FUCEM; the breakfast club. April '12

[mk1_4dr]

Well, what can I say about this...

 

I was on nights last night, however, after the fortnight Ive had with the Golf there was no way I was missing this meet, and I just had a feeling that it'd be worth staying up for.

Boy did I make a good call.

For rarity and variety, in such a relatively small group, it will take some beating. You know its special when the most common car in attendance is the DMC12.

I got there mega early (like 9ish, when the meet doesn't actually start until 10) so I was fed and watered enough to wonder around taking pics whilst the others loaded up on the delicious food.

 

Anyway, enough from me, lets see what I captured....

 

Firstly, my hateful Golf.

 

Clean 316

 

Some Tonka Toys (nice to chat to you both)

 

This Jago really does shift with its hot 1700 xflow

 

£900 ebay special Cedric was mint. Like, really though...

 

mmm, Classic V8

 

Akku's ex-farmers-hack Buick is running a big V6 for extra shite points.

 

2.8Inj sounded very fruity as it pulled in...

 

Some could argue that this Amazon is over-accessorised. I would argue that it wears them all well.

 

Very sly 205 GTi looked to be an absolute weapon. Must be a daylight MOT mind...

 

Very tidy Calibra

 

Lovely, very late, Mexican Beetle. The paint was simply beautiful for a standard colour.

 

Now then, lets move onto the rarer metal.

 

Renna 16 anyone?

 

and a little group shot

 

Little Datsun was cleaner than when it left the factory (I imagine)

 

Ex-Nev XT is something you don't see every day

 

Gorgeous BMW was occupied for the entire time, so it was difficult to get pics..

 

And now, for the money shots,

 

DMC12s'. Ive been fortunate enough to see these a couple of times, but today I got a chance to actually sit in one, and talk at length with the owners.

 

Oh, whats that on the end...?

 

Thats right, a right-hooker Avantime, in the most glorious of colours.

 

Today was a good day.

[pocket.calculator]

Brilliant selection. Think I'll have that lovely R16, please. I ran a 3.0 Avantime for four years and absolutely loved it. I was always envious of that M4 TRA plate. M444TRA was on DVLA for £250 for ages but I never took the plunge. Anyway, what's a Maaatra?

 

[mk1_4dr]

16

 

The Avantime really was lovely. I can't believe it cost Renna 100k to build each one, selling them at 70% loss. Its just plain crazy.

 

And yeah, the plate is just the icing on the cake, and I don't usually like private numberplates.

[M'coli]

Nice photos - isn't that late Beetle someone on here's?

[Skizzer]

Great selection and some very cool photies - nice!

 

Pocket.c - I'll fight you for the R16

[HMC]

liking the BMW (CSL?) did a double take of the number as IIRC geroge harrison had the same model, new, with a very similar and appropriate registration- LYRIK

[dollywobbler]

A couple of familiar cars there. That Renault 16 is indeed absolutely lovely.

[pocket.calculator]

Great selection and some very cool photies - nice!

 

Pocket.c - I'll fight you for the R16

You're much bigger than me, Selwyn.

[pocket.calculator]

16

Woops. Had some R14 action today. I was le flummoxed.

[trigger]

GR12 photos!, Isn't the Beetle MikeD's.

[vulgalour]

I love DMC wheels, but don't really like anything else about them. I've had naughty thoughts about putting a set of DMC wheels on the Princess, but it'll never happen.

[Tayne]

I'v ehad naughty thoughts about putting a renualt 25 turbo engine into a DeLorean and making it the car it should have been.

 

The DeLorean wheels on the Princess plan is a lot more likely to happen.

[cobblers]

Nice pics matey. It's a good breakfast in there!

 

Firstly, my hateful Golf.

Why so?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Hey, this looks like a class get-together. I wish I'd stoked up the Argenta and come down the A50 to it now.

[mk1_4dr]

Nice pics matey. It's a good breakfast in there!

 

Firstly, my hateful Golf.

Why so?

 

Yeah the breakfast was lovely. Free refills on my brew too

 

Do you wan the full list on the Golf? It goes something like this:

 

I picked it up, and 6hours later a piece of metal dislodged inside the box causing not enough clutch movement to select any gears. Box out, new clutch - £250 bill

Fast forward 7weeks and the gearbox royally grenades itself, stuck in 3rd, bits of gearbox everywhere.

Whilst having a look notice that the connector on the starter motor is goosed.

Goes to a 'specialist' who has all the parts, ends up with a mk3 box, (which means another new clutch) and reconditioned starter motor - £350 bill.

Starter motor fails after 2days.

Fit new starter motor el-gratis (but its a pig to fit as I had to do it myself in his yard unless I wanted to wait for days on end)

Upon fitting the starter motor, it transpires that the alternator is buggered, which in turn has killed the battery (it looks like its been sometimes charging/sometimes not for months on end. never good for a battery)

New alternator and battery - £100.

I realise that the MOT is up in 3weeks and the handbrake doesn't do much, decide upon new pads and a mini rebuild. Find seized calipers, buy secondhand calipers - £40

Find that the goodridge hoses that were supposedly fitted last summer have infact been on far longer than that and have been dogged down so tight that everything is rounding off (even with the help of my dad and his expansive tools and knowledge/experience)

End up having to cut the brakelines and remake them, hoping that every union I come to will be better than the last, they're not - 3full days of my time, in the hottest weather so far this year whilst also working 12hours nightshifts.

Come to bleed brakes only to find that the o/s/f nipple is seized, no option but to snap it off and drill the remainder out before enlarging the hole and retapping it for a bigger nipple.

Now i need a new caliper, but Im not looking forward to getting the goodridge hoses off it (it looks to be in worse nick than the rears were). Thats the job for next week.

And to top it off, the handbrake is still shit (I think its a duff cable to the O/S) and literally just now its failed to start outside the shop near home as the battery is (seemingly) flat. There must be a drain somwhere, or another duff new part.

 

Oh, and Ive noticed it needs both steering rack boots and tracking for the MOT. Not to mention anything else they find.

 

All in all, im utterly fucked off with it.

 

Yeah Mr B, you should've had a trundle, it really was a cracking meet. I'll be doing it again as its only an hour tops from here...

[cobblers]

Christ!

Ignoring the box and starter, I ended up doing more or less the same to both my mk2s, the rear calipers are a shit design. On the 2nd one, I replaced the rear calipers and the brake lines, then borked the master cylinder bleeding them. Replaced master cylinder, then found that both front calipers had already had the bleed nipples snapped off years ago, and the flexy lines were rounded off, and siezed on to the solid lines. In fact thinking about it I ended up having to replace every bit of the brake system apart from the handbrake lever and the pedal just because the passenger rear caliper was seized.

 

On reflection, I put far too much work into that car, but at the time (and until now when I've stood back and weighed things up) I'd classed it as one of my more successful buys. This is probably because I have shit luck with every car I own, and also the fact that it was really very very fast indeed which caused me to forget all the time I spent covered in brake fluid failing to replace simple components.

[eddyramrod]

my hateful Golf.

 

If only everything was as reliable as a... now what did that advertise again?

[mk1_4dr]

Righto, Ive just recovered it home and it seems the alternator (a fresh, remanufactured, unit not 5days ago) isn't charging. I suspect theres something inside thats shorting on the casing as its mega, mega hot within 60seconds of running and not chucking any voltage out at all.

Arsebiscuits.

I have to say Cob', you're not filling me with confidence for attacking these front brakes. Im properly not looking forward to it.

 

I wonder what on earth I'll be driving for the next FUCEM meet...

[Guest]

Righto, Ive just recovered it home and it seems the alternator (a fresh, remanufactured, unit not 5days ago) isn't charging. I suspect theres something inside thats shorting on the casing as its mega, mega hot within 60seconds of running and not chucking any voltage out at all.

Arsebiscuits.

I have to say Cob', you're not filling me with confidence for attacking these front brakes. Im properly not looking forward to it.

 

I wonder what on earth I'll be driving for the next FUCEM meet...

 

Should I come up to Wakefield and call it a cunt?

 

It got my 460 going again when it decided it wanted to put its hazard warning lights on whilst simultaneously flashing '0e958t90rwegt8' or some such Welsh on the CEM display screen.

[Pete-M]

Ah. You're discovering the fatal flaw with 'reliable' cars. People don't look after them, so they end up being bloody unreliable until you fix all the stuff previous owners ignored / didn't know about / didn't care about. Mk2 Golfs attracted these owners.

 

I've had four Mk2 GTis and two Mk1 GTis. Half of them had been owned by people who think the MOT is a service. The other half were excellent - although the Mk1 did shit its petrol tank, one Mk2 shit the fuel pump (the in tank one) and the other Mk2 refused point blank to die as I attempted to drive it into the ground. 300,000+ miles on the clock I did nothing to it in 18 months and it was no worse when I sold it. That one was ace. Needed front top mounts replacing (which it never had) and a battery. LHD 8v on a B plate.

[RobT]

The J-reg Golf GTi I had was a massive headache too, and that was a cosseted example. No end of electrical maladies. The Driver automatic I had afterwards was much better.

 

Good selection of cars there, the Renault 16 for me please!

[scooters]

Chap I recommend that you get handy with spanners a 20 year old car will always have issues like this. It doesn't take long to get sorted with these skills and there's loads of help available. There is no way I could afford to run any if my cars without doing the work myself.

 

Mk2 golfs are mechanically straight forward I ran mine for four years with no issues, got all the bits second hand

[mk1_4dr]

I do, do most of the work myself. However, when the box went first time around I was still recovering from the accident. There was no way I was setting my recovery back for the sake of a couple of hundred.

The recent developments have all been sorted by myself (with a massive lump of help from Papa_4dr), infact, the only reason it went to the specialist for the 'box was that I quite simply couldn't do it at home for various reasons (time/space and there was the possibility I was going to have to move out in pretty short order)

 

Today, I have tested the alternator again, it was goosed. So I returned it from whence it came, they rebuilt it while I waited (it'd blown the regulator, the diode pack and the rectifier). I tested the battery for dead cells and all the wires to the alt for continuity. No faults found so I chucked it all back together and all seems well. Another case of new electrical parts that have failed within days of purchase.

 

I also went and collected my speedo drive from VW and fitted that so my speedo and MFA all work as they should again.

 

The list is shortening, we are getting there. (This should really all be in a different thread, one specifically for the Golf, I feel)