It's grim up north…tales from the Primate House

[NorthernMonkey]

8 minutes ago, Matty said:

If thats Manchester Road in Haslingden you were next to my work buying that. Brave man 😄

It is but it was very cheap indeed for what it is. Hard to go wrong really…already sourced a box  for it too!

[Matty]

1 hour ago, NorthernMonkey said:

It is but it was very cheap indeed for what it is. Hard to go wrong really…already sourced a box  for it too!

I meant more buying a car from Haslingden 🤣.

Sure mending it is easy street for you tbf 👍

[NorthernMonkey]

Anyway, back to the Mercedes for the moment.

It’s now (mostly) back together and fully road legal so it’s had a bath this morning and is now going to be used as my daily for the time being.

The eagle eyed among you may, if you squint and look really closely, MAY just about spot that there are still some red bits inside. Once the robbing gits who charged me £15 postage on top of too much money in the first place for two colour matched cans of vinylkote finally see fit to deliver my order, there’s a bit of light finishing to do, along with some matching door cards to fit.

Hopefully, it’ll be a bit more finished by next Friday when it’s due to make an appearance at The Great British Car Journey, for @motorpunk’s book launch 🙂

[Schaefft]

What a redemption story for this S124, I'm glad it got the TLC and lives on!

[yes oui si]

I was just wondering about it the other day. Glad (and entirely unsurprised) to see that you've brought it back to life. 

Sad to see the red go, but it'll look a lot more cohesive once done. 

[NorthernMonkey]

Why do I do this to myself… 🤨

 

 

 

Tell you what though, it might be 18 years old but you can tell it’s only lived in the UK for ten months…everything comes apart like a brand new car and there’s not a spot off corrosion anywhere underneath!

[Tickman]

48 minutes ago, NorthernMonkey said:

Why do I do this to myself 

You love every minute of it really 😂

[jim89]

7 minutes ago, Tickman said:

You love every minute of it really 😂

Self flagella.... Nigella.... something or other

[NorthernMonkey]

15 minutes ago, Tickman said:

You love every minute of it really 😂

It’s actually quite pleasurable to work on 🙂

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, NorthernMonkey said:

Why do I do this to myself…

You'd be bored otherwise. At least it's a productive past time and unlikely to hurt anyone (except yourself, obs) 😀

[NorthernMonkey]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

You'd be bored otherwise. At least it's a productive past time and unlikely to hurt anyone (except yourself, obs) 😀

True.

Just picked this up needing a bit of attention from one of the owners group online.

Got the bits to sort it out already and I must admit, it’s a lovely old thing to drive.

Probably coming to the for sale section soon(ish)…lower tax bracket too!!

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, NorthernMonkey said:

True.

Just picked this up needing a bit of attention from one of the owners group online.

Got the bits to sort it out already and I must admit, it’s a lovely old thing to drive.

Probably coming to the for sale section soon(ish)…lower tax bracket too!!

Roffle?

[NorthernMonkey]

5 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Roffle?

It’ll be worth a bit too much to roffle well, I’d have thought.

Anything above £20 a ticket struggles like hell and this would be north of £30…book price on it is over £3.5k and although it’ll be a fair bit less than that, I’m not a charity…I’ve got an Exocet to fund 😉😂

[High Jetter]

44 minutes ago, NorthernMonkey said:

It’ll be worth a bit too much to roffle well, I’d have thought.

Anything above £20 a ticket struggles like hell and this would be north of £30…book price on it is over £3.5k and although it’ll be a fair bit less than that, I’m not a charity…I’ve got an Exocet to fund 😉😂

*Folds fiver up and puts it away* 😀

 

[NorthernMonkey]

The night before I was supposed to deliver this to its new owner, the wind had other ideas and deposited a piece of cladding from my workshop doorway through the bloody window!

Hopefully, I’ll be picking up a replacement window from deepest Buckinghamshire tomorrow so it may be repaired later this week.

In other news, this is on the ramp having its gearbox issues investigated…

Symptoms are it’s permanently wanting to pull forwards even in neutral and park. Reverse seems to neutralise any movement but it just sits there and goes nowhere. I had more or less convinced myself that it was a sticking solenoid in the valve block inside the auto box that was letting hydraulic pressure leak through to the forward clutch pack so, having sourced a replacement box, I thought I’d be clever by swapping the valve bodies over and save myself some time by not having to remove the transmission.

 

Guess what? Yep, exactly the same! 🤬

Nothing for it but to crack on with the tools. Once I’d remembered to remove the dipstick tube from behind the offside cat, it came out pretty easily…

There’s a slight weep from the rear crank oil seal so play is stopped on this too until a new one arrives later in the week.

Just to rub salt into my wounds even further, I had agreed to buy a new toy and was all set to collect it on Saturday…

Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be) some of the things the seller was saying set my sense tingling and after a bit of toing and froing, he finally admitted that hit had suffered a substantial off on the track a couple of years ago, but I had nothing to worry about as he’d had the chassis straightened and done a couple of track days since, and it ‘seemed’ ok.

Err, right, yeah, err, no thanks.

The search continues but in the meantime, I’ve plenty to keep me occupied over the winter months!

[Split_Pin]

Exactly this time last year!

 

[NorthernMonkey]

2 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Exactly this time last year!

 

God, I’m getting flashbacks now! 😳

[NorthernMonkey]

So, EVs.

In the space of a month, I’ve acquired an electric moped (which I haven’t fallen off yet, mainly because I’ve only been around the yard on it a couple of times so far), a hybrid Lexus RX400h (which wetted out appetites for electrics) and has since moved on, a rather surprising Ampera and an unplanned i3 REX.

The Ampera in question is the ex @Bear one which, although admittedly a little scruffy in places, was in my opinion dramatically undersold.

I still find it hard to believe that these weren’t a massive success story over here and residing on every street corner…it’s modern, well equipped, ridiculously cheap to run and extremely comfortable to boot.

If it wasn’t for one reason, it would be our forever car but, because of that (to be explained shortly), it’s more than likely going to be passed onto my father in law to replace his trusty Focus automatic estate.

That, which was originally acquired on here in an advanced state of broken-ness (is that a word?) has been brought back from the dead at great expense and, now it’s running better than ever with a new LUK clutch kit and more importantly, a latest generation Ford gearbox ECU, I’d like to move it on in an attempt to claw back some of the money I’ve thrown at it.

I was going to give him the Picasso puretech once I’ve rebuilt the engine with new oil rings but he’s always been good to me so I can’t really bring it upon myself to shit on him in such an automotive manner, plus he likes an automatic these days so the Ampera is the perfect way to keep it on fleet so as to speak.

The reason why it can’t be our everyday car?

All will be explained later, once I’ve been for the Chinese.

[Bear]

Amperas are brilliant - and maybe I undersold how well it works, but it was too expensive for what it was when I got it and then the ABS issue appeared on the second decent drive it had, and I saw how crusty the underside componentry was, and combined with the shiny retail ones dropping in price and half the miles it pissed me off 😂

It would still have cost me much > £500 to bring my £3K 160K car up to the standard of a £3.5K 100K car sitting at a dealer and without the macaroni portrait and if you can't see it it doesn't need it approach to the repairs.

So I asked what I'd have been happy to pay for it and I'm glad someone who can repair bodywork and fix things properly has got it. And I'd rather it was undersold - much like my "spares" C320 which while not perfect, feels more trustworthy and honest than the fancy one!

[Bear]

I really don't know how GM cocked up selling Amperas to people when it was so very effective. Had it been inside a Daewoo SUV instead of Cruze body, and had five seats, they'd outnumber Mokkas I bet.

Or just badged as a SAAB.

[NorthernMonkey]

So what exactly happened?

This. I’m sure a few had guessed but this is what happened…

This was going to be my first foray into ths dizzy heights of EV retail up until now represented solely in these parts by Tom Hartley’s best mate, @Kiltox and his Yorkshire counterpart, @Dave_Q.

All was going swimmingly until Claire decided that if anything was going to usurp her affection for her beloved Evoque, it would be this… 🤔

So, as we stand, the plan going forward is to share the i3 and the Elgrand whilst tackling a couple of issues with the Ampera.

Once they’re sorted, the Focus can be moved on and it’s the turn of the Evoque which could currently do with the EGR valve replacing, the new one having sat in the boot for the last three months. That can then replace the Elgrand which, as much as I love it, is a bit too small for both of us and two Spaniels to kip in when we’ve got a low mileage Boxer L3H2 sat outside.

Then, when I finally get my XC70 head replaced, it’ll be time to decide which one stays and which one goes between that and the RR.

Follow that? I’m pleased for you…I’m going to have to bookmark this to keep track of what I’m supposed to be doing next.

In between that lot, I need to rebuild the auto box on the Clio, do the oil rings on the Picasso and replace the timing chain on the little Leon TSi that’s sat here as well as fit the new gearbox waiting to go in my classic Saab 900 convertible and get on with the engine rebuild in my XJR 😂

 

[Bear]

That i3 does look brilliant

[NorthernMonkey]

3 minutes ago, Bear said:

That i3 does look brilliant

It is so much better than described. It actually came from Chesterfield too, funnily enough!

[UltraWomble]

I'll be honest the REX I3 is one of the only Bev's I really like

[NorthernMonkey]

The Ampera is up in the air today for a bit of further investigation…

A full system scan reveals the only issues to be related to a spurious read from the front right ABS sensor.

I’ve took the old one out and there’s some sign of damage to the tip…

 

The magnetic pick up ring has been cleaned thoroughly of all the old crud that was accumulated but once put back together, it’s still very erratic on live data so I’ve just took the plunge with a spot of parts darts and a new sensor is on its way from my factors for the grand sum of £12

I’ll report back shortly once it arrives! 🤞

[NorthernMonkey]

Underneath, it’s really not that bad in my opinion…certainly far cleaner than your average 2012 Corsa!

Yes, the rear bumper is a complete mash up underneath but that’s to be expected from the cat N damage. Corrosion wise, it’s all purely surface and will be rubbed back, treated with Vactan then a good coat of Bilt Hamber to protect it going forwards once the weather has warmed up a bit.

The only other minor issue I can find with it is the touch button on the drivers door handle for the keyless entry is dead but the rear passenger handle is inches away and works perfectly well so we’ll file that away to be sorted later along with the rear bumper undertray…

[dean36014]

Considering the amount of moaning the previous owner did about it, I was expecting it to be rotten as a pear underneath. That's just surface rust, a little time and effort and that will have years more in it 

[NorthernMonkey]

34 minutes ago, dean36014 said:

Considering the amount of moaning the previous owner did about it, I was expecting it to be rotten as a pear underneath. That's just surface rust, a little time and effort and that will have years more in it 

To be fair to Richard, he likes things to be right and at first glance, it does look rough especially because of all the broken plastics but a lot of the brown staining is actually due to the lanolin stuff that’s been applied and I’m lucky to be able to lift it to a decent height so I can have a go at plastic welding the trim bits back together.

The ABS sensor has arrived but I’m not convinced it’ll sort it…I think the trigger ring on the drive shaft is ultimately the cause. Luckily, a new J & R one is available online with a discount code for around £50 delivered so in the interests of future proofing this, I’ve just ordered one. Assuming it’s of decent quality and works ok, I’ll probably get one for the nearside too as that’s got a slight weep on the CV boot.

[NorthernMonkey]

In fact, the current code ends tomorrow so there’s a second one on its way.

They’d better bloody fit! 😂

[Bear]

58 minutes ago, dean36014 said:

Considering the amount of moaning the previous owner did about it, I was expecting it to be rotten as a pear underneath. That's just surface rust, a little time and effort and that will have years more in it 

Yeah, but that wasn't actually the bit that pissed me off  Moaning indeed 😂