131mirafiori forum

As most of you know, my car has discarded it's rear exhaust silencer at the last two  3ma meetings but  this year I am determined to get to Germany and back with the exhaust intact and so the long overdue fitment of a descent exhaust system took place today. I went for a Longlife exhaust fitted by Elite Autos and Design in Rainham, Essex. It took them just 3 hours to make and fit the exhaust and while the look is not perfect for me (I am fussy!  ::)) it looks solid enough to last the trip to Germany and back and hopefully a lot longer. Now to get those alloys to fit on the car....  ;D

Theo need a video on the you tube to hear the rasp ;D can you do a video?

I'm sure there'll be plenty of videos soon from 3ma10  ;). Not much point doing a video while I am driving as the twin 45 DCOEs still make more noise than the exhaust. In any case, the exhaust makes more of a rumble than a rasp  :-[ :-\

Looks super theo . ;D Can i have your old janspeed end pipe for my pea shooter  ;) or are you  keeping
 it just in case  :) :) :) :)

Yes, I saved it for you Jason  ;) :D

Nice job Theo - So hopefully we wont have any more scenes like this...!  ;)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1020234.jpg)

Or like this scene half way through France on the way back last year

(http://www.131mirafiori.com/photos/Theo/exhaust1.jpg)

Well I was sure the problem was an air leak at the carburettors. So last weekend I took them off the car, cleaned them inside and out and refitted them to the car with new gaskets and new Thackeray washers (rubber equivalent). I should have sent the carburettors to MarkoH for cleaning as my ailing arthritic fingers didn't do a great job with the external cleaning  :-[  Also fitted a new pair of throttle return springs (only had one fitted before) as in every past 3ma we've had at least one car with throttle return spring problems and I don't want it to be mine this year. The air filter 'socks' were washed and re-oiled to make them ready to filter all the volcanic ash ;D  It took me ages to adjust the carburettors and in fact didn't properly finish doing so until yesterday afternoon!. And oh yes, the Tweety bird noise had nothing to do with the carburettors but was due to a tiny exhaust leak!

I haven't been able to work on the car the last couple of weeks so it's all left to do today before setting off for Germany on Thursday. So important things first, I mounted the 3ma10 plaque  ;)  Now to get on and give the car a service...

Youre not kidding any of us - Youre not under there  ;D ;D

Hope all goes well with the 'new' pipe and you have a great time

curt

Hope you used axle stands!

The good news is I washed and polished the car. The bad news is the front nearside (I think!) wheel bearing is rumbling now  :-[  :'( I have a spare so is there anything I need to know before I attempt a replacement?

Jack the car up higher  ;D ;D
Easy change to do -nothing difficult -10 minute job if you have the right size sockets to bash out the old race ways.
Is it a bearing rumbling or a tyre gone bad-check the tyre first for bulges -out of round - tread wear-i.e. 4mm on one peice of tyre and 2mm further round the tyre -i.e. not running round -you may think it silly but I have seen it happen.
Still no big problem -any diy guru can do it  ;D ;D
Or it could be the new exhaust  ;D ;D

10 minutes? It took me that long just to get the wheel off!  :-[  3 hours later and the hub has new inner and outer bearings and the car now is as quiet as a noisy twin cam Fiat, if you know what I mean...  ;) ;D

Did you do this on the drive at home Theo or did you take it to Essex?

If it took 3 hours - Theo was at home -and his car was in essex  ;D ;D

You did change the inner race race rings as well didnt you theo ?

You need to copperslip the inside of your wheels if it took 10 mins to get the wheel off  ;)

Well done

cheers

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D My arms are simply not long enough any more....

Simon, this was a DIY job done at home.


Both inner and outer race rings and bearings were replaced as well as the rear seal ring.

Here's a photo of the kit used:

Great news!   :D   
My CD of the forthcoming 2010 Eurovision Song Contest arrived today so I have my sounds for the drive to Germany!  ;D ;D ;D
All that remains to do is pack.....

Personally - Id rather have the whine of a noisy wheel bearing  ;D ;D
If you still have the old bearings - I would put them back in  ;D ;D
Failing that -knock your exhaust off again  ;D
I think your 131 is trying to tell you something  ;D

All meant in good spirits of course-have a good journey and to be honest eurovision is better music than most of the modern day stuff anyway  ;)

Why do i have this feeling of impending doom about what i have just written

 ;D

You'll be ok Curt!  ;D If anything should go wrong then there'll be plenty of us with (limited? ;)) 131 mechanical knowledge enough to fix the problem. If not then we are all covered by Europe-wide breakdown cover so we shouldn't have any issues - I hope!  ;D ;)

I had a lift with Theo on Saturday to get my Abarth back and was utterly amazed to find him listening to a CD that was not Eurovision music! I thought that was all he listened too! :o Turns out he quite likes 'Classic Rock' - so I borrowed the CD for my 100 mile journey home! ;D ;D ;D

Of course I do  ;) I'm a 70's kid and that sort of music got embossed into our DNA  ;D

do you remember the punk scene 76 77 in London Theo, were you living there then?

Yes I was living in London then (in fact I was born in London) and of course I remember the Punk scene. But Punk music is probably the only music genre that I never got into. In the mid to late 70s I was very much into Rock music (what they later called 'Heavy Metal') and mainly progressive rock. ELP was by far my favourite band  and still is one of my favourites  :D

so we can say: you are a "Lucky Man"  ;D ;D ;D

 ;D :D ;) Most certainly!

Another favourite band was J?rgen Fritz's Triumvirat (http://www.answers.com/topic/triumvirat) which was a German copy of ELP. Do you know of them Roland?  I feel like changing my music selection now for the trip to Germany.....

I've just downloaded most of my Scorpions CDs onto my son Ashley's Zen Mosaic MP3 player so we shall be 'rocking' to that, as well as Magnum, my favourite group! ;D ;)

if i know them ??? it was one of my first LP?s I ever purchased !!!

it was called Spartacus, you remember ? There was a Mouse in the light bulb on the Cover...

famos music... 

ELP Pictures at a Exhibition... Great Gates of Kiew...

I remember, I make a referat of them, to fix my note in Music...

Of course I do. I have it and I have all the Triumvirat LPs and now CDs. My favourite is Old Loves Die Hard  but some days it's Pompeii and then on other days it's A la carte ....  ;)  

Ok, you've convinced me, must pack all my Triumvirat CDs for the trip.....  :D

I prefer Brain Salad Surgery and Trilogy myself. Weird - but wonderful at the same time. :D

CDs Theo? I thought you were a technology guru? What happened to your iPod/MP3 player? ;)

Well ive got The Jam and Jazz Moods  ;D ;D

I have a few hundred albums on the ipod so just select shuffle & you never know what will come up.

 Bon Voyage you lucky people. Hope you all have lots of fun and a great journey  :) 

my daughter has hundreds on her  ipod touch ,but she won't let me borrow it  :( :(

Jason you will have to get one for yourself!1 anyway enjoy the trip & keep lots of pics posted to make us jealous ;D