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Alright then Kev. I'll take it off your hands. IMG-20190302-WA0006 by davedorson, on Flickr IMG-20190302-WA0005 by davedorson, on Flickr IMG-20190302-WA0002 by davedorson, on Flickr IMG-20190302-WA0003 by davedorson, on Flickr IMG-20190302-WA0004 by davedorson, on Flickr It's got literally days of MOT left and I've got nowhere to put it. What could go wrong?

As with many of the members on here, I tend to read and comment a lot, but haven’t done much in the way of my own shite related posting. The onslaught of miserable teenage goat bummers (©Bollox2019) has encouraged me to share a little more, rather than look at the screen and shake my head. As my fiancée once told me, Dick is for sharing. Or something. Updates are likely to be sporadic, and not necessarily ‘car project work’ per se. Sometimes it may just be the odd photo. Anyway, now the disclaimer is out the way, and without further ado, I’ll start with this. I bought my Lambretta just over ten years ago. I’ve had a few over the years, and even dabbled with the dark side, or as they are sometimes known, Vespa. Collection of this scooter involved a fucked Transit, and a day trip to Stoke from sunny Cornwall. Breathing in diesel exhaust fumes which permeated the van through the rusty gaps under the back doors was becoming tiresome by the twelfth hour of driving. We managed it though, and the scooter was well worth the journey. It’s an Italian 1967 SX150, with a 186 Imola kit, plus various other trick bits. It was originally Verde Mela - a rare Innocenti colour - which is basically apple green. Unfortunately the previous owner stripped every last trace of it from the frame, and repainted it in a Peugeot metallic. Not something I could ever bring myself to do, but it looks good all the same. I had plenty of fun with the scooter, and even made it to the Isle of Wight rally on it (I’ve done this a few times on previous scooters). However, as with many of us, life and house got in the way, and it’s sat in the garage under a cover for way too long. I hadn’t fired it up for well over 12 months, so decided to drag the old dear out into the sunshine, fire her up, and give her a blast around the estate. I did a quick video of getting the scooter started - no sound because time lapse - startup was a bitch as the fuel was really stale, half evaporated and leaving the oil/ratio mix completely oil heavy. You can make out when it eventually fires up in the video - wait for the smoke around the back end! I’ll end by adding the startup video. I’ve got a load more photos somewhere on the external HDD, including some of my previous Lambrettas. I'll have to dig them out when I get chance. TTFN.

So as you'll be no doubt aware by now, I'm the purchaser of the current Autoshite Volvo 740 estate bike thus removing another of these fine machines from circulation. Sorry about that. Unsurprisingly this has been in the making for some time. Undeterred by failing to win the Bucketeer Roffle (and missing out on it before that) I contacted Mr. Tickman of 7, Dundeeish offering coin in exchange for it provided the imminent MOT was passed without too much hassle. Being a kind sort he'd lent it back to Bucketeer in the interim so we put it on hold. Time passed until yesterday and the news that it's still in Englandlandland without test and without time for Tickman to collect. "I still fancy that". Never mind the 50 hour weeks or that it's nearly Christmas. Nor that it's still 300 odd miles away without test. So a plan was formed and within 10 minutes of going up I'd agreed to fetch it and bring it to SVM headquarters in Volvograd. Which is why I'm sitting in my parents house at 0540 on a Sunday morning awaiting FATHA_RML who has agreed to participate in this idiocy. With day insurance arranged and an MOT in Paisley booked we leave at 0600. TL:DR The SVM are at it again.

Hi everyone, Following on from my introductory post, I have just bought this Talbot Solara. It arrived with a plastic sheet over the passenger side front window as I was told it would not go all the way up by the previous owner. The driver side controls for the passenger window however seemed to work, albeit only slowly so I gave it a hand whilst pushing the switch and I was able to get the window fully up. The controls on the PS do not seem to work so I will have to look into this at some point, I just wanted to make sure it was watertight for now with winter coming. More importantly, as this is now to be my only car to get me to work and back, I have to try and sort out this fuel related running issue it has. It will run fine from cold, however once fully warmed (a few miles into driving) it will hesitate and splutter, particularly at low revs whilst using little throttle. As you come to a stop the revs sometimes drop off, going below idle and then it'll want to cut out, not good! Interestingly, if let to cut out, it then starts right back up and runs fine. So far, I've tried soaking the idle jets in the carb with cleaner overnight (as mentioned in the previous thread during Squire_Dawson's ownership) and refitting to see if that made any difference however it soon after returned. As far as I'm aware, it has a new carb which was also recently adjusted so it may not be this. I'm thinking there is already dirt/sediment in the system which could be disturbing the flow. Today, I took off the fuel pump to see what it looked like inside - sitting on top of the filter, there was little bits of rusty sediment, which might have been enough to be causing this issue? I cleaned this up, refitted, and also put on an inline fuel filter between the pump and the carb to see if this made any difference and so I could see if anything gets collected on it's way to the carb. Took it for a decently long drive afterwards to see if this worked and it didn't splutter/cut out at all which I'm happy with! It remains to be seen whether it stays like this though as it didn't used to do it on every drive so we'll see.. Overall, I'm enjoying driving her, the seats are comfy, it has a sprightly engine, and although a bit anti social, I like the noise it makes with the sporty backbox which was put on before I got it. Here are some pictures of her:

At close to the turn of the last century the Glasgow firm of Alley and Maclennan moved to Shrewsbury and changed their name to Sentinel. They developed a steam cart that became known as the Standard and because it was so much better than most of what had gone before they sold a shed load of them and made a lot of money. However, by the early 1920s the Standard was old hat and had a number of design issues (trival matters like no brakes to speak of were becoming more important as roads got busier and loads got heavier). Sentinel put their thinking caps on to design something new and then went bust. The company was kicked back into life with a name that was only slightly different put their thinking caps back on and came up with the next model. It had features that were super. Its engine was super, the cab was super and it even had a foot brake which were super. There could only be one name for a waggon (two Gs because Sentinel couldn't spell either) that was this super and that is what we are discussing here. The Super deserved its name because despite a number of odd design features it was pretty much the sweet spot. A decent cab and brakes but without the problems of the later models. I've posted this one a couple of times already but I can't be bothered uploading another example of a Super - they all look about the same. This is a Super Sentinel with a coke body on it. For the uninitiated the general idea is the boiler sits right at the front in the cab and is fired from the top. The bunker is in the cab too. You then have the twin cylinder engine slung under the chassis with a chain driving each rear wheel. Steam waggons are bad for all sorts of reasons which is why lorries have pretty much always run on diesel. They do have a few advantages. They are quiet, they produce more torque than you have heard of and they don't have gears. Open the throttle and go. They are a joy to drive on the road. Particularly in traffic. And here's the one we built back in the early 1990s. What I mean by "built" should become apparent as we go on. You will note a few key differences. This one has windscreens. This was a period option and are essential. It also has pnematics rather than solids. Many waggons were returned to the factory to be converted from solids to pneumatics which allowed them to run at a legal maximum of 20mph instead of 12mph. We drive our waggons on the road so solids are a non-starter. You will also see that this one is very short. Some were cut down to drawbar tractors in period, however, in our case the shortness of the wheelbase was forced on us because where it lived at the time we couldn't get anything longer into the shed. It was finished in 1995 and we did about 3500 miles in it - the above photo was taken about 130 miles from home. We got bored of it in 2000 and sold it to a chap who did about 12,000 miles in it. The old girl is living down south somewhere now. We moved onto the restoration of the later S Type Sentinel (photo elsewhere) and a couple of years ago we decided that we would build another Super because they are bestest. This time round we will build it longer because the ultra short wheelbase of the last one wasn't brilliant on the road. Think SWB Series III Land Rover with tired springs and you'll know where I am coming from. So what we are aiming for this time round is something with the wheelbase and body of the Charringtons one up there with the windscreens and pneumatics of the one below it. Oh, and steam brakes and electric lights which are all period options/factory modifications. There is a bit to catch up on so it will take a few posts. If it gets too dull let me know and I will stop. Oh, and I am crap at taking pictures.

I have had that hankering for something new for a while. I lost out on a few bits and bobs on eBay after being a tight wad. Then this popped up on here the other day and I thought it would do me that. I am a massive fan of trims and amber indicators on these old boats. I have had two before and I am just a fan of there wallowing, leisurely ride. Also it’s brown inside!!!! I roped my normal car collecting victim, my dad, into driving it back for me. Thanks to theorganist aka Peter who was a gent and let me come and view it early sat morn. It drove back fine and luckily for my old man it was a warm dry morning as one of the rear windows was stuck down. He loved piloting it back and wants it off me already. Have a few pics. Not cleaned or anything just plonked in the workshop at work. Gonna order a vacuum pump for the central locking and have a look at the electrical issue that’s stopping all the windows working and also the heater blower is a gonna. Also going to give it a major service and renew a lot of the ignition bits. It looks like it will come up pretty ace with a going over with the polisher. It’s pretty amazingly solid, with only a few tiny little spots of rust coming through at the front of the front wings and a dent on a rear corner. I am looking forward to getting stuck in and do something, not had any mojo for working on cars for a while and have been sending everything off to be sorted. Not sure what to do with it after that, might keep it and just bomb around in it, I also fancy taking it on a nice European road trip. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have been looking for a cheap van for a while now,something that i can cart crap about in and also use as a sort of Day van. My budget was £1500 max but i really wanted to spend far less if possible and improve it over time but it soon became obvious that VW t4's are massively scene taxed and Transits are all rotten at this price. Vito's likewise rusty and mega milages only available for my budget and i have no love for Vivaro or Trafics as i have spent too many hours towing the things or sending them off on the back of a flatbed. So i started looking at the humble Hiace. These never seem to go wrong in 17 years of roadside breakdown patrolling i can't recall attending one with anything more serious than a flat tyre or battery. Early non turbo 2.4 diesel ones are so simple they just run and run but the downside is they are only 87bhp and so sluggish and a bit thirsty compared to a more modern van. I spotted one down in Devon on ebay and while i dithered about the distance it sold for £1500 and i thought fuck it i should have had a bid on that,then it was relisted on a buy it now for £1600 (no bites) then auctioned again starting bid £1000 that was then dropped to £800. After a few messages with the seller i popped in a max bid of £999 and waited for the auction to end and i found i had indeed won a shonky 1996 Toyota Hiace for £895.

Today I bought myself a... ...proper french pile of shite. Needs a bit of love...but runs/has an MOT. Seems pretty honest, if a little neglected. The drive home was conveniently short, about a mile, so it's not yet been fully road tested. Runs a bit rough, but seems to go like stink for what it is. Feels old. Smells nice and oily. Seats comfy. Happy bunny. Been making do with just the CR-V in the family and while it's brilliant, it's not really all that much fun to bomb around in. The balance is restored.

Here we go then. A tale of ridiculous stupidity. Times two. I started yesterday by driving the Subaru Impreza from home to Peterborough - a quick 195 miles with impressively little traffic. The Impreza is at the back of this lot. I helped shift some cars, which meant driving the Mk1 Mondeo saloon - an auto with beige interior. I failed to get any photos. I also got to drive a Merc 190E 2.6, which was pleasant. I enjoyed the wiper. Then it was time to start the caper proper, which meant a train. I made a terrible error. I had train envy. I reached Alfreton to collect a car from Mrbollox, but I was quite a lot early. Bub to the rescue! Hilarity was had. I managed not to die. BONUS VOLVO. Mr B was met and he introduced me to his charming Rover. It was covered in dust and cobwebs and full of his stuff. 0/10 for presentation. In fact, some of his stuff is still in it. I dashed off to grab fuel, as the night was young. I also decided to check the tyre pressures, as I thought the fronts look low. I'm a shit judge of tyre pressures. They were fine. However, the rears were both low! For extra LOLs, the offside rear valve didn't reseat properly and went flat while I was doing the other side. Oh how I laughed. The plan now was to head to Birmingham, jump on a train and collect car number two. Trains are shit though, and wouldn't get me to the car until 11pm. Gee, that's useful! So I drove instead. Yes, a 1999 Daewoo Matiz SE, first sold to, er, me! The only car I've been stupid enough to buy new. It was a lot cheaper 19 years on. That meant another one of these. I'd day-insured the Matiz, which I'm leaving with a friend in Brum, so I abandoned the Rover temporarily and set off - complete with a blowing, rattly exhaust, a shafted CV joint, a coolant leak and a humming wheel bearing. She's going to need some love. However, it was bloody great to drive it again. I'd forgotten just how much I love them. It makes the Nippa feel entirely half-arsed. Not that everything was going to plan... This morning, the Nippa was abandoned at my friend's house and I went all public transport again. I didn't catch or get run over by this tram. The Rover was still where I'd left it in Hinckley, so I took it for a wash. Then, I had a business meeting in Stratford, so I drove over there. There was only one place to stop for lunch. Garden centre! On the way over, the brake warning light had been flashing occasionally. It didn't change with pedal pressure, which led me to suspect a low brake fluid level. However, I couldn't open the bonnet, so I announced how shit I was to the world and went for lunch. Afterwards, I discovered that you push the safety catch to the side, not towards you... The level was indeed low. The meeting overran quite dramatically, so I didn't even start driving back home until 1840hrs. By 7pm, I'd stopped for food and felt exhausted. Food perked me up a bit and I got my foot down. Which meant... Actually, it had delivered 30mpg, so no complaints there. However, 223 miles had taken it down to quarter of a tank! Needs moar capacity. It was wonderful for just eating up the miles though. It's a three hour schlep home, and it wasn't a hardship at all. The ride is good, the gearbox is super-smooth, the handling reassuring. It's exactly what I want - a bit of luxury that isn't the size of a house. It fits Welsh roads. Eventually, home was achieved. I've clocked up over 250 miles in the Rover in a crazy two day spell that included driving four other vehicles. I would relax, but I've got to drive 170 miles in the Invacar tomorrow... Anyway, thanks Mr Boll! I love it. As I suspected I would when you first bought it. Cheers for fixing stuff along the way!

Hi AS, This is my first post, so thought I’d give a bit of an introduction. I’m Will, 20, from Oxford, I’m rather into old shite brilliant vehicles. I, shamefully, actually joined the forum to get in touch with a member on here who was selling a Maestro van, quite a late diesel one, in white, exactly what I was after.. Unfortunately I missed it, as is usual with my luck, but trawling the eBay thread on here led me to the very same van. It was being sold by the new owner, abliet with a higher price but it was localish so I went and had a look, and as you can probably guess by the title, I bought it . I haggled a fair amount off the price too! First impressions of the van, its rough, old and literally everyone I know who is old enough to know what one is has asked “wtf do you want one of them for??” and my mates who don’t, think I’m mental. Theres some sketchy welding on it (dexion shelving rear shock mount??) but also some rather good repairs too. It’s certainly not fast, 80 is flat chat, its snails pace getting out of my vvc mini into this. Anyway, I’ve included a few pictures below, initial plans are to clean it up a bit, get it looking less rough, probably a service, lower it, banded 13” steels and use a parts chugger for rx7 bits Cheers, Will

Price agreed - Check Train booked - Check Hotel booked - Check Money lifted - Check Insurance juggled - Check Car actually seen before agreeing to buy - Oh.... Leg one of this adventure is about to get underway, as I leave work to venture home from there it will be a lift in to Glasgow Central train station. Not in the same stakes as the Megabus mission to Leafy London Suburb to collect the Rover. This should be altogether more comfortable. Updates to follow.

So harking back to the lupo i thought it would be funny and annoying to put a two stroke 50cc to the back of a mobility scooter. I managed to get hold of one with a duff motor locally for £20 - and proceeded to realise that old people are royally fucked over for these things. I removed all the electrics and ebayed them, making a princely sum just shy of £200 after a few months. Pisstake as theyre so very very simple. Anyway, this was three years ago. I had toyed with putting a gin bottle in the basket for petrol but could'nt find a plastic one. I had to widen the front track as it just wasnt safe, however it was forever on the back burner. So i got it running last night after about a year of looking at it. Here is a video before all the plastics got put back on: Its got a solid rear axle which i keyed with an angle grinder, fitted disk brakes to it along with a cutoff switch. The thing is its a total shit to get the two stroke oil right, any more than a smidgen of oil and it wont start. Ill upload some more pictures tonight, probably bomb about in it for a bit and sell it on. I managed to keep it nice and tight so that all the plastics actually hide the exhaust and everything, not that you can ignore the exhaust tone and smell of castrol R. It was really my attempt to get into welding, which worked well to be truthful. It was the first thing i welded. Its really fucking heavy but i cant see much of a way to lighten it. On flat ground it actually shifts, everything was donated from one of those crappy minimotos. Anyone else got one? Seen a few 125s kicking about

A few weeks ago I went over to my friend Ray's house to oversee a photo shoot with one of his cars. Ray is something of a character, in the best possible way. He is an expert in conservation, and used to work at the Brighton Pavilion in that capacity. He lives in fabulous, semi-rural location in an old cottage surrounded by 'ancient' outbuildings which he has mostly constructed himself over the last 30-odd years out of scraps of building material. He also has a great little collection of scruffy old cars - a Riley Nine, a 1930 Standard Nine, a Vintage Humber, an Edwardian electric car and this fantastic 1922 Albert G3 Sports Model, which is the car I was interested in that day. Ray is quite a private chap so no photos of his set-up, but trust me, it's totally idyllic. The cars are all tucked away in rickety wooden sheds covered in ivy and they all look pretty much ready to expire, except in fact they are fastidiously maintained but kept very much Oily Rag cosmetically. Ray spent the first 30 or so years of his life driving exclusively prewar cars. Eventually, with two young children in tow, he capitulated and splashed out on a modern car - a Morris Minor Van. This was replaced shortly thereafter by a Traveller - this was the late 1970s, I'd guess. The Traveller was never replaced, and has been his 'modern' car ever since. Him and his wife use it almost daily for all duties. They've never really seen the point in 'upgrading' when it does everything they need. When Ray's Daughter was 17 she was learning to drive, and wanted a car. Quite by chance Ray heard of a Morris Minor four-door for sale locally and went to investigate. It was being sold by its first owner, an elderly lady who had been William Morris's secretary. The Minor had been her daily driver since 1965, but on her retirement she had been giftted a brand new Minor, one of the last made, which had been in dry storage ever since. She was about to start using her 'new' Minor after some years and no longer had any use for her '65 car. Ray bought it, took it home and it became his daughter's first car. She used it every day, going all over the place and racking up the miles. Once a year, Ray undertook a program of preservation on the car - pouring oil into all the box sections and chassis legs, into the sills etc, greasing the trunions, cleaning the underside and generally making sure it was in fine, safe fettle. Like with his Vintage cars, he didn't much bother with the non-structural or cosmetic side, preferring to let things mature naturally and patching up when it was needed. Flash forward several years, and Ray's daughter is starting a family of her own. She can't put car seats in the Minor so, like her dad did, she gives in and buys a 'modern'. The Minor is put on blocks on Ray's drive and covered over with a tarp. Where it sat for five years until I noticed its familiar bulbous shape on my visit. Oh dear. I didn't want a Morris Minor. I didn't actually want any car, especially not one that would need a load of recomissioning work. I've actually been enjoying driving round in the 404, which is now functioning as 'a car' for the first time, and there is a big queue of projects waiting in the wings. Then again, I really missed having a scruffy old car for daily-driver duties in good weather. I really don't need a modern car for commuting duties, but I've gone a bit soft over the last couple of years because blasting up the A23 instead of travelling the back lanes means I can stay in bed an extra 15 minutes or whatever. Not really the sort of image I should be projecting. I couldn't, however, get the idea of this Minor out of my mind, so yesterday I popped over to have an actual look. I'd already decided to buy it, assuming I could afford it, but I thought I should poke about a bit first. This is the scene which greeted me - Ray's daily driver on the right Underneath, as one might expect, it is remarkably sound. Ray put in a new cross member a few years ago and the spring hangars have been welded up to a very good standard. I couldn't honestly find anything seriously wrong with it underneath. He fired it up - running off a slave can as the tank has been empty for a while - and it sounded sweet and lively. Ray reckons it'll need new rings soon as it eats a lot of oil, but it's not smoky in the slightest. Over a very civilised cup of tea and bit of shortbread in the garden (temp was in the high 20s yesterday) we shook on the deal. He's happy for it to go to a good home and he knows I won't bugger about with the way it looks too much, and let it go for a reasonable price - especially considering what totally rotten 'project' cars go for on ebay. I think we were both quite chuffed. Anyway, today we popped over with the trailer and loaded it up. The whole process took all flippin' day because we were just standing around nattering about nothing in particular. It's so much nicer to buy a car from a friend! We eventually got back to the Big Shed and unloaded it. The car was absolutely filthy and has no brakes, plus all the tyres are toast. I spent ages giving it a scrub and hoovering out the interior, which was full of mouse droppings and whatnot. Here it is post-wash. Edison is unsure what to make of it. So, what now? I haven't had an old British car for ages and tbh I am totally clueless about these things. I'll order a set of tyres tomorrow and then a mate is coming over on Thursday to help me investigate the brakes. Hopefully it'll be a couple of new cylinders at worst, but even a brand new master cylinder on these things is only like £100. Although it had a big service just before it was laid-up (including a new clutch) It's probably prudent to do oil/filter and air filter etc before going out in it. Lots of odds and sods don't want to work - one sidelight, one indicator, and the bonnet won't stay shut. I'm sure problems will become evident with a bit of use, but I am hoping for a 'lightest possible touch' deal here. The body it utterly disreputable - it's the nastiest looking Minor I've seen for a long time. The door bottoms - and several other bits - are sculpted out of pure wob. I feel like it would be a shame to change any of this too much. When we were looking at it yesterday I realised it looked just like the Minors I remember from childhood, back in the '80s when there was still one on every street being driven daily. That was when I was first discovering cars, even before I could talk, and I loved anything obviously 'old' - these would have been the most common old car around and, I suppose, quite formative in their own way. Ray said he felt just the same about the Vintage cars he would see in his childhood in the '40s and '50s, which is why he drives a scruffy old Riley Nine. The extent of the pog is evident in that mirror! I have carefully cleaned around the larger of the snails and will attempt to preserve it for as long as I can. I'm really looking forward to blezzing about in this old heap. Hopefully I'll be able to get it up and running before summer is over. I suspect my opinion might change after the fourth or fifth inevitable breakdown, but even a thicko like me can (hopefully) get his head around how a Morris Minor works. I just hope I can do its previous owners justice. As we were leaving, with the car strapped down on the trailer ready to start its new life, Ray looked a bit wistful. "If you ever decide to sell it," he said, "Please can I have first refusal? This is the first car I've sold since 1983..."

Many will know this lovely car as the ex-Vulgalour and catsinthewelder. I've had my eye on it since Vulgalour took it on back in early 2017. It has a certain charm to it, like a mongrel sheep dog in the rehoming centre. A car that has worked hard in it's life and never really been a show car but does want to keep surviving. Many of its previous owners have left their mark in different ways and is a mix of different years worth of parts. So to recap it's story, here are a few threads on its past history on Autoshite: Part I - acquisition, dailying and later start of restoration by catsinthewelder http://autoshite.com/topic/9247-the-purple-peril-and-other-dreadful-cars-i-need-to-fix Part IIa - first for sale thread by catsinthewelder http://autoshite.com/topic/18030-for-sale-1972-austin-1100-and-1974-vw-camper Part IIb - second for sale thread by catsinthewelder a few years later http://autoshite.com/topic/28669-free-austin-1100 Part III - acquisition and a lot of restoration by Vulgalour http://autoshite.com/topic/28763-1972-austin-1100-sold Part VI - this thread where I acquire and hopefully get it road legal again. This is my first proper and full restoration of a car. I've never welded before and only have limited spannering knowledge and skills. Mostly involves I've read in books or seen done online and using that knowledge to try and fix my own cars. So either this could go really well and a lovely car goes back on the road or I make a hash of it and end up causing it to snap in half over the first bump in the road. Hopefully not the latter... I'll be giving my best efforts in this, but no doubt will be asking loads of questions and needing plenty of guidance along the way. My rough target is to have it MOT'd by the end of the year. Optimistic? No idea, I haven't done this before!

I am in massive need of another big Merc. Panel van, or minibus conversion would be acceptable, as long as there's no fibreglass to be seen on the coachbuilding. Rust is always a problem with these, so im aware of that issue and willing to weld one. What have you seen?

So, I've had this about a year now, it replaced the Talbot Express based camper now owned by Cobblers. That had for me a great layout and well thought out storage, but as my two girls are getting older, (11 this month), I felt I needed more sleeping space. I've run the Convoy for a year and although it's working out well I've noted shortcomings as they've appeared with the intention of addressing them 'soon'. Here's the beast in question...

The bloke who helps with our garden has a thing about Range Rovers, the 'classic' kind. He'd wanted one for years, and eventually, 4 years ago, paid too much for one. It came with the usual complement of non-working electrical goodies, general scruffiness and an acquired taste colour, especially with the beautiful* colour coded alloys. I have laughed at this heap for the past 4 years. I've got two other Series LR's, plus an '84 Mini, and the idea of BL producing anything of greater complexity than a wheelbarrow made me feel ill. I tried to explain to my wife why the Range Rover was such a heap: she needed to imagine the build quality and attention to detail of her Mini, scaled up to something trying hard to be a luxury car. She nodded sagely, and agreed that buying one would be a really shit idea, and could only lead to much frustration and expenditure. Then, last December, the bloke announced to me that he was sick of the Range Rover ending up in the garage every month with a FTP. Which it did, pretty much. I don't know why, but I asked him how much he wanted for it. I wasn't even drunk. So, through that weird process where a car you've only sniggered at becomes something you're thinking you might actually want, I looked at what I was thinking of buying: Hmmm. Looks OK so far, no?

First things first, this is a project that I haven’t got time for, so maybe come back to the thread in a few months. I saw this very limited edition car for sale, it was in Bradford as an MOT failure at £360. A forum member let’s call him ‘John’ (his forum name gives it away, also his name is John.) He lives nearby and went to see the car for me. He called to inform me that they would sell the car for £300 delivered to John’s drive. Where it will be staying until I can get around to it. The 2014 MOT history said “bodywork damaged” it appears that the car has been grazed on the near side, which I think took the wing mirror off and left the rare bodykit slightly bruised. It failed two months ago on the rear axle, nsr shock and a front tyre. In theory, £80 for a used axle, £35 for two rear shocks, £30 for a tyre. A bit of labour to shove the new axle on, a new mot and we should be a cheap fix... Anyway today is just pay and follow the man to the driveway thread. ... Clue number 1: They made this limited edition in three colours, mine is the least rare. Yet, the best colour. (Allegedly less than 100 imported into the UK, because they didn’t register them properly with the DVLA we don’t know how many are left.) Clue numero two: Its the stupidest looking thing ive ever seen, but I’ve always wanted one. I found forum posts from years ago stating I need one of these immediately!!! Clue numberino thrice: The tyre valve covers are always missing. Clue nombre quatre: It makes the Cactus look like a beige Hyundai Elantra. Clue number 5: I laugh every time I see a picture of one. ... To the Cactus!!!!

The Galaxy will be staying with me a little longer folks. Thought I may as well start a thread. The Galaxy. It's a 7 seater, grey interior, red, very red exterior. Manual and 2 litre petrol flavour. Things it needs. I need to fit the better steering wheel, this has all the horn buttons on it. It's less manky too. It could do with a rocker cover gasket. The rear are carpet is worn in a couple of places which is sad as the rest of it is ace. The exhaust has some smoll holes in the long bit. Really small but they are there. Underneath needs a small bit of welding, think fag packet sized. The rest of it is very, very, very solid. It needs a drivers door mirror glass due to crackage. DAB radio to be fitted. The clock needs replacing. I bought one but can't find it. I have no idea why I can't find it. It is a puzzle. yet I know if I buy another one, I will instantly find the original one. Most biggest faff....... for some reason the black plastic push button thing on the front grille that allows bonnet openings, is being a silly sod and not doing what it is meant to. The pull cable that initially opens the bonnet is fine. I may just spray WD40 or some such stuff in there and see what happens. Any other ideas that does not involve smashing the grille to small bits would be gratefully appreciated. Happily charged up battery needs to be fitted but a bit hindered by the above. Otherwise it's all gravy.

Gumtree is the devil's portal when you really shouldn't be spending any more money. Especially when you already have two cars on the drive. Doubly especially when your wife has promised faithfully to kick your nuts into the middle of next week if you bring another car back home. Ummm... yeah soo I kinda bought another car! She's not happy but a nice meal out smoothed it over Its getting collected by a local recovery guy on sunday as it's just failed an MOT on two busted shocks and a massive fuel leak. In the meantime, just a little hint

I have been on the look out for one of these for a while, spotted one a couple of hours away on ebay so off I go went! One Bus... Nice Train Station! Two Bus... Long Lane... Alpacas! Then I bought it. Seems alright! £650 65k miles, plenty old person who needs to give up driving dings and dents but seems solid enough rust wise. Previous owner left me some presents. Engine looked pretty dirty but no cracks or leaks. Then today, taxed it at 12 and got clamped at 3:30! It drove back the 150 or so miles without a hitch, though the power steering seems to have a leak coming from the cooler or a hose related to it, no big deal! It's pretty uncomfortable compared to my previous car (Volo 740) but I like it's somewhat awkward appearance. Gonna shake it down for a few months and see if it deserves a bit of work!

Evening All, Being a relative newcomer to the beige forum, I fancied a foray into a Project thread. However, as I previously established, the sentiment towards VAG products here can be described as frosty at best. Naturally I assumed I would be hounded off if I were to write a Project thread. However, I thought perhaps it would be an easy solution for venting the hatred of VAG that builds up over time here, and I would thereby be doing a service to the good people of Autoshite. Should this assumption be wrong however, feel free to do the hounding, and I will get my coat! So, back in June of last year, I bought myself a big, ugly heap of German rubbish, in the form of an X reg Audi A4 Avant of the 1.8 petrol flavour. Having cost me a mere 100 beer tokens when I bought it, i was chuffed with my purchase of an apparently working car, with almost a year's MoT left on it. How wrong could I be? On getting it home and doing a little further inspection, I discovered that front and rear wheel bearings were grumbling, the front brakes were binding, the rear shock absorbers were beyond the pail and the tires were balding. Splendid, I thought, a list of light projects for me to be going on with. Again, How wrong could I be? I set about replacing the rear wheel bearings. This wasn't a job I fancied myself, as I presumed it would require a bearing press (being a novice mechanic, in case you'd not already noticed from my dreadful car buying tactics....). And so, I made my first major error - booking a mechanic to come and replace the bearings. He succeeded in graunching up the bolts that hold on the brake caliper carriers before admitting defeat and charging me £80. Bother. So I thought, how hard can it be, and set about removing the trailing arm altogether, to give better access and allow me to remove the caliper carriers and replace bearings, which I did with minimal fuss. Sticking brake calipers were traced to stuck slider bolts, and mended. Rear shock absorbers replaced, cheap bearing press bought and used to replace the front bearings. In replacing the bearings, I removed the brake calipers altogether, draining the brake fluid to be changed at a later date. When this date came, I proceeded to (not knowing the tap-it-with-a-hammer-first trick) strip the threads from several of the calipers where the bleed nipples attached. Again, bother. So, I ordered used brake calipers from a breakers yard and received the wrong ones. I ordered them again from a different breakers yard, and received the wrong ones. Finally I got hold of the right ones, and fitted them. No to worry, I thought, I was near the end of the issues and soon miles of trouble free motoring would be mine. I refer to my previous comments regarding my own wrongness here. Having replaced the calipers, I started the Audi again, only to see the ABS light come on, and stay on. Bother. So, (As I was later corrected upon doing without first reading the fault codes.... only so many times I can use the novice mechanic excuse....) I replaced all four ABS sensors. Finally, I decided it was MoT ready, and booked it in, quietly confident that it would pass. My lack of correctness is now getting dull. It failed on a nice little list of issues, both front springs being broken, and catastrophic Carbon monoxide emissions being just a few. Cue jokes about VAG products and emissions.... I can only assume that it was MoTed by VW themselves last time... So currently, I'm in the process of remedying the broken springs issue (and the shocks while I'm at it, as they're tatered too...) and updates will follow, should the VAGness not be deemed too distasteful for this establishment. Please do let me know your thoughts on this, I've no wish to create a disturbance to the autoshite serenity* Thanks, abelw44

Car : y reg Omega 3.2 MV6 196K Rocker Gaskets replaced last summer at about 183K with genuine parts. Proper cleaned out breather tubes on top of engine. . Oil changed at 193K with genuine GM Fully Syth and Filter. (Cast Housing) No leaks until 3 weeks ago. Started small, I always check the oil before a long journey (and I do a lot of them) and I've been adding a bit more often but now on Thursday I had to top up after 100 miles into a Journey, and Then again 80 Miles later (on Sunday) and again this morning at 70 miles into a Journey, AND then another 70 miles this afternoon, and now 70 miles on it needs more. I calculate about 6 litres for about 450 miles. That's a lot of rust proofing on the exhaust and lots of it on the floor. I've not had it up on the ramps, (as Snow and rain and doesn't fit in my garage) but had it running and had a look at the filter housing area, and seems to be pouring down the back of the engine. At first I wondered if the little wiring plug next to the Oil Filter Housing is likely to leak? but seems to be above that. (Car is too low to see without ramps) When the Rocker gaskets were leaking before it was all very slow. Yes there was an advisory on the MOT, but nothing like this. And it hasn't been leaking in at least 12K since I did them. So what are we thinking ? I blame JohnK !!!!! There is oil on the rocker cover because Spillage

It is horribly early. It is dark outside. I had no idea which T-shirt I'd put on this morning. Thankfully, it is actually one of mine. Stage one of this lengthy caper involves taking the Lexus to The Midlands for a cambelt change. Then, it's on to Sussex tonight, before The Big Reveal tomorrow morning. Oh I think you're going to like this one folks! Easily my most ridiculous caper yet. The subject matter has been standing in a field for years, so there will not be a 'drive home' element to this. Plan is just to move said subject matter to a safe location, though my eventual dream is indeed to drive it back to Wales. Right. I'd better get started! Dudley here we come.

So to recap. After a painfully long time (well a month) I finally bought a MGB GT. I've always fancied one and after seeing one at a local garage (which turned out to be a bit shit) the urge sprang up again. Anyway after a lot of searching I ended up with this. Seems pretty straight and underneath don't appear to not been welded too much. Worst point that I've found in the leaf spring mount. I'm not going to cover all the different things and stuff just yet as its already in the thread, so I shouldn't make this too long! I've not owned a car this old and never something with a carburettor. So I don't quite know what I'm doing with a lot of this, and will have plenty of questions! Part of the reason why I bought it was so I had something that I could fiddle with and learn on. As the other thread got a bit long, I thought it would be a better idea to split and start here.