Test Drive before UK

I replaced the diff bolt with the high tensile 13,9 version which was 80mm in length instead of the 70mm used before. That way I could lock it off with a nyloc nut. Hopefully it won't happen again. 

Just to be on the safe side I decided to do a test drive yesterday. The family have a summer house about 300 km  south of here so I drove down bright and early. The trip down went very well, kept under 4000 revs, roughly 80 mph. One thing I did notice on the way down was that it started coughing just before the fuel gauge reached the red. A bit worried to start with, thinking it was something with the new engine configuration. Then I realised I had changed the fuel pump and it obviously didn't reach down in the tank as far as the old one. Managed to get to a garage and filled up with the new recommended Shell V-Power. Another thing I noticed was the fuel consumption at 80 mph was a lot worse than before, but hopefully it will be sorted out by Peter next week.

At 6 am it was quite nice, a bit cold but then went through ten minutes of rain but it blew over the top.

Further south the sun came out but it was still a  bit chilly with the top off.

Once down in Vimmerby spend the day with the rest of the gang cleaning up the garden and getting the house ready for spring. On the way home felt quite a lot of vibration in the rear off-side wheel. Couldn't see anything wrong and assumed it could be balance weights that had dropped off. Checking everywhere else I noticed the front near side wheel was a bit lose and found the hub nut a turn undone! The edges of the nut had not been pushed in to stop rotation! Long story short the vibration turned out to be the hub bearing. Strange really as I only put them in 2 years ago. I wonder if I put them in wrongly! Anyway will have to buy new ones tomorrow.

This is the little bugger I'll have to change again. I remember it wasn't that easy to press in or out bearings. At £60 one doesn't want to press them in incorrectly (I did that once before and there's no second chance!).

The fuel pump I removed and lowered it's position in the holder so hopefully it'll reach to most of the fuel in the tank. I'll try and get out on Wednesday for a long drive and see.

Also it was quite a cold evening and although the heater was on full blast there was a cold draft coming through the aluminium bulk head which basically killed off any heat being produced. I turned off all the lights in the cellar and had a working light in the foot wells. It was amazing how much light could be seen in the engine compartment. Blocked some of the unused bolt holes with bolts and used some kind of thick blanket underlay for the larger holes e.g. steering column and main wiring loom.

Wrapped around and pushed slightly into the holes and held in place by wire ties. Afterwards most of the light had gone.

Hopefully once the bearing is done, and a check of the other bolts done again we'll be ready for Thursdays long trip. I'll make sure I have a full tool kit just in case.

.... Bought a couple of new bearings from BMW, 600SEK each. Used the press at work again to remove the hub and press in the new bearing.

This is how it looks when the hub is pressed out, it leaves half the bearing behind. It's only to remove the locking ring and press out the rest of the bearing.

Heated up the hub and used a puller to drag off the remains of the bearing.

The new bearing ready to be pressed in. Make sure it goes in straight and even.

Last time it was quite difficult to get the locking ring in place so I may have over done it by pressing the bearing in too far. This time I took it really easy. Now the ring is in place the hub can be pressed in.

When pressing in the hub support it underneath or you'll push out the centre of the bearing which will mean you'll have to start all over again with a new bearing!

The final press. Once in the hub nut will keep it in place.

Put it all back and luckily it worked fine.Another thing that broke was the accelerator cable where it joins the pedal. This is the second time it's happened, even happened on Richards car so needs a little thought to improve  the design.