With that "patch job" I officially dub thee Princess Serena & an honorary Aussie !

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Speed is subjective to only how far you keep your right foot down..

Not quite the honorary Aussie yet Gordon: she didn't use fencing wire & a pair of linesman's pliers...

...But a very resourceful job nonetheless. And it will stop a short through the sharp metal edge cutting the wire.

Good work (again) Serena!

Patrick

Serena that is an epic idea!!!!! I've always had a boot full of water when the BA is left outside.....might have to steal your idea haha

Dam, Serena you are amazing... I would like to know and can work in my mazda likeyou, but when i try to do something more complicated, even have a lot carefull I mess all up...

I saw this post of yours and try to remove the plastics like in this photo:



If it is like the top one (mine), and has holes, not studs, then there will be a middle bolt here [1]:



guess what, broke two of the fittings

I put the plastics back to where they belong and they are secure, but... dam it

I always break something

And the spoiler light isn't yet in spoiler cus one of the screw is milled and the mouth to the screwdriver is bumpy....

so I will to find a way to remove that rusty damaged screw, to remove the plastic that is where the spoilerlight is suppoused to be...

By the way, you never a had told us exactly what are the colors of the wires that the spoiler light should connect... you had said that are white and green but that you don't be sure, and later you tell us...

Cheers

CSR

Thanks for the pats, guys. It was a bit of an "a-ha!" moment

CSR, I'm at a show tomorrow, I'll ask someone to remind me what the wire colours were.

S

The mesh to protect the radiator arrived today Thanks to DarkJon for suggesting this



It's stronger/thicker mesh than I thought, certainly substantial enough to withstand flies and stones flying through the vents in the bumper. So hopefully I shouldn't have to replace this with anything metal.

I needed at least 12 x 64cm to cover the two gaps in the bumper, including a couple of extra cm all around. Left and right, it extends as far as the edge of the holes for the fog-lights.

For anyone who wants the same stuff, it was a piece 1.2m x 15cm (almost twice the length needed but just the right height), described by seller as "BLACK FLEXIBLE HDPE INSECT FISH MESH SCREEN FINE 2mm"

First I spent 20 minutes carefully picking flies out of the new rad with a pair of tweezers Care needed, those aluminium fins are so soft.

(at this point I lost several minutes, when I was lying on the floor under the car, as I got fascinated by an ant that turned up to carry away a dead fly 100 times its own size. So you see, maintaining your car IS good for the natural environment! )

Then I had to cut the mesh to the right length, and also cut tiny slits along the top edge, so I could tape it down on either side of the plastic supports inside the bumper (see red lines on photo). I used black gaffer tape, it's sticky enough to resist moisture, and should last forever.



Here's a pic taken from underneath the bumper. The bumper's bottom cross-member (if that's the right word) is hollow, so the mesh only needs to reach the top edge of that.



View from the outside. In case it's not clear, I've added the arrow to show the part that the mesh covers. You can just make it out in front of the radiator.



Here's a closer view



The next urgent job is to refill the cooling system with proper coolant ... I still have water in there at the moment, from when I was replacing everything and testing the new rad. It made no sense to waste coolant at the time.

S

Hi Serena,

Mesh looks to be the right stuff. You can also get a metal version if you wish, but that has shap eges when cut that need edging. Can I just suggest the tape could come away with age/salt/etc if the glue dries out or the tape brittles- I've seen it happen. To that end, using a few cable ties (good quality ones- some can fail with age and/or cold) inside around something can make sure things don't fall out and the tape will hold the edges where you want 'em (at least until it falls off )

I held a bumper on for years with cable ties.

Cheers,

Patrick

I agree with Pat - Use the biggest itty bitty ties you can find.
They can actually be joined together to make longer ones too !!



Typical ex Volvo / Subie owner @ work

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Speed is subjective to only how far you keep your right foot down..

Looks good Serena, should help protect the radiator nicely, updates on its effectiveness would be good as its something I've often thought about, but more from a styling point of view

Wow youse guys n gals in the UK are way behind the times..

Styling mesh goes back even further than the original Fast & Furious !
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/40-x13-Aluminum-Alloy-Universal-Car-Grille-Mesh-Vehicle-Body-Grill-Net-Section-/321930425191?hash=item4af48c7367:g:rL8AAOSwQjNW87Ur



As Pat pointed out it's a bit trickier than it's plastic cousin but soz kewl
At least it's stupidly cheap now !

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Speed is subjective to only how far you keep your right foot down..

Hahaha madaz, but not quite as obviously meshed as that, that's waaaay too tacky. The stuff I've seen is a lot less in your face as that stuff.

Looks like I meshed things up then

https://www.google.com.au/?client=firefox-b-ab#q=car+grill+mesh+pics&gfe_rd=cr

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Speed is subjective to only how far you keep your right foot down..

Just got back from a 1000+ mile road trip with Sundance to, around, and back from Northern Ireland.

That's two major ferry crossings and one minor, a lot of exploring town centres, small villages and crumbling minor roads, and a lot of cruising on main roads with luggage and a full load of passengers, in both hot sun and terrible rain: all in one packed week, and the car behaved absolutely perfectly, not a murmur

Very happy bunny!

Notably, in that 1,000+ miles across England, Wales, Southern and Northern Ireland, I didn't see another BA - not a single one, not even parked up. I'm feeling we're definitely entering "rare car" territory now.

S

Carrickfergus Castle, near Belfast:

Sounds like an epic road trip, and glad to hear Sundance took it all in her stride, shame no other BA's were spotted, I know of one in enniscorthy, just south of Dublin.

They are all brought here in my country to be resold...
I see more and more every day here on our roads. My city is 10km in radius big,
and there were about 20 F's when i bought mine about 3 years ago.Now they are atleast 100!!!
I see more and more selling new fresh "import" every day on sites for used cars...
RHD are present also..
Nice trip you made..

Congrats on your trip Serena, hope fun was had by all.

Also loaded up with pax and gear in warm weather, if the cooling system hasn't shown a problem by now there's a good chance it's OK.

So as you were/carry on!

Patrick

maZZda - oi, give us our BAs back!!

Patrick - yes, I was half-expecting problems - I had a new thermostat, gasket and sealant with me in case I had to do an emergency replacement job on the way - but nothing materialised. I thought that such a thorough shakedown would bring to the surface imminent problems I didn't know about; but no, nothing. I'm also pleased, because boyfriend voiced doubts that the car would get us there, so I'm feeling very smug

I'm off to London on Friday, traffic will be terrible, so I'll be monitoring the temp gauge one more time, juuuuust in case.

S

Two hours of steaming London traffic during a heatwave ... and the temperature needle stuck where it should do.

Pheeewwww .... we might be in the clear ...

s

Here in Aus Serena we joke that you Poms drop like flies when it gets over 25 there !

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Speed is subjective to only how far you keep your right foot down..

Great idea for the boot spoiler hole And good work on the wiper and the rad too

Thanks Andy!

Today's job: undersealing the sills and floorpan before winter. No photos yet as I was pushed for time.

I discovered that if you leave a tin of Waxoyl underbody sealant in the sun it will melt into soup (pretty obvious really, given what it's made of). Thank God I covered grandma's drive with newspaper before I started

Pity I didn't think to cover me with newspaper, as I got absolutely covered in the b&std stuff (because it suddenly became a very hot day and the stuff was melting). The "suspected to cause cancer" warning on the tin wasn't much comfort either.

Anyway, 90% of the offside floorpan and sill is done. I used gaffa tape to mask off a line along the sill, so the black/silver boundary line is at least neat. I'd rather have kept more of it silver under there, but it's critical now that the sills are protected as much as possible. I've also waxoyled the back end of the sill where that raised lip is at the bottom of the wheel arch, as I have a serious rust monkey in there. Hopefully this will kill it off.

The wheel arches are mostly still fine after I painted them last year; a little rust has come back, but only light stuff in a couple of places, so I just need to kill that.

Tomorrow: fit the new flute hole bungs I bought a couple of years ago which have been knocking around in my toolbox, waiting for me to finish the sills. I've had gaffa over the holes for those two years, and it had done a grand job of preventing the water getting in.

Next week: jack it up at the back offside, so I can finish the front end, which I couldn't reach as the jack and axle stand were in the way. Then repeat the entire procedure on the nearside. I also need to get an inspection mirror and check for any little areas I didn't quite cover.

Winter: watch the gritters spewing salt over the road and give them the bird

S

After six straight days of adventures in car maintenance which saw me shuttling between Camberley, Milton Keynes and Swindon, I'm delighted (not to say ****** relieved) to announce that Sundance has his/its 20 year MOT!!



I wouldn't have got it without massive help from Hughie and R0b. And thanks everyone else I texted on Tuesday night, for putting up with me as I tried to find a welder with 48hrs notice. Bravo Club323

Now I know all is well for the next 12 months, I can finally buy my show tickets ...

S

Good work Serena! Glad to hear everything is good to go for this year!

How much welding did it need for mot?

Cheers Lee

Four small welds at the jacking points, one each corner. Maybe two or three inches each, in the crease where the sill bends downwards. The sills were corroding in the crease and I'd had a MOT warning last year that they were "weak" there, but I'd been treating it/monitoring it, and 12 months later the sills were still complete - NO actual holes yet. Had the MOT tester not decided to advance the problem by ramming a screwdriver through the sills to create some holes, it would not yet have needed welding.

Obviously I want MOT to find defects, but not deliberately create them when brewing problems are not yet full blown issues, so let's just say I won't be visiting that particular MOT station in the future.

For four small patches they wanted to charge £66/hr +VAT, and estimated 4hrs (so total £316), but R0b introduced me to a top welder who did it as a "mate" and charged me so little that I'm embarrassed to reveal the amount - let's just say it would nicely cover a round in the pub - and he only took around 90 minutes.

Other than that, there was just a dodgy suspension ball joint, front brake pads and a brake light that must have popped on the morning I took the car in (I'd checked them all the night before )

S

Good to hear it's all OK & back on the road for another year Serena!

Patrick

Thanks Patrick

Now I just have a year of rust-chasing, I'm going to have to crawl all over the car this year, basically strip down everything I can and find any more nasty surprises before they jump out at me when they're too far gone to deal with

One of the big problems is going to be finding rust hidden under all that white sealant Mazda splashed everywhere on the seams - it's hiding any rust underneath, which is extremely worrying. I've already had to scrape it off in a couple of places to deal with it.

S

Good luck Serena, I'm really impressed with your dedication and hope you are successful. It's most unfortunate you're now having to have to hunt for rust under the supposed protection- rather 70's Leyland/Alfa -esque. But at least the mechanicals, electrics and everything else aren't!

Patrick

Keep at it Serena, at least you know you've got a decent reasonable welder handy

Yup, I've had that happen to me too It forced my hand in learning to weld

Great news that Sundance is still rolling though

Just an update, as the last 10 weeks has been unremitting

You might want to put the kettle on.

Early March
20 year MOT, "adventures" as above

Late March/April
During a trip to South London the grumbling clutch noise that the car had had for a while (and which I hadn't got sorted because I was waiting for some money to arrive so I could pay for it!) suddenly developed into a vibration in the front of the car which pretty much made it undriveable. Suspecting clutch or gearbox, I took it to a reliable garage I know there, which thought there was a problem with the o/s driveshaft, but couldn't find anything wrong with it so decided it must be the gearbox instead, and sent me away as they don't "do" gearboxes.

I made a terrifying (as in noisy, car feels like it's about to implode) 50 mile trip back home to Surrey to get it sorted there, only to find that the local gearbox place wouldn't touch it because it "didn't have the expertise to work on a Mazda" FFS!!!

So there being no other specialist place locally, I booked it into a clutch shop chain in Reading that I'd used before, and after another nail-biting 30 mile trip up there to get it on their ramp, they concluded it was the o/s driveshaft, and replaced it. That didn't completely solve the issue (precisely as I expected), so they took the clutch off and discovered it was skipping badly, and the spigot bearing had seized completely (BINGO! Nothing that I hadn't already told them, but well done garage, have a cigar...)

However they decided they "weren't completely happy" with the gearbox (Gosh, really?), and told me in a rather hoarse whisper that it would cost £1100 to replace. I told them very politely that wasn't going to happen, and they offered to fit a self-supplied one immediately for no further charge (as the existing box was already off). I'd had three offers of gearboxes via the Club, but the logistics of getting one of them down to Reading within a couple of days didn't bear thinking about, so I told them to fix the clutch and give me the car back (I'm not dissing them, incidentally: they've been prompt, efficient and honest with me all the way along, although I'm dubious about the need for driveshaft replacement). One week, and one large bill after I had brought it up to Reading, I finally drove back to Camberley.

The car was much more driveable, it no longer kangarooed off traffic lights and there were no screams of pain when I put it into reverse. The vibration was still there, but only intermittently, so I decided to do a few more miles to see how the box did, and meanwhile work on getting it replaced. This is ongoing, I'm talking to a couple of club members about available boxes and replacement.

(My thread on this part of the saga)

May
Perhaps 10 days after the Reading trip I noticed that the car was steadily leaking gearbox oil, cue a second trip up to Reading to the same workshop to find out if they'd forgotten to tighten up something the first time. Diagnosis: the 20-year-old oil seal on the n/s driveshaft was now leaking, presumably because of all the recent messing about on the front of the car. They fixed that promptly, and only charged me for the part.

That was Tuesday this week, and after that the car was flying along, no discernable issues. I thought, very happily, as I tore along the A329 with the sunroof open and the radio on: "What a crap two months this has been after 18 trouble-free years, I'm glad the car is fine now!"

Then Wednesday ...... out of the blue, during a local errand, the engine started skipping and running very rough. Fortunately I made it back home, and decided the problem most likely lay with the plugs or leads. Yesterday (Thursday) I ordered new plugs and leads from Euro Car Parts and paid extra to get them to me this morning.

This morning - Friday I get the package, tear it open ... and discover they've sent the wrong leads, these have the wrong connectors and are far too short: presumably these are intended for BG or BJ(?) and some dozey ****** at their warehouse has sent the wrong ones

So I called them up and confirmed yes, I did give them the right vehicle details but they have sent the wrong parts, and they agreed to replace them with the correct ones on the spot, if I visited my nearest ECP branch ............... which is a short drive away. Anyone spot the flaw in this?

So before I embarked on a 40 minute walk, I called the local branch to check they actually had the right leads in stock. No, they said, because these should be the right ones (THEY AREN'T!!!!) but they can order in the "alternative" option available on their system, and I can pick them up from 8am tomorrow.

Fortunately I have located a bus, so tomorrow thanks to ECP HQ's mistake I will be wasting my Saturday morning bussing over to ECP Camberley to hand back the wrong leads, and hopefully pick up a set that are correct. I'll be taking the existing leads from the car and showing them to the staff for comparison, to make sure the mistake doesn't happen again. Hopefully I won't find myself being arrested for attempting to strangle someone with them in wild rage when they produce the leads from a Mark II Astra and try to tell me they will fit the car, because their system says so.

S