xtriple

When my wife and I first bought our house, I was skint, moved to the new area amd didn't have a job so went back to the faithfull standby of flogging motors! We bought a load but at one point we had in 'stock' a Safrane top spec job (though a 2 litre I think) auto and a Citroen Xantia which was a similar sort of level. My wife ad a brand new car and I had the 928 and we both preferred the Safrane (or the Xantia, moods drifted between the two!) and we nearly sold the others and kept the Frogspods.
Didn't as there was too much profit in them both but by God, they were both lovely.

Big single SU is the bollox on these engines, twins just use more fuel and go out of tune/synch I have a Cooper 'S' cam somewhere floating about, I'll see if I can find it for you... don't hold your breath!
 
Mate of mine from the days when cars were just something to use in winter to stop your bike from falling apart from ice and salt had a Moggie. It was a truly reprehensible heap and yet everyone loved it and when the spring sprang, instead of it going to Eva's yard like every other winter heap, it got put away and gently restored/repaired and used for many year. Great cars and with the mods on yours, truly brilliant cars.

So sorry to hear about your dog.  Horrible.

Top tips northern style 

fcff7eebeb71a2a184a297badf6065e8.mp4

I would like to say that you do utterly shit work... sadly my deal with the priest to stop being such a sour old lying git precludes such a statement. So I'll tell the truth: Fantastic work! Not only must you keep it up, you must also post many many updates to this thread so that I and others can live vicariously through you.
 

As I was a serial Citroen botherer in the past (in my case, everything is in the past!) having had loads of Xantia's, 2CVs a few CXs and even (briefly) an XM, I love these but have never actually seen one on the road, not round here anyway!  I am now a massive fan both of the car and of the OPs writing style. Keep it up, loads more posts please, I'm bored.

A very good friend of mine worked for Wadham Stringer and then an independant BL/MG Rover dealer. He always had Montegos or Maestros as company cars... MG's naturally! I went to a closed auction with him once and he could tell which month a Maestro/Montego was built due to all the various tiny differences that they got month by month as suppliers changed, he really was the ultimate anorak! He also got a 1 month ban for a 110 just outside Plymouth in a Maestro Turbo, they really were flying machines.
The first MG Maestro I had was a 1600 with the twin  choke carbs and the annoying bird chatting away at you, great car, when it went. Not a great cold starter... The last was a  late MG Montego 2.0 efi which I bought off  a mate 'cos he was skint! I really didn;t want it but it had a towbar and I had a boat, a marriage made in heaven! That poor car used to get reversed right into the water (salt water...) to launch the boat and then again to get it out. We'd launched the boat one night after work at Kingsbridge quay and then got chatting to a lass that had bought another boat off someone I worked with (oops) and it was sat at quayside with a flat battery. My mate, ever gallant ofered to go and get jump leads, I presumed in the hopes of getting a jump himself later...
Anyhoo, trailer off and he shot off up through the carpark at a rate of knots and was back in double quick time with the jump leads, he was also absolutely soaked from the waist down! Er, why?
Because the car was FULL of water from the launching and he, being a mad twat, charged up to the junction at the end of the carpark, hit the brakes and he said, and I quote... 'the tidal wave that flooded through the car was like a fucking Tsunami!' Apparently, the water went right over the top of the front seat squabs...
amazingly, that was the least rusty Monty-no-go I had seen in years and we used to leave it soaked in salt water parked for weeks at a time and the bugger would always start and go no problem, apart from the brakes having stuck on due to rust! When we moved I ended up giving it back to the guy I'd bought it froma s we already had multiple cars and nowhere to park this one, also, the various people that helped us move needed a lift back t Kingsbridge so it was easier to give him the car if he would give them all a lift home... he did live in Kingsbridge as well so not really a chore!
I LIKE Montegos and Maestros, but then I also get a warm fuzzy feeling over Metros so there is little hope for me.

Sneaking in smoll update.
As you can see I need a small patch to finish this off. It's a bit awkward and frankly I have no idea how to bend complex shapes correctly so I'm just going to bash things till they fit.

I'm not normally a user of CAD and prefer using duct tape over old rusty shapes and sticking it to new steel. But since I have no old steel to work with it comes in quite useful.

Shape drawn on to 0.8mm as it's a lot easier to bend than 1.0mm.

Snippity.

Hit with hammers. Bend with pliers.

 
Getting closer.

Close enough.

It's ugly though thanks to the bashing and bending. I find following the curves with the power file and giving it a good clean up helps.


That'll get welded in when the primer dries and I can celebrate the completion of 0.293% of this car.
I think some of the joins might be visible but 1: Meh. And 2: Body filler. 

I have had all three marks, all three were 1.8s mk1 and 2 were autos and the mk3 was a manual(the last manual car I drove!) I'll be honest and say 'I loved all three!' The mk1 was definitely the prettiest and felt the most fun but had more rattles and squeeks (not many though) and the Mk 3 felt very grown up compared to the others with a better roof operation (a whole 1 handle to twist instead of 2 on the others) and was a very solid feeling car. The mark three was also the rustiest of the sodding lot! Perfect on the top but brown underneath everywhere.
To be honest I'd have another mk3 but it would have to be an auto but I'd prefer a mk1 or 2 but manual -they are ust such fun cars to have.

Yeah fixed it...












 

Still loving this. It's so hard to use, it really does make every journey a joyous adventure, which is handy in these miserable times. 
If you stall it you have to get off it, stand beside it, either put it on the stand, which is in itself a right pita or try not to drop it whilst kicking it, very much not a right thumb dab or a right foot flick and kick. 
You need to adjust the timing as you go. If you don't advance it until you can hear the knocking from the cylinders and then back it off a bit then it barely pulls itself along. Obviously the optimal ignition map changes throughout the load and rev range, so for in town riding it needs constant adjustment. 
Gear changes are clutch in, press down firmly, there's a locomotive-esque grouchy clunk crunch, release pressure, clutch out. It cannot be hurried, else you end up with the worlds biggest and stickiest false neutral. You cannot really apply enough pressure with your toes to lift the lever to change up, so to get a higher gear lift your whole foot, twist it to get your heel over the push bit of the lever and push. It's easy to miss the lever, so best look at that rather than where you are going because if you don't press it firm and slow it's straight to false neutral city. 
If you get it all right then you can hurtle off the line, frantically slowly change through all 4 gears as fast as you can then you are as fast as brisk town traffic up to about 50 mph, outer lane of the ring road pace, but that's it as it is still on sidecar gearing. Which is fine, but some longer legs would be an improvement. This is possible but whether I'll bother? Dunno. 
It's got a low c of g and conservative geometry so it handles relatively nicely. There's a definite joy in momentum conservation and line planning to swoop round the bends and roundabouts. Enter the bend with a bit of pace, brake to the apex...... Fuck fuck fuck 

First failure. There are more enjoyable ones than the rear brake becoming disconnected but we lived. 😁 
A short time later a socket cap screw had its head filed down, a hole drilled in the end for a R clip (or 2),a washer and the missing swivel is suitably replaced 

Pleased with that, game on, back into use and spring is coming so thank fuck for that. 😁 
 
 
 
 
 

Its running!  Pulled some late nights and fitted the gearbox, driveshaft and exhaust ready for the big moment.
Doesn't matter how many times you do it its always a bit scary.  This one especially being my own car!  Here's a short vid of the first cough then start and some initial tuning.

First Start.mp4 I'm now working my way through the various jobs left to do including some engine teething issues such as...
Fuel leak from carb - already fixed it, filter bolt wasn't tight Valve clearances need doing Oil leak from crank pulley due to it being in very poor condition -  I'll swap it for another one Temp sender doesn't work It needs tuning/ setting up but to only have those 4 small issues so far is fantastic.  I've had it much worse in the past on other engines.
Lots of little jobs left to do but I can relax a bit now, the hard stuff is done.
 

Hello all! 
I thought it might be time to start a thread on these innovative little cars. 
They have an all aluminium body shell; only the slam panel is steel. 
Despite having nearly 250,000 miles on the clock Alison; my 1.4TDI is still capable of 60mpg.
I bought Alison at 125,000 miles and I consider her to be a Rolling Restoration. 
Various things have been changed; mostly Preventative Maintenance. 
Here, Alison is observed in a highly effective disguise at a BL\Rover Car Meet. I thought I'd add a couple of other pictures; Lord Boots is always on hand to help me with cleaning jobs. 
Also, the Balance Shaft, Chain and Tensioners were replaced along with the Clutch and Cambelt, etc... 
My previous car was Sara, a 2000 Rover 75 2.0 V6... 

This place successfully self moderated itself for years. The problems have coincided with a self-electing layer of unqualified and unnecessary management and a slow creep of homogenisation and intolerance of view. The last time I saw anything resembling this, the forum involved was being secretly sanitised for sale and now resembles a desert.
If for example, Mr B wants to publicly call me a knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing racist, I won't agree with his opinion but in no way would I want him silenced.     I would reserve the right to laugh and take the piss, mind.
It's beginning to resemble a modern centre of further education. Let it go back to the adults self moderating themselves and the problems will cease.

I'm sure they are heard. Shame they haven't been listened to or taken seriously for the last 8 years. 
You will? What about the other Mods?  I'd hope that they should actually read stuff they need to moderate themselves and get an understanding of the tone of a convo.
It's grey, and has been for a while. That is a self inflicted injury. Stop the rot first, then try and reverse it appropriately - not some staged grand gesture which inevitably will lead to a 'told you so' when a spat gets out of hand.
You can ask, because in green you speak as a Moderator. Something that no-one else is allowed to do about subjects which are Forbidden without a technical glitch.  You shouldn't, because that misses the whole point and just confirms nothing has changed in the Politburo. 
Ps, and I can't believe I'm qualifying this, this is not Post-on-Poster, or Posting-for-Efffect ) which should be Moderated imho, but an actual opinion about the actions, not the person. 

You also say, "you would loathe to lose the colour from the forum ... just because it is beige shouldn't mean we're only beige in content"
Yet it is the moderators here of whom you are one, who have deliberately, systematically and consistently extinguished that very thing. What made AS unique has been stamped out and smothered not by accident but by conscious decision and undertaken in such a way as to treat the members here as ignorant children. It is frustrating indeed as I retain a fondness for this forum. At its best it was superb, but  sadly the embers are now dim.

If anything demonstrated that nothing has changed nor been learned by the moderators here, then this response is it. 

I'd say after the last, disgraceful 'Modgate' episode where long time members were banned without warning or had their posting restricted and an infantile 'Glitch Excuse' was clumsily and arrogantly proffered, a request to take concerns over moderation to PM's rather than public discussion, is at best, a tad tone-deaf.

Been watching a YouTube channel called Carhax about various mechanical problems with cars:
Proper hilarious videos of bodges and revealing the lack of mechanical sympathy shown to cars.

As I was a serial Citroen botherer in the past (in my case, everything is in the past!) having had loads of Xantia's, 2CVs a few CXs and even (briefly) an XM, I love these but have never actually seen one on the road, not round here anyway!  I am now a massive fan both of the car and of the OPs writing style. Keep it up, loads more posts please, I'm bored.

Getting a call earlier that my uncle is in hospital having attempted to take his own life. 

When I took the SuLK to the garage for its service and MOT (whic was a BIG ouch!) I asked that they used Mobil 1 fully synthetic oil (as I always use it, it's good stuff   ) and while they laughed at me up sleeves they did and to prove it gave me the unused part of the second 5 litre can. When I checked, the car had done 800 miles on its last fill of Mobil 1 fully syntheti oil... I think it may have been... overkill!
A lot of my obsession with oil and changes comes bact to bikes, especially the dirt bikes which were changed every 10 hours and they only held a litre so (in the Husky's case) bloody expensive fully synthetic 10/60 oil after every ride and change te il filter every other ride. Also change the air filter (washable) every ride and brakes pads every three. Big board on the garage wall to point out what was due, to which bike and when!
I became even more nuts about oil than I already was.

When I took the SuLK to the garage for its service and MOT (whic was a BIG ouch!) I asked that they used Mobil 1 fully synthetic oil (as I always use it, it's good stuff   ) and while they laughed at me up sleeves they did and to prove it gave me the unused part of the second 5 litre can. When I checked, the car had done 800 miles on its last fill of Mobil 1 fully syntheti oil... I think it may have been... overkill!
A lot of my obsession with oil and changes comes bact to bikes, especially the dirt bikes which were changed every 10 hours and they only held a litre so (in the Husky's case) bloody expensive fully synthetic 10/60 oil after every ride and change te il filter every other ride. Also change the air filter (washable) every ride and brakes pads every three. Big board on the garage wall to point out what was due, to which bike and when!
I became even more nuts about oil than I already was.

Today we had a play with the plasma cutter...

My dentist advertise 'pain free' injections, perhaps yours do also? Cost a bit (about £40) and I have no idea how it works as I am cheap and my teeth fall out by themselves (bones like crumbly cheese    ) but worth looking into maybe?