Monday, 13 September 2010

New engine in and tested

Eventually all the parts were delivered and we were able to fit the new engine, which went in reasonably easy



Been out for a few times and she is so smooth!

Monday, 30 August 2010


Engine arrived on a pallet early saturday (so early that I was still in bed by the time it was in the garage)










Nice and clean, plus it came with alot of ancillaries













Disconnected all the sensors and piping
















Got stoppped by a rain shower















Had to disconnect the hub from the suspention, tracking arm and frame
















This allowed the drive shaft to be removed from the gearbox
















Slowly lifting the engine we made sure everything was clear
















After a slow lift we managed to get the engine out (radiator still in place)
















The empty space under my bonnet
















Drive shaft with no gearbox
















Engine hanging on the crane
















After alot of work we were able to split the gearbox and the engine. Turned out the clutch release arm had to be removed.
















Ordered a new clutch so will complete the job when that arrives
















Left the car in place untill the clutch can be fitted
















Veiw from under the bonnet
















Something missing?

Wednesday, 30 June 2010

Brick wall

Ran into a brick wall after coming back from Ireland













Bumper didnt look too bad but the subframe looked worse















I stripped the bumper
















Sanded the scratches, washed then sanded some more














Put thin layers of body filler over the marks















While the body filler was drying I took off the OEM arial mount














Prepared it to be filled















After alots of painting as well as very high grit sanding this is how it finished









































Monday, 22 March 2010

Heated seats


I disconnected battery, heard that if not I could set off the airbags when I disconnect the seats, didnt want to take that chance











Folding the front seats forward exposes the plastic caps covering two of the bolts












Prize off plasic cap with a small screw driver













Remove four bolts, two are under the plastic caps, two at the front












Disconnect air bag cables, being careful to not to damamge the connectors and remove seat












Seat bottom













Seat back













After removing centre console













Centre console













I drilled the gear surround to allow the switches to sit in place, this is along the lines of the S111 heated seat switches











Secondary switches, will do a bit more sanding to get the sitting flush












Driver seat without heater













Pax with heater

Iv been out to test the heaters, although they take a couple minutes to warm up, they are SO good!! Shame we are now coming out of winter though

Thursday, 18 March 2010

DIY key fob

The circuit board













How much I need to cut














The key at the start













After cutting the key in half














Removed the plastic












What I was looking for














The chip












The finished product

Stage two


This is how it could look once this work has been done














There is a bit of an overlap but enough space that I could cut away the edges to get it to fit














The Dremel came in so handy for this














Cut bottom to fit













After cutting














Applying plastic, I put foil behind to catch an drips















Letting plastic set face down















Glued in the enclosure. Its a bit messy due to the big gaps










Apply expanding foam














Reduce expanding foam



























Sanding with 60 gritt to get a basic shape, then covered in plastic again












Sanding with 60, 120, 200, 600, 800, 1200, 2400 then wet sanding, again with 2400! My wrists were knackered














After painting













Installed














Lit up















Windows OS - Still working on Arch Linux but this will do for now