Reg Nutsack's TOP TEN 2-LITRE BEATERS - NEW BEATER CHIN SCRATCHING

[cort16]

Aldi were selling a CD player with Bluetooth streaming and USB for 35 quid last week. Looked alright for the money.

[cort16]

 

https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/sunday-11th-may/product-detail/ps/p/deckless-bluetooth-car-stereo-1/

[Lankytim]

Have you taken the tape off the air filter yet?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Ha!!! Yes i have!!!

[Pillock]

That looks pretty neat, not too in-yer-face like some manufacturers would do with 150bhp to brag about. Also helps you don't see many about any more. As a self-proclaimed VAGTWAT I reckon that looks way nicer than the Seat.

[Angrydicky]

Must be the best quality welding ever lavished on a Primera. Good work!

[Hertz]

Top work, nice looking car that. I especially love the seats, are they comfy or rock hard?

[phil_lihp]

I was about to comment on the seats, they look far more posh than anything you'd expect to see in a Primula.  It's looking good, should be a sight more reliable than the Toledo anyway.

 

Real shame you couldn't make it to Wales Mr B, the 220 was primed and ready for a nostalgic test drive! 

[CortinaDave]

Its a bit sad really that no-one likes these. Bloody good, long lived and capable cars and nice to drive too.

 

The only thing i didnt like about mine was the dash which I always felt seemed really cheap and tacky.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

The seats are pretty good, i would give them 9/10 for looks and 8/10 for comfort, might revise those scores once I've done a long journey in it. Obv they are leather which i am not used to so i have been conscious of getting a sweaty arse in this hot weather!!

 

Shitefest looks class, I'm gutted to have missed that. Flipping typical innit, plans thwarted by my own disreputable shite.

[purplebargeken]

Those seats look brilliant! Nice one!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

 

Been driving this all week. Its ben pretty faultless apart from a hideous racket coming from a loose heat shield on the cat. Took it up to the garage on Thursday to sort that out.

 

 

Just crimped the heat shield into place and put a few blebs of weld on it to hold it. Silence!!! Now i can concentrate on the sound of the car, hence buying a new stereo for it today.

 

After a week of driving this thing I have to say that I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT man! Its flipping amazing just how well it does everything. The engine is really exceptional, it is amazingly smooth and sounds equally happy at 6500rpm as it does at 1500. I remember on the rare occasions I used to rag the Rover 220 always thinking I probably had about 10 chances to thrash it before it blew up, and taking care to spend the chances wisely. This thing feels like you can thrash it as much or as little as you like, its up to you to jolly well do as you like! Whatevz brah! It sounds splendid being thrashed, and yet always runs perfectly if you are pottering in heavy traffic. The MPG calculator says I'm getting 38mpg average, I know the speedo is about 10% optimistic so that might be 35 actually, i haven't tested it properly with a brim-to-brim test so i will report back on that. The hesitations seem to have cleared up.

 

Lots of cars i have had, have really been utterly awful to drive at anything more than about 75-80mph. if you wanted to get to 3 figures you just have to plant your foot on a long straight bit of road and concentrate on keeping going in a relatively straight line while the speed creeps up and the mechanical bits rapidly use up their fatigue life. Not this thing. I drove it up to an indicated 125 (very late at night!!!) and it was still accelerating strongly. I backed off and it slowed down. I accelerated again and it took off. I put in a command and it responded. You can 'cruise' and have a conversation at 110mph! No pulling to one side, not a hint of any shake in the steering, it was completely steady. You can actually DRIVE it normally at 120 mph!!! Its not calling the shots - YOU are. I have never had a car like that before. I don't particularly want to go any faster than 80mph but the fact that it drives so 'normally' at 120 tells you a lot about how well its engineered I think.

 

Its very comfortable to travel in day-to-day, the seats look excellent and are actually excellent. The drivers one goes up and down, so i have been able to find an excelent driving position. The steering is super light but has loads of feel when you get a bit of speed up. The clutch too is very light but easy to modulate and the gearchange is slick.

 

Maybe the novelty will wear off but I can actually see myself going out for a long drive in this car just for fun. I very rarely do that, as its a bit of an extravagant/indulgent thing for a stingy bastard like myself to do. I remember once (in about 1998/9 or so) stoking up my 1991 Audi 100 2.0 5-pot and driving up out of Newcastle, through Morpeth and right up into the borders round Wooler, Coldstream etc on a sunny day just driving for fun. I remember it clearly as it was just such a pleasure. It was a waste of petrol of course but the car drove so well, and the scenery, weather, and the moment was so perfect that it just was a total joy. It's a long time since i had a car that seemed so tempting to drive for fun but I can see myself doing something similar in this car because 'operating' it is such a joy.

 

I'm off to France in it in a few weeks - can't wait!!!

 

 

 

 

[RobT]

Always good to hear about a man and machine in harmony! I'm a bit like that with my Cavalier, the trip to SF was a joy and I often go out for evening drives just for the sake of it. Will hopefully be the same when I take ownership of your old 220 next week. 2 litre beaters are where its at!

[twosmoke300]

So , do you like it then ? Wasn't clear in your post 😃

[dollywobbler]

I have fond memories of driving a Primera SRi. It was in that lovely metallic blue colour. One hell of a leap over the Bluebird. Glad you're enjoying it!

Cavalier was surprising. Far more enjoyable than I expected.

[Pillock]

I know what you mean, I was so used to cars that needed to be coaxed and forced to go fast.... When i got my 5cyl Audi 90 I kept finding myself on the wrong side of 100 because it was so easy and rock solid.

[cort16]

Defo the ideal shitter performance vehicle. Back when a 2.0 16v engine with 150bhp meant something as a performance car.

[scooters]

I had a Primera Sport plus estate brilliant cars. Lovely to drive and tough

 

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Well the Toledo drove out of my life this mornign in the more than capable hands of top shiter COBBLERS who failed to turn up at the wrong time, chivvy the price down, attempt to swap it for some clothes pegs etc etc so it was all very painless unlike most low-value chod transactions. Good luck with it!!!

 

[DVee8]

Back in 98when I had my GT I had 137mph,4up back from an airport with a boot full cases in the middle of the night.not big or Clever I know,but long ago.The car was so stable.These are fantastic underrated cars that love to be driven.Good luck with it and if you decide to move it on and I'm in a position who knows.

[KruJoe]

 

[-INSERT RED HOT POKER GAG HERE-]

[Guest Breadvan72]

Is not Triumph Toledo thread.

 

Is disappoint.

[cobblers]

LIVE LAUGH LOVE:

 

 

Fuppin thing banged out about 5 miles from Mr Bolz swanky gaff, I reckon it just likes sitting at the side of the A50. I  motioned towards changing the crank sensor and even got the boot carpet out to lay on instead of the surface of dried up truckers piss, but once I got my head under there I decided to just ring the AA and get some bloke to tell me it was fucked, then wait another 3 hours for a bloke to take it home. You'd need hands like Beadle to change that thing without taking the engine mount off!

 

A kid turned up about 45 minutes later and surprised the hell out of me by getting the bastard up and running. A+ to the lad, he even had an ignition coil on the van and it fixed the problem. I was all smug thinking I'd LUCKED OUT and got the fucker fixed for nowt, when he dropped the bomb that I'd have to pay for the coilpack. He wouldn't take a handful of counterfeit macdonalds coffee stickers as a bribe to "lose" the coil so in the end they felt me for £81 for what is usually about a £20 part. Not even a flash of my 2006 expiry Halfords trade card would get him to reduce the price. He did give me a free HT lead after pulling the no1 lead to bits and shocking the shit out of himself in the process, many laughs were had by all.

 

Just exactly at the same time as I pulled up, a lorry pulled over with a flat tyre and I was well amused when a bloke turned up with a new tyre and a load of hammers and just slipped the new tyre on the rim in literally minutes, I didn't even hear him swear at it once. Lad wasn't even sweating!

 

Right so with a new coilpack on the thing drives lovely! The one way windows are a bit amusing (in that pressing any button in any direction makes the window wind down) and I was quite surprised to find theres a flipping leccy window control box under the back seat with a load of relays inside it. I manually pushed the relays about for a while trying to find the combination that makes a window go down but didn't have a lot of luck. Speedo doesn't work and the charging light is always on, I took the clocks out to find the speedo cable all twirled round like a pigs dick so that's another straightforward fix. I'm gonna take the clocks and window module to work and see about sorting them out, I don't reckon there can be too much wrong really.

 

On top of that the aircon doesn't work XBOLX expect a letter from my representative on Domonic Littlewoods "rogue traders" team.

 

Not sure of future plans, it's way to good to bum the engine out of but if I do keep it I'm going to have to put some shitty ebay coilovers on it and some wanky wheels I'm afraid. I reckon I'll get all the issues sorted and run it as is for a few weeks and see how I feel. 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

What a result!!! I am chuffed that this car has found a home with someone who a) likes Volkswagens and can fettle electrical issues without getting in a flap and accidentally getting the soldering iron stuck up his arse or whatever like I'd do. Good car this, just needed the right owner!!! Keep us posted Bruce_Krobbelarz

[Vin]

Hey...That there Toledoz has a Grimsby reg number. Does it smell of fish???

[Lankytim]

I had a blowout in my lorry on Friday (typical) and after a 3 hour wait the tyre fitter turned up and changed it in about 10 mins. The longest part was taking the wheel off the drum as it had seized on. Great fun to watch with the massive tyre levers and sledgehammers.... modern day blacksmiths I recon...

[matto]

 

After a week of driving this thing I have to say that I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT man! Its flipping amazing...

 

I'm off to France in it in a few weeks - can't wait!!!

 

Guess I was right to have made that cup of tea then   Looking at the crusty bits you've found I reckon it would have been way beyond my inexperienced metal melting skills to fix it, so it seems to have fallen on its feet. 

 

In other news I've just pushed my trolley jack nearly three inches into the new tarmac on my driveway while attempting to n/s/f replace the bottom arm and droplink on the Multipla

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Finally brimmed this with juice today and worked out the average MPG. 38.4!!!! Then I remembered about the speedo over-reading and knocked off 10%. So I'm getting about 34-35mpg, still pretty freakin decent if you ask me. Great car this, specially now its got a radio, a luxury I have lived without for the last several months!!! CHOONZ

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

This Primera is doing sterling service, absolutely hassle free so far except for the exhaust coming detached from the manifold the other night thanks to some earlier ham-fisted 'repairs' carried out by myself, that cost me an hours sleep so I was not too happy but thats about the worst of it.

 

This weekend I have done a bit on it:

 

 

admire the clean arse end styling of the P11 GT LE

 

 

Improved with the addition of £30 worth of used towbar from a scrapyard near Vulg's gaff. Brilliant!!!! I also chucked a tenner at a new lighting plug/wire and £3 at a towbar cover and a further £3.50 on one of those bleeping indicator relay things, never bothered with one of those before but I thought this time I would roll the barrel right out.

 

The wiring bits came with a handful of scotchloks which I chucked in the ditch and actually SOLDERED the connections like a boss. I find if you do not do that, when you attach the lightboard and half of it inevitably does not work, its handy if you can discount the connections to the car's wiring when you are fault finding.

 

 

I didnt wire up the fog light connection as the fog lights on this car are in the tailgate and so i could not find a handy wire to tap into. Does your towbar wiring get checked at the MOT test now? I know it was on the cards for being included in the test at some point.

 

Still loving this car - blasted it up to an indicated 125 for a few moments the other day, it was amazing, still pulling ahead, dead straight and you could still have a conversation or listen to radio 4. I never travel at those sort of speeds so it was pretty eye-opening.

 

Found several rusty (but not rotten) bits underneath while I was faffing about underneath so i 'treated' them by brushing copper grease onto/into em. I find that the oil stuff that the copper is suspended in, is really thick but over time spreads outwards pretty well soaking into the rust and dust so i think it makes an excellent rust 'stopper' and its cheap, anyone else use it for that?

 

Checked the calibration of the mileometer with my phone as well. Although the speedo over-reads by 8-10%, the mileometer is pretty freaking accurate, less than 1% discrepancy I'd say. So my MPG is better than I thought, averaging 37+ MPG!!!!! What a car, I love it.

[KruJoe]

+1 on soldering the wires for your trailer plug. It ensures all your old trailer boards work like new, first time, every time.

Those blue ScotchBlock efforts are the devil's work, and are best killed with fire.

 

I believe they now do test your plug at MOT time, though I'd have thought not for a fog light - that's not usually fitted - just tail lights, brakes and flashers. We need a tester to confirm. I'll ask 'Jack the Test' when he does my R8 next month, with its freshly fitted tow bar (also from Vulg's gaff, it came on the red 216 breaker).