Rust proofing car.

[Fergie 307]

Echo the sentiments about keeping stuff simple. Jeep still has grease nipples on the suspension, propshafts etc. 140k on the Cherokee and still all the original joints, just give them a pump with grease once a year. It's a good way off the ground so easy to get under to do it, just as well as my back isn't what it was. Got stranded in central London by a work Passat when the electric handbrake first came out. Auto Hold went Pete Tong and wouldn't release! I mean what is actually so bad about having to pull a lever?

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Had one for a short while but after a lot of problems the garage took it back. Had issues with rear calipers sticking which were replaced inc disc & pads, then starter motor packed in followed by the ignition switch which were again all changed under the warranty. Next the management failure light comes on and it loses all power which the garage diagnosed as EGR valve failure and on the 4x4 it is a real pita to replace but they did it and it failed to fix the issue, then told you need to fit the genuine OEM part as the patent parts are not working since the VW emisions fix and as it is a right pain to change it is worth fitting all the EGR pipes and new gaskets etc at the same time which cost the garage a fortune, but after all that it still had issues. Garage now uses another make of diagnostic tool that shows the MAF readings are not within range but although the MAF is ok they changed it along with the DPF pressure sensor all to no avail. Got another garage to run diagnostics who specialise in VW which the Skoda is under the skin and from there experience they said send the ECU off for a full check as component failure has been known to damage the ECU, that comes back as some intermittent issue with a non related system so the garage gets a another ECU which proves the other ECU was ok as we still had the same fault and error codes. At this point the garage had had this car for longer than we had had it on the road so we got a refund. Latest news is that they have been told that the engine looms can be trouble and another garage had had similar issues with a Yeti after having the so called VW fix which results in replacing EGR valves and you can end up with a problematic loom. Another customer of the garage with a VW who also had EGR issues solved his issues by getting the EGR mapped out in the ECU and boring a hole through the DPF to ensure no excessive backpressure which is no longer required without EGR. So for me I don't touch anything VW anymore as they are no longer what they once were and look for Japanese vehicles instead.

What a truly sorry tale Roy; what a shame it all went so wrong for you and I can understand you not wanting to touch VAG again. I do worry about all the electronics not only on our Yeti but every car loaded with them; will faulty electronics put otherwise decent cars into an early grave; it could be worse; how about EV's which self combust and can't be put out; yes ICE cars also burn but can be put out. Toyota are good but the nearest to the Yeti is their RAV 4 which is too big for just tor the two of us.

Our Yeti has plastic cill covers HOJ and I'd like to rustproof behind them but as yet I don't know if they can be removed; I'll get around to it once I start using the Bilt S50; I'm sure the guys on the Skoda forum will advise.

You misunderstood me I'm 74, what I meant is that 75 is the new 55. In my case if I ignore the aches and pains I still feel about 30 some days but then on others it's more like 90.

Thanks Lons for enlightening me; 75 is off the radar according to youngsters.

I bet you wish it was and you still had it as it would buy a fully kitted out workshop today.


"You" as you do not age at all because it is only the body that ages and is why people can have a sharp mind and a really shiete body .

Nice one Roy, I wish our Yeti wasn't loaded with unwanted electronics; I'm a true Yorkshireman used to our cold wet climate but I still don't need heated seats in my car; I wonder how many EV milk floats will be stranded or limping home if we have a severe winter the owners having everything electric switched to maximum. I'm pleased you got sorted in the end but a warning note regarding the plastic cill covers or you might end up like HOJ did with his CRV? Will we suffer power cuts due to EV's being sold.

When I rode the Brough Roy they weren't worth a lot then but how about this; I could have bought one of these for £34;

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/rust-proofing-car.143975/
VW split screen camper; Jag 3.8S; Jag MK9; Austin Healey 100/4; Austin Champ with RR engine; Bond Bug; just some of the cars I owned all now worth a lot as classic cars but it doesn't bother me because in the days I owned them I enjoyed them.

Here's a clone of my 100/4 I paid £150 cash and it was showroom condition just like the one in the picture now can be bought for up to £80,000 the last time I looked.

Fortunately at 75 I'm still climbing huge trees to secure heavy felling ropes before using the chainsaws. A couple of months ago I felled and disposed of a huge oak that towered over our patio & bungalow roof; in March last year when I was younger I felled and disposed of 15 huge trees in 14 days working entirely on my own in our steep garden; it was incredibly hard graft at times with sleet for company and high wind; the high wind had damaged our 50' tall Crack Willow making it unsafe so absolutely fed up of tree damage every time it got windy whilst I had the two 2 x 20" petrol chainsaw out I took down the 15 trees here's one at 70' I felled it into the top corner of the garden it having only just enough space; it was blowing a gale as I worked;

Here's the big oak safely down being logged. I don't sleep at night I just drop into a coma.

Back to rustproofing; I've ordered 8mm dia plastic tubing; my plan is to try to inject the cills from the rear plug I've seen whilst having the wing liners off; hopefully I can do the job from this one hole in one go; it's worth a try; then as mentioned I'd like to rustproof behind the plastic cill covers; I'm awaiting a few bits to arrive before doing this; yesterday at the third attempt I finally polished our Yeti it coming up like brand new; it's the first time I've used Bilt Hamber Auto Balm but it sure looks good; I took pictures because it's rare to see the Yeti dry.

Time to get off my backside I've a porch door threshold to sort out before it rains again.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Door threshold sorted using cartridge sealant so just enjoying a mug of tea.

I might end up buying a proper rustproofing gun Fergie 307 to save playing around but thanks for the Schultz suggestion it could prove useful to others too. Grease nipples; I wonder how many younger generation even know what a grease nipple is; now everything is disposable even white goods like washing machines; who would pay a call out fee then over £100 for a single circuit board to repair a washing machine when an excellent basic BEKO for around £250 is widely available brand new; we've had our BEKO for at least ten years when it breaks it will be replaced by another BEKO.

Mug of tea now enjoyed.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Spectric]

I do worry about all the electronics not only on our Yeti but every car loaded with them; will faulty electronics put otherwise decent cars into an early grave;

The issue is not really the electronic's but the fact they are done cheap otherwise they would add to much cost to a vehicle and at the same time expected to work in a hostile enviroment. The modules like ECU's are normally reliable and the issues come down to sensors, actuators and the interconnects which are really done on the cheap. No mater how good the components they can be let down by the wiring that connects them and it can be done extremely reliably but at great expense, ie avionics and satellites. Then they are really failing when it comes to diagnostics because I believe they see this as a money spinner for their dealerships and use it as a way to force people to use the main dealers but it is putting vehicles into an early grave. You just have to look in a scrapyard, (a recycling centre) to see many vehicles that look in good nick compared to the days of piles of rusty wrecks because it is to expensive to repair. If you think that the modern electronic systems are all based around microprocessors and FPGA's then there is no reason not to add extra code and put the diagnostics into the vehicle as is done on agricultural machinery like tractors where it is possible to even calibrate the transmission clutchs without needing a dealer if you know the procedure. A good comparison is that a quality connector from the likes of Deutsch is five times the cost of an average OEM connector and even the actual wire is a better grade but not viable on a road car. What is annoying is that a lot of this added complexity comes under the banner of emision control but if it reduces the life of a car by say 25% then are we really wining as you have higher resource waste in the manufacturing in the first place unlike cars that would keep going until the bottom fell out literally .

 

[Fergie 307]

Hi,

Door threshold sorted using cartridge sealant so just enjoying a mug of tea.

I might end up buying a proper rustproofing gun Fergie 307 to save playing around but thanks for the Schultz suggestion it could prove useful to others too. Grease nipples; I wonder how many younger generation even know what a grease nipple is; now everything is disposable even white goods like washing machines; who would pay a call out fee then over £100 for a single circuit board to repair a washing machine when an excellent basic BEKO for around £250 is widely available brand new; we've had our BEKO for at least ten years when it breaks it will be replaced by another BEKO.

Mug of tea now enjoyed.

Kind regards, Colin.

You can buy a Schutz gun with a rust proofing wand, just screws on in place of the normal tip. Basically a plastic tube with a screw fitting on one end and a cross drilled head on the other, so it squirts out 360° all around. I usually insert it all the way and then pull it out slowly whilst giving it a squirt. Trays under any drain points to catch and recycle what comes out. The wand is usually only a couple of feet long, but you can just get some plastic tube of the appropriate size and swap the fittings over to have it any length you want.

 

[okeydokey]

Dont forget the trusty Skoda Roomster. Like a Yeti but a tad smaller. I'm on my 2nd which is superb the first one had a issue for a while but £800 later and a new ECM? and my sons still piling on the miles it was a 3 cylinder (I think other VAG use them).
On my current one the number plate lights and tailgate didn't unlock swiftly traced to a broken wire in the flexi grommet to the tailgate soldered and shrink wrapper and good to go. I have decided to keep it until it stops and then try to get something of its equal.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Roy; you get what you pay for with anything; it's the weakest part that lets go first; how many spend hours prepping external paintwork only then to slap on the cheapest possible paint which fails in a year; I use American Benjamin Moore paint at around £100 per US gallon a US gallon a lot smaller than a UK gallon but long term it works out cheapest because it doesn't need repainting every year. Our Yeti is main dealer serviced; they have all the kit and back up; it costs more but OEM parts are used; I could buy brake disks through eBay very cheaply and fit them myself but I'll let the main dealer replace the pads and disks next year during the service. We now live in a throw away society; I'm very old fashioned and still repair things; when they eventually become beyond repair I strip them of useful bits before recycling the rest. We've now got four year old kids with a mobile phone welded to their ear.

I was five years old before our miners cottage had electricity installed; we had one coal fire and gas lighting; in many ways happier times. In those long ago days most homes had coal fires; factories were coal powered; in 1947 the year I was born it was the worst winter ever recorded with absolutely huge snow drifts;

winter 1947 photos - Google Search

Could we blame exhaust emissions then when extremely few had a car in fact who could afford a landline phone; we had short severe winters and glorious long summers but now anything to make money out of cars.

Thanks for the information Fergie 307; I mentioned I'd bought 4m length of plastic tubing to play around with it arrived yesterday; the wand fittings are 8mm dia so I bought 7mm internal diameter plastic tubing;

Just testing on a short length of plastic tubing; ideally I'd like to nip a clip around to ensure the spray tip doesn't blow off inside a cavity but I think it will be fine; it's a good tight fit. This will go through a 10mm dia hole and I've bought 10mm plastic plugs.

Thanks okeydokey; in 2014 when we bought our new Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo it was held up at the docks so we were loaned a new Roomster which was a very nice car indeed we ran it for about four weeks getting to know it until our Fabia was available; there used to be lots of Roomsters locally but seldom seen these day which is a shame; we still see plenty Yeti's; Yetis & Roomsters will soon be classics; I wonder how many EV's will be classics in a few years? Like me I'm sure you'll find it very difficult indeed to find a suitable replacement; your Roomster and our Yeti aren't depreciating and unless they cost a lot in repairs they are now very cheap motoring; if bought new and looked after with full main dealer servicing they could possibly be still on the road when EV's made today are in the scrap yard; just my own thoughts but shared by many on YouTube.

I've grounded myself for today; our next door neighbour had only a few hours to live given his many serious health issues; we think he's sadly died because it's gone quite next door; his wife said she'd let us know so it would be improper of us to go round and ask; I want to run the compressor for rustproofing but out of respect I'll have a quiet day. Death is so final and words mean little.

Since 1990 we've had brand new cars not keeping them longer than three years; 9 x Nissan Micras; 2 x Toyota Aygos; 1 Skoda Fabia and our current Skoda Yeti which is now seven years old and a keeper. I thought I'd done getting dirty playing with cars but I'm regaining my old enthusiasm and want to look after our Yeti spending a bit of money on it; it's a perfect car for us just a pity Yetis are no longer made.

It's very dark outside but then expected it's a typical Yorkshire summer.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Will it let up long enough for me to complete the rustproofing;

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[RogerS]

..... There is no sign of rot on either of us, but I am considering treating the underside - ... .......

In that case, be careful not to get any of it on your dangly bits

 

[Fergie 307]

Not sure I could advise anyone to get brake parts on e bay. But if you go to somewhere like GSF, Eurocarspares or a decent local motor factor you will save a lot of money, and still get good quality parts. Bear in mind also that car manufacturers don't generally make these components themselves, they are bought in from the likes of Girling, Ferodo etc. Renault for example always used to use Ferodo. You could buy discs from Ferodo, in their box, for far less than the same components in a Renault box. So you were effectively paying a lot of money for a cardboard box with Renault printed on it. Or my Merc where a particular component from Bosch, in their box, cost £149. The Mercedes dealer wanted over £200, for the same part but in a Mercedes box. Lot of money for a bit of cardboard. Discs nowadays are disposable items, not worth regrinding them as we used to. I generally reckon that on the second pad change you change the discs as well.

 

[Lons]

Not sure I could advise anyone to get brake parts on e bay. But if you go to somewhere like GSF, Eurocarspares or a decent local motor factor you will save a lot of money, and still get good quality parts. Bear in mind also that car manufacturers don't generally make these components themselves, they are bought in from the likes of Girling, Ferodo etc. Renault for example always used to use Ferodo. You could buy discs from Ferodo, in their box, for far less than the same components in a Renault box. So you were effectively paying a lot of money for a cardboard box with Renault printed on it. Or my Merc where a particular component from Bosch, in their box, cost £149. The Mercedes dealer wanted over £200, for the same part but in a Mercedes box. Lot of money for a bit of cardboard. Discs nowadays are disposable items, not worth regrinding them as we used to. I generally reckon that on the second pad change you change the discs as well.

Has always been the same story, I get my Merc serviced by a trusted local dealer, the Newcastle dealer is a rip off merchant of the highest order, I've had several disputes with them and now wouldn't go to them even for advice.

A few years ago I wanted a towbar for my new A6 avant, the Audi dealer where I was buying the car wanted £1200 to supply and fit, the parts being £800+. I researched and discovered they use Westalia towbars and electrics so got exactly the same parts supplied and fitted by a local specialist for just over £600 at my home, would have been cheaper at their workshop, the cost of the identical parts was less than £384.

 

[Spectric]

When you use a main dealer you are paying for those suited & booted car salesmen that stand around for a lot of the day and the general upkeep of the dealership. They depend upon a certain group of people who believe only the dealer for their brand of vehicle can work on it whereas the people in the know understand that behind that big smile and free cup of coffee lies a ruthless villain who is figuring you out and calculating how much of a mug you are to maximise profits. Where I am some of the dealers have a shortage of technicians so they stick to the servicing and easier jobs whilst farming out other work to the smaller garages with the customer unaware. I think that they also deliberately price some jobs so they know they won't get them, I heard one story where someone was told by the dealer we can fit a replacement engine but at a big expense whereas a smaller local garage took the job on a just did what was needed, that was a cylinder head repair and unlike in the past where any garage would do a head overhaul these days they get sent of to a place that just does cylinder heads.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

When I had my garage business in the dark ages it was only brake drums so I've never worked with disk brakes but what you members are saying I don't see a problem with me buying quality brake parts like you say Fergie 307; Ferodo & Girling have been around forever and you can't go wrong with either of them; I've got a decent workshop so it wouldn't be a problem to fit them myself other than a bit of my time; there will be lots of YouTube videos covering the subject. I'm just very wary regarding buying car parts because lots come in boxes which look like genuine OEM items but are inferior quality; I'll never try to save money on materials always insisting on best quality.

We used to drive past the Ferodo factory in Chapel-En-Le-Frith whilst visiting places like Bakewell;

https://www.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk/...el-en-le-frith-factory-over-the-years-3548156

I'm still on original pads at 32,000 miles but both pads and disks are stated as needing to be changed but can wait until the next service in July so I've got plenty of time.

It's getting someone you can trust to do a good job Lons; we had a police officer here a few days ago regarding a roofer whom neighbours had called in to give an estimate to repair their roof leak; £850 quoted but they said they needed another two estimates first; then the price dropped to £650 but again they wanted another two estimates the roofer wasn't happy but departed; a minute later this roofer phoned them demanding over £250 for his visit and if they didn't pay he would send someone round hence the police; this low life roofer wasn't aware we have 8m high quality CCTV; the police now have not only pictures of the van parked directly outside our bungalow whilst he made the offensive phone call but also the Reg number of the van.

Main dealers can have a poor reputation but at least they have a lot to lose unlike a small back yard garage also main dealers for a particular make have up to date diagnostics and any special tools needed; our Yeti was plugged in and brought fully up to date I wonder how many non specialist garages have access to such information. The only person I fully trust is my wonderful wife. Our Yeti is serviced from new by D M Keith in Wakefield; it does cost but we find them to do a good reliable job and they collect and return the Yeti. Now in full retirement funds aren't a problem so it's not a case of getting jobs done as cheaply as possible; we're happy to pay over the odds for quality work and materials; I make it known I used to have my own garage business and also I'm a retired mechanical engineer.

You sure love main dealers Roy and are their best ambassador. Someone has to pay for posh showrooms and bright lights; DMK do state costs up front before doing any work but in fairness do add this excludes anything extra they find that needs doing so we can accept or decline as we choose. They recommended the brake change also another couple of smaller jobs which can wait until next service; thinking about this do I really want the hassle of so much work to do on the Yeti; I'm struggling just trying to rustproof it in our dire climate; the sun's shining but rain forecast for this afternoon as it is for the next few days. DMK can do the job; it'll be done in a day and they can collect and return with zero hassle to us just hand over the agreed price.

Škoda It’s Fixed | D. M. Keith

I'm not defending main dealers because I'm well aware of horror stories also how much money can be saved but we're not on a tight budget; how many skimp and save on really important things but then throw money at unimportant things.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Spectric]

also main dealers for a particular make have up to date diagnostics and any special tools needed

That is a perception but not always true, it also depends upon the technician because these diagnostic tools do not actually tell you what to replace or what is wrong, they tell you what parameter is not within the set range and so require the knowledge and experience of the technician otherwise you get parts being changed for no reason. An example is MAF reading error, the fault was the EGR valve not fully closing but the EGR readings were giving a fully closed value. The local garage I use has all the tools needed because without them you cannot do the work anymore, gone are the days of using a drill bit shank in a hole to align cams and cranks, you need the gizmos which are not always cheap but are tax deductable !

You sure love main dealers Roy and are their best ambassador.

Worked in R&D for a major OEM and your main dealers were your public face who all to often returned the OEM a bad reputation, sometimes deserved but not always. With complexity you should deliver onboard diagnostics that are more precise than just being a guide, instead they want to restrict 3rd party access to the OBD2 port .

 

[RogerS]

Hi,

Will it let up long enough for me to complete the rustproofing;

View attachment 164770

Kind regards, Colin.

I dunno. You soft Southern wussies in Yorkshire worrying about a bit of rain

 

[Retired]

Hi,

I think I'd prefer to have a Skoda main dealer over a non Skoda dealer to look after our Yeti Roy although I do understand what you mean; a top guy can make a good job using poor tools but a poor guy using top quality tools could so easily make a mess of it.

Years ago during my vintage radio restoring days I worked on PYE MM; it's tuning gang spindle had broken it being made of aluminium; at the time I had my big Colchester lathe so made a new spindle out of brass; no big deal for me it taking a morning but it had to be very accurate and involved flats and a bit of drilling and tapping; turning to diameter was easy but the flats needed to be at angles; I used a woodworkers sliding bevel having adjusted it to the original and with an end mill chucked it was very easy to use the cross slide to machine the flats; drilling and tapping no problem; it fitted perfectly.

By contrast on the forum was a member who liked to pick me up before I fell and he did this a number of times much to my annoyance; strangely he too ended up having to make one of these spindles; his friend was to restore the wooden cabinet he was to restore the chassis; like me he also had a Colchester lathe but he also had a vertical slide and dividing head; further he could use Auto CAD which I couldn't; on the forum he posted a diagram of the spindle but then showed his true colours; I wonder if he ever did make the spindle because he played around forever with it using all his fancy gear.

During the time he was playing around attempting to make the spindle I decided to test him because by now he was full of himself; my friend calls such people "Tall poppies" I've forgotten the actual job I was doing but in one post I purposely made two mistakes; not easily spotted unless used to things like lathe work; I remember one of the mistakes as a micrometer reading stating "three thou" as 0.0003" sure enough he was straight onto both gleefully pointing them out on the forum; I left the forum at this point having had enough. He still hadn't completed the spindle.

I'm not the sharpest tool in the kit and never will be but I was trained by top class coal mining mechanical engineers to make just about anything if the part wasn't in the stores or unavailable. One very complicated restoration I tackled was a very old seized solid AVO Wave Winder as used for winding special tuning coils. Not only was it rusted scrap but it was missing a few parts including a full set of change wheels; I think the full set was 45 and I didn't have a single change wheel to work from; as I say this was a very complicated restoration;

I dreamt up an entirely new way of indexing for making these change wheels on my very rough Myford lathe; I'd sold the Colchester it proving too big for the small amount of space in my workshop. Here's a picture of the actual method I used; unlike the guy on the forum having all the kit I didn't even have a vertical slide so I made a vertical slide out of lumps of metal I had to hand; here I'm cutting two identical cast iron gears (Meeanite) with the saddle locked it worked perfectly. Teeth aren't cut it's the waste between the teeth which is cut.

I needed a full set of change wheels so made a full set using basic methods; Having made them then they needed looking after.

With the new box made from Meranti hardwood I stained it then french polished it but still not finished; I decided to make a brass nameplate by cutting out each individual letter from brass sheet then gluing them in place; this restoration like many others took a great deal of time but were worth it and very well received on forums; I was honoured with top restoration award in 2009 by The British Vintage Wireless Society.

I used to like making things from scratch here's one of two power supplies I designed and made to power vintage wireless battery sets the batteries long gone; it has 2 x high tension; 2 x low tension positive and 2 x low tension negative outputs; I even designed and wound the transformers.

More parts I made for the Wave Winder. The top spindle is actually a live center.

As I say I'm not at all smart but in my day apprentices were taught to make things from scratch and now I like to encourage others to have a go. I wonder these days if apprentices are taught to be engineers or fitters there's a world of difference between the two?

Just passing a bit of time away because I've had a session strimming the middle meadow this morning and now having a rest; it's about time I started to ease off a bit after all I've been retired 22 years but still working as hard as ever; hope I'm not boring anyone.

Now what was this thread about? Oh yes rustproofing our Yeti; there's so much activity near the Yeti with builders directly across the street involving a number of visiting large vans and also visitors visiting next door where we believe sadly there's been a bereavement; when it quietens down then I'll resume the rustproofing.

I dunno. You soft Southern wussies in Yorkshire worrying about a bit of rain

Nice one RogerS very funny. Not so much soft in my case but I can't apply rustproofing onto wet surfaces; we too get plenty of rain coming down like pencils often here on the exposed valley side we also enjoy horizontal rain.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Jameshow]

Hi,

I think I'd prefer to have a Skoda main dealer over a non Skoda dealer to look after our Yeti Roy although I do understand what you mean; a top guy can make a good job using poor tools but a poor guy using top quality tools could so easily make a mess of it.

Years ago during my vintage radio restoring days I worked on PYE MM; it's tuning gang spindle had broken it being made of aluminium; at the time I had my big Colchester lathe so made a new spindle out of brass; no big deal for me it taking a morning but it had to be very accurate and involved flats and a bit of drilling and tapping; turning to diameter was easy but the flats needed to be at angles; I used a woodworkers sliding bevel having adjusted it to the original and with an end mill chucked it was very easy to use the cross slide to machine the flats; drilling and tapping no problem; it fitted perfectly.

By contrast on the forum was a member who liked to pick me up before I fell and he did this a number of times much to my annoyance; strangely he too ended up having to make one of these spindles; his friend was to restore the wooden cabinet he was to restore the chassis; like me he also had a Colchester lathe but he also had a vertical slide and dividing head; further he could use Auto CAD which I couldn't; on the forum he posted a diagram of the spindle but then showed his true colours; I wonder if he ever did make the spindle because he played around forever with it using all his fancy gear.

During the time he was playing around attempting to make the spindle I decided to test him because by now he was full of himself; my friend calls such people "Tall poppies" I've forgotten the actual job I was doing but in one post I purposely made two mistakes; not easily spotted unless used to things like lathe work; I remember one of the mistakes as a micrometer reading stating "three thou" as 0.0003" sure enough he was straight onto both gleefully pointing them out on the forum; I left the forum at this point having had enough. He still hadn't completed the spindle.

I'm not the sharpest tool in the kit and never will be but I was trained by top class coal mining mechanical engineers to make just about anything if the part wasn't in the stores or unavailable. One very complicated restoration I tackled was a very old seized solid AVO Wave Winder as used for winding special tuning coils. Not only was it rusted scrap but it was missing a few parts including a full set of change wheels; I think the full set was 45 and I didn't have a single change wheel to work from; as I say this was a very complicated restoration;

View attachment 164819
I dreamt up an entirely new way of indexing for making these change wheels on my very rough Myford lathe; I'd sold the Colchester it proving too big for the small amount of space in my workshop. Here's a picture of the actual method I used; unlike the guy on the forum having all the kit I didn't even have a vertical slide so I made a vertical slide out of lumps of metal I had to hand; here I'm cutting two identical cast iron gears (Meeanite) with the saddle locked it worked perfectly. Teeth aren't cut it's the waste between the teeth which is cut.

View attachment 164820
I needed a full set of change wheels so made a full set using basic methods; Having made them then they needed looking after.

View attachment 164822
With the new box made from Meranti hardwood I stained it then french polished it but still not finished; I decided to make a brass nameplate by cutting out each individual letter from brass sheet then gluing them in place; this restoration like many others took a great deal of time but were worth it and very well received on forums; I was honoured with top restoration award in 2009 by The British Vintage Wireless Society.

View attachment 164821
I used to like making things from scratch here's one of two power supplies I designed and made to power vintage wireless battery sets the batteries long gone; it has 2 x high tension; 2 x low tension positive and 2 x low tension negative outputs; I even designed and wound the transformers.

View attachment 164823
More parts I made for the Wave Winder. The top spindle is actually a live center.

As I say I'm not at all smart but in my day apprentices were taught to make things from scratch and now I like to encourage others to have a go. I wonder these days if apprentices are taught to be engineers or fitters there's a world of difference between the two?

Just passing a bit of time away because I've had a session strimming the middle meadow this morning and now having a rest; it's about time I started to ease off a bit after all I've been retired 22 years but still working as hard as ever; hope I'm not boring anyone.

Now what was this thread about? Oh yes rustproofing our Yeti; there's so much activity near the Yeti with builders directly across the street involving a number of visiting large vans and also visitors visiting next door where we believe sadly there's been a bereavement; when it quietens down then I'll resume the rustproofing.




Nice one RogerS very funny. Not so much soft in my case but I can't apply rustproofing onto wet surfaces; we too get plenty of rain coming down like pencils often here on the exposed valley side we also enjoy horizontal rain.

Kind regards, Colin.

Think I'd prefer a smart ex Skoda mech running a Skoda / vag specialist garage than anyone they set loose on cars in the main stealers.

 

[Lons]

We have a little very low mileage 2016 Skoda Citigo I bought solely to tow behind the motorhome as my wife's Mini is automatic so unsuitable, it failed it's MOT last year on emission readings and Kwik fit said it was the CAT, I rang the Skoda dealer who said almost certainly EGR valve and wanted £70 for a diagnostic so I left it with our trusted garage, (the owner went to school with my son and employs old school, mature mechanics all ex main dealers). He phoned me the following day with the "bad news" that it was due to a faulty spark plug.
That's why I use him for all 3 cars as do my son and his wife and my daughter but such honest people are hard to find. I only wish he had enough space to handle the motorhome as well.

 

[Fergie 307]

I would echo the comments made by Spectric and others. Nowadays there really is no such thing as diagnostics that can only be performed by a dealer, there are plenty of widely available readers that can do this. And the biggest problem is that nowadays the dealer technicians, or whatever they call them, are generally no more than fitters. They just change parts that the diagnostics tell them are giving a bad reading, and just keep going until they hit on what cures the fault, often costing you a fortune changing out perfectly good parts. A good example being my wife's Golf. I was working away when her ABS light came on. She took it to the local dealer who diagnosed a faulty ABS unit, and quoted best part of £1000 to replace it. Fortunately she then called me, and I directed her to a local Bosch specialist, who I have always gone to with anything like this. Speaking to him on the phone he said they had seen this problem a lot, and it was almost certainly caused by a bad connector. Best case scenario it would be possible to clean it up, worst case they would need to replace the connector. She took the car in and they fixed it in 20 minutes, and charged £40. It was the same guy who fixed a colleagues Audi. The local main dealer had run up a bill of over £1400 changing allegedly faulty parts, fortunately under a warranty he had got when he bought the car from an independent dealer. The car still had the same intermittent fault and he had had enough. When he told me this story I sent him to the Bosch guy. They fixed it in just over an hour. Turned out the problem was that part of the wiring loom had been rubbing on the body and had worn through the insulation on the wires, causing an intermittent earth. When I first used this place the boss told me the problem was simply that the dealer technicians get a faulty reading from a part, so they change it. Fine if the part is giving a bad reading because it is actually faulty. But the reading can be bad for all manner of other reasons, and all to often they just don't know how to work that out, so they just keep throwing new bits at it until they hit the original cause. If it's something obscure, like my man's Audi, they are stuffed. Diagnostics are good for pointing you at the ball park area of the fault, but it often takes a bit more thought and testing to narrow it right down.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Listening to all your comments and what has happened to me I've now changed my religion; I'll have a look for an independent garage for the next service & MOT; I've had a rude awakening to DMK Wakefield the main Skoda dealership who have looked after our Yeti since new; and our previous Fabia; no more; enough is more than enough.

What a morning I've just endured; shopping first thing and back home by 7:30. Next I phoned A-Z Motorspares recommended on Ferodo website as one of their dealers. It took all of two minutes to save £252 DMK quoted £352 for new front discs & pads; discs don't need changing at all and the pads would last a great deal longer given our annual low mileage.

I've passed A-Z hundreds of times so set off not needing to take any details with me; parking was abysmal; permit holders only on nearby streets so park near the timber yard and walk back; the building had shutters up it was closed? Back to the car and return home to sort myself out; just typical of my bad luck.

Back home and look on Google maps; the street view building shows a huge sign "We have moved" because it's so long ago they moved the sign is no longer there I don't use a mobile phone.

A mug of tea and lump of cherry cake off I went again this time taking along full details. No problem at all finding the new premises but in order to help other local members A-Z are no longer located at 100 Leeds Road, Huddersfield they are now at; A-Z motorspares, Old Fieldhouse Lane, Huddersfield. HD2 1AG Tele; 01484 536999. My bad luck now changed to good luck; absolutely top class service the guy even carried the boxes out to the Yeti. They've got a new customer.

Now for the good part; top quality Borg & Beck front discs & pads exactly £100 for the lot the pads £32.00 the discs £68.00 both plus VAT.

Like Ferodo; Borg & Beck have been around forever and are excellent quality bought from a local well established dealer. These discs are ready to go straight on they don't require de-greasing at all. I could have just replaced the pads at little cost but funds aren't a problem so I might as well replace the discs whilst replacing the pads; the original discs I can skim the slight lip off in the lathe then I've got spare discs so if I need to change pads again I can alternate disc fitting. I've had a terrible morning but it turned out well in the end and I'm happy. Shame on DMK for their rip off.

I've now completed the rustproofing under both front wings and replaced the old fasteners with new much better quality.

Original flimsy U nut rusted out and split. New heavy duty zinc plated U nuts with A2 stainless Pozi self tappers and A2 stainless penny washers. The flanged self tappers have a smaller flange but I already had the penny washers; also I'd bought all the plastic fasteners shown in an earlier post so I also replaced the plastic fasteners.

The new U bolts proved so strong they were a real pain to push into place so after struggling with three of them I ground a chisel point onto a short length of flat steel; nipped this in the vice then tapped each nut in turn to open it a bit; now I could locate each nut and push it on until it stopped then using a light hammer drove it home the result seen on the pictures; I don't need to rustproof the screws or washers making them easy to remove.

I'm now grounded for a couple of days due to hospital appointment etc but hope to resume work on the Yeti on Sunday assuming it doesn't bucket down with rain.

I've now spent £100 which actually isn't needed but once the discs and pads are on I can forget them for another seven years. DMK 0/10; A-Z 10/10 I won't be so gullible in future.

Kind regards, Colin.