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CaptainBoom

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  1. Haha
    CaptainBoom reacted to Rust Collector in Autoshite South East Meet, 24 March 2024 Flower Farm again   
    Now all we need is a catchy name for the cruise around the oldest trees in the area, something like Autoshite Southeast Meet 2025: Operation Yewtree.
     
     

     
    On second thoughts…
  2. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to egg in Autoshite South East Meet, 24 March 2024 Flower Farm again   
    'Trouble with modern trees is there's just more to go wrong'
    AS tree hunting sounds like a thread in waiting.
  3. Haha
    CaptainBoom reacted to lisbon_road in Autoshite South East Meet, 24 March 2024 Flower Farm again   
    @RobT, next time let's close the day with a tour, including the Tandridge Yew  as suggested by @timolloyd
    Did anyone see the 'normal' people turning up at the Farm in their electric SUVs and looking over the fence at us and saying to their children 'Right Tarquin and Isobelle, we've no idea what is going on over there but under no circumstances go anywhere near those strange people'.  
  4. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to inconsistant in Autoshite South East Meet, 24 March 2024 Flower Farm again   
    Instead of leaving it a year I thought I'd add my photos now, along with saying a massive thanks to everyone who made it. Sorry I missed chatting to a few of you. I've missed @richardmorristwo years running now!
    Loved seeing and sitting in the Shad, what a car! Thanks @Weird Car for putting in the mpgs to get it there!
    Loved @RobT's Exodus Six.
    Really taken by @Rust Collector's Trans Sport. Thinking person's Espace.
    All in a great morning and a fine example of what Autoshite does best: really interesting chod and vaguely interesting chat. 




























    Can't wait until next year.
    Thanks All!
     
     
  5. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to brownnova in Autoshite South East Meet, 24 March 2024 Flower Farm again   
    Only one left according to Craptical Plastics. 
  6. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to Peter C in 1987 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8L - Ready for inspection - see page 20   
    I've been looking forward to this day for the past two months.
    Once the Sierra was back on its wheels, I undersealed the jacking points that were concealed by axle stands / ramps.


    The other side is the same.
    It was time to pull the Sierra out of the workshop. As the underseal was still fresh and the car isn't taxed, I only drove the Sierra to the end of the road and back to outside my house to take photos.
    At this stage, I recommend that you rewind to page 4 of this thread and remind yourself what the Sierra looked like on the 30th January, the day it arrived from Northern Ireland. I am pleased with the results and I'll let the photos do the talking. Please note that I haven't washed or detailed the bodywork and trim yet, hopefully I will get a chance to do that next weekend.






    The bonnet, roof and boot lid look much better in sunlight than they do under a LED lamp. Yes, if you look closely and at the right angle, you can see the fine scratches but overall, the paint looks great.



    Remember how the four corners looked? The tarpaulin that the Sierra was stored under rubbed the blue paint off down to primer / bare / rusty metal. My masking off and dabbing of blue paint has worked well. Up close, you can see the touching up but I am pleased with my low cost solution.




    The sills and inner sides of the rear wheel arches look much better too.




    The boot lid and rear valance now gleam.

    I left the engine to idle for about 15 minutes and it ran well, nice and quiet, with no smoke. The temperature gauge reached half way quickly (and stayed there) but the coolant level was still low. The idle speed is a little too fast, I need to work out which screw needs a tweak.

    With the Sierra outside, it took me two hours to clean the workshop. EVERY surface was covered with a layer of black overspray dust, which spread when I was painting the bumpers. Got there in the end.

    I put the Sierra back in for another week, until it can be taxed and driven from the 1st April.

    The 1st April is a Monday. According to the forecast, the weather should be dry. Let's hope so.

     
  7. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to SiC in 2006 Golf 2.0TFSi GTi - Bargain Basement 197k miles TFSI Club Member   
    Attacked the floor carpets with a Vax spot cleaner in an effort to try reducing the cigarette smell in the car. The water came out dirty, so it must have got something out. Not sure if made a difference to the smell. 


    As I made the carpets rather wet (despite my best efforts to suck the water out), I've stuck the dehumidifier in with the O-zone machine for a bit today too. 

    The boot locks okay but the hatch is a bit limp. It doesn't give a good thunk but that also could be that it appears to have an aftermarket boot catch (date coded 2017). But also the boot struts are probably original and rusting out. 

    I put some £9.44 eBay ANG RONG specials on. Only the finest* parts will do. In fairness they work absolutely fine - if anything they're a bit too strong. 
    Yes they probably won't last another 200k miles like the last ones, but the rest of the car is very unlikely to either.
     
    I treated to new mirror passenger glass too. The old one (if you can make it out from the photos) had rusty welding splatter marks on. For £7.10, it's not exactly a large expenditure.


    Also cleaned up the electrical contacts to the glass. This cleared the error code in the door module that the glass was open circuit. We're coming to spring soon, so probably won't need heated mirrors but at least it works now and was a free fix.

    The mirror cover does have some impressive lacquer peel. It can stay like this for now.

     
    Apart from the cambelt+water pump that I'll do when it warms up and the clocks change, it should be pretty much a sorted car. Still a few other minor bits like sort the sagging headlining, stained seats and try eliminating the cigarette smell but they're not essentials. Also need to fit a radio but that will be probably the freebie from dan95x when I get time to grab those spare parts.
    There is a bit of unknown with the brakes. They grab on absolutely fine (if anything the Golf mk5 is too touchy on brakes) but I keep hearing dragging when warm. Not sure if maybe seized calipers, sliders need a clean or warped discs. Will use the car and see if it becomes a problem.
     
    So cost and how much has this "cheap" GTI cost me so far? Something that I'm sure many of you are wondering. 
    One tyre £100 (can't remember exactly but close enough)
    Aerial £4.59
    Pollen filter £11.84
    Sump plug £3.06
    Oil filter £10.05 (not done yet)
    Oil (on shelf so from memory) £18 
    Cam Follower £23.42
    Fuel pump sealing o-ring (not used yet) £3.65
    Coolant Flange £10.42
    PCV kit £59.20
    Thermostat £28.20
    Aux belt £13.53
    Aux tensioner pulley £14.53
    Rear wiper arm + blade £6.20
    Alternator £21.24
    Spare MAF sensor £29.99 (will keep as a backup)
    Upper tailgate struts £9.44
    Passenger mirror glass £7.10
    5l Anti-freeze £5.22
    Boot carpet £21.40
     
    Total parts: £401.08
    Inc purchase (£1400) total cost: £1801.08
     
    Providing it doesn't keep breaking (there still is a good chance it may...) then that is still a very cheap GTI. 
  8. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to Joey spud in 2006 Golf 2.0TFSi GTi - Bargain Basement 197k miles TFSI Club Member   
    Years ago I got called out to a Skyline that had a loss of power and bad idle at a posh private school in Sevenoaks. It was an uprated twin turbo set up with lots of silicone pipework running everywhere and the young owner said he just started it up blipped the throttle and it went bang and lost power and was now convinced he had blown a piston or dropped a valve.
    He was moaning on that he'd told the call taker he would need a flat bed recovery and not me in my orange T5. Anyway while he was pacing up and down mentally pricing up the cost of an engine rebuild I was looking for anything obviously wrong as it overfueling massively and being JDM I couldn't plug in to look at any live data when I reached under the air boxes to have a wiggle of the wiring and hoses when I felt a three inch boost pipe hanging free.
    You couldn't see it from above and the car was too low to get under the engine bay to look up but once the air boxes where removed it became visible. It was a right sod to get back on again  but once it was securely retained and everything reassembled the engine restarted and ran fine again.
    I think he had been more than just been blipping the throttle but he was mighty relieved although never gave me a tip or appologised for giving me ear ache about the recovery truck.
    Those VAG turbo hose fittings were a big call out/easy fix for us with many popping off usually a few days after being disturbed while having repairs carried out at a garage. We kept new clips for them but often it was the wedge bits on the hose that were a bit worn and would slip under the clip when on boost so many cable ties were added for extra security.
  9. Sad
    CaptainBoom reacted to AnnoyingPentium in The grumpy thread   
    AVAS.

    Alternator isn't charging.
    Once again, AVAS.
  10. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to Dick Longbridge in Ambitious towbars   
    I feel way too aggrieved when people fit post-2001 font plates to vee-hicles which are pre-2001. They look bloody awful.
  11. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to LightBulbFun in Ambitious towbars   
    its not just that either, plenty of cars came with pressed metal plates when new (anything fleet especially since pressed plates where cheaper then raised digit ones)
    but these modern cheap £20 ones just so fucking naff, because the font and digit size is all wrong, everything about them is just wrong and rubs me completely the wrong way LOL
     
    I always find it sad when I see a really nice vehicle but someones riveted a set of cheap plates to it, especially such when you know the vehicle still had set of nice original or period plates that have been binned off for said cheap and nasty plates
     
    I guess because most people just want "Oooh look silver on black its old!"
     
    I know its small potatoes in the scheme of things but it is one of those things that really make or break a vehicle for me
    for example Stagecoach (or the garage crew at Bow/West ham) made sure their heritage route 15 Routemasters had properly done painted/transfer number plates
    but First just slapped some cheap and nasty silver on black pressed jobbies on their RM's and its legitimately one of the reasons why I never rode on a heritage Route 9 RM LOL
    anyways this is one of my soap boxes so I best shut up now LOL 
  12. Agree
    CaptainBoom reacted to SEATMad in Unpopular Motoring Opinion Thread   
    GM did not "kill Saab".
    Saab was loosing money hand over fist way before the GM days and I think GM did a sterling trying to keep Saab a going concern all the way up until GM went bankrupt themselves and Saab was collateral in bailout agreement. After the fact, Saab - Spyker  just couldn't stay afloat due to politics, an ageing line-up and a rushed final product that failed to capture the mass markets imagination with multiple failed buyout attempts by the Chinese and a Russian. I know GM didn't help with the brand. They damaged it's reputation by introducing that Saabaru and the 9-7X, they shouldn't be blamed for the death of Saab. It was always gunna happen in the end. 
     
    Plz don't shoot me....  
  13. Confused
    CaptainBoom reacted to Dyslexic Viking in Unpopular Motoring Opinion Thread   
    Buying a sports/performance car with an automatic transmission is like marrying a supermodel and cutting your dick off.
  14. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to GrumpiusMaximus in Unpopular Motoring Opinion Thread   
    I own a MK4 Golf and I like it.
  15. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to UltraWomble in Unpopular Motoring Opinion Thread   
    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...
  16. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to egg in Autoshite South East Meet, 24 March 2024 Flower Farm again   
    Lovely to see this, well done inconsistent for getting a great turnout. 
    I could easily see Rob painting 'sod the ULEZ' on the Shad and driving it around Beckenham like he's David Bowie.
  17. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to Bfg in Triumph - That was a year that was..   
    A quick pictorial update . . .
        
    ^  Fibreglassed underside to the frame, where I'd used masking tape to extend the flange.  As you can see the resultant extra width of that was 3 to 4mm and instead of being 1mm thick it is now around 3mm thick.   With the extra thickness the frame was much stiffer than it had been, so I opted to not fit wood, or other means to prevent it from twisting.  Despite my original intent, and Stuart's endorsement of doing so, the lid's T-bar worked well before to prevent twisting, and so I felt little motivation to change things. 
       
    ^ Having something more sturdy to work with, I got on with rebuilding the contours, and primed it.  With so many colours ; black of the moulding, grey of raw fibreglass, primrose yellow of the paintwork, and green of the fibre-filler it was difficult to see the shape.  Coating with primer added yet another colour but when first applied helped highlight flaws.  
       
    ^ I had considered painting the frame red, to match the car, but then because of the extent of rubber seals around all edges decided to go with gloss black.  Unfortunately, the reflections in that show up every wave and wobble in the fibreglass moulding.  I rubbed down and repainted it a couple of times but decided the odds were stacked against me.  If I were to insist on having good reflections - then this fibreglass moulding would need to be replaced with an aluminium backlight frame.   

    ^ If you don't take those reflections too seriously this the backlight looks acceptable for a driver's car.  I need to replace the glazing rubber's 'chrome' infill bead, as the one I have is broken and twisted.  The rubber itself I reused. Again it's far from perfect but usable.  

    ^ work in progress.  The backlight is now mostly refitted but it's glass has not yet 'settled'.  I could do with the heat of a closed car on a still n' sunny day to soften its glazing rubber.  There's no sealant or mastic holding the rubber in place yet, and as you can see the rear interior trim is still to be refitted.   Presently I'm not so keen on it being black, but perhaps it'll grow on me or else fade into the background and not be noticeable.   We'll see.

    ^ Conversely, I liked the backlight being painted primrose yellow.. and it light tone disguised the moulding's numerous defects (not only distortions but clearly its mould was chipped and at the end of its working life). 
    That's all for this week, I bid you have a good weekend.
    Pete
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  18. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to Weird Car in Autoshite South East Meet, 24 March 2024 Flower Farm again   
    Rolls it is then!! 
  19. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to inconsistant in Autoshite South East Meet, 24 March 2024 Flower Farm again   
    Weather is looking good for tomorrow, see you from 10am.
    Safe journeys all, Chodstone here we come!
  20. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to Peter C in 1987 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8L - Ready for inspection - see page 20   
    Another day off (Saturday), another day spent tinkering with the Sierra.
    I had a look under the car and noted a patch of engine oil on the workshop floor.

    The sump plug was leaking. When I drained the old engine oil a few weeks ago, I noted there wasn't a copper washer on the sump plug so I, foolishly, put the sump plug back in without fitting one.
    Rather than draining all the engine oil, my wife kindly volunteered* to hold a rag against the drain plug whilst I quickly put a copper washer on the sump plug and screwed it back in place. I only lost a little engine oil in the process. Hopefully problem solved.

    Next, I prepared and undersealed the front suspension components for that factory fresh look. I am pleased with the result.


    I had lunch in the workshop. My arms and jumper were soaked with paraffin and I was not allowed to eat with the normal people in the house.

    The engine sump was filthy.

    And corroded.
    I lifted the sump up and away from the crossmember by jacking up the transmission.

    Access was adequate, I managed to scrape off the rusty bits and clean up the good coatings.

    I painted the rusty and exposed parts of the sump with a high temperature black gloss paint. Whilst there, I also gave the steering rack a scrub. Much better.

    Finally for today, I rubbed down the rusty areas under the bonnet and painted them with Rust Oleum paint. I will dab some blue aerosol paint over the patches tomorrow.
    I also cleaned the old overspray from the two rubber seals. 

    The plan for tomorrow is to finish off the decoration work under the bonnet, get the car back on its wheels and push it out of the workshop, where I can see better and touch up a couple of little chips and marks that are difficult to spot indoors. 
    With the Sierra outside, I will be giving my workshop a deep clean.
  21. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to Peter C in 1987 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8L - Ready for inspection - see page 20   
    My cunning plan to sort out the damaged front bumper trim was to cover it with silver vinyl tape. Back in the day, when I had 10 year old Sierras with chrome trim, I would cover the trim with red vinyl tape, to make them look like newer versions - see photos on page 1.
    I got a roll of this stuff from Amazon. It says "High Quality". 

    Ten minutes later, the front bumper looked like this.

    Unfortunately, the quality of the tape is not brilliant and where I pulled to extend it, the tape discoloured slightly. Not to worry, it looks better than the sun burned plastic strip.
    Once finished, I was left with one sexy looking front bumper.

    I then spent a couple of hours sorting out a few miscellaneous bodywork jobs.
    I sprayed over the non-matching oil based paint on the inner side of the nearside sill.

    I rubbed down a couple of small rust plebs on the back door. Fortunately, these are located beneath the trim strip and the repair won't be too obvious once finished. I'd rather have a small repair patch than leave untreated corrosion under matching paint.

    I did the same on the offside front door.

    There were also a couple of rust plebs on the sills, which extended from beneath the door seals. I treated them in the same way.


    I will touch up all these areas with the matching blue aerosol once the oil based paint, which will subdue the corrosion, fully dries.
    Whoever re-sprayed the nearside front door, re-used and badly applied the trim strip. The front section of the strip was peeling away.

    I got this stuff out. It's not the best, despite what the adverts say but hopefully it will do.

    At this stage, I need to explain that I had a different plan that involved putting pressure on the trim to make it stick but it didn't work out and I had to think fast and came up with this arrangement before the adhesive started to set. 


    Hopefully, the trim will be secure and I won't have 25 litres of 10W40 spilled all over my workshop floor.
    I won't have much time tomorrow or Friday to make more progress, so the plan is:
    This Saturday - finish off the bodywork repairs that I started today, tidy up and spray the front suspension components, clean the underside of the gearbox and engine sump and paint the sump.
    This Sunday - finish off what I started on Saturday, get the car back on its wheels and apply protective coatings to the underside areas that are currently concealed by axle stands / ramps. Then let everything dry.
    Next Friday (Easter) - fire up the engine again, bleed the cooling system. Weather permitting, pull the Sierra out of the workshop and give it a deep clean and hoover. Take pleasure in taking plenty of lovely photos. Clean my workshop, which is a total mess, just about everything is covered with a layer of black spray residue. 
    Next Sunday (Easter) - if the weather is shit on Friday, undertake the tasks scheduled for Friday, otherwise I shall rest.
    Next Monday (Easter) - the 1st April, get the Sierra taxed and take it out for a drive and take some more photos. 
     

     
  22. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to Yoss in Autoshite South East Meet, 24 March 2024 Flower Farm again   
    Mrs Yoss now informs me she wants to to the gym tomorrow and blue Favorit is the only car she has registered for the car park. So I'm probably bringing green Favorit now. Which hasn't been washed for several months. Anyway you'll hear me before you see me if I'm in the green one.
  23. Sad
    CaptainBoom reacted to Back_For_More in Autoshite South East Meet, 24 March 2024 Flower Farm again   
    I won't make it...... I left my sodding keys at the AirBnB last weekend and they haven't shown up yet - so still in Belgium. 
    Hopefully you'll compensate with copious photo's. Thanks in advance 
  24. Sad
    CaptainBoom reacted to brownnova in Brownnova’s eponymous vehicle... It might be over for my Nova.   
    Since the Nova had been away on its hols I hadn’t heard anything. Today I did… 
    And it was a message I was not hoping to receive…

     Bollocks.

    The first pic was the bit I knew about, but the rest is quite the surprise as I had thought it was pretty solid. There was a video too which showed that there is a fair few bits in the floor pan and inner sills which would need new metal in. Plus all the work on the other bits which I had planned for.
    Sadly, don’t think my pockets are deep enough for this one. 😢
  25. Like
    CaptainBoom reacted to inconsistant in Autoshite South East Meet, 24 March 2024 Flower Farm again   
    Ooh please bring that!
     



     
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