The new news 24 thread

[wuvvum]

Bit of a mixed bag on the MoT front today.

 

The Solara passed easily, only needing a quick scrape with a screwdriver and squirt of WD40 to fix a temperamental offside brake light, so that's good to go for another year.

 

The P6 failed dismally. Well maybe not dismally as P6s go, but it needs three areas of welding, none of which are particularly easy to get to, and a set of rear brake pads. Which is a pain seeing as I can't weld, so I'm going to have to find someone who can do it and won't charge the earth - problem is I find a lot of places don't like working on cars that age.

[vulgalour]

Chucked some Redex in the Maestro, it rewarded me by painting the drive gates black. I wouldn't have bothered, but it has started to run on quite badly today for the first time so I didn't think it'd hurt, not like it's a pricey thing to do, feels and sounds better for it too.

 

The Maestro has been receiving many favourable comments too, mostly from the oldies, but it's great to be tootling around in something that makes people smile. Even the housemate was pleasantly surprised when we went to do some shopping, he said it feels very upright but in a good way, and found it quite comfortable. I think I'm finally getting the hang of the auto box too, I've almost stopped trying to put the handbrake in neutral when I park up.

 

We shall see how the little beast copes with the 5am drive to work tomorrow, it's set to be a cold one!

[cort16]

I'm out my mind with work trying to get stuff finished before I bugger off to Barcelona at the end of the week so couldn't really afford to leave at 5 to go and get the Mrs's new Puma but we need to get it before I leave else she'll have no car. The car looks as described but I noticed there was no tax on it so the guy said he'd stick 6 months rent on it for free tomorrow, which is good but it means I have to leave at 5 again tomorrow to go and get it but time is short and I'm streeeeeesssssed.

[wackywacerwill]

Real time MOT update is as follows;

After the Mrs found the unopen reminder over the weekend the van was promptly booked in for this morning to refresh it's lapsed ticket. After a full 20 mins prep with gaffa and zip ties I'm now standing in the watching bay with fingers crossed. I need the van this weekend for framing a sold pug and picking up a big old 90's caravan so am a little on the nervous side as it does have issues!

[wackywacerwill]

Stress placed upon ones ownself is always the worst hey.

[dollywobbler]

BX now wears a full set of steel wheels with winter tyres. Thanks are very much due to Catsinthewelder for donating a pair of steelies to the cause, and Dieselnutjob for donating a set of wheel bolts.

 

Sadly, I attempted to use the standard jack to do the wheelchange. This was a mistake as it slipped off and punched a great big dent in the sill. DOH! Then the bloody thing wouldn't rise up, just to let me know how pissed off it was with my clumsiness - of course it was now so low that I couldn't get my trolley jack underneath it. Me and the BX had a short but fiery debate which involved a certain amount of name calling and pulling frantically on the height control lever. Eventually, my superb wit outfoxed the BX and it gave up and gracefully rose into the air.

[Micrashed]

Bollocking Shitbags

 

MOT tomorrow morning, my only day off for 2 weeks - gave Micra cursory going over, nothing obvious apart from covered in mud, took it to Morrisons on the way home from work at 9pm and took it through the car wash - cue front wiper ripped off and wiper linkage borked.

Then cue standing in the street trying frantically to take the plastic scuttle trim off to get to linkage, wiper arm seized on to spindle, cue cursing, cue throwing adjustable spanner into hedge and kicking bmper in a fit of Basil Fawltyesq rage.

 

Fuck it, the garage can have the pleasure of sorting that out tomorrow.

[vulgalour]

It's not the Micra you should be cross at, you should have instead set fire to the car wash for causing the problem in the first place.

[dollywobbler]

Bit late now, but in the old days, when I used to use car washes, I'd always stop the wipers in the up position (took a bit of co-ordination if it had a rear wiper too - at least the Micra has an upright one). There's a technique to getting stuck arms of as well. Usually involves levering the non-arm side while lifting the arm and requires at least three hands.

[Negative Creep]

This is the reason I've never once used an automatic car wash. I used to love them as akid though, and wathcing the brush ominously roll over the car looked rather cool

[Morgan84]

Whats wrong with a bucket and sponge;it means you can get into the door shuts etc,plus its cheaper = Shitewash

[Pete-M]

268 mile round trip to Coventry to look at a seemingly perfect little Polo 1.4. R reg, but immaculate with low mileage, recent belt service at VW and one lady owner.

 

Got there, car was tidy enough - as it should be as it was priced up there with the newer shape ones.

 

Clutch was right on its last legs and the bloke flogging it wouldn't have it that there was anything wrong with it; "It doesn't slip, so it's ok. Pedal on these is always right at the top". I reckon the clutch had 2-3 thousand miles in it so left it.

 

Went and grabbed a pub lunch then off to Birmingham to look at a 2001 Polo 1.4 for the same money. Which was abused to put it mildly. Walked away from that as well.

 

Get back home and the Autotrader is full of tidy 2000+ spec 1.4s which weren't there yesterday. All nearer home too.

 

Still, the Impreza somehow managed 32 mpg overall today, so that's a bonus. Seats are pretty shit for extended motorway work though.

[vulgalour]

The Mk2 Polo clutch sits quite high normally, but I've not heard of the later R reg ones being like that so perhaps he was confused? Good luck with the hunt, at least there's plenty of Polos to pick from out there.

[Pete-M]

There's high and there's 'about to die' high. This was the latter.

[wackywacerwill]

Cushion and lpg for the preza? Or is this the car for the friend?

 

Well, the tranny passed today so I'm dead chuffed. I've put it through 4 tests now and it has passed first time on each occasion, not bad for a £150 purchase I did have to put a tyre on it before the first test and a battery too as it had been off the road for 2 years. Between that and the second to plates needed welding into the chassis rails and it's had nowt other than oil changes since then. It's well overdue some love this winter mind as it's starting to look (more) shabby plus the advisory list is long.

Zip tie door pulls FTW

[Pete-M]

Cushion and lpg for the preza? Or is this the car for the friend?

 

Pretzel is mine. LPG? It's doing 32 mpg man! That's almost a record high for the stuff I tend to own!

[cort16]

I picked up the Mrs's Puma last night and all went well (other than her driving at 30mph on an a road and driving me insane). Once we got the car home I took it out for a shot and was taking in the FULL driving experience by revving the nuts off it when the oil pressure light starts to flicker. Ah bollocks.

I nursed it home with the light flickering now and again and parked it up in a huff knowing that either 1: It's totally fucked, 2: It's not got any oil in it. I got up at 6.30 this morning and checked the oil and sure enough there was nothing onthe dip stick. I glugged 2 litres of oil into it, took it for a spin and all seemed fine.

The Mrs took it to work and I got a text saying at 8.30 saying "It's really fast isn't it??", which I presume means all is okay. It's actually an excellent little thing to drive so I may keep it for a wee bit once her new, new car arrives.

[Micrashed]

Whats wrong with a bucket and sponge;it means you can get into the door shuts etc,plus its cheaper = Shitewash

9pm, pitch black (no street lighting) and I CBA.

 

So far for the MOT

Exhaust back box (I kind of knew this was on its way out) and wiper linkage (no shit!).

[dollywobbler]

Cushion and lpg for the preza? Or is this the car for the friend?

 

Pretzel is mine. LPG? It's doing 32 mpg man! That's almost a record high for the stuff I tend to own!

 

That is impressive. My 2-litre non-blower Legacy would only do 27mpg. Mind you, it seemed to do that regardless of how it was driven. Never better, never worse. Consistent!

[DSdriver]

It was a toss up whether to put this in the grumpy thread or not. The evil pug206 went in for it's first service in two years. It's a W plate car and has only done 26 odd thousand miles but garage has confirmed OMGHGF. I had my suspicions about this a year ago when I noticed some sludge in the rad header tank but had forgotten all about it. £450ish. Arse.

[Micrashed]

Micra passed MOT, though wiper linkage cost me £48

Bastard Morrisons Leyland drive through car wash.

 

Advisories - CV boots perishing but intact and front cross member corroded.

 

Exhaust replaced, linkage fixed, serviced MOT'd and new pads today.

 

That said they quoted £200 for replacement of the crossmember which is a bit cheaper than I thought it would be given the labour involved in deconstructing the front end, chiselling off the old one and then weldorizing up a new one and painting with gunk. I will however in true Autoshite fashion cover it with gunk and leave it till next year before worrying about it. I might also Black Sikkflex the CV boots to extend their life.

 

So all told £240 for another 12 months motoring - not bad really, I couldnt buy a 50K mile Micra with 12 months ticket for that.

[dollywobbler]

Had the lower balljoint replaced on the BX today. I knew it was bad, but the chaps in the garage did laugh...

 

Was glad I farmed the job out as it was a pig to get out of the wishbone. Heat, chisels and big hammers did the job nicely. We then discovered play in its opposite number, though thankfully not very much.

 

Car is transformed now. Feels much more secure and doesn't sound like the entire front end is trying to fall off! MOT now under a month away and I still need to sort out the rear arm bearings. The plan is that I'll remove both arms, chuck them in the Bluebird and then nip up to my mate in Snowdonia who has handy kit and the know-how. I'm hoping the rear axle tube hasn't been damaged as one of the bearings is entirely ruined. Amazes me that people can drive around in a car that is that knackered and not notice that anything is wrong.

[skattrd]

Oooops, I appear to have won another car on ebay, a Mitsubishi RVR.

In my defence I didn't think my bid would meet reserve as these things are basically Mitsubishi evo's under the mini people carrier skin.

If anyone's interested: ebay link

[cobblers]

My sister was about to scrap her Ka because it needs a coilpack and an MOT, and she barely drove it anyway. It's "fairly" clean and not that rotten, but it doesn't drive and it's parked on her mates drive in Leeds so I couldn't be arsed to collect it and try to fix it myself.

I was up at my Grans today fixing the dishwasher/printer/listening to the same story she's told me over 9000 times before/drinking slightly dodgy cups of tea/cutting a tree down,etc etc and she was moaning that she could do with PAS on her car (J reg mk3 fez)

 

Gears turned in my head, so now I have to go get the Ka from Leeds - I twisted my mates arm to A frame it me back.

 

Anyway, the Fiesta is actually less rusty than the Ka - Never been welded and is dead solid underneath. In the last 7 years it's only needed an exhaust on and a set of plugs in, whereas I had to weld the Ka last year for the MOT, so realistically from this point on it's probably going to cost me half a day welding once a year to get a ticket on it. Fiesta has probably another MOT in it before I need to do any welding and she really likes it.

 

Anyway, I'm not sure whether to:

 

Try and fit the PAS off the Ka to the Fiesta (They're the same under the skin, I think?) then weigh the rest in

or

Just fix the Ka and give it my nan - It'll probably need another bit of welding here and there, a coilpack and probably a cat since my sister drove it on 2 cylinders for about 3 months doing about 8mpg because she "couldn't afford" a £24 coilpack.

 

I think I'll probably just fix the Ka - for a start there's no choke for her to forget to turn off, and it's a bit smaller so she's less likely to bounce it off the walls down the side of the drive every time she goes to Asda.

[Lord Sterling]

Oooops, I appear to have won another car on ebay, a Mitsubishi RVR.

In my defence I didn't think my bid would meet reserve as these things are basically Mitsubishi evo's under the mini people carrier skin.

If anyone's interested: ebay link

 

Sweet. A bit 'agricultural meets street' look to it for my liking, but what are the plans for it. Broseley aint a million from me either. (Former Shropshire dweller)

[skattrd]

The rvr is for a fun winter hack, tat hauler and just in case of OMG SNO KAOS. I currently don't have an estate or 4wd and that should fit the bill of both.

I'm hoping I'll be able to run it for a few months and sell it without losing much money, fingers crossed for that one.

I'm off work next Mon/Tues so I'll be looking to catch the train to Telford to pick it up ... The drive home should tell me whether it's a keeper or not.

[skattrd]

The rvr is for a fun winter hack, tat hauler and just in case of OMG SNO KAOS. I currently don't have an estate or 4wd and that should fit the bill of both.

I'm hoping I'll be able to run it for a few months and sell it without losing much money, fingers crossed for that one.

I'm off work next Mon/Tues so I'll be looking to catch the train to Telford to pick it up ... The drive home should tell me whether it's a keeper or not.

[Pete-M]

Today I'm working my way through sorting out the XJR. First thing needed is a battery, which being bloody huge ain't gonna be cheap. Would have helped if it had been charged occasionally but that was out of my control so it's looking like £80 up the spout. Also, I've finally found the last needed 255/45/17 Continental part-worn, which is another £50 (new ones are £150+).

 

I'm actually quite happy it's raining as it'll soften all the shite that baked to the paintwork during it's 10 month stay away and make it easier to clean all the door jambs etc when I run it to the garage later. The valeters I use are going to give the floor mats a good going over where they've ended up filthy and covered in rigger boot prints (not from me, I hasten to add)

 

Tomorrow I'm gonna take it to my local welders and get the bits that didn't get done sorted. As that's about 99% of the welding it needed in the first place, I should have done this last year, but experience is a cruel teacher sometimes.

[Pete-M]

Today I'm working my way through sorting out the XJR. First thing needed is a battery, which being bloody huge ain't gonna be cheap. Would have helped if it had been charged occasionally but that was out of my control so it's looking like £80 up the spout. Also, I've finally found the last needed 255/45/17 Continental part-worn, which is another £50 (new ones are £150+).

 

I'm actually quite happy it's raining as it'll soften all the shite that baked to the paintwork during it's 10 month stay away and make it easier to clean all the door jambs etc when I run it to the garage later. The valeters I use are going to give the floor mats a good going over where they've ended up filthy and covered in rigger boot prints (not from me, I hasten to add)

 

Tomorrow I'm gonna take it to my local welders and get the bits that didn't get done sorted. As that's about 99% of the welding it needed in the first place, I should have done this last year, but experience is a cruel teacher sometimes.

[scruff]

I've just put a new clutch in my Landy.

 

 

 

That's all... anyone want to buy a Pug 106 or Mini?