DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

OK since I’ve been driving it all week I’ve noticed an annoying knocking coming from the front suspension when going over small bumps and rough roads.

Today at the MOT the guy say my ball joints were loose and asked if they could be adjusted. I’d initially thought he meant wheel bearings but he was adamant that the movement ( and knocking) was coming from the balls joints. He passed it with an advisory and I went home to have a look.

I didn’t think it could be the ball joints as both sides were brand new last year. Sure enough when I moved the wheel they weren’t moving - but I could hear a click in the front A arm pivot point (can’t remember the proper name sorry)

I’ve put rebel racing spherical bushes in there - not meant to need any maintenance. I remembered when I first installed them about 5 years ago they were knocking and when I went to centre gravity they sorted that out and mentioned that they need clamping in place when fitting them

I refitted them last spring during my front suspension refurbish and I did clamp them but I remembered it hadn’t been an easy thing to do and I suspect I hadn’t got them clamped properly before tightening them.

With a normal clamp it’s hard to get it into the right position as you want it to go around the pivoting part and clamp onto the bracket.

So I took off the clamps and modified it several times to end up with this



Standard on the right, Frankenstein on the left. The tube lets it sit int he right place - here it is in action



With the bushings clamped in snugly I was able to tighten the bolts up. As I was tightening the clamp I felt it move so there was too much play in there

I took it for a ride and the knocking had gone!

Now I’ve got an aluminum bash plate under the front - group buy through impact bumpers. The problem is that at the front it mounts under one of the suspension mounts.

I reasoned that just undoing one and then refitting the bash plate should be OK - unlikely to be much movement if at all - so I did that, and then took it for another test drive - the clunking had returned!

So I went back to the previous setup - no bash plate. I’ve now ordered a fresh stock steering arm cover (my original one has been binned as it was knackered).

Looks like because these bushing need to be compressed in order to sit right they are not going to work with the bash plate.


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Great stuff Mark…..good to read

Time for a small update on the AC.

So when I finally got it running properly I just wanted to get used to driving it again and getting to know it. I tried the AC but it was hard to know if it was working or not as the weather was so crap. Air was coming through the vents but was it cold?

On a trip up north with Jason where the weather had got a bit warmer we quickly came to the conclusion that it definitely wasn’t working - turning it on and off made no difference.

I ran a few tests - firstly to check that the battery was generating enough volts - I was a bit concerned about this as it’s now a lightweight oddyssey one - however it was generating plenty.

I then connected up the laptop and ran some diagnostic tests and uploaded these onto the classic retrofit forum. Jonny came back pretty quickly and said that these showed that things seemed to be operating as normal but that the compressor was off - i.e. not switching on. He asked if I’d made any changes when installing it and I confirmed no.

However I went back to the installation manual and looked again.

Now when I installed it there was an option to turn down the AC if you turn on other high voltage devices (such as heated seats - or heated rear window) - however that seemed over-complicated to me so I chose not to do that. It meant just tying off some wires and not bothering with them.

When looking at the wiring diagram there was also this part


This relay is also described as ‘optional’ which I interpreted (wrongly) as part of the same option as described above.

What it actually means is that optionally you can use the relay when connecting the two thick cables or can connect them directly (I think for more race-oriented applications)

So because I thought this was part of the same ‘voltage-preserving option I didn’t bother connecting the two smaller cables.

On the classic retrofit forum I’d passed the comment that I’d not bothered with the connector relay and Jonny replied that he’d seen that I had fitted it on my DDK thread. Hmmmm - I needed to look at it again.

Another factor in mitigation is that when looking down at the install you cannot see any unconnected pins



- The connectors for the two wires is underneath the relay that those two thick red wires go into. So when looking at the install there was nothing obvious missing.

So anyway I had a look at what I’d done and sure enough I’d taped off the two connecting wires (thankfully not cut them or anything) and feeling under the relay I found where they should plug in, and connected them both up.

And…….

IT LIVES!!!!!!!!!!

The AC kicked in exactly when it was supposed to. Happy days.

As planned I’ve been driving it to and from work each day and I was really looking forward to this week’s commute as the weather forecast was good.

The system has been great. When I first experienced the system in France Jonny said that it’s not going to pump out freezing air but it is plenty cold enough to keep the interior cool.

And that’s been my experience this week - in hot weather it’s been great - allowing me to drive with the windows up and stay cool. If the car’s been sat in the sun for a while and the interior is baking then it’s sensible to open the windows at first to get the hot air out quickly but then it settles down to a good temperature quickly.

As the temperatures dropped later in the week I found it was actually getting too cold. You may remember I previously set the desired temperature to 18 (down from 20) when sassing out the system. I’m going to change that back to 20 as it’s a more sensible level and easier to live with - I don’t think it will change anything when the temperature is really hot but it means when it’s more marginal it will be at a comfortable level.

Now everything is running properly it’s also let me reflect on what a neat solution it is - the only indicator that anything is not standard is the really subtle blue button on the dash, and yet it gives me everyday usability in all temperatures making the car a sensible option on long journeys in hot weather.

Happy days.

I think my experience of installing the kit has been harder than many but this isn’t to do with the kit. Firstly it’s a backdated hot rod with arch liners that I wasn’t prepared to move which limited my placement of the condenser.

Secondly the biggest factor was snapping that stud on the engine which meant a massive delay while I carefully f*cked things up when putting it all back together. All a learning experience but nothing to do with the AC kit.

Finally the reason it then didn’t work was down to me not reading the instructions properly - partially due to my willful blindness when it comes to electrics. When reading stuff I don’t understand I’ll often ignore it and keep reading until I get to stuff I do understand. Don’t laugh - it often works for me.

Overall I’m really chuffed with the system and so glad I installed it in the car.


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11/10 Sladey for all the tenacity.

This of course means summer will soon come to an end and you won't need it!

Is it noisy in operation, or does the 911 background hide the fan?

Thanks

No I can’t hear anything over the noise of the fan (which isn’t particularly noisy)

Thanks for sharing your experience.
I've installed the upgraded alternator in readiness and I'm planning on getting mine on order soon.

Good stuff. I think I’ve shared everything here but if you have any questions during the process feel free to PM me.

I’m glad I’ve done it as it makes the car more usable on hot days and it’s a neat installation

Good luck with the install

Time for another small update and a bit of a diversion.

Having installed the AC I lost a tiny bit of space in the frunk, forward of the spare wheel. This meant it was not easy to tuck my tool roll in there along with the torque wrench that I always carry.

Now a couple of years ago we had an old leather sofa recovered and we kept the old leather. It resurfaced recently as Suzanne was asking if I wanted it as it was in the way.

This set me thinking and I decided to make a new tool roll - one long enough to take the torque wrench and a variety of useful tools.

This is what I started with and what I was initially hoping to fit into it



I watched a few YouTube videos, ordered some tools



and did a couple of test pieces - one to try out saddle stitching (which is pretty straightforward and very therapeutic



I also got some press-stud fittings - again easy to use and works well




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Firstly I worked out where the seams were going to be - initially I’d thought of folding over all the edges and sewing that up but after looking at the test piece I decided it was overkill

Once I’d sussed that out I glued it up


and a bit of weight helped it to set


With the saddle stitch you mark out a straight line for the stitching and then go over it with a fork-like punch that you use to create the holes - really satisfying to do



And then it’s on to the stitching itself. The clamp I’m holding the work in is called a stitching pony - only cheap but a bit help in holding it steady while you do the stitching



You can see the edges have moved but I was able to slice it all of square after it was stitched up

After a bit more thought I reckoned I could add some more tool pockets to the other end as well



So after quite a lot of stitching I ended up with this


I’m pretty pleased with it. The press-stud pocket at the top of the pic was really easy to make and houses the locking wheel adapter and long 19mm socket.

And this is it rolled up



I’ve done a couple of better straps for it now - am currently thinking of getting some belt fixtures and mounting it to the spare wheel with a belt - not sure at the moment.

Thanks for watching


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Excellent stuff

Got enough leather left for a pair of bare bottom chaps?

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Is there no end to this man's talents ?!

A great 'diversion' Mark - excellent result.

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Thanks guys - it’s surprisingly easy to do and the tools are cheap. I was lucky to have the settee covers to play with but I saw a good tip of buying leather jackets or handbags from charity shops as a good source of cheap leather.

Bootsy is think the chaps may be a little too absorbent for your purposes.


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Now something I could do with a bit of advice on

So my front indicator lenses were fitted in a hurry in 2014 while in the final dash to make CLM. I wasn’t happy with the fitment then but it was too late to do anything about it. Since then I’ve not really given them much thought apart from not being happy with the fitment.

They basically stick out too much



I think the problem is the seal that goes around the light unit - here it is without the lens on - it sticks out a fair bit



I’d really like to know what people do about this. I’ve seen plenty of cars with nice fitting indicators so I wonder what the secret is? I can’t remember where I bought my seals but are there special soft ones that allow the lenses to fit better.

As a short term measure I decided to try and cut them down by hand.

This wasn’t easy. - I used a Stanley knife initially which gave a bit of a rough cut




I ended up doing both sides and it slimmed the seals down a fair bit and made the lenses fit better



When doing the second side I used a scalpel on one side and scissors on the other side - got a much better cut


It’ll be OK for now and it’s a lot better than it was. But I’d like to know what people (who know what they are doing) do in relation to this - is there a specific seal that should be used? Or do they cut them down like I did?

Thanks


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I did exactly what you’ve just done, a variety of slightly sketchy methods to end up with a seal that is barely there.
Other than that you are modifying metalwork…

You’ve got them about as good as they go