DVee8

Have we had this yet? If not why not
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Talbot-Avenger-1-6LS-Turquoise-excellent-condition-/191589364669?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c9b9db3bd
 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datsun-1200-Deluxe-Sunny-B110-/261906877317?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cfaddcb85
 

^^ And having a Kia Pride on the way.

^^ And having a Kia Pride on the way.

Forgetting which car you used and walking around a car park looking.

Running out of space for more cars

Running out of space for more cars

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1992-VAUXHALL-CAVALIER-EXPRESSION-RED-M-O-T-EXPIRED-for-spares-or-repair-/111682483617?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1a00cb75a1
 

Huba huba huba
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/wolseley-saloon-petrol-1968-classic-car-/291478291681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43dd75c4e1
 

Check the colour
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1987-AUSTIN-MAESTRO-500-CITY-BEIGE-/291478317019?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43dd7627db
 

Classic multicar FTW  
 
 
YES YES YES YES YES. Done that loads.

Forgetting which car you used and walking around a car park looking.

Forgetting which car you used and walking around a car park looking.

Went over to Spain to pick up this weapons-grade shitter of a Series 3 to bring it circa 650 miles across the country to get it back to England via a really long ferry journey. 
 
Picked up car;
 

 
Went clubbing, got a hangover;
 

 
Took a scenic route through central Spain;
 

 
Snapped the front off the chassis (same both sides);
 

 
Did 200 very cautious miles like that until we found a welder to borrow;
 
 
 
 

 
Came home;
 

The one you want to go out in is behind the others on the drive

With my success with the window and aware that I will be doing some big mileage in this motor carriage I decided to turn my attentions and my $139 tool kit towards the cause of the lumpy idle. I suspected an air leak somewhere around the manifold which would also explain the less than sterling fuel consumption. Obviously for something that weighs about the same as a small moon being dragged along by a 4.0 six pot I wasn't expecting it to sip fuel like an AX diesel but I was rather hoping for above 20mpg.
 
Some spraying of carby cleaner around the cylinder head caused the revs to rise slightly when around the inlet to cylinder 5 so that appeared to be the route of the problem, although a glance at the spark plugs also revealed that not only were they the wrong type (this should have the fancy platinum plugs) but they also looked like they had been in use since about 1953. I decided to change both the plugs and the gasket.
 
Here is the petrol munching lump, spark plugs and coil packs are under the black plastic panel on top of the cam cover.

It's not a bad design really, all the ancillaries sit on the front and are easy to get to, the airbox and pipework need removing to get to most of the actual engine components but it's not a huge hassle. Also the cams are chain driven which is apparently robust enough to not worry about.
 
On looking at the inlet manifold it became obvious that the plenum chamber would also need to be unbolted (along with the throttle body) to allow access to the manifold bolts. My trip to Super Cheap Auto to get these parts was fun trying to explain to the woman behind the counter what a plenum chamber was so she could find the part number. I think she eventually thought it was some sort of pepper grinder or something, but never the less I left with the right gaskets and set to work.
 
The one thing that really bothers me with this car is the inappropriate use of Allen key bolts. The plenum chamber was held in place with about 14 of these bolts, all down in places only just accessible with the long end of my 10mm Allen key and done up to a nice high torque. Eventually they were all undone and various bits of writing loom and vacuum pipes were unplugged so I could lift it free revealing easy access to the inlet manifold and some (not BMW diesel) piss flaps. Access was still a little limited due to the fuel rail and injectors but not quite as bad as it looks in this photo.

 
With the bolts undone I could pull back the manifold, dislodge the squashed old gasket and simply* slide the new one in place. Of course it wasn't quite so easy getting the gasket lined up and not fall out as I faffed about with the manifold, but I got there in the end. The new plenum chamber was then popped into place and I came across that major problem that I think we've all had with many cars; the moment where a tool disappears off the face of the earth, in this case the Allen key. I remembered placing it safely on the opposite side of the engine bay, on top of the expansion tank, but after searching for over an hour, I couldn't find it anywhere. Then it went dark, spiffing.
 
The next morning I rose bright and early to search again and after another half hour I found it jammed under the passenger side headlamp. It was so thoroughly stuck that I needed to take the light out to get to it, I still haven't quite worked out how it got there. With the tool found the bolts were put back in and I plugged everything back in before changing the spark plugs. Easy enough, although the rear one was a bit of a squeeze and once fired up it idled smoothly and since then the fuel consumption has improved dramatically, now up to almost 26mpg on a run!
 
Apart from some minor work such as ripping out a box of electronics under the steering column that seems to serve no purpose other than to beep about everything and fitting an aux connection to the stereo, I just drove this car without incident for about 8000km without incident which might be a record for me.
 
Then in the space of 2 weeks I received two speeding tickets (the first ones I've ever had as the speed limits here are stupidly slow and the traffic Nazis are really not sporting with the way they catch people by hiding behind bushes of deserted stretches of road) and was then stopped again by the police as they 'wanted to check over my vehicle'. They gave it a pretty good check over but I think they were checking I didn't have 100 kilos of heroin or sherbert dip-dap or whatever under the spare wheel. I was thankful that they didn't check the handbrake as it was the one component of the car that was not functional - although it is generally not really necessary on an auto. I'm not going to go into the details of Western Australian traffic law but if they had found that then they could have put a yellow sticker on the car which would have created a whole heap of misery for me. Thus I decided to pull my finger out and fix it.
 
But I'm bored of typing now, so you'll have to wait for this next amazing* development...
 
So I'll leave you with these two shit photos of the V8 Supercars race I went to at Barbagallo Raceway.


Ford, Holden, Mercedes, Nissan and Volvo were all competing and was a thoroughly enjoyable day out. Would recommend.

Right you 'orrible lot, there's a little too much nattering about sweet fuck all and not enough hot chod fixing action on here at the moment. But never fear for I have tales of chod fixing from the other side of the world, and will keep this as a bit of a running thing to document any vaguely relevant shenanigans while on my travels.
So...
[Youtube]
[/Youtube] 
As I have previously posted in the News 24 thread or something shortly after I arrived in Australia I decided that being without a car was not something that suited me and I should buy a car as soon as possible.
I was spoilt for choice for large six and eight cylinder motors and quite fancied a Holden Commodore, all of which seemed to have trashed interiors:

Or a Ford Falcon, here in Tickford XR6 flavour and owned by many not careful hooners:

Or finally a Ford Fairlane, basically a long and very comfy Falcon, usually owned by giffers for long distance driving across the outback.

 
In the end I settled upon a 2003 Ford Fairlane in BA 6 banger flavour, purchased for $3300 from Colin the Iranian in one of the less desirable areas of Perth.

It ran well. Enough. And had a measly 317,000 km on the clock with a service of almost everything due, a drivers window that would only go down, a useless handbrake and a very lumpy idle. However the air con is icy cold, the cruise control functions and the seats are supremely comfortable. Perfect. Also 'roo bar, that's what really sold it to me.
 
The first things to be done was a service, of which I have no pictures because if you want to see pictures of a flippin' oil change then you really need to get a life. Anywho, it got an oil and filter change, air filter, pollen filter and brake fluid change which made a slight improvement to its running and firmed up the brakes slightly. I followed this by changing the front and rear brake pads which were down to almost nothing and had a look at adjusting the handbrake mechanism which I decided was almost impossible and gave up on - more on this later.
 
I decided that the most pressing concern was the drivers window due to the risk of coming across a card or coin operated barrier. I found a new mechanism and motor in a wreckers yard and readied myself to strip the door down to fit it. This didn't happen quite as soon as I had anticipated as my cousin called, almost in tears as she had somehow managed to lock both sets of keys in her Mk6 Fiesta. I'm not quite sure how she managed this, but no bother, a quick bat with a hammer soon had the passenger side rear window in many pieces all over the rear seat and the keys retrieved. In an excellent stroke of luck, the wreckers yard I had got my window mechanism from had a Mk6 Fiesta that had a heavy front end bump but both its rear windows intact. Window was duly bought, and slapped into the rear door of the Fiesta with only minor scarring to my lower arm trying to reach some of the more difficult fixings.
 
That done started pulling apart the door on the Fairlane and found possibly the best named circuit board of all time

GRIZZLY MODULE
I have no idea what it does, but it sounds like it'll be amazing when I find out.
Fitting the new motor and mechanism was quite straight forward and I made sure there was some silicon grease in the window runners to make sure it wasn't about to die again.
 
More to come shortly, or in two days time, but hold onto your hats as it will include gasket fitting and dicking about with hand brake shoes!
 
I bet you can hardly wait

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1976-VAUXHALL-CAVALIER-L-RED-67000-MILES-1-PREV-OWNER-/331569527357?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4d33157a3d
 
 
We all love a Vauxhall..

All Vauxhall's are
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Astra-Mark-1-/141680756613?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item20fcd4c785
 

£275 for a working MOT'd car - the age of the bargain motor has returned.
GLWTS Mr Cade.

This one was taken on the last day of the month, 31st May 2015 in Preston.
 

This was posted in May by The Moog over in Gardeners Corner.
 

Yes. And no.
 
It's another Piazza altogether, one the IPTOC partially restored but needed gone in a hurry. D888 XJM ended up being taken to Belgium to hop-up a Triumph Spitfire. The other Matterhorn Silver example you see here is another car I tried and failed to get back on the road. The latter ended up getting stripped for most of its running gear and interior. I'm trying to reduce my outgoings and storage is very high up that list. It's sat in a Bootle lock up for the best part of three years - the Scouse Team of Excellence and I had to move it fairly quickly after a storage arrangement in Birkenhead turned sour.
 
When the V5 returns back from the DVLA, Piazza 2 (referred to as HUL after the last three letters of its numberplate) will go to the scrapper. It ended up as a project because of a bent cros smember, rust in the rear arches and a dead turbo caused by a missing banjo bolt and generally careless fitting.
 
It has a near-perfect labrador beige interior, so if I change my mind and fancy a Worther's Original cabin, I now have the option to swap. I also have a pair of stainless steel exhaust back boxes, about a million trim clips and fasteners, a spare factory tool kit and a full set of UK Turbo wheels.

Two days in and I'm finally starting to figure out where everything is.
There's a list of little jobs to do building nicely...most pressing is the exhaust blow which is niggling but I'm not sure how much of the noise is just the V8 growl. There also seems to be an occasional clunk when going over a pothole emanating from the near side rear which merits further investigation. Other than that and the crack in the top corner of the screen which will require attention before next Feb, everything seems ok.
On the subject of the engine note/exhaust blow, it really isn't noticeable until the window is down. I realised this morning the bloody thing has only got double glazing!
Having now put another hundred miles or so in upon normal roads, the consumption has steadied out to about 27 mpg which is perfectly acceptable for a V8 powered block of flats. That is actually the biggest drawback....it really is huge, managing to overhang a typical Morrisons parking space by a couple of feet.

There is a theoretical risk that some of the additives may react with each other or that the concentrations of additives in the mix will drop below protective levels.
 
In practice, I've done it many times (because I'm a cheapskate) with no issues.