My D3 Project

[gstuart]

If you have room give the head of the Torx bolt a good couple of wacks then try to tighten slightly, then try to loosen, you might need to do it a few times, that is the method I was taught way back in the 60s, failing that a bit of heat if nothing flammable in the vicinity, and of course a good quality torx bit. Colin

Many thks, any tips I can get I’m very grateful for

I’ve ordered some decent 1/2 inch drive impact torx bits as I’d rather wait a few days to get things lined up before hand instead of going ahead and just causing myself more Agro , should be here weds

Have one of those soldering iron heat gun work stations where I can control the temp of the hot air gun that also has small nozzle attachments on it and can easily move items out the way

Interesting u say about hitting the head first , got one of these hammer impact drivers so wonder if it’s worth hitting the torx with this first

With the threads protruding a good 1/4-1/2 inch I’m going to see if I can get a dremel in there with a small wire wheel to clean the threads up

Thks so much once again for the great ideas, plus ref the hammer impact driver is it worth setting it to tighten first then give it a wack then turning it to undo plse

I’ll also dose it again with some more plus gas

Also wondering about the electric impact gun if that may help

Cheers as always for the fantastic help and always appreciated

 

[gstuart]

Bit of progress today whilst waiting for some new torx bits , have managed to find an old one so might be able to get some out,

But Concentrated on getting the other smaller bolts out, moving expansion bottle out the way , inc fitting a temp hose to stop me loosing coolant

Sanded the small piece of plastic in front of the torx bolt so that it will then sit nice and flat

Plus will try using the hot air gun on the bolts, goes up to 450c and having that fine nozzle might help to heat the torx bolts up, know it’s only a cheap thing but ideal for what I need it for, other connector is for a soldering iron

So a little bit more progress today ,

 

[gstuart]

Managed to get 2 X out by heating them up, other 4 x no chance

Think I’ve got no choice now that to wait for the other Torx bits

Wondering if there’s anything else I can do in the mean time, cleaned the threads the best I could , applied more plus gas

Hit them all with an impact driver

Just hope I don’t have to cut the heads off

 

[gstuart]

Better pic of the excess threads , wonder if it’s worth cutting the exposed threads off, might be able to to that

The other 2 x bolts either side can’t to the back of them

 

[gstuart]

So replaced the shrieder valves with nice new ones

Managed to finally get the glue off the inside of the back door where it had a window tint , couldn’t see out the back of a night time , took about an hour to get all the glue off

Redone the bonnet where I had removed the letters , also left the lights out because of being in the middle of getting the condenser out

Just stuck now of just getting the 4 x torx bolts out

 

[gstuart]

So finally got the new condensor in , had enough for today as all I’ve done is fitted it loosely ready to be all reconnected , quite a bit has to go back

Ordered some new hex headed stainless steel bolts , plus dug out my tin of coppaslip as the torx bits won’t be going back

Will also fit all new stainless steel bolts on the lower panel

Used a combination of penetrating oil, heat and the hammer impact screwdrivers

Needed to remove batteries as the air bag impact sensors needed to come out the way to gain access to some 13mm bolt heads

Only snapped one bolt so can live with that

With all the bolts out, the slam panel sits on pegs , have to carefully lift the panel off these to allow the panel to come forward giving u room to slide the condenser out

So will do a little bit each day to get it all back together

Panels, bolts, air inlet, air filter, impact sensors, brackets , air ducting , cooling rad cowl, etc etc all has to go back

Hope this will be useful to others in the future

 

[gstuart]

These were the torx bits I got

 

[gstuart]

Had to recheck to ensure the condenser was at fault ,

Yep leaking both sides with small pin holes

Also got to try and find these clips , horrible things as there all plastic , useto have a Phillips head to them

Wondering if anyone may have come across them before please

Many thks

 

[Big Sandy]

Those plastic fittings... These any use?

Screw On Rivet Fastener

Screw On Rivet Fastener

www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu

Had a busy few days, so you have!

 

[gstuart]

Those plastic fittings... These any use?

Screw On Rivet Fastener

Screw On Rivet Fastener

www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu

Had a busy few days, so you have!

Bless u, I’ll have a measure of the original clips , horrible bleeding things

Indeed , thought an ideal time now the MOT is done and the weather cooled can get on with a few bits

After this going to replace my front brake hoses, the 3 x rear passengers brake hoses, drop link and replace all the brake fluid

that will then be all 8 x brake hoses done and dusted , inc 4 x new caliper bleed nipples inc the small covers to keep them clean

Then after that , fit the pre made upper glove box fuse box I made , will then wire up my dashcam, run wire to aux battery gauge

Next , fit an updated front bumper that has the fog lights , inc front parking sensors

Remove rear bumper to fit new parking sensor wiring loom

So should keep me busy for a bit , plus is really now starting to come together after the 3 x years of sorting out all the bodges that previous owners have done

Hope the thread will also be useful to others in the future

Will update it accordingly as I do projects

Thks again ref the clips

 

[gstuart]

So gone back to the wiring whilst waiting for some new stainless bolts for the condensor / slam panel etc

Think I can use fuse F42 , can only see an audio amp on there , haven’t got one fitted in mine, wish to use it an an ign switched live source via a piggy back fuse

Also found some right bodge up that a previous owner has done , is for a Nokia Bluetooth module

Will remove the insulation tape to see how they’ve joined it

Want to connect an aux for an iPod via the radio , there is another connector by the passenger footwell , might have tinuse that

Trim tool in pic I found ideal to

Few piccies for u

 

[gstuart]

Undone the black tape that’s someone has put in, what the hell, no heatshrink anywhere

Will sort all of that out properly , drives me nuts when a job isn’t done correctly

 

[gstuart]

Fuse F19 looks better , 100% turns on with ign , it’s the middle row cig lighter and there isn’t one fitted so fuse is spare

Made up a proper piggy back fuse , will install some heatshrink when I’ve cut it to size , also put some conduit on to protect it

 

[gstuart]

Hiya

Thought I better update this thread

So got a few things done, still got to button up the dashboard and electrics, inc all the panels need to go back after replacing the condenser

Gave the bonnet another good polish to remove the lettering

Have a Bluetooth tyre monitoring system

Also found some wiring diagrams , is basically the same as the D3

Candy made her self comfy as always

Ref the heater panel , took me a month of Sunday’s to do, see if u can see what I done

 

[gstuart]

 

[gstuart]

Apologises late updating the thread

So got it all back in and wired up , also think the 3.5mm aux socket blends into the dashboard quite nicely

Used all new screws as there was a mixture and some of the heads had been rounded off

Moved the split charge battery monitor , now seeing I’ve got volt gauges fitted

Need to refit plenty of dashboard panels , did sort out all the wiring , ensuring heat shrink etc was fitted and tidied it up properly

Next project will be replacing front brake hoses and passenger rear, that will be all the brake system done

So all in all is slowly coming together

See what u think as always plse

Thks

 

[paul123]

very interesting reading as i am going to look at one at the weekend . wife needs a new shopping trolley .

 

[gstuart]

So thought I better pick this up again, yikes I didn’t realise so much time has gone by

so after glueing the broken piece back into the front A bar i ground a groove and filled it with plastic filler , dam it went off quick, within 10 x minutes

Going to now leave it for a few days so I can then start to sand it doesn’t, thinking of using a sanding block

plus test sprayed the back of the number plate plinth ,don’t think it turned out to bad in leaving a nice texture , am hoping to then after I’ve sanded that piece down is to spray the entire nudge barm

few piccies

 

[gstuart]

This is what it looked like before

 

[gstuart]

Plus got rid of all the body letters front and back, must admit prefer it