Andy F

Chodspeed! Collection threads during the week are my favourite. I also have a pint of water for breakfast every morning. No ice though, too posh

There should be a collection thread every Tuesday. It's my slowest day at work

Could it be a Fox?

Chodspeed, I do enjoy a collection thread from the safety of the other side of the internet. I need another French car, ze Germans have somehow managed to equal the number of Frenchies here.

I've not forgotten about your first dibs, it's now Motd and awaiting my decision on its future, so I may be in touch if you are still interested ? I am moving this clk thread over to the my combined fleet thread now.

It's been a successful month or so fleet wise here. Both the Caravelle and the roffleCLK are Motd and legal for another year. The ClK didn't need any work doing and sailed straight through which was very pleasing! I'll give that and my wife's picasso an oil change imminently. Will also treat it to a good clean this weekend as reward. Not the picasso though, it's too full of family detritus for me to go near.

The Caravelle has been superb for family outings and has been our tour bus for the band to Devon twice, Swansea and Bristol. It's been full of 8 people, drum kit and various equipment along my trumpet and the rest of the horn section.

I will do a thread over the weekend of our exploits, if nothing else maybe some shiters could come along to a gig to say hi and see the Dub Bus in action. (The band is called Dub Catalyst.)

I need to have a serious think about whether to keep the CLK or move it on now, it is costly in fuel but a bloody lovely thing waft/ hoof around. 

Also I got the camper running again, gave it a good clean and a good look over. Maybe my outlook has improved but the jobs somehow seem achievable whereas a year a go it felt insurmountable and like a bit of a weight on my shoulders. 

Spannering time has been severely limited with the increase in performing work with a(nother) new band. Not sure if there's a place to share our progress on here or even if there's any appetite for it but it has been a busy summer playing lots of festivals. We have started to be rebooked for the same festivals next year but main stage and an improved fee! Very exciting for me anyway!

Quick update. Yes, two new calipers (thank you!) working well, unfortunately the load compensator was at fault resulting in very little braking effort at the rear. That coupled with a new vacuum pump has resulted in some excellent braking capabilities and a fresh MOT. Great to have it back on the road. 

Other bits we've done include a recharge of the air con and keeping it clean. It's currently sans seats to help a friend move somethings out of storage into his new house tomorrow.

In other fleet news, now the van is sorted I'm going to get the CLK motd and move it on. I need something diesel and cheap for a year or so to save some money on my commute. The Xantia also now needs clearing out and scrapping it's just too rotten to save. @purplebargeken if you need any spare parts give me a shout as I have 2 that will be going to scrap shortly. Actually quite sad about that as they have been brilliant transport for years and it feels a bit like the end of an era.

A little update, that Caravelle went for an MOT and failed on rear brakes.

Over the last couple of weeks it has felt like there has been a vacuum leak or similar, you get 2 maybe 3 good applications of the brakes and then braking effort is massively reduced and you have to push the stiff pedal very hard. On inspection the hose that goes from the vacuum pump to the servo has been rubbing on various bits and has worn very thin, a new one was delivered yesterday so I'll get that sorted today. The vacuum pump didn't seem in the first flush of youth so I've ordered one of those too. I only ordered it yesterday morning and it's allegedly going to be delivered at lunchtime today, courtesy of Just Kampers and DPD.

The osr issue is sorted, the flexi pipe had a big kink in it so that's working nicely now. Fingers crossed for a retest early this week. 

While I wait for to arrive I'm going to appease Mrs Andy F by working on the T25 this morning. I've never particularly been a fan of German cars and yet there's the CLK and 2 VW buses out there to play with. Hmm

Danger and excitement

An unusual T25 spotted in Bourton On The Water today. One way system meant I couldn't get closer

This was in our local Asda car park this morning 

I jumped out of the T4 Caravelle and into the Merc CLK earlier. They are very different! The Merc felt like I was sitting on the tarmac after the VW. Also, Manual/ auto, adequate / brisk, more than enough seats/ can't even fit everyone who lives in my house, basic/ lots of electric toys,  diesel/ pez, short bonnet/ no bonnet, quite a few mpgs/ not enough mpgs.

I love the variety though.

I learnt to drive in a Montego estate and would definitely have another.  For a while we had the whole BL line up, my mum had a few metros, Dad had 3 montegos over the years and one grandfather had a Maestro and the other a Montego (before he bought a Lada Samara)

I've had wine and now I'm searching Montegos for sale. Thanks.

At one of my schools there's a TVR Tuscan and an OverFinch Range Rover both used daily. I'll get photos once is term is under way again. Brave teachers in these parts!

On 28/07/2023 at 08:55, tom13 said:

This couldn't have gone to a better home.

Have a look at T4 short shift mod. It's worth doing if you have a spare hour.

Also cherry blossom us what you want on the bumpers.

Thanks! I've heard about the short shift mod. I've been driving it a lot over the last couple of weeks and I think I have just got used to it. I used the Xsara Picasso the other day and it felt like I was changing gear above my head. Much like how Harley must feel after a normal bike? Anyway, I think I've just got used to it and the CLK is auto anyway!

Quick post holiday update. T4, now named Bertie the Big Blue Bus, has just finished a holiday run. From Gloucester to Woolacombe for a week (lots of running around to the beach) and then onto Crealy theme park in South Devon and home of Sooty and Sweep for 3 more nights.  I idea it was still a thing , definitely an education for my children.Absolutely brilliant, just over half a tank of used diesel too which I thought was very impressive for the whole 450ish mile round trip.

Storm Betty was eventful on an exposed Devon coastline near Ilfracombe and we ended up farming the kids off to my parents caravan as they'd joined us for a couple of days and we slept in the T4. It was a real novelty not having to take a trailer and a roof box as in a normal car. I'm not sure I got any photos of it loaded up, but we certainly used most of the available space! Surf bus yo!

I've just finished cleaning it, but I must get a new Karcher hose for my pressure washer so I can clean the under side and under seal it again before the winter.

It uses significantly less fuel than the CLK, and the Xantia is now off the road as it just needs more doing to it and is completely rotten now sadly. I'm looking at getting either a cheap electric or a fast and frugal small diesel to replace the CLK and Xantia with now we have the T4 for lugging stuff around. Any suggestions welcome, thinking Civic, Audi A3 or something a bit interesting! This weekend my band are playing at 2 festivals (Main stage at Witcombe, exciting!) So it will be full of trumpet, drum kit, amps, guitars and keyboards tomorrow. Such a useful and likeable thing!

16 minutes ago, Aston Martin said:

 

They won't give us them.... The thieving Aussie twats get them in RHD and there's a van version.

What a shame, good looking bus!

6 hours ago, Aston Martin said:

There must have been some kind of cycling bollocks in Scotland yesterday, as the Norwegian team had about 5 cars in convoy with various other nationalities dotted along the M74.

 

Anyway, one of them had a Hyundai Staria, which looks amazing.

i

I love the look of these, never seen one for real though. Quite a change from the i800 it replaces!

2 hours ago, purplebargeken said:

The headlining will make my teeth itch.  Had enough of Jags and Volvos doing that sort of thing.  Might look into getting it redone once the car is sorted and stuff.

I've never known a Xantia to have a saggy headlining. I can check the state of my spares Xantia to see if it's any better?

With regards the fan, there's a fat cable that runs under the glovebox. On one of mine I would occasionally have to give it a prod, as the wire didn't make a good connection, to get the fans to behave. Drove me mad in the end, so did something to fix the wire into the connector properly in the end.

49 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

*starts looking at Citroen Xantias for sale*

*Looks at very rusty Xantia outside and wonders how much a body shop would charge* 

They are a handsome and useful thing.

Exclusive ones are especially lovely. I like how the passenger mirror dips when you put it in reverse. The lumbar support (electric pneumatic?) With two separate areas was excellent. My HDi has a retro fit cruise fitted as being a later one it was easy to do. Looking forward to following this! 

Yes, just a wing nut holds it on. Well that and about a million spiders webs on mine. Luckily I put on my big boy pants and gave it a good clean before sending. I'm not scared of spiders, just not their biggest fan.

I'm not sure if I said in a message, but the locating bolt that said wing nut attached is loose in the box, it stuck out too far to get into the carefully selected box so I unscrewed it.

23 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

It makes me very happy to see a young family enjoying the old lady. I only sold it because my wife gave me the elbow and a man without a family needs more modestly sized motoring. Hope you have many, many exciting adventures with it. 

Amazing, that's really nice you. We all absolutely love it.

New one fitted, it was the inboard bush that had failed, the balls of the joints were all fine. This definitely put up one helluva fight though. Ended dismantling more than planned and then removing the bracket so we could access to press it home. It was more than a battle than I thought it would be, but it's all done now and the gear change is really positive and absolute joy now. Big difference in new and old!

1 minute ago, JJ0063 said:

Very common problem!

Whilst you’re at it, check your clutch pedal for cracking. Another really common problem and if it’s not already had ‘the fix’ it’s well worth doing as preventative maintenance as to not leave you in the shit…

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253511946104?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=otTwlsEjRNK&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=IaiIXmW2Rkq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Yes, lots of info online about it! Thanks for that, I'll investigate that tomorrow. I've just sat down for the evening and I've got the cat on my lap now. So that's me parked for the night.