Its Gripped! Its Sorted! - Holes be gone!

[Micrashed]

Right, Ive had a 4x4 itch for a while. Decided to scratch it.

 

8am:

 

9.30am

 

10.45am

 

Then there was something of a wait....

 

11.30pm

 

Finally

Doncaster.

 

Then a bit of a wait for Carl to collect me, which was very nice of him and possibly the most rushed purhcase of:

 

A thing with TWO knobs....

 

Bit of a panic making sure that it was in 2H, as knob didnt seem to want to go as far forwards as I thought it should and then a trip to fill with go-go juice (£20 of finest dino) Then I found the WORLDS MOST UNHELPFUL postmistress who would not tax it, so bollocks to it i drove it home.

 

Little bit skittish on corners, back end feels twitchy, but thats probably just me not being used to one. Drove well enough, pulls like a London Taxi, has the dashboard off an early 90's Micra and plenty of things to fiddle with for an MOT.

 

 

I suspect its going to want glass, but would appreciate a tester telling me fo sho...

 

Red line is line of wiper blade  and orange is crack

 

[Micrashed]

Edit - to answer the road tax Q.

 

Some GPO will, some GPO wont. Doncaster GPO told me to FRO as not on MID, my local one taxed without question when I got home.

[hairnet]

nice for the muddies

 

glass - id say so

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Move the wiper 2 splines up!

[meggersdog]

It's all to do with the driver's view of the road.

 

 

Change in policy (Oct 2011) "...it is permissible to have a defect larger than 10mm in the swept area of zone A, as long as it is not in the 'drivers view of the road'. Should now be "Pass and advise".

 

that looks like it is restricting the driver's view of the bonnet

pass and advise

[Cavcraft]

I see no Frontera. I R DISSAPOINT.

 

 

Actually, that looks ok, assume it's still tested for a bit yet?

[Micrashed]

I see no Frontera. I R DISSAPOINT.

 

 

Actually, that looks ok, assume it's still tested for a bit yet?

Umm, July 7th!

 

2.0 Pez fronterror didnt feel beefy enough to pull caravan. This will. 2.7L of dizzler donkey.

 

Still, thats a whole month and a week of Gripped and Sorted Motoring. Just as soon as my Autoshite stickers arrive I'll pop them in the back window.

 

Jobs to do -

 

Fix Aerial (elecky one wont rise)

Replace 2x wiper blades

Sort out a bit of rust around front wings if I can be arsed, or gaffa tape if I cant.

Fit CB radio (I have one - oh yes)

Go offroading!

[Skizzer]

back end feels twitchy

Driving with no tax makes me feel like that too

 

Well bought sir! Are you going to run a sweep on how big the windscreen crack gets after you've been offroading?

[dollywobbler]

If the back end feels twitchy, consider changing the diff oil. These have an LSD, but folk either never change the oil, or put the wrong stuff in. That can then make the diff lock when you don't want it to, causing OMG DRIFT KAOS. Even at slow speed. Can't say mine ever felt twitchy.

 

This place is a godsend and well worth the price of admission. http://www.nissan4x4ownersclub.com

[Micrashed]

 

 

This place is a godsend and well worth the price of admission. http://www.nissan4x4ownersclub.com

Already paid up - in fact thats where I got the car from one of the members on there...

http://www.nissan4x4ownersclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21568

 

Discoverd where to look for the rear door leak and how to fix same.

Rusty front wings may get fixed, may not.

Underside isnt that bad from what I can see and has the earlier Nissan diff on the back rather than the Dacia one.

[dollywobbler]

On my old one, the chap owning now has given in and replaced one of the front wings. That's mainly because it crashed it but it did also get rid of the rust! The sills appear to be dissolving though. Worth getting some wax into them if they're still solid. Presumably it's a proper dizeasal? That was my biggest mistake. The petrol has as much torque as a handheld electric fan.

[Micrashed]

2.7L of London Taxi Donkey with an intercooler big enough to heat a family feast of meat pies on!

 

Its not perfect, but then its not destines to be pretty, its going to be a workhorse. Plan number 1 get it through an MOT. Ive been looking for some paint / spray on rubber compound as the soundproofing stuff stuck on the wheel arches is breaking up. Belted with a hammer and they seem solid enough though.

[twosmoke300]

Thats interesting dw , dad has a terrano and it pulls to the left and right on and off the throttle. All bushes etc seem fine .

It never pulls the same way twice and is worse when towing .Investigation reqd

[wuvvum]

10.45am

 

Then there was something of a wait....

 

11.30pm

Fark me, that is a wait.  12 3/4 hours at Oxford Road.  I think I'd've thrown myself under a passing Class 185 long before that...

[Micrashed]

Im lucky, a friend lives nearby in one of the now "trendy gay" bits of Manc.

 

Wasnt quite such a long wait though  - on the plus side got the train fare from the village to Donny for me and the lad for just £11.46 with a free Daily Mirror Family & Friends railcard and the Trainline.com. The downside was running like fook for some of the 4 trains and hanging round for yonks for others.

[sporty-shite]

Nearly three hours to get from yours to Manchester? That's criminal. Could have walked it in that time!

[Micrashed]

The joy of "cheap" train tickets

[Jim Bell]

Nice. Feeling the all wheel drive urge now too.

Well bought man.

[Guest Breadvan72]

We need OVROAD MONGFEST 2

 

Please can it be somewhere not a kabillion miles from the Midlands as I would have to come in a Series Landy of OMG ROADFEAR and go deaf.

[Cavcraft]

http://www.hillnditch4x4.co.uk/hillnditch4x4/Home.html

 

 

 

[Micrashed]

Looks ace.

 

Partly I was spurred into buying a 4x4 by my mate Ivan who spunked something obscene on this:

 

And keeps telling me how hes going to buy rock sliders, sump guards and such like for it and taking it off roading.... Its got leather seats, cream carpets and air con. Mine has cloth seats, opening windows and rubber mats and cost me a months overtime payments.

 

So I have just sent him this photo and invited him to bring it to play on the 8th...

Bet he doesnt come.

[Micrashed]

 

Nothing says "I am a twat" quite like a Tonka sticker on the back of your 4x4.

 

So, I ordered one.

[dollywobbler]

UR DOIN IT RONG! Should have got a Fisher-Price one. Although the interior plastics are far less hardy...

[scruff]

Trust you have a big whippy aerial for your CB, some macho cammo-pattern trousers for you and white trackky bottoms for your kids, a tow rope from Poundland and dubious recovery points barely secured to the vehicle? If so you are fully prepared for the worst a pay n' break day can throw at you. 

[Micrashed]

The ex-Clive / ex-Carl SWB I bought off the Nissan 4x4 forum rumbles on. Filled it up this morning and added a couple of shots of Millers EcoMax cetane booster, I'll run it at double strength for a while and see what difference it makes to the MPG and power. First tank has given me roughly 28mpg.

 

The MOT is up in July rather than November that I had thought so Im pressing on with some checks before dropping it off with my tame(ish) MOT bloke in a barn over Hoghton way. Replaced all the wiper blades today as the old ones were rather limp and floppy..

 

Which at least is cheap and easy enough to do, I now have clear windows rather than a streak where the rubber missed.

 

Crawling about underneath and it seems to be in reasonable shape, nothing screamingly obvious that I can see, a small oil leak from the front transfer area and the bottom of the drivers B pillar is starting to go crispy but not bad by any stretch of the imagination (and resilient to the MOT hammer test). The rear of the OS sill looked fine until prodded, not even by the knockometer, but hey, I was expecting it to need a little bit of tickling with the MIG

 

The rear of the NS sill is also crispy, but resisted shattering when belted with a hammer so may pass this years test I suspect the large clod of mud and birds nest havent helped this during its lay up.. Discovered the rear section of the side step is fabricated from wood whilst under the car! Made me want to bin them all the more really, as I find myself climbing over them to get in / out of the car.

 

There is some evidence of rust round the OS rear seatbelt anchorage point, but again belting with a hammer has failed to make holes so this has been KuRusted and painted up this evening. Discovered that Im missing the wheel brace/jack bar twizzy round thing so will improvise with a generic brace and mole grips.

 

Moved the number plate. OK, its not to everyones taste and  it despite being correctly reflective the old one will have to go back for the MOT.

 

And I had to fit this:

Im going to paint the Ford badge Orange (actually Im going to get a replacement one and paint that orange to match the Tonka sticker as the one on the boot lid has rather tired plastic).

 

Replaced the reversing lamp with a 12v Cree LED which is quite a lot brighter. The 12S socket should provide a pick up point for the external 12v spot which will be wired into the reversing lamp circuit also - very handy when trying to couple up in the dark.

 

Other things I want to sort out are the interior lights (on or off, but not with the doors it seems). There is power to them so rather than muck about fault finding a broken earth wire somewhere I may just put a remote switch in to control them from the dash on the drivers side. I'll have a look at the door switches first in case its something simple but if its not that then stuff it.

[Bobthebeard]

You haz pm Mr Shed....

[Micrashed]

So I do.
 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

why is the numberplate on the bonnet now

[Micrashed]

why is the numberplate on the bonnet now

Because thats the way (uh-ha, uh-ha) I like it (uh-ha, uh-ha)

My mini, circa 1992. Plate only went back on the bottom prior to MOT, then came off again until it was sold.

The Mav is a toy, nothing more, nothing less.

[Micrashed]

 

Elderly but perfectly working Comtron UK 40 (tweaked to 7W output) Ive had this for donkeys years, I got it from Tigers Cage CB sometime roundabout 1988 - it did used to run a midband board but that died and I have never found the correct mod chip again (LC7131 IIRC), though I expect anything from a Cybernet configured CB would work with some fiddling. If I could BA to fiddle, which I CBA. Or if I was less of a cheapskate I would replace it with a nice modern 80ch rig. As it is it fits very nicely here and the audio from the speaker is good (and I can hear it).