Started stage 0 !

[RollingThunder]

And, as on my old 850R I found that the HT leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm were all the original items with manufacturer date stamps of 1997/8 ! Amazing that a car can run so well on 16 year old parts which were to be frank, utterly shagged. The dizzy cap and rotor arm were well worn as you'd expect, the HT leads... well I'll post some pics up soon - their condition probably explains the ocassional misfire!

So today I managed to change the cabin/pollen filter, spark plugs, HT leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm, air filter, and nearly all the vacuum hoses. Also rectified a few worrying discoveries - the LPG ECU was resting on the battery positive cable (again - weak bracket) and had started wearing the insulation, so thats been repositioned; the LPG regulator has dropped on its bracket and was resting on a brake pipe, nicely polishing it Various hoses were rubbing on each other and other items, various cables were stressed... the more I looked the more I found So all thats been rectified and fortunately no bits were left over - and the car runs beautifully smoothly again.

Just need to do an oil & filter change and a transmission flush, probably next weekend. Managed to squeeze it a quick boot & cabin vacuum & clean up, and found the jack - I thought it was missing. Instead it was under one of the smaller boot floor panels

So all in all a pretty good day. Still a lot of items to address, but nothing that you wouldn't expect from a 170k miler.

Off for a curry and a couple of pints now

TTFN

[JamesT5]

Sorry, what's Stage 0 because I thought it went from 1 - 3...?

[Wobbly Dave]

Stage 0 was a generic checklist for bringing old sheds like our up to a reasonable standard prior to a stage 1 remap. I am not sure where the thread disappeared. Back when I started in the early Noughties, it used to be HT leads, cap & rotor arm new plugs & an oil change. Things like HT leads & plugs have moved on a bit now with ME7 etc & stage 0 tends to be massive due to the age of the cars. e.g change the brakes, gearbox, clutch, engine, paintwork LOL.

[soothingduck]

Stage 0 was a generic checklist for bringing old sheds like our up to a reasonable standard prior to a stage 1 remap. I am not sure where the thread disappeared. Back when I started in the early Noughties, it used to be HT leads, cap & rotor arm new plugs & an oil change. Things like HT leads & plugs have moved on a bit now with ME7 etc & stage 0 tends to be massive due to the age of the cars. e.g change the brakes, gearbox, clutch, engine, paintwork LOL.

Yeah that's where I'm at now,the list keeps growing and growing (but I do like it)

[Biff]

Stage 0 made a massive difference on mine with the genuine maf & pcv. It was so much smoother.

[RollingThunder]

And here are the pics I promised...







Fitted a genuine Bosch MAF last month as it had a pattern one on that was throwing intermittent faults. All good on that front now

I've bought Frankie's ABS ECU as mine is faulty and while I haven't removed it yet, I know its going to be fubar'd as its held together with tie wraps...???! I'll overhaul the brakes in the summer. They work fine (apart from the ABS lol) and while Seb fitted new front discs (genuine parts too bless him) the rears aren't great, so I'll renew those and fit Police spec pads as I did on the 850R. A bit more initial bite and very reassuring. I'll also change the brake fluid as its a bit discoloured so must be due for a change.

More worryingly, I've noticed that the engine is losing a bit of coolant - about a litre a week. At first I thought it was a loose return hose as it had blue residue around the joint onto the reservoir, but thats clear now and its still losing coolant - and the exhaust is very steamy in the morning She's not overheating so I'm just keeping an eye on it at the moment, but I wouldn't be surprised if the HG goes in the summer I guess it'll give me an excuse to redo the PCV service - it was done a few years back according to the service records. I'd do it anyway, but there is a lot of extra 'stuff' to be removed due to the LPG conversion so I wasn't going to do it this time.





One thing that doesn't need doing though -





This is what prompted the vacuum hose replacement -



As you can see the routing of the hose, the inappropriate cable tie and the age of the hose itself all contributed. So they've all been replaced, rerouted and correctly secured. Ditto some wiring which was also stressed. Yesterday was a good day!!!