The new news 24 thread

[Brigsy]

Put a good shift in stripping the megane 225 yesterday. 

All this hassle for a rear qtr cut😄

[RobT]

4 hours ago, Schaefft said:

(despite seeing enough Golfs for the rest of my life).

Sorry, one more to see (or look away now).

We went to Cornwall for Christmas and it was the first long trip I've done in this.  37mpg average over 640 miles which isn't bad for a pez auto.  It's a bit gutless being the 1.6 but the soft ride and reasonably light steering make up for that, and after five days and much millage I don't hate it which is always a good thing.  Runs a bit rough first off and I wanted to change the plugs before leaving, but the inlet manifold and loads of other shit needs to come off first so I'll do that when I can be bothered.  I was a hoping a good run might fix it but no.

A few spots.

OOFT

Jackman's Meadow, Kingsand.  If anyone local-ish wants a perv.

 

[cort1977]

Blimey, couple of strong spots at the end there.

[goosey]

sport (I think) wheels fitted. Had to run a 5mm spacer on the fronts as they did rub slightly with the 185 70 13s, will change these to a factory size and remove the spacers in the future 
 

took it for a drive earlier as it was dry, will do a suspension refresh soon then maybe get on with some welding 

 

[Split_Pin]

I pulled this out of the garage earlier.

The rear door was difficult to close and didn't always unlock with the fob.  

I stripped off the card and membrane and gave everything in sight a liberal dose of silicone grease.

I also adjusted the striker.

Now all working as it should. Next job is the airbag light.

[MJK 24]

Annual Algarve Adventures…..

Jetta looks to have had a charmed life!

W124 in the same colour as my own from days gone by.  Anthracite Grey.  Incredibly, this wasn’t diesel!  It wouldn’t be much faster though.  200E.

Two 4 One!  Corolla and FourTrack.

Fiat One.

Four speed manual and no rev counter suggests this W124 is veg friendly!

Imagine waking up in the morning and there’s no orange juice?!  🍊 

Still a few of these being daily driven:

190 plus B5.5 Passat.  The 190’s do seem to be thinning out a little now, sadly.  They’re not allowed to use them as taxis anymore.

On patrol 🫡

Both ends of the motoring spectrum here.  4 stud 106 with black bumpers is surely a diesel?  The XJ-S was a V12!

All good things must come to and end 🔥 3 stud means 1.0 4 speed?  Last photo has my own personal watermark on it to prevent illegal copying.

 

[stuboy]

8 hours ago, RobT said:

 

phwoar

[davehedgehog31]

Gave the 207 an oil and filter change this morning. Had forgotten it's a bit of a ball ache, even my lowest profile ramps don't fit under the big Bruce Forsyth chin for a start, then the oil filter is in a PITA of a location, easiest method is with a 27mm socket and about three feet of extensions on a ratchet.

Bought half decent oil in order to keep it in the style to which it has become accustomed. I measured this out with a known good jug and there was only just over 3.75 litres in there, funny how they're never over filled....

Went a hurl to Bo'ness for a look at some diesel trains with @juular and @davidfowler2000, recorded sterling fuel economy figures on the road home. 

[Wibble]

My mate has just bagged this beauty:

Just over 80k miles, full Volvo history and one owner from new, his late parent’s neighbour. Looking forward to getting a proper look at it, needs some love but it’s a 2.5 24v purple hauler of excellence!

[Fumbler]

REAL WINTER HAS OCCURRED!!!!!11!1111!!

Digging the truck out for the plough was fairly difficult, mainly because there was a foot of snow in the ground and I have no snow boots. The first couple inches has also turned into solid ice which caused a couple uni students from Florida on summer tyres to get stuck. All fun and games.

Despite munching coolant and running on 3 cylinders the RWD Ranger was able to drive about in it just fine. I also decided not to clear the snow off the roof so now it looks rather silly 

With enough luck it'll be getting towed down south to have a heart transplant in the next few weeks.

[BorniteIdentity]

2 hours ago, Wibble said:

My mate has just bagged this beauty:

Just over 80k miles, full Volvo history and one owner from new, his late parent’s neighbour. Looking forward to getting a proper look at it, needs some love but it’s a 2.5 24v purple hauler of excellence!

God damn. That's basically what I've been looking for over the last three weeks or so.  Glorious, and burple -my favourite. 

I think I need to start finding these cars myself and leaving notes on them.  Otherwise what happens is they end up with armchair traders at £6k without so much as a wash.

[dean36014]

Just agreed to buy my friends daughters Ford Ka. 2010, 88k miles, one of the better specifications I believe. Two bumper corners scraped, and a slight war wound on one rear arch. Failed it's not on one front shock, headlight aim, and windscreen washers weak. The daughter was going to scrap it as it's not worth fixing! I'd be over the moon with that MOT result on a 15 year old car. My friend has owned it from 2015, her daughter has used it last 4 years. I matched the scrap price from car take back, £104 quid!

[Dan29]

26 minutes ago, dean36014 said:

Just agreed to buy my friends daughters Ford Ka. 2010, 88k miles, one of the better specifications I believe. Two bumper corners scraped, and a slight war wound on one rear arch. Failed it's not on one front shock, headlight aim, and windscreen washers weak. The daughter was going to scrap it as it's not worth fixing! I'd be over the moon with that MOT result on a 15 year old car. My friend has owned it from 2015, her daughter has used it last 4 years. I matched the scrap price from car take back, £104 quid!

They are excellent cars. I really regret scrapping mine that was about 14 years old but it was starting to succumb to rust and the rigours of being street-parked in London, and I hadn't found this place yet so would have had to deal with the public. 

[Cord Fourteener]

Oops, water-based fluid has come from somewhere it shouldn't be coming from. 

Fans blowing cold, radiator cooling fan going mad.

But temp gauge is stable... maybe it's too cold outside. Also, it doesn't look like a lot of liquid here, though i suppose it might have started leaking while I was still driving. 

But I don't fully understand what's going on. 

 

[Mat.T]

Another MK4 golf here. Loaded up the family ford SMAX ready to head to Mid Wales from Suffolk to visit my wife's family. 20mins in to the journey the SMAX started to misbehave. So we returned home swapped over all the stuff and child seats (and children) dump the Smax on the drive and restart the journey in my work hack.

500miles later and 52mpgs average. Only problem we are a bit squished compared to the Smax, so won't have room to bring all the Christmas pressies home!

[Mat.T]

Similar photo from 10years ago appeared in my Facebook memories travelling in the same area, Saab was considerably more comfortable and did considerably less mpgs.

[camryv6]

On 29/12/2025 at 10:59, Brigsy said:

Put a good shift in stripping the megane 225 yesterday. 

All this hassle for a rear qtr cut😄

Cambelt change ?

[Cord Fourteener]

5 minutes ago, Mat.T said:

Similar photo from 10years ago appeared in my Facebook memories travelling in the same area, Saab was considerably more comfortable and did considerably less mpgs.

Phoarr nice SAAB

[ruffgeezer]

3 minutes ago, camryv6 said:

Cambelt change ?

Nah, 20p stuck in the handbrake.

 

[camryv6]

Just now, ruffgeezer said:

Nah, 20p stuck in the handbrake.

 

I did wonder if he had lost 50p in the car somewhere

[SiC]

On 28/12/2025 at 22:43, Vince70 said:

I was summoned to the retail park today which is a real pet hate of mine, so while her indoors went into Tesco’s,  I ended going to Pets Are Us and Halfords so I beat her back to the car.

While I was sitting in the car, a  guy came over with his young son and was asking me all about my Golf V5 and we had a lovely chat for about for about 10 minutes.

Although it’s a nice car I never really thought of it as anything special,  as it’s just my winter hack and looking around the car park, I imagine it was the cheapest car (well it was free lol) amongst all those horrible grey hybrid SUV things, but I guess I still think of it as new even though its now 27 years old.

 

I think it's because they're getting really rare now. I barely see any Golf 4 anymore, let alone a hot one like a V5. Even rarer to see one shiny - most have been beaten to death.

[Cord Fourteener]

9 minutes ago, SiC said:

I think it's because they're getting really rare now. I barely see any Golf 4 anymore, let alone a hot one like a V5. Even rarer to see one shiny - most have been beaten to death.

Let me just nip outside... 

[Wibble]

20 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

God damn. That's basically what I've been looking for over the last three weeks or so.  Glorious, and burple -my favourite. 

I think I need to start finding these cars myself and leaving notes on them.  Otherwise what happens is they end up with armchair traders at £6k without so much as a wash.

I went to see it today. He’s right about it needing some love but I believe there is a very good car underneath all the moss and detritus. It really is in desperate need of a deep clean and has lived outdoors since new, parked against a hedge.

The service ring binder is fully stamped up. Serviced every year, regardless of mileage. The first 10k mile service was carried out at 3552 miles and it carried on this way, with the 190k mile service being done at 72k. It’s on 82k miles now. 

We’re going to give it a deep clean and machine polish but it does need some trim, an osf headlamp and nsf indicator. The driver’s side mirror and front bumper also need repainting or replacing. He’s found the same car about to be broken in Stroud, in the same colour, so we’re planning to go there to see what we can get. His brother drove it over to Basingstoke from Twickenham and said it drove perfectly. I reckon it’s worth spending a few quid on it.

[cort1977]

1 hour ago, Wibble said:

I went to see it today. He’s right about it needing some love but I believe there is a very good car underneath all the moss and detritus. It really is in desperate need of a deep clean and has lived outdoors since new, parked against a hedge.

The service ring binder is fully stamped up. Serviced every year, regardless of mileage. The first 10k mile service was carried out at 3552 miles and it carried on this way, with the 190k mile service being done at 72k. It’s on 82k miles now. 

We’re going to give it a deep clean and machine polish but it does need some trim, an osf headlamp and nsf indicator. The driver’s side mirror and front bumper also need repainting or replacing. He’s found the same car about to be broken in Stroud, in the same colour, so we’re planning to go there to see what we can get. His brother drove it over to Basingstoke from Twickenham and said it drove perfectly. I reckon it’s worth spending a few quid on it.

I am incredibly jealous right now 😀

[Wibble]

4 minutes ago, cort1977 said:

I am incredibly jealous right now 😀

What I can’t understand is, why can’t I find the mojo to sort my own cars out? 

[Sunny Jim]

11 hours ago, Wibble said:

What I can’t understand is, why can’t I find the mojo to sort my own cars out? 

Sometimes it's easier to help someone else out as it's more "focussed" than the jumble of priorities on your own projects. Hopefully your mate will return the favour when you're ready to work on your own stuff again. For now just try and enjoy doing some car stuff, you'll no doubt have knowledge to share and might pick up something that's useful to you and your cars. All the best.

[comfortablynumb]

12 hours ago, Wibble said:

What I can’t understand is, why can’t I find the mojo to sort my own cars out? 

Try breaking stuff down into smaller jobs @Wibble.

I've been struggling myself recently, mojo has completely vanished. I need to basically rebuild the range rover of too many wheels because rust has really taken a hold, but I haven't really done anything.

Then I remembered what Billy Gibbons said, do one thing, Even if it's just polishing a door handle.

He's right, I've now actually got the wings and inner wings off, the dashboard and heater removed, engine and box out ( although MK1 son was instrumental in that) and been parts collecting, still a long way to go, but if you do one small thing, sometimes it leads you into something else, and so on 

New a post and screen pillar showed up today, and I'm going to have a go at making my own kickpanels.

Fitzees fabrication strikes again!

Good luck mate🙏

[Wibble]

44 minutes ago, comfortablynumb said:

Try breaking stuff down into smaller jobs @Wibble.

I've been struggling myself recently, mojo has completely vanished. I need to basically rebuild the range rover of too many wheels because rust has really taken a hold, but I haven't really done anything.

Then I remembered what Billy Gibbons said, do one thing, Even if it's just polishing a door handle.

He's right, I've now actually got the wings and inner wings off, the dashboard and heater removed, engine and box out ( although MK1 son was instrumental in that) and been parts collecting, still a long way to go, but if you do one small thing, sometimes it leads you into something else, and so on 

New a post and screen pillar showed up today, and I'm going to have a go at making my own kickpanels.

Fitzees fabrication strikes again!

Good luck mate🙏

Thanks mate, that makes sense. I think I’ll force myself to clean the Skoda next week and it’s overdue a service and then it will be MOT time. Good luck to you too.

[goosey]

Escort cold start issue sorted-

removed and cleaned starter motor and fitted a shorter fuel pipe from pump to carb with a smaller filter, only have a pic of the top of the engine bay the fuel filter is next to the rocker cover 

[comfortablynumb]

Love a crossflow, one of the best engines ever built 👍