83C's Shite-esque Fleet: I can see the light!

[Wilko220]

That colour suits 75s so well.

[taxi paul]

Camper van and a 75. You sir are living the dream.

[83C]

Fairly busy day all told.

 

Decided to give the car a damn good wash first so it was off to the jetwash, followed by getting the worn tyre sorted. Whilst at the jetwash I found the n/s/r tyre had a nail in it, on the outer edge. Bugger.

 

Anyway, having blasted half of a Devon field out of the four arches and scrubbed the paintwork the car looked a lot better, no pictures unfortunately because of the downpour that began just as I was rinsing the last of the detergent off the car. From the jetwash I went down to a local place in Newton Abbot who do a reasonable range of part-worns. £60 later a matching pair of 5+mm tread Continentals were fitted to the front, replacing one that was worn down to being illegal and displacing the other to replace the n/s/r that had the nail in. Both rears now have between 2.5 and 3.5mm of tread so they should last a month or two.

 

I'd like to put a good word in for Teign Tyres on Olympus Business Park in Newton Abbot, lovely people to deal with and very good service - I was allowed to choose my own tyres, prices aren't silly and they even treated the sidewalls of all four tyres to a generous coat of wet-look tyre gel.

 

On the ramp at Teign Tyres:

 

 

I dropped by the scrapyard on the same estate, and picked up a driver's side rear light cluster for £10 - the lens on the current one is cracked and not waterproof, so as I'm removing it to seal behind the unit I might as well replace it.

 

I've also found the CD multichanger in the boot, so I'll rack up a load of CDs later to see if it works

 

One other thing; the cost of the car. It set me back £75. Tyres and light cluster have brought the total spend so far to £145. I was cruising back along the A380, in a quiet, comfortable barge, marvelling at how much metal a very trivial amount of money can purchase.

 

I don't really intend on keeping it for long, probably a month or two. But it will have a minor service in the next week or three, I'll rectify the minor stuff and then I feel a raffle coming on

[purplebargeken]

What a fab thread. Loving the Stumpy Sprinter, the R75 and bonus brown Audi. Most excellent!

 

I'd love to have a van of a decent size with at least a nod or three to a conversion. Sadly the poxy twatting LEZ kills that stone dead. Another reason to move out of bloody London.

[EssDeeWon]

Nice 75 well bought!  And for 75 sovs!!

[holbeck]

You don't hang about Scott........ Nice work.

[83C]

This morning I went on mg-rover.info and got the build info for my 75:

 

Build date: Tuesday 11th March 2003 @ 08.55

Paint Code: HFF

Ext. Paint: British Racing Green Pearlescent

Int. Trim: Ash/Light Smokestone

It was the 67,544th 75 built, out of 112,381.

 

Bonus picture with the Sloth:

 

[oldcars]

I need to check mine out, think you need the vin number or something to do it.

[83C]

Yep. Just enter the vin number and it gives all the info.

[83C]

Due to a bit of news I had today I'll no longer need the Sloth so it's going up for sale. I'll do a proper Force Hail post tonight.

 

It does mean however that the Rover may well stay for a bit longer!

[Sheefag]

Impressive parking radar on The Sloth.

[83C]

I prefer to think of it as a good incentive for would-be tailgaters to think again.

[83C]

New rear light cluster fitted:

 

 

Next, Llyn Bach:

 

 

I scraped a bit of the sound deadening away from one of the pressed in discs in the spare wheel well and punched a small hole through it.

 

Car having a very long wee:

 

 

Halfway gone:

 

 

Discovered two small slugs living by the spare wheel so they were evicted. CD changer works a treat, so to celebrate I bought a pair of Iron Maiden CD's from Sainsburys. It's probably the first time in a good couple of years that I've bought a new CD:

 

[simon8201]

can I have my David Gilmour cd back now please?

[83C]

Yep! I'll put it in your pigeon hole tomorrow.

[Ghosty]

£75?

 

 

Does anyone have a 25 for sale?

[83C]

Having a week at home has meant I can lavish some attention on another member of the fleet:

 

 

 

It was looking filthy so I splashed out for a 15 minute jetwash at Morrisons. Tomorrow I'll get the inside sorted out.

 

It's a 2001 728i Sport that I've owned for nine months. I've always liked the E38s, and when this one came up locally for a very bargainous price I had to have it, especially as it's a genuine Sport model. It needs a few small things sorting (front top mounts and track rod ends), and the One Big Job - the fuel tank leaks like all E38s. The leak is somewhere in the upper half of the tank, and as such hasn't been a priority to fix - half a tank is still good for well over 300 miles of range. As soon as I find a decent replacement tank I'll get it done though.

 

M52TUB28 Goodness:

 

 

The last of the shark-noses?

 

[Laseraligningfoofooflanges]

Hi mate GR8 e38.. What did you pay for the old girl? just out of interest.

 

Thanks. Oh and love the 75.. Wish id of known about the vin thing when i had my ZR

[83C]

£500. I have however spent at least £200 so far, and will comfortably exceed the purchase price a couple of times over with what I'm planning to do - strut tops, track rod ends, fuel tank, alloy refresh, tidy some poor paintwork etc.

[83C]

More Rur-Vur progress:

 

 

Front pads were quite well worn. When I bought the car the previous owner said they'd already been done....

 

Fitting them meant I could finally get rid of the low brake pad sensor lamp on the dash - or so I thought. Turns out its knackered:

 

 

Therefore I've removed it, twisted the wires together to get rid of the lamp and taped the stub out of the way until I can raid a breakers for a new sensor to solder on.

 

1.8 K Turbo. Hasn't exploded yet.

 

 

Important job for any 75/ZT owner:

 

 

Rodding out the drain holes in the inner wings and plenum. They block up and turn the chamber that holds the pollen filter and ECU into a small swimming bath. For the eagle-eyed railway modellers among you, I'm using a piece of Peco Code 100 flatbottom nickel silver rail. My proper pipe rodding tool has been borrowed and so far not returned.

 

Also, the rear lights have been removed, a layer of RTV-ish sealant applied to both sides of the foam gasket (and a very generous blob where the gasket has a built in slot) and re-installed. Hopefully this should finally cure the leaky boot.

[83C]

Camper gone. I will need another one next year though, so I'm starting to plan now.

 

Options are to convert an XLWB high-roof Sprinter, or go big and buy a coach.

[83C]

Since the forum issues it seems my most recent posts have been lost, so the recent news is that I've bought this:

 

 

A 1984 Leyland Tiger.

 

I've also acquired this:

 

 

A 2000 Vauxhall Astra van, to use as the support vehicle and for general tat-hauling duties.

 

In the reshuffle the Rover has become surplus to requirements, so is up for sale.

[holbeck]

When are you collectioning the bus Scott?

[83C]

Next week. I'll make sure the collection is detailed here!

[83C]

The story so far;

 

I'm on 2S16, the 0802 from Worcester Foregate St. To get this far, at 0200 I jumped in the E38 from Cornwall to Exeter, swapped my stuff into the 75 and drove to Worcester, where I met the 75's new owner. We did the handover outside the station, so I could get straight on the train with my kit.

 

I'm on this train as far as Smethwick Galton Bridge, where I change for Wolverhampton, where I change again for Shrewsbury.

 

So far, everything is going well. How long can it last?

[red5]

Signal failure at SGB incoming...

[83C]

Sorry for the lack of updates, mobile internet reception was shite in Porthmadog.

 

Anyway, the continuation of the story. I made it to Shrewsbury from Smethwick without issue, where my friend who was selling me the Tiger was waiting. I didn't take any photos unfortunately, as time was a bit limited. I drove up to Porthmadog via Llangollen and Bala, taking in the A4212 - no matter what vehicle I'm in I thoroughly enjoy that road. I parked up the bus for the duration of my time in Porthmadog, and started out at 0515 this morning, bound for Devon.

 

What was I doing in Porthmadog? Firing this:

 

 

Anyway, back to the Gwynedd-Devon leg of the trip. I got to Shrewsbury around 0700, stopping to feed both the Tiger and my stomach. My stomach was filled with a double sausage and egg McMuffin, and the Tiger got 20 gallons of diesel. The tank actually holds nearly 90 gallons but I don't see the need to put in any more than I'm going to use (plus a reserve amount). At an average of 10 mpg 20 gallons would be what I needed to get to Devon. I left Shrewsbury at 0730, stopping only at Gloucester services for a quick dash to the toilet. Hint for M5 users, don't use Gloucester services for anything other than fuel or the bog. I got in the queue to get a brew and gave up when they hadn't managed to finish serving the customer at the front five minutes later.

 

Gloucester Services:

 

 

On the motorway my particular Tiger's coach-spec underpinnings really shone through - unlike town buses that are useless on the motorway thanks to a low top speed, the Tiger cruised down the M54, M6 and M5 with ease. With no speed limiter fitted it was actually a job sticking to 62mph....

 

I got to Exeter around 1115, taking out the 45 mins for stops on the way down 5hrs 15mins wasn't bad going at all.

 

Outside Exeter St Davids:

 

 

From there it was a half hour trip to the storage area, so now it's parked in its new home. Next jobs are to give it a thorough clean and sort out the spares. A quick check of the fuel tank revealed that it had used a little bit less than the 20gal I estimated, which was a rather pleasant surprise.

 

Now I'm heading back to Exeter to collect the 7 and drive it down to Cornwall. The fun never stops!

[Sheefag]

What a fab thread. Loving the Stumpy Sprinter, the R75 and bonus brown Audi. Most excellent!

 

I'd love to have a van of a decent size with at least a nod or three to a conversion. Sadly the poxy twatting LEZ kills that stone dead. Another reason to move out of bloody London.

 

My 2003 HiAce runs around the West End & City every day and it's LEZ compliant. They're worth considering.

[Sheefag]

And as for selling a car and buying a bus? Hero status!

[83C]

A small diversion;

 

 

A Bristol VR Series 3. Not mine, I hasten to add. It is however parked at the same place as my Tiger, and is owned by a friend. I'll be getting it back to being mobile for him so the more involved work can be done.

 

Yesterday was spent assessing it and getting it running. I was very pleasantly surprised when, after checking the fluid levels and sticking a new set of batteries on, it fired up almost instantly. It was a less than pleasant discovery a few minutes later that neither the stop button in the cab nor the stop button on the engine cover worked. Fortunately the stop solenoid can still be worked manually....

 

The first few minutes of running also indicated the exhaust might well be past its best, and that the air system needs looking at.

 

There's quite a shopping list building up, but fortunately most of it is smaller stuff that, whilst time consuming, shouldn't be too expensive or too much of a pain to fit.

 

In other fleet news, the E38 has some new front strut topmounts on the way, and the Astravan has some alloy wheels waiting to be fitted. The 14" steels roll a bit too much for my liking.

 

If anyone in the Devon/Cornwall area wants some 14" Vauxhall steels (4x100pcd) with excellent condition 175/75/14 tyres (I think they're 75 profile), drop me a PM.