So a day after the previous post I managed to get the spring perches for the rear dampers from the machine shop.
Test fitted them with the Faulkner springs as soon as I got home.
Once I knew they sat right in the springs it was time to go to the garage and test fit on the car...
As stated in a previous post, the springs are very close to the body and touch where the harness bar plates have been welded in. A bit of beating with a hammer got most of the clearance sorted but the bar does still need to come out. However, it fits really well and looks proper smart.
But, there's always something to sort out. I bought the Powerflex top mount bushes for the rear dampers but the metal sleeve does not fit over the rod on the BCs. I thought this would be the case but just wanted to be sure as the new bushes are made for standard dampers. These, as well as the spring perches needed going to the machine shop again for a couple of adjustments. The top hole needed boring out and so did the Powerflex sleeve.
Last problem during test fitting were the bottom locking collars on all the dampers. They are all seized to the silver damper units which was pretty annoying. We were not about to start heating them or smashing them up and as I know you can get all the spares from BC I decided I would order 4x new lockrings and cut the original ones off.
Cleaned all the units up in the meantime and have invested in some ACF-50 ready for when they are off next.
The spring perches and bush sleeves have been machined out and the new lockrings have turned up so I should have all that I need to fit these to the car now.
Now, remember I said it misfired on the way to the garage... Well on the way home this time it got
real bad. Battery and stop light came on along with the misfire, plus the ABS and TCS light came on too.
Not. Good.
I pulled over on the way home and gave it a minute to just think what to do and it really struggled to start again, sounding like a dead battery. I limped it home and then had a friend pickup a new battery and bring it over. It started the car easier, but the stop and battery light were still on and the damn misfire was too.
Then a bit more digging found this...
The crimp for the cable off of the side of the alternator has sheared so the battery wasn't getting charged. A new one needed then... Always something isn't there!
I needed to pop over to James at JMRS anyway as he's just down the road to get a beam. Like the hubs for my roll kit, he'd agreed to let me have it to build up with a PMS strengthening kit and new bushes in return for my standard one when it got swapped. When I got there I mentioned the crimp and James then grabbed a crimp and his hydraulic crimping tool and said I could take them too to get the cable sorted. He is a top bloke!
Beam is a little crusty and the bushes need replacing, but I have Whiteline ones to go in and will clean it up before fitting it down the line.
After dumping the beam in the garden I recrimped the cable on the alternator and it didn't solve the misfire, but the stop light and battery light went off so small steps towards solving the issue.
When the engine was changed at the end of 2020, the leads and plugs were new and the coil pack was taken off of my old engine which was known to be good (albeit at the time). The injectors were the only thing that was an unknown. I changed the coil pack first and tried it with the yellow leads which made no difference. Then I went back to the Renault leads that were on my old engine and tried those with both coil packs which also made no difference.
I then took the plugs out to see if any had fuel on to narrow down if it was a spark issue or fuel issue (I should've done this at the start but oh well). All of the plugs were dry so next up was injectors. It was dark and cold by this point so I turned the car on and removed the plug to each injector one by one, assuming that when I unplugged the dodgy one, it'd run the same. Sure enough the car ran the same depending on whether injector 2 was plugged in or not.
Now I remembered on FB that people had bought injectors on Amazon that seemed to be genuine and performed well. I ordered one at 10pm and it was delivered at 10am the next morning so it was super easy.
It arrived in Magneti Marelli packaging and looked good (even though I'm sure that a non genuine one would probably look good too).
Also noticed that when I was checking the injectors number 2 had no clip on it. Replacing it was super easy and afterwards the car ran much better. I was very relieved to get it sorted.
Due to the fact the other 3 injectors were still unknown I ordered 3 more and changed them the next day so at least they are all fresh, and I have 3 spare working ones now. The other 3 injectors were also bought on Amazon, came in the same packaging and were all of the same quality.
With the misfire sorted it still leaves the ABS and TCS light on the dash to sort.
My weekends are going to be busy for a while so not sure when the next updates will be. I'm yet to decide on what to do for brakes, but the roll kit should be delivered soon so I'll just keep stockpiling stuff ready for a big fitting session at some point in the coming weeks...