[Jeroen]

So yesterday my wife and me, together with friends went to see Capital Cars & Classics in Amsterdam. This is the second time they are organising this event.

They bring together some fairly high end classic and modern cars. Anything from a Bentley Blower to a McLaren. It’s fairly small by today’s standards, but very well curated and organised. Also, a pretty unique location, the so called “Kromhout” hall in Amsterdam. This used to be part of the famous Stork Werkspoor company. Originally started as a ship yard and later they build marine diesel engines in this building, the so called Kromhout series. I have actually sailed and worked on some of the engines that came from here!

Many people will rock up here in their Capital or Classic car and the organisers have allocated the parking in front of the main building for all those special cars. We took the Jaguar and were immediately directed to a parking spot, right smack in front of the main entrance.

They position this event as something quite luxurious, exclusive and special. So the also bump the entrance price up, Euro 20 (INR 1500 per ticket) to keep out the riffraff.

Hardly no lifestyle stuff this time. One jeweller dealing mainly in watches. Of course there are quite a few brands that have various links with the car industry. E.g. Breathing, Chopard etc) This guy also offered on the spot jewellery cleaning so our ladies had all their rings cleaned and polished.

On the other hand, simple but good drinks catering, from very good coffee to the bubbly stuff. And as always, we bumped into various people we knew and had a nice chat. Afterwards, a nice lunch at the back of the building, the “Cafe-Restaurant Stork”. Have a look, you can still see this is an original industrial building. http://restaurantstork.nl

Overlooking the “IJ” which is the main body of water around Amsterdam harbour. These days a very affluent part of town. When I grew up it was a working deep sea harbour with ships, tugs, barges etc.

Just a few pictures to give a taste of the atmosphere and to show another part of enjoying our car hobby. I have to be honest, there were a lot of modern cars, such as the new Nissan GTR, some fancy Jaguar F sport, but as usual my attention is drawn more to the classic cars.







I must have taken similar pictures (of probably the same car) at least a dozen times, but the details on the Bentley Blower keep amazing me.



Various Mercedes's



A very special Jaguar,



This is the last remaining real 100% Dutch owned car company. Donkervoort. Based originally on the Lotus 7, the owner Joop Donkervoort has been modifying and adding to it till this current day monster!



These days Porsches, any Porsche, are the big thing on any European car show. Even new Porsches could be worth more then their original purchasing price in a matter of a few years. I liked the special head lights on the yellow one, don’t think I ever saw that before.



And some final piccies of various beauties:

[Jeroen]

Just arrived from Germany. New rear shocks for the Mercedes W123!

Note the piece of wire on the shocks? This holds the shock compressed. This type will expand to it’s maximum extension whilst unsupported. So we need to check how to mount these things. Sometimes you can leave the wire in place, but it looks like that won’t work on these.

So we have to compress them by hand whilst installing. I already tried. Just put it on the ground and lean of it. Compresses fine without too much force. The problem here is that you need to insert the shock from underneath the car and there might not be that much room to press home.

We’ll figure it out I’m sure. Stay tuned!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

I was just going through some of my car files and came across an article I wrote for a magazine. I don’t have the original photographs anymore so the quality of the images leaves lots to be desired. But I thought I would share as it is actually quite an interesting job.

As most petrol heads would agree, Alfa Romeo’s are great cars to drive. They should also steer very precisely. On many cars over the years the steering box will wear out. Although in all cases you should be able to adjust the play at some point in time, you will just have to replace the steering box or get it overhauled.

The 105 Series Spider (Duetto, Coda Tronca) were all fitted with Burman steering box. Later models (Series 3 and 4) were equipped with ZF steering box. You will find both types across many other Alfa’s as well

Here the Burman:



Here the ZF:



In general the Burman is considered to be superior to the ZF. It steers more lightly and more precisely and is also less prone to wear. Note, I refer only to the Alfa’s boxes. I would not say that Burman in general is better of worse than ZF. But between the two for these sort of Alfa's, everybody agreed the Burman was the better option by far

The Burman is a recirculating ball type and the ZF is worm and roller type.

We replaced my steering box somewhere late 90’s. In those days a new steering box would set you back some 3000 Dutch guilders (INR 100.000) A completely overhauled box would be about 750 Dutch guilders. The biggest challenge was finding a properly overhauled box for my Spider. They come with the steering column attached. Whereas the box itself is identical for all Spiders and Alfa’s the length of the column varies by type so you want to make sure you get the correct one.

Again, on this job my spanner Mate Peter helped out and also another club member Jan. Jan was at the time also part of our technical committee. Jan also had a huge workshop with a proper lift and any and all tools imaginable.

Obviously, the steering wheel needs to come off. But on my Spider I also needed to open up the underneath panel under the dashboard. Just about everything had to come out or undone.

It meant, literally, spending several hours upside down with my head in the foot well.





Also, in the engine compartment a lot needs to come off. For instance you need to partly remove the exhaust and the complete exhaust manifold needs to come off as well.

Here we are with our trophies: On the left a much younger Peter and on the right a much younger me with the new and old steering box.



When you need to take a steering box out, you need to be able to pull of the various steering rods and so. You will need the proper size pullers for that.

Your biggest challenge will be removing the pitman arm. I have had the same problem when I overhauled the steering box on my Mercedes W123. These are typically attached by means of a very large nut, tightened to very high values. So undoing the nut might be a problem, but even when you succeed in getting the nut off, you might still require hydraulic pulling equipment to get the pitman arm off.

This is supposed to be a pretty straightforward spanner job. It looks us nearly two full Saturdays. And at various points in time having six hands available was hardly enough. Also, you really need to do your research in order to have all the parts handy. Some might not be so obvious.

Obviously, we needed the steering box, duh! I will always use new bolts on a steering box, never use the old ones. Very often these are special bolts in shape and material (strength). So you can’t just use any old bolt. (Note, very important to properly torque the steering box bolts!)

The steering box, at least an overhauled one, usually gets delivered without oil. So you must ensure to have the correct oil as well and not forget to actually pour it into the box before you set off on your test drive!

We needed to take the exhaust manifold off, so we needed new gaskets for all cilinders. Also, the exhaust manifold is held in place with special (oval self setting) nuts. As the exhaust had to come off, again we needed another exhaust gasket too

So in the end it turned out to be quite the job. Good fun with the three of us! If you work yourself on your cars you know how rewarding it is: after the job is done, start the engine and take her for that first test drive! Absolutely great! (if it all works of course!)

In this case, the steering was so much lighter, more precise and no play whatsoever. Job well done.

Last year I noticed a little oil seepage on the steering shaft seal underneath the steering box. In theory you can replace that seal with the box still attached to the car. You can get at it from underneath. But I was dreading to have to take the pitman arm off. But a couple of mates advised me to just suck out the oil and refill the box with a very special heavy duty grease. Which I did, so far so good!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

So my son and I finally decided to tackle the jobs on his Golf GTI ourselves. We got a good quote from an excellent and reliable workshop. About Euro 750-850 (INR 55000 - 60000). 75% of that is labour. So we decided to order all the parts ourselves. So we are ordering, timing belt, tensioner, idle pulley, waterpump, spark plugs, rocker valve cover plus additional seals, cooling liquid and ATF. Stay tuned, it’s going to be quite a massive job! Lots of stuff to undo and move out before you can get at the timing belt.

As I wrote earlier, I made a little mistake when we fitted the front shocks on my W123 earlier. This is how they looked. I’m pretty sure these were the originals shocks as the car has done some 165.000 km only. In Mercedes W123 terms that is barely run in!



So I just had to undo the nuts. Mercedes has an actual tool that helps you keep the main spindle fixed whilst you turn the nut. Have a look at this:




I don’t have that tool and I don’t need it either. You can just use some pliers to hold it. Note how the disc is installed upside down!



So a case of undoing the retainer, undoing the nut, flipping the upper disc, double checking the rubber is properly positioned and re-installing everything in reverse order. On these sort of shocks you need to tighten the nut so it actually compresses the rubber. You keep winding it down until it won’t go any further. The spindle has the exact correct number of thread windings on it.

After we were done the new shock looked like this:



You will notice that the upper disc is now in the correct position. On the drawing you can also see this is the correct position.

As I mentioned earlier we are also going to replace the rear shocks. Always try and find somebody who has done it before to get some hands on experience. I’m a member of a W123 club/forum and various members told me that the bolts on the rear shocks often seize and might snap when applying force. So I wanted to soak them with WD40.

Which meant putting the car on a jack / axle stand and taking the wheels of for easier access. Not too many tools this time. Just my sockets to undo the wheel bolts, WD40 and you also see my torque wrench. When you re-install wheels here is how you do it:

You start with the car still on the jack. Put the wheel back on the hub and put the bolts back in. Make sure everything is clean. You might want to apply, very sparsely, some anti seizure paste. Tighten the bolts by hand, one by one, whilst you wiggle the wheel a bit. This ensures everything settles properly in place. Wheel bolts have a special shape that corresponds with the contour of the hole in the wheel. This ensures the wheel aligns correctly around the main hub. Then use a socket wrench to tighten the bolts a bit. Next, lower the car to the ground and use a torque wrench to torque the bolts one by one. You tighten them up cross wise, so you go from one bolt to the one across the hub etc. Only one click on the torque wrench. I keep going round until the bolts don’t move at all at one click!

Anorak fact:
Always make sure you use the appropriate wheel bolts/nuts. Alloy wheel typically have different bolts/nuts and need to be tightened with a different value as well. Over tightening can damage your rim! Walk away from mechanics who tell you they don’t need a torgue wrench as they know how it feels. They don’t!

Safety first, the car is on the handbrake, in gear, battery disconnected, and an axle stand in front of the hydraulic jack, just in case. I love this jack. It is very heavy, I have a few smaller ones. Once you have used one of these proper heavy duty workshop jacks you never want anything else. Works very precisely, up and down. Makes me feel like a real car mechanic.



All I did was spray WD40 very liberally on top/bottom basically anywhere I could get at it. Just let it work for a few days.



Whilst underneath the car I noticed one of the rubbers that hold the exhaust is nearly completely perished. The other three look just about new, but this one is in very poor state. In December we had this car on a lift at my friends workshop for the MOT. Together we spend quite a bit of time underneath looking at all the bits and pieces. Poking around etc. Somehow we must have overlooked this.



I do need to replace this rubber. If it fails, the exhaust won’t fall off completely, but it will drop quite a bit and it might easily catch on something. So another little job coming up!

Whilst the wheels were off, it also pays to have a quick look at the state of the brake rotors and brake pads. For a really proper inspection you really need to take the callipers off and inspect every bit thoroughly. But as long as they appear to be working properly, I usually leave everything in place and just make sure the rotor and pads have sufficient thickness left.

You can usually take good enough measurement without removing anything. Here’s how it goes. First measure the thickness of the rotor: It was about 10mm.
Minimum is 8.3mm, so that’s fine.



Next measure the gap/distance between the two brake pad back plates. I measured just over 23mm



So the 23-10 is 13, which means each pad is about 6.5mm. Minimum is 2mm, so this is fine.

I have also just enrolled in a workshop on Jaguar automatic transmission. Should be very interesting. It’s in a couple of weeks time, looking forward to that. I’ll do a write up of that event as well.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

As I explained earlier, my two classic cars are laid up during the winter months as it would cost an arm and a leg in road tax for those three months only.

So I had taken my Alfa Romeo Spider out for one or two short drives after the winter stop. But not a proper shake down trip yet. In a couple of weeks we are heading towards France with several other Spider couples, so I want to make sure my Spider is in TipTop condition.

Today I had an appointment in Tilburg. A city in the South of the Netherlands, close to the border with Belgium. The weather forecast was pretty good, cold but sunny. So I decided to take the Spider and take a little road trip into Belgium after my appointment.

Started the Spider at 08.00am, arrived in Tilburg after a little over an hour and mostly motorway. The appointment was a bit of a disappointment as the lady who confirmed to meet me, never showed up. Well, all the more time for some road tripping.

So by 09.45 I was back in my Spider. I have explained before how we usually navigate on these sort of little trips. See http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...es-eiffel.html

Works really well. However, since then, TomTom has come up with an interesting alternative way. Using TomTom MyDrive on your computer, you can enter a departure and destination. Next, you choose the level of “how many bends” you want. The more you choose, the more likely TomTom will point you into endless little country roads.

All done via the TomTom iCloud. Downloads automatically into your TomTom device. Works really neat. So last night I made two routes, Tilburt to Hasselt in Belgium and Hasselt, Belgium to Breda, the Netherlands. Using this new planning tool both routes were about 95km and it would take 2,5 hours each. Which means nice little country roads.

So here we go:

Every time I get in my Spider I will have a BIG smile on my face. It is just such a pretty looking car, handles well, given it’s more then 30 years old. Nice exhaust roar. Gorgeous weather, bit cold at first (3oC), and the TomTom took me onto some very nice roads!



When I plan these sort of trips, obviously, I will have some destination in mind. But I will stop anywhere and amend my plans and destination if something better and or more interesting comes up.

I pulled over at this little shed somewhere in Belgium. For no other reason, they had a lot of junk out there! Which they were selling off and some of it appeared to be tools! So I had better check it out!



Nothing too special or to be more precisely, everything they had was to rusty for my liking, so on we go! I usually stop every 60-90 minutes for a leg stretcher and preferably a coffee. This is what you get in Belgium when you order a Cappuccino. Look at that cream!



And some more interesting road scenery. You hardly see these type of bridges in the Netherlands anymore if at all. But there are still plenty around in Belgium. Love the heavy steel and the big rivets!



TomTom had a bit of a surprise for me. I hadn’t realised but all of a sudden I found myself driving past the race circuit Zolder! I have been there in the distant past. I have even raced there many moons ago. So I pulled over to check it out, obviously.



I drove onto the circuit grounds, nobody about. Not sure if this name/character Michel Valliant is known in India? A very famous comic series about this guy Michel who is a race driver. I used to collect these comics. There is some sort of Michel Valliant club at the circuit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Vaillant

I seem to recall they even made a movie about this fictive racing driver character?



The entry to the track and pits was open, still nobody around so I took a peek on the track and the pits.



Interesting place, these older circuits are pretty amazing. To think they used to race F-1 cars on these little narrow tracks is just mind boggling. Anyway, time to move onward to Hasselt.

Hasselt is a nice little Belgium town. I have passed it many times, but I don’t think I ever actually visited it. It is a typical nice Belgium mix of some modern and some old inner city, lots of little lanes, good shopping and very good food. Although France has the reputation for good food, I always maintain Belgium is actually better and a lot nicer. The Belgium are a very friendly and easy going bunch and they know how to enjoy life. You can stop anywhere at any cafe or restaurant and you will always be surprised by the quality of the food!

I parked and went to the main market square to find a restaurant.

Anorak fact:
Whenever you find yourself in Europe in a town/village and you want to get to the nice part, with cafe, restaurants, terraces, just look for the sign that says market square. That’s where all the action will be!



Nice place, sunny, so everybody was out on the terraces, eating, drinking, chatting and enjoying themselves. I always eat very simple high protein foods during the day. Special diet, doctor orders. Maybe not everybody’s preference, but I love a good Beef Carpaccio. Very healthy (well, at least for me)



I know my wife would have loved to come along, she likes these sort of drives and we enjoy exploring little town, browsing the shops and enjoying a nice lunch in the sun. Unfortunately, she had to work today. So I decided to bring her a little present. When in Belgium the best present you can bring is chocolates and or bonbons. Of course, there is the well known Leonidas, but today I decided to go for a different brand, Neuhaus. They are celebrating their 160th anniversary, so they do know a thing or two when it comes to chocolates!



By 13.30 I was back in my Spider and the TomTom was navigating us back up North towards the Netherlands again on the Hasselt to Breda via endless little back roads!



Stopped for one more coffee and then pressed on home. Took about 2,5 hours of country lane driving to get just South of Breda. There I picked up the motorway and blasted home in under an hour.

Let me tell you, the Belgiums take their chocolates serious. Comes beautifully gift wrapped, with a leaflet on the history of Neuhaus and a little story on each of your chocolate. My wife loved them!





In all, I drove close to 400 km. So that is what I call a proper shake down. All in all the Spider performed really well. Couple of small things I noticed. The rear window rattles a bit when it’s all the way up. It appears to be idling a little on the high side. According to the rev counter about 1100-1200 RPM. Not a big thing, should be down to around 900-950. I need to put my rev counter on it, to double check and adjust if so. First gear on these Spiders is non-synchronised, so the lower the idle RPM, the easier it is to engage first without mashing the gearing teeth! The Spider has a Bosch L-Jetronic system. Very simple idle adjust. I will show how to do so in the next few weeks in subsequent posts.

Also, under heavy braking the car sometimes pulls ever so slightly to the right. It has done this before. I must have had every bit of the braking system in my hands, cleaned, polished, replaced, refurbished, overhauled etc. All suspension bushes are replaced, all four shocks. And still, now and then, this happens. Two different Spider top specialist tried to get it fixed but all to no avail.

That’s the joy of owning a classic car. There are always a few more jobs, so the fiddling never stops!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Another very nice day, so this afternoon I decided to get going on replacing the rear shocks of my W123. I need reasonable good weather as I will be working on my car parked in front of our house.

As I explained before, always research a job first. Go online, find somebody who has done it, check YouTube and check all available documentation.

I have various official Mercedes Benz Workshop and Service manuals. The USA version in particular is very good and very detailled with lots of photographs and drawings.



This is how the procedure for the removal of the rear shocks is described:

Attachment 1622578



Seems simple enough. First remove the rear seat. The bottom comes out very easy, there are two clips holding it attached to the chassis.



Next the back rest needs to come out. Three bolts to be undone. One underneath the arm rest, two on each side at the very bottom.





Until here it took about five minutes. So far so good. The top spindle of the shocks are behind a little plastic inspection cover



The cover simply pops off and you have access to the nuts holding the shock in place. Note the yellow tubing. These are of the pneumatic system for the central locking. These lines go to the actuator of the fuel lid and the trunk.



Next, jack up the car and undo the two bolts holding the shock. Here is where trouble started. On both sides a bolt snapped off.

Attachment 1622580



I did manage to get both shocks off. But on both sides part of the bolt was left. I had been advised by a W123 forum member to ensure to soak these bolts the day before in penetrating oil. Which I did, still they snapped. This a real PITA.



There are various methods of removing the snapped bolt. You could weld a nut onto it, or drill it out. Currently I don’t have welding equipment. Also, drilling out the bolt is a bit tricky. I can only jack up the car so much. In order to drill and get proper access to these snapped bolts the car really need to be on a lift. So I made an appointment with my friendly Kia/Ford dealer around the corner. Next week I can put it on their lift and they will give me a hand on getting these two bolt sorted. Whilst on the lift, I’ll probably put the new shocks in too. Much easier.

So to be continued.

I did manage to complete two other little jobs successfully.

In one of the previous post I showed a picture of a detonated rubber supporting the exhaust. I got a new rubber from my local MB dealer. Installing takes 5 seconds and all looks well again:



My wife had been complaining that the passenger door was getting a bit stiff to open and close. Also, it started to make some noises. So time to inspect the door catch. Step one is to take the door cards off. Mercedes door cars are designed to be taken off and to be re-installed repeatedly. Pretty unique. On most cars getting these sort of parts off, means you will break a few bits and pieces and will need to get some new clips etc.

Not on the W123. Quality shows. Helps to have one of these handy tools too!





To get the door catch out, you need to undo this hinge pin. Next undo three bolts on the door that hold it in place and out it comes.



This is the actual door catch. It hold the door in three different positions. Fully closed, half open and fully open. There was nothing wrong with this door catch. Just needed a bit of new grease. That’s all, everything works again as if new out of the factory!



Anorak fact:
Myth has it Mercedes Benz designed all the pneumatic components themselves. Pneumatics were extensively used in aviation and process and control industry but nothing was good enough for the Mercedes Benz engineers. So designed every bit themselves.

I have to say, after 36 years everything still works as advertised. There is only one problem. The actuators have little rubber covers. Over time they perish and develop little cracks. Eventually, you have to replace them. These are Bosch parts and Bosch still sells this little rubbers. Amongst W123 enthusiast they are known as “condoms”. Let me tell you, I have experienced a number of torn “condoms”. Luckily, on a W123 not a big problem. Fairly easy to trouble shoot which one is torn and replacement is simple as the doorcards come off so easily.

[Jeroen]

Today the Alfa Romeo Spider Register organised a so called Car Value Appraisal day. Most classic cars are insured fully comprehensive. In the Netherlands you can take out a special classic car fully comprehensive insurance on the basis of an appraisal report. Which means, in case of theft or a total loss, the insurance company will pay the total appraisal amount. Without this special “appraisal” clause you would only receive the “day-value”. Which on these old car is next to nothing.

Works really well, but it does mean classic cars need to be appraised every three years. This is done by an official Car Appraiser. This is what my good friend and spanner mate Peter does for a living.

These appraisal days usually take place at the premises of one of the club sponsors. In today’s case the garage/workship van Neerijnen in Utrecht, in the middle of the Netherlands. http://www.vanneerijnen.nl

Peter and I have known the owner, Koos, for many years. I had my cars in storage for the years I was working outside the Netherlands. This is not an official Alfa Romeo dealer, but an independent Alfa Romeo Specialist. And Koos is very, very good at what he does. Very professional and what he doesn’t know about Alfa’s isn’t worth knowing. Very nice bloke to boot too!

Whilst Peter does the appraisals he organises a few other activities as well. You could get a technical inspection for your Spider as today more or less coincides with the start of the season. He had a guy that can do dent-removal-without-a- respray. Some small repairs and maintenance jobs being done on the spot.

Peter did some 17 appraisals. These days he is assisted by his son Marco who is now his official apprentice. Usually takes 25-35 minutes per car. Usually members just turn up, even if their car doesn’t need anything. Just to have a little chat, talk about cars, have a coffee. Just a very relaxing and enjoyable way of spending a few hours of your Saturday. Again, just another way of enjoying our car hobby! Bit of fiddling, some coffee, some picture taking etc.

I took some pictures of the event and Koos his workshop. Hope you enjoy.

Koos always has numerous Alfa’s in his workshop. This is a Spider event, so he makes sure there is a lot of Spider stuff to be seen.



He has also made quite a name for himself in restoring and prepping Alfa’s for historic rally’s. This is his latest project. Still quite a bit of work to be done!



There are always many engines lying around his shop in various state of (dis) repair. Interesting to have a look. Here a couple of engine blocks with cam shafts on top.



Four pistons:



Nice cut-away model of the typical Alfa Gearbox. This type is used on many different Alfa’s, not just the Spider. In essence on anything that resembles and or was built on the 105 series design.



If you need a certain size bolt, nut or washer, Koos is your man!



Three nice Spiders. Mine is the red one, Peter’s is the green one and the yellow one is from one of our members. One of the Spiders that needed appraising.



Same Spiders from a different angle, here you see the entrance to the workshop. There is also a 916 and a 159 being cleaned.



Peter and Marco, discussing the details of a Spider and how it will go in the appraisal report, with one of our members.



Peter in action. Here he is checking the paint thickness with a special measuring instrument. The thickness is important as it will indicate whether the paint is still original, or repaint, or in some case, just too much paint.



For certain jobs, Koos will rely on outside specialists. One of those is this guy. He specialises in fixing dents, without the need for a respray. That is, if the paint isn’t damaged. This is a real, artisan, type of skill. Not that many special tools. Just a lot of experience and feel how to tackle these sort of jobs. Over the years, I have had several little dings and dents repaired using this method. It’s relatively inexpensive.



Here a Spider (Serie 4) from the front/underneath. These sort of Spiders are relatively speaking simple cars. But properly set up they drive and steer amazingly well.

Note the engine protection cover/grating. Spiders are pretty low slung. What with all the endless speed humps in the Netherlands and potholes in the roads we always advise owners to get one installed. Some people don’t like them, as it makes the car even lower. But it does do a great job of protecting the engine sump. It doesn’t take much to crack it.

I remember many years ago, we were on our annual European drive. All the way in Italy, some 20 Spiders and crew. I was driving behind a friend of mine and his wife in their gorgeous Duetto. He was a very careful driver. For some reason we had to pull over and he was going at less than walking pace. He hit the curb, only ever so slightly. The next thing we knew. 6 liters of hot oil had poured into the road. That slight bump had cracked the sump!



Here Peter is checking Coda Tronco or Serie 2 as it is known. Very nice car.



No proper workshop can be without a few of these:



Here is an interesting bit of technology. Engine, all the electronics and the whole front suspension all in one! To be honest, I’m not a hundred percent sure from which car. could be a 156.



It was a very nice, almost Spring like day. Lot of Spiders, lot of members about. The car in the front is the 916. The modern successor of the very successful Spider 105 series. When this car was introduced I was a member of the Alfa Romeo Spider Register board of directors. The 916 was a controversial car. Many Die hard Alfisti’s did not like this car at all. After all, it had front wheel drive. The horror!! So we had members calling and writing to us that they expected the board to ban the 916s from entering the club, because as they saw it, it wasn’t a proper Spider or a proper Alfa.

We did not oblige, obviously. We are a club for Alfa Romeo Spiders. So any Alfa Romeo Spider can join.



For some these engines are almost akin to art. And I seem to recall an Alfa engine of some sorts being on display in an art museum once. Personally, I’m not so sure it’s art, but it does look the business.

[lapis_lazuli]

Jeroen in one of the pics above, where you replaced the rubber ring support/damper for the exhaust pipe, there was a earthing strap braid bolted on the exhaust pipe. Is it standard to "earth" the exhaust? Or why is it specifically done on that vehicle? Some sort of static prevention methods??

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by lapis_lazuli

Jeroen in one of the pics above, where you replaced the rubber ring support/damper for the exhaust pipe, there was a earthing strap braid bolted on the exhaust pipe. Is it standard to "earth" the exhaust? Or why is it specifically done on that vehicle? Some sort of static prevention methods??

Well spotted! I did notice it as well. In all honesty, I’m not sure. I’m not even sure whether I have seen it before. When I first saw it, I thought; hmm, odd why would they do that? If anything it ensures the exhaust doesn’t fall off completely when the rubbers snap. But somehow I don’t think that’s its main function. It really looks like an earth/mass strap, this sort of braided wire. This car doesn’t have a catelytic convertor or anything. The exhaust is just passive bit of steel. I suppose it’s always better to have all metal connected to earth, just in case. Just haven’t seen it done on exhausts.

I have put a few question on various W123 forums, but so far nobody has come up with a plausible explanation. A few people report they have seen them before on old cars.

Let’s see if anything turns up. I’ll keep you posted!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Today, for the first time in months a very nice day. Sunshine and a very amicable 14-15oC. Time to do some detailing work on the Jaguar. I have been using it for the past months during the winter. Lots of rain, snow and lots of grit and salt on the road. We have a number of fully automatic car washes in the area. And I use them extensively. But now and then I like to properly clean my car and that means doing it all myself.

Actually, I quite enjoy cleaning my cars, bikes, bicycles and so on. Very relaxing and very rewarding. Never did any cleaning in India. I remember one Sunday afternoon I decided my bullet could do with a bit of cleaning. Got some rags from my wife and out I went. My driver was absolutely aghast I wanted to do the cleaning myself. All the guards in the neighbourhood came to watch! So from there on I left all the cleaning and fiddling on my Royal Enfield Bullet to my driver. Who did a pretty good job.

It’s just that I like doing it. It’s part of fiddling with my cars. We have some excellent threads on detailing cars in another part of the forum. I’m no particular expert, so this is just how I do it. Feel free to add and or comment.

Just round the corner from us we have a car dealer that has six self wash boxes. Very well kept, everything always works. So I start by taking the Jaguar there to hose it down with the high pressure jet, also it can dispense special rim cleaner and you can rinse with demineralised water. Which is great, no streaks, no white spots etc.

Many years ago I bought this special tool to dry off the water on your car. I was reluctant to use it at first. Thinking it might scratch. But it is very soft on the car, never had any problems. With this thing and a proper shammy I will have the car dry in 5-10 minutes.



Usually once a year I “clay bar” my cars. I started using clay bar whilst living in the USA. I participated in various Concours D’Elegance with this very Jaguar. So it really needed to look the part. My experience is that as long as you maintain a clean car, it’s not that big a job. I can do the Jaguar in about 45 minutes. Several years ago we bought a little Ford Fiesta. It had not been cleaned or polished let alone clay barred, for years. It took my a full Saturday afternoon to get it done..

There are all sorts of brands of Clay Bar out there. I’m still using the stuff I had in the USA. Works really well. I am down to my last bar, so I will have to start looking for something new soon.



Next comes the wax. I have various brands. The Meguiar is the easiest to apply. You just spread it out over the whole car, wait for it all to dry and then buff it out in once go. The Turtle wax you are supposed to do small sections at a time.

Whereas the Mequiar is the easiest to apply I find the Turtle was more effective on small scratches. So I usually end up applying some Turtle was locally here and there.



Obviously, you wax all of the outside of your car. But I also take particularly good care of the various door sills and insides of the door. I find it looks really smart, it prevents getting smudges on your clothes. Again, keeping it clean constantly is a lot easier then to have to remove years of dirt and grime in these sort of spots. Also, properly cleaned and wax, dirt and dust will not stick to it so easily, so it actually last quite a while.





Our cat Daisy likes to keep me company when I’m fiddling with my cars. She doesn’t go out that much as she is an old lady. But whenever I’m out in the front she will join me.



I love the rims on my Jaguar. They are just the standard ones, but I think they really suit the car. Never felt the need to get anything else. The worst thing for your alloys is of course brake dust. So I installed ceramic brake pad. Absolutely the best invention since sliced bread. It makes life so much easier for the petrol head. No more visible brake dust! Still need to clean the rims, of course. I’m still using this Rimwax from the USA. Goes a very long way, does a good job protecting the rims.



When cleaning and detailing your car, don’t forget the “open roof” if you have one. Both my Mercedes and my Jaguar have one. I don’t like them at all. I never use them, but they came with these cars. They can cause a lot of trouble. Sun and open roof are notorious for leaks after a while. So, make sure all the drains are open, check and grease the runners, clean out any and all debris, put some wax on the painted bits and you are good to go!



Outside all done, time to move into the cabin. Out come the four mats. My wife won’t let me use any of her cleaning stuff on my cars. So I have to get everything specifically for my cars, or sometimes I get her hand-me-downs. My vacuum cleaner used to belong to my wife. For some reason she needed a new one and I got this humongous Vax vacuum cleaner. It is extremely powerful, but a bit of big beast to move around. Works great on the car, long hose, various attachments.



When I took out the mats I noticed on the passenger and driver side a lot of pieces of fluff. So I checked the mats and it looks as if they back cover is coming off. It’s a sort of velvet. There is lots of it. On the top, the mats look almost like new, so I decided to clean the remains fluff of the back. Went fairly easily:

Here you can see that for nearly 80% it’s already come off.



Here you see the two front ones after I cleaned them. The smaller rear one are still perfect on the back!



The Dutch have a very special tool to clean door mats and rug and carpets. We call it a “mattenklopper”. Which means as much as mat/rug beater. And that’s how you use it. You beat a rug/carpet/mat with it. Very effective! This one is my wife’s. Don’t tell her I use it occasionally.



Next, the dashboard and so on. I have accumulated a large selection of all sort of sprays and what have that will make your dash looks nice. This Jaguar still has a lot of walnut as well. Many years ago, I found this stuff. I’m not sure, I think it’s Russian. But it works well on all surface in the cabin.



Here the very traditional Jaguar so called J-Gate. I think it looks so much better than the modern huge dial. Notice my nano -Ipod. The Jaguar came with a pretty good Denzo Stereo System, including tape deck and 6 CD changer in the boot. But no connections for iPod. So I installed a FM modulator. Works pretty good. It charges the iPod, it puts the signal directly onto the antenna (hard wired, no air interface) and it uses the RDS channel to put the songs / writers onto the radio display!





Last thing I do is clean the windows. Over the year I must have used and tried dozens of different stuff. But the best to clean your windows, inside and outside with no streak is this stuff. We call it Spiritus, which is basically methylated spirit.

Very cheap, very effective!



So let’s have a look at the final result:











I’m very pleased with the result. I love how the car feels when you have clay-barred and waxed it. It is so unbelievable smooth.

Good for many more miles!


Jeroen

[R2D2]

I visit this thread every single day to find out what you are up to. Truly appreciate your posts.

Yesterday I took my car stereo (a 2 DIN unit) out of the dashboard and fixed a microphone plug that had worked itself loose. It is used when the head unit functions as a hands-free with a mobile phone. With a loose mic plug there was no way the party/person on the other end of the line could hear me. The battery was also removed from the car bench charged and desulphated. I am heading off on a vacation for a few days and just wanted to check the car before the long drive.

It's these maintenance jobs that helps one stay 'connected' with the car or bike.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by R2D2

It's these maintenance jobs that helps one stay 'connected' with the car or bike.

I fully agree. By endless fiddling with your cars, all sorts of small and easy jobs, you get to know your car intimately. You also tend to spot problems, long before they become major ones.

It’s not everybody’s cup of tea so to speak, but that’s fine. It doesn’t matter how one enjoys him/herself. As long as you do. Endless fiddling with my car, talking about my cars, going to exhibitions etc is what I enjoy thoroughly.

This Friday I hope to fix the broken bolts on the suspension of my Mercedes so I can install the new shocks. Saturday I’m of to Birmingham for the Classic Car and Restoration Exhibition. I am really looking forward to it. Both Wheeler Dealer guys will be there too, giving life performance. But from what I have understood, as Ed has left the show, he and Mike will be at different parts of this show as well.

Thanks for all the encouragement. I see a lot of members reading this thread, so I hope others are enjoying this as much as you and I do. If any members has any questions, comments or suggestions, do let me know.

If anybody is interested in a particular job, let me know too and I’ll see what I can do.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by lapis_lazuli

Jeroen in one of the pics above, where you replaced the rubber ring support/damper for the exhaust pipe, there was a earthing strap braid bolted on the exhaust pipe. Is it standard to "earth" the exhaust? Or why is it specifically done on that vehicle? Some sort of static prevention methods??

Originally Posted by Jeroen

W
I have put a few question on various W123 forums, but so far nobody has come up with a plausible explanation. A few people report they have seen them before on old cars.

Let’s see if anything turns up. I’ll keep you posted!

Well, nothing much has come up. People are baffled. The only explanation everybody seems to be circling around is it ensures the exhaust doesn’t drop on the ground if the rubber breaks.

Neighbour Toon, who teaches car engine technology at the university of Rotterdam showed the picture at his faculty and nobody could come up with a better explanation.

None of my posts on the W123 forums have resulted in anything either

I have one more possibility to check, don’t hold your breath!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Everybody needs their 15 minutes of fame. I almost forgot mine. Happened earlier this year in January. One of the oldest tunnels in the Netherlands, the “Velsertunnel” had been closed for 9 months. It needed renovation badly. Also, some 8500 drivers (truckers) managed to get themselves stuck in this tunnel every year as it is also one of the lowest tunnels in the Netherlands. So part of the renovation was to make the tunnel 12 cm higher!

Rijkswaterstaat, which is part of the responsible ministery in charge of infrastructure wanted to celebrate the re-opening of the tunnel with some additional PR. So on Facebook they asked for people with a classic car to help them out. They wanted 60 classic cars, because it was exactly 60 years ago that this tunnel was opened (1957).

I applied and was one of the cars/owners chosen to help out.

So on Monday 16th of January 60 classic cars gathered at a parking place just a few miles north of the tunnel entrance. There was coffee, a little band and it was good fun. By 11.00 o’clock two huge touring cars arrived with the VIP and press. The minister, Mrs. Schultz was present and there was an unbelievable amount of press. Radio, TV and all local and national newspaper. The minister started the classic car caravan and joined a little Honda. Following the Honda, top down, yours truly in his red Alfa Romeo Spider! The minister left the convoy directly after exiting the tunnel, but I led the convoy for another 30 kilometers or so for a nice relaxing tour. The tour ended at a very nice location, and old estate, where the ministry had arranged for a very nice lunch for all the classic car crews!

The below picture featured in several newspapers the next morning.



A few pictures, just before we set off:





The below article and photographs were just published in the Spiderama. The magazine of the Dutch Alfa Romeo Spider Register. For several years I was chief editor of this magazine. I haven’t written anything for the magazine since 2008 as we left the Netherlands since then Somebody else put this piece together, based on the various newspaper articles and Facebook publicity. (And downloaded one of my photographs from my FB as well it seems:



Earlier on in this thread I explained that my Mercedes and Spider are not allowed on the public roads during winter months. In this case, the organisers had a special permit that allowed all classic cars to participate and be on the public road for this event. I made the most of it, afterwards I took a nice long detour cruising home. As you can see it was a gorgeous day, sunny, but very cold , near freezing!

Jeroen

[lapis_lazuli]

OK Jeroen, it is probably not a factory fitted braid. The car was probably owned earlier by a radio amateur/ham radio operator (I am one myself; are you one?), who grounded the exhaust "locally", for better RF grounding and suppression of ignition noise probably.

I say probably, because I am not 100% certain...The radio transceiver antenna on HF is normally mounted on the boot side, and the long exhaust pipe till the engine block battery ground is a DC ground all right, but NOT an RF ground. It is more of an inductive path. Often acting as a radiator for RF noise!

I did a bit of searching on these lines, and there is a forum discussion here:

http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?thre...chassis.43993/