Saabnut

Just renewed my policy, it went up 17% this year an increase of around £600 to £3800. Still think that is very reasonable. I have £300k cover for vehicles, cover for any vehicle, access to MID and as a bonus cover for any driver over 25 for any car with my authority. My brpker only deals with classics, either trade or collections. Happy to pass on details.

Beware the "Delphi" box printed in china with chinesium contents. Ask me how I know......

I am going offshore today for about 10-14 days but coul be interested in the ladders and outboard when I get back. It is not too far from me for collection.

Should have been a grin as it is the start of my last trip offshore. Early flight so taxi booked for 0630 from my friends place 40 minutes away so leave home at 0530 so no rush. About 2 miles from home the AX had a puncture, the first one on a journey to or from the airport in over 35 years. Tyre is buggered so decided it was quicker to drive home and swap cars than try changing the wheel in the dark. Discovery started fine, arrived at my friends at the same time as my taxi. Now at the airport drinking coffee

I have a good secondhand rolling chassis available, needs one spring top only from memory.... I can take pics if required

Back home and put away in the barn until the new fuel tank arrives.... But this time it drove on and off the trailer under its own power!

Hah, I am the previous owner but one. I sold it to a guy in Inverness who was honest and said he just wanted the number.

Had a day of running errands, so on the way back called in at my friends to check on Lancia progress. It was well timed, as the last few bits were being fitted before more new oil an another new filter. A full set of shells has been fitted. There was minor signs of wear on the big ends But much more significant wear on the mains, although nothing I considered worrying What was intersting was the main bearings appeared to be the originals with Fiat and Lancia markings But the big ends appear to be replacements This car has a documented 49k miles and is now on its third set of big end bearings! They do have a reputation for oil starvation if cornering enthusiastically...... The good news is the new shells has stabilised the oil pressure when it gets warm and the knock has gone. Tomorrow I will be fetching it home to free up my friends ramp until the new fuel tank arrives.

Another update is due on the fleet. The AX diseasal is back to its best* and starting easily after the Glow plug relay was stripped, contacts cleaned and a short length of wire replaced. Glad to have it back. The Shitroen of many shiters is back with the new clutch cable fitted. All is not well with it as it has a few mostly minor faults, some I knew about, some I did not. The rear spheres are shot so it is a bit bouncy, this I knew about and the original plan was to replace them, but that is now on hold. Other faults, one rear light bulb blown (very minor and easy fix) one headlight bulb blown (minor but a twat to get to and may need some serious dismantling to get to the bulb). Neither front electric windows work. The radio will not accept any code (I have the right code) so that does not work. Front fog lights dont work (minor). Then there is the big one. There is a massive current drain when switched off, so bad overnight will see no ignition lights the next morning, so everytime it is left the battery has to be disconnected. None of these faults are serious, and when the wind drops below storm force and it dries up I can start working through them. None of these things are a complaint, it was a cheap car with known problems. The big problem is I don't like it! My last Xantia was an HDi and I loved it. This is a petrol 2 litre, and is high reving, 60mph is over 3k revs in 5th. Saabs are low reving and I do not like revvy cars. I will give it a couple of weeks, but I can see it getting moved on cheaply unless I grow to like it. A bit of progress on the Lancia. Got a price for the fuel tank of around £700 as expected, but only a 4 week lead time. I will be ordering it tomorrow. Here is one they did earlier: Next job was to remove the sump to see what was going on. This car has done 49k miles (fully documented) but has sat for the last 12 years. This is what the sump looked like on removal After some serious cleaning (apart from the oil pick up strainer that we had not got to yet) it looked like this The first of the bearing shells was removed, only one until the new shells arrived (they arrived late this afternoon). These are strange. They are not the usual steel shell/copper/white metal but seem to be some sort of alloy. It has some very shiny patches which could indicate wear. They are an odd make (I cannot remember - I would need to check) but we feel these may not be the original shells, but replacements. These engines are notorious for oil strvation due to surge in the sump when driven enthusiastically, and baffle kits are available.

One step forward, two back and of course the costs go up! The joy* of old cars! This is what the fuel tank looks like - not bad methought. The tank itself did not look too bad, but the paint/coating has a lot of little mountains which I feared most of which would become pin holes after blasting. Next job was to see if the pipes were free, three were but one brather pipe and more worryingly the fuel outlet pipe is completely blocked. Thought I would remove the sender so we could see how convaluted the fuel outlet pipe run id (answer - very) and the sender came out nicely, but looked like this Oh dear, a bit of rust there, so had a look inside the tank Not sure you can make it out, but I have never seen so much rust in a tank. It is literally everywhere and thick as well. This spells the death knell for this tank as whilst I could cut the tank open, the chances of getting at all the rust are slim and the best case scenario is I would end up with a paper thin tank. Interstingly my fears of welding a petrol tank ended as this has been empty for so long there is not even a hint of a petrol smell. I have now made contact with the alloy repro tank manufacturer and I am awaiting a price and lead time. Finally for today, I checked the tyres and 4 Goodyear Eagle ECT (I think) are fitted, all with good tread and no signs of cracking or any other deterioration. Checked the dates. The front ones are 2002. Oh. The rears? 1986. Guess 4 new tyres are on the list now as well.

A small update on the Lancia. Good news is it is now running. We fitted an external oil pressure gauge, and when cold it starts, sounds great and has good oil pressure. Bad news is as it warms, the oil pressure drops and it develops a knock. A new timing belt and water pump was fitted prior to start up so one less thing to worry about. Leading theory at the moment is the initial seize was not on the rings but on a journal. A new set of main and big end shells have been ordered and the sump will be coming off. In better news I have found someone to weld the fuel tank so it has been removed from the car and tomorrow is going for blasting to see how bad it actually is.

Sending you a pm

Don't forget I have that 5 speed in my shed for you, I will try to get it dropped into you sometime soon

That is why I was confused! I thought maybe it was one of the small sections of the Inverurie canal that still remains, but could not remember a section that long or that full of water!

Which canal is that?

The only people who like snow are those that do not have to live with it! Just seen on the news here that the South and East of Norway have been hit hard again, stopping trains and bringing chaos to the roads so hope you are not too badly affected @Dyslexic Viking. My boss in Stavanger was quite happy when I called at 9pm to inform him of more problems in field as it gave him an excuse to stop shovelling the 20cm of snow that fell last night - a lot for Stavanger. Due to the aforementioned extra problems, my going home day has slipped from Thursday to Friday so I am grumpy as well. That will make it 7 of the last 9 weeks I have been offshore!

Oooh, good! It is much nearer to me now!

Interesting times. Apparently the injectors are all now unseized and have been in the ultrasonic bath. New basket filters are ordered and all hose will be replaced with ethanol proof hose. One small step. It has been confirmed new fuel tanks are not available. I have found a source of custom alloy tanks as mentioned at close to or above 700 quid, and the specialist I thought would be the best bet was Kempstone Radiators in Bedford. A quick response from them and they confirmed they could do it and it would come with a 12 month warranty. How much? Four hundred fecking quid, plus VAT plus the carriage both ways. That is not going to happen. I am going to see if @GingerNuttz knows of someone as said above. There are reports of the injected cars having problems with plastic steel repairs, but as a last resort I will try it. For a temporary fix my friend Simon was purloined my 900 Carlsson Saab tank and has put it in the boot so we can try to get it running when the injector spares arrive, hopefully tomorrow and I have ordered a new posh battery for it, also due tomorrow.

Amusingly, that comparison site comes up with no options at all for my place!

FTFY

I sent mine and it should have been there before NYE but nothing has been said

I think that this is going to need more than a can of snake oil..... It would appear that all four injectors have seized and are full of gunk. This could explain the non running.....

I can highly recommend Angus Autogas in Arbroath if you need assistance and he sells LPG. You can have a look at my Lancia whilst there as well.

After a fraught journey and an afternoon of interesting* meetings I have made it to the hotel for the night. Of course, switching on the computer has brought news from my friend who is working on my Lancia. It appears our upbeat assessment of the petrol tank was wrong as it appears to be leaking in several places. Like most parts for this car, it appears to be made of finest unobtanium, A google shows one possible source of a custom made alloy tank with 7 litres less capacity than the original (45 litres as opposed to 52 litres) and with a 2 year old price tag of £642 . Eeek. A bit more goog;ing has brought up several specialists who say they will repair and guarantee yhe result, so that is probably the route I will take. Of course the closest specialist in in England and the tank will almost certainly have to be personally delivered, but hey ho. If any one has any experience of any of these specialists, please do shout out.

Left home at 0530 GMT to meet my taxi booked a week ago from my friends to the airport at 0630. At 0640, a phone call revealed no one had put it on the list despite the text I received on booking. Fortunately the bad weather in Southern Norway meant my flight was delayed by 40 minutes and I made it fine. Aberdeen had torrential rain and 7c, Stavanger has light winds, some sun and -1c but south of here is like above. Amazing how much difference in such small distances (relatively)