DieselMonte

That's the one! Continuing from earlier (I ran out of space for pictures) I accidentally found myself doing hartside pass, amazing road. Got very foggy near the top which was fun. Did quite a lot of driving over the weekend. And back at the ferry I covered just over 800 miles on this trip, loved every minute of it. Overall a phenomenal trip, and I enjoyed every minute of it. 10/10 would go again. Definitely revealed a load more stuff that needs doing to the car namely: I need more power. Gearing was not great for these roads, second was too low of a gear and third was too high. Also it proved a touch too stiff for these roads. And from other people driving it, I was told the steering wasn't great, same for changing gears. Having sat in and been passenger in their cars, I can totally see what they mean. Intercooler and bigger turbo is next up for this.

Took a trip over to England for a few days. Got the ferry from Belfast to Cairnryan Slight detour up to Girvan Then on to the Pennines, Made it there and the tank was still reading full (somehow) Not long after I got there the gearstick went very slack forwards and backwards. Checked it next morning and What happened was, the bolt on the short shifter backed off, so it was moving around where you're meant to adjust the throw. It was hanging in barely, but one bad bump and it was gone. Lucky the nut had just landed on top of the gearbox. Not a big job, tightened the nut and it's fine. Did quite a lot of driving, went up to cauldron snout which was lovely, and did a fair bit of exploring the roads.

Could you take the old one off and take it to someone to make the hose for you? Would work out a lot cheaper

Bad synchro on 3rd maybe. What miles are on the car? If it is a bad/worn synchro you should still be able to get it in by double clutching.

Mine has both, 2001 model

Since I got this car, the gearstick would never centre. So while I have access to change the gearbox mount, I said I'd strip down the shifter on the top of the gearbox for a clean and regrease. Cleaned up any pivot points with fine steel wool, then a thick coating of copper slip. Cleaned up a bit around that side of the engine bay. Back together, that part anyway. And it's made a big difference, the gearstick now does centre itself, haven't properly aligned the gear linkages yet but even still, feels much nicer now. Wish I took a before, but too late now. Heres the after. For a free fix, and a straightforward one at that I'm very happy with the outcome. If you're in that far, if you were adjusting the gear cables or what have you then I say its definitely worth going the extra step and cleaning and regreasing everything. Aside from that I have the passengers headlight out trying to fix a broken tab on it. Also still need to do the gearbox mount but it's all apart ready to do straight away next day, so won't take long.

I don't want to play parts roulette, but I might try changing the pressure switch first and seeing what's what then. They don't seem too expensive. If that doesn't work I'll get it checked out next service.

Went to get air con regassed, no gas in the system but it did hold when they did a pressure test. However, compressor is not kicking on so that needs looking into. Don't think the compressors bad, but if it is I'm just gonna leave it.

My mk1s rear glass isn't delaminated and I thought It was just luck but no, I found broken glass under some of the trim pieces for the hatch so it was replaced at some point.

Another meet This time someone other than me took photos of it. Made an attempt at the intercooler, two bolts on either side of the bumper were being pricks and I ended up putting things back together.

Just gonna leave this here

Had it running today to jump-start a few cars, so ended up taking it for a few runs. First thing I have to say is the tigersealed mount was very firm on start up, but softened up a lot in the hour or so It was running, and I know from experience it'll settle down a lot more just by driving it. Above idle, no extra vibrations. Changing gears has so far proven to be massively improved, absolutely fantastic now! As for the polybushes, I've not noticed any extra roughness from them while driving. It just feels a lot fresher now than it was before. Very satisfied that all of that effort was worth it. Car drives fairly straight too. Alignment obviously will need checked over and adjusted, but It's perfectly driveable like this. Did a bolt check when I was done, and that was all fine. Didn't fit the gearbox mount nor adjust the cables so I can only imagine the gear changes will be even better when all that's done. More work to be done of course. Hopefully I won't need to deal with any more broken bolts ever again.

Very happy this evening, its finally back on its wheels. Subframe went in, few scratches in the paint but they can be done again. Used up a bottle of loctite fitting this. No harm in it. Had a lot of trouble getting the arb bushes to thread through, but got there in the end. Before: After: In this photo it does look a bit wonky in the car, it's not actually IRL. Back on its wheels for the first time in a few weeks. Not driven it yet as I want to do the gearbox mount before that. But it is back on its wheels and nothings fallen off so far, everything feels good but of course I'll only know for sure when I get it out for a drive. I don't have power steering so I should really notice any difference in steering feel. Steering rack bush I think will help too. For the front suspension, all it seems to be needing now is ball joints and track rods. Had to re sorn it today too, reminded me that the NCT expiry on this was the 21st of this month, 2016. Seems a bit mad that's almost 6 years ago.

I had honestly thought about shoving tiger seal into the consoles and calling it a day, at one point. But since it worked out quite cheap for me to buy a whole kit of bushes and split them between the two cars, that's what I did. Finally got that bolt out. Went and bought a load of new bits, and with them it came out far easier. Messy job though Still threads in to that, for some reason. It will be getting a nut on top to catch some more threads, and of course copius amounts of loctite. Cleaned up the underside as much as I could. Pressure washer will take care of the rest. Subframe is fully assembled ready to go in. Had to touch up a few spots so didn't put it in tonight, as the paint was still wet in spots. And finally have an aerial.

Easiest way for me to get force on it and show that the tigerseal has done "something" to the old mount. Hence me stating in my post that it was not terribly scientific. Real test will be when the cars moving under its own steam again. On and off throttle there was a lot of movement from the engine fore and aft as you'd say. I intend on fitting the gearbox mount also before giving it a run.

Had a few hours this evening so did what I could. Tigerseal mounts have cured Well, fitted the dogbone into the subframe now instead of in the car due to the "unique" way I need to bolt it in. Before: And after, was really putting my weight into this too: Not terribly scientific, but hopefully will be a nice reference for someone in the future. Dogbones a little rough looking, probably slather it in hammerite when it's on the car. I ended up cutting a nut down to be 110% sure that it won't contact the steering rack. It looks sketchy, but threaded in and tightened up fine. Used liberal amounts of loctite just to have some extra insurance. I think it'll be fine. Fitted the one console and wishbone as the other console is being painted. The way these console bushes work is that the black piece spins in the red piece, felt really nice when I was moving the wishbone up and down on the bench. Oh, also hung the ARB in situ. Bit of a stark contrast I think. The snapped bolt in the steering rack is proving a proper pain to remove, extractor bits won't touch it and it's eating my drill bits even using wd40. Not much left of it but still.

Not much on this Just changed air filter again after checking it. Just under 6 months from when it was last done. Was bugs and **** in it, which came out after slapping it against a kerb. Really only bothered posting to keep track of it myself.

Went to a car meet this morning, bought a ticket thinking you had to pay for guest parking but no, I'd paid to be in the meet proper. Lot of cool stuff here And then there was me in a standard looking skoda, should add I only saw another skoda at the meet, a newish nardo grey octavia vRS. Definitely felt like a fish out of water but was fun nonetheless. The polo beside me had absolutely HUGE brakes on the front, only had the solid 232s on the back though. Lastly I got a Czech shot glass for donating to the dogs trust there. I think it's neat. Apparantly there's another meet next Sunday, and this which I might go to for the hell of it.

Mine lasted like a year before needing done again. Should have got the good meyle ones when I changed em Get your wheels balanced yesterday. Won't cost much and if you know the lad they might not even charge you at all. That shaking will be wearing your wheel bearings like mad. Be one or both front wheels. Think I told you before but when I put my montes wheels from the back to the front it magically started shaking super bad over 80mph. Could have been a fiver if anything at all to get sorted.

If its diesel they probably meant duratec or whatever it was ford used to label their diesels. Ecoboosts are small petrol engines, 1 litres iircs. Heaps of **** Lol too slow to post

Please don't say its an ecoboost

Same for my monte Look decent and functional

I swapped the seat bases on my mk1 sport seats, as above its the same part. Little bit finicky but very doable. Could always have an upholsterer take a look at it and see if they can make new foam to build up the soggy side

I don't mind a bit of extra maintenence to be honest, I feel the benefits of a tighter feeling car are worth it. Honestly my montes fully polybushed as well as being on coilovers and dare I say in its case its more comfortable now than when I got it. I've no regrets putting them in it. This car I only intended on doing the console bush but the wishbone bushes were that bad (and I had the bushes on hand) that I chose to change them. In my hand the psb bushes still have enough "squish" in them that I think they won't make the suspension overly harsh. And those mounts I did are used mounts, I don't want to be spending money on new mounts when I have spares there that I can fill with tigerseal that I already have and put the money I've saved elsewhere. Again I've done it to the Monte and it's fine, bit firm at first but after a few days they softened up to feel just right and have been fine since.

I've heard about that. What I've done is cut down the nut welded on the top of the subframe to hopefully let me push the new nut down enough to not interfere with the rack. Poor man's way of firming up old mounts. Not as firm as a proper polybush. Did the engine and gearbox mount of the Monte a while ago and they're still nice and tight.