All done!

Hey guys,

I've been at the FL for a week and now everything's ready for MOT. The previous owner can't believe the transformation. Finally got the front pipe bolted onto the new manifold today and it sounds lovely. I'll do as many pre MOT checks as I can before the test on monday but I'm pretty confident that any problems that it does turn up will be minor compared to the work I've done. However, I do have a few remaining concerns and I'd like to bring them up to see if anyone has any sage advice:

A. There's still no manifold heat shield as it was rotted through and had to be chucked. Would some exhaust wrap be a good idea? It feels horribly hot under there and I'm worried it might cook things via radiation if left bare.

B. I can hear what I think is coolant bubbling and gurgling around from inside the cabin. The level in the expansion tank is holding, and that's great. But I am a bit concerened - maybe that vacuum coolant replacement thing might be a good idea. Anyone know a garage near Uxbridge that could do it?

I think that's it for now, though I may remember other things as the day goes on.

Will.

Ah I remembered something esle. The thermo is in a dark grey housing and is between the block and the radiator. Is this the desirable part and location?

Does anyone have any input?

Stat is the right colour

Keep bleeding the system to stop the gurgling, I know it's a bind but they take some bleeding to get all the air out!

Good luck

Good luck on the MOT, will. With regard to the heat shield, could you not make one from some ally? Or would that not do? I had a Rav4 in a previous life, and made one for that. It lasted for as long as I had the car, just a thought.

Bleed the coolant system first thing in the morning - immediately after starting the engine - make sure the heater temp selection is at max.

After I changed the antifreeze it took me over a week of daily bleeding to get everything back to normal.

There doesn't seem to be any 'quick-fix'.

Good luck.

Singvogel.

Cheers for the replies fellas. Crockett. I could make one and indeed I might give it a shot. I'll be visiting a Freebie breakers in Gloucestershire soon to pick up a few odds and ends, they may have one there that I can pick up cheap. But if that doesn't work I'll make one.

Good tips about bleeding, how exactly does the bleeding work the air out of the system? Just so I understand what's going on .

I'll looking forward to doing some driving in it, once all the mechanical stuff is ship shape I can start working on making it pretty again. I'll have to get it revalued after this, the work I've done may well have put a grand or two on the value. How do I get a car valued, take it to a stealership? It's just for insurance purposes - don't want to get diddled if the worst should happen!

This really has been an awesome experience, this car is going to be a new hobby for me I expect.

Will.

mine has never had the heatshield on and no adverse effects noted.


do you actually think you will make money from this car?

Look at egors thread.

You need it, its stops heat getting to things that melt or combust. One day after a long run on a hot day you will find out why.

If not shield on there, try heat wrap tape.

Freelaner said:

do you actually think you will make money from this car?

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Nopes. Hence why I said it was so I could give the insurers an accurate figure for the value so that if it does get written off I at least get the market value for it . It was worth squat when i got hold of it.

Heat wrap is something I've considered, a small amount of effort and it could help the car. The heat coming off the naked manifold scares me.

heat wrap tape if you're a bit fluffy about it

insurance will only pay you what they want to, but i do get what you mean

Yes they can be b@stards about it. When my first car, 96 Civic, got written off they initially offered me chicken feed for it. But I looked up a ton of adds for cars of the same age condition and mileage and sent them as proof and they caved in and gave me what I could have got for it had I sold it. Always, always haggle .

Going to some some pre MOT checks today. I also need to sort out how I'm going to transfer the ownership to my name. The bloke can't find his V5C so I figure that a deed of ownership transfer and then applying to the DVLA for a V62 should do it. Tricky business this car ownership lark sometimes, eh?

chunkymunky said:

Look at egors thread...

Click to expand...

ere tis:

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f10/sake-something-do-other-than-cry-184425.html

Just did as many pre checks as I could, nothing to report. I'm burping the coolant as much as I can. Switch on for five mins, switch off, burp, rinse, repeat. I'll get it all out eventually.

One thing I did notice now that the exhaust is quiet, there is a fast but regular ticking sound that is quite audible when idling. It sounds like it might be coming from the cams, any idea what it might be? Doesn't sound dangerous but makes the thing sound a bit old, do not want.

Hippo said:

ere tis:

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f10/sake-something-do-other-than-cry-184425.html

Click to expand...

Crikey! That's awful ! The heat shield on the Freebie's manifold is mild steel I think, not flammable but probably very prone to rot. Reading about exhaust wrap and I'm not sure I like that either. May just scratchbuild one in alu or something.

Woohoo! Just arrived home after a trouble free journey . Passed the MOT this morning no problems apart from two sidelight bulbs. Sorted out tax and insurance and off I went.

The tank was pretty much empty so I put in 20L of ultimate and over the 124 mile journey I used about 12L which gives me 47MPG?!?! Surely not!! I was sat behind trucks doing 56mph the whole way up as I didn't wan t to push it too hard at first.

I am one chuffed SOB right now !

WLJayne said:

The tank was pretty much empty so I put in 20L of ultimate and over the 124 mile journey I used about 12L which gives me 47MPG?!?! Surely not!!

Click to expand...

congrats on getting it back on the road.

your mpg calcs are way off. the only true way to work it out is to fill the tank until the filler nozzle clicks off for the first time, and stop there, don't add any more fuel because it will make the result wrong. Then reset the trip counter to zero.

then drive it around until it only has about 1/4 of a tank (or less if you feel brave). Fill the tank back up again, stopping at first click. When you pay, ask for VAT receipt as it shows number of litres purchased.

Make a note of number of miles on trip counter. Then divide the number of litres by 4.545 to give the number of gallons used between fill ups.

then divide the number of miles driven by the result obtained by dividing the number of litres by 4.545

Unfortunately, the fuel gauge just isn't that accurate for making fuel calcs, so filling the tank is the only accurate method.

Ah that makes sense, I'll try that. If it's above 35mpg on average I'll be very happy, as my last car did about that. But then I did 10k+ a year in my last car, but I've settled down since so I doubt I'll do over 5k with this.

Cheers for the tip .

congrats on the test


mine does about 27-29 urban and is running spot on.

happily, my td4 auto did 31.31 mpg on the last tank full.