The Carina Journey

[PaulinhoT]

Well it's been a busy week so I've not had much time with Carina, but I have noticed the dash rattles with the stereo in it, I only found this out by removing it tonight and driving around the block. Not sure if it's down to the weight of the tape player, or some clips being loose.

[PaulinhoT]

I'm not sure on what type of stereo to replace it with, or if I will enjoy the weight saving instead.

I've also done an mpg test, and urban I seem to be getting around 33-37mpg.

 

[wedgehog]

Hi Paul, No idea mate, maybe those huge connectors, which would be flapping around at the rear when the stereo is pushed into place, are rattling on the back of the unit?

Fuel use sounds about right for just running around. John will have a better view on that as he has the same car.

[tooSavvy]

Yo, Bob. W-C is efi... I, otoh, am Carved <thank the lord!!>

 

2sav

[PaulinhoT]

Cheers for the advice, I'll take another look after work tomorrow, and see what's going on.

[PaulinhoT]

A little slow on the posts lately, but I'm happy being busy at work. So here's some photos I took the other night at work.

 

[wedgehog]

She's looking well smart Paul, well done mate

[PaulinhoT]

On 5/10/2018 at 7:37 PM, wedgehog said:

She's looking well smart Paul, well done mate

Thank you Bob, and I'm only at the start of this journey, cheers.

[PaulinhoT]

I'm not much of a "you tube" producer, but I'm going to try and bring some updates via my channel. Hopefully as each episode is done, I will learn more and more stuff. Here's the 1st short episode for you all, thank you.

 

 

[PaulinhoT]

Episode 2 is up.. still learning how this youtube thing works.

 

 

[PaulinhoT]

I also did a little more cleaning on the interior, I found loads of dirt and something else inside where the hand break cover sits. I think in order to make me happy, I will be removing most of the interior, and cleaning everything lol.

 

[PaulinhoT]

I'm also doing bits under the bonnet as well, it's just finding the time.

 

 

[PaulinhoT]

Just a little update coming later today...

 

 

[PaulinhoT]

So a little update today, I tried to take the rear bumper off my car, as I want to get the fit a lot better on one side. But the first bolt I went to undo, snapped. So I'm going to get some new bolts, and remove it knowing I can replace them all. Whilst underneath my car I noticed a tiny little bit of surface rust along the edge of the join near the rear of the car, so I brushed off the worst, and went over it with some Kurust. Once I get the rear bumper off I will give it a serious clean. Oh and I also took my car to Top Gear in Bridport, and had them make me a custom cat back exhaust. It sounds a lot nicer, and the car seems to run a lot better now. I've had the diameter made slightly bigger as I plan on swapping the engine at some point.

 

[PaulinhoT]

It's not meant to look pretty, as I want the complete underside treated properly at some point soon.

Here's a few snaps of my exhaust. Also I want to replace or upgrade all of the suspension linkages and arms, any ideas as to where I could buy these from (or have them made).

 

[PaulinhoT]

New episode out tonight.. I really need to learn how to use YouTube lol.

 

[wedgehog]

Nice one Paul, superb looking silencer, but what about the most important information? What did it cost? I was thinking of having a stainless steel one made for mine as I am sick of the thin knock of rubbish that only lasts a year or so,  I actually got as far as talking to a similar place and when I asked the price he told me he would have to see the car, well It was far to far away to just nip there for a quote and then I never bothered.

[PaulinhoT]

Thanks, I didn't want to go over sized, so stuck with what I thought was right for the mid 90's. The car now rumbles in such a nice way, I'm really pleased with it. The cost was £400 all in, from cat back, plus they lent me a car for the day. Although it was done in about 4 hours, which again I'm happy with. It originally wasn't high on my list of jobs to do, but the U-bend pipe cracked at the rear, so I brought it forward a little. As I say, it's a lifetime warranty on the exhaust (T&C apply), and as I do intend on keeping the car for as long as I can, it made perfect sense to do.

[PaulinhoT]

A long over due update, well I've been working really had, both with my day job, and with researching parts for the Carina E. I think I'm going to go with B.C racing coilovers, along with some other suspension arms etc. 

I've not moved any further forward with up rating the brakes, and having rear discs fitted, but I think that will happen after the wheels are sourced. 

I'm still using the car as my daily, and still enjoying every moment of it. Today I gave her the first was since I did my initial detail, and it's still looking great.

The Carina also turned 24 years old on the 13th of June, and it still turns heads.

 

Here's a photo from today, with me giving her a quick wash.

 

 

[wedgehog]

Lovely mate, I reckon it would look even nicer with some hub caps on.

[PaulinhoT]

On 6/16/2018 at 7:19 PM, wedgehog said:

Lovely mate, I reckon it would look even nicer with some hub caps on.

I'm hopeful that I'll have some new alloys in the next few weeks. The money is in the bank "so to speak", it's just getting time to order them, and getting the correct offset etc.

[wedgehog]

I put a set on my Camry a few weeks ago and last week I swerved to avoid a cat and clipped the kerb, the Tyre blew up and the alloy hit the deck :-(

 

[PaulinhoT]

Oh that's a right bugger Bob, is it repairable ?

[wedgehog]

Hi Paul

Well I only bought them in late April, so I emailed the company and asked if they would supply me just one, yes they said, but it is now, and they humped the price up by £20. So I told them I didn't realise they made aluminium suppository's. So then I got the dremmel out and fitted a fine sanding wheel and gently feathered the damage out on the rim, then sanded with 800 wet then sprayed that area with the silver that's on my Carina and then 2k clear. Tell you what, it's a very good match and if you stand looking at the wheel the only way you see the damage is when you notice the edge of the rim dips in slightly. I had the Tyre shop spin it and check it for wobble and it's still ok so had a new Tyre fitted and it's back on the car.

[PaulinhoT]

Sounds like a lovely little project, did you take any photos ?