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Grumblespeed

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    Lincoln

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  1. Speaking of which, believe it or not that second key just turned up. Rattled out of the pocket of the oily trousers I was wearing when I was working on it when I lifted them out the wardrobe the other day. I'll get it in the post. Nice to see it's done the job for you.
  2. To borrow a phrase... @Ohdearme🥴 Just clearing the garage, that got chucked back in yesterday when the guy came to uplift the Panda when I was just finishing up the Sei. Sorry @Ohdearme
  3. Other car movement yesterday, Grumbleweed out in daylight for the first time in a few years, looking pretty sorry for himself. And ready to hit the road And safely stashed away at the other end, lovely garage this time Maybe he'll get some attention this time.
  4. Didn't cure the issue, had to swap the old bearing back on as the replacement was even worse. At least @Ohdearmehas a spare hub to put a fresh bearing in off the car. Otherwise however, drives better on the original rims dammit.
  5. Half a tank of full fat E5 too you know😉 Glad nothing fell off on the way home, hope the steering wasn't too wonky.
  6. So, red Panda up and running now. Seicento up for some attention today and I literally even remembered to get the phone out and take some pics. Last shot of the whole fleet together in the old place first Grumbleweed will be getting trailered to his comfy new double garage tomorrow, and the race is on to reduce the numbers to fit on the drive after that. With that in mind first job of the day was to swap off the Uno rims from the Sei, then while the drivers front wheel was off, maybe just pop a replacement hub on to try and stop the untoward warmth happening in that area. Amazing how much easier these jobs are when everything is all free and comes apart no bother Hasn't looked like that in a long while. Don't know if it's cured the issue yet, had to dash off to the new place with a Panda load as soon as I was done.
  7. Going well, brake pipe here safe and sound, cylinder arrived today, bearing (on DPD next day delivery) delivered safely on Thursday lunchtime. No idea where, but definitely delivered, photo to prove it, of my lovely new bearing sitting on some random doorstep that is neither here nor, as far as I can tell, nearby. Have now ordered another bearing from a different supplier just so I can have one to get the car back on the road while I have the argument with the first lot who have checked the tracking and informed me that DPD says they've delivered it. Of course DPD say they've delivered it, that's why I contacted them in the first place!!!😡.. Can't contact DPD, their customer service only opens when I'm at work.
  8. Another one of those days. Started the day with the newly MOT'd Panda needing the O/S rear brakes freeing off as when I got home after the first run out in it the wheel was red hot. Tried getting in to it Sunday night but no joy, drum was slightly lipped and with the handbrake not releasing fully either no way was it coming off. Hub puller ordered I was back on it this morning. This time, got the drum off no problem, despite the new hub puller not fitting so I had to devise a cunning plan pulling the loosely attached wheel spacer with a different puller I already had. Success only slightly tempered by the fact the bearing came off in many pieces with balls scattering everywhere as it disintegrated. Brakes dismantled OK after that, cable was free, pivot point on the lever on the brake shoe was seized solid so that looks to have been the problem. So after much swearing and a bit of you tube watching after I realised I probably should have got a picture before I started dismantling (hate drum brakes!) got everything back together and noticed brake fluid oozing out around the seals on the cylinder. Damn So, by the end of the day, gone from needing the handbrake freeing to needing a new wheel bearing, cylinder, and brake pipe (cause there's no chance that's coming undone - I know, already done the other side.)
  9. Sounds perfectly normal to me👍 (with the possible exception of the "then clears and runs fine" part) No good reason it should be HGF anyway.
  10. Yes, at least Lincoln doesn't have an ULEZ ...yet.
  11. OK, so fleet update. The red Panda AKA the newest car in the fleet including the wife's "proper" car C30 has been languishing out the back for 2 and a half years now after throwing up an ABS light just before the last MOT was up and subsequently putting on the engine light too with an array of fault codes. Not being a fan of having to mess with "modern" electronics I decided at that point to finish fixing the little Sei instead and abandoned it. So, after a couple of years spent constantly "fixing" the Seicento and chasing daft little issues circumstances have changed somewhat. The wife has a new job which means a house move. My commute goes from 25 miles a day to 70, and we no longer have a car park out the back to stash umpteen cars which I haven't got round to yet. The Panda with it's high 40's mpg and £35 a year tax looks a better bet than the Sei with similar mpg but £300+ tax, or the big Rover with the £300++ tax and 35mpg. So finally got round to tackling it. A new ABS unit was needed (no, nothing as simple as a sensor) so fitted that but still had the light, and also had to replace a rear brake pipe to get the seized nipple and then cylinder union open to bleed through. Endless checking of the fuse box over and over again on about the 15th double check finally revealed that I had managed to put a fuse back in the wrong place which finally put the ABS light out (would have thought I'd just scored the winner in some sort of major sporting event at that point) and further investigation of a combination of Google and fusebox eventually pinpointed a slightly corroded pin on one fuse which also put out the EML. Ahhh, behold, light free! MOT today and after one false start with the exhaust blowing in the middle and the handbrake only really working on one side it finally has it's first pass since April 2020 (guess it belonged to some sort of key worker then) So, state of play: Got these 3, 2 fully insured & taxed (just temp cover on the Panda to get it to the garage). Rover still needs a tyre and the CV boots sorting with Seicento currently on daily duties. We now move house in a little over 3 weeks and really I can't move with all 3 - there will be the other Panda in the garage having been trailered there, the wife's car, the red panda will be my daily and I reckon we can accommodate one more as a backup car. But Rover or Seicento? Rover is bigger (obviously), more comfortable and generally a nicer car, plus has the advantage the wife will actually drive it if hers breaks. Thirsty if I have to commute it however, even more pricey on tax, and takes up more space on the drive. Seicento is more frugal, plus I have put a lot of work into it over the last couple of years, and it shares parts with both Pandas and I now have a full licensed diagnostic package for it having shelled out for the red one. Takes up only a tiny corner of the drive when not in use too. Downsides, bit wearing for a long commute, flimsy, and the wife hates it... Clock is ticking, what to do?
  12. Well, been quiet for a while, mostly because I've done bugger all. Had an ongoing feud with the Sei as the driver side wiper has only been giving me a partial sweep, so I could either have it parking halfway up the screen, or only wiping to roughly in front of my face. Worked out that it was because the spindle was moving about so tried all sorts to try and secure it better but just kept getting worse. Looking at it again yesterday and I realised the panel was actually deforming with every swipe and was starting to figure out how I could possibly brace it or possibly just scrap the stupid car - then it finally dawned on me that the spindle was seized solid, the whole thing was twisting round with the wiper, securing nut and all. So having extracted it and spent a happy afternoon hammering it apart and running wet & dry on a drill bit round in the sleeve to open it out I finally got it freed off and all functioning as it should👍 Excellent, second car now available for use again. Been running the Rover as the daily just doing it's thing as old faithful never complaining. Until today. Got back to a flat tyre after work. So after discovering the spare is as bald as a coot and only slightly more inflated than the one I took off I limped it home and went to put a pair of the original steels back on the front to get it mobile for now. Can of worms now opened on removing both front wheels I have now discovered not one, but two CV boots flapping in the breeze, grease but a distant memory (apart from the liberal coating on nearby suspension parts obviously) Good job I got the spare car working then😒 And that's not going to repair... And why is the inner edge all scrubbed? Urgh, cars are a stupid idea!
  13. Oooh, I had a grey one first. That one has had a lot of love too by the look of it.
  14. Always up for an excuse to flash the Sergio Tacchini:
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