PollyMobiles Rebuild

[pollyp]

2024-05-27 Adjustable Gear Stick Ball Joint

Been noticing the gear stick tends to shake a lot whilst in 5th gear cos the ball joint was worn & too loose

I tried to print a tighter fitting insert but getting the tolerances right was a PITA and doesn't compensate for wear

So I redesigned a whole new 2-piece mount that can adjust how tight it fits around the ball joint

Printed & installed new mount

added rivnuts so the mount can be screwed on from the top rather than originally getting underneath

fitment is soo much better, precise & zero play.
gear shift is slightly more precise and doesn't shake around anymore

 

[pollyp]

passenger door is still rattling near the front @ 3k rpm

I tried covering the back of the door card with soft felt

but still buzzes. kinda stops if i push the handle, yet still buzz if I remove that handle?
it's like the inner door frame is resonating louder than any other door.

the only time it's quiet was with everything stripped off the door, soo frustrating

 

[Micra Paul]

passenger door is still rattling near the front @ 3k rpm

I tried covering the back of the door card with soft felt

View attachment 88334

View attachment 88335

View attachment 88336

but still buzzes. kinda stops if i push the handle, yet still buzz if I remove that handle?
it's like the inner door frame is resonating louder than any other door.

View attachment 88337

the only time it's quiet was with everything stripped off the door, soo frustrating

I took the view that my old clunkers were supposed to shake, rattle & roll & that was part of the charm of banger driving?

Perhaps it is easier to try ear plugs or muffs & more fun then it is to chase down every little noise in an old banger?

bilsom ear muffs at DuckDuckGo

 

[pollyp]

I took the view that my old clunkers were supposed to shake, rattle & roll & that was part of the charm of banger driving?

Perhaps it is easier to try ear plugs or muffs & more fun then it is to chase down every little noise in an old banger?

bilsom ear muffs at DuckDuckGo

I do wear noise cancelling ear buds to help on long journeys but this buzzing door noise is more intrusively annoying. the stiff nismo engine mounts certainly doesn't help with shaking everything to bits lol.

but later on the next post I finally discovered the cause

 

[pollyp]

2024-05-29 Weld Rigid Passenger Seat Support

The passenger seat back rest shakes bit more than the drivers seat cos the upper bracket ain't joined directly to the subframe like the drivers side.
So tday I removed the seat

& added the extra bracket to join the two support brackets, making the seat more rigid

sitting in it feels more secure now

ordered a new 2.25" universal 400cell sports cat for the new exhaust manifold layout I'm designing

It's the same 4" diameter as the secondary cat that's under the car

The 400 cell honeycomb density looks exactly the same as the secondary cat, except this honeycomb core is 95mm long

Whereas the secondary cat has a shorter 75mm long core.
The Micra primary cat has a 80mm long core.

So hopefully this thicker universal sports cat will help with emissions

 

[pollyp]

2024-05-29 Fixed Door Rattle pt3

Had a nice weekly car meet.
The passenger door was still buzzing annoyingly whilst driving over

I even asked a friend to drive the car at 3k rpm whilst I try to locate the hidden buzzing but no luck

But when looking further, I soon noticed the passenger door stopper had bit more loose play to it compared to the tighter drivers side?
I removed the door stoppers and behold! it finally stopped buzzing and was a quiet drive home

I believe the loose cap on the ends of both door stoppers are the culprit. tack welded them into place

reinstalled & that has FINALLY stopped the buzzing rattles
nice n quiet smooth

 

[Tomk11]

2024-05-27 Adjustable Gear Stick Ball Joint

Been noticing the gear stick tends to shake a lot whilst in 5th gear cos the ball joint was worn & too loose

View attachment 88323

View attachment 88324

View attachment 88325

I tried to print a tighter fitting insert but getting the tolerances right was a PITA and doesn't compensate for wear

View attachment 88326

So I redesigned a whole new 2-piece mount that can adjust how tight it fits around the ball joint

View attachment 88322

Printed & installed new mount

View attachment 88328

View attachment 88329

added rivnuts so the mount can be screwed on from the top rather than originally getting underneath

View attachment 88327

fitment is soo much better, precise & zero play.
gear shift is slightly more precise and doesn't shake around anymore

View attachment 88330

View attachment 88331

that's impressive

 

[pollyp]

that's impressive

thank you

 

[pollyp]

2024-05-31 Electric Window Motor Support Bracket

The heavy electric motor hanging outside the window mechanism can be seen shaking around, which could've contributed to the annoying vibrations

I designed a support brace to anchor the end of the motor onto the door frame

Printed

Installed and now the motor sits rigid and doesn't shake/vibrate at all now

 

[pollyp]

added some draft excluder tape under the instrument cowl to reduce vibration

brought another cordless grinder which was on sale

visiting Jack for a catch up

replaced the old gear stick cover which had a broken clip

old socket tool holder was broke so I designed a better one

 

[pollyp]

replaced the rusty steel rivnuts on the scuttle planel with aluminium rivnuts

and had a nice car meet down Catterick tonight

 

[John_D]

replaced the rusty steel rivnuts on the scuttle planel with aluminium rivnuts

View attachment 88375

View attachment 88376

and had a nice car meet down Catterick tonight

View attachment 88377

Why replace steel Rivnuts with aluminium ones in a steel panel, taking steel screws in an obviously wet area Paul?? You are just asking for galvanic corrosion to occur, far worst than the original surface rust, on the steel Rivnuts....

 

[pollyp]

Why replace steel Rivnuts with aluminium ones in a steel panel, taking steel screws in an obviously wet area Paul?? You are just asking for galvanic corrosion to occur, far worst than the original surface rust, on the steel Rivnuts....

Replaced them with Alu screws

 

[pollyp]

spherical bearing on the BC BR coilovers are slightly crusty, so gave em a little clean up

 

[pollyp]

swapped from a high mounted alternator to a regular low mounted alternator setup.
wirebrushed all the rust off

painted & fitted

the old belt tensioner with extended adjuster had cracked, making extra rattles but easy enough to reattach

Yorkshire modified show coming up so I polished the wheels

ready for the wet show tomorrow

 

[pollyp]

2024-06-15 Compact Alternator Mounting Bracket

I've been redesigning the turbo layout for the past few years and the standard alternator locations are causing some issues.

The current layout from my previous turbo setup is a high mounted alternator using the air-con mounting brackets

But this fouls the turbo inlet on the new design

The original low mounted alternator on the other hand pokes out too far

& can foul the boost pipe going into the intercooler

I needed to reposition the alternator low down & very close to the block to give enough room for all the plumbing and avoid touching the electrical terminals too

Lined up the alternator & brackets to the crank pulley

Main bracket tacked up

Welded up

Alternator now rests against the block

To tension the belt, I first tried using the high mounted tensioner

But that was at the wrong angle & couldn't apply any tension

So I redesigned a vertical tensioner bracket integrated into the new mount

Tacked the new piece on. It's a tight fit cos it has to clear the engine mount next to it.

New alternator mount & tensioner completed.
The adjustment screw can be accessed easily from both ends.

Installed the new bracket & now the belt can be tensioned with the alternator sat closer in

 

[pollyp]

2024-06-16 Yorkshire Modified Show

Left house from 6am

We gathered near Thirsk for 6:30
as I reverse parked, nathan following behind almost went into me

It was a relatively quiet drive to the venue till we queued at the entrance

it's been a wet few days so the grass entrance was ridiculously muddy

parked up & cleaned off the muck

We were dreading the incoming forcasted downpour but fortunately for most of the morning it's been really sunny & warm for everyone to enjoy the show

During the show I quickly swapped over to the new alternator mount

it clears the engine mount fine and run ok with no noise

After lunchtime the forcasted rain comes over and briefly soaks everything

It soon passed and later we all took a group photo by the pond

It was a lovely group drive home in the sun.
Rinsed the mud off before parking it home

 

[pollyp]

Ordered some fresh bearings for the belt tensioners

Removed the tensioners. The belts are abit tired & need replacing too

Auxilary belt has a groove worn from the tensioner wheel

Pressed the old bearing out

pressed the new ones on

 

[pollyp]

The cog on the lathe motor has rattled loose again

I redesigned it to use a solid metal peg

printed the cog and made a little metal peg

fits more securely now

 

[pollyp]

2024-06-20 Machining Gripper LSD Cover Plate

With the old LSD modelled & machining process planned, it's time to go ahead and make the new cover

The little mini lathe can only make 0.1mm cuts at a time (or else it'll keep chattering)
so it took a looong time and lots of swarf to machine away 19mm x 85mm of steel

drilled & bored the center hole

the next task is to flip it over and machine the other side before I drill the screw holes last

 

[pollyp]

flipped the piece over & carefully machined the opposite face as precise as possible

to accurately drill the screw holes, I'll use the old cover plate as a template.
position it concentric against the machined piece using dial gauge to center it

tack weld into place to secure it

using my power drill adapter to make each hole and locking the lathe chuck into each angle using this square wedge tool I made underneath

 

[pollyp]

finished drilling all 12 holes

removed the old cover, drilled the flat countersunk holes for the screw heads using my modified step drill

after days of machining I finally have a new & stronger cover plate for my diff

proud of how good it turned out and how precise it fits

I can't wait to reinstall it soon while also fixing the rattling new clutch disc

 

[pollyp]

replaced the auxilary belt which was very worn

the new alternator mounting also required a shorter belt within the min/max range of 6pk660-6pk715
so I ordered a 6pk673 belt

and now both belts are fresh & quiet

 

[pollyp]

2024-06-27 LED Light Wand for Night Painting

I was inspired one day to make this long LED light wand powered by a 12v battery so that when I do light painting around the car I get more light coverage

it was midnight, dark & quiet which was great time to wonder out to a dark spot to play around with the lighting and the results are awesome

the next version would be to make an RGB light wand

 

[pollyp]

2024-06-27 LSD Bearing Separater

To remove the old bearing off the LSD I needed a bearing separater.
Most of them cost over £30-100 but I managed to find a local screwfix that sells it for just £19

the tool wasnt big enough to reach around the back side of the bearing so I carefully cut the bearing cage off to expose the inner race

the 1st attempt was layout like this but the clamping & pulling forces was simply bending & buckling the clamshell upwards

then I tried inverting the tool so the clamping force counteracts the pulling force and that worked

inner race removed

the bearings were fitted by some dodgy gearbox shop back in 2011 and there are marks on the spindle indicating the old bearing may have initially been pressed in wonky.
looking at the speedo gear retainer plate, notice the 2 locating tabs that slot loosely onto the two locating notches on the LSD body where it looks like it wasn't kept in place and was squashed by the bearing during install.

the ham fisted person who badly fitted my bearings must've yanked the hydraulic press soo hard to deform those two retaining tabs, I suspect this neglect might have started a tiny crack on the cover plate (around those 2 weak drilled holes near the spindle) and the crack grew through the 8yrs of daily/track use until it fell apart in 2019

this is the speedo ring gear

 

[pollyp]

2024-06-28 DIY Hydraulic Press

Rather than spend another fortune buying a big expensive press to install the new bearings, I designed my own hydraulic press utilizing a small spare 2ton bottle jack I had in storage and a thick steel tubing I got from Jack sheen

I'd install the bearings with the LSD split apart so I don't risk cracking the cover plate again.
the bearing would be fitted like this

for the shorter/smaller cover plate, the tip of the bottle jack shaft can be fully extended allowing the press to reach down

I cut the 40x40mm tubes into lengths

welded up the frame, ensuring it's square & straight

welded the sliding base into position

machining this little locating recess which keeps the screw tip of the bottle jack steady on the frame while allowing it to be adjusted

completed the new press

stripped the LSD apart

carefully pressing the fresh bearings onto the LSD body

and pressing the bearings onto the new cover plate I machined

now I have a rebuilt Gripper LSD mended

 

[pollyp]

2024-06-30 Gizfab BBQ Meet

Met with Jack at 7 in the morning to drive down to Skegness for the annual Gizfab meet

Arrived at gizfab, not as many turned up compared to last yr (prob cos modified nationals show also on the same day) but good to catchup with afew

andrew french came with his blue cabriolet

cars, burgers & catching up with few guys

later in the day I met up with Todd Blissett who I sold my old BC V1 coilovers to

andrews cab was trailered here cos the fuel pump was seized so he replaced it and got it working

 

[pollyp]

took out my spare gearboxes to test fit the new LSD and to see if the diff bearing outer race & shims can be removed easily for adjustment

I fitted the LSD, closed the case and a major issue is it's too tight, it doesn't spin freely, there's too much resistance
even though I machined the cover to the same thickness within 0.05mm I may have to somehow remove the bearings & shims from all my spare gearboxes in order to change the preload.

hmm the outer race doesn't slip out as easy, I think it's tightly pressed in

I don't have a suitable puller tool & not gonna spend over £150 on a specialisted puller kit online,
so the next thing I had was to modify this old gear puller

I filed the ends to slot in the tight 3mm space behind the outer bearing

was a snug fit, I tried to pull it out but the bearing was seriously stuck and the tool bent/slipped

this kinda puts a roadblock on fitting this diff.
I'll have to design/machine another specialised tool to solve this fitment issue

 

[pollyp]

2024-07-04 Diff Bearing Outer Race Tool

After much thought, I figured I could modify this old suspension bushing tool into a bearing puller since it's close to the size of the outer bearing race we're removing

The idea is to machine these 3 fingers (green) which slots behind the bearing through the center

The fingers are then locked together between a pair of nuts & washers

The larger cup (yellow) is screwed onto the threaded bar and 'pulls' the bearing out of the gearbox housing.
A thrust bearing (red) helps reduce some friction whilst tightening.

The same tool could also be used to reinstall the bearing

First task is to machine the removal cup to a larger diameter than the outer bearing

this side will be used for reinstalling the bearing

Next I begin machining the other end of the tool to form the 'fingers' that fit behind the bearing

Carefully cut it into three sections

It fit's nicely within the outer race

I'll try it out tomorrow

 

[pollyp]

Slotting the three piece finger behind the outer bearing

secure it together with a stack of nuts & washers

Used the large cup to pull it out and it was successful & easy

So this gearbox uses a 0.6mm shim behind the bearing on this cover housing and the new LSD unit sat much too tight

Used the tool on the bellhousing side

& hmm it doesn't have any shims, suppose you only adjust the bearing preload from one side

the OEM gearbox diff uses a Koyo "High Capacity?" 30208J-N bearing

Whereas the replacement bearing I brought online is an NTN 4T-30208

The service manual says the differential side bearing preload should be 0.30-0.35mm.

I measured the end play with the new LSD & no shims fitted and it's approx a loose 0.34mm, so with that 0.6mm shim fitted it would squeeze the bearing by 0.26mm making it bind up.

By the manuals definition does the 'side bearing preload' mean it should actually be squeezing the bearing snug & tight by 0.30mm creating resistance?
(cos they also mention the differential should have a 'turning torque' of 1.5-3.5Nm)

or should it spin freely with 0.30mm of loose end play?
(which I feel might cause clunking & wear issues with the final gear)

edit: I googled about side bearings and yeah the bearings are supposed to be squeezed by 0.30mm to keep them secure, accurate & quiet.
so the existing 0.6mm bearing shim seems to be ok.

 

[pollyp]

Opened up the 2nd spare gearbox to check & compare the bearings on it.
This box was removed few years ago when the clutch fork snapped off.

Removing the diff bearing, this gearbox uses a thicker 0.68mm shim

To compare the original open-diff with the repaired LSD,
I first tested the open-diff end play without the shims and it measured a huge 0.72mm, so with a 0.68mm shim it's actually 0.02mm loose and has no preload

Then I fitted the LSD (with the new cover plate I machined as close as possible to the old cover) and the end play was 0.50mm, so it's 0.22mm longer than the OEM diff.
Using a 0.60mm shim that'll give the bearing on this gearbox casing a preload of 0.10mm

Once I remove the current gearbox to fit the LSD I'll have a choice of 3 shims to get the new side bearing preload matched to the gearbox casing

 

[pollyp]

Tonight once it stopped raining I went out to play around with the RGB light painting with some cool effects

 

[pollyp]

2024-07-06 Raising Engine Crane

My garage has a 10cm high ramp, so every time I use the engine crane I'd have to stack afew wood underneath the wheels to stop it fouling which is a PITA

To fix this issue I removed the dolly wheels

The idea from my calcs is to simply raise the wheels 25mm and it'll clear the ramp

made these spacers with some spare 25mm tubing I had

hopefully it'll work when I next remove the gearbox soon

 

[pollyp]

Passenger side ball joint was worn out, dry, rusty & seized on

Had to remove the arm for better access

Rust on

Couldn't hammer it out so I used some deep sockets & threaded bar to force it out

new bearing fitted

Left side fixed but now the drivers side was also worn and also needs replacing next

 

[pollyp]

Bearing turned up but seemed bit smaller than usual, Doh I ordered a smaller GE17C

Ordered the correct GEH17C and turned up next day

Removed the old drivers side bearing. Hmm the bearing itself is ok & still snug, it's just the outer bearing/housing which is loose fit

Fitted the new bearing anyway with some extra tape around the outside to take up the slack

Went for a drive to verify it's snug and she finally passed her 222222m milestone

 

[pollyp]

Denso plugs I fitted 3yrs ago still looking ok & same gap

Ordered a £15 mini torque wrench to tighten the LSD cover plate evenly

Most of my tools are 1/2" whereas this is 1/4" and I dont have a 6mm allen head for it

So I'll cut & make the tool instead

Now I can torque down my LSD, just need a spare inner spline shaft to align the cover plate

 

[pollyp]

Coming back from a wedding party & with rain forcasted, it's time to rip out the gearbox to fit the LSD & weld the noisy loose clutch disc solid.

Drained gear oil still looks fresh since April

Removed the shafts

Dropped the gearbox.

Even after raising the crane 25mm it still fouls the ramp and actually needs an extra 40-70mm rise. The badly loose & sagging castor wheels didn't help

Gearbox removed & can now carry on with the LSD, setup the diff bearing preload, replace input bearing, fix the loose clutch disc, raise the crane further

 

[pollyp]

Cleaned & rebuilt the LSD

Torqued & thread locked all the screws to 15Nm.

I tried lock wiring the screws but I was soo rusty it was frustrating & wasted way too much time so left it.

Testing the preloading torque I found that the LSD locking is mainly governed by the traction of the off-side wheel due to the 1-sided clutch pack layout making it very bias.
So while holding the diff casing, spinning the near-side shaft doesn't engage the LSD at all whereas spinning the off-side shaft will lock the diff hard during acceleration and locks very lightly coasting in-gear.

This means it only locks harder during right turns or straight line, less when turning left and doesn't lock at all whenever clutch is disengaged.

Opening the current gearbox, it's abit dirty inside

Gave the casing a little wipe

The old side-bearing outer race are abit worn

So here are the collection of bearing shims from all 3 boxes.
The oldest gearbox uses 0.60mm
The recent gearbox uses 0.68mm
But the current gearbox uses a thick 0.88mm shim

Fitted the new bearings & LSD and the measured end-play is 0.47mm

So I'll fit the 0.68mm shim to give 0.20mm of preload

 

[pollyp]

new wheel bearing arrived for when I want to replace the near-side hub spindle one-day

wanted to make a spline tool for checking the LSD diff preload but K11 1.3 driveshafts cost a fortune and the only cheap 24 teeth spline shaft I found online was this landrover discovery 300 24t half-shaft but dunno what the diameter is.

the Micra 1.3 uses a 24t spline with 23.3mm ID & 24.7mm OD
but this landrover shaft is too big at 25mm ID, 26.15mm OD, 32 spline
so it's abit of a £20 paper weight

 

[pollyp]

Gearbox all cleaned up

& sealed up

 

[pollyp]

2024-07-23 Weld Rattling Clutch Disc

The next task to fix is the annoying rattling Blueprint 200mm clutch disc from a Primera 2L diesel.
Flywheel look ok

Flywheel side of clutch is now fully bedded

The PP side is mostly bedded

Old Helix PP is slightly wavy scored nowadays

To open up the clutch disc I grinded the rivets off

carefully pryed it apart with pair of flat screwdrivers wedged on both sides or the rivets

Cover plate off

Little preload ring

& this is the culprit for all that rattling. The inner sprung center which was suppose to dampen the light vibrations are simply too weak, allowing the outer disc to constantly smash against the middle toothed spindle during idle & between on/off throttle

Here's the assembly

To eliminate the useless middle section and allow the bigger outer springs to do the dampening, I simply clamp the dampening cog to the center spindle (locked into position where the engine torque would normally drive the input shaft)

Filled the large gaps with some welds to lock into place yet allowing the teethed section to transfer most of the torque forces

reinstalled the dampening springs

To reattach the cover plate I clamped it down onto each rivet

and hit it with a hot weld

 

[pollyp]

Clutch & gearbox installed

All reassembled

Went for a test drive and it worked

The welded clutch disc is finally quiet & doesn't rattle at idle.

The Gripper LSD with the light preload & regular 80w90 gear oil is quiet with progressive engagement.

When leaving junctions there's soo much traction it doesn't wheel spin anymore.
Steering self-centers hard only when accelerating and yet gentle when coasting.

When turning right with steady light throttle, the LSD starts off quiet but as it begins to engage and the oil is squeezed out of each clutch-disc it gradually begins to make the roulette-table noise & chattering vibration. Whilst chattering, if I apply more throttle it locks harder and goes quiet again probably cos the inside wheel is skipping.

Turning left is silent with a slightly weaker locking action.

 

[pollyp]

2024-07-24 Brake Pedal Roller Bearing

The old brake pedal with the tiny loose fitting bearings tend to rattle with the engine (also having the power steering hose resting against the master cylinder doesn't help with vibrations)

So let remove the old small bearings

& replace it with these tighter roller bearings same as the clutch pedal & gear selector

First & drill out & weld a large washer flush to the bracket to make the hole smaller for an M10 bolt

Machined a new inner & outer bushing for the roller bearing

Welded it onto the brake pedal

& reassembled the pedal with zero play

Here's a little feature I never knew till now The brake pedal switch actually has a self adjusting ratcheting shaft whereby you can fully extend the tip end

let the pedal return to it's resting point and the switch will adjust it's length

 

[pollyp]

Brought a £5 hand pump spray for cleaning the car & for brake cleaner

Car is cleaned & packed ready for UltimateShowCar at santapod this weekend

 

[pollyp]

2024-08-01 Ultimate Show Car @ Santapod

Going to Santapod from thursday to sun, the morning started off wet

Gathered with TeamWhiteCustom at the Wetherby services

It soon got really sunny warm and we had some food & drink at a pub near santapod

Entering santapod we lined up at our camp site

The mornings were foggy but cleared into a blazing clear sky by midday

Spotted some Micras at the show

The rave partys at night with my car friends whilst abit drunk was amazing & fun

We did some light painting at night

At the show they had a dyno for £50.
The last time she was dynoed with 421 headers was 2009 and alot has changed so I was curious to see what her current setup runs like

Watching from the outside, she has a very deep bass exhaust note.
They only ran 2 out of 3 runs and didn't take it upto 7200rpm redline cos the gearbox was leaking badly underneath



The result was 87hp (could've reached 90hp if they redlined it imo)
and 81ftlb torque.

I converted the units & lined up my 421 header dyno graph (RED) with this current setup (BLUE) and considering it's a different dyno, conditions, fuel, mapping, etc she seems to have lost some power. Maybe the standard manifold with primary cat & larger exhaust is choking her & losing scavenging compared to the old janspeed 421 header & exhaust system with decat?
(note: later I found the throttle cable was too loose & wasn't fully opening WOT)

Our club admin had some spare dragstrip tickets and gave em to me for a go

I emptied the car, dropped front tyre pressure, forgot to stiffen the dampers & went for the 1st drag run.
It went ok, the wheel probably spun too much causing lots of hopping on the grippy surface.

She did a 17.46s run @ 76.58mph



Later in the day before the RWYB session closed I brought my friend along for our 2nd run but this time the wheel once again hopped like crazy during the launch and something went bang



From onboard you can hear the driveshaft snap & flapping around before dropping off
Oh bugger, but she's still moving forward due to her new LSD



Stopped over to look underneath and oh, the snapped shaft was luckily still resting on top of the control arm rather than falling on the track

The LSD was still able to drive the drivers wheel forward but can't reverse.
So my options to get home were:
*try find a spare 1.3 driveshaft - unlikely on a weekend with poor signal
*phone for breakdown trailer recovery - probably won't accept her from a dragstrip or will take hours of waiting
*slowly nurse her home with a single driving wheel with my club convoy - quickest & cheapest way

We secured the loose shaft with zipties & exhaust clamp to stop it flapping around at high speed or lose more gear oil

Driving home on 1 wheel with 1.5way diff was weird.
It's like a moped centrifugal clutch whereby the LSD only locks & drives forward when accelerating or going uphill (although it pulls heavily to the left) but soon as I lift the throttle/coast, it detaches & freewheels without touching the clutch

After 200 miles she was home

At the show brought a gift for her

Looks bit spicier without the dull tyre valve

 

[pollyp]

2024-08-04 Assess Snapped Driveshaft

At home I removed the broken nearside driveshaft

Taking it apart it's clear to see that the rubber dampening collar was trapping moisture & rotting the shaft inside making it thinner, weaker with deep pin holes causing stress risers

Closer look at the gearbox end

& the hub side

I think the deep pitting at this slim section was the starting point of the fracture when I did my 2nd drag run with the wheel hopping & twisting/oscillating the shaft back & forth

Tacked the shaft back together so I can measure the total length to order a new shaft

It's 594mm long, the inner CV joint can slide in/out 40mm

 

[pollyp]

2024-08-05 Repair Porsche 550 Spyder Gear Shifter

Back from the Santapod trip, a m8 messaged me he had a mechanic whom I knew (was a guy I used to deliver parts to) that needed some custom parts 3d printed for a customers Porsche Spyder

Has a tiny VW engine

So the issue was worn & sloppy gear shifter ball-joints, bushings & UJ's, where spare parts are impossible to find or silly price

We took it apart and saw this lower BJ locating peg is rather botched

I stripped it apart at home. The botched peg was a short bolt badly welded onto the existing shaft with extra weld added around to increase diameter

I chopped it off and machined / welded a larger, better fitting pin onto the shifter rod

Then modelled & 3D printed a new ball-joint around the welded peg

The bottom BJ is now snug, precise & the bigger locating peg keeps the rod/porsche gear knob steady

Fitted the upper ball-joint which moves the gear linkages

The repaired gear shifter is complete & operates much sharper now

The next job is to machine new nylon bushings for the rest of the gear linkages in the system

 

[pollyp]

2024-08-06 Finding Replacement 1.3 Driveshafts

While I ordered a new 1.3 driveshaft from EuroCarParts for £108, which didn't state which side it was apart from length 594mm which is the near-side, and hasn't arrived yet, I also contacted Jack to see if he has any spares.

Visiting Jack, we gathered & compared a mix of 1.0 1.3 shafts and they all have the same gearbox/hub splines, 23.3mm thick shaft (except for this odd thinner CVT version) but with different sized CV joint & design

Grabbed a pair of good shafts

Looking inside the spare nearside shaft, it's clean & solid

The passenger inner CV joint uses a sliding ball-cage similar to the outer CV

Both outer CV joints uses an enclosed ball-cage design

Assembly was fiddly but the 1st step is locating these pair of wider slots in the cage

They allow the cage to be inserted into the CV housing like this

note the cage has a narrow side...

and a wider side, of which you insert the center piece

like this,

Then insert each ball from the outside, swivelling the center hub

Both Joints overhauled

Nearside driveshaft fitted. Kept the rubber damper off so it never rusts

While I'm replacing the nearside shaft, there's a good chance the drivers side is worn too so may as well replace that same time.

The spare drivers shaft is good too. It uses a roller-bearing style inner CV joint & ball-cage outer CV

Swapped the old with new offside shaft

Again, left the rubber damper off

& now she drives fine with no noticable vibrations and good locking LSD

 

[pollyp]

2024-08-08 New Driveshaft & Evri Scam

When I returned from Santapod and wasn't sure I was able to find another 1.3 nearside shaft, I ordered a brand new shaft from EuroCarParts for £104. They offered free delivery and estimated to arrive by Wednesday before a car meet, so that would've save me from driving to Stockton twice.

Unfortunately it didn't arrive on wednesday (I fitted the spare shafts I got from Jack instead to make the car meet), Evri only just received my order from ECP on Wed so I was expecting it on Thurs.

Thursday morning 10:30 I was waking up & saw this SMS assuming it's from Evri & was concerned of the message bout my parcel being delayed further

So before my common sense woke up, I clicked the link, it took me to this Evri website where I entered name, addr, mobile number

But it asked for £0.71 process fee to update these delivery details?
I should've heard the alarm bells but my silly ignorance said meh tiny fee, entered my CC number

Then it had a 60s timer where I'd be sent a verification code by SMS or email but very little time to wait & copy/paste. did it just in time.
then took me to Evri home page.

Only few mins later did I realise I've been fckin scammed looking at the unofficial mobile number and fake foreign link
Dafuq did I do!!?
I'm soo worried with anxiety.

Nothing has been taken out of my CC yet but I froze my CC, reported it as lost to get a new card # (hopefully making the old details I gave scammers void), changed my passwords.
Dunno what will happen but I lost mood to do anything tday

Checking the official Evri tracking # at 11am said parcel was bigger than expected so they had to send via specialist.
At 3pm it eventually arrived.

So in conclusion, that was either a genuine Evri SMS sent via delivery guy?
Or someone spotted my online purchase & sent me a fake phishing scam while my order turned up anyway?

I feel sick & wanted to immediately return this unopened box to eurocarparts to refund £104 cos don't really need it anymore

I was convinced to keep it & suck up the £104 price cos tbh this new shaft would last lot longer than the 2nd-hand shaft I just fitted
So I opened it up (eurocarparts was gonna open it to inspect anyway when returning stuff)

Glad I checked cos apart from being clean, it doesn't come with dynamic dampers I also see the shaft is alot thicker

Starline part # 8414610 1462 J0327

The spec of the diff & hub ends match up

The old Nissan shafts were 23mm thick

Whereas these new Starline shafts listed on eurocarparts for the cg10, cg13 & cga3 are a thick 25mm, great for strength

Jack suggested checking the grease cos most of them dont come with enough grease & fail prematurely.
Glad I opened it up & ignore the warranty cos the outer CV had the bare minimum of lube, it'd probably last few weeks before wearing out fast

The inner CV wasn't too bad

Uses the same ball-cage layout but while the old OEM joints have a crimped 'lip' to stop the joint popping apart, the Starline uses a big inner c-clip, great for servicing

Was trying to remove this part with a hammer/punch and also a gear puller but it simply won't budge. It can nudge 0.2mm along the spline but something inside (c-clip?) was really locking it into place and I dont wanna force damage this new shaft

Repacked it with extra grease

Reassembled to install tomorrow

 

[riktanius]

Do you have your 3d printed designs posted anywhere? I would love that shifter adjustment