How much shite is too much shite? Specials and Space

[Crackers]

5 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

My wallet is going to need a long holiday after this!

As if that'll happen! 

[High Jetter]

23 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

I am as usual struggling to get back into normal living hours, 7 days a week working 0430 through to around 2230 screws up the body clock, so today decided to take a day off and visit my Discovery 1 as my friend who is doing the work called last night to say the welding is complete. In true Land Rover fashion, what started out as a couple of small repair patches grew arms and legs, although my friend says it is the most solid example he has seen in many years.

I have bought complete new front inner wings, front foot wells, 3 new body mounts, new rear outer arches, new boot floor edges and new boot floor. In addition it has had part of a new inner sill made by the local blacksmith welded in plus repairs to inner arches, rear cross member and at most cardinal points. Some rubbish pictures taken today

I am not looking forward to the final bill for all this. It is way beyond economical repair or indeed sensible despite being such a solid base. The sensible thing to have done would have been to keep sticking patches over the holes to get it through the annual MOTs, Doing what we are doing cutting out all rot and setting in proper repair patches (there is no overplating at all) powder coating all the bits that can be (inner wings etc) and drowning everything in metalmorphosis, zinc primer, chassis paint and several gallons of waxoyl should hold the rot at bay. Thw first of these stages was started today post photos as all seams have been tiger sealed and 3 litres of metalmorhosis applied. So far, I have spent over £2k in parts and materials alone, so why am I doing it? I need a 4x4 with good offroad ability and a 3.5 tonne towing limit.Modern stuff has so many electronics and flimsy materials that they rule themselves out and cost contributes. Who would pay £60k to £100k for a new Defender? Toyota et al have stopped making the big 4x4s to concentrate on electric varieties. Pick ups have the same problems with the addition of a terrible ride.

This basically leaves Land Rover products. Range Rover classics are brilliant but stupid money, Later Range Rovers get too complicated and come with the legendary Land Rover reliability*. Series Land Rovers are fun but not great tow cars and totally unsuitable for long journeys. Defenders are mega money and frankly horrible on a long run although much better than a series for that.  That leaves Discoveries. The Disco 1 which is basic without ABS and computers, the Disco 2 which has some of these which always break and Disco 3 onwards have the same problems as Rangies. 

Good Disco 1s are getting thin on the ground, and I want this one to see me out, so I am spending the money now rather than later. Whilst there today we were discussing progress when my friend asked what I was going to do about the drooping head lining. We agreed it would annoy us for ever, so a new headling kit was added to the shopping list. Thoughts then turned to the seats, whilst in basically good condition, due to the elderly PO (he was 88 when he stopped driving it because his bad hips was making entry and exit hard work) the drivers bolster has collapsed, so an excellent set of seats was also added to the list. Then the big one. What to do about the paint. Whilst it is in excellent condition for a 25 year old Land Rover, every panel has either scratches, chips, corrosion or all three apart from the roof which is fine.. My friend has a tame paint monkey who is very good, so a deep intake of breath was taken and a full respray, excluding the roof, has been agreed. My wallet is going to need a long holiday after this!

As predicted by the Trammps, disco inferno

[beko1987]

So a fully restored disco at the end of it then! 

As long as it doesn't rust it could last a fantastically long time though 

[Jenson Velcro]

It’s already lasted 30 years with no rustproofing to speak of, so with the work you’re doing now it should last even longer. It might be a big bill now but you have a ‘new ‘ car which should be relatively easily maintained for years to come.

They’re reasonably crude but hugely competent for undertaking the tasks you require of it.

[Six-cylinder]

On 6/17/2022 at 10:51 PM, Saabnut said:

A few* months ago THE 205 decided it did not want to run for more than a few minutes. It had been getting more difficult to start and would loose power, sometimes cutting out. It was placed in the naughty corner until I had time to look at it. As the PO had been running it on veg and the fuel filter was of the rare invisible type, I suspected the (Lucas) injection pump. 

A few days ago I decided it was time, before the grass that had grown around it hid it from view. Cracking off an injector or 4 resulted in feeble amounts of fuel. Bugger. Whilst pumping the primer bulb, my hand got wet - it had perished and cracked possibly* causing an air leak. A new one ordered, and whilst changing it found the rubber fuel pipe from the steel line to the bulb was also perished and cracked. Cut off a length of my good quality line from my stock as I had run out of the cheap stuff and replaced it. Started it up and - nodifference what so ever. In a flash of inspiration (spelt desperation) I put a line into a can, primed it up and it ran perfectly. Aah, must be an air leak somewhere else.

Onto the ramp and a thorough inspection underneath and whilst the steel lines were rusty, there was no evidence of a leak. Dropped the fuel tank (where |I noticed the inspection hatch above it coz I are an idiot) and the rubber pipe and plastic fittings all appeared new(ish) with no sign of a leak. Gave up for the night.

Today, back to it. Removed the steel line and replaced it with copper on the grounds there was nothing else it could be.  I was just about to refit the rubber pipe under the bonnet (remember, this is my good hose, cotton braided and E10 compatible) when I thought this seems to go on easy. Checked the printing on it (definitely 8mm hose and the copper is 10mm - something not right. Got out my verniers, and the inside diameter of my 8mm hose is 11mm! AAAAAARGH! More cheap chinesium shit sold at expensive quality prices. A trip to my motor factors saw 2m of good quality 8mm hose obtained, which took some fitting to the 10mm copper but seemed to seal well. Encouraged by this, I removed the fuel filer from the scrap Discovery 1 I have and plumbed that in and bled the system.

At close of play tonight it seems to be running well but the exhaust has now snapped mid way down the car so a test run is not possible but I am confident it is now fixed. All that hassle and two days because of shite products. The good news for those that know the car and are understandably worried, fear not. I have ordered a length of straight exhaust pipe which will be welded to the Cherry Bomb silencer so the character* will remain!  

I always liked that car and it looked good on my drive.

[NorthernMonkey]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

I always liked that car and it looked good on my drive.

I remember picking that up with @The Moogfrom near Preston when it first came into the Autoshite fold.

The exhaust always amused me…

[Saabnut]

Today, despite having an ankle that refuses to work (no idea how that has happened, blaming it on age) I had to move the BMW 1100RT out of the shed and onto a trailer, as tomorrow I have to deliver it to a shop in Aberdeen for new tyres, a full service and an MOT. Providing all goes well, it will return here next week before being collected by its new owner next, who has not seen it yet! Once collected, his first ride will be around Europe and back to Stavanger!

I am glad it is going, I had to get a friend to help me load it onto the trailer as it is that big and heavy.

[Saabnut]

Well the bike was dropped off in Aberdeen Saturday morning ready for work to commence tomorrow (they are closed Monday). Decided I had too much to do to attend Glamis and with the heat forecast - a good decision in retrospect. Talking to people who went they said it was so busy it was difficult to get around the site!

Saturday I repaired the brush hog mower and refitted it to the Kubota, and made a start around the stream, but the heat and flies soon put a stop to that. Herpes the Disco 2 was fired up and put in the shed ready to go on the ramp.

Sunday, my friend asked me to move his fully restored 1937 Packard chassis back to his house from storage at his daughters as the body tub is now painted and soon he will be re-uniting them. As I had the trailer on, I decided it would be a good time to collect the recent purchase

An early Disco 1 rolling chassis that I have no need for! Bought as a spare all be it a 200tdi engine as an insurance policy for mine currently under restoration. Looks like the chassis is in very good order and I am sure other bits will come in useful. Will store it away and think about it.

[DSdriver]

On 6/5/2022 at 7:30 PM, Saabnut said:

The weather turned out nice but decided to put it to use* and get on with the Disco. A thorough inspection showed a total of 5 patches required, 4 on the chassis nearside rear and one on the sill closing panel in the same area, but nothing major. Sitting for the last two and a half years also meant there was a lot of flaking surface rust. Out with the grinder with a knot wire wheel and the rear section soon looked better which was more than could be said of me or the shed floor

I treated the brushed steel with Jenolite and went for a brew while it did it stuff. These are the areas of added lightness

I fabricated the first patch and had literally just got the first couple of tacks on when my friend arrived to fit the new starter motor and ignition switch. The reason it was laid up, apart from it had been driving me mad with unreliability, was the starter had remained engaged with the engine running which had fried the starter. My thinking was it was likely to be the starter failing in the engaged mode or the ignition switch failing, so to make sure I bought a new starter and a replacement switch.

I am not sure what sort of sadistic engineer designed a starter with 3 securing bolts, 2 of which are visable and reasonably accessible when on a ramp and both of which are the same size. The third is hidden, needs multiple extensions and swivels and of course is a different size. It took well over an hour for two of us to get the old one off, then half an hour to get the new one on. If I did not have the ramp, I am sure we would still be under it!

With the starter done, the dash was dismantled and the new ignition switch fitted. The moment of truth. Turned the key, the engine turned over twice and started and ran fine, but the starter once again remained engaged. Promptly turned it off before damaging the new starter. Much investigative work followed before I remembered the previous owner had had mouse trouble   Whilst it would be easy to wire in a separate starter switch (as there must be a short in the loom causing the fault) I have decided I have had enough of this POS. I have spent well over 2k on this and done less than 1000 miles, and almost as many on the back of recovery trucks. I am going to waste no more time nor money on this (the £120 on starter and switch this week is the last) so it is going up for sale. I will connect up a wire to the starter tomorrow so it can be driven on to a trailer, then when it is outside I will take some photos and advertise it for a grand ono which I think is fair in the current environment. It is a fairly simple recommision (and after all that has been done it should be reliable one day) or a good source of spares. 

You thought that was hard, have you ever ttried changing a starter motor on a Citroen DS?

[Saabnut]

29 minutes ago, DSdriver said:

You thought that was hard, have you ever ttried changing a starter motor on a Citroen DS?

Sadly, yes I have! When I had the workshop we recommissioned/got roadworthy a DS23 that had been off the road many years due to a lack of parts availability. Things are much better now, but back in the early naughties things were a bit better but everything was a struggle. I remember using bits out of sierra headlights to get them working, but the outstanding memory was the starter motor. I will not be doing that again!

[DSdriver]

My DS has the sealed beam lamps as used in classic Minis, they are brilliant (excuse the pun).

[Saabnut]

About 15 years ago I bought this from a man in Cheshire

Despite my best intentions, and a fair amount of money, it never reached the top of the pile. Eventually it went to a specialist who declared it beyond his means (it looks very much better than it was). Last year, someone expressed interest in buying it, and today that deal was concluded so it will not be coming back but heading on to pastures new. Shame, but hey ho.

About 2 years after buying the 92b, I bought a 1966 longnose stroker 95 from the same guy in Cheshire. That I got back on the road but it was troublesome, and when the head gasket failed I was getting fed up with it. I was offered a handsome profit for it, so it was sold, something I have regretted every day since!

Three years after that, I bought this from the same man in Cheshire

Always troublesome and highly strung, I have enjoyed it for over 12 years. Unfortunately advancing years coupled with being a fat bastard, my knees are getting painful making entry and exit no fun. It had to go. Today, I dropped it off with my friend in Perth to make it easier for a courier to collect it as it is likely I will be away when it is required in Southampton, on its way to its new home back in the states, this time North Carolina. It has been great fun and it will be missed, and strange that both cars were bought from a mon 300 miles away and both departed my ownership on the same day.

Here it is awaiting collection

[hairnet]

31 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

 

 

 

Always troublesome and highly strung, 

 

 

thats astras for ya

92b OOF

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Saabnut said:

About 15 years ago I bought this from a man in Cheshire

Despite my best intentions, and a fair amount of money, it never reached the top of the pile. Eventually it went to a specialist who declared it beyond his means (it looks very much better than it was). Last year, someone expressed interest in buying it, and today that deal was concluded so it will not be coming back but heading on to pastures new. Shame, but hey ho.

About 2 years after buying the 92b, I bought a 1966 longnose stroker 95 from the same guy in Cheshire. That I got back on the road but it was troublesome, and when the head gasket failed I was getting fed up with it. I was offered a handsome profit for it, so it was sold, something I have regretted every day since!

Three years after that, I bought this from the same man in Cheshire

Always troublesome and highly strung, I have enjoyed it for over 12 years. Unfortunately advancing years coupled with being a fat bastard, my knees are getting painful making entry and exit no fun. It had to go. Today, I dropped it off with my friend in Perth to make it easier for a courier to collect it as it is likely I will be away when it is required in Southampton, on its way to its new home back in the states, this time North Carolina. It has been great fun and it will be missed, and strange that both cars were bought from a mon 300 miles away and both departed my ownership on the same day.

Here it is awaiting collection

Sorry to see them go

[Saabnut]

Whilst dropping off the Sonett yesterday, I took the opportunity to look at progress on the Disco. It is looking good, with all rust having been cut out and new steel let in. Thank goodness this was a relatively rot free example. After the body is painted it will be drowned in waxoyl and many many other anti rust potions! How it looks now:

Tomorrow I am hoping to meet the painter to discuss the way forward

[Saabnut]

Been a hectic week or so, so time for an update.

Painter was met who gave me a "I don't want this job" price of around £6k to £7k plus materials. When I stopped laughing I said no thank you. That was followed by a weekend in the south of the country (Sheffield!) for a friends 65th. Whilst there I chatted to his very good painter, who looked at the photos and estimated £1 to £2k including materials! Obviously that may change when he sees the car, but as I was budgeting £3k I am happy. Just need to get it down there, I have been quoted £400 each way (which with todays fuel prices is very reasonable) but thought a concerted effort on Herpes could see that used. There followed 3 days of hell scraping/chiselling/wire brushing of rust from under it. I found a hole in one sill and welded a patch on. Very thick rust came off the chassis and I began to doubt the viability, whilst no further holes in the chassis were found, it is getting paper thin in places.

Another hole in the other sill was found so a patch was made and whilst I had the metal tools out I decided to make the patch for the sill end filler/wheel arch hole. Whilst measuring I prodded it and the entire body mount crumbled and fell off. Game Over! A shame as outer body/interior and mechanics are excellent and I have spent a fortune on new parts such as brakes, suspension etc. Herpes was removed from the shed and parked in the "awaiting the bridge" corner,

Friday saw me helping my friends lay 40 tonne of concrete which was fun. Whilst there I grabbed a couple of photos of the dead 205

Deer 1, Pug 0. Inner wing and chassis leg are both damaged.

Saturday I fetched my other friends Packard bodyshell from the painters, yesterday was a day off which as usual meant a trawl of evilbay/faceache/bumtree etc. By this time, the man maths were hard at work, with a spares Discovery and the need of a tow car. Today, a trip to Huntley was made, and this was added to the fleet. It has issues but is tested til Feb. Will probably be moved on when the green one is back on the road

[big_al_granvia]

okay mate i'm lost, what one of your fine automobiles is nicknamed herpes

[AxWomble]

4 minutes ago, big_al_granvia said:

okay mate i'm lost, what one of your fine automobiles is nicknamed herpes

Seconded!

[Saabnut]

1 hour ago, big_al_granvia said:

okay mate i'm lost, what one of your fine automobiles is nicknamed herpes

 

1 hour ago, AxWomble said:

Seconded!

Sorry, Herpes is (or hopefully soon was) the red Discovery 2 TD5. Named Herpes as despite plenty of advertising and at a bargain price on here, I could not get rid of it!

[hairnet]

dunno about saabs def a disco fetish

[Saabnut]

The blue Disco was purchased just before I headed to France so it has just sat awaiting my return. When purchased, the seller said it was needing new brake pads and a full set of front and rear were included with the car as he "had not had time to fit them". On a test drive, the brakes worked fine and no sounds of grinding, so I assumed there was actually a sticky calliper, which did not bother me as Herpes had a new set for its last MOT. On the way home, a rumble was present at higher speed so assumed the front prop was done, a common fault and again Herpes could provide. An idiot in an Audi on the way home meant the brakes got a proper test, and the violent lurch to one side confirmed my calliper theory.

Yesterday, it went onto the ramp for a dose of looking at. Starting at the back, I removed the wheels to be met by nearly new discs on the back. The offside disc was rusty whilst the nearside nice and shiny. Removed the os calliper and one of the pads looked like this

Yep, the lining had become detached and broken up. A look at the calliper itself showe a few* signs of rust and on touching the seal brake fluid started to pour out. Off came the lot on both sides, and the carriers, callipers and pads came off Herpes and were fitted to the blue one. With that done, onto the fronts. With the wheels off, it was obvious that both front discs were well shot, the offside being the worst. Removed the calliper and what has to be the worst bodge I have ever seen on brakes came to light. The front pads looked like this

Both different, neither for a Land Rover. We think one is Ford and the other Audi. Because the disc is so worn, the backing plate off another pad had been jammed behind one of the pads to space it out

But wait! What is that on one of the pads?

Yes, a couple of nuts have been welded onto the pad to make it fit* in a fashion. And the disc?

No longer round and just a little worn

Disc, carrier, calliper and pads taken off the red one and fitted.

The nearside had less bodges but equal wear. Also the wheel bearing on that side is completely shot and would appear to be the rumble as the prop shaft seems fine. I am currently waiting on a friend bringing his XL sockets and XL 3/4 drive dugga gun to remove the hubs so I can complete the job. Hopefully this evening.

Cannot get over that bodge though, and I drove it home 90 miles like that! Last MOTed in March (honest).

[Tickman]

That's is an amazing level of effort to go to for not fitting a set of pads.

 

[Saabnut]

XL socket and Dugga gun arrived and the remaing disc, calliper etc plus the hub off Herpes were fitted last night. This morning the wheels went back on and a test run ensued. After a couple of applications the brakes were sharp and pulled up straight, and most pleasing the rumble and vibration had gone. The old wheel bearing once removed, when spun by hand sounded like a coffee grinder. Never seen one that bad that had not collapsed. Went back home and taxed it, then decided to go to my factors to purchase new wiper blades as when collected the old ones were literally worse than none!

Took the disco to give it a run as it was dry. Of course the heavens opened half way over so ended up getting soaked in the factors car park as I changed them so I could see on the way home. Overall, very pleased as it drives well.

[big_al_granvia]

fxck me, that is boshing in the extreme, 

[Saabnut]

As detailed in my French trip post, the Saab 9-3 'vert went from home to Somerset for Saabfest without an MOT due to me miss remembering when it was due! Whilst there, it received a re-map courtesy of Karl Saabnoob and then continued to my place in France for a couple of weeks R&R. During the two weeks there, the roof stayed down and the lawns suffered a bit more.

This photo was taken at 5pm local time yesterday (Monday)

 Drove the back roads up to Calais for the tunnel, some 300 miles with the top down. Fantastic run. In contrast, this was taken in Dundee waiting for my pre booked MOT.

.

The Saab passed with a few minor advisories having covered 2645 miles in the previous 2.5 weeks,  The advisories were the headlights need a polish to restore full beam pattern, front offside shock absorber showing early signs of leaking, one drop link slightly worn (probably due to the eleventy million speed bumps at each end of every French village and town) and a rusty rear spring which the tester suggested I change sooner rather than later as it had some severe pits which would weaken it significantly.

Once home, I put it on the ramp to check which type of droplinks were fitted, and whilst under the car  had a look around. The nearside rear spring (the rusty one) drew my attention as it was now in two bits! The MOT tester was right! Decided that as rear springs, drop links and front shockers are required, and I like the car a lot  I will replace all the suspension, so came inside and ordered it.

Went back out and spotted a small oil patch under the car, but as I was getting the strimmer out that I would investigate later. On returning the strimmer, the oil patch was noticably bigger. A look at the sump and this was found

That is the oil level sensor connector, amusingly not used on my car, which is a common leak point when the O ring on the back fails. Of course, to replace the O ring, the sump has to come off which is a major job. Why do cars reward a bit of TLC and considerable expenditure always reward you by being a complete bar steward?

Came in and opened a beer, it will be better tomorrow!

[hairnet]

fire

 

[Saabnut]

Not had time to update this thread as back in Norway, joined the boat and been busy mobilising many 100s of tons of equipment. Still, managed to blag the night shift so can actually get on with things rather than spending the day answering soft questions and attending meetings.

Before I left I had a delivery

All the new suspension bits for the Saab. I had already tried bodging fixing the oil leak by applying tiger seal, but this modern fully synth oil is thin stuff and can escape with ease. It did slow a torrent into a slow seep so counted that as a win. Fired up with enthusiasm with all the nice shiny bits, the Saab went back on the ramp ready to start with the rear suspension, as the design of this meant no spring compressors are needed. I hate doing springs, do not own a decent set of spring compressors so decided do the rear, build up my fortitude for doing the fronts and arrange to borrow a decent set of compressors from a friend. The enthusiasm did not last long as I was met with these on all 4 wheels

and of course despite a thorogh search of the car, there is no key! The last Saab I bought had the same problem, and that one took a full day to get the old ones off (with regular tea breaks, and the desire for a repeat performance was nil. Good job I discovered this whilst at home and not on my european road trip a couple of weeks ago!

Gave it a great deal of thought for a few seconds and went to see my Saab mechanic of choice. It was agreed he would remove and bin the locking wheel nuts, fit the new suspension and if he had time, drop the sump and fix the leak properley. After all, the greatest labour saving device known to mankind is money! The Saab was left there and I got a lift home.

As I now had an empty ramp and a vacant slot in my timetable, I charged the battery on the Toyota Enima and got that onto the ramp to see how extensive the welding required is, which had stopped the MOT preparation a few months ago. As luck would have it, my welding friend called in for a brew so we investigated together. Turns out it is just the rear couple of inches on the back of the inner and outer sills on both sides, so my friend has agreed to sort that whilst I am away if the stars align.

Whilst in the final panic of packing my bag and getting ready to head for Norway, I was contacted by a fellow shiter who advised me a car I had shown interest in a few months ago was now available, so was I still interested. Of course, with no time, far too many cars and a severe shortage of space, I agreed to purchase it on the condition he could store it until my return  A new piece of chod is now awaiting collection at the end of this trip!

[Saabnut]

A busy if straightforward work trip so far. I have not bothered updating the offshore trip as I am sure you are all as bored as I am of looking at the Ekofisk complex. This trip is all at one location, so apart from the height of the waves, the view out of the office window does not change. Having said that, the forecast for the next few days is rubbish, so we are going to use the time to nip into Stavanger (15 hours away) and do the crewchange we had planned to do by helicopter before the weather had other ideas.

Today, whilst working we had a visitor, this is in roughly 300 feet (90m) of sea water!

[DSdriver]

Not at all camera shy

[Saabnut]

Slow progress and we are again waiting on weather, we currently have 9m waves which, for those not familiar with the metric system converts to "big waves" or technically speaking "bloody rough"

My Seal friend has visited a few times, but last night he brought his friend with him. Fascinating to watch, they were actually playing together