Richard

When changing drop links I usually use an open ended spanner to dislocate the ball and then grip the ball with mole grips. Have I been doing it wrong?

The only diesel I've seen that doesn't do that was my 850 when I used the Pela pump on it. The oil would stay clean for ages and never reached the usual diesel levels of mankiness.

The seller's attitude would be a red flag for me. Buying cars from wankers rarely goes well.

1 hour ago, Inspiral_Mondays said:

Is that an ashtray above the speedo?

1 hour ago, J-T said:

I think that’s the extensive HVAC system 

It is the ashtray. The HVAC system is the two slots either side of the ashtray, rubbish by 70s standards but quite effective by modern standards. The posher models got fresh air vents.

The Dacia Access models aren't that basic really. Fuel injection, 16 valves, rev counter, four doors, electric front windows, remote central locking, rear wiper, fabric seats, pre-wired for stereo, five speed box etc would have been top spec not so long ago.

The Astra E didn't even have a hatchback as I recall. That one has a toughened windscreen too.

IIRC there wasn't really room for a servo on the Mk1/2 Escort, I don't think any of the Kent engined models got one. The RS2000 had one on a massive bracket and people who built go-faster Escorts tended to use a remote servo. I don't remember them having a reputation for shit brakes and they weren't the only ones not fitting servos. The VW Polo didn't get a servo as standard (and possibly not at all) until the big headlight facelift in 1990.

SAM_6684 by pjlcsmith2, on Flickr

ford escort mk2 october 1979 by xr282, on Flickr

The Cortina and Capri pages of that brochure do mention the servo, so they would have mentioned it on the Escort if there was one.

Incidentally that brochure page is for the 1979 range, earlier models were less posh.

I know, but even with discs you didn't get a servo.

You had to go pretty posh to get a servo in a RWD Escort.

40 minutes ago, BoggyMires said:

Those family cars with the power windows up front and manual in the rear... seems so strange now to have done that, especially if it had central locking, they really were saving as much as possible. I suppose any things like small switches and ecu's were mega money back then. It's probably dearer now to make a manual window.

The later 850 GLT models had that. Half leather heated seats, remote central locking, electric sunroof, cruise control on the diesels, trip computer, air conditioning, 8 speaker stereo, even T5 alloy wheels, but keep-fit windows in the back. The model below had four electric windows and the model above lost quite a few of the toys the GLT had.

48 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

do you reckon those will work on an internal hex bolt. The bolt on my abs sensor is totally rounded inside, and of course because its an internal hex the outside of the bolt head is already round!  wondering if they will get enough grip on a head that is totally round by design

The Irwin ones certainly don't grip something that's completely round. These things do though https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/all-hand-tools/laser-impact-stud-extractor-1%2F2in-drive-121932.html

Other makes and sources are available of course.

I would think the previous buyer has reported it and it's still up. Are eBay bothered about fraud?

On 2/26/2020 at 1:06 PM, SiC said:

Frees a lot of room up in the centre console between the two seats. Also makes hill starts a doddle. 

I can accept that the electric handbrake frees up space (and is cheaper and easier to put together on the production line), I can even accept that it somehow meets the C&U regulations. What I'm not seeing is how haveing absolutely no control over when the parking brake releases makes hill starts even possible, let alone a doddle. ...

My nomination is Ford's decision to do away with fuel caps. It might work on cars that have the filler neck high up, Transit vans have the filler level with the tank and they drop fuel on every roundabout. Not much, but there are a lot of them doing it. It's easy to prove that the double flap system doesn't work simply by looking at the tide mark and swollen passenger door seal on any Transit more than a couple of months old. Quite why nobody is in jail for this is a mystery* to me.

*Not really

You could well be right, we'll never know for sure. The complete lack of any kind of reaction, futile or otherwise, from him suggests to me that he wasn't paying attention though. I'm not suggesting that he was in any way responsible for the situation arising, I just feel that he could have dealt with it better. He certainly couldn't have dealt with it any worse.

On 2/15/2020 at 8:16 AM, Sir Snipes said:

And we're all telling that is wrong. I don't understand why you're so keen to defend the women when the fault is so utterly and very obviously hers. Was that your wife driving or something?

I am not defending the woman in any way, I don't know how you could think that I was, although you seem to think that she hit his door when he clearly hit her car, so maybe you aren't very good at understanding what you see.

What I saw was BMW pootling along the road at 20ish mph, possibly on cruise. He also appears to be going up the middle of the road, but that might just be the camera angle. A driver approaches a Give Way from the right at some speed. The camera doesn't see it until the last moment because it is in a fixed position, but the driver's eyes and head can move so he would have seen it coming if he had bothered to look. After hitting the VW without losing any speed at all he continues, still at the same speed until he careers into a parked car.  Was he planning to just keep going until his battery ran out?

A competent driver would think "oh, that car looks as if it's not going to stop, I'd better brake or at least prepare to brake." He didn't do this, in fact it looks as if his cruise control was still engaged when he blundered into an entirely innocent party's car that wasn't even in the same street. There wasn't even any kind of exclamation, which is why I suspect he wasn't even awake.

The BMW driver seems to be a motorcyclist too, but he won't be for long if that 's the standard of his observation and reaction.

I'm not crying, I'm calling you a massive twat and telling you to fuck off.

54 minutes ago, yes oui si said:

ROAD ACCIDENT INVESTIGATORS OF AUTOSHITE HAVE EXAMINED BOTH VEHICLES AND THE SITE OF THE CRASH, AND CONCLUDED THAT THE BMW DRIVER IS AT FAULT. THERE WILL BE NO DISCUSSION. 

Fuck off you massive twat. 

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

You both seem to be implying that he deliberately smashed his car up to get YouTube hits.I think you should stick to commenting on YouTube.That's more your milieu.

I am suggesting that people who repeatedly post videos pointing out other people's shit driving are generally not the best drivers themselves. I don't think he deliberately escalated the accident, he probably thinks he didn't do anything wrong. 

I am not disputing that there was bad driving on the woman's part, just pointing out that there was bad driving from the BMW driver too. For the benefit of the capital letters wanker up there that's what discussion is.

Yes, and made absolutely no attempt to avoid a collision. Driving at a sensible speed is no good if you don't pay attention to what's going on around you.

He's a serial dashcam video poster too.

On 2/12/2020 at 6:56 PM, Kiltox said:

‘kinell 

https://youtu.be/ILYh7zM8Nck
 

Obviously it's the woman's fault but the BMW driver seems to have made no attempt to slow down either before or after the collision, just ploughed into her and then into a parked car that wasn't even in the same street. Was he even awake?

1 hour ago, FakeConcern said:

What is this recent phenomenon of drawing a nob on everything? I don't get it as I'm not keen to see any image of a nob...

Maybe I'm unusual...

It's not recent, they were all over my school 40 years ago. The vertical orientation was favoured and I thought they were cowboy hats.

On 1/23/2020 at 1:28 PM, jamiechod said:

That's exactly what they are for. I don't think I'd buy a used one though.

On 1/17/2020 at 9:46 PM, captain_70s said:

I shall now be in attendance and dragging the good lady down with me for good measure, expect Tronda appearance.

@Richard - It would appear we are both going past Chesterfield on the same trip now, could be fortuitous for engine collectionantion? 

Sounds good, let me know where and when to turn up. There's someone I want to visit in Chesterfield, so I'll try to work it around that. 

I intend to try out this iPhone's ground breaking properties immediately.

I'll probably just dump it in the black hole under the van seat. I certainly won't be using the bastard anyway, life is stressful enough.

7 minutes ago, Tamworthbay said:

Never has a brand been more based on shite over marketing than Dyson. The art of selling very shite kit at premium prices.

I can think of at least one more example. Coincidentally, my grump is that I've had an email from work to say that there's an iPhone waiting for me.

4 hours ago, Richard said:

My 1979 Chrysler Sunbeam had a diagnostic socket, though I can't imagine what information you'd get out of it.

My friend had a look in the Chrysler manual and found this, which still doesn't really make it clear what information you get.