The new news 24 thread

[Cavcraft]

Dash bulbs are a bastard on a BX. From memory non-working speedo means the head isn't quite lined up properly where the clocks drop in to the bit behind them. Just undo-ing them then piddling about for a few minutes does the trick and I think you can test it works before bolting everything back together.

[dollywobbler]

Yeah, everything's unbolted at the moment, thanks Billy. If I twist the cable with my fingers, the needle moves. However, the fact that I can do that suggests to me that the cable isn't connected at the other end...

[dollywobbler]

Yeah, everything's unbolted at the moment, thanks Billy. If I twist the cable with my fingers, the needle moves. However, the fact that I can do that suggests to me that the cable isn't connected at the other end...

[wuvvum]

OK, what happened there then? Too many spambots?

[wuvvum]

OK, what happened there then? Too many spambots?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Aux belt on server needed tightening.

[vulgalour]

Sam, Sam the Montego Man (Captain Slow on here and other forums) had a neb at the Skattrd Maestro and sorted out the carb so it runs and idles nicer now and I know which bits to fiddle to fine tune it later. This is a good thing. Came back from the Motornutz car meet via the M1 and was reminded just why I hate motorways at night, give me an A road over a motorway any day or night of the week! Had a sit and tiny little drive of Sam's Montego and was at first gleeful at the experience, then sad because it highlighted just how crap my own cars are

 

One thing I've been delighted by with the Maestro is the fuel usage, or lack thereof. I'd figured that if I could get a full week's commuting out of it from a full tank of petrol, I'll be happy. I've done three days of commuting and some other errands and used only just over half a tank of fuel which means it must be running pretty good and my driving style must have improved with it compared to the first drive home. It did break my brain a bit when I got in the Montego though, it's so similar in so many ways visually that I managed to stall it when setting off and my feet had a brief moment where they couldn't remember what to do.

 

Sam took some pictures of the Maestro and Monty together too, at some point I'm sure he'll put them online as they did make for a smart pair.

[michael1703]

Car parking ding.....So.. other half drove range rover into post, fucked wing and door and ripped the step off, bought a door and wing in right colour, all good.

 

Door wouldnt fit, when shut you could put your hand through the gap at the top, she bent the "A" post too! had to pack the hinge out to get a good shutline

 

Leccy window wouldnt work,mirror multiplug wrong shape, no locking and door open beeper on and courtesy light on all the time

 

Changed new door loom for original door loom, all fixed,put back together and find speaker magnet on floor, so have to take doorcard and investigate at later date

 

 

 

[Pete-M]

D'oh.

 

Golf passed MOT and flew through emissions with a new back box. It's quite quiet with a proper exhaust. Continental drift slow though, I can't imagine what the 60 bhp 1.4 is like, I remember the non-turbo diesels used to gather moss on 0-60 runs.

 

From recycling yard hedge to the road in five days. New brakes, serviced, cleaned thoroughly, wheels balanced, mot and sorted for under £300.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't realise that it's the 75 bhp multi-point injection job until too late. So it's another £150 to insure than the 60 horse job!

[warren t claim]

D'oh.

 

Golf passed MOT and flew through emissions with a new back box. It's quite quiet with a proper exhaust. Continental drift slow though, I can't imagine what the 60 bhp 1.4 is like, I remember the non-turbo diesels used to gather moss on 0-60 runs.

 

From recycling yard hedge to the road in five days. New brakes, serviced, cleaned thoroughly, wheels balanced, mot and sorted for under £300.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't realise that it's the 75 bhp multi-point injection job until too late. So it's another £150 to insure than the 60 horse job!

Golfs are for WINNAZ.

[dollywobbler]

Managed to get two sections of the BX's speedo cable to interact again, so it's now fully functioning. One of the heater panel bulbs has stopped working though. I suspect a loose connection. Meh.

 

In other news, the Bluebird is still running cool. Sodding thing. Also Meh.

 

In further news, I pulled the HRW switch out of the Maverick as it doesn't light up like it should. I discovered that the switches use tiny 3mm bulbs with wires that need to be threaded through a rubbery bit using nano-surgery precision. Arse. New bulbs ordered.

[HMC]

Just collected the volvo 850 from a tuning specialist as it seemed a bit down on power. It seems something that tells the turbo when to boost wasnt working properly, simple repair and now have better than ever performance, great! Must start saving for the inevitable set of front tyres!

[CreepingJesus]

They eat front tyres for fun. Mine does, and it's only the 10v; it had a pair of fronts last week in prep for its MOT.

Which it failed, badly. £350+ worth of front suspension and other repairs. Including both front arms, one of which is just over a year old.

I swear I'll buy a fucking Centurion one of these days, and exact my revenge on Fife's shitty fucking roads.

[michael1703]

I'm not one for subliminal marketing, but I'm thinking of getting a really long tailored car mat to use as a putting green as i stand there in my bargain ugg boots and putting with my new ping g20 golf clubs

[dollywobbler]

Bit disappointed to discover today that the 2CV has clocked up a miserable 1100 miles since mid-May. That tells you a lot about our washout summer! A good chunk of those miles were clocked up in one weekend too.

[DSdriver]

Got the Pug back today after service which became OMGHGF repair. They did the cam belt at the same time so haven't got to worry about that for another 15 years. And the weather should improve now that I have something else to use rather than the Safari to go down lanes that are rather like stream beds.

[vulgalour]

Maestro has achieved, over the course of the past week of commuting and other light duties to the tune of 216 miles a combined total of 29.19mpg which is quite respectable. Even more so when you consider that for the majority of that period the car was running rich, has a blowing exhaust and is driven by someone unfamiliar with the vagaries of automatics. I had budgeted for about 30mpg as I wasn't sure what I'd get so I'm happy with the figure that's been returned.

 

I'm uncomfortable that I've managed to put 407 miles on the car, and that my overall fuel usage from day one is 20.69mpg average but having said that, the first few days of ownership were all about learning the car, it's niggles, and how to get the best economy out of it. My current ploy is to adopt the Drive Like a Giffer style which seems to return the best mpg and the most relaxing driving experience. With further tinkering and tweaking, I suspect I could achieve mid-30s on the mpg side of things which would be more than adequate, but I doubt I'll ever reach the heady heights of the Polo's average 39mpg.

 

Oh, and I'm also still the highest bidder on the Mayfair Maestro, though the auction doesn't end until Monday morning at 6am, which is halfway between me waking up and having to leave the house for work, so the outcome of that should end up setting my mood for the rest of the week.

[dollywobbler]

Decision made. I need a Xantia V6 in my life. Does anyone fancy swapping one for a Nissan Bluebird? No? Aw, go on.

[wackywacerwill]

Today consisted mostly of engine and useful/flogable part removal from this here corsa in the pissing rain.

Fingers crossed that tomorrow the chap who wants the engine turns up early and we have time to bridge the rest. Useful spares aplenty if anyone here has the misfortune to own such a creation.

[coalnotdole]

Today I drove the Rebel van 500 miles to north wales and back to pick up an Essex engine I don't particularly want... I mistakenly bought it on ebay thinking it was an early type block and subsequently it tuned out to be a late one with early style tinware. I got it for a decent price so its unlikely I'll loose out on it too much even if i strip it for parts.

 

The van did well really with no incidents or upsets, its probably the hardest its had to work in its entire life! It even coped well with a nightmare 2 hours of stop start traffic on the M25. It does badly need a better ratio'd axle though and some sound insulation and possibly a radio....

[nigel bickle]

Epic Joe. Ears still ringing?

[Cavcraft]

Today consisted mostly of engine and useful/flogable part removal from this here corsa in the pissing rain.

 

Fingers crossed that tomorrow the chap who wants the engine turns up early and we have time to bridge the rest. Useful spares aplenty if anyone here has the misfortune to own such a creation.

 

 

Is that a 'C' and if so what is the interior like on it please?

 

 

Talking of Corsas...

..emergency drive up to sunny* Leigh in Lanc's this morning to collect a sub frame for my lad's car. Driving LAC in the 306 I got there and back in damned good time. Just dropped it off at the garage who are doing the work, then took the car down and biked it back on my 1970's racer.

New clutch kit (decent quality and included slave cylinder) is £140 with the Vodka And Tonic which hurt a bit, but as the rear oil seal is gone, the clutch is shit and the subframe is coming out it sort of made sense to get it done at the same time.

I'm now no longer high bidder on the steels that Krujoe kindly pointed out on eRubbish, but I've found some more which are cheaper and not far away. Tghis means Corsa goes back to standard height/looks less stupid and the Cavalier will return to it's standard steels.

[sporty-shite]

Where did you go in Leigh, Billy? Should have called for a brew!

[cms206]

The Volvo has a problem with the earth; sidelights on all is well, headlights on we have an orange offside sidelight, and indication is by way of alternating main and dipped beam. Bumhats.

[Cavcraft]

I was going to Chris and was also going to give WAT a shout, but sadly time was against me. Went to Bond Street, WA7, ropey looking transport/storage yard with a very pissed off looking alsation hanging about.

[Negative Creep]

I know this sound churlish and ungrateful since it was a gift, but I'm really bored with the Punto. It's just a car with nothing interesting or unique about it at all, hence I cannot get excited about it. In fact the only things that I prefer over the Bluebird is the insurance and fuel economy (which to be fair are pretty much half and double respectively)

[Junkman]

Sorted the headlight of the 405 today.

It only had sidelight, or main beam, but not dipped beam, which made for interesting driving by night in the rain through a forest.

I thought it may be the headlamp relay, which turned out to be true - in a way. The 12V feed to the relay had snapped off at the connector in the block that holds the relay.

I surgically removed the connector from the block, stripped 1/2 inch off the cable insulation, soldered the wire to a new connector, inserted it back into the block, put the relay back in, and whooshbonk! Dipped beam working!

[Rocket88]

Set about sorting out the "fail" sheet on the Riley roadster.Rear brake imbalance caused by tiny weep from halfshaft seal. Rear brake drum contaminated to a small degree, as are the brake shoes. Brake shoes cleaned up reasonably ok, and drum is going on the fire this evening to burn off contaminates. Sealed up some small leaks in the exhaust by resealing joints with bodging paste. Re-routed wiring loom to clear bottom of steering column.

[Bobthebeard]

The Volvo has a problem with the earth.....

Me too..... The Volvo is not alone. The earth is trying to reclaim my car!

[Largactil]

Found an old CD containing photos from about 8 years back - Including a few of my old Mk2 Golf which I gave away to a mate for a case of beer.

 

 

 

Also, these are the only photos I have of my Avantime... Wonder where it is now...?