Category Archives: Car

Diff fix and, erm, an 8,456 mile service

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Time to get the worn differential fixed & try improving the heat dissipation from the LS3 engine. And I know just the man for the job, almost just round the corner too! 😎 Well, kind of!

I headed off this morning to drop the Mantis off with Jay at Chariots near Lewes in East Sussex. A mere 260 miles away but hey, we’re in the middle of the hottest summer since ’76 so that should make for a lovely drive… What could possibly go wrong!

Debris on the motorway added a little time but it was the endless bloody 50mph speed restrictions that put another 90 minutes on the journey. 😡 However, I arrived in beautiful sunshine under a clear blue sky so all was well (despite the nearside door mysteriously opening on the A27 roundabout 😯).

Always a pleasure to catch up with Jay, & having talked through the job list (which, strangely, grew as we talked!) we had a quick look at his Mantis before he kindly dropped me off at the station. I will come back down to collect the car in a couple of weeks, & looking forward to seeing some new holes in the bonnet. No, really! Watch this space…

Wired

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After a round trip via Speke & Silloth (Cumbria… truly beautiful countryside) plus a few stretches on the M6 with nothing to listen to I have had enough & brought the car back to Manchester Car Audio to get the amp power cable sorted. It’s all change here with new staff & no-one involved in the original fit. I guess these places can have a ‘fluid’ staff turnover. I have also asked for an air gap to be created between the amp & the nearside footwell ceiling which it is flush mounted on. Last year in Le Mans the inside top of the footwell was too hot to touch, which cannot have been doing the Amp much good! Finally, a Dashcam wired in, hopefully for some fun driving footage & not tempting fate with an accident. 😯

Too hot to handle

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Broke down on the M62 today after getting very hot queuing for about 30 mins. Engine was stuttering & losing power, so possible fuel problem although about ¹ⁿ litres in the tank. Managed to coast up the slip road of Junction 20 but stopped where there was no hard shoulder which is a bit scarey when the lorries go past! The Mantis restarted after 10 minutes but only got a couple of hundred yards before stopping again at the top of the slip road. No luck restarting. Thanks to the Traffic Police who turned up about 20 minutes later & pushed me over the roundabout to a side road. Hot work! 🌞 😎 ☀️

Very nice chap from The AA, Chris, turned up early, confirmed fuel pressure & of course the car then started & idled fine. Filled up with fuel at Lymm Truck Stop then headed back home followed by The AA, arriving without mishap. So… Problem unknown, guessing heat related. Really need to get the extra vents put into the bonnet.

Another ‘not dull’ day of Marcos ownership! 🤣

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Getting into Diff-iculty.

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Trip to the local garage to get the offside steering gaiter replaced , after the heads up during the MOT. Unfortunately the whining sounds like it is the differential, which is a BTR limited slip from a Holden. I will need to decide whether to have it reconditioned or to get a new one (no idea what they cost or availability). Either way the car will have to be off the road for a few days at least in the near future.

I also finally got round to talking to Jay about the cooling. Why?… With both fans on, there is substantial airflow from both wheel arches. The kidney grills at the rear of the bonnet are too hot to touch even in Winter & at slow speeds.

So… How to get more heat away from the engine?

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Curborough… finally!

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After 18 years I finally made it to Curborough Sprint course. It was a roasting day today as my daughter & I sweltered down the M6 through the omnipresent 50 mph restricted speed. Got to the track eventually (3rd time lucky… and that was just because I followed Graham Bennion going in the opposite direction! 🤣) in time to watch a few cars go round before everyone broke for lunch. Eventually after I had signed away my life (& so had Tilly!) we joined the queue of cars waiting to go on the track. The format was a familiarisation lap then a couple when you go for it. I had Tilly with me & no budget for repairs (!) so no risk of breaking any lap records today but good fun all the same. I also got to see a bunch of great friends from the Marcos community (including Topper Preece who made the Mantis models), & much to Tilly’s disgust, have a chat.

The journey back was uneventful (but sadly no Marcos convoy travelling north). The car is developing a whining noise which tracks speed, so I will need to get that looked at. First I have topped up the power steering fluid, as recommended by Debbie Morrison. We’ll see this week going to Liverpool & back if that fixes it. In the meantime the big question is… Did I beat Richard Partridge at Curborough? (For the slowest time that is 😛)

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Rebadged

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No… Not to TVR ! 🤣 I fitted a new Marcos bonnet badge & hoping it does not get pinched from work again. I had acquired a couple of badges over the last few years, both metal (there were some plastic ones around at one point but they were visibily a poor replica). One from MHS and one from the MOC. Unfortunately the nicer of the two has been scratched, so fitted the MOC version which bizarrely does not have the vertical ‘spikes’ on the logo perpendicular to the horizontal. Can you see this in the picture below? 😉

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Thieving b******s

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I got home from work yesterday only to discover that the bonnet badge had been stolen from my Mantis. 

At least the bonnet was not damaged, but a worry that this has happened at work in the ‘secure’ car park under the office. Inevitably none of the multitude of CCTV cameras covered the spot. Fortunately I have a spare but will need to replace it.

 

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Past the MOT hurdle

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… or should that be Passed the MOT hurdle?! See what I did there? See what I did?…

Yes indeed, like the ‘difficult’ second album, this was the second MOT following the fitting of the new engine. I was slightly apprehensive as Jay did the first one when he put the LS3 (so obviously it passed – Duh!). Having invested in some CATs, how would it do on Emissions? I was also stuck as to where to take it to for the test itself, Cross Street Garage being persona non grata after the 2016 MOT test resulted in no engine(!). As luck would have it, a couple of chums at work recommended Altrincham Tyre & Exhaust, which I drive past on my way to & from work but had never realised did MOTs. Next day the appointment was made & as of this evening I have a shiny new MOT Certificate! Huzzah! (A couple of advisories on offside steering gaiter & handbrake but both very fixable). Very friendly staff – have I found a new local garage to fix things I wonder.

What, AGAIN?

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I’ve been down in Warwick for the last three days with the Met office having forecast  -7°C plus snow – Yikes! Not having used the car for a week or so I decided to check all was well on Sunday and rather glad that I did. Flat battery which was a bit of a bugger as it’s the new (& expensive) Optima Red Top. On top of that the DP Power Li-ion jump starter wouldn’t work, which is still a bit of a mystery. Fortunately an overnight on my trusty CTek XS3600 trickle charger brought the battery back to life & fingers crossed no permanent damage done. The car behaved impeccably to & from Warwick (including the inevitable crap standing traffic around Warwick itself) & the snow did not materialise. Actually if there really had been any I would have been goosed as the car simply sits on top of anything more than 2″ of snow…

 

I’m also about to hit the first 5K miles on the new engine. Not as intensive use as in some previous years, and would love to improve the heat dispersion & stop the air filter hose rubbing on the bonnet. However… it’s got me to Le Mans & back & done plenty of domestic donkey work so very happy. It’s… also… rather… quick! Yeah baby!

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Drama! Lots of steam, lots of coolant on the road . Engine temp about 150. Water boiling out around the welded seams of the expansion bottle.

Could not see any obvious causes, no spilt hoses or loose joins. Eight litres of water later, back on the road & made it home.

A mystery.

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