The new news 24 thread

[wesacosa]

28 minutes ago, grogee said:

Aw BAWS. How difficult are s/h engines to find? Or is there too much other stuff needs fixing to make it worthwhile...? 

need to look into that but its petty rough so might just be throwing good money after bad especially given I probably should get rid anyway due to the ULEZ BS

[wesacosa]

42 minutes ago, JJ0063 said:

Came out the butchers this morning to be greeted by Liz Truss and her entourage going into a little cafe next door.

Not to worry. 

I had the "pleasure" of passing her on the pavement as she was going from her car to he gaff in Greenwich last year 

[chadders]

Just now, JJ0063 said:

Correct! My local town 

I take my camper there every year to the VW specialist near the old station.

He restored it for me a bit over 10 years ago but has now mainly moved into brewing and brews some very nice beer, I'll be buying some in a month when I'm across.

[Bear]

Home again, thanks to a bloke called Sean/Shaun/Shawn driving a silver Peugeot 508SW. The only person to ask what was up, and when I explained the issue of having a strong suspicion the rad hose had popped off, but being unable to undo the airbox jubilee clip, he presented a pair of pliers on a leatherman tool.

I used to carry one of those everywhere too... For the same reason!

He also managed to push the bastard horrible hose on PROPERLY - I suspect I had got it enough on to clip one side, and when I revved high to join the M40...

So the water is staying in.

While it was apart - why did I need to hoof a 3.0sd? It has always been sluggish on part throttle until 3K RPM. When I had it apart last time I noticed a vacuum hose was off - and when I tested it after all the pump etc. work it felt sharper, but then after I'd checked everything and put the cover back on etc. it felt shite - I thought because I'd overlooked the MAF connector.

Nope. The engine cover pushes the vacuum hose off when you slide it under the strut bar.

When you have the vacuum hose connected, it not only drives better below 3K RPM, it does this!

Be interesting to see if it also produces less clart.

[IronStar]

4 hours ago, wesacosa said:

I'm sad to report I think it might be the end of the road for the Favorit 

after the coolant dumping a few weeks ago I replaced the offending pipe and the leak seems to have stopped, so I filled up with antifreeze and was running it with the cap off to bleed the system.  I noticed after a few minutes some smoke/steam coming from the back of the engine. I figured it might just be some of the coolant that leaked burning off the exhaust manifold so I gave it a few revs to try and speed up the process, but when I did the coolant started erupting out of the coolant bottle like Old Faithful. Given the coolant was cold as the stat hadn't even opened I suspect its OMGHGF

Assuming worst case its warped the  head, this head has already had a skim and I don't think they can take two skims, so could be looking at sourcing a new head.. Given the car is 100k+ and tatty, and it costs me 12.50 every time I drive it I am not sure its viable. I think its also still qualifying for Khan's £2000 scrappage scheme bribe.  I will be utterly heartbroken to do that but at some point common sense has to take over, surely 

Shoot me a message if you decide on a head replacement, I can have a sniff around here, should be cheap and fairly available. Entire engine as well, although getting it to the UK may be expensive. If you’re interested I can call around to get some shipping quotes. 
Maybe a pickup mission for someone looking for a continental drive? 😄

[wesacosa]

4 minutes ago, IronStar said:

Shoot me a message if you decide on a head replacement, I can have a sniff around here, should be cheap and fairly available. Entire engine as well, although getting it to the UK may be expensive. If you’re interested I can call around to get some shipping quotes. 
Maybe a pickup mission for someone looking for a continental drive? 😄

thanks mate , appreciated. Will have a proper look tomorrow to see if things are as bad as they seemed today or if it just needs bleeding properly 

[Rust Collector]

10 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

thanks mate , appreciated. Will have a proper look tomorrow to see if things are as bad as they seemed today or if it just needs bleeding properly 

Hopefully it turns out to just be an issue with bleeding.

The head has an indicator on it showing how far it can be skimmed. If ultimately it will be bridged if not fixable, then I’d be inclined to at least pull the head off it, check it for flatness and look to see if it has any more material left on it to skim.

The problem I had with mine when skimmed was not the flatness but the pitting, it was too deep to get it all out from memory. It was still useable though.

If the XM passes MOT (big if, admittedly 🤣) then I would be happy to lend a hand if you do choose to swap the HG out. It’s not an awful job on Favorits, thankfully.

Mine probably needs doing again now I’ve left it sat so long 🤣

[wesacosa]

2 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

Hopefully it turns out to just be an issue with bleeding.

The head has an indicator on it showing how far it can be skimmed. If ultimately it will be bridged if not fixable, then I’d be inclined to at least pull the head off it, check it for flatness and look to see if it has any more material left on it to skim.

The problem I had with mine when skimmed was not the flatness but the pitting, it was too deep to get it all out from memory. It was still useable though.

If the XM passes MOT (big if, admittedly 🤣) then I would be happy to lend a hand if you do choose to swap the HG out. It’s not an awful job on Favorits, thankfully.

Mine probably needs doing again now I’ve left it sat so long 🤣

thanks mate, kind offer. Yeah let's hope so. I had heard the corrosion could be pretty bad on them.  Mine had a HG and skim at about 17k I think and its now on 100k  so not expecting things to be pretty if the head comes off!

fingers crossed for the XM too

[wuvvum]

Fuck me that was a day.  11 hours and 440 miles in the Maxus and £90 in diesel (plus £3 for the Humber bridge and £1.29 for a chicken and mushroom slice).

The purpose was to collect this:

Yes, it's another electric scooter, but this one is better than the others in a couple of ways.  Firstly it works, which means it's already ahead of the Lifan.  Secondly it's a "125 equivalent" so it has a bit more grunt - it's not actually as powerful as a 125cc petrol scooter, it's more like a derestricted 50, but it'll do 45ish and like most electric bikes it gets off the line bloody quickly.  It also has some nifty features like a reverse gear, and some I'll never use like an app that lets you control various of its functions from your phone.  

I wasn't intending to collect it myself, I was going to get it delivered, but due to a mixup with the delivery firm and the seller then being about to go on holiday I ended up having to collect it myself, which has saved me a bit of money but lost me a day.  The Maxus didn't miss a beat once I persuaded it to start (the starter motor really is fucked now).  I left it running all day, including when filling up with diesel, as I didn't want to risk it not starting again - by the time I'd unloaded and parked it up it'd been running constantly for 11 1/2 hours. 

It was by far the longest trip I've ever done in the Maxus, and quite possibly the furthest north it's ever been in its life.  The drive up was actually quite enjoyable - some fun roads in Lincolnshire (the van can be hustled along quite well when it  hasn't got a scooter rattling around in the back) and some spectacular scenery up in North Yorkshire, including some pretty impressive hills around Robin Hood's Bay where the scooter was (1:4 was the steepest I encountered, which the Maxus ground up in second gear without really breaking a sweat).  

A few interesting vehicles on the roads too - perhaps not unexpectedly for a (mostly) sunny Saturday in June.  Spot of the trip was probably a lovely pale blue Lancia Beta coupé going the other way on the A47.

[grogee]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

£1.29

I'd drive 11 hours to find somewhere that sells chicken slices for £1.29. 

Even in a Maxus. 

Or an Iv*co. 

[hairnet]

3 minutes ago, grogee said:

I'd drive 11 hours to find somewhere that sells chicken slices for £1.29. 

Even in a Maxus. 

Or an Iv*co. 

thats even more nuts than wuv

[Spottedlaurel]

10 hours ago, wuvvum said:

A few interesting vehicles on the roads too - perhaps not unexpectedly for a (mostly) sunny Saturday in June.  Spot of the trip was probably a lovely pale blue Lancia Beta coupé going the other way on the A47.

This one perhaps?

If so it'd been at the show and autojumble at Arminghall.

I took the Laurel and Miss SL's BF went in his LS400, we ended up in the "cars that have avoided the oval" row:

Laurels were common, there were also these two

 

First time I'd properly been to this event, saw some good stuff and bought some rubbish at the autojumble.

Despite the rain on the way home I stopped off at a spot where I have photographed many of my previous cars:

It's on a big common and I used to live just around the corner. From the library, and somewhat linked:

[stuboy]

Any one know anymore about this spanner... ?

[stuboy]

Any one know anymore about this spanner... ?

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

This one perhaps?

If so it'd been at the show and autojumble at Arminghall.

Yep, that was the one.  

[tooSavvy]

45 minutes ago, stuboy said:

Any one know anymore about this spanner... ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165537162139?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=YrTTpyuoQta&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=0j0mh1UTRLi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

🚙💨

[richardmorris]

Spotted whilst out walking this morning.  You get a better class of abandoned car in Pirbright!

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, stuboy said:

Any one know anymore about this spanner... ?

Brake adjuster? Am more used to seeing the square end being ring rather than open though.

Edit: tooSavvy got there first!

[Boycie]

3 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Spotted whilst out walking this morning.  You get a better class of abandoned car in Pirbright!

!

If that was around my area it would have been stripped down to its knickers by nightfall ....those alloys will be worth a few quid

[Tenmil Socket]

Got given these binoculars so took a trip to Crosby beach. Just got back. They were quite impressive!

The sea was pretty choppy! 
 

 

[MJK 24]

Jack got tired.  So he lay down to have a sleep.

🤦🏼

[Stinkwheel]

6 hours ago, stuboy said:

Any one know anymore about this spanner... ?

In what sense? Williams tool co has been making spanner’s and ratchets for a very long time (pre WW2 I believe) originally in America nowadays in the Far East. Snap-On now own a share in the company but they still make tools for other people (the company I work for being one of them) 

that one is specific, probably for getting to the adjusters on old drum brakes 

[Jenson Velcro]

32 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

In what sense? Williams tool co has been making spanner’s and ratchets for a very long time (pre WW2 I believe) originally in America nowadays in the Far East. Snap-On now own a share in the company but they still make tools for other people (the company I work for being one of them) 

that one is specific, probably for getting to the adjusters on old drum brakes 

Seems to be for the classic mini. Particularly the front drum brakes.

[artdjones]

58 minutes ago, Jenson Velcro said:

Seems to be for the classic mini. Particularly the front drum brakes.

Yes, I've got one, but not used it in anger since 1988

[worldofceri]

2 hours ago, MJK 24 said:

Jack got tired.  So he lay down to have a sleep.

🤦🏼

Hope nothing and nobody was under the car when Jack went for his nap!

[SiC]

2 hours ago, MJK 24 said:

Jack got tired.  So he lay down to have a sleep.

🤦🏼

Soft ground and the stone slipped out? Looks like it'll be a fun job retrieving it!

[worldofceri]

Got around to a job I’ve been meaning to do for literally a couple of years.

New gas strut acquired for the boot of my mother’s old Clio. Got them from the highly-regarded SGS Engineering but, like a berk, I only ordered one rather than a pair.

Never mind, the originals aren’t completely shot, so just swapped the one over.

Old v. new:

Boot stays up hooray!

The car is a 03 plate and owned by my mum from new.  It’s pogweasled af, but still drives more or less like new. She’s in her late 70s now and doesn’t drive a lot; The Clio’s done 34,900 miles and Mrs WO’C and I have done a fair few of those.  The other day Mum managed to scrape the sill along the low wall that borders our drive when turning in.

One step forwards, two steps back.  Such is life.

 

 

 

[lesapandre]

Jour de fete in a local village in France. Most places have a kind of village fete often with a few old cars on display - usually a local club of some sort. Here's what caught my eye. It's BIG.

[puntopaul]

No van no problem! you can get a Vauxhall Combo bonnet in Mk1 Punto but you'll be enjoying a rather cosy driving experience on the way home.

[richardmorris]

6 hours ago, Boycie said:

If that was around my area it would have been stripped down to its knickers by nightfall ....those alloys will be worth a few quid

Helps that it’s next to a police house ( at least from the cars in the drive).