The ongoing journey of Spartacus’ 1988 Fiat Panda

[Marshall2810]

7 hours ago, wesacosa said:

thanks mate. Once I'm on the road its ok, its the thought of it in the lead up that stresses me.. It was the same with the XM in Feb too.  I think the problem is with the ulez I can't just drive them around when I like so tend to sit a while and then my first journey is a crucial one to the MOT station. My XM was my daily until last August and I never felt any nerves going anywhere in it but once I'm not driving it regularly post ulez the nerves start 

Id also done a load of work on the Panda the last few months and all of it untested other than a quick 100 meter run on private land*

Fantastic news on the pass wes, must be a big weight off. Just to echo @grogee I'm sorry your not feeling as good about taking your cars out. I think ULEZ just encourages people to be paranoid when going out. I don't live anywhere near a ulez but imagine it's like when I got caught speeding years back (36 in a 30 or something at 4am!) , makes you very paranoid whenever you go anywhere or at least it felt for me.

Onwards and upwards  

[wesacosa]

6 minutes ago, Marshall2810 said:

Fantastic new on the pass wes, must be a big weight off. Just to echo @grogeesaid im sorry your not feeling as good about taking your cars out. I think ULEZ just encourages people to be paranoid when going anywhere. I don't live anywhere near a ulez but imagine it's like when I got caught speeding years back (36 in a 30 or something at 4am!) , makes you very paranoid whenever you go anywhere or at least it felt for me.

Onwards and upwards  

cheers mate. I'm actually in the ulez zone itself so it's £12.50 to get off my street, so there's no incentive to just pop to the shops in it and build up confidence in small regular journies 

[Marshall2810]

It'd just make me want to hang on to them all longer until they're exempt. Why not treat yourself to a Visa in the meantime? and f@%k 'em!

[wesacosa]

45 minutes ago, Marshall2810 said:

It'd just make me want to hang on to them all longer until they're exempt. Why not treat yourself to a Visa in the meantime? and f@%k 'em!

Sadly the next exempt one is 2029 

I was tempted with the Visa but cant take another car on until at least two go, and even then its probably not what I need at the moment.

[Grumblespeed]

Great news on the pass Wes, no matter how much you put into the mechanicals it's always a relief when the testers hammer doesn't put any new holes in. Should make it much easier to move on too if it's still the plan. hope you get to enjoy it a bit first though.

[wesacosa]

5 minutes ago, Grumblespeed said:

Great news on the pass Wes, no matter how much you put into the mechanicals it's always a relief when the testers hammer doesn't put any new holes in. Should make it much easier to move on too if it's still the plan. hope you get to enjoy it a bit first though.

thanks Andrew. Yeah definitely is a relief. I'm ok with most of the mechanical bits all be it a bit slow but any welding would be a blow. Need to get the Vactan and underseal out asap though I think otherwise next MOT might not be so favourable 

It was good to get out in it again and to be fair it ran pretty well considering I've messed around with all the ignition and fuelling 🤣

I also remembered how uncomfortable the accelerator position is. I'm wondering if people modify the pedal as its so high? 

 

[Grumblespeed]

1 minute ago, wesacosa said:

I also remembered how uncomfortable the accelerator position is. I'm wondering if people modify the pedal as its so high? 

Weirdly still a thing on the Mk3 - Mrs hates driving mine because of the high throttle position. Reckon the Italians designed it for the ladies to drive in heels😉

[wesacosa]

Just now, Grumblespeed said:

Weirdly still a thing on the Mk3 - Mrs hates driving mine because of the high throttle position. Reckon the Italians designed it for the ladies to drive in heels😉

ha maybe. 

[Zelandeth]

It was a thing in the Cinquecento as well as I remember.  I ended up removing and bending the throttle pedal in my last Lada as well because that sat so high, so may well just be a Fiat thing.

Great news on the pass.  Always a huge weight off your shoulders when a car that's been sitting around and/or fighting you gets a fresh test.  Real shame about the ULEZ though, as the single best thing for it now is probably getting some miles under the wheels when there's no salt on the roads.

Should make it a lot more attractive a proposition for any potential new keeper with a ticket on as well I imagine.