GeordieInExile

33 seconds!

This low-quality set of crash videos  of ‘80s VW vans is quite interesting. The collision between an LT and an American car is a bit contrived with the chassis of the Yank ( what is it?) being below the floor of the LT and the structure of the trunk being very feeble. When the Mk3 Transporter was new VW made quite a thing of it’s crashworthiness. There was a lot of strong steel between bumper and front axle.
 

https://www.standvirtual.com/anuncio/citron-ax-cabrio-ID8PfpkY.html
 

Why have that when you could have this?
Renault Kwid. 57bhp, 775kg, simple smoll car from India. Could be coming to Europe as a Dacia. It's £3k for a bASe one in India, even at double that it would be incredible value.
 
 

Why have that when you could have this?
Renault Kwid. 57bhp, 775kg, simple smoll car from India. Could be coming to Europe as a Dacia. It's £3k for a bASe one in India, even at double that it would be incredible value.
 
 

So after buying this £250 chariot from a drunk mate in one of Dorking's finest pubs it was time to get to work. Car had been sitting for a year and was covered in all kind of crud but I had 3 days to pre-fettle it in situ before its pre-booked MOT. Car wouldn't start by itself or with jump leads (making me suspect starter was seized) but fired into live immediately when I transplanted the CLK's battery, and what's more ticked over sweetly, which was a win.
First thing to attend to were lights. Seller had swapped a front headlamp from his current E39 estate as some of the lights weren't working and the local garage he took it to had quoted £500 to sort "it needs a new 'edlamp unit mate".  Check on multimeter and voltage perfect at all pins. New bulbs from ECP and hey presto, all working fine. Another side light bulb, N/S main beam, and a rear brake lamp (plus cleaning up the connection) and car was an MOT pass for lamps after a couple of hours cleaning with compound and meths. Next job was airbag lamp which needed to be turned out - there's recall paperwork in the file for the airbags to be replaced at a dealer which would presumably include a reset (not possible with my lowly code reader or by disconnecting and reconnecting the under-passenger-seat connectors did nothing). However, that's wouldn't help me with MOT unless it was MOT'd at same stealer which was never going to happen in my world. Ergo, dash cluster came out - getting to the LED's inside is incredibly tricky and it's easy to damage the connector to the cluster that need some wiggling to remove . Once out, umpteen star-shaped tabs need to be twisted at the same time as the side tabs are  screwdrivered out of position. Black tape stuck onto the bastard LED, all reassembled and working, and job done.   
Car also got a Karcher clean which was satisfying. And I got underneath the car and attended to the loose heat shield over the exhaust that was a former MOT advisory, totally not secured and annoyingly flapping around. Then I took a look at the fuel and brake lines formerly advised. Only a 15cm section had surface rust that brushed off fine, followed by converter, zinc primer, and black gloss. Also saw some surface rust on the inner subframes and suspension top mounts at the rear, that also got treated, primed and painted. There will be plenty more rustproofing to do in the coming months but this is fine for the time being. Bottom of front wings got some converter and a small dab of filler and some old XJ-S silver paint as a very temporary patch. Arches will made perfect in summer. 
Beamer drove 9 miles to MOT without missing a beat.  Amazingly, handbrake wasn't seized and brakes were working fine and tyres held air fine - up front are 2 £120 Michelins purchased just before the car was laid along with new pads around at £400 cost. After 9 miles the discs  had cleaned up nicely and there was no pulling to one side or juddering. I gave it some E5 and Redex to drink too hoping there would be no emissions nightmares. Also topped up a small amount of coolant and a bit of fresh oil - oil in the car was far from new.
One hour later - MOT PASS!!!!!!!! Car's got a good clean inside as it was a biohazard (and I'm extremely fastidious about my car interiors). And yesterday I go round to oil change (having been waiting for 36mm socket in post to remove the filter) & air filter (bottom of filter box got a good vacuum - wonder how a cigarette butt got there).  Gearbox shifts fine, the steering is nicely weighted, and the car handles great. The undertray was foul and covered in about a kilo of caked solidified oil which has now been scraped off and thoroughly cleaned, along with the underside of the engine that has no visible horrors.
Overall feel is a solid, well-made car and it's a very comfortable place to be. If I didn't have the CLK it would have become my regular cruiser.  Instead it's been gifted to my 82 year old father whose mobility issues mean he's struggling to drive his Rover, but should be fine with this auto chariot.  Rover is now mine and ready to hopefully be sold or roffled to a shiter.   
 
  
 
 

You missed the best example of penny pinching on the 107 , ( and possibly of all time), there was only one piece of “string” to raise the parcel shelf , instead of one on both sides. Did it actually save a whole penny?

You could move it up so you have one long sentence that just reads "THE CAR IN FRONT IS Autoshite". 

You could move it up so you have one long sentence that just reads "THE CAR IN FRONT IS Autoshite". 

You can really see the British Leyland in the rear arch of the Dolly Sprint.

£6375, a trip to Hungary and this could be yours...
https://www.hasznaltauto.hu/szemelyauto/x/x/x-18075305



 

Saying nowt.

The grille on my 850 is broken.
Problem solved. 
I kinda like it, it's very ace of bASe spec looking. Ford Sierra vibes.

A 3 series van

right today was one of the best tinkering session's i've ever had
decided to get the car out the garage and work on the LHM leak
as you can see here, all supported correctly with brand new stands (good quality they feel too!)
enjoy the scabby sill!


new pipe was easy to fit, old one was quite perished actually, certainly not surprising with the amount of fluid it lost!
nice shiny new one......of course, i cut it down to size so it doesn't foul on anything

also note the cut wiring.....abs sensor? that could be a concern........i want the abs to work
whilst i had the car in the air i decided i would take a good look underneath and the verdict is
excellent, really solid actually!
this is the only real rot i could find, on the boot floor, non structual by the looks of it so i'll just tidy it up a bit in the coming days

so the LHM leak is taken care of, filled up as much as i could as i can't adjust the suspension due to the selector lever being stuck (job for the coming days)
managed to get the power steering working, the STOP light off and the suspension feeling good again
now the big thing, i decided i would take care of the starting issue
no voltage going to the fuel solenoid, now could it be an immobilioser? who knows, but i've managed to fix it and i will show you how shortly
next thing was to get the glowplug system working correctly
i cleaned up the contacts on the relay, made sure it was all shiny and looking good and connected it all back up
WE HAVE ILLUMINATION!

so another thing sorted, excellent
i was talking to my friend Paul from wales, who's an XM expert and he told me to add a new supply
so i did
from pin 3 of the plug relay i spliced into the cable, soldered a new piece of wiring (not one of the scraps from the car, a brand new piece from halfords)

soldered it all up, added some insulating tape and then the big moment
fired right up!
and stopped again too!
so i've sorted the LHM leak, got it starting and stopping from the key and the glowplugs working correctly
glove box is removed whilst i work on sorting it out, shouldn't be too hard, got a few ideas
next to do is getting the suspension working correctly, sorting the electric windows and seats, getting a few other electrical issues sorted
and then
well i dare say
i may chuck it in for an MOT

Nah he needs a CX Safari.

Reveal time
It's a citroen XM!

20 year old Astra bASe in that Vauxhall burgundy. Lady giffer driver. A full house of bumper scrape, dented wing, missing wheel trim and lacquer peel.

It's like a cat but bigger and more easily* trained. HTH.

Looks like he might have a bit of boxer in him?

Looks like he might have a bit of boxer in him?

Chodspeed and tread shitely.

Economy? What is economy?
My T5 struggles to get to 30MPG even on a run. Newcastle to Coventry and back was over £100 the other day. 
Still, 2000 RPM at 60mph ain't bad at all for a 25 year old auto.

9.3
Could do better