Bravo (Classic) Van with a difference!!!.

Ahh I want a passenger airbag!

why do you intend on crashing? lol

I like the baby changer table.

Nice pics MB I havnt seen much under the dash, your pics answer all the questions I had. The heater box is massive haha!

i hate the baby changer haha, it looks silly

i think thats the only filter i never changed on my car...the cabin filter lol
need to get one ha

Good grief thats a lot of comments in a day!

Bravo16VSpoonz said:

that brought back some memories of when i took my dash out :O i lost some screws in the process worst bit it putting it back, fiddly job imo !! but good luck anyway on what ever else needs doing have you thought about white dials ?

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When screws were lost, not a problem here, some needed replacing anyway... White dials are as rare as hens teeth here. Tried fitting a Marea speedo once, the plugs were totally different!

blu73 said:

taken a few dashes out in my time, never had to put one back in yet though - i imagine its a complete nightmare though - i never managed to get one out yet without breaking at least 1 of the mounts - i guess its easier when you know where they are however lol.

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These dashes are by far the easiest ones to take out, very straight foreward and few bolts holding it in. My 5 series, surprisingly is also simple to take out but the dash loom is wrapped round the mounts like ivy, a true disaster anything else was a total nightmare, I took out one from a mk 1 Punto and I swore never again Don't even mention Subarus.... :bang:

SamuraiDragon said:

im sure ur trying to gain a world record form the number of times u have taken apart and put back together the car. lol. coming along nicely tho.
have the van window panels been lacquered or polished down? they look matt compared to the rest of the paintwork.

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The subframe, dash loom, brake master cylinder, servo etc, windscreen, boot, some brake lines and the carpet are all the parts that haven't been disturbed, but I will get round to them all

At the moment after 3 attempts to spray the panels in Irish weather we gave up for a while (the paraffin heater is also broke), kinda adds to the crappiness of a general work van image... eventually the whole car will be resprayed in blue, not black like I said on post 1, the blue has grown on me but all dents will have to be ironed out first before that

Puntonick said:

Ahh I want a passenger airbag!

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I have a passenger bag lying about...! You'll need the module and wiring for it, personally I prefer the lovely space for people to use but I kept the bag this time

blu73 said:

why do you intend on crashing? lol

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Spot on, don't find out if they work like I did years ago...!

Adrian Bravo said:

Nice pics MB I havnt seen much under the dash, your pics answer all the questions I had. The heater box is massive haha!

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Glad to have helped! Its not very difficult to remove, just time consuming and a bit fiddly. 2 people are preferable on re installation just to position it but the rest is straight foreward. Just remember where each plug goes

Adrian Bravo said:

I like the baby changer table.

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Puntonick said:

i hate the baby changer haha, it looks silly

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Eh....! Where! I don't have kids!!!

Cheers for the comments everyone I really appreciate it!

I've been very busy the last 2 days rackin' up the miles on this van but I can say its going very well thankfully no noises out of the dash, a little bit of air is still trapped but I'll get round to that tomorrow

I got fed up of my temp gauge not working so I attempted to fix it


I have many of these... Theyre easy to strip but take care when dismantling, one wrong move, bye bye speedo board


Eventually...


There are differences between speedos. Little differences. This is the "new" set of clocks on my old board


Compared to the previous set


Anyone spot the difference?

Alas, I tried the clocks but they didn't work very well. The engine is off and the key is out in this pic :bang:


So I reverted to the old clocks. Oh well...

Now I've uploaded more pics of my tb I'll be custom fitting

Here it is again from a few posts ago


Out with the butterfly


Cleaning time!


Sensors I need not


And I filled in some holes...


And that as far as I got for the moment. Punto 1.2 tb vs Marea 1.6 tb


I'll have to make a bracket for my stepper motor, racking my brains how to do that

But keep watching, once funds permit I have my eye on something for this van...

m20b25 said:

Anyone spot the difference?

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Not easily, is the fuel guage slightly different - looks like the warning light is different but might just be my screen...

blu73 said:

Not easily, is the fuel guage slightly different - looks like the warning light is different but might just be my screen...

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Spot on, some don't have the manufacturer under the rev counter but the main difference is the fuel gauge

Another update!

Continuing on from the previous post...

I need a little arm to move the tps


The right size, just needs shaping, well get back to that in a bit...

I need space to fit it though


And more space. Now a little hole...


Excellent! Test fit the pin


Good! Now a test bracket needs fabricating


And the pin gets shaped


And fitted


All glued up for the test bracket...


And fitted to the engine. Works!

Now to a real bracket... First, random steel sheet


Cut to shape


Shaped by hand... I've still got it :slayer:


Now more drilling


And ready to fit!


In situ


Now... The driving experience I could describe in a poetic manner:
"The way it sounded normal untill 4k rpm, then a wave of extra growling from the K&N and a sudden jolt from the engine emerged, getting louder and louder and LOUDER right up to the redline! Then to the next gear and await the fun again..." Yes please :yum:

Alas, the fun was short lived the pin snapped, leaving the famous limp home experience

So I'm back to square one and my radiator is stuffed Don't worry, I have a plan B for my tb idea...

I'll leave you all with a pic of what I got today!


Untill the next update...

m20b25 said:

Spot on, some don't have the manufacturer under the rev counter but the main difference is the fuel gauge

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Ah, they don't call me Hawk-Eye Williams for nought you know lol

Update time!

I'm annoyed at my new radiator. Its had it

So it needed changing as soon as possible. However I pulled this one out of thin air


Excellent! Out with the new and in with the old


Sitting pretty though


And seems to be working. As long as it works, grand!

Now onto my exhaust. The only silencer blew up, twas rotten

So I decided... Full straight through!

Now to take the exhaust off I have to take the bumper off first...


Just remember this isn't your usual shergar here, you wouldn't get very far if you didn't take it off

After the backbox fell out, the rest of the exhaust wasn't too difficult to remove


Conveniently I pulled this pipe out of nowhere which was the right dimension and bend for my application


Just a bit more cutting...


And I reinstalled it all

But its not staying. Simple reason: I'm half deaf already, I want to keep my hearing! The exhaust is far too loud for my liking and probably everyone else. So I'll be putting it to one side afterwards...



I always have a plan b though

Stay tuned, you'll never know what I'll do next...! :yum:

No rest for the wicked :devil:

After that test drive, I decided I got very fed up of the rubbing due to a bad repair on the rear left arch. But I didn't know where it was. So heres a very unorthodox method on how I found it

First: This is strictly off road material. This modification should never be used on the road in a normal every day scenario. This is for diagnosing purposes

I pulled these out of a hedge

Don't worry I have at least 3 more sets

Now, chopping time


And a bit of a clean


As it was dark when I fitted them there are no pics of the installation but it was a 5 min job for both sides. The car sits so low now that I found out exactly where the rubbing is, its more pronounced

So later I'll have a shot at getting rid of the problem in question!

And a pic of how low the rear is, I swear its not felt spec...

Well heres some pics in the daylight. Makes me want to go out there and get some coilovers or airbags

Heres where the rubbing is


Sweeeeeet!


Tucked :yum:


And its still here as I type this


But what use are pics without videos?


And...


Its coming off today, thought I'd share the sound before I remove it

Untill later...

the sound of your car reminds me of Need for Speed Underground 2.. I think thats a compliment. lol

hahaha, so it does!

Never had many games, spent that time of my life working on... Yep, Bravos

Remember my plan B?


The standard part is 40mm diameter. The Alfa tb is 61mm according to my vernier callipers


And again without the ecu...


But the best part is all I need are adapter plates, I'll need to make them up. The stepper motor and tb cable are bolt on


All cleaned up


Now this is the fun part: Adapting to fit this manifold...


Yes, I conveniently had that lying about

Keep watching, I'll be making the plates up later...

which alfa tb is that off ? quite tempted myself

m20b25 said:

Never had many games, spent that time of my life working on... Yep, Bravos

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Well we don't all have a field full of real cars to play with so we have to make do with pretend ones sometimes lol

blu73 said:

Well we don't all have a field full of real cars to play with so we have to make do with pretend ones sometimes lol

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is that based on your childhood, or last week?

well i have been amassing cars recently - but i struggle to understand where Mal finds all the time to mess with them - i have been building a stereo for over a month for my van - its not that impressive (well its quite impressive) but its just finding time to do it. Probably only spent 8 or 9 hours on it so far but its taken ages. On top of that i have a real space issue moving anything other than the daily means moving all of them - which is a bitch as they don't all just start when you want them to.

Bravo16VSpoonz said:

which alfa tb is that off ? quite tempted myself

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Its off a 156 1.8 pre obd 2 nonsense

I'm afraid to say even if you did get it to fit you couldnt work your idling as you have a mechanism on a solenoid that moves in and out as opposed to the motorised unit all in one job I have I'll keep looking for suitable parts though

blu73 said:

Well we don't all have a field full of real cars to play with so we have to make do with pretend ones sometimes lol

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It was the other way round here back in 2000 we had over 20 cars around the house, no vans or tractor since then weve cut down, still cutting down even today to make way for new stuff the whole time

blu73 said:

well i have been amassing cars recently - but i struggle to understand where Mal finds all the time to mess with them - i have been building a stereo for over a month for my van - its not that impressive (well its quite impressive) but its just finding time to do it. Probably only spent 8 or 9 hours on it so far but its taken ages. On top of that i have a real space issue moving anything other than the daily means moving all of them - which is a bitch as they don't all just start when you want them to.

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Well as I lost my job in 2009, this is all I pretty much have to keep me busy and sane :spin: well there are other bits and bobs here and there but you know what I mean

Speaking of spending lots of time in the garage...

Home from a long trip, I was getting fed up of the manifold blow. So I let it cool down...


Like father like son...?

Cooling down so my hand wouldn't stick to this when I took it out


I had an accident later when it was being welded, grabbed a red hot piece wit my left hand Ahhhh I lost the use of it for the evening and is still badly burned

Now for some reason it looks cool without the bumper


But the bumper needed removing to remove this


Once again, try taking that out with the bumper on...!

Why did I take it out? K&N recommends cleaning after 100k miles. My rear end to that this is after a miserable 20k miles

Anyways, out with this


Soak in...


Rinse and leave to dry naturally...

So onto this


Thickkkkkk stuff


To thick


Ah this is going too far now! :bang:


To plan B...

As it was the next day, dried up, oiled and fitted


Back to plan B...


That sheet of steel again!


Cut to suit. Discard the rest


See whats happening here?


Measuring, positioning...


Drilled and bolted


Centre needs out. Alternative to taking it out


Followed by a hammer and chisel...


Then some die grinding


Further fitting...


Oooh getting there :yum::yum::yum::yum::yum:


Just need to shorten these


That was last night. I've put back the old system on the engine as I need to go places. So I'll either return to that this evening or on Monday

But stay tuned, I can re-appear at any time...