Six Cylinders Motoring Notes - Saying goodbye to a fleet member!

[Six-cylinder]

28 minutes ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

@Six-cylinderFound this, it's yours next time I am at the FOD if you want it!

Thanks very much, but I think we have one.

[richardmorris]

8 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

 

Back when I worked for a Vauxhall dealer a customer came back with a new Cavalier hatch to complain the tailgate did not fit properly. The service manager took the car into the workshop slammed the tailgate with a piece of wood in one side, problem solved and the customer went away happy. I asked the service manager why he had not adjusted the tailgate properly on the hinges and he pointed out they were fixed welded hinges. 

You can make 2cv doors fit and close really nicely just by pulling them around using the cars weight as leverage. 

[AnthonyG]

VPs went through final  assembly in the Vanden Plas place (North London somewhere?)

I can well imagine them getting another coat of paint if the VP people felt the Longbridge job hadn’t been good enough. Or possibly the bodies were all done in primer in Brim and paint was done in London.

Basically - VP ‘gros went through two factories, so lots of opportunities for a double go at the paint.

[Mrs6C]

1 minute ago, AnthonyG said:

lots of opportunities for a double go at the paint.

Ours has had even more opportunities, which were all taken...

[Andyrew]

A-mount of work

This area then, we last left it with a big chunk cut from the outter sill so i could see what lay beneath. 

Unfortunately alot of grot and poor repairs.  I wanted a point of reference to build from so welded in the right angle part first to give me somewhere to start. 

You can see in the pic above the axle mount its rotted through. This is 3 or so mm thick!, a rumage in the metal pile later i found a bit so it was time to chop the grot out and burn in some new bits. 

Zap zap zap

With that zapped in  i moved onto making the arch lip.  I really need to get a shrinker stretcher tool, that would have made this easier. 

Handily the wheel arches are the same profile front and rear so i was able to use the front drivers wing for reference. 

 

[Six-cylinder]

33 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

A-mount of work

This area then we last left it with a big chunk cut from the out sill so i could see what lay beneath. 

Unfortunately alot of grot snd poor repairs.  I wanted a point of reference to build from so welded in the right angle part first to give me somewhere to start. 

You can see in the pic above the axle mount its rotted through. This is 3 or so mm thick a rumage in metal pile later i found a bit so it was time to chop the grot out and burn in some new bits. 

Zap zap zap

With that zapped in  i moved onto making the arch lip.  I really need to get a shrinker stretcher tool, that would have made this easier. 

Handily the wheel arches are the same profile front and rear so i was able to use the front drivers wing for reference. 

 

As you are constructing an Allegro from nothing can I have an Escort Mk1 instead please! 

[High Jetter]

It really is All agro, but very much worth it.

[Andyrew]

4 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

As you are constructing an Allegro from nothing can I have an Escort Mk1 instead please! 

Of all the escorts, you picked the wrong one!

Theres only one choice for me when its comes down to it.  

 

[Six-cylinder]

8 hours ago, Andyrew said:

Of all the escorts, you picked the wrong one!

Theres only one choice for me when its comes down to it.  

 

I took Mrs6C out in a borrowed a G reg RS turbo hand braking it round when it was a young car, she was not impressed. Do you think a van would have been a better bet!

[Craig the Princess]

14 hours ago, Andyrew said:

Of all the escorts, you picked the wrong one!

Theres only one choice for me when its comes down to it.  

 

Autoshite ncap 6 star rating.

[Six-cylinder]

It is a beautiful day (2° C and misty) here in Buckingham so ianbmw offered to have another look at my 1985 Range Rover classic as while we remembered it would not start we could not remember what we had checked.

Having ascertained it would not even kick on easy start we searched for a spark. We could not find one even from the king lead when manually triggering the coil. So now on hold until I get a new coil.

I can't believe how the Range Rover side trim self destructed while it has been sat.

[richardmorris]

57 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

It is a beautiful day (2° C and misty) here in Buckingham so ianbmw offered to have another look at my 1985 Range Rover classic as while we remembered it would not start we could not remember what we had checked.

Having ascertained it would not even kick on easy start we searched for a spark. We could not find one even from the king lead when manually triggering the coil. So now on hold until I get a new coil.

I can't believe how the Range Rover side trim self destructed while it has been sat.

Perhaps a fox attacked it?

[Mrs6C]

11 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Perhaps a fox attacked it?

It does look about the right height for the local wildife to use it as a scent-marking point, which for many of them involves have a chew on the thing as well.

[brownnova]

Is ‘local wildlife’ your code for AS visitors to the FoD? 

[bub2006]

@Six-cylinder was you driving a k plate Mercedes estate down on motorway near london this morning? Cant remember if I was still on m25 or on m1 and it was either 1045 or 1145. It's been a long day for me so far!

[Six-cylinder]

2 minutes ago, bub2006 said:

@Six-cylinder was you driving a k plate Mercedes estate down on motorway near london this morning? Cant remember if I was still on m25 or on m1 and it was either 1045 or 1145. It's been a long day for me so far!

Don't tell Mrs6C where I was, I told her I was in Milton Keynes!

Not me, but a K reg Mercedes estate is right up our street although our current one is a blue H reg and Mrs6C drives it more than me at the moment.

[bub2006]

The guy looked alot likebyou at a glance,dark glasses and dark hair. I knew you had one,just couldnt remember which one. I think this was a 320te or 230te in gold bronze colour 

[mitsisigma01]

45 minutes ago, bub2006 said:

knew you had one,just couldnt remember which one.

The hair or the glasses 🤔

[bub2006]

Both

[beko1987]

On 07/12/2020 at 22:36, brownnova said:

Is ‘local wildlife’ your code for AS visitors to the FoD? 

*David Attenborough voice* "And here we see the lesser spotted Shiter, hitting something until it fixes itself. Many other shitters are standing around engaged in some sort of ritual, chanting 'it's fucking fucked m8' whilst encouraging more hitting. Wait, what's this? Some people are breaking from the crowd to chase an astra van around a field in an invacar... The Head Shiter looks on and puts the kettle on, for the other Shiters will need sustenance if they are to get finished with their hunt for clag"

[wuvvum]

Heh.  The "formation flight" round the field in the Invacars was one of the highlights of the last FOD weekend for me.  That and the ride to the chippy in the DS.

[BorniteIdentity]

9 hours ago, wuvvum said:

the Invacars was one of the highlights of the last FOD weekend for me.  

Judas. Wash your mouth out

[RichardK]

On 9/12/2020 at 9:21 PM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

From the sublime to the amusing....

Part of me is tempted to do this to the XJ6

[Andyrew]

Getting sill-y

Some triming and fettling got the outter panel in a good place. 

Time to zap it in, id made two infill panels for the arch area aswell so these went on. 

With that now in place i could trim away the door shut / lower c pillar panel to weld in the top part of the outter sill that ties to the inner cill as the original part was rotted through. 

Some of that was ground back, then weld through zinc primed, with that done the other panels could be made. I joggled some joints aswell as plug welds.

Zapped in and welds ground back. 

 

[Mrs6C]

@AndyrewWow! That is  lovely work.

[Andyrew]

With the way ive made the repair sections, the folded up outter sill panel ties into the rear axle mount. So i made a plate that ties the lot together aswell as caps the end of the sill part. 

Plugged to the thick steel of the mount, and ties into the seat box panel and sill.

Certainly not factory probably overkill, but im making this up as i go along due to the area having been bashed and welded in the past im trying to make it as strong as possible. 

 

[Mrs6C]

7 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

Certainly not factory probably overkill, but im making this up as i go along due to the area having been bashed and welded in the past im trying to make it as strong as possible. 

You realise you are lining yourself up to do my Mk10, don't you?

[wuvvum]

6 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

You realise you are lining yourself up to do my Mk10, don't you?

Is that the one that went missing years ago and definitely wasn't* taken by banger racers but still somehow* ended with the front wings chopped away?

[Mrs6C]

Yep. Spent much of last Sunday cutting the front off another one to let into mine at some point.

[wuvvum]

Mk10 is probably my all time favourite Jag.  When it's done you'll have to bring it to the FOD so I can drool over it.