The new news 24 thread

[brownnova]

When you deposit your 204,000 mile Saab at the garage and get given a higher mileage loan car!!

Never driven a 9-3 before... it’s quite nice. 

[Cord Fourteener]

11 minutes ago, brownnova said:

When you deposit your 204,000 mile Saab at the garage and get given a higher mileage loan car!!

Never driven a 9-3 before... it’s quite nice. 

Awesome!

[Cord Fourteener]

Seat is in!

It's so much better, the old seat was very broken, much more than the photo can show. This one is sweet! Passenger seat to go in another day.

I did strip a bolt hole thread putting one of the six bolts back in though, so I'm on 5 until I can do something about that.

Any ideas?

 

 

[N19]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

I used to get 40-45mpg on the motorway on the 2.0 Mk3 petrol. The old petrol Mondeos are giveaway money these days so if you don’t mind the fuel economy they can be a bargain. Incidentally I found the Mazda units in the Mk3 much more economical than the Zetec in the Mk2. 

It's odd - of course I don't expect a 20 year old engine in a 160k car to be as new, but it's odd that it should have a consumption lower than both the Bluebird and the Capri - carbed cars, the latter of which runs points and condenser ignition!

I'm going to stick some premium petrol in, give it a blast up and down the motorway, then see how things are.

[Cord Fourteener]

4 minutes ago, N19 said:

It's odd - of course I don't expect a 20 year old engine in a 160k car to be as new, but it's odd that it should have a consumption lower than both the Bluebird and the Capri - carbed cars, the latter of which runs points and condenser ignition!

I'm going to stick some premium petrol in, give it a blast up and down the motorway, then see how things are.

Drive it like you stole it!

[SiC]

39 minutes ago, N19 said:

It's odd - of course I don't expect a 20 year old engine in a 160k car to be as new, but it's odd that it should have a consumption lower than both the Bluebird and the Capri - carbed cars, the latter of which runs points and condenser ignition!

I'm going to stick some premium petrol in, give it a blast up and down the motorway, then see how things are.

The EU Ford petrols of the late 90s/00s have never been particularly good on fuel. Focus 2l both in normal and ST170 tunes is particularly atrocious given their relatively low power output figures. 

[camryv6]

2 hours ago, wuvvum said:

You should have just bought a panda - that would soon have sorted it for you.

Maybe @Kiltoxwill lend you his ?

[sutty2006]

1 hour ago, Tim_E said:

 

I did strip a bolt hole thread putting one of the six bolts back in though, so I'm on 5 until I can do something about that.

Any ideas?

 

It’ll be alright, I’ve stripped a few of them and it’s been ok. So long as it’s one of the two at the back... 

[Cord Fourteener]

19 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

It’ll be alright, I’ve stripped a few of them and it’s been ok. So long as it’s one of the two at the back... 

No it's on the front!!

[Split_Pin]

2 hours ago, SiC said:

Who's his mate?

5150mxVW

https://youtu.be/fNimoM_tcyM

 

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, N19 said:

It's odd - of course I don't expect a 20 year old engine in a 160k car to be as new, but it's odd that it should have a consumption lower than both the Bluebird and the Capri - carbed cars, the latter of which runs points and condenser ignition!

I'm going to stick some premium petrol in, give it a blast up and down the motorway, then see how things are.

Is it a Mk2 or a Mk3?

[sutty2006]

55 minutes ago, Tim_E said:

No it's on the front!!

Oh. Balls. 

[Zelandeth]

Oh FFS.

Just found out that the work that's going on in the back garden now is literally "strip down, nuke the bamboo, install the root barrier, tidy up a bit, bugger off."

No reinstatement of any of the patio, retaining walls they've pulled up, the lights or wiring they've dismantled etc...That's *entirely* on us.

So what's already a sodding expensive job has now probably more than doubled.  Plus the place is going to be left looking like the surface of the moon, so we'll now HAVE to get it landscaped, rather than planning to get it done "soonish."

Would it really have hurt to make it really clear that this was the case at the outset?  I didn't even remotely expect them to return everything to how it looked when it was installed originally, but I guess I kind of expected some effort to return it to something vaguely resembling the state the area was in when they arrived, especially given the six grand price tag for what amounts to two guys for three to four days and a mini digger.  Guess it does only boil down to somewhere around £50 an hour each (including plant) which isn't out of the ballpark for tradesmen these days, but even so it stings. 

I'm not even the one who arranged the work - but I know full well I'm the one who's going to get it in the neck for the state the place will be left in - and who will probably wind up being tasked with sorting out the now obliterated landscaping.

If I'd known this were the case I'd probably have pushed towards holding off getting the work done until next year when we'd hopefully have a bit more of a financial buffer to work with.

Oh what fun home ownership is.

[PhilA]

Well, there we go. First day of cold this year (2°C) and there's a light frost on things.

Sun through the trees just starting to melt the frost away.

 

Forecast says we going to be back to 20-ish by next week.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

16 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Oh FFS.

I get the same thing from my neighbor, but it's ornamental ginger. The stuff grows like bamboo- in a couple days there's a foot tall shoot poking up, and it grows to about 8 feet tall with big leaves.

 

Only good thing is the mower put over it smells really nice...

 

Phil

[Mike D]

@PhilA That Challenger is flipping lovely 😍

[RayMK]

Had a pleasant local drive in the Tipo today and stopped for a walk. Walking is not something I particularly enjoy - I use two sticks - but good weather and an excuse to get out of the house for exercise* at 1mph over a few metres at least enabled me to take photos of my distinctly grubby car. 

Although I've yet to get underneath to inspect the recent welding work out of curiosity (not nitpicking), the two areas I have seen at the rear of each sill inside the rear wheel arches look very neat and solid.

[egg]

Makes me happy @RayMK that you decided to spend the money and give that Tipo another few years.

[N19]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

Is it a Mk2 or a Mk3?

Mk2, black top zetec

[sierraman]

14 minutes ago, N19 said:

Mk2, black top zetec

Yeah they’re shite on fuel, good back in the 1990’s when getting 30mpg from your carbed Sierra 1.8 on a run was an achievement. Sometimes on those the CTS can cause crap fuel consumption or a lazy stat. Change it for a 92 deg one, they did 2 different stats on the Zetec, changing it for the hotter one meant it would show more central on the temp gauge as well but in truth the Zetecs always ran on the cool side compared to the later Mazda based Duratec units in the later Mk3.

[andy18s]

3 hours ago, PhilA said:

Well, there we go. First day of cold this year (2°C) and there's a light frost on things.

Sun through the trees just starting to melt the frost away.

 

Forecast says we going to be back to 20-ish by next week.

 

Phil

 

[Cavcraft]

Orange Scomadi passed it's first MOT today. Got there a bit late as the battery was flat on the van, the interior rear lights are staying on, so I'll probably just take them right out.

[stuboy]

On 11/28/2020 at 12:32 PM, High Jetter said:

Agreed. Better pics would be helpful.

.

[richardmorris]

40 minutes ago, stuboy said:

.

Can you do a sort of brass rubbing with some pencil or crayon? 

[stuboy]

11 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Can you do a sort of brass rubbing with some pencil or crayon? 

ummm i can try

[Mr Pastry]

8 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Can you do a sort of brass rubbing with some pencil or crayon? 

Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and I think the building is the Royal Brompton Hospital.

[richardmorris]

9 minutes ago, Mr Pastry said:

Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and I think the building is the Royal Brompton Hospital.

Could be a Victorian nursing medal? 1844 is all I can really see.

[Mr Pastry]

31 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Could be a Victorian nursing medal? 1844 is all I can really see.

I think it's a commemoration of the opening of the hospital. that sort of thing.  Probably white metal rather than silver, but you never know.

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, Mr Pastry said:

Prince Albert

No thanks.  Don't fancy something that size through my knob.

[Ghosty]

Oi, can it!