The new news 24 thread

[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.

[SiC]

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

First owner was Inchscape Vehicle Solutions in Portsmouth (I suspect a lease company?), then ended up in Newbury Vauxhall dealer (I think then owned by Inchscape) at 3 years old. This is when my wife's Grandad bought it.

 

We bought it off him last year, when we sold Liz's Mx5 mk3 to free up cash to buy a house and also to get her Grandad off the road.

 

Giffer owned, so a few light grazes but also it's done less than 65k and been garaged for 10 years! What's nice about that is all the rubbery bits haven't dissolved and the fasteners haven't gone unremovably crusty.

 

It been sold to someone off here, I don't want to mention names incase they don't want to say.

[SiC]

Oh and it not only has 2 working keys, no warning lights on and also working aircon!! Very rare thing for an Astra G at this age...

[Ghosty]

Inchcape is a dealer franchise, go figure perhaps?

[Petrolize]

My parents have been offered an early Focus mk1 (t or v reg) through a friend for £800. Is this a fair price ? I've no idea, I know they are wanting rid as it belonged to a distant and elderly relative beforehand who went into care.

It's a 2.0 petrol 5dr hatchback, manual, 1/2 a years MOT to run. Ghia spec, nice dark green colour with no rust and just under 20,000 miles! No evidence of any belt' change mind

[Ghosty]

Is the mileage warranted/verified? 

 

The LCD element in the clocks (clock/mileage) on the mk1 Focus commonly fails, and if it's had a replacement (IIRC you need to replace the whole clock set) then the mileage resets to 0. I've been in a 52 plate Ghia with 2000 miles on it last year for that reason.

 

Assuming the mileage is legit the price is OK considering it's a 2.0 Ghia (130bhp Zetec) in a decent colour, but I'd want to be sure it really was a 20k car, and I don't think I'd be paying much more than that. Depends how much you like it really - it's top end for an early Focus, but there aren't many that good out there.

[Petrolize]

Thanks Ghostly

 

The mileage seems to be true, it had just one or two owners and the early service history and more recent MOTs stack up about right.

 

It's not quite what they're after, something a little more tatty to run over the winter or a more practical car would suit their needs. It's just cropped up locally and the owner doesn't seem to be too greedy in terms of price considering the miles', hence giving it a bit of consideration

[phil_lihp]

First owner was Inchscape Vehicle Solutions in Portsmouth (I suspect a lease company?), then ended up in Newbury Vauxhall dealer (I think then owned by Inchscape) at 3 years old. This is when my wife's Grandad bought it.

 

We bought it off him last year, when we sold Liz's Mx5 mk3 to free up cash to buy a house and also to get her Grandad off the road.

 

Giffer owned, so a few light grazes but also it's done less than 65k and been garaged for 10 years! What's nice about that is all the rubbery bits haven't dissolved and the fasteners haven't gone unremovably crusty.

 

It been sold to someone off here, I don't want to mention names incase they don't want to say.

'Tis me. It's not actually for me, it's for one of our employees to use to visit clients around North Devon, his battered Clio is too small and a bit broken, plus it doesn't look very professional. The Astra will be a nice upgrade for him and will be getting signwritten very soon.

 

Currently say on a coach waiting for departure to Tiverton. It's a beautiful day so nice to have an excuse for a little trip.

[twosmoke300]

Well , that's the Saab officially gone ! Can get rid of the spares car now 😄

Bought a minty 306 hdi yesterday which is smoky in traffic . A garage told the owner it needed 800 quids worth of injectors but I'm not convinced as it starts / runs perfectly . My first thoughts are egr stuck slightly open or a maf over reading .

This will prob be the wife's car for a bit so we can sell her grande punti as soon as poss ( had it valeted last month )

[Supernaut]

306 HDi!

 

Jellus. I had one a few years back, it had a cheeky remap and went like fuckery and seemed to run on thin air. I only put fuel in it about once a month.

[phil_lihp]

Tiverton Parkway achieved via coach and a rather expensive taxi. Train due in 45 minutes and it looks like the shop is about to open so I can get a cup of tea. Stay tuned for further thrilling updates!

 

This may be the dullest collection ever but if it makes it the 70 or so miles home under its own power it will be one of my more successful ones this year.

[stillOrange]

Today I'm taking Terry the Triumph to my work car club meet up.

 

I hope to win the most tatty ribbon. Certain Peugeot 309 and 2CV are going to be my main competitors.  

[dollywobbler]

I need to get off my arse and complete 2CV chassis fettling. This is as difficult as fitting a new engine breather and fitting a pair of rear shock absorbers. I could also do with refurbing the replacement headlamp bar. It's had a coat of Vactan so far, and now looks dreadful. 

[stillOrange]

Well, I didn't get there.

 

I'll get pictures uploaded later today.

 

They will actually amuse many shiters

[Kiltox]

I bought a Kia Picanto today.

 

No, I'm not particularly excited either.

I had one brand new on a 2011/11 - loved it!

[SiC]

Tiverton Parkway achieved via coach and a rather expensive taxi. Train due in 45 minutes and it looks like the shop is about to open so I can get a cup of tea. Stay tuned for further thrilling updates!

 

This may be the dullest collection ever but if it makes it the 70 or so miles home under its own power it will be one of my more successful ones this year.

Astra now gone with Phil on his merry way with it.

 

I just hope he remembers the pez station shot.

[dollywobbler]

To my great shame, this is the sight that greeted me when I opened the garage door this morning.

 

The problem is, I dismantled the 2CV in there many months ago. If I tidy up now, I'll never be able to find any of the bits. It's organised chaos. Honest!

 

Being a lovely day, I rolled the chassis out, fitted a new engine oil breather (that's it sitting on the air filter housing) and set about fitting new shock absorbers. That went ok, until I realised I was missing one 6mm spacer. Job aborted. 

 

So, I set about fixing* the Nippa's exhaust.

 

Did have trouble getting it up on ramps. Tiny wheels and a tiny engine mean a lot of revs and muchos clutch stink. Doubt the tape repairs will last long. I fear a complete new system is going to be needed.

 

While I was under there, I noticed a lot of rot creeping into the seams of the front subframe, so I got the Vactan out. Doused the subframe and the anti-roll bar. The black factory finish on both is just starting to crack and peel off now. I also need to do some rustproofing on the S-MX and RAV4, but the sun is shining and I'm going out instead.

[danthecapriman]

Had a good today today.

The sun was shining so I went and got some petrol in the Mercury, the lady at the till at the local Esso loved it! I think she was rubbing her hands together at the thought of such a gas guzzler being round the corner!

Since it was so nice out I took it for a nice drive down the A272 from the A3 across towards Winchester, joined the M3 and back via the M27 and A3. Put another 50 odd miles on it anyway, and it behaved itself perfectly.

It drew a lot of attention too, had loads of people wave and one little lad in the passenger seat of an overtaking Audi pressing his face up against the window while frantically waving as they passed.

There wasn't much else of interest out though. All that way and the only oldie I saw was a rather nice 76 Bedford CF camper. Seems a little early yet to be putting the classics away for winter.

Hopefully the weather will stay like this for a few more weeks yet before it starts getting colder and wet, and then the dreaded road salt.

Had a few hours doing a bit more work in the back of the Transit this afternoon too. Hopefully it'll be finished and useable early next year.

[tooSavvy]

Checked out the MOT site, for ToMM, as it passed last week.

 

I suppose (for statistical reasons) the buggers FAILED it - for 4x goosed Droplinks - FITTED 4x Droplinks I had given them (with 4x dampers!!) and the car passed...FFS!!

 

The car has swanned thru all the previous Umteenth MOTs without any serious advisories.... Copybook blotted now

 

Ah well.....

 

 

TS

[phil_lihp]

Astra now gone with Phil on his merry way with it.

 

I just hope he remembers the pez station shot.

 

He did not I'm afraid, bit distracted by going the wrong way and being annoyed with idiots at the Tesco one I ended up at!

 

It's an absolutely cracking little car and I rather wish I could keep it for myself, Simon's a top bloke and yet another person I've met off here who I would recommend without hesitation, he picked me up from the station, gave me a thorough tour of the car and its paperwork and then led me through Bristol to find a petrol station - I really couldn't ask for more.

 

The car's in remarkable condition and has clearly been well looked after.  It goes really well for a 1.6 and a good motorway jaunt has done it plenty of good.  After stopping at my parents for lunch I went home via the local car wash to make sure it looks its best when it's handed over.   It's scrubbed up very well.

 

 

 

 

 

Next jobs are a service and some signwriting, then it's out of my hands.

[dollywobbler]

Dare I say it, but that generation of Astra is actually a nice, sharp looking thing. Even in retail silver.

 

EDIT - in other news, had to visit in a friend in town. Lovely, sunny day, so the S-MX stayed home and the RAV went roofless once more. Would have got some lovely pics, but left my phone at home...

 

Once I'd managed to pass a few bloody dawdlers (it is Sunday after all), I had a nice little hoon. The steering is still too light, with no feel, not helped by a few degrees of play - rack wear I wonder? You can still chuck it into bends with abandon though. It just goes around them.

 

When I got home, I finally repaired the front roof panel. One screw (out of two) that holds the clip in place had fallen out AGES ago. Turns out it was a wood screw that someone had tried to make fit a bolt-style thread. NICE. Managed to find a suitable bolt, though had to space it out with washers to avoid it piercing the other side of the panel. At last, the panel feels pretty secure.

 

I do find that the seal gets stuck to the bodywork very easily. What's best to lube the seal with to stop it doing that?

 

Also, the S-MX gets shat on by a/several birds EVERY DAY. This is quite annoying. Always the same place - near the door handle on the tailgate, and on or near the mirror on the driver's door. I bet it's that sodding robin that always seems to be trying to fight with its reflection. I may have to swap cars around.

[For Fiats Sake]

Just where did the last six months go?

 

Had tax reminders for 3 cars so two got sorned for winter, bonus suprise is that the Uno is taxed and motd until mid may, I'm going to use it through winter in conjunction with the selecta which is properly undersealed and the mk3.  Talking of which I fitted the snow leopard seat covers to Spud, they did a good job of keeping dog hair off the last car despite being fake fur!

[greengartside]

Not a lot to report except that the Fiesta will be going up for sale in the next few weeks should anyone be interested. M.o.T'd until August 2017, 130k on the clock. Rear arch on the driver's side is just starting to bubble up but I have removed that shitty carpet stuff from underneath so that should halt the rot any further, passenger side is actually rot free.

Some service history with handbooks. 100% original, right down to the dealer plates and keyfob (2 keys present). Drives excellent, very nippy and good on fuel (>35 mpg usually). Has a couple of advisories, the brake pipes need cleaning and the rear shocks are getting worn.

 

Shiters price of £750. These may be worth quite a bit of coin in the future because OSF tax, and the fact it's really original. If I could keep it then I'd shove it in a garage for a few years and sell it then but I need the money for the Zafira project.

 

Anyway, that Zafira....

 

 

Moved it away from where it's been sat for the past few weeks. It was absolutely covered in tree and bird droppings, so I broke out the pressure washer again. Amazing how much crap was accumulating in the roof rails amongst other places. Was utterly filthy!

 

 

Much better. Resident Autoshiter Egg kindly managed to obtain a pollen filter for the beast, which was duly fitted. It was safe to say that It had not been changed in years - it's a bugger to get to, as it removes dismantling half of the sodding dashboard to get to it.

 

Like I mentioned earlier, the cash from the sale of the Fiesta will go towards fixing this up. To keep costs low, I am going to obtain another coil spring and balljoint and fit these, as per the fail sheet. Also the washers have stopped working. The pump is going but no water is coming out. A quick look on the internet reveals that the pumps could be gunked up, so I'll tackle that whilst I'm doing the spring and balljoint.

 

Lastly, I'm getting a burning oily smell coming through the heater vents. The fail sheet mentions an oil leak somewhere. I can see some on the sump but I have no idea what happens to it after that, I imagine it's going on the exhaust and that's what's making it smell??

 

All in all, it's a good car that just needs some TLC. I managed to contact the previous owner to enquire about service history but she said she's not got anything, sadly. She was pleased to hear it's been rescued though!

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Mk1 Zafiras have grown on me. They are quite nicely proportioned, when you stop and properly look at them they are quite a neat design compared to how awkward and bloated most current MPVs look. Like the astra of the same vintage they manage to look solid / substantial in the way a VW used to.

Unfortunately they haven't quite shaken the chav family chariot image (over here anyway) but it won't be long as there are very few decent ones left.

 

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[wuvvum]

Not had a hugely successful day today.  I went and picked up the alternator for the Volvo this morning (from the courier's house, which was novel - MyHermes won't let you pick up from their depots "for health and safety reasons", even though most other couriers seem fine with it).  Got it fitted OK, but it isn't charging - although the battery light does now come on, which it hasn't for a long time now.  I tried fitting the spare regulator that came with it, but that didn't help either. 

 

The new alternator is very slightly different to the old one - it still has the same two main terminals (albeit in slightly different positions), but it also has a black (presumably earth) wire attached to another terminal that appears to be connected to the body of the alternator.  This wire goes up the sleeve with the other two wires for the regulator, but then ends abruptly in a ring terminal which I can't see where it joins on to - unless it's supposed to be earthed to the mounting clamp?  I have no fugging idea.  The existing regulator has three wires too, but the black wire disappears off down behind the headlight rather than going to the alternator.

 

I'm not sure if I've been sold a duff alternator or if there's something else wrong - there's certainly plenty of issues with the car's electrics.  I did have a HBOL for it years ago, but I have no idea where it went, and I can't find a wiring diagram anywhere online.  I really don't know a lot about charging circuits anyway - is there any means of testing an alternator whilst it's on the car using a multimeter?

 

The other job for today was to do the coolant pipes on the MG.  They're all painted up now and ready to be fitted, but I didn't get as far as removing the old pipes because - as I failed to notice when I last looked under the car - the undertray which sits under the middle of the car (and has to be removed for the pipes to come off) is held on with 20 10mm bolts.  Fucking twenty!!  They have all proven exactly as easy to undo as you would expect from bolts that have spent 18 years hanging off the underside of an MGF.  I've got 10 out so far, and only two of them have snapped, but it's bloody slow work, especially with only my shitty Wilco ramps to get the car off the ground.  It won't be getting 20 bolts back in it when I put it back on the car, I can tell you that now.  It might get 4 if it's lucky.

[HMC]

Not really news- I'm sure you would all accurately guess that my ford puma is rusty. I suspect they all are to some degree, depending how far you dare poke.

 

Mines not too bad but it's in the sort of shape where a bit of preventative maintenence now will stop the slide- rust creeping under coatings after careless jacking etc.popped it up on axle stands, stripped out the interior, and have Been blasting it with those nifty dynax s50 aerosols in as many box sections as I could find. Part way through stripping any suspect coatings off the underside, and on the floor to sill joint both sides. Not picture worthy, very tedious but wanted to go over it before winter.

 

They still look quite modern IMO, but even for their time they ( and other fords - Kas/ fiestas) are oxidisers of the old school. 4/10 ford- YU NO LEARN?

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Undertray on the 307 decided to partly fall off today. Not surprised really as it was held on with cable ties. Can't really blame Peugeot for that.

I've taken it off completely and stuck it in the shed - I assume there's no reason for me to rush and put it back on again?

 

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[SiC]

Undertray on the 307 decided to partly fall off today. Not surprised really as it was held on with cable ties. Can't really blame Peugeot for that.

I've taken it off completely and stuck it in the shed - I assume there's no reason for me to rush and put it back on again?

 

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Ordinarily no. But a French car with questionable electrics, the under tray may be a necessary item to prevent water getting where it shouldn't be...

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Ordinarily no. But a French car with questionable electrics, the under tray may be a necessary item to prevent water getting where it shouldn't be...

To be fair the more bits it sheds the more reliable it might become.....it's a super advanced self optimisation programme......

 

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