mercedade

carried over from computers
 
- never put the lid back on before you've checked it works

Here are another few of mine that are taxi related.
I have to start my shift with the rear armrest pulled down.
If the meter stops on £13 I'll charge the punter £12.90.
On the last Friday before Xmas just before 7pm I'll check my tyre pressures at this petrol station.

Every time I get a new cab the first punter gets a free ride.
At the end of every shift I tap the steering wheel and thank the car for its day.
 

Over the last few weeks I have discovered I have an addiction. I say addiction with full sincerity despite the slightly silly title I think I have reached the point of where owning vehicles has crossed from a hobby in to a damaging addiction.
I have made excuses of "cheap motoring", "making a profit" and "new experiences" as an excuse for sinking a frankly silly amount of money and worse a considerable portion of my life. The cost is something that after looking over the last few months the amount I have spent running cars (not including purchases or loss on the vehicles) has got to a point that I could lease a new Porsche 911.
I'm not a very wealthy man so that is an unacceptable amount.
As said though the time has become excessive, I have neglected my studies, my mental health and time with my other half. If you have seen my other posts I have put my foot down on myself and am selling all my cars other than the 2 economic cars at colossal losses to just wipe the slate clean. I feel sad and relieved. In future a healthy balance needs to be struck so this hobby can be enjoyable, it has been anything but for quite a while.
I hereby declare this thread CA (Caraholic Anonymous). A safe space to admit that cars can become bad decisions.

The pez station shot:

The last big six-cylinder diesel beast I had did have one of those
It is the X3's day of reckoning. The morning after, the 'what did I do last night', the buyer's remorse day. It's punched me in the insurance, demanded money with menaces at the fuel pump, and grumbles all the time....
...but so far I'm pretty impressed. It fired up with no drama this morning, nothing fell off when I jetwashed it, it's tackled the utterly bizarre levels of congestion around Alfreton, it keeps trying to make me colder than the outside temperature from the ventilation, the electronic things nearly all work, and most of all, I really like the driving position, general stance and road manners of it.
It's about to get some polish. Or would be about to if the weather had stayed nice - which is the best time to find all the flaws, but so far the list is not bad for a 130K mile cheap 4x4.
Transfer case. Already known to be broken, it's noisy (overrun is unpleasant) but my logic is "I could pay £4K for a shiny X3 from a dealer and then it shits the transfer case and I've got to pay that too" - as long as I find no showstoppers, a refurb transfer case on a £1500 X3 isn't bad at all (and that's ignoring that I totally got my money's worth out of the SLK just as a means of transport - in real term I could have  chucked that car away and still got more miles per monthly £££s than nearly every car I've owned before. I love SLKs). Suspension, It's tired, and wobbly, but you can feel how planted the X3 should be and how well it deals with crappy potholed damaged roads. Dampers are job one, no stupid tech here that I can see, then some new bushes around the front. Brakes - they work, but maybe a warped disc. Could just be the worn bushes. Bodywork - nothing coming up so far, just a nibbled wheel arch liner cutaway presumably because it endured drug dealer wheels as well as the window tints. Engine - it has one. It's very lively. MAYBE a bit of oddness for the turbo but I think it is all working as intended. I will maintain it and give the inlet manifold a clean if it needs it. Details: many small things. About the only things I want to sort pronto are the manky-looking centre tail lights as I think they have lost their LEDs, and the non-adjustable driver's mirror.
Overall, so far, I think it's pretty promising and a decent buy! It's definitely given me a taste of what I've missed by dismissing the X3 against things like Jeep Cherokees, though it's obviously not a 'proper 4x4' like those, it's a lot nicer than a Freelander or contemporary Kia/Hyundai things and I like it more than the (slightly later, but still sold at the same time) Volvo XC60.
I haven't looked underneath it properly yet, partly because I think the key to a happy life is 'don't look underneath cars from the North or coastal areas if they are working and didn't cost much'.
If the Range Rover goes and I spend a few quid getting some worn components sorted on this I'll be pretty happy with it as my sensible car and as my sinister-looking black 4x4 that goes quickly.
(Which is does. And it makes a pretty impressive noise while doing so).

For anyone who is interested in Following this project, i have also done a few videos which show the work done more in depth. Feel Free to watch
 
 

Ayup Guys Another Update!! Got some more gas today so i could finally finish off that last bit of welding on the sill. I also just decided to plough through and bite the bullet and cut the rear arch out. The Job which im not looking forward to. But it may not be as bad as i thought!

so the Lower part of the Inner Sill is now on Terrible mess as ive only half Grinded it down for now lmao, but i will get round to cleaning up at a later date. Ideally it was to fill in the gaps where the porous welds were due to running out of gas.
 
Next up i cut a bit of the arch out to see how bad the rust was on the lip. Thankfully its not that bad at all really i think it just looked bad when it was still all in tact. 

I then Decided sod it ill cut the rest out making sure i dont go over the line i drew. 

so it seems to be much worse at the top of the arch at the back where the bumper mount is, Makes sense as water ingress through the hole which the clip sits in probably caused it to rot out there first then spread. Something which i need to improve on from factory standard. perhaps lots of cavity wax, some seam sealer and a stainless steel bolt so it doesn't rust. Its nice to see the Reinforcer is all well and Solid. i will have to cut around that when replacing the inner arch, im sure i will come up with something. 
 

Here is a more further back image just to show you the extent of the metal/rust that has been cut out of the car!! As you can also see the black panel on the floor is a New old Stock Inner Arch Section which i was insanely lucky to find. I Decided to use the Entirety of that panel as it will be much easier, quicker and neater rather than cutting and seam welding it in. 
 

Not the Best photo as i forgot to take a before so this was taken from a Video but Heres an image of the arch before it was cut out.

So thats what i did, Removed the spotwelds and as you can see it looks pretty good behind the seams! A Few Scabs which i cleaned up and got primed. 
 
 
Out with the old, In with the new!

I got the inner section all Keyed with 80 Grit and put 2 Coats of Electrox on to fully protect it

Yet again another Crap photo taken from Video, I cleaned up the panels behind, removed any traces of rust and coated it with some Zinc Weld Through Primer.
 

Got it all Placed in and Plug Welded. Do note I have no idea why but the MG Rover Panels Are absolutely Horrendous to weld to, I think that and also the fact i struggled to see due to it being dark up in the arch led to me creating some Rather interesting Pigeon Shite welds, I think maybe 2 Plug welds were decent and the rest were crap lmao, at the end of the day, i made sure theyre strong they have plenty of Penetration so i think a grinder will sort out that issue
And i dont like hiding the bad bits from you lot, I think its good to show the crap parts as well as its being transparent. Good thing is, It lines up bloody well! 
 

And here it is with the door on! Although some of welds were poo Im really glad how well the alignment has turned out, I reckon grind them plug welds down, get it all painted apply some seam sealer and stonechip and itll be good to go! 
Here was a photo i found on one of the MG Rover Groups on facebook, This gives you an idea on how it should look like. So Pretty close i reckon, Just need to fabricate that little panel that goes in that gap

 
The Next Jobs will be to fabricate the Upper section of the inner arch then once thats all done, The outer arch can go on!

In fact the quotes that i received when i went round places is what made me do it myself. I was Quoted around £4500 to 5000 for the Welding alone. And i dont know if thats a Normal Price these days or if that was Just a CBA to do it quote. But, im glad i took it upon myself as i would not have learnt all these skills along the way and i will have done it to a degree in which i am happy with as i know more about the car than the people at the restoration places. And them skills will most certainly come in handy when i get round to Sorting out My Triumph Vitesse.  

More Welding done recently, Thanks to a Dry Spell of weather. I Was struggling a bit with getting the lower section of the inner sill welded onto the car. i as i had pretty much no reference to go from, thankfully in the end i did manage to get it sorted then i ran out of Gas lmao. 


 
Safe to say im satisfied with how everything is lining up



At this point i had Ran out of Gas so i need to get some more tomorrow so i can finish this bit off. 
 
I also did some work to these Front Fog Lights that needed a bit of a clean up. They were starting Corrode and i wanted to make sure that they were all okay inside. Heres a Before and After:


Still need to get some new screws for it then once thats done they should be good to go!
 

Big shout out to the mobile tyre fitters btw. Not only did they turn up 4hrs late without any contact, they also managed to fuck up the balancing.
A salute to the hard working tyre fitters of the UK 🫡

2024 has been a good year in that I've bought nothing (that is road legal). Since moving gaff, funds are tight and I can't be as frivolous as I once was, gambling on gumtree scrap bimonthly. 
- The Passat:
Provided absolutely fucking stellar service from November to February. I drove it 2,000 miles, treated it like shit and then donated it to my sister. It had a noisy water pump (based on poor hearing, me guessing and not knowing shit) so I told her that if it breaks down to call the scrap man and get a taxi home. It hasn't. In fact it's eaten up another 2,000 miles without fault. Cracking car. The B5 + B5.5 Passats are the absolute GOAT car in my eyes. I've had nothing but success with them.
 
- Lexus LS400:
Fuck this car. 
 
- Peugeot 106:

Easily a 5 bags of popcorn car. It's like 'Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust', it just gets better and better with every listen. 
I ordered some new rubber on the fronts as the old ones weren't going to cut the mustard for a 350 mile trip to the north. I'd done almost 1k on those tyres in that state. 


 
It drove 175 miles there without a single issue. In fact, it didn't even appear to be using any fuel at all according to the gauge. 

I ran a marathon, got a 15min break at the finish line and then drove straight home without even a greasy McDonald's. 

60 miles in and it began to grumble and stutter. I managed to nurse it to Pitlochry, 100 miles from home after a handful of stalls and some 40mph uphill sections. I overheard some Americans talking about the Key West surfboard branding as I was sitting in the car in pain, suffering.
The symptoms seemed like a clogged fuel filter, I had no tools and no spare filter and I was struggling to walk/bend over after the running. @davehedgehog31 suggested the fuel pickup. I removed the spider graveyard back bench,  cleared a further spider colony from inside the access panel and wiggled off the pipes which triggered some desperate gasping for air from the tank. I opened the fuel cap to equalise pressure more quickly and the fucking thing started first time. Magic. Made it home and polished off 3 large maccy d meals. 

 

I must also add @JackThrustwas 100% with his description of this little car. And a gentleman to boot. A pleasure to meet you sir.

Upd8.
Just stopped at Sutton Scotney on the A34 for a drink and to restore my personal comforts.
Little pug drive absurdly good. Bit of a grumble from a front wheel bearing but aside from that she’s absolutely bob-on.
And fuel not needed, 130 miles not used half of the half-full tank it came with.
Will report next when I get home.

Destination achieved!

Job number one…
For some reason, the bonnet was sitting raised at the A pillar end when closed at it was messing with my ocd…

A bit of hinge adjustment later and it looks a lot better 🙂

A lot of them are, and no bike made in the last 20 years requires blipping at all to make a fast getaway from the lights so your analogy probably applies to a tiny percentage.
I ride bikes and have done for over 40 years, the overwhelming majority of blippers are just attention seeking knobheads, same as boy racers with their pops and bangs.

Passat sold and off to a new home.
Another quality vehicle purchased...

 
50 shades of beige.

Polyurethane torque arm and panhard rod bushes pressed in. 


I'm happy with how the paint finish on the arms has held up given the car has been on the road all the way through the salt and spray of the winter. 

It's got a face!

Have to tweak the bumper a wee bit and some other fixings to put back on.
Gave everything behind the plastics a good covering of cavity wax. Happy with the way it's coming on now.

Beat was dropped off after a quick blast to warm everything through.



Good news! The cat was fine and went through emissions.


Failed on a binding front caliper though, which is annoying

Ah well, Mazda's been washed, ragged, and dropped off. Let's see if that can break the cycle.



Tappeting noise has cleared too so that's a bonus.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

Never, ever try and work out what one of these restorations cost, never put it writing, and if you do, under no circumstances let your wife see it!! 

Oh christ, I daren't think now, no spreadsheets yet, although I may sit down at the end and work out the financial cost.
Don't want to do it in the middle otherwise MrsH will see it, bludgeon me to death and get rid of the car!
I have learned a lot on this project though, so it's been worth it in that regard.
 

Oh fuck me, what a day.
Started off okay, I set up the engine crane to get it off the stand.

Finally, it meant I could install the rear crank seal - this was the second attempt, as the first one went too far in - luckily I ordered 2!

Clutch and flywheel went on.

And the gearbox was fitted.

Then, MrsH was roped in to help me get the engine and box into the engine bay.
This turned out to be an absolute dick of a job, not helped by the area we had to move the crane around.
Eventually, we admitted defeat, and whipped off the gearbox and exhaust manifold in order to make it a much smaller package for lifting and manoeuvring.

With the engine bolted into the mounts, the gearbox went on after a bit of a fight, and the mounts tightened.

Annoyingly, I didn't notice I had looped the nylon lifting sling around one of the mounts - knowing how much agro it was to get the engine in position in the first place, I elected to cut it off and throw it in the bin.

Not many photos follow, but rest assured I was busy. First point of order was to fit the driveshafts, which was going well until the outer CV joint popped off it's clip for no good reason. This was an additional faff because it meant I had to deal with that bloody grease again.
The next job was assembling and reconnecting the hydraulic manifold and pressure regulator - this had been removed by my mate Dan when he popped over to help, and nothing had been marked up, so this took nearly two hours to get into position, connected and bolted up.
Radiator went in (five minute job) and then I decided to fit the external clutch arm and connect the clutch cable to it.
This is where it all went a bit wrong, and clearly the off and on had meant the clutch arm on the inside of the bellhousing wasn't sitting right, putting the pushrod at an angle. An attempt to re-centre it failed miserably so the gearbox has to come out again. 
At this point, I had quite a large tantrum, took the driveshafts back out and called it a night. 

I'm hoping I can get the gearbox out without disconnecting any of the hydraulic lines this time, but still feeling pretty low about the whole thing.
Ah well, two MOTs tomorrow will fix those blues, I'm sure (!). The Mazda has only had the alternator change and a bottle of cataclean chucked into the tank. Engine sounds a bit tappety at the moment as well.
The Beat was parked near the MOT centre for tomorrow afternoon, I feel quite confident that one will be okay, but the Mazda is likely to bomb this one.
We can but wait and see.
For tonight, it's a big G&T, a bath and an early night. 
Cheers.
 

So with the nice surprise that this has gotten more engine power, I continued driving and drove up to Treungen where I filled up with diesel, which was 23.79 liters used in 347km, which is the highest consumption so far, but there has been a lot of idling on this one.
After that I took an ice cream break before hedding home. Drove a total of over 160 km today without a problem and I was neither tired nor broken afterwards.
I really love this car.

I passed one whilst sat in @gms Exocet, just after he went over that humpbacked bridge… 😳