Scruffy Bodger

And it drove very well, but I need to tighten the fan belt before the next drive, that's the only thing. And this one had an idle speed adjustment on the dashboard, need to see if this works and if I can connect it again as it is a bit grumpy when cold and likes slightly higher revs then. 
And I have a fascination with taxis and now that I own this one I often look for pictures of these from when they worked as taxis and I have found this great picture where a taxi company gets 50 of these new delivered to its taxi fleet. The flag looks Finnish and Taksi is taxi in Finnish so this is from Finland. Lucky drivers who got these as a workplace.

First drive in 2024 is a success. Good to have it back on the road again.

1961 Volvo Duett  1105 pounds

https://www.finn.no/car/used/ad.html?finnkode=349630582

1974 Honda Civic 1,2 auto  3611 pounds

https://www.finn.no/car/used/ad.html?finnkode=349662579

1976 Datsun 120Y  2579 pounds


https://www.finn.no/car/used/ad.html?finnkode=349824997

1965 Opel Rekord 1,7  5819 pounds

https://www.finn.no/car/used/ad.html?finnkode=346584894

1967 Volvo Duett 1819 pounds

https://www.finn.no/car/used/ad.html?finnkode=349044106

1978 Fiat 126  1838 pounds

https://www.finn.no/car/used/ad.html?finnkode=347023093

1980 Subaru 305,000km 1470 pounds

https://www.finn.no/car/used/ad.html?finnkode=348036672

It's still not perfect but it's a great GROCERY GREATER and STATION SHUTTLE. Park anywhere, don't worry about it, worth nowt, let every seagull shit on it, no worries* motoring. 
Its nippy enough, comfortable enough at 74mph, small enough to fit anywhere, and isn't really even that cramped inside for a 6ft4 22stone travesty of a pilot. 
It's returning low to mid 40s mpg on mixed driving and costs nowt£ in tax and insurance. Lowest group on insurance and tax is about 2$ per month. 
ECCONOMYICAL
 

 

 
Still stuff to iron out, foibles-wise. 
Idles a bit high randomly, still misses a bit sometimes and has cut out randomly twice.  I'll keep piling the miles on and keep picking away at it where funds allow. 
 

After my Mito was condemned due to rust, I decided to go old skool for its replacement - 50 mile drive home - goes spot on. Forgot the pez shot sorry 😎

Don't forget the lesser spotted ZX!

I was at a model fair last weekend and look what I saw on one of the Wyre Forest model railway club displays!

Things are moving forward!
Following a few days of local trundling, I decided to test the Mondeo on the motorway. 
I figured that a gentle run at 50-60mph would be wise first, so I popped up to Stevenage, then full speed on the return. Suitable period signage deployed.

 
Arrangements had been made for the car transporter to pick up the Capri, so time to get things ready. The car was pulled out into daylight...

...giving space, whilst waiting for the transporter, for a good wash of the garage floor with de-greaser.  The engine, previously having been down the side, has been moved into the middle (note - moving a pinto with gearbox attached, on your own, is not recommended).

Scuse the terrible picture, but it was taken quite late in the day!

Now wait to see what the painter thinks of it. In the mean time, there are parts to order...

I haven't picked up a hitch hiker in 20 years, all gone.
Last one was on the moors, pissing down, woman on her own and drenched.  Running from an abusive husband who had broken her arm.  Was wanting to go to Sunderland to a womans refuge there.  Gave her a handful of cash and took her to the police station where they could fix her up with the refuge.
I felt bad not taking her home, feeding her and giving her a warm bed for the night but had young children at home  (no wife) and thought it might seem pervy to her anyway,

Looks like you're going great guns at this. Liking to work so far, I'm also hoping the change of freight rover doors means you might pick up the old sliding ones from the Daf versions😆

Today's job was to fit a roof rack to a camper which had hit a bridge and crushed the rack and bent all the brackets, after welding new rails onto it and straightening out the brackets we got the rough smoker forklift out and immediately had to mess about with 'fork extensions' 

Tightened on and missing fasteners repatriated, and also we fitted our own design of fabricated pannier box carrier frames to the door along with relocating a ladder to the side and number plate and lights to the top of the door !

Having a look at the freight rover again, I decided to whip out the +0.5mm pistons to reuse in a seasoned 1.7 engine block as I feel the bores in this engine have suffered through an over heat, so I instructed the chief apprentice sister to whip the sump off and bop out the pistons so I could strip the 1.7 to a bare block and get the parts off to the rebore shop expeditiously 

Easy work for wor kidda who is a bloody fast learner at this sort of work 

i compared the crank to a B series but alas the bastard is different, I could have coverted a spare 1.7 to 2.0 without much effort if so !

this VW 2.0tdi which runs of three but feels like every cylinder has compression actually snapped off 2 of the exhaust rocker arms so it might be that with a set of new ones fitted that it might be OK however I dislike the idea of valves that have been forced up by the piston so will recommend a head rebuild at the very least.