Joey spud

Totally agree. Back in the nineties I only fitted stuff made by CI (commercial ignition in a orange and green box) and only replaced a condenser if the points were badly burnt. I mean do condensers wear out,if you have a good one leave it be. And back then in my wrecks i always had second hand bits of ignition system rattling around in the door pocket too. We have rain forecast here tonight and tomorrow so I couldn't leave him on the neighbours grass in case I ploughed it up getting out later. Anyhow the intermotor stuff has got him going again and back onto my drive.

Yes back in my RAC days he would often help me out before we had to use ECP. Surprisingly GSF motor factors on Medway city estate had them in lntermotor flavour but hurt at nearly £20. Back in the olden days when I ran a garage they were £3.50 each.

After nearly three years Boris has vacated my back garden into my neighbours (which has access to the road) where he decided to cough, missfire and then die. He did the same yesterday and I removed and cleaned his burnt points and he was good again so I think the curse of the iffy condenser has struck. On the hunt now for a motor factors that still keep points and condensers.

I refitted the number plate back onto the front of Boris the Morris today... Obviously being a bit of a rogue i mounted it on two hinges so at speed it tucks under his front to make him go faster. 😁

The wifes had this old samba green CRX auto for seven years (it was a valentine's present) and in that time it's been used mostly in the summer months and sometimes it's been forgotten about for a year or two. It's had a really good run out this year but the MOT expired last month and it needs some suspension bushes and a tyre replacing also the laquer peel on the wings was quite impressive. But alas there's not going to be any room for it at my new house so reluctantly it has to go. So it's old number plate was reinstated and before I could advertise it a bloke knocked on my door and gave me £500 for it. Probably going to miss the thing but if we have a spare car it got to be allowed inside the M25.

I love an old steering wheel but the skinnyness of their rims just feels wrong after years of grabbing modern wheels so off to eBay I went. I bought a silicone cover that was both too thin and too baggy so I taped it on ready for fitting the ultimate old giffer accessory from the 70/80's. The smell alone takes me straight back to 1986 and my '72 mini 850. Woof.

Well I thought that but they did recover a freshly purchased Hiace from Bodmin to Kent. And they didn't skimp i got the full RAC experience as they broke the ignition key in the door lock and lost the van for 24 hours at a contractors yard in Southampton.

Every year the RAC renew my full whistles and bells breakdown cover for free. Recently I have informed them of my change of address and now they have emailed me back saying my complimentary staff membership has been cancelled as it appears I am no longer employed by the RAC. How very dare they. I quit in 2018 so it's only taken them five years to bloody realise...

Those were the days,spare wheels aplenty...

My sons other half has a V6 manual Mitsubishi FTO as a daily car and it has started gobbing it's coolant out when stuck in traffic and apparently there's little sign of the cooling fans kicking in. Alas being an import the fuse box lid is in squiggle writing and goggled results are iffy at best and no relay locations are available. So thinking outside of the box I searched eBay for a FTO fuse box and found this lovely image. It turned out the fans were actually fine and it was the rad cap with a broken spring that was obviously the real cause of the boiling up. My son turned 33 the other day and asked me to wire a plug up for him,I have definitely failed as a parent.

A fresh can of fuel and a quick wipe of the points was all that was needed to get Boris running again and now the exhaust is properly fitted and leak free he doesn't sound anywhere as loud as I feared. I have started bunging the seats back in too. I am not worried about putting the door trims or carpet back yet as they need cleaning and the cardboard backing of the trims are distorted and flaky so can be played with over the winter. Now he's back on the floor I have realised I have set the n/s front suspension one spline too high. So the plan is still to get him mobile enough to drive a mile down the road to my new house in the next couple of weeks (if I ever bloody exchange) so realistically I now just need rear lamps and front number plate sorting. And this must be a sign I saw Boris's brother the other day (running on rare Princess Ann scimitar alloys).

So it's September and nearly three years since World of Ceri dropped this wee scabby Minor off at mine the master plan was turn him around within two years as a rot free/solid but scruffy Summer toy. Well as ever life and other shizzle has got in the way BUT I am getting close to getting Boris out of my back garden and charming the general public again. So what's been happening ? Well the other week I tried fitting the drivers side wing that I repaired before Covid only to find it was actually miles out where it met the door and so took a bit of butchery and remodeling to get it to sit half right against the door. Bugger... Chop,cut,bend and reweld as req... And it now fits ok ish. I wasn't happy with how the clutch mechanism's mounting plate flexed so I added more metal to stiffen it up Much better. The headlights and front indicator lamps are now fitted but for some strange reason neither now work. Stopping water getting into the doors seemed like a good idea so I have acquired a length of a more up to date (Marina ? ) weather strip for the drop glass. I have cut it to size but am waiting for a nice hot day to bond it to the door with tiger seal. The drivers side rear wing has been tweaked (bent as req) and fits well enough although I bought light grey beading instead of dark grey. I am definitely going bumperless on the rear and ages ago picked up a tow bar to give the car a bit of protection but with no bumper it sticks out way too far so will need a bit of cut 'n' shut surgery otherwise I will be constantly tripping over the bugger. Rear lights are yet to be decided on I want to go with red tail and indicators lens.

After neglecting the little Morris for three months he's finally got four wings refitted and fresh fuel in his tank.

I do like a Beetle with just a very slight nose down stance and empi alloys. But Christ on a bike i've just had a look at its mot history (is it just me who does this ?) the old girls had a mountain of corrosion fails over the last decade but now she's gained a clean pass. Do the Mexican ones rot as bad as their German counterparts ?

Fuckety fuck fuck...

Never seen a white Rac HA van.

I've not had a garage/workshop that I could fit a vehicle in for twenty odd years so any car related bothering has been done outside come rain or shine but things are changing as I am moving to a gaff that has land around it that can accommodate a modest structure. It's taken a bit of ground work and the employment of some clever tradespeople but I am well pleased with the results so far. It's large enough to store two smallish cars side by side (Boris the Morris Minor and possibly a Morris 8 series E that i have my eye on) then I have the same space again at the far end for benches,tools etc and my scruffy two seater Chesterfield and other man cave trinkets. It's still requires insulating and wiring up then the addition of flooring in the eaves above the man cave quarters for added storage of tat I can't let go of.

One job I really detest is changing suspension bushes so wasn't looking forward to replacing the absolutely buggered ones on the recently purchased Yaris t sport. They came out after fighting them with a cutting disc,drill and hack saw. The new one's pushed in ok with a hammer and blunt drift. My son had these Lexus rear lamps kicking around and thinks they look good (not so sure myself but I'm old) anyway it's all irrelevant if I don't get under it and repair the axle mounting point. Better look at that exhaust pipe while I'm at it.

Just spotted this old forum favourite in a dodgy part of Sittingbourne.

Live shitting going on right here. My son has a twin turbo 300zx that has sat for a couple of years with very infrequent starting or moving around. He gave it some fresh fuel the other day and it started first go but was popping and coughing and wouldn't clear its throat like it usually does so he turned it off and tried to restart it but it did half a turn then locked up. Putting it in 4th gear i wasn't able to push it forward but it would rotate the engine if I pushed it backwards. So armed with some tools I pulled the plugs out (a couple of them were soaked in fuel) and tried to crank it again which resulted in success and also an impressive jet of petrol being emitted from number four plug hole. I can only stop the flume of fuel if I pull the fuel pump fuse so I guess that'll be a jammed open injector then. Going to put the plugs and coils back on and unplug the naughty injector and see if it'll run again. Edit. Just unplugged the injector and it still shoots fuel out of the plug hole and over the bonnet of the neighbours motabity Kuga. Inlet manifold off it is then...

Ah yes I was smitten when I saw this on Mathewson's site recently,as Derek would say "find another one". They didn't have much else of interest for me last month although a Morris 8 series E that needed as Dave put it "oily ragging" did have me putting an unsuccessful bid in.

So a cheap little 1.5 Tsport Yaris has joined the fleet but alas the drivers side rear wheel is a bit wonky donkey. An hour or so saw the rear beam dropped out revealing the corroded mess that used to be the beams O/S mounting/pivot point. N/S not too bad. O/S is absolutely jiggered. The beam needs a good clean up to see if it's had it or if it'll go again but the car did come with £40 worth of new mounts. It's a real shame as the car has had a recent repaint and even the AC works fine.

That's a shame. She was still very enthusiastic about the collection when we visited in 2019.

I do like a Yaris so we have just purchased a very cheap T sport version that is surprisingly clean and tidy. The down side is it needs a bit of welding on the o/s rear corner as the rear axles mounting point has broken off...

I always thought that old Hillman was a darn cool ride do you know if it's still alive ?