The new news 24 thread

[stuboy]

14 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

I'd quite like the canopy off the side

Ffil muttered about taking it off....

[Cord Fourteener]

1 hour ago, BorniteIdentity said:

As reported in the Escort Thread, my chum and neighbour organised a trundle out this morning for a spot of motoring. A gentle 15 mile jolly across salubrious Cambridgeshire awaited our intrepid motorists, and what fun it was.

A friend invited that lovely Fuzz off of the telly and he was just wonderful; a beautiful, gentle man. He spent five minutes telling his kids about the rarity of the Escort before modestly agreeing to a photo. 
 

There was a wonderful variety in the turnout, as ever I felt thoroughly under dressed but fortunately some legend turned up in a MK1 Multipla to save my blushes. Danny Hopkins off of Practical Classics turned out in a smart TR7 and spent the morning in the Escort’s rear view mirror.

Here are some more photos. Sadly @alf892couldnt join us in the end with his smashing Rover 12 but next time eh! 

Looks awesome!

[brownnova]

Had a spare half hour earlier. Having used the 2CV today it was out and I decided to see if I could make the radio work properly, something which it has never done in the time I’ve owned it. I unfurled all the mass of random wires and traced them all through. A couple of very poor connections repaired later and we have sound!! Will test on the way to work tomorrow seeing as the weather looks set to stay good! 

[Minimad5]

3 hours ago, HMC said:

Been for a moorland blast in the fiesta lx. Fully warm even it’s fine and will stop and start on demand. It just seems to throw a wobbly restarting if it’s  been on an extended Trip; I’ve yet to calculate the exact point of no return distance/ time wise. Any ideas. Would a dodgy coil pack do this?

What type of coil does it have ?

If it is the non H.T lead type (so individual leafs from coil to spark plug) I might have one in the stash.

Also have a genuine Ford RS kit that will fit and look amazing on this, as I took it of a very rotten SX I had.

[N19]

8 hours ago, Tim_E said:

Met @N19for a quick transfer of a Mondeo towbar. 

Sorry I couldn't hang around and chat longer this time but it was a great pleasure to meet you. 

 

Great to meet you Mr E and many thanks for the towbar. It'll hopefully find its way onto the back of the Mondeo this week, though the wiring may need to wait! 

[Rave]

3 hours ago, HMC said:

Been for a moorland blast in the fiesta lx. Fully warm even it’s fine and will stop and start on demand. It just seems to throw a wobbly restarting if it’s  been on an extended Trip; I’ve yet to calculate the exact point of no return distance/ time wise. Any ideas. Would a dodgy coil pack do this?

It looks happy to be off my in-laws drive and out and about!  

If it runs fine but refuses to restart that would potentially suggest that the cam position sensor was crapping out when it gets hot enough. However that wouldn't explain why it cut out on Rob on his way down. Yet more googling suggests that the pipe to the MAP sensor can degrade and collapse once it gets hot so that might be worth a check too.

[Split_Pin]

I replaced the rocker cover gasket on the Cavalier yesterday, very easy job indeed. 

Cams still look in great condition given that its done a quarter of a million miles. There's also absolutely  no sludge inside the cam box at all and the underside of the rocker cover was the cleanest I've seen, with a new- looking gauze filter.

I think its also leaking a touch from the camshaft end seal as when I replaced the distributor  cap and rotor there was a small amount of oil there. Not bad enough to bother me but an observation nevertheless.

According to the service history the timing belt was last evidenced in 2008 so I'm hoping that my Gates kit arrives sooner rather than later. The engine behaves well so I think it would be a shame to risk it and play roulette. I'm undecided whether to do it myself or not. On one hand I'm sure its easy but on the other, labour costs to change it would probably not be more than an hour or 2. I'll just see how I feel the day the postman brings it!

I've also found @Burnside s thread on it in the Cavalier owners forum and I'm reading through it. Seems to have had a clutch and replacement box around 2009, all still good there.

[wuvvum]

Yesterday (when I eventually got up at least) was mostly spent round my mate's helping him to weld the Swift up.  That's all done now - I'm just waiting for the wheel cylinders to arrive and then I'll go and retrieve the car from his garden and bring it back to mine to do the rear brakes and the front suspension arm.  That should be done next weekend, assuming the cylinders I've ordered are the right ones for the car (they should be but I'm always a bit apprehensive about these things) and it can then go in for a retest.

I drove up there in the Trafic - went up the coast road on the way there which was a mistake, things are very much back to normal with dithering idiots everywhere, in fact I did a couple of overtakes on NSL sections which is not something one does very often in a 25-year-old Trafic.

Today I'd been hoping to have a go at the exhaust on the Innocenti, but my ramps appear to have gone AWOL.  It's probably my fault as I think I left them in the car park after doing the Suzuki exhaust last weekend, but it's still annoying.  I'll have to nip to Wilco tomorrow lunchtime and buy a new pair.  I had another go at starting the Spacy, but it wasn't playing ball.  The problem is that the fuel line coming down from the tank splits in two as there are two inlets on the carb, but the way the fuel lines are sloping means that the fuel taking the path of least resistance all goes into the bottom inlet, and the top one isn't getting any.  I need to shorten some bits of pipe and lengthen others so the fuel isn't going uphill at any point - that doesn't work in a gravity-fed system.

I got the vacuum bleeder on the Carina's front brakes this afternoon - it's made naff all difference once again.  I'll have a go at the rears once I can get the car up on ramps again - I really couldn't be arsed taking the wheels off today.  The brakes are starting to annoy me though as I have no idea how they even got air in the system in the first place.  I mentioned it to the garage that does my MOTs (in the context of "would it fail if the brakes work but the pedal is spongy AF) and the chap reckoned he'd had issues in the past with rear brake shoe adjusters playing up and causing excessive pedal travel, but I'm not sure how that'd work as normally self-adjusters only work in one direction, and anyway I'm pretty certain there's air in the system as pumping the pedal makes it go firm again.  Irritatingly I couldn't find the HBOL for the car so I wasn't able to look up the brake adjustment thing, but the handbrake is fine and I think it uses the same shoes on those so I doubt it's that.

Didn't get much else done other than clearing out the C2 ready for it to be collected next weekend, and getting some of the white marks off the passenger door of the Ypsilon.  I did take the Renault 6 to Tesco and then into Norwich - didn't see many classics but it was late afternoon by then, there was a floppytop Vitesse in front of me at one stage and I passed a Rambler wagon and a green Rootes Arrow saloon (think it was a Sceptre) coming the other way.  The Renault needed the brake caliper twatting a couple of times, but that was when I'd had to anchor up because of some dithering Sunday idiot doing something unexpected.  Other than that it drove fine.

[RobT]

1 hour ago, Rave said:

It looks happy to be off my in-laws drive and out and about!  

If it runs fine but refuses to restart that would potentially suggest that the cam position sensor was crapping out when it gets hot enough. However that wouldn't explain why it cut out on Rob on his way down. Yet more googling suggests that the pipe to the MAP sensor can degrade and collapse once it gets hot so that might be worth a check too.

Another good suggestion.

One solution* would be to stick to moorland blasts only, and avoid any long trips. I iz bodger extraordinaire...

Lovely little car otherwise.  I was growing fond of it.

[RobT]

4 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

As reported in the Escort Thread, my chum and neighbour organised a trundle out this morning for a spot of motoring. A gentle 15 mile jolly across salubrious Cambridgeshire awaited our intrepid motorists, and what fun it was.

A friend invited that lovely Fuzz off of the telly and he was just wonderful; a beautiful, gentle man. He spent five minutes telling his kids about the rarity of the Escort before modestly agreeing to a photo. 
 

There was a wonderful variety in the turnout, as ever I felt thoroughly under dressed but fortunately some legend turned up in a MK1 Multipla to save my blushes. Danny Hopkins off of Practical Classics turned out in a smart TR7 and spent the morning in the Escort’s rear view mirror.

Here are some more photos. Sadly @alf892couldnt join us in the end with his smashing Rover 12 but next time eh! 

The only image I clicked and zoomed in on was the Multipla.  Nuff said! Good turnout though.

[BorniteIdentity]

6 hours ago, RobT said:

The only image I clicked and zoomed in on was the Multipla.  Nuff said! Good turnout though.

Have another then.  3.0 V6 LHD.  

[barefoot]

I have just taken my T2 down to my favourite mechanic to have a lovely re-built gearbox fitted by his skilled operatives. This will replace the whining bastard that I've been listening to for longer than I care to remember.

[Stanky]

On 24/04/2021 at 13:16, Stanky said:

The post has just arrived, including a parcel for me, which required a signature. I don't recall ordering anything but might have been my wife buying whatever it is. Anyway, duly squiggled with my finger on the screen and took it inside to see what excitement awaited.

Ummm, yeah...

its what appears to be an ignition barrel with key for a 2003 Citroen Picasso? I've never owned a Picasso, I don't think I have ever owned a Citroen if I'm honest? I went to check ebay in case I'd gone fully deranged and ordered it, but nope - nothing there. I don't think we even know anyone with a picasso who might have ordered it to me and forgot to tell me I am supposed to be fitting it for them?

According to the tracking it originated at Skellingthorpe Post Office LN6 5UL. No invoice, just a box with bubble wrapped ignition gubbinz? The box it came in has been recycled and the sender might have been a Mr Ronald Clayton of North Hykeham? I definitely don't know anyone by that name.

WTF?

 

So, I used my l33t google-fu to look up a phone number for Ronald, called him yesterday and explained my predicament. He was clearly as baffled as me, and probably thought I was some kind of scammer but after I explained I had been sent a random, unsolicited part for a car I do not own, in a box with his name and address on, the penny dropped.

Apparently he regularly gives small boxes to his neighbour to use, because he sells lots of stuff on ebay. He took my number and scuttled off to the neighbour to pass on my details.

His equally baffled wife rang me back about 20 minutes later to say that the neighbour had indeed put the wrong address on the part, and that I could bin it because he'd spotted the mistake and refunded the original buyer and would take the cost of postage on the chin. I did offer to post it back, but they said not to bother.

So, anyone need an ignition barrel, wiring and key x1 for a 2003 citroen picasso (or potentially other PSA cars of a similar age)? step this way.

Actually I have a load of old shit to list later on so will get a thread up about it with this included.

Thats my good deed for the day though, I did try and get it back to the correct owner!

[Fumbler]

Battery parts for BX ordered. Hopefully that'll fix the poor earthing. I'm replacing the clamp, engine earth cable and its lugs. The body earth is fine, so it'll receive its own lug so it can be reconnected securely.

[dean36014]

Any of the previous Vel satis owners know where this fits? Found it in the boot and someone has obviously spent some time repairing it.

[barefoot]

3 hours ago, barefoot said:

I have just taken my T2 down to my favourite mechanic ...

Got a phone call at 14:00, 'Any chance of bringing your van down Dave?'

'It's been outside your fucking window since 09:30 you blind bastard'

FFS - I hope he's getting one of his lads with eyes to do it!      😀

[Soundwave]

I feel a mixture of disappointment but also relief after being outbid on a Triumph Acclaim on eBay. I love Acclaims, but am happy that I won't have to sell the Rover to make space for it.

[Cheezey]

Just liberated these from the dump in Denny. Couldn’t bring myself to take a photo of all the others in the metal recycling. 

[vulgalour]

It was determined we should go to the local garden centre in the Maestro.  It's not very far away and it's the first opportunity in about a year to do something *different* together.  Almost felt normal.  Anyway, you can hop on the motorway to get there and let me tell you, it was A MISTAKE.  It's not that the Maestro can't do motorway speeds, it can quite happily.  It's not that the brakes are no good and the visibility is poor, quite the opposite.  It's the noise.  In fourth at 55mph the engine is already shouting at you, push on above 60mph and you can barely hear yourself think.

On the plus side, after the brief run the brakes feel just a bit sharper and the engine idles just a bit nicer.  Temperature etc. all stayed at nice healthy levels and it does seem to have done the car some good to stretch its legs.  Fortunately, what the Maestro is bad at, the Princess is good at (when it's not broken), and vice versa.  It means I've got nice pair (stop it) that does all I need that I can enjoy.

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, Cheezey said:

Just liberated these from the dump in Denny. Couldn’t bring myself to take a photo of all the others in the metal recycling. 

Christ on a bike man! Those look far too good to be thrown out, especially the Hillman Hunter. Its normally missing the bits, mine is. Please post this in the Shite in Minature thread!!

May I call dibs on them should you wish to move them on?

[eddyramrod]

And what Iain doesn't want, I probably do!

[Cheezey]

11 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Christ on a bike man! Those look far too good to be thrown out, especially the Hillman Hunter. Its normally missing the bits, mine is. Please post this in the Shite in Minature thread!!

May I call dibs on them should you wish to move them on?

If you get yourself to Denny dump sharpish they might still be there. Left hand side of the metal skip. 
No problem on dibs. Need to give my Dad a proper look. 

[Split_Pin]

I can't believe someone would throw those out. Philistines.

Good on you for saving the ones you did.

[Cheezey]

The boys working there were encouraging me to grab a few as they would get their jotters if they did it. Different to the time a few years ago when I got a a bollocking for trying to sneak a Chopper out of the bike section into my Dad’s Vectra!

[mitsisigma01]

23 minutes ago, Cheezey said:

they would get their jotters

🤔🤔

[artdjones]

23 minutes ago, mitsisigma01 said:

🤔🤔

Sacked.

[artdjones]

The sky was just too blue, so I bunked off work this afternoon.

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, Cheezey said:

Just liberated these from the dump in Denny. Couldn’t bring myself to take a photo of all the others in the metal recycling. 

That's criminal, hopefully someone has gone and rescued as many as possible?

[dollywobbler]

I drove a Maestro 1.3 four speed last week, and while it was quite busy by 55mph, it didn't seem that noisy. Absolutely crying out for another gear. 

[vulgalour]

Mine's probably a little more... bedded in... than the one you drove.