The new news 24 thread

[SRi05]

Who needs two floppytop Saabs in the depths of Scottish winter? That would be me.  Had been on the lookout for one for a while, the red one has been pinched by the wife as her daily. Local shiter and general badass @Unclefesteroffered it to me in exchange for the Tigra,  I couldn't say no. Few wee odd jobs to sort, but it's in pretty fine condition for its 21st year.  This is the 3rd 9-3 I've had now, love them. 

Only took 15 days for the first incoming vehicle of the year 😂

[stuboy]

11 hours ago, SRi05 said:

Who needs two floppytop Saabs in the depths of Scottish winter? That would be me.  Had been on the lookout for one for a while, the red one has been pinched by the wife as her daily. Local shiter and general badass @Unclefesteroffered it to me in exchange for the Tigra,  I couldn't say no. Few wee odd jobs to sort, but it's in pretty fine condition for its 21st year.  This is the 3rd 9-3 I've had now, love them. 

Only took 15 days for the first incoming vehicle of the year 😂

bloody good swap

[SRi05]

4 minutes ago, stuboy said:

bloody good swap

Indeed. The Tigra will be used by his Mrs, she didn't like the Saab ! I bought it in the hope of getting mine back but the manual box was a nogo. So a happy swap for all

[Unclefester]

19 minutes ago, SRi05 said:

Who needs two floppytop Saabs in the depths of Scottish winter? That would be me.  Had been on the lookout for one for a while, the red one has been pinched by the wife as her daily. Local shiter and general badass @Unclefesteroffered it to me in exchange for the Tigra,  I couldn't say no. Few wee odd jobs to sort, but it's in pretty fine condition for its 21st year.  This is the 3rd 9-3 I've had now, love them. 

Only took 15 days for the first incoming vehicle of the year 😂

 

12 minutes ago, SRi05 said:

Indeed. The Tigra will be used by his Mrs, she didn't like the Saab ! I bought it in the hope of getting mine back but the manual box was a nogo. So a happy swap for all

Yes the Saab was a lovely machine and is in the right hands to make it perfect my wife just didn't like it I loved it though lol but hey Ho the tigra dots the bill and always a pleasure to deal with sri05 a true shitter who like myself is open and honest and you know what your getting from the start 

[goosey]

1 hour ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Soz if this is a repost. Bears repeating nevertheless

 

I saw a documentary years ago about VIZ ,

the guys behind the comic were into their cars,  I remember one had a couple of very early mini coopers that he’d restored and another one was into old commercial vehicles he had a very old AEC bus among other things 

[Broadsword]

That Saab looks really decent, well swapped! Turbo I take it?

[SRi05]

Yeah it's the 2.0 Turbo in manual flavour. Stacks of history with it and a years worth of MOT.  The bodywork is fantastic, I can't find a mark on it. Does have a crack on the windscreen on the passenger side that'll need sorting, plus the back box could be doing with being replaced as it's a bit corroded. The "wood" on the dash is cracked but a whole new centre console/dash trim can be had for £60 on eBay. The sid dash display has the usual missing pixels but that's a case of TADTS, can be fixed/replaced. Overall a very nice example, drives very well.

[artdjones]

These are good for the pixel repair parts.

http://www.akspeedo.com/saab-pixel-repair.php

[N19]

I wouldn't normally take this out in the snow (and salt) but given that I'm getting a significant amount of welding done next year anyway... 

[Split_Pin]

3 minutes ago, N19 said:

I wouldn't normally take this out in the snow (and salt) but given that I'm getting a significant amount of welding done next year anyway... 

I love this car. I've said it before, but it's because it's a L model in a solid colour and completely unmolested. Just how I remember them. 

I trust you did 'the inevitable' in that deserted snowy car park!

[Split_Pin]

2 hours ago, SRi05 said:

Yeah it's the 2.0 Turbo in manual flavour. Stacks of history with it and a years worth of MOT.  The bodywork is fantastic, I can't find a mark on it. Does have a crack on the windscreen on the passenger side that'll need sorting, plus the back box could be doing with being replaced as it's a bit corroded. The "wood" on the dash is cracked but a whole new centre console/dash trim can be had for £60 on eBay. The sid dash display has the usual missing pixels but that's a case of TADTS, can be fixed/replaced. Overall a very nice example, drives very well.

Good swap that, very nice indeed. These would be my choice of soft top if I didn't have the Audi.

[N19]

On 1/15/2021 at 7:02 AM, sierraman said:

Which Mondeo is it?

2.0 Zetec petrol. Coolant temp sensor, housing and one hose replaced thus far...

[N19]

56 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I love this car. I've said it before, but it's because it's a L model in a solid colour and completely unmolested. Just how I remember them. 

I trust you did 'the inevitable' in that deserted snowy car park!

Of course! It's a car park by a playing field and at 7.45 was dead... ideal!

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, N19 said:

I wouldn't normally take this out in the snow (and salt) but given that I'm getting a significant amount of welding done next year anyway... 

Its only January, you can't go making excuses like that already for 2022...

 

[sierraman]

58 minutes ago, N19 said:

2.0 Zetec petrol. Coolant temp sensor, housing and one hose replaced thus far...

Some of the later ones had a CTS held in with a clip and an o ring, the ring would perish then piss coolant out when pointing down hill. Those aftermarket thermostat housings are wank, the seal to the cylinder head rarely seals properly, I found you had to either use a proper Ford seal or use some blue hylomar. That’s assuming it’s not cracked underneath on the seam. Chuck some K seal in and be done! 

[N19]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

Some of the later ones had a CTS held in with a clip and an o ring, the ring would perish then piss coolant out when pointing down hill. Those aftermarket thermostat housings are wank, the seal to the cylinder head rarely seals properly, I found you had to either use a proper Ford seal or use some blue hylomar. That’s assuming it’s not cracked underneath on the seam. Chuck some K seal in and be done! 

I was wondering about using one of those potions, maybe I'm paranoid... Yeah it's with a clip and is all pattern parts. Shouldn't be cracked as it's a newly fitted part! 

[Jazoli]

14 hours ago, SRi05 said:

Who needs two floppytop Saabs in the depths of Scottish winter? That would be me.  Had been on the lookout for one for a while, the red one has been pinched by the wife as her daily. Local shiter and general badass @Unclefesteroffered it to me in exchange for the Tigra,  I couldn't say no. Few wee odd jobs to sort, but it's in pretty fine condition for its 21st year.  This is the 3rd 9-3 I've had now, love them. 

Only took 15 days for the first incoming vehicle of the year 😂

Looks nice that, I've never got round to owning one of these despite wanting one for years.

[SRi05]

1 hour ago, Jazoli said:

Looks nice that, I've never got round to owning one of these despite wanting one for years.

You know the drill, it'll be available here once the next pretty thing flashes it's knickers at me 😁

[doobietoo]

Having got fed up with the lack of power and resistance to revving exhibited by the 406 and having half an hour to spare today I set about a slightly more permanent temporary fix for the broken swirl flap actuator. The cable tie solution used by the previous owner just came off after a few miles which was not ideal. 

After some thought I decided that a paperclip solution would work best and set about the repair with a pair of long nosed pliers. 

Very pleased with the result and happy to report that not only has the repair lasted all day but the car now feels like a 2.2 rather than a milk float. Power from 1500 revs all the way to the 5000 red line where previously it had nothing below 2500 and ran out of steam at 4,000 revs.

Took it for a run round my local B road test track and was pleasantly surprised by both the speed and handling. Even with all my tools in the boot it is a car you can now really travel very quickly in. It will be interesting to see how the fuel consumption goes the last tank was average of 34 miles per gallon at an average speed of 24 miles per hour. Not so bad really. 

[Cord Fourteener]

11 hours ago, N19 said:

I wouldn't normally take this out in the snow (and salt) but given that I'm getting a significant amount of welding done next year anyway... 

I was hoping for larger circles from the rear wheels than the front...

[Cord Fourteener]

Today: waited until kids were distracted and opened a can of worms.

Then closed it again.

Then paid attention to kids, while being more confused, and having solved nothing.

At least I now know my instrument cluster is the VDO unit and it's not the easy fix, the one where you just re-solder the dry joints.

 

[N19]

59 minutes ago, Tim_E said:

I was hoping for larger circles from the rear wheels than the front...

Next time we have a flurry of snow I'll try to do better sir!

[Cavcraft]

God knows I've tried with these fucking things.

 

Heard banging noises about 1.30 this morning, ignored them.

Took missus to work these evening, got home looked at Merc and the passenger window and screen have gone. Called the police, and as I'm on the phone to them the local copper is outside anyway. Got the crime number, spoke to the outside copper and tried to open the car to look at the inside. Car won't unlock, so used skeleton key and got into it. Patches of black, smell of burning. Fucking thing must have caught fire behind the dash or on the A pillar, lucky it wasn't while going along.  Fuck this for a caper, I don't think Mercedes S Classes like me.

 

Pictures tomorrow.

 

 

[Bren]

Apologies Billy. Meant to select sad - not happy.

[Split_Pin]

Christ on a bike, glad nobody was in the car right enough 😳

[Cord Fourteener]

10 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

God knows I've tried with these fucking things.

 

Heard banging noises about 1.30 this morning, ignored them.

Took missus to work these evening, got home looked at Merc and the passenger window and screen have gone. Called the police, and as I'm on the phone to them the local copper is outside anyway. Got the crime number, spoke to the outside copper and tried to open the car to look at the inside. Car won't unlock, so used skeleton key and got into it. Patches of black, smell of burning. Fucking thing must have caught fire behind the dash or on the A pillar, lucky it wasn't while going along.  Fuck this for a caper, I don't think Mercedes S Classes like me.

 

Pictures tomorrow.

 

 

It's almost like S Classes have so much eltectronical trickery that the probability of some random and unnecessary piece of kit randomly shorting itself and committing the German equivalent of Seppuko tends to increase over time. Like the decaying element to Schroedinger's cat.

[Joey spud]

"Where there's muck there's brass" or in my case where there's brass there's serious cash.

During the week i go around testing workshop tools and this includes doing annual CP7 safety inspections on oxy/acetylene equipment.

Anything date expired (5 year life on regulators and flashbacks) or damaged i replace.

So after 12 months i am left with lots of old regs and flashbacks that once i have removed the metal gauges from them i am looking at a large pile of brassy goodness.

Unbeknown to me scrap brass is currently £2.60 a kilo and add in two AGM batteries and you end up with £170.80 credited to your bank account.

 

  

[camryv6]

1 hour ago, Joey spud said:

"Where there's muck there's brass" or in my case where there's brass there's serious cash.

During the week i go around testing workshop tools and this includes doing annual CP7 safety inspections on oxy/acetylene equipment.

Anything date expired (5 year life on regulators and flashbacks) or damaged i replace.

So after 12 months i am left with lots of old regs and flashbacks that once i had removed the metal gauges from left me with a large pile of brassy goodness.

Unbeknown to me scrap brass is currently £2.60 a kilo and add in two AGM batteries and you end up with £170.80 credited to your bank account.

 

  

Unless you work for yourself, probably better off not mentioning this on a public forum ?

[N19]

A productive few hours this weekend! The rear windscreen wiper hasn't been working on the Capri for ages - but with lockdown, house move, then other more important faults, it's taken a backseat. And another job that needed doing was the rocker cover - the old one was a bit past it and the lips not straight, hence leaky.  Again, a new one had been sitting on my windowsill since June... so last week got it out, picked up a gasket and fitted it...

Yesterday, I took it round to the local garage to borrow one of the ramps - they had a quiet Saturday and offered if I wanted to borrow one for the afternoon.

Given a good de-greasing and clean of the underside. A couple of bits need underseal replacing or tidying up, but bit cold for that today. And I want to replace the remainder of the fuel line, just because paranoid.

Rocker cover fitted, alternator adjusted, points done, all behaving beautifully.

Today time to look at the wiper down at the lockup. First things first, put 12v across the motor and it turned. Result!

But what's this? Tracing the cables I discovered an earth which was rather tarnished...

which earths via the tailgate switch

and when cleaned up seemed to be fine! Naturally I then discovered the switch wasn't properly home in the dash, so the dash had to come out to click it back in,

but then we finally had a working rear wiper!

[Cavcraft]

Been out just now for another look. Honestly took all day as it sickened me to think what happened.

 

 

Looks like possibly door mirror wiring or a speaker perhaps? It's fucked whatever happens.

The person I bought this from didn't seem remotely arsed about doing anything about it yesterday. Given the field he's in you think he might be. Perhaps he's having a think about it, we'll see.

Options are scrap it and lose over half its cost, or take it to a garage for an independent assessment then consider the next course of action. It could maybe be repaired but will surely be too expensive and it's spooked me so I just want it gone.  I know nuns/kittens/someone think of the kids, but my missus and daughter are frequent passengers in the car and it's unpleasant to think what might have happened.