Crackers

Some quick pics of the Shad as promised, Mr WC already wants to take it out in Convoy with the Guy Arab when that’s back on the road so expect some Rolls and Bus action soon, I also took it to work this morning and managed to attract a crowd almost instantly mainly from my colleagues who were probably wondering if the CEO of First Bus had just showed up for a random Audit 😆
I’d like to give it a really good wash and detail very soon as it got absolutely filthy from the drive home yesterday 

The mid and tail sections of the exhaust look to be stainless, so may be a little more vocal than stock.  It does have the full compliment of silencers though, and to be honest you don't really hear it much when on the move.  Manifolds, Y pipe and front section look standard.  It does have a *hell* of a bassy rumble at idle (which I doubt will ever come across on camera) and when you're just feathering the throttle in 20/30mph areas.
I do have to admit this is something I could see me tweaking a bit longer term.  While I don't want anything too insane, I know from a certain scruffy Range Rover we had in as a trade in to clear at the garage, just how gloriously these engines can sing in the top half of the rev band.  So there's always going to be that temptation there.  I'm pretty sure that Range Rover had the stock system and just had a Cherry Bomb in the place of the rear silencer too...I may need to test it sans the rear box at some point.  For science.
I am loathe to meddle too much there though, as it is subtle in a way that really suits the car.  Plus the low end rumble is rather nice too.
If you're ever over this way or we cross paths at the FoD you're more than welcome to have a shot (assuming I ever get the fuel system to play ball long enough that I trust it to get there and back!).  Big part of having interesting cars is getting to share them.
There's a local gathering tomorrow afternoon at the Beefeater opposite the XScape in Central MK tomorrow from 1500.  My intention is to be there in something.  Most likely the Trabant as the Rover is still covered in moss to an embarrassing extent to be seen in public beyond being passed on the road.  If anyone on here is likely to be there, feel free to say hello.
Total car news for today consisted of putting the Renault's battery on to charge and chucking a piece of fuel line to replace the bit that's rotted off so it can be started up for the first time in far too blasted long tomorrow.  Along with the Rover she also really needs a wash as the moss is taking hold.
I really need to get started on putting a web page together for the Trabant I think.  It's always such a chore trying to catch up with everything done if I leave it too long!

A very smart, late D90 I papped outside Medstead & Four Marks station on the Watercress Line.

I do like a sunset.

Selsey beach car park on a July evening on a chippy run. 

the standard steering wheel on an mx5 is about 350mm but i fitted a smaller 320mm sports! wheel. this is great but the indicators are obscured and i’ve had a couple of occasions recently when they haven’t self cancelled and i’ve not noticed  

some ingenuity was required 


no chance of not noticing these little buggers !

yes, they really are retina meltingly bright ! 
this is more of a prototype of something i’ve got planned for the Exo but might need to rethink it slightly  

A very smart, late D90 I papped outside Medstead & Four Marks station on the Watercress Line.

I do like a sunset.

I’ve run out of indoor storage, so I’ve dumped it in a large empty building in Birmingham for the weekend.

Begone, pea shooter.
 

 
Had to retap one of the threads on the head as idiot here used a wrong thread pitch manifold stud off another car.  
 

 
CHONK PIPE
 






 
It won't start now as I've fucked up the idle screws and choke position, and it got dark. So I'll have to wait till later to annoy everyone.

If you really want to just squirrel it away in a corner and revisit it at some point in the future, I would absolutely recommend an outdoor-speicification CarCoon.  @Crackers has had some recent experience with one of these, and they really are good.  A car put into one of these is actively dried out, and will not rust any further.  Yes, they are a little bit spendy when bought, but the running costs are utter peanuts (you could likely run it from a solar panel if you're so inclined) and you'll then always have it to put another future project in.
If space isn't the primary issue, then it could well be a good option for the time being. and mean that when you do make the decision on it, it's not 2/3/4 years more rotten than it is now.
Second-hand one here:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364775783912
And even if in 2 years time you still decide to get shot of it, the CarCoon will still be worth decent money.  That second-hand one has only depreciated by 17% of the cost of a new one! (surprisingly)

A bit more of the bitsa interior. Upside- it’s semi trashed so very usable. (OSR door card- partially eaten by a dog?)


Dog guard secured by a ww2 soviet machine gun sling
The headlining is just the backing only, as it the internal a b c d pillar trim-

The NSR 1/4 window still has the breakers yard markings on it for extra couldnt give a fuck points. Actually this glass is more tinted, and is optikool rather than the other side windows being triplex- so off a later model i think.
 
Farthest off road so far

Verdict- must try harder
 

Yes, and snappysnaps too.

 

P38 still going well, Quite a relaxed drive- not fast but it makes you relax and waft. It came with a George Michael cd in the player. Didnt he crash one into some parked cars at some point?
Anyway I decided to slap a plate I had on it to add to the old money vibe….

TL;DR the site will go for some major maintenance this coming Friday afternoon/evening. I’ll figure exact times closer to the point. Expect a few hours downtime when this is all going on.
The current server setup has been online for nearly half a decade and in computing world, that’s an actual lifetime. It has had a good innings but it’s coming to end of life.
Not only is the server operating system getting close to not being no longer receiving security updates (end of June 2024 is the cut off) but the underlying server hardware is pretty old technology now. I suspect the hosting provider has chocked that server full of other clients and hammering it hard too. Both reasons are very likely why things seem to go really slow at times and you may on occasions get that very frustrating 502 Bad Gateway errors when trying to access parts of the site. This occurs when the site takes too long to generate a page and times out (around 30 seconds). 
Ultimately, we need to migrate to a new server and do it soon. Hopefully it will eliminate those errors. Of course I can’t guarantee for certain those errors will completely go away but I fully expect them to. Likewise, its important we move to continue getting the latest security updates to keep the site stable and secure.
To use an analogy, previous recent updates have been the oil and tyre changes on the bus. This is basically a whole new bus where the branding/customisations need to be reapplied.
A few months ago in the background, I have built up and started testing a new server enviroment. Some may have seen the previous announcement a few months ago about the testing site at https://autoshitetesting.co.uk - thanks everyone who checked out and gave it a poke. The server that this site is on will become the new server the forum will live on (will still stay as autoshite.com when fully live). This is the latest version of our Server Operating System (Debian) and should give us security support till the end of June 2028. The hardware is the latest technology in CPU, memory and disks. These all should offer multiple times the performance of the existing server setup. I’ve jigged things around so hopefully it will keep it to around the same monthly hosting cost despite the increase in performance.
It’ll take a good few hours to copy all the data from the old to the new and then make the switch. I don’t expect any major hiccups but there maybe a few kinks that may need ironing out once live too. I’m hoping that most machines should pickup the new server IP address automagically and we won’t lose anyone along the way. I’ll try putting up a site somewhere else that we can still provide support if things go wrong (probably https://autoshitetest.co.uk). So note that down now.
I’ve been wanting to do this for a while and have had everything roughly in-place, but I’ve needed to find time to finish this off and go live. Life has been busy for me recently and I’ve needed to find a good slot. Not just a few hours but possibly a day or two if things go really awry. I certainly don't expect any issues (otherwise I wouldn't be kicking this off!) but I need to budget contingency as its a major switch with a few unknowns.
The aim is for possibly Friday afternoon/evening to kick this off. I can’t say exact times yet but hopefully can say closer to the time.
I like being on here as much as many of you do and this work is needed to keep this forum all hunky-dory.
I'll leave this thread unlocked for now if anyone has any questions or concerns on this.

This one made it into the calendar, natch!

More from that exciting day here....
https://autoshite.com/topic/21257-rover-shennanigans-81115-lancia-loan/page/2/

When this fully working Volvo Estate was last for sale both Mrs6C and I liked it.  I tried to work out a narrative as to why I should buy it, but couldn’t.
Now it is broken we have bought it!

At's no right..
You might hear the rattle above after the shift to 2nd and at around 2500-3000rpm.
First thing I thought was pinging, but it continued after turning the mix up and timing back.
Then I thought bottom end. However when revved stationary it sounds more like valve train.
You can definitely hear it in this one.
Not good. 
Clearances reset. No change.
Aux belt off. No change.
Took the timing cover off to check the timing gear. Intact and solid as a rock.
Next thing on the list would be the cam followers. Which means head off.
Hhhhhhhhh.


They are all intact, but..

That has seen better times.
Given the state of that there's no option but to take the camshaft out as that follower will have probably damaged it.



Straight in the bin with that.
A new K cam and followers on their way.
As for the noise, I reckon it may actually be coming from the fuel pump, as the lobe for that looks particularly tired.

Well. 
That escalated quickly.

Its been slightly gifferised with some later mb bits- which make my eyes itch- but its spent almost its entire life life in central london and looks pleasingly rot free. Ive probably had about 25 w124s so immediately went to the front spring perches and rear subframe mounts. VERDICT- they exist. 

 


 

Today was the annual Lancia Gamma Italian lunch. 7 Gamma's made it this year.
Ours coughed and spluttered at times but made it there and back. 
There were 5 coupes and 2 Saloons, I bought the Berlina (Saloon) rather than the coupe because I like the shape better, what do others think?

Not sure how long this knob will last, so that link may be useful.
I brushed past the front number plate the other day and one end fell off, so I had a closer look and the fibreglass was a bit crumbly around the screw holes. I could have just drilled (yet) another hole, but instead used a couple of these.
Once I had dug out my square 8mm drill bit they popped straight in.


Nice easy job; they expand like a rawlplug so should be more robust than screwing straight into the bumper.

I popped underneath to make a start on the next job which is replacing the handbrake cables and fuel hoses. Look at the rust bulge!


Looking at the top though, it's clear someone has been here before me as that doesn't look factory.

One of the hoses looks like someone (for some reason) has just drilled the top of the tank insert and poked in the hose! The resulting kink hasn't done the hose much good.

It seems firmly attached however, so will have to remove the tank outlet and see what's going on.
For now I just busied myself replacing missing trim clips and a couple of rivets which stiffened up the rear valance.

Northern Ireland? You've saved that sweet Sierra from a dark future:

*visible disappointment*

Where the fuck is the rest of it?

I can't look at it.

Look mum, I'm on TV!

"I like this. But I'm not brave enough to admit it." See also: Dez's new boyfriend.

At £1200 to buy and £870 to insure, that sounds ideal. £2000 might be a lot of money to you, but to buy and insure a first car that meets your requirements, it is really, really cheap. I can't see that you could possibly do better for the money.

Behold: 

 
 

Plopsies.


Got sick of this leaking everywhere and had the seals lying around, so cracked on at the first lull in the weather.
I found 5 leaks.
Front seal.

Shifter and reverse switch housing.

Rear seal and Speedo drive.

Pulled the output flange off and replaced the seal.

Reverse switch sealed up with rtv.

Front bearing housing removed, seal changed and new gasket made.

There's a top hat seal for the speedo that I'll replace when the cable goes back on.
The shifter leak was probably from the oil being slightly overfilled wile the gearstick wasn't bolted in fully.
Ready to go back in, but have lost the motivation.