morris_ital_lover

Underspray,

 
 
overspray,

 
 
probably  not entirely wob free,

 
The badly sprayed Triumph of Wishaw is me
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1977-TRIUMPH-TR7-YELLOW-mot-failure-EASY-REPAIR-/291019902453?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item43c2234df5
 
To be fair that actually looks pretty good.

Progress on the trim front having secured a carpet and a door seal which this car needs.  There's some other bits and pieces trim wise I've collected, some of which will make their way onto the car.
 
However, I have gone backwards quite a way because I've had to steal some parts off this car to help out my daily which has been a little unfortunate when it comes to getting a replacement displacer that's any good.  I've had to add a displacer sphere, handbrake cable and brake flexi to the list of parts I know this car needs.  I did also find that the drum backplate had rotted through where it mounts to the trailing arm and the rear drum shoes are quite worn, but I do have a spare good backplate and new shoes are easy and cheap to acquire.  Also, because I'm putting a phase 1 dashboard in the HL, I had to swap various bits and pieces around with another owner and I had to steal the wiring loom from this car's dashboard so the loom I've currently got fitted is missing a hazard warning switch plug which I'll need to wire in when I get that from the guy I'm swapping dash parts with.
 
My known item shopping list is as follows:
> brake flexis front and rear
> handbrake cable
> brake shoes both sides
> waxstat
> head test and skim if required
> hazard warning switch plug
> tyres
> oil, antifreeze and brake/clutch fluid
> contact breaker points
> battery
 
It's not a massive list really.  The biggest job is going to be the welding on the doors and bootlid as underneath things are really solid and tidy, presumably a result of being kept in a garage for quite some time.

 
For now, the car is sat on axle stands.  Ideally, I'm after a complete trailing arm to fit in on the rear corner because those pivot shafts are the devil's own work to remove even with heat and presses.  If the rear displacer I have is salvagable, and it looks like it might be even with my initial misgivings of its condition, then I have my solution.  However, the replacement sphere needs the remains of the pivot shaft drilling out and I need to find somewhere that can successfully remove the pivot shaft from the spare trailing arm I have so I can rebuild it all accordingly.

 
We will get there eventually.

Wow.... I don't think there is a single redeemable feature about that car. It is heroically awful.

Wow.... I don't think there is a single redeemable feature about that car. It is heroically awful.

PUGCRAFT are proud to announce their new PSA Department.
 









 
So the observant amongst those still awake will notice there's a new member of the family in there. Obv. it's a diesel and obv. it's a Bosch pump, so that makes 4 diesel PSA motors now. That said the estate might be off to pastures new this afternoon, but I'm not counting any chickens just yet.
 
I also swapped the wheels/tyres round 'twixt estate and ZX, so the meatier tyres will hopefully help it corner a bit better. Took the wheel trims off the estate (and the roof aerial!)  and put them on the trim-less/aerial-less/newly acquired TD, and the ZX trims went onto the estate. I think having no trims on the ZX means it just looks sort of shitter in a good way, if that's even possible.
The n/a hatch repaid me by running on after I turned the engine off and has been a bit hesitant recently, so my dreams of getting to 5,000 miles on veg oil only are probably scuppered now. I might try and get 3,000 but it may be pushing it a bit. 

Photo overload due now, here is a dozen of the 50 odd pics I took today:
 
Beware, the Autoshiters are here

 
Brown car, yellow trousers, it takes years of dedication to make this look right

 
The hall of shame

 
Waiting for their turn under the hammer

 
I almost bought this, only £300, but I had promised the wife that I won't turn up home with an extra car

 
291k on the clock and still going strong

 
Sometimes good taste is what happens to other people

 
And the lucky winner gets a dent in every panel at no extra cost

 
Would sir like it in red, in brown, or something in-between

 
This is what happens when you have one curry too many

 
Thanks to all the others that turned up for an entertaining day out, hope to see you all again soon at some random event.

This photo really manages to capture the glamorous life of a TR7 owner. 
 

Wow.... I don't think there is a single redeemable feature about that car. It is heroically awful.

Wow.... I don't think there is a single redeemable feature about that car. It is heroically awful.

Wow.... I don't think there is a single redeemable feature about that car. It is heroically awful.

Good work.
 
I think this picture shows the autoshite dream (albeit minus a couple of Tagoras!!).
 

Wow.... I don't think there is a single redeemable feature about that car. It is heroically awful.

Today on "huh, that's weird":
 

 

 
An A-Series powered Anglia. So now we know what an Anglia engine bay would look like if Ford and BMC had been involved in a shambolic merger in the mid 50s. 

Two stage recall - "Today Europe, tomorrow the world"

A few more bangers found in Greece
 
Very unusual Subaru Leone (ever heard of one of these?!)

 
 
I like the rear lights on these (Mitsubishi Lancer estate)

 
70s Toyota Corolla

 
Earlier Peugeot 305

 
Nice but apparently unused Audi 100

 
Very rough old Toyota Starlet

 
Sad abandoned Honda Civic first generation

 
Abandoned Ford Escort estate + old Toyota Corolla

 
Last but not least, an older Peugeot 104, one of my favourites

Make the most of it. Iveco+salt won't be a happy or lengthy outcome.

Kustom garden ornament.  Another from Willenhall, West Mid's.
 

 
Continuing the gold theme.  Metro van was just up the road.
 

I've always liked Sierras. Something honest and unpretentious about them. Wuvvum had one last year, a tidy Magenta 2.0 Ghia Estate Auto that I liked the look of. RobT ended up buying it and running it for most of this last year. Turns out lately he was thinking of moving it on, and a few e mails back and forth and its now sitting outside the house, filthy after driving back from London to Tavistock through the crappy weather today.
 
The day began too early, 4.40 am as my alarm went off and I traipsed about questioning why i had booked such an early train, downing a coffee etc.
 

 
The Plymouth- Paddington leg passed in a snooze. A quick slog through the underground from Paddington to Victoria and on to South London to Meet Rob and collect the Sierra. Whilst we were chatting having a look around it one of Rob's neighbours popped over, an elderly gent who is himself living the Autoshite dream with a metallic gold '81 Datsun Cherry. He was a bit phased by my digital camera, but i thought being in sarf lahndon and doing a deal on an old ford an obligatory Minder pic was in order.....
 

 
After chatting about things autoshite, over a very welcome cup of tea, It would have been nice to have had a tour around Rob's collection but with time pressing off I went. Rob kindly left a reasonable amount of pez in the tank and i only needed to fill up once out on the M3. Its a great cruiser, yet still reasonably swift when you want it to be with sensible gearing and a long top gear so 70 is only about 2300rpm or so. Its quite chuckable too, and drives far better than its basic underpinnings give it right to. I really like it!
 
I had that familiar Autoshiteist's feeling when I filled the tank and payment added almost a third to the purchase price!!
 
The drive back was good, traffic getting lighter and the light fading the further west I got, a pink floyd cassette i found in the player blasting out and lighting up the graphic equaliser thingumy that these Ghias came with....
 

 
 
 
Somewhere in Somerset I had a fluids stop; Checked the car's and i downed an Espresso.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 

 
 

 
 

 
 
By this stage it was filthy, ill have to put some better pics up at some point.
 
 
So a great trip, a nice old ford, my first, and it was very nice to meet Rob in person at last!

Someone over the the ARonline facebook page found this in a second hand shop today! Beer to celebrate the launch of the Maestro!

Hi All
 
My Grandad bought & restored a unique Citroen 2CV Over the last 20years, and today was the day it was sold & sent off to Strasbourg in France for the 2CV Club to look after.
 
We waited for them to arrive, expecting a big Citroen Low Loader, or perhaps a Citroen Crossdresser 4x4.... Nope! Dacia Powered!
 

 
Enjoy the steel wheels, grey bumper & lots of other no frills!
 
Sucessfully got the 2cv on the trailer, strapped it down & sent it on its way to Froggy land..!
 
Rawy

Things you could do in that room which would be less likely to ruin the carpet than parking old cars on it:
Hold a laxatives tasting evening for incontinent nudists Prod an octopus until the ink comes out Try to spit mouthfuls of TCP into a wine glass on the other side of the room Host a beetroot speed eating competition Use it as a waiting room for a cat urologist  Teach sword swallowing and knife throwing to haemophiliacs 

Christopher Columbus!

The new Nissan Qashqai
 

 
The new Dacia Sandero Stepway.
 

Do it!
Do it!
Do it!

I had a bit of a head scratching moment recently when I realised that the telltales on the phase one and phase two dashboards are laid out differently.  Went to send an e-mail to the chap that wants some of the dash binnacle to find he'd already e-mailed me to warn me of this as he'd encountered the same issue swapping from a phase one to a phase two, the reverse of what I'm doing.  The main issue is the tubes that direct the light for the telltales on the phase one are straight, but on the phase two they're wiggly to go to the new locations.  I have no idea why they changed this, it makes little sense, but it should be a case of stripping down each dash and rebuilding with the appropriate clocks and pipes being careful not to damage the circuit board.
 
Since it's easier to get the binnacle out without the steering wheel in place I reckon I'll figure this out at that point.  I've got the nut for the current wheel soaking in WD40 as it's being a bit stubborn, but the Princess wheel I got has been cleaned up and is ready to go on now.  In the meantime, I removed the old bent bumper and tried out the new one.
 

 
What surprised me is that the car is actually a lot straighter than I thought it was.  The front bumper bracket fixing location on the left hand side actually needs bashing back as I've pulled it too far forwards which is making the bumper sit too low and too far forwards.  All the holes on this replacement bumper lined up perfectly and since the brown car had no signs of crash damage I think that probably means I did a reasonable job of straightening the front end out.

 
The new bumper chrome isn't very good, but then this bumper was very cheap because of the condition of it.  The new bumper sits further forwards, which really highlights how bent the brackets had been on the old one, it looks like my old bumper absorbed quite a lot more impact than I gave it credit for.

 
I need to relocate the number plate again as the new bumper obscures it hence it being removed at the moment.  I also have confirmation from the scrapyard that the nose on the brown one can be chopped off for me and they'll let me know when it's ready for collection.  Reasonable slam panel, top half of the valance and headlight brackets for £40 is not to be sniffed at and when am I ever going to get the chance to get those panels again?  Really couldn't pass up the opportunity to get the repair section and I've gambled on getting that instead of the calipers or spheres as it's marginally more difficult to acquire.