PollyMobiles Rebuild

[pollyp]

time to rip out the engine loom to replace that faulty alternator wire

oops, with half the wires snapped off the terminal, a blotch of bad solder plus a loose connection where I crimped this red cable to the original/oxidised alternator 14v cable, no wonder there was a huge voltage drop to the battery

peeling all the old tape off, most of which was all brittle & very oily inside after 24yrs

so here's the layout of this engine loom.

I had a dilema of whether to keep the 24yr old white/red alternator cable & "black connector block" (neater) and crimp a new section of cable to the alternator end (more connections, more voltage drops, more failures),

or run a single, fresh, thicker cable (less connectors, less resistance, more reliable) from the alternator and simply bolt it to the cars loom separately to the "black connector block" (cos it uses a special blade terminal).

...decided to just replace that cable and began wrapping it all together (I only had red electrical tape )

fed it through the engine

you can see where I bolted the new thicker red alternator wire to the white/red wire leading the to the fusebox (bolt was later heatshrinked).
so the original "black connector block" just holds the black/yellow starter solenoid wire now.
I also joined the white/green cable & white/red cable into 1 lug terminal (make it neater) where it's bolted to the battery cable.

tomorrow I'll finish securing the new loom, and the new earthing wire

 

[pollyp]

the old P-clips are too small for the thicker cables, so I just flattened them out like this and tied the harness to them

all secured and now battery reading a good 13.2v (loaded) 14.3v (unloaded) and 0.3v voltage drop from alternator to battery.
I think the battery fuse section of the fusebox still has abit of resistance there but overall it's a big improvement

 

[pollyp]

my centre punch broke few months ago, so I just machined a new piece on the lathe and it's working again, easy fix

wednesday we had the last car meet of the year plus a secret santa gift round

one of my good friends also surprised me with a nice drawing of kassandra
luv it soo much, I added it to my wall of driving memories

 

[pollyp]

Good news, she passed her MOT with flying colours this year!
only advisory was a small nail on the rear tyre.

I'm used to seeing her initially fail on some minor things each year like worn joints, blown bulb, sticking seatbelt, rust, emissions, etc
I even ordered another spare set of spherical bearings just incase.

but nope, everything was tip-top.

This makes a nice change for xmas

 

[pollyp]

shortly after passing her MOT, Kassandra finally surpassed her magical 200k mile mark

 

[pollyp]

my friend with a Zafira was after some custom side window louvres

I traced the window shape from clear vinyl onto some perspex sheet (was suppose to order tougher polycarbonate but ended up with more brittle acrylic perspex sheet)

trimmed into shape

marked the louvres

dremelled & cleaned the slots

clamped down each section and slotted a steel sheet under the slot

after warming with a heatgun, I lift the steel plate at a set angle to evenly open the louvre shape

I accidentally snapped a brittle section off whilst removing the clamps hopefully I can glue it

vents all formed

painted the backside black, leaving the other side glossy

 

[pollyp]

the old brittle switch cover on my pillar drill was recently damaged

so I printed a new one

fixed

time to replace this loose fabric under my boot lid

fastened a spare cover with rivet nuts

 

[pollyp]

brought this independant 4-jaw chuck on ebay in the hope of centering the part for better accuracy

100mm dia 4 jaw independant chuck vs 3 jaw self-centering chuck

the backplate has holes for the 3-stud & 4-stud pattern

unfortunately it turns out the jaws are not machined perfectly parallel to the spindle axis so this rod piece spins wonky with some serious run-out (rod axis doesn't follow the lathe spindle axis)
guess I'll have to figure later how to regrind the jaws straighter

swapped back to the original 3-jaw chuck and is perfectly straight. guess the cheap 4-jaw chuck skipped some quality control

 

[pollyp]

grabbed a few slim drinks can to weld onto my decat pipe hehe

 

[pollyp]

was thinking the oyster sauce covered air filter was probably picking up some warm air behind the radiator so sometimes it feels pokier when the coolant or ambient air is cold vs other warmer times

perhaps I could relocate the coolant tank and duct the filter over to the wing panel away from heat & rain much like on Dave Shaws blue turbo micra

wiring loom may have to be rerouted from the bottom hole

printed this adapter cone for the oyster sauce can to fit some cheap 100mm flexible ducting

selected 100mm for larger area, less restriction to compensate for the turbulate tubing, plus it's only £2 for 4" duct compared to £30+ for the 2.5-2.75" duct

shortened the excess length of the pipe too

once ducting is finished it'll hopefully keep heat away from the intake

 

[pollyp]

made a compact coolant tank from an old bottle of vinegar, alloy pipe and a bracket sandwiched between the cap (which as a bonus prevents the cap top from fully sealing, allowing air to leak past the thread gaps and venting the bottle. could drill extra holes if needed)

fitted next to the radiator

enlarged the hole in the wing section to slot the flexible ducting through

 

[pollyp]

tday I chopped the larger hole for the ducting

cusioned the sharp edge with some silicone tubing

and fed the ducting through the hole

also curled up this coolant bottle hose to keep the fluid level nearby the rad cap & reduce the air gap

ducting taped onto the air filter shield/adapter

went for a test drive and oooh there is definately a noticeable difference, it feels more pokey throughout the revs with less flat spots whether the engine is hot or cold

also fitted my m8s new window louvre onto their zafira, had to patiently bend it with the heatgun to follow the curvy glass. looks cool

 

[pollyp]

decorated the de-cat pipe with some beverages

the tape melted off so I'll probably have to jubilee clip it next time

 

[pollyp]

designed this mount to fit my dremel onto the mini lathe to straighten the 4 jaw chuck

3d printed the parts

bolted onto the slider

dremel clamped on

used a loop of steel wire to preload the ends of each jaw under tension to simulate the clamping stresses

marking the jaw face with red pen and then doing a light initial pass, you can clearly see just how warped these cheap jaws are to begin with.

this explains why they only held at the very tip of the jaws allowing the rod/material to move/wobble around inaccurately

going through several very light passes with the dremel until all the red pen was machined off resulting in a straight surface aligned to the spindle axis

 

[John_D]

Very inventive solution to the problem Paul

 

[pollyp]

thank you John

just numbered each jaw and then re-centered the chuck & rods and the run-out is a lot better.
it ain't perfect, there's a 5thou difference between near the chuck and 6 inch along the straight rod, but it'll do