No updates for a while; been quite busy (but not with the car). Its been thoroughly neglected. I haven't even washed it in a couple of weeks...
The dying went quite well, then I mucked it up by attempting a second coat when I didn't have enough for a complete and thick coat. So I'll be getting another bottle of dye, and for the time being (aka summer when it is least needed) I have not put the waterproofing on to save it until after dye part 2.
Took it up to Leeds for a weekend; 300 miles no problem whatsoever. And driving all the way back with the roof off is substantially more fun than it should be (with a car full of 4). Only really gets too blustery above 80.
Not that I would know how that goes...right?
Otherwise on the way up; *sniff* all growed up.
Amusing to note that I owned the old Saab over 160k miles and this one over 125k and hopefully 160k too.
And on the way back; I realised just how low the suspension gets with 4 passengers and luggage (NB notice that this is only with 3):
Yesterday I started on the big job; the service and sump drop. Sure; just drop the sump, that'll take all of 5 minutes, right? Pah! Maybe if you know what you're doing and have the right tools... Also having to detach the subframe is surely not a common feature in removing the sump.
And the damage; non existent, thankfully. The common sludge problem is not here.
The stuff on the right was dried on residue, not sludge. Cleaned it all out and will attempt to reassemble tomorrow. I also changed over all of the breather pipes/PCV kit today. Simple job, but a pain threading everything round. I also misplaced a socket for ages. It was on top of the subframe
Overall a pretty decent couple of days making sure the engine is OK. And now I have a load more peace of mind in knowing the state of the engine.
Still got to adjust the steering brace (which I fitted ages ago too) and piggy back the rear anti-roll bars.