brownnova Posted January 20, 2020 Author Posted January 20, 2020 2 minutes ago, jumpingjehovahs said: Does it have the good suspension?! Oh yes it does ? jumpingjehovahs 1
brownnova Posted January 20, 2020 Author Posted January 20, 2020 Oh and the best thing of all... the colour on the log book is Beige!! LightBulbFun, somewhatfoolish and aldo135 3
Floatylight Posted January 20, 2020 Posted January 20, 2020 Noice! Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk
brownnova Posted January 26, 2020 Author Posted January 26, 2020 I’m going to admit something here... I’m really impressed with this car.... like really impressed. I didn’t want to be. A part of me felt that this was giving in and getting a modern. But a hydropneumatic Citroen was an acceptable modern. And it’s really good. The ride and comfort are first class. The engine is smooth and powerful. The clever little touches like lights in the door pockets and a 12v socket in the boot are great. And I’ve barely seen any others. There’s a guy down the road who owns 3!! But other than that I can’t recall seeing any others. So exclusivity is there too. The only non-working item we’ve found is the parking sensors. Basically it feels like a brand new car for a grand. But for the record it is absolutely Mrs brownnova’s car. I couldn’t be seen to own anything so modern.... Skizzer, Cavcraft, paulplom and 16 others 17 2
brownnova Posted February 15, 2020 Author Posted February 15, 2020 Adventure update... Time moves on apace and hopefully this week off there might be time to do some work on the fleet! Saab #1 We passed the 200,000 mile marker in this this month, and it still goes pretty faultlessly! It is however in desperate need of a service, which I shall attend to this week. Still has an occasional hesitation under full load. Still haven’t investigated! The good news is that now the C5 has arrived we don’t rely on this as our only practical family car. So I can take it out of action whilst I do a few little jobs. This one might end up getting taken out of front line service and having a few little jobs taken care of ready to possibly take to a few shows in the summer. Saab #2 Has moved on to pastures new with RobT. (I did clean it before he came for it) He has already sourced a new door which is more than I managed in 5 months... MX5 This month I have cleaned the drain holes to try and stop the ingress of water. First post storm use on Thursday indicated this has been a partial success. It’s still damp in there though, and with the cold it’s not drying out. Think I may need to pop a heater in there on a dry day. This week I plan to re-fix the PAS pipe leak so I’m not marking my territory so often... 2CV Hasn’t Sen much action this winter. Need to get it out and gives it a run. Also desperately needs a service and some grease-gun action! The camper is still in repose for the winter C5 Storm Ciara took a windscreen trim... replaced from the scrappy this week. The Yugo Still starts... but no chance to do anything else lately. Hoping to strip the brakes this week! The idea is this... if I write it here I might just get it done... we’ll see! Jim Bell, Saabnut, Shep Shepherd and 9 others 12
Skizzer Posted February 15, 2020 Posted February 15, 2020 52 minutes ago, 320touring said: Nice one on the C5:) looks a canny buy. WHS. That’s a lovely new car, amazing value for a grand. Someone else I know has one and loves it.
brownnova Posted February 15, 2020 Author Posted February 15, 2020 The new windscreen trim came off... Thankfully cat like reflexes from Mrs_brownnova saw it saved! Turns out there’s a broken clip. New ones on their way. Burnside, The Moog, RobT and 2 others 5
brownnova Posted February 16, 2020 Author Posted February 16, 2020 12 hours ago, 320touring said: Nice one on the C5:) looks a canny buy. 11 hours ago, Skizzer said: WHS. That’s a lovely new car, amazing value for a grand. Someone else I know has one and loves it. Thanks gents... it does seem a good one, and great value for the price!! 2nd arrival of 2020 is imminent... wasn’t exactly planned, but if I will go sticking low-ball bids on eBay I’ll win the odd one here and there! Craig the Princess, Skizzer, RobT and 1 other 2 2
brownnova Posted February 23, 2020 Author Posted February 23, 2020 The new addition 900 has been looking forlornly at me through the window... but with the storms and the rain I’ve not had any chance to get out and do anything to it! But today was the day!! I bought this off eBay for cheep monies. It was in Anglesey which I think put people off. Overall it’s in good nick, but there are a few bits which show it’s been a little neglected... Apparently it was parked in a field for a while (which makes it the third Saab I’ve had to have that pleasure) But the outside was not the worst of it... Honestly I think Corona virus originated in this car! Originally I’d planned to go get it valeted... but I decided to get my clean on!! Looks much better in there now The mouldy footwell wasn’t quite as good... but It’s slightly better than that now, it was still quite damp, think I’ll have another go at that one another day. The outside wasn’t too dirty bar the roof, but I cleaned it anyway. I had bought some soft top cleaner a few years back which came in handy. It was at this point that Planet Rock played my request so I was quite chuffed. On to investigating the clonk on turning right... Spring... that looks ok... Bushes look a bit worn but I’ll do them in time. Well that’s not right... Think it’s the stabiliser drop link the other one looks like this Ok... think that could be the cause then. Part looks cheap... I’m impatient to get it used though so I may chuck it at a garage. Next think I wanted to do was check the roof worked. So I’ll start it up and have a look.... oh it won’t start... bugger. Catching but not sticking. Battery is flat-ish too. Pop that on charge. I’ll check the rest of the fleet. Haven’t started the Yugo for three weeks... started right up... 2CV hasn’t been started in even longer... possibly 5 or 6 weeks... Second go it went. took it for a quick spin to check all was well. And gave it a wash. Back to the 900... good charge sorted it out. And......... Boom. Roof works perfectly! Jobs to do: Drop link thing. New tyres (the old ones are cracking quite badly). Sort the blowing exhaust Service. Enjoy. Skizzer, dave j, richardmorris and 10 others 13
Broadsword Posted February 23, 2020 Posted February 23, 2020 The 900 vert has a surprising charm to it. It looks to have cleaned up well. If all it wants is a drop link and some tyres, I think you have done pretty well. Is it a turbo?
Floatylight Posted February 23, 2020 Posted February 23, 2020 Looking good, your Saabs are nice colours....Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk
brownnova Posted February 23, 2020 Author Posted February 23, 2020 14 minutes ago, Broadsword said: The 900 vert has a surprising charm to it. It looks to have cleaned up well. If all it wants is a drop link and some tyres, I think you have done pretty well. Is it a turbo? No it’s a 2.3 non turbo. Plenty of poke tho! I forgot it needs the exhaust looking at too, it’s blowing in the front section. 10 minutes ago, Floatylight said: Looking good, your Saabs are nice colours.... Thanks!! I prefer bright colours to boring ones ? Craig the Princess 1
Broadsword Posted February 23, 2020 Posted February 23, 2020 19 minutes ago, brownnova said: No it’s a 2.3 non turbo. Plenty of poke tho! I forgot it needs the exhaust looking at too, it’s blowing in the front section. Thanks!! I prefer bright colours to boring ones ? Good choice. Quite a rare unit the NA 2.3 and should provide the extra grunt the povvo 2.0i lacked without quite needing boost! Three Speed, brownnova and Craig the Princess 3
brownnova Posted March 2, 2020 Author Posted March 2, 2020 Not work related, but adventure related! Today we had our first 2CV run of the year taking us to the Hack Green secret nuclear bunker. So secret there are signposts everywhere. It’s a fascinating place full of Cold War memorabilia and an interesting look at what life would have been like if nuclear war had broken out. A bonus is this very crusty Nissan 300C festering outside! Jim Bell, Dick Cheeseburger, LightBulbFun and 8 others 11
Eyersey1234 Posted March 2, 2020 Posted March 2, 2020 Sounds an interesting place @brownnova, there's one in York that is fascinating to go round. Wonder how many others survive. gm 1
brownnova Posted March 8, 2020 Author Posted March 8, 2020 I’d earmarked today to do some work on the Saab, but first we went for a little putter to the wonderful Port Sunlight, a superb little village on the Wirral. After that we got home, I shuffled the cars around the drive so I could get the floppytop Saab into the garage to cross some of the to do list off! The wins: after yesterday’s dead and refusing to charge battery a day in the house warmed it up enough so it would charge. The middle bit of the exhaust had seen better days. It was blowing, and had already been repaired. EBay sourced the part for £34. Off with the old... On with the new! First time I’ve ever done any exhaust swappage, seemed to go ok. Treat drive completed and it didn’t fall off... and it even sounds much much better! In other underneath wins there’s no significant rust to worry about. Is the First time I’d been properly underneath. The loses: The main thing holding me back from using it regularly is the drop link. Wheel off... No you’re supposed to be attached to one another... Problem was that no matter how i tried I could not get the top bolt to shift, and the bottom one was just turning the housing round... after a while I admitted defeat. A garage can do that one. The other job I planned to do was an oil change, the filter wouldn’t budge, and I broke my filter removal tool trying! Bollocks! New filter removal tool needed tomorrow then! I think that‘s a score draw... Craig the Princess, scdan4, Floatylight and 3 others 6
brownnova Posted March 9, 2020 Author Posted March 9, 2020 Dropped this off at the garage to have the old drop link ground off and the new one fitted. Decided to swap the batteries back over so that the one that I took off (which fits securely and has now charged) was on for the drive down. This was the moment it decided to hammer down with torrential Welsh rain!! Batteries swapped and it starts... and misfires... oh joy!! It’s not done that before! I’m hoping something Got a bit damp in the rainstorm, or it’s the duff battery. Was fine at higher revs, missing at idle. Ungrateful thing knowing I was going to lavish a whole £20 on it!! Not used this garage before, is the closest one to my new house. A few people have recommended them to be fair... let’s see how it goes!! RobT and Floatylight 2
brownnova Posted March 10, 2020 Author Posted March 10, 2020 Aaand the Saab is ready for use!! (Sort of) Picked it up from the garage today, new drop link has indeed cured the horrid turning right noise! Went out for a celebratory drive! Roof down obviously! The handling is a bit vague, and there’s definitely a bit of a wobble on the wheels. I’m wondering if the wheels need balancing. There’s also that drone over about 40mph. It rises with wheel speeds rather than engine speed and is a humming noise, the tyres look rather cracked, so they may be in need of replacement... maybe that’ll sort it. Picture doesn’t do the cracks justice tbh... Anyway, I’m happy that there’s nothing to stop me using it. Might take it to work and pop into the tyre place tomorrow if I finish work early enough, oh and I need a battery too... On the way back I discovered that someone had put a large picture of the rock on the sign to the village.... Standard... Vantman, Broadsword, LightBulbFun and 2 others 4 1
Broadsword Posted March 10, 2020 Posted March 10, 2020 I reckon some decent tyres would probably make the world of difference to those issues. brownnova 1
brownnova Posted March 11, 2020 Author Posted March 11, 2020 New shoes! The most expensive part I’ve bought for the car yet!! Pair of budget jobs, to replace the front two which were badly badly cracked. The backs are fine. Sadly... the drone is still present! No play in the bearings... so not sure what it is! So far: New tyres, new intermediate exhaust, new drop link. To do: Battery (although that’s not being too bad lately), Service, and on closer inspection one track rod end doesn’t look too clever too... LightBulbFun and RobT 2
brownnova Posted March 21, 2020 Author Posted March 21, 2020 With the impending apocalypse everyone seemed a bit glum. So to try and at least bring a brief smile to people’s faces I commuted Thursday and Friday in the 2CV! This fascinating little lodge used to be a gate house for the large Manor House. Never managed a photo by it before so thought this was a good opportunity! In other news the picture of the Rock as seen above is still there... happily the other end of the village has had a similar adornment... Statham!!! Keep smiling compadres. I’ve compiled a list of jobs to do if the self isolation kicks in. I’ve been slowly buying parts over the last few weeks in preparation. Vantman, ProgRocker, Heidel_Kakao and 3 others 6
brownnova Posted May 16, 2020 Author Posted May 16, 2020 My usual excuse for not getting car jobs done is that I don’t have time, but with the lockdown I don’t have that excuse. So I concede that I just don’t get round to stuff. So after a busy working week (despite what the daily fail would have you believe teachers are working hard) I lay in bed and watched Wallander all morning. Then decided it was time to do some simple cosmetics on the cars ahead of focusing more on them when half term comes! First up... the 900s cloudy indicators have always irritated me... So some toothpaste and scrubbing later A bit better. Not perfect, but better. Windscreen surround. This has always bugged me too... This really lets the car down, so... Bit of paint later... That’s better! Also did the windscreen wiper arms Mrs_b’s Citroen has a few battle scars from its previous life which I’d always promised to get sorted... so Bit of filler needed to try and obscure the quite deep scratches... looked to the Yugo for inspiration... The front corner looks fine... the door? From a distance it looks passable... close up it looks crap! Needs lacquer to finish off and we’ll see how it ends up... hopefully our looks better than it did before or I’ll be in trouble ? Tomorrow I’ll attempt some form of mechanical work... maybe... adw1977, LightBulbFun, scdan4 and 1 other 4
brownnova Posted June 7, 2020 Author Posted June 7, 2020 Spurred on by @paulplom’s latest addition... I decided today’s job would be to get the Mazda useable again!! I was determined today would be a car day... but after visiting the in laws for a walk, going to Maccies (the joys of having a 12 year old) and then going to see the midwife and taking the very scenic route home in the 2CV it was 5pm before I set to. The Mazda has been sat in its corner for many months. The main issue has a persistent leak on the PAS pipe. I’ve fixed it twice only for the problem to resurface. Additionally one of the tyres keeps going flat so we’re on the spare! Today’s main job was to swap the rubber pipe which had failed for a much better quality heavier duty pipe.. which was achieved, although needed two goes as the first section of pipe had a nick in it which I didn’t spot until it was fitted. It has gathered a large amount of detritus being parked under a tree... And the paint work has seen better days... So I gave it a good old check over, sanded a few bits of surface rust back To metal and treated it too as well as treating some minor rust on the floor, checking the underseal, and scraping some stickers off the back which I’ve been meaning to do for ages. No after pictures... I forgot. I also discovered the boot was wet... but i think this may have been a water bottle which was empty in the back so I’ve taken the boot liner out to dry. To do next: Paint the areas I sanded back. New valves on the front tyres. Find out why the sills refuse to drain... Give it a damn good clean. Fix the dodgy ignition switch (needs a good old wiggle at present...) Use more. LightBulbFun, RobT, scdan4 and 9 others 12
paulplom Posted June 8, 2020 Posted June 8, 2020 Join the 'G reg mx5s' group on facebook. Then if you pm Steve Swain (admin) your chassis number, He'll tell you how old it and where it is in relation to all the others. Mine looks to be the oldest UK registered one in the country.
brownnova Posted June 8, 2020 Author Posted June 8, 2020 33 minutes ago, paulplom said: Join the 'G reg mx5s' group on facebook. Then if you pm Steve Swain (admin) your chassis number, He'll tell you how old it and where it is in relation to all the others. Mine looks to be the oldest UK registered one in the country. Top tip! I’ll do it. Think mines a 1990. But it’s an import so all the original doc is in Japanese... paulplom 1
brownnova Posted July 19, 2020 Author Posted July 19, 2020 As seen on the news 24 thread I was stranded by the green 2CV this week when it ran out of petrol... The reason I’d dared to use it despite the low fuel reading is that I could’ve sworn there was fuel in it last time I’d used but so thought I’d have enough to at least get to the petrol station. Turns out I wasn’t wrong. Having put a couple of litres in it it repaid me by leaking it all over the drive when I got home... Over the pit she goes... Mrs_brownnova had says she saw a squirrel under the car this week looking like it was chewing... I thought nothing if it. Turns out maybe I should.... The plastic has been scraped somewhat. This ties in with where it was leaking when I saw it coming out., so I’m reasonably sure this is the source of the leak. Will probably replace, but not sure if it could be repaired as it is so localised. What does the hive mind think? I also poked at the one but of the floor which looked suspect.... good news it’s just flaking underseal. Buyoed by success I then tackled another job on my ‘been meaning to get around to that’ jobs. The other 2CV had a non-functioning door handle. Having watched Dollywobbler’s video on the subject I felt suitably confident to have a go. Whipped the handle off lubed it up and now it works well. We all know entering and exiting are much easier when the parts are well lubricated... ? So the yellow one will be out in the elements tonight which made me wonder.... is there enough room for all the in the garage... rough measurements show it’ll be tight... Floatylight, Tickman, Eyersey1234 and 4 others 7
Fumbler Posted July 19, 2020 Posted July 19, 2020 With the tank repair, might you consider using some fuel resistant epoxy? LightBulbFun 1
Tadhg Tiogar Posted July 20, 2020 Posted July 20, 2020 Somewhere out there is a squirrel running around on unleaded. Twiggy, Fumbler and Eyersey1234 1 2
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