So, it has been a while since I've given the sports biscuit a bit of work. So it all started with the dreaded heater fan dead disaster. Needless to say, it was a Saturday of a fairly easy weekend and given I had a spare motor, I went for it:
The only problem being, when I got the motor out, I realised the spare one I'd purchased many years ago on Gumtree, did not fit as it was out of a 740, so I was left with this:
Undaunted by the fact the interior resembled that of a car in a wrecking yard, I ordered the fan and decided to fit a set of Koni's and King's springs I had sitting in the shed:
I've replaced springs and struts in 240's before, but have always ended up removing the strut and then fitting the new ones, but this time I actually read my Bentleys and found you don't need to remove them completely, but can disconnect the strut at the top and then swing it out:
Given that I'd disassembled the interior and ripped out the suspension (all under the guise of waiting for parts....) it was only logical to me (perhaps not my wife) that while I was at it I would remove the intake manifold to decarbon it. My car has done about 375,000 and despite exterior appearances has been very well maintained, but I just couldn't get the idle right. Given the mileage, I am building a new motor for it, but in the meantime, thought I'd tidy up the intake. So I got the inlet manifold decarboned and while I was at it, fitted new (decent) injector seals as well as gave the air-plate unit a good clean:
I think our dog Ralph had the right idea:
And just to add to it all, I thought if I had gone this deep, it was also time to fit the stereo properly. My vehicle has never even had a radio fitted and so over time I've accumulated the bits to fit a period unit - including getting the head unit reconditioned and an aux in plug fitted.
Happily, since then the car has slowly come together. The heater fan now works! And thanks to
@Angus242164 I've managed to get most of the heating unit vents to open and close when they should.
So here are a few pictures of the finished goods - the idle is now perfect and it doesn't get lumpy when it is hot, the heater fan works, suspension is great (as not only does it have new shocks and springs, but I've upgraded the sway bars with later model ones) and now the stereo looks as though it has been part of the car since new:
Anyhow, next steps are to fit a lsd I've had built for it, put in a M46 overdrive gearbox and finish the 2.3 B23E motor I'm building for it! Never a dull moment with the Sports Biscuit!
