Dom's Car Blog

[Citroenmad]

Very good work

Good video, it sounds ok! Can the next video be of it tackling a tight chicane please, from the outside

[Dommo]

Excellent Dom That's well on the way to being a sorted car.... Good work sir!

Thanks Jim, I'm actually getting somewhere with it at least, theres still a long way to go yet though unfortunately. Once I've got the interior and bodywork sorted I'll be starting on the leaking struts, I know I should do the struts first but if the rest of the car looks good to go then I'll be more inclined to spend a few quid on sorting the suspension, whereas currently it just looks like an unloved shed . My grandad used to fix up old knackers and made a fair few bob doing it, proper old Jaguars and '30s RR's and Bentleys are a few, and he's given me a contact for where he takes bodywork jobs to, so I'll pop into there and get a rough quote, it hopefully won't be too astronomical..

Looking good Dom!

Getting hold of parts not proving to be too bad then?

Cheers Kev. Parts aren't the easiest to come across, I just happened to contact the right person at the right time as I found someone who was breaking a blue active. Although of all the parts I've bought only the dash/clocks and the mirror are active specific. Active mirrors have a strange ultrasonic cleaning function which so far as I can tell hasn't really done anything apart from make a strange noise from each mirror

Very good work

Good video, it sounds ok! Can the next video be of it tackling a tight chicane please, from the outside

Yes I'd like to get a video along those lines but it's now uninsured, and the MOT is up very soon, so I really need to get on top of the leaking strut. Although I'm just scared to contact Toyota for prices on the parts I need . I'm probably best off sorting the leaks BEFORE the bodywork so it's not dribbling all over the bodyshop floor. Hmmm decisions decisions.

[Citroenmad]

Very good work

Good video, it sounds ok! Can the next video be of it tackling a tight chicane please, from the outside

Yes I'd like to get a video along those lines but it's now uninsured, and the MOT is up very soon, so I really need to get on top of the leaking strut. Although I'm just scared to contact Toyota for prices on the parts I need . I'm probably best off sorting the leaks BEFORE the bodywork so it's not dribbling all over the bodyshop floor. Hmmm decisions decisions.

It does sound like an idea to get it mechanically right and then do the bodywork. At least then you can get it MOT'd and kept on the road to get to bodywork places etc.

You might well be surprised by the parts cost!

[Citroenmad]

This look sinteresting:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SOARER-SANCTU ... 3f11aa9ba2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They obviously have a bit of a following

[Citroening]

This look sinteresting:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SOARER-SANCTU ... 3f11aa9ba2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They obviously have a bit of a following

Never realised that was there - only down the road from me (10 miles!)

[myglaren]

You might well be surprised by the parts cost!

Surprise might not be quite the word.

I took a mate to the Toyota dealer for an alternator belt.

£60! and this was a few years ago now.

He asked if that didn't fix it, what the problem would be.
Parts guy said - "the alternator"

OK, how much is one of them?

He pushed a few keys on the computer and said "OK, I'm going to turn this screen round and go in the back while you take a look"!

£600 + VAT.

It was the alternator, naturally. Had to be, didn't it?

He had an auto electrician fit new diodes, £8

[Dommo]

I've called that Soarer Sanctuary bloke before and he's given me a quote to repair it, £170 ish best case scenario, £300 worst case scenario, PER strut. So I'll look at getting the parts myself but it depends on cost because if it's not much different to what he'd charge I'll let him do it.

As far as I can tell it's just one strut that needs repairing at the moment so it shouldn't be too bad really considering what the car is.

[Dommo]

The Xantia has decided it's not had any attention lately and now has a holey exhaust, I just need to figure out if it's on the backbox or the long centre-come-down pipe

[CitroJim]

The Xantia has decided it's not had any attention lately

They're good at doing that Dom. As I have always said. All Xantias are definitely female...

[Dommo]

The Xantia has decided it's not had any attention lately

They're good at doing that Dom. As I have always said. All Xantias are definitely female...

Oh definitely, stop giving it all your attention and boom, it throws a wobbler!

[KP]

If its the long pipe section a good long lasting repair is to us a drinks can (alcholic or not) and chop the ends off, clean the exhaust face up and use loads of gun gum, then a few strands of wire to hold it round

It will last longer than the rest of the exaust as long as the wire is good!! and will pass MOT's as well as the exhaust is no longer holed

Saying that xantia 1.9td pipes arent that pricey with GSF discount and you can go for a the straight through version as well if yours currently has a mid box in it

[Dommo]

It currently only has a back box as per service box. So a straight pipe from the turbo to the rear silencer. I get the feeling its gone right at the joint between the two (or very near to ) Sounds very far back anyway!

Cheers

[Diabolical]

Wow what a buy, I've always admired the Soarer and looking for something when I sell my Citroen CX GTi Turbo 2. the Soarer looks like an exciting car.
Following blog from now on,
Keep up the good work.
David

[Diabolical]

Spoke to a mate of mine who's a mechanic @ DSA who specialise in Jap imports, they look after a number of Soarers.
He reckons there a really good motor, engine bullet proof, very reliable and very nimble for a big car.

Recently one customer had electronic suspension damping fitted so you change damping of individual shocks from inside the car £4000

Also as the chassis is from the Supra some people put 3 litre Supra Turbos in them, but he reckons the 2.5L twin Turbo are the best.

[Dommo]

The VSX has a replacement downpipe/centre pipe now, so that's fixed that, there was a nice hole about 2 inches long on the bend just before the backbox, replacement pipe was about £50 for a Bosal one which is pretty much the best exhausts you can get apart from a stainless one.

Diabolical - that sounds interesting about the Supra chassis, is it the older boxey Supra I presume? I'd love a powerful curvey Supra engine in this but have to stick with the V8 instead, which is fine but it's not exactly powerful for a 4 litre which is a shame.

With my active suspension Soarer there shouldn't be any need for the electronic damping, I wonder why they didn't fancy an Active one? They aren't the easiest to find because they only made 873 of them originally but they are about. They changed the 2.5 twin turbo to a single turbo with variable valve timing at some point so I would have thought that was the one to go for, but maybe not? Unfortunately they only made the Active with a non VVTI V8 which is a shame, it really is a capable chassis and more power would have made it much more desirable, and probably would have gotten more of them made and sold.