The new news 24 thread

[catsinthewelder]

From roadside tinkering we found one of the pulleys on the aux belt was seized, a pipe to the brake servo was sheered off and all the oil was out beyond that I don't know yet but I will find out.

 

The garage were a bit confused when I dropped it off as it isn't a van hire van, I was working for someone else that day.

[oldcars]

I got some slabs FOC a while back and decided to make some use of them today.DSC_1556.JPG

I like those Santa Fe's. Newer shape than the one i had. Only thing i can't cope with is the off centre rear plate. 

[Supernaut]

From roadside tinkering we found one of the pulleys on the aux belt was seized, a pipe to the brake servo was sheered off and all the oil was out beyond that I don't know yet but I will find out.

 

The garage were a bit confused when I dropped it off as it isn't a van hire van, I was working for someone else that day.

I'm struggling to put all those symptoms together into something that makes sense. Even more perplexing!

[catsinthewelder]

We wondered if the vac pump had an oil feed that had somehow broken. Essentially we smelt burning then saw the oil light so turned it off and coasted to a halt.

[Arthur Foxhake]

Quite often they have thrown a leg out of bed.

Changed a few that have now, won't use second hand engines anymore either, we get them new/reconditioned from Ford.

First one we did was a "low mileage" engine that only did another 10k.

These are on HiAb equipped vehicles so not exactly throw away after engine blow material.

[New POD]

Feedback from my interview on Friday with the 2 French men.

 

They gave the contract to someone with more recent automotive experience. Who they thought would be more resilient.

 

FFS I worked for Lucas Industries for 9 years, Garrett for 2, and a Hydraulics supplier to JCB for 6,  plus 1 year making thrust reversers and 1 year making stuff for offshore oil industry, before becoming a contractor and working in Defence, Aero, Wind and Nuclear for 8 years.

 

Grrr.

[Matt]

Unfortunately, he deleted his post pretty swiftly.

 

Fortunately, not before I captured it.  

 

Fucking ace.

 

Capture.PNG

 

Still on eBay though 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Zippo-Lighter-/112595765605?hash=item1a373b0965:g:VBkAAOSwIC1Z25RO

 

To be fair they do say...

 

 

 

Please note that this is not an official Ford lighter

[cort1977]

Feedback from my interview on Friday with the 2 French men.

 

They gave the contract to someone with more recent automotive experience. Who they thought would be more resilient.

 

 

Seems like resilient is the current management word du jour, I keep hearing it everywhere.   Twats.

 

Shame about the job but you should have no trouble finding another with that amount of experience.

[stuboy]

Decided ill put on mudflaps.. keep all cack out.. and thought i know ill swap the foglights to st ones.. oh differnt plugs, thats no prob, but... other day they stopped working so i checked no power to plug... arr check the earth nothing so place probe on suspension leg and got reading, added new earth from battery and still 12v.. popped indoors for wizz came out started the car turned on the foglights and nothing...wtf.. fuse is ok...rear fog works.. only conclusion is duff switjch so one ordered Ebai !!

[Matt]

Who they thought would be more resilient.

 

 

Seems like resilient is the current management word du jour, I keep hearing it everywhere.   Twats.

 

Resilient is an odd choice of word in that context. Makes me think that the job is shit and they want someone that will put up with it.

[Cavcraft]

As incredulous as this may seem, it appears the (1.7 n/a diesel) engine in my Mk3 Astra estate is writing cheques that the headlights cannot honour.

[Supernaut]

As incredulous as this may seem, it appears the (1.7 n/a diesel) engine in my Mk3 Astra estate is writing cheques that the headlights cannot honour.

 

Surely for that to happen, with that engine, the headlights are completely non-functioning right now?

[Guest Hooli]

Interesting, can you point me to anything that explains the link?

 

Thanks

Ben

 

Not that I can find, I seem to recall reading it in the MGOC mag years ago when I was a member.

 

From memory the Triumph engine is based on the early A-series (pre-mini) hence the head is the other way around. I believe prototype minis suffered a lot of carb icing so the head got reversed.

[purplebargeken]

Dolopmites can be made to handle quite well.

 

Decent shocks, uprated/lowered springs front and rear, front and rear ARB's, polybushes, one solid and one polybushed steering rack bushes. Decent tyres.

 

Trackerjack brake conversion. BMW lights can indeed be fitted.Sure I remember something about XJ40 lights but could be wrong.

 

As mentioned earlier, tons of panels available via the TDC.

[purplebargeken]

SiC, seriously if you are interested then go for it. Prices are finally on the way up after being in the doldrums for decades. The boat is getting ready to sail.

[Ghosty]

Wish I could afford a Dolly, I'd love something like that. Have for a long time. 

One day.

[PhilA]

It cooled off a little tonight so I decided to go it to the garage and free off the front left brake. Wheel off, screwdriver in, lever out, pedal down, repeat. Freed off nicely so I took the car for a quick* test drive. Everything got back to normal by the time I got back which was nice, all the suspension settled down but it's highlighted a fun problem, above 3500 RPM the computer freaks out and the tacho goes haywire (think Junkman's P6B) and the car tries to fire itself into orbit kangarooing.

 

In true French style,I believe the crank position sensor has gone rusty and it's doing a Laguna.

 

 

--Phil

 

* 30 Mile round trip

[dollywobbler]

Not that I can find, I seem to recall reading it in the MGOC mag years ago when I was a member.

 

From memory the Triumph engine is based on the early A-series (pre-mini) hence the head is the other way around. I believe prototype minis suffered a lot of carb icing so the head got reversed.

That would be a bit strange given Triumph wasn't drawn into BMC until well after the 1300 had been into production. My understanding was it was just the Heralds old engine, with the 1500 proving a stretch too far for an engine that started as 948cc. (Well, 803 in the Standard .

[dollywobbler]

Ah. Could confusion come from the fact that the early life of the engine exactly mirrored A series capacity?

[SiC]

SiC, seriously if you are interested then go for it. Prices are finally on the way up after being in the doldrums for decades. The boat is getting ready to sail.

Seriously tempted. Maybe next year after I've had some use (and fun) out of my MGB. Unfortunately can't justify (nor allowed) to have a fourth car. It'd probably be more usable for me too in the future due to the the extra seats compared to the MGB.

[M'coli]

It wasn't the head that got reversed, it was the entire engine! If they'd just reversed the head then changing points in the distributor would have been almost impossible if the exhaust was hot never mind the lack of space.

 

It's odd how the 1500 engine is much maligned but not the 6-cylinder 2500 engine which had an even longer stroke than the 1500.

[DodgeRover]

Looking for a mk3/4/5 petrol twin wheel transit van for the winter to save my mk2. Malta seems to be the only place they have survived in decent numbers and most are diesels by now which is a no go living this close to the LEZ.

[320touring]

Surely for that to happen, with that engine, the headlights are completely non-functioning right now?

Alternator belt failure = Moar hp and less light;)

[somewhatfoolish]

Unfortunately, he deleted his post pretty swiftly.

 

Fortunately, not before I captured it.  

 

Fucking ace.

 

Capture.PNG

It's not even properly in the centre, zipposhite.

[BorniteIdentity]

It's not even properly in the centre, zipposhite.

That was my favourite thing about it. One fucking job and all that....

[BeEP]

It wasn't the head that got reversed, it was the entire engine!

 

WHS!  The carb icing problem was (largely) solved, but the distributor now sat in the way of any water thrown up from the vehicles in front, hence the proliferation of plastic ignition shields.  But more importantly, BMC now had a car with one forward gear and four reverse, hence the need for the little 'idler' gear between engine and gearbox in the sump below.

[wuvvum]

Looking for a mk3/4/5 petrol twin wheel transit van for the winter to save my mk2. Malta seems to be the only place they have survived in decent numbers and most are diesels by now which is a no go living this close to the LEZ.

Twin wheels were only on the Mk3.  Mk4 and Mk5 190s got "super singles" at the back.  Unless you go for a pickup / chassis cab.

[andy18s]

That was my favourite thing about it. One fucking job and all that....

Tbf that's how Ford would have done it.....

[vulgalour]

Today I am mostly dying Princess carpetting.  I'm still keeping schtum about the product until it's all dried properly.  I've never dyed carpets before so I don't really know what to expect beyond videos of results I've seen online.  The thing that has impressed me is that the sun-fade disappeared on the first coat, the stains that wouldn't shampoo out have disappeared on the second coat and it smells quite pleasant.  Even the colour is fairly accurate to the sample provided online, though that could be because the colour I'm using is pretty close to the original carpet colour.  I'm limited on space so I can only do one section at a time and that's going to probably take me the rest of the week as a result.  I had hoped to do this outdoors but it is pissing it down today and the other indoor workspace we have is full of cars or shed panels.

 

The only downside is that the trigger on the spray cans is rubbish.  It's not that it doesn't work, it's just really uncomfortable and feels very flimsy.  I'll do a proper update in the build thread on this when it's all finished, just wanted to say I'm having a good time doing a car job.

 

EDITED TO ADD: okay, maybe one little picture.  New on the top, old on the bottom.

[danthecapriman]

I'll be interested to see how your carpeting goes vulg, I could do with doing the same on my Volvo's carpets. It's supposed to be tan/beige but on one side front and rear it's faded badly so I've ended up with two tone carpets side-side! The car must have always been parked in the same place for years with the sun fading one side only!