[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I wonder what glue you would have used? I do have JB Weld, but it would have been almost impossible to apply pressure while it set. It would have been less brittle than my superglue mix. What do you think?

I must admit I rarely use super glues these days. I just use JB weld. I find it works quite well even if not pressed together. We fixed Peter float mechanism in his carburettor with it. Just added a few tiny do lips on it.

I also added a few drops of JB weld on the back of that plastic stand of my multimeter, just for additional strength. I have used it to fix a leak in the gutter of our neighbour. So far I have not come across any application, where it did not work.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Yesterday I continued finishing all the little remaining items on the Jeep. These were all the bits and pieces Peter and I had not put back on the Jeep yet. As I mentioned we concentrated on all the stuff that required both of us and I would finish a few small things by myself.

Here are all the bits I still had to install and put in a new bolt for the track bar.



It was quite a challenge figuring out where the two little brackets went. Luckily I knew I had taken images of these before, so it was just a matter of trawling through my previous posts.





The inspection cover on the tranny went back in as well. Funnily enough, I had tried putting that back, with Peter earlier. After 15 minutes of fiddling, we just gave up. This time I put it back in about 2 minutes!!



Next the track bar. Pretty straightforward. It is important to have the car sitting normally on its wheels and suspension or the bolt won't go in.





I put my brand new bolt in and torqued it to the required 100Nm.





Unfortunately, never made it to 100 Nm, it broke at about 85-90 Nm!!!



In all honesty, I thought 100 Nm was pretty high for an M10 bolt. But then again this was a 10.9 quality bolt. So I did some checking. Sure enough 100 Nm is way too high!!



I also had to pry out the nut with the broken bolt from the chassis bracket. Took me about half an hour.



I phoned the part shop that supplied the bolt. They double-checked that they had given me the correct bolt. So I went onto a Facebook Jeep Cherokee group and asked for advice. It seems that somewhere in the late 90s Jeep changed the specification for these bolts. Another guy had run into the same problem as me.

On the newer Jeeps, it is a 10.9 bolt that requires only 75 Nm. So I got myself a new bolt and torqued it up to 75 Nm!!





That was all the remaining jobs from earlier. Next, I decided to replace the valve cover gasket. It was leaking and I had a spare one, so I thought I might as well have a look under the valve cover.

Getting it off is easy. Unclip the various cables and hoses, undo the 15 bolts and that's it. Very easy, unfortunately, I broke one of the CCV attachments.



I was very pleased by how everything inside the valve cover looked. All clean and no crud or anything. That is good news, especially on such an old engine as this.





I checked all the bolts/nuts on the valve rockers. Then I fired up the engine to see how it was running.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6WqUIq6OPc

Here is the interesting thing: No piston slap to be heard!!! I checked the rockers for excess play. These are hydraulically operated and can be adjusted. If the play becomes excessive, you have to pull the cylinder head and replace the little piston underneath the valve rocker arms. BIG job.

I called Peter, but neither of us could come up with a plausible explanation for why the piston slap would have disappeared. We thought of two things. One of the rockers touched the inside of the valve cover. But there is nothing to see, so very unlikely. The other explanation, the valve cover acts as some sort of speaker and amplifies the sound. Again, not very plausible. We will see what happens when we put everything back again.

First things first. Lots of cleaning. I extracted all the oil on top of the rockers and various cavities with my vacuum brake bleeder. Effectively a liquid hoover!!





Next, a lot of cleaning and polishing, removing old washers, grommets and gaskets.



With everything clean time to start the installation. The gasket set comes with new grommets.



You push them inside the (15) holes in the cover.



Next, the spacers are pushed in and the cover is ready to go back on. Put the gasket on top of the cylinder head.



I found that with the new gasket in place, uncompressed, the valve cover sat a couple of millimetres higher. I could not get the bolt holes to line up properly because it was touching one of the hose clamps. So I undid it, moved it up the hose and everything lined up nicely.



Put all the bolts back in and tightened them up very carefully. Starting in the middle and working my way outwards to the front and the rear. If you don't use the correct torquing sequence or over-torque chances are the gasket will leak right away.

I added a bit of oil on top of the rockers before I put the cover back on. I always write the date I opened the bottle and for which car the oil has been used.



I use J&B weld to fix the CCV, next morning I took the Jeep for a test drive. The good news, no oil leaks from the rear crankshaft seal, the crankcase or the valve cover!! Also, the piston slap is a whole lot less!!

The bad news: the engine hesitates now and then above 60-70 km/h and the CCV snapped again. I need to fix that because it does draw in false air. It also has a very faint whine

So I decided to put a little pipe inside it.



I put the Jeep back in my garage and listened to the engine with my stethoscope to see if I could find anything out of the ordinary. I found that the injectors on cilinder 5 and 6 were barely, if at all, ticking during idle. I pulled the plugs and they were a bit corroded, cleaned them and put them back and it sounds better now.

I will need to figure out how to put the CCV back into the valve cover. The grommet has become very very hard. I will try my trick by putting it in boiling water. If the worst comes, I will have to replace it.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Ever wondered why cars have clock springs? Read on and all will become clear!!

According to Wikipedia:

In vehicle steering systems a clock spring or clockspring is a spiral-wound special rotary electrical connector which allows a vehicle's steering wheel to turn while still making an electrical connection between the steering wheel airbag and/or the vehicle's horn and other devices and the vehicle's electrical systems. The clock spring is located between the steering wheel and the steering column.

In the "old and simple" days, you had only one button on the steering wheel, the horn. And there have been a few cars, that did not even have that. The horn was mounted on a stalk or worse. Even so, it means you need to establish an electrical connection between the rotating steering wheel and the steering column. Fairly easy with only one wire. It is usually a brass ring mounted on the steering column and a carbon brush mounted on the back of the steering wheel. Very simple very effective.

But these days, steering wheels have multiple buttons and also an airbag!! My Jeep also has cruise control buttons on it. And you might also find audio controls on it and plenty of other stuff. Enter the clock spring to connect all of this.

A broken clock spring is easily identified because none of the buttons on your steering wheel will work and the airbag light is on permanently. So in my case, the airbag light was on, the horn did not work and neither did the cruise control.

Here is my old clock spring I opened up. It is called a clock spring because it looks, you guessed it, like a clock spring. Duh



And here you see what is broken, the end of the clock spring has been torn off the base plate. These are simple soldering connections.



A clock spring can only be turned a certain number of turns, usually about five, which is also about the norm of your steering wheel full lock left to full lock right.

Clock Springs break, because sometimes of age. Or in my case as I was working on the steering box. To remove the steering box I had to disconnect the steering column from the steering box. You really need to fix the steering wheel so it doesn't turn. Because if it does and it does more than 2,5 runs either left or right, the above is the end result.

Clock springs are expensive to buy!! But usually fairly easy to install. Let's have a look. First of all and this is really important, you need to check the workshop manual on safety instructions regarding the airbag!! In the case of the Jeep, you need to disconnect the battery and wait at least two minutes before starting to work on the airbag.



The airbag unit is held in place with two small bolts at the back. Once you undo those two bolts you can take the airbag out partially. You need to disconnect the three wires.



One airbag and horn assembly!





This is what your steering wheel will look like with the airbag removed.



Undo the central nut partially.



You will need a proper pulley puller or steering wheel puller to get the steering wheel off the column. Leave the nut on. It will provide some extra space for the puller and it will prevent the steering wheel from jumping in your face when you tighten the puller!!



This little puller set has served me well. Very handy!!



Although this is a simple job, as always I do read up on my manuals and I check some YouTube videos.



Next, various bits of trim need to come off.





The clock spring is held in place with two small plastic clips and it has two electrical connectors. With the trim removed you have easy access and can pry it all apart and remove it from the steering column.



As per my "Standard Operating Procedure" checking old and new parts.



New clock springs come centred with a special locking pin inserted to hold it in place. It is important to first mount it correctly on the steering column before removing that pin.





With the locking pin removed, everything can go back on and is torqued to spec.



With everything back together, reconnect the battery, fire up the engine and check everything is working properly once again!

In all honesty, I could have just soldered the broken clock spring back onto the base plate. My Jeep workshop manual also has a procedure for centring a clock spring. (New ones should come centred with the locking pin). But even though clock springs are expensive, I decided to go for a new one. I just don't like any potential problems with my steering wheel airbag not working. Also, according to murphy's law, it is very likely to fail again the day I need to take it for its MOT. No horn is an immediate fail!

I have come across a guy on YouTube who fixed his Jeep clock spring. somehow he had managed to snap the actual flat cable in the middle. No idea how he did it, but he just soldered the two ends back together and claimed it never gave him any trouble. I am all for restoring old parts, but with the clock spring, I don't take any chances.

Jeroen

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I did a tiny job on my Polo yesterday. The clips had broken off one dashboard ventilator, metal over melted-plastic posts: the plastic posts had broken away. I used a combination of superglue and sodium bicarbonate, which turns the runny glue into an instant-setting gap filler.

I wonder what glue you would have used? I do have JB Weld, but it would have been almost impossible to apply pressure while it set. It would have been less brittle than my superglue mix. What do you think?

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I must admit I rarely use super glues these days. I just use JB weld. I find it works quite well even if not pressed together. We fixed Peter float mechanism in his carburettor with it. Just added a few tiny do lips on it.
So far I have not come across any application, where it did not work.

Jeroen

I have used JB Weld for everything from fixing a broken wooden chopping board to preventing rust in running board in a car. Only thing with that is you have to prepare the surface and clean the mating surfaces. As for the curing time, it takes just about half a day instead of the 15 hours as recommended by the American manufacturer.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I have used JB Weld for everything from fixing a broken wooden chopping board to preventing rust in running board in a car...

Yes, it is wonderful stuff. Far superior to 2-part epoxies I used previously. I haven't touched Araldite for 20 years!

In the kitchen, I have repaired a small pestle (grinding stone) that split in two, and resurrected a whisk where one of wires sprang from the handle, by creating a extra 1/4-inch section to the handle.

I used to find superglue spectacularly useless, until I discovered that industrial stuff is far from useless! I use an Indian brand: Anabond.

[arijitkanrar]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Ever wondered why cars have clock springs? Read on and all will become clear!!

I have come across a guy on YouTube who fixed his Jeep clock spring. somehow he had managed to snap the actual flat cable in the middle. No idea how he did it, but he just soldered the two ends back together and claimed it never gave him any trouble. I am all for restoring old parts, but with the clock spring, I don't take any chances.

Jeroen

This is excellent! Thank you and a very nice job!
Oh and a very nice warning sign on the dash! Love it!

I have a noob question, how do you ensure that your steering is centered while mounting it once you remove it?
Because I'm thinking that the mounting must be made when the wheels are dead straight and the steering wheel also has to be dead straight?
Are there any tools or procedures for this?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by arijitkanrar

Oh and a very nice warning sign on the dash! Love it!

I have a noob question, how do you ensure that your steering is centred while mounting it once you remove it?
Because I'm thinking that the mounting must be made when the wheels are dead straight and the steering wheel also has to be dead straight.
Are there any tools or procedures for this?

The warning sign on the dashboard is a bit of a carry-over from when I still worked in the merchant navy and offshore industry. Whenever equipment was serviced, we made sure that all the various start and main breakers were immobilised and had signs like this on them.

About the steering being dead straight. Absolutely! Well spotted, I did forget to mention it.

A new clock spring comes locked in place with this pin all centred. So the steering wheel must be dead centre too. It is sufficient to just eyeball it. So the wheels are straight and the steering wheel straight.

The steering wheel has two flat surfaces inside the mount on the steering column, so you can only fit it in the correct position. On some cars, this is not the same and you can just move the steering wheel a bit, depending on how the internal teeth of the column and the steering wheel align. If that is the case you might have to mark the correct positions before you remove the steering wheel.

The Mercedes W123 has a special feature in the steering box to centre the front wheels and the steering wheel. You insert a special pointy little bolt into a special hole in the steering box.

You can see me using it here when I had the steering box overhauled and re-installed everything.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-d...ml#post4468498

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Earlier this week I spend another day with Berdnt working on the illustrious starting problem on the Austin Somerset.

I usually show up at 10.30 at Berndt's place, about a 12-minute drive from ours. First, we have a coffee and Berndt always has some new things he wants to show me in his museum. I took a few images of some of the models I found interesting.

The iconic Mr Bean driving his also iconic Mine, sitting on top of it!



These Matrix models are always fantastic. Handmade and always in very limited numbers, less than 500. A Mini carrying the body of a Marcos.



Paul McCartney's Mini



So many nice models here, but the DB1 is very special. The 1:1 version is very very special too, with only 15 builds!



Although Berndt told me he had this model Sicitalia for decades, it was the first time I spotted it. It's not difficult to miss something in Berndt's museum with over 7000 model cars!!

I have never come across this brand/model. But spanner mate and professional classic car valuator Peter had. And put a price of one million Euro on it!! (The real one, not Berndt's model!



Back to the Austin. Berndt had bought, at my insistence, a new capacitor, new points and new plugs. I checked the new capacitor with my multimeter. One of the measurements you can do is an ohm resistance. Put your multimeter on the highest range, preferably above a couple of M-ohms. the highest range on my multimeter is 20M-ohm. Short the terminal of the capacitor to ensure it's not charged. (depending on the type of capacitor you might have to add a resistor)

Touch the capacitor connections with your multimeter probes and observe the reading. In the space of a few seconds, it should go from very very low resistance to infinite. This new one did, but all the other older capacitors took much longer and only went up to about 2 M-Ohm. So this was a big improvement.



We fitted everything and at long last we had a good spark at all spark plugs. But the engine still would not start. Also, now we had another problem. There was petrol leaking out of the carburettor everywhere!



So we took the carburettor off, once again and took it apart for cleaning. Carefully as we had no new parts!!



To get the carburetor off we had to take the valve cover off too.



Here is something new we learned/found out. There are two venturi mounted on the bottom of the float chamber. They have this square hole in them. The bolts holding the float chamber to the carburettor main body have a square end which fits into it. So the bolt is effectively a tool as well! Very handy. Bringenuityinuity at its best!



Petrol had also just leaked into the intake manifold, quite the puddle.



With everything cleaned and put back together the little Austin still would not start. We had also gotten some fresh new Petrol because this did not smell good anymore. It was at least 3-4 years old. So we filled up the tank with about 12 litres of new petrol. Run the engine for a few minutes to pump through the fuel lines and the filter before hooking up the fuel line back onto the carburettoretor. Also filled up the float chamber with fresh before assembly.

Still, the little Austin would not start.

So took out all the spark plugs once again and did a compression test. This little engine has a compression ratio of 1;7.2 Which by the way is the modified newer version. Originally it had even less, quite normal for cars in the 50s.

Berndt has the same compression test gauge as I do. (HBM)



Compression is very very good for a 70-year-old car. But even so, 7 bar is pretty low in general, especially if you consider we are using fuel with octane 98. Because here in the Netherlands all Octane 95 petrols are E10 and that will surely kill an old engine like this one. But various 98 fuels have no ethanol at all.

Time to start looking for some tips and suggestions in the workshop manuals. But nothing really that gave us a clue.



I wanted to make sure we had the ignition sequence properly set up. The manual states 1, 3, 4, 2 which is more or less the norm for 4-pot engines. But you also need to get the correct spark plug lead onto the corresponding hole on the distributor. Normally, you would put piston number 1 in the top dead centre using the markings on the flywheel. The Austin does have these markings. But to get access to them you need to take the gearbox off!! British engineering ingenuity at its worse!!

So I decided to figure it out using some basic four-stroke principles. With both valves closed the piston will be near or just passed the top dead centre. So Berndt broke out the old traditional crank handle and we rotated the engine.



With both the inlet and outlet valve closed, I took off the distributor cap and the rotor will point more or less, to the respective lead that needs to go onto spark plug 1 in cylinder 1. For good measure I also had Berndt crank the engine whilst I observed the rotor, to see its direction of rotation. Anti clockwise as it turns out. That gives us the sequence for hooking up the other spark plug leads!



With everything back together again, it still would not start!!! I am going back later today. One of the things I want to try is to increase the spark advance. As we are using a high-octane fuel the spark needs to come a lot earlier than with low-octane fuel.

I also managed to work on the Jeep a bit more. Earlier this week I got a call from my local CarGlass guys. I had been to them to see about a new front window. I have decided not to do this myself. I have replaced the odd car window myself, but only the ones that are held in place by rubber. This one is glued and is a real pain to get off. I don't want a leaky front window. So I will pay a bit more and have the professionals do it. They were not entirely sure whether their front window would fit. So they ordered it and when it arrived called me for a test fit!



Fits fine, so I made the appointment. It will be fitted in about a week and a half.

I managed to fix the broken CCV with JB Weld.



As per my usual method, I dunked it in boiling water. Peculiar image, you are looking straight down into my electric cattle into which I have hung the CCV with a piece of metal string!



The boiling water did make the rubber grommet a lot more pliable and soft. But it was still difficult to get it back in. Still need to JB Weld it to the other end. But as the little pipe goes into the hose for about 50mm, for now, some gorilla tape is sufficient to ensure we have no false air anymore.



During earlier test drives I had also gotten a Check Engine light. I have never used my OBD scanners on the Jeep yet! But it does work. I tried both of them.





I found a P0304 code, which means a misfire on Cylinder 4. There are several possible causes for a misfire. Air leak, bad spark, bad fuel injector, bad coil to name a few.



I did a few simple tests with pilot gas, to see if I had an air leak anywhere, but no air/vacuum leaks I think.

I decided to pull the spark plugs. Look what I found! The gap on spark plug number four was almost closed and the electrode on number 5 was bent as well.



I spoke to Peter about it. The problem is that my spark plug socket is missing the little grommet that holds the spark plug in place as you re-install them. This means you are very likely to drop them as you try to manoeuvre them into the cylinder head.

Fixed the spark plugs, and checked the gap on the other four. Removed the distributor cap, cleaned all the contacts, pulled all leads off, and cleaned them. Everything is back together. Next, I spend about an hour and a half pulling electrical connectors on the PCM and TCM units and wiring.

Took the Jeep for another test drive and all the problems are solved!! Very happy about that!! Big relieve.

One thing about my OBD scanners. My Autel scanner should also be able to scan a lot of live data. But you need to have the correct software for your car model and type installed. Autel did not have anything for Jeep. Afterwards, I had fixed the Jeep I spend some more time fiddling with the various Software update packages. I notice they did have Chrysler. No models, just Chrysler per year. I downloaded it and installed it on my scanner. Seems to be working fine and lots of live measurements. Now I just need to figure out in some more detail what they all are as some of the descriptions are a bit short and or vague.

It took me forever to figure out all these updates and I messed up my scanner a few times. Would not show half the stuff it is supposed to. Sorted it in the end.


I wish I had this earlier. Because the live data feed would have helped me to diagnose the bucking problem and whether it was indeed the transmission/converter lock-up solenoid.

Time to go Berndt and have another day of spannerring (the 5th or 6th, I have lost count) to get the little Austin running!

[cka]

1-2 buttons on steering wheel of my S Cross 1.3 were not functioning last year and even after multiple diagnosis at A.S.S. the issue kept re-appearing. Finally I found a video on youtube with similar issue which said that changing clock spring may solve the issue. Service center advised me against it but I still went ahead and got it changed. Finally the issue was permanently solved.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by cka

1-2 buttons on steering wheel of my S Cross 1.3 were not functioning last year and even after multiple diagnosis at A.S.S. the issue kept re-appearing. Finally I found a video on Youtube with similar issue which said that changing clock spring may solve the issue. Service center advised me against it but I still went ahead and got it changed. Finally the issue was permanently solved.

Thanks for sharing. In the case of the clock spring, either all buttons on the steering wheel work or none. Also, if you have an airbag on the steering wheel a broken clock spring will always mean the airbag warning light will be on permanently.

When I just got my Jeep the buttons on the Cruise Control were not working properly either. According to the manual, you can't repair them. However, I did manage to pry them out of the steering wheel and soaked them in contact cleaner. That did the trick!

So I spend most of my day at Berndt's place again. He had, again, just received a new model car which he had put up in his model car museum.



Berndt, at my insistence, had finally cleaned up his workbench. Till now the only space we had to work at, was the little metal box that is sitting on top of the drawer.



After our customary coffee, we started working, once again, on the Austin Somerset. For some reason, we had lost the spark once again.

I double check the new capacitor and also measured all spark plug leads and coil leads. The coil is an original Lucas and has a very wonky electrical connection at best. It is almost impossible to think this electrical connection held out all those years.

The end of the wire is stripped and then folded around a little metal O-ring. There is a plastic coupling that is supposed to press it against a metal screw. It is wonky at the best of times. Also, the plastic coupling had broken off. So it wasn't pushing the wire/O-ring securely against the screw deep inside the coil.



We experimented a bit with various improvised solutions:



This is our mkIII version and it worked reasonably well. We cut off the coupling, so it was straight again and added multiple small rubber O-rings on the wire. Now when tightening the coupling it would push the wire with its wire/o-ring firmly against the screw inside the coil.



That repair did make a noticeable difference. But I was still concerned that although we had spark it was very very weak. I had tested the coil multiple time.

You test a coil with a multimeter set to resistance measurement. Rule of thumb. the primary coil should be between 0,5 - 6 ohm and the secondary coil should be a factor 100 higher, so in the 5-6 k-ohm. Which it was. We also checked the values of other coils. Including the one on Berndt's other Austin Somerset, Ollie. I was getting identical readings. Still, I was not sure. Taking measurements of a coil is never a hundred percent foolproof. If the readings are way off, you can be sure the coil is a dud. But with good readings, it doesn't mean it is working properly. So in the end we decided to swap the plug from Ollie (which was working) to this Austin.

The connections were a bit different, so I had to push the coil lead into it. Nothing to fasten it with other than a bit of tape.



We also added a bit of cooling liquid as we noticed it was low.



The moment of truth:

https://youtu.be/9sFUc6Zu6rI

Finally, finally, we got this engine running again!! Very happy with it. After running it for some 15-20 minutes Berndt decided to take it for a little spin around the block.

The engine stopped working after about 250 meters! I had to bring my Jeep and tow the Austin home.



It appeared as if there was something with the fuel. We pulled the float chamber and sure enough, it was empty!! No wonder it stalled. We will need to investigate next time what caused it. I think the test drive in combination with the 12 litres of fresh fuel we added, must have stirred up all the sediment in the fuel tank. That blocked either the fuel line (there is no filter between the tank and the pump) or it blocked the pump, ruined a valve or so.



Anyway, we are very happy and relieved we finally managed to get this little engine running again. It had us stumped for quite a while. Remarkable how something so simple, can be so difficult to diagnose and fix.

We will need to look at the fuel problem but that should be easy.

Berndt and his wife Loes are going on a holiday and by the time they return I will be away on holiday. So it will be a while before we continue.

I have decided I need another car. I have been looking at the new Mini. I am looking at the earlier Mini Coopers, 2002 - 2004. I am going to see one today. Fingers crossed!!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Some of you might have noticed that although I do the odd repair job on Mrs D Ford Fiesta, I don't appear to do the regular annual maintenance.

There is a story to it.

We moved from the UK to the Netherlands in 1986. At the time we had only one car. A Volvo. I usually wrote my bicycle to work so Mrs D had the car to do the shopping and take the kids to wherever they needed taking. The late eighties, long before the mobile phone era.

One day I get a call from my wife, whilst I am at work. Immediately I could hear she was very stressed. The Volvo with her and our three little children had broken down on the motorway. It was also pouring rain. Somehow she had managed to get our whole family back home, but she had left the Volvo on the slipway of the Motorway.

She told me in no uncertain terms: I don't care what you do with that Volvo, but you are not to bring it home. You will go out and buy me another car right now and bring it home with you tonight. It needs to be reliable and properly maintained. You are not to fiddle with it!!

By the end of this year, we will have been married for 40 years. Mrs D's trust in my spannering skills is still not sufficient to let me do the regular maintenance on her Fiesta.

She is fine with me fixing stuff such as the AC or bits of the suspension as you have seen me do on this thread. But the annual maintenance needs to be done by our local Ford Dealer. 40 years of marriage is not a solid enough basis of trust it seems!

That's ok. Regular maintenance on the Fiesta is not expensive. They also throw in free MOT and free roadside assistance in case of a breakdown.

Our Ford Fiesta is the 2015 version. We bought it second-hand in 2016, less than a year old with about 12500 km on the clock. To date the most expensive car we ever bought. But it has done very well. This week the Fiesta will hit 100000 km. More importantly, it has never let Mrs D stranded anywhere.

We are going to keep it for at least another 4-6 years, if not more. The next car we buy will need to be electric. So apart from official Ford Dealership maintenance, we take very good care of it. Well, we meaning, I do all the odd jobs and cleaning. I don't want to be sounding sexist, but it is a fact that most women see their cars as an extension of their handbags.

So this little Fiesta is always full of all kinds of stuff. Stuff, so I am assured, all of it is essential to Mrs D's well-being and comfort. Even so, whenever I clean her Fiesta I just chuck it all out. Essential it might be, it is never missed!

Mrs D is about to take a trip to the UK this coming week. Which means I need to get the Fiesta ready. So I check all five tires for correct pressure. Fill up the window washer reservoir. Check oil (not once have I added oil to the Fiesta). Muck out the interior and give the car a really good scrub down.

As you might recall about half a year ago I went to this detailing workshop and subsequently bought all the kit to go with professional detailing. I have so much of this stuff, I still need to look up, what bottle to use for what.





I will tell you one thing though; this rotary thingy has made my life so much easier! It is ideal for waxing. It takes me less than 10 minutes to wax any car. Polishing would take a lot longer, but that is usually a once-a-year job.



Yesterday was ideal car detailing weather. 19oC and overcast!



Everything comes out and gets cleaned very very thoroughly!





Outside and inside full detailing! I like this little car. We have had a long string of Fiestas over the years. We probably owned just about all the different versions. This one is by far the nicest. Even after eight years and a hundred thousand kilometres it is in very good nick. The paint is still in excellent condition, the seats are still firm, and the interior is 100%, with no tears or damage or anything like that!

Most Fords I find are very good cars. They tend to drive extremely well, really good chassis and they are put together quite well. Parts are relatively inexpensive. Over the years, apart from the many Fiesta I have owned a Ford Sierra, Mondeo and a Focus. All company tin of course.









I also filled up the Fiesta will petrol and programmed the TomTom, so Mrs D is all set to go!

Yesterday whilst rummaging through Berndt's garage to find a specific tool I stumbled upon this "Twinny Load". A bicycle carrier to fit onto a tail hook.

Berndt had it for more than ten years but never uses it, so it gave it to me.





There are a couple of parts missing, but I can get those easily. I am going to fit it onto the Jeep today and see if both Mrs D's electrical bicycle and my sport bicycle will fit onto it.

I am looking to buy another car for myself. Because, well why not?

I don't want anything boring. So most modern cars are out. Also no black, grey, or white and it must have cruise control and air conditioning.

And at least 100K on the clock.

I am going to look at this Mini tomorrow!



Always sort of liked the new Mini. If anything it is a bit different.

Jeroen

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Yesterday whilst rummaging through Berndt's garage to find a specific tool I stumbled upon this "Twinny Load". A bicycle carrier to fit onto a tail hook.

Jeroen

We learn a lot from Jeroen's Encyclopedia of Automobiles everyday.

Is it a bicycle carrier ? It looks as if it can withstand the weight of a motorcycle. A typical no-frills bicycle would weigh about 9 kg. A small 50 cc scooter might weigh about 30 kg. The thick gauge metal used in the Twinny Load looks adequate to bear even a load of 50 kg.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Prowler

We learn a lot from Jeroen's Encyclopedia of Automobiles everyday.

Is it a bicycle carrier ? It looks as if it can withstand the weight of a motorcycle. A typical no-frills bicycle would weigh about 9 kg. A small 50 cc scooter might weigh about 30 kg. The thick gauge metal used in the Twinny Load looks adequate to bear even a load of 50 kg.

Thanks. Bear in mind this is just one of the oldest and simplest bicycle carriers available. Mind you, most regular bicycles weigh a lot more than 9 kg. A racing bicycle might be around that weight.

But my light weight touring bicycle comes in at almost 16 kilogram. Add some accessories and you are looking at a few more kilograms. An E bicycle will easily weigh well over 25-27 kg! If you carry two of them you will always carry more than 50 kg!

The limiting factor is how much weight (force) is allowed to be on the tail hook. Tail hooks are certified and will only be allowed to carry a certain amount. In practice it is somewhere between 50-75 kg. The bicycle carrier itself will weigh in at 6-9 kg. So you can see that on some cars you won’t be able to carry two E bicycles.

And these days more E bicycles get sold than regular bicycles. Kids go to school on E bicycles!

Notice these carriers have full lights as a normal trailer and are hooked up electrically as a normal trailer as well. It will also require a white registration plate showing the same registration number as the car.

In the Netherlands when your are pulling a trailer or a caravan, the weight will determine your maximum speed. Under 3500 kg it’s 90 km/h, above 3500 kg it’s 80 km/h.

The bicycle carrier is regarded as a structural part of the car and no special speed limits are required. Some European countries have different max speed regulations.

Stay tuned, I am going to mount it tomorrow!
Jeroen

[Kurrant]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

S

So this little Fiesta is always full of all kinds of stuff. Stuff, so I am assured, all of it is essential to Mrs D's well-being and comfort. Even so, whenever I clean her Fiesta I just chuck it all out. Essential it might be, it is never missed!

Thousands of kms apart and I have the same story to tell!

[Jeroen]

Just bought the Mini this morning!
I had to drive home, get it insured and as we speak/time I am on a train back to the garage to pick it up. Unfortunately my wife is out and also no friends available, so public transportation it is.

Very happy with it. I spoke to the BMW / Mini dealer where it was bought and maintained for the last 13 years! So this should be a car to drive more than to fiddle with. At least that’s what I am aiming for!

Jeroen