Send teflontom a pm. He registered his Felicia as an 1.8t recently and may be able to give you a few pointers.

So much for the DVLA's 'We will respond to emails within 3 days'.

 

Looks like I'll be spending my Monday off on the bloody phone.

 

Will give Tom a try when all this blows over, just want to get it taxed now... don't care about changing the details.

No reply to my email, but I now have a new V5 with the old engine details!

 

That'll do, that'll do.

Yesterday:

Brake booster vac pipe swapped for one that doesn't collapse.

Boost pipe leak fixed (caused rough idle only during 'cold' idle so minor I think... clamp wasn't done up at all after I needed to move it).

Temporary (ahem...) fog light blank solution put in place.

New battery fitted in boot along with bigger breaker (100>140amp. Though the 100 wasn't tripping it did feel like the starter wasn't getting enough power, hence the battery/breaker replacement. However it feels exactly the same still!).

 

Today:

RARB on.

Brakes bled (again...  quite a bit of air out of the first caliper and quite a bit of dirt out the second! 4L through it now better be done).

Struts properly bolted in.

Repeater holders swapped from Fabia loom.

Screen washer sorted.

Arch liners in.

 

Surprised everyone says the H&R 25mm RARB is so difficult to fit, I'm built like a girl and I had it on in an hour. Spent more time on the dam clamps than getting the bar in place. Took the initial step to compress the bar using a nice bit of 2x6 as a lever against the spring cup which got the bar in between the shock mounts, then a bit of 2x2 to lever and maneuver it in to place. Doddle, even on my back in the dirt. And as it was timber rather than a metal pry bar/crow bar etc I didn't wreck the paint in the process.

 

Need to get some hand brake return springs as I'm having the typical problem with VAG calipers (fitted them to my Cordoba before), hand brake sticks on slightly but pushing the lever up manually and they release fine. Just need to pluck up the courage to step in to the VW garage without a VW car reg and receive scorn and tuts from the parts guy.

 

That should be it now for the laying on my back getting muck in my eyes part... 1 more weekend and its time to go. A few bits to finish in the engine bay, lots of bits to do inside as its still missing most the trim, but has a seat, dash, wheel and stereo so the important things are done

Celica SORN'd. Fun day tomorrow...

14miles down and all is going well so far! No funny noises (though the inside is still pretty stripped so there is a lot of noise going on), smells or codes. Handling is all over the shop but its running brand new RS-Rs in the hail and has not been aligned yet :P Not going to put any more miles on it now until I take it to Bram Racing tomorrow to get it aligned. Then I can start to experiment

Good to see it on the road.

Good to see it on the road.

 

Its certainly good to have it running! I feel like I've owned this car for a lot longer than 6months, the time I've spent with it. 

Woohoo! Glad it's up an running

Great to hear that it's on the road!!!! Be good to see it in the flesh sometime soon as well!

it's coming to Combe isn't it?  Going to be a few interesting motors coming along for their "debut"

it's coming to Combe isn't it?  Going to be a few interesting motors coming along for their "debut"

 

Yes.

 

I hope no one is expecting much in the way of engineering excellence or a shining example of how to do an engine swap :P Sadly I don't have the tools or skills of someone like Ben so everything is off the shelf or made up of off the shelf bits.

So today I went to Bram Racing to get my Alignment done.

 

The story starts 90minutes before my appointment at Bram which is 26miles away. I have the car loaded with tools, jack, axle stand in case of an emergency. Sat nav set and off I go. Around 4miles in to the journey I think 'hmm, I wonder if there is a Tescos near Bram so I can get some momentum', at which point I realize I'd forgotten my wallet. Back home we go... so now around 14miles in to this journey after going home and setting off again, I should be on the motorway by now dammit! I show some Mitsu soft roader thing not to assume a 1.4 Fabia is going to sit behind a dawdler after he spent 2miles in my wing mirror and we roll in to a village with traffic lights. Hmm that's funny... there is smoke coming out of my engine bay! So I pull in to a side road, and am immediately met with the smell of coolant... thank **** for that! I pop the bonnet and spend some time poking around in a hot steamy mess to see which one of the pipes I made up has popped off/failed. Sadly it really did take me 2mins to see the top radiator hose was around 2" from where it should be! Some muppet who shouldn't be spannering on a bicycle let alone a friggin' car didn't put the very annoying spring clip back on the pipe. So with the aid of some long nose pliers (remember I loaded all the tools in to the car) I put it back on. Look around for a helpful OAP doing a spot of gardening in the sun to see if I can get some water... place is deserted. Fortunately this village has a COOP so I grabbed some water, waited a little while sunning myself while things cooled down, rang Bram and then topped it up. Before the motorway I checked and things are looking ok! All the back story is relevant... if I hadn't have forgotten my wallet chances are that hose would have popped on the motorway and I may not have noticed the steam at all!

 

Anyway Bram were cool and when I found them they were able to get it on the ramps and sort things out for me. Took up far to much of the guys time having a chat about the car and various other cars, bought 1L of universal coolant stuff off them to top it off again and I set off home, via Tescos and the VW garage.

 

Coming off the big roundabout near town I give it some beans before joining the queue at the next lights, hmm idling funny. Exhaust dropped off or something? In to a side road we go. Sounds like its sucking in air from somewhere it shouldn't be? Checked intake and boost pipes, can't really see the intercooler but what I can see looks ok. Start it up again. Hmm definitely leaking somewhere, sounds like its near the TB. Ah crap... that temporary bung that I was supposed to replace with something else? Probably on the roundabout/slip road now... It was blocking an unused connection on the manifold. Look for something to block it up with, can't find anything, so I limp it home.

 

Quite eventful really, but thankfully both things happened in 'convenient' locations. Both however, completely my own fault (though hard to say what wouldn't be my fault at this point!).

sounds like the F1 teams in pre season testing! lol..... sort out the niggles now

Sounds very familiar Dan but its all part of the game

Sounds very familiar Dan but its all part of the game

 

Yep I was expecting some issues but both make me feel rather silly as they could have easily been avoided.

 

Didn't run it at all yesterday as my sister was visiting, today's plan is to sort a better solution to the hole in the manifold, fit the caliper release springs and take it for a spin see what else happens.

I think it's par for the course Dan.

When I removed the TT engine to fit the hybrid and manifoldand then re assembled. I had some fairly odd handling and a big clunk going from lock to lock!! I later found it was t the top mounts which I'd dogged up super tight, I'd only out the bottom ballpoints on finger tight

Get some pics up if you can mate, I'm interested to see it

I think it's par for the course Dan.

When I removed the TT engine to fit the hybrid and manifoldand then re assembled. I had some fairly odd handling and a big clunk going from lock to lock!! I later found it was t the top mounts which I'd dogged up super tight, I'd only out the bottom ballpoints on finger tight

Get some pics up if you can mate, I'm interested to see it

 

Well I definitely made sure all suspension/brake bits were done up properly... quite paranoid about that.

 

I had the camera with me on Thursday but after spending time sunning myself and an hour or so yacking I was pressed for time to get back. Pity was a nice day too, not looking so good today.

Hmm ****.

 

So I put another 16miles or so on it, was behaving well. Got home and was straightening it up in the car port, put my foot on the breaks and all of a sudden its running very roughly, popping from the exhaust and behaving like it did when I had a hole in the TB/intake mani.

 

Checked my work from this morning and everything looks like its ok. Pull off the brake servo hose and blank it off in case there's an issue there, start it up and its knocking loudly/badly and trying to idle around 500rpm. Pull it in to the car port real quick and kill the engine.

 

Have now got it up and drained the oil, which is clean (was expecting shards of metal or something).

 

Just wondering where I can go from here? It doesn't sound like its an air leak now even though it did at first. I do have a small coolant leak near the timing belt cover that I've just discovered. Could the coolant have airlocked and I've cooked the engine? :(

Top end or bottom end knock mate? All the oil ways clear?

I dare not leave the engine on long enough to stick my head near it, sounds more like a loud knock rather than lots of little knocks like you'd get from the top end, maybe?

 

So cam cover off and take a look there first?

Read it with VCDS?  Could it be a coilpack?

VCDS says I have a fault code P3211 'Oxygen sensor heater return coupling signal intermittent'

Ok so I took the rocker cover off, everything looks nice and clean. Nothing untoward with the cam lobes and it looks like its been getting nice clean oil, no sludge build up anywhere.

 

I also took the sump off, same story looks nice and clean.

 

Now with the plugs out I can turn the engine so far then it stops dead. Piston 1 and 4 are near, but I don't think right, at the top of their stroke. The starter won't crank it from here.

 

My current favorite theory is that there is a foreign object sat on top of one of the pistons (say a stray nut/bolt from when I had the TB off. Though I don't recall any missing...). If it is a foreign body it must have just been dislodged at the end of the journey as the car was running great until I pulled it back out the car port to re-position. I'm reluctant to take the head off as I won't be able to get replacement bolts/gasket until next week :( Does this sound feasible? Any ideas on removing/checking for any obstructions :(

damn... was hoping on your behalf it was just a bad misfire :(