Jump to content

stephen01

Full Members
  • Posts

    2,607
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation Activity

  1. Like
    stephen01 reacted to Rustybullethole in Collectings   
    Just had another peep. Im a little concerned it may disappear up my arse! They're a lot smaller than i remember. 

  2. Thanks
  3. Agree
    stephen01 reacted to Ohdearme in SECRET SANTA The Reveal   
    Unless mine is coming via the fat bearded one himself, seems I’ll be opening mine after Xmas.
    Hope my shiter has received theirs in time.
    Looking forward to see the thoughtful gifts  unbridled quantities of tat emerge on here tomorrow…
  4. Haha
    stephen01 reacted to warren t claim in Taxi Drivers Past and Present - Any Stories To Share; funny, interesting, scary etc.?   
    Now and again I fail to engage my brain before using my mouth and not say the right thing. Here's a case in point.
    I was chatting as usual with a lady punter I was running home when this happened.
    Punter. Are you finishing soon? I can't wait to get home and into bed.
    Me. Me too. I can't wait to join you in a couple of hours.
    What I meant to say was something vanilla about looking forward to finishing my shift and going to bed but I tripped over my words. I immediately understand my mistake and glance in my mirror at her, a lady in her early to mid 60s and see that she's blushing.
    Punter. Really? I can stay awake for you as you're offering!
    Me. Honestly, I didn't mean it that way and you don't have to do that for me.
    Punter. Two hours is about long enough to have a shower and change into some lingerie. What would you like? I've got lots for you to choose from! 
    About now I'm wondering how the fuck I'm going to worm my way out of this one!
    Punter. I'm sure that you're not shy so I've got some toys I'd like to share with you!
    Fuck! Fuck! Fuck Fuck! I'm now desperately trying to think of some sort of excuse.
    Me. I've got a bit of a cock problem and I'm totally out of cheeky blue knob pills. 
    She looks a little let down but insists that I write down her phone number for when I've managed to grab some Mycoxafloppin tablets later in the week
  5. Haha
    stephen01 reacted to New POD in SECRET SANTA The Reveal   
    This appeared overnight. I think my wife hid it and pretended it hadn't come.  She's still denying knowledge of it. Says santa must have brought it. 

  6. Like
    stephen01 reacted to RoverFolkUs in Clean bill of health from the ministry.. Clean MOT pass! OTT(?) Weld repairs and knackered ball joints... Post economically insane.. MK2 Focus engine rebuild, now ongoing maintenance "blog".   
    Thought I'd do another fuel economy update. The second tank was pretty much identical - 32mpg with A/C on a significant amount of the time. 
    The previous tank I decided to cut down on use of the A/C and had it on about a quarter of the time, just cycling it on/off myself to dehumidify. Interestingly the petrol light came on at more or less exactly the same time - I brimmed it having done 348 miles but it took less to fill this time, only around 45 litres leaving me with approx 35 average MPG. 
    That shows the air con does not seem to make much of a difference. 
    It's a 55 litre tank, but it was telling me I had 30 miles to go having only needed 45 litres to fill, so it's hardly accurate, and I could probably get 400 miles out of a tank if I pushed it. 
    Anyway, enough of those boring statistics, it's got just over a month of MOT left and there was no chance of it passing with that gaping hole in the sill. What most people would do is wait until the MOT first, just in case, but I'm confident in it so I'm sorting it early!
    Thought I'd do a little pre MOT check to see if I need to get any other parts ordered, and it's a good job I did because it needs 3x anti roll bar links and a front lower ball joint. 
    I've been plagued with a very intermittent knocking noise from the rear recently, so having found a small amount of play in one of the rear ARB link ball joints I'm hoping it's that. 
    One of the fronts has a split dust cover, consulted GSF who have Lemforder ones on clearance for a fiver a piece, so I figured I might as well just do both of them. 
    The offside front lower ball joint dust cover has split again... I only replaced it a few months ago!! Poxy shite modern rubber *GRUMBLE GRUMBLE GRUMBLE* 
    Anyway, GSF saves the day again with a TRW branded lower ball joint for just £7. I'm reluctant to replace the entire arm, because unnecessary expenditure, and I can't be bothered wasting my time fitting a dust cover that's going to split in no time and compromise the ball joint anyway. 
    The nearside rear trailing arm bush (the one from hell) looks like it's starting to debond. I think I'm just going to coat it in underseal and declare it fine* 🤣
    Now, the elephant in the room - the welding. 

    ^ Looks like a small, localized repair?

    ^ Hmmmm

    ^ Chop chop

    ^ Yeah it was pretty much fucked. In an ideal world it would have needed a replacement sill. It's paper thin, but just borderline solid enough to weld to. It's really corroded from the inside all the way along. 



    ^ I was pretty pleased with myself for that free hand fabrication. Only using hand tools in the way of chisels and an angle grinder. No, it's not perfect, but I don't care!

    ^ Pictures aren't doing much justice here, I wasn't welding with a gap that big along the top! It nicely lipped under the original metal of the car. But it's sitting slightly proud in the photo.

    ^ Please excuse the awful welding. Yes, I'm embarrassed by it! But like I say the quality of the surrounding metal was really poor and I kept having to build the welds up to stop it from blowing holes through. Any eagle eyed tame welders may have spotted a mistake here.... 

    ^ Yes, I forgot to drill the holes for the plug welds along the bottom! Luckily managed to rectify that in situ

    ^ All ground back smooth. Again, photos are not doing it justice as it looks terrible with loads of holes in but there aren't any, it's just shadows. 

    ^ Time for the wob
    All this looks really bad but I can promise you it's not! It's perfectly solid, and despite the poor surrounding metal I think it will last a fair while before it comes through elsewhere. 
    That's enough for today, more tomorrow!
  7. Like
    stephen01 reacted to michael t in Rover Streetwise restoration: The thinking man's Rover   
    Hi all, been a little while since I posted on here, but with good reason.
    I've been after another Rover for quite a while since I owned a 600 a couple of years back. Being Ireland based means old Lonbridge products are rare and don't come up for sale very often.
    I love old Rovers. There's just something about them. Whether it be their (often) poor build quality, K-series head gasket issues and OAP image their poor reputation really appeals to me. Motoring oddities also hugely appeal to me, so put the two and two together and the Streetwise is born. 
    As far as I can recall there hasn't been a Streetwise for sale in Ireland since the summer of 2021. According to the most recent NCT (Irish MOT) statistics for '21, only 6 were presented for the annual roadworthiness test. 
    I first became aware of this particular example when I happened to glance into a driveway whilst passing in the summer of 2022. Two weeks later I stopped, knocked the door and handed over my number. A very polite lady answered and said her daughter will be learning to drive in it and so I assumed that was that.
    Fast forward to October this year and my phone rings. Assuming a scam call I was reluctant to answer. But answer I did and thank goodness. The Streetwise was for sale, and I've got first dibs! Before the owner could even utter another word I said "yes!" Apparently someone else had enquired and offered €200, so for that exact price it was mine. A car with four wheels, four doors and an engine for €200 in these times of skyrocketing used car prices. Not bad.

    That was until I actually went to pick it up. Myself and my old mucka John made the journey to Dublin to meet the new misery machine. I knew it'd been off the road for a few years but hugely underestimated just how much damage a car can sustain sitting outside all of that time with a leaky sunroof. 
    The interior was horrendous. Full of cobwebs, moisture and mold. It housed almost the entire Irish population of house spiders and had even began to develop it's own eco-system. I had a cough for about two days after just sitting in it. The pictures below are screenshots from the collection video because I stupidly neglected to take any photo's...

     


    Amazingly she fired up after a battery change and with some fresher oil she ran perfectly. The brakes were a little sticky but with a lead boot it changed gear, moved and stopped. Good enough for me!  We rang for recovery who eventually arrived, loaded it up and headed home. I'd bagged myself a real motoring oddity, and in an Irish context, an extremely rare one.



     
    The collection video is here. Keep an eye on the channel and on Instagram and Twitter for regular updates.
    Cannot wait to get this back on the road!
  8. Like
    stephen01 reacted to sdkrc in eBay tat volume 3.   
    Drink driver's special in GRP and diesel flavour. 
    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115999148864


  9. Haha
    stephen01 reacted to wuvvum in eBay tat volume 3.   
    Where's the Bargains thread?  This comedian is asking £5K for a 16-year-old Prius with over 100K on the clock.




  10. Haha
    stephen01 reacted to UltraWomble in eBay tat volume 3.   
    Oooh....
  11. Like
    stephen01 reacted to wuvvum in What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread   
    I took the Maxus to Tesco earlier.  When I came out another unsuitably large vehicle had parked next to it. 

  12. Like
    stephen01 reacted to TheIsleofShite in eBay tat volume 3.   
    https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310092812779?sort=most-recent&advertising-location=at_cars&fuel-type=Petrol&include-delivery-option=on&page=7&postcode=Po383da&radius=80&seller-type=private&fromsra


  13. Like
    stephen01 reacted to Tubbo in eBay tat volume 3.   
    ‘Needs some tlc’
    £995
    https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310032628447?sort=most-recent&advertising-location=at_cars&include-delivery-option=on&page=5&postcode=TQ13DR&price-to=6000&fromsra
     

  14. Like
    stephen01 reacted to ruffgeezer in RDW collection: New tool, new approach. Achtung heiß!   
    Heading South, 
    PC 1
    Breakfast 0
    CURRENT mode of transport; shonky, multicoloured, Expert Van.

  15. Haha
    stephen01 reacted to DaveDorson in Do people still have their car serviced?   
    Was at the workshop earlier earlier and someone who rents a container on the site asked if I do vehicle servicing as his car is due, he lives in one of the villages near by and because he rarely goes into town (so he tells me) he's never taken it to any of the Indies to ask, and he'd pay cash.. I think we know where this is going don't we...
    To be polite, I told him would take a look and see if we can get him in but it won't be this week, but to let me know.
    Half an hour later and I hear a belt squealing and the sound of a car that's been run about dry of oil coming down the track as I'm packing up.. same gent pops out of a ford KA and as he closes the door the car creaks on its handbrake.  
    "It's in gear" he exclaims, "handbrakes been a bit off for a while, I only really use it for my allotment and to go to the tip" 
    The car is absolutely hanging, kurbed plastic wheel trims, fuel filler area looking like it's been bogged more times than the school nerd in an 80s coming of age film.
    Belts are brown and cracking, stinks of clutch, the remains of the front wheel trims are brown with the rust and brake dust of years of neglect and the discs have a ridge I could use as a BMX ramp.
    "How much do you reckon I'm looking at for a service, discs and pads?" he asks... 
     
    I priced up fluids, belts, brakes and half a day because you just know it'll be one of those cars.
    "Hmm, can you come down on that?  I will pay cash.."
    Afraid not mate, but I can refer you to someone who does servicing all the time if you like, I tend to do repairs and more specialist stuff here, so I might not be competitive.  
     
    "Don't think I'll bother, probably got a year or so left before it needs anything major doing..."
     
    And off it wheezes and rattles back into the heart of Rutland...
  16. Haha
    stephen01 reacted to Rustybullethole in Do people still have their car serviced?   
    Fuck that mate am stretched keeping up the pcp payments on the white range plus the mrs wants fake tits and lashes ain’t wasting money on oil. 
  17. Like
    stephen01 reacted to dcd1979 in Anyone want to Rescue an old Fabia for £100 in Solihull?   
    Already been, failed, repaired and awaiting retest on Tuesday when garage opens 
  18. Like
    stephen01 reacted to dcd1979 in Anyone want to Rescue an old Fabia for £100 in Solihull?   
    I towed it to Tamworth, topped water up, put a battery on turned the key and it fired straight into life 
  19. Like
    stephen01 reacted to dcd1979 in Anyone want to Rescue an old Fabia for £100 in Solihull?   
    Collected this morning, and looks like it will scrub up well

  20. Sad
    stephen01 got a reaction from mercedade in The grumpy thread   
    A local pub which has been in the news a lot recently, local and national, spontaneously  burst into flames last night,  built in 1765. 
    I remember standing in the grounds with my arms around my now wife asking if she’d be my girlfriend under the fireworks on bonfire night when we were 16.  And more recently our daughter working behind the bar and having a pint on a Sunday lunch. 

     

     

     
  21. Sad
    stephen01 got a reaction from PicantoJon in The grumpy thread   
    It wasnt pulled down it was demolished, without consent, theres videos on facebollox and thousands of pictures. 


    I visited yesterday with my family, heartbreaking. 
  22. Sad
    stephen01 got a reaction from AnnoyingPentium in The grumpy thread   
    It wasnt pulled down it was demolished, without consent, theres videos on facebollox and thousands of pictures. 


    I visited yesterday with my family, heartbreaking. 
  23. Like
    stephen01 reacted to D.E in eBay tat volume 3.   
    https://www.gumtree.com/p/fiat/fiat-multipla-2001y./1463605590

  24. Sad
    stephen01 got a reaction from Coprolalia in The grumpy thread   
    It wasnt pulled down it was demolished, without consent, theres videos on facebollox and thousands of pictures. 


    I visited yesterday with my family, heartbreaking. 
  25. Sad
    stephen01 got a reaction from MrGTI6 in The grumpy thread   
    It wasnt pulled down it was demolished, without consent, theres videos on facebollox and thousands of pictures. 


    I visited yesterday with my family, heartbreaking. 
×
×
  • Create New...