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drewd

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drewd last won the day on May 11 2023

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  1. The Janpay20 code expires today. I've just ordered 2 x 5 litres of 5w30 C3 and 6 cans of brake cleaner for £29.31. Hopefully it'll arrive in days rather than weeks.
  2. My renewal on the C Class Merc was up from £450 to £550 with full NCB. Shopping around I can get it to around £480. The Pug 307 is around £380, but I've only got one years NCB to use against it. That's about £150 more than the cheapest quote I got last year with no NCB. I was planning on dropping down to one car, I should probably do that sooner rather than later.
  3. I might be in the minority here, but the Bosch Aero wipers I'd fitted to my 307 a couple of years ago were great, if pricey. They were silent, smear free and lasted a couple of years. I replaced them about 6 weeks ago with some cheapish blades from GSF and they're terrible by comparison. They squeaked and juddered from day one and they don't clear the screen as well as the Bosch ones did. My W203 also has Bosch blades on and although they don't smear they're really loud. I'm going to replace these soon. Does screen profile make much difference? The W203 is older and has a more upright and curved screen compared to the 307. Perhaps that's why the Bosch baldes work well on the 307?
  4. I've a W203 with the OM612 engine that suddenly became difficult to start a few weeks back. I've had the car for around 11 months now and aside from the electric heater booster going open circuit and draining the battery repeatedly it'd always started really easily until then. This is my first Mercedes so I'm still learning about them, but read that the o rings are the most common problem of non starting diesels as they fail as you mentioned and allow air into the system. I also read that the plastic fuel lines get brittle with age. I ordered some o rings from a Mercedes dealer but each fuel line I'd touched (fuel filter to low pressure pump, low pressure pump to high pressure pump) broke as soon as I touched it. The Voss fittings on the lines broke under the pressure of me trying to release them. I've ordered the replacement lines plus one from the high pressure pump to the fuel rail. They arrived this week so I'm planning on fitting them this weekend. I'm sure you're much more knowledgeable and experienced with these things than I am, but just thought I'd mention the fragile lines on the off chance you're planning on swapping o rings on them.
  5. drewd

    Man Down

    Sorry for your loss.
  6. Ah I didn't realise. From watching the videos I was under the impression that top speed and acceleration were similar to the original flat twin output and hills were still a struggle. Perhaps this was due to leaving the car in 3rd rather than using the gearbox?
  7. I presume you're referring to Johnny Smith from The Late Brake Show? If so I've seen the videos he's done on the 2CV and the van and I'd agree they're not for me. I've nothing against EV conversions and actually think they make a lot of sense in some vehicles but the implementation of this conversion leaves me feeling underwhelmed. The very limited range, no increase in performance and slow charging just seem like too much of a compromise to me, especially for the cost. I'm clearly not their target market though. One of the great things about EVs is the torque and increased driveability; if only they'd made made this able to accelerate and keep up with modern traffic a bit better, and gave it a better range it would be so much more useable and appealing to more people. I could understand it if it were due to space constraints on the 2CV, but I would have thought they'd be able to improve it for the van. Unless I'm missing something? Here's the links to the videos should anyone be interested. EV Van video EV 2CV video
  8. Dave's been cracking on with this during the evenings this week and today. He's taken the inner wings off to check the general state of things. These are @DaveDorsons photos as he's doing the work. I've not seen the car for over a week so I'll let the pictures do the talking. The brake discs and pads will be replaced and I'm going to order a couple of rebuild kits for the calipers. Dave's given the inner wings a bit of a clean up The main body seems decent but the inner wings could benefit from some love. Wire brushing has made some holes appear, and they're a bit frilly round the flanges... They're probably salvageable with some time and a skilled welder but as the metal is very thin and the panels are a bit twisted it'll be a bit of an awkward job to get them right. Other than that I don't think he's found anything of concern, so not too bad for a car of it's age. Also on the list is an oil leak which Dave suspects is the crankshaft oil seal. So I'll order one of those and a clutch kit. I don't suppose anyone knows of and Ami 8 inner wings in good condition for sale do they? I'd be surprised if you do but there's no harm in asking. If not we'll rebuild the ones we have but it makes sense to replace these if we can while it's all apart.
  9. Thanks, i'll try and give updates as and when they happen. I've spent far too long watching YouTube videos of Amis and 2CVs recently, the gear shifter seemed quite natural when I sat in the car but I've not driven it as yet. From what I've seen they seem happiest with the revs quite high and the engine not labouring, much like me spinning an easy gear uphill on a bike. I think it'll take me a while to get used to the comedy lean angles round bends, but there's plenty of twisty lanes around Rutland to get a feel for it before undertaking any long journeys. Much appreciated, if I get stuck with anything on it I'll let you know.
  10. You may have seen @Stinkwheel recently sold his Ami to a member of this forum and delivered over the bank holiday but as documented here Bank Holiday Delivery Caper. The details of who purchased it and where it ended up were somewhat of a mistery. Well I can now reveal that I didn't buy it! However @DaveDorson(my brother) and my parents did as a surprise birthday present for me. The surprise element certainly worked! My birthday isn't until July and as someone who doesn't do much to celebrate birthdays I certainly wasn't expecting a car. Dave had been trying to convince me to buy this as whenever I've seen one for sale I've expressed an interest that they look cool. I do that with a lot of cars as we were bought up around old cars and it's something we've always done. I bought a house in late 2021 and house maintenance and the general cost of living had meant that I didn't have the money spare to buy the Ami. I'd said to Dave that if I did have the spare cash I would have been interested in buying the Ami as it looks like a great starter classic. I've no experience of anything based on the Citroen A series platform baring a friends mum having a 2CV when I was in school, but I've been looking into then since Stinkweel listed the Ami and they seem straightforward enough to work on. I was down in Rutland visiting my parents on Tuesday and yesterday as I'd booked this week off work and had volunteered to run some family errands. Whilst I was there Dave popped by so we went over to his unit. He'd called me on Monday and broke the news that they'd clubbed together and bought the Ami for me, but I wasn't sure what to expect and hadn't really had much down time to process it. Overall I'm really pleased and excited about it. It needs a few bits doing like the brakes and a bit of welding etc, plus a few bits of tidying up and the seats recovering or replacing. Dave's going to take care of most of the mechanics and bodywork side of things, and I'll pop down again in the near future to help out with this where I can. It's as described though and driveable as is, it just makes sense to go over it whilst it's in the unit. I live 150 miles from where the car is currently, so the plan is to go over it all, ensure it's solid and refresh anything mechanical that's looking like it need replacing before attempting to get it back to mine. Meanwhile I need to get a shed and clear out my garage so I can store it safely and protect it from the less than ideal Lancashire weather. Long term it's never going to be a show winner and I love it's character so it'll be subjected to regular maintenance and rust proofing etc. If I find any wings etc in good condition I'll probably look to replace the rusty or dented parts with less rusty ones but I don't have the budget for a full resto and respray so it'll remain as a survivor. The car came with some spares and Dave's been gathering up a few bits on the side so hopefully we can get it sorted and enjoy it for a bit this summer. Thanks again to @Stinkwheel and @DaveDorson. I'll either update this thread or start one to cover this and my other cars. I've currently got a W203 C270 CDI and a Peugeot 307 1.6 HDi. I've never started a thread for them as I wasn't sure they warranted it.
  11. Yeah I think Dad set about renewing the brakes all round. I think both calipers are new too. It'll be a good truck once it's done.
  12. Thanks. I did actually do that when I'd stopped in a car park, but I wasn't sure if that's what had caused the warning to go out. I'd presumed there was a switch somewhere, but didn't know if it was on the pedal or something that's detected when you pull the release lever on the dash. Now it's back on home ground I can spend some time going over it in a it more detail. I've never owned a Merc so I'll probably be seeking advice on a regular basis as I work through it all. I'm impressed by it so far though, especially as it's been unused for a while.
  13. And some interior shots. Excuse the stuff in and around the car. The items in and around the passenger seat and footwell is brake related. The brakes were crap so my Dad had been replacing the brakes, calipers etc. Progress stopped on one side as the brake line snapped and the master cylinder failed. New lines have been made up and are roughly routed where they need to go, the master cylinder has been replaced and he's waiting for someone to reattach the caliper, check over the rest of the brakes then reassemble and bleed the system. That was supposed to happen this weekend but the weather stopped play.
  14. For those requesting moar Frontera
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