mrbenn

Did I see this parked up in Wilmslow yesterday? Ironically, outside a fuel station 😁

Looked great!

@N19 Thanks so much for buying this, Tom! You were the absolute perfect buyer and made the whole thing very easy - much appreciated. I was indeed sad to see the car go but am so pleased it has clearly gone to a good home.
I'm glad it made the trip south without issue though I didn't expect anything else. The car has been brilliant during my ownership and I hope it continues to behave for you.

Thanks again!

I'm chuffed to see you're taking on the Focus. I've only seen one S plate estate and that was a 1999, never actually seen another 1998 registered.

Re the seats, the Zetec seats have bigger bolsters than the Ghia so while they may be a bit less soft/comfortable they'll be more supportive if you're the sort to "press on" a bit.

I'm hoping to get my own mk1 Focus back on the road shortly (been hiding from the salt). Looking forward to the progress on this one.

Not at all. My reply wasn't intended as a rebuke and apologies if it came across that way. Just wanted to add a bit more info.

An acquaintance of mine had been in contact with Rein and had bought, and collected, the BMW E30. Its not beyond the realms of possiblity that negotiations are/were underway with unknown parties re any of the other cars.

The state of the house and cars is a shame but life can be extremely challenging sometimes and I think many of us could sympathise with being unable to deal with certain issues at one time or another.

34 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

I’m sceptical about places charging £25 for an MOT.  They are obviously trying to attract the people with least money whose cars need most work , and are assuming most of that work will be theirs.

Agreed.

TBH I tend to think that £54 for a trained professional to go over the whole car and check its safe is an absolute bargain.

13 hours ago, meggersdog said:

Put the price up for MoTs from £40.00 to £45.00 last month. Last month most people were "yeah, everything's gone up" This week I've had two ask how much are MoTs  "HOW MUCH, oh okay thank's"  one booked in then half an hour later cancelled because they obviously found someone cheaper. Another although paid said he didn't begrudge paying but also mentioned it was a 12% increase. My price has been 40 quid for the last 8 years but trade still get it for £35.00. With the cost of electric I have had to put the price up. If the moaning about the increase carries on I might just call it a day and walk away.

£45 is still a decent price.

The place I use charges £54, but don't go looking for extra work and have helped me out in the past so I'm happy to cough up. If I wasn't then I'd like to think I'd simply piss off elsewhere without a commentary about it, as seems to be the norm these days.

Irwin extractor set - plus expansion pack. Never worked for me but probably operator error as I know they get excellent reviews.

What a great little car. I'd be interested to know a price if/when you offer it up here.

We've had ours for about 20 years now. We don't use it as a daily car but every one of the previous owners did. The last of those used it as her only car for 5 years and she was not mechanically minded in the least. It did very well though did need a fair bit of work when it came to us.

Despite not getting as much use nowadays as it perhaps used to it has done all sorts of journeys from a short local trip to 100 miles on the motorway. It doesn't complain and is actually very competent. Light controls, good visibility and a willing drivetrain all help here.

Though we don't use it in winter it has previously been out in all conditions. The narrow tyres are actually quite good in the snow and the heater is fierce so demisting was not an issue. The front quarterlights can be opened slightly to assist with air flow.

The engine in our car is a 1275cc. I understand the 1098cc is perfectly fine for daily use, and due to the longer stroke (?) actually turns over slightly slower at speed. We've never done anything to the valves in our engine. It used to run on standard unleaded with a shot of Castrol Valvemaster. We now run it on E5 "super" unleaded, still with Valvemaster added.

The parts supply is brilliant as you know. If we need anything we use ESM as it tends to land on the door mat next day. In our limited experience (sample size of one) they're very cheap to run, assuming you can do the majority of the work yourself.

Mechanically speaking, they're simple. I've done the clutch in ours, had the engine out, head off, refurbed the suspension all round plus back axle, brake rebuild etc... if I can do it then you certainly can.

Interior wise I've put Ford Ka seats in ours. The standard items were ok but tended to cause back ache on anything over 40 miles. Personal preference, of course.

Rust is the main issue, as you know. Ours has had a few bits of welding done in our ownership, mainly in the early days, but living in a garage and keeping out of bad weather means it stays in good shape. As others have said, pay particular attention to the spring hangers - front and rear, cross member and chassis legs. Be wary of anything covered in underseal.

They're brilliant cars!

Congrats on the MOT pass! Looks like an ace little car.

Re the water leak it might be worth having a look at this, chap here had a very similar issue:

1 hour ago, MikeR said:

Day off from driving for the car and me ...

Zetec wheels but with colour coded door handles and rubbing strips 🧐

Sorry if I've missed it on the thread but have you checked the alternator spins freely? They can seize up very easily on these, even after standing for a short time. This results in a slow/no crank. A spanner or socket on the pulley nut and some WD40 or similar will hopefully get it turning again.

14 minutes ago, Wack said:

I'd love to see how public transport is going to cope , when I bought my pickup from Bristol I flew from Manchester 

Train pulled into Warrington about 9am and it was rammed , 100 or more people on the platform I had to get on it or I was missing my flight 

By the time I got to the airport there was just me , if the passengers increase by a few % when they ban cars it'll overwhelm public transport 

Couldn't agree more.

Some years ago I commuted into Manchester by train for a short time. It was generally accepted that you ideally had to get the service before the one you actually needed if timely arrival was important, as one was likely to be late or cancelled. Always packed to the rafters unless travelling after 9:30-ish, which wasn't an option for most. Regular price increases, along with worsening service. It was not unusal for me to return to the ticket desk and get a refund on a ticket I'd just bought due to non-arrival.

It forces people into their cars, which means fewer people on public transport, which means less investment in the network. A vicious cycle. Years of underinvestment and, as you rightly say, public transport just isn't up to what will be required of it.

Action is needed re pollution in Manchester, and other cities, but like others I'm surprised the zone is going to be so large. I thought covering the area within the M60 was the plan, and would have been entirely reasonable.

I live 15 miles from the centre of Manchester. Travelling approx 2 miles up the road would see me entering the the zone.

Looking to the North sees the zone include Littleborough, for example. This had always struck me as being a fairly rural small town. Located approx 17 miles from the centre of Manchester (Piccadilly station, for reference) and found close to the Pennines. The zone extends to the Peak District to the East, and almost as far as St Helens to the West.

Though private cars are not yet included, I think it would be naive to imagine they won't be added to the list in due course.

For those not living in the North West, don't think for a second this just covers the City of Manchester. The scope is huge.

2 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

(as a side note,  @mrbenn im very happy to see your about still I hope all is well  ) 

Thanks Dez, much appreciated! Hope all is good with you

Not sure on the branding of the wheel cylinders, don't recognise the logo either.

Did you pull the halfshaft all the way out? Would definitely expect some oil to come out there. Either way do check the diff oil - they only hold about a litre and can easily become damaged with a low fluid level.

Should be able to tell whether you've got Marina or Ford disc brakes by the shape of the pads. Marina pads are quite square while Ford ones are a longer rectangular type shape.

Good news! Not the first I've seen with the bulbs the wrong way round tbh, easily done.

I reckon that 'stat housing should be ok with a new gasket, and perhaps a smear of the blue stuff for good measure.

The engine certainly sounded sweet in the video, and the whole car looks very solid. Sounds like you've got a good amount of spares to boot.

Very well bought!

TBH I hadn't spotted the standard Midget (post '66 if I remember correctly...) top hose.

A previous owner of our Minor had run the cooling system on water so it was quite crusty, looked similar to yours. I had to break the previous thermostat housing off but it was a while ago and I can't remember the replacement cost - though I do remember getting it from Moss! A thorough flush of the cooling system seemed to bring this back around with no cooling related problems over the next couple of decades, though I did have to change the bypass hose in the head which was fiddly. Oh and the water pump.

You'll need the more curved housing for the 1275 with standard Minor radiator. Pictured is my Minor 1000 with 1275 engine and curved thermostat housing, but standard 1098 top hose and radiator.

Apologies if a thousand other people have already mentioned it but it looks to me like your oil pressure and ignition lights are swapped. The ignition light looks to go out roughly as the pressure gauge wakes up, while the oil pressure light matches ammeter behaviour (with possibly slightly lazy alternator).

3 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

A while ago we were ripped off by a landscape gardener for £2500. We were supposed  to get our boggy ground excavated, all new drainage installed, new slabs, planters built and raised brick beds.

We asked for Eldorado, he gave us Ypres:

We are on good terms with our electrician and his mate, who carries out the groundwork on new build housing sites. His mate owes him a couple of favours so they both came out to survey the damage.

For a small cash sum and with some help from my wife and I, over the course of 3 weekends we now have this:

 

For a girl, my wife is not afraid of hard work. She's also freakishly strong for someone who's 5 ft 5. She handballed 3 tons of gravel today with 1 barrow and 1 shovel, while I was working.

Our electrician built the planter at the back from 6 railway sleepers and it looks great.

Had we put turf down again, the grass would have died again in a couple of years and become a mossy mess so we had no choice but to lay artificial grass. The electrician had done his own with some help on the ground preparation so between the 2 of them a grand job was done. The sand underneath was planed and  whacked in 3 thin layers until it was like a billiard table, almost a shame to cover it!

Thank goodness the whole episode is behind us now.

Bloody hell fire, that looks amazing! Outstanding work there!

Sorry to hear of the original charlatan. Karma is a wonderful thing and it'll do for him at some point.

Not sure if these have the low tension wire on the size of the distributor cap like the earlier A series engines, but if it does then have you changed it? Our Morris Minor used to cut out when the engine had been running for a while, not a hint of interest in starting. Fine when allowed to cool down then played up when it heated up again. Changed this wire and its never done it since.

That's awful Vince, so sorry to hear.

1 hour ago, BeEP said:

Ditto. Mine closed completely from 30th March to 26th May.

And mine. Closed for 8 weeks as they couldn't get parts.

I was at Manchester Airport in 2003 for Concorde coming in on it's last flight.

Was an amazing atmosphere but rather sad.. I'd been a fan of Concorde for years and used to watch it leaving Yeadon with my Grandparents.

Got some pictures but was still early days for digital cameras.