The new news 24 thread

[Lord Sterling]

WORD UP YA'LL

 

Work has made me very tired, today I woke up at nigh-on 2pm. I decided I didnt want to spend the day watching Homes under the hammer or whatever and crack on with the Micra.

 

A few weeks back I bought a couple of rear interior trim panels from the scrappy, I offered them for fitting but couldnt for the life of me get the bolt that holds the seatbelt on the B-pillar off so gave up. Today I managed to loosen the bolt it with a big ratchet from my mates garage, then at another mates car-wash I cracked on with getting the trim changed over:

 

B4:

 

AFTA:

 

Took me about 10mins per side being careful and I'm well chuffed with the results. After that I treated the thing to a wash'n'wax.

 

A few weeks ago, I bought some Micra fog-lights. Along with the fog lights, the lad also threw in a rear ashtray, and as if that wasnt enough he chucked in the headbrake surround with it. REZULTz.

 

I couldnt be arsed to change the surround so chucked in the Grey rear ashtray to replace the beige one I had:

 

BEIGE:

 

GREY:

 

Beige/Grey/Greige they really are old peoples colours arent they?

 

Anyway, its not the right shade of Grey but I dont care, I got one in my otherwise low-spec Micra.

 

NOICE WUN AR KID

[dollywobbler]

Forgot to mention. I saw this today. Needs some TLC (but will probably be scrapped next week I imagine).

[barefoot]

I'm not sure it's the right place to post this, but thought y'all might like it.

 

 

in the car park at Boots / Derby, absolutely immaculate - automatic & lots of disabled stickers / passes inside - amazing.

[HMC]

That looks bloody lovely! Coventry (Ryton?) registered

[Cavcraft]

Cheers Skatt, a kind offer but I'm leaving the Corsa 'as is' for now, many thanks though.

 

Today I may (hint, hint WOLRD OF WARCRAFT) be getting another motor. In doing so I shall have more faces than several town hall clocks, as to me it's the car version of an Iveco.

Bit of a merry-go-round in the lock up department, Merc out (and gone) Cavalier in, Nissan moved (bastarding Gumtree target audience FAIL) and the Corsa will probably be ine of the garages later too.

 

*Edit: I also bought another cycle yesterday, hoping to collect it this week coming. It's a funky modern version of a funky old fashioned bike, though it's probably going to be too small to ride too much!

[Richard]

Focus?

[Cavcraft]

Worse. Far, far worse.

[Tayne]

Either a mk2 Mundano with crazy paving bumpers or some sort of VW, probably a Golf.

[Cavcraft]

The latter, you win the cigar!

[Cavcraft]

In other news I now no longer own a Corsa diesel and I may have to do some more town hall clock/multiface interspersing about Gumtree

 

I might no longer have a Nissan either tomorrow as Corsa buyer tabled me an offer for that too. Just not quite enough to tempt me tonight.

[Cavcraft]

Also in other news the Nissan should be off tomorrow, just received a deposit for it via Paypal.

[Tayne]

The latter, you win the cigar!

 

Is it Cuban?

 

The cigar, not the Golf.

[Cavcraft]

It's an e-cigar. A bit like an e-threat from some bellend on a Corsa forum, or an e-mail from Orange, it'll never actually get delivered sorry. The thought was there though.

[Tayne]

That's ok, I have some real Cubans here.

[Pete-M]

Impreza header tank seal has popped. Oh joy. Doesn't actually lose much coolant but steams like Ivor the Engine trying to outrun a Pendalino. Header tank is an alloy one made in two parts then pressed together with a rubber seal in the middle - which appears to cause more Subaru deaths than Colin McRae ever managed.

 

Search eBay and all that's out there is knackered looking old ones or full stainless race type ones. Call to Import Jap parts place and Im now £96 worse off but should have a nice shiny new OEM one tomorrow...

 

Still, could have been worse. Just lucky the tank is above one of the exhaust manifolds so as soon as it leaks there's a huge cloud of steam, otherwise it wouldn't have been that noticeable and could have led to OMGHGFx2..

[Negative Creep]

Drove the Punto home from Kent and managed 54mpg, with another 38 through town today. OMG MODURN CARS R GR5

 

However the engine light keeps flashing. This was causing concern, but having read the handbook it says to ignore it unless it stays on. I guess this is the point were I add an Italian build quality joke?

[vulgalour]

Went to see the possible donor Princess today. It's a fairly rotten HLS in Champagne Beige with a brown vinyl roof. It does have all the good bits I need with the exception of a front valance which I shall have to straighten out on mine but it's very crusty and very damp due to a couple of holes in the roof caused by rot where the vinyl roof has split.

 

£350 is the asking price, which includes delivery of the car for me to dismantle it, and collection of a rolling shell for the vendor to do with it as he pleases, which works out well for me. I'm waiting on word from the assessor (any day now) to decide the fate of mine, but I suspect there'll be some epic A-team type shenanigans where I call upon a crack team of shite fixers and get mine up and running again, even though some of my nearest and dearest keep telling me I should scrap Serendipity.

 

Full report on my build thread shortly.

[Tayne]

Just picked up my refurbished wheels.

 

Wheels! by Tayne, on Flickr

 

I just need to seal then and then get the winter tyres on before I go away.

I'm paranoid about coming back to a massive snow fall and a set of winter tyres in the spare room.

[HMC]

The Collected the volvo on our way back from Germany via south london. The 850 reeks of cannabis, drives well enough but is a bit neglected in places. No rust to speak of, and a decent turn of speed when required. I've yet to have a really decent look round it. It came with a gangsta rap cd in the player

[dollywobbler]

Just got back from the big trip in the BX. That's taken it to just over 1000 miles in my ownership already. It clonked, creaked, groaned and occasionally failed to rise (moving the height lever got it moving) but it got us there and back and managed 54mpg while delivering impressive performance. The winter tyres seem very grippy, which is nice. The stereo is absolutely rubbish. Which is less nice.

[Pete-M]

Been a mad old day. Waited in for the Royal Mail to deliver the new header tank for the Impreza. "Before 1" they promise, so three of us waited in the house for Pat to get the day rolling. Pat must be SAS trained as he managed at 11:35 to drop a little red "Royal Fail" note through the letter box without being spotted, knocking or ringing the doorbell. 11:40 I'm outside the Sorting Office getting a manager to ring Pat to find out where the hell he's hiding. "He'll be there in less than 20 mins" says the manager chap, "I'll be there in 2, waiting for him with the little red fail slip in my hand". 5 mins later a battered Royal Mail Transit skids to a halt outside my house being driven by a very pissed off Pat. "Sign there", hands me the box and wheelspins away.

 

Took 10 mins to change the tank, refill the system and job done.

 

Went to a friends house and got him to run me to the garage where I'd sort his EML issues, then on up to get the Jag.

 

Jag back. Forgotten just how bloody epic a thing it is.

 

Loads of jobs to do. Valet it. Get it tracked, fit back bumper properly, get new rear arches, rear Bilsteins and trailing arm bushes, couple of plates needed underneath, replace the saggy headlining and get it all painted nicely.

 

Oh, and I need a Conti 255/45/17 if anyone has one...

[Lacquer Peel]

Car park dings?

[Cavcraft]

Hmm, may be getting something from the eBay thread. Not a Jag either.

[vulgalour]

Just completed an enjoyable drive back from Chez Skattrd's country pile to the bijou Chateau Angyl residence in a 1.6 badermatic Austin Maestro.

 

It was comfortable, surprisingly quick off the mark, possibly the sharpest brakes I've ever encountered on any car (could've done with those in the Princess recently ¬.¬) and very, very easy to get along with. I have to do something about the silicone spray everywhere, my hands are squeaky with it, and it does pull slightly to the left all the time just like the Princess, weirdly, it also occasionally smelled very strongly of biscuits and I have no idea why that would be. The only downer on the way back was the windscreen which, every time oncoming traffic appeared, rewarded me with so much glare on both sides of the glass I couldn't see anything which was a little alarming but I think that's mainly down to requiring a bit of a deeper clean and a de-shine of the dash top.

 

HOWEVER, Skattrd is super generous and a top bloke so my ridiculous hat is firmly doffed in his direction for being saviour of the hour by putting his trust in me and allowing me to make use of the old Maestro. My other problem is I like the Maestro more than my old Polo to drive and I am a teensy bit smitten by it. For now, Maestro is in the garage waiting until I need to use it for work or other light duties. I suspect I won't be able to help myself from wanting one of my very own, especially since this is the first auto I've driven that I actually get along with, I can feel a call to the insurance company coming on to see just how much it affects my payments.

[ashmicro]

Maestros are for winners.

[vulgalour]

Maestro news.

 

Worked out I travelled about 42 miles to get it home, and I've just put 7.2 litres in to bring the needle up to pretty much where it was when I set off. According to my calculations that works out at a meagre 26.5mpg which is worse than I'd expect from the Princess. I'm blaming a combination of auto box, blowing exhaust and me not knowing the car or being used to automatics.

 

Corrected the tyre pressures to 30psi all round and now the pulling to the left has gone. Gave it a wash, but I'm probably going to have to give it a clay bar work over to get it as clean as I personally would like, but that might spoil the character of it so I should probably leave it alone^. Although it wasn't, the rear driver's door central locking now works... sometimes. Also got the sunroof to open and close properly, though it makes some crunchy noises so I'm leaving it shut for fear of breaking that or making it leak or both^. The source of the biscuit smell was the air freshener, and as much as I like biscuits, it gets a bit much when all I can smell is Rich Tea, so I've taken that out of the car but not binned it^.

 

I'm having to resist the urge to do all the little things I'd do if the Maestro were mine. There's some bits of rust I'd like to fix^, a few paint scratches I'd like to blend back in^ and of course I want to bring the shine back on the white^. The rear wiper tried to work once, then gave up, the rear washer jet didn't even bother with that much. One of the front washer jets doesn't work, even though I've cleaned all the sludge out of it, so I've put that on the passenger side so I can see out the driver's side of the windscreen. Windscreen is now much better for a wash and a clean of the wiper blades, it had a weird sort of smeary film on the outside which is probably my fault for insisting on cleaning it in the dark at Skattrd's.

 

We'll see how I feel when I've asked the car to do more menial tasks, but I can certainly see that there's likely a Maestro shaped hole in my life, though I suspect a manual would be cheaper on the dinosaur juice. Any tips on how to get the best fuel economy out of an auto?

 

^it's not mine.

[Spiny Norman]

Any tips on how to get the best fuel economy out of an auto?

 

I'm assuming it's just a standard old 3 speed slushbox in a Maestro? With those, I've always found that accelerating fairly briskly up to speed, then backing right off once it's in top is the way to go. Learn the shift points, where it changes up or down, and how much or little throttle you need to apply to make it do what you want.

26mpg isn't disastrous from an old carb-fed 1600 auto but you might improve it a bit once you get used to it.

[ashmicro]

What's the engine oil like? S Series engines don't like mucky oil.

[skattrd]

Feel free to tidy up the Maestro if you want VA - just don't paint it purple

As for the mpg I think the stuck (open) thermostat and dodgy choke cable could well be the culprits. You're also assuming the fuel gauge is accurate ....

[vulgalour]

@Skattrd: if I do blend stuff back in like the scuffs on the driver's wing, it'll be original colour only, so no fears on the purple front. I'll see how it comes up after a proper clean, I can't try and polish it until I've got all the ingrained dirt out. I'm pretty sure it's blowing on the exhaust where there's a massive glob of exhaust paste, I hadn't really noticed it until today, I just thought the noise was the sound it made normally. I'll investigate just what's what with the thermostat and choke cable when I know I can replace them, in the meantime it's reliable enough and not hideously expensive, super easy to pilot too now I'm a bit more used to the 'box. Btw, when does the MoT expire? One of those 'just in case' questions.

 

@stude: Yep, 3 speed box, but I only know that because Skattrd told me.

 

@ashmicro: no idea, I haven't looked. I will investigate.