The new adventures of Brownnova. How many 2CVs can I get running in one afternoon?

[wesacosa]

22 hours ago, brownnova said:

 

Oh… there’s the Yugo…. 

 

 

 

Still loving the Yugo.  Can't remember if I asked before but what's the story with those graphics? They look too wacky even for 90s dealer fit

[brownnova]

7 hours ago, wesacosa said:

Still loving the Yugo.  Can't remember if I asked before but what's the story with those graphics? They look too wacky even for 90s dealer fit

They were fitted by the original owner’s husband. She said she kept losing the small white hatchback in car parks so they put stickers up the side to help it stand out.

If and when I get it back on the road the stickers will stay, and any which are compromised by the rusty panels will be replaced as my brother does vinyl graphics as a part of his business. 

[wesacosa]

Nice story. Normally if I bought a car stuff like that would be the first thing in the bin but on this I'd definitely keep them 

You may have already seen on his own posts but we now have a Yugo botherer over in Serbia, @IronStar who maybe able to help with any hard to get parts once it comes to that point 

[IronStar]

I’m happy to source any bits you may need and send them over to you.  Mostly everything is still available to buy in a shop or in classifieds for not much money. As part of my Yugo bothering, I bought a parts store that was closing with tons of random bits (I have something like 300 exhaust hangers 🤦‍♂️), and have disassembled an entire car with its bits sitting around my garage now.
Plenty of NOS panels available for sale in Serbia as well.

[brownnova]

9 hours ago, IronStar said:

I’m happy to source any bits you may need and send them over to you.  Mostly everything is still available to buy in a shop or in classifieds for not much money. As part of my Yugo bothering, I bought a parts store that was closing with tons of random bits (I have something like 300 exhaust hangers 🤦‍♂️), and have disassembled an entire car with its bits sitting around my garage now.
Plenty of NOS panels available for sale in Serbia as well.

This is really good news!!! I definitely have some parts I’ll need, and some bits I know I’ll find hard to get here. Not sure how I hadn’t pegged a Yugo fan on here! 

[IronStar]

5 minutes ago, brownnova said:

This is really good news!!! I definitely have some parts I’ll need, and some bits I know I’ll find hard to get here. Not sure how I hadn’t pegged a Yugo fan on here! 

Anything you need!

Only bits I probably can’t get are RHD specific ones such as dash. All other bits are fair game. Anything I have in the garage as an extra you can have under the going rate 😄

[brownnova]

10 minutes ago, IronStar said:

Anything you need!

Only bits I probably can’t get are RHD specific ones such as dash. All other bits are fair game. Anything I have in the garage as an extra you can have under the going rate 😄

I’ll start making a list! Brake calipers and the panel underneath the windscreen are key bits for sure. 
 

I’ll have a look and draw up a list! 

[stuboy]

On 09/07/2024 at 00:41, brownnova said:

Still here… gathering dust… 

is it a 2 rear lighter or later 4 rear lighter?

[IronStar]

2 minutes ago, brownnova said:

I’ll start making a list! Brake calipers and the panel underneath the windscreen are key bits for sure. 
 

I’ll have a look and draw up a list! 

Not sure of that panel is inverse for RHD wipers?  Can you do some measurements so I compare it to mine?

I have an extra set of brake calipers you can have for the postage. Original type, same as yours. However I’d recommend you to go for a newer type, that’s shared with Florida (or Sana as you know it in the UK). They should bolt right up to your carriers, they clear the 13inch wheels , and are peanuts to buy as well. 
I upgraded mine to 257 discs off a Bravo I think, but you need 14inch wheels for this.

[brownnova]

55 minutes ago, IronStar said:

Not sure of that panel is inverse for RHD wipers?  Can you do some measurements so I compare it to mine?

I’ll have a look… no idea. 

 

55 minutes ago, IronStar said:

have an extra set of brake calipers you can have for the postage. Original type, same as yours. However I’d recommend you to go for a newer type, that’s shared with Florida (or Sana as you know it in the UK). They should bolt right up to your carriers, they clear the 13inch wheels , and are peanuts to buy as well. 

Ok, I’d have to look at where I could get those from. Thank you for the tip! 

[brownnova]

1 hour ago, stuboy said:

is it a 2 rear lighter or later 4 rear lighter?

Later 4

[IronStar]

22 minutes ago, brownnova said:

I’ll have a look… no idea. 

 

Ok, I’d have to look at where I could get those from. Thank you for the tip! 

You probably never got the newer type in the UK. They are plentiful here, and I’m happy to get them from the breakers and send it to you along with the rest of the stuff. 
 

I see it’s missing the rear wiper arm, I should have that spare as well I think. Common “mod” is Punto rear wiper arm as that fits the spline of the wiper. 
 

[richardmorris]

25 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Later 4

I see you’ve let the children crayon all over it.

[brownnova]

It’s a one in from me! And yes, yet another Saab! This is the third Saab convertible to pass through my hands.

Story is thus: 

Having sold the Blue Saab to DirtyDaily (which he then sold to Purplebargeken) I went on the quest for a new steed…. Originally the plan was for a diesel 93, but then I got distracted and started looking for something different that I fancied owning and would do a decent job of the commute. I looked at Rover 75s, a Renault 19, an older Saab convertible, an Alfa Romeo Giulietta… and that is just the stuff I went to view locally! But nothing was right… 

Then a late night look at cars for sale within about 50 miles and this pops up in Llangollen.

A viewing later and it seems a good one… 

A 93 diesel in 16v flavour as denoted by the red T

Silver isn’t really my thing, but the grey wheels really work imo.

One thing worthy of further investigation… 

I wonder if it’s been breathed on… 

Drove really well all the way home, and bar needing a bloody good clean there isn’t too much to do with it… should be ideal for the commute! Wonder if it’ll be dry enough to have the roof down this week? 

[Split_Pin]

Nice!

Hirsch was a factory approved catalogue you could buy from, a bit like Irmscher and Vauxhall/Opel at the same time. There might be tuning bits, there might just be cosmetics - who knows!

Gotta say, I'm hankering after another 93 Convertible again.

[Keymaster]

Top work!

[brownnova]

16 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Hirsch was a factory approved catalogue you could buy from, a bit like Irmscher and Vauxhall/Opel at the same time. There might be tuning bits, there might just be cosmetics - who knows!

Ah, I did wonder if it might just be cosmetics… I’ll try and contact them and see if they can divulge that information to me! 

[Split_Pin]

I seem to recall if you give them your VIN number they can check.

[hairnet]

3 hours ago, brownnova said:

 

 

 

Will laugh anc point on way home later

[brownnova]

The sun was sort of out when I left work… so I couldn’t resist…

Needs a minor bit of assistance to get the tonneau down, but it works! 

In other news, this is the first car I have bought for myself which features a touch screen…

And the key test… does it come with a free CD already in the player…. 

Im tempted to put that one back through the sellers letter box!  

[Keymaster]

Hirsch, Bose and Nav! That thing must have had EVERY option box ticked 

[Split_Pin]

I think you made the right choice over a 75.

[MAF260]

Saab looks great. I'm still loving mine, been doing a few jobs on it, will update my progress thread soon.

[brownnova]

11 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I think you made the right choice over a 75.

Me too… I think I needed to try it and the others to realise that the Saab was the one for me!

[brownnova]

In other news one out today as well.

The Volvo V70 I had picked up for someone else (after a late night drunken ebay bid from him) and has been here nearly 2 months. I’ve done about 750 trouble free miles in it. Opened my eyes to how good these V70s are… quite sad to see it go off to a new owner today. The chap who bought it off eBay never even saw it 😂

 

[brownnova]

So, it might not look like a big difference… but this has had the full cleaning experience… 

Whilst from 10 meters it looked clean up close you could see that it hasn’t been that well cleaned. All the nooks and crannies were rather algael! Lots of green in the boot shut, in the plastic trim etc.

It is no longer an Algael car, and all the corners, trim inserts and edges are clean. The car is remarkably scuff free. The roof has a few more stubborn marks, but I’ve cleaned and protected it with Autoglyms finest roof protector, which I still had in stock from one of my previous Saab Convertibles! 

Interior is also nice and tidy now too. Leather treated and fed. 

A week of using it and now a good clean… what have we learnt?

Firstly, it seems as though pretty much everything works. The one thing that doesn’t are the parking sensors. But everything else does. It drives really well, and feels rather more rapid than expected. It’s far tighter and better together than the last one of these I had. 

The only minor niggles appears to be a chuggy idle on the second start up of the day. Always fine in the morning. But when I leave work it’s a lot of vibration, which clears after about 30 seconds.

There is definitely a slight leak into the cabin somewhere, only very minor. Some minor bubbling on one arch too… 

But, the overriding feeling is that I’m very very pleased with the purchase - especially for the price I paid! Moreover, all three kids (including the teenager who is rarely impressed by anything) like it and the wife had a drive today and was very impressed. I know Saabs suit me, and I love having the roof down. But this one seems to be a good one which feels like I can have confidence to take me anywhere. Plus, being a diesel suits my 20 miles of A55 commuting. The six speed box is lovely… when I remember to select 6th rather than leave it in 5th! 

I sensed with the last one I had that I liked them as a car, but found the foibles on that particular one too irritating. But I’m glad after trying other things it was clear that this is what I want.

This one just seems spot on.

Which will probably mean it grenades tomorrow… 😂

[brownnova]

How now the fleet at chez Brownnova?

The 9000 has been on full daily duties over the past two weeks after the 9-3 developed a very noisy wheel bearing. Considering it’s nearly 30 years old and has been well run in at 220k the 9000 has been faultless. In fact the central locking and abs light have started behaving themselves with more regular use! Does need a service now, probably a new battery and there’s a slight wheel wobble at 70mph. The 9-3 is booked in next week for the bearing as I don’t fancy scrambling round on the floor in February!

Despite having the XC90 back it hasn’t been pressed into daily duties… as I prefer the 9000! It has done a couple of hundred miles since fixing the electrical connection issue. Rear wiper is fucked tho… and the Airbag service required message is now on since the electrical issues. Hoping that’s just one that needs clearing. With the wife’s PCP-mobile coming close to it’s mileage limit we need a more economical family lugger, so this will be for sale soon.

The 2CV was recently described as “dreadful” on a YouTube video whilst parked next to a Lamborghini in a cars and coffee event. No matter of Mr YouTube wankers opinion, it’s a great little thing. MoT is up this month, and I can’t get it to the garage when my preferred tester is in until March… so it’ll likely have a month off. Because I have too many cars and not enough time it is in need of a few small jobs which I am foolishly ignoring… will make a list for the Easter break. 

Which means that I need to do the last couple of small jobs on the other 2CV so we don’t end up tin snail-less for the March local club runs! New tyres, better paint on the wings and refitting the back seats (where the mount has been welded over) are the priorities. 
 

[brownnova]

As detailed on the Cannock-fest thread, after 150 trouble free miles on Saturday, about 15 miles from home I was belting along the dual carriageway up a hill when there was an almighty bang, and I lost most of the (admittedly small amount of) power.

A side of the road investigation revealed a popped out spark plug. My hands also bear the marks still that spark plugs get very hot!

Reinsertion got me a further three miles and off the dual carriageway. Another reinsertion and call for tools from the wife and another three miles achieved. Post tools  this pattern continued. Until such a time as reinsertion simply wasn’t yielding any kind of running any more. 

With great regret a lift on the big orange taxi was arranged for the first time in my ownership. 


 

Feeling pretty sure that the threads have stripped in the block. I changed the plugs about a year ago.

Couple of choices here, some kind of helicoil/retapped thread etc seems the most obvious choice. But… Daisy has always leaked a bit of oil, but this year this leak has got noticeably worse. So I’m wondering if this is a nudge to give the engine a bit of professional attention or indeed whether to pop one of the blocks from a project car in temporarily.

Either way the MoT runs out today, so it’s SORN’d and the plan is to do a couple of small jobs to the green one to make it roadworthy for the last few months of its MoT ticket. Takes the pressure off to worry about the yellow for now. 

[hairnet]

swap the plate to the green one

[mercedade]

13 hours ago, brownnova said:

As detailed on the Cannock-fest thread, after 150 trouble free miles on Saturday, about 15 miles from home I was belting along the dual carriageway up a hill when there was an almighty bang, and I lost most of the (admittedly small amount of) power.

A side of the road investigation revealed a popped out spark plug. My hands also bear the marks still that spark plugs get very hot!

Reinsertion got me a further three miles and off the dual carriageway. Another reinsertion and call for tools from the wife and another three miles achieved. Post tools  this pattern continued. Until such a time as reinsertion simply wasn’t yielding any kind of running any more. 

With great regret a lift on the big orange taxi was arranged for the first time in my ownership. 


 

Feeling pretty sure that the threads have stripped in the block. I changed the plugs about a year ago.

Couple of choices here, some kind of helicoil/retapped thread etc seems the most obvious choice. But… Daisy has always leaked a bit of oil, but this year this leak has got noticeably worse. So I’m wondering if this is a nudge to give the engine a bit of professional attention or indeed whether to pop one of the blocks from a project car in temporarily.

Either way the MoT runs out today, so it’s SORN’d and the plan is to do a couple of small jobs to the green one to make it roadworthy for the last few months of its MoT ticket. Takes the pressure off to worry about the yellow for now. 

Hey, snap! 🙃