belts tightened and odd idling problem -

indeed this morning I got up bright and early to get the alternator belt and as it turned out the air con belts re-tightened. Turned out both had slackened off after being replaced last month. Has it done the job, find out on the next cold start but I reckon it will be fine.

To save time this morning I went out last night and got petrol and the car had this really bad cold idle, it was trying to idle at about 500rpm. It managed it after a minute or two but it never really felt like it could sustain it. One the way back from getting petrol it was idling around 400rpm. Now I was impressed that it was even holding an idle at that speed, hardly any sound from the engine just a light purring.

So this morning I was all ready to adjust the idle and yet it was just fine. Idled at a steady 1200rpm when cold and when warm an easy 750. Just like it should. Weird but I reckon more to do with the cold spell we've been having and sitting for week in that weather doing hee haw.

Must also get brake fluid to top it up. Time for new discs and pads for the front/ More money, sigh

alternator belt - still screams like a beeetch

yup going to get it looked at again. Now this belt has always sqeaked since the new one was put on so I'm not expecting to pay for this but no doubt there will be some complication.

Grrrrr

de-cat complete -

indeed the cat has been removed as I do not need this for the MOT. Mega thanks to Calum for doing this esp considering how cold it was and he was doing this in the eve after his work.

Does the car feel any different? Dunno, tried booting it in 2nd gear = huge wheelspin so tried again in 3rd = huge wheelspin so guess I'll wait til spring time to try that lol.

Calum also commented on how sh1t the brakes were and driving back to back with another tubby, yup my brakes are sh1t of the highest order. They work yes but the pedal travel is farily huge and the feel is soft. On checking the pads / discs we know the pads are low ( the fluid level warning light comes on under hard acceleration ) but the discs have a fair size wear ridge on them :-(

Now I've always thought the brakes had too much travel on them and on 2nd application they do seem a good bit harder but not altogether brilliant. So some new discs and pads will be ordered in the new year which will be accompanied by new tyres.

Another fecking clifford alarm problem. The turbo timer was been de-activated when the wiring for the alarm ( and the correct number of sensors wired in grrr) was fixed. Now I don't use the turbo timer but the fecking thing is there so it SHOULD bl00dy work. However, its not worth the hassle getting it fixed especially after the time since the wiring was fixed and me noticing the darned thing don't work.

Ho hum

bye bye CAT -

indeed the CAT is going but not without a HUGE fight. Darned thing was soo loose in the exhaust that everytime it got hit with a cold chisel, it flew up the exhaust lol.

So the whole downpipe is getting removed and then the CAT will literally just fall out. Which it just has done. Now its just putting everything back together again ho ho.

Many thanks to Calum for doing this, I guess more profiteroles on order eh? Might need something else lol


cheers bud

no Goodyear F1 tyres -

yup the crappy rear tyre size of 225x50x15 has mucked things up again. I'm going to have to take the plunge and for a new tyre type. Dont like this but if the prefered choice is no longer made then changes are afoot.

My current thinking is the Dunlop SP9000 which when changing the fronts too is going to be 400GBpounds. Ouch, but thats still cheaper than new wings or a written off car.

Buy them in the new year I reckon