bigfella2

The Machine passed it's MOT today, first time of asking since the last ticket to ride experied, Oct 2022. En route hame from MOT station, the instrument cluster went dim and then, stopped working completely. No gauges nothing, blacked out. That was the highs and the lows of today.
Bugger... Car drives fine, heater, windows all work fine. Headlights now come on with and stay on until the ignition is switched off, related, and the left hand indicators have ceased working, related.
Had a quick look at the 5a fuses for the cluster, there's three of them and they all seem, fine. Now parked up with the battery disconnected. Checked for fault codes, none, it's a wiring or relay issue, or the clocks have just packed in? Anyway, 12months ticket to ride was the mission achieved for today.  Focusing on the postivies.  It's still great to look at.

This still hurts!

Another one shamelessly nicked from farcebook feed:

that green stripe needs to die by hairdryer

Yep, they always manage to find the best/newest tyre and lodge themselves in the non repairable zone 🥲

Invacar?

Not current, but my boss from garage days in the early 1990s loved an obscure motor. He had a Fiat Argenta as his personal motor for a fair time and often sourced oddities for the forecourt. Some examples which stuck with me were a 240k Skyline coupe- the first and last I've ever seen in the metal:

A chap who worked there owned a ropey Stellar in that 80s metallic blue. Again, never seen one in the metal since I don't think. 

The biggest surprise was his Renault 18 turbo I drove when he asked me to collect a few bits from the motor factors. I was halfway past a car in a 30 limit when the turbo eventually spooled. As an 18 year old who'd only owned and mainly driven a 1100 mk1 Golf and then a 1100 Morris Minor, I damn near shat myself. 

 
 

Ugly as sin, but I bet it shifts!!

Have you considered an X5 instead? 😂

Ugly as sin, but I bet it shifts!!

Ugly as sin, but I bet it shifts!!

I've just finished a 230 mile journey in it. Not eco driving or owt, but also not ragging it because the roads were horribly waterlogged.

A 370bhp powerhouse has no right to average 38mpg on the way up.

It's witchcraft.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

Renaultsport Heaven right there. 👍

Probably the newest car you could get with the rugged TU engine, non of this prince rubbish, what a shame.

Peugeot 307 1.6CC Low Miles 68,000 With Full Service History | eBay
'Would make a great promotional car'


 

Renaultsport Heaven right there. 👍

Renaultsport Heaven right there. 👍

I have to agree with Mr Pastry it's a horrible job repairing random inaccessable rot.
I have an elderly relative with a Rascal Camper van that needs front arches,seat belt mounts and front panel sorting out he has tried local garages and mobile guys and got nowhere so reluctantly he asked me it i could have a look as he knows i am busy with a house move and my own crap.
I don't want to do it but i've looked at it and it doesn't look a lot but it's fiddly,awkward shapes and has been bodged before and i know once i start cutting i will end up finding more corrosion. Flanges that have gone crispy and swollen are far more time consuming than they they look.
I  estimated three days to do a nice tidy job and as he is family quoted him £240 labour plus gas and sundries say £300 all in which i thought was reasonable but i have now heard back through the family grape vine that i am being greedy and ripping him off.
I am in a no win situation here as if i just patch over the rot or ignore the flakey bits it will look crap (and its an area that is very visible) and it'll need attention again in the future and i'll get called a bodger and expected to put it right for free.
 
 

@SmokinWaffleYou're welcome, that feels like a looong time ago now.  I've had my haircut at least once since then!
It's good to hear that the BX is having a little rest but will live on.  I do have an occasional look for one of these or an XM, but I've still got to finish start sorting the Saab first.
The red Reliant front end lives on, I rewired it and it lights up the end of my garden:

My old Avensis has been giving me a concern for the last few weeks. First start of the day it would briefly run on three before being ok for the rest of the day.
I checked the glow plugs and one was dead but modern HP diesel systems don't really need them for starting but I changed it anyway but it still fired up on three. Then one morning it reverted to starting on four again but it now had a noticeable diesel knock between 1200 and 2000 rpm until it had warmed up instead.
I don't possess a scanner as I only run old jap stuff so I couldn't look at what the injectors were up to so instead I splashed out £8.35 on a bottle of snake oil and glugged the whole lot into the fuel tank.

Well its taken about 100 miles but last week the old girl finally stopped knocking from cold and is now positively brisk again (well as much as 154k/126hp Toyota can be).
Was it the fuel additive or just coincidence I've no idea but whatever has managed to unclog the injectors nozzle then happy days.

Done.

Couple more to do them I'm packing it in.

I think go right ahead. Original content and well put together repair stories are always welcome.

If you get stopped, do the police tell you to get your COC out?

This morning, I've been looking into getting hold of a certificate of conformity to try and make my 306 ULEZ-compliant.
Not sure if it will work, and some of the websites seem dodgy, but I've heard others have had success doing this with late-'90s petrol cars. 
I'm very nervous about clicking on this green button though... 

Hahaha look what I bought I September, was going to start my own thread shortly, when I get round to starting work on it. Would be a G plate too if it wasn't from Ireland.