bigstraight6

For some unknown reason I bought a Petter engine about 4 years ago, struggled getting the bloody thing home in the back of a borrowed Astra estate, cranked it up and watched it putter away to itself a few times then put it under a tarpaulin where it remains to this day......

For some unknown reason I bought a Petter engine about 4 years ago, struggled getting the bloody thing home in the back of a borrowed Astra estate, cranked it up and watched it putter away to itself a few times then put it under a tarpaulin where it remains to this day......

I well remember a trip to London to take in the sights in 1982 and the inside of my nose looked like a chimney sweeps at the conclusion of the day, this was not the case when I went back there a few years back which makes me rather sceptical.
 
If this anti dirty old diesel hysteria carries on it will be the less well off in society like yours truly who will be shafted, I'm not in any position to get financed upto the eyeballs to buy a new car even with the £2000 sweetener I'd get for my 54 plate Volvo D5, which incidentally is extremely frugal compared to its petrol engined counterpart and has another 10 years of service left in it I would say.....

I well remember a trip to London to take in the sights in 1982 and the inside of my nose looked like a chimney sweeps at the conclusion of the day, this was not the case when I went back there a few years back which makes me rather sceptical.
 
If this anti dirty old diesel hysteria carries on it will be the less well off in society like yours truly who will be shafted, I'm not in any position to get financed upto the eyeballs to buy a new car even with the £2000 sweetener I'd get for my 54 plate Volvo D5, which incidentally is extremely frugal compared to its petrol engined counterpart and has another 10 years of service left in it I would say.....

I get a new unit tomorrow, well I say new but it's a 14 plate MAN that's direct from MAN having been refurbished and I can't say I'm looking forward to it as the last batch of these that arrived about a year ago are dreadful things.
 
The worst issue is the gearbox, hopeless when you need slow speed control like when reversing onto a loading bay where you gently apply the throttle and the thing suddenly lurches, makes it look like you can't drive. They also suffer from lack of traction in most situations. These are 62 plate machines so I'm hoping the 14 plate might be an improvement, on the plus side it's a 480 where the last batch are 440's.
 
I fear the worse and will be missing my Merc Actros before the week is over!

You'll be fine with the 480, its the 440 egr with the waterworks problems.
 
I'd plump for another MAN if given the chance but apparently we're not having any more, had they specced correctly at the time with an engine big enough for our weight and 364 days a year day and night operation they would have been fine.
 
Agree with you about the gearbox, its shit to drive, i drive it manual all the time which helps my sanity a bit, and being a 6x2 soon as i need some traction i dump the mid lift air which makes life better and also depending on surface turn ASR off too, that makes the difference between getting into one particular blind side uphill gateway in reverse fully freighted, cos we've had Scania clutches destroyed there when drivers haven't dumped either the air or switched off TC, also turning those off helps when pulling out at junctions and on any tight turns, handily MAN's raise the mid lift completely even fully loaded after about 20 seconds, helps no end with maneuvers.
 
You mention the clutch judder when maneuvering, have yours done around 500k?, if so get someone to check the clutch release bearings, ours failed one after another around that time 450 to 550k leaving you with no drive whatseover, i asked the dealer to look at my clutch about 3 months before my release bearing failed, judder was excessive, obviously that inspection was clinical in its ignoring.

I get a new unit tomorrow, well I say new but it's a 14 plate MAN that's direct from MAN having been refurbished and I can't say I'm looking forward to it as the last batch of these that arrived about a year ago are dreadful things.
 
The worst issue is the gearbox, hopeless when you need slow speed control like when reversing onto a loading bay where you gently apply the throttle and the thing suddenly lurches, makes it look like you can't drive. They also suffer from lack of traction in most situations. These are 62 plate machines so I'm hoping the 14 plate might be an improvement, on the plus side it's a 480 where the last batch are 440's.
 
I fear the worse and will be missing my Merc Actros before the week is over!

If you want an old Ford with rear wheel drive, column gear change and front bench seat a MK3 Zodiac is what you need. They drive so much better than the MK2 cars, and you really need a six cylinder engine in cars of this size and weight, the MK2/3 four cylinder cars I've driven have been hard work.....

Thanks for sorting out the problem Dave, it's very much appreciated....

A good friend of mine is restoring a 1978 Sherpa camper, it's that nice light brown colour and has a pop up roof and 1800 B series power with an overdrive gearbox. The outer sill panels are a bit frilly but he's recently managed to source a new set from somewhere off the interwebs, and with that work done and a repaint she will be there which will hopefully be for this summer as I'm hoping to borrow it for occasional weekends, it's a really lovely old thing that I much prefer to some hideously expensive air cooled VW heap

That one is an Invincible, I think the Warrior replaced the Invincible. Great looking lorries those old Guys....

That's ace, there's one like this that floats about Plymouth but it looks much older with a lovely chrome grille that's slightly oval in shape, and I'm sure it has fins over the rear lights which again makes it look older. It's apparently available for hire and I might be just doing that as part of my 50th birthday bash in just under 12 months time

That's ace, there's one like this that floats about Plymouth but it looks much older with a lovely chrome grille that's slightly oval in shape, and I'm sure it has fins over the rear lights which again makes it look older. It's apparently available for hire and I might be just doing that as part of my 50th birthday bash in just under 12 months time

I have the utter shame of an 02 plate Polo TDI, the oldest daily driver vehicle on the estate we live on. People on said estate look down their noses as I go clacking past but I have the smug satisfaction of knowing I'm not financed upto the eyeballs like they are just to have very new vehicles sat on the drive....

I have the utter shame of an 02 plate Polo TDI, the oldest daily driver vehicle on the estate we live on. People on said estate look down their noses as I go clacking past but I have the smug satisfaction of knowing I'm not financed upto the eyeballs like they are just to have very new vehicles sat on the drive....

I have the utter shame of an 02 plate Polo TDI, the oldest daily driver vehicle on the estate we live on. People on said estate look down their noses as I go clacking past but I have the smug satisfaction of knowing I'm not financed upto the eyeballs like they are just to have very new vehicles sat on the drive....

That looks like a useful old tool, great engine that.....

Merry Christmas, I hope you get all you wish for and have a breakdown on the way to visit the family and end up stranded on a miserable hard shoulder with a gently simmering head gasket, only joking have a great one chaps!

That's all the things I like in a car!

That's all the things I like in a car!

Agreed, I've been driving class 1 for about 16 months now and after the initial week that it took me to get the reversing bit it just clicked and it's just so easy. I still do the odd shift in a rigid and have not lost the skill to reverse them either but much prefer driving arctics, much easier.....

I did, and the entire lower half of that car appears to be Wob, the dodgy speaker would be the least of your worries with this heap....

I did, and the entire lower half of that car appears to be Wob, the dodgy speaker would be the least of your worries with this heap....

I did, and the entire lower half of that car appears to be Wob, the dodgy speaker would be the least of your worries with this heap....

I did, and the entire lower half of that car appears to be Wob, the dodgy speaker would be the least of your worries with this heap....