Miss January

[Johnnyboy]

Just came across this photo of Miss January on a stand at the 1982 Motorshow at the NEC.

It seems a long time ago...

rx7 at Motorshow 82.jpg

John

[ian65]

wow! nice photo.... a bit of automotive history as well... a 1st gen on the stand at the motorshow
I wonder how many other '82 show cars from the major manufacturers are still on the road and used regularly... not many I'll wager!
.

[spoddy]

its like going back in time.
80's were exciting times for cars, deloreans and future designs.

the closest to seeing how an fb looked new and being able to walk around it
is the one in the mazda museum.

if they ever invent a time machine we should nip back to the early 80's and buy
a few fb's then bring em back to the future lol.

[codge]

But as we go back in time our pockets get emptier Spod.

[mullins]

That was a long time ago. What's with the 2 tone paint? Did someone re-spray it before it went on show??

[Johnnyboy]

That was a long time ago. What's with the 2 tone paint? Did someone re-spray it before it went on show??

Yep. Done as a special by Elford for the show. £13,500 to buy it off the stand instead of £9,000 for a standard one from a showroom. so four and a half grand for the turbo kit, wheels, spoilers and paint. Bargain! (not really, and far more money than we had...). We bought it in Summer 1986 for £5,500 from a lady who had been able to afford the £13,500...)

John

[Johnnyboy]

its like going back in time.
80's were exciting times for cars, deloreans and future designs.
the closest to seeing how an fb looked new and being able to walk around it
is the one in the mazda museum.
if they ever invent a time machine we should nip back to the early 80's and buy
a few fb's then bring em back to the future lol.

I agree really, but there are guys on Ebay this week trying to sell brand new MGTF's for £10,000 and brand new TF bodyshells for £900. Whatever your impression of MGF's I guarantee you that in 25 years time there will be a bunch of guys on a website like this thinking how wonderfull it would be.... and why didn't somebody.... etc.

Things look different from the other end of the time tunnel.

John

[Johnnyboy]

You might have noticed that on another thread I was looking for a differential, as Misss January was making funny noises underneath....

So I picked up some bits (Axle, diff, propshaft, gearbox) from Andy, the breaker in Banbury, over the weekend.

Having now got the damn thing up on a ramp, the problem is a collapsed front propshaft universal joint.

I had tried wiggling the propshaft while lying underneath, and there was no play. On the ramp you can see that the two halves of the UJ are no longer in line - so a vibration and occasional graunching noises as it slips, but no "play". So much for my diagnostic ability.

So, forget the diff and gearbox (why didn't I get it on a ramp before I bothered.... ), but it occurred to me it might be better to get some new UJ's (if I could...) rather than use the 30 year old ones on the Banbury propshaft...

So off to my jolly old Unipart Automotive branch.

Two UJ's being delivered tomorrow for £16.07 each (probably plus VAT...).

Remains to be seen if they have got the part numbers right of course (want to take bets?).

John

[RamoNZ]

I didn't know the UJs were actually replacable on these?

Chuck up some pics.

[Johnnyboy]

Hi Guys.

These are the UJ's I got from Unipart / Blueprint:


Note the spring clip grooves are INSIDE the mounting "ears" on the propshaft.


Also note that you can just about see a new grease nipple in the packet with the spring clips... (OEM parts do not have this feature...)



It turned out to be a good thing that I had got a secondhand propshaft from Banbury - on mine, when the bearings collapsed (they were completely solid in one plane, so the overall effect was to turn a Universal Joint into a hinge...), the bearing endcaps has started going around inside the mounting ears, so if we had put some new ones in they would probably ben a bit loose, so we used the Banbury propshaft.

The UJ's on the Banbury propshaft felt OK, but since it was on the bench and we were set up to take them out... we took them out and had a look. They fell apart. No grease at all, completely dry and a bit rusty - the only sign of lubricant was some "varnish" on the shafts. As a point of interest this was true at both ends, not just the front. So we put the new UJ's in on the Banbury propshaft and put it on. And it works. Simples!

As regards technique, I had never done this before so my friend and ace mechanic Rob showed me how. We took off the circlips (they hide on the inside of the "ears"), put a large socket (big enough to miss the UJ and support the "ears") on the one side and a small socket (small enough to press out the UJ) on the other, then tightened them up in a vice (I just held the long end of the propshaft...). This pushed the one end cap out into the big socket, so we stopped and reversed the procedure to get the opposite cap out, then the other two caps.... and by this time the central cross had room to come out. Fitting was the reverse of the above. Then do the other end...

Net result? Much quieter and no vibration. Another win.

In retrospect, I think these have been "going" for a while, and I have not recognised the gradually increasing noise and vibration for what it was until the UJ actually collapsed.

John