The journey of one man and his Mule(s)

[Nickp]

Good work

[ashley]

Looking good Phil, driven it much recently??

[Magic Beans]

It's looking really good, there's been some great progress on this. I love this thread

What's next for her - intend to attack the paintwork?

You'll have to post up and let me know how the commute goes. I'm currently commuting on a motorbike in this weather so Im sure you'll be fine in a safe warm car

The paint isn't the best but in many ways that's a blessing, as you're less worried about keeping it immaculate. It's a very different beast to v2 and is very much there to be used and used properly I might wrap it at some point though, depending what happens in the future.

There's still a few things left to do before it's where I want it to be. Many of which are small things, the remaining big jobs and getting it tuned again (after being run in), as well as corner weighting and alignment. There's a replacement gearbox to fit at some point but no rush for that.

You're a braver man than me riding a bike it this time of year! Better than running though, that's for sure. Your feet would be worn to stumps by this time next summer

[Magic Beans]

Good stuff Phil, getting better all the time.

Good work

[Magic Beans]

Looking good Phil, driven it much recently??

Not as much as I'd have liked. The main things stopping me were needing to replace the air filter (and associated tasks), to stop it strangling the engine, as well as replacing the battery. Both of which are now done so I'll be out in it as often as possible. Needs miles on it to get the engine running properly, before it goes back to be tuned again.

They're a bit of a handful on these damp/greasy roads though. It's nothing you can't control but it keeps you sharp, that's for sure. The tyre pressures for the fronts were way too high (30 PSI when it needs to be 18-20!), so bringing those down to where they should be has improved things. Proper corner weighting and alignment should really make it come to life, hopefully removing it's tendency to want to go left. It's a bit like walking a dog which has to sniff every single tree it passes, yanking your arm off in the process Well, maybe a slight exaggeration

[CRAIGROBBO]

Looking good Phil,

Bet you cant wait for the good weather so you can drive it with out freezing your face!

Craig

[Magic Beans]

Thanks, Craig

After this much time not driving it I'm going to go out even when the snow comes. Maybe when the roads are empty and I have someone to tow me back when I get stuck

[synXero]

At least you could just push it out of the ruts it gets stuck in

I'm looking forward to snow Vette experiences actually. Generally owners club advice is 'oh no I wouldn't do that...' but they're all a bit show-and-shiney. It has to be tried at least!

[Magic Beans]

I've bought some shoe spikes for just such an occasion

You've gotta give it a go. I'd have some sort of contingency plan for if you do get stuff, but with that noise you could scare the snow away

Checked for oil leaks today and am happy to confirm I finally have a second car (not my main car) which doesn't have an oil leak Well, after nipping up the sump bolts at least.

Think tomorrow is a good day for the inaugural commute in it..

[slipping clutch]

I've bought some shoe spikes for just such an occasion

You've gotta give it a go. I'd have some sort of contingency plan for if you do get stuff, but with that noise you could scare the snow away

Checked for oil leaks today and am happy to confirm I finally have a second car (not my main car) which doesn't have an oil leak Well, after nipping up the sump bolts at least.

Think tomorrow is a good day for the inaugural commute in it..

And the result of that commute was????? with your track record Phil I am hoping the only negative was that you got it dirty - history tells us otherwise!!!!

[Magic Beans]

I've bought some shoe spikes for just such an occasion

You've gotta give it a go. I'd have some sort of contingency plan for if you do get stuff, but with that noise you could scare the snow away

Checked for oil leaks today and am happy to confirm I finally have a second car (not my main car) which doesn't have an oil leak Well, after nipping up the sump bolts at least.

Think tomorrow is a good day for the inaugural commute in it..

And the result of that commute was????? with your track record Phil I am hoping the only negative was that you got it dirty - history tells us otherwise!!!!

No faith

It went well. It was a lovely dry day so I popped home at lunch and took her in. Shame the weather decided that the 10% chance of rain would turn into actual rain and it would be half way back to the office. Got a tad damp.. It did however decide to stop, alas it was pretty much exactly the time I arrived at work Had a little downpour which I was there, unbeknownst to me, so had a wet bum on the way home too

Done quite a lot to it recently, I'll put up an update when I get some time

[slipping clutch]

stick up as many pictures as you like Phil, I never get tired of looking at your cars.

[Magic Beans]

Ok, watch this space

[ashley]

Tease....

[Nickp]

Or perhaps the car he really wants? (Don't tell the Westy )

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 1115614780

[Magic Beans]

Tease....

Maybe a little bit

[Magic Beans]

Or perhaps the car he really wants? (Don't tell the Westy )

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 1115614780

It is nice and probably more something I could have seen myself with. I'm committed to finishing this one though, as it's getting close to being a fine machine indeed. 2nd gear is awesome! 3rd not so much as the fuelling gets a bit wooly

Oh for a double garage! Unless any of the neighbours aren't using theirs...

[Magic Beans]

Right then, update time

As the good lady has been away quite a lot I've had plenty of time to squirrel around in the garage and tinker with the Westy. That and getting fed and watered at other people's houses, like a human Littlest Hobo



Amongst tackling a sea of little jobs I've been spending some time making observations of many of the little anomalies I've found. Some straight forward others more bizarre. So, in no particular, here's a list of what's done, what's found and what needs doing:

There's something really weird going on with the LTE Digi Dash as readings from the various sensors don't make any sense. Oil pressures are out massively, however it's the wrong sensor fitted so that's easily rectified. The dash reads as being 12.3v when fired up and idling, a voltmeter on the battery reads 14v Coolant temps with the engine fired up and idling could be say 90 degrees, however if you turn the lights on they go up to 105 or so. The same happens if up turns the rad fan on My first thoughts were it could be dodgy grounding, so I pulled them, created a nice clean grounding point and reattached, with the same results?! I'm not exactly sure what's causing it, it's likely something simple but I need to work out what and where.

Speaking of the dash, I spent a little time adjusting the various parameters on it to alter the alarm thresholds and other bits. When I have all the sensors I need I'll do a full sweep on it but these will do for now as when it alarms you can't see any other readings from the dash



Water temp alarm was set to 95 before



Oil temp was the same?!



Oil pressure was also miles off what the factory default was so I've changed it back. Doesn't make any difference now as the sensor reads incorrectly anyway due to being a non-LTE part. It's done for when it's swapped though



I'll do all the sensors etc when I swap the oil, to save draining it twice and wasting oil.

The fuel pump really doesn't like it when the fuel level gets low, so I'm going to replace the tank with something sumped and/or baffled. The tank that's in there is pretty crap to be honest and doesn't have (or have provision to have) a fuel sensor installed. If this things going to be tracked I really don't want to be worrying about fuel starvation because of a cheap old tank!

The pump noise was bothering me, which as of tonight has been diagnosed as being down to having very little fuel left. Hard to tell when you have no fuel gauge, as rocking the car backwards and forwards isn't exactly scientific I popped off the rear covers to see what's what and found the pump to be a Facet, which I'm told are fairly good.

*Excuse the photo quality from here on, I'm using the camera on the new phone. Not quite up to the standards of my Canon 6D!





Nick suggested that some of the noise could be because it's mounted in the way it is, so I thought it made sense to add a little something to absorb vibration. Enter feet from a network switch



Tidied up. Yes I know you won't see it and it won't make any difference if the extra lobes aren't cut off, I can't help it.







Makes a little bit of a difference, it's a job done nonetheless. The pump it's might need servicing, so I'll do that at the time the tank's swapped. I'll do the fuel filter too as it's a bit dirty.

Another fuel/dash related observation is that if you want to power up the dash you have to insert and turn the kill switch (obviously) as well as flicking the pump switch. This powers up the fuel pump, which can't be good for it to be sat rattling away without the engine fired up. To remedy this I'm going to wire the dash into the kill switch, so as long as the kill switch is in and on the dash will be too. It suits the way I work far far more and isn't going to put a strain on the fuel pump. Not sure why it would have been wired that way in the first place?!

I'm ordering a proper speed sensor to match the dash as at the moment it's got a bike sensor fitted. Amazingly it's actually bang on accurate, which is incredible considering you could have the same thing fitted to your Halfords MTB It will help calibrate the proper sensor/dash setup when I fit the new bits, so it's staying for now.

The valve clearances need checking again (thanks for the heads-up Nick ), which I'll be doing over the next coupe of weeks. I'm going to spray the cam covers whilst they're off, as they look pretty tatty at the moment. Not sure what colour yet, likely black gloss to match the other bits.

Whilst buying the air filter bits I got talking to a someone who works for these guys - http://www.michaelcomberracing.com/ and to cut a VERY long story short I'm off down there to see them and get the alignment, ride height and corner weighting sorted. They used to race Westfields so should be able to get the old dog dialled in nicely

I think that's the main part of it at the moment. No doubt more will be discovered as I delve deeper into other areas of what has become another true Mule

[slipping clutch]

All good work and second to none attention to detail as per usual from Mr Beans. Well done Phil, keep the pictures comeing

[ashley]

Digi dash problems

Very annoying, and frustrating to chase down and resolve, but so worth it once you get there...I wish you luck, you'll get there

Keep us updated...