1535 replies to this topic

[Elisha-The-Cooper]

whoah wheelie!

x

[wolfys_mini]

too much time on your hands!

[Elisha-The-Cooper]

only took 2 mins wolfy

x

[Bean]

Oi, Berty - I turned it down, not up!





Got a quote for the work...

A staggering £250!


Gonna be a mad-mad rush to get this done in time for SMD!

I knew my indicators at the front weren't working, so asked them to fix it before they tested it - but it had already failed quite spectacularly on the rear brake, that they didn't bother!

Lol, awesome!

Not nearly powerful enough to be able to do that though!

[Bean]

Well, he made it to the MOT on Friday morning! ...

And passed with flying colours!


MOT issued and no advisories!


Kris and his Dad made it down to Hereford on Thursday and started work on Reggie! By tea-time, Reggie had a replacement radius arm, new brake cylinder, fixed wheel bearing noises, soldered wiring to the indicators and new bulbs!




And mid-test! :




Reggie made it down to SMD, no problems at all!

On the way back, he had used a fair amount of fuel (30 miles on 1/4 of a tank...), but we couldn't work out whether it was because of the hills on the M26/M25 or whether it was down to him still running rich?

A look, by The Stig, under the bonnet determined that the garage had set the car up with the choke permanently on! So that was sorted! Unfortunately, it then meant that Reggie was running really lean and I just had no pick-up and he wouldn't idle! So we had to drive the rest of the 130+ miles home, with the choke out!


We've worked out that, at the moment, he's running at 37 mpg...

But that was loaded with camping gear for the whole weekend and a 12x6 ft gazebo! And 2 of us in there! And with the choke permanently on and stinking of fuel! So it's not too bad, I guess!!

[sazal]

Yay! Glad that he passed!

[Retro_10s]

should've gone to see the legendary ACDodd from MLM over in the far field, he was doing free diagnostics from 1-4 on sunday and If it was fixable with a spanner etc, he would do it.

[Bean]

Yep - Should have done!

Unfortunately, though... we didn't know he was running like that until we got 30 miles round the M25 on the way home



Just nabbed this photo from Facebook...

[Bean]

Well, we tried to get Reggie running right..

Then just swapped the entire carb, because it just wasn't working at all!


His fuel economy wasn't too bad for one day - On the way back from Stanford, he was doing 35 mpg.... which isn't brilliant, but it's far, far better than before.

Then, I didn't use him for a week - Went to take him to work and his economy had dropped to 19mpg! We'd not touched anything!!


Now, however, it's dropped to 8mpg!

Also - the engine just has absolutely no power to give me. The only time it is ever "powerful" (and even then its pretty poor) is when you're at high revs... i.e if you pull out onto a busy main road and are getting up to speed quickly. Other than that, he's absolutely, er, rubbish. Oh, and his CV has gone, too!


Unfortunately though, I work 15 miles from home and I'm at Uni 8 miles from home... so I need a decent car which is going to have a decent fuel economy.


So, we've come to the decision that Reggie's engine is fubar.



So, this weekend:

We're dropping the front subby, complete with engine etc. Then swapping it for a 14,000 mile equivalent. It's the same FD and spec as Reggie's ... just hopefully not as pants!

[Bec]

Ohhhhh exciting! Hope it goes well, Reggie's gonna get a real new lease of life

[Bean]

I hope so, Bec! I really do!

[Bean]

Haven't updated this for a while!

We didn't swap the engine in the end - It turned out to be a reaaaally bizarre carb problem!! Basically, the carb that was on him originally wasn't working right, so we swapped it for another - However, it seemed that we swapped it for one that was even worse! The carb that we put on didn't have a hole for the vacuum advance!! It had all the fixtures and take off for it, but where it actually enters the body of the carb, it hadn't even been drilled through!! - Hence Reggie's bad running and lack of power!

So, he's now running great! Nice MPG (Did 250 miles up north to Darlington on 3/4 of a tank!)


However..


With numerous things happening since the last update - Thoughts of selling, people reversing into him, then CV's breaking again.....


We took Reggie up north to Darlington on the 23rd December. He's basically going to be stored/worked on over the coming months. It's nearly impossible for us, at the moment, to dedicate any time to looking at him properly. He needs a couple of little jobs doing to him to get him up to scratch and he needs a little bit of welding in the very centre of the scuttle. So, the plan is to get that done whilst he's not in use... He's my every day car and I live 8 miles out of town, so I need to use him daily ... which isn't possible if I've got work to do to him!!


So, whilst Reggie takes a bit of time off and gets pampered...

This is what I'll be driving!





Kris' GT TDi!

[CharlieBrown]

How shiny is that!

So Reggie is getting a well deserved rest and touch up, nice! Don't get too used to driving the GT though if you have ot give it back!

[Bean]

It's not shiny at the moment, lol

Don't get too used to driving the GT though if you have ot give it back!

I can't guarantee that though, Charlie! Just come back from taking it to Hereford for a potter! 6 speeds and a turbo are yummy!

[Bean]

Well, in April, I got my Reggie back!




He went on a few local runs and shows..




However, with ALOT of questions recently about where Reggie's gone, I thought I would let the secret out (Even though some people know, since SMD and IMM, when we turned up in K's Sprite!!)

About 4 weeks ago, Reggie's engine came ridiculously close to giving up on me. He had absolutely no power anywhere. Regardless of alot of work and countless mixture adjustments, timing adjustments and brand new parts, I couldn't get anything out of him at all... One slight hint of moisture in the air and Reggie would give up! (Even though he has brand new leads, plugs, electronic dizzy and brand new dizzy cap .... and weather shield!)


So..

Out it came.





One of the other reasons for doing this now, is that Frankie (My Mini Van) has some huge bodywork problems (so much for a completely restored shell, eh?). However, before we discovered these problems, England_Expects had been down and put alot of work in, putting my engine together.

Now, I didn't want Frankie's engine to be sat around for god-knows-how-long. So, the obvious conclusion was to put Frankie's in Reggie's for the time being!



So, what is it?

Having allowed myself to become familiar with the Golf's power, I'd hate to go back to a 998, wouldn't I?



So..

Introducing...



The new-improved...







1275 MPi Reggie!




Now, I know it's not to everyone's taste (Thanks for the comments, people! ). But hear me out!


As this is Frankie's engine, and Frankie is my company car, I NEED this engine to be reliable. I need to be able to start the car up in the morning and not be afraid that I'll break down on the way to a photoshoot. I need this car to be able to handle motorways, but also pull enough to carry a full load (in the Van.)

I know people will hate me for changing Reggie from carb, but ever since Reggie cut out on me on the M1 because of the torrential rain, I've hated the things!





Currently, he's all plumbed up, wired in and brimming with fuel

With a new ECU, alarm and fob setup. Paul Smith loom. Maniflow LCB without a cat. Brand new Lambda sensor (OUCH!!) etc, etc, etc...

And don't worry. He still has central clocks!



So...

That's what's happened to Reggie!