Almost made me cry

    Does it need to be that OTT. You may be able to do it with a roof rack strap because once you have the tension you can push the car back rather than tightening the strap:hmmmm:. Although something like this may give you a bit better control. Plus if you are careful to protect the ratchet you could return it to screwfix when you have finished:top:. Alternatively you may be able to hire one? How much force is needed?

    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-meter-…Parts?hash=item53dad6f2ae

    Hire

    http://www.hss.com/g/69861/750…t-Pull-Lift-1-5-1-9m.html

    :driving2:Its been a year since I sold her and I still miss her.......





    Lloyd

    It doesn't need that much force, I was just getting over excited by the tools...simple things amuse simple minds...


    I have a smallish strap in the garage so I'll give that a bash before splashing out on yet more tools.

    Hi guys, I thought you might think I'd given up so thought I'd update! Despite the super-sh**ty weather I've made good progress. I've straightened out all of the wonky bits of metal and have replaced the wings, skirts and bonnet. I still need to refit the front brace thingy that the bonnet clamps onto and refit all of the bits and bobs into the new nose and fit that too. I have all the parts, I'm just waiting for the a/c condensor and dryer, plus the power steering cooler to arrive in the post from the US. Should be here this week, then I'll fit and get it regassed, then refit the nose.


    Lloyd, a few months ago we talked about regassing our old R12 systems, did you ever get anywhere? I have a bloke coming over to do mine and he doesn't seem phased by the R12 and seems to think that RS24 is a "drop in" gas that just replaces it. He's charging me £75 for a pressure test and recharge, I'll let you know how I get on.


    One small stumbling block is the new nose has broken headlight washers and I can't work out for the life of me how to remove them, anyone know?


    While my car is off the road I bought myself a Fiat Seicento Sporting :cool: to get me around. I've done 700 miles in it and in that time I've had to replace the rear trailing arm bushes, radiator, brake lines and last week the clutch packed up. I replaced the clutch yesterday (in the rain) and it cost £50!!! I will never moan about my BMW ever again (except parts prices).


    The car will be back on the road within the next three weeks, if it ever stops raining......

    Zitat von NickF;70990


    One small stumbling block is the new nose has broken headlight washers and I can't work out for the life of me how to remove them, anyone know?


    They require pressure to operate. It doesn´t matter whether it is water or air pressure. The nozzle is pushed upwards once pressure is applied.



    In case you cannot apply pressure to slide out the nozzle you will have to pry off the clip-on parts # 15 and 16 with an appropriate tool.
    #14 is a "nut" which fastens the nozzle #12 in place. You will either make up a special tool that allows you to open the nut or use a chisel/hammer method. Replace chisel with sth suitable :D


    We normally use a piece of copper/plastic tubing of proper dimensions and file it in a fashion that both corners of the "nut" can be gripped.
    --------


    To my knowledge all that is reqd to replace R12 with R143 (or was it R134?) are two new gas valves and a different sort of oil. System needs to be empty of oil else it will not last long as seemingly the two types of oil dislike each other.


    Cheers
    Reinhard

    Nick regarding the air con re-gas I bought a air conditioning recharge unit new from Snap on which is being set up today and training this afternoon. Its for the college you understand:grin2:. Anyway the wifes car is the test vehicle and following that mine will be done later in the week:top: I will let you all know how it goes.

    :driving2:Its been a year since I sold her and I still miss her.......





    Lloyd

    Thanks Reinhard, now it makes sense. I'm embarrassed to admit I cut the one out of my old smashed up nose with a hacksaw :oops:, I just couldn't work out how they came off. Despite my fat fingered work I managed to get the old ones out undamaged so I should be able to fit them to the new nose.


    Lloyd, you really are too good to those students :). Are you going for RS24 or risking the normal R134a?

    Only see this thread now Nick, what tough luck, but glad to see you making such great progress.
    Just on the Aircon, I have a lot of refrigeration equipment in my business, and the guy who takes care of it also recharges any cars I need. Although he should not, he still has several cans of R12, and will use it for customers he knows. Maybe you can find someone similair. Replacment with R134 will mean changing the compressor oil and valves in the system, and it is a far less effective refrigerant. It is also about to be phased out!
    There is a gas called Freeze12, but I do not know if it is available here, it is a direct R12 replacement, with R12 performance too.
    Steve

    Thanks Steve, my a/c guy was due to come today but let me down. He was going to refill with RS24 which is supposed to be a direct R12 replacement.


    Here are a few pictures of what she looks like now.


    The nose is hanging on by a thread and my main problem is that I can't get the bonnet to line up, anyone got any experience of this?


    Week or two and she'll be off for an MoT :laugh:

    Thanks Chaps.


    Lloyd - the strap method didn't work for me, just kept springing back. The only thing that worked was plumber's pliers and twisting hard. The results weren't very pretty but the metal is now in the right shape and i've repainted it so it doesn't look too bad. I plan to replace this in time when I buy a welder but for now you can't see the bad bit as it's hidden under plastic bits and at least it's the right shape now ;-).

    Fantastic stuff, looks amazing compared to the crash pics, keep it up, I am using this thread as inspiration everytime I think about selling my eight or contemplate a huge repair bill coming in, perhaps the 8 is more than just a car. :top:

    Hi all, well I've pretty much finished! There are a few bits and bobs left to do but it's ready for the MoT and VIC (identity check required post cat C write off). Turns out my current insurers don't cover CAT C cars so I'm going to wait for my policy to expire in about 5 weeks, then get a new policy with someone else and then MoT. The current weather is not making me want to get it back on the road much so I'm not that fussed.


    Anyway, the stupid weather was my main opponent in fixing my car, other than that it was a lot of fun and the car is in much better shape than before the crash so I'm happy :).


    I'll clean it up and take some good photos next weekend but you get the idea from the grainy numbers below...


    Thanks for all the encouragement along the way guys, it kept be going.

    Well done Nick. Ref insurance, I don't know if it's any good but try Adrian Flux.
    Failing that you could try Stuart Collins in Swansea, I've found the latter very helpful, you can contact me via PM if you want more info - I have a cat C write off insured via them with no problem at all.

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