The new news 24 thread

[JeeExEll]

10 hours ago, 17-Coffees said:

Just got sent this from a family friend a hour ago with the message  “Be free tomorrow, I’m fuelling myself up for the last leg...North bound and down loading up and trucking”

So turns out I now have a collection thread for in the morning then...on a car this is the only photo I’ve seen so far of it. 

Bugger 

Are you sure that's a car? Could be a light aircraft. Or maybe a hovercraft. (Which could be a bit of a laugh).

[Yoss]

Sunday Times magazine today. Review/comparison between a Kia and a Dacia. He starts off talking of the Matra Rancho and how it was decades ahead of its time in that it looked like an off roader but wasn't. Mentions the Streetwise briefly too. 

Then reviews the cars in question, nothing special, prefers the Kia then in the last sentence says of the Dacia 'I think I'd rather have a Rancho'. What a bloody stupid thing to say, even by motoring journalists standards.

OF COURSE you'd rather have the Rancho. Talk about stating the bloody obvious. Is there any new car out there you'd have over a Matra Rancho? I think not. 

[Shep Shepherd]

It's The Volvo's 29th 'birthday' today! It was made some time in May 1990, but it was first registered on September 1st 1990, so that's the day I observe. I would have loved to have seen it when it was factory fresh

To celebrate the occasion, I oiled its door hinges and latches. All being well, it will get a respray for its 30th ^^

[00833827]

Currently carless and need a bit of a load lugger. Theres a 2005 mk2 megane estate 1.5 diesel i am looking at. Has a months test on it, intermittent fault on drivers window 140k miles or there abouts. Now while i understand these are supposed to be terrible things, would the tiny price tag and the fact that with 140k miles done would all the bad bits have happened by now and make it worth having a punt on?

[Kiltox]

6 minutes ago, 00833827 said:

Currently carless and need a bit of a load lugger. Theres a 2005 mk2 megane estate 1.5 diesel i am looking at. Has a months test on it, intermittent fault on drivers window 140k miles or there abouts. Now while i understand these are supposed to be terrible things, would the tiny price tag and the fact that with 140k miles done would all the bad bits have happened by now and make it worth having a punt on?

I wouldn’t pay very much for it but if it’s sub £200 why not 

[hairymel]

My voyager finally did something interesting

[Yoss]

Isn't there a thread somewhere for interesting* odometer pics? I'm sure I've seen one. Or maybe I dreamt it. 

[00833827]

26 minutes ago, Kiltox said:

I wouldn’t pay very much for it but if it’s sub £200 why not 

Thanks / Its about double that. Also a similar one near by in 1.4 pez flavor but the diesel is a high spec. Much longer test on it

[High Jetter]

For £400 I'd get it and sling it in for a test and swiftly pass it on if too much wrong with it

[00833827]

My thinking exactly. Its a much maligned motor but at the end of the day its a diesel estate. Will always be someone who wants it.

[Amishtat]

1 hour ago, Shep Shepherd said:

It's The Volvo's 29th 'birthday' today! It was made some time in May 1990, but it was first registered on September 1st 1990, so that's the day I observe. I would have loved to have seen it when it was factory fresh

To celebrate the occasion, I oiled its door hinges and latches. All being well, it will get a respray for its 30th ^^

Good! Someone else who does this.. Mine is thirty on January 10th next year (registration date) and I took the A99 for a drive about six weeks ago on its sixtieth 

[Lord Sterling]

Despite the shit Saturday I had trying to get here. I am, as usual, quite sad to leave DE ISLAND;

Despite the initial problems it had, the Vectra has been A BOSS of a car here. Why would anyone need anything else? I couldn't find a decent tyre place open, the only one who was wanted no less than £169 for 1 tyre.

Micra is gonna get repaired and taken to de island at the end of this month.

Ma is looking to be permanently based there so hopefully my jaunts to the island will be more frequent.

[richardmorris]

I was feeling lazy today and, weather being good, I took the fiat for a drive up to Cliveden to get some use out of my NT membership. Had a nice walk in the grounds and had a small crowd round the x1/9 when I got back. Children and adults, and no-one knew what it was.  Being a late car, it has no fiat badges anywhere, a nose and boot bertone “b” and bertone written on each b pillar. Adults slightly disappointed on it being a fiat and not a lotus but children still liked the pop up headlamps.

The  most memorable part of the grounds was the war grave cemetery in the old Italian sunken garden. Mostly Canadian and many 19yrs old.

[Shep Shepherd]

^

Cliveden has a strong Canadian connection, as the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital (closed in 1985 and long since demolished, but not before becoming a haven for urban explorers) was situated in its grounds:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Red_Cross_Memorial_Hospital

 

[wuvvum]

This weekend I have spent far longer than I'd anticipated pissing about with the MG Express.  First order of business was to get the screenwash working - I'd diagnosed a knackered stalk, so first job was to nick the stalk from the Rover of Doom and swap them over.  That didn't work though.  The old stalk was definitely knackered, as when I pulled the new stalk to wash the screen the wipers did their three sweeps which they hadn't been before, but no washer fluid was forthcoming.

So I went scrabbling about behind the front bumper to check the wiring to the washer pump.  The multimeter revealed there was no power getting to the pump.  Undeterred, I wired in a separate switch with a permanent live feed and ran that down to the live wire on the washer pump plug.  It was now getting >12 volts when I pushed the button on the new switch, but still wasn't pumping.  Obviously the pump is seized as well then.  I tried swapping the plug onto the pump for the rear washer, but that didn't work either.

So it's now, as a temporary* measure, running the cheap Chinese universal pump I'd bought for the 164, taking its fluid from a 500ml plastic bottle wedged in by the bulkhead and cable tied to a brake pipe - the washer pipe coming up from the "proper" bottle had got kinked in an awkward place and the little eBay pump didn't have the guts to drag the fluid through at a sufficient rate to actually hit the windscreen.

Next on the list was to find out why it's seemingly down on power.  It feels like it's losing boost from somewhere - I couldn't find any obvious splits in the boost hoses, but I swapped them over with the ones from the Rover of Doom anyway.  It's made naff all difference (although it wasn't a complete waste of time as I would have swapped the hoses over in any event - the one on the RoD was a fancy silicone one which I wouldn't have wanted to throw away).  So not sure what the problem is now - it could be the wastegate opening too soon (I'll try shortening the actuating arm a bit to see if that helps) or it could be something completely different - apparently an out of spec MAF is a common fault with the later L-series and can cause a loss of power.  I hope it's not that though as they're fugging expensive.

It's interesting to see how many differences there are between the old and new L-series.  Apart from the poncey electronic injector pump which renders two of the glowplugs completely inaccessible, the EGR valve is a completely different setup - on the older engine it's just a plain pipe from valve to engine, and hence easily blanked off (as I have done); on the later engine there's all sorts of hoses running to and from the pipe, and there's some kind of canister doobery in there as well.  Also the wastegate is a different design, with the little arm pointing downwards on the new engine and upwards on the old. 

I also gave the thing a good blast with a jet wash - whoever HMC had lent it to appears to have been green laning in it as the inner arches were completely caked in mud, which hasn't done the bodywork any favours at all.  In fact I went to scrape at a rust bubble just in front of the offside rear arch, and made a hole in the wing.  Whoops. 

 

The 75 also got a bit of attention, which also failed to actually accomplish anything.  I'd bought a long 24mm ring spanner off eBay and got a mate to grind it down to be thin enough to fit between the inner wing and the tensioner pulley.  So far so good - it fits through the gap fine and sits on the pully bolt nicely.  Except that when I haul on the spanner to move the tensioner, it moves a bit and then just turns the bolt.  Which shouldn't be happening - it's a reverse thread bolt so turning it anti-clockwise should be tightening it.  I have no idea why it's doing what it's doing, but it seems that the car may just be destined not to have working aircon.    Still, summer's over now so I won't need A/C until next year, by which time the CX will hopefully be back on the road and have been treated to a regas, so I will be able to use that if it gets toasty.

[blackboilersuit]

As summer draws to a close so the migration season begins.............

That's right folks another Volvo headed north across the border on Saturday. A huge thanks to forddeliveryboy of this parish for not only selling me his parents car at a massively bargenous price but for storing it for a few weeks while I went on holiday. Not only that but after the sale was agreed (unknown to me) the car developed an abs warning light so they paid a garage to fit a new abs ring to a driveshaft so it would be fully functioning as described for me to collect. Top shitter, would buy from again A++++.

It's a 2003 D5 manual with cloth interior on a mere 209k miles. Everything works bar the air con and it's the nicest car I've owned in over a decade. The drive back up the road from deepest Yorkshire was just glorious wafting along a largely empty motorway with the cruise control on.

Today has been spent giving it a good scrub inside and out and generally marveling at how its possible to buy so much car for so little money. 

[Tickman]

Currently sat here headed south a bit to go west quite a bit to then drive home.

[xtriple]

Fitted new air filters, easy peasy Japaneasy! Cleaned all the under bonnet panels and stuffige and checked all the levels which were fine. The old air filters were about due for a change but not horrible and so had obviously been cto get the unhanged in recent times so I ask Mercedes Benz service departments forgivness for ever doubting them

However, pollen filter...

For one thing: who the fuck thought it was a good idea to put a power socket in the passenger side under dash panel? For another, who also thought that with the power socket already pinching space that is really needed for getting the panel in and out they should then fill that space behind the panel even more with a load of guff shit for the Parrot kit? So getting the panel out was a chore and I couldn't work out how to get the power socket plug off the back or how to get the socket itself out the front, it was all getting a tad tight and then the connector on the back broke so that allowed the panel to fianlly come out.

Phew...

When I finally got the pollen filter out (It's hidden right up under the dash in a space that don't look big enough, what I didn't realise is the filter folds into a V shape when in the orifice) it was absolutely hanging! It was a full MINGER with all sorts of dirt and dust and quite a few dead critters of the flying variety. Possibly a few dead critters of the NOT flying variety, I didn't want to look that closely...  So I'd say MB service had dropped the ball on that particular service item, or maybe the pollen filter isn't part of a service these days?

All cleaned out, new filter folded to correct angle, shoved back in and case back on - 5 minutes job in total. But then of course there's that fucking front under panel to go back on. Normally, piece of the proverbial (I took the other side off last week for a reason I have now forgotten - senile old gimmer) with just three hex heads to do up/undo. But The power socket thing, what a bastard! Couldn't get the panel back on with the power socket re-connected and couldn't re-connect it once the panel was on! So I tried to get the socket out of the panel... but no amount of careful pressng of clips and tabs was getting me anywhere.

So, a 'fuck it' moment arrived and I thought sod it and took the dogs to the park.

But, couldn't rest, it wasn't 'right' and not right does my head in so when I got home, fed the mutts (fed Phoebe from a fork as usual) and then went out and employed 'controlled brutality' which is what I should have done in the first place! Controlled brutality got the power socket out of the panel, got the wires through the hole, got the whole lot re-connected and then a great deal of not so controlled brutality got the fucker back in the stupid arsing hole!

What's more, the power socket, stupid position or not (definitely stupid) actually does still work! Colour me amazed.  But what really is a ten minute job took me about 2 hours spread over two attempts all because of aftermarket shit getting squeezed into a space that doesn't actually exist.

 

[xtriple]

And then, my beloved son was texting me. I made the mistake of asking him what he wants for his birthday (he still does not want the number plate I bought him, ungrateful sod) and the phone is going mad beeping at me every five minutes 'cos he's found something else for his MR2 Turbo or the XJ8 on eBay and he wants me to look then and there. Finally he sent me a link for a new HKS blow off/dump valve (as his current one has ceased to make silly noises when you let off the gas apparently!) so I just bought it, which surprised him somewhat as it was 'only an idea Dad!'

 

[taxi paul]

I have insured the vectra today £209.00 fully comp. Taxed it via dvla. So tomorrow I shall go on my maiden voyage and de rust the brakes. It's been parked up since its mot and service in may. Last owner bought himself a 58 plate vectra but kept this one in case the new one was crap. Having a closer look at the tyres. They are all Avon's five years old. Loads of tread but all cracked on the shoulders and a fair bit on the sides. I shall probably get some kwality part worn winter ones..

[Tadhg Tiogar]

2 hours ago, xtriple said:

....blow off/dump valve....

Buy him a toilet cistern next time.

[richardmorris]

I’ve just had a txt from john the ac guy. He is coming over tomorrow to start refitting everything. I bet it’s more than a day’s work. A kind knight in shining rust has offered to improve my mood though.

[Ghosty]

As detailed in the Chumley thread, I've got a series 3 XJ now. Sovereign 4.2 no less.
Wasn't cheap, but it's solid in all the right places, has full service history, refurbed wheels, rebuilt engine and gearbox, lightly breathed on suspension and steering, and it drives like a dream - a previous owner spent an obscene amount on it - however the tyres are date stamped 2002 so might be worth replacing them. It's an absolute dream and I'm over the moon with it.
Cheap to insure as well!

[The Moog]

That looks lovely !

[egg]

Amazing. Well done sir, cap doffed, which is only right...

[richardmorris]

Excellent. Dollywobbler will be along shortly to point out the deficiencies of the wipers.

[Six-cylinder]

32 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

As detailed in the Chumley thread, I've got a series 3 XJ now. Sovereign 4.2 no less.
Wasn't cheap, but it's solid in all the right places, has full service history, refurbed wheels, rebuilt engine and gearbox, lightly breathed on suspension and steering, and it drives like a dream - a previous owner spent an obscene amount on it - however the tyres are date stamped 2002 so might be worth replacing them. It's an absolute dream and I'm over the moon with it.
Cheap to insure as well! 

That is fantastic, I admire you choice.

[LightBulbFun]

amazing stuff! I look forward to reading about your wafting adventures in it  

truly winning at life in the car department!

is it insured via a classic policy with your Volvo as the main car on a normal policy or is it set up differently?

[Ghosty]

2 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

That is fantastic, I admire you choice.

Thanks! I've liked XJs for a long long time. @Mrs6C is partially to blame for the purchase - I had a drive of the S2 Daimler at the FoD last year, and I've wanted one since!

[Ghosty]

5 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

amazing stuff! I look forward to reading about your wafting adventures in it  

truly winning at life in the car department!

is it insured via a classic policy with your Volvo as the main car on a normal policy or is it set up differently?

It's on a conventional policy as classic insurers won't touch me on it - the cheapest insurer for me is always Admiral. I I haven't been able to get a classic quote on anything A plate or newer, and never on a Jag - however a Y suffix plate S3 Daimler Sovereign 4.2 (the exact same car with different equipment) I could have insured for a bit less. Some older cars I looked at  (a non-running Dolomite Sprint and a fucked mk2 Granada where the seller didn't understand eBay auctions properly - a story in itself) were offering sub-£300 classic insurance, but the cars weren't right. At £450 I'm happy with a conventional policy though, even my Civic cost more than that to insure. 

I did view another S3 before this one - the Daimler I eluded to above, but the colour wasn't as nice, and despite being described as 'rust free' the sills were rotten and the windscreen had cracked supposedly driving off a kerb(!!!!). The seller offered £250 off the price of the car before I'd even laid eyes on it as 'that's how much a windscreen and seals go for on eBay'. It also wouldn't start - probably due to the inertia triggered fuel pump cutoff going off, a typical injection XJ/XJS quirk, but the seller didn't know about it despite owning the car three years. I didn't bother telling him as I'm not buying a car with a cracked windscreen, saves the test drive. Also, the glovebox didn't close properly (right above the cracked screen) and the seller wouldn't close the bonnet, I have to wonder if the shell was twisted and he was trying to hide that. As the car wouldn't start the seller left it at that and sent me on my way promising he'd get it running. I said I'd been advised the cracked windscreen could be serious and I never heard from him again. It's still for sale, cracked windscreen undisclosed... 

Meanwhile the seller of my Jag couldn't have been a better person to buy from - he worked for Jaguar Heritage and knew the car back to front, despite not having had it more than a few months - he'd bought it to use at a wedding.  For added win, he lived off Browns Lane in Coventry, and took it round to the factory on the test drive. Further to that, the car has a Coventry reg - it's not the original though, the original is B42TVX, which isn't on the DVLA database, but would have been a Chelmsford reg.   B42XVH, a Huddersfield reg, that has since disappeared into the aether.  The car was re-plated a long time before it came to Coventry as I understand from the history, so I like to think someone at the DVLA was being nice, giving it another two digit plate, and a Coventry one at that. 

It doesn't need anything doing to it immediately, except it wouldn't idle and stalled every time you stopped or tried to park it. I was going to adjust the idle as it was too low (600rpm), but it transpired the throttle cable was so slack that the butterfly valve in the throttle body was fully closed. Tensioning the cable means the car now idles well at 950rpm, and only stalls occasionally.