How much shite is too much shite? French house burgled and 2 cars stolen - Bugger!

[catsinthewelder]

3 hours ago, Saabnut said:

 a couple of teeth missing on the starter ring gear (a common problem on 2 strokes as they always come to rest on the same point of the flywheel),

Would it be too much of a bodge to unbolt the flywheel and turn it 180° ? (or different amount if odd number of bolts).

[loserone]

Really pleased to see the AX is still going, I really liked that car.  

[spike60]

Flywheel teeth can helped by stalling the engine instead of switching off assuming  it's manual. This makes it random where the engine stops, though I've never used it on a 2 stroke . On an Bmw 2500 6 cyl from 1973 it took it from about 1 in 2 settling on bad bit to about 1 in 6 times, much better. 

[Saabnut]

13 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

Would it be too much of a bodge to unbolt the flywheel and turn it 180° ? (or different amount if odd number of bolts).

That was my original plan and would work until I bought a few* spares recently. I think I have 14 spare engines plus a few extra flywheels so might just as well change it.

[catsinthewelder]

14 spare 2 stroke engines and a Wartburg that won't move 😉

[chaseracer]

2 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

14 spare 2 stroke engines and a Wartburg that won't move 😉

There's a plan for that... 😉

[Inspector Morose]

2 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

14 spare 2 stroke engines and a Wartburg that won't move 😉

Oi! It moves. Okay, we had to cut a tree down first, but it moved!

[Saabnut]

My plans for next week have had to change and I won't make the Sunday gathering up here now! Had a phone call this morning from my friend in France who keeps an eye on my place for me. Yesterday she arrived back from a 2 week trip to visit her parents in the UK and this morning she had a call from one of my neighbours saying they thought someone had broken into my house. She went straight down and called the Gendarmes as the shutters on one window had been forced and the window behind it broken. One window panel in the garage door had also been broken. And two of my cars were missing  

Cutting a long story short, my French registered Range Rover acquired from this very site which was parked in the barn, locked with the battery disconnected has gone, as has my friends 1966 Triumph Spitfire Mk2 which was in the garage next to the barn. To get the Spitfire out, they had to move the ride on mower with flat tyres so they parked that where the Rangie was. The house had been searched (for the Rangie keys which they found) and for the log book (which they did not find as it is here in the UK). Nothing else was taken, the TV etc is fine, the new electric bike is still in the garage etc etc. 

I am convinced that they were professional car thieves as they had done a recce and took the cars across the garden and through a field as the gates to the house were still locked. The only thing that bothered me a bit was taking the Spitfire as that was not going to be easy to get rid of.

This afternoon my friend called me again to say they had found the Spitfire. No idea of condition or anything but it appears it was abandoned in the next village about 5 miles away, and it has been recovered by a local garage who are awaiting to see if the police want to process it. This makes me think my theory of professionals is correct because as soon as they realised they had a rare, UK registered RHD car which was not going to be easily turned into cash, they dumped it. I doubt I will see the Rangie again as it will either be in Africa, eastern europe of a parts yard by now being a LHD car. Annoying, but could be worse.

Ferry booked Sunday night so will be in the Pays de Loir Monday lunchtime and the owner of the Spitfire is coming with me. Plan is to recover the car, sort the insurance for the damage to the house and see if anything else (like tools) are missing. All being well, if the Spitfire is OK we will bring it back to the UK.

More if and when I get updates or next week when I see for myself.

[Tayne]

Sorry to hear that, hope nothing else is gone.

[dome]

Ah fuck, that's horrible news. I hope nothing else is gone when you get there. 

[LightBulbFun]

Shit thats a kick in the balls! you dont deserve this sort of bollocks!, I am glad to hear the spitfire has been recovered at least,  fingers crossed its all intact and not been messed with, but thats shit about the Land Rover, I hope that it is still able to be found, is there a french equivalent of a PNC, or somewhere you can report the vehicle (and its VIN number) as stolen? so incase anyone tries to do anything with it, it flags up.

I hope nothing else was stolen or damaged otherwise!

 

I admit it would be interesting to hear what the French police make of it/if they decide to try and do anything about it, I know here in the UK often times the police have not been very interested in things like this sadly, so I wonder if the french police are just as bad or if they are better in any regard?