The new news 24 thread

[Asimo]

Connect is back with the biggest garage bill I have ever had.  I won’t complain though because this is more than I have spent in consumables, parts, repairs in the ten+ years this has been my daily.

It’s been away for a month for a clutch and MOT but it seems a lot longer as the test expired in October and there was a long wait at the garage (caused by a big seasonal rush due to the covid mot-extension).  And then the clutch, which has been intermittantly slipping for at least six years, began to slip more than it was practical to drive around and they were just too busy to fit me in until Christmas. And then their petrol-emissions machine broke, and the clutch, which is special to petrol-Connects was delayed… but all good now. I knew MOT needed a driveshaft boot so I bought a whole driveshaft assembly back in the summer but never bothered to fit it. Which is ok because when they are doing the clutch, the driveshaft change is no extra work. The thermostat housing is plastic and was changed by the dealer when I bought it 10+ years ago. The old clutch felt ok, but the new one is amazingly light in comparison.

Do you like my giffer-mod gingercators?

[auntiemaryscanary]

On 12/01/2024 at 14:21, auntiemaryscanary said:

Minor racking update.

I'd collected a couple of thick pallets for the boarding but wasn't satisfied and couldn't be bothered arseing about with something that would never be to my requirements. Chipboard decking is available but once it gets damp/wet it's useless.

eBay had loads of ready made timber examples but most had wide gaps so I found some "closed" versions with a minimal gap leading to a run down to the beautiful West Mids.

£15 each (no vat, no receipt - £18 if wanted a bit of paper). 6 bought which covers 3 levels. Timber is 32mm thick. But my god they were filthy. Pic after they were hosed done. I was expecting more marks, stains etc. I reckon they've just been sat in an unused corner of a factory for a long time.

There's approx 11+ linear metres in each one. I can't get the timber that cheap, nevermind the faff of cutting and assembling.

Each one is 1340mm long. They would have fit in the back of the Doblo but some of them would have rested on the protrusions of the folded up rear seats. 4 Allen bolts and washers and the seats are out. I've had the f-ing thing 12 years and never had the seats out.

Yeah I know it's filthy but would ya look at that load space!

(The owner of the racking place had a modern Jag in bits. He says "I'll get this Jag back together one day". I said nowt, very unlike me )

Major racking update

After visiting an v unwell family member today I thought a bit of physical was called for...

I'm well impressed with the set up. It's absolutely rock solid. I used the middle level as a platform to lift (solo) the top level beams in place. 

I'm trying to balance the work bench height against maximising storage space but the middle bench level is going to have to come down a bit.

Cost was £130 for the beams and uprights. The boarding was another 90 quid so total of £220. I also got another set up of a loft over the garage door (see a page or 2 back) out of the original racking purchase so a right bargain I reckon.

Slight issue is I've got to fill these gaps

You can't really tell in the pic but the brick roof supports are in the way of the racking going flush with the rear wall. The gap is about 8". I plan to fill by screwing 3 x 2 to the wall and the boarding and infilling with cut pallet slats.

I've still 12 beams left, probably cut em up and use as fence posts up the allotment

TOP TIP: There are different makes of racking - Link51, Redirack, Mecalux, Stow (mine) etc. They are all proprietary and not interchangable between makes. So if buying any stick to one brand.

[Back_For_More]

Very nice bit of kit...... Would you not be able to sell off the other beams to other nutters like us and recoup most of your costs perhaps? 

[auntiemaryscanary]

24 minutes ago, Back_For_More said:

Very nice bit of kit...... Would you not be able to sell off the other beams to other nutters like us and recoup most of your costs perhaps? 

I could try to flog em, they are approx 2.85m long (Inc the bracket bits) so they won't go in a Fiesta! Not sure I can face the great unwashed via auction sites/bumtree They aren't that expensive to buy from used dealers. There are 12 on eBay for £40. There are some 2.3m ones for a fiver each.

[stuboy]

4 hours ago, stuboy said:

Thought I'd make a start swapping the egr valve, day 1 ,struggled with 2 bolts getting out, no room , freezing cold, got it off,my body said it was time !! 2'c couldn't feel my feet and toes, fitting new one will be a pain...

just realised when bagging up the used torn gloves the plunger on the old one had no resistance, when compared too the new one... that the fault i bee getting>??

[Lankytim]

VW FOX COLLECTIONED
 

Some cack collected today from an old work mate. No collection thread as I don’t think modern dross like this warrants one. It didn’t go without incident though. I drove the 15 miles or so to my friends house and realised I’d randomly forgotten my detachable tow bar, drove home to get it, hoofed it back and hooked up the A frame then realised I’d left the extension lead to my trailer board at home too! Honestly, I think I’d forget my balls if they weren’t attached to me! 

By the time everything was hooked up, money had changed hands and tea had been drunk  it had gone dark so I towed the new purchase home with the engine running and the lights on without event. 

This little Fox is in pretty good shape despite being parked up for 18 months. The battery is totally knackered but I don’t think it will need much for an MOT. 1200cc and 3 cyl! 

I think these VWs were built in Brazil and the Fox was a stopgap model in Europe as the Polo had got too fat and they needed a new small car in the lineup. 

OBV it will just sit around for another 18 months before I fill it with random scrap and weigh it in. 
 

[stuboy]

36 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

what did the fox say??

 

is it borked?

[Lankytim]

1 hour ago, stuboy said:

what did the fox say??

 

is it borked?

No, looks alright. 

[PhilA]

Hid the car in a lineup tonight.

Made me smile.

[HillmanImp]

It would be weird if she returned as anyone else wouldn't it. If she came back as Grant Mitchell or Arthur Fowler it would probably be confusing for the viewers.

[andyberg]

14 minutes ago, HillmanImp said:

It would be weird if she returned as anyone else wouldn't it. If she came back as Grant Mitchell or Arthur Fowler it would probably be confusing for the viewers.

But how is this news anyway??? Just some hard up actress getting her old job back because she can't do anything else... I don't understand why it makes the headlines on the BBC, Sky and whoever...

[Schaefft]

2 minutes ago, andyberg said:

But how is this news anyway??? Just some hard up actress getting her old job back because she can't do anything else... I don't understand why it makes the headlines on the BBC, Sky and whoever...

Because click bait for ad revenue, and enough people fall for it.

[HillmanImp]

2 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Because click bait for ad revenue, and enough people fall for it.

Including me. I don't even watch it. 

I just thought, what an odd headline. 

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, andyberg said:

But how is this news anyway??? Just some hard up actress getting her old job back because she can't do anything else... I don't understand why it makes the headlines on the BBC, Sky and whoever...

Sadly this is important to a great many people.

[lesapandre]

Live traffic updates by DfT. What could possibly go wrong with a government led data rich IT project?*

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/14/satnavs-and-google-maps-to-be-updated-in-readiness-for-driverless-cars

*Horizon 

[lesapandre]

2 hours ago, andyberg said:

But how is this news anyway??? Just some hard up actress getting her old job back because she can't do anything else... I don't understand why it makes the headlines on the BBC, Sky and whoever...

BBC seem to spend a lot of time reporting about  themselves these days. Very cheap to gather news.

[grogee]

19 hours ago, Asimo said:

And the clutch, which is special to petrol-Connects was delayed… but all good now

There's a petrol  Connect? Every day's a school day. Is it a 1.6 NA? 

I really really like the Connect. Seems very no-nonsense. 

[Asimo]

2 hours ago, grogee said:

Is it a 1.6 NA?

1.8 as in Mondeo.

[RoverFolkUs]

4 hours ago, grogee said:

There's a petrol  Connect? Every day's a school day. Is it a 1.6 NA? 

I really really like the Connect. Seems very no-nonsense. 

They did it with LPG too, for added 00's emmisions control nostalgia

[RoverFolkUs]

19 hours ago, Lankytim said:

VW FOX COLLECTIONED
 

Some cack collected today from an old work mate. No collection thread as I don’t think modern dross like this warrants one. It didn’t go without incident though. I drove the 15 miles or so to my friends house and realised I’d randomly forgotten my detachable tow bar, drove home to get it, hoofed it back and hooked up the A frame then realised I’d left the extension lead to my trailer board at home too! Honestly, I think I’d forget my balls if they weren’t attached to me! 

By the time everything was hooked up, money had changed hands and tea had been drunk  it had gone dark so I towed the new purchase home with the engine running and the lights on without event. 

This little Fox is in pretty good shape despite being parked up for 18 months. The battery is totally knackered but I don’t think it will need much for an MOT. 1200cc and 3 cyl! 

I think these VWs were built in Brazil and the Fox was a stopgap model in Europe as the Polo had got too fat and they needed a new small car in the lineup. 

OBV it will just sit around for another 18 months before I fill it with random scrap and weigh it in. 
 

Do like a fox to be fair, if it works. Currently look after one with 150k on the little 1.2 6v unit. Everyone says it should have ceremoniously died about 100k miles ago as they all seemed to do, but it still chugs along. 

The engines are definitely not bulletproof. And power steering modules do go. But other than that, not bad

The 1.2 6v is stupidly low insurance group as well which makes them quite popular 

[dozeydustman]

Spent the day ripping the old rotten giffer-made workbench out of the garage along with clearing a lot of shite we put in there in storage but got ruined by damp.

Did 2 runs to the only tip which doesn’t need a booking (which comes of an end early February). Moved my Lidl no-bolt shelves to where the workbench was, and I’m almost ready to use the garage for actual car parking and car maintenance.

What’s left without a place to live needs to go in the shed. Which is full, so I’ll have to clear that after work tomorrow (I’m doing a half day of overtime) to accommodate the stuff displaced from the garage.

[wesacosa]

On 12/11/2023 at 20:05, wesacosa said:

6 weeks in from the Mayor's and TFL's beacon of numskullery by making a main stretch of the South Circular 20mph (yet keeping the following narrower section of road with parades of shops 30) I wonder how it's going

Aaah 

oops its not going well, Sadiq.  10mph next?!

[grogee]

Went to BiL's house today for a family gathering. He rents his garage out to a mate who is a car dweeb like us and previously there was some JDM saloon in there that he's now done up and sold. 

Now he's got this Celica GT-4 which has just been in for bodywork and it looks the bollocks. I'd love one of these. 

[Spottedlaurel]

/\ Nice!

On a related note, anyone walking past out house this morning would have been treated to this sight:

All run essentially the same 2-litre engine, and between them they've done around half a million miles.

The Carina E continued to do a fine job of being my weekend transport. As appropriate to my middle-age, yesterday it took me to an optician's appointment for new varifocals, and today it was used for a trip out to the garden centre.

[hairnet]

friends dad still runs carina II from almost new

apart from unobtanium exhaust its no problem (and he works for toyota)

[lesapandre]

Potholes - and they wonder why people buy 4x4's with decent suspension.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67957584

"The AA said it dealt with 631,852 pothole-related incidents related to tyres, wheels, steering, and suspension last year - another five-year high according to the organisation". Sounds a very high number of 'incidents'.

Apparently robots and making the roads out of plastic is the answer. 

Must be a slow newsday - and another free advert for the AA.

[Metal Guru]

13 hours ago, wesacosa said:

oops its not going well, Sadiq.  10mph next?!

I read somewhere they ( or possibly another anti car council),  wanted to go to 15mph but were advised that as speedometers are not accurate at that speed , convictions would be unlikely.

[beko1987]

34 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Potholes - and they wonder why people buy 4x4's with decent suspension.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67957584

"The AA said it dealt with 631,852 pothole-related incidents related to tyres, wheels, steering, and suspension last year - another five-year high according to the organisation". Sounds a very high number of 'incidents'.

Apparently robots and making the roads out of plastic is the answer. 

Must be a slow newsday - and another free advert for the AA.

Part of the reason I plod along with the Xsara despite being bored of it is it's lovely 15" steels, £30 tyres and cheap suspension components! 👌

I'm sure I've knocked my tracking back out since having it done in September 😡

[EyesWeldedShut]

37 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Potholes - and they wonder why people buy 4x4's with decent suspension.

and then stick 22" ultra low profiles on them  

[Lankytim]

Drove over to the in-laws today and gave the FOX a very quick going over with a bucket and sponge. It hasn’t been washed in a couple of years and was pretty green. First of all I swapped the battery for a fully charged one. What’s with this stupid plastic cage on top of the battery? I couldn’t figure how to remove it and it ended up breaking. No doubt a YouTube video would demonstrate how easy it is to remove in 10 seconds or something. The engine bay itself looks like it belongs to a car that’s been parked up for decades, lots of ally corrosion and cobwebs.
 

With a fresh battery the FOX started first time. Everything seems to work, electric power steering, brakes, windows etc and nothing is seized. Cleaning it showed it to be in pretty good shape with a few small thumbnail dents on one rear quarter and the the odd scratch. Very good for its age. Interior looks very good with nothing broken or badly worn. The paint is a weird pewter grey colour that used to be popular a while back, a good polish should bring it up very well. I think it might’ve had one of those ceramic treatments dealers used to offer as there doesn’t seem to be any oxidisation. 

One tyre is badly perished (Michelin obv) but the spare has a new tyre fitted so will get swapped over. 

Despite being very smoll the Fox is pretty tall and my 6ft1 frame fits behind the wheel with no issue. The rear seats are pretty comfy too although it’s strictly a 4 seater rather than 5. 

It deffo seems too good to crush. Should I give the Laguna a break for a few months  and experience some South American minimalist motoring?