my new integrale

[Rob]

Yes I have the same issue with my HF turbo, conversations at over 60 MPH are best avoided. Thanks for the tip Kev, I might treat my Delta to some new Woolies door seals  .

[Kevinlincs]

It does seem to have made a difference Rob, as I say not up to modern standards but at 60 it's very good and even at 70 it's still acceptable for an old girl 

[Kevinlincs]

Well, last year went very poorly really.
I only did about 650kms in the car between MoT's so that's a very poor effort.
One of the reasons for such a lacklustre effort was my distractions with other cars like the Dedra and GTV but also for the last year or so there has been a knocking noise on the drivers front suspension which I couldn't trace despite multiple checks and even two MoT tests showing nothing untoward!
This last test though did point out that the OSF outer CV boot had a bit of damage that needed sorting before it split.
So I decided that the whole corner would be stripped out, suspension and hub plus the wheel arch liner to make sure a crack weasn't appearibng somewhere, I was getting that paranoid!
With the car up on axle stands I used the wheel to lever myself up off my knees, as I seem to have to now in my mid 50's, and to mu surprise there was a loud "clonk" from the suspension as the wheel dropped slightly! Aha I thought, there's my noise!
It turns out that the strut top mounts which are aluminium ones with spehrical, rose joint type bearings rather than rubber bonded ones had some wear in them which only became apparent when the wheel pulled down. No hint of any play when doing the usual checks in lifting the strut up with a lever, there must be enough tension in the lower arms to hold the suspension up even with the weight off the wheels so no play was detected at the top mount.

This afternoon I fitted new mounts both sides and the knock has gone at last!
This year I will now have no excuse to not use the car, if I don't then I may as well let somone else have it!
But after all the work that's gone into it I would be hard pushed to let it go. Can't really see that happening.

[Rob]

Shame that you haven't put many miles on your integrale over the last year Kev but now you've sorted out the clonking suspension there will be no stopping you  . It's funny how sometimes you can spend hours, days or even months trying to rectify an issue then other days you end up finding it in 5 minutes purely by accident!

[Kevinlincs]

Well, all those good intentions came to nothing. The poor car has sat in the workshop gathering dust whilst the Dedra and latterly the Flavia took my time up.
Determined to make good I've brought it home now so this morning the dust was washed off and brought out in the autumn sunshine. It will be on SORN at the month end so I will do my best to use it, starting with a ride out this afternoon.
The Dedra will get a ride up to The Motorist near Leeds next Sunday as Richard is semi interested in it and it's a place that I want to have a look at, from the TV show Bangers and Cash restoring classics so a good excuse for a Sunday morning ride out for a bacon roll and a cuppa with some chat thrown in.