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Restoration, fixing and maintaining my fleet and other note-worthy incidents!
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I managed to get a second car seat for the little-un so the pathetic amount of hot air that came out of the Suzuki's heater and the resulting minus degrees inside the car became a problem that, even more than before, needed to get fixed.
I'd been putting it off, because, like most cars it appeared that the car was built around the heater and it was going to be a real sod to get out. And so it was. In the end, after much brute force and a quantity of broke plastic, I gave up and decided that I would have to dismantle it in situ.
When I finally seperated it, I was left in no doubt about the source of the problem.
I seems this car has spent an amount of its life parked under a birch tree (thats the heater matrix btw)!
The water drain on the air intake was't much better, this time pine needles which had actually composted quite nicely.
Putting it back together was the reverse of dismantling and just as much fun (including some super glue and gaffer tape to repair the damage I caused getting it out)!
Now, with the additional extra warmth from an 88 Deg C "winter" thermostat instead of the 82 Deg C "summer" one I foolishly had fitted, it's like a sauna in the car and you even have to turn the heating down!
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Ever since I got the car, it's jumped out of 4wd High ratio (back into 2wd). Low ratio works fine, so as long as you don't need to go more than 50Km/h then you can use 4wd. Kind of irritating as it would be great to be able to drive along the snowy/icy back roads with the added security of 4wd.
So, I decided to bite the bullet and take the transfer box off and see what I found inside.
It had been suggested to me that the 4wd selector ring and forks were the most likely candidates, so I started by taking off the front drive housing.
The selector fork looked like it could be worn and slightly bent, but wasn't really all that convincing. Feeling as though there was no other option I decided to change both the fork and the ring. Naturally enough, when I removed them a little ball and spring fell out that I couldn't get back in without seperating the box. Which I couldn't do until I'd got a new gasket, which had to come from Japan and took a couple of weeks.
Putting it all back together, and installing the new selector fork and ring was pretty easy.
As was bolting the whole shebang back on the car.
Pity, it didn't fix the problem though. I've really don't know what to do next. If anyone has any suggestions, they'll be greatfully recieved.
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Late is better than never, so I'm continuing my write up of Octobers work on the Suzuki.
After taking apart the first side I decided to change the following parts on both sides. Top and Bottom Swivel Bearings, axle oil seal and swivel seal.
As you can see, I used genuine Suzuki parts. Suzuki is very close to my work and I must say I'm really impressed by their parts department. They've got a parts book for the SJ which shows every part of the car in detail, with seperate part numbers for every single nut, bolt, washer and so on. Even better, everything is available, although sometimes you have to wait for it to be sent from Japan! Prices are not too bad either.
The first challenge was to get the top and bottom bearing carriers out. I didn't like the look of this job, because there is very little of the inside of the carried visible.
Amazingly and luckily my Sealy 24mm impact socket fitted perfectly.
And the carriers were out in no time.
Then, once the oil seal was changed, it was a case of cleaning up the pile of bits.
And bolting it all back together.
On the other side it was clear that the axle oil seal had failed, still, at least the UJ had sufficient lubrication!
I had to borrow a 50mm socket from the Neighbour to adjust the wheel bearings. All in all not a bad job to do. I guess I should take it apart again every few years and pack bearings and UJ's with new grease, if I can be bothered.
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OK, it's late in the season, but with the Suzuki of the road for a couple of weeks, and with the weather holding I decded to use the Spitfire to get to work at least once.
I've been worried about that quantity of oil in the differential, so I topped that up. It took around 1/4 of a litre, less than I expected and not enough to stop the back end rumbling and complaining.
I've also had a set of EBC green stuff pads sitting on the shelf for ages waiting to replace the cheap pads I put on the car when I put it back together. We'd overheated these going down a steep hill in Luxembourg, fully laden and they'd never been much cop since.
Every thing is still new, not seized and clean enough that it's a pleasure to work on the car and the pads were on in no time.
I took it pretty easy on them on the way to work, despite the "brake-in" coating I though I'd best bed them in a bit. They seem promising, unlike the back end, which is seriously noisy and suffers quite a lot of vibration at certain speeds. I guess a diff rebuild/replacement and some balancing is on the cards during the winter.
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Pretty much ever since I got the car a year ago it's been suffering, with varying degrees of severity, from wheel wobble between 70 and 80 Km/h. It also has made a nasty "craunch" noise when turning to the right and over speed ups, suggesting some part of the steeing swivel housing arrangement was not as it should be.
So, with the car in the garage, and without further ado I set about taking the drivers side swivel housing and driveshaft out. Other than the disc brake instead of drum and the CV joint instead of the UJ it's pretty much identical to the LandRover, so it all feels very familiar to work on!
First the calliper had to come off
To allow for removal of the hub,
Then the back plate and hub carrier came off
To expose a rather dry looking CV joint, then once the sealing arrangement around the back of the swivel housing was removed and the steering ball joint was spilt, it was off with the king pins and removal of the swivel housing.
This exposed the top swivel bearing which was totally dry for grease, full of sand and rust and seized more or less solid, hopefully the culprit!
Having generated the first list of bits I needed, the next phase was to remove the transfer box and see what I found wrong in there.
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As happened last year with the Volvo clutch, I've decided to bite the bullet and get on with the list of jobs on the Suzuki before the winter sets in and it gets unpleasantly cold and difficult the get heat in the garage. Other than a new centre section for the exhaust it's been really reliable and had hardly any attention for a full year and 16000km. Really can't complain and considering it's over 23 years old it deserves some TLC.
Since the Suzuki is my main transport for the 50 mile round trip to work and who ever is at home with the baby needs the Volvo, no time is a good time. I'll be relying on the Landy and Spitfire until it's back together.
So, on Monday evening I started the process of getting the car in the garage, only I couldn't because it looked like this.
A quick, "Move things away from the middle and out to the sides tidy" and it looked like this.
Just as well the SJ is small and it's not the Volvo or the Landy I'm working on, I don't think I'd even manage to get them in there. Really must get round to a proper tidy soon.
Then it was to work, here's the list of jobs that have piled up.
- Sort out the wheel wobble between 70 and 80 kmph (seems like there's play in the top swivel bearing)
- Stop the 4wd Box jumping out of 4wd high ratio (back into 2wd)
- Change the Cam Belt and Tensioner
- Fit new bushes on the rear springs
- General service
- Fit a new battery
Then when I've finished that I hope to change the cambelt and back springs and shocks on the Volvo so that's ready for the winter too......
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The Lambda Sensor warning light has been telling me that somethings wrong, pretty much ever since I swapped the engine in the Volvo.
Due to both a mental block and a lack of time I hadn't done anything about until a couple of days ago. When I asked at my local autofactors if they could read the code for me, I was informed by their Volvo expert that our car most likely had a built in fault code indicator.
A quick internet search and a more detailed read in the Manual and I found out that what I was looking for was located on the front of the LH side suspension turret.
All I had to do was,
- Take the lid off
- Plug the flying lead into hole number 6 (for ignition faults)
- Turn the ignition on.
- Press the button for 1 sec
- Count the number of times the LED flashes (Three groups of flashes giving a 3 digit number).
- Then Turn the ignition off, plug the flying lead into hole number 2 (for Fuel system faults) and repeat.
Doing this gave me code 143 for Ignition and 111 for Fuel system.
111 is no Fault and 143 is knock sensor.
So off I went to the original block, removed the knock sensor and set about swapping out the one on the new engine, only to find out that the lead had fallen off and can't have ever been plugged in properly. Not surprisingly, after plugging the sensor in the fault vanished and the light went out!
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After fetching the replacement engine, I had little time to phaff around getting it installed, so I started on the job the very next day.
The engine came out pretty easily since the head was already off and things were easy to get to. Disconnect the myriad of hoses and wires to the inlet manifold was a bit of a job, and can somebody tell me why Volvo had to use 18mm bolts on the bell housing! If I ever have to take engine/gearbox out again (and I sincerely hope not!), I'll buy myself an 18mm spanner first!
Next challenge was to get the engine out the Landrover and up to the middle barn, I didn't do the job in the normal garage as I decided the extra space and height up there would be an advantage. Now, the easiest would have been to ask the Neighbours to come round with one of their tractors with a pallet forks on the front. The would have happily done that, but it was only 3 days earlier that I had borrow one of their vehicles to fetch a plough so I felt I needed to manage myself this time.
So with the David Brown, a few ropes, some help, a little risk, a wing and a prayer we got it out the back of the car.
It was given a quick scrub down and driven up to the middle barn.
The only things we did in preparation were to swap over the clutch that I had changed late last year, swap the water pump which was pretty new and even Kid sister, visiting from Ireland, gave a hand changing the engine moutning rubbers (I figured it was a good time to replace them).
So, new engine, old engine, all one needed to do was get one out the way and the other in the car.
I had been very lucky in acquiring an old 1/2 ton electric hoist from work. It was one that they didn't have use for and since it hadn't been tested by the people that test lifting things couldn't use if they wanted too. It's even got 2 speeds so it's really controlable, way better than a hydraulic engine crane. The David Brown could have done the job, but the risk of disaster would have been high. The only downside was the the hoist was fixed to the steel beam above so to get the engine onto the hoist meant moving the engine and to adjust the relative position of car and engine meant moving the car. I'll invest in one of those upside down trolleys one day.
The David Brown, and a few bits of rope were just the job to get the engine onto the hoist. Just like this...
One
two
Three
T'was the usual hassle getting the input shaft to engage with the clutch and the spigot bearing, but I've had much worse! The only unexpected hitch I hit was when I found out that the inlet manifold had a bigger butterfly and my airhose was too small. Bit of a pain but it didn't take too long to get the manifolds swapped over. By early Sunday afternoon the engine was in and running. The block mounted engine heater, which had been butchered when the took the engine out leaked water. A quick session with a hacksaw, blow torch and some solder sorted this out, much easier than putting a new core plug back in!
The only issue left now is the Lamba warning light is on. However, despite this, it passed it's emissions test and got a 2 year ticket so it can't be anything to serious. I've installed a new Lamba sensor, that didn't help, soon I'll start swapping sensors over from the old engine to see if one of them fixes it.
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You would have thought that a Volvo 740/940 engine or head would have been as common as rocking horse manure over here in Norway. Which, of course they are, unless it's a 16V B234F red block.
The discovery of a crack in the head of the Volvo confirmed the need for either a new head or a replacement engine. The search was frustrating. There didn't seem to be any 16V engines in Norwegian scrap yards. Volvo said that they could offer me a new head, complete with valves and springs for a mere 17000 Kr, £1700. However, after we had decided to bite the bullet and buy it, when I double checked it turned out that it was without valves. no way I said.
So, in final desperation I turned to our neighbours.Volvo's own, Sweden. Here there was more hope, but obvious logistical challenges. In the end, I bought a complete engine out of a car that had burnt out at the back end it and arranged for it to be shipped to the nearest post depot to the border. Then it was ust a question of a 200 mile round trip to fetch it. In the end I had no option other than to take the Landrover, according to the Swedish postal system I was fetching 200Kg on a pallet, which I knew would fit.
Fortunately I had the sense to put the spare wheel back in the Landy before we left, I had needed the extra space the last time I fetched something. Sure enough, for the first time in this Landy, we got a puncture.
No problem, with my best Witworth sockets and high lift jack, we were on the road again in no time.
Maybe I'll take the oppurtuninty to get the punctured tire off the rim, try out the sand blaster at work and paint it. It's about time I began tidying those rims up.
In no time we were at the border, pretty safe to say that this was the first time that this Landrover had been in Sweden during it's 45 years. 35Km further on, the post office was very helpful loading the engine into the car
and before we knew it we were on our way back, mid engined Landrover anyone? More picutres of the "Journey" here
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Nothing for years and now, I've been to classic car meets twice in the last month.
This time it was Horten og Omegn Motor Clubs meet/show at their club house, Borre gamlesjasjon (old station). This time there was one other Triumph, a very nice TR6, which completely by chance arrived not long after me and ended up parked beside me.
Lots of very smart motors, a good few e-types and couple of MGTDs, a very pretty MGA and lots of American "stuff"! More photos here.
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The Volvo's nearly drove me over the edge when, a couple of weeks ago, despite a second new head gasket and a head skim started blowing coolant out the exhaust for a 3rd time. With almost all possible remedies exhausted it was time for some more diagnostic work.
One die pen crack detection kit later and here's what I found....
A nice crack straight accross between no.2 back exhaust and inlet, stretching quite a long way into both ports for good measure.
So, that head is scrap then....... It t'was time to think again.
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Ok, I've said to someone on the Club Triumph Forumthat I would show them how I changed the battery box on the Spitfire. So I thought, why not write a blog post and then it's easily available for future reference.
I did this job in early August 2006, part of the over optomistic mad rush to get the car finished for a trip around England and Ireland in September.....
Anyway, here's what I did. I started by drilling completely through the spot welds from the top, even though it's a small panel there's loads of them!
I tend to use around an 8mm drill bit, you can get away with smaller but I find plug welding afterwards easier with a bit more space.
You could also use a spot weld cutter, I have one of these an find it really difficult to control. The advantage here would be that you could avoid welding from underneath if you didn't drill through the body.
Once I drilled all the welds, I bent back the two stiffening brackets and lifted out the box.
That's where the photo's end unfortunately, but after that it's clean all the paint off the flange on the new battery box where you're going to weld. Put it in place. Bend the stiifeners back. Plug weld through the holes you've already drilled (from underneath all the way round and above for the stiffeners). And tidy up.
Biggest challenges are managing to squeeze the flanges tightly together (you can only get a clamp on at the front) and welding from underneath. On the 1500 access is really difficult under there. It's not easy to get in to grind any messy welds down either, on the other hand, no one will ever see them!
Havn't got a close up of the finished job, but you can see it here.
and here.
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By chance, I happened to see Re Motor Clubs little display (in foul weather) 3 weeks ago outside the local supermarket. I got chatting and was given a schedule for their events I found out that the next event was the 1st of May drive with their friends from Høyjord and Andebu, since the Triumph is out of winter storage I decided to brave the weather and go along.
I didn't really know what to expect but was all the same, especially considering the weather, amazed by the turn out. Just by chance I parked the Triumph up beside an old Austin when I arrived, one of only a handful of British Cars.
Not long before the 12 O'Clock set off, and to everyones surprise, a set of around 15 old lorrys turned up in convoy. All imacculately presented, quite a site in the Norwegian country side.
The convoy, which ended up as 52 Vehicles, took a 40 Km trip to Eidsfoss, on the back roads. As you can see some of then weren't even tarmac. A 1926 Model T Ford set the pace!
I was near the front of the convoy, the view of all these classics in the mirrors was something else.
We all parked up beside the lake and enjoyed coffee and cakes in the local Cafe.
It was good to meet some other local classic car nuts, it seems that there is quite a following here, albeit mostly Volvos! I'm looking forward to the next event, a meet on the 18th may.
There's a few more pictures on more-power.co.uk under photos (here)
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The Volvo got us to the hospital and back as we required, but not much further before the ominous sign of coolant in the exhaust appeared again.
Of course, it's good to do a job twice, this time I had it all apart in less than half the 5 hours it took me the first time. I had been recommended a engine workshop that was able to machine the head for me next day. Here's the result.
and from the top, mounted on the engine.
For 800 Kroner, that's about £80 I was really pleased, I hadn't expected it to come back looking like that. He'd even vacuum tested the vavles, which were fine. I think this will be a good place to know in the future. I might need to involve them when I start trying to persuede the Landrover to quit smoking.
The man who did the job pointed to the area where I thought it was leaking and said that there was a low spot there. Good to know.
This time, I decided that 115 Degrees would be exactly 115 degrees not just "there abouts", so I bought this angle gauge. I'm sure I'll have the chance to use it again (but hopefully not on the Volvo head bolts).
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Typically less than a week before the due date of our first child our primary "get to and from the hospital in labour" car started to show signs of serious trouble. Coolant had been misteriously vanishing for a week or two and on our way down to the midwife for our weekly check early last week, I couldn't see a thing following behind her in the Suzuki. The cloud of white smoke confirmed without doubt that the head gasket had blown and the coolant was passing through one or more of the cylinders and straight out the exhaust.
I had planned to take Tuesday off work and get the job done, but I had to postpone until Wednesday because my local Autofactor thought our Volvo was an 8V not a 16V and ordered the wrong bits the first time round.
The 2-piece head for Volvo's early 90's B234 16V engine was designed by Cosworth apparently. I have no doubt about this fact after completing this job. Fantastic engineering, but not exactly simple! This is what faced me on Wednesday morning. I have two manuals, one in English which doesn't cover the 16V engine and one in Swedish which isn't quite Norwegian. Promising!
The first step was to remove the fan cover, fan, fan and power steering belts and cam belt covers.
As you can see, it's got two belts, the inner one at the bottom drives two balance shafts. This didn't need to be disturbed and looked in good condition so needless to say I left it where it was! Next stage, remove cam belt, tensioner, pulleys and cam carrier.
I wasn't able to get new manifold gaskets at short notice so I had to resort to removing both manifolds with the head. Given the amount of wires and hoses attached to the inlet manifold, it would have been much easier to leave it where it was and unbolt it from the head. The 3 nuts on the exhaust manifold to downpipe flange all loosened and came off with out any major issues. That was one big worry over.
On removing the head I found a significant quantity of coolant in number 2 (you can just see this in the photo) and a little in number 3. I am 99.1% certain that this was there before I started the job as I drained the coolant before I removed the head.
A quick inspection and very course flatness check (with steel rule and feeler gauge) did not show any obvious issues with the head or block so after 5 hours of dismantling it was simply a case of cleaning up the mating surfaces and bolting it all back together!
Despite my best efforts, by the end of the day it looked like this, complete with new water pump, thermostat and cam belt. Lining up the Cam shafts and getting the automatic tensioner back on was a bit of a challenge. However, considering that the new cam belt had marks on it that corresponded to the TDC marks on the crank and the cam pulleys, there was no excuse to get it wrong. I retired to bed knowing that the worst was over and hoping for at least one more day before the first contraction!
After work on Thursday I completed the job with new fan and power steering belts and a thoroughly undeserved oil and filter change. I had a moment of panic when the engine ran like a pig at first until I realised that I had forgotten to reconnect the vaccuum line to the brake servo! It's done a 100 or so Km since and seems to be holding, as is the Misses, typically.
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