Thread: Paint

Cotton is way worse than FG yet you rarely hear about it

Well this is the current state of the shiny ****box. I'm taking so long as the damn thing was in so many parts to start with. I'd pulled it apart to get the A/C bits out, the transfer case ... the 'CVs are out of it. The panhard rod is removed ... its "somewhere". When I fitted new bushes to the other one and the panhard flogged out in about 3weeks ( gee's I've had a gutfull of the **** quality rubber these days ). So i grabbed the panhard rod from this one so I could keep driving.






The problem with it being in so many bits is I feel obligated to "fix everything" before re-assembly. Where as if it was together I'd just drive the damn thing. I'm starting to think I'm going to have to buy another car so I have something to drive ( 5 isn't enough right ? ).... Maybe six is the magic number ?

Lets see about 3 years ago I just stopped tinkering with them or driving them and found a ****box range rover to drive that could tow a caravan. So I have.

1) Citroen CX2500 GTi Turbo ... The heater box is out, I've rebuilt the front suspension but need to finish it off by fitting new tieroad arms/joints (its steering very crooked until they are fitted and its aligned).
2) 1963 ID19 .. .the ugly pink car. This is my project car ... no roof, leaky suspension boots ... heaps of fun to drive... No money to spend on it to fix it.
3) 1963 ID19 ... this car was given to me. At the moment I can just drive it. It needs work, but runs and drives fine.
4) 1950's Traction Avant. I have its gearbox in bits to rebuild.
5) 1992 Range Rover.

So I fix up the Rangie for the trip, fix up a caravan for the trip. We are away for 3'ish months last year. While we are away a water hose in the roof of the house bursts ... and floods the house from the top down. So back home to a HUGE job. We are out of the house until nearly christmas last year. Finally a few months into the new year, I have access to my sheds again ... Then I tip the ****box range rover on its side ( sigh ).... then 2 weeks later some drunk women wipes it out..... Then 2 weeks later I break my wrist pretty badly ..... So nothing to drive and I can work on cars.

So I buy a bunch of batteries and fit to the cars. The ugly pink cars fires up and the arse end falls out of the exhaust. I back it out of the shed and wash the dust off. Can't drive it 'cos its raining and it has no roof. The CX ... fit a battery... it fires right up, I back it out of the shed.... and its leaking bloody everywhere... with a broken wrist I can't really fix the leaks (just perished return lines). the traction still has its gearbox in bits. I can't drive the blue ID19 as it doesn't have power steering, so I can't turn the steering wheel.....

Fast forward a couple of months, I have the ****box rangies in bits. The CX has sheered a rear anti-rollbar bolt and is costing me a bloody fortune in leaking hydraulic fluid... but I can finally turn the steering wheel in the blue ID19 so I start driving it .... well thursday it made a horrible sound as I pulled out of a carpark and headed into town ( so much so I shut it down straight away and coasted to a halt in a service road). Hmmmm... i pop the bonnet and fire it back up from the external solenoid under the bonnet ...... and do a bloody frantic sprint for the key inside to turn it off..... The motor sounds like it has a heavy death knock ... the big ends are being hammered to bits.... ... The damn thing must have no oil in it!!! So I pull the dipstick .... hmmm... full...... They aren't known for stripping oil pump drives or anything... So I gingerly hit the starter solenoid again.... No go ... bloody scary death noises.... I press the clutch as I climb in to shut it back down.......... Oh ... sound changes a lot (almost goes away). So I quickly shut it off, the flywheel or clutch must be about to fall out (at least that is what I'm hoping). I'm guessing whoever assembled it didn't use bloody locktite ... sigh...

So I ring the boss women, she is really happy "What are you going to drive now ............................. How are you going to get it home". Oh .......... the ****box rangie is still in bits ... I ring my father "Do you feel like rescuing a car" ....................... sigh. Then I find the bloody traction is sitting on the car trailer, so half a day messing around to get the blue ID19 home.

So now I have.

1) ****box Rangie in a thousand bits
2) Blue ID19 ... needs the gearbox removed to check clutch/heavy knocking noise.
3) Traction Avant ... has the gearbox extracted and in bits
4) Ugly Pink ID19 ... needs exhaust... needs hydraulic boots .... and has no roof fitted (I like it that way). You will know things are desperatley criticle when you see that around town with a roof refitted (ie: I'm down the very last possible car that can move under its own power)
5) The CX ... Actually the only thing I've purchased for this car in the last 5 years in a new clutch slave boot as it was leaking........ I'll give you one god damn guess where that thing is leaking ****loads of fluid from after just spending 1/2 hour laying under it ....................... Yes, that new clutch slave boot. Why is everything made of rubber **** quality these days? How does such a small leak, drain so much hydraulic fluid in such a short time ... ARRRRhhhhh ( I'm talking a couple of litres a week).

So I have only the leaky CX to drive now. I am thinking it is entirely sensible to buy a 6th car so I have something to drive right

seeya,
Shane L

I have made a list of stuff I need to do before the driveline goes back in (as it'll be many times more difficult once the driveline is back in).






I taped 3 layers of this insulation together.







I saw how dirty the underbody was ... and decided cleaning that to glue this one was just to much work ... So I used a few very small rivnuts to hold it on ( the insulation weights nothing ... a few grams tops).



Hopefully this will quieten the LT230 down a bit ... but what I'm after is the console area not getting red hot when towing.

seeya,
Shane L.

So the list of stuff I really need to do is:

--refit all the A/C lines
--refit wiring from other car.
---temp gauge
---trailer brakes
---battery isoloater
---anderson plug
---USB charger

I want to try and get all this wiring and crap through the firewall while the motor is out so I can get all the firewall gromets and holes filled properly.



When I found I was going to fix this car rather than buy another .... I looked up online the size the vdo temp gauges .... hole size 48mm ..... So I order in the 48mm hole saw when I got the insurance payout. You see this area of the dash had a lot of holes from a CB radio being fitted in the past. So I drilled the damage out and cut the 48mm hole. Yes, yes .. I know, I have since measured the gauge .... 50mm damn it all ... not 48.....





The A/C hoses ... they are always in the way behind the motor I found. I couldn't access the bolts to re-mount the clips. Note: I have added another rivnut up high to get the hoses out of the way of the driveline. Lets hope this works.



sigh ... guess who had to spend an hour with a file and dremel tool to make the hole big enough for a 50mm gauge rather doing anything constructive... sigh .....

Things seem to take longer when you’re in a hurry. But making good progress on this project.

First off, I think you need to totally gut the interior then there will be nothing left to pull out and put back
Now go and buy another classic (think of it like saving a life, yours or the rangie)
you must have the patience of a saint
cheers

blaze

You have to laugh ... my life is just like that show "roadkill"..... The shiny ****box is still in a million bits ... and I haven't had a chance to even look at it in the last 3 weeks. Today, the oil pressure light comes on ( now there is something new ). My usual is to ignore most warnings as they are usually fix themselves pretty quickly (dodgy connectors etc).... but that little oil car glowing brightly ... THAT will make me pull over quicker than you can blink and shut her down. I climb out and see a rapidly growing puddle of oil under in... there is oil pouring down the back of the block............ Sigh, the oil pressure switch will be leaking.

I pull the dipstick ... still oil in there ... maybe we'll make it home ( my imagination playing videos of seized turbos and hammered big ends through my mind) as we frantically head back home. Yep, were down to the last car ... the Ugly pink ID19.... Oh, and look its started raining. The kids look far from impressed as I wipe the cobwebs away so they can climb in. A roof would be nice given its raining and cold I get to the end of our street and the windscreen wiper falls off the spindle drivers side ( I guess I've never used them before given I don't drive it in the rain) ... Oh well, I can just reach over the top and wipe that sucker down.

I wonder what is quicker, finding and fitting an oil pressure swtich .... fitting a roof (er, and re-fitting and tightening a wiper arm) or re-assembling a shiny ****box The boss women is getting very frustrated with me for some reason (women are strange right ? ).

seeya,
shane L.

(women are strange right ? )
I used to work with a cattle farmer and his quote was
Those Women they strange cattle them