Carl1981

My girlfriend back in 2002 (now wife) when we were both 21 had a 1998 Fiat Punto, base spec, 5 door. 1.1, in flat red with grey plastic bumpers. Cracking little car.

I must have liked girls with poverty spec faded red cars, my girlfriend previous to the wife had a mk3 Ford fiesta, 5 door, base spec, 1.3 in flat red with grey plastic bumpers 😂

Our old camper van shit itself in September! After I sorted out the clutch issues earlier in the year we’d had a lovely couple of camping trips and we were heading home from our last trip of the season on Sunday lunchtime ready for work on Monday…

We stopped for fuel, the car restarted lovely and headed out of the fuel station, about 100 yards up the road we lost power and started misfiring. Fuck!

stopped at the side of the road coughing and spluttering, then cut out. Would not restart at all.

lots of wet under the coil on the tin-ware. This is an air cooled van, so any sign of anything wet is trouble, is wasn’t fuel as the fuel lines are no where near it, smelled oily though. In my blind panic at the side of the road I couldn’t work it out. 

I waited half an hour, the car still wouldn’t start, we have fuel, we have air, but a very weak spark. I gave in and called the AA 😞.

a very helpful and enthusiastic AA patrol arrived a very unexpected and quick hour later! He asked what was wrong, I explained. He said ‘spin it over then, let’s see what’s what’

Well would you believe, the fucking thing sprang into life immediately! The AA man said ‘I thought you said it was broke?’ 😂 

he followed me home, his roadside diagnosis of a car that was working was ‘dunno mate’. 

It would not restart when hot on the driveway again when we got home.

I followed my gut and investigated the oily patch under the coil. In the calm of the following weekend I remembered that some coils are oil filled for cooling or to aid temperature stability. 

I had an old coil in the shed, so I took the one off the van to compare and decide if the old one would fit, the oil coil from the shed seemed heavier. But didn’t match.

So I went to to see Dave at Kingfisher Kustoms, he’s only 5 minutes from where I keep the van. He agreed my old coil had no oil left in it, probably therefore it was getting too hot and failing. A new coil then, ahhh…

turns out this year of van takes the same coil as the mk1 golf GTi, a one year specific thing. Look out, scene tax coming up… £97! We found a work around, got a nice shiny Valeo one and changed some of the connections in the van, £40 was more like it 😂 

so the van was fixed and is running lovely, but it’s not a winter car, so my one working old car has been locked away for the winter 🙄

So in April last year I reported that the Jag had a failure to proceed due to a suspected fuelling issue…

I thought newly refurbished fuse boxes had resolved the issue and the initial testing showed the car to be starting and warming up, revving through the rev range smoothly, excellent… or so I thought!

I booked in for an MOT and got the car out in about July time, but she wasn’t quite right. I’ve had this car a long old time and I’m quite in tune with how she behaves, I could tell she wasn’t right and turned back towards home nervous of another FTP and long wait for recovery.

I didn’t do a lot with the car after that, other than gather some parts (plugs, leads, cap and arm, new belts, new fuel filter) as I thought it may just need a service. Anyway, life got in the way and here we are in April 2024 fitting those service parts! The car still isn’t right though!

The XJ40 was very advanced for its time, it has a natty little computer on board that tells you if a system isn’t working right. There’s an occasional stutter at random in the rev range and she will cut out if left idling too long. The computer is saying Fuel Fail 12 (MAF), so I’ve taken it out and cleaned it, wasn’t dirty, nothing looks wrong, so I’ve bought a known good one from a friend in the world of old Jags. I’ll be fitting that Saturday. 

I’ve also purchased a new CPS as these are a known weakness on the XJ40, so I’ll try that too if the replacement MAF makes no difference. 
 

I’m hoping not to have to resort to sending the car to a specialist because -

a. I’m tight

b. The car might need to be trailered there

c. Good and trustworthy specialists (who will touch an XJ40) are a very rare breed!

d. I want to get the alloys refurbed and new tyres fitted, which is a cost I can’t justify if I’ve splashed out on specialist repairs! Priorities and all that 😂 

whilst all that’s been going on…

Following my post above, which is now a long while ago 🫣 have some pics of the metro repairs to the rear valance…

As expected, definitely MOT quality rather than restoration, but keeps the car alive!

in the time since then, I got out to a show with the Metro

It was nice to use it rather than fix it!

however, the good times didn’t last long! Earlier this year she started over heating again, which is very disappointing 😞. Seems ok if your able to keep moving, but gets hot quickly if your sat still, could be the thermostat stuck closed, it has a new rad, but the hoses to the rad are not getting hot. I think I will take out or replace the thermostat and see what happens. Either way, the car is currently banished to the naughty corner (again!) as I want to get my Jag fixed and back on the road!

A broken Metro added to the broken Jag and a broken camper van, meant my old car motivation has been pretty low the last 6 months…

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.

47 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

South-west corner of the Lake District, almost overlooking Morecambe Bay.

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…

28 minutes ago, Skut said:

 

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! 😬