Project Car / Motorbike thread. Let's see 'em.

Haakon

Keeps on digging
No, I’m blaming the dip shits who keep fucking it up. I’m not at all confident anymore the first one wasn’t fine or at least had a simple glitch - but they fucked it up and blamed the car.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
If you want to pay peanuts to get a car fixed or serviced, this above is what you normally get. I bet Scblack just pays them what they ask and he gets a decent service. Heaps of performance places in Canberra that build some high quality cars.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
If you want to pay peanuts to get a car fixed or serviced, this above is what you normally get. I bet Scblack just pays them what they ask and he gets a decent service. Heaps of performance places in Canberra that build some high quality cars.
Are you saying I'm cheaping out? It was a warranty repair and an oil change at the dealership - they tried to charge me $345 for the fucking oil change before I reminded them the services had been provided as part of the sale...
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Are you saying I'm cheaping out? It was a warranty repair and an oil change at the dealership - they tried to charge me $345 for the fucking oil change before I reminded them the services had been provided as part of the sale...
You know they're rooting your car up from previous experiences, all the signs are there of a sub-standard shop that doesn't care. Not even a company like Ultra tune would tolerate a mechanic giving back a car that has oil dripping out of the stone tray.

This is like a broken record because I've seen this time and time again from dealerships, in the end you'll end up with irreversible damage and they just blame everyone else but themselves. Most people don't hang onto the car long enough to see the long term damage they do but the dude that buys the car after that is lumped with all the shit.
 
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Haakon

Keeps on digging
Yeah. Ultimately I blame myself for this one, not as if I didn’t have fair warning of the quality of their work. The “free oil” and “free” warranty parts suckered me in, I should have remembered there is rarely anything that’s free...

$100 for the oil/filter and $100 for the window regulator from eBay would have been “cheaper”!
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Find a good independent. They exist.
Did that once with the Laguna. Needed a clutch fitted, and as I had my first ever proper paying job in those days I thought I’d treat myself and have it done by what was meant to be one of the three highly rated Renault specialist workshops in Melbourne.

That cost me a weekend pulling the gearbox out again in my driveway to deal with fucked thrust bearing, and many dollars in repairs the driveshafts that had torn boots and mangled threads.

The stone tray falling out on the road on the way home was the first sign of trouble, the pool of gearbox oil on the road the next morning the second.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
The Alfa dealership experience was one reason why a Giulia Quadrafuckitgoesio was scrapped from my upgrade list. That and the $170k price tag.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
The Alfa dealership experience was one reason why a Giulia Quadrafuckitgoesio was scrapped from my upgrade list. That and the $170k price tag.
That’s sad. It’s perdy nice!

Hopefully it would be a different dealer experience if you lived in Europe...
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
That’s sad. It’s perdy nice!

Hopefully it would be a different dealer experience if you lived in Europe...
I think it is a great car. Few teething problems but still a giant killer even if Alfa weren't strictly truthful in their Nordschleife run.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
I think it is a great car. Few teething problems but still a giant killer even if Alfa weren't strictly truthful in their Nordschleife run.
They had teething issues with electrics, rushes development a bit. No manual option because early pre productions failed crash test on clutch pedal intrusion and dummy leg damage I heard so was easier to offer auto only.

Otherwise it’s nice... A wagon version would be awesome with the California V8 (apparently it fits...).
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Engine mounts are us has been at it again. This time another fwd. The original mount is a lousy bit of engineering. Axial load taken by squishing and extending a soft rubber cone and the shear plane is not only outside the frame but again just in the rubber section.



Screwed back together just to make the jig but you get the idea. There is an aluminium section on the flat side of the bracket but it stops under the sheared part. On the otherside just rubber.

First thought was to get the shear force in the encapsulated area so I machined the aluminium part and extended it about 35mm with some aluminium hollow bar. Tapped inside and ran an M8 10.9 bolt through its guts. Then ground the inside of the block out to a cone and fitted a 50x50 square plate under the head of the bolt to push on the urethane and force it into the smaller diameter of the cone to take axial loads. That aluminium cone is inside the rubber in the top pic.



On the other side I drilled and tapped the block and fitted a coverplate to support the urethane which supports the engine weight. Left a hole in the centre so if any urethane is forced out it is easy to the mount has failed. It also made it easier to turn...



No idea if this will work or not, the engine in question has had a lot of work done to it and chews the factory mounts to pieces in about 4 weeks. Took about 5 hours all up including getting my head around the changes.

And there will be some work on the race XR4 today, new springs and shocks, the inlet manifold with extra bling to go on and the cage going in next week.

Stay tuned with bated breasts!
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Dropped out the 150ml of oil this morning (only 3.8 litres in it, 100-150ml of oil makes big difference on the dipstick!!) so probably was fine to leave it as was. Cleaned up the spilt oil and put the stone tray back on and tightening its bolts this time. They were all finger tight, he just forgot to go over them with the socket Im guessing.

Put the door back together. Busted clips for the wiring loom, missing trim clips, broken trim clips, and the nice woofer I imported from the US is dead. Great, no time to sort that I'll have to drive to melboure and back with a dead stereo.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Here is the progress on the XR4.

Power steering cooler, catch can and finish the inlet which means gutting the light and cutting the lens to fit the pod filter. Then the cage next week.




Putting forged pistons and rods in the Escort and some lumpier cams so the ST170 cams will make their way into the XR. Should get to 200bhp with inlet, exhaust, bigger tb and injectors, cams and tune. Pulling 800kg around!
 
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link1896

Mr Greenfield
Here is the progress on the XR4.

Power steering cooler, catch can and finish the inlet which means gutting the light and cutting the lens to fit the pod filter. Then the cage next week.




Putting forged pistons and rods in the Escort and some lumpier cams so the ST170 cams will make their way into the XR. Should get to 200bhp with inlet, exhaust, bigger tb and injectors, cams and tune. Pulling 800kg around!
That's bound to be scary as all hell.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
My Christmas break project will be a clutch job (inc rear main) and water pump and rear pads and tyres on my FILs trusty 3...

Yay...

 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Box is heavier than you expect. Check the rear mount, these are made of cheese and expect to replace the shifter bush. Avoid Repco pads.
 
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