Lankytim

I’ve had one for a few years and it’s worked really well. I’ve found that after a few months it occasionally stops sucking as whatever valve inside must get stuck or something but blowing down the end and shaking it around a bit cured it. You’ll find you end up using it for all sorts of jobs.

Got to absolutely love a Mini that hasn’t been buggered about with and is still standard. They’re almost extinct nowadays!

Trust me, they were worse. Think of a Marina but much more top heavy.

I raced a few of these back in my banger days. Lots around at £40 a pop. They seemed to last a few years on the road and then fail an MOT on something that was unobtainium and end up scrapped. It was common to see ones that were 5-6 years old cubed, some were even scrapped at their first or second MOT! I found that hollow body sections like inside the ribs on the bonnet and sills etc hadn’t been painted in the factory and were full of rust, they were also miles behind western cars in terms of handling and refinement. I know some on here will have rose tinted specs but I think they were absolute crap, on course this makes them even more interesting today. I’ve Ive got a Parker’s used car value guide from 1998 and none of the FSO cars had any part exchange value at all unless they were less than 6 years old or so. I’ll try and dig it out as the summary of FSO cars was quite amusing, the only brand that came off worse was Yugo.

From what I’ve read it was absolutely knackered, he must me crazy to want to restore it!

There’s a video of it on the “Classic cars, bangers, rot boxes, anything old and interesting” facebook group.

Apparently the guy got a free pizza too!

I don’t mind Wetherspoons, always somewhere to sit and usually pretty quiet and a good place for a chat. A few years back there was some numpty blocking the bar I had to elbow out of the way so I could pay for my pint with shrapnel but apart from that it’s all been good. Moving on, I’ve been working on the 145, filling the repaired tank with 10 litres of fuel and trying to get it to the engine so it’ll run. Absolutely no luck, even when I used my drill operated power steering pump to suck it from the tank. Very annoying, is the fuel pick up not low enough in the tank? Jacking the rear up I undid a fuel pipe and inserted the drill pump to try and suck directly from the tank. Petrol sprayed everywhere! The metal fuel pipe under the car is corroded and holed so will need replacing. Much better to find it now rather than when it’s on the road!

The Rover isn’t the only thing that’s beading, WOOF WOOF!

I’ve added a nice silicone 45 degree elbow to the Laguna to replace the last section of factory pipe, looks pretty nice and I’m sure it’ll provide another 000.2BHP and torques.

Sly nocturnal Swansea spot. Looked tidy but had a missing passenger seat. 24 hrs doesn’t seem like much notice to get it shifted before it’s crushed.

Thanks for the offer, I could get it welded down here or do it myself but I don’t want to end up up to my neck in an extended project, I’ve already got a couple of those. The other issues the Rover has are manageable for me but this chassis corrosion has tipped it over the edge for me from running resto to body off rebuild.

I’m on the P4 group on Facebook and there’s lots of people saying I should replace the chassis and how easy it would be to do and how scrapping it can never be an option but when I ask anyone if they’d like to buy it and do the work themselves there’s just tumbleweed. Moving on, the fuel tank has been refitted in the 145! The corroded and seized tank sender was gently coaxed back into life too meaning the gauge actually works now.

I’ll get the builders foam and black paint out.

That foam stuff is added at the factory to aid sound deadening, I'm not even sure what it’s made from. Hopefully not asbestos or something!

I wouldn’t speak too soon! I’ve been working on the brakes, refitting the master cylinder when I spotted a very old looking welded patch on the NS chassis next to the steering idler, I poked about at it and it fell off.. I kept poking and poking…… Unfortunately it looks terminal as it would need a lot of dismantling and skill to fix. It would be easier to simply replace the chassis. I was already considering replacing the body tub with a better one, but what do you have when you replace the chassis and the body? Might as well start with a different car. It’s a shame but I factored in something terminal when I bought the Rover, the rust was well hidden until I pulled the patch off, I’m just glad I wasn’t too many ££££s in when I found it. I’ve definitely got the P4 taste now though, they’re just such fun cars to work on! Perhaps I should keep my eyes peeled for another project and use this one for spares….

Nope, just up and and down the driveway!

The P4 responded pretty well to a bit of mopping. It looks lovely!

Back in 1988 when I was 8 I went with my parents to pick up a BRAND NEW Maestro 1.6 auto in Stone Grey metallic from Charles Clarke in West Bromwich. My parents part exchanged a W reg Ital estate auto and we drove away in a giddy excitement. It was a great car-for a couple of years until hot starting problems and issues with the auto choke reared their ugly head. My mother became a dab hand at unscrewing the top of the “dash pot” on the carb which would bring it back to life. Repeated fuel pump failures were also an issue which resulted in FTPs and regular AA calls. It began to rust almost as soon as it left the showroom and needed new rear arches and sills tidying after 6 or so years. Mum ran it into the back of an old guy in a Vectra in approx 2002 which was easily fixed with a scrapyard bumper. The radiator also had an unseen slight split however and a week later it overheated and seized up, mother continuing to drive home from work with clouds of steam from under the bonnet, the engine pinking its head off and the temp needle off the clock. Although it unseized after it cooled it was obvious the engine had been damaged. It sat on the drive for a few weeks before being taken to EMR in Landor Street in Birmingham and fed into the shredder.

Finally got home. Apologies to everyone on the motorway network and a big FU to all the middle lane dawdlers, especially the ones who after I overtook discovered their cars can go over 60mph. The boost pipe was well and truly knackered but a dig around the garage provided some ally tubing and aftermarket silicone boost pipe taken from a V70 I scrapped years ago. These boost pipes are like many automotive pipes in that they’re carefully shaped to fit around everything. After a lot of trial and error I managed to knock up something to fit and boost is now restored. I might need to finesse the fitting as there’s a couple of places where the pipes are rubbing against something but overall i’m pretty pleased with it. I’m even more impressed that I finally found a use for something I’ve kept in the garage for years, “just in case”!

Those early nose 340s were believed to be extinct in the U.K. at one time (or so I was told) what a nice find! In other news, returning from that London to Stoke on Trent. Heard a bang from under the Laguna on the M40 just as we crossed the M25. Sudden loss of power but the Laguna still ran and drove so I pressed on- I didn’t want to stop on the HS and didn’t want to turn the engine off in case it didn’t start again. Clouds of clag on uphill sections and overtaking had to be planned in advance, all compounded by middle lane hogging morons- don’t they know I’m nursing my shite home?? Luckily I could give them the “red arrows” treatment when I finally got round them. We’ve stopped in Warwick services and as suspected, it’s a burst boost pipe, the top one too which should make repair easy. I’ve got some pipes at home which may fit but for now, the users of the M40/M5/M6 might have to use their headlights.

I’ll get googling and see if there’s anybody local! I’ll also have a close look at these lower arms.

Here’s a couple of pics of the wear, it’s right on the shoulder. I moved the tyre to the back as it looks like it’ll be down to the plies within weeks if I leave it on the front.

I’ve just thought of another symptom to consider, it doesn’t pull under braking, only acceleration. Surely a worn bush would have to do both?