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PollyMobiles Rebuild
- Thread starter pollyp
- Start date
SuperUno
Buy & Sell Member
Paul a couple of questions for you... (and others with similar setups)
When you changed your rear trailing arms to adjustable ones, did you notice an improvement in handling?
What do you adjust on the arms, and how did you 'set them up' ?
Currently do some work on the back of our Micra and pondering fitting them, current set up is standard with uprated bushes but these are all done a lot of work...
When you changed your rear trailing arms to adjustable ones, did you notice an improvement in handling?
What do you adjust on the arms, and how did you 'set them up' ?
Currently do some work on the back of our Micra and pondering fitting them, current set up is standard with uprated bushes but these are all done a lot of work...
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pollyp
Club Member
I'm using whiteline adjustable lower trailing arms and panhard which are polybushed.
they don't directly improve the handling compared to stiffening the front end (cos the rear end is soo light and often on 3 wheels)
instead they allow you to realign the rear axle closer to perfect center so it doesn't 'crab'
first step: adjust the panhard till the wheels are equally spaced to the arch lip and axle is centered.
next I adjust both lower arms to shift the whole axle/wheels forward/back to clear the exhaust and make the wheel sit concentrically to the arch.
finally I adjust one of the trailing arms to align the axle till both rear wheels with my laser aligner points equal distance from the front axle meaning the back wheels are pointing straight.
with the back end straight, I can align the front wheels
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pollyp
Club Member
car sitting on all 4 wheels on a level platform, 1/2 tank, no luggage
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pollyp
Club Member
the old gas burners on my parents takeaway shop wok cooker have rusted away so it's time to make some new ones
chopped & slotted a few spare stainless pipes on the bandsaw
attempted to TIG weld em since it's good to practice but ffs TIG is soo cumbersome with all this extra cables/pedals/hoses, it takes sooo long just to weld this short section cos I was really uncomfortable and my lighting was horrible. everything about it was going wrong
in comparison I grabbed the MIG and tack tack tack it was all welded up in just a few secs! soo much easier & faster
to keep the open end (where air enters) centered to the gas nozzle tip, I simply tacked these 3 rods inside each tube
installed & tested the new pipes. the flame appeared bright yellow (like a candle, not enough air) and lacked velocity (slots were too restrictive for the larger air intake size)
so I cut larger 2mm slots with the angle grinder to allow more gas flow
and now there's a more blue, faster & hotter flame
think I'll need to add an extra tube inside like on the original burner to "premix" the gas before it fires out of all the slots for a fuller flame.
a local exhaust shop lad needed this flange modelling up in CAD (cos the ebay flanges doesn't feature the original sealing groove)
so he can get loads of em laser cut to make downpipes
was a quick easy 20min job
chopped & slotted a few spare stainless pipes on the bandsaw
attempted to TIG weld em since it's good to practice but ffs TIG is soo cumbersome with all this extra cables/pedals/hoses, it takes sooo long just to weld this short section cos I was really uncomfortable and my lighting was horrible. everything about it was going wrong
in comparison I grabbed the MIG and tack tack tack it was all welded up in just a few secs! soo much easier & faster
to keep the open end (where air enters) centered to the gas nozzle tip, I simply tacked these 3 rods inside each tube
installed & tested the new pipes. the flame appeared bright yellow (like a candle, not enough air) and lacked velocity (slots were too restrictive for the larger air intake size)
so I cut larger 2mm slots with the angle grinder to allow more gas flow
and now there's a more blue, faster & hotter flame
think I'll need to add an extra tube inside like on the original burner to "premix" the gas before it fires out of all the slots for a fuller flame.
a local exhaust shop lad needed this flange modelling up in CAD (cos the ebay flanges doesn't feature the original sealing groove)
so he can get loads of em laser cut to make downpipes
was a quick easy 20min job
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pollyp
Club Member
painted the new seat belt brackets and seat frame
trimmed the original rear speaker covers to fit my new flat speaker shelf
experimenting with where to put the LED brake strip.
putting it lower down the screen, it's either obstructed by the stickers inside or I'll have to stick it outside at the bottom of the glass which doesn't seam as clean, hidden, secure or durable
with it inside the top and pointing backwards, it's protected behind the glass, easier to wire and appears brightest but it shines under the spoiler and the spoiler also obstructs the angle below horizon, meaning tall HGV in traffic won't see it
taped underneath the spoiler pointing down, the light reflects neatly off the glass and is visible from a much higher angle but requires the wiring to go through the un-used rear washer hole which ain't too hard tbh.
I prefer this option.
trimmed the original rear speaker covers to fit my new flat speaker shelf
experimenting with where to put the LED brake strip.
putting it lower down the screen, it's either obstructed by the stickers inside or I'll have to stick it outside at the bottom of the glass which doesn't seam as clean, hidden, secure or durable
with it inside the top and pointing backwards, it's protected behind the glass, easier to wire and appears brightest but it shines under the spoiler and the spoiler also obstructs the angle below horizon, meaning tall HGV in traffic won't see it
taped underneath the spoiler pointing down, the light reflects neatly off the glass and is visible from a much higher angle but requires the wiring to go through the un-used rear washer hole which ain't too hard tbh.
I prefer this option.
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pollyp
Club Member
time to take a peak inside this spare CG13 I brought 2yrs ago
https://www.micra.org.uk/threads/pollymobiles-rebuild.35251/post-778455
the top side looks really clean, it's either low mileage or had regular oil changes
taking the head off, areas of the original headgasket constantly exposed to the coolant jacket is soggy and crumbling as usual
but look at all this thick solid crystallised coolant build up around the cooling jacket/ports
it's either from being stored all dried up for yrs (the clumps are wayy too thick & dense for that),
or it's more likely the previous owner once used that terrible radweld crap
or they haven't changed their coolant often enough.
removed all the big chucks
cooling ports in the head look pretty clogged full of coolant gunk or radweld and heavily pitted where it faces the open-deck cooling jacket.
all the valves & chambers appear very good & even so it used to run well.
picked most of the clumps out the ports but it'll need a good flush and possibly skimming?
https://www.micra.org.uk/threads/pollymobiles-rebuild.35251/post-778455
the top side looks really clean, it's either low mileage or had regular oil changes
taking the head off, areas of the original headgasket constantly exposed to the coolant jacket is soggy and crumbling as usual
but look at all this thick solid crystallised coolant build up around the cooling jacket/ports
it's either from being stored all dried up for yrs (the clumps are wayy too thick & dense for that),
or it's more likely the previous owner once used that terrible radweld crap
or they haven't changed their coolant often enough.
removed all the big chucks
cooling ports in the head look pretty clogged full of coolant gunk or radweld and heavily pitted where it faces the open-deck cooling jacket.
all the valves & chambers appear very good & even so it used to run well.
picked most of the clumps out the ports but it'll need a good flush and possibly skimming?
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pollyp
Club Member
yup I'll do that
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pollyp
Club Member
such a clean motor
scraped the HG residue off the head with a razor till it's flat
don't like how the corrosion has seeped towards the fire-rings. this head will need skimming before I use it in future
lightly bolted the engine back together to be stored for another time
scraped the HG residue off the head with a razor till it's flat
don't like how the corrosion has seeped towards the fire-rings. this head will need skimming before I use it in future
lightly bolted the engine back together to be stored for another time
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pollyp
Club Member
added an LED light to my TIG helmet to help see what I'm doing before welding.
the cooker burner I recently made had an uneven flame due to the fast jet of gas shooting straight down the large hollow tube and immediately exiting freely out the rear half of the slots,leaving the front half empty
to replicate the original layout, I machined a few extra pieces to add an internal pipe which allows the gas/air to fully mix within the length of the inner chamber first before flowing along the outer chamber and exit evenly across all the slot nozzles
joined the inner tube to this washer ring which holds the tube centered and seals the outer chamber
welded it to the outer tube.
the stepped gap I cut at the bottom is to allow air to enter & mix with gas in the inner chamber
added the end plate which locates & support the burner on the gas jets
and now the burner has a much wider flame area
the cooker burner I recently made had an uneven flame due to the fast jet of gas shooting straight down the large hollow tube and immediately exiting freely out the rear half of the slots,leaving the front half empty
to replicate the original layout, I machined a few extra pieces to add an internal pipe which allows the gas/air to fully mix within the length of the inner chamber first before flowing along the outer chamber and exit evenly across all the slot nozzles
joined the inner tube to this washer ring which holds the tube centered and seals the outer chamber
welded it to the outer tube.
the stepped gap I cut at the bottom is to allow air to enter & mix with gas in the inner chamber
added the end plate which locates & support the burner on the gas jets
and now the burner has a much wider flame area
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pollyp
Club Member
this standard Numax S075 battery I fitted in july 2019 is already starting to die
-often takes at least 3-4 cold cranks to fire it up
-when running, it only gets upto 13.8v
-drops to 12.38v soon after shutting off
-and loses 0.1v per day even when it's unplugged
-topping up the water and trickle charging also made no difference.
so I got another one at work tday except it's the Premium Numax 075 CXT low-maintanance (calcium which may last longer?)
hooked it up, reads a full 12.6v to start with.
started her up and wow she instantly fired up after 1 cold crank
running with heater fan off, lights off, stereo off, it now reads exactly 14v so the alternator is working fine.
shutting off after warming the engine up for few minutes, it now sits at a healthy 12.75v
Overnight it's at 12.56v
hope this battery lasts abit longer than 2yrs
-often takes at least 3-4 cold cranks to fire it up
-when running, it only gets upto 13.8v
-drops to 12.38v soon after shutting off
-and loses 0.1v per day even when it's unplugged
-topping up the water and trickle charging also made no difference.
so I got another one at work tday except it's the Premium Numax 075 CXT low-maintanance (calcium which may last longer?)
hooked it up, reads a full 12.6v to start with.
started her up and wow she instantly fired up after 1 cold crank
running with heater fan off, lights off, stereo off, it now reads exactly 14v so the alternator is working fine.
shutting off after warming the engine up for few minutes, it now sits at a healthy 12.75v
Overnight it's at 12.56v
hope this battery lasts abit longer than 2yrs
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pollyp
Club Member
For the past few days I left the old S075 battery on the trickle charger and now it fully charges upto 14.10v and holding a steady 12.60v 
I also tested the electrical system for any parasitic drain and it's at 30mA when parked with a brief 60mA spike once per min probably from the GPS tracker, so there's nothing unusual that could drain the battery.
Maybe the extended battery connections in the engine bay are rusty and need some cleaning.
The battery cells may have also calcified slightly back in summer 2020 lockdown when I was slowly rebuilding the sills & windscreen for weeks and the battery drained below 12v?
Drove the peugeot to work for the past snowy week to keep salty snow away from kassandra but now that it's stopped, I can drive her again with a new battery.
machined this rear window washer for feeding the new LED brake light wiring through
The peugeots old rear caliper has been seized for awhile now with a weak handbrake.
Even though I brought a spare caliper weeks ago, this damn brake nut was really stuck and rounded off my brake nut spanner, stopping progress before the snow came.
So this week before the rain comes, I put a small tack weld on the nut to stop the spanner spinning
It worked, the nut loosened off the caliper but was still really fused onto the brake line so I simply spun the whole caliper off without damaging the brake line
Now I can swap all the good bits over to the spare caliper such as the rubber piston boot and bleed screw
The new caliper handbrake lever works much better
Fitted and working but the handbrake cable still sticks slightly so it doesn't fully release
Adding a tension spring to pull it back helps the handbrake release fully now
It's satisfying to have a fully working handbrake that doesn't bind anymore
I also tested the electrical system for any parasitic drain and it's at 30mA when parked with a brief 60mA spike once per min probably from the GPS tracker, so there's nothing unusual that could drain the battery.
Maybe the extended battery connections in the engine bay are rusty and need some cleaning.
The battery cells may have also calcified slightly back in summer 2020 lockdown when I was slowly rebuilding the sills & windscreen for weeks and the battery drained below 12v?
Drove the peugeot to work for the past snowy week to keep salty snow away from kassandra but now that it's stopped, I can drive her again with a new battery.
machined this rear window washer for feeding the new LED brake light wiring through
The peugeots old rear caliper has been seized for awhile now with a weak handbrake.
Even though I brought a spare caliper weeks ago, this damn brake nut was really stuck and rounded off my brake nut spanner, stopping progress before the snow came.
So this week before the rain comes, I put a small tack weld on the nut to stop the spanner spinning
It worked, the nut loosened off the caliper but was still really fused onto the brake line so I simply spun the whole caliper off without damaging the brake line
Now I can swap all the good bits over to the spare caliper such as the rubber piston boot and bleed screw
The new caliper handbrake lever works much better
Fitted and working but the handbrake cable still sticks slightly so it doesn't fully release
Adding a tension spring to pull it back helps the handbrake release fully now
It's satisfying to have a fully working handbrake that doesn't bind anymore
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pollyp
Club Member
checked the old peugeots caliper as to why it seized.
the piston is perfectly clean and smooth.
aaand there's the reason.
the rubber dust seal at the back of the caliper has failed,
allowing dirt & water to seep inside the handbrake shaft every time it's actuated
until all the grease dries up,
the shaft rusts and jams up within the brass hole making it difficult to engage/disengage the RH caliper handbrake.
good thing I replaced the whole caliper now.
the piston is perfectly clean and smooth.
aaand there's the reason.
the rubber dust seal at the back of the caliper has failed,
allowing dirt & water to seep inside the handbrake shaft every time it's actuated
until all the grease dries up,
the shaft rusts and jams up within the brass hole making it difficult to engage/disengage the RH caliper handbrake.
good thing I replaced the whole caliper now.
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pollyp
Club Member
time to replace the 7mth oil filter and 2yr fuel filter
opening up the K&N fuel filter, the bonded element has stayed intact but I noticed some very tiny specs of metal in the residual fluid at the bottom. it's either from how I chopped it open with the tin-snips or it's from the tank/pump/dirty fuel
paper seems clear
opened the oil filter
and slightly concerned I found 3-4 tiny shiny flakes in the paper upto approx 1mm maybe bits of bearing or cams
catchcan condensing 300ml of water vapour over 500miles probably due to the recent freezing snow
opening up the K&N fuel filter, the bonded element has stayed intact but I noticed some very tiny specs of metal in the residual fluid at the bottom. it's either from how I chopped it open with the tin-snips or it's from the tank/pump/dirty fuel
paper seems clear
opened the oil filter
and slightly concerned I found 3-4 tiny shiny flakes in the paper upto approx 1mm
maybe bits of bearing or cams
catchcan condensing 300ml of water vapour over 500miles probably due to the recent freezing snow
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pollyp
Club Member
I've looked back at all my fuel filter records and the concluding verdict seems to be:
AVOID the cheap £3 filters which disintegrates or fall apart inside
Go for the more expensive £13 quality branded filters which stays intact
haven't even used the QFF0061 filter yet but I think I'll replace it with a Mann soon
AVOID the cheap £3 filters which disintegrates or fall apart inside
Go for the more expensive £13 quality branded filters which stays intact
haven't even used the QFF0061 filter yet but I think I'll replace it with a Mann soon
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pollyp
Club Member
time to remove the leaking sump over the weekend
looks like a piece of hard sealant was caught on the pickup mesh?
the turbo oil sump looks fine inside, just need those rear 3 welds sealed up
wirebrushed all the old sealant off the engine block
put new sealant on the spare normal oil pan and fitted. hopefully it'll no longer leak again
found some damn cracks where the center beam only touchs 1/2 the depth of the cheap crossmember and eventually fractures the 0.8mm tin-foil spot welds apart
quickly welded it back together for now to spot any rattling but I'll have to reinforce that section again in future
brough a Mann WK66 filter on ebay for £6 and immediately replaced the QFF0061
spark plugs a little lean. gonna have to reinstall my wideband gauge someday and see how it's running.
looks like a piece of hard sealant was caught on the pickup mesh?
the turbo oil sump looks fine inside, just need those rear 3 welds sealed up
wirebrushed all the old sealant off the engine block
put new sealant on the spare normal oil pan and fitted. hopefully it'll no longer leak again
found some damn cracks where the center beam only touchs 1/2 the depth of the cheap crossmember and eventually fractures the 0.8mm tin-foil spot welds apart
quickly welded it back together for now to spot any rattling but I'll have to reinforce that section again in future
brough a Mann WK66 filter on ebay for £6 and immediately replaced the QFF0061
spark plugs a little lean. gonna have to reinstall my wideband gauge someday and see how it's running.
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pollyp
Club Member
sump no longer leaks and is bone dry underneath now
opened up the un-used QFF0061 filter and I'm soo glad I fitted a higher quality Mann filter cos look at how crap & uneven the binding sealant is, may as well use white chocolate
recently noticed she kinda 'clunks' once only inbetween hard acceleration & coasting
checked all the engine mounts, lower arm bushes, center beam and exhaust v-bands are all tight.
doesn't rattle or clunk going over bumps or cornering and steering doesn't pull/veer 1 side so the suspension seems fine.
lifting and checking the wheels, the front RH tie-rod end has a bit of play so guess I'll need to replace both rose-joint rod ends
opened up the un-used QFF0061 filter and I'm soo glad I fitted a higher quality Mann filter cos look at how crap & uneven the binding sealant is, may as well use white chocolate
recently noticed she kinda 'clunks' once only inbetween hard acceleration & coasting
checked all the engine mounts, lower arm bushes, center beam and exhaust v-bands are all tight.
doesn't rattle or clunk going over bumps or cornering and steering doesn't pull/veer 1 side so the suspension seems fine.
lifting and checking the wheels, the front RH tie-rod end has a bit of play so guess I'll need to replace both rose-joint rod ends
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pollyp
Club Member
removed the worn tie-rods
cut & machined the threaded end
machined this thick edge off the new rose joint so that both sides of the weld are the same thickness
used a section of old M12 wheel stud to hold the 2 pieces together
TIG welding em together was painfully slow.
I still have issues to getting comfortable and not seeing the weld clearly.
the slow pace puts a lot of heat in the steel and being cautious of melting the PTFE joints I had to let it cool down inbetween every inch if weld.
I could've MIG'd it but this seems a lot neater.
painted & fitted.
the longer threaded section now covers the full length of the tie-rod shaft instead of the last 25mm so it'll be abit stronger too.
cut & machined the threaded end
machined this thick edge off the new rose joint so that both sides of the weld are the same thickness
used a section of old M12 wheel stud to hold the 2 pieces together
TIG welding em together was painfully slow.
I still have issues to getting comfortable and not seeing the weld clearly.
the slow pace puts a lot of heat in the steel and being cautious of melting the PTFE joints I had to let it cool down inbetween every inch if weld.
I could've MIG'd it but this seems a lot neater.
painted & fitted.
the longer threaded section now covers the full length of the tie-rod shaft instead of the last 25mm so it'll be abit stronger too.
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pollyp
Club Member
engine was still clunking on/off throttle so I rechecked all the bolts and found this front mount bolt was slightly loose
tighten it and no longer clunks now.
there's still the odd few squeaks & rattles in the back but that's for another day to fix.
the next major squeaking/clunk to sort out is the sloppy steering rack mount
tighten it and no longer clunks now.
there's still the odd few squeaks & rattles in the back but that's for another day to fix.
the next major squeaking/clunk to sort out is the sloppy steering rack mount