Outlaw Update, 26/4/25 Barn* Find* Capri shenanigans

[outlaw118]

Smoll update: Nothing to report on most of the fleet, Miss_Outlaw's Fiat is currently doing a fine impression of a removal van, as her an Bloke have just completed on their first (owned/mortgaged) house. I'll be assisting in the Kia Of Much Blueness on Friday.

The Capri is almost visible after some work in the garage last weekend - the garden furniture is now out, Outlaw_Junior's stuff has been condensed down, and I've almost got acxcess to shove the old girl across the garage and get underneath. Almost.

SWMBO has ben squeaking that the hydraulic ram thingys on the  Rio tailgate seem to be struggling - |I had a look and it was a bit dicey to stand underneath the fully open bootlid due to droopage. I enquired with Kia regarding new ones - they quoted about £300 plus vat. No thanks. Went on eBay, and got some Marinelli (?) ones for £25 the pair, delivered.  Easy enough job, prise the little collar / washer thing off top and bottom,  get you trusty screwdriver between the damper and the tailgate at the bottom, pop it off, twist top off. Bang the top one with a mixture of brute force and twisting, slap the bottom one on. Repeat for other side.

Piece of piss. I like jobs like this.

 

[outlaw118]

Another smoll update.

My (shit) Sportage is still for sale at the dealer I gave it back to - still with the photos showing the EML, but he's knocked £1000 off, so it's £13999 now. Obviously I've got no idea how much he gave for it in the first place, but the amount of ££££ that's been thrown at it, he's going to struggle to get a drink out of it.  Good luck with that.

Sportage 2, did a good few miles last weekend, to Burton-On-Trent via Leamington Spa, tootled about, then back to Grays via Arlsey where Miss_Outlaw has bought her first house with The Bloke. Averaged high 30's empeegees all in, and all is well. certainly not as comfy as Megamoose, but I don't think I'll ever own anything that cossetting again. Unless SWMBO grows 6" and her knees and shoulders miraculously repair themselves, then i'll get another one. Moose would probably have drunk slightly less too, but the price of dizzle v pez would cancel that out.

Letter direct from Kia today regarding a recall on Madam's Rio. Apparently there's a risk of leaks on the Hydraulic Electronic Control Unit, which could make fire stuff happen, with a consequence of killing nuns and kittens. Apparently they're going to "replace the fuses in the junction box", which is slightly odd, surely it'd be a good idea to fix / investigate the potential leakage, rather than just change the fucking fuses? Whatever, allegedly "this will take around half an hour". Yeah right. 

As my old man once said, "My prick's a bloater, and you've got fish for tea".

Or something.

 

[outlaw118]

Kia Watch - Old/shit Sportage still for sale @ £13999.......

Not a barn, not find (as that would indicate it was lost - I knew it was there, I just didn't do anything about it.)

 

Outlaw_Junior's stuff has (mostly) been moved out of the garage, apart from a kayak, and a couple of mini-motos, so I ventured down there this afternoon, after doing my best Percy Thrower impression with SWMBO.

I shifted the last of the stuff either outside, or to the other side, and uncovered her for the first time in literally years; as I've said before Junior's stuff got put in there in lockdown, and only just cleared.

I was expecting the worst to be honest, but fortunately I'd left the windows open a bit so it doesn't smell too bad - a few spider webs but no mould or mildew.  There's a bit of blistering on the passenger's front wing which has appeared since I covered it up, nothing too bad, I'll tackle it at some point. The leather on the seats is pretty dry, I've given it a quick going over with Autoglym leather cleaner, then sploshed a load of their leather care balm all over it, and left it to soak while I fannied about else where.

Under the bonnet -  I was under no illusion that she was going to start, but I was kind of hopeful that the battery would take a charge, especially as it was brand new (way back when, admittedly) and hadn't been used. 

Nope. Not a flicker from the charger. I tried another one, and that didn't register any activity either. Ho hum. It's an 075, about £50 off eBay with a 4 year guarantee, so that's the next expenditure.  She's lost a little bit of cooland at some point - it's just below the minumum in the expansion tank, whereas it was on Max when parked. Something else for the list. 

I emptied the car of spares and ephemera, and installed my latest stupid acquisition - a stainless steel bonnet prop....yeah I know, right? Other important work then occurred when I stuck the Autoshite dealer sticjer in the back.

I took it off the skates, and the idea was that I'd push her out into the open air, open the doors, and boot, get a breeze through. 

Fail - rear brakes locked on, so couldn't push it anywhere. Tomorrow, I'll whip the wheels off if I get a chance and use The Heavy Spanner on the drums, see if I can free them off.

I then took a remarkably small amount of leather balm off the seats, they were clearly thirsty!

 

Will update when / if I get any progress!