Recent content by DaveL485

I drove it five miles today. FIVE MILES.

Box out...again... 4th time. Box in...again...5th time. Delighted to report the first test drive all gears engage and no untoward noises! Hurrah! Hoping for further testing this week. Wiper intermittant isnt working but both "on" speeds are, will look into that. Lights and controls all...

Nope, both front and rear readily available. Front are standard Clio ones, rears are from the front of a Laguna I think. Plentiful and cheap.

Ridiculous car for the money, I adore it. Can't see me selling it, its defo a long termer. Had it 3.5 years now, its the baby of the fleet - Clio V6 is 10 years in August, R9 Turbo is around 23 years and my white 21 I got in 1998, so thats 27 years with me! :o

Its quite common on a number of models, on my Clio V6 the side of the sump is exposed to the rear wheel arch a little and they go regularly, mine will need welding up at some point as you cant get L7X sumps any more. Daughters 0.9 did it too, also seen a number of R21 steel sumps rust through...

Took it for a short test drive - however the rear brakes had been put together wrongly and they were binding quite badly. The handbrake cable was overtensioned, the locknut was loose and the slider retaining pins were missing on the drivers side. Not good! Pulled the dust covers off, pushed...

I took the head to my machine shop and the sorted the valves out. Car is rebuilt now, run up, head bolts retorqued - seems much happier now! Spotted a few things inside I didnt like very much, there was some damage on the cam journals and the wrong dowel (left) used in the...

Oh and while I was under it I saw some surface rust on the sump pan, so that got cleaned and treated

Now fixed with a pair of track rod ends and a geo, driving well again. Needs some miles before the end of May, i'm taking it to the SPa classic again, this time with infield parking and some laps of the track booked :D

And a pair of bottom balljoints, cheers @Adey for the parts tip. Ordered a pair of wishbones but they have the wrong balljoints, so I got just balljoints and fitted them to the original wishbones. Of course, the aftermarket RS balljoints dont fit properly in the aftermarket wishbones...£40...

Interim service time. Garage is full of basket cases so did it outside, fairly simple oil and filters. Ordered some plugs for it too, waiting on those to show up.

Block the other tailpipe off, and check the rest of the exhaust for leaks.

Update: Still whines in 5th although much much quiter. Also crunches into 5th if you rush the change. That box is going in the bin.

Its a friend, he did it for a living for many years but retired about 15 years ago. He does odd bits from home for friends now to keep the boredom at bay, although now I think age (eighties) has taken its toll, hes deteriorated physically and I think maybe mentally recently. We've done business...

Booked, excellent stuff!