🚨L1's 🇫🇷 shenanigans. Closer to two wheels

[PSAPerv]

On 27/01/2026 at 22:28, loserone said:

 

On the way back the Express made it clear that 300km is regarded as acceptable for a NSF wheel bearing.  It's got a new driveshaft since the last one, anyone got any advice? I'm guessing perhaps the hub is warped or something and that's why it's eating the for le petit déjeuner 

Might sound daft but the caliper isnt hanging and baking the grease out is it?

[loserone]

No it's not getting hot, good thought though 

[PSAPerv]

Ill ask my local friendly Renault specialist and see if he has any pointers

[loserone]

Turns out that an L322 range rover lies about the remaining range and stops roving.

Fortunately Mrs L1 wasn't too far away and resumed progress 

 

A quick rush to the station later, and I collected a shitist who took it off my hands.  I'm sure he'll reveal himself later on..

[loserone]

12 hours ago, straightSix said:

If I hadn't just got an L322 

Lovely to meet you briefly yesterday, impressive fuel economy figures on your way home! 

 

Now what?  Is 4 cars enough?

[straightSix]

1 hour ago, loserone said:

Lovely to meet you briefly yesterday, impressive fuel economy figures on your way home! 

 

Now what?  Is 4 cars enough?

Great to meet you too! Still smitten with the L322. I doubt I'll ever see these figures again though 😂

[loserone]

The 205 wasn't starting after being sat over Christmas.  

 

Pretty sure it's the starter solenoid sticking but no amount of smacking it with my 1.4 205 starter motor custom made hammer made it work (I have been here before).

 

So elected to buy a £55 starter from eBay and stick it on. 

The old one is pretty minging but I might clean it up and keep it as a spare. 

All good, back up and working but no charging.  FFS.

Figured rather than buy a new alternator I'd try a regulator pack first.

Here's the old one.

They sent two packages of the new one.  Odd.

Guess I have a spare

Side by side with the old one.  Does it work?

No.

A quick sanity check and realised I'd connected the alternator to the wrong terminal on the starter like a muppet.  Fixed that and went to pay @Jimbob McGregor for an hour he spent on the l322 before it left the pasture.  Drives lovely, got home with the battery charged up and went for reverse 

This bit is supposed to look like this

But instead looked like this.

Pushed the car round the side and popped the linkage off.

Used my pro* welding station in the utility. 

Now all back together and fixed*.  What next?

[High Jetter]

13 minutes ago, loserone said:

What next?

Landslide? 🤣

[hairnet]

 

[loserone]

Exhaust rubbers.  The top one died and the exhaust was hanging low.  The other seems OK though.  How much of a cheapskate am I only bothering to replace the broken one?

[Andyrew]

Wise move actually, as pattern part rubber is shite, if you replace them all at once they all will fail again around the same time.  Drag out an OE rubber as long as you can IMO.

 

[loserone]

This way means there's a spare in my door pocket too.

 

[Brigsy]

Agree with the above, pattern exhaust rubbers of that type are poor, if old ones still work ok leave them be. If it aint broke..

[alcyonecorporation]

Art imitating life, or something. 

[alcyonecorporation]

Sorry, L1, I've taken your car to Japan. 

[loserone]

Let's see it in Japan then AC.

Tonight I drove it to Newcastle and paid a pound to park

On the way I passed a milestone 

Then I went into a quiet room and looked at a computer.

The CGI annoys me, I actually missed a hazard entirely because I was internally raging at the 'camera car' driving along a major road which, when a minor road joined it, was apparently called Roberts' Close.  A close is a cul-de-sac for fucks sake, it's not a *missed the hazard*.

 

I nearly did the same thing with a wrong generation Toyota Yaris on a 59 plate.

Did mostly alright though.

The question I got wrong was about overtaking a stopped tram.  It had no good answers and I'm probably as likely to ride a motorcycle around a stopped tram in Holland as I am in the UK. Oh well.

 

Stuck £55 of £1.699 a litre Shell V Power in the 205 and caned it home

[alcyonecorporation]

9 minutes ago, loserone said:

Let's see it in Japan then AC.

[alcyonecorporation]

fuck it, trial mountain 

[Imhotep]

With the 205 gear linkage woes, I’d recommend these guys for new ones. Used them a load of times, decent quality stuff. Specialise in French stuff, and they really like 205s:

https://bakerbm.com

[loserone]

That's a very easy way to spend £120 instead of three minutes welding. 

[Mally]

6 hours ago, loserone said:

That's a very easy way to spend £120 instead of three minutes welding. 

Without casting aspersions,  I can weld like you. 

I'd get it done properly or it may* fail again.

[loserone]

Yeah that's fair.  I did give a good walloping with a hammer but it's not ideal

[hairnet]

On 04/03/2026 at 21:09, High Jetter said:

Landslide? 🤣

 

[alcyonecorporation]

11 hours ago, loserone said:

That's a very easy way to spend £120 instead of three minutes welding. 

The welds crack. 

Ask me how I know. 

[hairnet]

two wheels yay

the current clusterfuck that is the test 

booo

 

[PSAPerv]

On 14/03/2026 at 00:08, loserone said:

That's a very easy way to spend £120 instead of three minutes welding. 

I make them from 8mm ball joints with a security clip and threaded bar, they dont come off again unless you want them too

[loserone]

On 13/03/2026 at 23:23, Imhotep said:

With the 205 gear linkage woes, I’d recommend these guys for new ones. Used them a load of times, decent quality stuff. Specialise in French stuff, and they really like 205s:

https://bakerbm.com

These guys only do GTI stuff.  For the MA box only Pug1off make em.

In unrelated news

[Imhotep]

Forgot the GTI has a BE(?) box. Keep thinking they share the MA with the 106/Saxo/AX. 

[loserone]

Fitted a couple of things.  The selector fork thing seems to be where most of the slop is but it's still an improvement.

[loserone]

Then the rear view mirror fell off.

And I jumped a Mercedes