FE54 - making her mine.

[talkingcars]

Originally Posted by talkingcars

Once Christmas day was out of the way I located the bits including the braided hoses I bought for GV51 about 5 years ago, just couldn't find the plastic brackets that I need to use.

Found 'em. They were in a box with the door handles I had been preparing for GV51.......Can now get the braided hoses fitted and the brakes bleed.

The only other thing I've done to day is bought some new battery terminals as the cheap ones I'd bought looked tatty and the negative was missing the clamp bolt anyway, I was sure these were the primary cause of the starter being slow to turn over.

I fitted a pair of these



not cheap but very shiny
and she seemed to turn over a bit better.

[talkingcars]

Originally Posted by talkingcars

....So far we have swapped the rear lights for the ones I smoked after I first got the MK1, the dull red suits both cars more than the bright red ones. I also swapped the bulb panels so have got LED rear lights.......

..........Finally I swapped the steering wheel cowling so I could fit the scangaugeII which has shown up that the car is running a bit cool - looks like I will be doing a thermostat change.

So after an MOT fail (http://www.themgzs.co.uk/vb/showthread.php?t=29159) this weekend I bought some new unsmoked rear lights and replaced the thermostat -

[peterzs]

good luck with the re-test.

[talkingcars]

Bit more meat on the story -

I did all the usual checks before booking the car in for the MOT and made sure I was happy. I went in to the garage on the Monday and asked them to bleed the brakes, replace the O/S CV joint (£80 for labour was worth it at this time of year) and the MOT. He asked if they could keep it over night as they were busy for a couple of days but as it isn't practical to get to work at 6am by public transport I booked it in for Thursday when they were quieter.

I drop the car off at 6am, put the keys through the door and cursed as I hadn't turned off the MIL light. At the end of work at 4pm I went back to pick it up, a little chuffed as they hadn't rung to say it had failed on X,Y or Z. He produced the bill with no mention of MOT! Turned out he hadn't written it down, to be fair he took a mechanic off another job to do it there and then.

Like an expectant father I sat in the waiting room, listening to them doing the emissions test thinking they are spending a long time doing that. They were as he was really surprised by the readings.

When he came back in with a long list I knew it wasn't all good.

Fail for high emissions at idle and at fast idle, no cat, brake peddle creeping down, drivers seat not moving as it was intended and both rear reflectors excessively deteriorated so that it's function is impaired.

Advisories on coating on both stop lights but not impairing light output, N/S CV boot deteriorating, EML on, rear tyre profiles different to front, exhaust mountings split (these were new in the summer) and veh has under body corrosion.

[talkingcars]

Rear lights are easy - I pop to the breakers yard and get some - they had 2 saloons and charged me £30! More than I sold the ones I had from FE54!

Cat not too bad - I have 2 here, just not the best time of year for lying under the car.

Emissions - they thought it was down to the decat but I am convinced that it is the damaged wiring for the no.1 sensor of the rear bank, same issue that caused me problems in the summer and is producing the EML light.

Drivers seat - loose bolt?

[petet16]

Does the seat slide at all, it sounds like the lever may not be disengaging the locking mechanism

[talkingcars]

The seat slid back all the way but wouldn't slide all the way foward again with someone sitting on it but did when empty. It didn't rock so suggested a problem with the runners.

I got my T50 bit out and tightened all the bolts, 3 were tight but the N/S/F bolt was about one turn loose, all tightened and it works fine.

[talkingcars]

It gets more exciting.

On the way home the fan on the aircon wouldn't swtch off!

Oh pooh - I do have a spare hedgehog so hoped that was the problem.

On friday it was fine - spooky.

I did a self test just in case - all fine.

[talkingcars]

Then on Friday night we went to the pub and had a couple and finished of the night with a lot of Rum so slept well.

Fast foward to saturday evening and my next door neighbours knocking on the door to complain about the comotion and car alarm at 3am and their lodger was going to open the window and shout at us for the noise. She also went on to complained that we constantly slam our doors - I showed her what a slammed door really sounded like. She then complained me about me sneezing. Finally she added that "all the neighbours are talking about us and one of them wanted to get a group togeather to come and confront us" but she wouldn't say who or about what.

More than slightly shocked by this we went to check with the neighbours to make sure we wern't doing anything wrong.

Someone told us that the lithuanian builder and his polish girlfriend were upset because I sometime park outside their house, on a public road, no dropped kerb and no parking restrictions. I knew this because if ever I do they block my drive.

He also told me that my alarm had gone off and he tried knocking us up so I could turn it off. Apparently it was a constant sound rather than the usual alarm sound and he thought it was going from the back of the car.

I think it must have been a soaky sounder.

However I am still asking myself why next door couldn't knock first thing in the morning to say there was an argument outside in the middle of the night and the alarm was going off. Mind you she is the one who complained about my daughter having a sleepover and even our cats upsetting her dog (they are petrified of the ugly beast) and our christmas lights.

Me, I'm the guy who knocked on their door when they moved in to advise them that neighbours who've left windows open have got broken into, they ignored me, and got broken into! Or offered the lituanian the lend of my starter pack when his van wouldn't start or told his girlfriend that her car windows were open.

And the reason for the "lynch mob", because I had 4 cars and only ever used one of them at any one time, next door have 3 vehicles and parking for 3 but only park hers on the drive, we have 3 with parking only for the F, and 3 other neighbours have 2 or 3 cars each..............

Rant over

[talkingcars]

And theres more

I popped the standard lights in on Saturday afternoon, an easy job except the rear fogs refuse to light - suspected BCU relay fault.