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Post by grenade on Oct 16, 2018 22:24:55 GMT
Ok, you're a freakin genius. Love it and you're a busy chap too. Imagine if everyone got stuff done like this!
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Post by martin42006 on Oct 28, 2018 21:50:12 GMT
Well if you drink enough then we all get crazy ideas, it just takes a strange kind of special make them a reality. So some parts arrived for the bike One of them arrived broken so that's gone back I also managed to get rid of the spare engine that's been hanging around and the bike is now in that spot. I started looking for the oil leak, turns out it wasn't hard to find. Whenever people ask me why I don't trust garages this is another note on the list. All the bolts in the clutch cover was loose, a cover which the garage must have had off to clean the oil filter at the last service. Rather worryingly is the damage to the clutch basket and cover Hard to tell what's been going on in there but not sure it's good. In the mean time I had a slight argument with the Punto which I'm having to drive whenever the mk2 isn't on the road. The car in question has decided that it doesn't want to be a 5 speed anymore and has denigrated itself to a 4 speed. I lost that argument and pulled the end cap off instead. This is what greated me Not much left on them teeth. Probably explains why it wouldn't stay in gear. So a trip down to u-pull-it and I got some new gears along with some other helpfull parts. Let's play spot the difference New ones fitted. Along with a straight and still in original paint bonnet Turns out you can polish a turd.
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Post by martin42006 on Nov 12, 2018 11:55:17 GMT
First job now that the Punto is fixed again for now, FIAT (Fix It Again Tomorrow) is to clear out the pit. It was rather grim and I dread to think what I could catch if I spent too long down there. Mostly its everything that has been spilled in there for the past 3 years through numerous engine drops. Now that it's nice and clean some bugger parked a heap of rust over it. Yep one 1994 Rance rover classic, or what's left of one anyway. Alot of welding needs doing. Better teach the old man how to mig then In the meantime the bike has had a bit more lovin. Front end back together and mudguard on Whilst I had the clutch cover off I had a good look inside and found a few little bits. They appear to be awarded from when it was made. Gotta love Indian Honda's Hopefully I will just keep flushing it out a few times and we should be good.
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Post by martin42006 on Nov 18, 2018 8:38:05 GMT
I'm about a week behind up updates ATM the last post was work I did 2 weeks ago. So last weekend saw me carrying on with the bike and clearing out some space. I got a message from a mate saying he has just acquired an RX8 that's not run for a number of years and needs somewhere to keep it temporarily. I said I would find somewhere and that was the kick up the arse I needed to clear out where the lexus was. So first thing Saturday morning I loaded all scrap metal into the lexus and got a trailer in Down to the local scrappie and we said goodbye to the lexus. Over the next day and a half I started clearing it it behind the Lexus, alot of bonfire material and stone and slate. All slates got repalletised and stacked round the corner. All burnables went in the dumper and onto the fire. My friend wasn't overly impressed with the angle I got the dumper at. A much more useable space now I hunted high and low for some diesel to light the bonfire with but it appears I didn't have any so I went with petrol instead. I think it's an important learning point that you don't need as much petrol as you might have used of diesel. And light a splint and throw it. I ignored all of these lessons and used a good couple of liters and light it with a lighter. Thankfully I do still have my eyebrows but the arm holding the lighter is considerably shorter on hair now Anyway it's lit now. In the meantime I setup the welder for my ole' man and set him cracking with his range rover. First job was some bracing as we had a lot to chop out. And some rusty pics for you This was the tank strap After chopping all that out it was time to start putting some fresh back in First new panel made. And welded in along with a new tank strap bracket
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Post by martin42006 on Nov 18, 2018 8:48:41 GMT
Second piece made and welded in Body hanger got chopped off. Repaired and welded back on And a large flat-ish bit for the rear cross member. We have been using 2mm plate for all repairs as that's what the chassis appears to be made from and it's all been painted on both sides with weld through zinc-galv Here is an action shot of my dad trying his hand at welding upside down. (I did warn him it's not easy) luckily we have a couple of good grinders. I have been tarting the bike up a bit too Front end back on Just a few parts of the rear brake and clutch polished and lacquered. I'm wanting to sell the bike so thought it would go better if it looked good. It's also finally got some oil in and I did try running it briefly but I had the exhaust off so it was only for a couple of pops.
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Post by manitou on Nov 18, 2018 11:29:42 GMT
I'm about a week behind up updates ATM the last post was work I did 2 weeks ago. So last weekend saw me carrying on with the bike and clearing out some space. I got a message from a mate saying he has just acquired an RX8 that's not run for a number of years and needs somewhere to keep it temporarily. I said I would find somewhere and that was the kick up the arse I needed to clear out where the lexus was. So first thing Saturday morning I loaded all scrap metal into the lexus and got a trailer in Down to the local scrappie and we said goodbye to the lexus. A much more useable space now Excellent work. Once that rx8 has had its 'temporary' stay you have more space for SW's!
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Post by martin42006 on Nov 19, 2018 10:54:32 GMT
Hmm now there is a thought. However that space has mostly been designated for a container when I find one local that won't break the bank. I need the container so that I can begin the teardown of my MK1. She has been sat since August awaiting the start of the restoration, and waiting for me to find funds.
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Post by martin42006 on Nov 21, 2018 20:10:21 GMT
Right then! I like the phrase make-do and mend. But i prefer my version, Make-do, mend and improve. This weekend saw a rather fun improvisation to a shed sound system. Before the lexus went for scrap I had a couple of final bits out of the interior. I decided I needed a sound system so out came the speakers. Now that's about where the plan ended. The original plan was to connect them to an old headunit and i can find a way to wire in a aux cable. This would have worked but I hate cables and that's where the improve part comes in. I remembered about an amp that someone gave me saying it didn't work. I found it was intermittent and a couple of minutes searching the board showed a cracked ground line so i resoldered that. More on that in a bit The speakers need an enclosure so some more old ply Faces were marked out and holes cut for the speakers. Then even more old ply formed a simple box around it. Then just hang it on the wall Right now we have the speakers sorted back to the amp. It's supposed to be 1000w I don't now if it is but the lexus speakers aren't likely to be drawing anything close to that. Here it is screwed to the wall. And fed 12v from my PSU. Now then we have speakers, amp and power how are we going to play music through that because right now it just hums, and it's not a very tuneful hum. I could use a aux - RCA cable straight into the amp but that wouldn't satisfy my need for less cables. That's where this little box of tricks comes into play Don't be fooled by the Makita stamp on the box it was just a handy container. Formed from a long dead pair of earphones this allows me to have Bluetooth connection to my phone and a aux output I took some dead Bluetooth earphones and removed the speakers casings and fitted a aux port to the speaker outputs, then a few switches and wires soldered to the correct points give me some external switches for power and pause/play The unit can be permanently left plugged in so it won't run out and then just plugs into the amp through a cobbled together aux- RCA cable. Here it is fastened just under the amp. I also got the space cleared for the rx8 arriving and that should be here in the next few days. Plenty of fun to be had with that as it's been dead for 4 years. Fingers crossed it's just flooded and we can get her going again.
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Post by manitou on Nov 22, 2018 9:59:24 GMT
Looks like a good place to have a few beers and make noise!
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Post by cdwood2010 on Nov 25, 2018 11:51:56 GMT
I'm in awe of your creative abilities. I've been bodging the shit out of things for years, and repurposing stuff for almost as long. But you make it look very cool, and almost reinvented to boot. I'm intrigued by the talk of an RX8; I've pondered one to stick the 1uz in that lives under my bench, the Wankel is said to be quite wanky, but an engine swap would make it a decent motor. The dash electrics are a bit of a swine apparently, but I'm guessing that's just the sound of a gauntlet hitting the ground to a man of your skills. Watching with interest on what you get stuck into next! Carry on!
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Post by martin42006 on Nov 26, 2018 13:18:32 GMT
Yes it's turning into quite a nice little shed. I do like having somewhere to go for a few beers on an afternoon. There are so many ideas when I just let my mind wander I have to put some of them down on the bench and see what happens. The rx8 hasn't turned up yet as my mate was getting dicked around by the guy with a flatbed. Fingers crossed it should be here this coming weekend. There isn't much of a story behind it except he got chatting to someone and he were going to send it for scrap because it wouldn't start one day 4 years ago and it's been sat ever since, offered it to my mate for £100 so I told him to get it and I will find space. From the guys description it sounds flooded but we shall see. I did suggest to my friend that if it gets left at mine too long I could just get bored one weekend and throw in a 1uz. It does sound like alot of fun. Luckily we have also learned that it's the evolve edition with the 6 port engine and a few nice upgrades. I think a 1uz would fit rather nicely. I would just need to find a donor. Very little got done in the shed this weekend except tidying up. The bike got finished and I went for a test ride. Nice to be back on 2 wheels again. Although I'm seriously thinking of selling as my insurance runs out at the end of the week and I would like a bigger bike. Then just tidying the shed. Yahoo I have some floor space and bench space back. A fresh sheet of glass fitted to the sand blaster I then spent some considerable time helping my dad out with the range rover. Now that the chassis is repaired and the cross member welded back on. The bracing could be removed as the body was solid enough. We started by going to fit the new side floor however quickly found out that he had bought the wrong one so the filler hole was too far back. Turns to it you can't buy the correct one so I guess I have some modifications to make. Cut out a new filler hole and reinstate the flange. Then weld a plate in where the old hole was. Quick bit of grey primer Not too shabby. Better see if it fits It does, so that's been tacked in place and the arch was clamped in as we have a bit more to do before that can be fitted. Is it just me or can I see light at the end of this tunnel.
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Post by martin42006 on Dec 4, 2018 21:04:34 GMT
So then late Saturday afternoon the RX8 finally turned up. We pushed it into place and hooked up a fresh battery Well the lights work. I cranked it over by hand and after some initial grinding which I assumed was probably the alternator, airpump or other some such ancillary it all felt free and fairly good, not knowing Rotary's though I couldn't tell if it had compression. We were pretty sure the po flooded the engine and that's why it hasn't been able to be started for the past 4 years. So we started the deflood process cranking it over, after draining 2 batteries and giving it a first start attempt it sputtered but didn't catch. It gave up hope though so we put the batteries back on charge and left it there for the night. It was dark and miserable weather. Sunday came around and the weather wasn't much better. And the light revealed the current state of the rx8 since it was dark when it arrived on Saturday. It's rather mouldy but it is reasonable leather so it should clean up rather nicely. Max (the rx8's owner) turned up around lunchtime and we started trying the deflood process again. After a few hours of that I decided it was going to need a bit more so while we waited for the batteries to charge again I pulled the spark plugs. Houston we have found the problem. They were actually the cleaner pair that I pulled out, since it was getting late on a Sunday and I couldn't see any issues with them they just got a damn good clean and refitted. It's not the easiest engine to change the plugs on so here is the money shot of me trying to refit the plugs Once they were back in, fresh battery back on and fuel pump reconnected. It was time for a fire up attempt. A couple of turns and she fired straight into life, sounding sweet. She sounded smooth and idled straight away I was rather impressed. Sat for 4 years, apparently had numerous people come and try get it going and it was fired up and running within 24 hours of it arriving in my yard yippee. Got a air hose to sort out and alot of cleaning to do along with plenty of freeing and greasing things. It did get a clean whilst I was working on it and it doesn't look half bad now either.
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Post by cdwood2010 on Dec 6, 2018 1:43:25 GMT
Nice work sir. So what's the plan here? (Cough V8 cough)
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Post by martin42006 on Dec 11, 2018 15:02:27 GMT
Nice work sir. So what's the plan here? (Cough V8 cough) If only. It would be nice to do the swap on this car but since it's not mine and I barely have time to work on my own car. It's running quite well, still need to do a compression test but I think the engine is solid. We are debating taking it on a £500 banger rally next year though, could be a laugh.
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Post by martin42006 on Dec 24, 2018 16:02:04 GMT
Things have been happening I just haven't really gotten round to sitting down and updating y'all. So the rx8 hasn't been touched for a few weeks but prior to that i did make a few changes. New intake was bought and fitted. I don't like it myself but it does clear up a bit of space in the bay. Next on the list was the exhaust as the original one was rusty and missing a tip. So a stainless downpipe and back box was sourced. Got her up on ramps and cracked on with it Whilst I was doing all the hard work my mate decided the car needed a polish Can't deny it looks good. It sounds pretty good too now. I'm a bit unsure about the engine as it briefly had a hot start issue and it can be a bit slow starting which is often indications of low compression. Will hopefully be doing a test at some point to get some readings.
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