Quote: dazmanf wrote in post #225

---

Never rains but it pours

---

Had some more time to do bits n pieces yesterday...

Removed EGR (no cooler on my truck)




Also fitted a drop plate for towing as the suspension lifts have raised the tow bar a fair bit

Nice when you get a chance to do the little bits

Yesterday the truck got it's first ever proper time towing. I fitted the towbar years ago to use with a bike rack but due to my lack of +e on my driving licence I've never really used it.

The golf that I had bought was away in Tomatin.... Bloody miles away. My dad said that he'd help out with the towing I pulled the trailer unladen as I reckon it just about sits under the weight limit of what I can tow on my licence. We hired a Brian James tilt bed from Ace Hire in Rosyth. A bit of a weird set up as the operate the hire business out of a newsagent shop but they were very helpful and the trailer was in good order.



The truck was pretty slow with even the empty trailer attached but then it is the 98bhp engine which is underpowered for an unladen truck!
On some of the climbs the temp needle rose slightly but quickly went back to the middle after backing out of the throttle a little. The rear suspension was pretty bouncy when the trailer was unladen but I' ve heard this is common to leaf sprung vehicles.

After arriving at Tomatin, the car was quickly loaded.

95 mk3 golf gti 16v. Has the decent ABF engine in it rather than the pants 8v ADY one so should be a little fun.

(Trailer still in tilted position and those god awful rear lights will be replaced with standard ones that are in the boot )

The bouncing suspension calmed down a lot with the car loaded and my dad managed to squeeze himself into the bucket seats to drive home

Took the car to the new unit that I'm renting with a few mates and then returned the trailer.

Parked next to biscuits' turbo'd Clio sport

Plans for it are to replace the rust with new metal (a good reason for practicing my welding!) sort the suspension and brakes and run it as a sensible daily drive. I'm hitting nearly 20k miles a year in the truck and thought this would spread the load!

Must resist urge to build track car!

Also chucking the EGR valve has done wonders to the drivability of the truck! It used to feel like something was strangling the engine at around 2-2.5k rpm. Had a horrible flat spot, no power and a ton of black smoke but this seems to have remedied it

Looks like you've been busy. Just for information your license weight goes off maximum authorised mass or MAM, so empty or loaded trailer makes no difference as it's how much it can legally weigh, not its current weight

Ah, well was probably over then....
Hoping to get my +e over the summer so won't be a problem then.

Nice project Rob

I did mine as I was towing a lot. Worth doing and a fairly easy test

Good work!

And that's an awesome looking lock-up; could do some serious damage in that

I would love to have a lock up like that skoti is right amount of modding you could do in there, fantastic

Got a chance to pull the drivers arch cover off and have a wee look at the mess behind it. Will be a complete rip out and weld a new panel in job

Again not really l200 related (no doubt have to do some work on it after kirton!) but had a further look around the golf during the hols. Removed seats and carpet and found plates stuck to the floor pan. Gave me a good whack with the hammer and they came off to reveal a decent size hole in the floor pan.

Yabbadabbadooooooo!

Quote: robl200 wrote in post #208

---

Next came the winch.
I gave it a quick test in he garage to make sure it was running which it was
Managed to get it fitted into the bumper without too many dramas.

Next I had to puzzle as to where the control bad would go.... I didn't want it in the bumper where it had been before and had freed up space where the air filter used to be with the Apollo but I decided to put it up near he battery as there was space and I could make use of some redundant brackets in that corner.

I bent the bracket that goes around the fuel filter (diesel preheater - not used on uk trucks) and bolted the control box to it using an existing hole. I then made a bracket for the isolator and placed it next to the fuse box using one of its bolt holes. I wanted the isolator in the engine bay as it means that I'll have to raise the bonnet before winching so that if anything lets go it'll hit the bonnet rather than going through the screen!

I ended up with this...


I then had to extend the wires...
I had a roll of 20mm^2 earth cable that was used for high power audio systems. It looks the same sort of thickness as what was attached to the winch already. I fitted the 8mm ring terminals that I bought (had to drill out two to 10mm for the isolator)
I also had to extend the earth wire for the control box (easy enough).

Once connected I tried to run the winch to pull the rope onto the drum and all I got was clicking from the control box....
Did a little bit of wiggling connections and it sprung into life! The ring terminal on the blue (armature) lead hadn't crimped very well. This meant that the motor was getting a shaky connection and it got very hot! Once fixed it was fine.

Another thing that I will have to do is get new battery terminals as mine are very worn. This can also cause connection problems and make things get way too hot as well!

Tested it by winching biscuits' Clio 182 turbo around and it seems to do the job nicely

---

There was probably around 30cm coming from the box. I reckon 2m per cable sounds right. I crimped big ring terminals on to the ends and bolted them on to what came out the box then gave a few layers of insulating tape on them. You really need solid connections or the motor will on/off very quickly resulting in large current spikes and the cables getting very hot!

You will probably need to get an isolator for your winch too. Mine is located up near the fuse box.

Also if your winch has a steel cable you need a roller fairlead, if it is plasma/dyneema rope you will need an alloy one.

got my one to do too.

They do come in pretty handy lol!

Quote: robl200 wrote in post #240

---

There was probably around 30cm coming from the box. I reckon 2m per cable sounds right. I crimped big ring terminals on to the ends and bolted them on to what came out the box then gave a few layers of insulating tape on them. You really need solid connections or the motor will on/off very quickly resulting in large current spikes and the cables getting very hot!

You will probably need to get an isolator for your winch too. Mine is located up near the fuse box.

Also if your winch has a steel cable you need a roller fairlead, if it is plasma/dyneema rope you will need an alloy one.

---

Well in went alternator number 7.... Into the standard location (for now!!)


So glad I don't have to do this on the street anymore!!


Also got the first of the welding done on the golf.... Not the neatest but it was hard to get a good weld running the MIG from a generator. Even so, I jumped up and down on the patch and didn't go through.....


Also fitted new boot struts as I was getting fed up with the boot falling and hitting me in the head!!

Managed to transport the tub from stormy's truck across Edinburgh despite high winds!

respect rob

Just back from an all nighter on the truck to get it in for the mot tomorrow.... New drums, shoes and fittings, new pads, greased ball joints and nipped up front bearings. Got a couple of bulbs to change tomorrow and pas fluid to top up then take it along for a test.... Everything crossed!!

Well never managed to get it along for the test on sat as the fog light wouldn't work.... By the time I got it along they were closing up for the day. Most annoying!!

Still got the antifreeze in it, all the lights work, new wipers, topped up pas fluid and put the steering wheel back on straight!
It's going in today so fingers crossed! Will hear from my dad what the fail list is like!

Also found an oil seal leaking on the rear axle so The diff lock axle swap may happen soon....

Mot passed! 😃😃😃

Couple of minor advisories but the all important certificate is there!

Great news