd always gone for Michelin Pilots, but they don't even make the newest ones below 17" now!
In the end I plumped for a full set of Michelin Primacy 4's. Following a post on here where I learned that Asda sell tyres, they were considerably cheaper than anywhere else at £324 for all 4 fitted.
A workshop very local to us working out of some former agricultural buildings that we have used a couple of times before were on the fitters list so I had them do that this afternoon.
Things should be a lot more composed in the rain now!
I'd been putting this off on the off chance that a set of unkerbed 15" alloys might have come available, but after spending some time on the M5 in the pouring rain last week, I decided delaying any more was stupid.
I was acutely aware of the state of these two which although legal, were certainly past their best. My joking suggestion that the cracks add to the tread depth didn't hold true:
Erm....:
They've certainly done their time!
And the other two, some 2020 dated Avons, had worrying looking cracking on the inner sidewalls.
Its been quite a while since I've had to buy my own tyres. Previously I'd always gone for Michelin Pilots, but they don't even make the newest ones below 17" now!
In the end I plumped for a full set of Michelin Primacy 4's. Following a post on here where I learned that Asda sell tyres, they were considerably cheaper than anywhere else at £324 for all 4 fitted.
A workshop very local to us working out of some former agricultural buildings that we have used a couple of times before were on the fitters list so I had them do that this afternoon.
Things should be a lot more composed in the rain now!
If I'm honest I've not even looked at it yet.
All I can think of is that is is either that, or an anti-run-on valve to shut the air right off when you turn off the ignition.
Really, I need to get the old VADIS discs (that I hope are still up in the loft) installed on a cheap XP laptop, as that is essentially all of the 'green books'. VIDA which is totally filling this machine only has parts listings for the 700's.
Before I mess around with that I've got a pile building up in my office of other parts to fit, If I can get a few days where I don't think the weather is going to screw me. Sitting in the puddle forming in the tray I was using to keep myself off the wet ground while changing the C70's rear springs last March wasn't a particular high point.
All I can think of is that is is either that, or an anti-run-on valve to shut the air right off when you turn off the ignition.
Really, I need to get the old VADIS discs (that I hope are still up in the loft) installed on a cheap XP laptop, as that is essentially all of the 'green books'. VIDA which is totally filling this machine only has parts listings for the 700's.
Before I mess around with that I've got a pile building up in my office of other parts to fit, If I can get a few days where I don't think the weather is going to screw me. Sitting in the puddle forming in the tray I was using to keep myself off the wet ground while changing the C70's rear springs last March wasn't a particular high point.
We made it to Rustival!!
(this old man with thinning greying hair persuaded my daughter to take a selfie with him lol (after asking her how to do it
))
Rustival was a new car show organised by youtubers 'Furious Driving' 'I drive a classic' and 'hubnut' (the last of which I hadn't come across before, but I've been watching furious driving for a few years) and hosted at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.
When I saw it advertised again in early Feb, I thought it looked like it could be quite fun, but was uhmming and ahhing about it as the car had just started making that clacking noise.
Emily persuaded me in an ironic 'will you take me to mount splashmore?' kind of way -
'Dad, I want to go the the rustival, I want to got the the rustival...' In the end I said sod it, it'll be fine and booked the tickets. Great value at £17 for the two of us including entry to the British Motor Museum.
It was very well organised, our group were told to arrive 'from 10am' we got there at 10:08 having left at 7:30, and there was no queuing at all, some very experienced marshalls directed us and we were parked up in a matter of minutes. My brother also came all the way from Fishguard in West Wales, 4-1/2 hours, so he joined us at about 1pm in his S80 (that used to be mine)
It was an anything goes show, pre war to modern. I'd say there was 15-20% modern (to me, anything from 2001 on) out of the around 1000 cars there, so easily 800 what I would call 'retro' or classics there. We started at the back, and worked our way along each row stopping at anything that caught our eye. For me, I was attracted by a lot of what me and my mates had as teenagers - Mk2 Cavalier, Peugeot 205 gti, Citroen BX's, Volvo 480 (all volvos of course!) and I also have a serious wish to own some pre-80's american metal - there was a gorgeous Plymouth Fury there driven by a very young couple (20's I guess, fair play!) that I took a load of pictures of.
It took us until from when we arrived until about 2pm ish to get round everything in the car park before we even touched the museum. There really was something for everyone and plenty for us!
The car ran faultlessly, and recently it seems to have fixed itself! No sign of the clacking exhaust manifold so I'm minded to leave those studs well alone for a bit longer.
And my word, was it better on the motorway on the new tyres! I don't think the old ones were actually round...
Up the M5 to 11a, then across the Cotswolds to get there, then after the show we visited my sister who lives about half an hour away (on some utterly awful condition roads, I ended up straddling the white lines when it was clear and slowing to a crawl when not in order to avoid the worst of the ruts and potholes) for a pub tea before leaving there about 9pm and getting home at 11:25, with pretty much bang on 250 miles done.
A long day but well worth it, and Emily says she really enjoyed it, which is great as I was worried she might have got bored being a car nerd with me.
Got talking to a nice guy from a club called 'Nordik Rides', asked us to go to a meet up in Derbeyshire at the end of April. Seriously considering it, I might well get persuaded
Obligatory Volvo Content. There were a few 740 estates, but aside from 'furious driving's' E reg, mine was the only 740 saloon there.
I think I've lost a few volvo pics between my phone and here, but enough to give you a taste.
Nordik Rides convoy:
480 with no rust on the rear arches next to a Chevrolet Caprice:
I covet this blue 144!
I think this is only the second Volvo 66 I've seen in real life:
Had a lazy morning today and watched a few walkarounds from various people on youtube. One guy said he ddin't think there was much there to look at, but I guess he came to the wrong kind of show for him?
It was exactly what we expected and thoroughly recommended from us, anywhow.
After a trip to see Mum this afternoon I gave the car a quick swoosh over to remove 250 miles of salt.
(this old man with thinning greying hair persuaded my daughter to take a selfie with him lol (after asking her how to do it
))Rustival was a new car show organised by youtubers 'Furious Driving' 'I drive a classic' and 'hubnut' (the last of which I hadn't come across before, but I've been watching furious driving for a few years) and hosted at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.
When I saw it advertised again in early Feb, I thought it looked like it could be quite fun, but was uhmming and ahhing about it as the car had just started making that clacking noise.
Emily persuaded me in an ironic 'will you take me to mount splashmore?' kind of way -
'Dad, I want to go the the rustival, I want to got the the rustival...' In the end I said sod it, it'll be fine and booked the tickets. Great value at £17 for the two of us including entry to the British Motor Museum.
It was very well organised, our group were told to arrive 'from 10am' we got there at 10:08 having left at 7:30, and there was no queuing at all, some very experienced marshalls directed us and we were parked up in a matter of minutes. My brother also came all the way from Fishguard in West Wales, 4-1/2 hours, so he joined us at about 1pm in his S80 (that used to be mine)
It was an anything goes show, pre war to modern. I'd say there was 15-20% modern (to me, anything from 2001 on) out of the around 1000 cars there, so easily 800 what I would call 'retro' or classics there. We started at the back, and worked our way along each row stopping at anything that caught our eye. For me, I was attracted by a lot of what me and my mates had as teenagers - Mk2 Cavalier, Peugeot 205 gti, Citroen BX's, Volvo 480 (all volvos of course!) and I also have a serious wish to own some pre-80's american metal - there was a gorgeous Plymouth Fury there driven by a very young couple (20's I guess, fair play!) that I took a load of pictures of.
It took us until from when we arrived until about 2pm ish to get round everything in the car park before we even touched the museum. There really was something for everyone and plenty for us!
The car ran faultlessly, and recently it seems to have fixed itself! No sign of the clacking exhaust manifold so I'm minded to leave those studs well alone for a bit longer.
And my word, was it better on the motorway on the new tyres! I don't think the old ones were actually round...
Up the M5 to 11a, then across the Cotswolds to get there, then after the show we visited my sister who lives about half an hour away (on some utterly awful condition roads, I ended up straddling the white lines when it was clear and slowing to a crawl when not in order to avoid the worst of the ruts and potholes) for a pub tea before leaving there about 9pm and getting home at 11:25, with pretty much bang on 250 miles done.
A long day but well worth it, and Emily says she really enjoyed it, which is great as I was worried she might have got bored being a car nerd with me.
Got talking to a nice guy from a club called 'Nordik Rides', asked us to go to a meet up in Derbeyshire at the end of April. Seriously considering it, I might well get persuaded
Obligatory Volvo Content. There were a few 740 estates, but aside from 'furious driving's' E reg, mine was the only 740 saloon there.
I think I've lost a few volvo pics between my phone and here, but enough to give you a taste.
Nordik Rides convoy:
480 with no rust on the rear arches next to a Chevrolet Caprice:
I covet this blue 144!
I think this is only the second Volvo 66 I've seen in real life:
Had a lazy morning today and watched a few walkarounds from various people on youtube. One guy said he ddin't think there was much there to look at, but I guess he came to the wrong kind of show for him?
It was exactly what we expected and thoroughly recommended from us, anywhow.
After a trip to see Mum this afternoon I gave the car a quick swoosh over to remove 250 miles of salt.
Edited by chris1roll on Sunday 10th March 19:57
Edited by chris1roll on Sunday 10th March 20:03
Musik
I had been using a bluetooth cassette adapter to connect to my phone, but it wasn't the best solution. I kept forgetting to charge it, and the tape deck is a little bit flaky - I have to eject and re-insert the tape a few times until it travels in the correct direction, and every so often would lose one channel and I'd have to stick my fingers in the slot to wiggle the cassette about to bring it back.
On our road trip Emily and I didn't get a single 'Hey man' on the first verse of suffragette city. This could not stand!
Since I want to keep the original radio as long as possible (and the blaupunkt ones that look in keeping are rather expensive) I'd been musing about whether it was poosible to inject a signal into the amp or headunit somehow.
Turns out, of course, that someone on turbobricks had already done it and worked out the pinouts on the headunit:
https://turbobricks.com/index.php?threads/oem-radi...
A nice little project for a couple of evenings this week.
Since I don't really do much soldering, I elected to get an 8 Pin din extension cable and cut the female end off to solder the 3.5mm switching jack onto, then I could only mess up one end.
Once I saw how small the jack was, after peering at it over the top of my glasses for a while I then went back on Amazon and bought one of those helping hand things with a magnifying glass on it. (actually, I bought a cheap kit with a soldering iron in it too, as I used my last one to make a smoke tester when the XC was playing up..)
Figuring it all out and working out the colours my din cable used:
Starting to solder:
Not too bad...
Getting the radio out this evening wasn't too difficult, then I just had to remove the jumper plug for the equaliser port:
Before plugging the end of my cable in. If I had looked at the back of the radio before I started, I wouldn't have bought a cable with a 90degree plug, but thats what the one on the turbobricks thread used. There is clearance, but it made getting the radio back in a bit tricky as it caught on the slight lip at the back of the housing.
It was also important to me, to not permanently damage the interior, so putting the port in an easily replaceable switch blank was the natural solution. My phone is mounted as low as possible to the bottom right of the windscreen so it hangs in front of the rightmost airvent, so a short 3.5mm jumper cable can reach it easily.
Of course, for some ungodly reason phones don't come with headphone jacks any more, so I had to buy another adapter.
Result: I've done soldering that works!
When listening to the radio, on inserting the 3.5mm plug, the radio cuts out, and the phone audio takes over.
The headphone output from the phone at full volume seems to be on a par with the line level from the radio, as the volume doesn't change and can be controlled just the same using the volume knob on the headunit.
Crystal clear stereo audio.
Remove the plug, and the radio returns.
Total cost of materials about £20 including the USB-C to headphone adapter and the extension cord.
I had been using a bluetooth cassette adapter to connect to my phone, but it wasn't the best solution. I kept forgetting to charge it, and the tape deck is a little bit flaky - I have to eject and re-insert the tape a few times until it travels in the correct direction, and every so often would lose one channel and I'd have to stick my fingers in the slot to wiggle the cassette about to bring it back.
On our road trip Emily and I didn't get a single 'Hey man' on the first verse of suffragette city. This could not stand!
Since I want to keep the original radio as long as possible (and the blaupunkt ones that look in keeping are rather expensive) I'd been musing about whether it was poosible to inject a signal into the amp or headunit somehow.
Turns out, of course, that someone on turbobricks had already done it and worked out the pinouts on the headunit:
https://turbobricks.com/index.php?threads/oem-radi...
A nice little project for a couple of evenings this week.
Since I don't really do much soldering, I elected to get an 8 Pin din extension cable and cut the female end off to solder the 3.5mm switching jack onto, then I could only mess up one end.
Once I saw how small the jack was, after peering at it over the top of my glasses for a while I then went back on Amazon and bought one of those helping hand things with a magnifying glass on it. (actually, I bought a cheap kit with a soldering iron in it too, as I used my last one to make a smoke tester when the XC was playing up..)
Figuring it all out and working out the colours my din cable used:
Starting to solder:
Not too bad...
Getting the radio out this evening wasn't too difficult, then I just had to remove the jumper plug for the equaliser port:
Before plugging the end of my cable in. If I had looked at the back of the radio before I started, I wouldn't have bought a cable with a 90degree plug, but thats what the one on the turbobricks thread used. There is clearance, but it made getting the radio back in a bit tricky as it caught on the slight lip at the back of the housing.
It was also important to me, to not permanently damage the interior, so putting the port in an easily replaceable switch blank was the natural solution. My phone is mounted as low as possible to the bottom right of the windscreen so it hangs in front of the rightmost airvent, so a short 3.5mm jumper cable can reach it easily.
Of course, for some ungodly reason phones don't come with headphone jacks any more, so I had to buy another adapter.
Result: I've done soldering that works!
When listening to the radio, on inserting the 3.5mm plug, the radio cuts out, and the phone audio takes over.
The headphone output from the phone at full volume seems to be on a par with the line level from the radio, as the volume doesn't change and can be controlled just the same using the volume knob on the headunit.
Crystal clear stereo audio.
Remove the plug, and the radio returns.
Total cost of materials about £20 including the USB-C to headphone adapter and the extension cord.
Edited by chris1roll on Friday 15th March 22:34
Managed to get the front brakes renovated between rain showers on Good Friday and the Saturday before Easter.
The front calipers were a little bit sticky so had intended to do this sooner rather than later. I hadn't rebuilt a caliper before, but how hard could it be?
I had been getting the parts together for a little while, and had had them all ready to go since early Jan, but the constant rain meant I didn't really get chance to get to it. As it was I dodged the showers as best I could - get a caliper off, it starts raining. Start stripping that one, it stops raining. Run out and get the other one off, it starts again, and so on. In the end I didn't lose too much time waiting around.
In my pile of parts was a set of Genuine Volvo pads, a set of Bosch 262mm non-hub discs, a caliper rebuild kit including pistons from bigg red.
A full set of 6 flexible hoses by Febi, and some Ceratec anti-squeal paste.
First off mix up some special sauce to give me the best chance of getting the unions undone without having to make up new hard lines.
I actually like making hard lines up, and making them look identical to the original, but didn't fancy doing it in the rain and getting everything full of moisture:
After much careful cleaning with a pick and small wire brush I squirted a load on and left it for half an hour.
Whether it was the special sauce, or the fact that being a proper Volvo the lines were made out of Cupro-Nickel rather than the plastic coated steel my brother is struggling with again on his S80, I'm not sure, but all 6 came undone with a minimum of fuss.
After wire brushing as much of the old brake dust etc off the calipers as I felt necessay, a combination of compressed air from a stirrup pump, and grabbing them with molegrips got the old pistons out (I wouldn't have done the molegrips part had I intended to re-use them:
It looks as if someone had attempted to lubricate them with some kind of silvery grease (graphite?) which had subsequently hardened, which would account for the slight reluctance for them to retract after application of the brakes.
Further, where it had ended up inside the caliper it had formed a sticky silvery goo that took ages to clean out, but after quite a while with a small brass brush, most of a can of brake cleaner and lots of blue towel I had the bores looking as clean as they were going to:
With all the other removable bits dismantled (getting the remains of the old piston boots out was the hardest as they are a very tight interference fit in the caliper) it was time to lay out the rebuild kit and put them back together again.
I used just clean brake fluid used to lubricate the seals. The new pistons from bigg red had a little chamfer on them to help with pushing them in, so they went on easily.
The best way I found to do the boots was to fit the boot to the piston, press the piston into the bore an inch or so, then press the boot into the recess in the caliper, which took quite a lot of thumb pressure and patience as it would pop out one side or the other.
Anyway, eventually they were all in place and I put all the other new rubber bits on with plenty of the silicone grease. I found a 22 (or was it 24) mm socket was perfect for pressing the silver retaining rings onto the lower slide pin boots, and the quarter drive extension good for pushing the upper boot through the caliper.
Caliper brackets all cleaned up:
(Note I'm not going for flashy pretty paint jobs here, standard and functional is the order of the day)
Seating face on the hub cleaned up, then new discs fitted, calipers refitted, new pads with new spring clips and anti-squeal, and finally all six new flexi hoses fitted:
I had assumed the rebuild kit came with bleed nipples. It did not, so I have got some that I will change at some point in the future.
Whilst I was waiting for my wife to come home from town so she could do the old up-down with me :tounge_smile: I replaced the anti-roll bar drop links with some Meyle items. I had bought the complete links as I had seen so manypeople just shear the top off when trying to undo them, but it seems I could have gotten way with just the bushes themselves as the ATF/Acetone mix worked a treat.
The old ones were a bit ropey:
Both located and tightened to 42mm between the washers:
Back to the brakes, my wife tells me we spent an hour and a quarter bleeding them.
First I found that the first in sequence kept producing air. What solved it in the end was abandoning that one, completing the rest of the sequence, the going round again. I can only surmise it was drawing air from the remainder of the triangle on that circuit, given the whole system was empty.
In the end, a litre and a half of Dot4+ went through the system fully flushing it.
They feel quite nice now after bedding them in.
The front calipers were a little bit sticky so had intended to do this sooner rather than later. I hadn't rebuilt a caliper before, but how hard could it be?
I had been getting the parts together for a little while, and had had them all ready to go since early Jan, but the constant rain meant I didn't really get chance to get to it. As it was I dodged the showers as best I could - get a caliper off, it starts raining. Start stripping that one, it stops raining. Run out and get the other one off, it starts again, and so on. In the end I didn't lose too much time waiting around.
In my pile of parts was a set of Genuine Volvo pads, a set of Bosch 262mm non-hub discs, a caliper rebuild kit including pistons from bigg red.
A full set of 6 flexible hoses by Febi, and some Ceratec anti-squeal paste.
First off mix up some special sauce to give me the best chance of getting the unions undone without having to make up new hard lines.
I actually like making hard lines up, and making them look identical to the original, but didn't fancy doing it in the rain and getting everything full of moisture:
After much careful cleaning with a pick and small wire brush I squirted a load on and left it for half an hour.
Whether it was the special sauce, or the fact that being a proper Volvo the lines were made out of Cupro-Nickel rather than the plastic coated steel my brother is struggling with again on his S80, I'm not sure, but all 6 came undone with a minimum of fuss.
After wire brushing as much of the old brake dust etc off the calipers as I felt necessay, a combination of compressed air from a stirrup pump, and grabbing them with molegrips got the old pistons out (I wouldn't have done the molegrips part had I intended to re-use them:
It looks as if someone had attempted to lubricate them with some kind of silvery grease (graphite?) which had subsequently hardened, which would account for the slight reluctance for them to retract after application of the brakes.
Further, where it had ended up inside the caliper it had formed a sticky silvery goo that took ages to clean out, but after quite a while with a small brass brush, most of a can of brake cleaner and lots of blue towel I had the bores looking as clean as they were going to:
With all the other removable bits dismantled (getting the remains of the old piston boots out was the hardest as they are a very tight interference fit in the caliper) it was time to lay out the rebuild kit and put them back together again.
I used just clean brake fluid used to lubricate the seals. The new pistons from bigg red had a little chamfer on them to help with pushing them in, so they went on easily.
The best way I found to do the boots was to fit the boot to the piston, press the piston into the bore an inch or so, then press the boot into the recess in the caliper, which took quite a lot of thumb pressure and patience as it would pop out one side or the other.
Anyway, eventually they were all in place and I put all the other new rubber bits on with plenty of the silicone grease. I found a 22 (or was it 24) mm socket was perfect for pressing the silver retaining rings onto the lower slide pin boots, and the quarter drive extension good for pushing the upper boot through the caliper.
Caliper brackets all cleaned up:
(Note I'm not going for flashy pretty paint jobs here, standard and functional is the order of the day)
Seating face on the hub cleaned up, then new discs fitted, calipers refitted, new pads with new spring clips and anti-squeal, and finally all six new flexi hoses fitted:
I had assumed the rebuild kit came with bleed nipples. It did not, so I have got some that I will change at some point in the future.
Whilst I was waiting for my wife to come home from town so she could do the old up-down with me :tounge_smile: I replaced the anti-roll bar drop links with some Meyle items. I had bought the complete links as I had seen so manypeople just shear the top off when trying to undo them, but it seems I could have gotten way with just the bushes themselves as the ATF/Acetone mix worked a treat.
The old ones were a bit ropey:
Both located and tightened to 42mm between the washers:
Back to the brakes, my wife tells me we spent an hour and a quarter bleeding them.
First I found that the first in sequence kept producing air. What solved it in the end was abandoning that one, completing the rest of the sequence, the going round again. I can only surmise it was drawing air from the remainder of the triangle on that circuit, given the whole system was empty.
In the end, a litre and a half of Dot4+ went through the system fully flushing it.
They feel quite nice now after bedding them in.
Shiny!
Since I'll have had the car a year in a few days, I thought I would actually do what I had been threatening to do since I got it, and replace the faded, cracked, leaky rear lights.
There was a bit of nailbiting when it turned out that DHL had handed the package over to parcel farce once it was in the UK, having previously seen them kick stuff up the garden path, but all turned out OK.
Faded, cracked and leaky:
New, with extra chrome (it gets you home):
Since I'll have had the car a year in a few days, I thought I would actually do what I had been threatening to do since I got it, and replace the faded, cracked, leaky rear lights.
There was a bit of nailbiting when it turned out that DHL had handed the package over to parcel farce once it was in the UK, having previously seen them kick stuff up the garden path, but all turned out OK.
Faded, cracked and leaky:
New, with extra chrome (it gets you home):
AW111 said:
Nice to see you keeping the old girl up.
I used to work for a co. that had mainly Volvo company cars, and drove a few.
The boss preferred Volvos for the load carrying, and not looking too flash (don't want customers thinking you are overcharging
)
Sundry 244s - reliable workhorse.
Drove Melbourne -> Brisbane more than once.
264 - very comfy cruiser, loved the sunroof, drank like a fish when pressing on.
940 (Turbo) - fun, and very quick for it's day.
360 GLT (2 litre) - my company car. I had two in succession.
Not too bad performance for what it was.
Better handling than you'd expect, once you got past the understeer.
Drove it all over eastern Aus, including inland south australian desert roads. Took it rallying.
It was amusing to ford a creek crossing and meet a bunch of fully-kitted LandCruisers who were amazed to see a 2wd car out there.
In all those years of driving Volvos, the only failure I had was a fanbelt.
In 24 years I've personally had three failures to proceed.I used to work for a co. that had mainly Volvo company cars, and drove a few.
The boss preferred Volvos for the load carrying, and not looking too flash (don't want customers thinking you are overcharging
)Sundry 244s - reliable workhorse.
Drove Melbourne -> Brisbane more than once.
264 - very comfy cruiser, loved the sunroof, drank like a fish when pressing on.
940 (Turbo) - fun, and very quick for it's day.
360 GLT (2 litre) - my company car. I had two in succession.
Not too bad performance for what it was.
Better handling than you'd expect, once you got past the understeer.
Drove it all over eastern Aus, including inland south australian desert roads. Took it rallying.
It was amusing to ford a creek crossing and meet a bunch of fully-kitted LandCruisers who were amazed to see a 2wd car out there.
In all those years of driving Volvos, the only failure I had was a fanbelt.
My 440 1.6i the catalytic converter disintegrated and blocked the exhaust up on the M5
My Wifes XC70 blew the camshaft seal and pumped all the oil out in very short order.
This ones cambelt failure (although the car still ran and drove, so does it even count?
)Error_404_Username_not_found said:
You have ParcelFarce? We only get a
holeForce.
They destroyed a perfectly good toaster last week.
Nice job on the lights mate.
Thankfully they were very well packed, bubble wrap around each light, then each in an individual box, then in a bigger box with a good six inches of padding in each direction.holeForce.They destroyed a perfectly good toaster last week.
Nice job on the lights mate.
Last weekend, we went on a day trip and drove up a biggish hill.
My lowly 2.0 litre engine and 3speed+OD slushbox had no issues hauling itself up there.
Blorenge, in South Wales, was shrouded in mist when we got there, at some points you couldn't see much more than 20 yards in any direction.
It is also home to the first Geocache ever placed in Wales, which was the purpose of our trip. After finding that -which was quite satisfying given the conditions- and two others on the circular route around the mountain, we retuned to the car in the sunshine:
It only took the time for us to get our kit off when the weather started coming in again.
We took a different route down on some steep narrow roads where at some points I had the gearbox down in '1' to hold the car back.
Other than someone very nearly taking the front end off by changing lanes without looking on the M49, an uneventful journey.
Over the past couple of months there had been an increasing squeaking coming from the powers steering pump belt, but not your usual slipping belt noise, but a continuous "chirp-chirp-chirp-chirp-chirp"
Investigation revealed the pulley being misaligned with the crank, so the chirping was the belt entering the pulley at an angle:
This might also explain an entry in the service history "recover car, replace snapped p/s belt" Presumably over time it'll just chew the belt up, and I'm guessing the original owner in his 80s didn't fancy driving it with no assistance.
So this morning I decided to see if I could so something about it.
Researching to see if anyone else had the same turned up a few instances, but all the replies were "replace the bushes".
For the avoidance of doubt, there are no bushes on the power steering pump on this car!
There is no play in the pulley, and it rotates on an even plane with the pump itself (i.e. the pulley and the shaft are not bent, and the bearings are not failing)
There is an awful lot of slop around the bolt attaching the pump to the big alloy bracket mounted to the block - the bolt is a proper fit in the pumps bracket, its the hole in the big alloy bracket that seems 'too big' allowing the pump to angle as it has.
First attempt - insert semi-circles of tin can to position the bolt at the correct angle:
This got the pulleys aligned initially, but once tightened down it drifted out a bit - it was much better than before, mind.
Its not possible to get sufficient shims in place accurately and then get the bolt in, as they are covered by the pump mounting before you can insert the bolt.
Second attempt, shim the two forward mounting points on the block by slipping a washer under each point:
That's got it, pretty much:
The only disavantage I can see with this is that the belt is now just a few mm too short, so I had to walk it on by rotating the engine slightly.
Not sure whether this fix counts as bodge or genius, time will tell. Its a damn sight quieter now, at least.
My lowly 2.0 litre engine and 3speed+OD slushbox had no issues hauling itself up there.
Blorenge, in South Wales, was shrouded in mist when we got there, at some points you couldn't see much more than 20 yards in any direction.
It is also home to the first Geocache ever placed in Wales, which was the purpose of our trip. After finding that -which was quite satisfying given the conditions- and two others on the circular route around the mountain, we retuned to the car in the sunshine:
It only took the time for us to get our kit off when the weather started coming in again.
We took a different route down on some steep narrow roads where at some points I had the gearbox down in '1' to hold the car back.
Other than someone very nearly taking the front end off by changing lanes without looking on the M49, an uneventful journey.
Over the past couple of months there had been an increasing squeaking coming from the powers steering pump belt, but not your usual slipping belt noise, but a continuous "chirp-chirp-chirp-chirp-chirp"
Investigation revealed the pulley being misaligned with the crank, so the chirping was the belt entering the pulley at an angle:
This might also explain an entry in the service history "recover car, replace snapped p/s belt" Presumably over time it'll just chew the belt up, and I'm guessing the original owner in his 80s didn't fancy driving it with no assistance.
So this morning I decided to see if I could so something about it.
Researching to see if anyone else had the same turned up a few instances, but all the replies were "replace the bushes".
For the avoidance of doubt, there are no bushes on the power steering pump on this car!
There is no play in the pulley, and it rotates on an even plane with the pump itself (i.e. the pulley and the shaft are not bent, and the bearings are not failing)
There is an awful lot of slop around the bolt attaching the pump to the big alloy bracket mounted to the block - the bolt is a proper fit in the pumps bracket, its the hole in the big alloy bracket that seems 'too big' allowing the pump to angle as it has.
First attempt - insert semi-circles of tin can to position the bolt at the correct angle:
This got the pulleys aligned initially, but once tightened down it drifted out a bit - it was much better than before, mind.
Its not possible to get sufficient shims in place accurately and then get the bolt in, as they are covered by the pump mounting before you can insert the bolt.
Second attempt, shim the two forward mounting points on the block by slipping a washer under each point:
That's got it, pretty much:
The only disavantage I can see with this is that the belt is now just a few mm too short, so I had to walk it on by rotating the engine slightly.
Not sure whether this fix counts as bodge or genius, time will tell. Its a damn sight quieter now, at least.
When we went to Rustival back in March, I met a guy called Kam Srih, who runs a club called Nordik Rides, who invited me to display the car at a meeting at The Great British Car Journey in Ambergate, Derbyshire
.
Yesterday was the day, so on Friday after I picked my daughter up from school the two of us loaded the car up, brimmed it with shell V-power at the local station and set off on our road trip at about 4pm.
185 miles and 3hrs 40minutes later we rolled into the car park of the Premier Inn at Ripley, the wheels only having stopped turning to wait at a couple of roundabouts, with the fuel guage still showing well over half a tank.
After eating in the McDonalds next door, back in our room I introduced her to the cult classic film 'Tremors' before turning in for the night.
After our all you can eat breakfast, we popped to the local Sainsburys to get some lunch and then headed to the museum.
On the way an F-plate 240 pulled in front of us up ahead. "I bet thats going there" Emily said, and then - "ooh, can you smell that!" just as I noticed a slight bit of blueish smoke as it pulled away that I commented on - "Well, It could have 300k on it for all we know"
The reality, as it turned out, was that the mileage on that car once it was parked up, was 833,269 miles! I think its allowed to smoke a little bit at that age!
I didn't take that many pictures for some reason, but this was taken by a professional photographer (who has kindly given permission for us to use the 'facebook resolution' photos) as we drove in:
and a video with us arriving on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maAdy9V7Y3s
After a few hours walking around the cars and getting into conversation with some really nice people, we went over to the museum itself.
Smaller than the museum at Gaydon, they still had a lot of cars packed in, and a very good interactive audio tour to take you round the display. We only spent about an hour and a quarter in there, I reckon we'd both have been happy to have had at least another hour to look at all the detail.
The other feature of the museum is that you can - for a fee - actually drive some of the cars there. Definitely one to come back to.
When people started to disperse, with a long drive ahead of us we nipped back to the Sainsburys again to get some more drinks and then I bottled it and refilled the tank again with their Super Unleaded in case the guage had got stuck or something. Turns out it hadn't, and on the run up the car had returned 32.2 mpg!
Another 185 miles back with Emily in charge of the playlist, we only hit a little traffic getting back at a sensible time for tea.
The car ran faultlessly (as expected) with only a moments mild panic when an awful noise started coming from (from my useless directional hearing perspective) the fuel pump area. As it turned out what had actually happened was my water bottle that was lying on the handbrake had shifted position and was squeaking against the centre console!
As I said to Emily (stolen from someone else) "Taking a road trip in a modern car is like going to the football and seeing a 0:0 draw. Taking a roadtrip in something 35 years old is like going to the football and getting to see a 5:5 thriller - the end result is the same but at any point you just never know what is going to happen".
Also rolled over to all the 8's, conveniently enough as we passed through the local industrial estate about 5 miles from home so I could pull into a car park to get a picture.
Only another 744,381 to catch up to that 240!
.
Yesterday was the day, so on Friday after I picked my daughter up from school the two of us loaded the car up, brimmed it with shell V-power at the local station and set off on our road trip at about 4pm.
185 miles and 3hrs 40minutes later we rolled into the car park of the Premier Inn at Ripley, the wheels only having stopped turning to wait at a couple of roundabouts, with the fuel guage still showing well over half a tank.
After eating in the McDonalds next door, back in our room I introduced her to the cult classic film 'Tremors' before turning in for the night.
After our all you can eat breakfast, we popped to the local Sainsburys to get some lunch and then headed to the museum.
On the way an F-plate 240 pulled in front of us up ahead. "I bet thats going there" Emily said, and then - "ooh, can you smell that!" just as I noticed a slight bit of blueish smoke as it pulled away that I commented on - "Well, It could have 300k on it for all we know"
The reality, as it turned out, was that the mileage on that car once it was parked up, was 833,269 miles! I think its allowed to smoke a little bit at that age!
I didn't take that many pictures for some reason, but this was taken by a professional photographer (who has kindly given permission for us to use the 'facebook resolution' photos) as we drove in:
and a video with us arriving on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maAdy9V7Y3s
After a few hours walking around the cars and getting into conversation with some really nice people, we went over to the museum itself.
Smaller than the museum at Gaydon, they still had a lot of cars packed in, and a very good interactive audio tour to take you round the display. We only spent about an hour and a quarter in there, I reckon we'd both have been happy to have had at least another hour to look at all the detail.
The other feature of the museum is that you can - for a fee - actually drive some of the cars there. Definitely one to come back to.
When people started to disperse, with a long drive ahead of us we nipped back to the Sainsburys again to get some more drinks and then I bottled it and refilled the tank again with their Super Unleaded in case the guage had got stuck or something. Turns out it hadn't, and on the run up the car had returned 32.2 mpg!
Another 185 miles back with Emily in charge of the playlist, we only hit a little traffic getting back at a sensible time for tea.
The car ran faultlessly (as expected) with only a moments mild panic when an awful noise started coming from (from my useless directional hearing perspective) the fuel pump area. As it turned out what had actually happened was my water bottle that was lying on the handbrake had shifted position and was squeaking against the centre console!
As I said to Emily (stolen from someone else) "Taking a road trip in a modern car is like going to the football and seeing a 0:0 draw. Taking a roadtrip in something 35 years old is like going to the football and getting to see a 5:5 thriller - the end result is the same but at any point you just never know what is going to happen".
Also rolled over to all the 8's, conveniently enough as we passed through the local industrial estate about 5 miles from home so I could pull into a car park to get a picture.
Only another 744,381 to catch up to that 240!
Chris1Roll said:
... I spotted this little electical gizmo that I hadn't really acknowledged up till now, and I don't recall seeing on my previous cars:
Now to me, that looks like a solenoid valve attached to the idle speed air circuit. I suspect for idle speed compensation when engaging drive. If that is what it is, it clearly doesn't work but it would be very good to fix.
Starting point I guess would be to undo the allen bolts and remove the whole assembly and drench in carb cleaner.
Anyone know if there is a gasket, or an 'o ring' behind it?
Having some spare time on Friday night, I finally got round to investigating this.Now to me, that looks like a solenoid valve attached to the idle speed air circuit. I suspect for idle speed compensation when engaging drive. If that is what it is, it clearly doesn't work but it would be very good to fix.
Starting point I guess would be to undo the allen bolts and remove the whole assembly and drench in carb cleaner.
Anyone know if there is a gasket, or an 'o ring' behind it?
On hooking my multimeter up to it I discovered it is indeed as I suspected. When the engine is running and the gearbox is in R, D, 2 or 1, then 12v is supplied to the solenoid.
Then I tested the solenoid by unhooking the connections form the car, and putting 12V across it. It clicked, so the solenoid is functioning.
Went and grabbed a 13mm spanner and whipped it out to find it all gummed up as predicted:
After covering it in car cleaner and activating it several times I put it back in - to no discernable difference...
So I decided to remove the whole thing, remove the idle speed screw etc and clean it all out:
There is now a clean patch on my engine!
It is a gasket behind it, which came off in not too bad a condition but once refitted the engine ran like crap and a spray of easy start confirmed air was getting in past the sealing surface (oops!) I didn't have any gasket material left so a cereal box had to do temporarily. I've ordered some more gasket material so will replace asap.
With that in place and a liberal spraying of easy start proving I had no leaks there or anywhere else (tested manifold gasket, injectors etc while I was there) I set the idle (mostly by ear, the rev counter is intermittently leaving the chat at the moment) and gave it a try.
Still no discernable change, the idle still drops in drive, so I'm still on my current setting of ~1050 in P/N and 900 in D/R/etc.
What I didn't do, and will when its not raining, is test putting 12v to it while idling in P and see if the idle increases. It could be that it has been 'working' all this time and the idle drop would be even worse without it.
- *
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BS6XV2F6?psc=1&r...
To treat the trim with which was starting to look a little pale. I only had time to do the front bumper, but I was pleased with the result:
If it lasts as promised (and people are reporting that it does) then it'll be worth doing the XC's bumpers too.
- *
It was only 50 minutes away at Haselbury Plucknet so a nice family day out.
They had 176 people who filled in their forms, and I saw a lot more who had just on the seat so probably 200 cars in total.
On arrival my car was lost in a sea of Saabs:
Which is fine, I like Saabs, and the Sonett 3 behind me was wonderful.
As time went on various people came and went and there were a reasonable number of Volvos at various points, including this rather glorious 164E:
Another good day wandering around chatting to different people in the sunshine
Well that sucks.
Coming home this evening, I was just thinking about how in 2 days it will be a year since I put the car back on the road.
I was just stopping at some traffic lights and just before coming to a halt the car shuddered and then stalled.
Now it sounds like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCAwN_O017c
Noise is somewhat reminiscent of what happened back at the end January - that 'fixed itself' - , but this is LOUD!
Certainly turned some heads (for the wrong reasons) coming through the village.
It's weird though, the shudder and stall felt like stopping witout putting the clutch down in a manual, rather than just shutting off, and it restarted ok but needed 2 footed driving to pull away...
Coming home this evening, I was just thinking about how in 2 days it will be a year since I put the car back on the road.
I was just stopping at some traffic lights and just before coming to a halt the car shuddered and then stalled.
Now it sounds like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCAwN_O017c
Noise is somewhat reminiscent of what happened back at the end January - that 'fixed itself' - , but this is LOUD!
Certainly turned some heads (for the wrong reasons) coming through the village.
It's weird though, the shudder and stall felt like stopping witout putting the clutch down in a manual, rather than just shutting off, and it restarted ok but needed 2 footed driving to pull away...
It's possible that I have already sourced a ~70k mile B200E to drop in.
Chap is going to check it still turns over as it has been sat for a little while (under cover).
That'll be the quickest and easiest way.
I'm asuming its something related to the cambelt snap and valve-piston interface. Its weird because it is still running on all 4 cylinders so it's not like its dropped a valve.
Now I'm waaaay overthinking it and questioning the torque converter or flexplate because of the stall, but I'm sure the sound is coming from the head so I probably just need to go to sleep!
Chap is going to check it still turns over as it has been sat for a little while (under cover).
That'll be the quickest and easiest way.
I'm asuming its something related to the cambelt snap and valve-piston interface. Its weird because it is still running on all 4 cylinders so it's not like its dropped a valve.
Now I'm waaaay overthinking it and questioning the torque converter or flexplate because of the stall, but I'm sure the sound is coming from the head so I probably just need to go to sleep!
Instead of taking the car on a road trip over the Abergwesyn pass today, which was the original plan until about half 7 last night, I've done some investigation.
Checked the timing (OK) and ran it with all the belts off - still rattling.
Revved it a bit and lost a cylinder.
Aha! Something to work with - On removing each of the plug leads in turn it was clear it was cylinder one.
I swapped leads 1+2, same result, cyl 1 weak or inactive dependent on how it felt.
Then I swapped the distributor cap just to be sure, still Cyl 1.
Got Amy to come out and listen to locate the noise and she pointed confidently at No1 area in the head.
Compression test shows cylinder 1 is down to just 120psi, with all others at 180-ish.
Arse!
Once the 'scope had charged up, I'd had something to eat, walked the dog and cut the grass I had another poke about.
Ok so No1 plug looked OK, but a bit more bronzed than the other 3....
No2 Cylinder intake valve for reference:
No1 Cylinder intake valve - where the fk is the valve guide??
Oh, It's OK, I found it!
My working theory is that it was obviously damaged when the cambelt stripped this time last year, and just fatigued further over time.
At the end of Jan I guess a little bit came off that then found its way out the exhaust without causing too much damage, and then last night a big chunk(s) fell off and knackered it.
'New' engine time then!
If I just swapped the head I'd be worried about the beating that cylinder has taken, and TBH it would both quicker and cheaper in terms of parts to just swap in a second hand engine with some new seals and gaskets etc.
I've not taken the head off at the moment, it'll just make it a bit more awkward to get the engine out, and as it stands if I throw the plugs + injectors back in I can move the car if need be.
Checked the timing (OK) and ran it with all the belts off - still rattling.
Revved it a bit and lost a cylinder.
Aha! Something to work with - On removing each of the plug leads in turn it was clear it was cylinder one.
I swapped leads 1+2, same result, cyl 1 weak or inactive dependent on how it felt.
Then I swapped the distributor cap just to be sure, still Cyl 1.
Got Amy to come out and listen to locate the noise and she pointed confidently at No1 area in the head.
Compression test shows cylinder 1 is down to just 120psi, with all others at 180-ish.
Arse!
Once the 'scope had charged up, I'd had something to eat, walked the dog and cut the grass I had another poke about.
Ok so No1 plug looked OK, but a bit more bronzed than the other 3....
No2 Cylinder intake valve for reference:
No1 Cylinder intake valve - where the f
k is the valve guide??Oh, It's OK, I found it!
My working theory is that it was obviously damaged when the cambelt stripped this time last year, and just fatigued further over time.
At the end of Jan I guess a little bit came off that then found its way out the exhaust without causing too much damage, and then last night a big chunk(s) fell off and knackered it.
'New' engine time then!
If I just swapped the head I'd be worried about the beating that cylinder has taken, and TBH it would both quicker and cheaper in terms of parts to just swap in a second hand engine with some new seals and gaskets etc.
I've not taken the head off at the moment, it'll just make it a bit more awkward to get the engine out, and as it stands if I throw the plugs + injectors back in I can move the car if need be.
Nothing is insurmountable..
I whipped the head off in the week, on the off chance I could get away with just putting a new head on. If that were the case, I would be back on the road by now (pending gaskets getting delivered etc). Alas, it was not to be.
No1 Valve guide is completely missing, and No3 is rattling around on the top of the valve!
Piston is all mangled:
And this bit has almost cracked off the edge and has left a shiny wear mark up the bore:
Head destruction:
So, this is happening:
A 70k mile B200E out of a hearse. It had been sat for a few years outside under a tarp so needed a bit of tarting up, but turned over easily.
It’s a bit heavy! My neighbour and I managed to get it out of the car and onto a trolley, but there is no way we were ever going to get it up the steps and around the back of the house, so it has had to sit in front of my car on the drive and I have had to work on it there when it isn’t raining.
After a bit of dismantling (little win, got all the exhaust nuts off no problem!):
It’s a bit more of a rustblock than a redblock.
I had initially thought about replacing all the oil seals, but on inspection, none of them were leaking and the various costs were mounting up so I have gone for the ‘if it ain’t broke’ method. I may live to regret this. There was historically a substantial leak from the rocker cover, hence the old oil gunge, but the previous owner had replaced this and the engine was oil-tight, so after much wire brushing and Harry and I huffing an entire can of brake cleaner, the engine is back to being a redblock:
Looks good from your house doesn’t it?
I had a bit of a panic - No3 plug was stuck, and despite unwinding 1/8th turn, then back in 1/8th turn etc to get it out, it still brought a little bit of thread out with it and then I couldn’t thread another one back in (So the thread must have come from fairly high up, in theory).
Once I had managed to get the tip of a plug thread inserted square-on, I then spent well over an hour with an oiled, wire brushed plug gradually winding it in and out the tiniest bit at a time, wire brushing it again and again until now I can get a new plug threaded all the way to the seat with just my hand on the socket. Phew! I’ll remember to be very gentle with it going forward.
I then provided a public service entertaining the neighbours and any passers-by on Sunday:
It was encouraging that 3 separate people stopped to say how good it was to see someone actually maintaining their own car.
I managed to get everything stripped off/out of the engine bay, so the engine is now ready to lift out. Everything came apart really easily – cooler lines for the gearbox etc separated without fuss. The advantage of having a copious amount of oil covering things!
I’ve taken the Kjet unit out complete, in theory if I put it onto the new one complete without messing with it, it should all still work:
A bit more painting and tarting up, cleaning all the oil off the wiring loom etc:
As with any project like this, you need to be conscious of scope creep. If I wanted to, I could spend days cleaning up all the K-jet pipes, individual nuts, bolts and brackets etc, but I have to remember this isn’t a restoration, its getting my daily driver back on the road.
Cleaning gunky oil off the engine and harness etc is sensible, but when I picked up the inlet manifold and looked at the sticky stuff in there I realised no good could possibly come from trying to clean that out with the facilities I have, so I think I am at the point now where I need to get everything mounted back on the new engine and pray for at least a few hours good weather next weekend so I can get it in the car.
My only mild concern about the job is making sure I don’t bugger up the torque converter if it slips off the dogs on the pump. Haynes has no info about it at all but I have heard some horror stories. I think I might try and keep the assembly slightly ‘gearbox down’ when mounting it to the new engine.
I whipped the head off in the week, on the off chance I could get away with just putting a new head on. If that were the case, I would be back on the road by now (pending gaskets getting delivered etc). Alas, it was not to be.
No1 Valve guide is completely missing, and No3 is rattling around on the top of the valve!
Piston is all mangled:
And this bit has almost cracked off the edge and has left a shiny wear mark up the bore:
Head destruction:
So, this is happening:
A 70k mile B200E out of a hearse. It had been sat for a few years outside under a tarp so needed a bit of tarting up, but turned over easily.
It’s a bit heavy! My neighbour and I managed to get it out of the car and onto a trolley, but there is no way we were ever going to get it up the steps and around the back of the house, so it has had to sit in front of my car on the drive and I have had to work on it there when it isn’t raining.
After a bit of dismantling (little win, got all the exhaust nuts off no problem!):
It’s a bit more of a rustblock than a redblock.
I had initially thought about replacing all the oil seals, but on inspection, none of them were leaking and the various costs were mounting up so I have gone for the ‘if it ain’t broke’ method. I may live to regret this. There was historically a substantial leak from the rocker cover, hence the old oil gunge, but the previous owner had replaced this and the engine was oil-tight, so after much wire brushing and Harry and I huffing an entire can of brake cleaner, the engine is back to being a redblock:
Looks good from your house doesn’t it?
I had a bit of a panic - No3 plug was stuck, and despite unwinding 1/8th turn, then back in 1/8th turn etc to get it out, it still brought a little bit of thread out with it and then I couldn’t thread another one back in (So the thread must have come from fairly high up, in theory).
Once I had managed to get the tip of a plug thread inserted square-on, I then spent well over an hour with an oiled, wire brushed plug gradually winding it in and out the tiniest bit at a time, wire brushing it again and again until now I can get a new plug threaded all the way to the seat with just my hand on the socket. Phew! I’ll remember to be very gentle with it going forward.
I then provided a public service entertaining the neighbours and any passers-by on Sunday:
It was encouraging that 3 separate people stopped to say how good it was to see someone actually maintaining their own car.
I managed to get everything stripped off/out of the engine bay, so the engine is now ready to lift out. Everything came apart really easily – cooler lines for the gearbox etc separated without fuss. The advantage of having a copious amount of oil covering things!
I’ve taken the Kjet unit out complete, in theory if I put it onto the new one complete without messing with it, it should all still work:
A bit more painting and tarting up, cleaning all the oil off the wiring loom etc:
As with any project like this, you need to be conscious of scope creep. If I wanted to, I could spend days cleaning up all the K-jet pipes, individual nuts, bolts and brackets etc, but I have to remember this isn’t a restoration, its getting my daily driver back on the road.
Cleaning gunky oil off the engine and harness etc is sensible, but when I picked up the inlet manifold and looked at the sticky stuff in there I realised no good could possibly come from trying to clean that out with the facilities I have, so I think I am at the point now where I need to get everything mounted back on the new engine and pray for at least a few hours good weather next weekend so I can get it in the car.
My only mild concern about the job is making sure I don’t bugger up the torque converter if it slips off the dogs on the pump. Haynes has no info about it at all but I have heard some horror stories. I think I might try and keep the assembly slightly ‘gearbox down’ when mounting it to the new engine.
Very busy weekend just gone.
Borrowed an engine hoist from my local friendly garage, and once the rain stopped, my wife and I got cracking. Next door neighbour helped us move the new engine out into the road and shuffle my car back and forth into position:
I took the opportunity to remove the flex-plate to Torque converter bolts while the engine was stable. Very glad I did that as it would have been a nightmare to do with it all wobbling around. It also required the use of a 16mm swan-necked spanner, which incredibly luckily I had bought one in amongst a bundle of old spanners from a car boot sale just last month. I marked the Flex plate and TC to keep them aligned when back on:
Of course, it then decided to rain, heavily, for the precise amount of time it took to lift out the old engine, but out it came, with a bit of swearing:
And the approx. 6 spots of oil we dropped instantly spread in the rainwater to look like an oil slick, so Mrs1roll was despatched to get some cat litter!
These 7 lumps of Oak my dad had leftover from a job were very useful. To be honest I don’t know quite how we would have done it all without them. I was able to secure the gearbox on these two and draw the old engine off (making sure the Torque converter stayed put).
Then I had the new engine positioned on 4 more, with a piece of 6*3 under the front of the engine to keep it slightly gearbox down, and put the flexplate on the new engine with some blue threadlock on the bolts (yes, I re-used them…. They were 12.8’s and looked fine to me!)
Then, a small miracle, I wire brushed the bellhousing mounting faces, and bolt holes, drove the locating dowels out of the old engine, wire brushed them, lightly greased and re-installed on the new engine. Then my wife and I carried the gearbox round, lined it up, and…it went straight on, perfectly square, first try!
Then, there wasn’t much for it but to try and get it dropped in.
At which point it decided to rain again.
Cue more swearing, while we paused for a while, then went for it:
I had to take the bumper off in order to get enough reach with the hoist – it wasn’t too bad yanking the old one out, but there is no way you’d have been able to push it forward enough when replacing it.
Then I was back to putting it all back together again. I took the opportunity while I had access to wire brush and paint some surface rust on the radiator support, then that was me knackered for the day.
My wife said it seemed easier than she expected, but I doubt she’ll volunteer to do it again in a hurry!
Sunday was the put everything back on again day:
Eagle eyes may spot plain water in the header – this was just for the first start up to check for leaks, then 50% antifreeze once cooled down again:
It was due a service at the start of the month anyway so I already had those bits, but altogether its had:
Exhaust Manifold, Downpipe and Inlet Manifold gaskets. New exhaust manifold nuts
New Plugs, Bougicord leads, Dsitributor Cap and Rotor Arm. New clips for the leads to stop them flapping around.
New waterpump (bit of a story here, but I ended up with a cheapy euro car parts one in order to get the job done, and if anyone needs an SKF pump for the B23E or a 16valve engine (I think) let me know!!)
New earth straps to the head (one had already snapped so replaced both)
Oil Filter, Air Filter, Fuel Filter, Flametrap.
4 litres of ATF (having the gearbox at that angle drained a fair bit more out of the TC. I guess it also stirred up some crap as it made a bit of a ‘whoop’ noise a couple of times but it seems to have quietened down now so finger crossed…not much I could have done about it really)
4 Litres Antifreeze,
4 Litres Oil
New Alternator bushings
And, of course, a new cambelt lol.
Still to do: Front Propshaft U joint, probably the carrier and bearing too, and rear diff oil change. I’ll probably wait a short time to make sure the gearbox has definitely settled down after getting jiggled about first.
And at the moment of truth, after 2*10 seconds of cranking to get the fuel though, it came to life and instantly settled to a nice smooth (for a Kjet redblock!) idle.
Quick test drive into the next town and stopped in the car park to check for leaks and ATF level etc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da0vjk98yjc
It is considerably quieter and smoother than the old engine ever was. Even when cold, there isn’t the same ‘underlying clatter’ which is very good news. It’s much less ‘droney’ on the motorway too.
This week I’ve done about 175 miles in it already with no issues. I’ve not driven it hard at all yet. Fingers still firmly crossed at this stage, but I think its going to work out OK!
At one point it did look a bit messy, but neighbours and passers by were great. Next door moved his car so I could put the XC there to use as a mobile tool chest, a chap up the road who does his own maintenance too said to knock on his door if I needed another pair of hands, lots of ‘good luck’ etc, and some more people commenting it was good to see someone getting their hands dirty!
https://youtube.com/shorts/CI1MKJjNyrM?si=e14PbXqD...
Borrowed an engine hoist from my local friendly garage, and once the rain stopped, my wife and I got cracking. Next door neighbour helped us move the new engine out into the road and shuffle my car back and forth into position:
I took the opportunity to remove the flex-plate to Torque converter bolts while the engine was stable. Very glad I did that as it would have been a nightmare to do with it all wobbling around. It also required the use of a 16mm swan-necked spanner, which incredibly luckily I had bought one in amongst a bundle of old spanners from a car boot sale just last month. I marked the Flex plate and TC to keep them aligned when back on:
Of course, it then decided to rain, heavily, for the precise amount of time it took to lift out the old engine, but out it came, with a bit of swearing:
And the approx. 6 spots of oil we dropped instantly spread in the rainwater to look like an oil slick, so Mrs1roll was despatched to get some cat litter!
These 7 lumps of Oak my dad had leftover from a job were very useful. To be honest I don’t know quite how we would have done it all without them. I was able to secure the gearbox on these two and draw the old engine off (making sure the Torque converter stayed put).
Then I had the new engine positioned on 4 more, with a piece of 6*3 under the front of the engine to keep it slightly gearbox down, and put the flexplate on the new engine with some blue threadlock on the bolts (yes, I re-used them…. They were 12.8’s and looked fine to me!)
Then, a small miracle, I wire brushed the bellhousing mounting faces, and bolt holes, drove the locating dowels out of the old engine, wire brushed them, lightly greased and re-installed on the new engine. Then my wife and I carried the gearbox round, lined it up, and…it went straight on, perfectly square, first try!
Then, there wasn’t much for it but to try and get it dropped in.
At which point it decided to rain again.
Cue more swearing, while we paused for a while, then went for it:
I had to take the bumper off in order to get enough reach with the hoist – it wasn’t too bad yanking the old one out, but there is no way you’d have been able to push it forward enough when replacing it.
Then I was back to putting it all back together again. I took the opportunity while I had access to wire brush and paint some surface rust on the radiator support, then that was me knackered for the day.
My wife said it seemed easier than she expected, but I doubt she’ll volunteer to do it again in a hurry!
Sunday was the put everything back on again day:
Eagle eyes may spot plain water in the header – this was just for the first start up to check for leaks, then 50% antifreeze once cooled down again:
It was due a service at the start of the month anyway so I already had those bits, but altogether its had:
Exhaust Manifold, Downpipe and Inlet Manifold gaskets. New exhaust manifold nuts
New Plugs, Bougicord leads, Dsitributor Cap and Rotor Arm. New clips for the leads to stop them flapping around.
New waterpump (bit of a story here, but I ended up with a cheapy euro car parts one in order to get the job done, and if anyone needs an SKF pump for the B23E or a 16valve engine (I think) let me know!!)
New earth straps to the head (one had already snapped so replaced both)
Oil Filter, Air Filter, Fuel Filter, Flametrap.
4 litres of ATF (having the gearbox at that angle drained a fair bit more out of the TC. I guess it also stirred up some crap as it made a bit of a ‘whoop’ noise a couple of times but it seems to have quietened down now so finger crossed…not much I could have done about it really)
4 Litres Antifreeze,
4 Litres Oil
New Alternator bushings
And, of course, a new cambelt lol.
Still to do: Front Propshaft U joint, probably the carrier and bearing too, and rear diff oil change. I’ll probably wait a short time to make sure the gearbox has definitely settled down after getting jiggled about first.
And at the moment of truth, after 2*10 seconds of cranking to get the fuel though, it came to life and instantly settled to a nice smooth (for a Kjet redblock!) idle.
Quick test drive into the next town and stopped in the car park to check for leaks and ATF level etc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da0vjk98yjc
It is considerably quieter and smoother than the old engine ever was. Even when cold, there isn’t the same ‘underlying clatter’ which is very good news. It’s much less ‘droney’ on the motorway too.
This week I’ve done about 175 miles in it already with no issues. I’ve not driven it hard at all yet. Fingers still firmly crossed at this stage, but I think its going to work out OK!
At one point it did look a bit messy, but neighbours and passers by were great. Next door moved his car so I could put the XC there to use as a mobile tool chest, a chap up the road who does his own maintenance too said to knock on his door if I needed another pair of hands, lots of ‘good luck’ etc, and some more people commenting it was good to see someone getting their hands dirty!
https://youtube.com/shorts/CI1MKJjNyrM?si=e14PbXqD...
Edited by chris1roll on Thursday 20th June 17:44
About 300 miles done now, and at the last fill up the replacement engine returned just over 25mpg.
After a small coolant top up earlier in the week (must have been a small airlock come out) all the fluids are holding steady, and the torque converter hasn't made any more noise.
also passed this minor milestone on Wednesday:
Not that impressive, until you think that I have put 9% of the cars total mileage on it in the past 13 months.
After a small coolant top up earlier in the week (must have been a small airlock come out) all the fluids are holding steady, and the torque converter hasn't made any more noise.
also passed this minor milestone on Wednesday:
Not that impressive, until you think that I have put 9% of the cars total mileage on it in the past 13 months.
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