PYXi the Poorly FSi: Worth Saving?

From what I have read in the short time I’ve been on here I assume you are awaiting for someone to talk you out of saving PYXi??

I suspect we will be reading about the amazing turnaround shortly...
 
Them wishbones, how are they?
Not done a true tap-test yet, but look amazingly good so far. I think that it was probably a pretty smart car before the last people had it, so although it was caked in mud and muck, it hadn't had much chance to do lasting damage.

Will know more once it's jacked up in the workshop. If the wishbones are O.K. I'll paint them and fill them with cavity wax.
 
From what I have read in the short time I’ve been on here I assume you are awaiting for someone to talk you out of saving PYXi??

I suspect we will be reading about the amazing turnaround shortly...
Well, the only person that'll do that is me, but so far ... so O.K.. Early days though.

Here's the to-do list, and that's before I discover anything more:

External valet: clay, machine polish, paint touch up, Zymol Carbon plus a hydrophobic coating.
Internal wet valet.
Full service including timing belts and serpentine belt.
Engine bay detail.
Faux flaps.
Touch in Soft-Touch where poss.
Recondition keys (rubbers are worn).
Investigate and rectify power steering NW (done, details to follow).
Ditto alternator light.
Ditto poor running.
Ditto EML up.
Ditto ABS light up.
Ditto pad warning up.
Sort semi-seized gear-shift.
Driver's door check-strap rifle shot sound (will use passenger strap from other FSI)
Front passenger door central locking NW
Dent in rear nearside door.
Scratches to rear bumper.
Paint suspension where practicable and needed.
Refurb all wheels.
Scan with VCDS.
Install Pro-Boost ECU (possibly: it's here).
Investigate and rectify clonk at rear.
Ditto rattle from front.
Ideally AC service (if I buy an old AC recharge machine).
Poss exhaust blow? Investigate.
Replace two tyres.
A2OC plate holders / stickers, 'GB' No. plate delete.
EDIT: forgot this: replace rear bump stops / damper shrouds (ordered).

Plus whatever I've not found yet ...
 
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Like the front, under the rear end was pretty muddy. Before getting it in the air however, I obviously wanted to remove the wheels.

All around the car the wheel bolts were tight and rusted, but the LH rear corner was just seized solid. I was very concerned about the locking bolt. Round off the splines and I'd be into welding on extensions and all sorts of nastiness.

My approach with anything like this is to hurry up and take my time. In this case I didn't have my oxy-acetylene at home and anyway, didn't want 'violent heat' really. As I was washing the front end I kept emptying kettles of boiling water over the wheel, followed by a blast from the jet-wash.

Whether it made any difference or not I don't know. What I can say is they wouldn't undo before the heat but did afterwards. As you can see, I still had to employ the jack-handle over my (Teng) breaker bar and impact wrench to get the things to shift. As ever, in these situations I initially try to tighten all but the locking bolt. Then deal with the locking bolt first, followed by the rest. Not only is the locking bolt the hardest to replace, it's likely to be the weakest and the hardest to improvise around should it strip. Therefore I always think of the locking bolt being tightened last when doing up and undone first when removing.

P1020836.JPG
P1020837.JPG
 
BTW: my jack handle was longer once. I was restoring a MotoGuzzi Ladola about twenty years ago. A bit of exhaust was missing and I needed some pipe. I think you can see where this is going. Once welded on, polished and chromed my bit of jack handle blended in flawlessly and I would imagine is still on that bike today.

Meanwhile: look at the tyre that came off. It's an unbranded (well, budget Chinese, so some random name that these have: Kingslip, Premslide, Raging Gerbil or whatever). My experience of the later Chinese budgets is actually very good indeed, but this is clearly of an earlier generation. Even so, it's not 'that' old at 16th week 2012.

You can see the compound is breaking down badly. It's like this all over and there are very deep cracks all around the circumference. I'm sure it would only be a matter of time before it throws the tread off.

P1020838sm.jpg
P1020841sm.jpg
 
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Back was same as the front (well, it would be I guess). Is there a nice car under there somewhere?

P1020842sm.jpg
P1020844sm.jpg
 
I'll leave the rest of the cleaning for now. I've done enough to be able to say the car has the potential to look smart enough to justify my time on it.

First job was the power steering. When I arrived at the seller's house, the battery was so flat the remote locking wouldn't work. We sat the car on jump leads hooked up to his Panda (my car was parked at the other end of his long drive). This cranked it over and the car started. As per his ad, the alternator appears to be not charging. The power steering had no life and the warning was coming up on the dash.

The seller was convinced it had been alright. On the one hand it seemed low voltage might be the culprit (being essentially an electric system, albeit with hydraulics). On the other hand, it had flicked over and started just fine. It was a gamble.

I took the view that a) he was probably being truthful, b) it was 'probably' low voltage c) if not battery voltage then at least lack of volts / current reaching the system (dirty contacts, rat-eaten cable, blown fuse etc).

Got the car home, left it on a smart charger all week: Bingo! Power steering restored. I'm hoping I can use the same technique to sort all running problems and to do the timing belt :rolleyes:
 
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The next job was the unbelievably stiff gear-shift in the left-right plane at the gear lever. Where-ever you shifted it, it just stayed. Almost impossible to drive and how they used it like that I don't know.

Initially I assumed I would be taking the whole tower out, plus possibly fit some better cables.

Luckily as I started to strip things out I noticed the gear-shifter at the tower actually moved vertically a fraction with no apparent friction. It was also perfect in the side-to-side plane.

The problem turned out to be with the bell-crank that turns the fore-aft cable movement to the vertical needed by the gearbox shift mechanism. Closer inspection suggested the bell-crank was bent. I straightened it in situ a bit and that improved things fractionally: on the right track!

After much levering, the crank with shaft was out and in the vice. It was all straightened out (using the other FSI as a guide). It had been so bad that the crank had actually started to rotate around the riveted section, rather than use the shaft and bearing. This was re-peened and the shaft reduced a fraction via 240, 400, 600 grit and finally put on my grinder-polishing wheel.

The ball-joints were all cleaned out, as were all other moving parts, greased with lithium grease and reassembled. In the end I got it so the bell-crank would just hold its own weight, but if nudged would gradually sink down on its own.

Here's that shaft at early stage:

P1020869sm.jpg



And polished:

P1020870sm.jpg
 
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Sit rep:

Car: £250.
Transport: £5 (!)
Rear bump-stops and damper covers: £18.50
Valet materials to date: £5

Total so far: £278.50p

External valet: clay, machine polish, paint touch up, Zymol Carbon plus a hydrophobic coating. Started
Internal wet valet.
Full service including timing belts and serpentine belt.
Engine bay detail. Started
Faux flaps.
Touch in Soft-Touch where poss.
Recondition keys (rubbers are worn).
Investigate and rectify power steering NW (done, details to follow). Done: free.
Ditto alternator light.
Ditto poor running.
Ditto EML up.
Ditto ABS light up.
Ditto pad warning up.
Sort semi-seized gear-shift. Done: free.
Driver's door check-strap rifle shot sound (will use passenger strap from other FSI)
Front passenger door central locking NW
Dent in rear nearside door.
Scratches to rear bumper.
Paint suspension where practicable and needed.
Refurb all wheels.
Scan with VCDS.
Install Pro-Boost ECU (possibly: it's here).
Investigate and rectify clonk at rear.
Ditto rattle from front.
Ideally AC service (if I buy an old AC recharge machine).
Poss exhaust blow? Investigate.
Replace two tyres.
A2OC plate holders / stickers, 'GB' No. plate delete.
EDIT: forgot this: replace rear bump stops / damper shrouds (ordered).
EDIT: also forgot, reattach glove-box handle.
Another edit: Add Mini Dis? Possibly? Would it, could it? Will post if works, will definitely post if it doesn't (it's more interesting). Cancel that thought: it seems it will work 'sort of' but causes all sorts of other issues. I'll live without it and just do brim-to-brims instead (if we get that far).
 
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At this stage here're my thoughts: pick out as many jobs from the above list that either have zero cost, or very little. No doubt whilst doing those I'll continue to get a better feel for the car.

With as many as possible of these done, I'll then try to get it to run a bit better, using the other FSi as something to compare to and swap parts between if necessary. Whilst I'm not going to use the other car as a donor to the point of breaking it, it makes sense to take advantage of the fact it's here and runs well. I'm hoping this will help with diagnostics. As an eg, my charging light is up, whereas the other FSi is charging fine: I can compare the various readings between the two to establish where PYXi's alternator issues may be.

Anyway: do as much as I can without getting too embedded financially. If it goes well, then turn on the taps a bit and make it reliable, so service and belts, tyres and MOT. If that's all O.K. then do some nice bits: faux flaps etc.

I think today will be a little VCDS in flavour. Not sure how much time I'll give it. The dog has requested a full groom and trim plus a long walk. Plus a steak, but that's not going to happen.
 
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