Having recently fitted a £££ new clutch and flywheel, and a new camshaft sprocket (damaged woodruff key made getting the valve timing correct a bit "hit and miss") I'm intending to get at least one more MOT out of Gerrard, before sending him off to a well-earned retirement.
The biggest obstacle I can foresee is the exhaust emissions. No matter what I do with the beast, there's more and more smoke every year, under MOT test conditions.
During normal driving, it's quite innocuous .. but if I accelerate at big throttle openings, or during the MOT test (which is the same thing) then it does a passable impersonation of a fire at a tyre depot. It's a bit embarrassing and I can see why Dr Death the MOT man is a bit moody about it.
Last time (January) I gave it a new air filter, several tanks of the Premium doodah Diesel, a bottle of some trick (all the labels were in German) fuel system cleaner and a dose of Ethyl-Hexyl-Nitrate for good measure. After several attempts, the good Doctor let it pass.. but it was right on the limit.
I've planned to get it Catacleaned for a year or two... but just never had time to get round to it... and this sounds like a no-brainer now, bearing in mind there's not much to lose.
But the Younger Mrs S. did ask why I didn't just put a DPF on it, to stop the smoke.
Appreciating that the car doesn't have a DPF and one of those requires a shed load of supporting equipment to work properly.. if the MOT Pixies bolted a DPF into my exhaust system, without any supporting infrastructure (so just using the DPF as a "filter") and all the sensor holes etc. were sealed, what would happen?
I presume that eventually the DPF would clog up, so the Pixies would have to remove the DPF again after the MOT .. but as a theoretical prospect (DPFs cost more than the car is worth)... would this work?
Ralf S.
The biggest obstacle I can foresee is the exhaust emissions. No matter what I do with the beast, there's more and more smoke every year, under MOT test conditions.
During normal driving, it's quite innocuous .. but if I accelerate at big throttle openings, or during the MOT test (which is the same thing) then it does a passable impersonation of a fire at a tyre depot. It's a bit embarrassing and I can see why Dr Death the MOT man is a bit moody about it.
Last time (January) I gave it a new air filter, several tanks of the Premium doodah Diesel, a bottle of some trick (all the labels were in German) fuel system cleaner and a dose of Ethyl-Hexyl-Nitrate for good measure. After several attempts, the good Doctor let it pass.. but it was right on the limit.
I've planned to get it Catacleaned for a year or two... but just never had time to get round to it... and this sounds like a no-brainer now, bearing in mind there's not much to lose.
But the Younger Mrs S. did ask why I didn't just put a DPF on it, to stop the smoke.
Appreciating that the car doesn't have a DPF and one of those requires a shed load of supporting equipment to work properly.. if the MOT Pixies bolted a DPF into my exhaust system, without any supporting infrastructure (so just using the DPF as a "filter") and all the sensor holes etc. were sealed, what would happen?
I presume that eventually the DPF would clog up, so the Pixies would have to remove the DPF again after the MOT .. but as a theoretical prospect (DPFs cost more than the car is worth)... would this work?
Ralf S.