Walked past mine, thought to myself, can you be bothered to sort this out,, answer,, hmmmm,, no enthusiasm for it at the minute,,
It’s not moved for at least 8-9 months now, might throw a bucket of water at it tomorrow,,
All the inside trim is back after replacing the headlining. Got a few small creases despite my best efforts. Oh well, at least it no longer sags and rests on the top of my head.
Dropped the p38 off at the garage (L/R specialist) to get a new transfer box fitted. I provided the fluid and the rear gearbox oil seal, so there should be nothing for them to charge for, except labour. What do you recon? 2 hrs labour max? Have to wait and see.
Took the P38 to the local dealer today to get the throttle body heater. As I left our village the car beeped and told me the front left indicator bulb was faulty so I managed to grab one of them whilst the dealer. 2 mins to fit it in the dealer carpark saw that issue fixed.
Then after work I changed the throttle body heater. The old gasket was fairly horrible and was leaking on one edge.
Am going to miss this one when it’s sold. It really does drive nicely.
David.
Cleaned it, drove it.
Within the limitations allowed, of course!
Drove it and called in at my local Flogas depot to fill the LPG tank, but have been having a play with the Ascot. Had to take a friends car in for MoT this morning and, as the ticket on the Ascot ran out a couple of weeks ago, booked it in for Friday morning. Figured it might be worth nipping into the village and treating it to a Romanian wash as it's been parked under a tree for the last year and what bits weren't covering in pigeon crap had started to go green. Having got it washed and looking pretty respectable, took it to Flogas (twice in an hour) and filled the LPG tank on that one too. Then on the way home the dash beeped at me and it came up with Airbag Fault and the SRS light came on. Not going to pass the MoT with that on, so plugged the Nano in and it came up with Driver Airbag Open Circuit. That'll be that damned plug under the dash, so out with the wire cutters, heatshrink and soldering iron. Reset it and the bugger came straight back again.
So it wasn't the plug, it's either the rotary coupler or the connection to the airbag itself. As the radio controls and the horn all work, unlikely to be the rotary coupler, so must be the airbag connection. Out with that, squirt of contact cleaner in the plug, plugged it in, ignition on, reset the fault and success, it didn't come back.
Then I had an idea as I was this far in. The steering wheel is black leather and has all the buttons for the stereo and cruise control but the legends have worn off so none of the buttons are labelled. But I also have an identical looking black leather steering wheel with buttons that still have the legends on them which was given to me (thanks Tom) when it was swapped for one with the coloured leather and wood. Fitted that and just before bolting the airbag back in,thought it might be a good idea to check that all the switches worked. They do but I found an interesting incompatibility. The Ascot, being a 96 model, has the Clarion system but the wheel I had been given was from a later car with the Alpine. Checking it I found that the down volume button worked as expected but the up volume button cause it to step through the radio station memories. In fact, the volume down button was the only one that did what the legend said it did, so I gave up and swapped them back. It may not have a legend on the buttons but they at least do what you expect them to do.
Dave3d, I am pleased to hear that you got the headlining done. I do think that if you had to do a second one then you would probably do it without any creases. I know on my headlining I would have taken a slightly different strategy in dealing with the areas around the grab handles, and the dips and humps where the sunroof opening is.
But, to be honest, I had a couple of people look inside the car, when I told them that I had redone the lining and they thought that I was taking the mickey, they thought that it was original. I think that [a] you tend to see any small imperfections yourself, no-one else will, and [b] it looks a bit like the material has all settled down after a month or so, and any creases and stuff seemed to have disappeared.
I am particularly pleased that I fitted the extra grab handle above the drivers head though. I think that it just balances out the view of the headling.
As far as fitting the soundproofing panels in the back half of the car, I don't know if I notice any great difference. I have been out for a few short drives but I can't say that the car is like as quite as a Mercedes or something. I think the cabin noise is not an issue anyway, but it might be a little bit less. I need to go on a long trip to see.
Pierre3.
Just took the Ascot for MoT, passed with no advisories. Emissions amazed me and the tester. Running on LPG using a singlepoint system, CO was 0.02% with HC at 6ppm (limits on LPG are 3.5% and 1200ppm HC). With emissions like that it would have flown through the petrol limits even (0.2% CO and 200ppm HC).
Now about to drive mine over to my mates to do a bit of finishing off on our Vogue......
Went to Roverviews yesterday picked up new rad & hoses for vogue Also got headlining panel from scrapper ---- freshly recovered 😲 cheaper than buying kit ----- took parts to him for resale Today start doing hoses on vogue ready for it to be in local classic show on July 4th
Finished off the Vogue just before the guy turned up to give it a full valet. Almost ready to put it up for sale now.
Smart motor that is Richard.
StrangeRover wrote:
Smart motor that is Richard.
It is. It is OldShep's old car. It was pretty tidy when he sold it but the guy that bought it neglected it and caused a few more problems by following the advice of 'experts' on facebook. Since we got it, it has had a new headlining, sunroof seal, the drivers seat and steering wheel have been cleaned and re-dyed, a pair of new rear brake callipers, metal brake pipes, a couple of brake hoses, new water pump, rocker cover gaskets, valley gasket, power steering pipes, a couple of tyres, a Marty special DSP replacement, new window switchpack, new heater blowers, HEVAC zebra strip, throttle body heater gasket (and the brittle plastic pipe replaced with copper LPG pipe) and various other bits and pieces. The valet guy did a superb job on it, and the picture doesn't really do it justice. Just waiting for the nuts the battery cover screws fit into so even that will fit properly. That was Danny's idea, as I told him, until I first saw that car I'd never seen one with a battery cover but he's insisted it's got to be right. He even got me to take the side repeater indicators off so he could clean the dirt out from inside them with a small toothbrush......
We've left that bloody horrible stainless exhaust on it though. We could have taken it off, sold it and used the proceeds to buy a standard one but then we'd need to change the rear bumper too as that has had bits cut out of it to clear the tailpipes.
Pierre3, I think I would get better at the headling with more practice. It was a pretty stressful experience glueing it down. Three of us in the back garden on an old garden table all shouting at each other. My son and grandson were holding the fabric taut and I was doing the glueing and smoothing. The recess where the sunroof normally goes was the hardest part and left a few small creases. Before I started I read everything I could about how to do it and looked at a few youtube videos. One american guy who did roof linings for a living made it look so easy. Just a few sprays and a quick smooth with his hand. I think that gave me a false sense of confidence, that was until I started the job and my confidence suddenly evapourated and I realised it was not as easy as it looked.
I started at the front with the headling and I think with hindsight it would have been better to have started from the rear and leave the recess to near the end. The Martrim glue also does not slide. It sticks instantly. I wonder if there is another one on the market that does slide which would be better for amateurs?
It was also really essential to wrap the fabric around the backing and glue it to the back. I asked about that on here if you remember.
The grab rails were a pain getting them to screw back in position. I literally spent an hour on each one. I used longer ss bolts with a flanged head. The other things like the centre console and alarm sensor just clipped in and were easy.
The headling looks OK now all the fittings are back. No one else has commented on the couple of small creases. It is just that I know they are there.
Gilbertd wrote:
StrangeRover wrote:
Smart motor that is Richard.
It is. It is OldShep's old car. It was pretty tidy when he sold it but the guy that bought it neglected it and caused a few more problems by following the advice of 'experts' on facebook. Since we got it, it has had a new headlining, sunroof seal, the drivers seat and steering wheel have been cleaned and re-dyed, a pair of new rear brake callipers, metal brake pipes, a couple of brake hoses, new water pump, rocker cover gaskets, valley gasket, power steering pipes, a couple of tyres, a Marty special DSP replacement, new window switchpack, new heater blowers, HEVAC zebra strip, throttle body heater gasket (and the brittle plastic pipe replaced with copper LPG pipe) and various other bits and pieces. The valet guy did a superb job on it, and the picture doesn't really do it justice. Just waiting for the nuts the battery cover screws fit into so even that will fit properly. That was Danny's idea, as I told him, until I first saw that car I'd never seen one with a battery cover but he's insisted it's got to be right. He even got me to take the side repeater indicators off so he could clean the dirt out from inside them with a small toothbrush......
We've left that bloody horrible stainless exhaust on it though. We could have taken it off, sold it and used the proceeds to buy a standard one but then we'd need to change the rear bumper too as that has had bits cut out of it to clear the tailpipes.
Puts mine to shame I must say.
Hi Richard, I don't wish to sound pretentious but getting the screws and captive nuts were the first thing I did when I bought my P38. When I got the cat home I noticed that one of the back screws had no spring on it, and the front captive nut was missing out of the front grill bodywork. I ordered three new screws and captive nuts from Rimmer Bros, if I remember correctly.
Dave [if I can shorten your forum name !], the grab handles were a bit awkward to replace, indeed. When I did the first handle I fecked about trying to carefully poke holes through the material in the correct position, but I soon realised that doing it that way was pointless. So, I screwed the fitting screws into the roof a few times, to see what the angle was and how far up the roof screw hole was, then I just got hold of the handle, forcefully [!!!] held the handle back against the return spring and just forced the screw through the material until I felt it meet the screw hole.
Once I found that that worked the other handles went in fairly easily.
The reading lights above the back seats were a bit of a pain and I found the easiest way to get them back in position was to first use a longer screw to get the light located, then screw in one of the two original length screws, and finally swapping the longer screw for the second, original shorter screw.
I think that any of the adhesives for sticking roof lining material are all instant bonding. I asked four different suppliers of material adhesives whether it was possible to move the material after it was initially stuck down. Each one said "no" as the adhesive is a contact adhesive. I think that the only way it would be possible would be to spray adhesive on only one side of either the material or the roof panel, and I think that then the material wouldn't adher properly. It seems that when the adhesive is sprayed onto a surface it immediately sticks to that surface but also then expects another layer of adhesive to be laid on top of it, and the two surfaces stick firmly together. I don't think you would get very far glueing one side only.
If I may say, you would have been better starting at the back of the panel because then the material has been able to adher to a large section of the panel before you get to the sunroof opening and all the humps and bumps around the opening. I think that I may have recommended making sure to glue down the material on the "underside" of the panel. The only parts where ther needed to be only a small turnover is over the door edges, because the roof panel has to fit comfortably into the door seal channel. I think too much could mean the material starting to bunch on the back of the panel.
I did leave generous amounts glued to the "underside" of the panel where-ever I could, but the edges around the sunroof opening didn't allow for very much extra at all.
I absolutely agree about expecting it to be easier having watched an American video. If you saw the same one that I watched it shows a guy with the panel on a work table and using an air powered spray gun for the adhesive, so that he did the whole panel in about two minutes !!! That guy probably did a panel every week by the look of it.
I think that, if you are like me, you are probably pretty critical of your own work, assuming that it is not as good as original. But I have found that after a few days things seem to settle down, and unless there is a big obvious crease, no-one is likely to notice small bumps in the material, especially when it is around the grab handles because the handle bases cover up most of the imperfections. The way I look at it is that I have saved €500 from not paying some-one else to do the job, and also I would have been really jerked off if some-one else installing the material didn't do any better job than I have - but I had to pay him to do it !!!
Pierre3.
Wow, fitted new headlight wiper blades !!! I'm impressed with my own productivity - I could never have got a job at British Leyland, I'm just too productive.
Pierre3.
I live near BMW mini plant ---- years ago it was British Leyland ---- the might shift used to take sleeping bags to work
I was on a training course once and the Scouser lecturer had a Mk2 Escort that had Ghia badges but Popular black bumpers. When someone queried it he explained that it hadn't been built at Halewood but in a lock-up a few streets away. Seems the whole car had been smuggled out of the factory a bit at a time......
I believe that the Vauxhall plant, in Ellesmere Port, was very similar, the night shift guys all had day time jobs because they could sleep in the factory at night.
I also read in a magazine, a long time ago, about the night shift crews in the BL factories who used to race Dolomite Sprints around the factory grounds. Until two got totalled in one night !!
Pierre3.
Richard ... what a beautiful silver one You've got there. It´s really a pity, that I'm not a collector. One of my all time favourites in outer appearance!
The Duchess has been looking a bit scruffy after several weeks of daily driving, so I treated her to a car wash and a full tank of LPG. She repaid me by blowing a headlight bulb.
Ah well, could have been worse.