iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Agreed. They make the car much brighter than with the winter wheels that have been on it for years now

Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I don't think I ever posted that I had the V70 wheels refurbished. They were in a horrific state and they were apparently a ball against to sort out but the car looks so much better for it

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

In other news I fitted the new solid state DME relay (with fancy diagnostic lights) to the 944 today and it fired up no problem. The next step is to get it transported back here so I can change the gearbox

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I've been giving the Boxster a tickle with a machine polisher and a quick ceramic coating. It's come up pretty nicely for a car I bought for £200 in 2018

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It now also serves up a weird melted version of the GT86 in the bonnet reflection

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Today I gave the bargain basement Boxster a long overdue tickle with the machine polisher. Last time it was it was 6 years ago and previous poor paint jobs have surfaced since then. I got as far as the driver's door after a clay bar and a light polish. It's now an even better 10ft car at least

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The Volvo wheels have come back from a refurbish. Finally the dark grey winter wheels can come off and the normal ones can go back on. The car looks so much nicer with a. Right wheel

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The Boxster is Lottie approved. She loved having the roof down

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

The Boxster has passed its MOT...just in time for the rain

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

The Boxster is looking very much at home on the drive next to the V70. I'm looking forward to using it again...less so the period of finding and remembering all the little issues that I need to work on

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

All cars have been shuffled ready for the Boxster going for an MOT on Tuesday. The leaks have all been fixed and thanks to a long stint with a dehumidifier the seat motors are now behaving themselves

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Does anyone put there fancy a Diesel Cactus? I have one that is surplus to requirements

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I had a break from looking after the puppy so I seized the opportunity to clean the Toyota. I also gave the headlights a quick polish and ceramic coating. It's looking much better for it

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Weret back in action. New rear strut top mount and new roof drainage channels. Just needs an MOT and an AC regas now

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

It's too damn warm, but Rolo wants to say hello

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I've gone nuclear on sorting the Boxster water ingress. The mice that nibbled the water guides can fuck right off

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Very nice. I've considered tickling my V70 with the polisher but as it's silver it doesn't make much of a difference, it would probably just make the deep scratches more obvious. It looks good enough after a deep clean though

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

It's another tough day sitting in the sun in Majorca. Today's car spots have been a yellow 306 cab, a brown MK2 Twingo, a MK2 Fiesta, and the pictures G body 911 from across the Porto Cristo Marina

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Swedish car doing Swedish car things. The Cross Climate 2s doing fantastic work

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Now that the V70 is out everything else can be tucked inside out of the rain

An old barn with multiple old cars stuffed inside

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

The V70 has tax and MOT once more. Looking forward to using it again and tucking the GT86 away for a bit

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

V70 update for anybody still listening. The car made it to the MOT after a lot of bucking and missed gears and flagging an error code on 4th gear 3 times. Annoyingly the MOT had to be aborted as the cable fell off the new bonnet latch and it couldn't be released. Fixed for a retry next week

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

The V70 is so close to being back on the road. New alarm siren and AC condenser are on the way and the MOT is booked for next Friday. Going to be good to have it back finally

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

I cannot for the life of me remove the remains of the broken anti roll bar bolt from the Boxster. I have replaced the AC condensors and ordered all the little broken bits behind the bumper to sort while it's off. Loads of money spent and can't finish the job thanks to one shitting bolt

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

At Le Mans I will be flying the flag for... anybody willing to give me a free flag. Currently it's Porsche, Peugeot and Toyota

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

We're traveling down in a Citroen Berlingo. It was meant to be the GT86 but although the engine is rebuilt, it's still on a stand awaiting a new uprated clutch

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Getting ever closer to Le Mans. I can almost taste the beer

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

The Boxster passed the MOT retest after new rear coil springs, coffin arms, and anti roll bar links. I'm back to having one working car! The clutch feels like it has air in the system so hopefully a quick bleed will sort that out.

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Why won't it come out? All bolts removed from the gearbox bellhousing yet it absolutely refuse to come apart from the engine, not even a hint of splitting and there's barely anywhere to lever against. Frustrating

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Old reliable, apparently. Nobody saw that coming

A blue 1983 Porsche 944 in the sun, not breaking down (currently).

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

And to finish off this episode of car disasters, I will be drinking Scotch while ordering a replacement 944 ignition switch. A mere £15 since it's a Beetle/T2 Transporter part

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Heater control valves are meant to be a two piece item, right?

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

The car death continues with the Volvo 940 saying bye bye to coolant

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Still no idea what has happened. The engine turns over fine, not a single code logged in the ECU and it sounded like it was firing on all 4 before cutting out. Surely if the chain went slack and it jumped teeth the ECU would be screaming about it?

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Yesterday went well. Engine had a sudden drop in power and started rattling at part throttle. When pulling into a layby it died completely. Not sure what the problem is yet.

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

The 986 will live again. The cheap Chinese HVAC screen replacement arrived today to replace the one that was rapidly dying. The typeface and icons are wrong but it displays what it needs to. The real loss is that it no longer says "MANUELL" when over riding the fans

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

This month I have been mostly making brap brap noises. Off with the old standard farty exhaust and on with an HKS Legamax Sports cat back system. The horrible high pitch noise from the stainless manifold and over pipe is now gone!

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

The V70 is being a dick and I can't get the steering reattached, and the starter has also given up so I moved on to washing the GT86 to remember that it's white and not brown

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Just some images of the V70 bleeding gearbox oil everywhere.

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Not very far, it's pissing gearbox oil out everywhere from what looks like the bell housing. I give up now

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

The V70 moves under its own power again at last! Only things left to do are set the gearbox oil level properly, bleed the cooling system, and refit the under tray.

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

This makes life wedged under a car with no room so much easier. No more battling with only being able to activate the ratchet once and taking 10 minutes on one bolt. It's even been tightening them up to the 60nm I was after

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

The V70 has finally been reintroduced to its gearbox! Next step is to connect everything back up and see if it works.

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

This is the TF-80sc 6 speed. One failed due to the internal filter clogging so it couldn't build enough oil pressure, the second one broke because during fitting the torque converter slipped and got mates to the engine out of alignment, damaged the oil pump gear that later failed

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Does your car not have a reservoir of flood water in the air box? (that's post filter btw, I had to leave it out for a chance to dry out)

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

One Volvo V70 gearbox almost ready to go back in the car after a freshen up with some new seals, oil pump filter, and a valve body

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Rob King - FistsOfHam(6) @fistsofham6.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

After many many many hours of removing bits and fighting, the V70 has released its gearbox. Next step is to refresh the original box with new seals, filters, and valve body before reversing the entire process again.

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