Tom's Sanitary towel

[Toms306]

Had a cleaning day at Rowells yesterday and made it a bit too shiny to photograph...
















This evening I gave it a proper check over as I'd just been driving it since the swap, it had been used daily so I assumed it'd all be pretty good with the odd niggle, and was right tbf.

Was given a pair of new droplinks with the car as there is a lot of knocking over rough ground so changed those. The ones on there didn't look all that old but one of the ball joints out found was knackered. Cost me nothing but hopefully that's cured one knock!

While I was down there I noticed these shocks and springs, are either standard? I didn't think it'd been lowered but looks like it has?





Had a good poke around with the pry bar as I'm sure there's more than one knock. All the usual culprits (TRE's etc) seem solid but the lower ball joint on the nearside seems to have a small amount of up & down movement. It is such a small amount I'm wondering if I'm imagining it lol. The BJ is riveted one so looks like a new wishbone if so, but I'm also wondering if it could be an issue with the hub ovalling or the wrong size pinch bolt used? Just don't want to buy a wishbone and find it's not that at fault. Tracking needs doing though so I want this sorted asap first.



Whilst in that area, I also noticed the wheel bearing sounds rough. Can't feel any movement in it, and I can't say I've noticed it on the road either, but that's definitely the bearing, right? Easy to change or not?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_joQVJzFNO0

The lower engine mount is laughably dead...can move the entire engine with a little finger from underneath...that'll be partly why I'm making a fist of pulling away lol.



What is it with me and gear oil leaks lol. Might clean that up at some point! (PS easiest oil filter ever lol)



Whilst the front was up I checked what I could of the air con system as that's currently not working. All looks ok and I cant see any dye so 'may' just get away with a regas.

And then this happened. FML. I wasn't sure if these were 95Nm or 110Nm torque...either way, it didn't make 95! Not that fussed about changing them, the Focus actually has the wrong ones atm, so will buy the right set for the Focus and put the old ones one here. Problem is I have no idea how to remove this now. All I can think is remove the others, then hammer the key onto this one as well as possible and hope it takes it off even if it chews it more. With the spinning outer I'm not sure how else to remove it!?



Noticed a bit of dampness around the NSR and worried it was brake fluid for a few minutes, then saw it was just a leaky shock which is much easier to deal with lol. That'll need replacing though!



Yesterday Sam let me know a brake bulb was out (typical, checked all the others lol) so replaced that with a spare I had, free fixes ftw.



As the boot was open and I hadn't found anything loose round the rear I decided to strip that out to find yet another knock...found it! I guess that pouch isn't standard, would've come with a polystyrene organiser thing originally surely? Not much I could do about it except wedge the pouch under the wheel so hopefully it cant move over bumps...we'll see lol.


I don't really have much budget for this so trying to get it sorted as cheaply as possible. Just to recap -

Soon as possible fixes:
Ball joint/Wishbone
Wheel bearing
Tracking
Lower engine mount
Locking wheel nuts
Rear shock

Would be nice fixes:
Air con regas
Service (inc pipercross panel filter maybe)
PAS fluid change (its cooked lol)
PCM Update (should fix the wanky idle, I'll need an IDS interface though)
Dash change
Stereo change
Paint calipers (red I guess)
Gear surround change (purchased from TD Dan)
Boot popper (As above)
Drivers mat clips
Rim kerbing touch up (are they in Ford Sea Grey?)

That's it for now! Gonna be interesting sorting that all cheaply lol.