Fleet happenings

[wuvvum]

There has been a great deal of variety in the Wuvvum fleet over the years, and what with variety being the spice of life I've always tried to avoid having two cars which fulfil exactly the same role.

 

There have been a few occasions over the years when this hasn't quite worked out, and more recently I've slipped even further by owning more than one of the same model.

 

First there were the twin Rovers:

 

 

One is petrol and one is diesel, but they are both hilarously rapid cars that look like bags of crap, so in that sense they're very similar.

 

It got worse with the two Mondeos:

 

 

They're both TDCi Zetecs, so apart from a few differences in equipment they're almost identical.

 

One would have to be a special kind of special to allow this to happen though:

 

 

Believe it or not, there is (or was) some kind of logic behind this.  The X-plate Master was the first to be bought, a while ago now - it was advertised as having plenty of test but gearbox issues.  The gearbox issues turned out to be worse than I expected, which is a shame as it has the 2.8 DTi engine and pulls like a fugging train.

 

Then the 53 plate Movano came up at a very decent price.  It's a 2.2 diesel and it's the LWB version so it's substantially bigger (and slower) than the MWB Master.  It has a couple of issues (knock on NSF suspension and the glow plug light is on which seems to be making it reluctant to rev beyond 3K - annoyingly my code reader can't find any faults) but it's perfectly useable, still rolls along at 70 happily enough and has 9 months' test.

 

Almost at the same time the 02 plate Movano popped up for sale.  It was advertised as having an engine fault but a good gearbox, and it was at a price I really couldn't refuse.  So I bought it, intending to get the gearbox swapped across into the Master.  Two problems have arisen with that little plan though:  first, the gearbox is completely different to the other two (despite being between them in age and engine size), and second, I've done 200 miles in it so far and, as far as I can tell, there's fuck all wrong with the engine beyond the usual wear you'd expect after 150K miles.  It's the newer 2.5 DTi and has exactly the same power output as the 2.8 in the Master, with the added bonus of a full set of gears (and the flashy beacons on the roof, and a towbar, and LEZbianism), and it drives the best out of any of them.  It only has just over a month's test, but I've looked it over and can't find much in the way of rot, so rather than breaking it I've taxed it and I'm going to use it as my main van. 

 

Feck knows what I'm going to do with the other two - the Master is being used as motorbike storage at the moment but I'll probably have to flog it soon, and the other Movano might also be punted on once the logbook gets here - I'll have to see if my local garage's Snap-on code reader can talk to it and see why it's in limp mode.

 

 

In other fleet news, I swapped the Forester for this:

 

 

It's a 32 year old Chevy day van with a 6.2-litre GMC V8 diesel engine.  It's supposed to be 140bhp, but I have no idea where the horses have all buggered off to as the thing is glacially slow.  Good fun though, although not at all suited to Norfolk back roads. 

 

In a completely unrelated development, I have come to a sudden realisation as to what an attractive young lady my cousin is.

 

I also swapped the Boxer van for this:

 

 

I actually owned this before, about 8 or 9 years ago.  I sold it to a mate who sold it to his mother, and she's been running around in it ever since.  She now needs something with PAS, so the Mazda is back with me.  It's currently in my mate's garage having new brake pipes fitted, hence the décor in the picture.

 

And that sums up my acquisitions over the last five days.  I was briefly in the position of owning six vans, but I'm now down to five, which I think you'll agree is a far more sensible number.

[Pete-M]

Love the Chevy.

[mercrocker]

I love the Chevy too..but no pics of cousin?

[nigel bickle]

Good man Wuz, glad to hear you are still busy.

 

Love the Chev, incidentally, when you get bored.....

 

I've been busy too, but I can't put details up here, yet. Soon though.

 

Love the madness, mate.

[Taff]

I hope that chevy van has a full working compliment of fairy lights inside?

[Cheggers]

I hope that chevy van has a full working compliment of firearms inside?

FTFY

[purplebargeken]

You are now WuvvumBob.

[Cheggers]

The Chevy is what my dear old Dad would call "a proper rapists motor"...does the interior smell faintly of rohypnol?

 

Joking aside, I love it...

[oldcars]

The Chevy is what my dear old Dad would call "a proper rapists motor"...does the interior smell faintly of rohypnol?

 

Joking aside, I love it...

Now theres a new airfreshner that could be released 

[Bren]

The bigger engined movano's are surprisingly swift- I used to drive one, I used to surprise passengers with how quickly it picked up until it suddenly developed asthma at 3500rpm.

[wuvvum]

Well I brought the Mazda home last night, so here's some better pics.

 

 

 

 

I reckon it's still an amazingly modern-looking shape given that it's now a 25-year-old car.  It drives nicely too - the Badermatic 'box is quite responsive and it has a 16-valve version of the 1324cc engine so it's nippy enough.  One thing it could do with, and I don't say this very often about a small car, is PAS - although it's more manageable now I've put 33 psi in the front tyres rather than the 21 that was in them before.

 

 

In other fleet news, I've been doing some bits to the red Rover today.  The nearside rear wheel bearing now looks like this:

 

 

And the nearside sill and rear arch look like this:

 

 

Fitting the replacement rear hub was actually amazingly easy once I'd remembered what I'd read in the Haynes manual about the nearside hub nut being a left-handed thread.    Once I'd worked out which way I needed to turn it, it soon came undone with the help of my rather puny breaker bar and a length of former Renault 6 exhaust as a makeshift scaffold pole.  There was a bit of a faff with removing the brake caliper as the top bolt wouldn't come undone with a spanner so I had to take off the handbrake mechanism so I could get a socket on there, but it came off easily enough after that, and once it'd been removed the old hub literally came off in my hands.  A couple of taps to the wheel studs soon had the brake disc separated from the hub, and the new one went on equally hassle-free - although I had to reuse the old hub nut as the one supplied with the new bearing was a right-hand thread and thus useless.  Don't think it's the end of the world though as it looks like a robust enough bit of kit to be reused safely.

 

The sill and arch were welded up last weekend by a mate, but I've only just got round to tidying it up and giving it a stylish tidemark.  The black stuff is an evil concoction which my mate swears by - it's made up of Waxoyl, bitumen paint and varnish (to help it harden) - should do the job.  The car is now worryingly close to being MOT-ready - still needs a couple of tyres, the brakes tweaking and for me to sort the pesky offside sidelight which keeps switching itself off, but the new wheel bearing has made a massive difference - I can actually hear the engine at 50mph now.

 

Haven't done much to the Chevy van other than having a poke around and finding out what the various buttons do.  It now has working lights in the back, which is nice.  I was going to try and take the clocks out to see if I can find out why the fuel gauge isn't working, but they seem to be held in quite tightly by cables etc. and some of them appear to be those weird printed cables which are doubtless very fragile after 32 years, so I didn't try too hard.  I might have to take the underside of the dash off and see if I can get at the back of the clocks from underneath.  I've treated it to a new pair of wiper blades, but that's about as far as it's gone thus far.  I took it for a quick run earlier - it does pick up a bit better since I topped up the ATF, but it's never going to be a fast vehicle.  I found a sticker which says that the kerb weight is 2,640 kg - which might explain the lack of acceleration...

[barmatt]

That chevy is awesome Dave, any interior pics?

 

 

I'll take second dibs when you fancy moving it on

[purplebargeken]

Roffle!

[Tetleysmooth]

When are you going to find a V70 T5 that we can do a deal on?

[barmatt]

Roffle!

 

numbers 1-49 please

[wuvvum]

That chevy is awesome Dave, any interior pics?

 

Umm, the interior really isn't that impressive at the moment - four leather seats from a Grand Voyager, a double bed at the back and some laminate flooring.  It does have a fancy blue metalflake steering wheel though.

[wuvvum]

When are you going to find a V70 T5 that we can do a deal on?

I have a V70 T5.  Complete with wheelarch kitteh.

 

 

I want to hang onto it for the moment though.

[barmatt]

Umm, the interior really isn't that impressive at the moment - four leather seats from a Grand Voyager, a double bed at the back and some laminate flooring.  It does have a fancy blue metalflake steering wheel though.

 

That's disappointing, I had visions of an A-Team thing going on with massive captains chairs and a big box full of machine guns.

[danthecapriman]

Absolutely love your Chevy van. Most seem to be petrols so a diesel version is a bit more unusual. More pics please!

[Tetleysmooth]

I have a V70 T5.  Complete with wheelarch kitteh.

 

DSC_0275.JPG

 

I want to hang onto it for the moment though.

 

Is that an auto?

[hairnet]

hankwuvvumdavebob

[wuvvum]

Is that an auto?

Yep.

[wuvvum]

By popular* demand, here's a couple more pics of the hillbilly van:

 

Back view.

 

 

 

Dash.  This is one instance where the federal 85mph speedo might actually be optimistic...

 

 

Inside.  Not particularly impressive as dayvan interiors go, but one could think of it as a blank canvas.  The brown buttoned velour headlining is nice* though.

 

 

 

 

[DVee8]

Wow just wow!!

 

This will be a popular raffle.

[garethj]

What's "The Doctor" sticker on the back?

 

[wuvvum]

I think it's something to do with Valentino Rossi.