Andyrew

Well done on the parts haul! Peter sounds like a top chap too.

Le orange works for me, go for it. Maybe gingercators up front too

Thats a shame, i quite like this bug. It seemed to drive spot on when i borrowed it and fixed fixed the rear window. It drove much more smoothly than i expected, But with the seating position and size of the car with the roof down i felt like i was sat on the bog inside a giant bathtub!

When i had my vrs a high pedal was fairly common, A few people had made up a little block for the back of the pedal to act as a bump stop so the pedal felt like normal travel as the block would touch the floor first.

Rear beam axle? Just undo the shocks lower bolt and let them dangle. lift the car up both sides as the same time with two jacks and with the wheels still on. And take the load of the springs.

We are hoping for a clogged filter not allowing a good enough flow of fluid maybe a combined low fluid level as theres some damp patches on the box. We will see, im happy to wait at the moment as we need do an order with mannol at work as the ATF from them is mega cheap!

Yeah first then into 3/D even if left in 1. Yeah, seems so. We Will drop the pan, fresh fluid and try flushing the filter through with brake cleaner. Then try it again. If that cures or improves things a few full throttle / kick down runs on the drive way (need fully working brakes before any of this, because huge metal gate at end of farm driveway!) will happen then drop it again and maybe pop off and clear out the valve body. My good friend rebuilds autos for landys so hes unphased by pulling that appart. Service interval for filter and fluid is 36k which id highly doubt has ever been done. So fingers crossed it comes back to life. There is no slipping or holding of gears. Will try the company @Steve79 linked regarding a filter to see about avalibility and price which id guess is none or really high. If its toast, its toast. Seems the stuck in third gear killed most of these off.

If he comes across a 2nd gear for the auto box on a safrane we could use that too! We ony have 1st and 3rd!

Only thing i would add to the advice from mrs6 would be to go for TIG welding gloves rather than normal welding gaunlets. Less clumbsy.

What shenanigans have occurred at the AAA workshop? . Not much to be honest, well not much of interest that is not safrane related. The farmers not a "ranger m8" mazda b2500 lost its clutch pedal and just managed to limp back to the yard. A quick ebay browse to see if these are an external clutch slave revealed that they are and that one seller had sold well over 250 kits of both the master and the slave together. A text to a "ranger m8" owning friend and he said they are pretty much a service item and hes found decent brand or white box cheapos seem to both not last about the same so dont bother buying decent brand and just replace the pair. An AP brand pair was ordered at work for 30 quid and chucked on the same evening. One happy landlord. A week or two later this french fatty turned up and has taken centre stage but now that it can self propel its sorry ass i can use the lift for other things too. The Black astra, is being very good at being A car, sipping diesel. My nefew is starting a motor mechanics course at a local college. He stuggles a bit with learning so i asked my mate (his father) if he would like to do some jobs at the workshop with him and use the black Astra as the subject. i booked out some cheap but good front pads, a cheapo pair of rear shocks, oil and filter i had already, some wipers and a pair of rear springs that a supplier wanted rid of ages ago (£1.00+vat! Each). Mx5 needs for nothing really. I gave it a vacuum out and today it got lashings of wax sprayed about the place in prep for a bit of winter action. A tail end of a can of Supertrol and my now new favourite comma waxseal.

Prices are a bit salty but it seems jimnys are compliant. Good for city driving / parking.

My guess is that its from ireland or something but then i think they were opels in southern ireland. My other halfs jimny was a write off in ireland But when it was registered here it lost that and its previous owners. So shes the second owner. Ive no need to go to that there london but if its "compliant" im alright with that.

Two, identical Astras. Ones compliant and one is not. Both rattly isuzu diesel 30 quid tax jobbies. Tho i believe the black car was re registered in mid 2004 on another plate.

If its a in tank pump as said above its probably under a cover under the rear seat. Pop the cover off and with the ignition on grab a rubber mallet or a chuck of wood and hit it like it owes you money.

Just look at this glorious pair of scrap yard dodgers.