The new news 24 thread

[richardmorris]

41 minutes ago, comfortablynumb said:

Id probably smoke around in that.

I can appreciate the amount of work that's gone into it too

I know there’s been a lot of work put in to that, I just don’t know why.

[comfortablynumb]

15 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

I know there’s been a lot of work put in to that, I just don’t know why.

Makes a change from Matt black ? 😁

[4wheeledstool]

Been restoring the underside of a Golf R32. Just brake lines to make, and I can get the rest of it back together. 

Bored of rusty upside down shit now. Definitely a more pleasant job on the rollover jig.🤔

[SiC]

On 15/11/2025 at 18:29, lesapandre said:

BBC story - VW Golf seen at 166mph. Is that credible?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cm2w4n093zeo

Yes a Golf R will easily do it after a simple remap and the limiter taken off.

Hell my £2k 330i could possibly nearly do it if the 155mph limiter was removed going by this

 

Or maybe not as mine is an auto and looks to run out of revs at 255kph/158mph (so probably 155mph)

 

Even so, you can get many 250bhp to 300bhp hot hatches for well under £10k that can easily do 155mph+ and a simple remap on a turbo car a fair bit quicker than that. Focus ST MK3/RS 265/Golf R/M135i/S3/TT RS/etc

[High Jetter]

5 hours ago, HMC said:

You still have this? 🤣

[wuvvum]

Yesterday was a complete washout from the point of view of doing anything with cars, but today turned out quite decent so I decided to crack on with the Waxoyling I'd run out of time to do last week.  Got the underside of the Rover done, then whipped the back wheels off so I could jetwash the inner arches, which I also didn't get time to do last week - they'll need to dry out before I can spray them with the black gunk but they're a bit more sheltered from the weather than other bits of the car so hopefully I'll be able to get them done in the week.

Next up was the Innocenti - I got the underside and the inner wings done, then I opened the doors to give the door bottoms a coat.  I noticed a bubble in the paint at the bottom of the passenger side A pillar just above the end of the sill cover, so I grabbed a screwdriver to scrape away the loose paint and treat the rust underneath.  Except the screwdriver went straight through the panel.  Fuck.

So I pulled back the door seals and lifted the sill cover for a look underneath.

Double fuck.

I then thought I'd better check the other side too, just to be on the safe side.

Triple fuck.

This was completely invisible with the door seals and sill cover in place.  It's not going to be an easy repair, certainly beyond my abilities as I lack Skizzeresque fabrication skills.  I know how it's happened - there are rust holes in the bottom of both doors at the front, and the rainwater that's got into the doors has obviously been draining through those rather than the original drain holes.  It's then sat on top of the inner sill, trapped 'twixt sill and cover, and dissolved its way through.  Fortunately the outer sill is all still solid, as that has all its original drain holes in working order so hasn't been full of water.  I got my battered old Midl of Lidl special hoover out, stuck the crevice tool into the sill and hoovered up all the bits of rust - I'm going to blast it with cavity wax both sides as soon as I get a chance.  For now I've parked it up with a cover over the windscreen and the tops of the doors to hopefully stop any more water getting through.

The other job I was hoping to do today was to replace the flexi hose to the cold tap in the kitchen, which has split, but the Innocenti took up more time than expected and also put something of a dent in my mojo so I didn't really fancy scrabbling around under the sink tackling a manky compression fitting.  So that will have to wait for another day.

[hairnet]

disapoint ^^^^

 

[stuboy]

Today I took front wheels off the hondurex and front pads are about 4mm but look old, as its an automatic ive ordered new ones.

 

Also whipped off a back wheel too see if bigger rubber spring assisted will fit... yeah right even with lube be like sticking a football up ya bum.

[IronStar]

I absolutely hate how cheap and cheapish wipers get streaky in no time, despite my cars being garaged and not sitting under a tree to ruin them.

Enter the so far no problems solution:

 

[comfortablynumb]

That's a good place to start with learning fabrication @wuvvum, you can use a vice, fold an edge onto a flat piece of steel, and piecut out to form the edge under the seal.

Or bend a flat piece to the contour of the sill, and weld a lip to it, if it's mainly hidden under the seal it doesn't matter what it looks like, just strong.

Cardboard templates are probably best to get the profile you need.

Do you have access to welding kit?

[wuvvum]

I have a smoll gasless MIG, a large (if ancient) vice, a pair of tin snips and the rest of the steel sheet I bought last year to repair the floor on the Renault 6.  I've never had much luck in the past with getting metal to go into the shape I want it to though...

[wuvvum]

In better car-related news, the Merc turned 20 yesterday so I've just added it to my multi-car classic policy - £29 for the rest of the policy period (end of June next year).  Not bad for a 155mph car...

[plasticvandan]

Berlingo now mot'd ,cost more than I thought but from reading online the left hand steering boot is a bit of an arse.did notice on looking it has slid off the rack slightly,hoping it will be ok,have pushed it home and moved the wheel from lock to lock and it stayed put,have packed some extra zip ties just in case. Will be starting to look for a nice older smallish Toyota to replace it soon,if anyone is after a pretty minty low mileage (72k) MK1 Berlingo van.was interesting to see the opacity (smoke test) results,I have run out on dipetane since I bought it, the limit is 1.40, last year it went through at 0.60,this year 0.12! 

[Morris 63]

21 hours ago, wuvvum said:

In better car-related news, the Merc turned 20 yesterday so I've just added it to my multi-car classic policy - £29 for the rest of the policy period (end of June next year).  Not bad for a 155mph car...

That's a result, who's the policy with, if you're happy to say?

[Popsicle]

The bane of my life Qashqai passed it's MOT on Friday, advisories for track rod ends and drop links, afuckinggain. I only changed them last year, around 6k miles ago.

As the supposed decent stuff from GSF had failed so quickly I thought sod it and ordered the cheapest crap I could find on Ebay. £9.81 for a pair of droplinks, £13.90 for a pair of TRE's. They arrived this morning, as it's gone a bit quiet on the couriering front and the weather looks crap for the rest of the week, this afternoon seemed to be the right time to crack on with it.

Other than the TRE's needing a bit of heat it all went suspiciously well. I'm sure they'll be fucked again by Christmas.....

[Kiltox]

On 12/11/2025 at 23:28, loserone said:

Looks like the tracker is free if you buy a top up on the website at the moment 

They’re £1 on Amazon at the moment (and still free if you buy a top up)

I haven’t got round to fitting it to the Vivaro after removing it from @Sunny Jim’s env200 but they are really good for the money! 

[Zelandeth]

What the actual fscking hell is this nonsense?

Apparently there's a touch sensor there and the door pops open when you touch it.

Of that's deeeeefinitely not going to fail.  Or present a problem when the battery is flat. Or in an accident when the car's on fire and all the electrics are dead...what an absolute trash fire of an idea.  Wonder how much all the crap associated with that weighs (and the total environmental impact of all the extra electronics versus a couple of bits of plastic).

Assuming it works as well as the touch sensitive controls on our hob, fridge, TV and washing machine I would also be completely unable to get into the car about 50% of the time.  Sure that wouldn't get old in a hurry at all...

[stuboy]

brakes pads arrived........................ cold weather ............... stayed indoors.....................

[Mac69400]

On 17/11/2025 at 20:17, plasticvandan said:

Will be starting to look for a nice older smallish Toyota to replace it soon,if anyone is after a pretty minty low mileage (72k) MK1 Berlingo van.was interesting to see the opacity (smoke test) results,I have run out on dipetane since I bought it, the limit is 1.40, last year it went through at 0.60,this year 0.12! 

Take your time looking for a Toyota, have the Berlingo for sale next April. I guarantee I'll buy it then. They're the best van/car you'll ever get. 

[Christine]

Was looking up a neighbours car on car checker , as it had disappeared for a few weeks , and now reappeared yesterday ..

  . Ah , newly  mot'd  yesterday , and it had run out of test a month ago ..

So then i checked ours .. Bollocks , my daughters Polo  mot ran out a month ago too!   Shot down the mot garage , booked in for 2.30 ..came home , quick look and.. no numberplate lights .One bulb and a dirty connection,   sorted it .  Took it down the mot place   and .....Pass !  ( Some defects mind)    Not bad for a 250 quid  car ..  

 

She owes the tester a box of Jaffa cakes as he had to T cut the headlights to get a beam pattern ! 

[chadders]

3 minutes ago, Christine said:

Was looking up a neighbours car on car checker , as it had disappeared for a few weeks , and now reappeared yesterday ..

  . Ah , newly  mot'd  yesterday , and it had run out of test a month ago ..

So then i checked ours .. Bollocks , my daughters Polo  mot ran out a month ago too!   Shot down the mot garage , booked in for 2.30 ..came home , quick look and.. no numberplate lights .One bulb and a dirty connection,   sorted it .  Took it down the mot place   and .....Pass !  ( Some defects mind)    Not bad for a 250 quid  car ..  

You can get reminders from the DVLA by email, it's easy to set up.

[richardmorris]

Snow in Surrey this morning. 

[barefoot]

A fucking whiteout. Save yourself before it begins drifting. 

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, barefoot said:

A fucking whiteout. Save yourself before it begins drifting. 

[wuvvum]

I've been running around in the Merc for the last few days now it's insured again.  The good news is that the smoking issue seems to have cleared up, so whatever it was that was stuck / sooted up from standing for five months has unblocked / unstuck itself.  Also the heated seats are way better than the ones in the Rover, which is welcome in this weather.  I'd forgotten how firm the ride is - by absolute standards (and especially by modern standards) it's not bad really, but I've been cosseted by the fact that I've been using either the Leaf or the Rover 75 for the last few months and both of those have a fantastic ride.

[paulplom]

On 16/11/2025 at 11:42, lesapandre said:

I've bought some items off EBay recently for the first time in a long time. Arrived promptly but in the the main absolute rubbish quality and boarderline criminally mis-described. 

Just a pit of vipers... (and they'd be rubbish quality vipers and mis-described too lol)

Needed a new electric window switch pack for the van recently as one of the little triggers broke. First one arrived and I replaced it. Didn't work so contacted the seller who said can you send us a picture. My reply was how the fuck do I take a pic of a non working window switch!? Anyway replacement arrived and that didn't work either. Instead of fucking about I just took it apart and fixed the existing one with the bits. That along with a tre that didn't last 6 months means I'm finished with ebay shit.

[HMC]

On 18/11/2025 at 21:04, Zelandeth said:

What the actual fscking hell is this nonsense?

Apparently there's a touch sensor there and the door pops open when you touch it.

Of that's deeeeefinitely not going to fail.  Or present a problem when the battery is flat. Or in an accident when the car's on fire and all the electrics are dead...what an absolute trash fire of an idea.  Wonder how much all the crap associated with that weighs (and the total environmental impact of all the extra electronics versus a couple of bits of plastic).

Assuming it works as well as the touch sensitive controls on our hob, fridge, TV and washing machine I would also be completely unable to get into the car about 50% of the time.  Sure that wouldn't get old in a hurry at all...

Kind of reminds me in form not function of…

[comfortablynumb]

32 minutes ago, HMC said:

Kind of reminds me in form not function of…

Has Sir shut the door on ones umbrella handle? 😁

[Austat]

I saw Harry Enfield perform last night. Great show, but there was this one annoying heckler in the crowd who wouldn't shut up.

[paulplom]

Had that at a Simon Brodkin show last year except the annoying cunt was sat next to us. We walked out eventually.