|
|
Post by Bilbo on Sept 4, 2023 13:56:14 GMT
Maybe, I just wonder if these would be horribly uncomfortable haha. |
|
|
|
Post by wannabe on Sept 13, 2023 9:21:32 GMT
Maybe, I just wonder if these would be horribly uncomfortable haha. Those low back seats were in V6's V6 - I couldn't get on with them long term, you end up putting a lot of pressure on your lower back as you have nothing to brace your top half against (and they have zero lower back support) and I wouldn't like to think what would happen in a crash... |
|
|
|
Post by Zed. on Sept 13, 2023 21:38:56 GMT
Maybe, I just wonder if these would be horribly uncomfortable haha. Those low back seats were in V6's V6 - I couldn't get on with them long term, you end up putting a lot of pressure on your lower back as you have nothing to brace your top half against (and they have zero lower back support) and I wouldn't like to think what would happen in a crash... there might be a reason that 'low-back' seats are not a thing anymore, maybe not all to do with comfort either  Rich. |
|
|
|
Post by dadbif on Sept 14, 2023 7:27:42 GMT
Could that reason be back and neck injuries?
|
|
|
|
Post by Bilbo on Oct 13, 2023 13:03:19 GMT
So not a huge amount going on lately, money has been a little tight, but still had some bits going on. Got down to Lancing Motor Show as probably one of the last shows of the season, some cool cars there, and the Vauxhall was pretty well received by everyone I spoke to. Saw lots of people throughout the day looking in the engine bay and pointing, probably at some of my more questionable work 😂  Had a bit of vibration appear, seemed to be getting progressively worse over a day or 2 so got it up on the ramp.  Decided to adjust the front wheel bearings as there was just the tiniest amount of play in both, just nipped the castle nut up one tiny bit to get the split pin through the next available slot in the nut, and both are mint now. However while it was up I checked all other areas underneath, everything seemed tight, no issues. Then I grabbed the prop and found the problem. The front UJ that goes into the box had a lot of side to side play in it. As in I held the front section still with my hand and the main prop section had a fair bit of movement on it. Not ideal. Now the work that JW engineering did on the prop was mint, still is, it's perfect. So this isn't about them. I provided the front and rear UJs, the front one was taken from a good condition mk2 MX-5 prop (used). I have a feeling that the UJ was probably used to working/wearing in one particular way on the MX-5 it came from, now being on a different car I guess it just didn't like it. Now MX-5 props are annoying, the UJs aren't circlipped into place, the units are staked in with what I imagine is some for of press from the factory, so there's like 8 staked pieces of metal holding the UJ central. So I carefully ground these back, and we removed the front joint from the main prop.  Luckily I had some mates with me who have done this sort of thing before, so that helped a lot. We then carefully replaced the UJ, making sure the replacement one was greased where the caps go and that all the needle bearings were sat where they should be. Tapped the caps on, and then simply tacked both sides so that the caps are held firmly in place. Done a good few hundred miles since, and re-checked and there is zero play in the prop at all, and it feels much better driving. Will keep an eye on it from now, but a relatively simple (albeit fiddly) fix. Planning on wrapping my manifold this weekend to get the bay temps and in-car temps down a little bit. Yes I will be double gloving and wearing clothes that I can bin after, do not want to be itching myself for the next bloody week 😂 |
|
|
|
Post by Bilbo on Oct 17, 2023 1:13:47 GMT
In other news as I mentioned before, I wanted to wrap my exhaust manifold. 2 reasons for this, firstly engine bay temperatures. I don't have a significant issue with it, in fact intake temps when looking on the laptop are fairly reasonable given the open trumpets, but still it can't hurt to keep bay temps down more. The other reason (and yes we are going into winter now, but still) is in-car temperatures. At first I suffered with this as my heater doesn't have a hot/cold adjustment, I just made a heater box that has the heater core in it, and that's what you get. I've now solved that issue pretty much, but inside the car was still getting really quite warm, on a hot day it was quite uncomfortable. So I thought yeah it's probably engine/box heat, but the exhaust is tucked up above the gearbox brace, so it must be contributing too. So I bought some exhaust heat wrap, stainless ties, old hoodie on, double gloved (thank god, don't ever touch this stuff it'll ruin your day, proper proper itchy!) It was a bit fiddly, but I wet it before use and this helped quite a lot actually. Got each port wrapped nice and tight, then ran the wrap around the 4 into 2 sections, before finishing up down at the collector.  Didn't wrap the flexi as was advised not to do so. Had a lot of the stuff, and you do use a lot of it! But I had enough, so I thought why not, lets wrap the entire midpipe as well. Runs directly under the cabin, so I wanted this heat to be gone. Went really well, a mate spun the pipe around as I tightly wrapped it up. Occasionally stopping to add a tie, until it was all done. Basically fully wrapped until just before the rear axle section starts.  Pretty pleased with it, all went back on with not too much fuss, and it looks alright I think:  Anyway, results-wise. Unbelievable difference. The wrap is so effective at keeping the heat in the manifold that I can put my hand on the manifold at operating temp and not get burned. Inside the car is night and day difference. The transmission tunnel (particularly on the passenger side) is warm now, but it isn't like a radiator like before. So much nicer and now I can just choose when I'm warm with my heater, rather than constantly be too warm. There's some downsides to exhaust wrapping, but we'll see. I cobbled this system together from all sorts, so I'm not overly precious about it. If it makes it rust, I'll fix it. Until then I'm loving it. Also as an added bonus the extra heat that it now takes all the way to the backbox is resulting in some particularly spectacular flames on flat out gear changes, and high rev overrun/downshifting. There's been a couple that have been physically visible in the rear view mirror haha. A guy I know was behind me as I pulled onto the duals, I'd been for a drive so the exhaust was nice and hot by this point. He claimed the flame on 1st to 2nd gear change was approx. 4 feet long 😂 As much as this has been a great change for practical reasons, I am a child at heart, and it makes me laugh every time I see the fireball in the mirrors. |
|
|
|
Post by boggissimo on Oct 17, 2023 16:44:51 GMT
Sounds hilarious! Wannabe's quote is even more appropriate too
|
|
|
|
Post by Bilbo on Oct 24, 2023 23:52:26 GMT
Sounds hilarious! Wannabe's quote is even more appropriate too Haha yeah, it's so good. Driven it a fair bit more since and it just loves a flame now, can basically do them on command haha. I always try to be extremely sensible and quiet around home, neighbours all get along with me, could do without the grief! |
|
|
|
Post by wannabe on Oct 26, 2023 2:56:05 GMT
Did someone say GoPro on a suction mount?   |
|
|
|
Post by Bilbo on Nov 24, 2023 2:01:58 GMT
Did someone say GoPro on a suction mount? I have been thinking about doing this but not got round to it yet! Got to be done |
|
|
|
Post by Bilbo on Nov 24, 2023 2:21:13 GMT
So not too many big jobs going on lately, few little bits. When the storms rolled in a few weeks ago I got some rather nasty leaking inside the car, particularly on the passenger footwell side. Poured some water over the front to see exactly where it was coming from and sourced the issue. It was actually 2 places, one was a small drilled hole in the inner wing, not sure what it was for, but anyway all sealed up now. Was a good opportunity to take the wing off and properly inspect all the work I did last year. All holding up pretty well actually, the stone chip has stayed on nicely, and the seam sealer seems to be doing it's job.  Notice the gap in the inner wing at the top, just by the bottom edge of the bonnet. The metal here wasn't great, but the surrounding area is mint, so got that cut back, cleaned up, and welded a piece in here now to properly seal it. This was one of the sources of the excessive amount of water getting onto the firewall. Seems to be a lot drier in there now, though I'm still chasing a leak on driver's side, think it's getting under the door seal at the bottom, so I'll look into that. Front tyres had got a little more dead than I realised, that's what I get for not getting an alignment sooner. Oh well, brand new set on now and all good.  Few more little bits to do, but the car is ready to be used as a daily throughout the winter once again. No issues so far, and touch wood it doesn't entirely dissolve before the spring 😂  Also came back out to the car when parked up and this rather lovely Chevette was parked next to it. Properly properly clean rebuild. Had a chat to the guy when he came out, it's running a Zetec engine, over 200hp, and an absolutely lovely high rise manifold on it too. Sounded decent, and I bet that absolutely flies.  |
|
|
|
Post by boggissimo on Nov 24, 2023 16:57:16 GMT
Nice to see car park rules apply to old engine-swapped Vauxhalls too!
|
|
|
|
Post by dickie on Nov 24, 2023 19:31:04 GMT
Beware of exhaust wrap if it is not well sealed with high temperature paint.
I have seen it catch fire after it got oil soaked it and it burst into flames.
I wrapped a cat in fibreglass wrap and the glass weave melted !!
Keep a decent AFF foam extinguiser handy !
|
|
|
|
Post by Bilbo on Nov 28, 2023 2:07:09 GMT
Nice to see car park rules apply to old engine-swapped Vauxhalls too! Haha yeah, it was quite a surprise! Beware of exhaust wrap if it is not well sealed with high temperature paint. I have seen it catch fire after it got oil soaked it and it burst into flames. I wrapped a cat in fibreglass wrap and the glass weave melted !! Keep a decent AFF foam extinguiser handy ! Funny you should say that, a mate has just given me exactly one of those extinguishers that he no longer needs, I will be fitting it into the car this weekend! |
|
|
|
Post by Bilbo on Dec 9, 2023 0:27:14 GMT
The big jobs are waiting until into the new year, but I have done a few bits lately. After the leak fiasco in the passenger side, I was having some temperamental issues with my headunit. Possibly unrelated, the headunit I have owned for about 12 years now as my parents bought it for my first car way back in the day! Maybe it was finally just giving up, but I think the adapter harness was dodgy personally. Either way I was pretty sick of just having 2 front speakers, it's alright but not great, I love having music when I'm driving. So I wired in 2 rear speakers to try. Not good at all, headunit just doesn't really have the balls to power 4 speakers very effectively. So I went on Marketplace, and a guy was selling a JVC Bluetooth headunit, an old Alpine VPower amp, and a Hertz super slim space saver sub, all together really cheap. Ideal. Went and picked it up, pulled up the carpet, sorted some appropriate gauge wiring, and got it all connected. The sub fits perfectly between the fuel tank and the rear seats, with not even a cm to spare, it couldn't be more perfect, and as a bonus it's completely hidden and takes up no usable boot space.  Under the front passenger seat I placed the amp, tucked away underneath, all the wiring run under the carpet and poked through right by the amp, so no wiring laying about everywhere, very neat.  Finally I can actually hear the bass in songs. I'm not really into absolutely banging dance music, but I do love music and play a bit of guitar and bass myself, and not being able to hear the powerful kick drum or bass lines of my favourite songs is not to my liking, so this has been a great upgrade, and all completely hidden away so the car looks no different for it. Money well spent. And no I am not planning on hacking the parcel shelf up for some grim looking 6x9s, don't worry. Next on the agenda, my mate gave me a brand new unused fire extinguisher. He had it lying around, a mate of his had recently fitted it in his Tailgate McNoIndicate to meet the new safety regs at Driftland, but fortunately had no need for it, and now it is mine. Mounted securely by the front of the passenger seat, in driver's reach, with a single quick release metal strap holding it in. Ideal, and a bit of peace of mind. Hopefully never need it, but I'll be glad it's there if I ever do.  Leak issues are now solved on the passenger side, though I still have one persistent leak on the driver's side, starting to think it's the aerial mounting bracket underneath the front wing. Will whip the driver's wing off tomorrow and take a look, and hopefully get to the bottom of it, because it's been raining a bloody lot lately and my floorpan will dissolve in no time if I don't sort it I'm sure 😂  |
|
le sigh
Jul 15, 2023 20:03:52 GMT
le sigh
Jul 15, 2023 20:03:52 GMT