The new news 24 thread

[eddyramrod]

You'd love the job, Eddy!

 

I believe I intimated something to that effect a while ago! Where are you starting from? Might be a bit of an epic commute from Barrow....

[warren t claim]

You'd love the job, Eddy!

 

I believe I intimated something to that effect a while ago! Where are you starting from? Might be a bit of an epic commute from Barrow....

 

I think you'd need a Honda C90 to make the journey viable!

[eddyramrod]

I might be a bit kinky but there is a limit to my masochism, and that's a LONG way beyond it!

[cort16]

I've just been out for a run in this KIA Optima. You know what it's, really nice. Pretty quick for a 1.7 diesel, nice gearshift and feels nice on the road.

The interior's not fantastic quality but it's not awful and it's laid out nicely. I'm not sold on those wheels though.

 

optima by cort16, on Flickr

[Negative Creep]

Went down to Penzance yesterday to collect some Yugo bits from one of the previous owners. He has 3 Yugo 45s tucked away, 2 of which are cabs. He's hoping to get one back on the road, one is sold but the other is only good for parts. Funds were limited after the Bluebird's MOT but I did manage to get plenty of service bits, a new seat and rear lights. The car is still in his name, which should make applying for a new V5 much easier

[Pete-M]

Mate of mine rang me this morning "Gonna go and look at a Jag, can you come along?" so we toddled off to deepest Yorkshire to look at the car he'd found.

 

2007, 56 plate, X type 2.2d SE in silver. 159k on the clock, company car bought from the leasing firm by the one bloke who'd done all the mileage in it. New Pirelli P-Zeros, new DMF and clutch, new EGR and DPF (all from Jag main agents). Bull-buggeringly mint inside and out with the insanely expensive touch screen sat nav. Few slight stone chips on the leading edge of the bonnet and a (repaired) chip in the screen.

 

£3000.

 

That is one hell of a car for not a huge amount of money. Thing did 61 mpg on the way home, which was a bonus.

[Volksy]

Fitted an Exhaust on my Mates '84 Corolla today, ended up having to snap what remained of the back box off, due to rounded nuts and bolts, and despite Hillman Imp passing by in his lunch hour asking me if I wanted to go for a 'swift pint' (which never happens, well it generally turns into several swift pints...) which I managed to resist, it went smoothly from there on. Possibly the first time that a spurious system has fitted perfectly and came with all the gaskets etc it needed. Normally I end up back down the motorfactors at least once in the process

 

Looks like I'll be swapping my '96 Corolla for this one, as my mate needs a newer car - her Father is ill and cant get in and out of the older one easily - plus I only bought the '96 one to make a 40 mile a day commute lighter on the wallet, I no longer need it as I'm soon to work from home.

[scaryoldcortina]

I needed to remove an alloy wheel today, so I could fit a new lower arm. The locking wheelnut key was no-where in sight.

 

This took about as long to solve as this post took to type.

[Shep Shepherd]

Spent my lunch hour* today hosing and scrubbing a fortnight's worth of muck, road salt and industrial fallout from TV2's bodywork, after which I gave it a going-over with some Turtle Wax Hot Wax heavy duty car shampoo, a product which I used to great effect on my erstwhile Fiesta and Rover, not to mention The Volvo when I first bought it, but one that I haven't seen in car accessory shops for years - I ended up buying the two bottles I currently have from Amazon.co.uk.

 

Shiny, happy Volvo:

 

 

I plan to do the same thing to The Volvo either tomorrow or Thursday, as although I washed it the day after I last drove it in late January, I didn't drive it at all during the recent bad weather, so it is covered in standing dirt and looks a little forlorn. I look forward to spring, when I will be able to drive it a lot more. Hopefully, the overdrive will be working again by then...

 

 

 

*My manager allows me to use the facilities at work for Volvoish purposes if I ask him nicely, as he is a car enthusiast himself

[dollywobbler]

Changed the fuel filter on the Maverick today. One of those jobs that makes you wish you owned a ramp rather than having to grovel about on the floor, squirting petrol into your face but it's done and has made quite a difference. Now actually revs beyond 3500rpm on the road! Excellent. This is quite a different vehicle to the one I purchased now.

[Lord Sterling]

Seems like I may have a job at the carwash where I usually take my cars to. My mate who runs the place phoned me up and asked me to take the the job (As I'm the only one he knows and trusts who can speak good English, no one else seems to want a 2 day part time job) my current job is getting a bit slow and being an agency worker means that I'll probably be out of the door sometime soon.

 

Looking forward to always keeping my cars clean.

[Pete-M]

Congratulations, LS.

 

Part-time jobs rocketh mightily if you can find something to do the rest of the time. Well done.

[eddyramrod]

Top work LS. Something like that should suit me nicely when I move...

[Cavcraft]

Just worked out we've had 48mpg out of my lad's Corsa 1.0!

[Mike D]

I have just finished fighting with the 840s wiring and managed to remove the god awful dvd player in favour of my nice usb sony effort - still some more wiring to do, but at least I can see all the dash now!

 

In mpg news, the readout says 18 don't know how accurate that is, I've been driving like a bit of a pussy too!

[cort16]

Nope, that's about right. I've been getting about 20mpg from my 740i driving like a big girls blouse.

[cms206]

18mpg?

 

I drive a 9.6 litre Volvo B10M at work. Current estimations me being light footed with an automatic... 6.1mpg

[dollywobbler]

Maverick did 22mpg on its first tank, and that's only got four cylinders! It doesn't sound anywhere near as nice as a Beemer V8.

[Mike D]

That makes me feel better!

 

Having had the old beast a few days now, I can say with confidence it's the biggest car I've had that has the most ridiculously small amount of room inside! Comfy mind!

 

it also seems to have developed some faults I didn't spot on the test drive! I'm pretty sure it needs a new viscous fan coupling as the fan seems to be constantly on, therefore making it sound like a big leafblower rather than a burbly V8, and also the front track control arm bushes seem to be shot, as it has a bit of steering wheel shake round corners. Nothing that isn't a reasonably easy fix though

[dollywobbler]

Aye. I think the Maverick is the first car I've owned with a viscous fan that actually works. It always spins, but slows down considerably after a few seconds of running so doesn't sound like a leaf blower.

[Shep Shepherd]

^

 

The viscous fan on The Volvo still works perfectly after almost 22 years and still makes a really cool whooshing sound when the car is revved just after start-up

[RoadworkUK]

My Dads 540 gave 28 mpg overall on a convoy down to Cornwall this summer, and he had a Rover 825 to keep up with!

 

He still wishes it was an 840, though. He once had an opportunity to buy one that used to belong to Mike Stock. Bit o' trivia for you, there.

[Minimad5]

Need to find a local and cheap supplier of Welding gas and Mig wire, as i've discovered a wee bit of welding to do on the Herald.

I hate rust !

[ashmicro]

Got this today

 

 

fitted it to this:

 

 

FUCK YEAH! Sons of Anarchy.

[wuvvum]

I drive a 9.6 litre Volvo B10M at work. Current estimations me being light footed with an automatic... 6.1mpg

Presumably that's round town though? I don't know if I could drive a B10M gently personally - they sound lovely when they're being given some beans, much nicer than the Euro5 hairdryers most new buses seem to be fitted with.

[Pete-M]

Chatting to a friend today who drives those Ãœbermegahuge trucks you occasionally see on motorways. The ones that carry massive things and take up a couple of lanes and normally need escort vehicles. 100+ ton payload jobbies. At 40 mph they do 5 mpg, tops. At 50 mph it's not unusual to get 1 mpg. At 56 "it's a lot worse than at 50".

[trigger]

I popped into a local bodyshop today whilst out in the Cortina to get a quote on getting the bodywork sorted, They said to strip it right back, weld the tops of the wings, prime and paint the car to a good standard and do inside the door shuts it would cost £2000.

 

A bit more then i was expecting, I'm still really tempted to throw caution to the wind and get it done but I'll shop around first, the trouble is that i spend £2100 on the car, then if i spend another £2000 on the bodywork would i ever see my £4100+ again?

[TagoraSX]

I don't think its possible to get a GOOD paint job for less than £2000.

That was the ballpark given to me for my 200, before it all spiraled out of control

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I popped into a local bodyshop today whilst out in the Cortina to get a quote on getting the bodywork sorted, They said to strip it right back, weld the tops of the wings, prime and paint the car to a good standard and do inside the door shuts it would cost £2000.

 

A bit more then i was expecting, I'm still really tempted to throw caution to the wind and get it done but I'll shop around first, the trouble is that i spend £2100 on the car, then if i spend another £2000 on the bodywork would i ever see my £4100+ again?

 

You could always try to see whether Pete-M, RedSparrow, Timothy or someone else with Central European connections could recommend you a decent shop in CZ/SK/PL that can do a good job for a bag or so. In the end, after the costs of getting there and back, you wouldn't be saving much, however it could be a fun-filled* shite trip...

[barefoot]

the old Porsche 944 passed its MOT re-test today.

 

as a matter of interest, since my blast the other week following a Vauxhall Integra ECO something at *2*mph

the occasional tappety clatter that I have occasionally experienced when starting from cold has not re-occurred.

To celebrate, (having found myself being tailgated by an aggressively driven Alfa in a 50 mph limit just before joining the motorway)

I managed to pull a full & proper six and a half thousand revs in second gear up the acceleration lane.

Alfa no-where to be seen,

a full 2 miles later at a steady 70mph, clacking down hill, the Alfa 146 1.7JTD potters past.

 

I always thought that an Italian tune up was a brisk drive, not a full bollock hammer.

I do not see that this will be a problem.

 

I am however intending to start a bit of an 8v Vs 16v discussion / argument when I manage to sober up.