Precat Gutting Meet Saturday 11th June

Liz · June 13, 2005, 08:32

<<Holds hands up>>

I was home by then...nice look Stu, it will catch on s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Darth Paul · June 13, 2005, 09:56

Hummmmmm... s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

markiii · June 13, 2005, 09:58

ROFL

All I can say is that having spent yesterday morning clearing up teh garage, I cannot beleive how much water (thanks Aaron :-) :-) :-) ), and precat material was in teh pit.

Considering we had a half full bucket it was still everwhere.

Thank god fo a wet and dry vac, my garage now looks somewhat closer to it's former glory.

Steve,

I'm glad you got home ok with no leaks e.t.c, we couldn't really not get it done with you coming al teh way over from ireland.

Comer · June 13, 2005, 10:56

Hi everyone.

I just like to add my thanks to Mark and Chris for their hospitality on Saturday, I managed to make it out for a meal on Sat night but I felt stuffed from what I ate and drank during the day! Very nice to meet some new faces and to meet people who talk about the MR2 as much as I can.

I think my car may be a contender for being the biggest PITA and partly due to my blonde tendencies. Not only did the manifold refuse to budge, I drove home and found that there was a leak in the exhaust system somewhere and I couldn't lock my doors once the car was parked in the garage. It turned out that the passenger door was still open so that was the end of prob 1 s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

But I suspected the leak was due to reusing the old gaskets because we didn't gut my pre cats so I managed to get someone at Kwik Fit to fir the new gaskets yesterday but he mentioned that there were 2 leaks and the main one is between the main cat and my H&S and he couldn't loosen the nuts without possibly snapping them s:? :? s:?

But I must thank Mark, Aaron and everyone who helped on my car, at one point it resembled an operating theatre scene from Casualty s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

markiii · June 13, 2005, 17:13

Ladies & Gents the officalresults of teh day are as follows;

Kanujunkie 31000 miles, cat condition perfect
Raodsterboy (mileage not recorded, Javier can you let me know) cat condition perfect
MR_2 (Mileage unknown, Adrian can you let me know) cat condition perfect
Simon C 58K (But 2nd engine) Cats ok but minor pitting
MRSMR2 16945 miles, cat condition perfect
Darth Paul, 18600 miles, cat condition perfect
Ernie Ball 16875 miles cat condition uncertain as we gutted from below, however what we could see was ok.
Roger, 5500 miles, cat condition perfect.

So all in all surprisingly good results this time around, but still worthwhile preventative maintenance.

Liz, Steve can you post the photos when you get a sec

Jason I beleive theres some Video somewhere?

Generally what is teh feedback regardign how teh car drives now?

Anonymous · June 13, 2005, 17:14

Just after a bit of advice from the cat wrecking crew. I attempted a gutting operation myself. Was going OK, after much application of 3 in 1 Professional Penentrating spray I easily loosed the heatshield, manifold mounting brackets, manifold - engine block nuts and o2 sensors. That just left the 3 manifold to down pipe nuts. Absolute b$£tards. One I rounded so I thought what the hell and attcked it with mole grips, so now its totally bollo$ed. One I managed to loosen by hitting a ring spanner with a hammer. The middle one - absolutely no way was that one coming undone. Took the car to Mr T, they couldn't undo it either and siad that it had been put on wrong. All i can assume by that is that they mean that some moron had the air torque wrench set to max as I would have thought it hard to get the nut on upside down.

The car's booked into Mr T in about 2 weeks time but the job's gonna cost about £260 inc VAT and thats after I negotiated it down on the basis that it's partly a warranty issue because the nuts have been incorrectly torqued.

Is there any other way out of this? - I'm naturally a little reluctant to part with £260 just to get my manifold in a state where I can actually loosen the nuts but the car is a daily driver (wife) so I can't end up with being off road for any length of time.

Any suggestions?

markiii · June 13, 2005, 17:18

suggestion number 1 is any good exhaust shop, theres no reason to pay main dealer prices for this.

second suggestion is locate a female torx socket, (If you manage it let me know where :-) :-) :-) ) thsi will alow you to removed the stud which is then easily replaced.

oh and make sure its hot when you try those nuts are all but impossible on a cold engine.

mrsmr2 · June 13, 2005, 17:32

Mark

There will be a DVD soon - I'll post it to you when ready.

I didn't notice much change in the car on the way back home. Mind you, I had the roof down and was doing a brisk speed back on the motorway so all I could hear was the wind.

Performance - don't know. I'm still bedding in the brand new T1-Rs and most of my concentration is on them as they're a bit more twitchy that the RE040s.

Will feedback properly once tyres are bedded in and I've had a proper play.

Thanks again.

Jason

Ernie Ball · June 13, 2005, 17:48

I've put all the pictures I have on a web page.

Go here:

m http://homepage.mac.com/bupkis/MR2ROC/PhotoAlbum37.html m

Anonymous · June 13, 2005, 18:07

Ernie, good piccies brings back memories though I'm glad I wasn't caught up in the problems you lot had. Another successful mission Mark s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Anonymous · June 13, 2005, 18:09

Great photos Steve, and you even managed to get both me and my car in one! Although you can only see my back, which is probably a good thing... s:(

s:( s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Top action shots of Mark at work, too. s:D

s:D

aaronjb · June 13, 2005, 18:13

Nooooooooooooo, photos of me.. s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

<hides>

SimonC_Here · June 13, 2005, 18:18

So what's that to the left of your post if not a picture of you? s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Simon

aaronjb · June 13, 2005, 18:19

Heh yeah - but you can only see my head in that one, and a trick of the angles makes me look slightly less gargantuan..

mrsmr2 · June 13, 2005, 19:33

Great photos Steve

A good reminder of the day.

Jason

Darth Paul · June 13, 2005, 22:10

Top piccies Steve. Now, when did I get THAT bald? s:? :? s:? s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

kanujunkie · June 13, 2005, 22:14

Quote from: "Ernie Ball"And now, without further ado, here's Stu getting ready to dive in in his full-body condom s:lol: :lol: s:lol: :

i look more like the abominable snowman s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

me thinks the mrs wouldn't let me near her like this s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

Ernie Ball · June 13, 2005, 22:38

Quote from: "markiii"Generally what is the feedback regardign how the car drives now?

Drives great. Checked the oil this morning and none seems to have been consumed during the journey from Dublin to Herts and back. So that's a relief. Car sounds better as I mentioned. Not like the mega exhausts you all have, s:bowdown: :bowdown: s:bowdown: but a bit growlier than it was.

How would I know if there's an exhaust leak other than running my hand along the manifold or the CEL coming on? Not that I think I have one (I don't). Just for future reference.

Ernie Ball · June 13, 2005, 22:39

Quote from: "Darth Paul"Now, when did I get THAT bald? s:? :? s:? s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Embrace it, Paul. You have nothing to lose but your vanity. s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

aaronjb · June 13, 2005, 22:45

Quote from: "Ernie Ball"How would I know if there's an exhaust leak other than running my hand along the manifold or the CEL coming on? Not that I think I have one (I don't). Just for future reference.

A leak high up in the exhaust (near the block) will sound like a ticking noise - hard to locate from inside the car, but easy to tell if you listen to the engine directly..

A leak further along the exhaust will just sound like a blow - it'll just sound.. well, growlier.. heh s:)

s:)

Anonymous · June 13, 2005, 23:09

I like these wheels! s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Is this ekona's car?

Very nice!

Anonymous · June 14, 2005, 07:32

Yup, that's my baby all right! s8)

s8)

Word of warning to all though: Where it says on chrome wheels 'For Show & Summer Use Only', please listen to it. I didn't, and now I'm going to have to fork out to get the wheels re-coated as all the chrome has started to come off. s:(

s:(

SimonC_Here · June 14, 2005, 08:41

Mark,

One of the two studs that fell somewhere into my engine bay has re emerged, behind the numberplate! No sign of the other one.

I can either post it to you or let it sit in my glove box until we meet again.

Simon

Liz · June 14, 2005, 23:01

Long shot I know but did anyone notice whether all of my tyre valve caps were on my car on Saturday, just been out to check the pressures and it appears Southends' finest may of got their grubby little mitts on 3 of them... s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: , just wanted to narrow down when it happened so I can check the cctv of the car park, they obviously weren't looking at mine today!

I have my suspects and I will looking at the tyre valves on their bikes very carefully in the future..

Few pictures:

I don't know who these belong to as I had it written on the paper I left at Marks!

Simon shows off his manifold!

Anonymous · June 15, 2005, 07:30

Funny you should say that Liz, as I did have another quick look at your valve caps on Saturday, and they were definately all accounted for then...

Sorry to hear about that, thieving little gits! s:evil: :evil: s:evil: