What Have You Done to Your Cougar Today?

Mako said:
That's how you clean an Ebony.
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This is true Chris, but should this not read "That's how you 'should' clean an Ebony" ? LOL!!!!

Both yourself (at Fest) and the OP here mentioned 'Poor Boys Black Hole' - what does this stuff do that other polishes etc don't? I may buy some if it's good stuff to use on an Ebony.


Hmmm...just read some info on this site: http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/...w-glaze.aspx?gclid=COjk8IHMks4CFUlmGwodl2kAog Think I may get myself some and bring my coug back up to how she was looking some years ago lol

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Mako said:
MOT on Friday. Please send Tiger your best wishes!
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Best of luck Chris, I'm sure she'll pass with flying colours.
 
WildV6 said:
Both yourself (at Fest) and the OP here mentioned 'Poor Boys Black Hole' - what does this stuff do that other polishes etc don't? I may buy some if it's good stuff to use on an Ebony.
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It's really good stuff. I hadn't heard of it before, but figured it must be worth a try given how Chris enthuses about it at seemingly every opportunity :). It goes on and buffs off an absolute doddle, and the results are immediately obvious. Also, my car had lots of ugly swirl marks, especially on the bonnet and rear deck, that were glaringly obvious whenever the sun shone on it, between the compounding and the Black Hole you can hardly see them now. Topped off with a good wax and I've got a nice deep shine that will hopefully last a good long while (better than the couple of weeks or so that a quick wipe over with Demon Shine gives anyway).

My mate was certainly impressed - his own car is silver, and his wife's is greeny-blue (or bluey-green) and so he'd previously been using products to compliment those colours. He's about to order himself a brand new black Focus, so my car served as a kind of experiment for him.

Of course, it rained here overnight, although that does mean you get this nice effect:
Cougar18.jpg
 
charliecd001 said:
You be better getting poly bushes to replace these.

http://www.superflex.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=SF162-0058K
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I have actually bought a set of these now. Can't be bothered to fit them right this minute, but since the normal ones are made of Cheddar, it's only a matter of time!

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WildV6 said:
Both yourself (at Fest) and the OP here mentioned 'Poor Boys Black Hole' - what does this stuff do that other polishes etc don't? I may buy some if it's good stuff to use on an Ebony.


Hmmm...just read some info on this site: http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/...w-glaze.aspx?gclid=COjk8IHMks4CFUlmGwodl2kAog Think I may get myself some and bring my coug back up to how she was looking some years ago lol
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Looks like you've probably got your answers there, but yeah - it's basically a dyed filler that hides swirl marks and light scratches. If you've ever seen Tiger looking at her best (probably Coombe last year) she'll have been wearing a coat of it. I absolutely swear by the stuff.

WildV6 said:
Best of luck Chris, I'm sure she'll pass with flying colours.
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Fingers crossed! You can only do so much in preparation...
 
w00t! Shiny new ticket, and not a single advisory, (though "If you're going to do that big brake conversion, I recommend you do it soonish...").

Frank noticed that tiny popped seam in my outer sill (probably) from where I was rear-ended, but said it's not a failure because a) It's not rusty and b) It's no different from a sill-drain. I'm going to need welding next year though.

Now for the interesting bit. We had some discussion last year about what effect the ST200 conversion would have on consumption and emissions. Well my consumption has decreased by a couple of MPG, i.e. I'm getting better mileage especially on a long motorway run, but check this out...

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]Measurement[/TD]
[TD]Legal Limit
[/TD]
[TD]Tiger 2015
[/TD]
[TD]Tiger 2016
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Carbon Monoxide (%)[/TD]
[TD]0.200[/TD]
[TD]0.054[/TD]
[TD]0.000[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Hydrocarbons (ppm)[/TD]
[TD]200[/TD]
[TD]29[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Lambda[/TD]
[TD]0.970 - 1.030[/TD]
[TD]1.005[/TD]
[TD]1.020[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

All other things being equal - I still have all three cats, but of course they're a year older - the breathing mods (and leaving the white injectors in place) have actually brought down the emissions, just as we thought they would since it's burning fuel more efficiently. Not rocket science and kind of predictable, but now we have the evidence.

Frank himself raised an eyebrow, and said that if he saw those 2016 figures in isolation, he never would have guessed that they came from a 17-year-old car. :thumbsup:
 
Got my UIM back from people who were blasting the paint from it.

Looks like the polished steel that meets the gasket has been hit making it all grainy. Not a happy bunny, as they said that wouldn't happen.
 
elipton said:
Got my UIM back from people who were blasting the paint from it.

Looks like the polished steel that meets the gasket has been hit making it all grainy. Not a happy bunny, as they said that wouldn't happen.
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Well that sucks. Should be trivial to get it refaced (Though the gasket itself will compensate for a multitude of sins to be honest and I've re-used mine WAY more than Ford recommends. Which is to say, "more than once") though I doubt that they have the facilities to do so.

Depending on how bad it is, I'd be tempted to do it myself, though I'm not sure how far your patience extends!

Get a quote to get it done by a proper machine shop and present the shotblasters with the bill. If they refuse, use the words "ombudsman" and "Twitter".
 
elipton said:
Can I just sand the surface back down a little?
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In my opinion, yes. In fact that's almost certainly what I would do if I found myself in your position. Progressively finer glass paper on a solid block because I'm not good with confrontation. :kissing:

I guess it depends on how annoyed you are and whether you want to call the shotblasters out after they made a (verbal?) promise. But this is certainly something you can fix at home if you want to.
 
Congrats on the pass Chris, not that it was ever in doubt.

Olly, after the gasket surface has been sorted, make sure you thoroughly power flush the insides of the UIM because any traces of blasting media or shavings from the skimmed/sanded gasket surface will destroy your engine in seconds. We know from experience!!!
If you send it to a machine shop for skimming, ask if they can dip or clean the insides out to get rid of the oil and carbon deposits.
And before you get it painted, mask all the gasket surfaces with aluminium tape and put bungs in the vacuum pipe holes because you don't want any paint or powdercoat to get inside either.
Be maticulous to ensure the insides are completely sealed. :thumbsup:

EDIT: And take care not to damage the little pipe that's under the throttle body mounting. That pipe and the bigger one near the IACV mointing can also be masked with aluminium tape.
When you peel off the alu tape you will probably need a sharp craft knife blade to cut the paint at the edge of the masking and you will have some sticky goo to clean off too.
 
FlamencoAssassin said:
Congrats on the pass Chris, not that it was ever in doubt.
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Thank you so much! I do my best - and Frank really likes her - but I'm not qualified. If my car isn't safe, I want to know about it. Turns out that Tiger might not be the prettiest, but she's solid.

FlamencoAssassin said:
Olly, after the gasket surface has been sorted, make sure you thoroughly power flush the insides of the UIM because any traces of blasting media or shavings from the skimmed/sanded gasket surface will destroy your engine in seconds. We know from experience!!!
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Perfect advice. Don't get burned by this. A powder-coater isn't an engineer.

FlamencoAssassin said:
EDIT: And take care not to damage the little pipe that's under the throttle body mounting. That pipe and the bigger one near the IACV mointing can also be masked with aluminium tape.
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LOL! When I did my ST200 conversion, we forgot that one. Had to completely strip the UIM to get it in place since it's too short to flex in. Not a mistake I will make again!
 
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