130 replies to this topic

[RalphyBMW]

Central locking? If only! I did think about the wheel arch too, but there is so little clearance between the tyre and the arch liner that I just decided to route it within the front bay for the time being; I am just pleased I no longer have to remove the washer bottle to charge the battery!

[RalphyBMW]

Spent a few hours on the car today, am now knackered. In truth, I started on Monday night, when I decided to do the HCB's that everyone reckons are so easy... My shorter torque wrench arrived this morning, so I resumed work. My aim was to do the HCB's, remove the rear arch liners and make suitable repairs, reinforcements to the ends of the sills and screw anchors into the front of the liners rather than the plastic push clips. So, HCB's done front and rear on the near side. Both rear arch liners removed. Cardboard templates made for aluminium reinforcement plates. That doesn't sound much for probably 5 hours work. The HCB's were pretty straightforward but did require removal of the shock absorber assemblies; I managed to bugger the heads on one of the rears by trying to cheat and leaving the shock in place. I quickly decided that this wasn't a good idea so removed that bolt and am hoping JG can supply me another before I do the N/S/R. The N/S/R arch liner was a swine, though with lots of Wurth Rost Off and patience, I managed to remove all of the screws and the liner. I plan to run a tap through the existing fittings and replace the original fixings with new s/s, which will be liberally coated with ACF50. Also spent quite some time trying to remove the silicon that had been used to bodge the end of the sill, presumably by Nidd Vale during servicing. If the N/S/R liner was bad, the O/S/R was awful; only one of the four screws came out, the remainder had to be drilled. I now have one stub left in the liner and two left in the clam. Any suggestions for a solution to this would be great, I have seen a lot of suggestions of using a dremmel, I assume with the cutting disc? It may be that the holes need to be slightly bigger for the screw anchors, which sounds easier than drilling out. When removing the N/S/R liner I noticed that the extra seal strip was missing, presumably Nidd Vale when they did the timing belt. Only seems to be a length of basic door seal, but any suggestions for a supplier would be great. Jobs for tomorrow (or possibly next weekend) will include getting the jigsaw out to cut out the reinforcement plates, removing the remainder of the original rivnut things, and waiting for the new s/s fittings to arrive. So, I have a car that can't be driven, but hopefully sorting it out should be quite straightforward...

[RalphyBMW]

Closer investigation shows that there are were fixings at each end of the boot to hold the heat shield in place. Both of these appear to have completely oxidised away. My plan now is to put new screw anchors in aluminium plates both above and below the boot floor. Whether or not this will work remains to be seen. Also once I have actually tried cutting some of this ally sheet, I may change my mind!

While I was poking around in the N/S/R arch I noticed that the grommet for the headlamp wiring wasn't properly engaged; disappointing if it was like that from the factory. Didn't take much sorting out either, which probably makes things worse!

[RalphyBMW]

More successful day today, removed the seized screw anchors, plan for upper and lower plates didn't work, but I did get some reinforcement in place. Sill reinforcement is sorted on the O/S, and the reinforcement is prepared for the N/S. Cutting the aluminium was a breeze, delighted with how that went. Dremmel came into its own today, even managed to remove the old rivnuts from my original footrest. Disconnected and removed the MAP sensor, cleaned the sensor, plug and socket with contact cleaner, will see if that makes any difference when I get it all put back together. The plug for the sensor was a complete swine, both to remove and to reconnect. So, overall pleased with todays progress, looking forward to the new fixings arriving so I can put it all back together. Typically the low temps coincide with my wanting to pressure wash the arch liners, but there we go!

[RalphyBMW]

Got the arch liners cleaned up late last week, also ordered a length of rubber seal very similar to OE



http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1497.l2649

Cut it to the right length and refitted to both liners



Got the O/S liner in place this evening, need to complete the fixings next.

[Thealastair34]

Nice as normal! Wish I had the patience and time for this stuff, been using mine as a daily in the snow all week!

[RalphyBMW]

Cheers, mine hasn't been out for quite a while, looking forward to taking it for a blast when the snow has gone and I have it put back together.

[Mangham54]

Cheers, mine hasn't been out for quite a while, looking forward to taking it for a blast when the snow has gone and I have it put back together.

Yes you do.

[RalphyBMW]

Finished refitting the O/S liner this evening, lots of ACF50 on the bolts so hopefully they won't seize up. Bonded the reinforcement plate on the N/S, need to insert a new threaded insert for the heat shield and then the N/S liner can be refitted. After that I plan to sort the hub carrier bolts on the O/S, top up the gearbox oil (only filled with 2 quarts / 1,900ml), and possibly have a go at a Matt black wrap on the screen surround. The wrap might have to wait, hope to get the VX sorted quickly to free up some space to swap the springs and dampers on the Focus; don't like having more than one car off the road at a time and am quite excited about seeing how new Eibach springs and OE dampers feel compared to the 187k kit on the car at present. New rear shocks made quite a difference a few weeks ago, high hopes for the front end and springs.

Edited by RalphyBMW, 22 January 2013 - 10:19 PM.

[RalphyBMW]

Mindful of the fact that the car will be going back to Chris Foulds for the MoT and service in late Feb / early March, and that I wanted the geo checking with new/better front tyres, I figured I should get the original wheels refurbished so I could refit the original front tyres. To recap, bought the car with half decent tyres but scabby wheels. Bought another set of better wheels with fairly old tyres. Immediately fitted the replacement fronts as the replacement tyres were ok, but didn't fit the rears as the replacements were a bit thin. Swapped over the rears last night, they have about 2.5mm so are OK, but want replacing sooner rather than later. I had already split the original front wheels & tyres to have them refurbished but hadn't got around to it. So, got the rear wheels and tyres split this morning, dropped them off to be refurbished. I am going for a "light graphite" finish. Had the same on my Clio and really liked it. Hope to pick them up on Saturday, then I will need to split the centres and paint them to match. Next questions will be do I fit one of the TPMS systems that I removed from the Clio, and do I replace my circa 3.5mm rears or try and get a bit more life out of them? Plenty of life in the front RE040's, so if I replace I will probably stick with BZ spec RE040's for now.

[RalphyBMW]

Cheers, mine hasn't been out for quite a while, looking forward to taking it for a blast when the snow has gone and I have it put back together.

You feeling brave enough for a ride yet?

Just let me know when your out and about

I'll pm you my number

Alastair - would be keen to meet up once this weather is done, and mine is back together.

Edited by RalphyBMW, 23 January 2013 - 11:18 AM.

[Mangham54]

Cheers, mine hasn't been out for quite a while, looking forward to taking it for a blast when the snow has gone and I have it put back together.

You feeling brave enough for a ride yet?

I suspect that is aimed in my direction... The truth of the answer - No. The cravings are worse than when I was giving up smoking. Though, of all the things, the Puma has given me a bit of fun back to my commutes (bit like a nicorette patch).

I do however need to get out at somepoint with you and sample the black beauty.

[RalphyBMW]

Ha, entirely aimed at you, I somehow completely cocked up the quote!

[RalphyBMW]

OK, quite a successful day, hopefully...

Received a pair of new rear RE040's on Friday, collected freshly powder coated wheels on Saturday morning, got the new rears fitted along with the fronts that came with the car, did have some wear on the inside edges but plenty of life left in them and much better than those currently on the car which came with some used wheels.

Decided to go for anthracite wheels, just for a change, and I think they look rather good. What is less fun is trying to put new adhesive on the back of the Griffins. A friend with a bodyshop let my look through his collection of paint chips, there are thousands! I limited myself to GM colours and the wheels look very similar to Dark Tarnished Silver, same generous chap said that if I drop the centres off with him, he will paint them for me. In the meantime the new wheels are fitted with the silver centres, which isn't quite the look I was going for!

Before swapping over the wheels I refitted the n/s/r liner, what was awkward, one of the rivnut things was slipping, so it had to come out again, etc. also did the o/s/f HCB's, just waiting for an extra bolt to do the o/s/r.

I think the only other thing was to add another 350ml of gearbox oil.

Just need to check / adjust the tyres pressures and everything will be dandy.

And some fairly rubbish pics;







Excuse the quality of the pics, and the dirty car. Lovely job and quick turn around on the wheels by LSN Coatings in Castleford; £130 for the four.

[Mangham54]

I once had almost identical wheels Looks good... But given your history with the Puma (and other cars) this will end up being one, if not the, best VXTs out there. Kenneth has some competition, though his is Blue with Biscuit. Sorry.

[RalphyBMW]

Cheers! I nearly bought a black w/biscuit, may have been more distinctive! Saw your pics after I had made the decision, yours really confirmed it for me. I assume your centres had been done properly? Seems to be a bit of a tread for just painting the whole thing. Looking forward to wrapping the screen soon, should help move away from the black/silver exterior theme.

[Thealastair34]

Nice, Will you be doing the filler cap? Want mine doing but need to use the car daily really

[RalphyBMW]

Cheers! Not sure about the filler cap, but you are right, it will need to be done! Not sure how the silver face detaches from the cover?

[MrSimba]

Cheers!

Not sure about the filler cap, but you are right, it will need to be done! Not sure how the silver face detaches from the cover?

With a very fine Phillips screwdriver & a little care!

Then it's an easy job to colour match both the surround & fuel cap

[RalphyBMW]

Cool, might keep my eyes out for a spare cap and surround.