The new news 24 thread

[stuboy]

Spent last 2 days either at missus bedside after her op or yesterday looking after future step son of 2 years old as he was rushed to hospital, he's fine now, missus waiting on the surgeon to discharge her, and top it off ive been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis .

[richardmorris]

I had to go out in the 2cv today in the rain as I don't trust the Mercedes until I get the new ignition barrel. I just need to fit the new primary jet I bought on Monday now. Gave the Mercedes a wash and waited for the policeman to come and take my statement. Then he rang to ask if I really wanted to take it any further. Ie he didn't. Very polite and pleasant, but just a road rage incident with no witnesses and no description of the driver ( I expect elderly, grey hair and smoking a cigar doesn't count). He didn't ask if I had video footage though...

[dollywobbler]

I must admit I'm very surprised that he's bought it, the last owners just spent £3500 having the fabric roof restored and headlining done and a load of engine work. I'm not sure it's my cup of tea but i can't wait to have a drive of it!

 

Ha! Can't wait to see what you think of it. I can certainly understand why so many ended up with V8s and entirely different running gear. Pure 1930s. To think, that car was current when the Mini was launched...

[They_all_do_that_sir]

The 306 was a very very good car. Did Peugeot choose to build on this great platform with the 307? Hell no.

It's not a terrible car but it's no 306 replacement

 

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Spent last 2 days either at missus bedside after her op or yesterday looking after future step son of 2 years old as he was rushed to hospital, he's fine now, missus waiting on the surgeon to discharge her, and top it off ive been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis .

I'd like to unlike this. Hope all works out chap

 

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

[Bear]

Is that FPB7's P4?

 

 

It is, it's residing here for a while to enjoy the covered storage and potential fettling and because getting to play with cars that are ancient is awesome won't be getting pushed into daily driver duties JUST yet though.

[trigger]

Ha! Can't wait to see what you think of it. I can certainly understand why so many ended up with V8s and entirely different running gear. Pure 1930s. To think, that car was current when the Mini was launched...

The Mini must have come across like being a spaceship in comparison! Dad said it was painfully slow and has only got 3 gears. He gave £4000 for it which i thought was a bit steep, he's talking of sorting the interior out and cleaning it up and hopefully getting £5000 for it. I can think of better stuff for that money personally.

[tooSavvy]

I'm inclined to offer to take it off her when she finally does get rid if it's still working, just out of curiosity about the state of the sump contents if nothing else!

 

RE: Jalopy Mag story.  Don't drop the oil.... lol

 

TS

[dave21478]

Daily driver modern 307 is being all French today. Temperature gauge randomly shoots up from middle to max, STOP illuminates on dash, central display reads "engine coolant temperature too high"

Turn off and on again and it's instantly fine again. Sometimes fixes itself as you drive along. No coolant leaks or anything untoward.

Also the central display randomly tells you the auto lights are activated, the auto locking is activated etc etc etc.

 

Digital heater control occasionally just blows cold air when you have it at max temperature. Turning off and on again fixes this too.

 

As long as it still runs I'm just keeping an eye on the coolant levels etc and ignoring all of the messages of doom.

 

It done this for a while a few months ago and has been fine ever since. Until now.

 

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

 

Maybe have a prod at the battery and charging system and some earth leads....lots of sudden electrical doom is often a symptom of low voltage, which they really dont like.

[Cleon-Fonte]

Daily driver modern 307 is being all French today. Temperature gauge randomly shoots up from middle to max, STOP illuminates on dash, central display reads "engine coolant temperature too high"

Turn off and on again and it's instantly fine again. Sometimes fixes itself as you drive along. No coolant leaks or anything untoward.

Also the central display randomly tells you the auto lights are activated, the auto locking is activated etc etc etc.

 

They all do that. My old one used to love regularly suffering random faults with the aforementioned STOP and central displays blinking like Christmas tree lights. I found switching it off and leaving it for about twelve hours usually cured whatever it was.

 

Other amusing* little random electrical foibles included the radio volume self-adjusting - often down to whisper quiet then eardrum burstingly loud - and turning off the headlights at random moments.

[Kiltox]

A large amount of 407 woe is bad earths - assume 307 is the same

[SiC]

A large amount of 407 woe is bad earths - assume 307 is the same

Did you get your latest dodgy electrical PSA purchase sorted in the end?

[Inspector Morose]

Went to Scotland. Had coffee and slept.

Went a bit more to scotland. Bought a car.

Drove home.

The end.

[anonymous user]

Today was an interesting day, on Thursday evening I checked my phone and there was an answerphone message from a very good friend asking what I was doing Saturday (today). Didn't manage to get hold of him until half-way through yesterday to find out why. They're doing the big sell up and emigrating to Madeira, in ten days time. Several cars are going too and instead of taking them one at a time it was decided, if feasible, to get four up to the shippers today and the rest next week. So suitable friends who are on the insurance were roped in and somehow one of them was me.

 

I was up at 4:30 to get there by 7:00 which was the intended departure time, it was not the most pleasant of mornings, very wet and still dark. We all met up and left in convoy

 

This was my view for most of the journey (The wipers did work and this was taken when stationary at the services)

 

My allocated transport was a Rolls Royce Phantom V Touring Limousine, probably the most valuable car I have ever driven and not something I woulld really choose to drive for the first time on a dark, wet, morning in October. I have been a passenger in it and would say that the from the rear seat it is the only way to travel. being in the front and in control is a different matter. I was in convoy, or possibly procession would be more approriate, with the S3 Bentley and another Phantom V State Limousine, the lead car being a totally inappropriate sand-rail/buggy and bringing up the rear a sensible 4x4.

 

My host gave himself the short straw and drove the sand-rail, no windscreen/roof/bodywork, just wet weather gear and a full face helmet. Things were going swimmingly until a point on the M5 where a lorry cut the other Phantom up requiring it to brake sharply, this is the least used of the cars and the rear brakes locked up a bit. (with over 6 litres under the bonnet it was possible to get it off the M5 and into the nearby Frankley services)

 

 

In the front the Phantom in disgrace, but not a full failure to proceed; it looks like the rear brake hose has started to collapse internally as, bleeding some fluid off released the brakes and they were fine in the lorry park, but it didn't seem wise to trust it back on the motorway or through town so recovery was organised.

 

We all waited for the recovery truck until such a point that we would all have had to pay to park after 2 hours, then three of us set off for the shippers with the buggy and Phantom waiting for the recovery. We only went up as far as the next junction and came off there to wait (in a retail car park) until the other car was loaded and on its way.

 

After the phone call to say they were on the way we rejoined the motorway and after M5/M6 and side roads reached the storage site where the cars will be containered. The recovery truck and buggy had beaten us to it, the local driver knowing a more sensible route.

 

Got back home at 17;00, not my usual sort of day. My observations on driving a Phantom V, something I'm unlikely to ever do again, is that you definitely feel like staff, the driving position is very upright, I wasn't cramped, but anyone a bit taller would be.

 

It is not a car that "shrinks around you" I was very conscious of the amount of coachbuilt steel, leather, walnut and plate glass and another thing I noticed is that some people seemed to delight in pulling out in front of it.

[vulgalour]

In more mundane news, work on the custom Princess continues.  Today, Chompy and I got the headlights in, the rear wiring loom reinstated and even got one of the new rear light clusters fully operational.  Amazingly, the BMW units are plug and play with the Princess wiring!  At the front, the headlights started out working fine on one side, then a sealed beam unit fizzled out and now they won't work at all.  Further investigation required.  Tomorrow we're hoping to get the wiring sorted out and some pictures for a proper update.

 

Chompy also talked to local hydraulics company, Pirtek, who are more than happy to make a proper replacement section of pipe after we found the old pieces are the wrong shape to connect with the compression fitting I have.  Rather than faff about trying (and most likely failing) to rebend the pipe to the required shape we're just going to get a proper shunt made.

 

Once the lights and suspension are sorted, I've got the oil leak to resolve and then, unbelievably, it's MoT time so far as we can tell.

[gm]

I decided to celebrate the first day of my new mazda being road legal (been on sorn since I bought it while I swapped over the good bits off my old one) by taking it on a 100 mile round trip and doing an autotest in it. What could possibly go wrong, as the saying goes ?

 

I did some timed runs

 

 

My mate Paul did some timed runs

 

 

A lunatic in a micra did some timed runs

 

 

Then when Paul parked up after his final run, the little mazda decided to show us who is boss and pissed its coolant on the floor !

 

Many knowledgeable onlookers decreed that "it'll probably be alright if you nurse it home" so I topped it up with highland spring and we set off on our way. Rightly enough, there was only a small drop in the coolant level on the 50 mile return journey, I suspect it may be one of the hose clips just couldn't handle the abuse, I'll replace them with proper jubilees next week.

 

Otherwise, what a flipping hoot autotesting is

 

Except my so called mate Paul beat me again !

[wuvvum]

I bought a Kia Picanto today.

 

No, I'm not particularly excited either.

[dome]

I decided to celebrate the first day of my new mazda being road legal (been on sorn since I bought it while I swapped over the good bits off my old one) by taking it on a 100 mile round trip and doing an autotest in it. What could possibly go wrong, as the saying goes ?

 

I did some timed runs

 

image.jpeg

 

My mate Paul did some timed runs

 

image.jpeg

 

A lunatic in a micra did some timed runs

 

image.jpeg

 

Then when Paul parked up after his final run, the little mazda decided to show us who is boss and pissed its coolant on the floor !

 

Many knowledgeable onlookers decreed that "it'll probably be alright if you nurse it home" so I topped it up with highland spring and we set off on our way. Rightly enough, there was only a small drop in the coolant level on the 50 mile return journey, I suspect it may be one of the hose clips just couldn't handle the abuse, I'll replace them with proper jubilees next week.

 

Otherwise, what a flipping hoot autotesting is

 

Except my so called mate Paul beat me again !

 

I used to love autotesting, although I quite often got lost half way round... Where did you go for this? A Scotosite Autotest would be fun...

[eddyramrod]

Yes it would!  I did a little in Cyprus, having never done it before, and have two trophies to show for it, from four events.  In four different cars, ranging from my X1/9 to my knackered diesel pickup!

 

Round the cones in Huggy could be exciting...

[captain_70s]

There's a guy on the Triumph Spitfire Facebook page who is fitting a pop-up sunroof to his Spittie's removable hard-top roof.

 

I'm baffled.

[vulgalour]

^ That is the most British thing I've read today.  Possibly even all year.

[Parky]

I bought a Kia Picanto today.

 

No, I'm not particularly excited either.

I had one about ten years ago. They're not that bad!

[gm]

The autotest was organised by the Scottish sporting car club and held at the former Nobel explosives plant in Ardeer, Irvine. The entry fee of £15 included annual membership to the club and a free lunch

 

https://scottishsportingcc.wordpress.com

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ScottishSportingCC/

 

It's certainly quite a challenge trying to figure out the course from the map

 

 

We had enough time to walk the course once then the timed runs began

 

Your best two of three runs count to your score then the course is rearranged and you have to re-learn it again - definitely tricky and a lot of fun. Everyone was very friendly and made us feel very welcome, I will be back for more next time

 

A right good mix of cars, some really good drivers and some total novices.

[dollywobbler]

I used to love autotesting, although I quite often got lost half way round...

 

 

Aye, did one once in the 2CV, though spectacularly failed to get any photos of the event. Huge fun. I even beat a Golf GTi! The lack of a rear wheel handbrake certainly wasn't ideal, but the suspension was helpful during one spectacular "wrong way" moment...

[Lord Sterling]

Now in the Isle of Wight. Got up this morning late because of getting home from work at 10pm on Friday night. Bus this morning took it's time and train was cancelled, then the second train took the piss. I eventually arrived in Moor Street Station and got in to the heavily packed Micra to drive Ma down to the IoW.

 

Micra took the hard driving I chucked at it in it's stride and is now in its new home here in the IoW, glad to finally get it away from chav kids kicking footballs and whatever at it.

 

Gave the Micra a quick mini valet and now it's due for a nice rest as Ma will be living on site at her new job here. This also means that I will be (hopefully) a more frequent visitor to tha 'Wight.

 

BMW needs starting and running because it's been sat for a while and Rovers will continue to be ignored for a while longer until I can sort out the wife/finances. Also, starting with a new firm on Monday. Same job but more money, less hotel stays/sleeping in cars so hopefully a bit more money and hopefully less stress.

[ruffgeezer]

Daily driver modern 307 is being all French today. Temperature gauge randomly shoots up from middle to max, STOP illuminates on dash, central display reads "engine coolant temperature too high"

Turn off and on again and it's instantly fine again. Sometimes fixes itself as you drive along. No coolant leaks or anything untoward.

Also the central display randomly tells you the auto lights are activated, the auto locking is activated etc etc etc.

 

Digital heater control occasionally just blows cold air when you have it at max temperature. Turning off and on again fixes this too.

 

As long as it still runs I'm just keeping an eye on the coolant levels etc and ignoring all of the messages of doom.

 

It done this for a while a few months ago and has been fine ever since. Until now.

 

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

 

Is it an HDI? they are quite prone to the coolant temperature senders going befuckety.

[SiC]

Astra going tomorrow! Glad to see it go to a good home. We've owned it for pretty much a year and half, before that it was owned by my wife's Grandad for 10 years.

 

After all the scare stories about Laguna II, I kept it as a reliable fall back incase the Laguna shat itself. However so far it's not been needed! Pretty certain that'll mean the Laguna craps itself now...

 

The last time I drove it was last week to the MOT station, where it was rewarded with a straight pass and no advisories.

 

I never gelled it with that much, but it never let us or Liz's grandad down (except a dead battery - but that was from only doing 1k p/a). When we had it, it had a few age related foibles that I had to fix such as - leaking rear struts, weeping radiator (I replaced it properly and didn't use radweld - glad that I did) and perished back tyres (were original to the car ). Stuff that only came around because we did its annual mileage every a month! Seems pretty much a sorted car. I wouldn't hesitate going to the other end of the country in it if I needed to.

 

I feel kind of a bit sad.

 

The upside is that it clears the drive, so I can get the Saab on the road!

 

Here she is in all her bland silver glory:

[fordperv]

i think i am going through a midlife crisis (is that even possible at 32?) i have been having silly ideas regressing to my youth, tonight after a near 13 hour shift i have been driving around country lanes at warp factor 7 with hardcore dance music thumping away, i ended up in Shrewsbury at one point where i found myself travelling down a cobbled street

 

[Lord Sterling]

"BT" so a Birmingham registered car from new. I really like these Astras. Where is going to?

[fatharris]

Two and three quarter hour wait for our Chinese to get here.

 

The takeaway is less than a mile away, for fucks sake.

 

Their apology came in the form of waiving the £1.50 delivery charge, so I paid them their money and gave them back their menu - I won't be needing it again.

 

Food wasn't even that good.