Getting ready for the road again

[Anders Dinsen]

Thank you! It might be, although I'm rather busy with this now 

[TELBOY]

Wow!!!

[Anders Dinsen]

Yeah, it looks really good

I've been too busy with other things but finally managed to get it to this state today. Next job is to move it down to my garage where the rest of the engine is waiting for it, and fit it with the new gasket etc. Weather is stopping me right now, unfortunately, but it should change to something warmer soon.

[Anders Dinsen]

The weather turned colder so I was unable to work, but today we're up to 8 degrees C and I got this done. I hope to do compression test and get it moved in place under the car so that I can start refitting it.

[Anders Dinsen]

Happy new year to you all! 

I got the engine re-fitted in the car yesterday - a good milestone to reach before 2024 I think

[Anders Dinsen]

I finally made some progress yesterday refitting parts on the engine. Some trivial vira and very cold weather has kept me away so it was good to get back in the garage. I got a chance to take a picture of the o2 sensor installation on the exhaust manifold, which I'm very satisfied with.

[Anders Dinsen]

The car is now back on its wheels with rear trailing arms fitted, brakes, brake circuit bled, clutch bled, and handbrake cable attached. It's good to have the car back on its four wheels. Next job is fitting the last engine ancillaries. I wanted the car back on the rear wheels so I could more easily climb into the trunk and work from there. It's really the best place from where to reach into the engine room. No pictures today, though.

[TELBOY]

Its surprisingly easy to reach everything whilst standing in the boot and not too uncomfortable until you forget where you are, stand up, and clout your head on the glass hatch. Done it too many times to mention lol.

[Anders Dinsen]

Its surprisingly easy to reach everything whilst standing in the boot and not too uncomfortable until you forget where you are, stand up, and clout your head on the glass hatch. Done it too many times to mention lol.

LOL. Seriously, it's really well crafeted this way. Actually I can't stand in the boot, I think I'm a tad too tall. I always end up kneeling with my head and hands buried deep in the engine room praying that I'll not drop that nut I'm trying to fit...

I've made some good progress, by the way as I now have the front tub with battery installed (and I've built a secondary charging system to keep it charged from my solar charged garage battery), exhaust, rear roll bar, and other stuff fitted. I lost (but found) the special 7mm bolt (with 14 mm head) for the distributor, so I've wasted time making another solution, but now will refit.

Here's a picture of the exhaust joiner with the new O2 sensor.

[Moes]

Hi Anders

A late happy Christmas and a early happy new year! 

Have you made plans for your Murena in the new year?

Best regards Frederik

[roy4matra]

I wanted the car back on the rear wheels so I could more easily climb into the trunk and work from there. It's really the best place from where to reach into the engine room...

I believe this is one of the things that makes the Murena such a brilliant mid-engined sports coupé. We have a car that looks gorgeous, is well proportioned, with an almost ideal balance of space allocation between passenger space, mechanical space and luggage space, as well as the balance of power to weight ratio (ideal 40/60% front to rear), good aerodynamics, and yet still has the accessibility to the power train that almost every other mid-engined car cannot match.

Imagine trying to work on almost any other mid-engined exotic car, and the care you would need to take, not to mark or damage the paint or bodywork, whilst getting at the engine.  With the Murena you only need to empty the boot, drop the luggage cover down against the rear engine compartment bulkhead, and climb into the boot.  Put a protective cover over the carpet surface on the engine and luggage surround, and you have access to almost everything you need to be able to get at.

The Bagheera was similar but didn't have a large enough access 'hole' or removable cover, especially the Series 1, which was even smaller.

I have worked on many cars over my professional working lifetime, on all types, front engine, rear engine, and mid-engine, and in my opinion, the Murena is more ideal than even some of the front and rear engined cars, but without doubt is the best of the mid-engined cars.  Try getting access to the engine on a Porsche Boxster!  I've never worked on a 914 so maybe that could be reasonable?  Does anyone know?

In fact in many of those other mid-engined cars, you need to remove the power unit just to do what I would term as routine maintenance!  With the Murena you can do all the routine stuff, of which there isn't much anyway, pretty easily.  The only item needing you to get underneath is to change the oil filter, and remove and refit the sump plug, or occasionally the fan belt.  And if you fitted a remote oil filter, even that could be simpler.  However, over the years since I bought my Murena 2.2 new back in 1983, I know I made the best choice and it has become my 'supercar' because it looks fantastic, goes well (with a few enhancements such as uprated engine and high 5th gear) handles brilliantly, and is easy to maintain.  And I might add none of the complex electronics or multitude of sensors of a modern car that when failed can strand it miles from anywhere!


Any way, I wish you all a Happy New Year for 2025 and many trouble free miles in your Murena, wherever you are.

Roy

[Anders Dinsen]

Thank you, Frederik and Roy for your wonderful greetings. Also, from me, greetings to everyone. When I got my Murena in 2006, it was quite an adventure, I openend. I didn't know what to expect, but i knew what I hoped for, and I got it.

I like to have multiple projects at hand. The complexity of them interacting in ways I can't imagine is fascinating. I still keep so many. A persons wealth is not measured in money but in the number of problems looking for solutions. I've worked the past year on reducing the number, and succeeded, but I still have a few, nothing serious though.

2025, the plan is to get started with the body panels. To others, who have done it already, working on the glass fibre panels is simple. To me, it'll become a new adventure. There's something I'm looking forward to learn there!

First, however, I have a few jobs to do, and of course I have a plan, or at least a list:

• The underbody under the cockpit needs to be cleaned and zinc treated like the rest of the chassis.
• The drivers seat still need reassembly
• A few of the lights in the cockpit need reassembly
• I have a new brake fluid container from Simon that I will install, and brakes must then be bled
• The left hand diff seal started leaking a lot, so it needs to be replaced.

There's probably a few more items on the list which I've fogotten now.

This is really a short list, which is good, but I feel I'm getting more and more limited by the smallness of my garage. The reason I've not yet worked on the middle part of the chassis is actually because of that: Working there is awkward and I can't lift the car to a decent height. The Murena is no different than any other car here, but my garage is. Also, I'm suffering a bit from neck and shoulder problems, probably due to some arthritis in the neck, and lying on my back cleaning the chassis will not be good for me. I'm undecided about what to do, but for now, I don't worry since it's winter and too cold anyway.

Moving to a new, bigger garage is therefore under consideration, but that's a project in itself, and one that I am reluctant to focus too much on, as that will distract me from the actual work.

I also want to wish everyone here on the forum a great 2025.

Best,
Anders

[Anders Dinsen]

A practical problem when not having 230V in my garage is to generate compressed air for my brake bleeder but I got this small 12V powered pump last year, and it works well. I bled the brakes yesterday so now the car is more or less ready to move in and out of the garage under its own power. I just need to finish adjusting the hand brake and rebuild the drivers seat. Four out of five springs underneath the foam were broken. I'm getting new ones hopefully next week from a local furniture craftsman.

[Anders Dinsen]

Adjusting the handbrake would have required that I worked under the car, but my neck is not permitting that these days so today instead I riveted the left front fender with fuse board holder. The fuse board holder is a new one of stainless steel which was made in a small series many years ago by some Matra friends here. Getting the rivets right is not easy so this was a time consuming job. I gave up with one hole where the fender and the tub are joined and used a flat headed bolt with a big washer on the back instead.

/Anders

[Grapes]

That's a nice looking fuse box. Really nice to see this whole build process.