Annual service

[monkey]

On my SP, which has a very similar set up, I fitted a remote greasing system. You can lubricate the suspension from under the bonnet with the added bonus that you will not contaminate the grease by using dirty nipples (although I do wipe my other nipples on the car before using the grease gun).

I don't know how to add photos of the system, otherwise I'd post a few.

[AJL Electronics]

(although I do wipe my other nipples on the car before using the grease gun).
.

This isn't *that* sort of forum.

[monkey]

Hmm, perhaps I could have phrased that slightly better

[philhoward]

Nah - that's just how some minds work...

[toomanysabres]

Back to the trunnion, I managed to get a jack under the thing (first jack the car up, put it on stands, take off the wheel ...)
And after trying a 1 euro coin in various alignments I came to the conclusion that either the idea doesn't work or it only works in sterling.
So I must get round to changing the trunnion I suppose.
I have in stock a Daimler SP250 trunnion, I can't remember if they are a direct replacement ???

Everyone knows a 1£ coin is 1.19 times thicker than a euro - well it is this week
Seriously you need a spacer smaller in diameter than the rebate in the bottom of the trunnion and greater in depth and a flat lifting pad on the jack. The whole weight of the car at that point will be a force under the errant sealing cap.

[DARK STAR]

Steering rack now greased up to perfection thanks to Kev.
No time to play with jacks for the moment.

Found one genuine Daimler SP250 part which might be useful, a brake seal set.
New (very) old stock, the rubber seems ok.
Let me know if it's any use to you Kev, I'll bung it in the post.

[monkey]

Chris

Glad one of the nipples fitted, if you don't require the seal set any longer it would be very much appreciated as a back up.

[DARK STAR]

Ok, I'll take care of that as soon as I find an envelope.

Here are the latest pics of the major engineering work.
I can't believe the state of the track rod end boots, luckily I had a couple in stock.
I think one of them is possibly Daimler as well because it was on a (new) track rod end without grease nipple.
A bit of a clean up and it all looks much better.

I need to make a trip to Norauto because they seem to be the only shop that has heard of self-amalgamating tape.
And at some stage I need to buy a new battery as one of mine is dead and risks to damage the other.
For the moment I have removed it but the 44 a/h of one little battery isn't really enough for a big V6.

[philhoward]

The Ah capacity of the battery isn't as important as its CCA rating which defines how much "oomph" the battery can provide to actually start the engine.

Have a look at what is used on something like a Peugeot diesel - that's what's on mine and kicks over the EFI engine (with a 10.8:1 compression ratio) with great aplomb and doesn't suffer with volts drop that injection engines don't like whilst cranking.

[DARK STAR]

Phil, either you are psychic or there is something missing on this thread
Rather like my battery, despatched on 12 jan, again on 16 jan and still not arrived.

Apart from that, I finished the service today except the right hand trunnion, which can wait until just before the Scimitar Sortie in september.
I'm not going to use the GTC again, it has a 100% breakdown record.

I pumped 10 shots of grease into the handbrake cable, plus one for luck.
Is this enough? should it ooze out somewhere?

I was a bit worried about gearbox and axle oil levels as there are leaks at both ends of the prop shaft which leave impressive oil stains on the garage floor (and anywhere else I park the car).
But there is no visible oil loss, amazing how a small amount of oil can spread.
As usual when gearbox oil is involved, I bemoan the incompetence of car designers who cannot put a filler in the top of the gearbox accessible from inside the car.
Daimler did it on the SP250, the gearbox was awful but at least it was easy to maintain

Finally, even though I am not from Cheshire and have never knowingly been there, I really must clean and paint the chassis.
It hasn't been done for 27 years and is looking a bit tatty.
But it's not urgent.

[DARK STAR]

PS this is how the batteries look when I have two of them ...

[DARK STAR]

PPS looking at the photo, I should perhaps invest in a new air filter too!

[philhoward]

PPS looking at the photo, I should perhaps invest in a new air filter too!

It doesn't look like it's doing that much filtering..

[DARK STAR]

Haven't had time to investigate air filters, I think its a twin Weber 40 job.
Of course Ford's predilection for square holes rather than round ones means you have to modify it.
But the hole centres are in the right place

What I did do (if that is english) was to fit my new brilliant white expansion tank.
Going to have to do a spring clean in the engine bay now