Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Mon Sep 19, 2016 10:23 pm

Crikey - time flies when you're having fun! Been about 3 weeks since i updated this thread and because of that i'll do a simple list of the bits i've done with a few remarks rather than a full write up!

After tightening the throttle cable i checked the adjustment of the TPS (Throttle Position Switch) to make sure the idle microswitch was closing. It wasn't. Nowt to do with me tightening the throttle cable, just general wear and tear. Got that adjusted properly (now idles about 750rpm when warm, up to about 1200rpm cold but usually lower) and readjusted the kickdown cable correctly as well. This has vastly improved the overall running as well.

Now for the list!
New bonnet and tailgate struts
New rear springs and shocks
Secondhand sunroof switch
Green LEDs in instruments/switches
LED headlamp and front sidelight/running light bulbs
Repaired/refitted back half of exhaust system after hitting a speed hump due to the old rear springs and shocks
Fitted a new exhaust gasket between front box and downpipes in the hope that would cure the blow - it's cured half of it.
Done oil/filter change - old oil was like water and filter took some serious shifting!
Done ATF part change (2.5L) - the old stuff was horrible! Three more part changes to do as it holds 7.5L total.
Changed PAS fluid - same story here as the ATF!
Had tracking adjusted by ATS who at least didn't charge me as they screwed it up royally! (More of that in a mo)
Took it on a 270 mile round trip to get some coupé bits (Thanks Dean!) and used almost exactly 10 gallons - good considering the traffic on the M25/London!

Now the tracking problem. It seems there's a bit of a pattern on most of the repairs that have been done in recent times on this Urban Assault Vehicle (UAV) and the ethic seems to be "Will it get to be legal again or will it make it driveable?". Sadly this has caused a few bigger, more expensive problems than fixing the problem correctly in the first place.
Part of the reason ATS couldn't track it properly is because the steering wheel in the straight ahead position wasn't in the centre of the rack. After correcting this i set about shifting the work ATS did sideways so that it should (in theory) travel straight ahead when the wheel is at the straight ahead position.
While doing this today, i noticed some excessive play in the bush between the radius arm and the lower control arm on the nearside. The radius arm is almost the same as the brake reaction bar on the 800s but is behind the rack going backward into the chassis instead of forwards into the subframe. Looking more closely at this bush it appears that no less than 4 thick washers have been used to eliminate enough play previously to pass an MoT - just! This is throwing the tracking out with variable results every time the car moves and also making a knocking sound over uneven surfaces.
Have ordered 2 bush kits that come with 2 washers, 2 bushes and a new bolt. The bushes look extremely similar to the bushes on the 800 reaction bars so a few measurements will be taken as it may be they're a better alternative to the usual Polybush/Superflex etc options.These bush kits were only a fiver each, granted that was a clearance price but even at double that they're still relatively cheap. Certainly for the cost of garage time to bodge it, it would have been cheaper to fit the proper bushes and have done with it! Also it would have meant the front tyres would live longer!

I'll fit the new bushes when they land and see how things are then. Also with the vast ride improvement from the rear springs and shocks, i think i might fit new front ones as well.

Nearly forgot! On the creature comfort side, i've added a cup holder as well!

Image

Image

It was a nice tight friction fit in the original cubby hole and provides a slim drawer and the cup holder. I plan on fitting a better stereo at some point as well but whoever fitted the el-cheapo Maplin thing did a chop-shop job on the OE wiring using red bullet crimps - no wonder the sound quality is so bad! That will need a set of ISO plugs to fix and some time with a soldering iron, multimeter and heat gun for the heatshrink - job for another day! :wink: :D
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Thu Sep 22, 2016 12:30 am

Minor update to the above - i've also fixed the problem with the climate control not directing the air where it's meant to go. After a lot of faffing about, diagnosis and other grief, it turned out to be dry joints on the vacuum solenoid block that operates the various flaps etc to direct the air where it should go.
This also fixed the coolant valve under the bonnet that cuts the flow to the heater matrix when cold is selected on the temperature dial.

While pulling the interior apart to work on the heater, as a diversion i changed the window switches for those from a later 960 which conveniently have green LEDs inside and light up a window symbol on the switch. The originals were plain black so couldn't be found after dark! :roll:

Currently still waiting for new track control arm to radius arm bushes to sort out the tracking and front end vibration problems, also a pair of 850/S40/V40 etc washer jets as the ones i've ordered are the mist type/fan spray to upgrade the washer jets seeing as they're not working very well.

All coming together slowly but surely but lke many things, just when i think i can see the light at the end of the tunnel i realise it's someone with a torch bringing me even more things to fix! :lol: :wink: :D
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by mercedade » Thu Sep 22, 2016 8:55 am

scoobyh123 wrote:... just when i think i can see the light at the end of the tunnel i realise it's someone with a torch bringing me even more things to fix! :lol: :wink: :D
I know that feeling! "There's a weird rumble on the C-Max" has turned into a wobbly driveshaft which needs doing the next time I can face getting the jack and axle stands out.
Adrian
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Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (green)
Gone...1992 Rover Mk1 827 SLi Manual (green)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 825 Diesel (green)

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:14 am

Sounds painful! Also sounds pretty urgent! Are the driveshafts relatively easy to do on those things?
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
'99 Jag S Type 3.0 V6 SE


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'88 Volvo 760 V6 Estate
'95 827 Coupé LPG gone but not forgotten!

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Thu Sep 22, 2016 11:05 pm

The new bushes for the lower control arm to radius arm arrived today. Knowing the passenger side was relatively loose after checking it the other day and also that the bushes had disintegrated there, i did that side first with some help from a friend. Had a couple of fiddly bits but reasonably plain sailing doing it.

The drivers side could go one of two ways - easy because it hadn't been bodged or hard because it hadn't been touched. As it happened, it was hard because the original bushes that were fitted in Sweden were still in there and besides the fact they had crumbled apart, the part of them closest to the control arm had rusted to it. Curious mix rubber and rust!

After spending about half an hour scraping, chiseling and filing this mix off the lower arm, after a bit of jiggery-pokery i finally managed to get the new bush fitted.

As luck would have it i over-compensated when shifting the tracking sideways but at least it still goes in a straight line without unexpected pulling now apart from a bit of vagueness as the wheel needs turning to the left from the straight-ahead position to get the roadwheels to travel straight. Should be able to set this right fairly easily tomorrow.

I did notice the front pads are down to about 1mm of material and the discs have also seen better days though so that will be the next job. Big old discs too - 300mm ish! That's gonna hurt the wallet no doubt! I did notice that the calipers are the single bleed screw variety which will make bleeding easier hopefully - the others have 3 bleed screws each, two on the bottom and one on the top and can be a pig to bleed! Definitely needs bleeding, the brake fluid is black and the pedal is feeling a bit spongy, it's better than it was before i changed the rear pads but spongy nonetheless.

I have got some pics of the old and new bushes but haven't been able to upload them yet. The pc did an upgrade and went all "Microsoft" on me, extremely slow and uncooperative!

I'll upload them once the PC has sorted itself out with some help from Defraggler and C(rap)-Cleaner.

Meanwhile the ISO leads also landed so i'll get them fitted tomorrow and tweak the tracking and hopefully it will just be the front pads/discs, shocks and springs and then routine servicing. ;):D
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
'99 Jag S Type 3.0 V6 SE


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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by metelmickey » Fri Sep 23, 2016 5:49 pm

the light at the end of the tunnel is normally the train coming at you on fire.
MIKE

just got a 827 mk2 coupe and loving it, more commanly known as mad mick ( used to run a nitros injected firebird ) still missing my rover, now got a BMW 735 1999. now got 2003 760l, a 6.0ltr V12 and 445bhp. :evil:

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Fri Sep 23, 2016 6:51 pm

I'd be worried if it was round here! :shock: Even the so-called local station is about 4 miles out of the village and the track runs nowhere near! :wink: :D
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Fri Sep 23, 2016 10:11 pm

The washer jets were a nuisance on this car, not exactly great and left a lot to be desired - in fact they were downright terrible! Both were standard issue Volvo, c 1988 and provide two streams of water each, one of the streams from each jet crossing the stream from the other jet as described in the Owners Handbook, Haynes Book of Fantasy and similar publications.

At least that was what they were meant to be!

The one on the drivers side was giving a very variable output and sometimes none at all. Having fitted mist type jets from PSA Group/Alfa/Fiat etc cars onto my Rover 827 coupé i knew what an improvement they make.

As such i spent some time trawling ebay, PartsforVolvosonline, Braydon Motors and similar websites.

The nearest i found was the jets fitted to S/V40 and other modern Volvos. On the Parts for Volvos site i found they listed these jets as an upgrade for the 850 but no other upgrade details. I checked the standard jets on an 850 which turned out to be the same as those on a 960 so the same as a 760, 940, 740 and so on.
In fact i think the 7/9xx jets were retro-fitted to 1/2xx series way back when so in theory the latest S/V40 etc washer jets should fit all Volvos at least back to the 70s.

Anyway, some pretty pictures of the new mist jets in action :

Image

Old style jets on the left, mist on the right ^^^^^ and the right on its own :

Image

Both mist jets together :

Image

Gives a vast improvement in cleaning and reduced washer fluid use. Here's the ebay link, cheaper than buying direct from pfs/parts for Volvos :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270812471756? ... EBIDX%3AIT

They're a few quid dearer than the standard genuine replacement jets, are a direct fit and most of all, a genuine part to make a very worthwhile upgrade!
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
'99 Jag S Type 3.0 V6 SE


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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by metelmickey » Sat Sep 24, 2016 7:35 pm

on my bmw i've used ones off a scania truck same mist spray but fitted to the wipers.
MIKE

just got a 827 mk2 coupe and loving it, more commanly known as mad mick ( used to run a nitros injected firebird ) still missing my rover, now got a BMW 735 1999. now got 2003 760l, a 6.0ltr V12 and 445bhp. :evil:

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Sat Sep 24, 2016 8:19 pm

I thought about that idea Mike but couldn't find a suitable set of bits to do it that way. Besides it would have left holes in the bonnet where the old ones were............. :wink: :lol:
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Sep 27, 2016 7:28 am

After the new gasket didn't fix the blow from the front pipe to front box flange i investigated other options and came up with the idea of sleeving it.

Here's a bit of an update on the exhaust sleeve - while collecting the brake pads that my local factors ordered in for me, i happened to spot this hanging up in the exhaust section :

Image

and the view of what's in it :

Image

It's 50mm internal diameter according to the label but measuring it the ID is 53mm and the gap in the sleeve for clamping is 13mm. Apparently the internal sleeve ends are designed to slide over each other to provide a gas-tight tube but using a bit of rough maths the 13mm gap will reduce the diameter by just over 4mm so should clamp down to 48-49mm, possibly tighter if the sleeve does in fact slide over itself.

Now the painful bit - £5.99 each so cheaper than the cheapest ebay seller i could find. It's also 110mm long so will provide slightly better stability than the one i found on ebay and the clamps certainly look hefty enough to hold things tightly. They only had one in stock so i paid for two and pick the other up today.

There's about 30mm between the front box end plate and the flange which also happens to be the distance from the end of the sleeve to the inboard end of the clamp on it, the clamp bolts look like M10 thread (17mm spanner) and the clamp bands themselves (without measuring) look like 2mm thick steel. Beefy enough to clamp really tight i would think!

The front pipes seem to be the sticking point at the moment for 760 exhausts, the front boxes are still available and the rest of the system seems to be the same as the rest of the 700 range and quite possibly the 900 range as well. However as long as the connecting pipes are still available, then aftermarket stainless boxes could be fitted in place of the standard ones.
As long as these exhaust sleeves work then it should provide a long term solution until the front pipes rot out, given the fact there's little movement on them and they get pretty hot the chances of condensation rotting them is minimal but i suppose they will eventually.

As for the brake pads, i didn't get them fitted yesterday! Got home with them and it was dry, overcast yes but still dry. By the time i'd walked from the front door to the back door it was chucking it down! Job for later today i think!
Also after tidying the rats nest of wires or Spaghetti Elettrico as i like to call it and fitting ISO plugs on the wires for a standard stereo, i found the nice Clarion CD/radio head unit i've been waiting to fit doesn't actually work! :roll:

As such i ordered this from ebay :

Image

If nothing else it will match my green LED instruments/switches but should give a reasonably good sound output with nice quality as well.
Allegedly it's landing early this afternoon so weather permitting this afternoon will be a noisy affair - dealing with the exhaust noise, fixing the front brake noise (it hasn't started yet amazingly!) and improving the internal noise! ;) :D
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
'99 Jag S Type 3.0 V6 SE


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'94 827 Sterling saloon
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by CHR15E » Tue Sep 27, 2016 2:24 pm

Never seen a clamp/sleeve like that before. I had to make something similar on my old exhaust due to it being a cat setup I wanted to use on a non cat car.

Off the shelf would have been a lot easier.
Chris
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Sep 27, 2016 2:45 pm

They're widely used on German cars as far as i know Chris. Seems a lot easier than faffing about with those horrible "U" clamps that dent the pipe, never want to come off etc.
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
'99 Jag S Type 3.0 V6 SE


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'94 827 Sterling saloon
'88 Volvo 760 V6 Estate
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by CHR15E » Tue Sep 27, 2016 5:20 pm

Ah ok, that'll be why I haven't seen any then.
Chris
19 Vauxhall Astra 1.6T SRi Nav Estate
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:26 pm

I only found them by accident Chris, searched them on ebay and found out the German connection.

Hoping they'll fix my front pipe flange although i think i could probably just about scrape an MoT as the blow is only slight. Rather have it fixed though! :wink: :D
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
'99 Jag S Type 3.0 V6 SE


Image
'94 827 Sterling saloon
'88 Volvo 760 V6 Estate
'95 827 Coupé LPG gone but not forgotten!

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