HMC- Return of the Cheeky 500

[HMC]

Was great to meet hairnet and 6cyl, and later on eavb today. Waved goodbye to the CLK Cabrio and hence have the sprinter  minibus as my sole transport. 

Some readjustment was needed ( 218bhp/78bhp with more weight and massively increased frontal area) and I think I’m there. A strange zen like calm falls on me behind the wheel. There are no opportunities to overtake. Be at one with the modest (I.e. inadequate) power and torque. This mobile road block is ironically a “sprinter” 

I do like it. Current plans are to run some bg244 through the tank and delete the a/c remnants. It was factory supplied with it but chunks of it are MIA and in the interests of BHP conservation I’m aiming to delete the redundant compressor and fit a shorter aux belt. Onwards and (slowly) upwards

[Marm Toastsmith]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

A strange zen like calm falls on me behind the wheel. There are no opportunities to overtake. Be at one with the modest (I.e. inadequate) power and torque. This mobile road block is ironically a “sprinter” 

I do like it.

Agree with the above. I miss driving it already.

Although, if you do manage to get it up to 70mph or thereabouts, it is sort of surprisingly fast. Or at least it doesn’t complain at all, and it feels very sure footed. It seems to hold that speed better than 60 - there’s a bit more power when the engine’s revving at a higher speed. I found it generally responded well to being revved harder than feels natural. You have to resist the urge to shift up.

All good fun, innit? Some people spend a fortune on an involving driving experience... this is uniquely calming and involving. Comfy seats too...

[Matty]

Dibs (you get bored quick ?). Actually when I find the swift sport I want for her I'll have a golf GTi 20vt for a swap..

[mat_the_cat]

There's something quite relaxing about driving a big slow van, assuming you don't have a deadline that is. Even if you do get behind someone, most of the time you wouldn't be going that much faster, so the urge to overtake just isn't there.

[Zelandeth]

19 hours ago, marm said:

Agree with the above. I miss driving it already.

Although, if you do manage to get it up to 70mph or thereabouts, it is sort of surprisingly fast. Or at least it doesn’t complain at all, and it feels very sure footed. It seems to hold that speed better than 60 - there’s a bit more power when the engine’s revving at a higher speed. I found it generally responded well to being revved harder than feels natural. You have to resist the urge to shift up.

All good fun, innit? Some people spend a fortune on an involving driving experience... this is uniquely calming and involving. Comfy seats too...

Seconded... discovered a couple of weeks back that mine will thunder along much more enthusiastically at an indicated 75mph with far less regard for inclines than it will at 60, which naturally feels more appropriate just down to how much less noise is involved.  70-75 just seems to be right in a sweet spot for power/torque from the engine.

People don't seem to know quite what to make of a 30 year old coachbuilt camper going howling past them in the outside lane of the motorway.

[wuvvum]

The OM601 has always been weirdly revvy for an old diesel.

[320touring]

If this has a mechanical fuel pump, you can adjust the fuelling to get some more poke

 

This is the pump my om603 s124 has

[HMC]

On 11/23/2019 at 6:31 PM, HMC said:

Some readjustment was needed ( 218bhp/78bhp with more weight and massively increased frontal area) and I think I’m there. A strange zen like calm falls on me behind the wheel. There are no opportunities to overtake. Be at one with the modest (I.e. inadequate) power and torque. This mobile road block is ironically a “sprinter” 

I do like it. Current plans are to run some bg244 through the tank and delete the a/c remnants. It was factory supplied with it but chunks of it are MIA and in the interests of BHP conservation I’m aiming to delete the redundant compressor and fit a shorter aux belt. Onwards and (slowly) upwards

Better update the thread. OK so whilst I quite liked this sprinter it was almost painfully slow, and almost dangerous in some situations (motorway slip roads very buttock clenching nail it and hope basically.) in truth I do few motorway miles - but I do hilly Devon B roads. Fellow road users I think it’s fair to say were patient but unimpressed by something barely dragging itself uphill in second gear.

I’d quite like to buy a retired sprinter ambulance but the 5 tonne plated weight would mean doing extra work to boost the ceiling on my 3.5t post jan 97 licence. No thanks DVLA . Still with grandfathering rights my mum or dad could roll one (I suspect literally)

What to do? Someone with nous and time could probably sort an aftermarket turbo (which is a thing) but I’m a cretin and have no spare time. Also I had nagging doubts that this little diesel that you have to work like hell (really cane it) to keep up with traffic, at 21 years and 404,000 miles was going to go boom. So I eyed up something with to my mind the good bits (everything except the engine) with a third more power and twice the torque plus staying below the 3.5t ceiling.

Enter a facelift 311 cdi. Formerly owner by a welsh brewery and inexpertly resprayed, it’s had a simple giffer type camper conversion and suits my needs well. It’s new enough to be even more thermally efficient and be swift and not have a dpf or “adblue” or a fucktonne or sensors etc. Plus as I’ve noticed with the outgoing one people are mildly suspicious of an ageing sprinter in private use. Will I kidnap them or try to sell them some jute? Who knows.

 

Yes it is a bit more complicated under the bonnet. But it’s so much more usable (it feels like a right weapon after what I’m used to) 200lb/ft vs 112lb/ft (assuming 400k on the 208d hadn’t made the difference even greater) 

Despite the crap paint job it’s pretty decent underneath. Its avoided being worked to death as the 84 year old previous owner (who I imagine being an angling enthusiast and country gentleman)  did few miles and the small brewery seemed go easy on it too.

Current plans are to rustproof in the spring and no longer break out in a cold sweat when I see the next hill coming.

 

[320touring]

If that's an om605/6 then get it turned right up.

 

Pronto.

 

Then get the chips on

[HMC]

As an aside I’ve got quite familiar with the merc sprinter model numbers;

eg 

208

2- plated at 2.8t / 08- 78bhp

311

3- plated at 3.5t / 109bhp 

etc

[83C]

I liked the increased horsepower of my 311 but preferred the floor-mounted gearshift on the 208 - much more direct and user friendly.

[HMC]

Agree totally on the gearshift- I never fumbled a gearshift on the 208d with the floor shift.... unlike the 311 

Pic of floorshift selector on my outgoing 208d sprinter  @BorniteIdentity

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 11/23/2019 at 10:09 PM, mat_the_cat said:

There's something quite relaxing about driving a big slow van, assuming you don't have a deadline that is. Even if you do get behind someone, most of the time you wouldn't be going that much faster, so the urge to overtake just isn't there.

equally something as big as a pugrot boxer 435 l3h2 with around 140bhp can be quite fun to hoon around (allegedly*)

[HMC]

All aboard!

 

 

Shite collection mission go.

[HMC]

Clue- there’s one already in this thread a few years ago

[Broadsword]

Good luck. Currently on a collection caper myself!

[HMC]

Top drawer ghia x TDDI estate. 225k, a bit baggy and bashed about but £300 so no complaints. Everything works including the a/c

[Broadsword]

Oh wow that’s grim. Lovely!

[bramz7]

I keep finding myself drawn to these as everyday fodder, that looks like a proper used one!

I assume you got it from somewhere between Exeter and Salisbury? 

[skattrd]

I'm not a Ford person so could be wrong, but I think the tddi are veg friendly, tdci less so.

[sierraman]

Grim! For £300 you can’t go wrong!

[HMC]

The modus has settled into being unremarkable transport aside from a new tyre it’s been fine and needed nothing. 3rd 4th 5th seem noisy to me, and it’s easy to beat the synchro into first. Google tells me most searches are for poorly automatic issues so I imagine it will just carry on like this for ages before there’s any trouble. Are manual Renault boxes normally robust?
 

It turns out not just HMC has found their way to owning an early modus 

Not quite the stellar (ahem) mileage that mine has ( 70 vs 134k) Meanwhile the mondeo has almost been to the moon (226k so a bit short)

[HMC]

Where to begin? Long before storm Dennis was a thing I’d planned to take my lads on a road trip-Tavistock-Bolton(parents)-IWM DUXFORD (planes galore)- longleat safari park and back to tavistock with a B &B over a few nights en route.

What car to take?

Modus- noisy gearbox in 3/4/5 and a bit of an annoying initial flat spot occasionally from low revs. Otherwise seemed fine (!)

mondeo- sometimes the starter will spin but not engage, rocking it in gear sorts it. Drivers window taped up. Neither of which was ideal in a safari park.

So we took the modus. The less* flakey option.

Off we drove through massive wind and rain and the modus handled it well, right until in rural Cambridgeshire when the Brakes failed. No pedal pressure, and an ever more noisy gearbox.  No breakdown cover either. And thanks to the unique way the modus is packaged @SiC I could not find evidence of anything brake related under the bonnet  (I foolishly expected to find a fluid reservoir, silly me)

Had the car been worth more and without a potentially game ending problem brewing on the horizon already (the ever more noisy gearbox) things may have been more complex. As it was I decided pretty much on the spot that I needed to ditch it.

2 kids, very far from home and a steaming shit pile of a car. Using an e bay search centred on the imperial war museum Duxford (where id managed to limp it) I found the most local cheapy I  could. Specifically a trader who would accept the dead car ahead of me sending the v5  via picture message once I got home. Would they exist within limping distance? A certain level of luck, and trust on their behalf saw me leave rural Cambridgeshire later that morning with a far more likeable car.
 

Even discounting the gearbox not sounding like a coffee grinder, and having actual brakes; it’s just nicer to be in than that modus. Im usually quite mechanically sympathetic but I got a certain about of satisfaction from bouncing it off the Rev limiter in second and ramming the brakes/ handbrake on as I limped it over to the vendors.
 

So to the new jalopy. It’s done a genuine 57k and is a 1.6 k series. Normally that would feel risky but not after the steaming shit pile of a modus I’ve gladly left behind. To paraphrase an ad; I’m relaxing (as it’s a rover)

Last rites. (Taken a month earlier but prophetic)

There are worse places to have a car die.

 

[SiC]

 

*Junior 1* Daddy I'm really coooold. Why are you taking photos of this smelly car that smells of grandad.

*Junior 2* Daddy daddy! That big truck is going to squash your new car. Make it stop! I really don't want to go looking for cars again.

 

[SiC]

Incidentally I think the brake fluid reservoir is on the passenger side of the engine compartment down the back. Probably have to take the wipers off to get to it. 

[gadgetgricey]

Air con and heated seats as well. Oh the decadence

Had a 400 years ago that was a lovely car. Fitted rear parking sensors which were great apart from the volume was set to 11. Used to shit myself every time I selected reverse. (Used to blame the sensors, but it was a Rover)

 

[loserone]

I reckon that dealer needs a recommendation, that sounds cracking service

[Skut]

Steering wheel radio controls & Pektron Traffic master clock. Pity they shut off the TM network in 2012 ish. Does the clock part of it still work? 

[hairnet]

54 minutes ago, SiC said:

 

*Junior 1* Daddy I'm really coooold. Why are you taking photos of this smelly car that smells of grandad.

*Junior 2* Daddy daddy! That big truck looks like it's going to squash your new car. Make it stop! I really don't want to go looking for cars again.

 

no theyre mini brewers

'give ya these sweets for ya shit old rover......'

'old out yer aaaaand'

[RobT]

Buying a car on the hoof with kids in tow.  A+++. Good to see the old HMC resourcefulness is still sharp!  Nice end  result too.  Rover looks gr9.