JeffTT

Very quiet in here today, everyone ok or is the boss about? Jeff TT

Sorry guys not in the UK...... Portugal along with other European countries now consider 80 mph a safe limit make the national motorway limit, they also go on to say that up to 92 mph is not considered worth enforced with only drivers going over 92 mph will be checked, still not till 2015 but at least a move in the right direction. Now with every anti car, anti speed freak, anti petrol heads arguments about speed killing drivers and the environment no one can argue that since the present 70 mph limit was set (1960`s) cars have so much better brakes, suspension, tyre`s, etc, etc. How long before the UK catch up and implement a more realistic speed limit on our motorways? the motorway system is the safest road movement method there is with no side junctions with the local village idiot ready to pull out on you, yes foreign lorry drivers pose a danger but at least your all travelling the same direction ( normally) sure it will be an advantage as long as they also implement a minimum speed also like in the US. Portugal News weekly Germany, France, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Spain could be joined by Portugal in upping the maximum speed limit as national lobbies grow more vociferous in their support of a revision to traffic legislation. However, Portuguese associations are also willing to accept that the speed limit be reduced down to 110km/h (slightly under the maximum limit in Britain of 112km/h) whenever wet weather conditions prevail. The chairman of the Portuguese Road Collision Prevention Unit (PRP) was the first to express support for raising the speed limit after the decision was made official in Madrid. “There are certain stretches on Portuguese motorways that can accommodate speeds in excess of 120 km/h while there are others where the top speed should be lowered”, José Manuel Trigoso told Expresso newspaper. “Currently, control of speeds on our motorways is only done at 150km/h, a speed at which a driver is considered to be committing a serious offence and which usually results in the temporary loss of a driver’s licence”, the PRP chief added, though he stressed that raising the speed limit should be done without increasing the limit at which drivers would face stricter sanctions. Carlos Barbosa, President of the Automobile Club of Portugal (ACP), meanwhile added his support to the move. He revealed his association had been calling for the limit to be increased since 2010, and that a change in legislation has been proposed in the 2015 Road Safety Strategy which is in its final stages of being drawn up.

All zeds do this and is a pain in the backside for sure, just wondering if zeds with no rear spoiler may not get its so bad? or worse maybe?? Jeff TT

Have done a few tech posts concerning recircs leaking via the diaphram internally giving poor boost issues etc. well this tech concerns a spin on that, whilst looking for the cause if a boost issue in a zed in the work shop the normal boost leak test showed a very large leak at the front under the afm. Luckily the zed in question had an induction kit fitted so was much easier to see what was going on. Initial thoughts were one of the pipe cuffs to the recirc was the issue as I could feel the air escaping in that air with my hand wrapped around it and inflating the inlet pipework. However once I had better access I could see the cuffs were ok but the metal vacuum inlet pipe that acts on the diaphram was had a bit of an issue, the pictures show how the metal has fatigued as a result of corrosion on the top of the recirc to the point it had fractured through and hence a large leak. Now this was a first for me and to be honest thought ok an odd ball one, although I did take pics it seems so random a tech would be of little point, however, another zed came in last week with the exact same issue and on the same side too (n/s) so not so random after all, if your in that area worth smearing some grease or similar of the tops of the recircs. Jeff TT

The Japspeed pipes will fit an auto with a little adjustment or two, the passenger side one is ok its the drivers side runs close to the corner of gearbox sump, a little light dressing of the pipe with a hammer will sort it, have done many and always got them to fit. Jeff TT

Originally there was no actuator in the drivers door, when you lock the door with the key you are mechanically locking that door, there is an elctrical connection made that triggers the passenger door to lock as it had an actuator fitted, so there is no full central locking and this is why on a standard zed unlocking / locking the passenger door does not have any effect on the drivers door. So when fitting an alarm a universal additional actuator is fitted in the drivers door to both lock it and to activate the passenger door lock via the alarm fob. So as the actuator is universal type, rod clamps are used and they often come loose but oddly they will work one way but not the other, can you hear any noise in the door when operating the locking on the direction it does not work? if so I would be looking at taking the door panel off and see if has come loose, if not you will need to check the alarm output at the solenoid may be a bad / broken connection, if it is working one way it works electrically and so should work the other way electrically so unlikely it is the actuator failed maybe just loose / tight one way. Jeff TT

With all of the energy we spent entertaining the prevaricating buyer I ain`t doing any body building just yet!! Jeff TT

A heart felt thanks to all for the encouragement and kind words here, also to the callers, pms and emails its been very humbling, and very soon will be back to full strength. Jeff TT

Oh my god I had forgotten about them, remember you would crash at the bottom of hills, but just pick up the pieces and nail them back together for another go!! and climbing trees is a whole topic of its own!! Jeff

Ha, ha, you lot sound me talking to my kids! absolutely no doubt in my mind the 70`s was a great era to be a kid, don`t forget Raleigh Choppers and doing the slow run across the playground pretending you were the bionic man!! Fredo frogs were 2 pence! huba buba bubble gum, The Persuaders on tv and The Sweeney, but cannot mention Saturday kids tv without Tiswas! can you imagine the safety police now...oh my god they would close the show down in a heart beat,locking kids in cages and throwing all sort at them, ok so my kids were late 80`s - 90`s era but I made sure they had bikes and roller blades and did not sit moody in their bedrooms and now they have a good childhood to look back on with fond memories... Jeff TT

Yes cool, was good to catch up yesterday hope my ranting did not get boring!. Jeff

Sold £132!!

My thoughts are unless you already have the engine out or a need to remove the turbo`s its a lot of work for small gain. Jeff TT

I agree, why I mentioned it here.:biggrin: Jeff TT

How old is the battery? is it the calcium type? is so normal chargers will not work correctly and will need one of those new generation conditioning chargers, also most domestic battery charger outputs and gauges are.... optimistic at best and down right liars at worse, I have charged many batteries on our heavy duty workshop unit successfully that zed owners were convinced were duff due to there own charger not doing the business, having said that allowing batteries to go fully discharged is best avoided, you could see if a garage local to you would charge it on their unit for a small fee. Jeff TT

Due to the lay up time I would not make any kind of assumption yet, it needs a run to blow out the cob webs as such, it will be most likely be just fine then. Jeff TT

As title e-bay item no: 171140046354 could be useful for you budding mech types !! nice addition to your toolbox for sure but be quick auction up at 8:40pm (ish) Jeff TT

Slow down guys, there is a perfectly good aerial already built into the tailgate at the top of the glass, primarily designed as one part of the diversity aerial (switch between best reception ) it is already cabled to the back of the radio and have used this many times with good strong reception, will just need an adapter lead from Halfords or similar. Jeff TT

Ok picture to give you a guide for the bolt and what Znut was on about was the gaitor been loose will let transmission noise in to the cabin. Jeff TT

Under the car above the gearbox, however if you can unscrew the gear knob ( some can be very tight ) you can then take the centre consule section out and pull up all of the gaitors and remove the bottom plate, this will give you access to the 12mm nut and bolt, just loosen a few turns, its a shake proof nut so does not need to be rock tight. Jeff TT

Before doing an oil change to check the linkage, commonly the bushes wear out, now be it by accident or design as a consequence the linkage bolt gets over tightened and makes for a stiff operation of the gear lever. If when the car is stationary and the engine off the same problem is evident then it almost certainly will be the linkage bolt too tight. Jeff TT

Erm.... engine number is shown in the picture below: Workshop page showing location and gearbox numbers too. Jeff TT

Ha, ha guess it he will not keep it long anyhow....... moving on? never stopped, puzzling really as always considered a moving target harder to hit but did not help me,we bent of backwards for the buyer and he still mugged us:mad2: So Si again back to moving on...... as the common saying goes he who laughs last....:wink: Jeff TT

The fuel pump gets a 3 second prime signal from the pump ecu when the ignition is switched on if there is no pressure in the rail, from there it waits for a start signal from the crank angle sensor, may be worth try running a test power supply to the fuel pump. Jeff TT

Wise words there matey:wink: Jeff TT