Righhhht!
Got a few jobs I wanted doing done and dusted today, the first of which being an oil change as it hasn't been changed in 8k!!!!! Ha.
So we started by jacking the car up and taking the plastic undertray off (you will see why a little later on).
The wheels are also off because I wanted to play around with the camber on the Eibach bolts.
Cheeky picture of under the car:
New oil and filter ready and willing!
We did not have a proper tool to undo the sump plug, I cannot remember how we managed it last time, so this time we made up a little tool just for this job.
Welded a piece of square bar into an old socket, fits perfectly! Job done
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And then got cracking with draining all of the old oil out:
I had to remove the fuel rail guard as there was very little space to access the oil filter. Once off it proved much easier to remove the old filter:
New filter and washer!
Old oil just about to stop draining out:
Old bolt and new washer ready to be bolted back in now the majority of the oil has drained out:
New genuine Renault filter fitted to replace the non-genuine one:
Pouring the nice new oil into the head
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Old filter and washer ready for the bin!
Obviously not literally! Ready to be taken down to the local dump and be disposed of correctly.
When taking the fuel rail guard off, I noticed the two inlet bolts about it made contact, stopping it from moving when I had removed the guard's bolts.
The two pictured here were to blame:
So a little angle grind later, and they all fit without any contact.. Perfect.
Before anyone asks, I am not the person wearing the red t-shirt
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Job number two was to check that the gearbox mount was all bolted up correctly, as it felt like something was loose:
It turned out to be fine, so I have no idea where this "loose" feeling could be coming from. I will investigate further when I have time.
Whilst on the topic of the gearbox, is this supposed to be here:
Its a big old rubber wedge between the gearbox and the subframe. I'm guessing its to prevent the gearbox making contact with the subframe, but I wasn't sure if this is standard or has been bodged in by a previous owner/garage?
Next job was one for the MOT, refitting the CAT.. As my friend who may or may not have put the sensor up another exhaust last year to save me the hassle of changing them over is on holiday and unable to do the deed!
Here she is after sitting in the shed for a good 8-9 months!
Sitting for so long untouched made the mating face somewhat rusty..
Needless to say, this was sorted with a wire wheel on an angle grinder, unfortunately I forgot to take a picture
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So, onto the b*****d of a job of removing the decat:
After a lot of cursing and release oil, the 4 siezed bolts came undone, and allowed the decat to be removed from the car. Can I make a note, that copious amount of Coppaslip were used when fitting the decat, yet the bolts still siezed, most annoying..
Looks exactly the same after 9 months of use!
CAT and Decat:
The bolt holes where the CAT meets the rest of the exhaust system are a tad smaller on the CAT than the decat, So instead of finding some new bolts, a few seconds of:
Voilà!
We then soldiered on to get the CAT refitted, as nether of us enjoyed this job one bit.
About 20 minutes later, she was fitted, safe and sound!
Done! Ready for the MOT!
Another job I have wanted to do for a while, but has always slipped my mind is the bonnet catch.
After reading some horror stories the other day, I thought it best to give mine a little spruce to prevent the same happening to me!
Removed:
Lots of rust and no grease.. Lovely.
Gave it a wire brush down and smothered the critical joints in grease, so should solve and problems that could have occurred! (I hope).
Also gave the bonnet a little clean up:
Greased up and a little less rust, I refitted it:
All finished under the car now, so the undertray was refitted, and the car dropped back onto the ground:
The last job of the day was to sort out some ECU wires that had been annoying me for some time!
These were the problem:
Note where the induction elbow has worn through the electrical tape, hmm..
Removed it, to allow me some more room:
Please also notice the fixed airbox strap!
It had split, but I used some rubber glue and it is good as new for now :approve:
Back on topic..
A better angle of the problem. I didn't want these wires to get damaged, so I had to hatch a plan to keep them from being worn away again..
I then found an old innertube hanging up in the garage, that I had previously cut into pieces to use as a chainstay protector on my downhill bike, ah, that could be useful?
A bit of initiative, some rubber, some tape and a cable tie later:
Safe and sound!
That should last a while :d
And that was how I spent my Friday afternoon!
Just to book the MOT now and see what arises!
This is how the car finished the day
Due to the annoying nature of fitting, and amount of noise and lack of power produced by the decat, it will be found in the for sale section very shortly, along with some other bits and pieces.
Thanks for reading
