ChrisB

Excellent standard of explanation as always illogikal1 Many gold stars

Good pics Wow, some really well turned out Zeds there

Cheers chaps - storm in a teacup really. Little fiddly in the dipstick department, but once you've taken it out a couple of times and got the extraction knack, it's easy. I later rechecked my stick for fun as I noticed the washer wasn't in the pic above but it's there, all present and correct. I also wanted to see if the fluid settled after a test drive, but there was no difference, all good. My Blue Peter creation certainly solved the oil feed problem - the dipstick hole is quite inaccessible without some sort of flexible pipe. The only change for next time will be to make the hole lower down on the bottle so I can put my thumb over it without air leaking, to squeeze fluid through faster. Go on.. you know you want to

Nice sump that

Come on then chaps, it's not that hard. S/C oil is changed with no dramas - pretty easy really Firstly you need a 3/16" allen key There's just enough room to slide the dipstick out here. There is minor fiddlyness involved here, but only minor.. I've got a Z-speed under tray, so access is really easy without needing to remove anything other than the front nearside wheel. Use a 13mm socket for support to undo the nut - two open ended spanners flap around too much Drain... have a cup of coffee Replace and tighten up the drain nut again, just finger tight and 1/2 turn or so with the socket/spanners so as not to over do anything as it's only aluminium.. Use the gadget to fill her back up again I cut a hole in the oil bottle to allow free movement of fluid Slightly tedious, have more coffee All done, wiggle dipstick back in, screw it to tightness, unscrew it and wiggle it back out and you get.. Perfect - no adjustment necessary. Put the dipstick back in and tighten back up, wheel back on, go for a test drive, and re-check for leaks - job done

OK then supercharger fans, I've made a gadget. In true Blue Peter fashion, it has some red PVC tape (aka sticky-backed plastic) to pad out the pipe diameters, some off-cut vacuum pipe as a flexible coupling, a spring clip and some drip pipe (wifey is a vet, so we just so happened to have a giving set lying around). This should give me plenty of reach to get the oil into the un-contravercial dipstick hole I blew down the pipe to test it, hence it's a bit steamy. Tomorrow, I'll test out this little creation

Links hang off here. Original smear was a leak in the Mail on Sunday I believe. (We read the Torygraph comic instead) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11481658/BBC-denies-claim-of-Jimmy-Savile-smear-about-Jeremy-Clarkson.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2999715/Clarkson-fights-furious-attack-BBC-bosses-brings-lawyers-Savile-comparison-senior-TV-source.html Edit: beat me to it

That blatant smear by an 'unnamed executive' comparing Clarkson to Saville was an absolute travesty. That executive (my money is on the certain executive known to be at war with Jezzer) should be sacked, then when unemployed (and thus out of the work place) slapped in the face with a very large fish

With V3 though you get quiet (ish) running and guinea pig pictures in your thread. All this procrastination - I'm sure when we get on to actually do it, it'll be easy

I will make sure its properly full, don't you worry

How about this - I'm going take my stick out and go for the difficult bottom hole by inserting a bit of firm pipe. If that is too hard, and I can't help spilling fluid everywhere, I'll give it a wipe and go for the easy top hole - hopefully not causing any contamination in the process.

Step away from the thread for 10 minutes, and it's turned into a double-entedre fest Gareth - dude - this is all of us in the Vortech group buy

Gareth already put that video up - thats what caused his panic

It'll be fine.. What could possibly go wrong?

I don't think there is a panic. There's lots of service instructions on the net that use the fill/vent plug. It's all part of the same cavity

I wonder if it matters Always good to find conflicting information on the internet I figured that you don't fill your engine (or any other gear case) up by the drain or dipstick, so... Also superchargersonline seen to think the same in their generic V3 guide. Vortech instructions just state 'change the oil' and don't specify or give warnings about which plugs. Certainly the top plug is much easier to get to with a spout.. In the video, he could have just changed via the dipstick hole as he already had it out - and they are demonstrating how un-cramped and trivial it is when the entire engine is out

In my mind, I can't help thinking that the S/C drain pipe could be accessible with just the left wheel off, then removing the splash guard and plastic covers (at least you could then keep 3 wheels on the ground)... but I can't find a pic in my collection to confirm that. I want to go the full monty and get my front end up anyway for a poke about inspection, after we fell down a pot hole (more like a sink hole) last month

Haha - ginger I am being a bit naughty - although most of the winter I've been blessed with working at home, so not driving, I'm right on the 2.5k first S/C oil change point - so it's imminent. On the plus side, it looks like a piece of p1ss - if you have a long 3/16" hex key, it's actually pretty easy to undo the fill and dipstick plugs. I have a fairly steep sloping drive too - scary b@lls getting the rear up, but front end stuff with wheel chocks and in gear/handbrake has always been fine so far for me. I promise to do this soon

Nice pictures! Stunning day and location for a drive too

After inflicting torture on the strut bar with wire wheels at the weekend, I soothed it with some Hammerite and lacquer. Finally dried and set, I put it back... Shame the Hammerite RED comes out ORANGE... I wonder how long this will last... Looks OK to me, but I'm biased and totally rubbish at art :lol:

Excellent progress. Christine will be very impressed Much envy regards your handy CNC machine btw

Oh well. That's what will actually doom it then. If wifey wants a shiny new one in a different colour, it's all-over for poor trusty old boring colour Focus

Thats a mere battle scar - you'll have that fixed for peanuts with parts from a scrappie, easy Try to get the same colours though - urban rat cars aren't cool