The new news 24 thread

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, calebaaront said:

I present Steven 

He looks a bit shaky 😀

[brownnova]

Oops… that’s another one in then! 

[stuboy]

Also today nip up the pub for a Pepsi cherry max pint.. the classics..

And now the mordern vag..

 

[Split_Pin]

Checked both driveshafts on the red A4 this morning. I've no idea how it's actually still driving. There must be about 15 degrees or so rotation on the wheel before the drive shaft starts turning and even when it does, they sound like someone stirring a bag of marbles. Nearside sounds like the inner joint is fucked too.

Not driving that again until they're both replaced 😅

[wuvvum]

Got a few bits done this weekend, although not quite as much as I'd hoped as it started raining rather earlier on Saturday afternoon than the forecast had been predicting.  I had the Z4 up on the ramps and gave the rear subframe a good wire brushing and a coat of underseal, and sprayed some rustproofing wax into the holes in the box sections.  The subframe had been an advisory on the MOT and while it isn't bad this will hopefully stop it from getting any worse.  The ungrateful fecker rewarded my efforts by putting the ABS light back on - it's the nearside front sensor again, I think I'm going to have to fork out for a new one.

Then I pulled the Renault 6 onto the drive to remove and attempt to unseize the heater valve - it'd seized closed so I wasn't getting any heat.  I knew roughly what to do as I'd already done the job a few years back, but it's still a massive pain in the arse as the heater valve is in a narrow recess between the scuttle panel and, erm, the other scuttle panel (it's French, don't try to find any logic in there).  Once the valve had been extricated, a good soaking in Plusgas and a few minutes in the vice with me turning the shaft with a spanner had it moving more or less freely again - shoved everything back together and the heater gets lovely and warm now.  I also topped up the antifreeze as it's been not far off freezing at night a couple of times recently.  I did notice that it seems to have a small petrol leak from the fuel pump, but that's going to have to wait until next year now.

Today it was the turn of the Ampera to go up on the ramps, for an oil and filter change (which I managed this time almost without spilling a drop, although I used my Lidl special electric pump rather than undoing the sump plug), and to crack on with rustproofing the front subframe, which again was an MOT advisory.  Getting to the whole subframe (or as much of it as possible) involved attempting to remove the front arch liners, which wasn't entirely successful as some of the fixings showed no interest in coming undone.  I was able to get them loose enough that I could prize them away from the subframe enough to get a flap disc in the gap, although this involved using the grinder with the guard removed so I got a faceful of sparks, rust and assorted debris which was fun*.  The less accessible bits I attacked with a wire brush attachment in the drill, and the really awkward bits with a small handheld wire brush.  

I've got it about as good as I can as far as removing loose paint and surface rust goes, but I ran out of time to finish the job - I have done the inside of the subframe (with cavity wax) and given the whole area a jet wash to get rid of any muck and loose bits of rust, but I still need to do the Lanoguarding, which I'll do if I get a dry lunch break this week.  Then it should be as ready for the winter as I can make it.

The Volvo got its antifreeze topped up as well, but that now seems to be leaking coolant from the thermostat housing, which is an embuggerance.  It might just be the hose - I need to take it off and get a proper look.  I'm hoping it's not the housing as the bolts don't look like they'd be particularly keen to come out of the head.

[ruffgeezer]

Finally got my arse in gear over the weekend to get this one finished up.

It was decided in end that the new floor panel would be filleted and the resultant 2 pieces let in to replace the flimsy originals.

Much seam sealing and painting later, Ingave my new schultz gun an outing and thoroughly treated the underside to some under seal. 

After a day's break to allow the paint to dry and my lungs to recover from breathing too many fumes, I set about putting the interior back together, along with a new front carpet from the same van I removed the floor from.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Looks solid. I'm intrigued by the background though - is the signal box converted into a house? 

[EyesWeldedShut]

Tanya Batteries 👍 
Ordered 9am on a Sunday morning - delivery notification for between 10am and 11 am Monday.
That's service.

***** 11/10 would buy again

[Lord Sterling]

1 hour ago, ruffgeezer said:

...along with a new front carpet from the same van I removed the floor from.

Nice. Good to see what looks to be an original mat in there.

As DL said, is that a signal box converted into some sort of residence?

[ruffgeezer]

Nope, I that is a picture I took whilst unlocking the gates at work this morning, it's still a working box.

[cort1977]

Spent a good bit of time this weekend wrestling with fitting a scrapyard cat to my ungrateful bastard of a Berlingo. Awkward access and multiple connections for adblue etc. but I did eventually manage it last night. Top tip, one of these tools is very handy for PSA exhaust clamps.

New cat is £1200 so very hopeful this will fix the emissions warnings, just need a competent garage with the Diagbox software. Car runs sweetly otherwise but the Euro 6 emissions gear is a pain in the arse.

[Rust Collector]

14 minutes ago, cort1977 said:

Spent a good bit of time this weekend wrestling with fitting a scrapyard cat to my ungrateful bastard of a Berlingo. Awkward access and multiple connections for adblue etc. but I did eventually manage it last night. Top tip, one of these tools is very handy for PSA exhaust clamps.

New cat is £1200 so very hopeful this will fix the emissions warnings, just need a competent garage with the Diagbox software. Car runs sweetly otherwise but the Euro 6 emissions gear is a pain in the arse.

The picture of that tool has just reminded me of something that happened this weekend… I was tidying my garage, and found a tool I’ve had for a few years but never used. I had (wrongly) assumed that it was a broken leather punch or something:

The fact that it’s a Blue Point tool should have been a clue that it wasn’t for that… I finally looked up the part number, and realised it’s a ratcheting tool for releasing those sprung steel hose clamps… All these years I’ve been making do by fucking around with various sets of pliers, when I could have been using this 🤣

[beko1987]

6 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

The picture of that tool has just reminded me of something that happened this weekend… I was tidying my garage, and found a tool I’ve had for a few years but never used. I had (wrongly) assumed that it was a broken leather punch or something:

The fact that it’s a Blue Point tool should have been a clue that it wasn’t for that… I finally looked up the part number, and realised it’s a ratcheting tool for releasing those sprung steel hose clamps… All these years I’ve been making do by fucking around with various sets of pliers, when I could have been using this 🤣

I've had a pair of those for years. When my thermostat housing cracked in my Puma I had to buy it to even think of getting to 2 of the hose clamps 😂

Used it occasionally since, their handy things! Mine was dirt cheap on ebay though. Mine needs a fairly square clamp on though or it slips off (probably because it's cheap shite) 

[chadders]

10 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Got a few bits done this weekend, although not quite as much as I'd hoped as it started raining rather earlier on Saturday afternoon than the forecast had been predicting.  I had the Z4 up on the ramps and gave the rear subframe a good wire brushing and a coat of underseal, and sprayed some rustproofing wax into the holes in the box sections.  The subframe had been an advisory on the MOT and while it isn't bad this will hopefully stop it from getting any worse.  The ungrateful fecker rewarded my efforts by putting the ABS light back on - it's the nearside front sensor again, I think I'm going to have to fork out for a new one.

Then I pulled the Renault 6 onto the drive to remove and attempt to unseize the heater valve - it'd seized closed so I wasn't getting any heat.  I knew roughly what to do as I'd already done the job a few years back, but it's still a massive pain in the arse as the heater valve is in a narrow recess between the scuttle panel and, erm, the other scuttle panel (it's French, don't try to find any logic in there).  Once the valve had been extricated, a good soaking in Plusgas and a few minutes in the vice with me turning the shaft with a spanner had it moving more or less freely again - shoved everything back together and the heater gets lovely and warm now.  I also topped up the antifreeze as it's been not far off freezing at night a couple of times recently.  I did notice that it seems to have a small petrol leak from the fuel pump, but that's going to have to wait until next year now.

Today it was the turn of the Ampera to go up on the ramps, for an oil and filter change (which I managed this time almost without spilling a drop, although I used my Lidl special electric pump rather than undoing the sump plug), and to crack on with rustproofing the front subframe, which again was an MOT advisory.  Getting to the whole subframe (or as much of it as possible) involved attempting to remove the front arch liners, which wasn't entirely successful as some of the fixings showed no interest in coming undone.  I was able to get them loose enough that I could prize them away from the subframe enough to get a flap disc in the gap, although this involved using the grinder with the guard removed so I got a faceful of sparks, rust and assorted debris which was fun*.  The less accessible bits I attacked with a wire brush attachment in the drill, and the really awkward bits with a small handheld wire brush.  

I've got it about as good as I can as far as removing loose paint and surface rust goes, but I ran out of time to finish the job - I have done the inside of the subframe (with cavity wax) and given the whole area a jet wash to get rid of any muck and loose bits of rust, but I still need to do the Lanoguarding, which I'll do if I get a dry lunch break this week.  Then it should be as ready for the winter as I can make it.

The Volvo got its antifreeze topped up as well, but that now seems to be leaking coolant from the thermostat housing, which is an embuggerance.  It might just be the hose - I need to take it off and get a proper look.  I'm hoping it's not the housing as the bolts don't look like they'd be particularly keen to come out of the head.

If it's like my T2 heating it'll seize on and then you'll have to fix it again if we have a summer next year. 

[wuvvum]

It lasted a couple of years the last time I freed it off, but we will see...

[stuboy]

On 11/10/2024 at 20:49, stuboy said:

booked the galaxy in for its mot monday..

Woop it passed

[reb]

I was sitting working in my home office this morning, which looks out over my garden, I saw two of the farm workers in the garden so went out to see what was going on.

They were rescuing a sheep which had escaped. After they lifted it over the wall back into the field I asked what I should do if there's escaped sheep and nobody around, so he gave me a business card with numbers for the farm. This is quite handy as I've been trying to get such a thing for years, the letting agent had no idea since the sheep belong to a different farmer than the cottages do.

[Dyslexic Viking]

It is that time now that the winter tires/wheels must get on the main car.

And that gave me an opportunity to look over it, it needs new rear brakes again, a rear shock absorber has started to leak and there is slack in the left front wheel possibly steering related. There was also large amounts of soil under it after I had to drive through a field which was removed, this car really gets used and gets a beating so not too bad all this.

And one of the rear tires threw up a large stone earlier this year which tore off a part of the underseal and this was in an area where the Fluid Film from the cavity above had run down on the underseal and weakened it so there was almost only paint left. It is the bad part with Fluid Film in the cavitys and a bitumen wax mix on the underside/outside as the Fluid Film loosens it up when it gets in contact with it so it can be wiped off. Which is what I did and cleaned the area and applied new underseal.

Hope this manages to dry as it is a bit too cold for this now and the area has been contaminated with Fluid Film.

And with this, this is ready for 5 months of road salt and more abuse. I really don't see the point in having nice cars for this so this perfect.

[Lankytim]

The OS Top suspension link on the P4 had seriously knackered bushes which I’m guessing should be the reason behind the wayward steering, 30 minutes or so spannering time saw a new set fitted and the car back on its wheels. I’m yet to test drive it as as I was under there I noticed that the refreshed brake master cylinder I fitted is literally pissing out which is infuriating. It explains where the brake fluid is going to, I was worried it was the brake servo. Should I rebuild the BMC I removed or just stick a new one on? 

[Zelandeth]

9 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

The OS Top suspension link on the P4 had seriously knackered bushes which I’m guessing should be the reason behind the wayward steering, 30 minutes or so spannering time saw a new set fitted and the car back on its wheels. I’m yet to test drive it as as I was under there I noticed that the refreshed brake master cylinder I fitted is literally pissing out which is infuriating. It explains where the brake fluid is going to, I was worried it was the brake servo. Should I rebuild the BMC I removed or just stick a new one on? 

If the bore looks good on the old one I'd probably say rebuild it given how utterly crap the modern parts often seem to be these days.  

[lesapandre]

23 hours ago, lesapandre said:

"So begins an advert for the Ram 1500, a pickup truck slightly bigger than the Panzer I tanks of Nazi Germany and almost as heavy".

One is a US truck manufacturer.

The other is despotic regime responsible for the deaths of upward of the 75 million people including the worst genocide known to mankind.

Any comparison is invidious.

Guardian has now amended it's Truck article to remove the N-word reference. 

[Metal Guru]

21 hours ago, artdjones said:

Less than 0.05% of vehicles registered in the EEA last year were Rams. A Ram is 20ft long, about the same as most LWB vans.

It might be a problem if 10% of vehicles sold were full size US pick ups, but are there many people around who could afford to run one? Really the article is a typical "why oh why" piece written by and for bed wetters. It would fit in the Mail just as well.

I saw an article that compared it to a Sherman tank , which was also about 20ft long. A Panzer 1 was only 13ft long , (although 6 tons), so comparable to most cars on the road, but that wouldn’t be much of a story. 

[artdjones]

9 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

I saw an article that compared it to a Sherman tank , which was also about 20ft long. A Panzer 1 was only 13ft long , (although 6 tons), so comparable to most cars on the road, but that wouldn’t be much of a story. 

Even a Tiger 1 was only just over 20 ft. And I doubt that many tanks have been much bigger.

[Metal Guru]

6 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Even a Tiger 1 was only just over 20 ft. And I doubt that many tanks have been much bigger.

Both the Germans and Americans had super tanks being developed but they didn’t really get completed  in time for action in WW2.

[D.E]

10 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Both the Germans and Americans had super tanks being developed but they didn’t really get completed  in time for action in WW2.

I doubt a tank like the Maus would have been a gamechanger anyway. It's so big and heavy that it would have been of no use on many battlefields.

[chadders]

18 minutes ago, D.E said:

I doubt a tank like the Maus would have been a gamechanger anyway. It's so big and heavy that it would have been of no use on many battlefields.

Even if it was you just cover it with napalm and cook the crew inside.

[somewhatfoolish]

A foolishly missed opportunity to compare the Dodge Ram to london buses, giraffes, elephants and tennis courts, the traditional SI units of tabloid newpaper reporting.

[artdjones]

2 minutes ago, chadders said:

Even if it was you just cover it with napalm and cook the crew inside.

That's what you try to do with any tank. I've certainly never wanted to be part of a tank crew.

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, D.E said:

I doubt a tank like the Maus would have been a gamechanger anyway. It's so big and heavy that it would have been of no use on many battlefields.

Maus? Who said the Germans have no sense of humour?

[richardmorris]

5 hours ago, reb said:

I was sitting working in my home office this morning, which looks out over my garden, I saw two of the farm workers in the garden so went out to see what was going on.

They were rescuing a sheep which had escaped. After they lifted it over the wall back into the field I asked what I should do if there's escaped sheep and nobody around, so he gave me a business card with numbers for the farm. This is quite handy as I've been trying to get such a thing for years, the letting agent had no idea since the sheep belong to a different farmer than the cottages do.

My sheep neighbours are clever enough to get out of their field but not clever enough to get back in.