HMC- XK8 Starts!

[MrBiscuits]

22 hours ago, grogee said:

Is that Pripyat? 

That's Basingstoke mate. My office is in the building next door. 

[grogee]

2 minutes ago, MrBiscuits said:

That's Basingstoke mate. My office is in the building next door. 

Twinned with Pripyat? My sympathies. (Actually I like it). 

Although we've always managed to find picturesque places to work, haven't we? Bordon, Basildon, Coventry, Southampton... 

[HMC]

Off to work with £10 gumtree folding bike. But why?

 

[HMC]

So the alfa sportwagon, ex @bramz7 is now @Schaefft ‘s the bargain price being the same at each transaction. 

And theres also a recurring character coming up, a forum stalwart thats saved and fixed more old cars than Ive had hot dinners….

[Peter C]

Fair enough, it's been a while since you last got a new motor.

[EyesWeldedShut]

Well, it's not an electric Ami as you'd not fit a folding bike in one?
Ahhh - maybe a swap? Yes - you're getting an Ami from @kiltox and then it'll be three days before you get home.

Don't worry - we have emergency supplies for you:

[HMC]

Making progress… nice morning on the Exe

[tooSavvy]

Liked... for 'folder in sun'👍

.... One Day 🚴🙄

🚙💨

[HMC]

BOOM!

Thanks again @Rave  your a star. 

I will get some more pics later when i get away and im thinking a drive back over Dartmoor.

[Peter C]

You've become quite the Ford man.

[HMC]

Had a great drive back over the moor. As you would exepct, it drives well and is quite chuckable. A few period road tests were critical of the gearshift quality, but i think its excellent. Im loving the engine, its not a rocketship but its brisk and quite high revving. IIRC its got a variable intake manifold with the same tech as the mondeo st200- a motor and a cable changes the air routing to help low down torque, and then top end breathing . Ive just 2 pints of cobra so that could be made up.

[HMC]

Extra instrumentation (iirc in place of a coin holder)

[HMC]

Its a proper ESSEX ford, canvey FTW

[HMC]

Once again shout out to @Rave for being a top shiter and @RobT for putting him in touch with its former keeper. 

Rave has resurrected so many vehicles that were facing an uncertain future and made them usable again, im again just enjoying the results of his care and expertise.

[HMC]

Also

A mk1 focus on xenons. I didnt know there was such a thing. Very on point for 2003 though.

[Rave]

3 hours ago, HMC said:

Once again shout out to @Rave for being a top shiter and @RobT for putting him in touch with its former keeper. 

Rave has resurrected so many vehicles that were facing an uncertain future and made them usable again, im again just enjoying the results of his care and expertise.

I haven't actually rescued that many, I just make a massive song and dance about it each time while stringing the process out as long as possible 😛

[Rave]

15 hours ago, HMC said:

Making progress… nice morning on the Exe

That's a ludicrous bargain for 10 quid, please do start a sideline punting on bargain bikes as well as cars if you're equally adept at sourcing those!

Did you ride it to Okehampton or get the bus with it? Good going if the former.

[RoverFolkUs]

On 14/06/2024 at 07:24, Split_Pin said:

The MK1 steering wheel badge looks much better.

Agree muchly, of all things Rover decided to project drive, I'll never understand why they decided to project drive the badge into that inferior blob!

[HMC]

Fleet news-

A new key battery has sorted the remote locking on the focus. 

And the Granada has been used for target practice by the local bird population…..

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

And the Granada has been used for target practice by the local bird population…..

That's a bit shit. Hope you've washed it off already

[HMC]

22 hours ago, High Jetter said:

That's a bit shit. Hope you've washed it off already

Moorland weather came to the rescue 😂

 

[HMC]

I took out the granada for a moorland drive last night. I think the exhaust is blowing now so it sounds quite like a banger racer. When it was parked up beside coop a youth in high vis told me it looked “gangster”. 

Meanwhile i washed the 75 which had been gathering a bit of moss. 

Came up great! Im closely monitoring the engine temps and coolant level. I could hear a sloshing sound on part throttle which could be blocked plenum drains but i think is a cooling system airlock as its engine speed and not g-force related.  I bled the system using a screw hidden under the inlet manifold which helped. Online theres loads of different opinions about how to do it. The official MG rover description sounds a bit of a pain. Plus to be honest fundamentally the gasses may be from a combustion chamber.

Its running on all 4 and not overheating , no mayo etc so im just using and monitoring at the mo.

Its a very nice looking banger. Were they used as government cars? I can see one parked outside the department for work and pensions c.2004 quietly boiling over.

[Rave]

I cleared the plenum drains, they were blocked. Should still be clear now even though there's a tree outside my house.

That trickling water noise has been a constant, it is weird that it's only on part throttle and never goes away despite all my efforts to bleed the system. It did it on and off all the way on the drive down to you with no obvious ill effects. Seems to come from within the cabin and yet it does it even in summer when the heater controls are set to minimum. A real mystery TBH.

[N Dentressangle]

On 22/06/2024 at 20:05, Rave said:

I cleared the plenum drains, they were blocked. Should still be clear now even though there's a tree outside my house.

That trickling water noise has been a constant, it is weird that it's only on part throttle and never goes away despite all my efforts to bleed the system. It did it on and off all the way on the drive down to you with no obvious ill effects. Seems to come from within the cabin and yet it does it even in summer when the heater controls are set to minimum. A real mystery TBH.

It's the sound of the Phoenix Four pissing away the Rover pension fund and any last hope the company might have had.

That's what it is.

[Bren]

On 20/06/2024 at 17:40, HMC said:

Had a great drive back over the moor. As you would exepct, it drives well and is quite chuckable. A few period road tests were critical of the gearshift quality, but i think its excellent. Im loving the engine, its not a rocketship but its brisk and quite high revving. IIRC its got a variable intake manifold with the same tech as the mondeo st200- a motor and a cable changes the air routing to help low down torque, and then top end breathing . Ive just 2 pints of cobra so that could be made up.

My brother had two of these from brand new. They looked the part but performance was meh and both of his were thirsty but that was probably because of his driving style.

[HMC]

so the granny has been moved on to be collected next week- because at heart im more of a p6 man to be honest. What to do? - get hold of a P6 - i regretted moving the @NorthernMonkey p6 on last year.

our man @bramz7 actually papped the very same p6 in 2019….

copwright @bramz7 2019

I love these leylandised p6s for some reason, and this one has a cool interior specified from new…

[Schaefft]

You had to pay extra for your Rover to have coolant...?

[HMC]

Im wondering if this is quiet an early facelift as its got the facelift door handles and egg crate grille, but the older model scripts- more ornate than the later BL ally rectangular plates- could they have been using stock up?

[fatharris]

I saw this one on Marketplace and was tempted! Was it really £2k or did I see a scam advert?

[wuvvum]

J plate will be one of the first facelift cars, yep.  Looks a nice thing although being a 2000SC auto it won't be a ball of fire.  Has it got any brake fluid in it?