The Dark Wob

BMW 316i oil and filter changed, and it got a wash.

No photos taken, sorry.

I also washed the parents' C3 Picasso and Kia Sorrento as I had the pressure washer out, and they badly needed it.

The Land Rover has taken a couple of steps back, as somehow dad had got the timing 120 degrees out! Rocker cover and timing cover are back off, and he's since reset the timing, and we double-checked and confirmed it last thing today.

Hopefully the next update will involve a running engine!

DodgeRover wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 9:52 pm I thought you were in foreign climes?

Sorry I was getting you confused with splitorange....

Fucking Saab and its fucking door handles.

A couple of months back I disassembled most of the driver's door, including taking the exterior handle off, in order to tweak a metal tab inside the mechanism so that the exterior handle worked properly.

What's it gone and bloody done? Bent back again, so the exterior handle hardly works. The front passenger door is also playing the same game.

My blood sugar is through the floor right now, I have no energy and no mojo to even look at the fucker, let alone start stripping down the front doors and chasing the boot release button across the ground when I inevitably forget it and rip the door card off with it still attached.

I wonder if there are more long-lasting solutions to the door handle problem, ideally one that doesn't cost the earth or consist of somehow getting hold of unobtanium parts.


I know, I'm basically having a whinge here. Nobody's forcing anybody to read this thread though. It's mostly shit anyway.

Epoxy another bit of metal to it once it's straight to strengthen it?

That's a good shout. If I had epoxy or another bit of metal.

It's a good idea though, and one that warrants further investigation, perhaps when I'm next at the parents' farm.


In other news my fancy powerflex gearbox mount just arrived. That should rid the car of the drivetrain shunt when changing gear / rolling on or off the throttle.

The small matter of fitting it looks like a bit of an arse but far from the worst job to do. Again, something to do either at the farm or a mate's house, rather than on the street where I live.

Working on the street is the best. You get to enjoy the friendly banter of everyone that passes while there's hot engine oil running up your arm or you've just punched the cylinder head skinning your knuckles when the ratchet slipped. Great crack man.
The experience is enhanced when you live next door to a pub.

Yesterday, I got rid of a lot of slop in the Saab's drivetrain through the advent of a Powerflex Heritage gearbox mount.

First, you take out the wheel arch liner, then unbolt the gearbox mount and jack the whole lot up:



Then the end cap unbolts, revealing this:



Then you can take the end cap round to the other shed, put it in a vice and fit the Powerflex bush:



Refitting is a reversal of removal.

The old bush was absolutely buggered. It was starting to tear and had a lot of movement in it. You could feel the whole engine and gearbox rocking on gear changes or if I lifted off the throttle suddenly. Now it's lovely. The solid bush is a bit aggressive, and you get a bit of vibration on idle, but it's still nowhere near as bad as the dashboard-rattling warm idle of an XUD.

Why not a standard bush? Or can't you get them now?

Hooli wrote: ↑Sun May 02, 2021 10:16 am Why not a standard bush? Or can't you get them now?

Powerflex one was cheaper, easier to get hold of, and also much easier to fit, as it comes in two pieces. You just put some assembly grease on (supplied in a little sachet with the bush) and push it in by hand, instead of having to faff about with a press.

I put a powerflex two-piece in place of the top engine mount a few months back, and it was a piece of piss to fit after cutting the old one out. This was the same.

I say two pieces, it's actually three. The two sides of the polyurethane bush, then a metal sleeve that goes through the middle, for the bolt.

Worn bush? Fill the cunt with Tigerseal.