Thought I would give the undoable union another go after spending £2.50 on a can of butane to fill up the much neglected pencil torch. It wasn't budging so the hacksaw came out to play. That union was a right-off, right from the start. Should I get round to doing the other side at any point in time how many minutes before the hacksaw, 2 or 3!
Had to make the pipe in situ on the car as I needed to thread it through those plastic clips on the bulkhead, because I just couldn't work out how the back row of brake pipes came out without breaking the clip. Those at the front just prise out.
I discovered also that the ABS union end was not normal size. Same 11mm head but meatier and a different thread. Had a new one which was a decent approximation but reused the old one.
Didn't even look at the bleed nipple, broke the caliper end connection to do a bit of bleeding.
So BB Micra for now is back on its wheels, ready for the MOT man to examine my handiwork.
mickthemaverick wrote: 25 Jul 2022, 14:06
Glad that's worked out ok for you Neil, A pass without a doubt!!
If it does gets a pass, it would be thanks to the abridged Mick Method (-the 3000 grit and - the Windolene)!
You do realise that if it doesn't pass I'll claim it's because you skipped the most important bit don't you?
Glad I didn't waste any money on 3000 grit and Windolene the abridged Mick Method was good enough, with just a brief spray of GT85 to give it the crystal clear finish prior to the test Seriously thanks for the tip Mick, resurrected my ham-fisted initial brillopadding and saved me forking out on a new headlight.
240/400/800/1200/1500/2000/2500 and a squirt of GT85
NewcastleFalcon wrote: 05 Aug 2022, 16:35
So BB Micra for now is back on its wheels, ready for the MOT man to examine my handiwork.
Handiwork examined and passed, MOT for another 12 Months, well pleased. £34 for the lower arm, £2 for nuts and bolts, £10 for the wet and dry, £6 for the new brake hose retaining clips, £24 for the Brake Hose £6 for the brake pipe, £2 for ends £4 for brake fluid £2.50 for the butane can £90.50 plus the MOT £40, £130.50 in total.
Plus of course a lot of uncosted time and frustration, but pretty bargain basement.
mickthemaverick wrote: 08 Aug 2022, 15:02
Well done Neil, glad that has all worked out!! Now you just have to double your expenditure to tax and insure it!!
The need has arisen for a bit of van duties for the Micra, clearing out a garage and a shed with potentially many visits to the tip so its all legal again.
Bit of attention required to the BB Clio the thread started off with...reluctor ring. Yes, it's a daft term and when I enquired at the local factors, they confidently told me they didn't do them. Rubbish as it turned out. Phoned another local outfit TMS, they had them in but a bit more of a trek. I told them what the other factors said, and they said we are part of the same group, they do have them in stock, I can see that on my screen. Anyway, got one from the more convenient outlet, maybe they just call them "ABS rings".
With an older Bargain Basement car which has had 17 years of rust-inducing attrition to nuts/bolts, replacing a reluctor ring will seldom if ever just be replacement of a reluctor ring. First off, track rod end...needed replacing, and while you are on with it the bottom ball joint might as well be replaced too. Then there is the caliper retaining bolts. They are supposedly torqued to 105 NM on the Clio. The dread of cracking them off is that the crack turns out to be the head shearing off the bolt.
Never mind after a day spent running backwards and forwards to the car parts shop to get the parts which I probably should have anticipated would be needed, the job was done all bar the final act, screwing the hub nut back on. That's when I discovered it had been cross-threaded, could have been a couple of schoolboy error hammer blows from yours truly on the driveshaft end. The thread is M20x1.75, given time and a bit of research a die could be obtained to recut the thread, or the end machined or ground to a chamfered or flat end to undamaged thread.
No time to faff about like that. More important to get the job done and the car back in action than delay for another day. New driveshaft for £80 from ECP, in stock at Sunderland, and the almost completed job, stripped down to square 1, and reassembled with the new driveshaft. Better solution all round...the old driveshaft was pretty tired looking, and the intermediate rubber was pretty perished.
Could have had exactly the same driveshaft £20 cheaper at £60, had I had the patience to wait one more day to collect it from any of the 4 or more ECP outlets in the North-East, by ordering it through Carparts4less. Carparts4less do offer collection from any ECP outlet, as well as free home delivery, and I have found exactly the same parts as ECP can be a decent slice cheaper.
I thought I had left the lights on the BB Micra when photographing the end of month mile-o-meter, but no, that's the
maturing sun of Keat's autumn, low in the sky at work
BB Micra assumed heavy haulage duties today. Two-way washing machine transport, click and collect new one, and taking the old one to the recycling facility. Now, at the collect the new one stage...easy. The chaps from Curry's just wheel it out and lift it into the "boot". Yes, the Micra is amply large enough to transport a washing machine without it hanging out the back.
But how do you single-handedly get the washing machine out of the Micra and into the house. That's where the two planks I had taken along for the ride came in. A gentle slide of the pretty well polystryrened-up new machine onto the pavement, and a couple of bits of binding strapping to aid with the manhandling adjustments.
The task of loading the old washing machine up was more challenging. No two blokes from Curry's, no packaging or straps, and with the two planks bit of a balancing nightmare that could easily turn into a very heavy object dropping on my very vulnerable toes, and a bit of a back breaking lift/ push in any case even with the "ramp".
The solution another plank this time in the car and protruding out to act as a balancing point as well as a low resistance pushing "rail" to get the machine fully in the cargo area.
The recycling centre, end of things was much easier, thanks to the helpful lads who just slid it out on the plank to their jack-up-able up trolley thing.
The BB Micra proving itself to be a useful workhorse once again.
I have a dishwasher that needs that treatment. Fortunately I have a glamorous assistant who can be pressed into reluctant use. Took my tumble dryer to his a couple of weeks ago as I never use it.
On the other hand, I usually park things like that on the grass outside and a tatter makes them magically disappear.
An even better option is to have them delivered. AO are pretty good on prices and deliveries and will remove the old machine for a tenner.
NewcastleFalcon wrote: 03 Dec 2017, 14:46
Six Bottles of Wine has just bought me this Case of right place at right time and being cheeky enough to ask.
4-door Clio 1.2, around 38,000 miles surplus to the owner's requirements. Another example of the "On my walk" method of acquiring vehicles as per Gibbo!
Well pleased
Still in the maintenance fleet today it clicked over to a significant milage
Micra doing a bit of mountain climbing in the Lakes
The Micra engine runs like a little sewing machine smooth and quiet and a surprising amount of poke when you put your foot down. Coped nicely will all that North Yorks, the Lakes and The Scottish Borders had to throw at it. So when it pulled up at Chez Falcon, up came the question what's that rattle? Sounds like stones pinging.
It was dark and damp no time to be putting it up on ramps to see what was what. Thought it would be easy to identify, had the listening tubes fashioned from plastic water pipe, and came to the conclusion it must be the cat disintegrating as it seemed to be that area where the noise was coming from. It was doing it at tick over, with no appreciable intensification when revved. Disconnected the down pipe but no bits and pieces emanating from the cat which is directly bolted to the exhaust manifold. So out comes the tube again to see where the noise was coming from. It was a rumble and a rattle and the odd ping. Got the tube on the starter motor and flywheel housing and yes that's where it was coming from.
Back in October 2019 replaced the starter, as the previous one had burnt out. The ignition key switch is particularly iffy on the Micra and can lead to such events by failing to switch off the live feed to the solenoid. A number of Micra owners have installed a starter button to by-pass the key.
Rain has very much stopped play today. Starter motor replacement isn't that difficult or prohibitively expensive, but the rattles and pings have me a bit concerned at the state of the flywheel toothed ring, and what damage the pinion may have caused. It's going to be a fair weather when I feel like it "play around" if I have any sense. The car is just kept for convenience and van like duties which are easily put off. Found a couple of decent explainer videos on you tube of the engineering marvel which is the starter motor.
Case of right place at right time and being cheeky enough to ask.
