Sold Beige Bargain Bucket - £550 - Aberdeen

[Supernaut]

Today, it also got some attention from 17-Coffees' detailing service. As posted in News 24. He basically has a heap of cleaning products he won in a raffle or something last summer, and is borrowing his parents' power washer too.

 

 

 

We cleaned the worst of the grime out of the interior too. When I whacked the driver's floor mat with a brush I think I contracted tuberculosis / AIDS / ebola.

 

Visible in the background of the first photo is his Abarth, his LS400, and the garage our legendary* 316i now lives in.

[Supernaut]

Throttle cable bodged with the help of a washer.

 

The horrible slack has been removed, so no more almost-stalling it at low speeds, and much smoother gear changes are now possible. Lovely.

 

[Rave]

Very nice. I've had a 3.0 Ghia X estate for the last 5 years and it's not caused me much trouble in 24,000 miles, in fact the only major expense was a new clutch and slave cylinder which cost me £400 fitted. I wish mine had a beige interior though, and TBH I don't rate the wood effect plastic steering wheel, it gets sweaty on hot days (the aircon on mine has never worked).

 

It wasn't just the ST220 and STTDCi that came with 18" alloys, the Zetec-S came with some (IMO lovely looking) 18" multispoke faux split rims. I'd like some, but there's plenty of life left in my current 17" Goodyears and IMO the ride isn't all that brilliant on them anyway, so I won't bother unless I spot some irresistably cheap ones.

[Kiltox]

Who the fuck chops wiring near the reverse light switch for parking sensors?!

That is fucking madness. 

 

Wouldn't surprise me if the sensors actually work fine if you wire them properly.

[rantingYoof]

Very nice. I've had a 3.0 Ghia X estate for the last 5 years and it's not caused me much trouble in 24,000 miles, in fact the only major expense was a new clutch and slave cylinder which cost me £400 fitted. I wish mine had a beige interior though, and TBH I don't rate the wood effect plastic steering wheel, it gets sweaty on hot days (the aircon on mine has never worked).

 

It wasn't just the ST220 and STTDCi that came with 18" alloys, the Zetec-S came with some (IMO lovely looking) 18" multispoke faux split rims. I'd like some, but there's plenty of life left in my current 17" Goodyears and IMO the ride isn't all that brilliant on them anyway, so I won't bother unless I spot some irresistably cheap ones.

If I see a pre tax hike 3.0 Ghia X estate for sale it'll take unverified quantities of will power to resist...

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Rave]

If I see a pre tax hike 3.0 Ghia X estate for sale it'll take unverified quantities of will power to resist...

 

 

You don't see many, for sure. The previous owner of mine was Thames Valley Police, who've helpfully fucked around with loads of the wiring. Nothing I need so badly I can be bothered to fix it, though.

[Aston Martin]

If I remember correctly, the garage time for spark plug changes are about 4 hours. (Xtype anyway)

[Rave]

I changed the plugs on mine for no other reason than I didn't know when they were last done. Turned out they were fine but I did them anyway. Access to the rear bank requires the removal of the inlet manifold, which in turn requires the removal of the bulkhead brace thing behind it. It's a fiddly job but it only took me about 4 hours because I'm incompetent.

 

Edit: there's really not much room in the engine bay, though. The alternator has to come out through the wheel arch. I've done that too, only takes about 45 minutes once you know what you're doing.

[Supernaut]

Small question re: tracking and alignment.

 

The Mondeo pulls to the left slightly on some road surfaces, to the point I have the wheel a couple of degrees to the right to go straight ahead. Just a tiny bit, mind. It's not like it's violently pulling or anything like that.

On other road surfaces it's perfectly fine.

 

I'm wondering whether it's worth getting the tracking looked at or if it's just more sensitive to surfaces than the Xantia was.

[17-Coffees]

You think every car you have needs the tracking done...

 

So the other day I had the pleasure of getting a lift in the Beige Bucket for a few miles, collecting a few mates before getting a carry out. Then heading to the pub...

Its a really comfy car, better than the Xantia in my eyes!

Only thing with the car, and I feel it's the same problem I have with my LS400. You get the odd funny look because people see the car, and then the driver is not what they expect.

It's not a bad thing that though!

[rantingYoof]

That interior is swank.

 

The Xantia had a certain Frenchness to it and the seats were amazing, but the Ghia X trim level is what makes me lust.

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Supernaut]

BANGIN' ICE now installed.

 

Bass and loudness adjusted according to AC/DC - Big Gun.

 

 

 

The original 6 CD changer in the car still worked fine, and it had a 3.5mm line-in in the glovebox, but it was recalcitrant when loading CDs, and I had this radio with a USB port lying about (after removing it from the Xantia). It just cost me £11 for the fascia adapter, wiring adapter and removal keys all in one package. I've lost the steering wheel controls, but I've gained 32GB of music on shuffle, so... I'm happy with that trade-off.

[Supernaut]

I find myself wondering whether to do something to the exhaust on this. It's a bit quiet for my liking. It would be amusing to do it with OEM parts from other models.

 

The current set up has a silencer at the left-rear of the car, which then has a pipe going across to a silencer at the right-rear, which then has an exit. Effectively it has two silencers at the back of the car.

 

I can get a TDCI back box from GSF for £33.91 with the weekend discount code. It has the same shape of pipe before the silencer but nothing coming out heading over to the right. This would result in me just having the silencer at the left. Effectively I'd remove one silencer from the system.

However, I've no idea if the diameter of the pipe is the same.

[bub2006]

I know the look. I get it in a 19 year old avensis. Funny when chavs try it on at the lights too

[Lacquer Peel]

Just chop off the back box.

[DodgyBastard]

Surely making it louder will just leave most people thinking it's fucked?

 

Sent from my F5321 using Tapatalk

[Supernaut]

Hence my desire to just make it a tiny bit louder under acceleration instead of just lopping bits off as LP suggested.

[Guest Hooli]

Chav cone filter then, induction noise is better than exhaust drone anyway

[barefoot]

Chav cone filter then, induction noise is better than exhaust drone anyway

I think you mean 'induction roar'.

[rantingYoof]

AUTOSHITE SOLUTION
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIVERSAL-PERFORMANCE-STAINLESS-STEEL-EXHAUST-BACKBOX-YFX-0734-Ford-2-/152694518798

[SiC]

I removed the intake silencer on my Laguna V6 and it made a world of difference to the noise. I did contemplate taking out the mid silencer on it but I'm glad I didn't. Booming exhausts spoil the nature of these FWD V6 barges imo. Less intake silencing means that it's quiet when idling and crusing, but then accelerating hard you get the roar. How it should be imo.

 

Might be worth seeing if Ford put an intake silencer box on the airbox on this. If not then a cone filter may help. These sort of mods are reversible too if no like.

[Supernaut]

I removed the intake silencer on my Laguna V6 and it made a world of difference to the noise. I did contemplate taking out the mid silencer on it but I'm glad I didn't. Booming exhausts spoil the nature of these FWD V6 barges imo. Less intake silencing means that it's quiet when idling and crusing, but then accelerating hard you get the roar. How it should be imo.

 

Might be worth seeing if Ford put an intake silencer box on the airbox on this. If not then a cone filter may help. These sort of mods are reversible too if no like.

Of course! Intake silencer. Not owned a car modern enough to have one of them before, so it never occurred to me.

[Lord Sterling]

Your seats look like the ones in my G-reg Rover Sterling.

 

Must admit, I prefer the original alloys. Each to thier own though.

[andy18s]

V6 Cougar had an intake that famously made a Moooooooooooose noise when the hoses went a little soft........

[Supernaut]

Your seats look like the ones in my G-reg Rover Sterling.

I'll take that as a compliment!

[Supernaut]

The V5 just turned up. Woo!

 

Seemed slower than usual, oh well. I have it now.

[Supernaut]

Had some faffing about today. I went to the scrap yard and picked up a spare air box to drill holes in it, and also another grille with a better condition badge on it.

 

 

We'll start with the grille. This is how it looks at the moment:

 

 

 

 

Notice the totally silver 'blue' oval badge. I thought I could fit a grille from a lower-spec model:

 

 

 

 

After altering the key hole slightly, due to this grille sitting a few mm further back, I noticed the bottom edge of it is a different shape too. FAIL:

 

 

 

 

Original grille back, on I set about drilling holes in the air box I got. The top half was different to mine (as it was from a 2.0 4 cylinder) but the bottom half is the same.

 

 

 

Time to remove the one in the car! Rusty screws were annoying, resulting in me actually drilling one out. Luckily I had spares from the other air box to use.

 

 

 

Finally got it fitted. Still have no idea what it sounds like, as I haven't been arsed to take it for a drive now.

 

[Jim Bell]

Fwar. Looks a bit of alright this, though Im a bit late spotting the thread. I dont really have anything bad to say about my mk3 Moondog. Ford seemingly did a decent job of doing all the things alright at once with the mk3. Fancy a race?

[Felly Magic]

You have the replacement grille from a phase 1 mk2 by the looks, bumpers were totally different, phase 1s had round cutouts for foglights too

[Ghosty]

Is it not possible to swap the badge over?