The new news 24 thread

[cort1977]

Finished fitting new rear springs and shocks to the saab today. Bit of a bear of a job to be honest. Getting bolts off was pretty hard and even lining them up to go in again was an arse. All done now though and a test drive revealed no clunks and a nice smooth ride.

Checked the oil, cleaned the windows and fiddled with the ABS fuses which surprisingly turned off the warning light so a little win there. All set for a parts delivery run tomorrow and maybe drop in to FOAD's meet in Fife.

[richardmorris]

Got the 2cv running for the first time this year ( started ok when I’d pumped fuel through using the starting handle ). Then washed the modern car which was covered in half the Sahara. Now noisy free range Sunday lunches are making themselves heard.

[17-Coffees]

Filling out the Scottish Census, this is a question...

I don't want the Scottish Gov to judge me, a single person household, for the amount of cars I have! 🤣

[AnnoyingPentium]

1 minute ago, 17-Coffees said:

Filling out the Scottish Census, this is a question...

I don't want the Scottish Gov to judge me, a single person household, for the amount of cars I have! 🤣 

I saw that one too and thought of AS. 😆

[richardmorris]

2 minutes ago, 17-Coffees said:

Filling out the Scottish Census, this is a question...

I don't want the Scottish Gov to judge me, a single person household, for the amount of cars I have! 🤣

By running older cars you are keeping an entire business sector going - servicing, parts, restoration, etc. 

In the England one the other year I put 4 cars, and commute by bicycle. Thought about putting down Jedi as religion but stuck to cofe.

[wuvvum]

Got the replacement front strut fitted to the Laguna today.

It actually turned out to be a piece of piss, relatively speaking - the only real issue I encountered was that one of the hub carrier bolts didn't want to come out, the rubber mallet wasn't making any impression so in the end I had to screw the nut part way back on and belt it with the lump hammer.  The only other awkward bit was holding the replacement strut up inside the strut tower with one hand whilst trying to wangle the bolts in from the top with the other (the Laguna has threaded holes in the strut top mounting, rather than studs which would have made life easier).  I didn't have to undo the bottom ball joint in the end - with the hub carrier bolts removed the assembly could pivot far enough forward on the ball joint that I could just drop the leg out.  Even the rusty stub of cut-off drop link still attached to the replacement strut came out without resorting to the grinder.

Took it for a test drive and things are a lot quieter up front, so that's good.

Things are not quite so rosy on the Rover 75 front.  I took it to the jet wash in the next village to wash the Sahara desert off it, and when I'd finished and got back in to drive home it wouldn't start.  It was churning over but not firing, and the radiator fan was kicking in.  After a short while it flattened the battery (which was fairly low anyway).  I called the AA but they were very busy and gave me a 2 hour ETA, so I walked home and got the Maxus and the jump leads.  With the leads attached and after a lot more cranking it eventually fired up, but all was obviously not well - after a few seconds of running it spluttered a few times and then the idle went up to 1,500rpm and the engine light came on.  Touching the brake took the idle speed back to normal.  Tried stopping and starting it a few times but no difference.  It was running though so I sacked off the AA and started to trundle home at 1,500rpm - which unfortunately is not quite enough to get it to change gear, so I was going quite slowly.  After a bit I discovered that if I floored the accelerator it would pick up, so I was able to get it up to 30 and nurse it home, then get on the pushbike and go back to retrieve the Maxus.

Once I was home I popped the bonnet to investigate and found the scuttle full of water.  Mea maxima culpa I hadn't checked the plenum drains in a while (they've never blocked before in my ownership) - they appear to have been coping OK with "normal" rain but the rather more intense stream of water from the jet wash had proven too much.  I got my longest screwdriver and rodded the nearside drain out and the water dribbled away.  The ECU wasn't under water but some of the wiring had got rather damp.  I'm hoping that once it's been left to dry out for a day or two it'll sort itself out - I could do without having to get the ECU repaired on top of everything else...

[SiC]

Just got back from a round trip up to St Helens to see my mate @purplebargeken. Six and half hour journey covering almost 360 miles. Went in the A4 and while it has poverty spec seats with no adjustable lumbar, I feel alright still and not slaughtered.

Audi diesels are shit.


I was busy trying to get his red Toledo running again.


While Ken was busy de-doggy-fying the A4.



Bit of an uneven work load as the Audi was filthy and the Toledo ended up being an easy(ish) fix. We had spark on all four plugs and spraying carb cleaner into the intake caused it to run from that. So we knew it was mostly there. Fuel in the float bowl and the float needle was operating correctly.

Going back to the dizzy I noticed the powerspark module was sitting on a rusty plate. I cleaned that up with some sandpaper. Also checked the dash pot level and that was low.

Tried to start it again but this time with the air cleaner off and it ran. Wouldn't accelerate without bogging down though. We decided that we would replace the powerspark module with standard points.

Straightforward job that I took the time to clean up the wiring. I made new flyleads as the original car ones were splitting at the base of the crimp. Originally the car would have had a ballast resistor but at some point it was taken out. So I spliced these two together and made a single fly-lead. The coil to dizzy wire was not OEM and very badly crimped too, so replaced that.




Dizzy vac capsule held vacuum perfectly. Been a while since I've seen an original Lucas one that hadn't split internally!


Plugs were a mixed bag. Also Bosch rather than NGK or similar. Ken is going to get some new plug wires and replace the plugs then.


Didn't have a set of feeler gauges to hand, so used a bit of cardboard that looked roughly 15thou. Timing was done with the engine running with a timing light.

Got it running again and much better. Still popping through the exhaust, so hopefully new plugs and leads will solve that. The current leads are rock solid and look possibly original. I noticed cyl 1 was jumping around a bit on the timing light too.

Carb looked in very clean condition inside. Likewise the needle float valve didn't look that out at all. I suspect the last owner had been through this fairly recently.



Choke mechanism is very similar to my troublesome Moggie one. I've managed to get the Moggie choke linkage moving correctly but it's still not great on pulling the jet down. This is suffering similar issues. I know PhilA said this design was crap and replaced later on.


The cars themselves are in pretty good condition. The green Dolomite is shiner but an older restoration. While the red Toledo is extremely original. Paint is faded and has been polished so much, it's come off in areas. However it looks like it's never been restored before and it's swage lines are still very sharp.


Been an excellent day, just knackered now. The bissle cleaner has got out a tremendous amount of dirt from the Audi. Hoping it's enough to reduce the smell. Mostly there when sat overnight, so will find out in the morning.

Tomorrow hopefully will be another day of car work but my own. Need to try getting the Dolomite sills on and a good push to finish the last bits on the Moggie.

[purplebargeken]

A fab day was had, much kudos to Si for Toledo fettling. I hope less doggie odor prevails!!

[brownnova]

Saab 9000 went for test today… failed. Needs welding on the inner arch

But for a car which has been sat for 6 months I’ll take that!

 

Had a pallava getting it too the test, my 21 month old loves the keys box and had pushed the Saab remote fob a few times opening the boot, turning the light on, and flattening the battery. Had to nick the Volvos one for the test! 

[Ghosty]

In a Premier Inn in Corby. 

 

There's a V10 diesel Phaeton in the car park, dumped across two spaces, no plates, collapsed suspension. It's been here so long it's on Street View. 🤣

[Leyland Worldmaster]

First meet of the year for me. Was a passenger in a Mini and a Rover P4 100... 

I wasn't fit to drive due to an evening of merry abandon. And Alison is covered in Saharan Sand... 

[Leyland Worldmaster]

More cars:

[Leyland Worldmaster]

And a couple more:

[SiC]

Went to a classic car meet around the corner from me this morning. Plenty of interesting and different stuff. There was more Imps than MGBs!

Sorry for the Hickety Pickety order of photos. Just a big old dump to stress your internet connection. If you like old cars, there is bound to have been something of interest.

[LightBulbFun]

33 minutes ago, SiC said:

Just going to Tag @AdgeCutler...  

[UltraWomble]

Bloody Quadlock 

If manufacturers can't be arsed to I stall a decent stereo then they should standardise the bloody wiring. 

Pug 107 has Canbus Quadlock  only there isn't a frigging standard.  On line wiring diagrams suggest pin 13 is permanent live. 

But on my car it's not. 

Mutch fuckery with a test meter and I ended up having to install a new switched live and new ground point. 

 

God help the next person to dismantle this as I couldn't depin the adaptor black is live and red is ground. 

Thankfully I've fused everything including the switched feed from the fag lighter. 

Also footwell lights. 

[High Jetter]

23 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Anyone care to guess how long that will take?

The convoy suffered delays and a breakdown yesterday, so didn't make it until today. Had a bit of a pause before that roundabout so that Highways could go and fetch some sandbags to provide 'ramps' to the islands. Both loads just squeaked round, the second one needing 2 attempts. Took about an hour at that point.

 

[High Jetter]

There are better photos and some videos here if anyone is interested: https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/news/sussex-news/live-a27-sussex-abnormal-lorry-6832868

[brownnova]

Looks like the day for a car meet! Today I went to Off the Rails at Crewe heritage railway centre. Nice mix of stuff… pic dump in 3…2…1… 

Prize for the most ridiculous steering wheel goes to… 

In… 

Lots of train action on site including model railways… 

Took the TransSport as the whole entourage came along for the ride! 

[New POD]

Lovely pictures.

Can I ask where you find out about these little shows ? @brownnova

@Leyland Worldmaster

@SiC

[SiC]

Lovely pictures.
Can I ask where you find out about these little shows ? [mention=18217]brownnova[/mention]
[mention=29327]Leyland Worldmaster[/mention]
[mention=20071]SiC[/mention]

Most events seem to be announced on Facebook. I happened to be scrolling through last night and saw the local one I went to mentioned.

[New POD]

Ah. I'm not on face book. 

[brownnova]

Yeah facebook is where I find most of them these days… 

[wuvvum]

That Renault 21 saloon is lush.

[Split_Pin]

I went to have a look at the taped in proximity sensor for the airbag on the drivers seat of the Saab. The airbag light is on so the connector needs soldered. 

The seat was removed by a trimmer to refurbish the seat for the previous owner. The trimmer wants their cunt punching in. They ripped out the wiring for said sensor, no big deal and as its separate from the rest of the seat loom it's easily done, accidents happen.

They butchered the inside torx screw holding the seat in, again, it doesn't need to come out so so biggie.

But I did wonder why my seat felt a bit loose when leaning back:

[HMC]

I was tempted to go the the pc show at the nec, but instead staged my own one car show on Dartmoor and saved the fuel For a nice meal out

 

[richardmorris]

I did see something magnificent on the way back from ascot this morning in the 2cv. A pre war Alfa Romeo something like  this one. Two guys parked in a drive next to one of Mohammed bin salman’s homes. 

[cort1977]

5 hours ago, brownnova said:

Looks like the day for a car meet! Today I went to Off the Rails at Crewe heritage railway centre. Nice mix of stuff.

IROC-Z, 21 Quadra and Pontiac Transport for me please. 😀

[cort1977]

Went to a little meet in Fife today. No decent pics because I'm crap but I did get this one that captures the variety quite well.

[MorrisItalSLX]

8 hours ago, Leyland Worldmaster said:

AN 1100 SPECIAL!

*faints*