The new news 24 thread

[stuboy]

On 27/11/2024 at 20:26, stuboy said:

bit the bullet and ordered this, be usefull for mrs stuboys seat and my ford galaxy in drag ( vw sharan really ) i did try using free vcds but i just got too confused.

It's arrived, managed to update it i think, agm battery purchased.. plan to swap battery over weekend.

[lesapandre]

I see the battery got a negative reaction from your cat. 

[High Jetter]

12 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

I see the battery got a negative reaction from your cat. 

That's paw! 😃

[Lord Sterling]

Right, so last week when the OMG SNO KAOS made itself known, there wasn't much in the way of SNO other than a small dusting followed by frozen rain/ice.

As alluded to in the Grumpy section, last week it took me 45 mins to swap the places of the Vectra and Jag because of ice. 

However, when I started the Jag, the wiper tried to move and somehow it's become detached from the linkage. Today when starting the Jag (I haven't used since last week and I wanted to run it to temperature) when I switched on the wipers, the wiper arm didn't really move, the motor was going and switch off and on, so clearly it's become detached from the mechanism. So thats something I'll have to look into.

[sdkrc]

9 hours ago, stuboy said:

 

@stuboy, have you and your cat got matching beards?

[richardmorris]

Who thought a pinky grey tank with orange leather was a good idea?

[The Vicar]

My 3rd purchase in 3 weeks…

[Cookiesouwest]

On 26/11/2024 at 22:42, SiC said:

On 26/11/2024 at 22:36, Split_Pin said:

Good shout, the 75 diesel warms up a little quicker but my e46 petrol temp guage reaches the middle after about 4 or 5 minutes.

It's one of the reasons why I like petrols as they tend to warm up quickly. Bigger engines petrol do (like my E320 v6 that I had) because they're pretty squirting petrol in like a fire hose when cold to warm up quickly (for emissions reasons). The big consequence of that is piss poor fuel economy on short runs!

I am now the owner of said E320.

SiC is not kidding about the fuel economy. I've not hit 20 mpg yet, this week.

Still love it though.

[Schaefft]

23 minutes ago, The Vicar said:

My 3rd purchase in 3 weeks…

Nice, still somewhat tempted by these. Be-1 would still be my top pick from the 4 Pike cars.

[The Vicar]

17 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Nice, still somewhat tempted by these. Be-1 would still be my top pick from the 4 Pike cars.

My pick of the 4 would be a Pao. The Figaro has never really had much of an impression on me, and I definitely didn’t go looking for one this time - I just can’t say no to a good bargain!

[captain_70s]

1 hour ago, The Vicar said:

My 3rd purchase in 3 weeks…

Nice. These are the only car Girlfriend_70s has any real interest in owning.

[SiC]

3 hours ago, Cookiesouwest said:

I am now the owner of said E320.

SiC is not kidding about the fuel economy. I've not hit 20 mpg yet, this week.

Still love it though.

My lighter/smaller 330i with it's more modern/less slushy box isn't doing much better tbh. 

 

[Split_Pin]

Best I get is 32mpg from my E46 330CI on a run.

[beko1987]

3 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Nice. These are the only car Girlfriend_70s has any real interest in owning.

Good job your a good welder then 👌🤣 Made her dreams* come true yet with one? 

I saw/got next to one up at handy cross/m40 j4 a few years ago and it looked cool but I could see bubbling creeping out of the paintwork up close around the edges 😬

[captain_70s]

24 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Good job your a good welder then 👌🤣 Made her dreams* come true yet with one? 

I saw/got next to one up at handy cross/m40 j4 a few years ago and it looked cool but I could see bubbling creeping out of the paintwork up close around the edges 😬

I've said she's welcome to buy one and I'll maintain it, given she can't drive I don't think one will be landing any time soon! I suspect when the time comes she'll chicken out and go for as new a car as she can afford...

They do go frilly but panel supply is very good, if not cheap.

I do worry of the logistics of a soft top living outside full time in sunny* Scotland.

Decent ones seem to be £4-6k. Around the £2k mark they usually have rotten arches and bumpers.

[EyesWeldedShut]

An afternoon of ups, ups and then downs finally tinkering with the FreeLoader that landed last weekend.
Handbrake sticks on both rear wheels, was expecting to have to drill out the holding screws and wallop the drum off over a massive lip;
Nope wheel nuts and screws all well copper greased, drums eased off with a little tap - it's all just filthy inside and needs a good clean,  then free up the internal handbrake lever and adjusting up the shoes ✅
Old exhaust back box fell off with some gentle* angle grinding and BFH ✅
Tank strap securing bolts freed off with just a socket and short handle ✅

Rear steel brake pipes on both sides are rather buggered and one looks to have rusted so badly around the flexi join that the top of the flexi pipe is distorting. Feeding a new copper pipe around the subframe looks to be really* easy. Not even looked at the fronts yet ❌

At least with no back box access to the pipe runs and tank straps is much simpler✅

9,000 miles, eight months and one new owner later:

[Stinkwheel]

24 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

An afternoon of ups, ups and then downs finally tinkering with the FreeLoader that landed last weekend.
Handbrake sticks on both rear wheels, was expecting to have to drill out the holding screws and wallop the drum off over a massive lip;
Nope wheel nuts and screws all well copper greased, drums eased off with a little tap - it's all just filthy inside and needs a good clean,  then free up the internal handbrake lever and adjusting up the shoes ✅
Old exhaust back box fell off with some gentle* angle grinding and BFH ✅
Tank strap securing bolts freed off with just a socket and short handle ✅

Rear steel brake pipes on both sides are rather buggered and one looks to have rusted so badly around the flexi join that the top of the flexi pipe is distorting. Feeding a new copper pipe around the subframe looks to be really* easy. Not even looked at the fronts yet ❌

At least with no back box access to the pipe runs and tank straps is much simpler✅

9,000 miles, eight months and one new owner later:

Ugh, annoying and weird that its kind of been looked after but not 'actually' looked after. All apologies for posting the thing in the e-bay thread.

[EyesWeldedShut]

1 hour ago, Stinkwheel said:

Ugh, annoying and weird that its kind of been looked after but not 'actually' looked after. All apologies for posting the thing in the e-bay thread.

No apology needed it’s better than I was expecting (genuine LR branded tow bar and electrics for example), minimal corrosion underneath, couple of recent front wishbones and bushes.

From the V5 changes I reckon the last keeper has ran it for a year without spending a penny on it and has unloaded it now looking at the MOT due in February.

The tank straps and brake corrosion have been advisories since 2018 (!) makes you wonder if people even read them.

 I reckon it’s going to need about £200 in parts (including the back box and full oil/filters) to get it to a standard I’d be happy to drive/MOT.  
I’d be happy with that 😀

[stuboy]

11 hours ago, Cookiesouwest said:

I've not hit 20 mpg yet, this week.

the mondeo only does 17.7 today

[JMotor]

25 minutes ago, stuboy said:

the mondeo only does 17.7 today

Sounds about the same as my Altezza.

Fuel consumption? Yes! 😆 

However. That BEAMS just sounds too good.

[brownnova]

Important collection undertaken in the most suitable vehicle. 

[reb]

On 29/11/2024 at 08:48, richardmorris said:

Who thought a pinky grey tank with orange leather was a good idea?

That's @17-Coffeesspec, he always says if he comes into money he's going to buy something of exquisite luxury in a spec with absolutely awful resale value

[Popsicle]

The money pit Qashqai passed its test in the week.

More drop links to replace, must be a Nissan thing as I've got to change them on the Elgrand as well.

Thats 2 out of 3 MOTs done that are due November/December, just the van to do in a couple of weeks.

[dome]

Having a clear out of my lockup to get the Porsche in there over winter. 

2 wiring looms here. One is from 1981, one is from 2009. Progress*

(Manta and MX5)

[dome]

Also went today and swapped out the Jeeps bonnet for one not painted by an imbecile. Not me I hasten to add.

Original bonnet 

Going full Roadkill here.

It should be noted that High Output in Jeep terms is a massive* 56bhp/litre🤣🤣🤣

Replacement fitted.

Sorted. The guy took my old bonnet in part ex which saves me disposing of it. 

[alcyonecorporation]

Spotted these bulbs in town as my mate went to buy a pile of old PS3 games. 

Any good, @LightBulbFun?

 

[Split_Pin]

A while ago I gave one of my old Vauxhall buddies the flaky Android head unit out the E46. He had a bonnet sitting for me for ages so I went over to his bit in Tuesday to fit it. Turns out the wiring is a bit fiddly and he was really busy with work that day so we decided to patch it for the time being.

He kindly delivered it today for fuel money so I now have an excellent bonnet in colour with brand new kidney grilles . My wife is going to help me fit the bonnet and then I'll do the wiring at my leisure in my garage. 

Delighted!

[BorniteIdentity]

Fuckentrains meant I had to use Shanks’ pony earlier. 

Some beauties in Barnet. Actually wouldn’t mind living around here. Is it fairly decent or did I just find the one nice road from Barnet to Cockfosters? 

Anyway. 

[LightBulbFun]

53 minutes ago, alcyonecorporation said:

Spotted these bulbs in town as my mate went to buy a pile of old PS3 games. 

Any good, @LightBulbFun?

 

very interesting find! especially the Tripti Indian made lamps, I wonder if the Bush ones are Indian as well? since Tripti is an Indian domestic market brand (possibly made their own lamps, not 100% sure tho)

£3 a bulb is a bit strong, but i'd probably have the indian lamps and maybe (some of) the Bush depending on where they where made/who they where made by, if they where all different colours (I am also curious what the one in the blue box behind is?)

 

India is fun in that they never had incandescent lightbulb bans, and they have a fair few factories made with ex British lamp machinery, so in India, from Surya for example you can still to this very day in 2024, get high quality Coiled Coiled 100W Bayonet lightbulbs! I admit I am pretty jealous of that, its gotten surprisingly hard to get decent quality tungsten lamps in quantity these days...

[alcyonecorporation]

Listen, props for wanting some of the bush but I think as a young fella you'll need to find that on your own. 

On a more serious note, I'll have a look at 'em properly the next time I'm back in town.