Joey spud

An unpopular opinion:  Drivers should be re-tested on a regular basis, and to a far higher standard than they are currently.  This is actually more important than checking the car on an annual basis.
However, this will never happen as the Government makes far too much money from fuel duty and other vehicle taxation, so removing dangerous/idiotic/incompetent/blind/drunk/thick-as-shit drivers from the road will cost them too much money.
I would happily sit a driving test on a regular basis.

I would rather do a 100 mile daily commute on a pogo stick than own a modern Audi.

The Ford Capri is a vastly overrated car…. As is most Ford junk

I would also point out that the constant worshipping at the altar of BMW / Mercedes / Audi makes my teeth itch

It's not an argument, it's a healthy discussion! 
I generally agree, most Leyland stuff was under developed. They had lots of good ideas but quite often got it wrong. They got the public to do a lot of their development for them unfortunately which didn't help. But I'm going to pick you up on a few points. 
Triumph weren't late to monocoque construction, it was a conscious decision to go back to a separate chassis. The Standard 8/10/Pennant, the car the Herald replaced, plus the Ensign were monocoque designs. I forget the exact reason but it was something to do with all the usual sheet metal suppliers being booked up with other manufacturers for quite a long time so using a chassis meant they could make the body from smaller individual panels. Waiting for one of the big panel suppliers to become available would have delayed the car. 
To be fair the chassis served Triumph well, with them getting four different cars out of it, or at least two variations of two designs but a Herald and Vitesse are more different than they look at first glance. 
The Triumph V8 suffered from poor cooling but it was discovered that a lot of them had poorly cast heads and blocks, with blocked oil and waterways. They even found sand still in some of them so it was more of a quality control problem. Any that have got this far will probably be fine with regular oil and coolant changes. 
Hydrolastic suspension works better the bigger the car, but I suspect that's probably the same of normal suspension. The Austin 3-litre had a terrible image problem and came along as bigger cars were going out of favour so nobody bought them but the ride was superb. There have been a few reviews on YouTube in recent years by people who've never driven one and they are all amazed by the ride quality. I know HubNut did one and their have been a couple of others who have all said if they could make a car ride this well 50 years ago why can't they do it today. 
And I don't think they bothered updating the MGB because people kept buying it as it was. It was one of their more successful designs commercially I'd have thought. 
There were so many things they could have done differently but it's too late now, and besides what would we argue about on crap car forums if they'd done everything right. 

He's not wrong though is he. British Leyland cars were always way ahead technologically, except the Marina obviously before anybody buts in, but that was there because they could see Ford were outselling them with their horseless carts and thought they'd have a go.
But by the early seventies BL had FWD, five speed boxes, fuel injection, 16 valves, hydraulic suspension (and proper springs on the ones that weren't hydraulic) and self levelling suspension. And not just Leyland, most of the continental manufacturers were dabbling in these things too.
Yet Ford couldn't even manage FWD until 1977. But Ford knew how to sell cars and Leyland didn't. BL came up with lots of good ideas but never developed them properly. Any problems at the start of production tended to stay throughout the life of the car. And of course they were selling cars competing with themselves. Ford were selling simple to the point of ancient technology but people liked that because they understood it. 
Obviously Ford won by keeping it simple but there's no doubt everybody else was building better cars.

Honestly, think you probably came out better with the AX GT, i love the way those things drive

I mean, while I congratulate you on obtaining a small fortune worth of metal...
These really were shit cars, weren't they? I mean, even in their day they were very average. Personally, I think the only car more overrated than the selection box of 60s and 70s Fords are E-Type jags, which manage to somehow be fugly, unreliable, uncomfortable, poor handling and extortionately expensive.

Ah ha, you too then!
Surprised and pleased really.  It always felt like it was pretty much a collection of spares flying in close formation given it would never make any logical sense to restore given the value of P4s and the price of spares.  Especially cosmetic stuff and trim, which that car really wanted a lot of, before even factoring in paint.  Shame to lose the genuine patina, but it really did want the paint sorting to ensure the car didn't just decay rapidly if being used regularly.  At the end of the day if it helps make sure it lives on it's all a good thing.  Better this than stripped for parts or taking a quick trip round an oval.

Took erindoors, mini stuboy and niece up to a car themed pub on there open day, seemed was manly lotus, I do love an esprit... place called 'the stag' missus says food prices are good and decor inside Is car themed..

Now that it's properly spring I thought it was time to dig the Renault 6 out of the garage.  It always needs a jump start after it's been sat for a while, and I cleverly* hadn't left any room to get to the bonnet when I put it away - I remember thinking at the time "that's going to be a problem - oh well, fuck it, I'll worry about it in the spring".  Well the good news is that my brake repair last year seems to have held as the brakes were still free, and thanks to the new tyre on the nearside front all the tyres were fully inflated.  So all I needed to do was climb in through the tailgate, knock it out of gear, climb back out again, grab hold of the back bumper and pull, and out it came.  
The Rover 75 and a pair of jump leads soon got it running, and I took it for a quick run round the block and was reminded of the issues that had cropped up shortly before it went into hibernation and that I hadn't had a chance to look at properly.  So that was the first task for today once I finally got my arse in gear.
The first issue is that the bonnet latch isn't locking the bonnet.  I couldn't immediately find what was causing this, but removing the latch soon revealed the problem - the mechanism is made of plastic (yes, really) and after 51 years one of the bits had decided it had had enough and snapped off.  So that's irreparable then.  Of course bonnet latches for Renault 6s are completely unobtainium, but a Google session suggested that the Renault 12 latch is similar - or at least the plastic bits are - and those are available (albeit at some expense), so I'm going to order one - worst case I can butcher it for its plastic bits and make one good one out of the two.  For now I've put a Bungee strap on to stop the bonnet flipping up - it's a forward opening bonnet so in theory shouldn't be an issue but aerodynamics can do strange things.
The other two were easier fixes.  The nearside rear indicator was behaving funny when the lights were turned on - this turned out to be a cock up on my part, when I refitted the light unit after the car was hit last year I put the earth wire behind the clamp instead of between the clamp and the nut, so it was flapping around and barely making contact.  The other problem was that the choke wasn't returning properly when the knob was pushed in - this was a slightly stranger one as it transpired that the clamp that holds the end of the cable had come off the carb - I certainly don't remember doing this (and I would have remembered as it was a fiddly bastard) so can only assume that the bolt had vibrated loose and fallen out.  One of the three screws holding the end plate on the carb had also vanished, but I found suitable replacements for both in my stash so that's all sorted.
I then chucked a bucket of water over it to get the garage grime off - next job is to make a template up for the repair section I'm going to need to make for the nearside front floor, but I didn't get time for that this weekend.

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent playing with pushbikes.  I did get the Mobylette fired up - it took a few more kicks than last year but still not bad for an elderly two-stroke engine that's been sat for six months - but I didn't get a chance to take it for a spin as I'd been hoping to do, and the forecast looks shite for this coming week so that might have to wait a little while.

Apparently so, although the other 93b I know in the UK is also black! The last Swedish owner (in 2021) owned it for 31 years and worked at the Saab plant in Trollhatten as a detailer. The car was resprayed at the plant and took 7 litres of paint. None of which will have contributed to the demise of Saab at all  . It has not been on the road since import and I believe was not used for many years in Sweden either so I need to do a recommision.

It's been relatively quiet with the fleet as of late. Everything is behaving itself. Even the 65 year old Cambridge!
I did however manage to fix the horns on said Cambridge. They were non-functional when I collected it and I imagine it was to do with the original wiring potentially being positive earth or the fact the cars been converted from a dynamo to an alternator at some point. Regardless the wiring to the horn was seeing a constant 12 V which dropped to zero when pressing the horn. As such I have done some light wiring work and used all red wires to wire the horns (via a fuse) directly to the battery. Then used the horn button as the earth. They are lovely sounding mechanical horns!

I also set about changing the fan belt but I have the wrong size ordered it seems. It's fitted with a 10x950 belt which means it's right at the max of it's tension and quite floppy. I bought the standard 10x900 but it doesn't fit. Because the new alternator hits the engine mount and can't be adjusted all the way back. Annoying really because it just about clears the steering box. Clearly someone else found this problem because the engine mount has been taken to with a hammer....
Regardless I managed to squeeze on a 10x925 belt which gives me plenty more life.

I'm also in the process of reinstating the missing heater. The matrix has been removed from the loop and the blower box removed. I bought a Smiths blower motor of the correct vintage but it was clocked the wrong way round so I've had to disassemble it and swap round the motor to the other side. It now fits but I can't find the wiring for it. I am also hoping the heater matrix isnt holed... Although having a blower is probably the biggest battle.

I've been taking it on regular trips to work regardless. I love how old and mechanical it is but it doesn't really fit in well in the car park!

I also replaced the wiper motor on the MGF which had been very loud and grumbly since I put it back on the road. I fitted a new/old rack and motor which I had to wire in as it had the wrong plug fitted. It's quieter, but still more noisy than I would like.

The Mini has not progressed. I'm starting to think with 52 days left that I'm probably not taking it to Germany. It's amazing how quickly you run out of time on projects! Luckily @sharley17194 has made good progress on his Mini so I think we'll be taking that instead.
Finally. I bought myself a new daily (probably wise as my newest car was 24 years old to this point). I'm over the moon about it as it's been on my radar for a long time. I've been saving relentlessly for some time to be able to get one and I couldn't be happier with it! For those that will ask it's a Cayman Gen2 2.9 PDK. It looks and drives great!

 

I turned it round on the trailer for weight distribution but it caused another issue that I thought might happen.
The wind got under the pop up roof and lifted the rear end of it. I had to stop on the hard shoulder and lower it again and even though I thought I’d locked it down it came up again within a couple of miles.
I managed to get a couple of small camloc straps tied round the inside roof mechanism and through seatbelt buckle which kept it in place the rest of the way back. 
Will have a good look round it next week and decide on my next move. 
if I keep it then I’ve some better seats to replace what I think are Rover SD1 ones. 
There are many more jobs that need doing first but it’s always nice to change something to make you feel a bit better, 

Loaded and about to head north. 
 

I hadn’t thought ahead to post so 1st journey already commenced. 
I’ve got the trailer on, a few podcasts downloaded and off south today. 
 
Vehicle 1 is 200 miles from home in one direction and vehicle 2 is 325 miles from home in the other. 
Plan is to get the first one back into the warehouse at work by mid afternoon today then an early start tomorrow for part 2. 
 
Breakfast was Shreddies and a brew with 2.  - Loo count is 0 but might have to keep legs crossed and I don’t like leaving car and trailer unattended at the services after losing a trailer before when only running in for 2 minutes once. 
 
Left home 7am, came the A46 route to get on M5 so cut a few miles off but return journey will stay on M5 to M42 and M6. 
 
Will update when I remember as I go along. 
I had offers to accompany me but sometimes I just like to do my own thing after having to deal with many people in the week. 
 
Start mileage and the rig. 

Finally welding. This is a replacement part of the bottom of the A pillar.

And it’s a hard reminder of how easy it is to blow holes in existing steel. It’s not too bad really though. I also added a plate on the back (seen above, the strip with three holes in). This plate goes behind it, so it’s like a “C” going around the pillar. That’s welded behind too, as well in the front (as per how the original was put on). But the strip on the right didn’t exist, so I’ve added that.
Anyway, onward.

I did no welding today. Not for the want of trying. In a quest to tidy the area up and sort out the rust I found yesterday - well I found more.

 
At the foot of the A pillar it was thick with muck. A good 3” block of it. 
Given I have to put a new outer sill on, I thought I would just take the whole bottom of the wing off.

I was cleaning up the inside sill stuff and I gave that rusty bit a tap with the chisel. No hammer, just me…

Oh dear.

Yeah all of this needs to go.

Not all finished with rust discovery though. The bottom of the A pillar was equally rotten.

Thankfully, this covered more steel which was rusted BUT only rusted where you see it. I cut more of the skin off to see.

As you can see in Australia, this is how it looks. But the inside part is strong.

I have cut back more of the interior sill because I suspected the inner sill was rotten. It was, but only really where the A pillar meets it.
Remember kids - this car is MOT exempt!
I had intended to use rust remover on the A pillar before painting it and putting things back together. I don’t have any, and couldn’t find any, so I’m going to order some online. When it comes I’ll give it another go with the wire brush (already did it once) and will paint it with weld through primer. Which I may need to buy some of!
It’s a jigsaw now really. Love it!

So here is a 10 minute video of the mistake I made leaving it under that sheet and the work I did last week:
 
This evening I decided to get a head start on tomorrow. I spotted a hole under where the the seat rail is last week, and decided the best thing to do is to take the rail out altogether. For now anyway.


Some spot welds are easy to find…

But I can’t really see where the main spot welds are…

And fucked if I know how to get my drill in to this gap!

 
However, this gaping hole passed me by last week.

Hiding above the jacking point.

View from the inside:

So I’m going to go ahead with the removal of the seat rail tonight. I will drill what I can see but the rest I’ll just hammer with a chisel. Tomorrow I’ll remedy that hole in the sill before I cut the rest of the floor and make a panel.
Also a question to the hive mind: the sills on this are full of a bituminous substance. If it gets hot in the summer it drips out, and I never really could get it clean before. What can I use to remove it? I’m guessing the bulk will come off with a scraper but it’s difficult to get inside the sill. What else could I use?

Took at it with a hammer and a screwdriver today. I managed to put a hole in it and nearly put it through two other places. So I’m taking most of the pan out.

Yes, that’s a baby monitor. My wife decided to go out and said if he cried I had to go in. I’m covered in muck and oil, by the time I cleaned to go and pick him up she’d be back. But he slept all the way through.

There is the floor gone. You can tell at the bottom where I did my best to drill out the spot welds, but further along it was harder to find them amongst the pitting. So I just chiselled them from underneath in the end.

Some bits of the floor were thicker than others. The jacking point and arm were totally gone, but we knew this anyway.

Ran out of time today to make a panel. It’s a large piece of lining paper here. I couldn’t just cut holes in the floor and do it patchwork but I am better than that now. I’m 100% going to do the drivers side floor again like this.
On the passenger side, I’ve no photo, but there are two holes where the tar a previous owner used for cavity wax is seeping out. Next to that, under the chair rail, there is a hole. I only found this out on tidying up. So I think next job is to remove the seat bracket and cut out the steel under it, and clean and inspect the sill. I have an outer sill repair panel for this anyway so not too alarmed.

I managed to bolt it all back together and then fired it up... Disaster. Oil was leaking out of the feed to the turbo bearing. Initially I thought I must have left a crush washer out from the banjo bolt, but on closer inspection it was there. I had torqued it to factory spec seeing as it was a semi-important fixing. 
In the end I just did it up tighter which has sealed it thank God. 
Went for a drive which confirmed it now GLF, however... 
Previously I'd fitted one of those Chinese fuel pressure sensor things that fools the ECU into thinking the fuel pressure is lower than it really is = cheap performance upgrade. 
On my test drive I booted it out of a junction then felt the dreaded jolt as it decided to engage limp mode... It actually cut out completely but I managed to turn into a side road and I had my diagnostic reader with me. 
Read the code which was something like 'Major fuel leak detected' so I thought I might have chafed a hose when I moved the fuel filter to one side for access. But no leaks and no diesel smell. 
I think what happened is the fuel flow rate and/or pressure difference was outside of the set limits thanks to the Chinese cheater device. I reset the code and it ran fine to get me home, so I removed the Chinese kit and have reverted back to standard. 
I really thought I'd broken something serious but it was the nannying ECU detecting Fun Outside Specified Limits. 
Last night I drove to Reading and back to go into London and watch a gig, the car performed faultlessly and averaged 53 mpg so I'm pleased with the fix. 
If spending money allows I'll be looking to get a proper remap as there is more performance to be had for sure. 

Just found my friends old lady for sale... 2 grand.... I used too love driving..  looks bit rougher now...

Just had a letter from the current owner of my P4 after finding my name in the history. Has given me a load of questions to answer 😂
I'm most glad it's gone to an owner who is going to restore it!

Added a rear ARB to the Yaris. It's made a huge difference, the car feels loads more confident and planted - new springs and dampers probably help too. Close to pretty much fully overhauling it!

This seems a reasonable middle ground to me.