James' MK Patrols (The Three Amigos)

[james008]

The white car got rego'd yesterday! Feel good to back in an old MK again.
Gotta sat this ones not as slow as I remember the red one being.
Fairly happy with it it sits on 100km/h okay but prefers 90km/h, its not too noisy inside and it doesn't leak in heavy rain. It could still benefit from a better stereo system, some noise insulation and it still idles high and revs down slow... Can't get to the bottom of that one.

I also fitted an ARB bar today. It looks a bit better than the alloy bar it had before.
Apologies for the terrible photo quality - my phones camera lens is scratched quite badly.

[93patrol]

looking good mate, its always good to get the car back on the road after some time off

[james008]

I got some better pics of it after I washed it. Put some tyre black on it too - She scrubs up alright despite the rubbish paint

I reckon she's a good looking beast, but maybe I'm biased!

[james008]

Took the old girl for a nice long 450km run today. She went really well, which I'm impressed with as it was the cars first long run in God knows how long.
Not too loud in the cab either, even with no sound insulation I could quite easily hold a conversation in the car at freeway speed.

[james008]

Gave the old beast a late birthday today... well, actually yesterday.

Oil flush, new oil and new filter and an injector and pump cleaner. Happy to say that the old girl idles a little smoother now and is a tad more responsive since the injector clean.

The old girl may not be perfect, but she is bloody brilliant!
Not as good as my first MK, nothing can ever replace that car, but the next best thing to it. I'm happy to say I'm stoked with her

[james008]

Car has been on the road for just over a month, so time for a one month status report:
Its falling apart... kinda...

- Fuel leak at the tank, drops quite a lot. Need to find somewhere to store almost 80l of diesel while I drop the tank. Tightened all the connections I can see, any ideas where it could be leaking from? its somewhere towards the front of the tank. Anyone dropped an MQ tank before?
- RHR drum needs a rebuild and the clip that prevents the tensioning screw from turning is buggered.
- ignition barrell is stuffed. It no longer springs back from the start position to on, so if i don't do it manually it keeps the starter engaged so I'll need to rebuild it or get a new one keyed.

Hopefully after that she'll last a while.

[93patrol]

might be leaking from the fuel filler neck, or the fuel gauge sender unit. tanks themselves are pretty easy to drop just download the manual and it should tell you the way to do it.

drums are the easiest brakes to rebuild and if you get stuck take the otherside off and its a mirror image.

[Davey Jones]

they look good mate. some very clean old girls you guys have there.

[james008]

might be leaking from the fuel filler neck, or the fuel gauge sender unit. tanks themselves are pretty easy to drop just download the manual and it should tell you the way to do it.

drums are the easiest brakes to rebuild and if you get stuck take the otherside off and its a mirror image.

Still haven't figured out exactly where its leaking from. Filler neck is certainly a possibility as it stop leaking when I've used a bit of fuel.

Drums are pretty easy to rebuild, I was just a little annoyed that I had it all apart a couple of months ago, and now it has to come apart again all for one little retaining clip.... Ah well, has to be done.

they look good mate. some very clean old girls you guys have there.

Thanks mate! I try to keep them as good as I can.

[james008]

Two nights ago i had a bit of an issue... smoke pouring out from the headlight switch,electrical smell and loss of dash lights, parkers and tail lights.... Yep, I'd melted the switch.

This is not uncommon on MK's, as the full current for the lights passes through the switch, over time a high resistance can be caused in the switch, and hence the smoke and melting.

I decided to fix the problem once and for all by upgrading the wiring loom. Its a bit of an odd setup as from the switch to the headlight connectors the circuit is -ve switched, but from the connectors to the headlights (where my loom is) the circuit is +ve switched.
Anyway, it all works well and I will post up later how I did it.