petermcpete

Here's another contender for 'do not paint'

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/233082871304483/
Or possibly not.

So, as you all know by now I'm back home and I CAN HAZ 306 DISEISEL 
(complete with gearbox and all!)
 
Heres the full story - 
 
 
After leaving home at 2pm it took me a couple hours to get down to Crochdale. 
 
Armed with a fist-ful of Google Earth printouts I performed a quick drive-by of the garage and not suprisingly it had a plethora of Rochdale's finest gentlemen hanging around. Time to move on! I found a spot to park a couple streets away. 
 
Whilst walking down to the MOT garage I spotted a flicker of green down an alleyway a steet away from the garage and went to investigate.


 
There she was!
 
Lucky find!
 
A quick check underneath found that it was all complete.
 

 


I had a peak inside and found what looked like a court summons (half-torn up for Rizlers) in the name of the seller - on Autoshite, all private information goes out the window
 

 
Also, there was a 3 foot scaffolding pole under the broken drivers' seat. 


I was shaking like a shitting dog at this point, having not introduced myself to the lads in the backstreet garage, and not knowing what to expect. 
 
The garage is down this street on the right (recognise it from the eBay pics?)

 
I hung around gingerly for a couple minutes in the doorway of the garage until an old fat guy working on a clapped out Fabia in the street had finished and collared him with a question. I figured I could out-run him!
 
He pointed me to a young lad in the garage- probably the manager. I explained the situation, and though he was very plesant wasn't particularly helpful. He told me to ring the seller as he had no idea about the car and I asked him if he had a key so I could move it and he told me he didn't.
 
So I rang the seller. Again, and again and again. 
 
Nothing
 
I went back into the garage and showed the chap the Paypal transaction printout, and a printout of the winning eBay listing. He suggested texting the seller, explaining that as he had acepted the payment, the car was mine, and I would take the car if he did not reply. 
 
So I did. 
 
 
Suprisingly I got an immediate reply:
 
and
and
 
I went and showed the keys text to the guy in the garage, and he tipped a rucksack of keys onto the floor. He picked it out immediately and handed it to me. 
 
I thanked him and went out to the car.
 
I couldn't belive my luck!
 
The battery was almost dead so I brought my car round from being hidden in a a backstreet and swapped the battery over. 
 
It cranked up first time and ran fine, then suddenly cut out. I re-started it again but someone had butchered all the wiring in the engine bay and under the dash so I had airbag lights and allsorts flashing at me. The little spring in the ignition lock had broken so when I turned the key it stayed in the 'Start' position without returning to 'Run'. This meant when I took the good battery off and replaced it with the bad battery the starter was already engaged and the thing fired up all by itself! Creepy!
 


Anyway I got it moving under its own steam and pulled it out of the alleyway and across the road onto another peice of waste ground.
 

 
Luckily I wasn't hassled by Yousaf and his mates, and managed to get the A frame on without any problems, but the engine cut out and would not re-start so I had no power steering....
 

 
A quick call to KruJoe advised me to remove the power steering pipes to allow the steering to move of its own accord, and so I did. It rode perfectly!
 

 
Obligatory Selfie
 
All the way home and only saw one cop van, and managed to out-run him from the lights. (Admittedly he was going the other way  )
 

 
I would have cracked more than 70 up Clitheroe bypass, if the bloody Espace would have got out my way...
 
A night-time picture of the 306, almost home, just one more hill to go!
 

 
Back home, safe and well. A last pull up the hill by Father-Cabbage's new RAV4

At least the hoodlums broke back into the car and reinstalled the gearbox. That was lucky.

I wasn't sure where to post this. I thought there was a spotted thread here somewhere.
 
Anyhoo I spotted this Rover 800 series yesterday, which put a grin on my face. Spotted in Norwich too, funnily enough.
 
'Cook Pass Babtridge' (1) by Matt_W, on Flickr

Unfortunate plate!

One thing I wish I had on mine was a sunroof, if you can get a watertight one they look ace! 
The wiper stalks (in my experience) are a nightmare, easy to take off and clean (just need to whip the steering wheel off first) but often doesn't last long before they start playing up again. 

A rare thread from me, inspired by the super sentinel thread and now being on furlough for three months I thought I would start a thread on what I'm doing,though progress had been rapid so far so no doubt other projects will get done too! 
A bit if background,after years of wanting a vintage car,to complement his vintage bikes,my dad bought this 1925 Trojan Utility car in late 2018. A well known car with a trials history dating back to the late 1920s,heres a pic of it now and in 1929:


Anyway the engine had supposedly had some work done on it before he got it and my dad drove it about three times before it cut out and had to be pushed back in the garage.on trying to start it (hand lever pull start) it got tighter and tighter until it locked up solid. Eventually he craned the engine out,a bizzare four piston but two Conrod 1488cc two stroke,and eventually managed to pull the crank out with pistons,it has a blind head as the block is all one piece,so no tappy action to be had at the piston end. Doing that in January combined with arthritis and a lack of enthusiasm,and the death of my grandad in June 2019,the engine has laid in bits strewn about the car ever since.Following my moving down to Dorset to live with him after my marriage breakup,I've long been meaning to get into it and sort it out once and for all,and now being off from Wednesday for three months,it was the perfect time. More to follow

Vespas. My Grandad's '62 Sportique on the left, and on the right the 1959 152L2 owned by my old feller, Uncle George and now me!
 

 
Here's mine (the one on the right) now:
 

 

Stunning! 
Best interior possible in the 924, well bought! 

Stunning! 
Best interior possible in the 924, well bought! 

Stunning! 
Best interior possible in the 924, well bought! 

Stunning! 
Best interior possible in the 924, well bought! 

The deal is done. Further updates shortly. Hitting the m6 to Birmingham where I’m planning an overnight stay.

November 2018
Driver's inner wing tiny corner of previous repair re-repaired, put in for MOT, passed MOT with only cracked tyres as an advisory. 













 
HURRAH!

 
It's MOTTED and ready for the annual drive up to the NEC classic car show, this year the drive was in terrible rain, we stopped on the M40 twice for cars that had spun off into centre armco and up onto the bank because they weren't driving at a speed to suit the conditions or their driving ability. They were driving at speeds that suit their ability to be pricks and endanger the rest of us poor buggers that were just trying to get from one end of the motorway to the other safely. It was so wet the rain was coming in the footwell through the heater and dripping onto my left foot. I drive in just socks because the heater is so amazingly good that my feet get too hot in shoes. So I felt every drip. got to Brum ok but the car really wasn't happy. It was the sort of rain that got absolutely everywhere, into all the electrical connections and everything. It would have been drier if I'd parked it under water. 

It did't run great for the rest of the weekend, hard to start, lumpy tick over, lots of hesitating at about 1500 revs, stalling when I came to a stop at junctions, and generally felt like it would rather have stayed at home for the weekend. Unlike me, I had a great time at the show, helped out on the 924 Owners Club stand again.










 ----
I fitted LEDs to the centre console dials. I now need to fit them to the main dash as they make a big difference. I  imagine getting the dials out of the dash will be a whole heap more bother than the centre console unit which comes away with only 2 screws once the stereo is removed.
Main dash dials:

Centre console with LEDs:

 

Number 58 please!

I thought I'd start a post about latest project. It's a maserati 4.24v biturbo, not UK registered yet and I've a few bits to sort out, cambelt etc to do, bit suspension work and sort electrics out. It's only done 30k miles. Heater control panel does nothing, and it crunches into 4th.

RIGHT

New fuse in, still amazed that I managed to zap a chunk of metal into 2 separate pieces
Took out the old 063 battery and replaced it under the assumption that it was done for. It was flat as anything anyhow but might stick it on charge and see what's what. It did always start this 2.0 lump with ease during the autumn/winter.
Went to unlock the door with the EKA code and it did its usual horn beep warning thing but didn't disarm the immobiliser nor unlock all the doors. Quickly realised that the bonnet alarm switch thing wasn't connected, so sorted that and shut the bonnet. Tried the EKA code and
WE HAVE FUNCTIONING CENTRAL LOCKING
At this point I will admit I got overly excited for something so mundane but I didn't let it get the better of me, I knew I could still be let down.
Put the key in, turned it

YES

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES (honestly more excited that me radio wasn't nuked, got history this thing)
I then went to seek further advice as to whether it was safe to start or not in its current state, what with no radiator or intercooler etc.
Which then resulted in THIS
 
IT FUCKING WORKS LADS
Cannot believe I've let this car sit for this long because of a bastard fuse. Remains to be seen as to whether I've knacked the alternator or not, but we'll get to that. Next order of business is to get the rad and intercooler back in, get it cleaned up, possibly get new pads and discs all around as I'm sure they'll be shite now and then stick it through an MOT! MUCH EXCITE
ROVER 800 ELECTRICS FTW

I'm basing this assumption entirely on my previous experience with my old R56 equipped R50 Mini, believe their gearbox issues are fairly similar to the to the Vitesse's. Mine whined like a pig in 5th and new fluid in the gearbox helped quieten it loads, but I ultimately got rid because I was doing heavy motorway miles and was worried it was going to grenade like this.
Trying to source a new fuse now. I work at a motorfactors and I can't seem to get the right fusible link. Rimmerbros do have them in stock for £1.02, but the delivery is nearly a fiver so going to try and source one through alternate means first. I can't get it running currently anyway due to the radiator being sat in the back of the car, but I am definitely itching to see if this fuse fixes the electrics, even if I know full well I'm probably going to be massively disappointed haha.
Glad I made this thread though, it's definitely got me re-excited at the prospect of driving it once again. Cheers all.

300 miles Tuesday, 140 yesterday, 100 so far today - currently en route to Skye!
 

300 miles Tuesday, 140 yesterday, 100 so far today - currently en route to Skye!
 

300 miles Tuesday, 140 yesterday, 100 so far today - currently en route to Skye!
 

300 miles Tuesday, 140 yesterday, 100 so far today - currently en route to Skye!
 

300 miles Tuesday, 140 yesterday, 100 so far today - currently en route to Skye!