Nullzwei

NE film trivia. Terry from the Likely Lads feature film had a flat there. Bob's red Chevette HTM 10N got its wheels nicked in the flats car park. 😛
https://www.reelstreets.com/films/likely-lads-the/

I don't really see the point in growing any of the social media platforms as a source of income through content creation. It's something I enjoy doing but trying to make money from it seems futile.
The raffles have no minimum or maximum entry numbers and are done on the date specified regardless of ticket sale. It doesn't appeal to everyone but it works for me.

Hello, I've had a much needed break from posting on the forum in any great detail but now I'm feeling like I have some interesting shite to share.
I regret deleting my previous tat thread which spanned a decade of buying and selling shite so with this thread I aim to update it regularly with vehicles I have coming and going.  I've been raffling cars a lot this year so this first post will summarise how and why it started.
It's largely done through Facebook, but I do have a separate website which can be used without FB at https://retroshite.com/ and a place to buy merch at https://retroshite.shop
In April I was having a tough time at work, forced into night shift and really struggling to cope with it, one of my coping mechanisms was to buy cars to entertain myself with when I wasn't at work but started accumulating far too much shite and became weighed down with it all so decided to have a mega clear out!

I'd ended up with around 17 cars and a bunch of motorbikes so decided to start raffling them as a hassle free way of getting rid of stuff.
In April I got rid of these:






The 505 gti did surprisingly well and made over 5 months wages at what then was my current job and was the catalyst for escaping my regular working life.

A bit of old video from the mid 1980s showing the flats. The video also has bits of footage of the road down to Tynemouth. The ESSO and Shell garages are still there.
 

NE film trivia. Terry from the Likely Lads feature film had a flat there. Bob's red Chevette HTM 10N got its wheels nicked in the flats car park. 😛
https://www.reelstreets.com/films/likely-lads-the/

NE film trivia. Terry from the Likely Lads feature film had a flat there. Bob's red Chevette HTM 10N got its wheels nicked in the flats car park. 😛
https://www.reelstreets.com/films/likely-lads-the/

Quayside Newcastle

Saw this on the motorway today

Some more leg stretching for the XM today. The ABS light can't decide whether it should stay on or off. The exhaust developed a blow again so it sounds extra raspy, at least on the outside.


Turns out it can have the same ground clearance as a Jimny, and it's not even the highest setting. Is there anything it can't do!?

This looks a great bargain, one owner from new and very original looking.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386249082735?hash=item59ee3d476f:g:rDwAAOSwKytlQ8B~&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwNA9uqbRrRLYLepJmQpUDdbuxJGQVOC4JU3CYOAYtTHcSx7gAPlkYfPgbzMl4FBYDASkCvpxgb8HifgOwtZLgFgBUsx6AubcnRZ9eJbHFhgwwzEsfYHnfcIsXGCwyVuuqP98S1x6Jhw7rR0LWBHtjUfwAAv929E40JhYe72ls5d2QRK299uVuSJOY3nd0Jb6PlGgfAzWBc%2BONZNy7D7QbHJa5wti6dxcHnJ0evgYs0kU8Q4MxtqcDJGE5BuiH9jg2A%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6rzuY3yYg

Cheapish but tatty Scirocco
https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1648829

https://www.gumtree.com/p/citroen/citroen-zx-estate-1996-manual-1905-cc-5-doors/1467676013

Or how about his wife's GS!
https://www.lesanciennes.com/annonce/citroen-gs-ex-yvonne-de-gaulle-1974-a630924

Ex De Gaulle era government car.
Slightly underwhelming 'special features', lol.
https://www.lesanciennes.com/annonce/citroen-ds-ex-general-de-gaulle-1965-a630932

Compulsory pez shot. Chickened out at £100 of derv
 
fuck you khan 
 

Did a bumble along the coast to Bamburgh today - raining 😕.
However, had the delight of following this...
 

... back down the A1.
I could 'feel' the throb coming from the centre pipe, sniffed the 5* & saw the puff of unburnt when he floored it to clear '*a few'....
Swiss, I believe, LHD mintolla 😎
🚙💨

Every BX thread contains welding and The Leader is no exception. So far this has been handled by @Rust Collector. I think all he had to do was the rear offside wheel well.

So, you're probably expecting this post to be about how I've been zooming about in my new 911, with lots of pictures like this?.


Well, yeah, About that
 
Have this instead.

I'd taken a couple of shiters a run(not at the same time) and noticed a light ticking sound from the engine on the last run. At first it sounded like a manifold leak. As I headed home though it rapidly got louder and the oil pressure started to drop. By the time I found a layby to stop it in I had a full on death rattle.
The Porsche with the £10k engine rebuild 7k miles ago? It's fucked.
It's been abandoned at my mates unit in disgust. 
I can't afford not to fix it, however I'm wary about throwing money at another "specialist" so the plan is to pull the engine out and see what's happened. 
Gutted isn't even the word. Fuck cars.
 
At least I have the BMW to rely on? 
 
Yeah, about that...
A couple of months ago I got a warning for the air suspension. A bit of googling said to check the relay located under the spare wheel in the boot.
Let's have a look then.
 
It's the green one here

Hmm

Well, that's not ideal

Amazingly, this was working a day or so previously...

A new relay was fitted and the suspension started working again. All good, or so I thought
Around this time the boot soft close stopped working. An unnecessary frippery no doubt but without it the boot needed a good slam
Then the  tailgate wiper stopped working.
I found they are known to seize up so opened up the glass tailgate to check it. Sure enough the wiper mechanism felt stiff. I disassembled this and lubed it all up, then put it back together. Only now, the tailgate wouldn't open, either glass or the main one. 
Fuck cars
The loom going into the tailgate is a known issue on these so after a monumental amount of fucking about involving an allen key taped to a pole and prying the trim of the tailgate to reach the emergency release. Incidentally I had a receipt in the service history for a repair being done to this wiring already.
Here's what I found in the wiring. 


Yeah, nice work 😑
I ordered a replacement section of loom and splice it all in. And, no difference. Now, at this stage that wasn't a major issue as most of the affected systems looked to go through the other side. However, that side looks fine.
I wanted to test the continuity before replacing the other side as there was no obvious breaks, then the Porsche died and I frankly lost all interest in it and everything else with 4 wheels.
Fuck Cars.
I've offered it to a mate for cheap, if he doesn't take it I'll either try and find someone to fix it or sack it off.
Have some music
The forum wouldn't embed the original video because swears, click here for some top Scottish rapping though... https://youtu.be/7g1QETb6JFs?si=tbJT0JEBiYJ9vB6a
 
It's not all bad, the Kangoo got it's tracking done. Not by my local National who I've used before as a new guy was having a bad day. It took him about 10 attempts to open it off the fob and then threw a paddy at the warning lights on the dash (only there because the ecu has traction control and the van doesn't. I think of it as more of a feature and have chosen my stereo backlighting to match them)
Anyway, because the van was too low at the back they couldn't get the kit on the back wheels, despite me having helped them lift the van up to do this the last time. The guy refused to do this this time.  Fuck National
So, I got the tracking plates* out

And dialled it in by eye. It drives spot on now. It had been out since I fitted the new hubs, I'd just not been using it enough to bother. Handily i did this before everything else went to fuck.
It also got some appreciation when parked up at Glentress as I was mountain biking

Well yeah, it's a van but there you go. 
 
So, naturally, I've agreed to buy another car. Just waiting for the private plate to be removed and the new plate to update on the system so I can insure it and drive it home. WCPGW?
 
 
 

Perhaps a "click bait" title but the chances of ruinous disaster is always there on a supercharged jaguar, especially on one that cost a mere £2,700. I thought I'll make a thread for this as this is a bit of an attainable dream car for myself. I have always had an affinity for Jaguars and a supercharged XJ is just about peak daily motoring in my mind. This one is a weathered example but my experience of the X350s is quite untroubled. I also thought that the wealth of knowledge that Autoshite has to offer may come in handy.
Bit of a synopsis on the condition is as follows:
Recently serviced
New MOT
Perishables look to be in good shape
Suspension has been lowered via the SDD software (anyone with this software that can help me up the suspension to stock ride height would be very much appreciated!)
Kind of following on from above the central locking is not working, almost certainly a drivers door module issue and was wondering if anyone knew where I may be able to get this one refurbed? People tend to just get another module and have it programmed to the car using the SDD but I fancy getting it refurbed since it's a very common issue
Drivers window is broken, needs a new regulator
Pulley squeaking when cold, I will have to investigate what this is.
No Aircon which I strongly suspect is air condenser seals which are a fault with every x350 I've owned.
Oil cooler leak which I suspect will just be a rubber seal which shouldn't be an issue.
Bodywork let's it down, alloy corrosion is in abundance and on most panels which is a shame, alloys need refurbing but that's not a big issue.
Interior is tidy as I have found on most X350s
Makes a truly wonderful supercharger whine when you boot it and all of a sudden the cars foibles melt away. Power is immense and unrelenting with a superb soundtrack to boot and a planted road feel. Once I've ironed out some of the issues it should be a good example. Good bones you might say.
Come along for the ride and we will see if a "got ya" comes up!
More pictures will become available once I've given it a good clean.

As mentioned above, the XM arrived this week, yesterday was the first time I could have a proper look around it. Why not do a little tour!
As one can see, the Hydractive suspension sags a little after being parked up. This would indicate an issue most likely with one of the spheres leaking. However, since the XM actually looks amazing slammed to the ground I can't actually see a problem with this! The suspension does rise to max level as well, I wouldn't necessarily recommend driving it like that for long distances though (as me how I know).

One of the biggest pluses the XM has over my other cars is that its actually a very practical, large hatchback design with a proper fold-down back seat, as demonstrated here. After selling the A6 Avant earlier this year this is badly needed. Unfortunately the hatch strut is missing right now, and this is easily the heaviest hatch I've ever lifted. A new strut will be ordered while I'm in Germany. Also on display, the internal window intended to keep the draft out, available on higher trim models.

Loving the Chevronic sticker. As some will know, HMC bought the car directly from them. They haven't really done anything on the car before the sale, it did however come with a comprehensive file of service history showing that the 1st owner (possibly 2nd, have to sort through it all) genuinely took great care of the car, despite not putting on huge miles over the years.

I think I actually prefer the rear end of the XM over the front. It just has this 10/10 late 80s fastback/grand tourer vibe when seen from the back. Bonus E65 for extra avantgarde rear ends.

The wraparound band of windows is another popular styling feature of the time, this facelift actually didnt receive the blacked-out wing mirrors and wiper cowl stripe which would accentuate it even more.

No clue what happened to the grille,  theres this mesh attached to the back of the nose cone. I'd actually prefer the pre-fl asymmetrical variant of the front fascia, I'll have to see whether I can be bothered to fix what I got or replace entirely.

The huge aerial really dates the design, most radio antennas were integrated into the rear window by 1997 on cars of this class.

The alloys are part of the Exclusive package. They look good, however with such amazing wheel trim designs available they will probably get replaced soon.

Talking about exclusive, all but one badge are missing on the vehicle unfortunately:

Nothing too exciting under the bonnet, this is still the PRV 3.0 V6 the XM received from the beginning. Even without 4 valves per cylinder it goes surprisingly well.

Another highlight for me is the black leather interior. Not only does it look incredibly luxurious and comfy, it also feels that way once you take a seat. The facelift received a more conventional dash and steering wheel. Unfortunately replacing the steering wheel with an older single spoke design is causing more issues than its worth.

Super comfy back seat as well. Things generally held up well in here, a few pieces of trim will need replacing, nothing wild though.

Can't go without an ashtray in the back, I'm quite impressed you could get heated rear seats in an XM however!

The completely blacked-out headliner is another big surprise. You'd pay quite a bit extra to get this in a BMW of the time, even with the black leather option box ticked!

In general the interior feels surprisingly spacious, the sunroof will help but credit to Citroen for making this feel like a roomy big car interior.

Button overload on the center console. I'll have to replace the keypad bezel as the flap for it won't stay in place anymore. Certainly an interesting feature to have. The shifter desintegrated unfortunately, maybe not a huge issue considering the rubberized material feels like a sticky mess (not even close to the softcoat insanity in the Alfa 166 though). The radio was donated by Mr. Catsinthewelder. I still have a freshly rebuild spare Grundig radio out of my Senator B I might try in this. Since I'd love to get the steering wheel controls to work getting a code for the Citroen unit might be unavoidable though.

Despite the passenger airbag Citroen still managed to integrate a deep glovebox, unlike Mercedes in the SL...

All in all impressions are very positive so far. I've yet got to get it up to motorway speeds. There's no doubt that this rather complex executive tourer will need some TLC here and there over the next few months, it certainly would benefit from it cosmetically. I'm looking forward to driving it more though, which is always a good sign.

If the source is correct, the share of electric cars was 21 percent at the turn of the year 2022/2023 here. So there are still many ICE cars on the road and will be for a long time to come. With the exception of the crazy green weirdos in our cities, driving an ICE car is nothing wrong and normal for normal people here.

Shop at Binns!!

 
Old busses at Tynemouth front street. 

I spent some time (but not enough!) in there...

Newcastle polytechnic now Northumbria Universities library being built in the background.