CurtisRider

I have been getting the short wall sorted, and now have sockets everywhere I still need to get the other 2 sections of strip lights in though. I got a little too excited about putting my big bench in Extractor arm now all functioning Currently how it all stands, loads of stuff to be removed for sale/scrap which will make some room I hope! Wood workshop is a mess but is slowly losing all the metal work stuff, the Commer and the BMC will have to stay for now though.

Cheers for the heads up I have the Yale equivalent to the ERA, still deciding on a handle ( I know...). Where would I get matched dead locks from? That would be ideal! Hinge side bolts are a new one to me, I was actually looking at making something similar so thank you! I spent quite a long time today getting the door frame finished, lots and lots of routing out to cover the door hinges as they are a difficult profile to match! I think it's turned out fine though, fits tight and flush although aesthetically I'm not won over by my solution for the angled bit above the door... perhaps a light up there will break up the weird chunky look! it functions fine and that's really all I should be worrying about. The door frame has been reinforced with steel to make it that little bit harder to break into, I'm looking forward to fitting the locks and handle, it'll look more complete then.

Nice work! Cheers jarod for the images, which projectors did you use?

Awesome, now lots of this makes sense! When do you realistically think it'll be getting dropped in?

Luke what exactly are you doing? I get that it's a turbo upgrade but unaware of what else. Mike do you mean the little assister springs? I don't run them and sometimes my springs are a faff to get them seated but not bad enough to be annoying. I was busy today so only got a door made. I wanted to use T&G but it was expensive and not available locally in treated form so I went with 18mm marine ply and a 5x2 frame instead. The ply was glued to the frame and also nailed for extra security. I also routed a v groove into the ply to make it look like T&G which I think has worked out alright, far better than keeping it plain! I need to decide on locks next but at least it'll be pretty difficult to break. The grooves had saw dust in after rounding the edge, but you get the idea

If they are all that bad then surely you are best off just keeping at it Sam? Have any of you used the cheapy 2.5" eBay bi xenon projectors? Dad has HIDs on his larger tractors but wants more focused light as they scatter everywhere because they are tired reflector housings so I suggested fitting projectors in, at £15 a pair they seem a little too good to be true! Bear in mind they will only do field work so legality isn't an issue as he doesn't drive on the road at night and our fields are all linked to the farm.

Ooohhhh and you may have noticed the wire in the middle floor section, in floor lighting

I have half a floor, woop! I'll surface plane it all and epoxy it so it is easy to keep clean (and not dusty when being brushed!)

They are so handy to have, try and avoid disposable bottles unless you have deep pockets! I have 5 welders now really should stop buying stuff....

I got the Porsche running again and in its new home, woop! Extractor vent adapted to take one of the free extractor motors I was given, I'll make a neater and stronger mount now I know it works. This will get rid of fumes when welding/grinding, we had one at the school I worked at and it was great.

The doors are covered now, toilet/shower bit nearly covered too. The big doors won't have any locks on the outside, and will be reinforced inside along with pins in each corner which will make it rather hard to break into I hope. I have a bloke with a mini digger tomorrow to smash up the floor and dig out the drains and soil pipe for the toilet. Feels like slow progress right now, I caught my finger in my table saw and it means everything I do is bloody painful! My mitre saw is also not loving life so I need to get a new one ordered. Few more weeks and maybe some actual car related content may go in.

Get that mini done Tom! I made some doors to get cars in my shed:

My Porsche won't run, not sure why yet though, it broke down the other day but i've been too busy to go over it. I think it's fuel related as it runs really slowly as long as you have it on full throttle so I fear its starvation of some kind or the fact I filled with Tesco fuel due to desperation on my way home from Nottingham.... Car side of the workshop is coming along, supports are all out and new beams in, Window frames made and the short wall is now getting covered in featheredge. I have been trying to plan out the lighting, I think I'll have 3 rows of lights over head per bay and some smaller lights at the back of the benches that can be independently switched on if needed. I'll have 20 double sockets and 4 16A sockets in total in this section, which sounds like lots but it's better than having trailing leads everywhere as well as constantly unplugging things. I hope to concrete some of the floor near the entrance next week when the ballast arrives, then I can crack on with the doors and get it locked up!

Replaced the water pump on the E46, bit of a faff to do! It seems to run fine so that's a relief. I need to get a belt stretcher in order to refit the AC belt which is annoying!

More than welcome, I kind of want to as well! I'm afraid my ridiculously fluffy cat is on mouse duties though... I'm really excited to get this done, It's about as close to a dream workshop as I'll ever get, once I buy a ramp it'll be super. There is another side to the building that is surplus to requirement so that may end up becoming a store room for multiple vehicles

Toilet/shower/kitchenette block now assembled for the workshop I'll fit and plumb it all in at some point but for now it can stay as a shell (well it'll get clad and receive a door then stay like that for a while). Actual workshop stuff should be happening next week, I'm very excited! New beams going in so the crappy supports can go and then I can whack in some lighting which will make a bit of a difference for me as it sucks working at night with flood lights.

Not quite car stuff but essential to me having any sort of worthwhile car updates. After a bit of a delayed start some progress is happening on my workshop. The 'new' section was a total tip and the original workshop wasn't much better! Quick tidy up, so much stuff in there it is really hard to keep organised! I also need to finish collecting the rest of my stuff from the garage at my house as that's ram packed The rubbish tip needed sorting, several bucket loads of rubbish and rubble in the JCB and some floor was exposed You will notice the roof has been chopped about and that the top is sagging, turns out those mahooosive railway sleepers are totally rotten at the bottom. I have lots of wood and stuff on order so progress should happen (and stop when harvest starts, joy). Bonus deathtrap branch cutter that I found in an old mans shed down the road whilst looking through his tools he was selling, a 9" grinder on a 6foot pole with a saw blade is just wonderful...

Cheers for your help, from what I gathered the garage said the ball joints are gone, I seem to recall the same garage replacing them under 10k ago (the car only does about 5k per year) so I need to find the receipts as that's not good enough! The wishbone rear bushes, is it best to press in new ones or buy a complete unit? I have a press but it looks an awkward piece to get to sit right.

No hate, just confused why you didn't get some filler over the new metal Let that stuff harden a few weeks and you may be able to very gently polish it to make it look a touch better, it'll burn through very easily though as I imagine at price you haven't got much paint on there.

Has anybody had experience with replacing E46 front wishbones? My parents need new ones but they seem to be rather pricey at £100-150 per side for Lemforders, not had a price for OE but I have got the impression off forums that £500 is about right. This seems rather steep, I've seen cheapies on eBay but I'm guessing they will be false economy.

It is well worth it, I've not had any issues with my tubeless set up since installing. I run about 28-30PSI (i'm a fat lad at 15 stone) which is what I ran with tubes but the tyre seems to deform over bumps more now without the little extra tube wall thickness giving better grip

For £250 I'd expect a little bit more than that, I know a skim of filler will tidy it up but i'd be fearing what is underneath. If it's that rough on the outside I would hate to think what it's like inside and what he thought he may be able to get away with. Yes you can get away with doing a fairly basic attempt but that't not really the point and for a car that is seemingly a keeper for you and if you are going to the effort and cost of a respray then I would look into getting it done properly at some point. I hope that doesn't come across as me being knobbish as that's not how I mean it to be, I just don't like people getting ripped off or being into potential danger for substandard work.

If there was that much filler he should have removed it all and the surrounding metal until solid stuff was found. I'm not a fan of the quality of his work, it looks very rough!

The sideways bit makes it sound more tempting... I was assuming that poor boat like handling would be fairly typical for such machines?

Super, cheers guys! Looks like that is one to tick off the list! L200s were next, any commonly known issues with them?