Carl1981

I love the shape of the 309, it just looks so right and always has to me. Seeing this thread, I’ve now got a strong desire to get rid of the Metro and find a nice 309 instead. it’s like being 18 again!

The doors close in the same order as the VW T5, there are also similar looking sections of the door rubber/mouldings at the corners of the doors. Would it be worth finding someone with a T5 you could get them side by side and examine how similar they are and whether or not something could be made to work? Stuff for T5's is pretty cheap by comparison.

The owners club are pretty good, they’ll know who has a spare engine knocking around. all our jowett spares are vintage, except the Jupiter, which is also missing an engine!

fair play for fixing the sunroofs, PITA in our experience. When my FIL had his D2, the sunroofs got gorilla taped from outside and the motors disconnected, it was always soaked inside until we bodged it! ‘repair’ worked and lasted well though! 🤣 also it was obvious it leaked when we sold it, the buyer asked, does it leak, so we showed them our ‘fix’. He seemed happy enough with that.

This guys in Lincoln, so not a Million miles away.

@eddyramrod Where are you based? I have a friend who restores and breaks XJ’s, he may well be able to supply good used parts (wheels with part worn tyres etc) or he may even do the work for you. alternatively he may beat the wbac offer and trailer it away for you. ill pm you.

My daily cars get serviced on the button, when they’re due, either by the Main Stealer or a local Indy. the older stuff is a bit hit and miss, try to do the oil as a minimum every other year. But we’re talking 1500 miles per year or less on those. any other work that crops up get dealt with accordingly. Like lots of people on here, I rely on my daily to earn a living, I also have the complication of living in semi rural village so depend on the car for getting the kids to school and caring for elderly relatives… several hundred pounds per year on servicing is a small price to pay for reliability and confidence in the cars ability.

I saw this company on Friday morning, definately made me grin. I had to double take though! (Photo taken from his website, as I had to check he'd actually named his company that..)

Watching with interest, my guess is an Astra of some sort. Similar size to a Leon and they’re not too bad compared with other Vauxhalls

I’ve been a bit lazy with the camera, but this daily driver was in the right place at the right time! im not sure if it’s the climate, or the lack of funds, but they certainly make a car last out here!

This is a good thread, possibly due a resurrection? … one not too far from me, the Land Rover has been there at least 20 years. I tried to buy it once but it’s worth a fortune apparently, the ‘Not for Sale’ sign has fallen off now, but I would imagine it’s now merged with the vegetation and is would be beyond rescue… This is taken from street view, there’s normally an Astra there too…

I saw this car and Colin at Gaydon. The car is a lovely example and he’s determined to restore it, I tried to convince him otherwise - it really doesn’t need it! It’s great as it is! I’ve known Colin 15 years, he is a truly lovely guy, but insane when it comes to his motors. He still has and he has had some fantastic cars in that time. He christened my daughter too, being the Rev for the church at Longbridge. He used to have a Rover 75 estate as his daily, had REV on the reg plate which I always thought was a nice touch. Not sure if he still has it as I don’t live around there anymore.

I’m out here now, mainland and the chod is epic. I’ve seen a Fiat Brava, 3 tipo’s, loads of cinq’s. Peugeot 106, etc. there are three Alfas on the high street, two 155’s and a GTV, none of them look they’re enthusiast owned! I’ll have to take the phone with me tomorrow for photos!

My current daily is a Jaguar XE, R-Sport. I’m always surprised more people haven’t pointed out that an ‘Arse-port’ is a fancy way saying of arse hole 🤷‍♂️

Good news for once this morning, the Metro now has a new MOT. Last years advisory on the rear valance became a fail, which the garage knew about and were going to repair today anyway. But now that repairs done the car has a new MOT certificate... Plus a new advisory for corrosion on the front floor, not terrible yet, but needs attention before it deteriorates any further. So re-fitting the rear bumper and getting the front floor cleaned up, painted and resealed look like jobs for next weekend. I have no photo's of the repairs yet as I can't get to pick up the car up until Monday, but i expect MOT repair quality welding rather than restoration quality, it's all hidden by the bumper so it doesn't make any difference really!

Today was reasonably successful, 4 new ditch-finders fitted to the Metro. Should have been fitted this morning having ordered them on Friday, but they hadn’t turned up so I had to take my lad with me after the school run this afternoon, adds a layer of interest to the wait having a seven year old in tow! new tyres have made a huge difference to the feel of the car, more supple and the very slight wheel shake (which has always been there and I hadn’t really considered anything to be wrong) has gone! The lack of tyres in the morning, meant I had time to go and pick up the replacement parcel shelf, it is in very nice condition so £40 was agreed. Find another as they say! I had some time during the day between fetching parcel shelf and doing the school runs, to get the metro prepped for the coming weekend, so she’s had a good seeing to with autoglym super resin polish, which always brings this car up well. She’s looking really nice at the moment and seems to enjoy being used a bit. the XE had a clean too, also now looking very clean and tidy 😎

So the fuse boxes are back in the Jag and that seems to be working again. Starting instantly and running smooth, it needs a good check and some time running to test that it’s fixed properly… but I’m out of MOT! Onto SORN for now then, looks like it’ll be after the summer holiday before I get onto proving the repairs and getting an MOT on that one again! My thinking is that I’m better to keep the ones that are currently working taxed and tested, other wise they’ll all slip into a range of sort of working but not road legal, so… The Metro is booked in for Monday for four new ditch-finders to be fitted. The MOT has about a month left and it’ll definitely need tyres for that! I’m amazed they hold air! They’ve really deteriorated over the last couple of months! And before I get a load of comments about how dangerous those tyres are, it’s only done about 100 miles in the last six months and they’ve been all at 30mph or less as the fucking thing hasn’t run properly since last year! The last 40 miles have been done since the head work was completed, she’s running well at the moment so tyres are next on the list if it’s going to see any use! I’ve found a new parcel shelf for it too, although I haven’t got it yet as I want to see it before I part with any cash, I’ve bought ‘perfect’ condition parts before 🙄 often the parts I’m taking off are better! We’re off to the British Leyland and BMC day at the motor museum next weekend, so I might finally be able to enjoy owning an old car this year! I’ll then get it into the MOT man in mid July so that will be OK for another year or ready to be sold etc… hopefully I’ll go on my summer holildays with 2/3 of the shite fleet working well! In other news a company car might be on the horizon again, so I’ll be trying to move the XE on at some point, which is a shame because I very carefully selected that car as a long termer 🤷‍♂️

Looks very Ford escrot to me 🤔 Amazon green 1.8 cab?

I’ve had some success with this van today 😃 headed off to the storage in the Metro, because the head gasket is fixed and I rarely get chance to use that car. Buzzed along happily, nice exhaust note , whiney little transmission (the soundtrack of my childhood 😃), great handling, made me smile and put me in the mood to sort the van out! An hour of fucking about careful spannering finally got the slave cylinder out, although I had to cut the old bolts out with a dremel. A month of weekly soaking in penetrating fluid saw the hydraulic line to flexi joint finally come free without butchering the union 👍 I have to say I’m proud of my work today I’ve made this job look bloody difficult! bleeding the clutch took more effort than I’d have thought, seemed to be bleeding it for ages before the clutch actually worked at all. And an age longer before the biting point wasn’t on the floor anymore! But the van finally moves under its own steam again with a fully functional clutch. I’ve missed her this summer, a week of proper camping in a tent with kids really made me realise how great these vans are 😂 So she’s fully functional, the log book is back from the DVLA and she’s now an historic vehicle and free from the burden of tax and MOTs. best get my arse in gear and refit the refurbished fuse boxes in the Jag! I’ll have a fully functional fleet again soon 🤞🏻

Oh yeah, the daily Jag (XE) also decided that it wanted some attention, so it shit it’s dynamic engine mountings. another job farmed out as that one is way too involved for me and I can’t afford to be without a car for work… there was a time I enjoyed messing around with cars, but it gets a bit testing when they’re all in various states of brokenness!

I’ve not updated this for about three weeks… I got my keys back! The Metro is now having the head gasket done at a local engine place, they seem to know their onions so 🤞 that will soon be back and working properly. The FTP Jag needs the footwell fuse boxes refurbishing, a mate in the owners club does a lot of this sort of thing so I’ve removed those and shipped them off to him for an overhaul. Parts have arrived for the camper van, actually they arrived last week. I did try to swap the slave cylinder out last week but my attempts were futile, I couldn’t even undo the hydraulic line for fear of rounding the bolts / fittings. so I’ve ordered some flange spanners so that I can apply more force. I’ve left the whole lot soaking in penetrating fluid over the last week. back down the lock up for more knuckle grazing spanner wielding frustration enjoyable tinkering tomorrow, I need this fixed pretty urgently now as we’re supposed to be away in this van on the south coast in a fortnight! 😬

I’m having a great week! metro - still overheating, fuck camper van - started lovely after winter storage, but won’t move, no pressure on the clutch pedal, fuck again Jaguar, fuelling issue, FTP, broke down 2 miles from the lock up 🤬 I've just spent 6.5 hours waiting for recovery, just got in, missus has kept my tea warm and made me a cuppa, lovely. I’ve just realised that I’ve left all my non car keys (house, office etc) at the lock up where the Jag has been recovered to, half an hour away! FML! Off I fuck back down to the lock up then 😂

I read that as you were suggesting putting an A-series engine in 😂🤦‍♂️ Probably be more reliable!

That was my thought, the water pump isn’t moving the fluid around. Im not keen on getting into a big project at the moment, I’ve got plenty of other crap old cars that need my attention unfortunately. I’ve never seen an a series fitted in a rover metro, but the a-series was a good little engine. when I’ve got some time later in the week, I’m going to ring a couple of garages and get some thoughts and prices on swapping the water pump. It’d be easier to sell if it was working properly!

With a sale now agreed on the T5, I’ve moved focus onto the Metro… Regarding the T5 though, why is it when I'm buying a car there is none available and they are worth huge sums of money, but when I'm selling no-one wants one?!? Perhaps it's just my taste in cars 🤣 As I mentioned previously, the Metro overheated about a month ago and had to be helped home by the nice people in those yellow vans. We were only 2 miles from home when she overheated, so a top up of water and nurse it home was deemed the best plan of recovery. The Metro was immediately banished to the naughty corner which this time was street parking in a quiet little road around the corner from the house, where I used to be on good terms with the neighbours 😬😂 Then my normal approach to this sort of thing... pretend the car doesn’t exist for a while whilst I decide what to do with her! I decided the most common fail (apart from OMG HGF) is the thermostat. So I ordered a new OE part from Rimmers and after looking at it for a fortnight, decided to get off my arse and fit it. After reading in the Haynes manual that the thermostat isn’t an easy part to get at… I first tested the new part in a pan on the hob, definitely working and opening at 88degC so I’ll press on. It is an understatement that these are not an easy part to get to, it’s almost as if Rover started with a thermostat and then built an entire car around it! It took nearly four hours, lots of swearing and quite a bit of skin off my hands, but shiny new part fitted by mid-afternoon Saturday. Unfortunately a month of being unused had knocked the life out the battery, despite being on charge since early hours Saturday, there wasn’t enough life to spin the engine over, damn. Back on charge then… Sunday morning, my CTEK charger says the battery is back up to full health, so back on it goes. I checked the coolant level again and started her up, a bit spluttery to start with but once she’d cleared her throat she was fine. Seemed to warm up well so I headed off to the farm shop for gardening supplies. “I used to have one of those” said the guy in the farm shop, “Did yours ever work properly?” I asked 😂 The car appeared to be working well, I drove it home and gave it a wash. Checked the coolant level again, fine. Right, I leave it to run until the fan comes on then. Nope, just getting hotter and hotter. Top rad hose hot, bottom cold, hmmm 🤷‍️. So I tested the old thermostat on the hob, damn, that seems to be working OK too, so it probably wasn't that then. I know you shouldn’t really, but I then ran the car with the expansion tank cap off, to see if there was any movement of coolant around the system, it looks a still as a mill pond. I confess, my understanding of this coolant system is very limited, but to my mind if I have no movement in the system I could have a duff water pump? So I’ve decided to banish the Metro again, this time to the MIL driveway a couple of miles away. I can’t put it back where it was, I think it had out stayed it’s welcome outside my now former-mates house! It’s a shame to banish it again, because the car drives really well and feels like a cheerful and willing little thing and it really does get loads of positive attention. But, the decision I need to make is whether or not to carry on messing about with it, I've had it nearly two years and haven't had it working properly and reliably much in that time at all, I think my love for the Metro has waned 😔 I’ve not got the motiviation to change the water pump and I’m certainly not confident to tackle the worst case, could it be HGF? I’m well aware that people call this engine the kettle series for a good reason! So I either farm out the work to a garage for diagnostic and whatever comes next, or I sell the car as is. I think I’ve done enough to save her from the scrappy, perhaps someone with a bit of experience on the K-series engine (or just a bit better with the spanners) could finish this off and enjoy a Metro that works properly! I’m provisionally posting a spares and repairs sale ad, see what interest (if any) we get.