The new news 24 thread

[egg]

Cheers Rob, and the smoothness of the 626 impressed me too on a Sunday drive round Whitstable. Good ride quality too.

[Arthur Foxhake]

So, the Transit turned up on Thursday as expected. As it turned out, i got the day off due to weather so could greet it when it arrived on the flatbed.

As it was on a flatbed, i had a good look underneath.

My first comment to the seller was "Christ, I'm glad its already MOTed."

Been on dodgy MOTs a couple of years looking at it. It's not horrendous underneath but clearly should be better.

Still, it was only £500 delivered so i didn't expect anything less.

Wheel bearing, as described, was PROPERLY kippered. No needles left at all, undriveable. Sorted that in a couple of hours and took it for a test drive.

It wasn't too bad at all, bit wandery still and brakes started to grind if pressed heavily and notchy power steering at idle. I went to the parts place after having a look at it and bought new pads and a track rod end and fitted them.

Much better. Just the power steering belt and tensioner and a part worn tire to fit and it should be good for a while.

Very pleased with it. Even fitted it with shelving today and cleaned out the inch of shit all over the cab. Pics when i can be arswd in the near future.

[DodgeRover]

I had a friend who was proud of the postal mot service for his mk4 transit, till the bottom ball joint dropped out one day..

[wuvvum]

Well today turned out to be reasonably mild for December and the rain mostly held off so I got a bit of fettling done.  I've been having a poke round the 205 to see what's what.

 

 

It's showing definite signs of previous giffer ownership.

 

 

Another giffer bodge - the bonnet release broke so the bonnet catch is now released by means of this bit of wire, which tucks neatly into the grille out of sight when not in use.

 

 

The interior isn't too bad for the mileage, although both driver's seat and steering wheel are getting a bit tired.

 

 

The non-working screen wash turned out to be a knackered pump, so I nicked the universal inline pump off the Volvo and plumbed that in - that was a bit of a task as the washer tubing is seemingly the original and has about as much elasticity left as a 50-year-old hooker's m!nge, so persuading it to stay on the pump nozzles took some doing, but it's there now.  The rear wiper turned out to just be partially seized - squirting some GT85 down the spindle and working it back and forth soon had it functional again.  I found a used wiper blade the right size and fitted that to replace the completely shagged one on the car.  I was surprised to find that the front wipers don't have an intermittent function - they're 2-speed plus flick wipe, just like my mum's old E-plate GLD.

 

I topped up the PAS with ATF (took two goes as it just nommed the first lot I put in) and the steering is a lot better now.  I put the car up on the ramps to investigate the leak, and it's coming from the rack area - whether it's the rack itself which is leaking or the metal pipe feeding it (which is quite rusty) I couldn't tell as access isn't brilliant.

 

Had a general poke around whilst I was under there, and it's not great news.  Both inner sills are gone at the back - whilst it doesn't look like a particularly difficult panel to redo, it's right next to the fuel tank so that would have to come off.  Outer sills, whilst intact, are feeling a bit soft in places through the stone chip.  I also found that the NSF wishbone front bush is utterly shagged and is allowing about 1/4" of movement at the mounting - that might explain the odd tendency the car has to pull to the right under acceleration.  Anyone know if the bushes on these are a DIY job or are they one of those ones that can only be done by NASA?

 

 

One of the jobs I was hoping to get done was to get the rear drums off the Rover of Doom and get everything cleaned / freed up.  That was a non-starter as both drums had one of the two retaining screws seized solid.  My attempt to drill them out was aborted when the drill died because I had forgotten to charge it up like a twat.  So that's going to need doing another day.

 

I did get the auxiliary belt fitted to the Movano, after much swearing.  So that now has PAS and a charging battery again.  It's probably still going to end up going to van heaven in the near future though.  In preparation for that, I cleared it out and transferred all the stuff I'm going to keep, plus the pile of old tyres I'm eventually going to get round to disposing of, into the Relay. 

 

I've officially given up trying to fit the replacement blower to the Stilo.  I finally, after even more swearing, got the last retaining bolt out, but it's physically impossible to get the blower assembly out from the dashboard without either removing the pedal assembly, removing the entire heater assembly or taking the top off the dashboard - none of which I felt inclined to do, nor am I likely to feel so inclined in the foreseeable future.

 

 

So it's going to be staying as it is, and if we get any serious frosts I'll just have to go to work in the Berlingo.

[5speedracer]

This came today. Only two people in the office correctly identified it. One because his dad used to take the rotor arm out of their family car when the car was left at Dublin airport. The other because she restored a classic mini a couple of years ago with her uncle and it became her first car.

 

I bought it mostly to take apart to see how they work (without breaking the cars) and also for yet another project that probably never will get done. Want to play with it and make my own fully electronic ignition system.

 

For £27 posted, it's incredibly cheap. Quality doesn't seem too bad, but then I haven't had it in action...

I thought you meant identify what car it was for not simply it is a distributor!

 

Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

[5speedracer]

ah, the norwegian blue?

 

its a remarkable bird, innit? beautiful plumage......

Hibernating this time of year....

 

Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

[beko1987]

Dropped the gooner off for wheel alignment this morning, before it scrubs the better tyres down on the edges like the old tyres were.

 

The guy looked a bit taken aback when I said no rush, I work around the corner so give me a shout when it's done, think he expected me to demand it went on the machine this instant!

[bramz7]

20171203_182406.jpg

First commute to work today. Confirmed need new glow plugs, took about 3 minutes to start. Runs fine after though, no chug at all.

[Anthony]

I also found that the NSF wishbone front bush is utterly shagged and is allowing about 1/4" of movement at the mounting - that might explain the odd tendency the car has to pull to the right under acceleration.  Anyone know if the bushes on these are a DIY job or are they one of those ones that can only be done by NASA?

Crikey, not surprising it was bad with that much movement - they can pass MOT's and still be borderline undriveable such is their sensitivity to wishbone bushes.

 

Bushes are pretty easy to do on these. My usual method is to burn the rubber out of the bush and then cut through the outer casing with a hacksaw blade to remove the old bush, and then use a press or vice to insert the new one (or a threaded bar and nuts/washers will suffice). Balljoints are non-replaceable so check that's good before spending the time/money replacing the bushes.

 

Word of warning though - install decent quality bushes otherwise you'll be re-doing the job in a few weeks, cheap no-names pattern bushes are utter garbage. I think they're now unavailable from Peugeot (certainly the full kits are) but you can still source good bushes elsewhere - Febi seem OK for example. Make sure that the wishbone is in the fitted position (i.e. dropped back on the floor) before tighting the bolts too, otherwise you'll knacker the bushes in no time at all if you tighten it with the wishbone in the full droop position.

[Shep Shepherd]

The Volvo passed its MOT today 

 

I really must do something about its advisories, though. All of them are advised upon by my MOT man virtually every year, but the fact that the parking brake is now borderline is a bit of a concern, but not so much of a concern that I can't put off fixing it until the spring.

 

The Volvo, abiding, in a car park, this afternoon:

 

[clayts450]

Streetshite front exhaust section including cat replaced. KwikFit price £350. Local well-regarded indie £160 fitted. Result.

 

Next up, SCU to be pulled tomorrow and sent off to Rover electro-wizard Paul (Technozen) in Brighton for soldering and programming 2nd fob.

[MarvinsMom]

Hibernating this time of year....

 

Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

you sure its not just pining for the fjords?

[puddlethumper]

Nailed to the perch ?

[egg]

The fusion looks like the concentric slave cylinder is leaking inside the bell housing . That will cause poor clutch operation and the leak . Eventually it will bring the brake fluid low warming on

Thanks, and to Sierraman. I had a whistling noise for a while intermittently as well which I thought might be a belt or pulley. But probably clutch as well.

 

So £400 for a 3 piece clutch change (ish) or raid it for parts Beko stylee and cartakeback.

 

I'm leaning towards new clutch. Belts were done 3 years ago, two new front tyres, serviced regularly, plugs and coil done this year...

 

Downsides..

 

Undiagnosed creaking suspension and steering, occasional hesitation probably due to the throttle body.

 

I hate decisions like this. And it's a purely objective one, no particular desire to keep it.

 

To be honest, maybe better the devil I know.

[sierraman]

Check what the creak is, hopefully not the rack, check the inner tie rods, track rod ends etc. Sometimes the steering UJ can creak on the fiesta as well.

[egg]

It had new front suspension rebuilt 3 years ago too, aftermarket parts, and I wonder if it is just something linked to that.

 

Mechanic has had a look before at the steering about 4-6 months and didn't spot anything.

 

I dunno...

[RobT]

If it were a shed I'd say get rid, but it's a very tidy car otherwise so worth persevering with (easily said as it's not my £400...).

[cort16]

I rubbed the cortina in various potions and ointments at the weekend.  it actually came up alright.

 

 

I also got bored and ran out of paint while trying to repaint my Juke roof box .

 

[SiC]

Discovered a new thing. If you put an eBay link in shiply, it outputs the postcode of where it's located.

 

Now don't ask why I was on shiply and found this out...

[Kiltox]

Discovered a new thing. If you put an eBay link in shiply, it outputs the postcode of where it's located.

 

Now don't ask why I was on shiply and found this out...

 

Probably better for you if you tell the wife you were looking at 1.6HDI vans

[Bobthebeard]

Owing to having broken a rib recently and having a blown headlight bulb in the Rover 75 I decided to let Halfords fit a new one. Having done a bulb change before I knew it was fiddly and requires reaching up through an access plate in the wing liner. But doable in a few minutes. Rib said no. Crouching under a wheel arch hurts. Sooooo.

"£8 for fitting mate, will take about 10 minutes " turned into a two hour comedy involving three of the staff, plus eventually the store manager. If anyone is actually interested in the full saga I shall type it out. Long story.

[SiC]

Owing to having broken a rib recently and having a blown headlight bulb in the Rover 75 I decided to let Halfords fit a new one. Having done a bulb change before I knew it was fiddly and requires reaching up through an access plate in the wing liner. But doable in a few minutes. Rib said no. Crouching under a wheel arch hurts. Sooooo.

"£8 for fitting mate, will take about 10 minutes " turned into a two hour comedy involving three of the staff, plus eventually the store manager. If anyone is actually interested in the full saga I shall type it out. Long story.

[cobblers]

Having worked at Halfords for years, I think you'd be better just picking a random bloke off the street than asking any of their staff to fit you a bulb.

[Bobthebeard]

Having worked at Halfords for years, I think you'd be better just picking a random bloke off the street than asking any of their staff to fit you a bulb.

Indeed so... It was hilarious *

[fordperv]

Having worked at Halfords for years, I think you'd be better just picking a random bloke off the street than asking any of their staff to fit you a bulb.

A mate of mine worked at Halfords years back and I went to meet him to go to the pub when he finished work, I ended up being the random bloke off the street to fit this old boys bulb as none of the staff had a clue

[Skizzer]

To be fair to Halfords, I changed a headlight bulb on a Rover 75 once and it took me about two hours and A LOT of swearing. Also some blood.

[dollywobbler]

I changed a headlamp bulb on a Rover 75 once, in the dark, and don't recall it being too hellish. Wouldn't want to try it with a broken rib though, that's for sure!

[danthecapriman]

I used to work in a garage next door to a Halfords. We used to get all the stuff they couldn't figure out!

We used to stand in the front windows of the garage watching the Halfords 'fitters', it was a right laugh sometimes. They were a nightmare though for leaving their tools out in the car park, which were all nice Halfords branded tools and tool sets...

We did bring them back in whenever they'd forgotten them and give them back but it was ridiculous as it happened just about every job they did so we warned them that we won't keep doing it for them if they were that careless.

 

Needless to say they lost shit loads of tools from that point on and we gained shit loads! Honestly, I was giving almost as new Halfords tool sets to friends and family at one bit as we had them coming out of our ears! They never said anything either, just lost one so went and got another off the shelf and so it carried on.

[Supernaut]

I used to work in the bicycle part of my local Halfords from 2009-2011. Me and the head of bikehut (still one of my best mates) were massive petrolheads, while the guys down in car parts knew fuck-all about cars AND bicycles. Most of them didn't even have driving licences!

 

I remember once demonstrating to one of them how a trolley jack worked...

 

 

 

I remember one Saturday when I was on and said mate was off, he was sending me text message updates about his day. He went on a proper AS style collection mission to Glasgow for a £500 Toyota Supra MkIII 3.0 turbo auto. It was an utter shed, but I remember him sending me a text at about lunch time saying he left a wet roundabout sideways across both lanes when it kicked down and put him on full boost at 5,000rpm. On his last day at Halfords, he tried to drift said Supra out of the car park and ended up in a hedge.

[beko1987]

When I was stripping down amys old corsa in Halfords car park to repair the clutch feed hose (had to limp to Halfords for brake fluid as I had none and it was 6pm)I ended up fitting a headlight bulb in a 206 as the Halfords guy couldn't do it... Still took the guys money though even though I fitted the bulb!