Mike's racing blue 197

[Miked5]

i meant the top mount holes were elongated slightly on mine so I had a bit of movement there. Anyway I’ve loosened both nuts off to put a lovely stainless washer in for @RSRowe and it looks miles better now!

I think originally the anti roll bar link was straight which made the strut link angle quite aggressive. Now they both have a slight angle on them so they both looks better. Either way I’m happy with it now.

 

[Miked5]

Few more jobs done in the garage over the last couple of weeks. Managed to pickup a second hand aircon pump for £20 so got that fitted, clutch bled up with the new braided line from the master to remove the damper. The pedal before was really stiff whereas now it feels a bit softer but still good, gave it a good bleed and sure there’s no air in it (famous last words) so I guess we’ll see in a couple weeks when I finally finish everything.

Just started the cam belt and water pump change tonight, drained coolant and soaked myself! Barred engine to TDC and the cam horseshoe tool fit in with ease so happy the timing has been bang on whoever did it last. I’ve seen a lot of reports on FB that the timing is often slightly out.

One question I have, do people loosen the crank pulley bolt with the cam and crank locking tools fitted? Don’t want to bend them because I imagine it’s quite a high torque

 

[RSRowe]

One question I have, do people loosen the crank pulley bolt with the cam and crank locking tools fitted? Don’t want to bend them because I imagine it’s quite a high torque

Just the crank locking pin, or if you’ve got a big impact gun, just whizz it loose before you’ve even put the locking tools in.
The bottom pulley is keyed so there’s no worry about the timing going wrong.

 

[Miked5]

Cam belt and new water pump done, driver side suspension back in. Fitted the arch liners then realised I hadn’t plugged in the ABS sensor which goes behind the liners!

Started her up on Sunday and was greeted by an ESP deactivated light on the dash, i read somewhere that going from lock to lock on the steering resets the ESP and it seems to have worked so far.

When the engine is running my doors keep locking and unlocking randomly! Aswell as the car being in bits most the winter I also sent my key off to be repaired because I tried replacing my scratched key card and fucked it lol the guy who repaired it said he bench tested it after the repair and everything was working ok. I think next step is start the engine then remove the key card battery and hopefully this will narrow it down to either keycard or car.

Does anyone have any wiring schematics of the central locking system? I guess it will go through the UCH at some point.

 

[DS197]

Cam belt and new water pump done, driver side suspension back in. Fitted the arch liners then realised I hadn’t plugged in the ABS sensor which goes behind the liners!

Started her up on Sunday and was greeted by an ESP deactivated light on the dash, i read somewhere that going from lock to lock on the steering resets the ESP and it seems to have worked so far.

When the engine is running my doors keep locking and unlocking randomly! Aswell as the car being in bits most the winter I also sent my key off to be repaired because I tried replacing my scratched key card and fucked it lol the guy who repaired it said he bench tested it after the repair and everything was working ok. I think next step is start the engine then remove the key card battery and hopefully this will narrow it down to either keycard or car.

Does anyone have any wiring schematics of the central locking system? I guess it will go through the UCH at some point.

Mine does the locking/unlocking thing but not when running. Only does it after it rains which leads me to believe either one of the door handles needs replacing or the button on the rear diamond that also locks the car.

 

[Miked5]

Having a bit of a bad time of it getting the old girl out the garage at the minute, seems like one thing after another.

Had a seized caliper earlier in the week but managed to get that freed off and cleaned up and all good now.

Started the car up the other night and had a low battery light just as I was about to go out for the first time since the gearbox rebuild, only had 12.3v on the battery while the engine was running which points to the alternator. Continuity all checked out and couldn't find any broken fuses so I've ordered a bosch voltage regulator for £30 off eBay.

Went in the garage tonight to have another poke about at the alternator wiring and thought I'd start the engine but now the engine won't start and the starter solenoid is clicking really fast. You can imagine how amused I am now! The only thing I did between finding the alternator fault and starting fault was charge the battery with a trickle charger

I think tomorrow I'm going to have to remove the airbox and battery and have a good look about at wiring and the starter motor, hopefully there's just a loose wire somewhere causing a dodgy connection.

Could the 2 issues be linked?

 

[Miked5]

The answer is the 2 issues are linked! I thought it was a bit of a stretch for my alternator and starter to fail within a couple days especially after a load of work being done.

With the starter solenoid clicking repeatedly I though this points more at a low battery than a starter solenoid problem, if the starter was jammed it normally clicks once and no further. This made me think more towards the earths and this would cover both issues I had. I bought some earth cable from Halfords today and used the spare battery negative stud and connected it to the engine block, engine fired up and alternator charging at 14.3v. Happy days!

On closer inspection both the gearbox and main chassis ground have corrosion but if I’m honest I didn’t think it would have as much effect as it does. When measuring the chassis ground from one end to the other the ohms reading was all over the place and after cleaning up with a wire brush and emery tape it was at a steady 0.2ohms. Gearbox mount didn’t fair so well after cleaning up the terminals and it was still a bit of a dodgy reading, this is the one giving me hell and not allowing the engine/box to earth properly.

Threads are shagged in the gearbox earth location, where have people relocated it to? Cba helicoiling mainly because I only have an M6 kit lol was thinking of drilling the box casing webs at the rear and nut and bolting it.

 

[Miked5]

Does anyone know where the smaller earth wire goes that’s linked in with the main chassis earth? I want to replace the main chassis earth but struggling to see where the other one goes once it disappears into the harness

 

[Miked5]

Took the car to work this week as a mini shake down and nothing has fallen off the car so that's a positive.

• Clutch pressure feels nice (previously very stiff) but not much feel for the bite point not really that arsed though - was under the impression I would get more feel from removing the oem line.
• Annoying rattle coming from either behind the dash clocks or engine bay bulk head, kind of sounds like belt slap but definitely isn't that - only seems to happen on throttle
• Metallic rattle off throttle (this was present last year) - probably diffuser heat shield against back box
• Pulling to the left so got my tracking done and still pulling to the left but not as bad, steering wheel also not centralized.

Does anyone else have cup dampers with cook sport springs and think they are too soft? I can't believe how soft they are considering they are lowering springs aswell, I think it's at the point where its compromising handling when going through twisty roads with all the body roll I'm getting. I'm wanting to get a track day out the way first and then will probably look at coilovers.

 

[Miked5]

I’ve found a lot of play in the passenger side wheel if I wiggle it side to side which will explain the car pulling to the left.

Looks like it’s the swivel joints in the hub carrier, I’ve heard these are no fun to change so might have to get it booked into a garage for this.

Typical I was going to go on the track night at Teesside Autodrome on the 29th but probably won’t get booked into somewhere till then.

 

[Steve.humberstone]

Locking\unlocking I’ve found is the battery, swapped to a PC680 and it went away… until that had drained a bit and it returned (as expected, it’s on axel stands so isn’t getting much charge), they seem to do some odd things when low on voltage - the steering lock will be next!

 

[Miked5]

Locking\unlocking I’ve found is the battery, swapped to a PC680 and it went away… until that had drained a bit and it returned (as expected, it’s on axel stands so isn’t getting much charge), they seem to do some odd things when low on voltage - the steering lock will be next!

Yeah I think the locking/unlocking was down to low voltage, it was totally gone away now I’ve done a good few miles.

 

[Miked5]

I’ve found a lot of play in the passenger side wheel if I wiggle it side to side which will explain the car pulling to the left.

Looks like it’s the swivel joints in the hub carrier, I’ve heard these are no fun to change so might have to get it booked into a garage for this.

Typical I was going to go on the track night at Teesside Autodrome on the 29th but probably won’t get booked into somewhere till then.

Panic over! Found the track rod end nut had worked it’s way loose on the passenger side…..more dugga dugga required

 

[RSRowe]

Good news!
Usually when it's the swivels you can only feel movement what you're hanging off the wheel on full lock.

 

[Miked5]

Tracking done and feels 100% better now! Little 3hr track night on Monday night if the weather holds out.

Still haven’t found the source of the rattling noise which seems to be right at the bulkhead, the heatshield is quite loose but don’t think it would cause the noise I’m hearing. Not worried for now I won’t hear it with a helmet on

There seems to be 1 degree difference in camber across both axles

 

[Maidens1979]

It’ll be class round right hand corners

 

[burrellbloke]

The rear axle camber can only be adjusted by adding shims.

I don't understand why they didn't even out the front camber?

 

[Miked5]

Is it possible to adjust the front camber with standard suspension?

 

[Maidens1979]

I don’t think you can

 

[Sean197]

Is it possible to adjust the front camber with standard suspension?

No, you need adjustable top mounts or adjustable arm bushes.