The new adventures of Brownnova! Another Saab joins the fleet… 13/10/24

[hairnet]

oh

@Saabnut

 

[Saabnut]

Whilst I have many, many boxes of 9000 bits, the only large mechanical bits I have left is an aero 3.61 gearbox and the last 9000 headed for the bridge a few months ago. When I get home I will check the boxes but don't think I have one.

[Vantman]

This is the 'breaker' i have used in my 9000 days-----https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/246574440592005/?ref=search&referral_code=marketplace_search&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3Afa3f9a5e-4d54-48eb-96b0-30bd7b193d89

[Cord Fourteener]

Good luck, it's a fine beast in a good colour.

A saab without a/c is like a... 

Dunno, a slightly hot and humid saab i guess. 

[beko1987]

Can you strip the internals out of the ac compressor but keep the housing intact? So it just becomes a free spinning pulley. 

You live in Wales, it's at least 8 month now before you'll wish you'd fixed it... And it probably won't be raining then either

[2cvspecial]

18 hours ago, brownnova said:

smokes worse that Dot Cotton even when cold!

haha

[brownnova]

5 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Can you strip the internals out of the ac compressor but keep the housing intact? So it just becomes a free spinning pulley. 

You live in Wales, it's at least 8 month now before you'll wish you'd fixed it... And it probably won't be raining then either

That might be a plan… it’s been too wet to investigate today… 

[brownnova]

So instead…

@Mrsbrownnova’s C5 has sat idle for about 9 weeks since we went to Scotland in it. It needs a new tyre badly, but Mrs_b prefers the 9000. So it’s not been done. 

However, with the 9k out of action for a few days at least I suppose we’d better retrieve the C5 from its spot. 

First job start it… 

Jump pack deployed and… it doesn’t have enough juice left to jump a diesel! MX5 to the rescue!! 

(The one dry spell of the day…)

Sadly the Mazda is too small to jump it either! So the battery goes ok charge for a couple of hours whilst we run errands. With some juice it goes first turn of the key. Excellent.

I’d phoned the tyre place who said they had what I needed and were open til 3. So I rocked up at 2 to find the shutters down and the place closed… arse. So I treated it to a jet wash. 

There’s a big nick out of one of the tyres which we must have picked up on the way home from Scotland, so I’m not happy with mrs b, babynova and the womb raider travelling in it until it is done. Cue me phoning every tyre place in the local area who all end up being closed (despite Google saying they’re open), not having it in stock or super pricey.

Sorry Mrs B you’re in the Elgrand this week! 

[brownnova]

Should really get back to using this thread for my fleet rather than the various threads I have for different vehicles!

So the MG TF… 

I was between two TFs when I bought this one. I opted for this one as it was a special edition, lower mileage, better general condition and had a better rear subframe… but the niggles are starting to show through. Nothing major, but irritations when you paid more for the one you thought would be better nonetheless.

First job was to get rid of the godawful stickers on the side, and a few vinyl nasties from the front and back. That’s better: 

Another immanent job needs to be to remove these Lexus lights and replace with some standard items: 

And in the meantime fix the snagging list so far: 

- Think it needs a new battery, turnover is very very slow even after a long run. 
- only the drivers side wiper operates. Broken lineage suspected. 
- passenger door no longer opens from inside. 
- exhaust rattles at idle. 
- rear window cloudier than an April day in Wales. 
- Roof needs a damn good clean. 

I did message a seller about a replacement roof with a better rear window, but he wanted £300 and the actual roof was no better than the one I have. So I passed.

Having said all of that, it’s really good fun to drive, and quicker than expected too. If I’m willing to put those things right I must like it a bit! 

[brownnova]

The 2CV wings were totally rotten, so one job before it can get an MoT is replacing those. 

All stripped.

Im in the process of painting the rear wings and have nearly done the outside. 

The question is… for the inside would a protection paint such as a waxoyl or hammerite type to keep the insides protected be better than simply body coloured paint? 
They’re not visible, so colour is not massively important. It’s just primer on that side currently. 

[richardmorris]

9 minutes ago, brownnova said:

The 2CV wings were totally rotten, so one job before it can get an MoT is replacing those. 

All stripped.

Im in the process of painting the rear wings and have nearly done the outside. 

The question is… for the inside would a protection paint such as a waxoyl or hammerite type to keep the insides protected be better than simply body coloured paint? 
They’re not visible, so colour is not massively important. It’s just primer on that side currently. 

Some underbody Shutz spray? One wing on this is original. The n/s was hit by a Porsche 20 years ago and replaced with another original.  Neither have had much rust treatment for a long time.

[Mr Pastry]

12 minutes ago, brownnova said:

The 2CV wings were totally rotten, so one job before it can get an MoT is replacing those. 

All stripped.

Im in the process of painting the rear wings and have nearly done the outside. 

The question is… for the inside would a protection paint such as a waxoyl or hammerite type to keep the insides protected be better than simply body coloured paint? 
They’re not visible, so colour is not massively important. It’s just primer on that side currently. 

Definitely put something more than body paint on the inside.  Old skool underseal, brushed on. is probably simplest and will resist stone chips well.   Waxoyl is not tough enough for that location, although better waxes are available.   Are these genuine wings or pattern, and if pattern how well do they fit?  Have to do the same job on mine shortly.

[brownnova]

19 minutes ago, Mr Pastry said:

Definitely put something more than body paint on the inside.  Old skool underseal, brushed on. is probably simplest and will resist stone chips well.   Waxoyl is not tough enough for that location, although better waxes are available.   Are these genuine wings or pattern, and if pattern how well do they fit?  Have to do the same job on mine shortly.

Pattern ones from ECAS. Seem ok, but the final fit will be the real test! 

[dollywobbler]

Waxoyl and Hammerite are shite and have no place near a car. I'd paint them and then soak them in anti-corrosion wax - Bilt Hamber Dynax UB would be good. Make sure you give the inner wings and good soak at the same time, and between wing and body.

[brownnova]

11 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Waxoyl and Hammerite are shite and have no place near a car. I'd paint them and then soak them in anti-corrosion wax - Bilt Hamber Dynax UB would be good. Make sure you give the inner wings and good soak at the same time, and between wing and body.

Good tips thanks, want this new set to last as long as the original set if possible!

I asked another mate who suggested Raptor… I’ve seen enough of your videos on Elly to avoid that one! 

[dollywobbler]

To be honest, Raptor on something like the inside of a 2CV rear wing would probably be alright. Where it really struggled was over sharp edges. But, the problem with rubbery coatings is that once moisture gets in, it never leaves other than by rotting out the panel, often out of sight. With wax, you can always just apply more wax.

[richardmorris]

I’ve used dinitrol too when there was a show stand offer.

[Mr Pastry]

I think you can worry too much about rustproofing.  Life's too short and there are other more interesting things to do.  Realistically if you have a 30 to 40 year old car that was probably designed to last 10 years, you are doing very well if you can make it last another 10 years, and are you really going to keep it that long?  So I feel, just do a sensible minimum of rustproofing, and don't leave it out in the rain too much.

That said my 2cv was rustproofed when new in 1981 by Tuff Cote Dinol which was for Citroen's 6 year anti-corrosion warranty at the time, and it is still on its original chassis, although both body and chassis are now rusting in the usual places.  So it can work well, but only delays the inevitable.  

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Lanoguard.

[brownnova]

This weekend was a 2CV camping weekend!

We took two cars as we had kids plus camping stuff.

I took my 2CV out for a little run to Bala lake… 

But we were far from alone at the field!

Got to admit after driving @6cyl’s Ami… I’m really rather keen! 
 

 

 

Couple of interlopers: 

Went to a car show on the Saturday too… I’ll pop pics up of that later. A great weekend! 

[High Jetter]

Lomax has an early Eastbourne reg. Any more info on it?

[brownnova]

Built by a chap who half completed it, and then kids happened and didn’t finish then sold it to the current owner. Based on a Dyane iirc. 

[Cord Fourteener]

That's a Citroëntastic adventure but also you gotta love Llyn Tegid.

Next time I demand you call in for tea and chips or some such deli 😅

[chaseracer]

18 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Lomax has an early Eastbourne reg. Any more info on it?

 

17 hours ago, brownnova said:

Built by a chap who half completed it, and then kids happened and didn’t finish then sold it to the current owner. Based on a Dyane iirc. 

Owned for many years by me old mucker Dave Forbes in Stafford.  

This is the Lomax in which he and I did Raid Tan Hill in January 2005.  Even with thermals and full motorcycle gear, we were borderline-hypothermic by the time we got to Manchester on the way back...

The original reg is a 1978 Gloucestershire mark from the donor vehicle.

[brownnova]

8 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

 

Owned for many years by me old mucker Dave Forbes in Stafford.  

Lovely fella, enjoyed sitting across from him and chatting during the camp curry! 

[High Jetter]

19 hours ago, brownnova said:

during the camp curry! 

LGBT restaurant?

[brownnova]

19 hours ago, High Jetter said:

LGBT restaurant?

The 2CV group is a diverse crowd… 

[brownnova]

As promised… the car show follow up shots! 
 

Two special mentions…. Firstly to the MG Midget I owned when I joined AS! Still going strong in the hands of the current owner. Went to the Isle of Man in it recently. It wasn’t reliable enough to get to the traffic island at the end of my road during my ownership! 

And my car of the show…. 

Id like to rock that as my daily commuter! 

[brownnova]

Project 2CV update… 

The green and white 2CV was supposed to be a quick and easy project, it needed welding and refreshing. It arrived the week before my first daughter was due… she turned 2 last month… and we’ve had another one since (daughter not 2CV)! It’s still not finished. 

 Being off for the summer I’ve been trying to grab half an hour here and there when not needed to do parent/house stuff.

 When we bought it it was rough bodily. Structural work was done last winter, so it was time to take the body. I’d painted up  the rear wings last time I updated. 

Two examples of  what I was working with.

Ideally the rear needs replacing, but all in good time! It’s not something the budget will stretch to at present.

Id bought some better second hand wings for th front, but they were red. So they were painted up. Relatively happy for a rattle can job. 

 

The rear end got worse the more I poked, I’d made a temporary filler repair for the last MoT (it was a bit jagged) at the bottom corner, but this hole was a bit further up. 

However, until full rear end rebuild this can be filled and painted. Other side was better, but here’s how it turned out. 
Filled smoothed and painted. To be honest it looks OK from 10 foot. Close up its not great. The bottom corners are particularly dodgy due to the way they have gone misshapen. Much better though, and won’t fall fowl of the Man from the ministry for th is at least.

Drivers door was also pretty rotten. 

The whole of the bottom edge was one big hole. So a replacement door was sourced. 

The internal fittings on the replacement door weren’t as good as the original, so I swapped them all over and refitted the door. 

The car had spent a few months like this: 

Probably should’ve left it that way for good access to everything, but fitting my new wings would make it look much more done… 

Ah… that looks far better. Not pictured: the fact that the brand new pattern wings for the rear were an absolute bastard to fit! They needed a fair bit of bending, a lot of brute force and a fuck tonne of swearing!

Actually the front ones weren’t much better…. I’m used to taking off and replacing wings which have been on the same car for years!  That’s simple! 

So now it looks like a car again.

Next steps: indicators on the front wings don’t operate. Hopefully bulbs, but one side definitely has an Earthing issue. The interior where the welding was done needs painting and also some bits refitting. Of course the welder managed to weld over the holes for the Seat mount. So I’ll need to drill those, then refit the bits to the interior. The back bumper mounts were completely rotted, but the bolts holding the stumps of rust onto the bumper are rusted solid. May have to cut them off. Then check over for test. So far spotted one driveshaft boot which will fail. But it has only done 120 miles since it was last tested. That was 18 months ago… still progress is progress! 

[brownnova]

Other members of the fleet… 

940 back as the main daily. Had the calliper checked out and apparently nothing wrong with it. 

2CV: Still great fun, still my go to car on a nice day. Needs a new roof fitting and a few other bits and bobs doing really, but nothing major. 

Pontiac: Randomly had a flat battery when I came back from holiday… hasn’t had any issues with battery before or since. Odd. Too thirsty to use regularly with today’s gas prices.

MGTF: needs a tyre, got a puncture, the backs are a funny size. Then it’ll be for sale. 

Saab: been off the road an embarrassingly long time. Now booked in to have the work it needs doing.

Nova: next in line I promise.

Yugo: the one after that… honest.