What have you done to your car today?

Maccapacca said:
Nearly ready for MOT just waiting for brackets for the bumper from the US.

New fuel tank
New lines
New alternator
Cam belt tensioner etc
Service oils filters
New bias valve on rear end
New fuel filler pipes
New wheels and tyres
Bit of welding
Made two good doors and windows out of 6
All the locks on one key rather than 12

Needs seat belts, front bumper, valance, then MOT time. should have waited another few years then it wouldn’t need one



7dyS2ZN.jpeg
Click to expand...
BTTF spec wheels, nice. Is that your ultimate plan?
 
Last edited:
Dup said:
BTTF spec wheels, nice. Is that your ultimate plan?
Click to expand...

No that's an extra cab, it wouldn't be right. Wheels will probably end up white, cant decide on original dusty 1980s blue or something smarter.

Original look

mmglOpf.jpeg


Original colour and year


eFtWt1T.jpeg



Maybe???? Without the tent and wheel on the back

MV8Eo4X.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Stone chipped the front end
Fitted bumper and skirt number plate etc
Put the rubber gear lever gaiters in the wash, painted the metal surround holding them down.
Levered out a vent thing and rebuilt it as it had been pushed in



o2gakb5.jpeg




osxIQ84.jpeg


rYWyTLl.jpeg
 
Maccapacca said:
Stone chipped the front end
Fitted bumper and skirt number plate etc
Put the rubber gear lever gaiters in the wash, painted the metal surround holding them down.
Levered out a vent thing and rebuilt it as it had been pushed in



o2gakb5.jpeg




osxIQ84.jpeg


rYWyTLl.jpeg
Click to expand...

How did you treat the metal before painting over it?

I upgraded my headunit to android 12:

vkaK4QS.jpg


8DJxUTh.jpg


Needed a little faff but got wireless android auto working properly:

GTsse8L.jpg
 
Removed the front suspension struts off my Mk6 Fiesta 1.6 TDCI Zetec S (2008) and replaced with Eibach lowering springs, the old springs were in dire need of replacing soon anyway, this was after 108k miles. The damper still works fine.

Top tip, use a bottle jack to release the strut from the swivel hub. Nearly every other guide or video I saw says to hammer the hub repeatedly to free it, but literally a few pumps on the jack and it came away no bother.


89diq69.jpg


5YtUM4G.jpg

xyGqFPZ.jpg

rApgdZt.jpg
 
norm said:
Top tip, use a bottle jack to release the strut from the swivel hub. Nearly every other guide or video I saw says to hammer the hub repeatedly to free it, but literally a few pumps on the jack and it came away no bother.
Click to expand...

Good tip. Often see people beating the hub with a hammer to get them off. Personally I wedge a big chisel in the back to open it up, the hub usually drops down with no effort, and will slide right back in with no effort too.
 
Daughter broke down in the Focus mk1 with 150k on it and told me she couldn't select any gear and the stick had gone loose. Convinced the gearbox may have finally gone I told her to phone breakdown who said it would be hours. So I went out to her armed with a socket set, a hammer, a light, trolley jack and some other random tools. Pushed it forward to a safe ish place away from the drive she was blocking which just so happened to be in a nice large puddle. Removed gear gaitor.... linkages all in tact.
Laid down in puddle under the car and removed the plastic cover off the gearbox. Found the linkage connector end had popped off the selector shaft as the bush had completely disintegrated. I held it in place and got her to select second gear. She drove home in second whilst I followed.

Rather than pay Ford £££ or even buy an entire new selector cable kit and route it from the gearstick to the gearbox, I've made my own bush kit from a combination of cutting up an old skateboard bushing and sandwiching it between some washers. I then went down screwfix and bought a selection of circlips/e-clips and a new set of circlip pliers as mine had the prongs that were too big for the smaller sized circlips. The new pliers were still too big! So I had to modify them with a file until they fit, then I popped the circlip over the selector shaft to hold it all in place, popped the cover on and the old girl is back up and running. This car literally won't die. It leaks oil and everythings old and tired, but I keep doing the basics and she keeps going.
 
Last edited:
jaybee said:
Daughter broke down in the Focus mk1 with 150k on it and told me she couldn't select any gear and the stick had gone loose. Convinced the gearbox may have finally gone I told her to phone breakdown who said it would be hours. So I went out to her armed with a socket set, a hammer, a light, trolley jack and some other random tools. Pushed it forward to a safe ish place away from the drive she was blocking which just so happened to be in a nice large puddle. Removed gear gaitor.... linkages all in tact.
Laid down in puddle under the car and removed the plastic cover off the gearbox. Found the linkage connector end had popped off the selector shaft as the bush had completely disintegrated. I held it in place and got her to select second gear. She drove home in second whilst I followed.

Rather than pay Ford £££ or even buy an entire new selector cable kit and route it from the gearstick to the gearbox, I've made my own bush kit from a combination of cutting up an old skateboard bushing and sandwiching it between some washers. I then went down screwfix and bought a selection of circlips/e-clips and a new set of circlip pliers as mine had the prongs that were too big for the smaller sized circlips. The new pliers were still too big! So I had to modify them with a file until they fit, then I popped the circlip over the selector shaft to hold it all in place, popped the cover on and the old girl is back up and running. This car literally won't die. It leaks oil and everythings old and tired, but I keep doing the basics and she keeps going.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure invasive surgery and investigation while lying in a puddle and then fabricating new gearbox parts counts as "doing the basics", but props to you for doing it :D
Had a Focus Mk1 as my first car, over a decade ago now. But I still miss it. Was indeed a great little car and I regret part exchanging it - I could probably have afforded to keep it and run it as a second car.
 
Last edited:
Finally finished off the rust removal on all my MX5 suspension arms and roll bars. Ended up cutting the droplinks off which was fun.

Coated everything in 2 layers of Bilt Hamber Hydrate80 after using a mixture of Bilt Hamber Deox C and angle grinder stripping wheels.

Will be painting them with Por15 Top Coat tomorrow. Then it's time to fit all the new polybushes and get everything back on the car. Been sat in the garage on ramps for 3 months so can't wait to get it outside so I can use my garage for something enjoyable :cry:
 
Morning all

Whats the best online car check I can use to check a used car History please?

Didnt want to start a thread so thought I’d drop it here :)
 
A sad week. Sold the Lexus as Cazoo were offering a really good price, and with intending to move to Spain next year, i wanted to de-risk having a £25k car suddenly becoming an £18k car as the economy tanks. They collected it Wednesday and i'd swapped it for a high mileage 2019 Mazda CX-5 on the theory that a high mileage car now with minimal mileage over 18 months turns it into a slightly less high mileage car and lessens any depreciation curve. Plus the savings on the Service plan, Insurance and >£40k car tax premium mean a decent chunk of savings.
Plus it's a diesel and so if we drive over to Spain a few times in the process we'll get ~15mpg benefits.

The car i ordered had a couple of issues though so is being returned to Cazoo tomorrow, their easy return policy made this a breeze. Have just ordered a 2017 CX-5 with slightly higher mileage but a higher spec level for ~£1k less at £12,700. Was a toss up between this and the Jeep Compass. Both seemed great options and it's still tricky to be confident i made the right choice, however the fact i could pay the whole lot on Amex was a motivating factor :D
 
Last edited:
Buyed an AC compressor. The old one was fitted back in 2015 to replace the failed original one. They seem to have a cycle life, just like the FSR and door actuators at x number of years before failure lol.

FoAUi2G.jpg
 
iMacMart said:
Morning all

Whats the best online car check I can use to check a used car History please?

Didnt want to start a thread so thought I’d drop it here :)
Click to expand...

Do you mean HPI Check?

I believe CAP HPI or Experian Autocheck are the main ones.

Recently I had a car which was sold to me with a clear HPI and would appear clear using “Motorcheck” however when attempting to part exchange a discrepancy was found on the “National Mileage Register” which was picked up using Experian Autocheck - It was a typo and all got sorted but delayed my new purchase.

I will always do my own HPI in future, most places tend to do basic checks which do not check the NMR and it’s crazy to think this register contains data from 3rd Party Companies and states it can be inaccurate but obviously to any dealer will effect your part exchange value quote significantly and that it’s upto you to have it corrected.
 
Last edited:
mrk said:
Buyed an AC compressor. The old one was fitted back in 2015 to replace the failed original one. They seem to have a cycle life, just like the FSR and door actuators at x number of years before failure lol.

FoAUi2G.jpg
Click to expand...

Why did the prior compressor fail?

The general advise is the change the receiver dryer, expansion valve and flush the system, or after a few years you will need another compressor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom