Looks a bit smarter than just having it hanging down in the fusebox, along with actually functioning like the deterrent that it's supposed to be.
Project Bentley
- Thread starter JRS
- Start date
Looks a bit smarter than just having it hanging down in the fusebox, along with actually functioning like the deterrent that it's supposed to be.
I'll go and grab some this week sometime.
Didn't grab any photos yet, I'll get them this weekend.
Got a call from Gary on Saturday. He'd been driving the car that morning, and suddenly got an almighty racket and vibration from the rear end. We immediately thought rear wheel bearing, since it was adjusted to pass the MOT when that little saga finally came to an end. Went round last night, and jacked the car up at the rear left corner. The wheel didn't seem to move as much as you'd expect if the bearing had let go. Then we rotated the wheel, and got the unmistakeable sound of bolts rattling around.
Pulled the wheel cover, and found the cause. There's ten setscrews that hold the hub together and onto the driveshaft. One of the ten was finger tight in its thread
rolleyes. Six of them were partway in their threads mad. Three were out altogether and sat loose in the wheel eek. I've cranked them back in with a socket and ratchet, and have found out the correct torquing figure so as soon as I get a torque wrench that can get onto the heads of the setscrews I'll finish the job off. Always the way though - if you want something doing right, do it yourself rather than pay a mechanic to do half of the ******* job.
If that had let go when Gary was on the A38 that morning....doesn't bear thinking about really.
Got a call from Gary on Saturday. He'd been driving the car that morning, and suddenly got an almighty racket and vibration from the rear end. We immediately thought rear wheel bearing, since it was adjusted to pass the MOT when that little saga finally came to an end. Went round last night, and jacked the car up at the rear left corner. The wheel didn't seem to move as much as you'd expect if the bearing had let go. Then we rotated the wheel, and got the unmistakeable sound of bolts rattling around.
Pulled the wheel cover, and found the cause. There's ten setscrews that hold the hub together and onto the driveshaft. One of the ten was finger tight in its thread
rolleyes. Six of them were partway in their threads mad. Three were out altogether and sat loose in the wheel eek. I've cranked them back in with a socket and ratchet, and have found out the correct torquing figure so as soon as I get a torque wrench that can get onto the heads of the setscrews I'll finish the job off. Always the way though - if you want something doing right, do it yourself rather than pay a mechanic to do half of the ******* job.If that had let go when Gary was on the A38 that morning....doesn't bear thinking about really.
Torque wrench arrived, so I went round to finish the job yesterday. As it turned out, my tightening those setcrews in with a ratchet actually got the torque figure almost bang on the money (36 foot-pounds). Took the car out for a test drive, no untoward noises or vibrations.
*phew*
*phew*
Other side was fine, don't think it was ever actually taken apart to be honest....
Yeah, they do come in handy when you've got a pile of bits that needs reassembling into something vaguely car-shaped! We had to buy another one for this job as mine is far too meaty to get anywhere near those setscrews without removing the wheel (and with limited room to work with and limited good weather to work in, that wasn't going to happen
).
I'm glad folks are reading and enjoying this, it's great ego food for the owner of the car and makes him much less of a pain in the rear to be around!
Talking of Gary - he drove it today for the first time since that incident last Saturday, and did remark how nicely she's driving now. We're getting dangerously close to finishing this car. Which worries me intensely, because he might buy something really silly next....
Talking of Gary - he drove it today for the first time since that incident last Saturday, and did remark how nicely she's driving now. We're getting dangerously close to finishing this car. Which worries me intensely, because he might buy something really silly next....
I missed my calling in life....I could'a been a thief.
So, Gary and I were attempting to sort out the bootlid lock today. It locks just fine on the remote, but unlocks basically when it feels like it. Which is pretty much never. Mindful of what we had to do to the drivers door lock, we figured that adjusting the rods would do the trick. I then found a loose plastic bracket up in there as well, so tried some tape on the ends to build it up and keep it where it needed to be. Then it wouldn't unlock, either on the remote or the key.
****.
Not a problem, I'll just get the tools out....most of which are in the boot of the car.
****.
Right, new plan. With a torch, a completely inappropriately sized screwdriver, a scrap vernier calliper (only thing I could find to wedge in the gap I created) and some swearing....
You either got it or you ain't got it. And me? I got it in spades
So, Gary and I were attempting to sort out the bootlid lock today. It locks just fine on the remote, but unlocks basically when it feels like it. Which is pretty much never. Mindful of what we had to do to the drivers door lock, we figured that adjusting the rods would do the trick. I then found a loose plastic bracket up in there as well, so tried some tape on the ends to build it up and keep it where it needed to be. Then it wouldn't unlock, either on the remote or the key.
****.
Not a problem, I'll just get the tools out....most of which are in the boot of the car.
****.
Right, new plan. With a torch, a completely inappropriately sized screwdriver, a scrap vernier calliper (only thing I could find to wedge in the gap I created) and some swearing....
- took the moulding off that holds the number plate lights on and surrounds the boot handle.
- took the handle itself off
- stuck the calliper into one of the holes behind where the moulding was and pushed down on the lever arm inside the lock-and-handle mechanism
- shoved the key in the lock barrel and turned it to the unlock position
- prayed
- pushed down even harder on the calliper
- and yanked my hand from the key to the plate where the handle would be and hauled up on it
You either got it or you ain't got it. And me? I got it in spades
We've ordered the parts to rebuild the boot handle (I'll get some photos of the utterly brainless 'repair' that someone attempted in the past when I pull the thing apart....they made a real mess of it) and some new fastex bushes to get the play out of the locking mechanism. Also got some new, hopefully brighter bulbs for the high-beam headlamps.
Meantime, I also fixed something else. After putting the glass back in the car post-paintjob, the rear-left window switch stopped working. The window would move fine on the drivers override switch, so power was obviously getting to the motors. And the interior lights would dim slightly as we operated the RL switch. So I got the door card off again, and took a look.
I already knew from having been in the door previously that three of the wires to the loom plug that the door electrics go through had broken off and been chocolate-boxed to bypass the plug. I hadn't realised that, of course, a set of **** quality chocolate boxes had been used. And that rust was now forming on the mild steel terminals. So I chopped all the wires, replaced the 9-way block (which it turns out was mixed metals from the factory, so of course was verdigree'd to all hell) with a higher quality one, and replaced the individual connector blocks with brand new spade connections. I made a few mistakes first time (I was having one of those days, got one side of the new 9-way connector 90 degrees out from the orientation that I wanted it in!) but eventually got it all back together and working. Happily, that did the trick.
Original:
You can see there the three missing sockets that had been bypassed sometime in the past, along with the pins that are oxidised more than the rest.
In progress:
Here you can see the new 9-way block going on. The other end of the connector was yet to go on at that point, that's the one that I initially put on wrong! All came together nicely after that, though I did end up spading the black wire and taking it out of the 9-way as it wasn't a tight enough connection. Overall though, these are great little pieces with the added bonus of being moisture-proof without resorting to half a roll of tape!
Everywhere you go on these cars, two things seem to crop up with alarming regularity. 1 - someone's been there before, and broken it/repaired it badly/disconnected it and forgot to put it back together/combination thereof. 2 - the factory part is of such poor quality that you wonder just how R-R/Bentley ever justified what they were charging for the car when it was new....
Meantime, I also fixed something else. After putting the glass back in the car post-paintjob, the rear-left window switch stopped working. The window would move fine on the drivers override switch, so power was obviously getting to the motors. And the interior lights would dim slightly as we operated the RL switch. So I got the door card off again, and took a look.
I already knew from having been in the door previously that three of the wires to the loom plug that the door electrics go through had broken off and been chocolate-boxed to bypass the plug. I hadn't realised that, of course, a set of **** quality chocolate boxes had been used. And that rust was now forming on the mild steel terminals. So I chopped all the wires, replaced the 9-way block (which it turns out was mixed metals from the factory, so of course was verdigree'd to all hell) with a higher quality one, and replaced the individual connector blocks with brand new spade connections. I made a few mistakes first time (I was having one of those days, got one side of the new 9-way connector 90 degrees out from the orientation that I wanted it in!) but eventually got it all back together and working. Happily, that did the trick.
Original:
You can see there the three missing sockets that had been bypassed sometime in the past, along with the pins that are oxidised more than the rest.
In progress:
Here you can see the new 9-way block going on. The other end of the connector was yet to go on at that point, that's the one that I initially put on wrong! All came together nicely after that, though I did end up spading the black wire and taking it out of the 9-way as it wasn't a tight enough connection. Overall though, these are great little pieces with the added bonus of being moisture-proof without resorting to half a roll of tape!
Everywhere you go on these cars, two things seem to crop up with alarming regularity. 1 - someone's been there before, and broken it/repaired it badly/disconnected it and forgot to put it back together/combination thereof. 2 - the factory part is of such poor quality that you wonder just how R-R/Bentley ever justified what they were charging for the car when it was new....
God, that was a pain in the....
Went after the boot lock and handle today. The handle had been at a cocked-up angle ever since Gary bought the car, and was getting steadily worse. And the lock-unlock action only really worked sporadically on the remote.
Here's a view of the guts of it blown up:
It's not actually as bad as it looks....which is good, as the access to it isn't brilliant. Most of the important stuff comes out in one big lump so you can work on it from the comfort of a warm house rather than in situ!
As it turns out, there was a good reason for the handle not being right. Here's what the trigger that it bolts up to is supposed to look like:
And here's how some rock ape left it in the past:
Just. Not Smart. It had started to pivot about where those two rivets had been sort-of mackled in, and the holes that they drilled through that (mild steel, not quite the material I'd use for something that's going to get wet) plate weren't in-line. It was a complete mess.
I wouldn't mind, but the trigger isn't even expensive! The trigger, the two reinforcing plates, a fastex bush and a seal came to less than £20 from Montague and Co. God bless Monty, they've been a massive help on this project.
Got it all back together with the new bits, and was still having trouble with locking. It would unlock fine, but trying to lock would just result in the solenoids clicking and not moving anything. Adjusting the reach of the locking bar to just about as far over as it can go, along with a crap-load of copper grease and working the lock over and over again seems to have done the trick.
And that's it. One fully working Bentley. Only taken four years. Less if you take into account how long it spent with naff all being done at the garage for the first half of this year. Or the extra time at the paint shop that was lost thanks to the starter motor taking that moment to quit.
Looking back over the threads, I can't quite believe just how far we took this thing back to component parts. If we'd had to pay someone to do the work it would have cost tens of thousands of pounds, and they'd probably not have done as good a job as we did (it wasn't just a job to us, it was something worthwhile). Knowing what we know now, there's not many jobs on a similar car that I wouldn't take on. I'd just prefer it if I had some shelter to work under!
Went after the boot lock and handle today. The handle had been at a cocked-up angle ever since Gary bought the car, and was getting steadily worse. And the lock-unlock action only really worked sporadically on the remote.
Here's a view of the guts of it blown up:
It's not actually as bad as it looks....which is good, as the access to it isn't brilliant. Most of the important stuff comes out in one big lump so you can work on it from the comfort of a warm house rather than in situ!
As it turns out, there was a good reason for the handle not being right. Here's what the trigger that it bolts up to is supposed to look like:
And here's how some rock ape left it in the past:
Just. Not Smart. It had started to pivot about where those two rivets had been sort-of mackled in, and the holes that they drilled through that (mild steel, not quite the material I'd use for something that's going to get wet) plate weren't in-line. It was a complete mess.
I wouldn't mind, but the trigger isn't even expensive! The trigger, the two reinforcing plates, a fastex bush and a seal came to less than £20 from Montague and Co. God bless Monty, they've been a massive help on this project.
Got it all back together with the new bits, and was still having trouble with locking. It would unlock fine, but trying to lock would just result in the solenoids clicking and not moving anything. Adjusting the reach of the locking bar to just about as far over as it can go, along with a crap-load of copper grease and working the lock over and over again seems to have done the trick.
And that's it. One fully working Bentley. Only taken four years. Less if you take into account how long it spent with naff all being done at the garage for the first half of this year. Or the extra time at the paint shop that was lost thanks to the starter motor taking that moment to quit.
Looking back over the threads, I can't quite believe just how far we took this thing back to component parts. If we'd had to pay someone to do the work it would have cost tens of thousands of pounds, and they'd probably not have done as good a job as we did (it wasn't just a job to us, it was something worthwhile). Knowing what we know now, there's not many jobs on a similar car that I wouldn't take on. I'd just prefer it if I had some shelter to work under!
Cheers semi-pro. Got down from the 'mission critical' list to the 'would be nice' stuff. Like upgrading the dashboard lights to bright LEDs and detailing the engine bay.
One more ticked off the 'would be nice' column - just replaced the dip beam bulbs with better quality ones. The ones that were in there were alright, but a bit yellow. Not any more! Also attached the boot interior trim that goes over the locking mechanism, now with stainless self-tappers and cup washers to replace the painted mild steel screws that were there before.
Got some LEDs coming to replace the festoon bulbs for the boot interior, number plate light and under-bonnet light. And then going to look seriously at replacing all the instrument illumination bulbs with LEDs as well.
Got some LEDs coming to replace the festoon bulbs for the boot interior, number plate light and under-bonnet light. And then going to look seriously at replacing all the instrument illumination bulbs with LEDs as well.
****.
**** ****y ****ing **** ****.
****.
****.
So, we had a bit of a situation the other day. Nothing major. Just lost the rear brakes and rear suspension hydraulics....
Looks like the o-rings on the pump for the rear of the car have failed. Hopefully we only have to renew them rather than replace the pump. Still amounts to a disabled car though - the front brakes work, and still work well, but trying to stop this much car with brakes only at one end isn't too clever. And that's leaving aside the rear end being sat on the bump-stops.
I wouldn't mind, but the pump in question is in the centre of the engine bay and buried underneath the guts of the fuel injection. Not brilliantly accessible!
**** ****y ****ing **** ****.
****.
****.
So, we had a bit of a situation the other day. Nothing major. Just lost the rear brakes and rear suspension hydraulics....
Looks like the o-rings on the pump for the rear of the car have failed. Hopefully we only have to renew them rather than replace the pump. Still amounts to a disabled car though - the front brakes work, and still work well, but trying to stop this much car with brakes only at one end isn't too clever. And that's leaving aside the rear end being sat on the bump-stops.I wouldn't mind, but the pump in question is in the centre of the engine bay and buried underneath the guts of the fuel injection. Not brilliantly accessible!
Yeah, the feeling of contentment should have been my first clue that something was lurking in the background....
So, after a bit of a faff involving the adverse weather, a mechanic who could only pop round to work on it part-time, me not being able to get to it on the few days when the weather was nice and Gary's inability to reach the broken part due to being short and having a bad back, the car is back on the road.
Ended up working in the rain again, but that's par for the course with this project. The mechanic who'd helped Gary out had gotten it to the stage where the o-rings had been replaced, and the pump housing and low-pressure inlet were both back on. Still to refit was the high-pressure outlet. And some of the fuel injection pipework. And a bracket that holds part of the fuel injection pipework on the car. And the system needed to be bled.
Only minor issues cropped up. I missed a loose injection pipe, and that sprayed a bit of fuel out when we first tried to fire it. Shut it straight down and got it tight! Once fired up and having prodded the throttle a bit, she settled down into a nice idle and the rear of the car rose. And rose. And rose. Now standing at proper height rather than dragging the spare wheel well on the ground. Took her out to one of the local petrol stations because the tank was quite a way down. As it turns out, there was an Arnage at one of the other pumps while we were there - reckon we probably emptied the place....
The brakes still need to be bled properly (there's about six million bleed points, most of which we'll get away with not using by the look of things), and the ABS goes spastic when you really try and stand the car on her nose. But she goes well, stops mostly well, rides nicely (smoother than before all this actually....) and sounds fantastic. And everything works! It has to be the only 1989 Bentley in existence where everything - right down to all three cigar lighter sockets - works just fine.
And she's being sold later this year. It's been an experience for Gary, owning this car. Often bruising, endlessly frustrating (thanks to garages mostly), and while it's a lovely car it's not one that Gary's wife will entertain the idea of driving (too big, too heavy, too....Bentleyish). So it's got to go. Next up - a facelift XJ (the X358 model). Still some wrangling to do between Gary and his good lady over the colour scheme, but that's the car that they can both agree is nice and will both drive.
Ended up working in the rain again, but that's par for the course with this project. The mechanic who'd helped Gary out had gotten it to the stage where the o-rings had been replaced, and the pump housing and low-pressure inlet were both back on. Still to refit was the high-pressure outlet. And some of the fuel injection pipework. And a bracket that holds part of the fuel injection pipework on the car. And the system needed to be bled.
Only minor issues cropped up. I missed a loose injection pipe, and that sprayed a bit of fuel out when we first tried to fire it. Shut it straight down and got it tight! Once fired up and having prodded the throttle a bit, she settled down into a nice idle and the rear of the car rose. And rose. And rose. Now standing at proper height rather than dragging the spare wheel well on the ground. Took her out to one of the local petrol stations because the tank was quite a way down. As it turns out, there was an Arnage at one of the other pumps while we were there - reckon we probably emptied the place....
The brakes still need to be bled properly (there's about six million bleed points, most of which we'll get away with not using by the look of things), and the ABS goes spastic when you really try and stand the car on her nose. But she goes well, stops mostly well, rides nicely (smoother than before all this actually....) and sounds fantastic. And everything works! It has to be the only 1989 Bentley in existence where everything - right down to all three cigar lighter sockets - works just fine.
And she's being sold later this year. It's been an experience for Gary, owning this car. Often bruising, endlessly frustrating (thanks to garages mostly), and while it's a lovely car it's not one that Gary's wife will entertain the idea of driving (too big, too heavy, too....Bentleyish). So it's got to go. Next up - a facelift XJ (the X358 model). Still some wrangling to do between Gary and his good lady over the colour scheme, but that's the car that they can both agree is nice and will both drive.
No. Getting out without losing huge amounts of money is the best you can ever hope for with a project like this.
Lot of money has been spent to do less than 2k in over four years!
I think while Gary and I both like the car a lot it's not something that he's loved the way he loved his old XJ8. He keeps looking at Arnages, though. And there are some very nice ones out there. I just see him more as a Jaguar man (in the Top Gear sense!), and at least with an X358 Jag he'll have a car that his wife will actually drive
It was a car in that problematic stage of being too good to scrap, but cheap enough that the faults were mounting up. Add to that the sheer stupidity of some of the bodges we found (boot lid trigger being a shining example ) that caused more work for us since we had to go back over places and parts that ought to have been done right the first time around.
Pretty much all of what we did, I'm more than satisfied with. There's a few things that in a perfect world with less limitation in the funding department I'd like to go back and have another crack at. And there's a few things that we never did that in a perfect world with less limitation in the funding department I'd like to go back and have a first crack at!
But, c'est la vie
) that caused more work for us since we had to go back over places and parts that ought to have been done right the first time around.Pretty much all of what we did, I'm more than satisfied with. There's a few things that in a perfect world with less limitation in the funding department I'd like to go back and have another crack at. And there's a few things that we never did that in a perfect world with less limitation in the funding department I'd like to go back and have a first crack at!
But, c'est la vie
Ever get the impression that your car is sentient?
Took the Bentley into town earlier to a garage that Gary has used for his other cars to see if he could get the last bits of air out of the hydraulic system. I'd driven the car the other week to Swadlincote and back, and the run down the hill to the Burton bridge traffic lights was a bit hairy when the front left and rear right brakes just didn't engageeek. Certainly gets you to focus when you've got +2 tonnes of car trying to rotate left every time you try and slow it up!
So, fired up and headed for town. And wouldn't you know it? No histrionics. No warning lamps. No trying to pitch dead left when slowing for traffic lights. No wildly malfunctioning ABS. Just smooth, serene progress.
I give up.
Took the Bentley into town earlier to a garage that Gary has used for his other cars to see if he could get the last bits of air out of the hydraulic system. I'd driven the car the other week to Swadlincote and back, and the run down the hill to the Burton bridge traffic lights was a bit hairy when the front left and rear right brakes just didn't engage
eek. Certainly gets you to focus when you've got +2 tonnes of car trying to rotate left every time you try and slow it up!So, fired up and headed for town. And wouldn't you know it? No histrionics. No warning lamps. No trying to pitch dead left when slowing for traffic lights. No wildly malfunctioning ABS. Just smooth, serene progress.
I give up.
No, I really give up now.
No air in the hydraulics. ABS still going wonky and sending the car left if you brake remotely hard. Going to pull the fuse for the ABS and see what it does then.
No air in the hydraulics. ABS still going wonky and sending the car left if you brake remotely hard. Going to pull the fuse for the ABS and see what it does then.
That's now my thinking. Once again, I face my old nemesis Happy Fun With R-R/Bentley's Cheap Electrical Components™.
Woo.