Your fleet running reports

[JLv3.0]

So the French car is the solid rock of dependability?

You win.

[integrale_evo]

The compact had been feeling a bit flat, well, more flat than normal so while poking about decided to have a look at the air filter as the lid just unclips.

Turns out the foam lining ( presumably for sound deadening ) had started to crumble to a powder and clogged every pleat of the air filter like this


Typically I didn't find it until after euros had shut for the day so blew it all out with an air line.

The foam used to be held in place by this plastic basket


As it wasn't needed any more I snipped it all out leaving just the cone section, and did the same on the lid



I have been considering another change of wheels as the mixture of tyres on the contours are getting pretty tired, I decided to haul my msystems out of the shed as I couldn't remember which tyres I had on which wheels

I think I have a problem. That's not even all of them...


And while poking about I found the evo lip which came with the bumper. I wasn't going to fit it to try and differentiate it a bit from the m3, but changed my mind and decided to bung it on

[Beany]

Sigh, C4 is having a shitfit. Again. Bro is reporting unpleasant noises in every gear bar forth - it was only third at the weekend. So he thinks input shaft.

And has a new job that he can't get to on public transport. And so needs a car.

So that'll be the Mondeo being added properly to my insurance (not temporarily as it currently is) and him being added as a named driver then. I'm sure that'll be cheap

I'd not mind, but he only had the clutch replaced a few months ago - which I paid for because he was doing on-and-off temp work.

If I see him pulling the same trick in the Mondeo, I'll drag him out of the car and kick his fucking teeth in.

Otherwise, cars are being cars, nothing to report, etc.

Aside, I'm sure the horrible noises have nothing to do with him constantly pulling away and reversing the car from idle (not bringing it up to 1500 or so and then slipping the clutch) where it makes horrendous shakes and rattles as the anti-stall kicks in - I'm absolutely positive that none of those forces would be transferred to the input shaft of the gearbox and beyond, goodness no....

[unzippy]

Sell both and get him an auto? Or a pushbike.

[Beany]

Sell both and get him an auto? Or a pushbike.

I was looking at cheap autos on AT last night.

Seriously, he's not that interested in driving (motorbikes were more his thing before he had to sell his to pay the rent) so it might not be a bad idea.

Some weathered, but solid, Mondeo or Vectra auto with a largish TDi engine - easy to maintain, fairly reliable, well known inside and out, and comfy for his commute.

Can't screw the input shaft if you can't control the clutch

[mr_jon]

Why is any of that your problem? Bizarre.

[Beany]

Why is any of that your problem? Bizarre.

Because he's my brother and he's had a shit time of it lately - he's completely broke, and struggling to get back on his feet.

He's done this for me in the past, so it'd be a bit fucking childish to not return the favour. Could just do without him breaking cars all the fecking time

Edit: Also, this job is his best chance of changing trade from mech install/maintenance to electrical install/maintenance, and he's been trying to do that for a while, so I'd really like him to keep it

[ste]

UPDATE

'71 Vauxhall Viva DELUXE.

I can't be arsed to do a full write up thing, too busy. However, I collected it, drove it home and have commuted in it this week. It's old and quite slow. It's really very shit, in all sorts of different ways. It's also a fantastic amount of fun.

So far I've modified the exhaust and it's mounts to get it lifted up higher, chopped the front springs and chucked some banded steels on it with some chunky tyres I had lying around from the Caterham. The look is pretty much full-on '70s street racer.





Next jobs are to fit some Corsa B springs to the rear, chop the front a bit more, or try to find some actual springs off something else that have a similar design but are lower. I want a similar nose-down stance but lower all round. This will need the rear arches to meet Mr Grinder and Mr Arch roller too I imagine. I've also got electronic ignition to chuck on it and service stuff like a new cap, leads etc. I've also been measuring the engine bay up. It's really quite large...

[GG.]

ipod cable has stopped working again - on my second already and given they're a proprietary design (with a connector for an ipod 4 ) they're £30 a pop...

Bitten the bullet now and invested in a Bovee 1000 bluetooth dongle which I can plug into the lead meaning I don't need to have it trailing out of the centre console onto the seat (which I expect is what has caused the leads to fail) - another £95

Bits arrived next day - very impressive - if not impressive to look at for £125...



Still, apparently with this cable I also now have the power to annex Austria... who knew? #awkwardgermanwords

Also reminds me of the time I discovered on trawling through legal documents that the German for CEO is Geschäfts-führer

[ste]

...and as some of you guessed, the Viva has not got the original engine in there, nor the original gearbox. In fact originally this car was spec'd from the factory to not be any old Viva Deluxe. The original owner ticked the box to make it a Viva '90'. This meant the addition of front disc brakes, a water temperature gauge (!) and most importanty option code '460'. This meant the 1159cc engine was fitted with high-compression pistons (9:1 rather than 8.5:1), the standard Zenith 301Z downdraught carb was swapped for a 150CD5 sidedraught and a 'performance' 2-1 manifold was fitted.

This ladies and gentleman had the following effect on engine performance:

1159cc ‘Standard Engine’
59bhp @5500rpm / 68lb.ft @3000rpm

1159cc ‘90’
72bhp @5700rpm / 70lb.ft @4000rpm


A not inconsequential hike I'm sure you'll agree. However my car also came from the factory with option 501. Unfortunately rather than being a form of denim trousers with a button fly that you have to wear in the bathtub, this refers to GM's 3 speed automatic gearbox.

Except where you'd expect the automatic selector to sit, my car has a manual gear shifter proudly standing erect above the transmission tunnel. "Something has been altered!" I hear you cry. Yes, yes, it has.

In the engine bay connected to this manual gearbox is, wait for it, a 1256cc Vauxhall engine. The '90' spec sidedraught carb still proudly sits on top and gasses still exit down the performance manifold. Imagine what that increase in capacity has done for performance. Well, don't imagine, I'll show you. The 1256cc engine from the factory makes the following numbers:

62.5bhp @5400rpm / 71lb.ft @3600rpm

Bollocks.

Yep it's had an engne and box swap in the past, which has thankfully meant it's now manual, but also undoubtedly has lost it's high-compression pistons and likely makes less power than it did originally.

[nuttinnew]

I'm guessing the auto has a larger transmission tunnel than a manuel and you knew this when you bought it (with an eye to putting summat else in there), though maybe not the engine spec. There's only one way to know quite how healthy the engine is, get it on a dyno

[unzippy]

Sell both and get him an auto? Or a pushbike.

I was looking at cheap autos on AT last night.

Seriously, he's not that interested in driving (motorbikes were more his thing before he had to sell his to pay the rent) so it might not be a bad idea.

Some weathered, but solid, Mondeo or Vectra auto with a largish TDi engine - easy to maintain, fairly reliable, well known inside and out, and comfy for his commute.

Can't screw the input shaft if you can't control the clutch

I’ve never drivn a motorbike, but isn’t a lot of slipping the clutch involved? Maybe that finger action is translating down into his foot?

[Beany]

I’ve never drivn a motorbike, but isn’t a lot of slipping the clutch involved? Maybe that finger action is translating down into his foot?

No, I think he just thinks that pulling away from very low revs with load is just something diesels can do.

I was always told that was a fucking engine killer because of the thrust loads on everything at the bottom end of the engine (and the input shaft cos it's basically attached to it), and I've never heard anything to contradict that.

Feathering the clutch wouldn't be a problem if he was doing it at 1500rpm and slipping it till the road speed matched, etc - but he's not. He feathers it from idle till the car moves then accelerates from idle. I'd put £5 on that being the cause.

not that I have to, because I'll probably have to put a few hundred quid on it in some form anyway, regardless.....

ho hum.

[GG.]

You don't 'feather' a clutch, you slip it. Can't imagine repetitively slipping a clutch from idle to set off would do a car any good at all - wouldn't you just be there forever each time you set off anyway? Bizarre.

[Mito Man]

I hated my first driving instructor as he was adamant that slipping the clutch was the only correct way to get a car moving off. Combined with a weedy A Class my first couple of driving lessons mainly consisted of stalling and pissing other road users off as it took about a year to move off from traffic lights.

[mik]

You don't 'feather' a clutch, you slip it.

A clutch is like a beautiful lady.....

[integrale_evo]

72bhp from a 1.1(ish) from the 70s is pretty impressive isn't it? I know the k-series 1.1s were one of the more powerful small supermini engines, fiat had to go to 1.2 for 60bhp, and the 1.3 fiesta / ka only had 60bhp up into the 2000s

[ste]

Exactly what I thought Harry. My 'sporty' Mini Cooper in 1992 flavour with a mighty 1275cc came with 62bhp. As did my '96 one. Having said that, the A series is a 5-port design from the 1940s so probably not a great comparison, and on both of those cars subject to '90s emisions legislation.

But yeah, the 72bhp ones should lick along OK, especially on the stupidly short ratio the gearbox and FD has.

[McSwede]

72bhp from a 1.1(ish) from the 70s is pretty impressive isn't it? I know the k-series 1.1s were one of the more powerful small supermini engines, fiat had to go to 1.2 for 60bhp, and the 1.3 fiesta / ka only had 60bhp up into the 2000s

My 1988 Fiat Uno 60s had a mighty 58bhp from it's 1.1 engine. Never though a Viva would make it seem inadequate

[Beany]

You don't 'feather' a clutch, you slip it. Can't imagine repetitively slipping a clutch from idle to set off would do a car any good at all - wouldn't you just be there forever each time you set off anyway? Bizarre.

Yeah, terminology slip* up - typing while working, innit?

*pun not intended.