What have you done to your car today?

Thought I would damage it with my bike rack :(


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Joined the motorway, and heard a thud. There was a van in front of me who could see it and was pointing up to my rack, so I pulled over to the hard shoulder and the bike was barely hanging on. The front bar of the rack had come off and was hanging down the near side of the car. The rear rail was still in place, but the rack holding the bike has been damaged and the force of that has caused the above damage. The dent on the roof and damage to the door frame is like that on both sides. Where you see that marker line is just for myself to line up the rack so it sits center on that line. Not sure how it happened as it's Thule bike rack which uses a torque type mechanisms that you keep tightening until it makes a clicking nose. Used this rack countless times with out issues. The only thing I can think of is perhaps the front section wasn't quite in the correct position, then slipped back, causing the who thing to come loose at the front. Not quite how I planned my bike ride. Just gutted right now lol. Still, it could have been worse. Glad it didn't come off the car and onto the road.

Going to look at getting some quotes to repair, but I don't have a good feeling considering where the damage is involved.
 
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Damn, sorry to see :(

Looks like a multi stage paint too, with the pearl in the clearcoat? Not good. :(

Hope you can get it sorted affordably!
 
Need to sell the old MG ASAP as it's being replaced tomorrow... Most of the interior has been in my garage since stripping it for welding 18 months ago :eek:

I have been scrubbing the plastics, stripping and treating floorpan rust, and cleaning carpets. Half my garage is now bits ready to go back into the car. Then just need to clean the exterior and sell it :(





If cars are allowed in the MM I will put a post up :D
 
Replaced the radiator fan motor on the AMG GTR.

Mercedes Switzerland wanted nearly £2000 for a new fan and 4 hours labour. I managed to remove the fan myself within 10 minutes, swap the motors over in another 5 minutes and then reinstalled it in 5 minutes. Money well saved as the fan motor cost me £190!
 
GSXRMovistar said:
Swore at it…swore at it a lot!!

Last night I took the Elise out for a spirited drive and on way home battery warning light came on about several miles from home. I’m on a dual carriageway with no ideal place to pull over and as the car appeared to be running fine I was reluctant to stop it in case it didn’t start again.

Now very close to home I go around a roundabout and I hear a bang, similar to rock flicking up and hitting the under tray, but everything else felt normal.

Got home and started the diagnostics, voltage reading showed the battery not charging, went to take a look at the alternative through the rear wheel and could see the alternative belt hanging down which I was able to to pull out in one piece. Closer inspection and the bloody alternator appeared to be hanging from one bolt!

As the car is due to go in for a service on Monday it then leads to today’s fun. I needed to remove the rear wheel and inner arch to gain access.
  1. Go out an purchase low entry jack for car
  2. Get home and realise that I don’t have a 17mm wheel brace or compatible socket/adaptor (only 19 and 21)
  3. Go back out and purchase 17mm wheel brace
  4. Get back home loosen the 3 bolts and then find that the guys that refurbed the wheels recently have put the remaining locking nut on with an impact wrench so bloody hard that the brace won’t do it (Its a crap locking nut with very shallow grip)
So I can't get to the alternator how I need to but I did stick my arm down the back of the engine where I’ve found that it's completely disconnected and now sitting on the cars underframe/tray!

Utter cluster ****, I’ve ordered an impact wrench to try and get it off but not sure if I’ll have time this weekend so spoke with the garage, they said the alternator shouldn’t shift to anywhere where it can do damage so the backup plan is to now charge the battery to max which ‘should’ give me an hour of driving, then drive carefully to the garage on Monday and let them sort it all out! :rolleyes::p
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Car all sorted. Luckily the garage were able to remove the wheels nuts by drilling and tapping them rather than having to weld to them so the rims have not been damaged in the process.

Alternator had all three bolts missing but the bracket hadn't snapped, I'm shocked that all 3 had come off without any signs of it being loose to be honest.

On top of that car has now had a full service so fingers crossed it's all in a good way and the only thing remaining damaged is my wallet!
 
Smart repair on bumper scuff and door chips. Started at 7:45 this morning. All of which I inherited with the car, but may as well use the insurance!

Edit: all done, looks like new, can’t tell there was any damage! Impressed with that. Better than the body shop used to do back in the day.
 
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Replaced the rear frame cylinder (which works the rod operated rear brakes) :p

And replaced the line because it fell apart as expected, bled it all up, and adjusted all four corners.

Before, the plunger is half seized in the middle of this manky mess.

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After.

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Also cleaned and lubricated the rear mechanism which looked like it hadn't been attended to for decades.
 
Wow, rod operated brakes! I once built a 1930s style Hercules bicycle from a kit and the rod brakes were scary even on that. Can't imagine them on a car. Don't skip leg day!
 
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LuckyBenski said:
Wow, rod operated brakes! I once built a 1930s style Hercules bicycle from a kit and the rod brakes were scary even on that. Can't imagine them on a car. Don't skip leg day!
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Well, semi rod operated, the hydraulic frame cylinder works on a stirrup which pulls a whippletree which acts on rods that go to shoe seperators in the rear drums.

The handbrake also independently acts on the stirrup.

Its very heath robinson!

The brakes are good enough to stop you sharpish and you can lock the wheels up, but you really do need a lot of leg strength. Its no wonder a lot of the old fogeys who own these fit vacuum boosters.
 
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Akagi said:
Well, semi rod operated, the hydraulic frame cylinder works on a stirrup which pulls a whippletree which acts on rods that go to shoe seperators in the rear drums.
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Ah yes the gidget connects to the watsit presses on the whosit and bobs your fanny you come to a stop
 
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