theshadow

well now turned up,genuine 18000 miles  rover metro manhattan a,looks like a giant hamster has had good nibble on the roof;as has the slam panel,does it need to be welded on slam panel....interior looks fine,3 mths mot,more to follow,...

right cold out,fibreglass now appliedl little longer to set,coming along ok,2 new pictures,more to do...

right cold out,fibreglass now appliedl little longer to set,coming along ok,2 new pictures,more to do...

well now turned up,genuine 18000 miles  rover metro manhattan a,looks like a giant hamster has had good nibble on the roof;as has the slam panel,does it need to be welded on slam panel....interior looks fine,3 mths mot,more to follow,...

well now turned up,genuine 18000 miles  rover metro manhattan a,looks like a giant hamster has had good nibble on the roof;as has the slam panel,does it need to be welded on slam panel....interior looks fine,3 mths mot,more to follow,...

well now turned up,genuine 18000 miles  rover metro manhattan a,looks like a giant hamster has had good nibble on the roof;as has the slam panel,does it need to be welded on slam panel....interior looks fine,3 mths mot,more to follow,...

well now turned up,genuine 18000 miles  rover metro manhattan a,looks like a giant hamster has had good nibble on the roof;as has the slam panel,does it need to be welded on slam panel....interior looks fine,3 mths mot,more to follow,...

well now turned up,genuine 18000 miles  rover metro manhattan a,looks like a giant hamster has had good nibble on the roof;as has the slam panel,does it need to be welded on slam panel....interior looks fine,3 mths mot,more to follow,...

More about the two Johns:  Not only do they look after the many eighties to noughties daily drivers of the locals (you should see the number of 190Es, old Volvos, old Golfs and Polos, 205s, Audi 80s etc that are parked in the surrounding streets), but they also have time to stop, chat, drink tea, and act as a sort of benign neighbourhood watch in the street. They take in deliveries for people who are out, look after dropped keys and phones, and all that. The only thing they are rubbish at is sending out bills. 

skoda now sold..

Princess update. it is still in the air, I tried to fit the exhaust in early October but the tailpipe was near the rear wheel rather than the rear of the car. Due to the train driver training I've not had much time to devote to the cars of late. Once (hopefully) the training is complete in the New Year things will pick up.
I've decided to give myself a kick up the arse so it needs an MoT in 2016 or I'll sell it to someone who can get it back to condition.
The seats are back in now however.

 
Yellow Allegro is done for the year now post NEC, the thermostat will need to be replaced after yesterday's freezing journey home from Brum. All tucked away in the Allegro Shed now. (The wood prop is for keeping the door closed not holding up the roof!)
 

 
In a new feature on cars I (well we) own but have never driven meet this Lagoon Blue Allegro, an 1100 de lux. Base spec, extra splashed out on Metalic Paint. We got this car in 2006 from a couple of friends of ours (where the yellow estate also came from). It stayed in their barn for a while then moved to our house in the days when DW was a car mover. It has hidden in garages ever since and was joined in 2008 by a twin which actually had an MoT.
 
It did make it to BMC/BL day in 2009 on a trailer but has never been driven and is so far back in the queue I don;t know what the plan is. That said if we sold it I bet it would be scrapped in weeks which would be sad. Anyway here are some pictures.
 


 

 
And a Quartic steering wheel!
 

 
Any a picture of the twin now and when it was on the road
 

 
 

 
 
So next years plans?
Tomcat Coupe to come off the road at some stage, needs paint, wheel arch and door rust repairs (currently small) and a general tidyup.
Brown Metro will come off the road in late spring for general tidying. Red Metro will be back then, needs to have a fuel leak fixed first.
AX to be repaired to take over daily duties, CV joints, check of the rear axle, does anyone have any clips for the front door cards? Ideally a return to the original Mk1 interior if I can find a replacement driver's seat.
Princess to be MoT'ed and wheel arch repair and paint
Marina piston rings removed and refitted with the correct gap (I fail at mechanicals)
Purple Allegro paint, saw it in the shed earlier looking sad

 
Red Ambassador exhaust to be found/made and fitted.
 
That should do for plans, it will all change by next week anyway.
Thanks for lasting to the end of this long pointless ramble!
 
EDIT: Fuck that on the road picture was so long ago I had hair! Still wearing the same jumper however.

I've actually owned this for a couple of years but due to being stored at a friends house and having too many cars its been forgotten about
 
Sold my Merc w123, Niva and Tercel and decided to keep this one as its from an era of cars I like best
 
Trailered it home today where I hope to get all the major work done over winter, as if it isn't at home in my garage it won't get done
 
Interior totally knackered including a rotten dashboard but I bought interior to go in
 
Will update regularly if anyone interested,
 
Despite the plate it is a 1958 mk1, not sure of its history
 
Bought it off a Granada mk2 fixated chap who really ought to be on here, he also had a Polo that was made of so many different cars he was considering making a harlequin replica

right yesterday pulled out the gearbox its fooked,noise on bearings etc,time for s/hand box from scrappers,plenty of corsas in yard,will put in new clutch in from euro,looks like front suspenion arm no good,got the radio out of safe mode,new code for 99p on ebay.more to follow..gearbox cost £49,from low mileage corsa,..

right yesterday pulled out the gearbox its fooked,noise on bearings etc,time for s/hand box from scrappers,plenty of corsas in yard,will put in new clutch in from euro,looks like front suspenion arm no good,got the radio out of safe mode,new code for 99p on ebay.more to follow..gearbox cost £49,from low mileage corsa,..

bought yesterday for £130,clutch high,not slipping,1.2 ecotec v/hall,few months mot,first jobs,get euro front pads,just caught them in time,pollen filter never done, was last serviced feb 15,more pictures to follow,

funny enough loads of bill,s including timing chain done,£224,has had the water pump done,,previous bills,even has a receipt for halfrauds for new battery fitted june this year 3 year g/tee still,have to sort radio currently in safe mode,better pictures tommorrow.

bought yesterday for £130,clutch high,not slipping,1.2 ecotec v/hall,few months mot,first jobs,get euro front pads,just caught them in time,pollen filter never done, was last serviced feb 15,more pictures to follow,

bought yesterday for £130,clutch high,not slipping,1.2 ecotec v/hall,few months mot,first jobs,get euro front pads,just caught them in time,pollen filter never done, was last serviced feb 15,more pictures to follow,

skoda now sold..

skoda now sold..

A while ago my lad's car failed its MOT on a couple of small items, wiper blades, discoloured indicator bulbs, and one big item - a very rotten n/s outer sill. "Dad - what can be done now?" he asked, I weighed up the options which were 1. Pay someone to fix it, 2. Weigh the car in and put the proceeds towards another motor 3. Have a go at fixing it myself. Options 1 was discounted because I am from Yorkshire, option 2 seemed a waste, what's to lose with Option 3?
 
The car in question is a 2001 Peugeot 206 1.4 - just an anonymous everyday small car, not worth much, not particularly desirable, so I asked on the relevant Peugeot forums for advice and tips - has anyone replaced a sill? how much did it cost? etc. The general consensus was Don't Bother - scrap it - a replacement can be picked for little money - not worth welding up a rusty one etc
 
So armed with the above advice I purchased a pattern sill on e-bay for £65 ordered extra MIG wire and plugged in the angle grinder and had a crack. It looks like the sill has been full of water as a result of blocked drain holes, it needed a couple of repair patches to the central sill panel and the box sections at the base of the A & B posts needed rebuilding. It took me about 2 and half weeks of spare time and weekends after which it passed its MOT, I have now spent another couple of weeks grinding, filling and painting to an almost imperceptible match* (viewed from approx. 50 yards) so the big question is
 
WHY BOTHER?? would you or would it have been a one way ticket to the bridge?

when you press down it does not lock,post code bl1 2lt,underneath has no rot,1.3 been busy earlier,phone number 01204 294497,keep forgetting the number..rather save it ,as it was going to be scrapped,thats the whole point of autoshite.

when you press down it does not lock,post code bl1 2lt,underneath has no rot,1.3 been busy earlier,phone number 01204 294497,keep forgetting the number..rather save it ,as it was going to be scrapped,thats the whole point of autoshite.

was due to been scrapped,because the bonnet will not lock,!!!!!!looks like a monkey has already had a go....mot till april,drives like a skoda i think,no problem with emission scandal,....put some pictures up,tried to do petrol picture,no go as they were doing a cash delivery,...total spent £5.00,petrol...will get picture up of bonnet catch later,windup windows,1.3 ohv,joy no belt...

I learned to weld when I was 13.
 
My dad was an Engineer. I mean a real one. I dont count anyone that works in a garage as an engineer. Hhe used to design and hand build (with his team) prototype engines. Diesels, mainly, for big generator sets, and then later Gas Turbines.  My dad was a mechanical and maths genius. He also used to fix his own car, and thus I learned to fix mine. Sometimes a car repair would halt for a day while he made a special tool  to do a specific job on a specific car.  When he died, i found a metal chest filled with home made tools of outstanding quality, beautifully crafted, all for totally unknown purposes.   (I shall do a  thread about my dad later).
 
.
Although at first I started with soap box carts. And he taught me to gas weld so I could build better ones than the other kids.....
 
I started to use welding in earnest when I got sacked from the local electronics store for accidentally electrocuting the tea lady.  I got a Bedford 6 cwt van, a probable gas welding set for BOC (Oxygen K and Actylene J) , and started going round  the council estates welding cars on the road, or on driveways.  I became an expert at welding upside down laid on my back. I only did it during the spring/summer/.autumn months., im not laying in snow and rain.  There was one street i did a car at one end, next door asked me to do some work, then the guy across the road....i worked my way along the entire street over a period of two months. I think I welded every car  on the street, that summer.
 
I used to charge for the time, the materials, plus £1 for every burn, less 50p for every cup of tea supplied. Plus there was an Idiot Surcharge of £5 f the customer merited it.
 
I always had a rule that i welded outside on concrete. I had several near misses with cars sinking into the ground or sliding forward off jacks or axle stands. The only time I broke the rule ended in disaster. I agreed (against my better judgement) to weld a floor pan on a car on axle stands in  a cramped garage, over a pit. I dont recall the type of car, but i knew the fuel line was  metal and ran up the side of the chassis rail.  I warmed it up and scraped off as much of the underseal as I could, working on the theory the rest can just drop harmlessly into the puddle in the pit
 
Except it didnt. Unseen to me some twat had spliced in a section of plastic pipe. The torch flame melted it and the petrol tank started emptying into the pit.  Then a small blob of burning underseal dropped into the pit and WHOOMPH off it went. 
 
It impossible to put a puddle of burning petrol out, when its in a pit with a car 9 inches above it, and almost no access.  The car and garage burnt to the ground. It even made the local paper.
 
Anyhoo, eventually, BOC jacked the price of gas up so high it became uneconomic. When I started it was £30 to fill the bottles and £80 a year rent, ten years later it was £80 to fill the bottle and £250 a year rent.  SO i moved onto first electric (hated it) then MIG/TIG - far better. 
 
But you still cant do with MIG what you could do with gas. Gas is much more flexible and useful ,especially for building up paper thin areas. and you can use gas to get nuts/bolts red hot to loosen them off. And temper tools with it. And start barbeques with.