catsinthewelder

Drove past Shrewsbury on the way north this morning and there was an epically sheddy Landcrab heading towards the show.

It's not cheap at £17 per adult but being pretty local it didn't cost much in fuel to get there even in the XM. I let Emily drive home as there are good bars on site.

This beauty was tucked away from the displays Field of dreams corner for @quicksilver for @keef Written on the other side; "The Man, The Myth, The Leyland"

Back again this year and a lot of the same vehicles were there so lots less photos. I can't decide which of these black beauties in the carpark I wanted to take home more. Well it is a steam rally Back again but still ace

Just a regular single DIN with what looks like a double DIN if you remove the cubby above it.

I'm taking the XM here on Sunday, hopefully the weather will behave. Will have to use the main carpark as they won't let the Dacia into the classic parking never mind this.

Bit of time for tinkering today, decided to address the alternator on the Dacia. The old one now puts out too much voltage so I arrived at FotU with smoke escaping from the coil and battery. The NOS replacement was listed for a Renault 12 and was £50 opposed to the £350 asked for a 1310. I should have realised it wouldn't fit perfectly after the Renault 12 fanbelt didn't fit. First issue was that at the engine end it has a mounting about 15mm wide as opposed to the 40mm of the old one. After checking that none of my redundant sockets would fill the gap some steel tube was cut down as a spacer. Next issue was that the mountings were about 10mm closer together than the old one. This is going to be tricky to solve properly but a bodge will be employed to check everything else works before I start any engineering. Strangely the 1310 fanbelt is too short and the R12 fanbelt is too long. Wiring will need a bit of love. While looking for the belt I found my stock of old car stereos. An old Grundig with Skoda branding appears to work as a radio in the XM. Can't remember what it came with as I've never owned a Skoda! I do remember that the cassette deck is dead as I bodged the wire from some old headphones into it for MP3s, phones etc but it doesn't appear to work. Radio is better than nothing though.

@barrett Must be a pseudonym as it is the one at Launceston.

And now the holiday snaps from Miss C's and her dad's cameras.

Might try Croxdale Citroen when I get up north, all the local dealers are beyond useless but we do put a lot of work their way so will ask if I'm there for work.

If it did it's fallen off Postie handed me 4 manufacturers recall letters from Citroen this morning, fortunately addressed to the boss rather than @Schaefft.

Might be worth trying the thread on MSE that @Scruffy Bodger suggested on another thread For some reason I can't sign up there on my phone. Code is 6011210 if you can't see it.

I can't get anywhere with it, just get a search box. Tried entering Citroen, the code on top of the radio, the chassis number and the login email into it with no results Also tried the keypad code with no success (we're having a quiet morning at work).

Thanks @brownnova, only fair to say Miss C did the camera thing though.

Excellent, cheers @Schaefft will give that a go tomorrow. Bit of a grin was seeing Dodgy Tom (formerly of this parish) for the first time in ages. He was on the way back from a local show in his Standard Pennant and parked up next to the XM. On seeing me he said that he knew I wouldn't be far away! He's fine and running a 306 as a daily.

As spotted in the grin thread I'm temporary custodian of this beauty as a way of getting it from @HMC in Devon to @Schaefft up north. It has a few issues but makes a lovely change from my usual rubbish. Weather was beautiful this afternoon so I risked opening the sunroof on a potter into town. This was inadvisable as a small part of the mechanism for the wind deflector isn't attached. We got it closed with my girlfriend carefully pressing the button while I held a few sprung bits of metal in place in the supermarket carpark. She drove it home with a big grin on her face (and did it a lot smoother than I drove across Tavistock considering it's her first go in an auto). While she was cooking dinner I popped out to try fitting the radio cassette. It powered up but needs a code which I couldn't find in the service history. Will see what I've got lying round that'll fit. Realised that the occasional noise might be the hydraulics repressurising as the accumulator sphere could be past it's best. Will commute in it tomorrow as I've realised that I can use 5 different vehicles this week if I fix the Dacia (love a deadline).

@Schaefft She drives well, slight squeeking from somewhere at low speed that is probably more brakes than belts as it doesn't appear reving it in neutral. Wheels didn't seem particularly warm when I got back though. Just been back out to try and get twilight pictures but was thwarted by local weather. Tried a bit of Citrobatics without complaint but it did then drop suddenly when I knocked the engine off in normal mode. Windows, NSF and OSR appear to work perfectly. Drivers window drops fine but only lifts with the one touch dot and not every time, switch gets warm in use and is currently loose for further fiddling. NSR doesn't appear to work but is probably the switch. Will borrow one from the 405 to check. Boot struts are dead, tailgate is really heavy without assistance. Radio is disconnected, I can have a go at fitting it if you like? Keypad is still connected, should I disconnect it before it causes chaos? AC doesn't seem to work but controls do. Can't seem to get the CC to engage and the airbag lights on. Still think it's ace.

Made it home from holiday with a temporary souvenir. Just for two weeks then off up North to deliver to its new home. If the neighbours don't lynch me first.

£5850 leaving change from £6k to get some proper number plates.

Having checked the dates I'm heading back from Cornwall on the 12th and up to Durham on the 28th. Miss C is happy to help but would like a go, can put it on my classic policy for pennies so it's fully comp and has recovery. Definitely up for a NE shitters gathering while I'm up there. Only downside is that I can't bring the 406 back for myself!

@Schaefft Will need to speak to the better half but I'm going up to Durham a couple of weeks after.

Oh Christ, I'm driving down to Cornwall tomorrow and it's a car I've always promised myself. Really can't have any more cars but probably could drive this back up to Shropshire in a week's time if that helps anyone else.

@dollywobbler The first AA man reckoned that the coil was dead. Would make sense with the overcharging but it's typical Mighty Dacia that it kept running to the destination then refused to restart. He didn't have a spare and couldn't get one at 7.30 on a Saturday night so called the big yellow taxi. As folk may have spotted Miss C was busy with the camera yesterday so have a pile of pics. (Mostly of Vauxhall's and Rover SD1s)