louiepj

BMWs since the E46 are fucking horrible cheap n nasty shite

I own a MK4 Golf and I like it.

Nissan Vanette/LDVCubs are complete crap.

What Hill Will You Die On for your opinion but other motorists think is wrong:
THE ROVER K-SERIES METRO/100 WAS UTTER SHIT AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH BETTER THAN WHAT IT WAS.
IT DESERVED TO DIE AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED OFF MUCH EARLIER.
The A series mini Metro/ Metro was an adequate BLARG offering for the time,  in an ideal world the bean counters would have fitted it with normal suspension rather than hydrolastic/hydragas  and someone shoudl really have tried harder to come up with a 5 speed option rather than the overly tall 4th gear. But considering when it was designed and how quickly it went into production against established small cars like the Fiesta and Polo, it was OK.
Grease nipples remained a part of weekend fettling, as was checking the dash pot had a bit of oil in it and going around the car treating rust blebs before they became bigger blebs the size of a subframe. It was still a car with 1950's technology and people who bought them for the most part understood this. Fast wind to 1991 and the K series Metro...

The K series engine, good on paper but not quite as good IRL. A small coolant leak quickly led to the head gasket failing and in some cases completely knackering the engine. OK, not the end of the world, but something that should have been better from the outset, as was the use of plastic locator dowels and bolts that went riiiiiight through the block to  attach the head. Dont get me wrong the K series when looked after and with an adequate coolant system can be a really good engine, Lotus used them for a while. The thing that really really really pisses me off about the K series Metro/100 was teh build quality.
Essentially  Metro Mk2 with some facelifts both inside and out but with no attention paid to the actual build quality.

In the early 1990's  customers were starting to get used to cars with decent prep and rust prevention from new, so that they were not the proud* owner of a pile of rust on wheels by 6 years old.  Despite Rover being able to make a 200/25 bubble with reasonable build quality, they somehow bypassed this on the Metro and examples 4 and 5 years old were rusting badly and failing MOT tests - for this reason alone is why I hate with a passion the K series Rover Metro/100.
No matter how good a new/sorted 1400 16v feels driving the whole of the underlying car remains frankly a let down with a clocks shared with the LDV vans of the time.
I dont expect to sway anyone with my opinion or change theirs if they only see the K with rose tinted spectacles, in the same way that cars I loved and still do are undoubtedly utter shit. However its my opinion and I shall DIE ON THIS HILL.
 
 
Over to you...

I recently bought an old Casio watch off eBay, one that I've always hankered after but when it arrived it didn't have the crisp clean dial of the one on the listing but a rather cloudy one instead.

It's like over the years a dusting of the luminous coating has transferred to the back of the crystal. So today after watching a YouTube clip of an American chap sitting on his bed successfully pull a similar watch apart I had a bash at taking the mechanism out of mine and giving it a clean up.


A bit of Tesco's finest glass cleaner and a soft cloth and it's come up like new again.

Fancied a treat from the petrol station… 
Realised I now identify as an 84 year old… 

Not sure how I drove this to Monaco and back, could hardly sleep with the nerves of driving it to the  MOT station today. That said as soon as I hit the road I felt ok, knew the car would be fine and really enjoyed driving it again for first time in about 8 months 
Thanks to @Rust Collectorfor the tip on running a wire from the tailgate earth to a body earth, it's solved all the dashboard light gremlins
Car passed the MOT,  I think a couple of the crusty bits around the turrets might need attention before the next MOT but for now they are deemed acceptable
 

A spot from Westlondoncarspotting that's worth a share here.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C4FhXe-or5M/

Yesterday I took a break from the hell that is currently life and polished and waxed the 75.


After some helpful advice on here I made sure that the one thing that HMRC or the greedy bastard solicitors aren't getting is my late dad's private plate. It's now off his car and on retention and will go on this at some point in the future. I'll put K500 on the TT, if I ever use it again that is, still on SORN just now.

Zel - please be the first person in the history of the British judicial system to present evidence from 'popular automotive-subculture discussion board autoshite dot com' in a sitting court.  

Write back and say "It is quite obvious that you and everyone else just plain don't want me living here, so please find me an alternative and pay for it."

That sounds as though you have been "reported" by a busybody neighbour who has nothing better to do.  There's always one.   Do you know who it is?   Best not to respond, imo.  Engaging with the council is likely to make things worse.  They can easily check that all your vehicles are registered to you, so clearly you are not repairing them for others.  Let them work it out for themselves.  

Today has been the best day I've had in a long time, I got money back on the taxes, and I've had the highest temperature since October with close to plus 10.
And best of all, dad and I have now got something we've been dreaming about and wanting for years a small wheel loader.
It is Chinese and electric but this brand has been sold in Norway for a long time and has a good reputation and we have a dealer close by who seems good so it is worth taking the chance on and it has exceeded expectations so far .And it may look like a toy but is bigger than it looks and can lift 500kg.
Have tested it on snow removal today and am very happy with it so far.

The problem.

I'm struggling to find a replacement tail light lens.
So I bought this, which cost about £3.

And achieved this.

That's not bad at all.
If I'm lucky, I will find a replacement tail light at an autojumble this spring / summer. 

thats finished it off nicely looks better than factory!

saw this and thought of you ...
 
 

600l of veg oil but felt fine with it, strong and stable Expert. 

I nearly sent one of those little trailers into space a few years back, it was unladen on the back of my 4x4 so couldn’t be seen or felt.
I momentarily forgot myself and went over one of those narrow speed bumps without slowing down as the 4x4 wheels could pass either side of it.
The trailer then immediately made itself seen and felt, as its wheels could not pass either side 😬 I thought it was coming through the back window and absolutely shit myself, I’ve not made that mistake again.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156110215020

 

As requested!

Needs this music
 

Hi,
I’ve been aware of the brown forum for many years, but generally hung around on another well known blue hued forum, sort of on and off anyway. Most of my ‘fleet’ (if you can call a collection of long term broken cars that) is probably more at home on here but my most recent car tinkering finally pushed me over the line to sign up on here.
Ya see I’ve been spending a bit of time recently poking and tinkering with the longest standing, many years abandoned, heaps in my collection and I suspect this is the only place I might scrape some interest in what is basically a hopeless cause. Said heaps have been abandoned rotting on my drive for 17 and 19yrs respectively, but the house where they languish is going on the market soon so their existence hangs precariously in the ballence. Friends and family have been telling me to scrap them for about a decade now so their calls are almost deafeningly loud now. It would certainly be the sensible thing to do.
For reasons beyond common sense I want to move them to my current house which means making them mobile again. I mean ‘mobile’ as in I can load them onto a trailer and preferably drive them up my short but annoyingly steep driveway, not as in make them ready for the road. 
Anyway, so what do you make of these two beauties?



Artefact 1 - The gold one - 1989 1.3 XL special equipment
This was my first car, bought by a much younger self circa 1999. I saved up the £600 by working weekends in Burger King while doing my A levels. It was well used and abused until 2005, but it’s been parked up ever since. It was retired as a fully functional car on 109k miles, I just replaced it (with a 34k miles 1.3 mk6 Escort I bought as Cat D salvage and returned to the roads). It donated its windscreen to the blue one around 2009 after vandalism so it’s been open to the elements for a while too, it’s become home to some ferns growing in the carpet.
Artefact 2 - The blue one - 1987 1.3 GR Profile
This was my mates car for a year but he donated it to me when the MOT ran out, in 2007 according to the MOT history. The original idea was to fix this one up using the gold one for spares. After a couple of years ignoring it I did drag it to an MOT test in 2010 which it failed due to much more rampant rust than I had given it credit for, it’s sat ever since.
So what ya thinking of doing with them I hear you say! Well, the gold one has probably (though not certainly) had it’s day as a regular 309, but I’m sentimental about it and have a very harebrained idea for it in the back of my mind. It might never happen but I want to hold on to the possibility, so the goal is to just move it and sling a car cover over it. The blue one however is calling out to live once more, I want to get it back on the road. I’m better skilled to weld it back up now than I was back then, and once the old house is gone I should be blessed with more time and lower outgoings which should help. I just kinda fancy fixing it up a bit, I want to feel the mighty power of the Simca rattle box engine and savour the rolly polly handling on skinny tyres once more. But firstly I just need to move it so I can achieve priority no1 which is to get the old house up for sale.
There you go lots of waffle, I’ll post about where I’m up to and what I’ve got stuck on soon, if anyone cares.
-Steve-

A mate is in Jamaica, I asked how it was
32° at 09:30
Just sent me this picture 

 
I replied 7° feels like 3° here 

 
 
 

Just on Whatsapp talking to my mate, telling him about the new mountain bike I've just ordered and I got a text through saying that I've won a 1980s Raleigh BMX on one of those online roffle things. 

WTF am I going to do with that? 
Anyone got a roofrack, Volkswagen and pineapple for sale? 
They do seem to sell for good money on ebay. Whether this is a desirable one or not I'll have to check. Plus I'll need to see what condition its in when it gets here. 
I rarely enter these things, I was just at work and the system went on a go slow so got bored, went on my phone and had a punt on this. 

Just remember to top up the white paint tank before closing the bonnet, and you'll be grand. 👍