The new news 24 thread

[barefoot]

Sorry, it's plastic &  about an inch long.

[wuvvum]

Renner of that age will probably be plastic (and fairly soft plastic at that) so unlikely to cause too much damage.

Edit: beaten to it...

[wheel nut]

My mother's Volvo C30 was needing a pair of new tyres.  I swapped the wheels between front and rear so that the new ones were fitted on the rear.  The ones that were on the rear are starting to crack so I expect they'll need replaced in a year or two. The more I work on this car the more I like it - it feels really well engineered. It's a pity that Volvo have stopped making sensibly sized cars, in recent years they seem to have got obsessed with overpriced bloated SUVs.

.

[dozeydustman]

Finally got the tyres for the C2. The spare was so perished it wouldn’t hold air so the worst of the three ‘Iris’ brand it was running on was dispatched as the new spare. Never heard of Iris tyres, to be fair they were coping quite well with the wet & greasy roads and my responsible* driving of a small gutless hatchback, but they are very noisy. Steering response is much improved with the Uniroyals - it feels a lot sharper.

If we have a dry day tomorrow or Wednesday I’ll have a more in depth look at the Kia’s steering leak. A tested used pump is about £40, and a tested second hand rack is about £80 - I’m just hoping it’s a weeping pipe though.

[Vince70]

I went into my local ESK today and on the shelf for the first time in ages,  I found their cheap knockoff waxoyl aerosols.

It’s only £2.50  a can and works a treat and it normally sells for around £6/7 online with other retailers.

So I bought all 8 cans that were available.

I wish it was there last week though, as it would of saved the driveway looking like an environmental disaster, as I used old engine oil lol.

[wesacosa]

One of the issues of too many cars is keeping up with MOT, for the m3 I decided to be proactive and get it done with a couple of weeks to spare. checked online and it due 30 March so I took it in today, left work early so i could make the 4pm slot. After ten minutes the MOT tester came in the office and asked why on earth I had brought it in today as it runs until 30 May.  what a bloody chump 🤦🏼

I thought it didn't seem a year ago since I last MOTd it

[Split_Pin]

A fellow Saabist came out to the house today and plugged the 93 into his Tech 2. The scanner is fooking massive, really old school 🤣

Identified it as the front left wheel sensor so no risk of parts darts on this one. I'll get a reasonable scanner later in the week too.

Cleared a whole load of other historic codes too. It also identified that the replacement alternator is missing a grounding wire, probably an additional thing that a Saab needs that the alternator doesnt have, but doesn't stop it from charging, which it continues to do so perfectly.

[320touring]

I turned 42 on Sunday.

As such, I have matured sufficiently to give up my "Boy Racer" ways.

 

I've traded this

 

For this

 

and driven it straight in here...

 

only for 4 nights though🤣

[wesacosa]

27 minutes ago, MrGTI6 said:

I did the opposite with my 306 when it got the 6-month COVID extension. 6 months came and went and I still had the old expiry date in my head! 

Unknowingly put a few thousand miles on it without an MOT!

yeah that's what I normally end up doing!

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Vince70 said:

I went into my local ESK today...

For those of you frantically searching for your local branch to do the same, there are only 2, both in East Sussex.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, wheel nut said:

My mother's Volvo C30 was needing a pair of new tyres.  I swapped the wheels between front and rear so that the new ones were fitted on the rear.  The ones that were on the rear are starting to crack so I expect they'll need replaced in a year or two. The more I work on this car the more I like it - it feels really well engineered. It's a pity that Volvo have stopped making sensibly sized cars, in recent years they seem to have got obsessed with overpriced bloated SUVs.

.

Fair play M9, but I don't like the thought of raising one jack while a car's up on another, whichever you did first.

[gm]

12 minutes ago, 320touring said:

I turned 42 on Sunday.

Happy Birthday ! 

[wheel nut]

29 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Fair play M9, but I don't like the thought of raising one jack while a car's up on another, whichever you did first.

I did the trolley jack at the front first as I thought it was reasonably stable. There’s no way I would do it on 2 jacks if the scissor jack had been first, however in hindsight it would still have been more sensible to slide an axle stand under the first end before tackling the other.

[RoverFolkUs]

So the "family bike" Xsara Picasso that's been laid up for a year has been squeezed in for a last minute cancellation MOT slot in the morning (there was a nice logistical plan in place, then they cancelled so I thought I'd bung the Picasso in instead to stop the chain of events collapsing 😄)

Despite its low mileage, that MOT dread has set in! Watch this space. Result should be in at the crack of dawn or just after tomorrow... 

[brownnova]

Awoke the MG from its winter slumber yesterday. A boost from the jump park saw it start easily.

Gave it a wash, and headed out for a quick blat round the lanes to check all is in order… 

Turns out it is, and all appears well… 

So now to get it advertised for sale again so I can put some money into the Nova project/probably buy something equally unsuitable. 

[High Jetter]

Roffle?

[RoverFolkUs]

Picasso is waiting at the test station.... 

[AnnoyingPentium]

4 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Picasso is waiting at the test station.... 

May the God of Picassos that is Ronnie Pickering be looking in your favour on this day.

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Picasso is waiting at the test station.... 

Man from the ministry has said YES

And it's gone straight through!

Both the tester and driver very complimentary about it's condition and the way it drives

Definitely a keeper this one. 

Only one advisory for a dicky exhaust rubber, which I knew about ages ago but completely forgot about so that's a helpful reminder 

[Back_For_More]

On 3/20/2023 at 6:37 PM, 320touring said:

I turned 42 on Sunday....

Happy birthday from a fellow 19th March fish..... You, me, n Bruce Willis apparently. 

[andyberg]

4 minutes ago, Back_For_More said:

Happy birthday from a fellow 19th March fish..... You, me, n Bruce Willis apparently. 

And my son @BerginJR so happy birthdays all round 🎂

[Eyersey1234]

On 3/20/2023 at 2:52 PM, Vince70 said:

I love a dig around old world war 2 structures,

When we were kids, we had a massive governmental H bomb shelter that gave us hours of fun exploring.

An old pillbox was dug out recently just up the road from me.

 

This would go nicely in the warshite thread

[RoverFolkUs]

If a Zafira B doesn't catch fire, it dissolves it would seem...

That's one less on the road then to become a Zanussi...

[richardmorris]

4 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

If a Zafira B doesn't catch fire, it dissolves it would seem...

That's one less on the road then to become a Zanussi...

Ah, the yellow crayon of shame. Sorry for the loss

[RoverFolkUs]

Just now, richardmorris said:

Ah, the yellow crayon of shame. Sorry for the loss

It's not mine, thankfully 😄

[Popsicle]

Our Vectra has been being a bit needy just lately, nothing major just a few little niggles that needed sorting.

First off was the cruise control kept cancelling and the indicators would cancel as soon as the tiniest bit of input was put on the steering wheel. Vectra indicators are not well liked, the stalk self centres after any input and takes a little getting used to. Google suggested a knackered CIM unit, but this didn't make sense to me as other errors usually manifest, like the horn/lights not working. I'd tried a new stalk but still no joy. I stripped the CIM unit down at the weekend and the unit that the stalk plugs into seemed loose, there was no positive click when moving the stalk.

So a second hand CIM unit was ordered Sunday evening and surprisingly it turned up this morning. I didn't need a virgin CIM as I couldn't be arsed to get somebody to swap all the info from mine to the new one, I just wanted the socket for the stalk to plug into, being locked to another car made it a far cheaper option too, under £20.

So with ET doing the heavy lifting the replacement CIM was scavenged for the indicator socket and fuck my old boots its only gone and worked! Indicating properly and cruise control working spot on too.

Cars look better/weird when the steering wheels removed.

 

Next up to fix was why it kept cutting out when the fuel level went under half a tank, I suspected the intank pump was blocked or weak, so a second hand unit was acquired.

Bit awkward removing the old pump as the metal locking ring was rusted solid, the fear was it would snap and leave me in shit street, new one from Vauxhall was under £10 so was picked up as a precaution.

Not really much crap in the old pumps filter, thought I'd wang the new one on too see how it went and fuck my old boots again, its bloody fixed the cutting out, even had the fuel light come on, not been able/dared to let the fuel level get that low for a while.

So with me being on fire I thought I'd tackle the aircon not working. This used to work brilliantly, freeze the knackers off a penguin, but I think all the refrigerant made a bid for freedom through a hole in the condenser. 

So new shiny condenser fitted and off to the local place for a regas. It took the gas and held pressure, no sign of any leaks, looking good so far....... But the compressor wouldn't cut in  when the aircon was turned on. Bugger, looks like the clutch pulley is seized.

Ah well, in the words of Meatloaf two out of three ain't bad and for me, with my skills, its pretty good.

So just the aircon to fathom out and the wipers are making a slapping noise, I replaced the arms on the mechanism a couple of years ago as they always fail on the ball joints and pop off leaving you with no wiper action. I had a shufty at it all and the mechanism is floppy as fuck, so new mechanism and arms ordered, should arrive in this week, then hopefully, once the aircon is sorted, all the little niggles will have been sorted.

[Popsicle]

Almost forgot, the top mounts were creaking so they got replaced too.

[wesacosa]

Spent a long but interesting day off work yesterday driving from London to Lincolnshire to view a couple of Skoda Estelles.  Both requiring levels of recommissioning.  A really nice looking beige one but it was a lot of money and a straight and solid red one but with pretty weathered paint.  As of yet neither purchased

 

[Vince70]

While I was waiting for the  cancelled train this morning, I thought I would look at why the rear speakers were not working on the Punto.

It looks like someone has already fitted some custom fit speakers in the rear, but have made a complete bodge of the speaker wiring which is a bonus.

The wiring had been cut and spliced together without any connectors or heat shrink in the rear.

I’ve got some solder and heat shrink indoors so that’s a free repair.

It’s also got a very nice pioneer Bluetooth head unit fitted, which doesn’t turn off, unless you take the front of the stereo off, so I’m guessing that’s also a free repair, which should be just a case of swapping the red and yellow over.

So it’s happy days apart from the front speakers sounding a bit flat, but I’m going to check and see if the speaker wires on the front are also bodged before buying new speakers, as chances are they might of been changed when the rear speakers were installed, with the stereo.

I’m also going to move the microphone for the Bluetooth, as it’s stuck in front of the speedo and will take the front pillar trim off and reinstall it up near the sun visor.

The install looks like it’s been done by a 16 year old Halfords employee on a Saturday late afternoon for cash, while they were changing a lightbulb lol.

Its all quality stuff though and  I will be taking the heater vents and ashtray out anyway, as I’ve managed to obtain new items for the broken ashtray and vents etc.

I’ve got attached to this lovely little motor already and the Mrs says keep them all, So I don’t have to sell it for “300 toknight bro”

[Supernaut]

A nice simple 90s car with just a Bluetooth head unit as the only nod to modernity is just perfect.

Hence me still having an E36 on fleet, with exactly that upgrade.