The new adventures of Brownnova. Helicoil hell… what have I done wrong here?

[brownnova]

4 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Did you get the car hooked up to Tech 2? Thats the only real way of identifying whats up with the hood, other than anything immediately visible. I'm not sure where you are based but you'd get all the bits you need in Upullit for buttons, pun intended.  Both yards have several convertibles in.

 That's where I always go for Saab bits.

Front bumper splitter here for you if you still want it.

My local specialist said the one job he won’t touch is convertible roofs. So it’s going to a roof specialist! They have all the right kit. 
 

I’m in North Wales, so alas not near to upullit.

[brownnova]

@Mrsbrownnova was doing a bit of research on the seatbelt and noted on one video how a respondent talked about if the vehicle is on an incline the seatbelt can jam and parking it on level ground can cure it… 

And you know what moving it off the sloped drive has released it! 

[richardmorris]

51 minutes ago, brownnova said:

@Mrsbrownnova was doing a bit of research on the seatbelt and noted on one video how a respondent talked about if the vehicle is on an incline the seatbelt can jam and parking it on level ground can cure it… 

And you know what moving it off the sloped drive has released it! 

My old 2cv would do that. A side incline not front to back.

[brownnova]

One (back) in!! 
First time I’ve ever had a car return to the fleet… usually once they’re gone they’re gone. But a slightly different circumstance means that this one has returned! 
 

Essentially the C4 I bought for a friend was a replacement for this.

The idea being she needed a smaller economical automatic, and I was happy to take the E240 back. 

So yesterday she picked up the C4 and left me the Merc! I’ve used it today and remember exactly why I bought it in the first place. It won’t be a keeper, and will likely come up for sale once I have put it through an MoT (if you’re interested do feel free to shout). But I shall enjoy it for a few weeks in the meantime!

Today: we found a friend. 

[brownnova]

What have we discovered in the way of faults in the two years (and 20k) since it left the fleet… 

The SRS light is on
Two tyres need replacing… one very badly! 
Theres a very slight clonk on the nearside front over rougher road surfaces… (so all of them round here!) 
Headlining is sagging
Slight rust bubbling on the lower arches, but nothing too bad. 
A lot grubbier inside than when I sold it! 

So Far that’s your lot. It’s still very low mileage at 85k and runs and handles as you would expect a Merc to. 

Anyway have a picture of an exceptionally rugged, durable and well made structure. And Rhuddlan castle, 

[hairnet]

what bits fell off as you drove over the cobbles

[brownnova]

None… it’s a Mercedes don’t you know! 

[brownnova]

With the Mercedes now heading back, I’m not going to keep doing any work to it. Tomorrow I had booked it an MoT… so with a slot booked it would be rude not to at least take something wouldn’t it?

Enter stage left, the 2CV Dolly!

Having been welded up progress has somewhat stalled. Maybe passing (or at least entering) an MoT will help. First point of order. Non functional front indicators. First, I replaced the indicator housings with known working ones.  No dice,  so new bulbs, still nothing. Lots of contact cleaner and fiddling… nope. I swapped bits over from project 2CVs and still nothing…. 

Along came @Mrsbrownnova and she suggested the earths. By Jove she was right! And some scraping and fiddling later… 

Thats one less fail!

Looking over, the front tyres are borderline and the fog light doesn’t work, also one CV boot looks well past its best.

I also need to refit the back bumper, and of course it hasn’t actually run in several months, or driven anywhere in over 2 years… minor matters I’m sure! 

[brownnova]

As mentioned on news24… 

The disappointment of losing the Merc (something I’m a little bitter about tbh) has had an upside. I work well with a deadline so decided that as I had the MoT slot booked I would use it.

We bought the green 2CV in 2020 as a project and as my wife’s own 2CV. It needed a lot of welding which was done in 2021. However, small children and busy jobs meant that we haven’t made quick progress. New wings and various small fixes have been done. But it had stalled at the nearly done phase for about a year. The MoT slot made me jump to action.

Last night Mrs Brownnova and I got to checking things over and sorted some earthing issues. Then this morning I realised that I ought to start it (it hasn’t even run in 6 months) and then reassemble a few bits. However I couldn’t find the back bumper so had to present it without which meant lateral thinking on attaching the fog light!

The honest truth was I expected some issues to arise (maybe new rot, or brake/suspension issues), but incredibly the tester said that it was actually pretty decent! Verbally he has noted to me that the front tyres need doing soon.

On the way home I could smell a fair bit of fuel, so had a check, and sure enough one of the fuel hoses was leaking. Looked like it had perished. So a quick nip to the motor factors and new hose had that all safe again!

 

So the list still to do is tyres, it needs a good greasing, and the white painted sections are still a little tatty close up, so we will repaint these too. It also needs the rear half of the interior putting back in, which has been made harder by the welder welding over the holes for the seat mount. Then at some point the brakes will need some attention, as they work well, but need a really good shove.

Over the moon to have it back on the road, as it’s actually a slightly nicer drive than my 2CV! It also means we now have an equal number of roadworthy and non roadworthy 2CVs! 

[hairnet]

so much tart

[Dyslexic Viking]

4 minutes ago, hairnet said:

so much tart

I'm a bit confused

[EyesWeldedShut]

51 minutes ago, brownnova said:

However I couldn’t find the back bumper

This sounds like an episode of Father Ted.

Good job on getting the MoT

[brownnova]

48 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I'm a bit confused

It’s Hairnet… we’re all confused. 

[brownnova]

36 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

This sounds like an episode of Father Ted.

Good job on getting the MoT

The irony being I found it minutes after having affixed the fog light on… but without enough time to take it off and attach the bumper! 

[2flags]

Well done for getting it back on the road. Sometimes all it needs is something to give you that kick up the arse to get things going. 😁

[brownnova]

Went out in the Saab today, but saw this and wished I’d been in the 2CV! 

When I got home the kids were playing nicely, so I decided to tackle one of this little jobs which can be done with half an eye on toddlers. One thing which has annoyed me with the yellow 2CV has been a very slow and inconsistent indicator flash. I guessed at the flasher unit being on the way out.

I’d ordered a new one from ECAS ages ago, and forgot all about it until I saw a spare one in one of the project cars. So I raided the garage to find it. 

Off with the old… 

On with the new… 

And we have consisted and appropriately speeded flashing!

With the kids now playing in the 2CV and taking it in turns to pretend to drive I turned my attention to removing the hideous cloth door coverings which have always looked tatty, but in the last couple of years were really starting to let the interior down as they deteriorated. 

Turns out they were just gaffer taped to the back of the original door cards. So that’s been easy enough. 

 

Two jobs I’ve been meaning to do for ages! Now done! 

[Noel Tidybeard]

but do the indicator now flash square instead of round?

[brownnova]

Evening update… 

Me: I took all the grey material off the door cards 

@Mrsbrownnova: remember that fabric you wanted to put on? Why not try that now… 

That looks much nicer!

Also: first chance to get all 4 2CVs in one picture! 

Will line them up nicely tomorrow! 

[richardmorris]

4 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Evening update… 

Me: I took all the grey material off the door cards 

@Mrsbrownnova: remember that fabric you wanted to put on? Why not try that now… 

That looks much nicer!

Also: first chance to get all 4 2CVs in one picture! 

Will line them up nicely tomorrow! 

2cvistis, no known cure!

[brownnova]

My 9-3 has been seeing a reasonable amount of use recently, I do like driving it… 

However, my lack of time means the foibles are not getting sorted. Main one being the roof, car hoods northern have let me down a bit by promising to call me back to arrange a date (they wanted to tie it in with a local delivery) and when I’ve chased them up have promised the same… only for that not to happen. 

So I’ve been using the roof in manual mode, which is fine. I’m not averse to folding a roof. It’s still less faffy than the MG Midget I once had. Until the last time where the little hole to put the Allen key in rounded off… so that looks like it won’t be possible any more.

Coupled with issues with seatbelts, brakes, locks and the heater blower which all need to be sorted I decided that maybe I should get a different one instead.

So I went to view this very local one for sale:

Lovely, roof worked too! 
Seller at viewing: I’m away tomorrow for a couple of days so let me know Tuesday as I won’t be able to do any more viewings. 
Me on Tuesday: Yeah I’d like to buy it when can I collect.
Seller: Sorry I sold it yesterday… 🤷‍♂️

So…. 
Think I’m going to get a different one. I could get a diesel and then just have that for my commuter which is more economical than anything else I own. 
Or I could get an older model like the one I viewed…
Or… I suppose I could just pay to get the work done on the blue one… but frankly I wanted a pleasure not a project…. And this is not being that! 

[High Jetter]

48 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Seller at viewing: I’m away tomorrow for a couple of days so let me know Tuesday as I won’t be able to do any more viewings. 
Me on Tuesday: Yeah I’d like to buy it when can I collect.
Seller: Sorry I sold it yesterday… 🤷‍♂️

What a twat!

[Split_Pin]

10 hours ago, brownnova said:

My 9-3 has been seeing a reasonable amount of use recently, I do like driving it… 

However, my lack of time means the foibles are not getting sorted. Main one being the roof, car hoods northern have let me down a bit by promising to call me back to arrange a date (they wanted to tie it in with a local delivery) and when I’ve chased them up have promised the same… only for that not to happen. 

So I’ve been using the roof in manual mode, which is fine. I’m not averse to folding a roof. It’s still less faffy than the MG Midget I once had. Until the last time where the little hole to put the Allen key in rounded off… so that looks like it won’t be possible any more.

Coupled with issues with seatbelts, brakes, locks and the heater blower which all need to be sorted I decided that maybe I should get a different one instead.

So I went to view this very local one for sale:

Lovely, roof worked too! 
Seller at viewing: I’m away tomorrow for a couple of days so let me know Tuesday as I won’t be able to do any more viewings. 
Me on Tuesday: Yeah I’d like to buy it when can I collect.
Seller: Sorry I sold it yesterday… 🤷‍♂️

So…. 
Think I’m going to get a different one. I could get a diesel and then just have that for my commuter which is more economical than anything else I own. 
Or I could get an older model like the one I viewed…
Or… I suppose I could just pay to get the work done on the blue one… but frankly I wanted a pleasure not a project…. And this is not being that! 

OG 9-3s are usually rotten anyway.

I'd perhaps interested in your current one if you do decide to sell.

[Saabnut]

OG 9-3 suffer from scuttle shake more than later ones, making the later ones much nicer to drive. I would buy a better one as they are such good value at the moment

[wuvvum]

Convertible OG 9-3 are also (even) more prone than the hatchbacks to the steering rack mount fracturing problem, which is a right twat to repair.

[hairnet]

squash saab spend money on frog

[Stinkwheel]

4 hours ago, Saabnut said:

OG 9-3 suffer from scuttle shake more than later ones, making the later ones much nicer to drive. I would buy a better one as they are such good value at the moment

I bet they arent as bad for it as a BX14 at 95mph though 😁

[hairnet]

57 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

I bet they arent as bad for it as a BX14 at 95mph though 😁

thats not the car that you shitting yourself

 

[brownnova]

15 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

OG 9-3s are usually rotten anyway.

I'd perhaps interested in your current one if you do decide to sell.

This one was very  rust free! 
Duly noted. I’ll PM you before I advert in case. 

14 hours ago, Saabnut said:

OG 9-3 suffer from scuttle shake more than later ones, making the later ones much nicer to drive. I would buy a better one as they are such good value at the moment

Yeah, the scuttle shake was noticeable! I had an NG900 convertible and that had similar levels of scuttle shake! You’re right, the NG 9-3s have a lot less. 

[brownnova]

As it’s nearly the end of term I decided to sack off the school work which needed doing to focus on fixing the Saab 9000 so it would be available as a possible Shitefest steed. The exhaust has been blowing for a few months. I’d used gun gum and it would last a few months and need doing again. But after having done it for the MoT it failed pretty quickly and a closer inspection of the exhaust showed it was now blowing in several places. It had had it.

So a new section was procured from off of that eBay.

First job was to clear access to the pit. It’s been almost  a year since I’ve been down there! Sadly little mousey bastards had nibbled at the old prams int he garage, but amazingly left the 2CV bench seat alone.

pit clear…. 

Old exhaust was clearly very established, the back bolts were easy as I’d replaced the rear section about 18 months ago. But the front bolts… did not want to budge. In the end 2 large breaker bars and both bolts ended up snapping… no bother, same result. 

It’s annoying when they get jammed in your sockets though!

Yeah that’s fucked… 

Erm… I thought there was supposed to be a cat in here… 

 

Oh… there’s the Yugo…. 

Still here… gathering dust… 

 

Anyway, new one on was dead simple. 

Then (according to the instructions) leave it to idle for 10 mins… 

Then a midnight test run… and all seems good!

One more job crossed off the list.

Things still to do: headlights need replacing/resilvering, sort the small amount of rust on the bottom of the front wing, due a service on time not miles, sort leaky boot. 

[brownnova]

As for why I didn’t do the exhaust at the weekend… I was busy 2CVing!