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

[NorthernMonkey]

Breakfast consumed, going to take the dogs down the field then we’re away

 

 

 

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[The Moog]

Chodspeed and enjoy your day out... 

[barrett]

What ever happened to the A8 in the end? Notice it hasn't been taxed for a while

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

Chods peed - something specially awful? Or awfully special?

[NorthernMonkey]

What ever happened to the A8 in the end? Notice it hasn't been taxed for a while

I got a windscreen fitted as the crack expanded slightly* then ran it as a daily for a good while.

At the time, we had a shop in sunny Accrington where the only parking was in a multi-storey with ridiculously tight corners so, having repainted the front bumper for the fourth time in as many months (not me, honest), I put it up on eBay where it sold rather too quickly to a guy from France who drove over to collect it a couple of days later.

Probably the one car I most regret selling to be honest as it was a bloody competent piece of machinery.

[NorthernMonkey]

Chods peed - something specially awful? Or awfully special?

A fine* example of a German oil burner with the correct number of pedals for the drivers feet.

[320touring]

If it's Accrington feet, then it'll be a manual Merc with floor set parking brake.

 

A pedal for each of the 4 feet

[NorthernMonkey]

Just passed the Moogs back garden at many mph/knots/train speeds?

 

 

 

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[NorthernMonkey]

In other news, I really don’t want to like Tapatalk as it seems overly complicated but I’ve got to admit it’s a lot easier to post pics

 

 

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[UltraWomble]

God almighty that coffee mug looks bloody toxic.

 

Have ye died yet?

[NorthernMonkey]

God almighty that coffee mug looks bloody toxic.

 

Have ye died yet?

It’s a good workshop mug is that, I’ll have you know.

Full of flavour.

It gets bleached during the Xmas holidays at the same time I paint the garage floor.

[MrsNorthernMonkey]

God almighty that coffee mug looks bloody toxic.

 

Have ye died yet?

Oh the shame!

Njgleeds that mug is disgusting!

[320touring]

God almighty that coffee mug looks bloody toxic.

 

Have ye died yet?

Away man, it only has 1/3 the approved level of diff oil stains..

[Jim Bell]

More pics of the mug please.

[beko1987]

That is a mug of commitment!

[davehedgehog31]

You could probably make a cup of tea in that mug without the teabag.

[NorthernMonkey]

Not much of an update I’m afraid as we are down on phone battery but handover has occurred...

Great to meet you Paul!

I’ve got to say initial impressions are extremely favourable. It wears its 227k miles with ease and drives far, far nicer than its price tag would suggest.

Back up the M1 now, will report back in due course.

 

 

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[The Moog]

that looks practically brand new 

[NorthernMonkey]

Got home last night after a spectacularly uneventful drive home where everything worked as it should and 47+ mpg was achieved.

 

Nothing has been done with the Shazza today due to spending all morning with that fecking Fabia with the deadlocked rear door.

 

Suffice to say the final score was air chisel 1, Fabia 0.

 

Oh yes, there’s still no sign of the calliper carrier for the CRV so that’s been shoved out into the yard so I could get on with a service on a 2008 Astra 1.6

 

Upon inspection, the expansion tank has rather too much oil residue mixed in with the coolant. No sign of contamination in the oil though and the gas analyser isn’t picking up anything from the neck so it’s looking like it could be the oil cooler. Ordered a set of seals for it and put it back until the end of next week so I can do it all in one go.

 

Now at the local micro pub so cars can go and sod off until tomorrow morning. Got to retest the Fabia, go and pick up a non-working wheel balancer of eBay then I’ll stick the new VW up on the ramp for a bit of an assessment.

 

Watch this space...

[NorthernMonkey]

Oh and by the way, thanks for drawing attention to my tea mug. I’ve had to hide it now to stop the better half washing it and destroying all the flavour.

[DodgeRover]

Have seen worse on site nothing a bit of a rub out with sand and water then sticking boiling water into it won't cure.

[Snipes]

It’s a good workshop mug is that, I’ll have you know.

Full of flavour.

It gets bleached during the Xmas holidays at the same time I paint the garage floor.

Bicarbonate of soda will get that muga all shiney again!

[NorthernMonkey]

and welcome back to all you P38 fans out there.

 

Before the break, we covered the re-patriation of the thing from well up the east coast of Scotland to the east end of Lancashire, some 350 miles nearer to its birth place.

 

The first task was to wash off approx 250kgs of Aberdeenshire that was attached to its underside. Then, after unblocking the drain in the yard, it was time for it to go up in the air for a more detailed examination of its underbelly.

 

Thankfully after the marathon welding session on a customers moggy minor detailed elsewhere, the Rangie is pretty solid. The chassis rails and body mounts are all rock solid...the only little bit of tinworm is under both front sills, both of which will require a plate about 2” by 4” before the MOT, one of which can just about be made out here.

 

[NorthernMonkey]

The journey down south was accompanied by a lack of functioning air suspension. This was diagnosed as the rear right height sensor before we left but our options at the time were limited so after assurance from messrs Tayne and Supernaut that all appeared well from behind, we carried on.

 

Once on the ramp, the reason for the fault code was apparent.

 

 

It’s a bit hard to tell from the picture but both the mounting lugs on the sensor body have snapped off and it’s effectively only fastened to the body by the wiring harness so is moving with the suspension. No problem...2nd hand replacements are around the £45 mark on eBay and should sort the issue immediately.

 

The other main issue is the ‘engage neutral’ message accompanied by a flashing gear selector. This in itself doesn’t seem to affect the drive at all but needs attention as it takes over the display under the clocks which would normally display trip computer info. Reading up on this issue suggests several cause but the most likely seems to be the ‘xyz’ switch at the side of the transmission.

 

To recap then..the to do list is currently as follows.

 

Important stuff for MOT

 

Rear ride height sensor

Transmission switch

Small bit of welding

Remove the suspected illegal tint from the front side windows

Sort out a slight exhaust blow on a joint which isn’t quite as slight now I’ve moved the exhaust away from the cross member

Fix the steering wheel height adjustment mechanism that I buggered up driving out of Saabnuts lane

 

Not quite as important stuff

 

Refit rear bumper (needs new bits at ends that fasten to body)

Sort out faulty Clarion stereo which connects into the Harmon Kardon amp and speakers

Investigate vibration at idle which I’ve a feeling is down to dodgy leak off pipes on the injectors

Re-furb or replace the alloys and fit new rubber

Fix the very slight oil leak from where the turbo oil return pipe goes into the crankcase

Investigate the dampness on the offside front hub-suspect oil seal past its best

 

It looks quite a lot but for a £500 20 year old Range Rover that drove pretty faultlessly for 350+ miles, I’m more than happy.

 

The bodywork has a few blebs here and there but the interior is in excellent condition and just about everything works as it’s supposed to so it’s a good starting point in my opinion.

[hairnet]

crazy MF

 

oh no wait thats the tractor

[NorthernMonkey]

In actual fact, work as already started in a very small way. Namely, the tint has been removed from the drivers door glass.

 

 

A small improvement but an improvement none the less.

 

The more eagle eyed among you may have spotted the offering of another P38 this week on here that has suspected serious engine issues. Quick calculations were made on the back of the proverbial fag packet and contact was made with the vendor whereupon arrangements were made to collect in the next few days.

 

My reasoning is as follows...

 

It should supply the bits required to fix my air suspension and transmission issues.

It should hopefully also yield the bits for the rear bumper.

It’s the same year and colour as mine so there may be a few body panels in better condition.

It’s got decent wheels and tyres that will either get used or sold to recoup some costs.

There will be plenty of other spare bits to remove.

Once all that is removed, the remains should go other the weighbridge for a reasonable percentage of the total outlay.

 

How effective this reasoning is remains to be seen but it should prove to be an interesting experiment either way?

 

Collection will occur in the next few days...in the meantime, have a picture of part of the fleet (along with customers Minor)

 

[Jim Bell]

Whats worse/better than one P38?

 

MOAR P38S!!!

 

"Welcome to the Layer Cake son."

[hairnet]

proof gadgees from the north are insane

[NorthernMonkey]

A funny tale from the other afternoon....the local Hermes parcel man came round to drop off a package in a dog eared Skoda estate, driven by his old man.

 

Now his normal conveyance is usually a tatty import Shogun or other similar 4x4 running on veg...bear in mind that he’s firmly in the school of reactive rather than pre-emptive maintenance and this is the third Shogun he’s killed in recent times, his most recent filling the radiator with engine oil.

 

Anyway, he’s lost all faith in JDM vehicles now and having seen the P38 outside has decided he wants something more reliable and is going to look out for a cheap one himself.

 

Just bear this in mind if you live around the BB12 postcode area and your parcel deliveries are late in the next month or two.

 

You couldn’t make this shit up.

[Saabnut]

That list does not look too bad! Basically the ride height sensor and a bit of welding! The tint and gearbox warning have always been like it since I got it (though agree should be fixed) and the exhaust and wheel clamp were fine when it left here mate!

 

Seriously, I am actually quite relieved, I kept the mud on it as I figured it could hide things (actually you have seen my track, it was impossible to keep clean!) and I was always too frightened to get under it and have a proper poke around in case I made things worse!