Six Cylinders Motoring Notes - Anybody going to The Stony Stratford Classic car meet tomorrow (Sunday)?

[adw1977]

4 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

I wonder how much I had left as I can’t find a fuel capacity for it.

45 litres = 9.9 gallons

April 1986 brochure

[Six-cylinder]

15 minutes ago, adw1977 said:

45 litres = 9.9 gallons

April 1986 brochure

Thanks that means I had 1.6 gallons left in the tank.

[High Jetter]

46 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

They are nice, certainly, but these on the Mk10 are even better...

I am ashamed at you, reposting such porn! 🤣 

My early years were defined by playing with proper switches such as those.

[Six-cylinder]

Last time I tried to use our Lancia Gamma it ran terribly. I have bought spark plugs, HT leads, distributor cap, rotor arm and coil. Today I arranged for a local mobile Mech to fit the parts. The only problem was his and my spark plug sockets would not fit into the cylinder head, the outer diameter is just a bit too big. I went home to get an old fashion box spark plug spanner, but all I could find was the extra long one for the recessed plugs on the Citroen DS which is far too long because it is a boxer engine. The answer was to saw the bit off that was in the way, but I need a new spark plug spanner for the DS now.

While I was away getting the spark plug spanner the mech fitted everything but the spark plugs and restarted the car, he said it run better but not well. Fitting the new spark plugs made it run well, but I did not take it out because the roads were so dirty a short test drive would have left the white car filthy. I am pretty sure it is now it is ready for it's next outing when the weather improves.

[Noel Tidybeard]

i'm beginning to wonder if the pipe on the fuel gauge thing is an urban myth

[Zelandeth]

4 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Last time I tried to use our Lancia Gamma it ran terribly. I have bought spark plugs, HT leads, distributor cap, rotor arm and coil. Today I arranged for a local mobile Mech to fit the parts. The only problem was his and my spark plug sockets would not fit into the cylinder head, the outer diameter is just a bit too big. I went home to get an old fashion box spark plug spanner, but all I could find was the extra long one for the recessed plugs on the Citroen DS which is far too long because it is a boxer engine. The answer was to saw the bit off that was in the way, but I need a new spark plug spanner for the DS now.

While I was away getting the spark plug spanner the mech fitted everything but the spark plugs and restarted the car, he said it run better but not well. Fitting the new spark plugs made it run well, but I did not take it out because the roads were so dirty a short test drive would have left the white car filthy. I am pretty sure it is now it is ready for it's next outing when the weather improves.

Great to hear it's running well again.  Wonder if it was something as simple as fouled plugs?

[Six-cylinder]

34 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

i'm beginning to wonder if the pipe on the fuel gauge thing is an urban myth

I think you could be right. 

Very few of my cars have ever been left hand fill. The most notable is the Volvo 740/940 and while left fill the hose illustration on the fuel gauge is on the right.

The C15 with left fill, but right illustration could easily be said to parts sharing with the Visa car that is right fill.

My 2016 Range Rovers does has an arrow in the fuel gauge pointing to the filler side.

[Six-cylinder]

20 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Great to hear it's running well again.  Wonder if it was something as simple as fouled plugs?

Yes the plugs were fouled and sooty due to moving it it around in storage without a run.

However it had the wrong coil on it that was obviously quite old, standard not electronic ignition coil that is factory standard on a Gamma.

The HT leads had also become hard and brittle with age.

[hairnet]

old italian cars oof

[dollywobbler]

The fuel gauge thing is a definite myth. Our Charade has a little arrow to show which side the flap is, which is the opposite side to the fuel pump diagram itself. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

10 gen civic hose right, arrow left

[Six-cylinder]

That is 151 miles covered in the Mazda to date with a trip to Wixams Classic car Breakfast this morning.

It felt a bit out classed there today!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Apart from the Prelude, that Mazda has more class than most of the motors there. The old girl looks to need a damn good mop and polish though. Great to see it back on the road after a seemingly narrow escape from the crusher. Did it end up sitting after TheDoctor/Amelia sold it? 

[Mrs6C]

21 minutes ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Apart from the Prelude, that Mazda has more class than most of the motors there. The old girl looks to need a damn good mop and polish though. Great to see it back on the road after a seemingly narrow escape from the crusher. Did it end up sitting after TheDoctor/Amelia sold it? 

It was used for some time afterwards, but has been resting for the last few months. Now back into more regular service, so far it seems quite a happy thing.

[DSdriver]

On 07/02/2025 at 19:49, LightBulbFun said:

interesting! I thought was a little arrow that told you what side the filler was on? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_gauge#Moylan_arrow

but if the fuel hose position is another indicator then dont worry its not accurate on my car either! handle is shown on the right but the fuel tank itself is on the left side of the car, although you fill it up from the access hatch in front of you, not sure what the symbol for that would be  an Arrow pointing forwards? LOL

along similar lines do old Land Rovers just have a Dymo label that states "Your sitting on it"?

The clock looks very similar to the one in my DS 😀

[Six-cylinder]

Man caught on CCTV dumping scrap car in our yard!

[Six-cylinder]

Hold on, that is Mrs6C’s Vanden Plas 1500 that she saved from an uncertain future and put back on the road.

 Later a small amount of rust on the rear subframe mount was noticed and @Andyrew volunteered to weld it. Andy was also requested to weld the small hole where you could see daylight between the n-s front inner wheel arch and floor as well. That resulted in a marathon amount of welding, sills both sides and some amazing fabrication. Andy also tacked jobs like fitting a door and wing and repainted the wheels for its new tyres. Rather that just throw in the old interior @beko1987 cleaned the carpets and Andy carefully cleaned fitted the interior back in.

Thank you so much Andy we have never seen it looking so good.

[Six-cylinder]

Remember this is how we got it 6 years ago.

Yes engine out because of broken Auto gearbox.

[richardmorris]

15 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Remember this is how we got it 6 years ago.

Yes engine out because of broken Auto gearbox.

It was all the same colour then  reminds me of Peppa Pig for some reason.

[Mrs6C]

2 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

It was all the same colour then  reminds me of Peppa Pig for some reason.

I love the 'two tone' colour scheme it sports now... I won't be changing that...

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

I love the 'two tone' colour scheme it sports now... I won't be changing that...

Oh it shows the history certainly. I’d also argue that the beige panels suit the interior better.

[High Jetter]

Reminded me of a Battenberg! Great to see it back in the fold.

[hairnet]

5 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

I love the 'two tone' colour scheme it sports now... I won't be changing that...

def some marbles missing................

[Six-cylinder]

Not such a good day today!

The Renault Safrane V6 RT has come to me because of Andyrew’s clearout. Andy is convinced this car wants to die as after all the work Andy put into in, it now has a suspected head gasket failure.

[Six-cylinder]

It just had to add this photo of the Mazda that my friend Colin snaped.

 

[Schaefft]

8 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Not such a good day today!

The Renault Safrane V6 RT has come to me because of Andyrew’s clearout. Andy is convinced this car wants to die as after all the work Andy put into in, it now has a suspected head gasket failure.

That's not great news. What makes him think that it's got omghgf?

[Six-cylinder]

1 minute ago, Schaefft said:

That's not great news. What makes him think that it's got omghgf?

Andyrew says Mayo in the oil cap and water vapour out of the exhaust.

Yes I do have a HG test kit and will try that before any final decisions are made.

[Schaefft]

8 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Andyrew says Mayo in the oil cap and water vapour out of the exhaust.

Yes I do have a HG test kit and will try that before any final decisions are made.

If it's not been running for any kind of significant time you might be lucky and it's just condensation, especially around this time of the year.

[Bear]

Mayo in the oil cap on a French car in winter is never enough to condemn a car IME, remember how much BXs will fill that ridiculous oil tube with gunk when used for short trips.

But if the head gasket has gone with it sitting, it shouldn't have been overheated or warped anything? Are these a simple PRV or something more like the later PSA V6s, or something else entirely? Safranes are mystery machines.

[Andyrew]

3 hours ago, Schaefft said:

If it's not been running for any kind of significant time you might be lucky and it's just condensation, especially around this time of the year.

Coolant level drop, Workshop started to disapper in a cloud of exhaust steam and Slight oil latte on the dipstick was my concern / diagnosis.