Dirk Diggler

OK, belt fitted and (touch wood) working fine.
 
One other thing I'd quite like to do is to get this working -
 

 
It's the factory subwoofer.  I think the amp powers the two speakers above the tailgate and a twin coil sub in that big plastic box.

Beige diesel 305's are for winners...
 
DSC_0859 by srblythe, on Flickr

HERE IS A THREAD ABOUT A CAR I OWN PLEASE ENJOY MY CONTRIBUTION TO THE FORUM
 
I still have the nob_van. It managed to feature in Retro Cars and Practical Classics in the same year, because the pool of classic car journalism talent* really is that small. I'm sorry if you ended up reading about it, nothing I write is worth a wet fart.
 

 
It is very, very rusty. Despite a ruthless fleet cull, I can't bring myself to sell it.
 
Several brilliant* schemes to buy a cheap estate hack for work/jumble sales/tip runs/yard hackery came to nowt, for various reasons.
I need to slowly empty my guff out of a friend's garage; between here and the North West, several runs in a cheap estate would work out more cost effective than renting a van seven or eight times.
 

 
Attempt #1: Peugeot 306 TD estate.
 
Lucas pump, exceptionally rotten, rear axle barely attached. Scrapped.
 

 
Attempt #2: Renault Laguna DTi estate.
 
Underrated car, decent runner, insurer refused to cover it on a classic policy despite initially agreeing to it. Mechanically sound. Will soon be for sale. Bought soon after the V6 Laguna debacle; I don't learn. A good car for someone.
 

 
Attempt #3: Volvo 960 24v estate. Very cheap, head gasket blew on fourth day of ownership. PO fooled me into thinking everything was fine by changing the oil and filter, thus obviating the mayo hunt. Probably off to a new home. Very nearly scrapped out of spite because Volvo enthusiasts lack basic comprehension skills.
 

 
Attempt #4. About up to what the refundable deposit would be on a Transit Connect now in terms of spend. 1986 Peugeot 305 Estate Automatic.
 
I like the dents. I like the beige paint and the low overall mileage of 84,000 clicks (which has risen since I bought it).
Unlike the nob_van, the gear lever is still plastic and most of the underside bar the NSR rear sill corner is still metal.
 

 
Cracked indicator cluster will be replaced with one in my stash. Front shocks appear to be leaking: they go "IH" sometimes.
 

 
The rear three quarter dent will pop out, but the NSR door will need replacement, despite not breaking the paint. I think the P/O gently giffered it along a bollard. He also managed to knacker that side's door mirror and a good s/h one will no doubt get chucked over my fence by the post man or something.
I think the MoT was a tad lenient looking at some of the other 'fixes' applied by the seller (who bought it to plate rape). Supplied by a dealer in Triggerland, it was originally registered C200 ANG. Bloke wanted it for his wife 'Ange' to put on her 'dream car', a Mercedes 200. At least he kept it on the road.
 

 
If I took the seat cover off the foam explosion would make AROnline blush.
There was a treasure chest of stuff left by the previous owner. Every tax disc it's had since new (kept), Kent frequencies for Classic FM and Radio 4 on LW (kept), an old 80's ice scraper - stuff like that.
 
Automatic was roughly SR specification; you got the GT XU5 engine (94 ber herps), a four speed ZF 4HP14 slusher and a Philips head unit with a cassette deck but no FM option.
Lord gears are a departure for me but they suit the laid back nature of the car, its freeze/melt ventilation and compliant ride. I have some thick band GTX alloys I'll throw on at some point.
 
It's doing 30 mpg, by the way.
 
I would say it's great to be be back, but ambivalence is a bitch these days.

Cheers Joe - I'll let you know if I need any parts. Nothing seems to be missing or broken so far though, mirror glasses aside.
Started it up to move it out the garage and no steam - Old Man is working this morning so I've given it a wash, and been out to Tesco with a jerry can 'cause it was empty. No steam this morning!
It's come up alright with a bucket of water thrown at it and a bit of a scrub with a toothbrush to get rid of some algae:

Another day is here, let's get back to work.

After browsing idly on the t'interweb at lunchtime one thing lead to another and I found myself over the border in Cornwall looking at (and inevitably becoming the owner of) a mondeo st24 estate. I must admit I only thought these came in hatchback form, but every days a school day and apparently not. It's a sort of gunmetal colour, has plenty of toys, my favourites being the 2.5v6 engine and manual gearbox. Iam quite partial to a ford heated front screen as well. Will report back if it works. Was this v6 the building block for the Aston v12 of the late 90's I seem to remember? Certainly sounds good tucked under the slightly ugly (and grubby) nose of this facelift car. I had a cracking drive back over the border to Devon but fading light and pressing domestic duties meant I didn't have much time to get any decent pics.

Morning all! 
Going to wait around today for the AA flatbed to show up, probably going to get one of the parents to give them a ring soon for an update, seeing as they've had the car since 4pm yesterday. Old Man is willing to have a nose at the 'stat with me when it arrives as it's a quick job, and a cheap thing to replace (about £7). After that we'll have a full report, maybe I'll get on with cleaning it up a bit too.

The Chinese phrase chabuduo (good enough) applies to motoring then too; great photos

The Chinese phrase chabuduo (good enough) applies to motoring then too; great photos

A week and a half ago we went to pick up the vandalised Ambassador that we won on ebay. We decided to bid for it as it just looked so sad and needs to be brought back to glory once again.
 
It looks structurally very sound but, thanks to the mindless vandalism, there's a bit of work to do. First job will be to get the engine to go. There's a spark and a smell of petrol but sounds as dead as a dodo. Shouldn't be too difficult though, famous last words.
 

 

 
We then set off for the uneventful journey home, stopping at Strensham services on the M5 for a comfort break.
 

 
Once home it was maneuvered into our garage and left as we were all pretty knackered by this time. A good nights sleep and a few cups of tea later, the next morning we attempted to get the engine started. Once we'd discovered a connector had come adrift from the coil we found we at least had a spark but there there was very little in the way of any life from the fuel side. I went and got a gallon of fuel and we poured it in but still, no sign of any fuel proceeding from the tank to the carburetors despite the fact we could hear the electric pump working. We disconnected the fuel pipe from the carb and poured fuel directly in which, upon the turn of the key brought the engine bursting into life! It sounded okay apart from the blow from the exhaust downpipe clamps, but then white smoke started billowing from the exhaust - but as there was so little fuel getting through the engine didn't run for long enough. There was still no sign of fuel from the fuel pump even with the engine running so I decided to remove it for further investigation as it can be removed in a matter of minutes. Once out it became clear what the problem was. There's a short piece of hose that runs from the fuel filter to the pump motor but this one had completely fallen to pieces. The only way fuel could leave the tank was if the tank was filled above the outlet pipe. I managed to find a suitable piece of pipe and refitted the pump back in the tank.  Once all the fuel pipes were reconnected we could then run the engine for longer, so we decided to fill it with water... Things got a bit worse from that point on. The engine then ran very poorly and the white smoke, or vapour as we'd now established, got worse. We could see water being spat out of the manifold/exhaust join and pressure built up very quickly in the cooling system. It was quite obvious we had a major coolant leak into the cylinders.   Inevitably the cylinder head would have to come off and so, 20 minutes later (it's hilariously easy to remove on these) it was on the bench. It was quite clear the the gasket had failed on No. 3 cylinder allowing coolant to pass between the fire rings and go straight into the bore and the wet piston just made it more conclusive. This picture shows the head gasket still sat on the block  We've decided to dismantle the head and have it skimmed after checking it with a straight edge shows warpage around cylinder three.  In the meantime we'll get on and sort the other issues, but we have all of the glass except the bonded rear quarter. The sunroof was ripped out and, consequently, all of the parts that fix it to the frame have broken and are unrepairable but I'm sure that the sunroof is made by Britax and the mechanisms were shared across all other Austin Rover cars of the time so we may be able to source replacement parts to repair it. 

So here we are.
Indeed a very nice 505 turbo Injection. No rust, good paint, nice Interior, nothing tinkered or bodged. Only issue: white smoke from the exhaust on the last few miles driven years ago. Turbo and manifold removed, water dropping out of cylinder 3. New head needed... unobtainium. Same head as Tagora , sits in my garage ready to mount. Price was right.. purchase made.

Actual collection will be in a few weeks when the roads are dry.

Hello from foreign parts again.  I’ve done one of these from India and at least one from Taiwan, join me for the full China experience.
 
This is my third visit here over the last few years, I’ve been to Taiwan about 20 times with various jobs but I’ve only recently started coming to China.  My job is a Design Engineer and I design stuff that needs to get made which means I do a fair bit of travelling on company money.  Unfortunately it means that I get great views of airport, hotel, factory, hotel, factory and airport.
 
As I’m being driven around there’s usually some impressive chod on display and lots of stuff that I don’t recognise, let's go for a 15 minute stroll around my hotel.  I’m on the 15th floor here, want a look out of the window?
 

 
First off, there was a company party for Vivo in the hotel.  They make mobile phones and their factory isn’t far away, these two were meeting and greeting and probably appeared in 5,000 selfies in one night.
 

 
Red is a lucky colour in China so that’s why there’s often red in the company logo or in their adverts.  Come on, let’s go for a look outside.
 
Out through the carpark, this is a 5 star hotel so the cars are mostly what you’d expect; modern, gleaming white, big alloys etc.  I didn’t travel halfway around the fucking world to see exactly the same thing, what’s down here?
 

 
We’ve all seen pictures of scooters with the entire family on there, I’m not going to insult your intelligence.  Instead here’s one with a more lively load.
 

 
But for a place where 30 years ago almost everyone was on a bicycle it’s kind of the accepted way of transporting things.  Let’s start with the base model, shall we?  This one doesn’t even have a hands free kit, fortunately the rider has a hand free so it’s all good.
 

Hang on, I thought that was the “L†spec, but there’s still a few without passenger sun visor or rear mirror.
 

Lots of stuff like this around still.  I’m not sure what the traffic laws are but it looks like you can take absolutely anything you like on the road, even going the wrong way down busy roads, as long as you’re going slow.  If you go slowly enough you can also cross busy junctions on a red light, reverse onto motorways, do a 3 point turn on slip roads etc.  In fact, by taking the emphasis from doing it right to just doing it slowly, the people from BRAKE would cream themselves here.  Unfortunately there are millions of road accidents.
 
So the next step up from pedal powered is electric powered, they seem to be electric versions of this which were all moped powered a couple of years ago.

 
Here’s one with the optional weather equipment.  We might laugh at this but it’s probably more effective than most ‘60s British sportscar roofs.
 

There are just millions of these around.  All variously trundling about, mixing it with the rest of the traffic and loaded, not to a weight limit but to whatever can be held on the back with 20 feet of rope and still allow the thing to stagger forwards.  This one is the big daddy of the genre, I’ve got no idea what powered it but it sounded like a cross between a Lancaster bomber and a steam engine.
 

A strange day yesterday where both me and Mrs Cheeze both bought cars. She is getting a 65 plate Civic which she says she will keep for 10 years - hopefully.
 
I got a Jaguar XJ6 4.0 Sovereign for significantly less than the cost of her Civic. I'd been keeping an eye on it on Gumtree the last month and the price had been creeping down and I managed to get it a bit cheaper still. With a bit of googling it appears it went through the Morris Leslie classic auction in August. I paid a bit less than it went through there at.
 
Surprisingly Mrs Cheeze likes it and my Dad loves it. There is some rust on the roof and a giffer repair on one of the arches but it seems solid. Scabby bits here and there but nothing terminal. It has done 59,000 miles and only seems to have done a couple of thousand in the last few years.
 
It drives nicely but doesn't change up as soon as it should I feel. It isn't going into third until 30mph and fourth isn't until about 75mph. You can induce it to change up by booting it and backing off but thats not ideal. I need to check the fluid level. If it is still doing it after that I'll get a gearbox service done on it.
 
It is surprisingly small inside. I went to pick up my big mate last night in it and even with the passenger seat right back he was struggling. He managed once I had reclined it a bit.
 
Some pictures. The pictures flatter it.

A testament to Ghosty's decent nature that he's taken this on the chin and is still upbeat about it. Not many would be like that, an enviable viewpoint on life imho. It'll all come good one way or the other Ghosty, and the best of luck to you. 

Don't really know where to start with this one. From my recent witterings you may recall that Junkman posted a bargain Bentley T, in the ebay tat thread, that needed the brakes sorting out. It had already sold by the time I saw it but showing as a "you may also be interested in" was a very shabby looking Bentley Mk VI.
 
I made the mistake of looking at it and after reading the description made contact with the vendor for a bit more info. Suffice to say after a lot of agonising and trying to justify it to myself, I found myself hitting the buy it now button (ok if I'd waited I may have got it for less, but when I want instant gratification I want it now).
 
It's been a few days of shuffling money around and I can now say I have gone from being a bit hard up to nearly broke. I'm not brave enough any more to drive a completely unknown 1940s car from Cambridgeshire to South Wales so it was transported down by the vendor in a very smart covered trailer. (That was a nice surprise, probably more for the shoppers in Sainsbury's car park where we did the unloading).
 
I was too wound up (apprehension/excitement/stupidity/etc.) to take any photographs at the time. Cash counted out (I bet that looked dodgy) a quick chat and explain of the controls and that was it. First stop was the adjacent petrol station and then I had a little trundle around before taking it home. Verdict - the brakes are not wonderful and I think need looking at pretty soon, not too worried by that. Yes it's extremely shabby, but very, very solid in all the right places. So no it's not a Volvo or a taxi
 

 
I'm still in a bit of a "what the hell have I done that for" frame of mind at the moment. I will do a sensible update with proper photographs in the next few days.
 
 

The 'fun' continues, with another essential:
 

 

 
£25 from eBay sounds much better. Plus £20 courier, but still well worthwhile.
 


 
Barely used, still has the stickers and price on the back. Judging by them, this 'carbox' company seems to supply the dealers.
Perfect for wet and sticky dogs and the like.

This looks to be happening soon. No date yet, but the owner text me today asking for my details for the new V5. I think he's got to call dvla first though as the car isn't in his name but his dad's. So I'm just waiting for a date which will likely be a weekend.
 
The guy also said he's got a spare battery and he's going to try putting it on and starting it up, which, if he can should give me a bit of a head start on the day as it'll start easier for me if it's recently been run.
He then mentioned that up until fairly recently (when the battery popped) he'd been giving the car a run every now and then just to keep it going! This is good news to me as, even though it's been sat off the road a while it's clearly been running until a few months ago. Hopefully it'll start and run easily for it's trip to it's new home. I'm feeling a lot better about trying to move it now.
 
Just about all the spares I ordered are now here waiting. I'll just go get a Gerry can of fuel at some point soon and I'm all ready.
I'm going to have a look at some insurance this weekend too, not sure if I'll just get normal or go for a classic policy yet though. Classic should be cheaper and easy enough to get for this car but doesn't include NCB.
 
And, my yank headlights arrive tomorrow! Got a bill for import vat of £24 which I've paid. I'll get some pics of them once I've got them.
 
Hopefully it'll be coming home very soon!

DSC_3774 by srblythe, on Flickr
 
DSC_3778-1 by srblythe, on Flickr
 
DSC_3786 by srblythe, on Flickr
 
DSC_3783 by srblythe, on Flickr
 
DSC_3790-1 by srblythe, on Flickr
 
DSC_3794 by srblythe, on Flickr

When it's more filler and old newspapers than a car, there's always Ireland to export it too

Does anyone know the latest with the Longbridge site? I thought it was flattened and housing built on the site? Or is there still a smaller factory setup there? Whatever the case, I've just seen this photo which apparently someone took at Longbridge just the other day. Really early one, Shirley? He quoted that there are 'various other bits and pieces around' as well...

When it's more filler and old newspapers than a car, there's always Ireland to export it too

When it's more filler and old newspapers than a car, there's always Ireland to export it too

That does take the sting out of it, somewhat. I never knew about pre 1980 cars requiring not test. It explains a few things!
Ssangyong sstyling ssucks!
 
The rest of the range almost make the front of this look handsome.   En route for this, I encountered a 65 plate Actyon Sport.

Ah, but we're on 30 year rolling classic tax @€56 a year; it softens the sting if you're into the right cars and pre 1980 with no test requirement (handy place for yis to export complete rotbox shite to lol)
 
Nearly as soon as I'd posted that and went to watch a YouTube video, the advert was for the All New Rodent Rectum; I couldn't believe it, it actually looks worse than the old one; the bastard love child of the old one and a Kia Carens circa 2004; I'm still afraid to go looking at the list price

DINLT
 
 
You boys sure do get a hard ride with tax,
I would never buy a new car, but I am glad that some people do!
 
 
It usually would with me, but circumstances didn't allow, this time.