Six Cylinders Motoring Notes

[Jenson Velcro]

Wow, that interior is fantastic, it’s a shame that more cars don’t have such distinctive styling.

How much work will be needed to return the car t9 the road?

[Mrs6C]

26 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Leather yes, but a strip and after market recovering.  Were originally the same blue in yours.

I pulled the seats and put them in my blue Beta S3

Both cars are very much still on the show circuit

I'm pretty sure Six-cylinder and I looked at a Beta berlina in dark blue with cream leather seats several years ago, with a view to buying it. It was an automatic. We didn't buy it and I can't remember why. Probably not your one if it was you who put the seats from your Trevi!

[Mrs6C]

29 minutes ago, Wingz123 said:

If you wanted it transporting (Xantia) I'll come and help and winch it out of there and onto the back of my Sprinter and away the same day. If where it was going in Welyn I could even get it down there same day.... 

 

That's very kind of you, but I think @Six-cylinder has the collection sorted already for the Xantia. At some point we'll need the CX transporting to Willesden, though...

[Wingz123]

3 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

That's very kind of you, but I think @Six-cylinder has the collection sorted already for the Xantia. At some point we'll need the CX transporting to Willesden, though...

No problem, just let me know when your ready?

[Zelandeth]

That looks fantastic...in that utterly strange way that only Lancia can pull off.

I really need more exposure to these cars.  Was gobsmacked by how lovely the Gamma was when I was a brief passenger a while back...one of the few cars which I could see filling the same sort of role as the Activa as an all round lovely place to be in the fleet.

...Aside from A: Their being nearly extinct making finding a good one nearly impossible and B: Being a Lancia...so having a tendency to need continual attention second only to Jags or Ferraris.

I can't help but love how Lancia seemed to just let the concept car interiors be carried over to production...

[flat4alfa]

31 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Being a Lancia...so having a tendency to need continual attention second only to Jags or Ferraris.

Not really

To be fair, the Betas aren’t trouble cars. I had three on the drive 10 years back and all were on the button.

They don’t like standing and the callipers always need a fiddle to free off if so, but mainly the hassles will be fuse box connections and the Solex carbs when tired

Any car that’s survived this long won’t be a rot box. This one looks great condition all things considered. Lancia at this age were injected with Tuffcote Dinol. A bit of wob in the door skins and a tickle stick on the jacking points and you’re off. Do tear out that boot carpet and check the rear strut turrets before doing a spend though 

[flat4alfa]

Another thing to remember is they were from the start: all-independent, discs all round, five speeds and a twin OHC. They barely have any body roll

All that from back when the Mk3 Cortina was current

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

.... At some point we'll need the CX transporting to Willesden, though...

God Almighty,  you managed to book it into Brodie?

[flat4alfa]

Oh and another thing while I’m all excited 

For 1977, more Lancia were sold in the UK than BMW

It was a great year for the Lancia UK concessionaires

 

 

 

....But 1980 was a Lancia Horribilius

 

 

[Wingz123]

I'll give you a hand

[Mrs6C]

The CX came from there in the first place! That's why his name is Willesden!

[Zelandeth]

52 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Not really

To be fair, the Betas aren’t trouble cars. I had three on the drive 10 years back and all were on the button.

They don’t like standing and the callipers always need a fiddle to free off if so, but mainly the hassles will be fuse box connections and the Solex carbs when tired

Any car that’s survived this long won’t be a rot box. This one looks great condition all things considered. Lancia at this age were injected with Tuffcote Dinol. A bit of wob in the door skins and a tickle stick on the jacking points and you’re off. Do tear out that boot carpet and check the rear strut turrets before doing a spend though 

Fair enough...to be honest the only ones I've had any real experience with were a rotten Delta and very leggy Dedra - both of which had been both sitting around and we'll seen to by Billy the Bodger during their lives. 

The main memory I have of them aside from rampant rust was unending electrical gremlins, especially on the Dedra.  There was just always something misbehaving, and how critical it was usually seemed to be proportional to the importance of the journey in progress and the difficulty in finding somewhere to safely stop.

[Zelandeth]

52 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Not really

To be fair, the Betas aren’t trouble cars. I had three on the drive 10 years back and all were on the button.

They don’t like standing and the callipers always need a fiddle to free off if so, but mainly the hassles will be fuse box connections and the Solex carbs when tired

Any car that’s survived this long won’t be a rot box. This one looks great condition all things considered. Lancia at this age were injected with Tuffcote Dinol. A bit of wob in the door skins and a tickle stick on the jacking points and you’re off. Do tear out that boot carpet and check the rear strut turrets before doing a spend though 

Fair enough...to be honest the only ones I've had any real experience with were a rotten Delta and very leggy Dedra - both of which had been both sitting around and we'll seen to by Billy the Bodger during their lives. 

The main memory I have of them aside from rampant rust was unending electrical gremlins, especially on the Dedra.  There was just always something misbehaving, and how critical it was usually seemed to be proportional to the importance of the journey in progress and the difficulty in finding somewhere to safely stop.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

The CX came from there in the first place! That's why his name is Willesden!

Brodie seemed very reluctant to take my CX in for a service. They much prefer DSs, SMs and Maseratis.

I ended up going to Garage Dubois-Loizou, and it's probably just as well I did.

[Six-cylinder]

11 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Brodie seemed very reluctant to take my CX in for a service. They much prefer DSs, SMs and Maseratis.

I ended up going to Garage Dubois-Loizou, and it's probably just as well I did.

I have not used Brodie for some time because I was so disappointed with there attempt to seal the wind screen on my DS. It looked like a child had done it with bathroom sealer!

My DS is currently at Citroen Classic in Stains having the problem sorted properly. It turns out that the cant rail (top of windscreen surround) I had put in was out of position so is being cut out and replaced.

My mobile Citroen mech is working again so I will ask him if he can do the LHS leak for me on the CX once it is running and back together.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

That probably is bathroom sealer.

[Six-cylinder]

So how did this morning go!

4 ½ hours to achieve changing the battery in the remote fob for the XM and lubricating the boot button on the CLK.

I won’t bore you with the details of how to change the battery in a fob as I know it is easy when you know how and have found the tiny screwdriver that fits.

The CLK boot lock was straight forward with WD40 and just working it a few times. So on to tackle the tyre that goes down. I visited 3 tyres shop in Buckingham to try and get it done and found one closed down and the other 2 were too busy to do it today.

Friday is shopping so into Tesco with the CLK, chaos they are altering the car park and there are only a few spaces open and cars driving round looking for a spot so I gave up and went home.

Hay-ho I had better do some work this afternoon!

[Andyrew]

[Six-cylinder]

@Andyrew I have looked out of my office window and you're not fitting it yet, it will be dark soon!

[hairnet]

25 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

@Andyrew I have looked out of my office window and you're not fitting it yet, it will be dark soon!

Sorry

If CX is in stains will they have cillit bang or Mr muscle to fix it ?

[Six-cylinder]

9 minutes ago, hairnet said:

Sorry

If CX is in stains will they have cillit bang or Mr muscle to fix it ?

 

DS is in stains, do pay attention.

3/10 must do better

and no gold star!

[hairnet]

Joke wasn't about the car ?

[Six-cylinder]

4 minutes ago, hairnet said:

Joke wasn't about the car ?

I don't speak Hairnet!

[richardmorris]

2 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

I don't speak Hairnet!

It’s Staines upon Thames now. It’s gone posh. ( matching cit classics prices!).

[richardmorris]

Oh if you were looking for a tyre place for the clk for me don’t worry. I don’t have to borrow it.

I’ve just finished doing our monthly billing, ccc column was emailed yesterday, I just need to do the shopping in the morning and pop to the bank when it opens and I’m all set for a working visit. Dry but cold is the forecast I think.

[Six-cylinder]

39 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Oh if you were looking for a tyre place for the clk for me don’t worry. I don’t have to borrow it.

I’ve just finished doing our monthly billing, ccc column was emailed yesterday, I just need to do the shopping in the morning and pop to the bank when it opens and I’m all set for a working visit. Dry but cold is the forecast I think.

The CLK needs doing anyway, HMC warned me it goes down but it is was flat in 4 days so I wanted to get it checked to make sure it was safe.

[Six-cylinder]

Thank you @richardmorris and @Wingz123 for your help achieving our goal of getting the Xantia ready to transport for a new gearbox. 

Bonus, we got the Visa GT ready to transport because I have now booked it for welding that is due to start in a couple of weeks or so.

Both my helpers were not able to stay for what I considered the highlight of the day, the arrival of the Lancia Trevi! Now I understand why they decided to escape while they could, the guy was a bit late and it was freezing by the time it arrived so maybe they did not miss out that much after all!

 

 

[Mrs6C]

Thanks to @Wingz123 and @richardmorris also for giving the Xantia a good clean, inside and out. She looks so much better now.

With a fresh battery, she started up just fine and the suspension raised up and down as it should. @richardmorris did find LHM weeping out past an 'O' ring in a pipe union at the front of the engine bay, one of the front indicators isn't working and the coolant was low, but all in all, she's not in bad order. After @Six-cylinder put air in the tyres, she rolled around quite happily.

Here she is on tiptoe...

[richardmorris]

My youngest niece Emily complained that my hands were cold when she hugged me an hour after I left!

[Wingz123]

It was a pleasure to meet you @Six-cylinder, @Mrs6C and @richardmorris. 

More than happy to help! The Xantia scrubbed up well (I did lose feeling in my hands after about 30 seconds in the water but @Six-cylinder coffees soon sorted that out! Oh and by the way @Six-cylinder I told a white lie earlier.....your idea of putting the bucket of ice cold water (it literally had thick slabs of ice stuck to the sponge!!) on top of your Range Rovers engine with the bonnet pulled down over the top didnt make a blind bit of difference hahaha Sorry me ol mate, I said it did earlier.... ? ???

........what's next? ??