Shirley Knott

CV boots I've never had a problem with (I usually use brute force and one of the stretch boots and a cone). Even supposedly complicated jobs like timing belts etc- Fine.... This one was a bit weird in that on paper it should be a walk in the park comparatively, and yet descended into four hours of misery. It's certainly put me in a position of re- evaluating things. I hit the big 'four zero' in July, and as part of coming to terms with the fact the end is now probably closer than the begining I'm going to look to give myself an easier life where possible from here on in 😆

100% this. Life's too short eh? The gift I'm going to give future me is the act of farming stuff like this out in future 😬

I'm still disappointed by the poor performance of Dynax UB, I honestly used to consider it the holy grail of rust prevention, that being said everything I put it on ended up being sold in less than a year so I couldn't attest to a long term positive experience either TBH. These days I'm using Comma 'wax seal', it's much cheaper, but needs re-application as it's softer stuff, time will tell...

Aye, definitely one of those "What the fuck am I doing with my life?" moments. I think the real secret it picking and choosing which jobs you farm out more carefully in advance, that and having access to an angle grinder.

Thanks for the suggestions @busmansholiday and @Tickman. You're not wrong, an angle grinder WOULD have been a Godsend - Hopefully Santa will sort me out! @RayMK, it's exactly that sense of pride and fear of embarrassment that kept me going if I'm honest! Also, given I never pay for 'easy' stuff like servicing, I'd imagine a telephone call to a garage I've no established relationship with to tell them I've got a 20 year old rusty shed with a half finished job I've attempted, botched and aborted half way through would likely result in a "F.R.O we're far too busy" response.

After a couple of months of putting up with continuous knocking from the drivers side of the V70 I decided yesterday afternoon would be the time to replace the OSF drop link as I had the parts in hand. How hard could it be, right? New drop links assembled (Meyle 'HD', popular in Volvo circles and supposedly better than OE with a 4 year guarantee). To be fair they ARE fairly beefy looking items compared with the originals... This is where the fun stopped and what ensued was a 4 hour (Not kidding) fiasco that had me seriously questioning why I even bother doing stuff like this myself. The drop links looked to be as old as the car (20 years young) and immediately I knew it wan't going to be a lot of fun I'll work on a system of bullet points to break down the steps of this depressing process... Step 1- Realise that the torx counter holds that live within the threads are completely stripped Step 2 - Destroy boot on the top side of the link and counter hold with constantly slipping vice grips for around 60 minutes working the nut slowly backwards and forwards to remove it Step 3 - Move to the bottom joint and realize that the nut looks like a blob of ginger biscuit Step 4 - Realise that even with the back of the joint clamped mole grip stylee as with the upper one, the nut has rounded Step 5- Apply an 'easy out' nut remover only to learn that even my 650NM gun cant shift it Step 6- Attempt to cut from the joint side with a Dremmel and cutting disc to find out after 30 minutes that too much of the old ball joint remains and it won't pop through the hole in the anti roll bar Step 7 - Drive to the (Now close to closing) local Screwfix and buy metal blades for the reciprocating saw to attempt a cut off from the other side of the lower joint Step 8 - Spend the next 30 minutes slid underneath 2 tons of Volvo lifted a foot from the ground using a noisy vibration-tastic electronic hacksaw to remove the other side of the now completely destroyed bottom link, rust constantly raining down and light failing Step 9 - Learn that even after cutting from the other side, a small disc of the stud/bolt remain, and thus still the remainder of the link STILL won't go through the ARB Step 10 - Throw things around the garage in a rage, and then use brute force pulling on the remainder of the now completely ruined bottom joint to find that it eventually pops through, but not without my hands flying back to hit myself in the mouth full force. Step 11 - Fit new drop link and decide to pay someone else in future. MUCH later and now very dark, all done... And the aftermath this morning... Frankly, it baffles me that I can complete a full timing belt change on this car in an hour and a half, but a single drop link takes me FOUR FUCKING HOURS!

I had a Cobra system removed from a 1989 eunos roadster courtesy of 'Tony's Audio' in Sunderland back in the day... Mine was a particularly nasty system in that it was designed to lock both doors around 60 seconds after start up (Presumably to avoid being car jacked at traffic lights etc?) Basically this translated to a situation whereby if you weren't careful, you'd find yourself locked out of your own car (Such indignity) and having to wreck the hood or a window to get back in. It took them a good hour and amazingly there was literally about a stone in weight of wiring and parts once all of the gubbins were removed and piled up. Not envy.

The V70 wheels returned from the powder coaters this afternoon looking grand, I've gone for factory silver because I'm dull like that. Nice wheels always lift an old car's appearance a bit I recon. Couldn't resist some Ebay special replacement centre caps to finish the job. For £8.50 it would be rude not to really!

Top work there young master hedgehog. I've looked over the brim of my undersealing goggles at the lanolin products for a while now, mostly because of social media adverts/spam. I'm still struggling to move away from the traditional stuff TBH. The days of me having access to a pit and a compressor are long gone and I've shifted from dynax UB to comma wax seal to save money, but in aerosol form it's still £16 for a litre and a half... £35 for a gallon does appeal.... All that being said, I'd be slightly perturbed that they've chosen to produce their product in EXACTLY the same colour as actual rust (Maybe that's just the flash?) Only time will tell eh? It would be interesting to run some side by side tests on unprotected metal to see which product works best.

Oil, oil filter, fuel filter and air filter all changed on the ropey Golf SDI this morning at 177,768 miles. Eurocarparts really seem to be taking the piss with their pricing these days, so I'm making a note of part numbers here for safe keeping ( WK853/3X, HU726/2X, and C37153) This jobs a joy to do on the Golf, I've got it down to less than 30 minutes these days.... With the Pela it can all be completed 'topside'.

I actually own two of the four cars pictured in your original post as I type this. MK4 Golf: I've had quite a few of these and the diesel ones are the pick of the bunch. Arguably the toughest/most robust would be the SDi models, although you pay the price for that with tepid performance (I'm running one of these at present). Even the youngest MK4's are now 20 years old, rust is starting to become an issue for some and even good ones now need regular intervention. All that being said, we've covered 16k in the last year and the only bits needed have been ancillaries, so think tyres, brakes, coil springs and exhaust parts. P2 V70: Cheap to buy but expensive (ish) to run. Ours is the NA 2.4 manual and the tax is expensive, the MPG isn't great and parts aren't that cheap either. All that being said, they're tough old cars and very comfortable. They also put you almost in van territory in terms of the ability to move large things about. There doesn't seem to be a 'right' choice engine wise, but auto boxes should be avoided like the plague if possible (IMO) unless you fancy a roll of the dice. RE other stuff, I suppose rust is the real enemy once any car starts to get older, and also availability of parts. Whilst I hear the suggestions of Volvo 940's (And they're a great car), there are various bits for them that are completely unavailable now (Ask me how I know!) and for a daily driver that's never going to work.

My mates mother used to have one of these and regularly drove us to cub scouts in it, at the time I thought it looked incredibly futuristic which probably shows how old I am! Looks great, and can't remember the last time I saw one of these. There genuinely can't be many left?

Up with the larks this morning to put another years MOT on our Golf SDI. After a cursory clean up of the engine bay we were off... This one's covered just over 16 K in a year, a fair amount for a car that's now clocked up 177,000 miles and is nearly 20 years old. Off the top of my head, the parts that it's taken to get it there have been a new (Used) calliper, new rear pads, new rear coil springs, drop links, track rod ends (Inner and outer)and a full exhaust (Cat included). I've fitted all of the above aside from the exhaust and track rods, and thankfully parts are tuppence ha'penny so it hasn't costed much. A pass was achieved with a single advisory for "suspension component mounting repair covered in underseal"...Odd as there's been no such repair! I am however fairly judicious with my application of Bilt Hamber UB/Comma Wax Seal so maybe suspicious were aroused? Meh, either way, a pass is a pass. After getting back I gave this sexy bastard a wash to celebrate.... The wheels I refurbished at home now, 2 years on have developed scabies unfortunately and are letting an otherwise smart looking car down.... So off to the powder coaters they'll go next week. I've tactically waited until such a time as tyres are required so I can kill two birds with one stone and avoid fitting fees by ordering new ones online, and having the powder coat lads fit them back to the freshly coated wheels once they're done- ~Man maths tells me this makes perfect sense.

Oil change completed on the trusty V70 14/10/22 at 98,237. It's only covered circa 3k since it's last change, but that was just over a year ago so technically due. Am I crackers? Probably. Comline filter and quantum synta z fully synthetic oil used! Meanwhile, front brake pads were changed for Blue Print branded items. Annoyingly one side was fine, the other side was badly worn due to a dragging brake caliper (Since resolved). Must sort out a way of uploading pictures again, new phone brings new problems.

It was great to meet you today man, always good to put faces to names. I'm glad to hear the Golf's behaving itself!