Nollington Hards progress blog

[NollingtonHards]

Went back to the scrap yard and got a new bumper (my current one has poor attempts of using touch up pens for a whole area, not by me) with fogs and headlight washers.

Also picked up a splitter

and finally i picked up a trip computer, my car has the wiring at the back for it but the manual says to push the button on the end of the wiper stalk, which didn't work but i tried to push the button in the car i got it from and it wouldn't budge either, so is there a secret button i need to push??
I want to get all the bits on me car on wensday so that'll be a full day

[Bailes1992]

It's not a trip computer, it's simply a screen for the radio and also outside tempreture You can tell by the amount of connectors you plugged in, if you plugged the one in, it's just a screen for the radio

[NollingtonHards]

Nooo i thought i was a trip computer and your right i only plugged in one connector. Oh well i don't use the original radio anymore and my wing mirrors aren't electric so its near useless. I'll just pretend it is one, make my car seem high tech

[maxxymilian]

Enabling the trip computer works with all petrol models, search for trip computer in electrical system section you'll have to add two (or were they three) new wires to the speedo, one to the ECU and add a button somewhere on the dash to control the functions, anyway i posted pictures so it's easy. And that's it!

[mjb]

It's not a trip computer, it's simply a screen for the radio and also outside tempreture You can tell by the amount of connectors you plugged in, if you plugged the one in, it's just a screen for the radio

Wrong!

There's 3 things which fit in that slot:
1) A tray
2) A temperature gauge (MAHOOSIVE numbers)
3) A trip computer

Most D8s have the trip computer fitted but without the wiring to support it, and as such it only functions to display external temperature and the radio display. There's a large thread in the electrical forum about retro-fitting the trip computer functionality to petrol models

[NollingtonHards]

Has anyone done this computer conversion to a D8 Diesel as most threads seem to be about petrol models?

Off with the old wing to reveal the damage caused by an removed arch cap


Wire brushed the rust to metal and removed the most flexible pieces to metal/ rust

Hammerited the area and used aluminum tape to cover the hole

Fitted the wing


Then fitted the bumper with renault scenic splitter and fogs


All in all a much nicer look i think for very cheap.

Next on the cards is to rust proof the underside and get it ready for an MOT

[HimBigChief]

Getting there. A vast improvement over the front end before. Have you thought about painting the front badge black or white? May be the finishing touch for the front end seeing as there is no other chrome on the front end of the car. Also, it may be worthwhile keeping an eye out for a Laguna splitter seeing as the Scenic one is a little short on the sides.

[NollingtonHards]

Well i did pick up a spare grille and badge at the scrap yard so i can toy with some colours(Black, in my head looks nicer though)
I did have a look for a laguna splitter at the scrap yard but i believe they've all been pillaged, i also had a look at Mondeo splitters but there is no where to screw them on.
I just looked through your blog and have several questions ha.

Have you had any trouble with the french plates?? police etc
Where did you get your lowering springs from?
AND was it much hassle fitting the springs?

I got to say though your car does look damn cool and i am impressed you can tell the difference between different types of french car splitters ha

[HimBigChief]

i am impressed you can tell the difference between different types of french car splitters

Sad I know, up until about 10 years ago, I could tell pretty much any car just by seeing it's wing mirror. I'm still pretty good at identifying cars in scrap yards at a quick glance, but nowhere near as good as I used to be.

Have you had any trouble with the french plates?? police etc
Where did you get your lowering springs from?
AND was it much hassle fitting the springs?

Not yet, although I carry the standard plates in the boot incase I do get any hassle. The only time a copper has mentioned them to me was when I stopped to help a fellow 406 owner who had broken down. The copper stopped to see what was going on and when the lady who I was helping explained the situation, he just turned to me and said "They're some fancy french plates" to which I replied "Yep", he then said "Is that because they're not french" to which I again replied "Yep" and his response was "Righto, see you later" and he was off!
The lowering springs came via eBay, and fitting the springs wasn't much hassle really. I bought a spare pair of front shocks from the local scrappy and fitted the springs to them first then fitted the whole front shock assembly to the car. Took me less than a day to do the whole lot by myself. A decent pair of spring compressors is a must though. More for taking the standard springs off as opposed to putting the new springs on. I've just bought some Koni adjustable shocks off eBay so I'll be fitting them fairly soon (ish). Got a new bath to install this weekend though.

[NollingtonHards]

I took your advice and sprayed my spare badge black and it does look a lot better black than the standard chrome


I might take my decent camera out at some point and try and get a nice photo of my car, all the photos i take don't do the car justice

[HimBigChief]

That does look better. I wasn't too sure what the black badge would look like on a white car, but it works! You just need to black mask the headlights now to match!

[NollingtonHards]

Black mask? is that the same as tinting?

[HimBigChief]

Kinda, crack the lenses off the headlights, remove the outer chrome bit and spray it black, reassemble the headlights. If you look closely at the pics of mine you'll see the darker headlights on the later pics.

[NollingtonHards]

Well my MOTs due by the end of the month so its booked in for next week and i'm hoping to fix anything that comes up myself. I bought a new set of brake lights today and i'm trying to sort out the little jobs that could cause it to fail. If it passes, i plan to give it a full service and under-seal the rear as parts are looking fairly rusty.

Also if i can figure out pay pal i'm looking to buy some mud flaps for the winter months and a strut brace from e-bay

[NollingtonHards]

MOT FAIL, not to bad though. Headlights insecure, a few dodgy bulbs and two rust holes on the drivers side sill. They said it could cost £100 for a new set of lights. Trip to my favourite scrap yard that now has 3 cars the same as mine, all white and different specs. £36 with bulbs. Next i will get a family friend to do the welding soonish. I got 10 days to get it re-done. Nothing to exciting but some one might be interested in it.