Eddie Honda's Wheels of Steel (and occasionally alloy)

[Eddie Honda]

Might as well start a new thread for all the shit & shite I have around here.
 
Six-cylinder was asking about my 1978 Citroen GS X2, so here's a little more about it.
 
Back in 2008, I had my then daily (a 1973 DAF 66 SL saloon) stolen and crashed, so after sorting out the insurance, I went looking for another car in a ready-to-drive state. I had received a €1750 payout which was just enough at the time to cover the £1400 I splashed out on the this X2.
 
24k miles on the clock, fairly clean, the only exception being a slightly dented OSR wing and a rusty taped NSF door bottom. Sale included a NOS GSA door and a GS door skin - both of which still haven't been fitted.
 

DSC_0733 by E Honda, on Flickr
 

DSC_0737 by E Honda, on Flickr

Used it daily for a couple of years or so and then daily duties were passed on to a Volvo.


GS Mattresses by E Honda, on Flickr


DSCF2008 by E Honda, on Flickr

I can't remember when I last used it, but it was probably briefly in 2015 after the main family car was pranged. A number of jobs have come up and I haven't got round to crossing them off. One is the NSF wheel bearing, but I'm still deciding how to tackle the bearing locking ring. Another is the previously mentioned door bottom, which is rather non-existent and another is one of the manifold heater pipes needs replacing. It's also suffering starting issues, so I'll have to investigate that and the alternator pulley needs replacing as it's rough as fuck and chewing through belts in no time. There are loads of other less important things like trim that needs sorting too.

When it was working though it was a nice steer. I remember now why it fell out of general use: I needed to extract the engine to deal with the slipping clutch on it. That takes a while and also there's a number of jobs I'd like to do while the engine is out...

Here are some pictures taken yesterday:


IMG_20171121_162429 by E Honda, on Flickr

Er, the number plate fell off earlier this year because the plate thingy got a bit too rusty.


IMG_20171121_162448 by E Honda, on Flickr


IMG_20171121_162502 by E Honda, on Flickr


IMG_20171121_162510 by E Honda, on Flickr


IMG_20171121_162528 by E Honda, on Flickr

Being of the same vintage, I really ought to get my finger it so I can pull this to France next year.


IMG_20171121_162544 by E Honda, on Flickr

If any one know where I can get this exact material from (or who'll make it exactly), I'm all ears.


dscf0758 by E Honda, on Flickr

[Eddie Honda]

When it first got registered here and I'd taken a few toll-free rides on the M50, I thought I'd better get some plates on, but as it would take a bit longer than desired to get some proper plates sorted, I slapped these "Defence Forces"-style efforts for a very brief period. Fucking awful.


Irish number plates 003 by E Honda, on Flickr


pa290009 by E Honda, on Flickr


pa290008 by E Honda, on Flickr

The front plate was drilled, the rear stuck-on and I also invested in a heavyweight Frisbee.

I went to organise proper plates. Due to misunderstanding, I was offered a pair of plates that were made up (at half price because they were already made) with polished ACE peak digits - I declined. Another set of ally digits were then duly powder coated in black, but I wasn't happy with the first pair of backings because the amount of border above and below the 3½" digits was too smoll.

 

Ace Peak 1 by E Honda, on Flickr

 

The digits were loose as the supplier hadn't got round to finishing the plate, so I just took the bits home to do myself.  (just can't get the staff these days)

 

Ages were spent triple-checking my measurement for the mounting pegs.

 

Rear Plate hole drillings by E Honda, on Flickr

 

Finally I had a set of plates:

 

Plates front and rear by E Honda, on Flickr

 

I had to think about the fixing screw holes, so I went for them equidistant from the sides as no luxury in going through digits. Which turned out a bit of an arse for the rear as the holes in the bootlid had to go through the strengthening webs on the inside. 

 

DSCF4360.JPG by E Honda, on Flickr

 

Long screws found, but I still haven't got round to painting the heads red.

 

ZV Red/Black rear plate by E Honda, on Flickr

[Dirk Diggler]

That's a nice ZV but they're ridiculous now; a guy up the road brought in a Volvo 340 a few weeks back and picked an age related plate; he's ended up with 84-WW12xxxx. Looks ridiculous squeezed onto a standard plate

 

Lovely GS you have there

[Six-cylinder]

When I bought my current GS for the first time it was a running car, reasonable looking car with bonnet damage from a falling roof tile. I ran it for a year with no problems, having filled the gash in the bonnet and painted it with a aerosol. Then I realised in the long term that it was going to need quite a lot of work both mech and body and sold it still as a running usable car.

 

4 years and 3 owners later I bought it back, off the road with a massive hydraulic leak and at that stage it was a too bad to be worth saving really!

 

Mrs 6C insisted I do something with it and now we have a good running smart GS!

 

AND your plan?

[Eddie Honda]

That's a nice ZV but they're ridiculous now

 

They are, but if I had to get another on a pre-87, I'd get one of the County Dublin in-laws to get it for a 11,xxx serial. Best of a bad bunch. On a post-87 I'd take a new series (seems daft to put ZVs on those, given they would have been under the new system when new), but as I'm in Kildare, at least it's a bearable 16,xxx, rather than a Dublin or Cork telephone number.

[Eddie Honda]

AND your plan?

To get in back into some usable shape? Certainly it is a lot further down my cull list that some others on the fleet.

 

One thing that has got on my tits over the years is the ignition system. Originally it was running a SEV with cassette points, but having had a new set jam up after a mere 1700 miles, I installed a Ducellier. I may well drill the flywheel for some electronic system whilst it is out. I don't know. As 1-2-3 don't do a GS version, if I wanted to go down that road, I'd have to get the guts built into my own housing. When I enquired about that I was looking at around €450 at the time which is a wee bit salty.

 

Both children are over the age of 3 now, so I don't need to worry about belts and all that pish.

[Eddie Honda]

1999 BMW R1100RT

 

Last night finished work 2.30am. Pissing it down. Started bike and got down the end of the access road to the main road and the bike died.

 

Pushed it off to side, checked fuses as relays and zero electrics apart from the clock. Called recovery. Went off to shelter and surf. Eventually they turn up about 4.10am. want to try a jump pack - be my guest - but I think then ignition switch has shat itself. Then after getting no joy with that I request use of a knife, advising that I'm just going to hotwire the bloody thing. Cutting throw the ignition switch loom reveals some lights as the blade shorts things. Then I strip all the wires and twisted them together. Got any tape? - guy replies no. Ah well that'll have to do.

 

 

Also discover no rear light - check bulb - still good. Bollocks. So ride home dragging the brake lever just enough to light the brake light.

 

So Honda Jizz and tolls to end the work week today and time to lash something together for next work on St Paddy's day.

[Junkman]

Was it raining?

[mk2_craig]

I feel like my very secondhand, 30,000 mile 1999 Triumph Sprint has been sparingly used in comparison.

[Eddie Honda]

Was it raining?

Do bears shit in the woods?

[Eddie Honda]

27k of that is mine, bought in July 2016. I average about 10k a year presently. I used to do 36-80k miles a year as a courier.

[Junkman]

Do bears shit in the woods?

 

I thought they are catholics and the pope does.

 

Have I ever told you the story of setting off on a rubber cow from Munich?

Together with a bunch of likeminded, we were headed for Douglas, an 1,100 mile journey.

About 20 miles west of Munich, it started to rain. So we stopped underneath a bridge over the Autobahn and pulled out our rain overalls.

That's when I noticed that mine had a defect by means of the zip having come unsewn from the seat.

Turning back to have it mended by the then current female cohabitant was not an option, since we had already travelled 20 miles.

My balls were floating for the next 1,080 miles. Consequently a new term was coined, Grabensack - trench goolies.

[Eddie Honda]

So I realised now why I had no taillight. A fifth wire was noticed in broad daylight that I hadn't twisted together with the rest because I cut through it in the dark.

In order to maintain mobility while I wait for another ignition switch, I rummaged round my electronics box and found a switch that was sent in error from China (as it was meant to be an illuminated one for my fire-damaged parts washer). Double pole, but we can deal with that.

Then in testing I was a fanny and accidentally flashed the two uninsulated terminals off the handlebars. None of the fuses were blown. This might be a reason that it doesn't turn off when I switch it off. Or it might be because I've paired some of the ignition wires together because of lack of terminals on the switch. I care not and can't be arsed investigating as it turns off okay if I pull the load relief relay. It works without that relay, so I've just left the relay off.

 

 

I shall now go and spanner Mrs H's car which was chosen mainly because they don't need* spannering.