yippeekiay
Well-known member
Shame you scratched the steering column shroud - YES...I spotted it!!!!
Otherwise nice job
Otherwise nice job
Panther black Puma from Prague
- Thread starter MerthO
- Start date
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MerthO
Member
Damn it, I hoped this would go unnoticed! I unfortunately lost concentration with a file in hand. Luckily it is not so visible, if you don’t look closely. But I have some more work to do!
Shame you scratched the steering column shroud - YES...I spotted it!!!!
Otherwise nice job
MerthO
Member
Haven’t done much on the Puma lately, but I had the spare wheel tray media blasted and then had it sprayed with black zinc phosphate coating. So now there is no more rusty metal lurking from under the rear bumper!
I have also washed the underbody and wheel wells of the car and treated all the spots, where surface rust started to show, with a wire brush and rust-killer and then sprayed them and other exposed bits of the underbody with underbody wax. I unfortunately forgot to take any photos, so you will have to believe my words, that the car is still luckily pretty rust free. I did this just as a precaution and preparation for the upcoming winter.
EDIT: I found two photos I took of the car on the lift after I washed the underbody and the left front wheel well
I have also washed the underbody and wheel wells of the car and treated all the spots, where surface rust started to show, with a wire brush and rust-killer and then sprayed them and other exposed bits of the underbody with underbody wax. I unfortunately forgot to take any photos, so you will have to believe my words, that the car is still luckily pretty rust free. I did this just as a precaution and preparation for the upcoming winter.
EDIT: I found two photos I took of the car on the lift after I washed the underbody and the left front wheel well
Dolomite16v
New member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2021
- Messages
- 24
Did the same job on my Puma recently, well worth doing
MerthO
Member
Not much going on with the Puma lately. I have been busy with school and work and I had to do some work on my girlfriend's Skoda Fabia. 
Also the weather is starting to be a little bit cold to work on the car outside. So at least I took my gear stick and handbrake lever covers to be reupholstered since I have found some tears on them. I am extremely pleased with the result! The guy at the local upholstery shop had a look at the interior to get the right color of the material to match the dashboard. I guess this was one of the last jobs I have done on the car this year, if something urgent doesn't come up (hope not!). Only thing left is switching to winter tires. 
Please don't mind the dirty carpets!
Also the weather is starting to be a little bit cold to work on the car outside. So at least I took my gear stick and handbrake lever covers to be reupholstered since I have found some tears on them. I am extremely pleased with the result! The guy at the local upholstery shop had a look at the interior to get the right color of the material to match the dashboard. I guess this was one of the last jobs I have done on the car this year, if something urgent doesn't come up (hope not!). Only thing left is switching to winter tires. Please don't mind the dirty carpets!
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yippeekiay
Well-known member
Nice job
MerthO
Member
Haven´t given any updates on my Puma for a long time. Since I bought a second car as my daily (2004 Opel Vectra C GTS), I had the Puma decomissioned (I don't know ho to call it in English - I submitted the license plates to the local vehicle register office and then did not have to pay the insurance for the car) and stored her away in the beginning of December. I have put her back on license plates this monday and gave her a quick wash and used her for the whole week. I noticed some minor hiccups, but the car was running perfectly fine...until today. 
Today, I took the car for a short trip and it was running perfectly fine. But then I was parking the car at my girlfriend's when I suddenly started smelling petrol. I thought it was just some odor picked up by the aircon....it wasnt, the Puma had pissed herself.
It seems like a line had ruptured, when I started backing up into the parking spot.
View attachment IMG_3639.MOV
I suspect it is a return line, since it is leaking only when the engine is running, it doesn't leak when the key is turned on and the fuel pump is priming, when I shut the car off, it stops.
Unfortunately the leak was too severe and I didn't want to risk it driving home (about 40km). Luckily a friend with a trailer lives nearby and he was so kind to come pick me up immediately.
This was the first time in the five years of Puma ownership, that the Puma left me stranded (I do not count the one time I crashed her in France
). When we got the car home I looked under it and found the potential culprit of the problem....perished lines. This is how the line from the pump to the fuel filter looks like:
I had changed all the lines at the fuel tank about 3 years ago and this is how perished they are now. They are either shitty quality or maybe they are not meant for petrol at all, even though the autoparts store advertised them as petrol lines. And to think that I still hadn't run the car on the E10 petrol that is mandatory here in the Czech Republic since the beginning of the year (i still have E5 with additives in the tank from when I put the car away for winter), I think that would accelerate the process even more. One or the other, I have a fuel lines replacement on my hands. Since I do not daily the Puma anymore I will also refurbish the thank, while I am at it. There is already some surface rust lurking on the welds, so I will strip all of the rust and paint and repaint it. I will also replace the fuel pump, since there is still probably the original one.
At least the car keeps me entertained.
Today, I took the car for a short trip and it was running perfectly fine. But then I was parking the car at my girlfriend's when I suddenly started smelling petrol. I thought it was just some odor picked up by the aircon....it wasnt, the Puma had pissed herself.
It seems like a line had ruptured, when I started backing up into the parking spot.
View attachment IMG_3639.MOV
I suspect it is a return line, since it is leaking only when the engine is running, it doesn't leak when the key is turned on and the fuel pump is priming, when I shut the car off, it stops.
Unfortunately the leak was too severe and I didn't want to risk it driving home (about 40km). Luckily a friend with a trailer lives nearby and he was so kind to come pick me up immediately.
This was the first time in the five years of Puma ownership, that the Puma left me stranded (I do not count the one time I crashed her in France
). When we got the car home I looked under it and found the potential culprit of the problem....perished lines. This is how the line from the pump to the fuel filter looks like:I had changed all the lines at the fuel tank about 3 years ago and this is how perished they are now. They are either shitty quality or maybe they are not meant for petrol at all, even though the autoparts store advertised them as petrol lines. And to think that I still hadn't run the car on the E10 petrol that is mandatory here in the Czech Republic since the beginning of the year (i still have E5 with additives in the tank from when I put the car away for winter), I think that would accelerate the process even more. One or the other, I have a fuel lines replacement on my hands. Since I do not daily the Puma anymore I will also refurbish the thank, while I am at it. There is already some surface rust lurking on the welds, so I will strip all of the rust and paint and repaint it. I will also replace the fuel pump, since there is still probably the original one.
At least the car keeps me entertained.
John Woodward
Well-known member
Poor quality parts, especially fuel hose can cause problems, even using E5 petrol.
Hope you get it back up and running soon!
Here in the UK we don't hand the registration plates in as such, we have something called statutory off road notification "SORN" which is where you don't have to pay the annual vehicle tax because you've declared that the car will not be used.
Here in the UK we don't hand the registration plates in as such, we have something called statutory off road notification "SORN" which is where you don't have to pay the annual vehicle tax because you've declared that the car will not be used.
MerthO
Member
I have learnt this the hard way.
Colleague of mine has recommended braided fuel lines from Gates, they should be a good quality but still for reasonable price, so I will give them a go.
John Woodward
Well-known member
That sounds good, there is so much rubbish out there, even some branded items are poor.I have learnt this the hard way.
I was told my someone that a friend ordered a 100 wheel bearings from somewhere in China and they asked what name they'd like on, SKF, Timken etc. could have been used, so just counterfeit part's.
MerthO
Member
Yeah, I believe that the local governing bodies do not have much trust in people not to run the cars even without the vehicle insurance (we do not have to pay vehicle tax as private entities, only businesses have this obligation - for now!), so we have to hand in the license plates with part of the registration documents (so nobody sells the car while it is in "deposit"). If you keep the car in deposit longterm, you have to renew it after some time, otherwise the vehicle register office will scrap the plates with the documentation and then the car cannot be registered ever again (only if it is +30 years old, then it can be re-registered as a classic car) and is only good for scrap. Yeah...our rules for vehicle registration rules are quite complicated.
MerthO
Member
There haven't been an update on the Puma for quite some time, so here is what has been going on lately.
I have fixed the fuel leak that left me stranded a few posts above. First I had to drainthe tank, because it was almost full when the leak happened.
Then the culprit of it all was fully visible - a pierced feed line.
So when the tank was out of the car anyway I changed the fuel pump for a new Bosch unit. And I have also took care of the fuel tank itself a little bit.
And here it is ready to go back in the car.
When the tank was back in the car, it started right up and has been running well. It just cranks a little little longer to start, when the car is cold and the outside temperature is above approx. 10°C, but that is something it has been doing for longer, I just didn't get to fixing it yet.
When I fixed the fuel leak, the car passed it's emission and technical inspection with flying colors and no recorded failure, so it is good to go for another two years.
Other than that I haven't done much to the Puma this year yet. I have been busy attending to my other car (fixing rusty exhaust, rebuilding high pressure fuel pump, PCV valve and so on..) or I have been helping my friends fix their car. So I hope I will get more time for the Puma in the summer, when my exam period ends.
I have fixed the fuel leak that left me stranded a few posts above. First I had to drainthe tank, because it was almost full when the leak happened.
Then the culprit of it all was fully visible - a pierced feed line.
So when the tank was out of the car anyway I changed the fuel pump for a new Bosch unit. And I have also took care of the fuel tank itself a little bit.
And here it is ready to go back in the car.
When the tank was back in the car, it started right up and has been running well. It just cranks a little little longer to start, when the car is cold and the outside temperature is above approx. 10°C, but that is something it has been doing for longer, I just didn't get to fixing it yet.
When I fixed the fuel leak, the car passed it's emission and technical inspection with flying colors and no recorded failure, so it is good to go for another two years.
Other than that I haven't done much to the Puma this year yet. I have been busy attending to my other car (fixing rusty exhaust, rebuilding high pressure fuel pump, PCV valve and so on..) or I have been helping my friends fix their car. So I hope I will get more time for the Puma in the summer, when my exam period ends.
MerthO
Member
When I was preparing the car for the technical inspection, I noticed that the boot around the shifting rod (I dunno what else to call it) is a bit oily.
I suppse that there is a shaft seal in the gearbox case that is not sealing anymore? I haven't looked much into it yet. I am planning on dropping the gearbox from the car to change the clutch, which is already quite a bit worn and I can hear the bearing whine when in the biting point (at least I hope it is the clutch bearing, not in the gearbox). So when the gearbox is out, I might just change all the seals.
I suppse that there is a shaft seal in the gearbox case that is not sealing anymore? I haven't looked much into it yet. I am planning on dropping the gearbox from the car to change the clutch, which is already quite a bit worn and I can hear the bearing whine when in the biting point (at least I hope it is the clutch bearing, not in the gearbox). So when the gearbox is out, I might just change all the seals.
