Alternator

So the whistling noise is still there. My mechanics stethoscope arrived so I went into the garage feeling all Jim Dale in Carry On Doctor and managed to track down the noise to the alternator. So it appears the bearings are starting to whistle and a new (recon) alternator is going to be added to my list of things to sort out.

Everytime I feel like I'm getting close to starting to sort out the interior something mechanical looms onto the horizon. So I've got to sort the brakes which could include pads, shims, discs and calipers and now the alternator and probably before I can get to the interior. I'm also now looking at more work on the body to rectify some of the rusty areas but I think this will wait until warmer weather next year now.

Diff Oil and Fan Belt

Okay so continuing my search for the offending whistling item at the front of the engine, I changed the fan belt. It was fairly oily so I cleaned all the pulleys before putting the new one on and tensioned it up so there was about 3/4" of bounce if pushed at the half way point between the alternator and water pump. I will check this again after a few more miles to see if it needs re-tensioning. It seems to have made an improvement but I don't know if this has solved the problem completely as it usually is more audible after a decent drive.

I had the car up on axle stands so I could top up the diff oil as I hadn't checked this since I'd had the car either. Well, I have given up for the time being as I couldn't budge it. I haven't got a square head spanner so used a standard open spanner & mole grips with a load of WD40 and a few hours wait. Still no joy, so I'm thinking maybe applying some heat to it or getting a square head spanner or both and getting another filler plug as this one is probably going to look pretty bad if I do manage to get it off. It's not critical at the moment as the diff isn't whining or anything but I would like to sort it for peace of mind that I'm not killing my diff. Last resort I could get a garage to do it for me.

Next is to check the gearbox oil so we'll see how that goes.

Oil Front Trunnions

I hadn't attempted to oil the trunnions since I'd had the car, so thought I'd better give it a go to be safe. After removing the grease nipples I found clean coloured oil around the nipple thread so at least it looks like something has been done in recent memory. Although I've got a grease gun, it's full of grease from doing the handbrake cable and the thought of cleaning it all out to use on the trunnions didn't sound like fun so I used a pump action oil gun with flexible hose. I pushed the hose connection in as good as I could and the seal wasn't the best but I gave it several pumps of the handle and the oil was pushed out the rubber seal. Now the question is how much of the thread will see any oil?

While driving recently I have started to hear a whistling sound. I've traced the noise by ear to the front of the engine and so I'm thinking maybe fan belt or bearing from alternator or water pump or an air leak somewhere. I've got myself a mechanics stethoscope on order which I am hoping will narrow down my search for the offending item. It is intermittent at the moment and not too loud but I guess it will only get worse so needs sorting. It has therefore jumped to the top of my to do list and depending on what is wrong and the cost of fixing it will delay getting on to the bezels and seats that I really want to replace.

Happy 40th Birthday

My car was registered 40 years ago today and it looks better than I do.

Now the weather is starting to get colder and wetter the chances of getting the car out will become less so I am thinking about what jobs to tackle next.

The jobs that are on the agenda are:-

1. Oil trunnions
2. New brake pads and shims (possible work on brake calipers)
3. New seat foams and vinyl covers
4. Replace gauge bezels with chrome as black ones are quite rusty and black replacements seem hard to source.
5. Fill differential and gearbox with EP90