Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 29/08/22 in all areas

  1. My son persuaded me to give my Reliant some attention today. It was touch and go because I was comfortable in my armchair. The Reliant started without bother and the brakes, lights, indicators, stop lights, wipers and horn all worked (amateur MOT done šŸ˜ƒ). I took it for a slow trundle in our cul-de-sac and found the steering to be heavier than usual, so clearly the tyres needed some air. Front was at 8psi and rears at 10psi but, being cross plies propping up only 406kg, they looked ok. I let my son do the tyre inflating because I struggle to get to the front wheel. With the tyres at the correct pressures and rather than shove the thing back in the garage before it breaks down - which was my cautious preference - I decided to live dangerously and drive around the estate. The car is fully road legal and insured, the danger was simply that it was being driven by someone with very limited mobility who did not fancy a walk home. For some reassurance, my son followed in his Tipo (we are a two Tipo family - mine is a '94 model, his is a 2016 diesel). One circuit of the estate, about a mile, did not show any imminent problems so I went round again. No snags at all. I was driving with the internal engine cowling removed so that I could see, hear and smell the engine on these noisy test runs. All seemed well. I had something to eat, then with my son following again and the cowling in place for a much quieter and cooler experience I went around the estate once more, then thought 'if I'm selling this soon, it could be the last time I ever drive it.' Instead of turning into our road, I had an almost involuntary urge to continue driving and therefore found myself waiting for the traffic lights to change before unleashing 17.5bhp on to the A43 dual carriageway. The lights took forever but the engine saved me from embarrassment by ticking over nicely. A green light signalled more excitement, and risk. I accelerated* and gradually let the speed* build up until the speedo was waving around near 50mph. My son later said that I was cruising at 53mph. I did not stay on the dual carriageway for long but the Reliant seemed game for more driving and we totted up about 8 miles by the time I headed for the safety of my garage and my armchair. The car did not seem to object to stop start traffic through Towcester centre. I hope it gave a few people a reason to smile. I enjoyed the drive in a masochistic way. Reliants of this age (61 years old) are noisy, have tricky handling, a fierce clutch, quite hard suspension which detests modern potholed roads, very little power and yet are quite endearing once you settle into how they do things. I've attached a short video of today's initial trundle before we put some air in the tyres. I don't know whether my son took more photos. I certainly didn't. Edit: A bonus photo from yesterday. I'm surprised the photo isn't blue. The Reliant's suspension had just crashed across a few rough bits of road and I was cursing. VID_20220829_123455900.mp4
    25 points
  2. Having completed the welding on the chassis, I then started cleaning it up. Spent several days scraping oil off the drivetrain and chassis, degreasing, wire brushing and going over the entire chassis with a rotary wire brush to clean it all up. I then gave it a coat of Hydrate 80 rust converter, and a couple of coats of chassis paint. I did the same on the rear axle, springs and brake backplates. I removed the rear shock absorbers because they were both leaking and one I think had run out completely because the arms were in different positions and it was twisting the antiroll bar. They turned out to be not the usual Armstrong lever arms, but branded Vari-flo. A bit of Googling tells me that they were an early form of aftermarket adjustable shock absorber, sold by Spax circa 1960/61 and probably ultra rare nowadays. I have a friend who used to rebuild lever arms for a living, he has never seen any of these before. He has offered to rebuild them for me and doesnā€™t think theyā€™ll be a problem to do as long as he can find seals to go in them, but heā€™s snowed under with work at the moment and has asked me to leave it a few weeks, which is fair enough, Iā€™m not in a mega hurry. The fuel line was completely rotten, so I made a new one using the old one as a pattern, some 1/4ā€ brake pipe and managed to buy the original soldered type connectors from the local agricultural supplier who use them on vintage tractors. I thought briefly about painting the engine but I thought it would look out of place with the patinated body, and anyway it cleaned up fairly well once Iā€™d removed the years of oil from the sides. Iā€™ve replaced the rocker cover, side and sump gaskets so it should be fairly oil tight (as much as an old British engine can be) weā€™ll see once itā€™s back on the road but so far Iā€™ve had it running since replacing those gaskets and i havenā€™t noticed any leaks. A small but satisfying job I did was making a new set of Ht leads. I think two were original and two had been replaced as the plug caps didnā€™t match, two had the original Bakelite caps but one was broken. The leads themselves were very perished. I bought some new rubber type Champion caps and copper cored Ht lead and made my own using the old ones as patterns.
    25 points
  3. I paid another visit to Graham Pottsā€™ Austin spares emporium in Kent after discovering that the steering box bearings were shot, and the box had excessive endfloat even after removing all the shims. He had about six A70 ā€˜boxes to choose from, none of which were very good, most were very rough and sloppy apart from one which was seized up completely! But I found one that didnā€™t feel too bad, the play and endfloat didnā€™t seem excessive although unfortunately the steering nut thread was damaged. Graham let me have it for half price because it wasnā€™t great. I also managed to buy a full set of new body mounting rubbers from him, another wheel of the correct type so now I have five A70 wheels (although one of them is quite kerbed) and a few other bits and pieces. Spent about Ā£110 in total. I took the cover off the ā€˜newā€™ steering box and it looked surprisingly clean inside. I scraped out the residual gunge and put some oil directly on the bearings before they completely failed like the other one due to the oil having all leaked out. They have a cork type seal which never lasted long and if previous owners havenā€™t bothered topping them up they are often damaged. I removed the shims which took out most of the endfloat, what remains is acceptable where the original was at the limit of its wear. I popped it in the vice with my ā€œspareā€ steering wheel, filled up the oil and ran it through lock to lock a few times. It felt really good and was getting better as well. Unfortunately, after about three days it started pissing oil out of the seal, which wasnā€™t exactly unexpected to be fair. Iā€™ve ordered a new seal from AH spares, Iā€™m going to take a chance that itā€™s a the same as Healey 100 as the box looks very similar and a lot of parts are shared. Talking of steering wheels. I had had no luck finding a replacement for the original one on which the rim has fallen apart. I rescued one from Grahams scrap pile which to be fair the rim was even worse than mine but I thought it would do for a spare. It has no broken spokes so could be restored. Last week, after over a year of looking for a good secondhand one, I bit the bullet and decided to send the original off to the steering wheel restoration company in Ramsgate for them to work their magic on. I must admit here and now that shock horror, Iā€™m actually going to be doing a slight and subtle deviation from standard here. While the Atlantic had a nice cream steering wheel rim which matched the gearknob, switches, and dash plastics, I think Austin thought it too ostentatious for the markets the Hampshire was aimed at, so they fitted a brown steering wheel with brown centre and a brown gear lever. Very conservative but Iā€™ve always thought it would look so much better with: Ivory rim to match the gearknob and dash plastics Gold centre, and gear-lever, to match the instruments. The steering wheel company are going to try to match the ivory colour of the original gearknob as close as possible. Iā€™ve sent them the knob as well and they are going to cast me a new one, they were asked to do one for an Atlantic a couple of years ago and still have the mould they made for it. Itā€™s going to cost a sizeable wedge of money, almost as much as I paid for the entire car, but itā€™s a very important thing to do. Iā€™ve already stripped and painted the gear lever, I spent some time in the Range looking at the different gold paints they had on offer and trying to match the colour of the instruments. Ford Solar Gold was what I went with in the end, I still need to lacquer it but it came out ok. The original speedo is completely seized up, nothing works on it, but I managed to buy this replacement, again from Graham, which works perfectly. My dad made a tool for testing speedos in an electric drill and this one doesnā€™t even stick, and the trip meter works and resets ok. As a footnote, yesterday I went to the Stickney autojumble, and what did I see on a stall? A decent Hampshire steering wheel, possibly refurbished at some point, a few marks on the rim and the centre needed repainting but no cracks. Isnā€™t that just bloody typical! Ok itā€™s not the colour I wanted but it was a hell of a lot cheaper than the resto is going to cost when itā€™s done (next week hopefully) and I could have repainted it for that price. Ah well.
    20 points
  4. The ā€˜newā€™ bodyshell has been stored in JLR/Brooks posh Utrecht warehouse for the last couple of months alongside millions of Euros worth of expensive machines. Rows and rows of shiny XK120s, E-types, Ferraris, Astons etc. I canā€™t find the picture so youā€™ll just have to imagine. Itā€™s completely lowering the tone of the place and heā€™s already been quietly asked when itā€™s going to be shifted!
    19 points
  5. As some of you may know, I gave up the spanners as a job nearly a year ago now, but that doesn't mean that I have stopped getting my hands dirty. I shall use this thread here to document the antics of a driveway mechanic, starting with this morning's issue. After my last of 7 night shifts, I was delighted* to hear a *PING* followed by the tell tale rattle from the rear of the S40 this morning, which I straight away knew was a broken rear shock top mount: What I hadn't anticipated was the little bleeder had sheered one of the bolts off on it's way out... Fucksticks. There is no access to the back of this bolt inside the boot, so my only solution was to remove it from inside the wheel arch, there was approximately 1.5 threads left on the broken bolt which was just enought to snug an M8 nut up to the bodywork. I broke out my trusty arc welder and on my second attempt; success! I did not expect it to be that easy! I'll be straight on the phone to ECP tomorrow to get a replacement top mount.
    18 points
  6. I put the wheels back on the chassis and pushed it back onto the ramp. There was a particularly ropey bit of chassis by the front suspension on the passenger side. It had gone all the way through into the centre structure of the chassis, but fortunately the outer bit by the wheel and the top were both in good condition, so I had plenty to weld to. The hardest part was cutting the rust out, it was very difficult to get the grinder in there. I spent a considerable amount of time cutting back to good metal, before cleaning up and spraying weld-thru primer in there. This is what I was dealing with. And once it was cut back: Strangely, the other side in the same place was solid with no issues! Using a similar gauge steel to the original, I started to piece it back together, trying to replicate the original design as close as possible. Had the welder cranked up to maximum power to get good penetration on those welds! Even though the access was a bit shit, in hindsight I should have removed the engine. I was quite pleased with that repair, but it was certainly one of the most challenging and time consuming repairs Iā€™ve ever tackled. Once that was out of the way, the other repairs were easy, three patches and a 12ā€ section of chassis rail, which Iā€™d already done with the body on.
    15 points
  7. Itā€™s been a while, Iā€™ve had a bit of free time which Iā€™ve mostly spent on the A70. I canā€™t really remember where I got up to with this thread. Letā€™s have a recap. I freed the clutch off and got it moving under its own steam. Rebuilt the braking system, replaced all the pipework and seals and got those working. The radiator was badly clogged, so the engine boiled after five minutes or so and despite my best efforts I couldnā€™t free the blockage so ended up going for a very expensive recore option. However, this cured the problem, I had it sitting idling happily for 20 mins and no sign of any steam. Perfect! As for the Dutch one. My friend who owns the car decided he needed to keep the chassis, suspension and running gear to restore one of his two Atlantics. I was feeling pretty fed up about it but he convinced me to do it this way and keep and repair my original chassis then thereā€™s no identity problems. The body, interior and the Hampshire-specific bits he doesnā€™t need are mine, FOC as long as I collect. After being dicked about and offered crazy ā€œdonā€™t want the jobā€ prices by various transport companies I decided to bite the bullet and go over to Holland myself and fetch the replacement bodyshell. So, Iā€™ve booked the ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland leaving Monday 5th Sept and returning on the 7th. Iā€™ve booked a decent trailer and borrowing my parents 4x4 for the trip. More on that later. I did, in the meantime, look for a replacement chassis. This proved elusive. I was quickly offered a decent Hereford chassis but the wheelbase is 3ā€ longer so the mountings for the rear axle were in a different place. I decided I didnā€™t want to get involved in that so I thought fuck it, Iā€™ll just weld up the original. In comparison to repairing the rotten body, itā€™s childā€™s play. The first thing to do was to remove the old rotten body. I spent the best part of a day removing the 12 body mounting bolts, some of which go into captive nuts in the chassis and I really did not want these to shear off, some of which are nuts and bolts but there isnā€™t a lot of room to get the angle grinder in there to cut them off. Amazingly, I managed to get some of them, including all the ones in captives, out intact with heat and gentle persuasion. A few things under the bonnet had to be disconnected, from memory thereā€™s the choke and throttle cables, heater hoses, wiring to the coil, starter and dynamo, and the earth lead. I also had to remove the steering box, which involved removing the trafficator/horn assembly, the steering wheel (which put up quite a fight to get it off the splines) and the column gear lever and rod linkage. Ideally, to lift a body off a chassis you need a two post lift, which you can put under the sills and lift it straight off. Unfortunately, I have a four post lift, which is great for most things but not much good for lifting bodies off chassis. After some thought I decided a good way to do it was to buy four strong ratchet straps (rated for 5000kg) ratchet strap the roof to the ramp and lift it off that way. I had a measure up and figured that if the car was sitting on its drums I might just have enough lift to be able to drag the chassis out from under it, but it still looked tight. The ratchet straps arrived from eBay with big warning labels on them ā€œDO NOT USE FOR LIFTINGā€. Well a body weighing 800kg maximum should be alright spread between four of them, surely? They only put these warnings to cover themselves anyway. I decided to give it a go. With cushions and towels to protect the straps, I managed to lift the body off the chassis and only forgot to disconnect two wires, which isnā€™t bad really. It was bloody close though. I ended up cutting the bottom off the rad support bracket and cutting out a section of the drivers floor under the pedals to get it to clear. In hindsight I should have removed the bracket, disconnected the master cylinder pushrod and tied down the clutch and brake pedals then it would have cleared. In the end I dragged the chassis out from under the body with my Rover 600, a good test for its new towbar. Unsurprisingly, the original body was so rotten it distorted badly on the side I hadnā€™t done any repairs on, good job itā€™s scrap! The roof looks ok, but the doors donā€™t shut anymore. The other side I started welding up escaped injury. Can I repair the original chassis? STAY TUNED for more exciting updates!
    15 points
  8. Tiny bit done this time round. Oh yeah, and I'm having dirty thoughts of fitting a turbocharged XUD9 to this.
    12 points
  9. This little puglet keeps flinging shit my way. It started with a bit of a shaky idle while we were down at FOTU, but that was easily ignored and put down to a tired engine mount. Last week the driveshaft carrier bearing started to howl. I also noticed the CV joint on that side had basically fallen off, so it was easy to justify the Ā£40 or so for a complete driveshaft from J&R. Another weekend doing stuff on cars when I'd rather be off doing.. actually I don't know anymore. I only fix things on cars it seems. The hose is because I somehow assumed that pulling a driveshaft out of a gearbox wouldn't result in gearbox oil everywhere. Replaced the diff seal while I was in about it. One problem down. I also packed the lower mount with structural sikaflex. Took it a drive. All good! Except the idle was getting worse and worse. I also noticed drips left behind in car park spaces which was a little worrying. Oh fuck off! I then made the mistake of tightening that fuel line, which just made things worse as I ended up showered in diesel while it ran on 3. When I removed it, I noticed a big crack around the pipe circumference, just behind the flare. I did have a full set of spare injector lines lying around somewhere, but after a few hours tearing the house and shed apart looking for them, no joy whatsoever. I have a feeling I have accidentally binned them. That's me; I hoard all the useless shit, and the stuff that might be useful one day I cheerily ram into a wheelie bin while whistling some inane tune. This however, was a sign from the gods. The gods of VEGETALS. I have this. Bosch injection pump. This will chew through WVO, power steering fluid, lard, a takeway curry. Anything oily and calorific. I also have a full set of injector lines for it, so that solves that problem at the same time. Out with the prince of darkness Lucas pump. In with the Bosch.... but wait! Although the pump will fit happily on those studs, it will be around 15 degrees out of time as they're set in place for the Lucas pump. They have to be removed and screwed back in to the adjacent threaded holes, in a clockwise direction. Like so. At this point since the timing belt is off, it's worth replacing it. It's quite an easy engine to work on in this sense, despite the lack of access. The crank, cam and fuel pump are all locked at TDC by pins / bolts which removes all ambiguity. If those pins are in, you can't go wrong. I like this a lot. I had a toys out of the pram moment when I noticed that the fuel feed banjo for the Lucas wouldn't fit the Bosch pump, which left me with no way to attach the feed line. @Lacquer Peel saved the day once again with his excellent supply of vegetable attachments. While it no longer has a bleed screw on it, I improvised by loosening the banjo and pumping the hand primer until diesel was spilling out of the connection without bubbling. Ready to turn the key. It lives once more. I had a bit of a problem with the injectors 'nailing' for the first few minutes which was quite frightening as it sounded like internal engine damage. However that did clear up - presumably the injectors lying for so long and then being put into use with bits of air in the fuel wasn't the best thing for them. Stay tuned for experiments in feeding this car various types of fat.
    12 points
  10. Absolutely love it. A while ago I was pottering around Oslo in a mate's '64 220 (nicknamed Mugabe), what a comfy old barge, hope the two cars meet sometime!
    11 points
  11. Stanky

    Lazy spotters thread

    I'm pretty proud of this spot, at a local petrol station while i slopped some very expensive 98RON into the sirion full-on Onslow-spec LHD 2.0v6 Taunus
    10 points
  12. Dad had an emergency operation. They've found the mother of all tumours in his vocal cords, gave him a traciotomy on Friday. They took a biopsy. And will decide next week what treatment he's getting Yesterday he was sitting up. They are feeding him through a tube. Today they let him get a bit of fresh air. Sounds shit? Why have I put it in the grin thread? Well he didn't die in the operating theatre. Doctor says : You aren't ill. You do have cancer and that might make you ill. But right now you are okay.
    10 points
  13. Some of you may remember that I was on a somewhat unsuccessful hunt for a 75 Tourer recently. Well, good things come to those who wait and after viewing some rough and badly described ones I managed to drop on this beauty a couple of weekends ago. Took a chance on a terrible Facebook ad, which had basically no information and some interesting photographs but which turned out to be something of a gem. Owned by a retired couple since 2014, it has only done the mildest of pottering in their ownership and was apparently mainly used to cart the dogs and Grandkids around. Seemed to be well looked after in their ownership, with plenty of service and maintenance receipts and on the test drive it pulled like a train and was absent of the creaks and squeaks the others I'd driven had. It's not perfect, and if it ends up staying with me (which if I continue to be this smitten it definitely will be) it'll need a fair amount of paint here and there. It's also got an intermittent airbag light which I'll need to get to the bottom of before MOT time as well as a rear wiper which may well be haunted but all in all, it's a lovely bus. Was up for Ā£995, but when I turned up and wasn't looking to scrap it or break it for parts the old boy was happy to do a deal and we settled at Ā£825, which with the way prices seem to be going on these, seemed like an excellent deal. Let's see if I still think that after a few months of ownership.
    9 points
  14. 9 points
  15. It looks in amazingly nice condition. And I notice that the dashboard, steering wheel, etc. look in much better condition than mine, which is worn. Quite a few of these cars have survived here and one actually drove past me on Saturday. And there are 3 for sale now in Norway. But they are all petrol. The one most similar to mine is this 1967 model which is the 200 petrol version. It is unusually cheap for these so the owner cannot know the price level or something is very wrong. But this one has a much nicer interior than mine in condition so I'm looking forward to getting mine close to as good.
    8 points
  16. Split_Pin

    The new news 24 thread

    A few of my absolute favourite cars at the Retroshite meet today: I actually thought this was the same Solara as the one which attended the June meet but it turns out there are 2 in the same area, not far from 'tooSavvy Bridge' in Linwood. I love these old 80s executive French barges. An oddball choice even back then. I now definitely want an e39, this 523i automatic was lovely. Grey leather interior with wood cappings. Lovely GLS CD. New shape. Of course, mine too.
    8 points
  17. I've been having some dirty thoughts about the Lexus...thoughts I struggled to express using free image editors. You get the idea anyway My Lexus is out for welding. The Insight is on loan and I've borrowed a different, aubergine flavoured LS400
    7 points
  18. And done. Looks like I've used a roller to apply the lacquer but it's shiny enough and I can always wet sand the entire thing if I wish, when everything's hardened up some more. For doing it outside, with spray cans and acrylic lacquer, I'm happy.
    7 points
  19. I did already have one, but spotted another at the boot sale for Ā£4 so this one's getting opened Had a bit of a 'mare today, thought we'd try a different boot sale but despite showing as on Sunday and BH Monday, it was deserted - their FB page hasn't been updated since 2020 so I suspect it is defunct. We ended up going to Dunton instead which is huge but also over-run with market type stalls selling cheap junk, plus it's all gravel paths so dusty and hard on the feet. Only a few diecast sellers, all of whom had somewhat higher prices than I prefer to pay. Still, I had some interesting finds and came to a fair agreement buying bundles of cars. Continuing with Matchbox, this is undoubtedly the best find. Miss BB was going through a box under a table and just handed me this without saying a word Road Blasters Mercury I have several really nice Turbo Furys, I needed one as a donor to fix the Mira copy that I have but they're all to nice to take apart. This one will have to be sacrificed Conti A regular wheels Miura now I've restored one... Onto Hot Wheels and another that's been surprisingly hard to find - ever since the Mrs customised my Kool Kombi I've been on the lookout for another, finally located one Hi-Rakers Corvette Chevy Citation Found a handful of Yatmings And the Kenner Fast 111 that later became a Matchbox Second Darda KITT in two days Nice little Husky ERF cement mixer A mix of Majorettes. This just made me smile, good to see the old Renault 4 casting Don't think I've found an Accord before Or a CX Corgis consist of this very nice X1/9 Decent DBS And a Studebaker - one of these formed an unfinished attempt at creating a hearse but was plagued with problems when pillars snapped etc. Maybe I'll leave this one alone That came from a seller who had this charming home-made garage That's it, other than yet more phones And another appearance for Hitler's garden gate
    7 points
  20. Iā€™m going to try. I think if I remove the rad support bracket and tie the pedals down it should be ok. The replacement has far more structural integrity than the one Iā€™ve just lifted off which had no floor or sills left. The lifting by the roof method was how Austin fitted the bodies in the factory. As long as itā€™s structurally sound, thereā€™s nothing to fear. The new body was removed from the chassis using a four post lift, two massive axle stands and a scaffold pole through the front door apertures. Unfortunately he squashed the door trims while doing so. But thereā€™s no other problems and all four doors still shut nicely. Apparently! When I did it I had straps at five contact points on the body, so the load was spread more evenly.
    7 points
  21. It was Prestatyn car show today, for the first time since 2019! Some of the more Shite-able entries includedā€¦
    6 points
  22. I've been back at home so I now know the full extent of what I saw on the two weeks away. A few things I'd like to find, but didn't, and as ever a few unexpected gems. Some more from the first few days...... Didn't see many 605s (and I ended up finding this same one in another town a few days later). This next batch were seen at a place where they had some good stuff back in 2019, so I hoped it would be worth stopping: Second day of the holiday and I've found a 6! Unusual American stuff. Wonder if the Seville is/was a diesel? It'd be nice to think this will see the road again. A bit further along the same road, someone in the car mentioned seeing some old cars. They only have themselves to blame..... Certainly looked like it was worth further investigation. Minutes after seeing the 6 I find a 10. Luckily there was a road up beside this place, so I could get a look from the other side. J7 van, Merc's and Renault 5 good to see, but the Opel?! Best shot I could get, looks to be a fairly straight survivor from Paris. That's it there, but as a bonus this tidy dropside Master was on a driveway nearby: And slowly getting back before the shopping melted..... This wasn't quite as out-of-use as it first appeared, it'd gone when we went past again a few days later. Ex-Sapeurs Pompiers J9, now a camper? Next batch to follow......
    6 points
  23. PhilA

    The new news 24 thread

    Emptied 1.5 wheelie bins full of stuff from the back corner of the garage, mostly Christmas decorations. Need to make a push on to get this sorted. Plan is this week to relocate the engine to in the car; one nice thing, found the driver's side door trim. It's a bit bent but otherwise good. Just missing one more for the back passenger side. Propshaft looks pretty rusty.
    6 points
  24. Dragged the missus and kids down to the coast to ogle old shite..
    5 points
  25. Drugs themselves aren't really particularly dangerous, in most cases. The risks/side effects of most drugs are very well understood, and on paper it is quite simple to calculate a safe dose. What makes them dangerous is the fact that they're sold by criminals, so the strength and contents are completely unpredictable, unregulated and untraceable. People are going to take drugs whether they are legal or not.
    5 points
  26. The red 93 has always had a very slight oil leak from the back of the engine but it's recently got a lot worse and is making a mess of my driveway. There's a vacuum assist driven off the exhaust cam and the seal between it and the cylinder head is a common area to leak oil. Lives under this area somewhere. Some stuff to remove, glad I have small hands. The square thing is the IONISATION MODULE. Me neither, no doubt its set to malkie due to Noobtune though. Pump removed The seal on the pump was intact but rock solid. You can see the oil on the top of the gearbox and the surrounding area, too hard to get a picture from up top though. New seal was a tenner, hopefully it will be here in a few days.
    5 points
  27. MiniMort

    Shite in Miniature II

    Ā£15 down but 15 cars up: And boy am I pleased. Thereā€™s a 1/43 of a Lada Oka (which will probably go to a mate), a Nova, Mk2 and Mk3 Escorts, two 2CVs, a Dyane, a Rover 800, a Volvo 480, a Citroen CX, a Beetle, a Minor, a Renault Express and even a Matra Rancho! With the exception of the Express, the Minor and the Oka, all of them are going on the ā€˜to be restoredā€™ pile.
    5 points
  28. Heading back home across country yesterday after a couple of days away, we happened to pass through Stamford and needed to stop for lunch. Thought we'd head down to the river and have a quiet picnic, only to find a car show taking place. Had spare time and the weather was good, so we had a wander around. Good to look at different stuff to what I see at local events, although the deckchairs, display boards and nonsense overheard conversations were just the same. The latter was particularly so on this stand. Lovely cars (wheels on the coupe aside), but my goodness there was some crap being spouted forth in that gazebo. No wonder the Granada clubs were always splitting-up into new factions. Plenty of patina on these two. The Triumph has had the same owner since 1968..... One car at least was familiar to me however: @meggersdog I believe..... Stayed long enough to see the Lancaster flypast as well, quite a sight over the historic town centre of Stamford.
    5 points
  29. cort16

    eBay tat volume 3.

    Nice XJS with recent engine rebuild. I know you used to get these for pennys but I don't think this price is totally unreasonable. https://www.gumtree.com/p/jaguar/jaguar-xjs-coupe-1987-automatic-3.6l-metallic-blue-/1438484139
    5 points
  30. Shopping safely back home, it was time to head back into town for a show and demonstration of vintage agricultural equipment. I'll keep the majority of that for the Tractorshite thread, but from attending back in 2019 I hoped there would be some other stuff to be seen on a sunny Sunday and I wasn't disappointed...... Inevitable that there'd be one of these somewhere. At the show: Properly old things. Closer look at the Panhard, apparently a 1951 Dyna X86. Beige one alongside it is a '57 Dyna Z15 which was on display last time I attended. Didn't see so many Meharis this year, but then we were some distance from the coast where they are very popular. This Dauphine drove past and later found its way into the show. This 403 was my favourite. Most of the tractors were of the cabless and older-looking variety, but I thought this tidy Zetor was particularly AS-worthy. Lots of other stuff around town: At first I thought there was a bit of odd-panel work going on here, then realised it was extreme fading. 230E and 300D respectively. Coincidentally in the same car park, I can imagine going back in 5+ years' time and seeing them still in day-to-day use. This Color Line edition was a bit tidier than most of the daily driver 205s. This 75 apparently a 2.0 diesel. Ex-NL Starlet still around from 2019. Quite a few 21s seen. Not sure if this one was out of action, although it was tidier than some I saw still in use. And this is why I enjoy my French holidays so much. Wandered back to the car after a pleasant afternoon and this was parked just a few spaces along. No way of knowing if it's enthusiast-owned or just someone's everyday transport, possibly the latter with the cost of used cars in France. Seems to have been local for a long time and apparently they don't put salt down which must have helped its cause.
    5 points
  31. Thought about sticking these in other threads but there's far too many. If I'd thought about it earlier I should have booked the Dacia in as an exhibit. As it was it made pleasant transport to the show. It wasn't the only classic in the carpark.
    4 points
  32. 11001010

    eBay tat volume 3.

    https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/ddr-ifa-awe-wartburg-353-tourist-bj-1980-1981-biberbraun/2181891494-216-3665
    4 points
  33. Visited an Antiques fair for the first time in ages, and while she examined the vintage jewellery I wandered off totally unattendedā€¦.. of course as we all know the lure of loose cash in ones pockets always brings temptation, however this time I could hear the ghostly chants of @RoadworkUK & @eddyramrod egging me on whistling in my earsā€¦. BUY IT BUY ITā€¦.. they chanted - and I buckled! Well thatā€™s my story and Iā€™m sticking to it šŸ˜‰ So the crisp Ā£20 note in my pocket begged to have a new owner, and off it vanished in exchange for this Z3 Coupe, lightly crumpled box and all. Itā€™s a UT models 1/18th diecast and it really is lovely. Doors and bonnet open, the interior has the blue seats just like the real thing. Under bonnet is nicely done though the chassis is a little bare. Still I think itā€™s delightful.
    4 points
  34. Dobloseven

    The grumpy thread

    Think you're being a bit harsh there. A young life has been needlessly lost. His parents are left with nothing but memories and might have beens.They're never going to see him get A levels, go to university or anything else at all. They're probably torturing themselves, should they have let him go, should they have instilled more caution in him.... Young (and not so young) people have always done stupid things and probably always will. The vast majority of times, no one gets hurt and their lives go on, hopefully a bit wiser. I'm sure there were plenty of others who needed first aid or a hospital visit. Not condoning drug taking at all, my many children
    4 points
  35. Yes! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225138862731?hash=item346b526a8b:g:AGYAAOSwOd5jC8MZ&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA0B7mZLpjhGCwED7H5TJmymr3ITxNslIozL6i90UUoVThcwrSTUqQDfcloHv%2FEyAaWlKb9jNBwthr%2BRkGEwKr3XOEEEJJUkhaOtNIyjOsETTSxnT8Nf1YOdkJbRyrh4oiwApSOz1gqWfF45RhR%2BeaAw5d9e2rQ%2Fot029gUdmi%2Bd%2FB8BJxp5PzjlIOt2zoPGScEKXzQx45idAURBlLQdyduvYari6csSjM44QaR%2FomyP0RodHwR4GoDqFp2fVe0BYyH7G0V%2BYVKazCW8nvXPXu1zg%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6aru6fdYA
    4 points
  36. cort16

    eBay tat volume 3.

    https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/814261433273578/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks
    4 points
  37. BeEP

    eBay tat volume 3.

    Fiat Tipo in a decent colour. No MOT though... https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1493249
    4 points
  38. Andyrew

    Andy's awful autos: PLAS!

    Up we go! The allegro then. Its blue. Very very blue. When the car was delivered the clutch bite point was all over the show im told. Talbot and chris tried to bleed any air out and after this the pedal failed to return. A good start it wasnt, and from then on the loves been a bit low for this blue turd. Clutch master solution worked (more on this later) With the heatwave i just left the car parked over at my parents place as i knew the care had a duff rad so really didnt want to use it. Ive booked it a place at redbourne classic car show as a mojo boost target to get some jobs done. Some basic faults appart from the overall cosmetic issues with the car then. Bad points. Wheel bearing loose and knocking its arse off. Gear shift as loose as a cock in a sock. Leaking radiator and awful brakes. Rather large oil leak/s. The most Concerning is oil from an area of the sump that has chemical meatal smeared onto it. Broken engine mount. Good points? It runs okay. Nips along just fine. Its solid where it matters Suspension mounts etc etc.
    4 points
  39. Took apart the old SAM module of CLK - totally fucking fucked with corrosion everywhere so I'm impressed car kept running perfectly for as long as it did. Suspension bits and brake lines also rubbed down, rust treated and painted on all four corners. Rust was creeping through on the underside so that's all now nipped in the bud. Found an aerosol of caliper paint lying around, so gave the calipers a quick spray too. And added the annual ritual of grinding down surface rust on all 4 wings, door bottoms, boot lock and bonnet area underneath grille. Now all filled, primed & painted. Also spotted a registration lamp bulb out, replaced with a bulb from my old XJ-S stash. CLK sailed through the MOT without advisories. Well worth the effort overall for another year of extremely cheap and comfortable shiteing.
    4 points
  40. cort16

    eBay tat volume 3.

    Tired Avantime https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175396325479?hash=item28d66f8867:g:dzoAAOSwrVVjCStH&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAkBAW4h%2FYSCZQlKJ76wfIbkT9J0I8yDlzX2UlO0XedwAeRinnvPEdf0Mp%2FgDnPw54zjrsuyA8ema%2FbFtBf6UUgj8M2qYAdL7twqLgkXVzkS8cErxR7f0wTi9uZUfumt2SFFtLTfua3Y4wbeYQWIKOZPZ1AQEOq8ZMH5bhxFrQ8jNiP0y1TQI5Wp4ZOSkSuduWIA%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR8Dbn-XcYA
    4 points
×
×
  • Create New...