The new news 24 thread

[HMC]

Planning during the trip back from Germany to swing by and check over/ collect the Volvo

Germany-Holland-Belgium-France (eurotunnel or whatever its called these days)- swing by London (collecting said Volvo) and on (in convoy) through to Devon. I broke this news to the missus which didnt go down as badly as I was expecting!

[vulgalour]

You know Bluebirds like the above, what's the vent in the rear wing for? For some reason it's always fascinated me.

[dollywobbler]

You know Bluebirds like the above, what's the vent in the rear wing for? For some reason it's always fascinated me.

 

I always assumed it was an extractor vent. Rather more neatly done on the BX (here below the rearmost side window).

[Morgan84]

I'm sure the Princess will live on;she just has a bruised nose

 

Hope you're ok,and soon forget what is a common mistake to happen. No one got badly hurt,and thats all that matters at the end of the day

[vulgalour]

I went to see her today. The bodyshop chap I spoke too offered reassurance in the 'can probably be repaired' stakes but not in the 'for insurance money' stakes. He said it would likely need £480 in paint materials alone, so I doubt the insurance will pay for her to be fixed. He also asked why the front end had so much paint on it, to which I replied lots of resprays before I bought her, so I'm not alone in seeing the bodgery.

 

The bad news today was finding out that actually she does have an out of joint nose, the inner wing has a little crease just behind the battery which is more visible on a clear day outside than a rainy day inside my garage or at the roadside. I was also concerned that the driver's wheel seems back in the arch again, whereas at home it seemed okay and measured straight both sides, I'm not sure what that's about.

 

The good news is that she looks repairable, but it's likely not going to be cheap unless I pull in lots of personal effort and favours from the community, many of which have already been offered. The response to sorting the car out has been heart warming, it really has, with genuine offers of help and support all round. Without wanting to be too mushy, once again a big thank you to all and sundry on being supportive.

 

Where I go from here is to sit on my hands a bit because until the assessment is done I won't know what's actually broken. I now feel assured that giving the car to the assessor was the right decision. In the meantime, I'm holding off on buying anything until the assessment happens and I shall be taking a look at the beige HLS I've been tipped off about on Tuesday.

 

My long term plan is to have a Princess. Whether it's this Princess or another one I don't know yet, but I can't think of a single car that measures up to her or ticks as many boxes, so it will have to be a Princess again whatever happens. Thankfully, values on them have climbed since I bought mine and several in worse condition have gone through eBay for more money so, hopefully, that'll work in my favour too.

[cort16]

I think £480 quid for a litre of beige paint and some primer sounds a bit steep. If I was you VA I'd concentrate on getting the body straight then work your magic with the rollers when you get some time.

[Negative Creep]

Good stuff Mr Angyl.

 

The other week, I had a dream opportunity to put my Bluebird to the test against a Montego. It was a thoroughly interesting day and I really enjoyed discovering how similar the cars were in some regards, and how completely different they were in others.

 

Full report is in Classic Car Mart, on sale tomorrow (November issue).

 

 

I really fancy a Montego, but I'd hazard a guess the Bluebird is the better car.

 

'm in Kent at the moment and will be taking possesion of my Granddad's Punto tomorrow. Unfortunately that meant I had to get here by public transport, which involved a delay on the train that caused me to miss my connection. Thank God I can now go back to non plebian forms of transport

[outlaw118]

^^^WHS^^^^ Good luck old bean!

[Cavcraft]

Wahey! Merc has finally gone and better still I took an impromptu part-ex in the form of a dog rough Corsa. Better still its a diesel! I are truly living the dream here!

[vulgalour]

I hope Diesel Coarser is also five door, automatic and base spec with obligatory lacquer peel.

[Cavcraft]

Here you go, I know how much love* there is for Corsas on here and obv. it's perfectly normal to be excited about getting rid of a CLK320 and ending up with a Corsa diesel.

 

 

And the business end...

 

Yep, it's an ISUZU. As in veg oil. Stupidly I don't know whether it's a turbo or not (boot badge suggests no as it only says 1.5D) but I'm sure a road test (shortly) will give me the answer.

It's not done many miles but looks like the only 'service' it ever had was someone cable tying the 'fancy' wheeltrims on and it was last washed when it rained, also parking by feel seems to have been the order of the day. Still, I like stuff like this, it keeps me occupied and I'll enjoy using various garge hold implements to try and knock the dents out, then have a better look at it to see what it'll want for it's next MOT which is only weeks away. It has got a slight leak from the sump I think, praying it'll be easy to find and 'Aradite-able' to save money and effort. No Lexus lights but it does have a smart looking CD player which I'll rob for the Cavalier of the 306 probably.

 

Oh, in other news the Nissan is going down a storm on Gumtree, and looks to be heading for London anytime soon.

[Tayne]

Plate check on the Corsa comes back as a 1.7 turbo diesel with 59 bhp and a potential 67mpg (GR9 4 MINGEBAGS!)

[Cavcraft]

WHOOSH!

 

Cheers Tayne, I'll attempt to light the tyres up on it later. Vauxhall had a right weird arrangement with diesel engines, most Isuzu engines seem to state 'turbo' on them (I've just found that out on Google) if they are and, erm, not if they're not. I have a feeling this won't be a turbo though as I'm sure the 1.7 lumps in Corsas didn't kick in until later 'C' variants. Cheers for the info ace!

[cobblers]

Yeah, I don't think it's a turbo - look at the pipe from the inlet, it goes direct to the airbox. Shame, cos those 1.7 turbos can flipping shift

[dollywobbler]

59bhp would be pretty shabby for a turbo diesel! Air filter plumbing is the key as has been said. Not a bad ol' motor though.

[rml2345]

That diseasel Corsa looks like fun*.

Today I have mostly taken the distributor off the Volvo to find it full of oil and shit. Would probably explain it's reluctance to start this past while... Especially yesterday when it took two attempts.

So that'll be the seal away then.

As the cap and rotor look a bit past it anyway, I think replacements are in order and (hopefully) that should be us set for the winter...

It does need front brake pads though...

[dollywobbler]

Eep. Just checked the levels on the Bluebird before a roadtrip tomorrow. Expansion tank empty. Radiator seemed pretty empty. Top hose empty. ARSE! Refilled and carefully 'burped' all of the coolant pipes this time (including the heater pipes). I'm hoping I'd just created some air locks first time around that have now cleared (hence the dropped level). Certainly, quite a lot of air seemed to come out...

 

I think a test drive before we set off might be in order...

[wuvvum]

Speaking of Bluebirds, I've decided to get rid of the Pintara. I've done bugger all with it since I got it, I'm running out of space again and I've got three MoT's to pay for next month, including the Transit which isn't going to be cheap as it's going to need at least a windscreen and a rear drum as well as some welding (still hopefully less than buying a new van though). I've also got the Diversion up for sale, had some interest but no firm offers yet other than a derisory £120 which I've politely refused. Sold the towing dolly though.

 

On the subject of MoT's, does anyone know what the deal is with servos? The P6 doesn't currently have one fitted (the servo on the P6 is remote rather than attached to the master cylinder, so it can be removed quite easily) - brakes work OK but are a lot heavier than they would normally be (obv.), but I don't know if the lack of a servo can be a failure in itself?

[bub2006]

From my knowledge corsab as in your shape and corsa a (nova) 1.5d engines where all turbo. 1.7 d where not. The 1.5 had more bhp than the 1.7. Corsa c had 1.7d and later 1.7td then went on to 1.3 and 1.7 cdti lumps. Only the astra and cavalier had 1.7td and n/a 1.7 diesel lumps

[bub2006]

1.5td lumps 68bhp 1.7 n/a engines 59bhp 1.7td 75bhp slowly rising to 80bhp just before cdti engines bouht in around 2003.

[wuvvum]

They did do a non-turbo 1.5D version of the Corsa B for a while - it was around 50bhp, so not excactly a ball of fire.

[Negative Creep]

Took possesion of my Granddad's Punto today

 

 

In true old giffer style, he's owned it from new and covered 24k in that time - in fact I believe it only left Kent on two occasions. Every single receipt from new, serviced on the dot, warmed up before he drove anywhere and totally original. Annoyingly though, the radio doesn't work. It switches on but no sound at all so may be the interal amp that's buggered. Whilst I have all the stuff to fix it at home, that could mean driving all the way back there in silence. Thanks to the "useful" continuous insurance legislation, I'm now going to have to SORN the Bluebird as well

[Cavcraft]

Yep tthey defo do an n/a 1.5 diesel in the Corsa. I wish this was a turbo diesel as theyte mental. Thetes a few niggles with it but mostly bodywork stuff.

[dollywobbler]

Wuv - I think the MOT is only concerned with whether the brakes work. Can't imagine they'd be that strong with no servo and all-round discs though.

 

Bluebird thermostat gasket is the culprit. It's dripping quite nicely. With all the faffing to get the 'stat fitted earlier in the week, I fear I've mullered the new gasket. Now considering options. One is to try and bodge it up (I can't find my blue sealant nor could I buy any in town. Rubbish! I might try making a new gasket though...) the other is to just take the new BX. Which runs out of tax tomorrow and for which I don't have the full V5 yet (so I'll have to take all of my docs and find a Post Office somewhere).

 

I shall proceed with plan A initially, though plan B would also yield a useful saving in fuel costs, though it has a really bad wheel wobble, so I'd need to raid the estate for bolts to enable me to fit my winter tyres as I'd be replacing alloys with steel wheels.

 

Life is never bloody simple is it?

[bub2006]

Never knew of a n/a 1.5.,learn somethin new every day!

[Cavcraft]

Took possesion of my Granddad's Punto today

 

In true old giffer style, he's owned it from new and covered 24k in that time - in fact I believe it only left Kent on two occasions. Every single receipt from new, serviced on the dot, warmed up before he drove anywhere and totally original. Annoyingly though, the radio doesn't work. It switches on but no sound at all so may be the interal amp that's buggered. Whilst I have all the stuff to fix it at home, that could mean driving all the way back there in silence. Thanks to the "useful" continuous insurance legislation, I'm now going to have to SORN the Bluebird as well

 

 

That really does look good, they're very easy on the eye those Puntos.

[skattrd]

Cav - I doubt you'll want it, but I do have a turbo exhaust manifold from an Isuzu engined 1.5td Corsa B if you fancy doing silly things and possibly destroying the engine ... no turbo though as I used that on one of my kei cars.

 

Today I eventually got the ABS and cruise control sorted on the Volvo. After 3x sensors fitted over the last few weeks it still wasn't working, in the end it was 2x ABS rings on the front driveshafts, £3.49 each. However whilst doing these I did notice that the bushes in the rather beefy wishbones were looking a bit worse for wear ... MOT due soon so better get these sorted asap.

I have also picked up some cheap 15" steel wheels with snow tyres for it, I trial fitted them today and luckily they just clear the front callipers, so I'm ready for winter.

[Negative Creep]

Took possesion of my Granddad's Punto today

 

In true old giffer style, he's owned it from new and covered 24k in that time - in fact I believe it only left Kent on two occasions. Every single receipt from new, serviced on the dot, warmed up before he drove anywhere and totally original. Annoyingly though, the radio doesn't work. It switches on but no sound at all so may be the interal amp that's buggered. Whilst I have all the stuff to fix it at home, that could mean driving all the way back there in silence. Thanks to the "useful" continuous insurance legislation, I'm now going to have to SORN the Bluebird as well

 

 

That really does look good, they're very easy on the eye those Puntos.

 

 

I do agree the mk.2 is a very attractive shape. Naturally Fiat realised their error and quickly released an ugly facelift within a few years

[dollywobbler]

Bother. The thermostat seal is also stuffed on the Bluebird. Decision made. We'll just go in the BX instead. That meant ditching the front pair of alloys to get rid of a nasty wheel wobble, so she looks a bit odd at the moment.

 

Why only two wheels? Because I only have enough wheel bolts to fit two wheels. I had a set of four (for the spare if needed) that came with the car, and pinched another four from the BX estate (one from each wheel). That means the TXD is now running on a pair of winter tyres up front, but initial testing suggests they're still plenty grippy in the dry. I'll take it easy on them though as I don't want to wear them out!

[Negative Creep]

Check Engine light came on in the Punto for a few seconds, but hasn't since. Hmmmmm. Since it's Italian it's probably par for the core, although then again I can conclude ALL MODURN CARS R RUBISH AND DRIVEN BY GHAYS