248 replies to this topic

[G-Bob]

This was the car that was going to be saving you money, yeah?

apart from the tyres which are the essential parts to spend money on, everything else has cost me under £300.
Most of that has been from christmas & birthday money. I got the things paid off that I needed paid off and now I have a few pennies (literally) to play with.

[G-Bob]

This was the car that was going to be saving you money, yeah?

p.s. Quit your jibber jabber and get on with organising that Kames day!

[Claws]

This was the car that was going to be saving you money, yeah?

p.s. Quit your jibber jabber and get on with organising that Kames day!

[G-Bob]

New stereo fitted..... I now have a usb port and bluetooth calling in the super-shed!

[G-Bob]

The parts are arriving thick and fast.

Managed to get this mongoose system for a bargain of £180.



Mrs G-bob thinks it's chavy as hell. What d'yah think? Can of beans placed beside it for comparison:

[p13]

Steering wheel is on the wrong side.

[Claws]

That should do the job!

I need to get something sorted for my electric VX!

[G-Bob]

So i decided since I was off today and I had a spare afternoon I should do some work on the shed.

The front brakes were the first to be tackled.
Bit of a ball ache getting a lot of the bolts off and the disc itself was pretty stuck. That's when I found that the mazda discs have a threaded hole through the disc. I thought it was for a retaining screw that was missing, but then it all became clear.
Bolt through the hole and screw breaks the seal and the disc pops off. .

A lot easier once I found out that one.

So I put on the new disc and try to fit the caliper. hmmmmm, wont fit.
I hold the old disc up to the new one and guess what? The new ones are bigger. Feck!

Found out that even though I put in my registration on the eurocarparts site, there were two different sizes.
Popped along and got the discs swapped over and by that point it was getting dark and cold. Typical!

So I managed to fit the discs, after wrestling with the rear pads. For some reason on both sides, the inner pads were really stiff and took a hammer to seat them right. The outer ones just popped in as they should.

So now I have some nice shiny new front discs fitted.

Sorry about the sh*t pic, but it was dark and the flash on my phone camera is sh*t.

Took it out and although it was very spongy to start with the pedal was starting to stiffen up. Managed to lock the fronts at 30mph, so can't be too bad. Will do the rears and the fluid and some point soon.

[Lou_m]

Don't want to be fitting pads with a hammer mate.... You need to clean up the caliper slides and possibly use a file to remove any excess paint from the pads.

[ghand]

So i decided since I was off today and I had a spare afternoon I should do some work on the shed.

The front brakes were the first to be tackled.
Bit of a ball ache getting a lot of the bolts off and the disc itself was pretty stuck. That's when I found that the mazda discs have a threaded hole through the disc. I thought it was for a retaining screw that was missing, but then it all became clear.
Bolt through the hole and screw breaks the seal and the disc pops off. .

A lot easier once I found out that one.

So I put on the new disc and try to fit the caliper. hmmmmm, wont fit.
I hold the old disc up to the new one and guess what? The new ones are bigger. Feck!

Found out that even though I put in my registration on the eurocarparts site, there were two different sizes.
Popped along and got the discs swapped over and by that point it was getting dark and cold. Typical!

So I managed to fit the discs, after wrestling with the rear pads. For some reason on both sides, the inner pads were really stiff and took a hammer to seat them right. The outer ones just popped in as they should.

So now I have some nice shiny new front discs fitted.

Sorry about the sh*t pic, but it was dark and the flash on my phone camera is sh*t.

Took it out and although it was very spongy to start with the pedal was starting to stiffen up. Managed to lock the fronts at 30mph, so can't be too bad. Will do the rears and the fluid and some point soon.

Nice one Bob

Oh and yes don't forget the fluid if its original it maybe slightly damp and need doing in the next few years

Sounds like it will be in tip top shape for the hoon

[G-Bob]

So while I was away in Barcelona, my neighbour was doing a few jobs on the car.
The front brakes were sticking a little after I replaced them which is probably as Lou_m said due to the pad not running freely, so he sorted them out for me. Miles better on the pedal feel. He had a look at the bleed nipples on the calipers and rightly said "there's no fecking way I'm touching them if I don't have to". He's suggested I go to kwik fit and get them to check the brake fluid, and if it's fine, just leave it just now.

The alternator belts have been changed (turned out I needed a 2nd one) and then finally he fitted my exhaust:



So much for the "Fits the standard system" claims as the pipework is completely different sizes. . So he made a little stepper in sizes to get it to fit, but he wants to get something produced and it properly. In the meantime it's completely solid and is not leaking anywhere so I can start to get it run in a little.

The sound (surprisingly looking at the tailpipe) isn't that loud and is comparable (volume wise) to the standard system with a blowing tailpipe. The system sounds nice and deep, but also does not drone at speed

Need to rag it a little bit to blow the stuffing out of it and get it a little louder in the meantime.

Next on the list is the rear brakes, the droplinks and onto the suspension.

[ghand]

So Bob how much over the price of the VX is the project so far

[G-Bob]

probably about £500 over the purchase price to get all the stuff, so not spent that much really. Would have been spending money on the VX anyway, so it doesn't count.

[nicollow]

probably about £500 over the purchase price to get all the stuff, so not spent that much really. Would have been spending money on the VX anyway, so it doesn't count. :P/>

Man maths rides again. Lookin good fella

[ChrisS1]

So Bob how much over the price of the VX is the project so far

[G-Bob]

So started getting everything stripped off for the suspension swap.

Found out one of the reasons that the car is squirming from the rear. One broken spring!



Started with the rear, so here's what was removed:


The rear disks were incredibly scored and rusted to hell, the drop links were knackered and the rear anti-roll bar was a flimsy little pip cleaner.

More updates tomorrow.

[G-Bob]

Got some new stickers delivered!

[G-Bob]

So finally got my roof swapped over and now I have a black roof on that doesn't leak or split every time it's moved.



Also managed to get one of my stickers on.

[Lou_m]

It's not like you'll need a roof for the hoon! Looks better though thumbsup/>

[G-Bob]

It's not like you'll need a roof for the hoon! Looks better though

Mrs G-Bob likes the black roof better. She is trying to make me get rid of the Wooden steering wheel but that's staying!