I went to Kwik Fit and got one free which was a perfect fit.:D

I now need to get it Mot'd as it ran out a couple of weeks ago or pay the body shop to come and collect it so I have it booked in for Friday.

So meanwhile I decided to have a go at one of the 260 annoying features especially so on the blown cars as the engines get even hotter.

The throttle cable.

Mine has been horrid - notchy and gritty for almost as long as I have owned the car we tried rerouting the cable whilst at the Kempenrit in Belgium but that only made a slight improvement.

I bought a hydraulic cable oiler and then modified it to fit the cables fittings
I used that to force 3 in one down it a few weeks ago it was slightly better but not much and deteriorated with a hot engine.

A lot of discussion has ensued about the cable liner construction is it nylon is it absorbing water from the oil and swelling etc.

Well I thought *** it let put it to the test
I removed the cable and cleaned it out using the hydraulic pump with gunk
and then gallons of water to clean it out.

I then let it dry and used GT85 on it again forced (although it did not really need it) with the tool.

I now have a cable as free as it possibly could be the inner drops through under it own weight the PTFE or Teflon in the lube is doing its job and no sign of the liner swelling

Only time will tell if this makes a difference or not.

Need to get back behind the wheel and do some miles...........

Killing time this evening after getting everything ready for the MOT tomorrow so thought I would have a go at the door panels using some material I bought over 2 years ago so about time I got on with it!

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...edoorcards.jpg

Rather like that Keith, nicely done :bowdown:

Mot passed on Friday
Today I went and had all four wheels aligned as it needed doing

Also

Been playing!

I wanted a flush look and for me there was only one shape that works.
Bolts are just temp fitted I want to make a plastic trim piece to hide the edges of the mesh and support a removable drip tray and also I will make a gasket from something like laminate flooring underlay to go between the mesh and the bonnet but that's after getting the metal work right. Next step is to fit it and if I am happy with the look I will get this bonnet sprayed with the rest of the bodywork.

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...T/bonnet01.jpg

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...T/bonnet02.jpg

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...T/bonnet03.jpg

Now been for a test run

The highly scientific 'lets tie some wool on' test verified that I seem to have lower pressure over than under the bonnet i.e. it did not get sucked in whilst driving along at varying speeds however I do not have the under tray fitted at the moment so will check it again properly once I do using the differential pressure gauge I bought.

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...T/bonnet04.jpg

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...T/bonnet05.jpg

Time to put this thread to bed now that I will be selling my car.

All the work above was nearly three years ago, I did all the mechanical work myself and an excellent local outfit called 'Panel Fix' did the body work and paint. Obviously I had the car Vic checked as is required for Cat C cars and it's not missed a beat since. All in all the insurance company by classing it as a Cat C effectively gave me more money than I needed to repair it. My own labour was free so the extra money enabled me to do quite a few 'extra' jobs and the end result was the car being in better condition than before the bump.

Great job Keith
Glad it was well & truly saved :bowdown:

Seems a shame to sell after all that graft !!!

Cheers Jules, it was worth it plus I do like doing hands on. No way was I going to let them take it away as a write off over what was really only a broken trailing arm a dented wing and some scrapes!

We used it quite a lot last year going backwards and forwards to Shrewsbury hospital for Chemo sessions etc. which cheered Karen up a bit.

Well done Keith its a cracking car and your thread now gives me the confidence to take the door cards off lol!:D
Best of British luck with the sale old boy!