Joely P

I’ve used Magnatec as engine flush, it’s very cheap and works great! (Really I have!)

Found some time to finally refit my “overhauled” a/c tensioner pulley! The one I removed had a very poor condition bearing (causing a whining noise) and the pulley itself wasn’t particularly round which is probably why the bearing failed. Another pulley was kindly donated by Jimmer (thankyou Sir) but the bearing on this one, although it wasn’t notchy, felt dry so I decided to go ahead with plan A and replace the bearing. The pulley itself wasn’t very pretty and rather than just slap it in as it was I thought I’d give it a little treatment first because I just can’t help myself! Once it was fitted, tensioned and tested, I put the undertray back on, dropped the car down off the stands, checked the tyre pressures and took it out for a spin with bootfuls of boost! Still a few other niggles with the car to take care of but at least it’s serviceable again. I did take it to a location that I’ve been eyeing up for pictures over the last few weeks but when I got there I was kicked out by security! I’ll try again when I’m next out in it.

Is that not a College Boys kit?

Is it possible to see the MOT history of N.I. registered cars?

Is that an N.I. registration number Gary?

Excellent.

I meant to ask what car you are towing your bike trailer with [emoji106]

I can see why that one caught your attention Richie [emoji6]

Happy Birthday El Simone Puta Bandera Essé Chicco Marrotto.

#Zlife.

Awesome, an oil thread, a good chance to increase my post count! Until recently I always used Fuchs Pro S because oilman told me that was the best thing since sliced turkey burgers. But recently I switched to this because this is the best thing since grated sardines: I only switched as I didn’t like the colour of the Fuchs! I change it once a year or every 2 years and yes I am a victim of oil greatness hype! I have a pretty good understanding of the science behind the oils and although it may not be necessary to pour in the worlds most expensive oil, I just can’t help myself; reassuringly expensive! I work with some fine tolerance machines that require only the best available oils and it goes against the grain to put anything in the Z that hasn’t cost more than it should! I probably average around £50 a year on oil and filters so I’ll just carry on lining oilmans pockets with my blinkers well and truly fastened. [emoji43]

Craig, look away!

Going straight for the kill shot Andy?!

Loveleh, simply loveleh!

Welcome back to the fold Nick, great to see you getting the old girl back on the road. Don’t jump to the conclusion of junking it just yet until you have isolated the source of the defect.

Happy Birthday Ali [emoji41]

What projector did you use Jay?

Based on the fact that I had to take mine back I’ll let you come to your own conclusion on that! Upon fitting the overhauled unit, it wasn’t until installing the heat shield that I realised the separate mounting bracket at the rear of the starter motor wasn’t properly secured. The bolt was torque sealed but clearly not torqued and when I proceeded to tighten the bolt it just turned in the hole. The bolt also acts as the main body mount bolt joining the 2 parts together and as it’s quite a long bolt, I couldn’t remove it as it fouls on the car body. I removed the starter again (which is a bit of a pain with an aftermarket exhaust system and the heat shield installed) to investigate and when I removed the bolt the entire thread had been stripped! The company were very apologetic and rectified the defect in a timely fashion but it certainly put me off recommending them. I made sure that the whole thing was opened up again to remove any swarf/thread debris and check the casing thread (which was fine). I would normally recommend that components are sourced only from the OEM, especially with dimension critical parts or parts where quality of material to could adversely affect the health of the engine/safety. However, in the case of a starter motor, with it being such a simple component, I was happy to take a punt at a rebuild unit lasting a significant chunk of what an OEM unit at 4x the price would. There are many specialists that will overhaul your starter for you so maybe just search locally and choose one with good reviews.

Lee, if you don’t make it to the Fat Lamb, the only black or blue you’ll need to worry about will be around your eye sockets! [emoji1]

I had the exact same problem with mine and I sent it to a local specialist who charged me £90 to overhaul it. When I first took it in, the chap had a quick look and diagnosed that the clutch mechanism for the pinion gear was failing. A few days later and it was back on and back to full fighting strength!

Happy Birthday Derek.

Surely you don’t really need to take the car to work for an MOT Christ? [emoji13] what an absolutely smashing day to do that though! [emoji41]

What can I say? The budget cut, poverty spec Z32! [emoji13]

Any excuse - right?