colino

That 2cv reminds me, did Hubnut sell his softtop to Bigclive who's now wearing it as a hat?

That 2cv reminds me, did Hubnut sell his softtop to Bigclive who's now wearing it as a hat?

"Isn't it part of the mot test?"

https://www.gumtree.com/p/kia/kia-soul-1.6-2011-long-mot/1454069607

Some utterly depraved part of my brain finds this strangely appealing.
I mean, just look at the interior.


 
I hired a Kia Soul in 2017 over in Alberta and drove it around the Rockies for a week. It coped admirably well and was a silly shade of bright green. I think that's why I have a soft spot for them.

Time for another update I think. Not a huge amount done, but family stuff seems to be consuming my time a lot lately.
First up I did a bit of car washing after getting the E Class home:


Still need to sort out the derpy front bumper though, not sure why the PO chopped the sides off:

That's a bit better!


That's a bit, errr, something.
Next order of business was a reluctant hand over. Here's a grainy pic of my partner driving the Merc for the first time:

A look of complete concentration there 😅 I'm pleased to report though that she has decided she loves the car, so that's a result. She's been running it for a couple of weeks now, and I'm told that it it has made life much easier in terms of transporting the dogs and the baby compared to the Clio.
When we got the Merc it had some of the fan/temp controls which had no back lighting. No before pic, but I did pull the thing apart and sort it out. You just have to pull the knobs off (snigger) and then change the tiny bastard bulbs tucked below using tweezers...


What a pain in the arse job if you have moron hands like me. It did improve the feel of the cabin though.
Next up I figured out the bluetooth phone connection - the last owner said it was broken, but it just needed the tiny switches in the back of it adjusting to the correct position:


Good stuff.
Some random dog adventures in the car:


The roll out dog/cargo net is brilliant when you have a golden retriever obsessed with being beside the baby.
With no diagnostic tools cheaply available for this car, I half heartedly investigated the BAS/ABS/ESP warnings by checking fuses. This big bastard has blown at some point, from memory it was a completely unrelated circuit but I should probably replace it. No points for guessing how many times I've passed Halfords and forgotten to stop in for the fuse.

My regular reminder not to reverse a RWD car on to my front lawn:

Luckily the towing eye was present in the spare wheel well, and I towed it out with the 4x4. I really need to put a hard surface in place of that lawn...
No time for that though as we were going away for a bit

Where we got to run around in this, courtesy of father-in-law:



It was really quite lovely, inside was like it was out the box and it drove beautifully. Small economy cars used to be mega.
OMG kids in the car, etc.:

It did make me a little nervous taking my son out in the Corsa, mainly because of the local standard of driving.
Some of the other vehicles owned by the in-laws:


They had an old Hyundai 4x4 thing which I didn't photograph, but we did use in anger through the woods which was good fun.
Some other random vehicles that I spotted in an Austrian border town:


The one thing I'll say about the Corsa and the C3 Picasso we had use of, is that they were really lacking in luggage space. Once home in England, it was a relief to get out of the airport and be greeted by this old bus:


First weekend back from the motherland and it was time to do something proper*. The Merc had an intermittent warning light for the glow plugs. Best get her undressed then:


My regular reminder of what I will be fixing soon:


I've ordered some washers, a stretch bolt and a clamp. I've got the rest of the tools for fucking around removing and reseating the injectors so wish me luck. That's for another day though.
Back to glow plugs - after fucking around and breaking the plastic housing of one connector, I realised that the easiest way to check the resistance on these is to measure from here:

To a suitable place on the block:

Lovely stuff:

 
Obviously the two fucked ones were the front and rear ones, which are the hardest to reach. Now call me a cynic, but the 4 easier ones looked brand new compared to the two broken ones...
Oh well:

I forgot to get any penetrating fluid, so I used a mix of ATF and diesel as that's what I had laying around. I put it around the plugs, then got the engine warm. Surprisingly they came out fine:

Before they came out I would've bet all my money that they would have snapped.
Either way, the new ones went in without a fuss and the car is moderately happier now. It's easier to start from cold, but I do think there's an air leak in the fuel lines somewhere, and obviously at least one injector seal is in a bad way.
Next up, I really must MOT the BX Leader and sell it!
 

Update time. New season starts in Richmond or Twickenham, can't remember, the first week of April. The other dates have yet to be announced or rather I haven't been told yet. I don't know if I'll do a write up as I did last season because a lot will be a bit repetitive.
Off grid electric shite. As I mentioned, I think, I spent a fair chunk of my circus dosh on a lithium set up. Battery, 46ah, £1700, Invertor/charger, 3000w, £600ish, DC/DC charger, £200, cables, isolators, fuses, etc, probably a couple of hundred so in total about the 3 grand mark. It's a fair chunk to lay out but this should see me good for ten years at least. Battery warranty 10 years. I'll be 80 then, and will I still be able to live like this, then? Who knows. It took me a few weeks to get my head around how it all went together although there were set backs. I had to get the battery back to the supplier to have a new Battery Management System put in. Chinese innit. That set me back a couple of weeks and in the worst weather when I could really have done with it, If only to be able to lie in bed and hit the heater remote and go back to sleep for an hour which I can now do and is a luxury in my world. I could run an electric blanket but I feel that that is a bit too decadent. A full battery will last me 5/6 days with no sunshine. At the moment a full days sunshine, with 2 x260w solar panels, get's me 20% battery fill which is good for 2/3 days no sun. Panels give me about 30 amps an hour but can go up to 40. The other problem was that it seems the invertor/charger is rather hertz sensitive and a generators hertz level has to be buggered about with to get it right which can take a few attempts. Still, all good now.
A couple of pics. I know it looks a bit messy but it's under the dinette seat and therefore out of sight and it all works which is fine with me. The battery is in the cupboard next door.

I think these are the same as the e39 and have the flow and return doing a quick 90 degree bend from the floor and go up the front face of the tank. Then. If they've sat in mud for a few years, the pipes rot out.  A bit of DIY with 8mm hose, pipe and jubilees and your good. 

AEC mercury 1955 | eBay

£2500 for an MOT'd Rolls in wedding day white:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314460708883?hash=item493751a013:g:bpUAAOSw~n1kDcNc

However...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354643043750?hash=item52925f65a6:g:OvkAAOSwNBBkDYQv

A high mileage,  half-arsedly advertised  2.7 diesel XF in Blackburn. WCPGW?

jaguar xf 2.7 diesel car | eBay

Not uncommon if you are trading a handful of cars to have cheap mobiles with the name of the car taped to the different phones.  It really does work with buyers working through the buying tips from the AA book of the road.

Not uncommon if you are trading a handful of cars to have cheap mobiles with the name of the car taped to the different phones.  It really does work with buyers working through the buying tips from the AA book of the road.

Diahatsu Naked with a hummer body kit.


https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/725180495730758

February Classic: 24 Feb 2023 - 2003 BMW 530i (Conversion from 520i) Sport Touring Manual (barons-auctions.com)

£ 3,495, but
https://www.gumtree.com/p/bentley/-1988-bentley-eight-not-rolls-royce-v8-auto/1450354602

Not even golden hour can save it.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/627954592671725/

Late Rover 75 for maximum Project Drive influence.  Diesel, £995...
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1337167890414752

Probably one for the low cost big liability thread. V12 for £2750. Only needs valve cover gaskets and rear shock absorbers. Yeah right...
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/503556221895390/

Ok,not exactly barn finds,but nobody has been there for at least a couple of years.
My Dad is not too well,& has finally admitted that he's never going to do anything with various cars he has.
After losing the keys to the lockup,& not knowing the code for the security gate,my Brother & I finally got everything sorted & went to see what was in there.
First view after opening the door
He had the Alfa 33 Sportwagon on the road in the late nineties,it's been off the road in various places since then.It's rusty in places but looks saveable

In front of it is this Lancia Beta Spider

He bought it sometime around 20 years ago,the bodywork had been restored,& it ran,but the clutch had gone.I towed it home with my Fiat Coupe.He never did fix the clutch,& never had it on the road.
There are also various parts from Italian cars




Today was just a 1st look to see what was in there.
The plan now is to try & sell everything in the lockup as it would save my Dad a fair bit in rent,& also get him some cash from the sale of the cars & parts
 

Clutch starting to show signs of slippage under hard acceleration, and tyres needed, but £500 for an MOT'd low mileage Saab with Noobtune seems a bargain.

https://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=211194
 

Jag XJ with the RONG engine... 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/jaguar-xj-tdvi-sovereign-open-to-offers-px/1451554359

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325525874573?hash=item4bcadaa78d:g:yDEAAOSwDmNj4WKQ&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoAkNfzPPM9%2BgTopNSdUFnLkAdLzMkItJ%2F%2BS3rCaLMRrpuLncprKxgMgl909idvTC%2FjUYjQsTn3rQtDZTunmXmORAnUznx1mHRBwaHpUOZd4mcDqKP%2BNhOZwCMEG71s1zdp7jrhBPnBnxnThgo5Qp60TdNe1Je0KYrkaYJJZjHAH7P9tLNwZkCe4IYh6d77AEQrOSAfC2tH3E%2BZWWA0p%2FYc4%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR-723bnFYQ

I plugged the iCarsoft into the S211 today to see what codes were lurking since the flat battery, 33 mostly relating to low battery and one that stayed for the rear window child lock being stuck.
Definitely stuck down which is odd as I have no need to use it. No amount of wiggling was going to free the push button so off with the door panel and out with the switch, should not take long to free off.
Famous last words.

Took a while to free off using truck wash and hot water, Took even longer to work out how to reassemble.

Poxy ribbon cable split in the cold weather thanks to the glue.

Soldered the soddering thing.

Duct tape and jobs a goodun.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/mazda/mazda-121-full-automatic-12-months-mot-/1450309003