Yaris will purely be for me if I do go ahead. Not sure I care about passengers
What have you done to your car today?
- Thread starter mattyprice4004
- Start date
@Acme Yeah I have to admit, I think I preferred the oyster myself. I sort of get that oyster needs more effort to keep it clean especially with my kids around but still, she prefers it so she's happy and my 3 Series has oyster interior so I'm still alright 
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That patina tho!
Today is car cleaning day.
Yesterday, I took the E46 to have a wheel alignment done after I had to fit a new control arm to get it through its MOT. Apparently, the ball joint had excessive movement, but when I removed the control arm all I struggled to see anything wrong with it and I didn't detect an issues when driving the car. However, it is done and the car is back on the road again after an 8 month break.
After the wheel alignment I helped my dad remove the turbo on his Fabia vRS because he is under the impression the variable vanes are clogged up and its causing the car to go into limp mode. He has had a new turbo waiting to be fitted for two years, but never got around to fitting it and the limp mode issues only started back at the end of July. The worst part of the process was removing the oil feed from the old turbo, that thing was on there and access to it wasn't great.
The next job is fitting two new Bilstein shocks, strut mounts and control arms to the E92 so that it can hopefully cruise through its MOT in October. Then both cars can have an oil service and hopefully then they'll stop making me spend money for a month or two.
Yesterday, I took the E46 to have a wheel alignment done after I had to fit a new control arm to get it through its MOT. Apparently, the ball joint had excessive movement, but when I removed the control arm all I struggled to see anything wrong with it and I didn't detect an issues when driving the car. However, it is done and the car is back on the road again after an 8 month break.
After the wheel alignment I helped my dad remove the turbo on his Fabia vRS because he is under the impression the variable vanes are clogged up and its causing the car to go into limp mode. He has had a new turbo waiting to be fitted for two years, but never got around to fitting it and the limp mode issues only started back at the end of July. The worst part of the process was removing the oil feed from the old turbo, that thing was on there and access to it wasn't great.
The next job is fitting two new Bilstein shocks, strut mounts and control arms to the E92 so that it can hopefully cruise through its MOT in October. Then both cars can have an oil service and hopefully then they'll stop making me spend money for a month or two.
Dot code was 1016, so just over 7 years.
There are some things you don't want patina on!
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Soldato
- Joined
- 9 Dec 2009
- Posts
- 5,330
- Location
- Bristol
Washed both the Mrs's and my car's.
Got my car up in axle stands and did some rust prevention, it's an MX5 so it comes with the territory.
Got my car up in axle stands and did some rust prevention, it's an MX5 so it comes with the territory.
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I've been investigating a dark current drain that caused me to pull the permanent 12v fuse about 5 or 6 years ago as a "temporary" fix. It isn't as drastic as it sounds as the MX5 ECU is as basic as they come so it doesn't really lose any settings and the only noticeable effect to the driver is a lack of radio and interior light.
I'd always suspected the duff dealer fit alarm that used to go off every time I reconnected the battery. Well, for the last couple of years the alarm hasn't gone off when reconnecting the battery so assuming that the thing had finally packed up for good I decided to take another look at it.
I really wanted to check the drain properly instead of just throwing the fuse in and I wanted to leave it all connected for a few days and check it periodically. The battery is in a bit of an awkward place to check the current so I hooked up a couple of piddly little croc leads I found lying around. All being well I'd only be drawing mA's so should be fine...
Anyway, a couple of days of consistently seeing 9mA I was happy. So, I start doing a few checks in preparation for the MOT. Sidelights, all good, headlights.... Dash goes dark and one pop up pathetically half raises. Damn it, the battery must have drained after all. Ah... I've still got everything hooked up via that croc lead!
. One rather hot wire removed, battery hooked up properly and all was well!
It's now sat connected to my refitted CTEK quick connector, which could do with being about 10cm longer to clear the battery cover, and my new 2m CTEK extension lead. Will mean that I can easily leave it hooked up all the time in the garage and can disconnect in seconds and be on my way.
Next job is a polish of the outside and a deep clean of the interior fabrics. I forgot to put a dehumidifier in when I laid it up. There was a bit of mould in the usual places (steering wheel, sun visors) plus some on the inside of the roof. I got rid of the bulk of it but it feels a bit too much of a health hazard to want to drive it like that!
Then it's fingers crossed for 5th September for the MOT.
I'd always suspected the duff dealer fit alarm that used to go off every time I reconnected the battery. Well, for the last couple of years the alarm hasn't gone off when reconnecting the battery so assuming that the thing had finally packed up for good I decided to take another look at it.
I really wanted to check the drain properly instead of just throwing the fuse in and I wanted to leave it all connected for a few days and check it periodically. The battery is in a bit of an awkward place to check the current so I hooked up a couple of piddly little croc leads I found lying around. All being well I'd only be drawing mA's so should be fine...
Anyway, a couple of days of consistently seeing 9mA I was happy. So, I start doing a few checks in preparation for the MOT. Sidelights, all good, headlights.... Dash goes dark and one pop up pathetically half raises. Damn it, the battery must have drained after all. Ah... I've still got everything hooked up via that croc lead!
. One rather hot wire removed, battery hooked up properly and all was well!It's now sat connected to my refitted CTEK quick connector, which could do with being about 10cm longer to clear the battery cover, and my new 2m CTEK extension lead. Will mean that I can easily leave it hooked up all the time in the garage and can disconnect in seconds and be on my way.
Next job is a polish of the outside and a deep clean of the interior fabrics. I forgot to put a dehumidifier in when I laid it up. There was a bit of mould in the usual places (steering wheel, sun visors) plus some on the inside of the roof. I got rid of the bulk of it but it feels a bit too much of a health hazard to want to drive it like that!
Then it's fingers crossed for 5th September for the MOT.
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Caporegime
- Joined
- 22 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 28,297
- Location
- Boston, Lincolnshire
My Saab's arches were starting to get crusty to the point where I couldn't ignore them anymore. I did the inner arches 3 years ago and they are still perfect but ignored the outer because I hate doing bodywork. Old metal cut out, new metal welded in, compressor whipped out and the colour blended in quite well considering it is a metallic. Will leave for a week to full harden before I polish in the blend but it has come out pretty good.
Just need to do the other side now which thankfully isn't as bad! Already made a start on the metal work but had to stop as I don't think the neighbours like the sound of an angle grinder at 7pm.
Just need to do the other side now which thankfully isn't as bad! Already made a start on the metal work but had to stop as I don't think the neighbours like the sound of an angle grinder at 7pm.
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Caporegime
- Joined
- 22 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 28,297
- Location
- Boston, Lincolnshire
Thanks. It is just the time involved that is annoying. Especially prepping for paint and waiting for each coat to dry and that is using 2K primer and lacquer. This will be the third day I have spent on it! It is of no wonder why bodywork is such an expensive job.
Never had to think about height restrictions before. Went to go into a carpark with a yellow height barrier and made it under, but not without it making a mess of the roof on the van. Every roof panel now dips inbetween the horizontal supports, it's also covered in yellow paint.
The entry wasn't too bad as i wasn't thinking it'd be an issue so flew into the carpark at ~10mph and just heard a crunching metal noise. The way out i knew what to expect! I did debate letting air out the tyres to drop an inch or two, but couldn't be bothered and just prayed.
Luckily this is one of the most beat up vans around! Upside is it's running alright at last and a new ignition switch seems to have fixed the intermittent start issue.
The entry wasn't too bad as i wasn't thinking it'd be an issue so flew into the carpark at ~10mph and just heard a crunching metal noise. The way out i knew what to expect! I did debate letting air out the tyres to drop an inch or two, but couldn't be bothered and just prayed.
Luckily this is one of the most beat up vans around! Upside is it's running alright at last and a new ignition switch seems to have fixed the intermittent start issue.
Picked this up and got it at the weekend. I opted for the 9" version but it works well.
Only annoyance is the Transit it currently sits in has a second battery which gives a permanent live on the 12v rail. So have to unplug the unit each time to stop it draining the juice.
There will be a switched 12v wire somewhere. They can't all be live all the time.
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Ah yeah there will be, but for now i'm just using the lighter socket as it's only a temporary vehicle.
can you get any kind of plugin for waze to avoid that .. otherwise maybe a commercial satnav routing app -
( blast from past used to regularly drive through a bridge with now looking 1.3m height clearance - a 3 series will pass - good rat run )
how are you bending the metal then ... and did you use wire brushes for stripping ... can we see weld picture for other side .
so you bought a complete (salvaged ?) interior .. and maybe sold on yours.