aldo135

I really want a Volvo P1800 with a T5 engine.
Am I allowed to buy a rotten base car? I reckon £10k would cover a poor condition P1800 shell and a working b5254t.
Edit:

My E36, but just generally tidied up with basically an identical drivetrain to jaypee's "316i" shoved in it.

A Volvo 245 with a 2.5 TDI stuffed in it, with the pump wound up.
I can't decide if it should be hearing aid beige or metallic midnight purple.

£10k would buy about the very best flat face Volvo 740GLE auto estate out there.
So that'd be it. Nothing needs modified or upgraded because it was perfect the day it rolled out the factory in Ghent, and anyone who says any different is a FILTHY FILTHY LIAR.
 
Or as above with an LS1 V8 swap, but not for performance, only for the improvement in fuel economy.

I feel a 240 is begging for an OM605 putting out 300bhp run on straight veg.

Ordered track rod ends from Brookhouse as it was clear Classicswede were just taking the piss and they were never going to arrive. Less than 24 hours after ordering from Brookhouse they turned up, with free sweets. A bit more expensive but at least if you need something you can rely on it turning up fast.
Easiest car in the world to do track rod ends on. Don't even need to jack it up. Just pull the split pins, undo the nuts, couple of smacks with a pickle fork and the bar comes off ready for the ends to be swapped. Keeping the bar the same length means no alignment needs to be done after.

Dreaded nylocs on these, but the difference is they're so stiff I had to jam the tapers in using a trolley jack to get the nuts on otherwise they'd just spin. Clearly good quality fasteners for a change and quite reassuring.
Next niggle. The boot wouldn't lock so I was wary of leaving the car anywhere.
In the process of removing the latch and handle I broke the linkage.

Once again the spares car has saved the day! Linkage pilfered.

Last job. Noticed a rather significant ice cube in the spare wheel well. I guess there's a leak!
Ran a drill through this to make a drain hole.

Test drive time.

Massive improvement with the new track rod ends. Steering is tight as a drum, steering wheel dead straight. This is how I like cars to drive as nothing pisses me off more than crap steering and suspension.
The next and possibly final job to do for a long time is to pull the gearbox off and replace the front and rear seals as I've got a significant trail of oil. That can wait till it's not minus bloody seven outside though!

A pass with no advisory items for the 75
 

MOT day for the Rover 75. I know it needs 2 new bottom arms and 2 back discs, all of these are in the boot. The 2 front tyres are approaching 2mm as well so might be advised upon but I didn't want to replace them in case the car turns out to be a wreck 😅
The biggest challenge will be getting into the car though, its -7 out there!

New Tyres have been round and black. So little feeling through the wheel that it's hard to know if they're grabbing well. Mrs SiC was taking corners a bit faster than I'd be prepared to (she's used to chuckable cars) and we didn't end up in the scenery so must be alright. They are definitely a bit noisier than the old Michelins. 
Looking at the mileage when the photos of @rantingYoof when selling the car, it had 146437. It's now done 147465 right now. So 1k miles in nearly two month. 
Fuel consumption is a bit on the thirsty side. 

This was an motorway run today along the M4 with plenty of slowdowns/stops. 

Tbh it's not terrible considering it's an old fashioned auto tuned for comfort rather than performance or economy with an older design port injection V6. I think I didn't get too far off this with my Laguna II V6? Maybe a bit lower but then the Laguna was a good half tonne lighter. 
In some ways I don't really care. It's comfortable, quick enough (when moving), smooth and incredibly vast inside making it very practical. Just had 5 adults in it quite comfortably a minute ago - despite three of which are very much on the larger/enormous side.

Myself, @juular and @MrsJuular have accepted a mission, whether we like it or not. This may take a considerable amount of time...
 

2 years ago today I collected this and its never put a foot wrong. That's 2 years motoring for less than 1 months payment on a financed BMW or Audi. Likely double the driving enjoyment too!
When I brought it home in the evening:
..and now

 

Overdrive problem = found

Had a bit of a win over the weekend with the modernish VW van.  Earlier this year I found the Haldex 4motion system was non-functional whenn i got stuck in the snow in a place where i have driven before with no issues.
Garage read the codes that were not visible with a generic code reader and advised the Haldex module wasn't doing what it should.  They got a quote to replace from the main dealer and checked I was sitting down beforehand - £1640 +VAT!  When we had stopped laughing it was agreed that it was OK for now, you couldn't tell it wasn't working except in the snow really.  Googling found a business in England that could repair the modules, checking around they seemed legit so got the module off the Haldex unit after a bit of a fight as it is under the van, tucked up in the driveshaft tunnel.  Sent it off special delivery and they tested it, confirmed the module circuit board was damaged due to water and quoted £180 to fix and improve by encapsulating the board to prevent further issues.    Got it back and after another fight under the van in 2 degree weather and van is driving fine.  
Need to find a muddy track or wait for the snow to test but I'm pretty confident it's sorted.  I need to change the haldex oil and filter as well but waiting for a less cold day for that one.  Recommend haldexrepairs.co.uk, seems a good business, good communications and so on.  They can fix most of the modules on VAG, Volvo and older LR stuff.

Nice light show here last night. We could see it from the front door even with the bright modern street lights.
At the edge of the village it was lovely.

Huge thanks to @Talbot for taking time out of your Saturday morning to help get my Austin stopping again! It’s honestly really appreciated. It turns out it had new copper lines just before I bought it but one had been rubbing on a coolant line and rubbed through causing the leak also the person who fitted the new pipes managed to chip the edge off of one before even fitting it so I’ll be going over and checking all the rest in the not too distant future, either way it’s all fixed now and it’s really nice to have it back 

I did a buy, Volvo V70 d5, very recent timing belt, stacks of history heated leather. Very happy. 

Discovered the sensible daily RX had a flat tyre this morning. Mercifully it was one of the pair that I was looking to replace soon, it's just brought it forwards a little earlier than planned.
At 7.30am and needing to do the long commute as I was also taking Mrs SL to work I looked on the driveway for the next available car, and it ended up being the Carina E as it was in front of her Auris. LS400 is right at the back with a flat battery (I foolishly forgot to disconnect it the other week) and it's too horrible to use the Laurel for work journeys at the moment.
It did the job perfectly, of course. I'd also used it for the 100+ miles round trip to head office the other week, and it took four of us down to banger racing at Ipswich on Saturday night, so I'm starting to put a few miles on it.
Switching the auto 'box to 'Power' mode seems to have made it much more responsive, it's never going to be super-quick but it certainly goes well enough and it's doing around 31-32mpg.
I'm wondering if what I thought was a misfire is a slight issue with the 'box in overdrive/lockup - it has a slightly 'shunty' feel which isn't evident in the lower ratios. Much better than it was however, so maybe it just wants regular use and perhaps some fresh ATF?
Will definitely be a handy back-up car over winter when I don't want to use the Laurel and the LS400's MoT expires.

It was in good company on one of its recent trips to the garage.
We managed 100% Toyota fleet use today. Son was in his Yaris, Miss SL drove the Avensis SR and her BF has got his MR2 back on the road after some bodywork and a fresh MoT.

It went very well on the way home too despite the 40mph winds and driving rain, although the overdrive decided not to engage on the motorway despite working properly earlier.
Very comfy. Tremendous heating. On a winter's evening it's a very cosy place to be.
Drives lovely. Lots of grunt, I'd even call it lively.
No unusual noises. Sounds very snorty through the twin carbs. Lovely!
Rolls like a boat but feels planted and has endless grip. Steering is far quicker and better than expected despite being a steering box.
Brakes are absolutely fantastic despite being unassisted.
Gear change is slick. 
Feels like a Volvo.
I love it. ❤️

Fucking tremendous to see this in the flesh this evening. A proper credit to the collective Juular!

Let's go for a drive.

Well who's gonna drive it? 🤗

Well here goes.

 
Out of the naughty corner at last.
Some issues.
The fuel filter very quickly looked like this.

And the contents of the float bowls.



Cycled the contents of the tank through a series of filters for around 3 hours using an electric pump.

The next attempt wasn't much better.

Could go through a pallet of filters in no time so I set up a syringe with a bit of hose that I can use to backflush the filters with petrol and refit them.
Have also stuck an uberfilter on. This is a fuel injection filter for a Volvo T5 so it should stop this shit getting into the carbs.

Seems to be working. Here is the contents of the filter flushed twice.

Float bowls are still clean so that's something.
Still plenty of work to do.

The mobile editor on this site is really frustrating..  it insists on you seeing this photo again and it can't be deleted.
 

Myself and @Inspector Morose are on a two night trip for reconnaisance for our "Grim" project in Weston-Super-Mare which has allowed a couple of more new stops and one more to follow on the way back so let's begin...
Strensham
Location: M5
Type: One on each side. No link bridge. Roadchef
Petrol Station: BP
Hotel: Days Inn (Northbound only)
Business Lounge: Regus Express (Northbound only)
Pros: Nothing special
Cons: Southbound car park access is a pain
Comments: This one felt like a 1980s shopping centre that had been done up in the early 2000s. We only done southbound so that's where my comments will come from. There were two big sit-in Costa outlets and one of them was "Temporarily Closed". Other options were Leons, a noodle place, McDonalds and a Spar of all places instead of the usual WH Smith. Not offensive but not entirely pleasant just a very neutral feeling. The oddest thing was a branch of Cotton Traders next to the toilets which also sold Guiness merchandise. The exit southbound is via a roundabout to the M5 / M50 and seeing the roundabout only has motorways coming off it, it makes it one of the very rare occasions where you get a roundabout entirely under motorway regulations. It even has a hard shoulder. The services are not accessible from the M50 though.
RATING
5/10 not great but not terrible.
Gloucester
Location: M5
Type: One on each side. No link bridge. Westmorland Group.
Petrol Station: Esso
Hotel: None
Pros: Westmorland so high quality. Very eco friendly building. Open plan everything. Very large farm shop
Cons: Very busy. The car park is much easier to get in to than out of.
Comments:One of only 3 Westmorland services on the motorway network, this one is referred to by The SVM™ as Tebay South along with Regular Tebay / Tebay Central and Tebay North (Cairn Lodge / Happendon). It is also referred to as TeletubbyTebay being that the building is built in to a hill, it 's under some ground anyways so it looks like the Teletubbies' house. It's pretty standard Westmorland with a farm shop and eatery and is standard very expensive. I will maintain that all the Tebays *ARE* better than other services but not for the prices they charge. The car park on this is huge (again southbound only experience) because it's so busy. You'll hear people talk about Glouscester service as being unique when they clearly don't know about the other Tebays and when you see them at the site, it looks like they've all come dressed for the occasion. The car park comes at you very quickly but it's at the far end of the car park from the main building so you have to take amuch longer drive to get out than to get in.
RATING
7/10 Nice environment. Just another, bigger Tebay.

911 engine removal day today. I'll update my thread at some point but here's a couple of pics for now of how the day went.
 

This is a new one on me:

1971 Bedford MultiCruiser. Parked on a drive near the Western General Infirmary in Edinburgh. StreetView suggests it was in decent condition in 2008 but now it's had most of it's windows/lights smashed and all the loose bits like mirrors, the grille etc snapped off/nicked.
Certainly a weird one and I'm guessing unique and based a CF chassis.