chodweaver

So sorry to hear this, it's the most difficult of times.

For future reference, the key spins in the XM lock barrel when the key is not pushed in the last spring-loaded half mm of its travel

YESSSSS!!!!!

PS Binge read this entire thread over the last four nights (on holiday, so starved of distractions/entertainment) and the ups and downs of chod bothering mojo, fleet reinflation and budget bodging* has kept me riveted amd and raised more than a few chuckles. *With much greater skill and success than i can muster Keep up the bothering and the updates!

That sort of arrangement is in Chrysler Voyagers too - a thumbwheel that has a potentiometer part to its travel and two switch positions. And it annoys the shit out of me, that they have mixed up a control for instrument brightness with overall control of the courtesy lights, with two troublesome consequences: 1: with a desire for dimmer dash lighting at night and in shit weather, the driver winds the control all the way down, then none of the interior lights come on when a door is opened, and not driver nor passengers can figure out why 2: with a desire for the brightest level of dash lighting, the driver winds the control all the way up, into the second switch position, putting all the interior lights on, and leaves it in this position on exiting the vehicle, so that the eight dome lights stay on after the car is locked and they kill the battery overnight Two controls that it makes zero sense whatsoever to combine into one...

'How to win friends and influence people' Know how to fix chod

For balance, from here you can clearly see the LHM slick it's leaving in the ford...

Could be straight out of the original Citroen brochure, depicting elegant living in rural France, with the XM doing duty for the early baguettes, lait and croissants run, while later conveying its owner and his oh-so-statuesque femme to a little soirée... Ahem. Sorry. Didn't mean to wax quite so lyrical, but the sight of an XM in what appears to be its natural habitat etc etc. Calendar pic, Shirley?

If Khan has the autonomy/audacity to expand the ULEZ the way he has, I'd like to think the same could be done to curb the cruising culture's excesses

That's terrible news, so sorry to hear of your loss, Pieman

Totally agree with the above comments - your fabrication and welding are both excellent and streets ahead of what many charge lots of cash for. And worlds away from mine. This Honda's future is looking very bright! Big fan of these cars - had a rare spec 1.6i SE on a W plate - cooking lager by comparison with the 1.8, but it was a nice drive and a nice place to eat up many miles. Keep up this brilliant work, and the thread!

How is that gap there? Was it really that bad from the factory, or has some large scale bodging taken place on the floor or body? Invaluable insight into restoration techniques, this whole thread. Keep it up!

Mind if i take a shufty at it before it gets broken for parts? I had exactly the same behaviour from an HP recently, but it turned out to be an easy fix...

The visible customisations you list make me extremely surprised that it's come from a large dealership rather than them having punted it off to auction after trade in, but I guess they're still desperate for stock to fill the forecourt. Good job she has them on the hook* for its failings. I'd take great delight in returning it to stock, then tracking down the wise monkey that modded it and inserting the larger mods into their smaller orifices. Fortunately I'm too busy Good luck in all your dealings with the poor thing

@Shitbox-150 Have you successfully logged on yet?

Thanks. I'll ask him to try

Can the mods attend to a new user registration issue please? A friend has wanted access for some time and had tried several times to register. Most recently, he tried to sign up with the email address oliver at inavision dot co The site responds with 'this email address is already in use' Great! Thinks he, i have successfully registered on one of the previous attempts. And because he gets the option to reset the password on this login, he chooses to. He gets the email to reset the password, resets the password and straight away gets the following displayed: Reset password and this came up right away Which considering he's never got to the point of posting anything seems a bit unfair. Can you look into this please, mods? Thanks!

Be aware that you need to take the battery out between uses. Otherwise every AAA you put in it will be flat in a week. Also, the cover for the battery compartment is flimsy. Once the catch is broke, and it will break, you'll be holding it closed with electrical tape.

Vanishingly few. Because, as with the proper insurance for parcel delivery, it's fantastically expensive. And it doesn't come with all the marvelous advantages of ordinary Social, domestic and pleasure use policies, like 3rd party cover on any other vehicle. I'm not even sure that I'm accruing no claims discount on mine. So you can hardly blame them for taking the cheapest they can get, assuming they bother to get any at all - UberEats' checks when enrolling drivers are laughably lax. Some unscrupulous drivers will have multiple accounts, on multiple mobiles, and use them all to increase the number of delivery orders they can pick up. Leaving their mobiles on the outside window sill of the MacDonalds they're working from is also a trick to get first pic of orders as they go on the system - because the algorithm favours the mobile closest to the UberEats laptop in the restaurant* *Term is used loosely Also, watch out for takeaway drivers that over a period of months and years have a string of almost identical vehicles that carry the same (not personalised) registration. I don't know what the advantage of doing this is, but I'm sure the VIN number on many no longer matches its registration.

Depressing!

"I’ve always assumed that you can’t really use a 40 yr old plus car as your sole mode of transport as it’ll always break down and be unreliable but is that true?" Regular use? It's the best thing you can do for a car - it keeps the battery charged, and the engine almost never gets properly cold. You get so familiar with it, you know when some part is on its last legs, or about to fail. And the interior doesn't go mouldy. I got a mk1 MR2 from 80k to 235k over a period of about eight years, almost entirely on mileage for work. On the right fuel/mileage claim scheme, a shitter can earn its keep admirably, and means you can afford to service regularly and repair as needed without worrying about the cost. E.g. i was getting 330 quid per month PLUS 25p per mile to run it, and got to laugh at all my colleagues who'd also opted out of the company car scheme - to lease an Audi for which they were paying £350 per month. The MR2 made me money hand over fist. BUT. The down sides: If you're doing lots of miles, the shitter needs to be economical. I ran a petrol Multipla for a while, and it cost me dearly, because it couldn't better 35 to the gallon, yet the engine was too small to net a decent rate per mile. And it was on finance, because it was a cast off from Mrs CW. If you're doing the maintenance work yourself, those big jobs that you spend an entire weekend doing, finishing late Sunday night, just so it's ready for the morning commute - they're stressful. But with a spare car available? Not a problem. Spare parts supply needs to be good, too, or you'll be using the back up car a lot while you're waiting to put the shitter back together. Tl:dr - Do it

See, I STILL think that's one of the prettiest looking cars ever Good luck with the Rover of Demotivation. The work you're doing on that is an inspiration in itself

That's rough. Sorry to hear of your loss

Wussing out on account of dreary weather, a total lack of preparation for it and no tent. Have fun, all!

Possible late-to-the-party action from Yours Truly and even Keymaster, but only for Friday night and Saturday daytime, due to prior commitments. Is there still space for un camping-car Friday night and plane museum mayhem on Saturday?