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why did i dont know but haggled on price he wanted kings ramson but he needed space it was his late fathers car,but its got its good points it runs stops and starts really nice interior nice as your going get them still got its orignal lw,mw radio lol,rock solid underneath innerwings inside the boot,and parts i need are very reasonable used to over price ford panels be tax exempt next year,stood in lock up for 15 years and front window was smashed so damp air got to front wings but only bolted on, its had 90s repair on end off sills,its in my lock up be slow rebuld ,its not been botched so i think got a good starting point lol,wanted something get my teeth stuck into,am so bored so it should keep me busy

A friend sent me this picture. A real RS2000 painted up like the Matchbox version!! Cool😎

Been after a cheap learner car for a week or 2. This came up on Facebook last night, messaged him straight away and went to view. He said he had already had tons of messages but I got there first and put a deposit in his hand This morning did the 20 minutes WALK to collect it lol Citroen C1. 08 plate. No electric windows, no central locking. 4 weeks MOT. I was hooked lol. Its really solid underneath, 2 new tyres on front and it drives so nice. Not a single suspension noise or anything unwanted All for the super price of £850! Few marks on body but oil and water clean and it fires up and wants to go! MOT booked for a couple of weeks, I want to clean underneath and give it a spray of waxoil, also want to give it an engine service The plan is to give my lad some lessons and when he passes to give it him as his first car

What an excellent day at a show that seems to get bigger and better every year. I photographed pretty much everything so I'll just share a few highlights. Mmm, purple Wolseley wedge Police pursuit* vehicle Camp in style* with a beige Maestro Allegro Equipe with Serck plates. Oooof! MGA was the oldest and most exotic car there. Turbo diesel SD1 in hot* pursuit. Oldest Marina in the world, registered two days after launch. Note right-way-round wipers. Another Marina with right-way-round wipers. Weird one this as it was LHD and converted to RHD quite recently. Have the words "beautiful brown Montego" ever been used in the same sentence before? That's how this prizewinner was described. Postman Pat, Postman Pat and his Maestro van Intrepid traveller came from the Netherlands. In a Metro. Beige Ital, cor indeed! Never seen a Vermilion ADO16 before but the colour suits it This has allegedly done over a million miles on the original engine Only known surviving Metro in this weird colour called 'Sombrero' Definitely not BL, this enormous barge was lurking in the car park, on the grass as it's far too big to fit in a space Also got to meet Sarah Crabtree from Bangers and Cash, who was doing the prizegiving. She seems a lovely lass and reet northern.

Great day out today with the BL Gang @Slowsilver @quicksilver @Andyrew @Zelandeth @Prince_of_darkness91 @BeEP @Skizzer at Milton Keynes Museum.

Got fed up of tripping over my acadianes engine, so started cleaning it up ready to refit. Carb was a bit mucky. But a few hours in a nice hot bath Got it a bit more presentable. No idea of it'll work, but it's cleaner so that's good, right?

Chap went all the way to Portugal to buy this little Uno and drive it home to Liverpool!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275473955832?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ByHrt75FQgy&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=FZibxPfIQ0i&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I haz been to circus. Firstly a big "thank you" to Paul for sharing his afternoon with me and showing me around. Its a great set up there and it looks like Paul has really landed on his feet with this one. I am almost a little envious. I didnt bother photographing the Peterbilt, as its already graced these hallowed pages, but as an ex lighting engineer, I couldnt help but photograph the rather impressive lighting rig inside the big top. I then spent a good 10 minutes thinking this would be ideal tent for putting on a rave, although I am sure the council would most definitely not approve. Anyway, the dancing girls then appeared and my thoughts wandered elsewhere. I shant detract from the show for anyone planning to visit. but it looks a whole lot better than those circusses with donkeys I remembered as a kid. Best of luck with the touring Paul and enjoy Amsterdam when you get there. 🤪 In other news, its good to know that Southsea hasnt changed much since the 70s and can still offer a properly shite dining experience. Managed to catch the hovercraft as I left. Definitely not shite.

Drop link done.

It's turned green.

And collected. That is hopefully all.

Angle of the dangle. The N.s mirror was tacked in place with 4 blobs of RTV silicone. The casing wasnt busted so it hadnt taken a wallop. Maybe just broken inside. Lets sort that out. First thing was the little toggles holder had unclipped itself. Probably from trying to be adjusted, this clipped back in. The mirror is a very low end pattern part so the overall quality is shite and very creaky. Carefully uncliping the glass revealed the centre hub. The 3 adjustment cables push through from the back and the little nipple on the end clips comes though a larger hole and moves inwards to clip in place so all three keep tension one each other. The black one had ripped through as the plastic had failed. I wrapped a small cable tie around the metal cable and wedged it down into the void. The now ment the metal cable stuck up too far out of the hole. Using a 'jet' lighter (that id actually found under the carpet in the 107) i heated the nipple untill it was cherry red then pushed it down into the cable tie, melting it and essentially glueing the little cable in place. A bit of grease around the swivel mech of the mirror. Cleaned off the old silicone and wacked it back on the car. The mirror glass quality is laughable.

Most of my photos from the day are on film so will be a little while before we see them. There were a heck of a lot of Metros there today! This one of course being my favourite for obvious reasons... Always a good event though. A lot of single marque shows can be a bit samey I find, but given how diverse BL's portfolio was this is always interesting. I'd honestly forgotten this even existed in convertible form. An SD1 is always worth a photo too, and always looks great. This one is definitely quite a rarity though. Can't be many of those left.

Moved my car using a brush today.

I was on a road trip to Leicester to flog the brown c90 and got a couple of spots.

https://www.leboncoin.fr/utilitaires/2225431401.htm

Rare spot today… 2.3 supercharged one… gorgeously understated. Sadly bar a fair few miles in the 9000 on family duties that was all the car action in my weekend. Frustrating as I’d really hoped to get a couple of hours to finally finish the 2CV revival ready for an MoT, drain the Nova’s tank and investigate the Pontiac’s misfire.

On board the Galaxy. SB on the M74 with @jaypee ETA circa 40 mins.

So to close the air con book for another year - the garage never called me back. We will look at it again in the new year. The 120 series has an annoying fault with the rear door where over time the door tends to slip down. The door is too heavy (especially with the spare wheel) and the bottom hinge can’t cope. It can also (apparently) cause the door skin seam to split. That’s not happened to me, but over time I’ve noticed the door slipping and yesterday it slipped to a point that it was hard to close the door right. The solution? Two 12mm washers. Held up with a floor Jack and some breeze blocks. Shuts like a new door. Annoyed with myself that I didn’t do it sooner! Inside I’m in the process of upgrading or replacing bulbs in the car. I’ve not done the switch gears yet, but tried out the map lights with some LED ones. I think it’s brighter, but it feels like a more modern car inside which is better I think. One thing that’s annoyed me is when I have the baby in the car, and it gets dark, I can’t see him in the mirror. The solution to this is a rechargeable book light. Works really well at the dimmest setting and is the right colour to not affect his sleeping. Next bits of work to do before I go on holiday is the timing belt, water belt (both on order), LED lights for the inside, and maybe a new tension lock for the rear wheel cover as mine is seized. Timing belt and water pump is being outsourced, I have serious CBA vibes with that job.

One shiny new ball joint fitted to the Maxus. Fuck me, what an effort. My tools and I are really not cut out for working on big vans. Now going to have a crack at the drop link and track rod end on the other side. Not sure I can face the other ball joint today...

https://www.leboncoin.fr/utilitaires/2224338724.htm

v8 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225175641879

Probably right for their market, even if a bit steeper than we'd expect to see. I've been grinding through the editing and Flickr uploading so time for another update here...... I should have made more effort to get the Punto in shot, along with the 205 and Twingo. This is France in 2022. Tractor blocking the main road out of town. Not because the local farmers were protesting, but because it was closed for the hillclimb. Entries ranged from 106s, Saxos etc to single seaters and open sportscars. The midfield stuff interested me most, things like a rapid Simca 1000, and I have a few more photos of those to come at some point. For now please enjoy this rather nice 75. This Escort made a run at the end of each session. Quality head protection. At the end of the day all the cars were driven into the town centre, some with a bit of 'enthusiasm'. The pair of black lines left by a BMW drift car were still there nearly a week later..... Saw this in pre-restoration condition on my last visit, great to see it up and running. Apparently this is a Gitane Testi. I can offer no further comment. This looked to be in the condition you'd hope for of an old van. Trafics still in use by the canoe/kayak hire companies, these ones looked pretty decent. It was a diesel, somewhat unsurprisingly. J7 hadn't gone far since I saw it in 2019, although it was at least facing the opposite way so hopefully does see occasional use. Probably the most interesting Lancia I saw, looks like it gets worked hard. 25s getting thin on the ground, this one looked pretty decent. Don't recall seeing any Phase 2 models this year. Roland Garros with lacquer peel. I ended up seeing A Lot in this town. Saw these two within half an hour so of each other. Can't think when I last saw a van in the UK. Street furniture. One of my favourite finds of the holiday. Not so many Pandas out and about this time. Kenzo edition, not one I can recall seeing before. This garage looks like it's only recently been made more accessible, with work being done on the house. Great to see the Ami - saw a later Break on the road another day. Tatty Express, driver looked like he might be an off duty Gendarme so this was a hastily-taken shot. Slightly strange to see such a quintessentially French car belonging to Dutch tourists. Apparently it was sold new in NL. Looked like it was well-used. That brings me up to halfway through the second week, still a fair bit to go.

https://www.lesanciennes.com/annonce/citroen-cx-2000-1974-a536235?ftype=vo 900 € Citroën CX 2000 1975 première série après la DS.Stockée dans un garage depuis 1984.Pour pièces ou à restaurer.Moteur non bloqué à remettre en routePas de corrosion perforante.Teinte d’origine AC 639 Bleu Lagune54 721 km, clefs présentent, pas de carte grise, prévoir dossier FFVE

Had a surprise birthday party for the Mrs today, just tidying up and found a slightly soggy parcel in the garden rubbish pile Obviously it was a GS Rather than a DS, the 1303S was my main target. Postman is usually very good so I take it this happened on his day off. Other deliveries made it into the house unscathed, first of all a Dinky Alfa in better shape than my current version And then a couple of still-boxed beauties, a Mazda B1600 in a slightly worn box The pickup is perfect though I think I'm the 1st person to open that tailgate No box damage on this Polistil MK3 Escort though Going to have such fun applying the stickers

Yes. .. Ha Ha Ha... Yes!

Car was looking a bit sad. Started to polish it up. It's come up okay. Got this far, needs some more detail work and the chrome polishing. Too hot to continue now, the polish dries before I can buff it off.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204099459388?hash=item2f8546993c:g:mD0AAOSwP4FjLEwH

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265901582816?hash=item3de8f829e0:g:nvwAAOSwaLdjLx7l

I went to watch banger racing for the first time in my life tonight and bloody loved it. Getting sprayed in mud and bits of driveshaft whilst eating cold chips with shit cheese on top surrounded by pikeys. I can’t believe I’ve never been considering I live so close to a couple of circuits and get in free to Kings Lynn one through work. Definitely going to be going regularly, really enjoyed it.

Ummm Im doing it wrong arnt I? Started out the year with a 500 and slowly downgraded to a 50....

It was great to catch up with @Six-cylinder, @quicksilver, @Slowsilver and @Zelandeth - and there were some cracking cars. I was also beyond excited to meet Harris Mann. I’m a big fan and he’s a lovely bloke, we had a really good chat. Absolute privilege.

https://www.subito.it/auto/fiat-panda-cafe-1000-fire-prima-serie-milano-457528160.htm

So, back to the gearbox. I'm not rushing this. I could go quicker but I can't be arsed half the time. So leading on from the last post, I took both layshafts round my friends to get the circlip out of the mangled one. But we then found that the one without the mangled teeth, which had the circlip and retaining washers missing had worn quite badly where the needle rollers were able to float back and forth. The retaining washers are supposed to be a tight fit, you tap them in and out but in this shaft they just float about. So I have one shaft knackered on the outside and one knackered on the inside. If I had to use one I'd use the one with better teeth, I'm sure a bit of play in the needle rollers would still last me a good while with the mileage I do with it. But there was a third option. Ring another friend who I knew had a couple of spare gearboxes. So I went over there on Friday and removed the layshaft from one of those. I slid the shaft gently out to check the circlip, retaining washers and needle rollers were all present and they were so I slid the shaft back in before the rollers had a chance to escape, bagged it up and brought it home with me. Sorry, no pictures but as I said before, it's just more pictures of gears. Also previously I was stuck with first/second synchro hub and first gear itself still stuck on the mainshaft. All the other gears just slid off but these last ones were sticking on what I assume is a slight burr on the mainshaft. Both gearboxes were the same and I assume this is normal otherwise Triumph wouldn't have made a special tool to remove them. Figure 28 below. You can't see what's inside but suspected it was just a fancy puller. It needs to be about 10 inches long to fit over the mainshaft. I have pullers but nothing that long. I found some for sale but they started at £40 and they weren't here now. As with all these jobs that need special tools, they don't usually need special tools they just need a bit of ingenuity. So I basically disassembled all the pullers I had and joined them together to come up with this. This just about worked on the gearbox in the garage but I just couldn't get it to stay on on the one in the car. As I say it's just so much fiddlier trying to work through that little hatch inside the car. More ingenuity was called for. This little tyre lever was just long enough that when I hooked the end behind first gear the other end stuck out the end of the box giving me room to clamp the G clamp on the end. I could use this first as a hand hold and then had just enough room to tap it with the hammer. Then I found the next problem. Up until now I had left reverse alone. It is up in the top of the box away from all the forward gears and I was hoping I wouldn't have to touch it. But you then realise first gear is bigger than the others, which is obvious when you think about it, and it catches on the reverse selector rod thing. This is the homemade puller just extracting first/second synchro. Reverse is on the top left. So reverse had to come out too. On both boxes. So finally I got first gear out and as expected it had a few chunks out of it which I was expecting as the corresponding gear on the layshaft was damaged. Fortunately the other first gear is good so I now have everything I need to start putting it all back together. I mean I couldn't have stripped it any further. Look, no gears. As I write I have finally started putting bits back in. So far just reverse and first and I've cleaned up the first synchro hub ready but that's it. Slow but sure. I even have new synchro rings. Rimmers were selling them off cheap a few years ago so I bought a whole bag full. I've got ten spares. Well, I've got eight left now. To be honest the old ones looked OK but you might as well put new ones in whilst it's apart. I actually only changed first and second as they are the synchros that do all the work. You never have trouble selecting third or fourth however old the box is.

Tomorrow and Tuesday is days off but not for me by the look of it. I'm off to Peterboghorror, as I believe it's called, to drive something back here so that's one day not off and Tuesday isn't looking good for a break as somebody in the 'ladies' toilets decided they were going to remove the linkage in the cistern and stuff toilet rolls into it. Ffs. The womens toilet is always the worst. Trying to flush nappies and shit loads of wet wipes and complaining about blockages. There are bins in every cubicle and by the wash basins and they don't seem capable of using them. Grrrrr. Holland has gone from 2 weeks to 4 in Amsterdam so that's to look forward to. Nice. Last show is on 6th January. Then it's 3 weeks off before a show somewhere. Don't know where yet. So November off and 3 weeks in January. Got to get some work done to the Big, service, brake pads, possibly shocks, a tyre has a bit of a bad bit on the sidewall. generator needs sorting as doesn't supply lecky. I also want to get the Lithium set up in. £1755 for a battery and then £100 for a controller, Dc to Dc invertor charger £600, and other bits £3/400. It was nice to meet @808 Estateand put a name and a face to a fellow shiter.

Bit of ingenuity required. I reamed out the sheared bolt to 10mm. It’s an M12 thread so with my assistant we tapped a new thread in it. But the replacement bolt wouldn’t go home. So after a chat with the tame fitter at work he brought round a bit of hi tensile 10mm studding with a nyloc and washer on each end which acts as a temporary pinch bolt. Everything else went back on like a dream which was nice. A quick drive up the road and the difference in the car is night and day. Feels a lot more responsive. I’ll retorque things tomorrow before stepdaughter goes home. Does mean with some urgency I need to rebuild the second hub carrier I bought yesterday so I’ll start acquiring bits for that and get building it up.

I now present a pair of that incredibly rare car the fait x19 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175427480384?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=56f1af96785c4b678d95f23e3984f700&bu=43184927288&ut=RU&exe=0&ext=0&osub=-1~1&crd=20220925084508&segname=11021 Yer buy one, yer get one free!

I thought that was an absolutely tiny 4cv on the back of it at first. 😂

There's a nice bakery near our new unit. Real good gear - Focaccia bread, Croissants, Cinnamon rolls, them pecan plait things, all that bollocks but incredibly nice. Last week I bought £12 worth of fancy stuff, ate half a cinnamon roll and brought it all home, left the bag on the kitchen side and went in the shower. Dog ate the fucking lot. FFS Friday after work I popped to the new unit to have a clean up etc, and the bakery was still open (they seem to be going 6am-9pm!) so I bought another bag of lovely stuff. Left it on the kitchen side. Went in the shower this morning. Yup. It's all in the dog again. FFS

Got around to fixing the Golf. A common fault is for the lugs on the intercooler pipe into the EGR to wear which means that it pops out under induction. Happened to me last Sunday on A23, turned out I didn't have a valid MOT and cost me the best part of £500 to get recovered home as the AA wouldn't fix it at the roadside (fair enough). Hell of a noise when it came off and suddenly losing power going for an overtake with smoke coming out of the back like a destroyer running from Yamato is not entirely entertaining... £25 later on eBay for a replacement pattern part and about half an hour of my time. The only tricky thing was getting the circular clip off the bottom of the pipe with a pair of mole grips, as the access is fiddly and I'm a ham-fisted idiot. Popped the car into gear on the drive, left the handbrake on and got the turbo to spin up and it didn't pop off - so as far as I can legally test it, it's working. MOT next Saturday morning so we'll see how it goes. Going down to Bath for work the week after that for a couple of days and I don't want to get the train, really. Intercooler pipe: Corroded lugs: Fixerated

Paging Jackie Chan…

I knew our Vectra was closing in on all the 2's and as Mrs Popsicle mainly uses it I asked her to grab a pic to put on here. So shit loads of panic about driving and remembering to do so resulted in this the other day. I thanked her for going to the trouble as I really didn't fancy a kicking for moaning about the quality of the photo!

I have been to speedway before, have actually worked at a couple of speedway events. Good night out but just doesn’t interest me like the bangers did - probably because seeing old shit cars is relatable for me, in fact mrs JJ stood next to me said and I quote “I know why you like this, its because it’s full of old fucked cars, most of your cars have been old and fucked” 😂

Back on the floor after nearly two years I really need to get my finger out. I needed Boris to move under his own power to turn him around but the extra bracing I had added was in the way of the pedals so had to go for the moment The clutch and brake pedals share the same semi seized pivot shaft which currently makes forward momentum a bit erratic. With the car back on its wheels I was pleased to find the driver's door still opens and closes without catching. I really like these 13" eight spokes and can see me swapping between the wide 14's and these as my mood takes me. Despite the scary rot the nearside is slightly better as the door fits ok and so the hinge panel can be patched rather than replaced. And an added bonus after fiddling with the carb and distributor settings I have now got the engine to Idle smoothly and rev cleanly without bogging down. And the clutch operation is a bit too fierce for my liking (it's either in or out) but all the linkage is very worn and dry so I think it can be improved later on.

gr8 pl8 m8 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115529902487?hash=item1ae61e6997:g:u2gAAOSwwJxjJeq7

There have been a few changes recently. This became mine after some money changed hands. Then next in was this Which was to replace this that left today Think that about covers it all.

I wouldn't go as far as that, but a 1.8 TC coupe definitely. My friend had one and you could spin the wheels in third gear and throttle steer it with ease. Just as much fun as the Aston for less than the cost of a set of brake pads probably. Certainly at that time anyway, it couldn't have cost him more than a few hundred or else he wouldn't have bought it. Tundra green too.

I took a ride from Ipswich to Orford Quay last weekend too. It’s a lovely ride through the forest . I’m parked the other side of the quay to you 😉

XJ6 back after too long. On the upside it's as smooth as silk engine wise and the electrics and stereo all work so it's an functional car now.