Dobloseven

Son messaged me early Sunday morning.Did I fancy helping him with the rear wheel bearing/ABS sensor on his partners A3?Said I was a bit busy,but suggested he got the parts from Parkers which is open Sundays.Said he'd already ordered them from ECP and was going to pick them up WCPGW?.About lunchtime,get a call.Started job and they'd given him the wrong wheel bearing.Could I go to Parkers and get the right one,as she's taken his car.Turns out there's two sizes of bearing.Long queue,but get there in the end .Asked which size,part in stock,pay,just getting in car and he phones to say they'd given him the wrong discs and pads too!Back in queue again,parts in stock,round to his,bearing fits but ABS ring is missing.Back to Parkers.Chap gets another one out which has ring on it.Thinks someone might have had the ring off and returned part.Parts were less than half ECP price though so not all bad.Wasted a lot of a nice day though.I suppose our motor trade members have this all the time.

Got the split gaiter replaced on Friday.Is there a more hateful job?All that horrid black grease flung everywhere.All went well though.I'd wire brushed and sprayed the suspension nuts a few days previously,with GT85.Those stretch boots amaze me.Got some proper lube for the cone this time.The last time I used it with some silicone spray,which didn't work well.Anyway,all done now.

If there's no drivers door, you'll have to get in from the passenger side!

Doesn't REV identify as female?

How does that work?

Bloody hell,Pete,that bought a tear to my glass eye!

The windscreen washer hasn't been working for a few weeks.Beem putting off having a look but I believe in trying to keep on top of jobs as they occur,so went for it today.Bottle comes out easily,no need to remove wheel arch liner or wheel.full lock gives enough access.Power getting to pump, resistance through pump,but pump seized.Local parts place couldn't source anything off the reg,but said to bring it in and they'd try to match it.Noticed it had a join in it,so nothing to lose by prising it apart.Pump fine but motor very stiff.Soon freed off with GT85,drop of thin oil,then grease where it fits into the pump.Clean the connections up,same with the float switch for the low water level and jobs jobbed.Flushed the bottle out,put it all back,fill it up and all good. Next job's replacing a split CV joint gaiter.Did the other side the other year.Have bought the same stretchy boot which seemed ok.

Well done that man! Lovely to see old cars out and about.Enjoy!Saw Mk 4 Zephyr today coming out of GSF.Roads were wet as well.

A lady used to park one on our road for a long time whilst she worked at a nearby factory.Always thought it looked very good in metallic turquoise and beige leather seats.Perhaps they're a bit colour sensitive.Harks back to a time when car makers had convertible mania.

Fun fact.They were also sold as the Peugeot 4008 and Citroen C4 Aircross.Not in the UK though.Though we did get the larger Outlander based 4007 and C Crosser.

Had to check, it's a 100hp isn't it .Any Panda is a great little car though .Enjoy!

Very sad to hear this,he obviously meant a lot to you.Our pets are always there for us,loyal and unjudgemental.Hang on in there,it will get better for you in time.We lost one of our dogs last year.Even though he was very old and it was expected ,it was horrible,desolate time.We still miss him and even though we've since given another rescue dog a home he'll never be replaced in our hearts.We comfort ourselves by believing we gave him his best life while we had him and hope you'll feel the same.Thinking of you.

Didn't Fords of that era have some sort of patent self adjusting clutch mechanism? ISTR the first to use it was the Mk 3 Escort.

Noooooooooo!You need something Japanese!Run forever,they will!

The oldest are going to be around 19 years old now.Often think us ASers are trapped in an automotive timewarp.On another thread, someone just described a 56 reg Vivaro as modern!Think small cars have a better survival rate because of the owner profile.They're more likely to be bought by the elderly and used sparingly.Being little, there's more chance of them being kept undercover as well.Always surprises me what old cars are still in use though.The old stuff usually comes out on nice days when the morning school run has finished and tucked away again before the afternoon one starts.A trip to the Post Office followed by a look round a Garden Centre!

10% off at Halfords and Kwik Fit.£500 towards the deposit on a new Hyundai.....terms and conditions apply!

That's not a Northern euphemism for an unseemly sexual practice is it?"I caught t'dirty bugger putting his bins out early yesterday.Didn't think I'd seem him,he didn't.I'd have likes of him castrated ,I would, that'd stop 'em!"Apologies to Mrs Grady,Old Lady,in the Viz.

That's obviously a cover sill that's been stuck on over the rust at some point.All doable though.Probably cost a fortune for someone to do it,but DIY, it's "only metal "as Steve Harley might say.And gas and grinding discs and wire and ........!

Actual welding is very easy to do.It's getting the metal there to stick together that's the difficult bit!The better the preparation,the easier the welding.Be a pity for it to die,though.Harks back to a time when car makers had saloon mania and had to make booted versions of everything.Sad too, to see cars rusting away in gardens waiting to be "done up and worth a lot of money".

Got two daughters in Dubai.Shall I get them to give it a poke for you!

Saw a very tidy red D reg low spec hatch yesterday being driven quite vigorously in Leicester.

Didn't Six cylinder have something to do with them in the dark and distant past?Or am I dreaming it?

Motorist Discount Centres,bloody hell, there's a blast from the past!Remember Emergency Spares as well.

But changing them was a Saturday morning job and the Asian run motor spares shops in the shopping parades kept them on the shelf!

Anyone who cuts the roof off an original VW Beetle and replaces it with a pop up tent should have something similar done to themselves by way of punishment.A proper factory convertible is a lovely, properly engineered thing though.