The new news 24 thread

[wuvvum]

My dad had a 240 estate for several years in the mid-'90s - in fact I learned to drive in it (and the driving school's diesel 205).  I know what you mean about the feeling of safety, although I didn't think it was the best car to drive in torrential rain as the wipers weren't particularly quick.

[juular]

8 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

It's how I feel about these cars and the reason that one day I absolutely must own a 240.  It's a feeling that never goes away whenever I see one.

I'd never driven one until getting the MOT just before Christmas, but I can totally relate to that. Its such a reassuring, homely and safe place to be. Once you shut the vault-like door it feels like it's going to look after you.

5 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

the wipers weren't particularly quick.

Mine were the same until I stripped the motor and cleaned it. Given its position outside under the scuttle, and the not particularly good gasket on the motor housing, they rust up pretty well. Once cleaned I think mine is on par with the C70.. aside from the grinding noise 😬

[MJK 24]

16 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I have discovered that Autodoc apparently have them in stock, but they're about 120 quid delivered

I didn’t think that Autodoc would deliver exhausts to the UK?

[wuvvum]

2 minutes ago, MJK 24 said:

I didn’t think that Autodoc would deliver exhausts to the UK?

This is autodoc.co.uk and apparently they will...

[tommotech]

22 minutes ago, MJK 24 said:

I didn’t think that Autodoc would deliver exhausts to the UK?

Apparently it depends on the size, I’d selected a Polo front pipe that was too large to be shipped here but then selected a rear silencer that was ok for shipping. 

[MJK 24]

Pat has a new van and it runs on veg…

 

[taxi paul]

Trip to tesco was a dull fest. Then got back to car and spotted these two breaking all the cars under 3 years old rule. Had a chat to the toyota owner. A nice older gentleman who said that he didn't need a big expensive car. 

[bunglebus]

Saw this in the newsagents. Just* £8.99 to you sir

 

[brownnova]

Have given myself the target of spending a bit more time tinkering this year, as I have plenty of projects which have been sat dormant and things I would like to do to my 2CV for example. So yesterday I decided to set some time aside to see if I could get the Nova and the Yugo to run again for the first time for many months… and in the Yugo’s case over a year.

So armed with three cans of easy start, 2 fully charged batteries, a jump pack, 2 Jerry cans of fuel and about half an hours daylight i set too.

The Nova has a habit of vanishing it’s Petrol. I can’t seem to find a leak in the tank, but it’s not in an ideal spot to look properly. A glut of fresh Dino juice followed by some easy start led to spluttering but no sustained running. It was clear we had spark and everything else required, but what we didn’t have was fuel coming through. The throttle seemed to have become rather slack. What I needed was an assistant. So when my step son got home from his dads he was commandeered into turning the key whilst I first sprayed easy start in and then pumped the throttle at the carb end. Which after 3 goes yielded life!

I left it going for a minute or so but then black smoke and pops and bangs… but easing the choke back sorted that. Excellent. After that it was off and on easily. Runs a bit clattery (sounds worse on the video than in real life) but ok. Doesn’t like the choke being backed off much at all. It also wouldn’t move. It’s sunk into the ground a little and one of the tyres was flat.

The Yugo was starting and running fine a year ago, but then it ran a bit low on fuel and not having any to hand I didn’t start it, and then suddenly a year had passed… a quick check of the main ancillaries and fuel in the tank and we have it a go. Ah… it’s battery is goosed. Thankfully the backup is fully charged.

Easy start applied and… 

Sadly this was as good as it got. A few splutters and a little go. My assistant had disappeared by this point, but I suspect the same tactic we used on the Nova would have worked as it was clear no fuel was getting through. Unfortunately after a good glug of actual petrol it stopped catching at all, I may have flooded it. This car is a bit susceptible to that. Either that or we will need to check spark. All we know is… that it didn’t go this time. 

Plan was to go back to it today… but time has run away from me. Maybe tomorrow. 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, brownnova said:

So armed with three cans of easy start, 2 fully charged batteries, a jump pack, 2 Jerry cans of fuel and about half an hours daylight i set too.

Five..golden...rings...

[chodweaver]

Thank goodness for interestingly coloured cars, that weird Corsa pink is right up there with that weird Micra metallic salmon shade and the Softfruits shades that Polos could be had in.

That year seemed to bless Corsa Cs with metallics very much of a kind (very similar colour density, if that's the right word) - the turquoise and pastel green i like just as much. I wonder if i can find the paint chart for that year?...

Alas, the Corsa is very much surplus to requirements, so the plan is to get its mot renewed in February and punt it on, possibly/hopefully on here.

A fleet reduction. That'd be nice.

[Asimo]

On 03/01/2022 at 18:00, SiC said:

Mrs SiC emptied out the A4 earlier as, after I've drained some of the diesel out, I'll look to arrange having it scrapped this/next week. Seems almost criminal to scrap a car in this good condition inside and out, but without a working engine it's not very useful as a car.

Genuinely feel a bit sad getting rid of it. Between my parents and ourselves, we've know it over 11 years now. Really hoped to have got it to 250k.

I also scrapped my P (suffix) Audi because of fuel system failure. (Carb fell to pieces.) Not a spot of rust, everything else worked, my wife loved it, my kids knew no other car.  I felt a right bastard as I redlined it all the way to the scrappies.

Sometimes the game is just over.
 

[Bren]

On 1/3/2022 at 6:00 PM, SiC said:

Mrs SiC emptied out the A4 earlier as, after I've drained some of the diesel out, I'll look to arrange having it scrapped this/next week. Seems almost criminal to scrap a car in this good condition inside and out, but without a working engine it's not very useful as a car.

Genuinely feel a bit sad getting rid of it. Between my parents and ourselves, we've know it over 11 years now. Really hoped to have got it to 250k.

Sad. Is it going to a recycler or some shithouse fly by night trader who will sell it with a slight running problem?

Like you say, seems almost criminal.

[SiC]

9 minutes ago, Bren said:

Sad. Is it going to a recycler or some shithouse fly by night trader who will sell it with a slight running problem?

Like you say, seems almost criminal.

It won't start at all and won't until it's had a new pump and injectors. I mean it might be sold as "won't start, unknown fault" but I suspect the body, panels and interior are too straight and clean to sell like that. 

Did a quote on RemoveMyCar. They requested additional info before quoting so I sent a bunch of pictures. They have got back and offered £1600. That's too much to say no to and certainly enough to not even consider fixing it myself!

[Spiny Norman]

Went to the local keycutting place today to get a spare done for the old Volvo Of Many Shiters since I only got one with it. All I was expecting to get was a key that physically fitted the door lock rather than a full immobiliser chipped one. Bloke rummaged around in a box, consulted a couple of catalogues before producing a blank that he said should do the job and said, "I haven't done one of these for about 4 years, I  think I've got a couple of chips that I should be able to do but they don't fit in the key blank so it'll just need to be taped on, be £40 if it works or a tenner for just the key if it doesn't."

15 minutes later he presented me with this, which I took and tried in the car and it works perfectly. Even gave me another chip in case it gets lost.
Autoshite problems require Autoshite solutions,  so now I (& the next lucky owner of this magnificent heap)  have two working immobiliser keys.

 

[cort1977]

My very nice neighbour just gave me a load of mountain bike parts and a frame.  I only asked him if he had an old 26" wheel.  He said he doesn't have 26" wheel bikes any more, couldn't be doing with trying to sell bits and I could have them.  Amazing. 

Will have to buy him several cases of beer.

[Yoss]

As electric vans still seem a distant dream for us poor posties, at least at our office, I've been cultivating my own moss gardens in the scuttle of our Pug Partner to reduce our carbon footprint. 

So imagine my delight yesterday when I noticed we have a tiny mushroom in there too. 

So not only do we offset the carbon from all the diesel we use but we now have our own food supply. I'm hoping the two separate gardens in each corner will spread to become one big one right across the scuttle. Should be able to grow enough to be self sufficient then. 

[brownnova]

Had another brief crack at the Yugo today with my (surprisingly) willing assistant. Still no catch on the first couple of go’s, and on investigation turns out we have no spark at the plugs. Which we must have done at some point on Monday as we did have spluttering. King lead is giving spark, so I’m going to guess distributor cap or rotor arm are at fault here. Plugs do look a bit black too, so time to get ordering and get a whole a set of new ignition bits.

I have a feeling this Yugo 45 will be suprisingly capable when it starts. Look forward to returning it to the road… momentum and mojo are  returned! 

The boy has said he’s really enjoyed helping getting the cars started and is disappointed we can’t get the bits tomorrow to see if we can get it going. 

[High Jetter]

32 minutes ago, Yoss said:

As electric vans still seem a distant dream for us poor posties, at least at our office, I've been cultivating my own moss gardens in the scuttle of our Pug Partner to reduce our carbon footprint. 

So imagine my delight yesterday when I noticed we have a tiny mushroom in there too. 

So not only do we offset the carbon from all the diesel we use but we now have our own food supply. I'm hoping the two separate gardens in each corner will spread to become one big one right across the scuttle. Should be able to grow enough to be self sufficient then. 

Is that why we haven't had any post since NYE? 

[wesacosa]

4 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Had another brief crack at the Yugo today with my (surprisingly) willing assistant. Still no catch on the first couple of go’s, and on investigation turns out we have no spark at the plugs. Which we must have done at some point on Monday as we did have spluttering. King lead is giving spark, so I’m going to guess distributor cap or rotor arm are at fault here. Plugs do look a bit black too, so time to get ordering and get a whole a set of new ignition bits.

The boy has said he’s really enjoyed helping getting the cars started and is disappointed we can’t get the bits tomorrow to see if we can get it going. 

Hope you make some progress, I am a sucker for a Yugo, would be great to see it running

[reb]

I'm having a look through my tattoo flash books and found this that I quite like:

It's a shame I don't have the money to get it done professionally.

Fuck it, here we go again.

[brownnova]

1 minute ago, wesacosa said:

Hope you make some progress, I am a sucker for a Yugo, would be great to see it running

I’m pretty determined having failed to do much with it so far due to lack of time. I know it does go, I’ve had it running, just need to work methodically through it to re-ignite it. 

[wesacosa]

2 minutes ago, brownnova said:

I’m pretty determined having failed to do much with it so far due to lack of time. I know it does go, I’ve had it running, just need to work methodically through it to re-ignite it. 

hopefully it cant be anything too bad. I do recall your thread from a few years ago but can't remember what you tried, but surely would be unlucky if it wasn't something ignition components and/or a carb clean wouldn't fix

[stuboy]

16 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Had another brief crack at the Yugo today

love these wee beasties

[brownnova]

6 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

hopefully it cant be anything too bad. I do recall your thread from a few years ago but can't remember what you tried, but surely would be unlucky if it wasn't something ignition components and/or a carb clean wouldn't fix

Last time it was that the mechanical fuel pump needed priming and once I’d got fuel pumping it started first time with a few weeks between starts. But I got busy and left it doing nothing for a year, and now it won’t go. With parts and proper time I’ll get it running. 
 

Then brakes, new tyres, a little welding probably and a general going through and tidying up. 

[wesacosa]

3 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Last time it was that the mechanical fuel pump needed priming and once I’d got fuel pumping it started first time with a few weeks between starts. But I got busy and left it doing nothing for a year, and now it won’t go. With parts and proper time I’ll get it running. 
 

Then brakes, new tyres, a little welding probably and a general going through and tidying up. 

Sounds similar to the Panda, when I leave it even for a few days it takes a fair bit of cranking to prime the pump, much more than any other mechanical pump cars I've had

[Asimo]

54 minutes ago, Yoss said:

As electric vans still seem a distant dream for us poor posties, at least at our office, I've been cultivating my own moss gardens in the scuttle of our Pug Partner to reduce our carbon footprint. 

So imagine my delight yesterday when I noticed we have a tiny mushroom in there too. 

So not only do we offset the carbon from all the diesel we use but we now have our own food supply. I'm hoping the two separate gardens in each corner will spread to become one big one right across the scuttle. Should be able to grow enough to be self sufficient then. 

What happened to cleaning the vehicle at the end of the shift? If the scuttle is that neglected, how is the sump?

 

[reb]

I chickened out of using the machine, so @stereotypeis doing it by hand. Slower, but they're really good at it so it's far more accurate than my cackhanded attempts with a machine.

[reb]

And done!

[wuvvum]

I nipped to Wilco on Tuesday to pick up an 11mm square drain plug key, and I went out to the Volvo earlier to see if I could get the in-tank fuel filter out.  It took some doing - I had to get the breaker bar on it and I honestly thought the socket in the drain plug was going to round out at one point - perhaps unsurprising given that it had probably not been touched for almost 50 years.  It came undone in the end though - the filter was rather manky but it also has a split up the seam of the mesh screen so it won't actually be filtering very much, although I'm not sure whether the split was there already or whether it happened when I was wiggling the filter out of the tank, it's a little bit fragile which is allowable at that age.  Brookhouse Volvo list a new filter for £12.95 plus the dreaded and delivery, so about 19 quid all in - a lot for a little mesh cylinder but not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, so I splurged. 

That does mean I'll have to wait until it arrives before I can put everything back together and refill the fuel tank, but if I do need to move the car in the meantime I can always run it off a jerry can under the bonnet.  I might try doing that anyway, to see if the engine runs any better - that would prove that it was definitely the in-tank filter and / or the line from the tank which was causing the fuel starvation issues.  If the new filter doesn't cure it I'll need to get an airline to blow through the fuel pipes, but that'll mean bringing the car onto the drive which will mean moving the Innocenti, so that will probably have to wait a while.