my replacement Ford Mondeo

[Satsuma]

Nice work Peter, glad the gearbox went in easy. I have done a couple on FWD cars and its always more work and swearing involved than there should be. I guess the car manufacturer and initial car owner doesn't care as they normally wear out long after the first owner has sold the car on.

I did some work for an elderly lady, went out to the van to get some tools and heard someone caning a car engine, vooooooom voooooom, I initially thought it was a boy racer. It turned out it was the old lady getting her Nissan Micro out of the garage, later she told me the car had just been in the garage for a new clutch, I looked and the odometer read 8k miles! lmao

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

one step forwards and two back...

background info: when I was taking off the gearbox I removed all of the bolts and then remembered that I hadn't taken out the driveshafts. So I had an axle stand under the engine and a trolley jack under the gearbox. Popped the lefthand driveshaft, no problem, but the righthand driveshaft was a bugger to shift even with gentle persuasion with a 3lb hammer.

Eventually it popped out and the engine/gearbox separated by about an inch at the bottom.

Now, you're not supposed to put any weight on the gearbox input shaft as it can damage the shaft or the gears inside, so I grabbed a scissor jack and got it under the joint with a block of wood and wound it up. The gearbox then twisted and fell off the trolley jack!

Also, when removing and refitting the driveshafts the Haynes manual warns not to let the inner CV joints drop by more than 18 degrees as that can cause damage.

Now I was reassembling and I was up to the point where I was fitting the sub-frame so I jacked up each side in turn and put piles of bricks underneath. Then I engaged the lower balljoints in the suspension struts and rotated the hubs, driveshafts turned, no problem.

I eased the subframe into place and got the bolts in a couple of turns, rotated the hubs, no problems, so I tightened the subframe bolts. Turned the hub and the driveshafts turned about half a rotation and then got stiff, then jumped and the engine/gearbox rocked. It did this on every revolution.

I had the subframe on and off a couple of times, took one of the inner CV boots off so I could check the joint, nothing obviously wrong but it was still jumping.

What had I damaged? This was now late on Friday so I packed in and had a dodgy nights sleep with the worry. Got up Saturday morning and had an idea to put the hub-nuts on and wind them up tight to pull the driveshafts through all the way, and guess what? It cured the problem!

Another couple of hours wasted!

Anyway, the engine is reassembled now but before I put the radiators in I wanted to straighten the front cross-member. So I used the plasma to cut it from top to bottom, then remembered that there's a bunch of wires behind it...oops!





so now I have about 12 out of the 25 wires to repatch!

Hammering the cross-member to get it straight was a bugger, even with a ratchet strap on the gatepost to pull it as I hammered, but it's now almost level. It's about 1/4" out (but close enough for a Ford!) so I cleaned it up ready for welding.




Then I welded a couple of plates on it and filled in the joint at the back of the plate with weld.





So, tomorrow I need to solder some patches into a dozen wires...fortunately they're all colour-coded, then get the radiators and pipes in. Oil, water, fuel, and hopefully I can finally get the engine running.

Regards
Peter

 

[Robotstar5]

So, tomorrow I need to solder some patches into a dozen wires...fortunately they're all colour-coded

Heard the one about the colour blind electrician?

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

well...there are three lots of green-orange wires and two lots of blue-black so it could be interesting when I try the various lights!

There were no 'spits and sparks when I connected the battery so it looks good so far.

I had the engine running for a few minutes...it fired up after a couple of seconds and bearing in mind the car's been stood for around 3 - 4 months and I've had the bottom end stripped, plus the intercooler, exhaust and the turbo disconnected I reckon that's pretty good. Didn't see any signs of leaking where there shouldn't be but I only ran it for two minutes at most.

Next minor niggle is bleeding the clutch. There's no pressure at all on the pedal so I connected up a home-made pipe that I've used for years on brakes. It screws on the reservoir and connects to the tyre and the pressure squirts the fluid and bubbles through the pipes when I undo the bleed screw.

It blasted out some air, then bubbly fluid then steady fluid but the pedal still seems spongy and the clutch doesn't disengage so I can't select gears. Maybe the tyre pressure is pushing the fluid through too fast and there's still air bubbles, I've had that problem before, but I had no-one here to ask for assistance. I had an idea a few minutes ago to try again tomorrow using a bike pump...maybe that won't be so forcefull?

I did spend a few minutes unscrewing the brake and fuel pipe clamps under the floor while I still had the car jacked up. This is getting ready for hammering the floor back into shape but I need the seats out and carpets up before I'm ready for that...photos in a couple of days.

I'm on 'earlies' this week so should be home around 5.00pm each day. That'll give me a couple of hours each evening, weather permitting, so hopefully I'll be ready for replacing the tail-gate, bonnet and bumpers this weekend.

Regards
Peter

 

[Robotstar5]

Next minor niggle is bleeding the clutch. There's no pressure at all on the pedal so I connected up a home-made pipe that I've used for years on brakes. It screws on the reservoir and connects to the tyre and the pressure squirts the fluid and bubbles through the pipes when I undo the bleed screw.

You can get vaccuum pump type that pulls the fluid through, maybe hire / borrow one from your local garage?

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

interesting, thanks.

I guess it'd be about the same pressure as a bike pump on the reservoir though, and I have a bike pump...

The odd thing is that the pipe had fluid in, I hadn't drained it when I took the gearbox off. So in theory it just needed the last couple of inches of air pushing out but there was no pressure on the pedal.

I hope I don't have to take the gearbox off again!

You don't get this hassle with a cable clutch!

Regards
Peter

 

[Robotstar5]

Be grateful you haven't got one of the Freelander models with a sealed clutch system, the master cylinder, pipework and slave cylinder are only available as a one piece spare!

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

hmm, yes the Peugeot 406 was like that too. Another reason I got rid of it within 6 months!

Regards
Peter

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

well, had another go at the clutch, used a bike pump, still no pedal pressure. Waited for my daughter to come home so she could pump the pedal for me, lots of bubbles coming out but still not right.

There's nothing much to it, pipe from the reservoir to the master cylinder, pipe to the slave cylinder. The only bit that I've altered is the pipe connecting to the new slave. I left the fluid in the pipe from the old slave so there should only have been a bit of air right at the end, most odd.

So I've left that for now and taken out the seats, carpets, sound-proofing, etc. The floor is raised about 1/2" on the passenger side but about 2" on the drivers side, see the photos.

floor left:



floor right:


the section outlined in red is the bit that's badly raised. The green line shows where the 'tunnel' has pulled out to around 45 degrees compared with the passenger side that's almost vertical.

It was too late to do any hammering tonight so tomorrow evening I'll be making a bit of noise.

There's a small hole about 1/2" diameter to weld up but both floors have a grille around 2" x 4" just in front of the drain plugs that're mashed up. I'll probably leave the grilles and just plate over the top. The reason I need to do this is because the grilles were sealed up but the impact has cracked the sealant so it'll let water in.

Regards
Peter

 

[Robotstar5]

Looks like you've loads more wires to cut through this time

Back to the clutch , would gravity work?, open bleed screw and let fluid dribble through keeping master cyl topped up, would be very slow if it worked.

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

I was thinking about that on the way to work this morning!

But if there's a 'bubble' of air trapped in the master cylinder then it'd never move.

It must be a loose connection letting air in (but why doesn't it let pressurised fluid out?), and probably something on the master cylinder where I've not been doing anything. It's got to be something that I've not touched/checked I reckon.

Having said that, the pipe connections aren't 'screw in' on this car...they're push fit with a poxy little spring clip to hold it in place. So I have a few options to check out yet. I may have not pushed the pipe fully on and maybe the clip will still slip in so it looks OK? Maybe I was supposed to change the pipe for a new one? It could end up with a turn or two of PTFE tape yet.

Meanwhile I've popped a message in the ILEXA car forum where they're mostly professional mechanics. They're a bit 'sniffy' sometimes but will eventually come up with a 'known' fault after I've grovelled for a while.

For instance when I asked about setting the gear lever (special tool required) one guy told me he wouldn't let his 'very good 3rd year apprentice' do the job...and I agree with him, I wouldn't let an apprentice do it either. But he'd not bothered to ask first how many years I've been fixing cars. Yes, not professionally, I know, but there's no part of a car that Ive not stripped and re-built in my home workshop in the last 38 years or so.

So, the clutch is 'on hold' for a day or two while I have a go at the floor. At least that'll involve a bit of welding! :-)

I was also thinking about my plan to cover the vents with plates, nice idea, simple, but the vents would allow water through underneath and there's no way of protecting the joints. So I'll probably cut them out and plate the holes fully with a butt joint.

Regards
Peter

 

[Robotstar5]

For instance when I asked about setting the gear lever (special tool required) one guy told me he wouldn't let his 'very good 3rd year apprentice' do the job...and I agree with him, I wouldn't let an apprentice do it either. But he'd not bothered to ask first how many years I've been fixing cars. Yes, not professionally, I know, but there's no part of a car that Ive not stripped and re-built in my home workshop in the last 38 years or so.

I have to pass a Mercedes dealership when going to pick wife up from work and when the workshop is lit up you can see it's absolutly immaculate (you could eat off the floor!), but would the "technicians" know what to do with a 10 year old car with heaven forbid rust on it?
Cheers, Stuart

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

yes, I know what you mean. They're not proper workshops!

Yesterday I hammered the floor back to something like it's orginal shape and got the plasma out to cut the floor-vents off. Here's the drivers side:





I've already cut and welded in the plates this evening, plus on the drivers side the drain-hole is mis-shaped so I welded a washer in it then filled in the hole in the middle. Pictures of that tomorrow as I've not long finished.

Someone came back to me in the Ilexa car forum with a suggestion to 'reverse bleed' the clutch as apparently Mondeos can be a bit tricky. I asked how that would be done as I had no idea. I had previously thought of forcing fluid back up the system but the problem is it'd overflow at the reservoir.

The way the professionals do it on the Mondeo is to connect a pipe from the front left brake cylinder to the clutch slave cylinder and open both bleed valves, then pump the brake pedal.

I got my daughter to do the pedal while I observed the pipe, in case it popped off...and it works brilliantly! The first couple of pumps saw a few bubbles in the pipe and during the next dozen or so pumps I could see bubbles coming up in the reservoir.

I now have a fully working clutch!

So tomorrow there's some grinding off the welds and get some Kurust on them. After it's dry I'll get some underseal on the outside. I'll probably have time then to start refitting the carpets and seats.

This Saturday I can get to the scrap-yard for a drivers seat (the back's broken on mine), bonnet, tailgate & bumpers. And I need to find a rear 'valance' either new or off a scrapper. It could all be working by next Monday!

Regards
Peter

 

[drjim]

Peter

I am impressed by the speed you are going at, and that clutch bleeding trick is brilliant.

I could do with some progress like that on my car collection, MUST TRY HARDER.

Jim

 

[Satsuma]

Well done Peter, I'm pleased you got the clutch fixed!

Really good work and very interesting to follow.

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

thanks...

but it seems to be going so slowly to me. I've had the car for a month now!

Taking the box off and getting it back on should have been two easy days or one hard one but that took six or seven days spread over three weeks. It doesn't help when I get dragged out for the day on bank holidays, etc.

When I'm on the early shift, like this week, I get home at 5.00pm and it gives me a couple of hours to do a bit. I try to stop around 7.00pm as I don't want to annoy the neighbors so last night I got the floor plates welded in but didn't have time to grind them off.

My original plan was to get the car MOT'd just before the end of the month and to have it on the road on the 1st of June but that may slip by a week or two.

Regards
Peter

 

[Robotstar5]

Glad you've finally sorted the clutch, that's one thing about these forums is some of the "tricks of the trade" you can pick up outside your own profession / hobby.

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

I found another little job that I'd forgotten...there's a woolly 'felt' cover underneath the 'tunnel', some type of sound-proofing I guess, and the lugs that it clips in were broken. I'd decided to drill holes and pop some 6mm bolts through with a couple of spots welds to hold them, then later I can push the felt over these and hold it in place with washers and locking nuts.

It didn't take long to drill some holes and get the bolts in place.

Then I got the grinding done and covered all the welds with Kurust and when it was dry I undersealed the plate on the inside.

Ground off but before painting:





While underneath the car, having moved the felt, I found a couple of box section stiffeners have been crushed and bent. If I don't get these sorted it'll be an MOT failure, I reckon. So they'll need to be plated tomorrow evening or Saturday morning before I can get the carpets re-fitted. It's not much of a job though, just a bit of cutting and shaping and a couple of feet of welding. An hour and a half at most...

especially as I can now drive the car up the ramps.

Regards
Peter

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

While underneath the other day I noticed that a couple of box section strengthers had been flattened, so on Friday evening I cut some steel and formed it up to replace some of the mangled metal.





The rear side of each existing box was OK once I'd hammered it back into 'square'...

left




right




So I welded the new bits on, tapping the sides into shape as I went...unfortunately it was getting dark when I finished and the photos I took were blurred so I can't show the result, but it looks OK to me. Certainly MOT-able!

I went to the scrap-yard yesterday looking for a back section as mine's a bit crumped on the off-side (see photos on page one!). There's not much in the local yards and I could only find one car! I had an idea that I'd cut out about three inches of floor side to side and also change the box section underneath, but it doesn't work like that...

the box section only goes part way across the car, between the chassis rails, and there are all sorts of strengthener pieces in, it's pretty horrible really. But I had my plasma set up at the scrap yard and cut out as much as I could. When I got home I knew I couldn't do the same to my car so the alternative was to drill out 48 or so spot welds and ease the various panels apart.

The box-section was pushed forward an inch or so and was a bit of an odd shape at the right hand end, so I used my rathcet strap on the fence post to pull it a bit and used the trolley-jack with a wood block as an anvil to beat it into shape.





I've judiciously placed a few 'weakening' cuts so I can ease everything back into position, including the 'D' pillar which was about and inch forward of where it should be. This will all be welded/plated when I come to re-assemble it later.





The weather's been carp and no good at all for welding outside as it's blowing a gale. Anyway, I can't weld the plates on until I get the replacement tailgate as I need to check that it'll close OK before welding up fully.

On that score I had a bit of luck. I did a search on scrapyards in Doncaster and found one that's just got a taxi in. Now taxis are good doner verhicles for body work as if it's not in decent condition it'll fail it's taxi' test...plus most councils only allow taxis under six or seven years old.

And as I'm getting the tailgate, bonnet and both bumpers off the same vehicle they'll all be the same colour. It's a blue car but not as dark as mine so it'll need a re-spray later, but if it ever gets scratched and a bit of the paler blue shows through it'll just look like undercoat.

I get these parts next Wednesday as the guy wanted the bank holiday weekend off.

Regards
Peter

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

Today I had a go at the broken back on the drivers seat. It was just the off-side hinge that had broken away...





After moving the seat covers and some of the foam I cleaned the metal with emery and then packed a fire-blanket around as much as I could...





I welded a 3mm plate to the inside of the seat rail to attach the hinge to but before starting that weld I adjusted both hinges to their full travel prositons to ensure they were in sync. I got some good welds on inside and out and cooled everything down with a long blast of air from the compressor, then got the seat covers and foam back into position.

The seat adjustment works!



Tomorrow I can refit the carpets and seats which is pretty much 'inside' work so it doesn't matter too much if it's windy or raining.

Regards
Peter