The new news 24 thread

[LabRat]

Decided to go and put some petrol in the mg6 earlier... Only to find that it was so fucking cold this morning, the doors are frozen shut and the fucking locks won't work. 

On a normal car this wouldn't be much of a problem, but this is a chinese special and the link rods from the handle into the locks are plastic, so snap if you try to force them open and the mechanisms themselves are about as solid as a kinder egg toy.

Fucked it off and went in for a brew instead. Bloody moderns. 

[Tamworthbay]

7 hours ago, SRi05 said:

Yes, but we've TAKEN BACK CONTROL 

 

And now we can have proper tyres made from pork pies and warm beer not that foreign rubber crap.

[Zelandeth]

First unexpected 3D printing failure. 

Was going fine right up until the point at which the extruder decided that it would like to travel to Z=0 apparently - which would be fine if it weren't for the fact that there's a 35% completed model in the way.

Guessing there was something awry in the G-code so have recreated it, tweaked a couple of settings I'd forgotten to save and set it going again.  We'll see if it does the same thing again.  Hopefully not.

[Cord Fourteener]

I done a buy. Well, actually a swap...

[richardmorris]

3 minutes ago, Tim_E said:

I done a buy. Well, actually a swap...

Porsche for the Volvo and small child for the swede? I’d have kept the Volvo!

[richardmorris]

I’ve just arranged for the merc service and mot this month with my mechanic friend. That marks 9 years I’ve had it as my daily. Currently on 129,600 and last mot was 125,229 so 4400miles this year.  I’ve also done 700 miles by 2cv and 3000miles by bicycle. Not being able to go on holiday or visit parents a few times and go to the Lake District etc Has really kept the mileage down.

[Cord Fourteener]

10 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

I’ve just arranged for the merc service and mot this month with my mechanic friend. That marks 9 years I’ve had it as my daily. Currently on 129,600 and last mot was 125,229 so 4400miles this year.  I’ve also done 700 miles by 2cv and 3000miles by bicycle. Not being able to go on holiday or visit parents a few times and go to the Lake District etc Has really kept the mileage down.

Most of us have done fewer miles this year, for some strange reason...

[Jerzy Woking]

My E300 became damp inside because the fan motor had stopped working and a door seal was somewhat flat. I used a few of those small boxes that take moisture out of the air. Not from my Merc they didn't.

Got a couple of those that are bags, hung one from the rear view mirror on a Saturday morning. By Sunday afternoon...

Excellent at doing what they say they do.

[egg]

8 minutes ago, Jerzy Woking said:

Excellent at doing what they say they do.

Have you got a link to those please?

[Jerzy Woking]

6 minutes ago, egg said:

Have you got a link to those please?

No, sorry. They were in one of the many Poundland type shops.

You can get similar on many websites under wardrobe dehumidifing bags.

[Stanky]

If anyone find these bag things please either point me in their general direction or buy me 5 and I'll willingly pay good money for them!

[egg]

13 minutes ago, Stanky said:

If anyone find these bag things please either point me in their general direction or buy me 5 and I'll willingly pay good money for them!

As @Jerzy Woking suggested, there are many of this sort on a popular internet auction site

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311&_nkw=wardrobe+dehumidifier+bags&_sacat=0

I've not used this type before, so might be worth a try in my laid-up-for-winter but a bit leaky Mondeo.

[Cord Fourteener]

36 minutes ago, Stanky said:

If anyone find these bag things please either point me in their general direction or buy me 5 and I'll willingly pay good money for them!

I got given some, I think the friend got them from a caravan supplies place.

[Mike D]

Mini heater all rebuilt with a new matrix, should be a bit better than receiving a load of mouse droppings to the face the first time the blower is switched on 🤣

[wuvvum]

Well surprisingly* the alternator on the C2 turned out to be rather more of a pain in the arse than anticipated.  In fact I haven't actually got it off yet.  The belt came off easily enough, the tensioner was rather more of a pain as access to the bolts is not good and I ended up undoing then 1/12 of a turn at a time (and they are long bolts).  The two alternator mounting bolts then came out relatively easily (although I did have to resort to the breaker bar to crack the bottom bolt off), but once those were out I realised there were two more mounting bolts behind the alternator that I hadn't noticed before.  One of those I was just about able to wangle out (again, 1/12 of a turn at a time and usually taking several attempts to get the spanner back on the bolt after each 12th of a turn) but the other one is almost completely inaccessible - I'm going to have to either remove the aircon compressor or the front bumper to get to it. 

I gave up at that point - I might have another crack at it tomorrow if I can be arsed.  The belt is looking a little perished though so I'm going to order a new one of those before putting it all back together.  Oh yeah, and the actuator wire snapped clean in two whilst I was removing the wiring harness, so I've got to somehow join that back together before fitting the new alternator.  The good news is that the belt only drives the alternator and the aircon compressor, so with a fully charged battery I can still drive the car if need be.

I'm part way through sorting a reversing light for the Iveco - I had one of those LED COB strips lying around doing nothing so I thought I'd use that as a temporary solution.  I've got the live side wired up - I then went out and bought a replacement plug for the towbar electrics as the one on the van at the moment is completely knackered, so I'm going to wire the earth side of the reversing light into that.

[ruffgeezer]

From memory on the diesel, you only need to slacked the rear bolts and then the alternator slides out of the rear mounts. 

That being said I've had to take the cat off before to get to the rear bolts to undo them.

[Mike D]

Heater is fitted back in the car, sans mouse detritis, and ive got the rear subframe piped and cabled up ready for a good bukakking in Bilt Hambers finest 😃

[nacho man]

Went on a exploration with the mutt the other day and found this lurking down an alley in a nice bit of Notts.



Arches look solid. Sport leather inside and manual if it was a 325 would be worth some coin. Left a note saying if you want to sell holla at me.

Still people seem to pay a lot for e30’s nowadays so worth seeing what happens.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rusty998]

35 minutes ago, Danterzza said:

Went on a exploration with the mutt the other day and found this lurking down an alley in a nice bit of Notts.



Arches look solid. Sport leather inside and manual if it was a 325 would be worth some coin. Left a note saying if you want to sell holla at me.

Still people seem to pay a lot for e30’s nowadays so worth seeing what happens.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would imagine it would be well worthwhile buying even if it is fundamentally knackered as thet are only going to go up in value,  drifty skids yo 🤘

[clayts450]

Quick oil change on the Combo today (the usual six weeks since the last one, every 10K). Well, I say quick but my Pela-replica decided not to suck - something's broken but it was too cold to fuck about trying to work it out. Luckily I had another extractor I'd bought for the PT Cruiser to cope with its 6 litre capacity (it was only used once) and that had it all out pronto. Also swapped the air filter out. MPG on the Combo is chaotic at present to say the least. On Thursday I got a pitiful 36.4 (it was very very cold), yet yesterday I got 46.4. It seems the van is partial to a slurp of Esso (basic stuff not the posh stuff) and always seems to do well on that stuff, so I may suck up the extra cost per litre in favour of more MPG.

I'd returned from a delivery into London yesterday, and needed to take the Streetwise out for a spin, mainly to do the weekly shopping. Nope - battery light stayed on, not a good sign. Had a chance to look at it today. No battery light and battery charging at 14.6. Ah well, that's fixed* then.

[Cord Fourteener]

2 hours ago, rusty998 said:

I would imagine it would be well worthwhile buying even if it is fundamentally knackered as thet are only going to go up in value,  drifty skids yo 🤘

 

3 hours ago, Danterzza said:

Went on a exploration with the mutt the other day and found this lurking down an alley in a nice bit of Notts.



Arches look solid. Sport leather inside and manual if it was a 325 would be worth some coin. Left a note saying if you want to sell holla at me.

Still people seem to pay a lot for e30’s nowadays so worth seeing what happens.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's true. I looked into one recently and they are proper money and on the up! Even for the 320. Don't even bother for a 325 unless you're investing decent savings 🤪

[wuvvum]

Didn't make much progress on the C2 today, due to a combination of shite weather and a healthy dose of CBA.  All I managed to do was repair the actuator wire.  I'm hoping next weekend will be more productive - the replacement fanbelt should be here by then so if the weather holds I might get it finished.

I did do a bit on the Iveco though - it now has working trailer electrics and a working reversing light - the latter is only a temporary solution but does the job for now.

[Craig the Princess]

A friend has offered to do the head gasket on the Saab 900 convertible of many shiters as he is a mechanic between jobs.

So I've just spent £300 on a timing belt kit, locking tool and radiator for it and feel a little sick as I always do when spending more than £10.

 

Yes, I'm aware a newer one with a full mot and a proper gearbox is for sale on here for much less than the cost of getting it fixed but I'm an idiot.

[Pete-M]

Snow has finally arrived in this little corner of Germany. Which means I really need to buy winter tyres.  Luckily, they appear a fair bit cheaper here than in the UK. Probably because they're a legal requirement. Looking at around €350 for a set of Nokian jobs, which seems cheap when I was quoted £200 each just for the rears in the UK (245/40/17).

It's pretty here in the snow though 

[dozeydustman]

Been given an old mountain bike minus brakes. It’s a slightly bigger frame than my current one and in better nick so I started doing a few jobs on it. Please excuse the mess, I’ve been having a good sort out!

 

it had rusted seized cables for front and rear brakes, plus the gearset on the pedals. Found some NOS brake parts in the shed.

New cantilevers for the rear, they are bloody fierce! Unfortunately the double pull callipers on my old bike won’t fit without drilling mounting holes in the frame, something for which I am not geared up. Cable routing isn’t ideal but it doesn’t snag anywhere and I can modify this at a later time if needed

I changed the cable for the pedal gearset but the clamp won’t grip it despite an exact route match for the old cable, was going to continue investigate but rain stopped play, so I did this instead.

Bit of underseal on the replacement front wing for the Toyota

 

Studying the pattern of bolt holes it looks like I’ll need to remove the front bumper at the very least. This will have to wait until Sunday next when I can leave the Suzuki outside; we’ve residential parking permits here and £150 for a second car permit is a bit excessive, especially as first car’s permit is only £35 and the Toyota only just fits in the garage. Glad I got this started; I’ve been meaning to do this for some time now, but had sod all chances since the end of October.

Next Monday I shall be prepping the ‘zuki for it’s MoT

[andyberg]

So this arrived yesterday. Its a cracking little car. It replaces the (soon to be bridged, lockdown not withstanding) Clio for my wife. Its such a lovely drive and no where near as gutless or revvy as I was expecting. 

Many thanks go to both @Cavcraft and @Lord Sterling for all their outstanding efforts over the past couple of days.

This forum is full of wonderful, kind personages. In this bleak year it has been a light for me. I hope one day we will all get to meet. Stay safe everyone and thank you. 

[Ohdearme]

Finally changed the oil on the 323...well, ok about a liter and a half because I had to go pick something up and the oil was so slow out of the vacuum (despite a very thorough  warming up) that I timed out.

Will do it again shortly as it all does need to come out judging by the fact what came out wouldn’t look out of place shooting from a squids arse.

 

[Cord Fourteener]

2 hours ago, andyberg said:

So this arrived yesterday. Its a cracking little car. It replaces the (soon to be bridged, lockdown not withstanding) Clio for my wife. Its such a lovely drive and no where near as gutless or revvy as I was expecting. 

Many thanks go to both @Cavcraft and @Lord Sterling for all their outstanding efforts over the past couple of days.

This forum is full of wonderful, kind personages. In this bleak year it has been a light for me. I hope one day we will all get to meet. Stay safe everyone and thank you. 

I agree, here is a a good place full of good people, I've had the best buying and selling experiences as well as just general help and kindness.

There are different opinions on certain stuff but also support or an answer to a question. Lots of chat and sense of humour in bucket loads.

[Jim Bell]

6 hours ago, Craig the Princess said:

A friend has offered to do the head gasket on the Saab 900 convertible of many shiters as he is a mechanic between jobs.

So I've just spent £300 on a timing belt kit, locking tool and radiator for it and feel a little sick as I always do when spending more than £10.

 

Yes, I'm aware a newer one with a full mot and a proper gearbox is for sale on here for much less than the cost of getting it fixed but I'm an idiot.

Thank you for being you. 

[Craig the Princess]

13 minutes ago, Jim Bell said:

Thank you for being you. 

How could you say no to that face?