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PollyMobiles Rebuild

Quiet little car meet at Herrington country park near Sunderland with afew friends from Kuruma UK club

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The old throttle pedal has abit of play in the pivot point, so I took it out to assess

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Found a ball bearing that fits over the existing shaft, welded it onto the bracket to hold the pedal steady

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Replaced the flimsy plastic pedal with a steel plate welded onto the arm and the sparco cover riveted over

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Now it moves much smoother and by leaving out that stiff pedal spring, the throttle response is soo much sharper & lighter

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I was curious to try out these Mist type windscreen washers found on european cars like citroen saxos, ebay £6, to see if they're any better than the old water pistol jets


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hole is obviously different to the saxo but it kinda holds, need to figure a better mount, but looks much sleeker

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it sprays a wide flat line just above the wipers parking spot, would've preferred it slightly highly, but it spreads & wipes so much better :cool:

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the plastic printed catch can screw lids kept absorbing oil vapour over time & swelling, which seizes the thread against the glass jar when unscrewing and just spins the jar. so I keep ending up having to cut the screw lid off and print another :rolleyes:

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this time I print the lids 1% bigger so it fits looser to reduce jamming and wrapped some duck tape around the jars for the jubilee clips to grab tightly onto

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in order to machine long pieces on my mini-lathe, such as making a new catchcan container, I'll need to make a rigid steady rest to support the overhanging end.

taking inspiration from this image, I measured & calculated the required geometry for my lathe

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fired up my chop-saw and after a long, loud & hot few hours of precision cutting with sparks going everywhere, I managed to make these awesome precise pieces

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tacked together to form a solid octogan

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to fit the lathe like this, I luv precision :)

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I little bit of black silicon sealant will hold those washer jets in place just fine. I did that upgrade years ago to the Micra. Plus additional pipes which run along the wiper arms with an additional pump. This runs off a small (1ltr) bottle mounted in the middle of the car for better weight distribution, and less weight, OEM bottle takes about 5Ltrs (5kgs).
 
I little bit of black silicon sealant will hold those washer jets in place just fine. I did that upgrade years ago to the Micra. Plus additional pipes which run along the wiper arms with an additional pump. This runs off a small (1ltr) bottle mounted in the middle of the car for better weight distribution, and less weight, OEM bottle takes about 5Ltrs (5kgs).

awesome ;)
 
so 2 months ago in April, our 25yr old combi-boiler eventually failed (water flow pressure switch mechanism no longer works).

mom heard she was elegible for the governments free-boiler scheme on her pension so we applied, engineer assessed our 2 house joined property & DIY heating system, stating all the dodgy plumbing & radiators will require replacing and disconnected the boiler too cos there's a gas leak.

but now the prob is that moms pension for this application was registered to house #81 where the gas meter is, but the combi boiler was fitted in #79 next door heating both houses, although she owns them both and technically registered as one address.

so he couldn't start till he had proof she owns them both and they're classed as one address from the council. this mess took 2 months of no hot water or heating for the various offices to slowly clarify :rolleyes:

the quotes veered wildly from £650 to £free only to be told last minute that the senior manager looked at this unusually major operation and decided she needs to contribute £1000! of her pension cos it requires 4 engineers over few days to rip out the entire old system and fit a complete modern new boiler, plumbing, filters, radiators & controls.

2 months just to be ripped off? :mad:
if we were selling the place or can afford the non-essential luxury of having a fancy bells-whistle modern central heating properly fitted & guaranteed peace of mind, then £1000 for approx a £3-4k install may seem a good deal over long-term investment

BUT tbh the current system works just fine for us, just needs a good flush.
we were only after a new boiler without breaking the bank, ideally free.

so I decided instead to flush & fit a new boiler myself which is cheaper, faster, more convenient.
got a flushing & treatment kit from screwfix for £13 :)

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time to flush the 25yr old, non-filtered, non-inhibited heating system with mains water first and JESUS christ! the first few buckets were just black & clogged up with big flakes of burnt rusty scales, no wonder the boiler kept malfunctioning :eek::oops:

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removed each radiator and flushed the black sludge out of them. this is such a labour intensive job running up/down the house few times, I'm dripping of sweat.
interesting to see our old childhood wallpaper hidden behind it :D

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added the cleaning treatment and running the boiler pump over the next few days till I buy the new boiler :cool:
 
I'd be a bit careful Paul with what you post on an open forum, not sure of the legality of fitting a gas appliance if you are not CORGI registered..........
 
I work with gas standards in my day job, please get the final gas installation bit done by a Gas Safe engineer. I have seen the consequences of when it goes wrong, it is not pretty...
 
I'll get it checked over once I've finished it all.
me & dad installed & maintained this boiler ourselves for the past 25yrs no problem, so fitting the new one should be a doddle :)
 
welded up the steady-rest frame

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drilled & cut the slots for mounting the support arms

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made the adjustable ball-bearing roller arms

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and this is the assembled jig :cool:

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installed like this

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tested with a long pipe and even though the small worn spare bearings needed replacing, the jig worked :) (will be using it to make a better steel catchcan)

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to make thread cutting on the mini-lathe easier, under control, safer & more precise, I made this removable hand crank

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the little pegs engage into notches I grinded on the end of the chuck shaft while the threaded end would squeeze an o-ring outwards when tightened, which locks the hand crank in place

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pegs engaging little notches on the spinning shaft

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it all works a treat, much easier to machine threads now :cool:

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postman arrived and yay! the new magnetic filter has arrived :):D

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instructions etc

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here's the unit, swirling the fluids around a magnetic core

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simple construction.
interesting to find that the plastic sleeve, which captures the rusty black magnetite for easy removal, is made to spin with the fluid around the magnet shaft via directional scoop vents at the base so that it gets an uniform coating of debris

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plumb fittings ready to install tomorrow :cool:

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wednesday car meet with afew friends on another gorgeous day

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Those Magnaclean filters are pretty great. We had one installed in my mum's house and the amount of crap it grabs of the system is scary!

I rarely seem to post on here (just lurk a lot ahah) but needed to say the level of detail in this thread is amazing, as is your whole build.
I'll go back to lurking now

Sent from my XT1562 using Micra Sports Club mobile app
 
Thank you Gng4T9R for the compliment, I appreciate it :D indeed this filter is sooo effective :cool:

so after running the cleaning solution through the system for the past 3 days, I drain & flush it all out.
the first few buckets were this dark & murky water with very fine black particles.
took many more buckets till it slowly got clearer with less particles.

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time to fit the filter. Soldered the new fittings onto the return pipe

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installed & re-filled the system, looking shweet :cool:

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even after just 1min of running with water that appeared clear, it still caught all this hidden crap :eek:
dayum it's impressive :)

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with the new mini-lathe steady-rest I'm now able to cut this large thread for the steel catch can :D

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wirebrushed the old paint to reveal a shiny smooth container :cool::cool:
I really should've done this beforehand so the rollers didn't have to run through the rough paint coating

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checking the magnaclean this morning it still caught these fine debris

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Ohh yess :cool: I now have a fresh can of oyster sauce to replace my old rusted air filter shield :D

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to prevent the hand crank from annoyingly popping out, I rearranged the tacho sensor disc for more space and made this screw end cap which holds the peg inside the notch I cut

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machined this short piece for the lid

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an issue with clamping such a short thin pipe and trying to cut threads is that the chuck squeezes it out of shape therefore the tool cannot cut smoothly each time it passes the clamps, ruining the quality

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since the chuck will deform a thin walled pipe in order to get enough traction, I used a long pipe where the chuck end just deals with spinning, the steady-rest rolling on the bare steel pipe deals with keeping the other end very steady & round, allowing the tool to cut smoothly & consistantly

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the cut is much smoother

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lol managed to find another oyster sauce can to replace my old rusty filter shield :D

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after alot of machining, I managed to make a clean sharp threaded cup & lid but for some reason the two pipes had different diameters and couldn't match em :rolleyes:

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so I found another thick walled pipe in garage to remachine next week...
 
Cumbria Auto Show 2018

joined the CCS convoy group at washington services on an early 6am to begin driving towards cumbria :sleep:

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arriving at the venue under the blazing sun. briefly had to park on dusty gravel nearby the full tarmac stand

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moments later there was more room to park up on the concrete. Alistairs pickup truck dwarfing mine :LOL:

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he had some spare LED bulbs which didn't fit his pickup, and since it fits in my rear cluster he said I could just have em for helping with his stickers earlier that morning :)

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so much brighter

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slightly cooler indoors with the show & shine and cafe, way from the heatwave outside

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familiar Pao I saw at JAE 2016

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lawrences supra :cool:

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interesting 350z arch styling

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after a long scalding hot day with everyone leaving early, it was just mine left on stand. had to air out the hot sauna inside the car before leaving, good time for another few solo photos :D

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'the 4 shades of grey' :p
joining few more friends for food before heading home.

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machined the screw lid from the same diameter pipe as the container. cutting threads & parting off with the hand crank is soo much easier & safer

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unfortunately trying to match the male/female threads was frustratingly difficult probably cos the pitch is too fine. it was too tight and kept easily cross threading :confused:

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so plan B is to use an existing male/female screw thread of similar diameter rather than reinvent the wheel.
found these old round restaurant table stands in storage with similar 75mm diameter

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chopped the cast iron legs off

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mounted onto the lathe and machined it down to form a screw lid

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welded some plates onto the ends

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grinded off the excess to end up with a completed screw can :cool:

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fits in the existing mount nicely

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after many more revisions, I redesigned the catch can with this simple layout which flowed the best, steel pipes remain welded onto the casing, easy to inspect/service with the screw top.

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machined & welded the pipe fittings onto the case

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1 completed & fits in the bay very nicely. 1 more to make & paint before testing :)

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finished the 2nd catch can

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both installed.
on this warm sunny day, the steel cans felt stone cold after cruising down the motorway with cool air blowing from under the headlights, although not cold enough to condense vapour under such warm ambient temps.
but once stationary for afew minutes in town, they quickly heat soaked from the lack of airflow, hot engine bay and especially that radiator fan blowing hot air around.
so I'll need to make an enclosure shield for it

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painted

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painted & laquered silver

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needs a shield to keep the heat away so I trimmed the old enclosure to fit

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that's better, the cans are kept abit cooler and condensing a thin film of vapour after a little drive

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last minute E85 car meet with Kurtis & Kevin on this boiling humid day right after I finished the catch cans

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check out these mental drag cars

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omg these turbos are huge! bout the size of my head :eek::LOL:

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a warm sunday evening meet at The Cafe

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later we followed frankie over to redcar. a little micra / civic sandwich here :D

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tuesday night met up with Dave & Robyn at teesside park for some grub & smelling air fresheners lol.
whilst eating, the annoying swarm of seagulls kept flying around and even standing on all of our roofs, the cheeky buggars :cautious:

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the old 3d printed nozzle on my electronic solder sucker tool was getting abit tatty & blunt

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so I machined a nice precise aluminium tip on the lathe and is much better :cool:

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a warm sunday evening meet at The Cafe

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later we followed frankie over to redcar. a little micra / civic sandwich here :D

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tuesday night met up with Dave & Robyn at teesside park for some grub & smelling air fresheners lol.
whilst eating, the annoying swarm of seagulls kept flying around and even standing on all of our roofs, the cheeky buggars :cautious:

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the old 3d printed nozzle on my electronic solder sucker tool was getting abit tatty & blunt

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so I machined a nice precise aluminium tip on the lathe and is much better :cool:

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The problem with aluminium in this instance Paul is that you have to rest the tip on the joint being unsolderd and it acts as a very efficient heatsink and cools the solder before it can be cleanly removed. Works OK of you are using a 60/100W solder gun on something large like a connector block but makes life very difficult on fine electronic circuit boards, you tend to overheat the board in an attempt to keep the solder liquid...
 
The problem with aluminium in this instance Paul is that you have to rest the tip on the joint being unsolderd and it acts as a very efficient heatsink and cools the solder before it can be cleanly removed. Works OK of you are using a 60/100W solder gun on something large like a connector block but makes life very difficult on fine electronic circuit boards, you tend to overheat the board in an attempt to keep the solder liquid...

it'll be alright imo, I rarely do fine soldering and when I use the sucker, it's just a quick in/suck/out :p
 
removed the boot handle to proper fit the LED strips

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removed the wiper & key barrel to be smoothed in future since I'll never use em

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covered & painted the holes for the moment

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cut out the old bulb mount cavity

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plastic welded the gap

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stuck down the ebay LED strip and tigersealed a clear panel on to shield it against the elements

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looks cool

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2018-07-15 Volkspower 10 at Redcar

turned up at the redcar rugby club for the show & shine on sunday, initially thought my Nissan had gate crashed a Vdub show :oops::LOL: but any car can enter.
there were so many shiny classic motors but it was such a hot & humid day with these tiny little annoying insects crawling all over the skin & clothes :sick:

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since the boot will be smoothed over, I wanted to clear up this mess of redundant wiper & demister wiring in the boot lid

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simplified & neater wiring

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also fitted & wired up these LED strips under the parcel shelf to light up the whole boot much better than the crap original incadescent candle in the corner

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rerouted the windscreen washer pipe over to the hinge and hidden through the bonnet so that it won't foul the upper strut brace.

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since the citreon saxo mist jets don't match the bonnet holes, I trimmed & threaded the body so I can mount it with a big washer & wing nuts

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replaced the loose plastic clips on the scuttle panel with allen head bolts

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trimmed the catch can enclosure to allow cooling air to flow around the larger steel cans

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a little thursday car meet at the usual Cafe

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for the final LED strip lighting the engine bay, I slipped the bare ribbon inside a clear hose to protect it against rain etc and tied it under the bonnet

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lighting up the whole bay nicely. handy for evening tinkerings or dark car meets

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for toggling the bonnet light I decided to use the rear de-mister switch cos I've removed the circuit so it'll never be used, it'll be a stealthy feature plus the orange indicator bulb will display whenever those LEDs are powered.
I'll also tap into the hazards button nearby for a constant 12V supply.

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machined these plastic bungs to seal the boot lid holes better than the temporary duck tape

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painted & bonded them onto the boot with sealant, looking much cleaner & hidden :cool:

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so finally that's all the LEDs for the bonnet, interior, boot & reg plate sorted & pimped out :p

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I also removed the resistor from the reg LED light for full brighteness and honestly it's fine.
the camera phone struggles to capture the contrast range but in-person it's about as bright as the dimmed rear lights :cool:

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the thin rubber seals on the catchcan lids weren't staying flat, making them leak

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so I trimmed a whole new piece out of some old rubber wellies :D

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went to a classic car show in Runswick on sunday for a brief moment, took afew snaps.
it was too warm, too many annoying bugs, didn't know anyone there, kinda bored and needed the loo. so I headed all the way home

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looks nice & bright at night, camera overexposing the reg lights

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ok so the new catchcans ain't working too well in that warm corner behind the headlight with all the heatsoak.

I decided it's best to put em back at the grill where it's coldest and route the pipes on the warm side of the shield so that only the cans are chilled/condensing while the pipes are kept warm/unclogged in the engine bay

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the pipe angles are too steep where the silicone hoses can't be bent much without kinking and would end up being cooked by the exhaust

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so I'll have to angle them 45deg and now replumbing all the hoses

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making a neater hose coupler for where the dump valve and PCV breather all join at the turbo inlet

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Corrected the angles of the hose coupler

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Finished sorting all the hoses, access to the catchcans is much easier now.
I'll need to figure out a more solid way of mounting the cans onto the panel in future.

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After a brief test drive on this hot humid day, the catchcans are staying a lot cooler to help condense the vapours.

I also noticed that the dump valve is noticeably quieter
 
after a week in Brussels helping a family friend setting up a venue for a big party in the unbareably intense 37C humid heat wave sweeping across europe, it was such a relief to return back home at normal british temperatures :cool:

car meet at the cafe next day :D

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with Dave & Robyn

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later went to Redcar for food

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