The new news 24 thread

[Split_Pin]

Timing belt all done on the Cavalier,  picking it up later this morning. Traditionally he has said he has marked the mileage on the belt cover in white which I approve of.

The ride is shit on the 16 inch Speedline wheels with 195/45/16 tyres though. I don't remember the Corsa being affected by them like that. Anyway, I've finally decided to sell them and I am collecting a set of MK1 Tigra wheels on Tuesday. They will need tyres so I'm going for the highest possible profile within Cavalier tolerances and that is a common size, I think 195/60 should be cheap enough. Ideally I'd like 185/65 but I think those might be dearer. Its not the first time its worn this sort of wheel either, here is a picture I found of it about 10 years ago.

[brownnova]

Yesterday a kid arrived at school just after we were locking the back gates. Normally if they’re late they have to go to the main entrance to sign in (a 2 minute walk round the corner)

However, as he had arrived to school in a Rover 600 I made them unlock the gates to let him in, and informed him that this was purely because he had arrived in a Rover. 

[New POD]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

Timing belt all done on the Cavalier,  picking it up later this morning. Traditionally he has said he has marked the mileage on the belt cover in white which I approve of.

The ride is shit on the 16 inch Speedline wheels with 195/45/16 tyres though. I don't remember the Corsa being affected by them like that. Anyway, I've finally decided to sell them and I am collecting a set of MK1 Tigra wheels on Tuesday. They will need tyres so I'm going for the highest possible profile within Cavalier tolerances and that is a common size, I think 195/60 should be cheap enough. Ideally I'd like 185/65 but I think those might be dearer. Its not the first time its worn this sort of wheel either, here is a picture I found of it about 10 years ago.

I had a set of Calibra wheels in our Old mk3, which went on the Astra mk3 later, and had come off a calibre (note the E. The CalibrE was given the proper mk2 Sri130 style alloys which had been on the mk3.

The mk3 also wore steel wheels, mk3 Astra gsi fan blades. 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Count Binface should be doing better than this, surely...

[phil_lihp]

It's not often car insurance can raise a smile but the Princess policy was due for renewal next week and my current insurer have been bombarding me with renewal reminders by post, email and text which annoyed me intensely, especially seeing as they put the price up by £30.  I'd been recommended Hagerty by a couple of friends with old cars so I got a quote off their website, got an instant and fairly decent price, called them up and got straight through to a thoroughly pleasant chap - he asked the usual questions, managed to match the Lancaster price with extra bits like breakdown cover included and I had the new policy set up in a few minutes.    

[rusty998]

37 minutes ago, phil_lihp said:

It's not often car insurance can raise a smile but the Princess policy was due for renewal next week and my current insurer have been bombarding me with renewal reminders by post, email and text which annoyed me intensely, especially seeing as they put the price up by £30.  I'd been recommended Hagerty by a couple of friends with old cars so I got a quote off their website, got an instant and fairly decent price, called them up and got straight through to a thoroughly pleasant chap - he asked the usual questions, managed to match the Lancaster price with extra bits like breakdown cover included and I had the new policy set up in a few minutes.    

I recently got insured with Hagerty on my MGF, I was happy with the price they quoted me and impressed with the thoroughly excellent customer service I received,  it was nice to able to speak car stuff with the gentleman on the end of the phone instead of just going through the process 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

I cleaned my ring... no one likes a dirty ring.

 

Admittedly it's been way overdue as I've had the  car a year and a half but I feared the metal disintegrating given the apparant rust.

 

And after. Not rusty at all but, a lot of nicotine and cigarette smoke staining and thick gunge... nice 🤮

[Cord Fourteener]

We managed to get out for our North Wales meet - in the pouring rain and low visibility. 

Still, a nice time was had, it was lovely to see you all 👍

[puddlethumper]

Well, it's another year on the road for my lil old 305 van. Yipeee ! As for the advisory, it's 32 years old FFS what do you expect. 

[Cord Fourteener]

Looks like Boio had a good time.

[Floatylight]

31 minutes ago, Tim_E said:

We managed to get out for our North Wales meet - in the pouring rain and low visibility. 

Still, a nice time was had, it was lovely to see you all 👍

Hairnet bannister to the naughty corner for being a wuss and having the top up..

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Just after a trip out in the CX, calling at Radlett, Hatfield and Barnet. Bland featureless desert of SUVs and vans.

Nothing noteworthy to report, apart from spotting an early Ford Consul.

[aldo135]

Went for a jog earlier (seemed a good idea at the time) and met @Lacquer Peel who had kindly come through with my new car! My first car collection on foot and without kids in tow. Thanks for your help Cal . Those of you who know this car and commented on the sale thread are right, it’s a brilliant thing! 

[tommotech]

Adrian Flux sent my insurance renewal today for the MG Midget, £95 for the year with agreed value and no mileage limit (not that I do more than 1000 anyhow). Happy with that.

Awaiting parts for the Audi the Alfa has been pressed into service, it does bring a grin and the 2.0 TS sounds great. 

[Broadsword]

Half way through a cam belt job on a mk. 2 Ka (Fiat 500) , got the new belt lined up all nice, put on the new tensioner and ping it disintegrated. Bugger!

 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

18 minutes ago, Broadsword said:

Half way through a cam belt job on a mk. 2 Ka (Fiat 500) , got the new belt lined up all nice, put on the new tensioner and ping it disintegrated. Bugger!

 

Just as well it failed now rather than when the engine was running...

[Cord Fourteener]

1 hour ago, aldo135 said:

Went for a jog earlier (seemed a good idea at the time) and met @Lacquer Peel who had kindly come through with my new car! My first car collection on foot and without kids in tow. Thanks for your help Cal . Those of you who know this car and commented on the sale thread are right, it’s a brilliant thing! 

I like 👍 

[SiC]

Got my Bill Gates jab today. Can hear him speaking in my ear already. 

Unfortunately it's progressively made me feel shitter over the day. Groggy and aching. 

Bloody annoying as I was intending to go to the Haynes Museum pre-80s Breakfast meet tomorrow, but that's looking unlikely if this progressively gets worse. Driving the BGT is physically hard work and it's a good hour drive each way. Been looking forward to it all year too! 😔

[Mr Livered]

Hope you feel better soon @SiC.

[Lacquer Peel]

9 hours ago, aldo135 said:

Went for a jog earlier (seemed a good idea at the time) and met @Lacquer Peel who had kindly come through with my new car! My first car collection on foot and without kids in tow. Thanks for your help Cal . Those of you who know this car and commented on the sale thread are right, it’s a brilliant thing! 

I'm glad you like it! I am always worried when selling that my idea of a good car isn't someone else's idea of a good car. 

The lazy headlight wiper on the passenger side might just be a loose connector at the motor, it's another of those wee things I didn't get around to fixing. 

 

[Split_Pin]

9 hours ago, SiC said:

Got my Bill Gates jab today. Can hear him speaking in my ear already. 

Unfortunately it's progressively made me feel shitter over the day. Groggy and aching. 

Bloody annoying as I was intending to go to the Haynes Museum pre-80s Breakfast meet tomorrow, but that's looking unlikely if this progressively gets worse. Driving the BGT is physically hard work and it's a good hour drive each way. Been looking forward to it all year too! 😔

Got my letter a couple of days ago, jag is on Friday, not planning anything in case it wipes me out.

[SiC]

11 hours ago, SiC said:

Got my Bill Gates jab today. Can hear him speaking in my ear already. 

Unfortunately it's progressively made me feel shitter over the day. Groggy and aching. 

Bloody annoying as I was intending to go to the Haynes Museum pre-80s Breakfast meet tomorrow, but that's looking unlikely if this progressively gets worse. Driving the BGT is physically hard work and it's a good hour drive each way. Been looking forward to it all year too! 😔

Watched every hour pass on my clock last night. Feel rougher than a Badgers Backside. Haven't felt this bad since I had Glandular fever.

No Haynes Museum breakfast meet for me today. Gutted 😔

[loserone]

38 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

jag is on Friday,

Happy jaguar day!

 

@SiCare you on the paracetamol?  

 

I've never looked forward to feeling like shit before..

[SiC]

13 minutes ago, loserone said:

Happy jaguar day!
 
[mention=20071]SiC[/mention]are you on the paracetamol?  
 
I've never looked forward to feeling like shit before..

Just taken some. Paracetamol usually makes feck all difference with me though unfortunately.

[Spottedlaurel]

Did 190+ miles yesterday to look at a couple of Yarises/Yarii (?) for Miss SL. Looking to spend around a grand. If it works out OK then it can also be used for Master SL when he start driving at the end of next year.

This well-specced CDX was pretty decent, from a trader in cheapies who works from home. Came away thinking that was the one, but felt we need to see at least one other first.

This "Blue" model was a touch more expensive but a couple of years newer and only two thirds the mileage, from a private seller. It's now the preferred choice and we've got an offer on the table, will hopefully conclude that today.

When we got back home we found that an ad had just been posted for another good candidate which was not too far from the first one we'd seen - a shame we didn't know about it when we were over that way, but if neither of the above work out then we've got that as a fallback.

It's a while since I've gone around to view cars, it wasn't as unpleasant an experience as I feared but we did weed out several possibilities which didn't feel right for whatever reason.

[Spottedlaurel]

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

This "Blue" model was a touch more expensive but a couple of years newer and only two thirds the mileage, from a private seller. It's now the preferred choice and we've got an offer on the table, will hopefully conclude that today.

Update: Just agreed a price with the pleasant and helpful seller, will collect it next weekend.

It's only a year or so younger than Miss SL. That'd be the equivalent of me having got myself a 1971 Corolla when I started driving.

[HMC]

Live stream of victory day parade in Moscow; Russian equivalent of Huw Edwards voicing over.

[HMC]

Lots of standing on back seat of convertibles (ZIL?)

[Split_Pin]

After the heavy rain last night, it was a good time to check the water ingress issue on the passenger footwell on the Cavalier. Clearing the central drain pipe made no difference and the water was actually dripping out the floor bung.

I was a bit concerned that the bulkhead was rotten there. Although  I do have the means to weld it now, there's wiring behind there so it could get a bit involved. 

First I broke the windscreen washer pump outlet. Great. New one only £8 from ebay so ordered it on the hoof.

Garage that did the timing belt broke this vacuum hose connector which was annoying. I'm surprised it didn't  affect the running. Anyway, I can't get a new one yet as typing it into ebay brings up actual vacuum cleaner stuff!

I stripped out the plastic scuttle  panel. Its very fragile and will need some gaffa tape here and there.

The bulkhead looks OK . I reckon if I wanted to make things a WHOLE lot worse for myself I could dig out the bitumen matting and find a hole somewhere but as it stands, resealing the factory joins with Tiger Seal is a better solution. I'll then go over the lot with a couple of coats of Hammerite to seal the bitumen matting up as its cracked in a few places.

One area of grot about an inch long near the bottom of the screen but its not doing anything at the moment so I'll Vactan that up and leave it for now.

Glad I've got a decent garage to allow everything to dry out for a few days before sealing it!

I also had new fuel hose fitted from Hose World as the original was badly perished and definitely a fire risk. New stuff looks pretty heavy duty!

[beko1987]

1 minute ago, Split_Pin said:

 Typing it into ebay brings up actual vacuum cleaner stuff!

 

 

 

 

See, I get the same but in reverse!