Project Sabine

[daveyg]

Having ummed and ahhed about driving to Bristol to get the exhaust sealed i decided in the end to have a go at it myself. The MOT failure said major leaks at front and middle sections, but the front manifold and backbox were fine. So i got the car on the ramps and had a feel at the blowing, it was pretty bad and noisy to boot. So i disconnected the system and ran a weld around the two mild steel sections. I then used a shim under the mild steel to stainless joint and then cut some slits into the stainless so when i clamped it it sealed better. Reconnected the exhaust back up and started the car, it was a great deal quieter but there is still a small leak. I have ordered some exhaust bandage so will get that on at the weekend and then im ready for the retest.

[daveyg]

This week i have been on a training course at UK Carbody who are an accident repair centre. After getting chatting to a few of the guys they have agreed to let me use some of their equipment (and expertise) to get me through the MOT today, so im off on my travels and will hopefully report back with a years ticket!!

[daveyg]

MOT PASSED!!!

[the edmundator]

[Risocco]

Well deserved, congrats dude!

[Tim_R]

Well done and congrats

[daveyg]

After driving back the 13 or so miles from the MOT station a few problems reared their head. Firstly after giving the car a bit of juice the oil warning light buzzed and stayed on for approximately 15 seconds, as soon as i could i pulled over and checked the level which was perfectly fine. This continued on and off for the journey perhaps five times in total, and there was no specific cause of this, sometimes i would be cruising steadily, sometimes on the brakes going downhill and sometimes when under acceleration i'm thinking it could be a bad connection? Any thoughts?

The next problem was that the MFA says im getting between 6 and 7 mpg which i know isnt true else i would have run out of petrol!!

Also there seems to be a bit of a clunking noise coming from the near side rear, this i will investigate today if i get the chance. One thing i did notice is how rapid the car is, the BMC makes a lovely noise when the revs are climbing. however it does seem to get a bit of wobble in the steering wheel when approaching 70mph. I will have a look at all of this and report back.

[daveyg]

So i got the car up on the ramps today to check the rattle from the rear, turns out the backbox had worked its way off a couple of the rubber hangers, so this is now resolved and there is no clunking noise anymore. As for the steering feeling light and a bit wobbly we saw that the camber was well out on the front wheels, this has been adjusted again but only time will tell if this will stay in check. Its got to get me to Gatwick on Monday so fingers crossed it takes the journey okay. May be taking some tools with me just incase!

[daveyg]

Well the car has been running sweet for the last few months until a tragic occurence last week, while going over a speed hump i applied the clutch and heard the sound of the clutch cable pulling through the bulkhead...Again! So after a tow back to my house to investigate the severity i needed to get her into the garage. I made up a wooden template to allow the car to get into reverse and got her up the slope and into the garage. After stripping off the inlet manifold and air filter etc it turned out the problem was quite bad. The repair plate that we had welded in was absolutely fine however some of the metal surrounding the plate had given way. So the plan was to make an extravagant plate to resolve the situation, this im glad to say went rather well, i will post some pictures up later of the solution but suffice to say im quite chuffed with it even if it may look a bit like overkill!!

[daveyg]

So as promised here are some pics of my clutch problems and the eventual resolution. I must admit that prior to doing this work i had written (in draft) a for sale ad...I had lost the passion for my car and was looking at a 330i e46 coupe. Suffice to say working on the car again reignited the love and i now have some new plans which i will share soon.

So the bulkhead as i found it was not in great shape, i considered welding this up but realistically it would likely go again and there wasnt much good strong metal surrounding it.



Unfortunately with the ABF in the way there was not a great deal of room to get to the bulkhead so it was off with the manifold and air filter



Not wanting to be doing this job again it was decided to take no chances and create something rather strong. A metal bar would follow the curviture of the bulkhead under the scuttle and be welded to a flat plate which would slide in between the brake bar and the bulkhead. It would also have a plate behind the bulkhead to sandwich it and pull the old metal back into place. We also welded in some bars to run vertically strengthening the plate up and not allowing any flex



This resulted in the below



I added some primer and once it was in position it sat perfectly



The great thing about this solution is that no pressure is being put on the weakened metal that previously gave way either.

So the car is back on the road again and the clutch is perfect the plate has not moved at all and im confident it wont be going anywhere!!

So glad to have sorted this out as i now cant wait to get on with the next jobs, regular updates to follow - its good to be back

[daveyg]

So today saw an early start, a couple of bacon sarnies and a 100 mile trip to see Mike H in his unit. Collected a rather nice ported and polished head with some tasty Schrick cams. This will most likely not get fitted until the colder weather recedes but going to get it skimmed slightly first anyhow. Luckily we just beat the snow home by a whisker. Hopefully i will get some pics up in the week and can start to process the engine work. Big thanks to Mike

[Mr Funk]

Best of luck with that engine. If I hadn't just fitted my new one I'd have fought you in the playground fi it!

[daveyg]

Cheers Mr Funk, im looking forward to seeing more power gains, should take me to around the 170-180bhp mark i reckon

[daveyg]

I've had a squeak appear from the engine which appears to be the alternator pulley. Whilst investigating i noticed the alternator belt was looking past its best. A new one should be with me tomorrow so will look to get that fitted at the weekend, want to give the old girl a good clean while im at it as she has been rather neglected of late. Hopefully have some nice shiny pics to follow! Unfortunately no progress on the engine front yet as the purchase of our first house is going through so money for engine rebuilds has been sent to solicitors instead. Cant complain as there is plenty of room to work on the car at the new place. Hopefully be in there in April.

[daveyg]

So not a lot been happening recently until the bank holiday weekend when i needed to use the car, it sounded a bit ropey on startup but thought it would clear itself. I drove less then a mile and could see a trail of fluid coming out the rear, I pulled over as soon as i could and turned the engine off. When i opened the bonnet i was met by a cloud of steam and there was water all over the engine. Also there was a very strong smell of petrol.

I got towed home and filled her with water which stayed in the expansion tank. So i got some ramps out and thought if i can just run her long enough to get her on the ramps i can investigate further, she started but there was no power to get her up the ramp, and water was flying everywhere. It was at this point with the bonnet open that we saw petrol squirting from the line as well, somehow the line had been pierced and was leaking hence no fuel pressure and no real drive. I sorted this out and filled her with water again, now that the engine was warm the water no longer leaked?

So i know the water is being squirted out of the water pump so i need to get this off and most likely replace the pump as i have never done it and i do not know the history of the engine. I am going to take this opportunity to replace the head gasket and put on a head that i have in the garage that is P&P and has some nice cams in it. i may also do the oil filter housing as i have suspected that to be leaking ever so slightly as well. Not a good update but hopefully the car will be better off for it. Some maintenance pics to follow hopefully soon!