Fastback's cars.

[scoobyh123]

No major hurry, Dave, other than the desire to draw a line under it (as if we ever can with our cars ). As you suggest, January is preferable. Stick it on the 'To do' list.

Cheers.

"To do" list updated Mark!

[Fastback]

Happy New everyone and hope you all had a very pleasant Christmas.

Managed to get the clutch slave cylinder swapped over (Vitesse) but of course the problem is with the bleeding afterwards. Having looked through the forum, many people have had similar, with various solutions suggested. We were able to get to a point that I could change gear with the pedal right to the floor and with a bit of 'sticky pedal' on the return.

I've been driving it for a few days now and the pedal is changing. No longer do I need to fully depress and the pedal now just has a different 'feel' at the top. I'm hoping that any air in the system will work through, keeping an eye on the resovoir.

In other news, came out the Vitesse New Years' day to find a flat! Thumping great washered nail close to the shoulder . So whilst I had a break in the weather, swapped the wheel for the spare (wasn't flat, need to check Sterling) and went to one of the local tyre vendors. They wanted £30 to fix, to which I replied I'd already had quotes of £20 and declined their offer.

On returning to the car, I couldn't turn the key in the ignition ! I prodded and poked the lock, turning the wheel, nudging the key tiny amounts but no, it would not turn. After about 15 minutes of poking, I had to sheepishly go to the work bay and ask if they had any spray lube that I could use. They didn't look too impressed ! A quick squirt, a few insertions and the lock tumblers freed up, so I was sorted.

Interestingly, I had no warning, no previous difficulties, it just came right out of the blue. Moral of the story; don't forget basic maintainance.

[scoobyh123]

You had a bit of a run of problems there Mark! With the steering lock, you're not meant to lube it - ever! That said, i have lubed mine a few times for exactly the reason you describe although mine has normally been more porgressive but almost always after a period of inactivity!

Glad it's all sorted for you now though!

[Fastback]

The clutch pedal has not improved, in fact it's got worse. We're all the way to the floor to change again and is sticking half way up. Same issue as most people on here, I can't believe a simple process is so hard.

Reading earlier posts, as well as raising, turning etc, many suggest locking the piston of the slave in place with a G clamp or cable tie; just to clarify, this is to hold the piston in its fully retracted position? I'm going to have another attempt soon.

I notice Dave was going to have a go at making/designing a tight cap to pressure bleed as the bayonet fitting is awkward. Looking at some videos etc, I notice that one of the Range/Land Rovers has a screw top resevoir with what looks like a very similar sensor attatchment. Possibility of a resevoir swap out? Somebody with better knowledge of R/L Rovers might know.

I'm also getting an intermittent electrical issue on the Vitesse, I am aware of the symptoms but can't recall the cause. Essentially the electric seat, mirrors and windows stop working but crucially and tellingly, the intermittent wiper defaults to its shortest interval. That, I believe, pinpoints the problem to a specific thing, just can't remember what .

[scoobyh123]

The clutch pedal has not improved, in fact it's got worse. We're all the way to the floor to change again and is sticking half way up. Same issue as most people on here, I can't believe a simple process is so hard.

Reading earlier posts, as well as raising, turning etc, many suggest locking the piston of the slave in place with a G clamp or cable tie; just to clarify, this is to hold the piston in its fully retracted position? I'm going to have another attempt soon.

I notice Dave was going to have a go at making/designing a tight cap to pressure bleed as the bayonet fitting is awkward. Looking at some videos etc, I notice that one of the Range/Land Rovers has a screw top resevoir with what looks like a very similar sensor attatchment. Possibility of a resevoir swap out? Somebody with better knowledge of R/L Rovers might know.

I'm also getting an intermittent electrical issue on the Vitesse, I am aware of the symptoms but can't recall the cause. Essentially the electric seat, mirrors and windows stop working but crucially and tellingly, the intermittent wiper defaults to its shortest interval. That, I believe, pinpoints the problem to a specific thing, just can't remember what .

That's the one Mark, clamp the piston in the slave cylinder with a G-clamp and position the slave cylinder with the bleed nipple uppermost.

I did make a cap to pressure bleed the system :





I've also made a bracket to hold it in the reservoir with a strap on it, this is it on the Gunsons universal cap (that doesn't work on 800s) :



They work well together to enable pressure bleeding of the brake (and clutch although mine is auto so not tried it but based on the brake results, will be very effective) hydraulic system. I also made a spreader clamp for the front brake calipers to hold the piston in the caliper :





Simple operation with a 13mm socket/ring spanner to expand the gap between the piston and caliper outer forcing the piston back into the caliper.

You're welcome to borrow them if you cover the cost of postage.

[Fastback]

Thanks Dave. I think my brother has caliper spreaders but if not, I'll take you up on your offer.

And whilst we're in that area, I have an update on my clutch for the Vitesse. Reading the ideas on here and about pointing the bleed nipple upwards, I've taken it to a new level; literally. I couldn't work out how you point it upwards because the metal pipe wouldn't let me. However, there is a section of curly plastic pipe. I removed the air filter box and brought the slave unit right to the top of the engine bay. In fact, it was probably just above the resevoir. The slave was clamped down, as suggested, clutch depressed whilst the opening the bleed nipple. We did this three times and quite a bit of air came out, possibly trapped in the slave itself. Once tightened, the clutch pedal was as it should be, perfect; it took less than half an hour. I also replaced the very rutted clevis pin for a brand new one.

So that's that sorted .

[Fastback]

I don't know how much of an issue this with the autos but on two of our cars, with evidence of two more in the collection having had this problem, the gear selector panel LED fails, the one that illuminates 'P, R, N, D' etc. If the fibre optic ribbon is not damaged, then replacing the LED is not that hard (it's a 3mm). But what if the ribbon is damaged as is the case with my mother's car? I decided to fix this using the legacy chambers in the panel by fitting 5mm LEDs in them. Firstly I needed to make a board (3D printed) on to which I could attach the lights.



What you see will be face down. That is a modified version of what I have already done, based on this installation. Seven LEDs are inserted into the pairs of holes.



Soldered up and a 680 Ohm resistor fitted in series. Test with power at 13.3V (measured at the original socket) to check brightness.



The panel is screwed to the underneath of the concave housing.



And then tested again.



In daylight the illumination is not noticeable and is not intrusive at night. You could change the brightness by using a lower value resistor or none at all. You'll also notice that I've used orange LEDs, not green, as the panel was originally lit. Is that a legacy thing and was never changed when the dashboard etc went orange?

I think this is more in keeping now and a worth while fix.

[scoobyh123]

Thanks Dave. I think my brother has caliper spreaders but if not, I'll take you up on your offer.

And whilst we're in that area, I have an update on my clutch for the Vitesse. Reading the ideas on here and about pointing the bleed nipple upwards, I've taken it to a new level; literally. I couldn't work out how you point it upwards because the metal pipe wouldn't let me. However, there is a section of curly plastic pipe. I removed the air filter box and brought the slave unit right to the top of the engine bay. In fact, it was probably just above the resevoir. The slave was clamped down, as suggested, clutch depressed whilst the opening the bleed nipple. We did this three times and quite a bit of air came out, possibly trapped in the slave itself. Once tightened, the clutch pedal was as it should be, perfect; it took less than half an hour. I also replaced the very rutted clevis pin for a brand new one.

So that's that sorted .

It's amazing how much air can be trapped if the bleed nipple isn't uppermost, no matter what you're bleeding. Glad you got it sorted Mark!

I don't know how much of an issue this with the autos but on two of our cars, with evidence of two more in the collection having had this problem, the gear selector panel LED fails, the one that illuminates 'P, R, N, D' etc. If the fibre optic ribbon is not damaged, then replacing the LED is not that hard (it's a 3mm). But what if the ribbon is damaged as is the case with my mother's car? I decided to fix this using the legacy chambers in the panel by fitting 5mm LEDs in them. Firstly I needed to make a board (3D printed) on to which I could attach the lights.



What you see will be face down. That is a modified version of what I have already done, based on this installation. Seven LEDs are inserted into the pairs of holes.



Soldered up and a 680 Ohm resistor fitted in series. Test with power at 13.3V (measured at the original socket) to check brightness.



The panel is screwed to the underneath of the concave housing.



And then tested again.



In daylight the illumination is not noticeable and is not intrusive at night. You could change the brightness by using a lower value resistor or none at all. You'll also notice that I've used orange LEDs, not green, as the panel was originally lit. Is that a legacy thing and was never changed when the dashboard etc went orange?

I think this is more in keeping now and a worth while fix.

That's very different to when i did my Sterling Mark. That had a red backlight (as per all dash lights etc) and individual LEDs, all red so i changed them to blue for P & N, green for forward ranges and red for Reverse.

[Fastback]

That's very different to when i did my Sterling Mark. That had a red backlight (as per all dash lights etc) and individual LEDs, all red so i changed them to blue for P & N, green for forward ranges and red for Reverse.

Interesting idea re different colour LEDs.

I'm pretty certain (but willing to be proved wrong) that the illumination in my mk1 'J' plate was green.

[scoobyh123]

That's very different to when i did my Sterling Mark. That had a red backlight (as per all dash lights etc) and individual LEDs, all red so i changed them to blue for P & N, green for forward ranges and red for Reverse.

Interesting idea re different colour LEDs.

I'm pretty certain (but willing to be proved wrong) that the illumination in my mk1 'J' plate was green.

If your Mk1 (J reg so only just a Mk1 considering when the Mk2 was launched 1/1/92) was green, i would guess that either that had been modified by an owner or was a potential prototype/evaluation car with green illumination (green doesn't work in 800s IMHO, red does and so does blue, amber/orange just about works) but the main illumination for the shift quadrant was usually through a translucent piece of red plastic, same as the ignition barrel surround and had a plain white bulb to light them.
On the shift position bulbs, there were small red condoms made of silicone that created the subdued red light but using ultrabright coloured LEDs (5mm and a 680 Ohm resistor, good value as it gives ~18mA on 12V and ~22mA on 14.4V) overcame the red backlighting of the shift quadrant and they produced the light i wanted - somewhere i had photos but i think they were "Photobucketed".

On my original 800, D859SGO, an 820SLI (Si?) the illumination on everything was amber/borderline red. I found some Vitrol (?) "stained glass paint" in amber and painted the interior light bulbs to give an overall effect (back then, amber LEDs weren't really thought of, never mind available! Certainly not for automotive use straight out of the box!) so the amber/red theme has been with 800s for a long time. I'm not saying your Mk1 didn't have green illumination, after all both Dusan (Alucard7002) and myself have altered amd/or added different colour LED illumination to window switch packs, gearshift quadrants and other things :











All of my own car, also the DRLs/indicators :



As you can imagine, things are easily altered to your own tastes etc. Also done it on my Volvo, just after i got it :



............. and a few years later................ :



Now on 233k miles! Like i said, blue doesn't seem to work on Volvos :



That's my old 740GLE, sold in ~2014 i think it was, ended up with green LEDs in the instruments/switches. As you can see, blue works nicely on the Volvo gauges but not as nicely as green, my current 760 is still on green and no desire to change it.
My Jag is on white illumination with a hint of green, funny thing is, the instrument needles are white until the lights come on and then they turn orange! Weird but true! I remember the car i learned to drive in, a Datsun Skyline 2.4 (only UK model Skyline Coupe) had orange/amber needles for the instruments, both the speedo and tacho needles glowed orange with the lights on. Previous generation (the one i learned in was officially a Mk2 but was a facelift over the original Mk2, i also owned two Mk2 pre-facelift models) had white needles and they glowed white with the lights on.

Manufacturers do strange things at times, we have to make the best of it when we come to modify in the interest of prolonging longevity and sometimes get creative, like i did with the clock on the Sterling - i had to wipe the back of the face with acetone to remove the shading Rover had spent £thousands developing for use with a filament bulb to remove the shadow lines that removed shadows from the face of the clock but also the orange tint. Using an LED (Blue one obviously) and self-adhesive chrome film as a reflector on the inside of the case of the clock) negated the need for the shadow lines thankfully, ditto on the frontal illumination of the speedo/tacho although the MoT tester moaned they were now too bright! Maybe i'll use some greaseproof or tracing paper as a diffuser and reduce the brightness of the frontal illumination of the instruments but without the shadow lines built in to the orange diffuser in the top/front of the instrument pack.

It's all fun and games, we have to second guess what the manufacturer did originally and work with it to get the desired result versus what they wanted us to have and we can no longer have due to availability or lack of.

Apologies for the "War and Peace" answer, had some bad news today and just feel like spouting off, hopefully it's all useful/interesting!

[Fastback]

It's certainly all useful and interesting.

I definitely remember my MG Maestro being green lit and the late 'J' 800 was I believe some sort of parts bin crossover (hence some Tickford trim). My recollection of those lights' colour is not fixed, it's over 20 years since I had it , only that I do recall the illumination in my early mk2a 825 SLi was different (orange).

[scoobyh123]

My MG Montego Turbo was also green illumination Mark, the only Mk2a 825 was a diseasel version and i don't think they did an SLi variant with the VM diesel lump.

Found this brochure on fleabay, must be about 1990 as it has the facelifted Montego in but shows all cars and interiors. On the Maestro and Montego pages, it shows the Maestro with pale green instrument illumination and the Montego with amber/red - doesn't show the illumination on the 800 though. I have a Coupe brochure somewhere, i'll see if i can find it and see if that shows the illumination.

[scoobyh123]

My MG Montego Turbo was also green illumination Mark, the only Mk2a 825 was a diseasel version and i don't think they did an SLi variant with the VM diesel lump.

Found this brochure on fleabay, must be about 1990 as it has the facelifted Montego in but shows all cars and interiors.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265637357884

On the Maestro and Montego pages, it shows the Maestro with pale green instrument illumination and the Montego with amber/red - doesn't show the illumination on the 800 though. I have a Coupe brochure somewhere, i'll see if i can find it and see if that shows the illumination.

[scoobyh123]

My MG Montego Turbo was also green illumination Mark, the only Mk2a 825 was a diseasel version and i don't think they did an SLi variant with the VM diesel lump.

Found this brochure on fleabay, must be about 1990 as it has the facelifted Montego in but shows all cars and interiors.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265637357884

On the Maestro and Montego pages, it shows the Maestro with pale green instrument illumination and the Montego with amber/red - doesn't show the illumination on the 800 though. I have a Coupe brochure somewhere, i'll see if i can find it and see if that shows the illumination.

[Fastback]

My KV6 Sterling is developing a slight misfire at higher speeds with a loss of power and I think we all know what that might be suggesting. I've also had occasional blue smoke on start up, so I'm taking action before things get worse.

My current thinking is to go big on the overhaul, paying particular attention to the liners, which I'm considering replacing. Much is written about HGF, the types of replacement and wet liner heights and there is much disagreement even amongst those that know. What I've gleaned so far is that the liner height above the block should be in the range 0.05-0.15mm. I've already seen others saying it should be 0.3 (which seems high to me). This is of course assuming rebuilding with the 5 layer metal gasket. I'm not sure how many people on here still run the KV6 or know about it.

I think this aspect is fudamental in the rebuild, so I really want to get it right, the rest is just spanner wafting.