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!

1 hour ago, Snake Charmer said:

REV seems to have a smile on his face in this photo.

Doesn't REV identify as female?

1 hour ago, nev_jr said:

675 quid for my mum's Zafira. Fuck that, bye Zafira.

How does that work?

3 hours ago, Bfg said:

I guess it comes down to one's mindset and approach to the task. If you think of it as a job (unpaid and for an unappreciative boss - a grumpy yourself ! ) then it's a chore. Even more so when you see the bodges of prior owners and the 'mechanics' as x_ _ _s. 

But....  if you like old cars and you 'just potter around'  for an hour or two,  ..as n' when you choose to (mostly in the afternoons for me) without an impending deadline, ..and you take some sort of satisfaction out of loving / improving the old girl,  ..and you look on those bodges as quite funny reflections on humanity and our culture - then the tasks become a hobby.

Every part of the car becomes a little wonderment.  Fk me this part is 56 years old and I'm cleaning it and putting it back on.!    Lucas, Smiths, Lockhead, Girling, GKN, Triplex Dunlop, and every other sub-contractor's component takes on its own life.  Whether mechanical, electrical, a piece of wood, leather or fabric trim  ..whatever can be be saved and reused becomes a thank-you  to motor industry men and women whose names have long since been forgotten.     

Once done, most of these rectifications last for decades and don't need repeating.  With one task after another done n' dusted - in time the car become useable, reliable and a pleasure ...all for minimal running costs.  After major structural and major-mechancal and paint., with no road tax and cheap classic car insurance - it does, in the long-term, become inexpensive.

     

Personally I hate being in the limelight, so I don't tidy up the car to be admired.  I do it because I feel these old girls deserve a bit of loving care and attention ..after years of abuse, neglect and making do.. When I go somewhere ; I park the car and walk away. She's the centre of attention.  I can do that because I'm a sentimental old sod who loves her ..even her shortcomings.  I wouldn't want to swap her creaks & wrinkles for a soulless manikin or an electric car.  

I like my cars to be decent autoshiter drivers rather than a polished restorations, so originality is less important to me than function. Then, driving the 'maintained' rather than 'precious' car becomes a nostalgic pleasure ..as if I'm driving a ten-year-old car back in the 1970's.   And any other old fart who happens to see you driving down the road also derives pleasure from seeing her still being used. Not at necessarily to shows ..but just around around town and to the shops. 

I'm not interested in bodging the car to sell and make a profit.  Indeed I'm of an age where I know that anything i have will be dispersed within a month or two of my passing. However if I can get each car into a useable and reliable condition before I go, then I'll be gifting them to best friends.  For those friends to own and enjoy a nice TR4, or a Daimler 250, or a sailing boat ..even if just for a year or two (before they sell them on) then that's more a lovely gift than its monetary value.    

The other half of my hobby is to share what I've been doing. It's a therapy for me to see that I'm achieving something. That I'm not yet on the scrap pile. And through these forum blobs - I very much hope inspires and helps others.

win + win + win whichever way I look at this hobby.  

Pete

 

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!

3 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Eva found phoenix laying on the bathroom floor a little while ago, blood everywhere, he'd fallen and died in her arms as she screamed carrying him down the stairs 😭😭

Rip little buddy, oh boy here comes depression again 😭😭😭

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.

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Isn’t it? There’s the perennial thread that crops up where someone will ask what to spend £3,000 on to tow a burger van from Peterborough to Thurso six times a week. Then the suggestions come in thick and fast with anything over £749.99 is a waste of money and they’d be best with (delete as appropriate) Rover 618D, Talbot Horizon 1.9D, Peugeot 405 with a Bosch pump or a Renault 21. If it breaks down all the time or the wife doesn’t like it because it’s heavy to drive and stinks of weed she can go fuck herself! 😂

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

7 minutes ago, Nyphur said:

Thought they were already rusting to bits?

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!

On 23/03/2024 at 08:34, sierraman said:

I’d chemically castrate people that put their bins out early. 

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.

12 hours ago, Nyphur said:

A photo of it bending around the lift is never pretty

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".

2 hours ago, Peter C said:

About £5,800. Not a bad price but I imagine that getting it to Blighty would cost more than £400.

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.

Just now, Rocket88 said:

Another ex MDC drone here….

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

1 hour ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

 

We sold them at MDC and upsold them to anyone buying oil and a filter for a Pinto.

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

7 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

Mind you. Pintos used to eat camshafts.... because the oil hadn't been changed for 30k and the spray bar was blocked.. 

 

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.