My T Sport developments

[corradovr6]

Most of the things i've done on my car are all over the place so i thought it may be better to have a thread where i can save it more concisely.

Anyway, just cleaned up the rear shocks and bushes - not too exciting but trying to chase down a slight creak from the rear, which is hard to reproduce when you shake the car.  Its also a good opportunity to clean the top of the strut tower when the shocks are off.  

Dont need to remove the wheels or anything - theres enough space to remove the 17mm lower nut and the 14mm top mount nuts

The lower top mount rubbers on the shock covers sit in a cup and this was pretty dry with the bushes looking distinctly unmoisturised.  Cleaned off most of the crud and applied some lithium grease to both the cup and the rubbers.  The other areas were the bump stops are fixed inside the shock cover and the lower top mount.  Flexed the bush there and dripped some oil into the area, then rotated the top mount to ensure even coverage.  Seems nice and smooth now.

 

Upper top mounts were loosened, cleaned, lubricated and refitted.

Come summer, i'll clean the arches properly with a pressure washer.

Photo order seems all over the place, but you get the idea.  Nice easy job, only took about 90 mins including clearing up afterwards

[corradovr6]

Some rattles in the passenger door. Took the door card off, added a few strips of Damplifier, covered some areas with closed cell foam. Refitted the original white 'noise absorber'

Added a few strips of damplifier to the door skin. Replaced broken door clips, polished the inner door skin, replaced some of the now hardened butyl tape and restuck the vapour barrier. Greased up the window roller runner tracks. 

Some felt behind the white door lock clip, and some fabric tape on the lock button. 

Lubed the locks and hinges. Does sound nicer and the rattles have now disappeared...now just need to locate the others in the car. 

Nice easy and satisfying little job. Should have washed the white sound absorbers but decided to fit as is. Maybe next time the door card comes off..

[corradovr6]

Had a bit of a drive today in the passenger seat, i have to say ita had a significant effect on rattles (absolutely none so far) and surprisingly a reduction in road noise. Plus the door closes with a nicer sound now.

[Rhymes with Paris]

Looking and sounding (if could hear it) good .

The Tsport is such a good car to begin with, if you improve its refinement further then the results must be worth all the effort you are putting in.

[corradovr6]

Thanks Paul, appreciate the support. We bought this as a bit of a project, the target is to get it to slightly OEM+

The bodywork will need a bit of touching up, but thats outside my capabilities, although i have a friend with a bodyshop who will be able to help there.

Like you say its such a  good base to begin with.  I had previously thought of updating our old CDX to t-sport spec as it was so good mechanically and structurally, but i'm glad I didn't as it wouldn't really have worked, plus would have cost too much - don't build what you can buy.  

Here its a question of taking each area and slowly rectifying any shortcomings.  On the passenger door side, i need to now clean and relube the door seals & rubbers, polish the door frame and that's about it.  Then the same on the drivers side.  In the summer the seats will come out the carpet will be shampooed and the floor polished and soundproofed.  That said, there are a whole list of small activities pending.. I would like to think that this time next year it will be 'done' - they never really are, you just find something else to do or fix!

[venomx]

I've spent more time chasing rattles than driving🤣

It is satisfying when you fix an annoying one to be fair.

Best stuff is black-tac and anti-rattle tape. Really cheap off Amazon

[corradovr6]

D/s door done.

I had previously carried out some derattling but this has improved things further. 

There is a bizarre noise from the relay at the bottom of the door - remove it and there's no rattle when you tap the door, fit it and it rattles, shake it and there's no noise, put an isolating pad behind it and it rattles. Forced some felt behind the mounting bracket and the inner door skin but that didnt help.  So I've given up on that one and will probably wrap it in foam next time the door card comes off.

[corradovr6]

This has definitely made a difference in terms of rattles and the sound from the standard Speakers. Better than i expected tbh. Need to do the rear quarters and then some barrier under the carpet.

Definitely recommend this if you want to improve cabin comfort

[corradovr6]

Swopped out the cloudy old headlights and fitted some nice new ones.  Polished up the slam panel behind the bumper - you never see it but just thought it was good to do!  Finally, added a piece of neoprene foam where one of the wiring looms rubs a very thin (hence potential cutting risk) corner.  Worth checking if you've not done it before. Cleaned up some rust in the bay by the Battery and applied some Kurust to it.  A few other areas that might need some more work.

Fitted a new (used) D/S foglight.  Cleaned the light connectors and regreased all the bulb seals and fittings - much easier to refit and hopefully sealing better.

Added some foam to the black air guide to the left of the radiator as this was rattling slightly.  Now nice and quiet.

 

Fiddlier than expected especially as the bumper mounting clip in the wheelarch was damaged - next project to repair properly.  Sorry i didnt get a 'before' shot.

Lighting is certainly improved

[corradovr6]

nothing major, but just a wash of the seatbelts to remove 20 years of grime - just look at the water there! They now both retract nicely.

Washed the mats too and lubed the aerial pivot - again looks like its never been moved.  Now moving nicely.

Greased the sunroof mech, but its quite tricky to see where to apply any lube, i'll probably do it again after running the sunroof back and forth a few times.  Managed to polish the frame around it and applied some 'gummiplege' to the rubber seal.

[Rhymes with Paris]

It's coming on well Hasan, who'd of thought so much dirt could accumulate on seat belts

Looks like you had a nice sunny day to do it too which is always a bonus.🏖️

It was a bit on the warm side oop here too, when I went to lift the hatch to put my shopping in , I noticed it was sticking a fair bit, having sat in the sun.

I have a tube of that gummi stuff, not the £15 one though, but hope it's good enough.

 

 

[corradovr6]

Thanks Paul.  Yes, shocking isnt it!

i thought it would be a shame not to make the most of the sun.  Hopefully we'll have a few more so the seats and carpet can be done too..

 

I would definitely moisturise the rubbers, both in the summer and winter to prevent them from sticking.  That includes the sunroof seal, door seals and boot seals.

[corradovr6]

Relatively straightforward job to change the transmission fluid - amazing how filthy the undertrays become, i dont think they've ever been cleaned in the past. To be fair i just gave them a wipe over with white spirit and then a general purpose cleaner and finished of with a slight spritz of plastic dressing.  Same with the two front chin spoiler pieces.

 

Anyway, removed the underchassis splash guards, screws came off quite easily as i had recently removed them to do the headlights.  Didnt actually need to remove them both just the passenger side one, but hade it easier to clean.

Sprayed both filling and drain plugs with wd40, left to soak for about 10 mins.  Filling plug removed first of course!  Removed the drain plug.  Transmission fluid was pretty black. But must have been the original fluid.  Used two bottle of MT90 (946ml each, total 1.9litres, which is exactly the capacity according to the service book). Schoolboy error - i thought i had some tubing to use with the funnel i had. Fortunately the other funnel with the flexy fitted comfortably once i had removed the air intake hose and the throttle body elbow. Fresh pink gearbox fluid finally!  My ramps allow you to lift the car individually so tilted one side to allow as much of the old fluid to drain as possible.

New copper washers in place of the old aluminium ones.  Torqued to 28ft.lb

Gave the underside a bit of a clean up with the oily rags that had accumulated.  Might give it a proper clean an polish some time

Refitted the splash guards

[corradovr6]

Well after the nonsense with the PU drop links i ended up assembling a hybrid of the bushes on the old spindle and using the old washers. Still not too easy to fit but here they are. Let's see how long they last..

 

Both 'clunked' into place after i moved the car so all seated properly now.

[Cyker]

Err... is that on right? The rubbers should be against the arms and the metal caps between them and the nut/centre

The bottom one looks like the metal hat and rubber bush are in the wrong order... but it's a bit hard to tell from the picture

[corradovr6]

You could be right! I just reassembled as per the old one i took off. The bottom one has the bush guide below the arm, then the bush, then the support washer and then the nut. In fact, now you've mentioned it I'll have a look again and refit them. Cue the bad language!

Really poor design, unnecessarily complicated and no room to move at all

[Rhymes with Paris]

It's still keeping you busy by the looks of it Hasan.

Is it drivable in between jobs so that you can get out and about in it ?

[corradovr6]

Indeed it is Paul. I just have this obsession with making my second hand cars the best they can be, so there's always something to tinker with. Sometimes i just need an excuse!

[corradovr6]

Minor update - resprayed the very faded wiper arms satin black, lubed the wiper mechanism, some derattling of the scuttle panel and some fresh new Bosch SP wipers.

[corradovr6]

used Mer Vinyl & Bumper gel to add some oils to the scuttle panel pieces.  It usually washes off after a few washes but its nice when its done! 

[Cyker]

Nice, I love wiper arms when they still have that factory-like satin black look; Before my Mk4, all my cars wiper arms had that slightly corroded look that you get when the car's getting on a bit  

[corradovr6]

Small change but long overdue - spot the difference!

[Jimota]

Well done Hasan, that’s great work.  My only skill with cars was changing the plugs, points, oil, coolant and the like to carry out a basic service.  Mind you that was over 45 years ago.  Now, I only fill up the washer bottle.

[corradovr6]

Kind words James - i wouldnt underestimate what you've achieved too, especially adjusting points, which i remember used to be pretty fiddly!  We used to have a mini metro back in the day and the points just kept closing no matter what we used to do.  But i was a bit of a youngster then so didn't really know what was going on..

 

that faded old t sport Badge was really letting the back down and this metal one does freshen it up - same one fitted to the front too some months back.  Number plates are also looking tired - got a new set which need fitting, but this time without screws

[Rhymes with Paris]

It's the attention to small details, that make such a big difference to the overall look of the car.

Did you replace the Badge Hasan? or refurb the colour.