PollyMobiles Rebuild

[pollyp]

washed & filled her up

moved the v-band on the 2.25" stainless exhaust closer to the backbox overhead the axle for easier removal. will finish off the plumbing alignment this weekend before I film both exhausts on sunday.

 

[Twincam-Alex]

after cutting a section out of the bandsaw guide roller mount to relocate the roller bearing, it'll need reinforcing with some plate.
unfortunately I discovered it's made of cast Alu, sooo I had to dust off the TIG welder & practice my stevie wonder alloy welds
once again it's frustrating to weld such material but eventually I got it joined

View attachment 86197

now you can see all 3 rollers are placed closer together to help secure/guide the saw blade without damaging it.
also lathed the 17mm top nuts to clear the bearing nearby.

View attachment 86198

View attachment 86199

working as intended now

View attachment 86200

We have the Clark band saw.
The 2 large wheels the belt goes round are the ones that wear and the belt keeps coming off.

 

[pollyp]

removed the janspeed exhaust to fit the powerflow exhaust

the rubber bobbin supporting the downpipe is slightly skewed after afew yrs of use, easy enough to replace

welded up the mid-pipe

and reassembled the system

one of the annoying issues with these v-bands is that the alignment has to be absolutely perfect otherwise it just leaks badly.
it took me all day & 2 attempts to cut & realign these flanges
I just hope tomorrow it doesn't leak.

 

[pollyp]

thankfully the flanges were sealed & I could go capture a few late clips of both exhausts



as you can hear, both systems generally sound very similar except during very low rpm/high load blips the Janspeed has a more throaty/turbulent tone compare to the smooth muffled note of the straight-tip Powerflow.
I'm guessing the 3" funnel tip on the Janspeed is acting like a trumpet, I quite like it

 

[pollyp]

curious to see if exhaust tips will alter the sound of the powerflow, it's time to swap back to the original huge 4" tip

need to make a smooth adapter from the 2.25" pipe to the 3" inner bore of the tip

printed this temporary adapter sleeve so I can quickly film & swap between the staight-tip and 4" tip before it
melts

machined the end flatter

shines up nicely with some emery cloth

 

[pollyp]

recently brought a fresh set of falken ze310 for £200

manufactured between 2022/11/14 - 2022/11/20

before getting these tyres replaced and with over 3mm of thread still at the front, it's a good time for a cheeky little fun burnout



this clip really shows the handbrake mech needs overhauling cos it barely locks the rear wheels

wiped all dirt off the wheels so the new wheel weights can stick on properly

took the wheels down to TES tyres in middlesbrough to swap these tyres
(I chose them because they previously refurbed these alloys and have the proper wheel machines which don't damage the rims, unlike kwikfit or national tyres or the cheap garages )

costs £80 and only took 20mins

 

[pollyp]

having a closer look at the wheels I'm slightly annoyed that only 2 tyres have their yellow dots (lightest part of the tyres) aligned to the valve stems while the other 2 are wayy off

you can see how the lower two (with yellow dots aligned to the valves) only needed a tiny little lead balance,
whilst the upper two (with yellow dots aligned opposite the valves) need a huge chunk of lead to balance the offset

hmm, sticking some lead on top of old loose foam tape ain't gonna stay there

I marked the spot & removed the lead blocks to clean off the old foam

so the new foam tape will stick better to the wheel

fresh wheels fitted & swapped to the powerflow exhaust for some testing

 

[pollyp]

with 4 fresh thick rubber, the ride feels a lot more quiet & cusioned, steering response near the center is obviously a little mushy.
soo nice to have the sticky cornering grip back to improve confidence.

here's a clip comparing her straight tip vs 4" bell-mouth tip



apart from the shiny looks, the larger smooth funnel mouth seems to only reduce the noise of rushing air at low rpm blipping making it slightly quieter but elsewhere above idle it sounds the same.

 

[pollyp]

while she's clean and sunny, may as well take a photo near a landmark

tonight was another chilly car meet

 

[pollyp]

so recently I noticed the battery has been draining quickly overnight.
if I unplug the battery, it maintains the voltage over few days so the problem ain't the battery
pulling out every single fuse didn't affect the +10ma draw until I pulled the IGN fuse that goes from fusebox direct to the IGN switch. I even unplugged the IGN switch and it still drew 10ma?

and then I realised the only other possible cause is the aftermarket Hawks alarm I wired up to the IGN wire. I unplugged the alarm loom and yup that stopped the draining overnight

so lets measure the parasitic draw of the alarm system, with some interesting results...

#Alarm ON, ultrasonic controller ON, sensors ON:
Disarmed = 20.4mA
Armed = 22mA

#Alarm ON, ultrasonic controller ON, sensors unplugged:
Disarmed = 18.9mA
Armed = 20.5mA

#Alarm ON, ultrasonic controller & sensors unplugged:
Disarmed = 14.3mA
Disarmed & manually Lock doors = 13.9mA
Armed = 15.8mA

#Alarm unplugged:
It only draws a tiny 4mA

#Unplug stereo headunit (memory):
Dropped it all down to only 2.9mA

So the alarm with all it's sensors armed & constantly running draws upto 6x as much current as factory, no wonder it shortened all my batteries throughout the yrs.

I only use the alarm purely as a remote central locking tbh so the solution is to remove the draining ultrasonic sensors and manually lock the doors when home

 

[pollyp]

Got another tracker for the car (since the old one failed last yr)

Connected it up, check power drain and jeeesus it sucks a ton of juice!

• The micra loom alone idles at 4mA (probably the headunit memory)
• Alarm module consumes 9.9mA
• GPS tracker without SIM card consumes 26.1mA
• GPS tracker idles at 46.1mA
• GPS tracker consumes 96mA when transmitting GSM txts
• Triggering the relay immobiliser with the tracker consumes a further 100mA!

So overall this Hawks alarm with the Xfinder GPS tracker/GSM messenger is really terrible at draining the cars battery at a rate of 60mA - 162mA

With this Numax S075 battery rated at 60aH a quick calc estimates it's take:
5 days to drain the battery from 12.6v - 11.0v with the alarm & tracker sat idling.
2 days to drain the battery from 12.6v - 11.0v with alarm & GPS tracker armed & immobiliser engaged

In contrast, by unplugging the alarm & tracker, the battery would take over 79 days to drain! (2.6 months)

So in summary if kassandra is gonna be sat for a few days, I'll just unplug the battery

 

[SuperUno]

Get one of these, it saved the battery in our Golf

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Twincam-Alex]

Get one of these, it saved the battery in our Golf

Pardon our interruption...

I use one of these on my old Morris.
You can have a fuse link so you don't lose radio codes.
Though if you try so start without tightening the screw you blow the fuse anyway!!

 

[pollyp]

I don't need a bulky isolator switch hanging off the battery terminal behind the passengers leg tbh cos it's easy enough for me to simply unscrew the ground terminal in 5sec

I believe the answer is to fit a hidden switch between the IGN wire and the alarm/tracker so that once parked at home, I could cut them off to reduce consumption but maintain power to the rest of the car

 

[pollyp]

2023-03-12 Reinstall 4" big Powerflow Tip

Time to reinstall her original massive exhaust tip
I machined this extra bit of funnel to help provide a smoother transition between the 2.25" inner pipe and the 3" inner bore of the 4" tip

tacked into place

chopped the straight-tip off & grinded it flat

smooth transitions

wrapped some cloth around the polished tip to prevent spatter ruining it

shiny tip welded on

ooh that looks naughty

 

[pollyp]

Renewed the insurance with adrian flux for £419, will need some updated pics for the application.

Went for a brief datalog test drive & photos while it's sunny

Unplugging the battery helps maintain voltage over few days but you can see during cold cranking the ECU only see's 12v and struggles to fire up. maybe check for a poor ground too.

Recently I noticed she's not feeling as nippy at the top end during WOT
Comparing with last years log, I noticed the TPS only opens to 3.85v (which may explain the reduced peak output) whereas last yr it reaches 4.07 and if you manually fully open the throttle it should read 4.12v

So after checking & readjusting the cable tension, TPS now reads 0.46 - 4.12v

I'm going on roadtrip tomorrow so hopefully she'll feel nippy after this simple tweak

 

[Danknight72]

saw you today at handforth dean tesco petrol station , thought i recognised the car off here , heres mine , i was in a white mini cooper

 

[Micra Paul]

saw you today at handforth dean tesco petrol station , thought i recognised the car off here , heres mine , i was in a white mini cooper

What a day for a Micra daydream

What a day for a sweet day dreaming Micra boy

I dreamed a dream in time gone by

When Mini Coopers ruled the sky

I dreamed that my K11 Micra

Was a Mini Cooper that would never die?

 

[pollyp]

saw you today at handforth dean tesco petrol station , thought i recognised the car off here , heres mine , i was in a white mini cooper

hiya, is that the one in manchester? I was on my roadtrip, filling up at tesco on thurs morning before trekking through a wet wales

 

[pollyp]

2023-03-15 UK Roadtrip

Going in holiday driving around the UK with mom.
Started off from darlington for fuel

passing through the lake district at Kendal for some food

it was a wet day ending at manchester premier inn

room was alright, had a lovely hot shower

was surprised by the nice view outside of the mclarens & rolls royce

next morning filled up at tesco in manchester. hmm noticed the exhaust is sitting rather high resting against the bumper and a bit of surface rust on the stainless tip? I guess it's from when I sanded it smooth using emery cloth that was previously contaminated with mild steel

entering a damp Wales

was a long drive through a drizzly wales with lots of road works and a slight satnav detour went through a filthy farm B-road throwing muck up the sides of kassandra
stayed over at northampton

next morning was a dry day. after driving 1.5hrs up the M1 halfway home, mom thought she left her phone behind in the hotel cos we can't find it
soo we raced back down to the hotel, asked receptionist to check the room, I rang and still couldn't hear/find it in our room
one last time, I rang and rechecked the car only to hear a faint ringtone, it turned out to be right a the very bottom of her suitcase in the boot
damnit drove all the way back for nothing lol.
time for some food at the nearby morrisons I suppose

Wiped the dirt off the car, filled her up and took her steady going home through the friday evening rush hour traffic jams.
originally would've got home by 4 but after this detour we didn't get home till 10pm, by poor ass & hip was in agony

one good thing I found out was that driving the car at a steady 60mph non-stop she did 55mpg and at a spirited 70mph she does 42mpg

 

[pollyp]

so the exhaust tip is resting against the bumper

cos the rear rubber bobbin has come apart.
I believe this was caused when I hit a few hard pot holes during the trip, which makes the mid-pipe bend and tilt the back box upwards.
the bobbins don't like tension so it peeled apart

I'll have to readjust the mounting & plumbing of this powerflow exhaust soon

swapped over to the janspeed system

 

[pollyp]

2023-03-25 Re-balance Wheels

When the new tyres were fitted by TES tyres recently, the weights were distributed like this and all 4 wheels would shake the steering while cruising

so I removed the old weights, cleaned the wheels and took it down to the local kwikfit to rebalance to balance em for £30
This time there's only a fraction of shake at 60mph but it's soo much smoother

replaced all the rusty caliper bleed screws

moved the subwoofer red ground lead to the chassis beam so the battery -ve lead has less clutter whenever I disconnect it

 

[pollyp]

while it was sunny & dry, I went for a datalog drive to compare how it runs with the TPS now opening fully and with the janspeed exhaust & decat



with more throttle opening & TPS reading, the MAF obviously measured more flow and thus injector duty/pulse went up slightly and accelerated better.
0-60 on the fresh tyres with 3/4 fuel & subwoofer in the rear, she did in 9.5s with a poor start. I'll try again after removing the heavy sub & tools.

while the TPS reads higher, I noticed on older NA datalogs (with same silencer but had 421 headers and a weak alternator wiring) the MAF reads upto 4.35v and injected more fuel duty, whereas the current setup only maxes at 4.07v
maybe the MAF needs cleaning or changing or that the old 421 header had better flow/scavenging overall vs stock manifold I opened up to 2.25"?

 

[pollyp]

brought some fresh gear oil to change

spare v-band clamp to replace one of the old rusty ones

the pipe on the 2.25" stainless silencer needed altering to make the 4" tip fit so I chopped the pipe off the silencer which was tricky to access with bulky grinder.
chopped the hangers off, noticed the previous patched spot has rusted through (those stainless rulers I used clearly wasn't stainless )

with over 12yrs of botching/welding and the 2.5" hole not matching the 2.25" pipework, I'm starting to think maybe I should just replace this silencer with a new 2.25" stainless box?

 

[pollyp]

I removed the heavy subwoofer to inspect the rusty boot & help improve acceleration

cleaned the MAF with brake cleaner & went for another datalog



the old MAF now reads the full 4.35v at redline and the acceleration is a fraction better with reduced weight & new tyres but roads were slightly damp & cold

next I fitted the spare TB with the mesh removed but the new reading is so much higher & inconsistant (due to missing mesh) that the AFR constantly runs too rich during low load.

reason being is that the old MAF has been slowly giving weaker signals for yrs that I gradually richened up the fuel map to compensate but would explain why I was previously unable to run any of the original or the Janspeed 421 map cos the MAF is worn out.

with the spare TB I was able to run the factory map (but leans out under load due to better breathing)
and could run the Janspeed map (but Nistune kept getting TPS max loading limit warnings)
needs more tinkering to make it work. for now I just keep using the old MAF to keep the AFR stable.

 

[pollyp]

it was a really nice sunday so I cleaned up and met with a local m8 for a few snapshots in boro

 

[pollyp]

the rear wheel spigots were too short & kept fallen out so I brought a billet of Alu to machine a new pair taking over 6hrs

wheel vibration is much improved at high speed

 

[pollyp]

a m8 with a black Mercedes in the garage needed some help replacing the rusty brake lines. it passed MOT but just mentioned brake lines & rusty floor as advisories.

nicely convenient on the ramp

not familiar with mercs, it's rather crusty underneath in few places. I thought these three rusty lines were the rear brake lines & one to oil the diff bearing

so I spent the 3hrs carefully recreating the pipes with 3/16 lines, cut off the old lines, noticed it was a thicker 1/4" pipe but that's when I noticed, ermm it's completely empty dry inside, one of them even has a visible rust hole in it?

I would've expected some residual fluid to drip if it was working?
and that's when he mentioned it might be the cars old hydraulic suspension oil line, which is now obsolete/deleted since it was converted to regular coilover suspension and explains why it's a bigger pipe with no fluid inside.

oh ffs what a silly mistake wasted my time lol

looked at the lines on other side and yup there's the fuel & brakes lines

 

[pollyp]

a m8 with a zafira C had a squeaking front left coilover recently fitted but the top mount nut was awquid to access & needed an odd 21/22mm offset spanner.
rather than buy two separate spanners for £20 I simply brought these £3 B&Q sockets to fabricate a custom spanner

cut & machined them down to 10mm deep

welded on a steel flat bar at 45deg

bent it flat

and welded up

 

[pollyp]

changed the filthy old 80w90 gear oil since last yr

whilst underneath I noticed the stainless downpipe has a few pin hole cracks along the welds

dunno why it's rusting but I suspect either the stainless MIG wire I used was fake?
or the exhaust / welding heat made it ferrous?
or perhaps this bright shiny pipe is actually fake & just mild steel with a coating? (which the welding process had burnt away)

the rust spread from the weld & down the stainless pipe till it's paper thin and the huge engine vibrations just crack it open

tried welding over it but it was simply corroded too thin and blew holes

I still had this 2.25" downpipe bend from my old turbo exhaust of the same size.
rather than try chop a small section out and patch it with the old pipe, I decided to simply replace the whole rotten pipe bend with the old turbo bend

welded up & patched over the O2 sensor hole

little quieter now

 

[pollyp]

since welding this downpipe, something is buzzing metal-on-metal under light acceleration at a very specific 2.8k rpm,
I'll need to check underneath if the downpipe it rubbing against something

but for the past 1yr ever since I ducted the cold air intake over to the front wing panel I've had this annoying buzz coming from the front left corner I wasn't able to pin point. I even tried insulating the wing panel with foam/rubber with no change.

but tonight I held revs at 3k where it began to buzz and found the noise was caused by the top corner of the front wing panel vibrating closely against the A-pillar, especially when the ducted intake induction noise resonanted against the panel making it vibrate even more, therefore buzz at 3k rpm.

briefly jammed some tissue into the gap and it doesn't buzz under load, hurreyy

 

[pollyp]

after a closer look, the rattle from the A-pillar for the past yr turned out to be this loose screw holding the top of the front wing to the a-pillar

and the reason it rattles after I recently welded the downpipe is cos the pipe sits slightly higher & closer to the center-beam so during load, the engine tilts back pulling the angled downpipe forward and fouling the center-beam.
this is an easy fix with a grinder

 

[pollyp]

quickly grinded more of the center beam to clear the down pipe

went for a drive and omg wow, she finally drives quietly and doesn't scream or buzz at me at 3k rpm during WOT.
she just accelerates uninterrupted with some nice induction noise, it makes the driving experience quite joyous

 

[pollyp]

2023-04-16 Weld Mercedes 190

a local m8 needed some rust holes patching up behind his old mercedes 190 rear bumper

removing the rear bumper was easy rnough

wirebrushed & revealing the rotten screw holes

chopped some plates out of a spare body panel

tacked into place

welded up. just needs the screw holes marked & drilled to reinstall the bumper

also welded up the bashed boot floor

 

[pollyp]

2023-04-16

with Japfest silverstone coming up, I tried to paint the spare front grill to replace the cracked one

didn't go well, with few spots reacting & shrivelling. after few fails I gave up & left it

the top of the windscreen also leaks during heavy rain so as a temporary fix I sealed it over with more duck tape

 

[pollyp]

2023-04-20 Japfest Prep

the engine bay was filthy from the daily wet muddy commuting

gave it a good jet wash

now it's more presentable for the show

printed a new air filter mounting duct to correct the angle and make the black silicone hose fit better

removed the wheels to begin polishing the stains off it

few minutes of buffing compound with a sore finger to remove all that horrible iron oxide film

wheels are shining with painted tyres

fitted the neater wheel nuts

washed & all ready for the show

 

[pollyp]

2023-04-23 Japfest Silverstone

excited with little sleep, I began driving from 3am down to meet with Joshua at Ferrybridge services at 5am to convoy down to silverstone for 7am

queuing to the show, spotted daisy

we arrived at the micramafia stand and thankfully the rain has stopped

removed the wheels to clean all that wet filth off the white alloys, thanks to joshua for lending the trolley jack

cleaned & ready
just as I finished, I had a txt from good old micra JAE friend Niki who came to the show in her civic and wanted to hang out with me

was mostly a lovely sunny day to spot so much nice cars

andrew brought along this nice cabriolet

spotted Phil, the v6 swapped mx5 from CarThrottle, and then me & niki spotted Alex from the show walking by
we were starstruck and said Hi

everyone packed up to go home as the rain clouds head over

it's been a fabulous show and very lucky the weather held off

 

[pollyp]

2023-04-30 Unity NY500 Show

went to the Unity show at NY500 Malton with my local car club. weather stayed ok

nice Alpine I never seen before

A rare Opel Monza GSE

brought this for kasandra

 

[pollyp]

the auxilary belt tensioner bearing is slightly worn & gritty so I replaced the bearing

this engine grounding lead needed fixing

living in the north east I pass this OK Diner every day for 20yrs and decided to stop by for the first time

soo many menu choices, I had the Royale burger and it was tasty & filling

 

[pollyp]

2023-05-01 Replace Tie-Rod Ends

Noticed the steering felt slightly sloppy & the odd rattle going over bumps and the tyres are dragging too much when coasting, so I tried realigning it but discovered the front left tie-rod was very worn loose.

replaced the tie-rod ends but the locknuts were all seized to the tie-rod (holding onto the tie-rod with the 13mm spanner or even a mole-grip just kept spinning) so I was unable to adjust the alignment yet

removed the rods to remove the locknuts on a vice

welded a nut onto the rods so next time the locknuts are seized, I can hold the rod better

realigned the wheels to be perfectly straight using the old string method, which is more consistantly accurate than my DIY laser method

with fresh tie-rods & straighter wheels the steering felt much sharper, doesn't drift as much and doesn't drag as much when coasting.

 

[pollyp]

on the way home from work I spotted this pretty street for a quick photo, gives her a little JDM feel

replaced the rusty reg screws with stainless screws

 

[pollyp]

swapping over to a spare TB cos the old MAF has been giving a weaker signal which makes it lean out sometimes.
since I converted to a vertical throttle cable, I'll have to mod the pulley on the spare body

welded the keyed-end at a different angle

now it's suitable for a vertical cable

the MAF & TPS on the spare TB is giving a better range of signals

 

[pollyp]

2023-05-13

cleaning the car ready for north east autoshow next day

checking the brake wear, looks ok, the middle groove usually clogged with brake dust

wear is consistant, the inner pads close to the piston are wearing out faster, maybe inherent to the caliper design cos the piston pushes the inner pad to contact the disc first for a millisec before sliding the whole caliper and contacting the outer pads

clean & ready for the show

 

[pollyp]

2023-05-14 North East Autoshow

A good day out at darlington stadium for the autoshow, the weather was luckily good

 

[pollyp]

2023-05-15 Relocate Throttle Body

Been thinking this sharp 90deg bend right above the TB might be making the lazy incoming air sway over to outer side of the bend where the MAF sensor is, especially during high load, and affecting MAF accuracy

So I decided it might be better to reorientate the TB in-line to the straight intake pipe and connect to the manifold with a gentle pipe bend to reduce pressure loss

first to make some adapter flanges, I machined some 47-55mm holes for the pipe bend in a 10mm plate

welded the large radius bend to the flanges, aiming the TB straight towards the air filter

by orientating the TB this way, the IACV was fouling the fuel reg

found I could just turn it 90deg and use some washers to clamp it down

now it clears the regulator

turned the throttle pulley 180deg to pull from the bottom side

added the throttle cable support to the bend

rerouted the throttle cable

added an extra brace to the bend to help support the weight & vibration of the overhanging TB

rather than mod the pipe/flange to make room for the TB IACV port, it was much easier to simply cut a slot under the TB to allow the idle air to rejoin the main pipe

got a longer 70mm silicone hose

joining the TB to the air filter and completing the mod

painted the new bend

going for a test drive and the MAF reading / AFR seems slightly more stable & consistant through the rpm and the torque band feels much broader with less flat-spot at the high end

 

[pollyp]

printed this laminar flow mesh (found on most MAF sensors including the face lift bosch TB) to replace the dense steel mesh on the pre-face TB

 

[pollyp]

printed a more sturdy honeycomb mesh design

 

[pollyp]

recently the gear stick has been feeling rather stiff. tonight discovered the exhaust had cooked the roller bearing gear linkages till they're dry, rusty & seized
suppose the OEM heatshield was there for a reason

the bush insert was rather stuck. after hammering it out, saw it was rather rusty inside

can barely see the bearing cage has collapsed, deformed other one of the rollers making it wedge against the inner bush insert

as a brief fix till I order another bearing, removed the 2 loose rollers and nudged the broken cage away to free up the bearing. stick feels much smoother now

 

[pollyp]

got some fresh bearings for the gear stick

shifts gear much smoother now

the IACV had a louder hiss so I opened the TB gap more with a rounded corner which helped reduce the turbulant sound

 

[pollyp]

With an upcoming trackday in june it's time to swap from my road-set of brakes to the trackday-set

but woops
Found the passenger-side inner brake pad was bent & cracked

This was cos recently after servicing the brakes, the inner pad wasn't fully inserted onto the sliders.
Initially it felt really spongy, even after rebleeding the system but after a few hard stops it felt firmer again, but this was cos the piston had bent the pad till it touches the disc

Guess I'll need to reorder a new set of pads for road use