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

[83C]

1000 miles in, including a trip to Cornwall. The L322 has been great so far. Moody Perranporth beach shot:

Happy dog with lots of travel space:

The helm. I've suffered worse:

[Minimad5]

These have always been on my radar, but gearbox BORKAGE scares me 😅

X10 Randoms when it comes to it.

Good luck 👍 

[83C]

It's a beige and battered Dullville. Doesn't run, key is broken, brakes are borked, bodywork shagged and those are the good bits. 

Anyone got any Bros/Hawk/Dullville parts?

[83C]

Minor fleet update and procrastination.

The 525d just keeps on going. New battery fitted and coded in, clean MoT pass too on Friday. I'm getting to the stage where I don't really know what to do with it, I've had it for nearly 4 years, done nearly 50k in it and it has cost me virtually nothing in repairs - sum total so far is a pair of headlamp modules (£60 the pair), a pair of rear springs (£250 fitted), a battery (£140), and usual consumables such as tyres, brakes and oil/filter changes. However, its beginning to look tatty, the front bumper loses more paint every time I jet wash it, the o/s/r door lacquer is starting to go and the drivers door seal is knackered. Mechanically I can feel a few rattles from both front and rear, a fault code scan from when the battery was coded in shows couple of the glow plugs are u/s and the oil seals on the diff occasionally show signs of being a bit damp. If I keep it I'd want to put some money into it, correcting the paint deficiencies, rebush the suspension all round and sort the diff, so probably around £2k to bring it back to really tidy condition. But ultimately its a £5k car and doing that work isn't going to make it a £7k car, and I don't know if I want to keep it. I keep looking at getting something a bit newer but I can't really find anything that I reckon is good value and that I actually want - ideally I'd like to replace it with a 530d M-Sport Touring but a last of the line F11 LCI is still around £16-17k with sub 100k miles and thats just daft. I was hoping that by now an early G31 530d would be dropping into that price bracket (and a bit lower) but they've all gone up £2-3k in the last 12 months. But then the Range Rover fills the family wagon/go anywhere with everything brief very well, so what do I need an F11/G31 for? I absolutely adore my F10, driving it has become like putting on a favourite pair of boots, I know it well and know its pluses and minuses. But my commute is about to go from 12 miles to 3 miles which won't help it, so maybe I should be looking for something smaller? Must have 4 seats at least but maybe I could have something more sports-orientated. I like the look of a Porsche 996, but I don't really want to commute in one. Maybe something like a 135i? I don't know. I would like something with a bit more go (the 525d isn't sluggish with 204bhp and the 8-speed auto making very effect use of it) but anything wantable seems to be going up in value. But maybe the increase in fuel prices will temper that? I've no idea. 

In other news, the L322 is going in tomorrow for a new rear propshaft because the bearing and UJ are knackered, and the UJ isn't available as a separate item. Hopefully it won't need too much for MoT. 

[Matty]

If you still like it and it's a good car then better the devil you know. Sink a bit of money into the cosmetics and keep going

[83C]

On 3/13/2022 at 9:27 PM, Matty said:

If you still like it and it's a good car then better the devil you know. Sink a bit of money into the cosmetics and keep going

Spoke to a man on Friday about this. He reckons £500 to sort it out, and I'm sure he'll do a decent job - his past work speaks for itself and is well known in the area. Also began pricing up new bits for underneath, so investment into the F10 is probably what will happen to keep it good for another 12-24 months as the daily driver. 

But I've still got a bit of an itch to scratch, though I don't know exactly what. Next year I'll buy myself something a bit special, but this year I fancy buying something for a couple of grand (or less) that will just be a bit of fun for 12 months. My Ebay watch list has Mercedes CL500s, a VW Scirocco GTII (which I'm really tempted by but it's a long way away), Land Rover Discovery TD5s (bit close to the Range Rover but the ideal number of Green Ovals in the fleet is always N+1), a 1960's VW Beetle, a BMW E46 325Ci, a Rover P5... just lots of nonsense really. I'm also spending far too much time browsing the low cost/big liability thread, because obviously having an L322 Range Rover isn't risky enough.

Speaking of which, the Range Rover is still in for surgery - an ABS sensor failed so the garage sorted that first before tackling the rear prop replacement, I'm hoping to get that back this week, just in time for the MoT to expire.

ZZR booked in for MoT and service at the end of the week, hopefully get some more miles on it this year. It's almost been confined to quarters the last year because it doesn't really fit through the gate to/from where it is parked. A radical solution to that issue is happening very soon. 

[83C]

I couldn't decide what 4-wheeled implement to buy (a couple of things including a CL500 in Bristol and a certain vast American land barge in Tavistock got away just in time), so tomorrow I'm off collectioneering this:

Any guesses?

In other news the Range Rover passed its MoT with a clean bill of health, then immediately went on a week long 1000 mile trip to Cornwall and back with no issues. Cost me £240 in fuel though! The ZZR was also a clean pass, so thats the whole working fleet through MoT with first time passes this year. Radical solution to lack of use thanks to awkward access happened - I moved house, so it's now safe and secure but I don't need to scrape the exhausts every time I move it. Next step is to build a proper workshop.

[Asimo]

BMW R1100.

[83C]

39 minutes ago, Asimo said:

BMW R1100.

3 minutes. 

That game didn't last long!

[83C]

Collection occurring. Train heading south. 

[83C]

First leg done:

[83C]

Collection achieved, yay.

 

However, 15 miles into the journey home...

Fork seal blown. Boo.

[cort1977]

Nice, I loved mine.

 

[83C]

3 hours ago, cort1977 said:

Nice, I loved mine.

 

It’s surprisingly good to ride. Bit of a heffalump to manoeuvre but once underway it rides very nicely (even with shot fork seals). Minimal wind blast and the motorised screen is a definite advantage.

Got home fine, just need to tidy it and fix the forks.

[83C]

Been out on the RT a handful of times but I’m really struggling to gel with it. It’s comfortable, goes alright (better than I expected to be honest) the gearbox isn’t as agricultural as I was expecting (apparently a BMW boxer trait) and it handles surprisingly well. It’s a very good bike and I can see how people doing big mileages on one would be very happy with it. That all said, at no point have I thought ‘I’d really like to take the RT out today’ - I’ve taken it over the ZZR purely to get more used to riding it. When I had the SV (and even the G650GS) I’d take them over the ZZR if I fancied a change of pace or a different riding experience, but so far that hasn’t happened with the RT. I’ve always found myself riding along wishing I was on the ZZR or A. N. Other bike, maybe something like a Triumph Tiger.

Think it’ll be going up for sale soon.

 

[83C]

Today I are mostly been scraping shit out of the Range Rover’s intake manifold. 

Stripped it off whilst chasing a minor diesel leak (which turned out to be a slightly loose jubilee clip on the LP pipe into the fuel pump) and figured I might as well get the degreaser, picks, blue roll and whatever else I could use to extract as much of the horrible gunk as possible. 

Wasn’t going to get it all out but the car certainly seems to breathe easier now.

[83C]

Not long after scraping all the shite out of the Range Rover’s inlet manifold it started to feel a bit limp below 3000rpm with some excess smoke on hard acceleration, and then the starter motor decided to take retirement. 207,000 miles isn’t bad for an OE motor I suppose.

Starter motor replacement was fairly easy: 

Supposedly it needs the inlet manifold coming off for access - no, it doesn’t. Removal would make accessing at least one of the two bolts through the bellhousing easier, and the one visible in the picture above is deep in a well in the alloy casting where my ratchet couldn’t fit. Cue a bodge using a 12-point 10mm ring spanner to shift it, and then a 10mm ratchet spanner to unwind it. Still, was an excuse to go and buy some proper torx spanners for refitting. 

The slight lack of go I lived with as I couldn’t see anything obvious, until a few days ago when I happened to be talking to the previous owner. Whilst describing the issue he mentioned that he’d had something similar and one of the vacuum hoses had perished. He replaced it as a temporary measure with some slightly oversize clear plastic tubing as a temporary fix and then promptly forgot all about it, turns out the temporary fix had indeed come adrift. I happened to have some spare single wall silicone tubing of the appropriate size, so I replaced the clear tube which brought a slight improvement but still not back to as it used to be. As it linked into one side of what appears to be a boost control solenoid, I followed the other hose down to the wastegate. 

Problem found:

Problem (sort of) solved:

New air filter fitted too. The red tubing is some old silicone stuff from an engine bling kit for a Mitsubishi GTO TT - I’ve still got a box of random parts for them that’ll never be used. Although it’s sold as vacuum line it’s not ideal as it’s only single wall construction and under vacuum can collapse on itself, so at some point I need to buy some proper twin wall vacuum line of the appropriate bore and I’ll replace all of the vacuum lines. But for now, the M57 is back to full fitness through the rev range and it’s not smoking either, so I’ll call that a win and move on. 

The windscreen has also had a chip which has quickly developed into a six-inch crack, so it needs replacement. Be an insurance job as I’m not paying £1200…

[83C]

They say you should learn from the mistakes of others. I’m obviously a bit slow on the uptake, especially given another shiter’s recent experiences of old British metal. 

Not content with one car capable of throwing ruinously expensive bills, and timed perfectly to coincide with a global recession, I spent a load of my now near worthless pounds on this:

The best bit:

Back in a bit, there’s someone at the door in what looks like a white coat, holding something that looks suspiciously like a rolled up straitjacket.

[sdkrc]

I thought 'holy fuck' in the title might have been a bit dramatic until I saw the Bentley but now it seems understated. 

Superb + ballsy purchase. God speed

[Sham]

What can possibly go well wrong?

[HMC]

Wow. LOVE IT. the colour is just epic. Sort of Far Eastern glam.

I’ll have to live my Bentley dream through you from now on 😆

[83C]

19 minutes ago, HMC said:

Wow. LOVE IT. the colour is just epic. Sort of Far Eastern glam.

I’ll have to live my Bentley dream through you from now on 😆

I always promised myself I'd have one before I turned 40, but to be honest I'd kind of given up on the idea. This one turned up local-ish, so it was well worth a look. Older gent selling, knew exactly what he was selling and was helpful pointing out various small flaws with it. For something so vast the cabin is also rather small, the dash wraps around the driver as it should and it feels just right. I'll have it on the road for a few weeks and then store it for winter, its recently had repairs to the inner sills and replacement outers and I'd quite like to keep them tidy.

[Asimo]

Proper car, proper colour, proper epic!

[Datsuncog]

Crikey Moses.

What a purchase!

[holbeck]

2 hours ago, 83C said:

They say you should learn from the mistakes of others. I’m obviously a bit slow on the uptake, especially given another shiter’s recent experiences of old British metal. 

Not content with one car capable of throwing ruinously expensive bills, and timed perfectly to coincide with a global recession, I spent a load of my now near worthless pounds on this:

The best bit:

Back in a bit, there’s someone at the door in what looks like a white coat, holding something that looks suspiciously like a rolled up straitjacket.

Yes. I can definitely see you in that. 

Well bought....... You mad bugger!

[camryv6]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

Wow. LOVE IT. the colour is just epic. Sort of Far Eastern glam.

I’ll have to live my Bentley dream through you from now on 😆

I am sure you will buy one next week or the week after

[83C]

Interior is lovely, only negative is that the heel pad has fallen apart. There is a full set of the correct lambswool overrugs with the car, but my feet don’t fit properly with them in place. Weirdly for a car that is eighteen feet long and requires it’s own postcode, the space for the driver is best described as ‘cosy’ - the seat is at maximum travel and drop and I’m still wedged in tight, though I’m a bit taller than average to be fair.

The 40 mile drive home was mega - half spent marvelling at the fact that I’ve actually got one and half spent giggling at the way it gathers pace. It’s not quick by hot hatch or sports saloon standards (book time is something like 6 secs to 60) but the shove is immediate and relentless. 

What is apparent is that it needs some gentle-ish regular use - the previous owner kept it well but barely used it and things were beginning to get a bit stiff - the boot needed opening on the key before the electronic boot release got the memo that it was supposed to work. Plan is to use it until the end of October occasionally, then it’ll come off the road until the council stop spreading salt. It’s already had the sills done and was recently resprayed so it’s worth keeping it good. Tyres are all pretty much life expired, some perishing and all near the wear indicators - a set of Bridgestones will be around £650 in the required 255/50/18 fitment which I don’t reckon is too bad, and the car even came with a Ctek battery conditioner for leaving it over winter. Tyres will be done at the end of winter so as not to leave new rubber standing.

Only thing I’d like for it is some sort of aux input for my phone and music, it has an Alpine radio/cassette head unit with Sat nav system in the top of the dash, so there must be a way in there. I don’t want to change the head unit though.

[Saabnut]

I said this just recently, although that did not end well:

Welcome to the Blown Bentley Club  

[83C]

Just now, Saabnut said:

I said this just recently, although that did not end well:

Welcome to the Blown Bentley Club  

I’ll blame you then if it all goes wrong 😆

[Crackers]

Holy fuck indeed.

Wow.