Crackers

On 10/03/2024 at 00:25, Zelandeth said:

 

So...

Ooft... A sudden pang of nostalgia looking over the bonnet humps. Sounds superb too, can't remember from up thread if it's got a juicy exhaust or standard?

Would love to have a ride out (or maybe even a little go in) this if you end up bringing it to the FOD at some point... 

If I have time I'll try and pop up as I have a mate just round the corner I can visit afterwards, so put me in the "maybe" pile also.

Scratch that, I'm on a stag do in Manchester.

16 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

i've been seeing an advert for citroen which features a brown GS- you wouldn't know anything about this would you?🤔

The ad for the new* C4 (I think). I did spot the brown GS too but I don't remember seeing a number plate. 

Christ, you can pick these up sub £1k these days?! Such a cool car, and they've aged brilliantly - far better than most late-2000s street furniture. 

Top marks. 

Cracking on nicely, hope to see it at FOD/elsewhere some time!

Balls. 😔

32 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Did they use full size scalextric track?

Technically yes, actually, and it's used in varying forms in almost every automotive plant. 

50 minutes ago, HMC said:

And were not messing about when it came to the a/c …..

From what I can make out through the very squiggly handwriting, this is quite an insightful read, I'm very surprised they would send it out with the car though - surely they wouldn't want the customer to know how badly they'd built it the first time round, and how much rework it needed. Would be interested to know what the total rework minutes were, although it's probably not counted anywhere. 81 miles of road testing is quite something. 

45 minutes ago, HMC said:

I imagine K WOOD has bryl creamed slick back hair and would in later times be diagnosed with OCD….

 

Again, quite surprising that some of these faults made it to the final quality report before being rectified. "Headlamps loose" especially - I assume this car has done all its road testing in that condition. Wouldn't be allowed out on test nowadays until that had been sorted.

So when are we getting the R4 vs. Ami race then? 

5 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

1983 Renault 4 GTL

In 2005 Mrs6C and I were driving though Aylesbury to see friends in Surrey and I told Mrs6C the Aylesbury ring road was a danger spot because there were often cars for sale! As we left Aylesbury I announced danger over, 4 miles later there it was, a white 1983 (A) Renault 4 GTL on a wide verge with a for sale sign. We turned round and returned to investigate, nice car, fair price and the seller was a friend of a friend. We had to call our dinner invite to say we were going to be half an hour late as we had bought a Renault 4!

Wow! My dad learned to drive in - and I believe, crashed - a white R4 just like this. 

Waste of time typing all that, by the time I posted it you'd already said everything! 🙄😂

2 hours ago, warren t claim said:

How bad?

Nothing out of the ordinary for a high miles car. Brakes all round, wipers, lights, tyres, over the years. Last pass in Dec 22 has a ball joint and rear tyre as advisories. Been a hack since day one as MOT'd brand new at 636 miles.

Guessing it's been out of taxi use for a few months, as it's been tested every 6 months from brand new until end of last year, so couldn't have been used since about June this year? Or has it been sat awaiting an NLA part for 6 months... 

@Wibble just read through the last couple of pages of your thread and it's gut wrenching. You've had a truly awful time lately and I can't imagine how you all must be feeling right now.

The next few weeks will be difficult, as they always are when you lose someone. Make sure you look after yourself, go out, see friends and do things you haven't done for a while when you get a chance. It will make a world of difference to how you feel, even if just for a few hours here there. 

10 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

I have now lent out the Volvo that leaves me the Sigma as my daily,

Shocker as man with reputation for having more cars than weeks in the year reports a shortage of viable transport options! 

Oh bottom. 

Hope you are all OK and get home this side of Christmas. 

4 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

Incidentally I was hoping you still had those alloys available as I’d have bought 4 winter tyres instead of just the 2

Ah, bumhats, they went in the summer I'm afraid! 

On 04/09/2023 at 13:19, dozeydustman said:

I can’t find my vacuum extractor pump.

You're probably sorted now, but can borrow mine if needed.

That is one meaty idle.

The Ecological DisAstra has gone on holiday to the south.

Lowering the tone at one of Surrey's luxury hotels where I was invited for a friend's birthday do. Unfortunately no valet parking for restaurant guests but I'd have loved to see their face if I handed them the keys to it. 

Andy - thanks again for the loan, I really owe you one.

12 hours ago, mercedade said:

Do you have a description of the pipe that failed? I'm chasing a teeny tiny coolant leak that I do not want to turn into an AA trailer.

I'll try and put a pic up when I can get one. 

Good news! The Saab made it to my local friendly garage last night. I popped in today on my uni break to let them know what was up and was reminded why I use this garage: He confirmed which pipe it was, then scooped one up from under the service desk. As others have said, turns out this is a very common failure, they keep them in stock because they get several in every month for the same part. 

Potentially saves me a bit of time waiting for a part and allows me to continue my evening plans for the week - sometimes it's honestly easier to let someone else handle it, even for a minor part replacement like this!

Today didn't go quite according to plan. 

Got up, to drive home from Derbyshire to Sussex. Quick check of levels as I usually do before a long trip and - oh, where's all my coolant gone then? 

Yes, it's in a big red puddle on top of the gearbox. Where's that come from? 

Cock. 

That's had it then! 

The following is copied from the AA tales thread. 

-------------

So, today in a nutshell:

AA call placed at 10:13.

Patrol arrived at about 12:00. Had a quick look at declared in a thick Sheffield accent, "Aye, that's fooked". Did try to bodge it, but the pipe is a moulded one which drops to a smaller diameter beyond the connection to the head (helpful), and he didn't have enough different sized joiners to make up a repair. So it was promptly declared a Relay. 

Loaded up on his van which took a while, and departed Bakewell about 13:15. Furthest he could take us was M1 Leicester Forest services. The onward transporter was requested for 15:30, and arrived at 16:20.

This driver was running against his tacho hours and had to get back to Guildford depot, so couldn't bring the car all the way to Chichester. He said he'd ring me to tell me where he'd be dropping it.

I now have no idea where my car is now. Nobody's rung me to tell me what's happening with it and I expect I'll only know if I ring up the nominated garage tomorrow.

I'd have had it brought home but I don't have time to replace the hose this week, as I'm out after work every night this week. I also want them to sniff-test it for a potential head gasket issue, as I don't trust it isn't pressurising more than it's meant to. So, the fate of the car is a little unknown as of yet. Hopefully it gets down here eventually!

HOWEVER.

Thanks to the endless generosity of the AS fold, I do have a car to run round in until I get the Saab back. @Six-cylinder very kindly drove out to Northampton services with @Andyrew's Eco-Astra, which is now with me temporarily. A massive thank you to both of you for helping a Shiter In Need at point-blank notice!

All in all, I'd say the AA have done a decent job today. All of this was booked through their app, and I haven't had to deal with any call-centre staff. The patrol man and the transporter driver was both friendly and helpful blokes, further confirming my theory that the guys on the ground are a good bunch, who are sadly watching the company going down the drain thanks to hopeless management who just want to pull all the value out of the business and laugh all the way to the bank. 

Oh well, life goes on. 

As always, a very enjoyable read through the last few pages 😀

Minus one. 

The (in)famous brown P6 made its departure in June. 

Nothing new in, although a few things have had me sorely tempted. I think a Japanese luxo-barge moment may be on the horizon for 2024, or I could end up with a Jag. 

That leaves me with the old faithful Saab, which I have just serviced in preparation for further mileage-piling - currently at 172600. Fresh MOT last month thanks to a judicious application of electric sparkles to the exhaust by @Talbot to whom I owe lunch and a pint!

New job means maybe time to go back to a 2-car fleet next year? Time will tell. 

On 24/11/2023 at 00:12, Zelandeth said:

New radiators seem to be basically unobtainable,

Is that specifically for autos? Mine was manual and had a new, higher-cored radiator put in by the previous owner. Whether it was supplied on exchange I don't know, but does it particularly matter if it is exchange?