The new news 24 thread

[Cord Fourteener]

So two weeks, two stranded cars, stranded by Wifey I might add. 

First it was 'lost ' keys after a night shift 40 mins away, on Friday it was parked in a school on Friday night to find the gates locked, 50 mins away. 

Car is now retrieved thanks to a waterbaby group and a close by contact. 

Downside is, in faffing with the gate locks the 2 year old boy, unsupervised for two seconds, ate a laurel berry... he's not dead yet so I guess he'll make it. In fact he's completely symptomless. Phew!

[vulgalour]

50 minutes ago, dean36014 said:

Did a collection today, driveway looks much better with a  shabby cx on it. 

 

That reminds me, I found the 'old Citroen' that I'd been told about locally.  It's a CX in metallic green, taking a nap in somone's front garden, and the urge to go and knock on the door and ask about it is HIGH even though (on the assumption it was for sale, which it probably isn't) I need that sort of a project like I need another hole in my head.

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, dean36014 said:

Did a collection today, driveway looks much better with a  shabby cx on it. 

 

I’m sure I’ve seen that car when I had my DTR . It’s got a good MOT history so Bon chance!

[richardmorris]

As above pic has reminded me I’ve just checked the mot history on mine which I sold in sept 2006 at 174,000 miles.

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/?_ga=2.144585909.1470792363.1631470220-715387857.1631470220

 

i sold it in px to Roger Bradford at basically spares prices( oh how history repeats!). It was the last series2 DTR Turbo 1  saloon in the country at that point. 

[Barry Cade]

Daughter took me to Knockhill for my birthday today. Still feeling a bit faint with all the Mk2s.. 😍 and sore ribs from laughing at the Audis on the track understeering round the hairpin..

[richardmorris]

2 minutes ago, Barry Cade said:

Daughter took me to Knockhill for my birthday today. Still feeling a bit faint with all the Mk2s.. 😍 and sore ribs from laughing at the Audis on the track understeering round the hairpin..

Glad you had a good day, I’m afraid that fords do nothing for me, but still happy that they are about.

[Split_Pin]

The Cavalier held its coolant overnight so I took it out a run to replicate the previous fault conditions which were running hot on long motorway inclines at 70mph.

The correct thermostat is an 88 degree one plus all that water isn't rushing past the previous ill fitting one so it sits at between about 92 and 95 degrees on the guage during the above conditions. It behaved well and although I'd have liked to see it running at bang on 90 I'll take that.

I'll see if my gaskets have held tomorrow morning.

[stuboy]

Future father in law asked me was I busy as he wanted the towbar and kenwood stereo etc... as finally decided to scrap the vectra Estate, finally. !!

 

Had some help from the animals.

 

Reclamet are being called to get best price to get rid.

[Crackers]

I am now a fully paid-up member of the vacuum pump oil extractor believers club. Used mine for the first time today to service the Focus, and after sucking all the oil out I took the sump plug out to see what was left; barely a thimble's worth came out, so that's bloody impressive. No oil on me, my clothes, the floor, or the bottom of the car. Result!

[reb]

11 minutes ago, Crackers said:

I am now a fully paid-up member of the vacuum pump oil extractor believers club. Used mine for the first time today to service the Focus, and after sucking all the oil out I took the sump plug out to see what was left; barely a thimble's worth came out, so that's bloody impressive. No oil on me, my clothes, the floor, or the bottom of the car. Result!

My mate left one of those identical to that outside my house 2 years ago, still with oil in it, I never bothered doing anything with it because I had access to Dad's Pela brand one. I'd be interested to know if it still works after all this time. Probably not.

[junkyarddog]

1 hour ago, Barry Cade said:

 

 

Oh my!!!!

That is gorgeous,I really must get my finger out and make a start on mine.

[Barry Cade]

4 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

Oh my!!!!

That is gorgeous,I really must get my finger out and make a start on mine.

3l auto, roman bronze, beige velour.. 14ft of the seventies...😎

[Crackers]

18 minutes ago, reb said:

My mate left one of those identical to that outside my house 2 years ago, still with oil in it, I never bothered doing anything with it because I had access to Dad's Pela brand one. I'd be interested to know if it still works after all this time. Probably not.

As far as I can tell there's not a lot that can go wrong with them. Tip the oil out of it, and give it a few good pumps (ooo errr) with the vacuum release valve pressed down. If anything's got into the internals of the pump, doing that should blast it out, and restore normal operation. Worth a go!

[cobblers]

5 minutes ago, Crackers said:

As far as I can tell there's not a lot that can go wrong with them. Tip the oil out of it, and give it a few good pumps (ooo errr) with the vacuum release valve pressed down. If anything's got into the internals of the pump, doing that should blast it out, and restore normal operation. Worth a go!

You'd think that! I have a similar one to the picture (different random brand though) and it's fucked after two uses. 

The O ring in the pump plunger has swelled (because the oil fumes have softened it) and that jammed solid, so I replaced that and then found the one way valve in the base is an incredibly shit design also featuring some non oil safe rubber, which again has swelled to double it's size, but it's not something I could find in the quick 5 minutes google before I chucked the whole greasy tub of shit in the skip in a rage.

[bunglebus]

I went to a local car show today, quite an impressive mix of stuff. All the pics here https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWDhAd5

but here's a few if you're interested

5000 mile allegro!

 

[junkyarddog]

17 minutes ago, Barry Cade said:

3l auto, roman bronze, beige velour.. 14ft of the seventies...😎

Mine is only a lowly 2L,but the auto is being jettisoned in favor of a 5 speed manual.

Still a Ghia mind😎

 

[cobblers]

Don't do it man!!!! Manually changing gear is for perverts! A 2.0 pinto is never going to be a race car, just embrace the two pedal luxury.

[Dyslexic Viking]

As a supposedly manual gearshift perv, I like the idea of converting it to manual. But then I also do not live in the UK because when I imagine driving in the UK, it is constant driving in a traffic jams in heavy rain I see in my mind. And even though I hate automatic gearboxes, I understand that in such they are better.

[brownnova]

Port Sunlight was the destination today… not planned, but after going to a rather damp cars and coffee at which there were about 4 cars of any interest… so we decamped to an equally damp Port Sunlight for a car show run by basically marshalling Nazis.

After parking me up they informed the next guy he was in for the day, no way I’m sitting on a wet village green until 4pm, so they lost the benefit of my rare Trans Sport in their show and I drove out. 

My parking spot next to the village green was not exactly far away.

Anyway! The cars! A few selected highlights 

Just Oooooooooft. This Panhard was utterly gorgeous! 
 

and here’s a Calibra leaving early after rowing with the organisers…

Some crackers were found outside on the road too… people like me who couldn’t be arsed with the Marshall nonsense. 

 

[stuboy]

12 hours ago, brownnova said:

and here’s a Calibra leaving early after rowing with the organisers…

do you know why?

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

Daughter took me to Knockhill for my birthday today. 

Could you give her my number? 😎

[junkyarddog]

55 minutes ago, cobblers said:

Don't do it man!!!! Manually changing gear is for perverts! A 2.0 pinto is never going to be a race car, just embrace the two pedal luxury.

Sorry dude,but I don't like the 3 speed auto,mine leaks and is clunky,plus I have a 2.0 type 9 cluttering up the shed.

I think the taller gears combined with the Auto rear axle should make motorway driving less of a chore.

I will miss the chrome T bar gear lever though,that is a fantastic piece of design,very ergonomic too.

30 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

As a supposedly manual gearshift perv, I like the idea of converting it to manual. But then I also do not live in the UK because when I imagine driving in the UK, it is constant driving in a traffic jams in heavy rain I see in my mind. And even though I hate automatic gearboxes, I understand that in such they are better.

 I don't live in the UK either.

[Barry Cade]

22 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Could you give her my number? 😎

😆 She could lap in valves at 8... tall,slim,blonde and taken I'm afraid!

[High Jetter]

8 minutes ago, Barry Cade said:

😆 She could lap in valves at 8... tall,slim,blonde and taken I'm afraid!

Huh. Never* liked you in Car Mechanics either. 🤣

[Essex V6]

Maestro van spotted whilst watching Tour of  🇬🇧 😀

[Cord Fourteener]

 

9 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

As a supposedly manual gearshift perv, I like the idea of converting it to manual. But then I also do not live in the UK because when I imagine driving in the UK, it is constant driving in a traffic jams in heavy rain I see in my mind. And even though I hate automatic gearboxes, I understand that in such they are better.

In Wales you have either empty scenic roads with occasional traffic or, if you head towards England then yes its pretty much traffic jams everywhere you go. 

The irony of owning a road going performance car in England seems to be lost on many. 

But then I went to Malta and the situation is even more bizarre, the main island is less than 10km long and about a third is city, the rest is overcrowded back roads, the island is a perpetual traffic jam and people bother to import powerful cars. They could just use the buses or have a Twizy each, or (shock horror) walk and cycle anywhere in the island easily 😅

[JJ0063]

Start my Class 2 training today at 3pm. Got to drive to Sutton-in-Ashfield this morning as I’ve chosen a company there upon recommendation.

 

excited but very nervous! 

[Dyslexic Viking]

34 minutes ago, Cord Fourteener said:

But then I went to Malta and the situation is even more bizarre, the main island is less than 10km long and about a third is city, the rest is overcrowded back roads, the island is a perpetual traffic jam and people bother to import powerful cars. They could just use the buses or have a Twizy each, or (shock horror) walk and cycle anywhere in the island easily 😅

Since I hate overcrowded areas, Malta sounds like hell to me. Certain areas of Canada have a population density of 0.02 per km2 that is more as it should be.

[Split_Pin]

I checked the Cavalier this morning and it's lost A LITRE of coolant over a 10 mile drive last night.

It's dripping off the nearside subframe again.

I can't feel anything wet around the thermostat area. All pipe connections are tight and there doesn't appear to be any more coolant on top of the gearbox so I have no idea where it is coming from this time. I'm actually starting to think it's head gasket as there was only a few drips off the subframe onto the mat below, definitely  not a whole litre.

I am going to ask the garage to have a look for anything obvious at the MOT as it is losing it at a biblical rate now. Hopefully it will have enough to get it through the test. Then there's the question do I bother spending anything to get it through which would be throwing good money after bad.

This has to be the least pleasure I've ever had from owning a car.

[Cord Fourteener]

9 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I checked the Cavalier this morning and it's lost A LITRE of coolant over a 10 mile drive last night.

It's dripping off the nearside subframe again.

I can't feel anything wet around the thermostat area. All pipe connections are tight and there doesn't appear to be any more coolant on top of the gearbox so I have no idea where it is coming from this time. I'm actually starting to think it's head gasket as there was only a few drips off the subframe onto the mat below, definitely  not a whole litre.

I am going to ask the garage to have a look for anything obvious at the MOT as it is losing it at a biblical rate now. Hopefully it will have enough to get it through the test. Then there's the question do I bother spending anything to get it through which would be throwing good money after bad.

This has to be the least pleasure I've ever had from owning a car.

Sounds like you need to quit your old cavalier habit...