The new news 24 thread

[michiel]

Just done a deal to bring a Hotchkiss Anjou back from France. Bargain shiply transport deal of £650 to bring it back from right down in the south east france. Best bit was knocking a 1000 euro's of the price of the car !! http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/366087121.htm?ca=12_s

 

Wow, nice & odd car that! Came across that advert last week, just browsing you know... would love an Anjou sedan.

[panhard65]

I must admit I would of prefered a saloon but they are just so expensive. I managed to get the pick up for 1600 euro which I didn't think was too bad as it is a runner. It is all paid for now and should be delivered early next week fingers crossed. I was hoping to go get it myself but I got a shiply quote that was less than it would of cost me in fuel. I will see how I get on with this one and keep my eyes open for a cabourg as that is the one I really fancy next. Or there is the panhard pl17 ambulance for 1800 euro. Mmmm if my fregate sell next week I might be off after it.

http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/348414303.htm?ca=12_s

[Tayne]

My hedgehog has been playing up.

That's the name given to the finned Final Stage Resistor that controls the heater blower.

First I had no blowers (car mists up in traffic) and then I had them again but couldn't control the temperature. Unfortunately I couldn't turn them off, even when the car was turned off.

Removal of a 40amp fuse meant I had a good battery but no blowers.

I attempted to change it today but gave up after I failed to get the fixings of the motor in front of the resistor.

I drove round to my local BMW independent with bits of interior on the back seat and he laughed at my efforts and said "yeah, that screw's a bastard".

He's taken pity on me and is doing it on Wednesday, along with the service which is due in 800miles or so.

 

I came back home and put my winter tyres on on a filled up with very concentrated screen wash.

 

Well shod by Tayne, on Flickr

[barefoot]

...I came back home and put my winter tyres on ...

 

How does your BMW behave on Winter tyres?

I haven't bought any for the 944 because I assumed it would be dismal.

(Scirocco Brill)

[dollywobbler]

Bluebird has MOT with no advisories. Hoorah! BX is still awaiting the arrival of a new rear brake pipe. Boo!

[Mike D]

I have just picked up £100 worth of the finest Renault Megane! Tested til the end of feb, recent cambelt and water pump, and a smattering of rust around the arches.. It's actually pretty good! It's a 1.6 16v RT sport - seeems to go ok considering!

 

I dont really have any plans for it, it was my mate from works, and he was going to weigh it in as hed bought a new car, theres nowt up with it, he just didnt want the hassle of selling it, so i bunged him a ton, taxed it and it'll do as a spare car / winter beater for when the roads ice up and my 330 decides not to play

[Tayne]

...I came back home and put my winter tyres on ...

 

How does your BMW behave on Winter tyres?

I haven't bought any for the 944 because I assumed it would be dismal.

(Scirocco Brill)

 

Bit too early to tell.

So far it just seems a little noisier.

[vulgalour]

If the driving of others is any indication, the Ledbury is simultaneously permanently cloaked and the scariest thing on the road when it comes into view.

[dollywobbler]

Bluebird has toddled off to its new home. That's two successful Ebay sales this year, and one fail. BX will hopefully be MOTd this afternoon ready for collection tomorrow.

[trigger]

Due to my Mondeo's lumpy starting I decided to change the fuel filter this afternoon to see if that cures the problem, I managed to swap it all over o.k but I make the school boy error of not filling the fuel filter up first as "the Haynes manual said you didn't need to". Now i can't get the bugger to start and the batteries starting to go flat.

 

Bo11ox, I'll have to wait for the wife to get home so i can use her car to get some diesel as the Mondeos broken down in front of the Cortina... I fail at mechanics.

[sporty-shite]

Due to my Mondeo's lumpy starting I decided to change the fuel filter this afternoon to see if that cures the problem, I managed to swap it all over o.k but I make the school boy error of not filling the fuel filter up first as "the Haynes manual said you didn't need to". Now i can't get the bugger to start and the batteries starting to go flat.

 

Bo11ox, I'll have to wait for the wife to get home so i can use her car to get some diesel as the Mondeos broken down in front of the Cortina... I fail at mechanics.

 

Trig, is it diesel? If it's the same as my Transit (2000 model) was, just turn the ignition on whilst pressing the brake and accelerator to the floor as if you were re-setting the service light. The pump will then prime the filter up on its own.

[trigger]

Really?, Mine's a 2005 2.2 TDCi model, I'll give that a try...

 

Edit... Still no luck.

[sporty-shite]

Really?, Mine's a 2005 2.2 TDCi model, I'll give that a try...

 

Edit... Still no luck.

 

Bugger. Worth a try, though.

[panhard65]

Oh dear the mondeo fuel filter the only way round that is a hand primer like you get on old peugeots. Take the outlet pipe off the filter and draw the fuel through it. These are a nightmare and if you crank it too much you can bugger the high pressure pump up or the starter motor or on a really bad day both. It really is the only way to do it we spent hours the first time we done one of these trying to get it going.

[ashmicro]

If I'm right that's a Delphi pump on those, known for being "a bit shit". Prob best not to tax it overmuch.

[trigger]

I wish i never touched the bastard thing now, I went out and bought a 5l fuel can and some funnels, got £6 of diesel, spent another hour fucking about with it including losing a suspension bolt in the engine bay and still not got any further forwards.

 

I poured the fuel into the filter only for it to piss straight back out of another outlet and not fill up the filter, I got the right hump and now it sits in bits across the garden until my dad comes over to take a look at it. Oh and the batteries now completely dead.

 

I hate cars.

[ruffgeezer]

Yeah I had this on a focus I serviced, I want to know what stupid cunt on the board decided that it was ok NOT to have a primer pump of any sort, I took one off of a scrap zx and cobbled some ends on it to add it inline, I use it on every one of the stupid bloody things I change the filter on now.

[cobblers]

Had most of the inside of the van apart trying to chase a jangly rattle that was doing my head in - sounded like it was something in the cupboard. Went for a new (to me) tyre after getting a flat while driving, and shazam:

 

 

Collar has fallen off the one month old damper. I'll just weld it back on rather than try and get it swapped, It's less aggro. Which gets me onto the latest thing - I've finally got a bottle of gas, a regulator and a new motor in the welder, and there's a Ka on the drive that I need to get sorted for my nan to replace her Mk3 fiesta.

 

I had a good prod about and decided to just put one patch in. I'm working upside down on a flipping 1 in 3 driveway, in the drizzle so I'm not about to do a TonyBMW (of RR fame) job on it.

Anyway so I went at it with the grinder, rather than dick about I just cut out loads past the rust cos it's easier to put a whacking great patch in to solid metal than piece 50p size chunks in. The inner sill was OK (I dented it picking the sill off but it wasn't shagged), but in all honesty I wasn't about to start picking the thing to pieces if it was rough.

 

 

Handily the bloke that built the house left a sheet metal bender outside, just add hammer. Used a window cutout from when I put some windows in a T4 a while ago, unfortunately it's got about 10 coats of paint on which takes some shifting.

 

 

Cut it to fit and poked a few holes. Decided it was just gonna bosh it over the top rather than making it flush seeing as I'm not doing a restoration on it, plus I couldn't be arsed with the inevitable chasing holes I'd blown all over the place.

 

I was doing all this while waiting for the postman to turn up with a gas regulator, by the time he came and I got the welder set up it was dark so the pics of my wikkid welding didn't come out.

 

Just needs a set of HT leads and a coils, then I'll bung it in for a test - Hope that running it with a misfire for ages hasn't pooched the CAT. If it passes then I'll give it a quick service and it's off to nana cobblers. If anyone wants her mk3 fez for not a lot of dollar drop me a line.

[rml2345]

Waiting for a new fuel pump relay as mine appears to be dying... Then I can go back to being able to rely on the Volvo rather than worry about potential relay based stranding.

[Shep Shepherd]

This afternoon I discovered that it's possible to open a stuck-closed glove box lid on a Volvo V70 without causing any damage to the lid or the dashboard. You simply need to use a combination of a big screwdriver, brute force and ignorance

[dollywobbler]

BX is working again, but not yet MOTd. I'm going to take it to a different place tomorrow, though I feel a bit sorry for the bloke who's been doing the work as he's had a dead BX on his ramp for a week (after the brake pipe snapped and it took AGES to get a replacement). It's also merrily been pissing LHM all over the floor. I really need to get that Flow Diverter Valve sorted out - a job I was hoping to put off for a bit longer.

 

I seriously hope it passes the MOT as I'm already dreading what sort of a bill I'm going to get.

[HMC]

Managed to do a 180 degree spin in the eunos whilst trying a bit too hard on an empty country lane. Felt very foolish but othe only onlookers were a few cattle. Car fortunately undamaged! I would imagine even the slightest parking knock would classify it as uneconomic to repair.

[Cheggers]

It looks like sis-in-law has managed to write off her 406 against the back of a Range Rover...I can't even tell you why at the moment, but I'll bet my input is needed somewhere down the line.

[dollywobbler]

I've got my BX back! Absolutely transformed by the arm bearings. The ride is so much smoother. It's a good sign that I've really missed this car while it's been away. Still quite a bit to do, but the fact it feels vastly different to when I bought it is a major boost. It's heading in the right direction.

[DodgyBastard]

The new purchase bought yesterday with a weeks MOT passed first time today for a grand total of £25 so the car now owes us £325 with a years MOT. Shit news is I now have 2 cars to tax at the end of the month.

 

Here's a pic..

 

 

 

 

In other news, picked up some metric bbs for the E34, it's starting to look quite good..

 

From this,

 

 

 

 

To this

 

[vulgalour]

Dropped in at a more different local garage and got the Maestro wheels balanced at £4 a corner. I was right, they were all off but not by much, probably weren't rebalanced when the new tyres were fitted and, since the car hasn't been used for much fast long distance stuff it's unlikely the issue would ever have surfaced as it only happened at an indicated 65-75mph. Other thing I spent cash on were some new wiper blades because the old ones are driving me nuts, even though they look perfectly fine. I'll put a front one on the back to replaced the utterly shagged rear wiper.

 

Noticed when stood in traffic that the temperature gauge was climbing a fair bit, not into danger territory, but warmer than I would have liked. Will have to investigate this at some point. Currently sat feeling sorry for myself because I got sent home early again for getting the voms and the other office people not wanting to be infected. Ah well, I've got a 3 day weekend now, no money (I didn't have much before buying much needed car things), and a Maestro to return to its rightful owner. Just have to hope I stop vomming soon, it's really not fun.

 

I doubt I'll make the Staffs show, and Dad is worried he might not be able to make it either as he's started to get the symptoms of the vom bug too. Boo, was looking forward to meeting lots of people, but it looks like it'll probably be a no-go now

[Lord Sterling]

INDEEDEE

 

Whilst driving home from work in the Micra last night, I noticed the wipers were squeeking quite badly against the screen, I thought the the wipers were on thier way out so today I actually forked out £40 for 4 wipers, 2 for the Micra and 2 for the Rover, very unlike me as I tend to be rather mean with my money.

 

The new wipers are these flat aero things that everyone seems to have today, fitted them up in literally under a minute on each car, again very unlike this to happen, usually wipers are bastard things to to take and fit. The new wipers on the Micra still squeeked against the screen which has rather pissed me off, though at least they are new.

 

Whilst I bought some new wipers for the Rover, I also managed to purchase some new water jet tubing as the old ones had gone brittle and broken off, fitting it up was also very easy, within about 10 ins I had new water jet tubing:

 

Old tubing:

 

New:

 

New wipers:

 

The new wipers and water jet tubing worked wonders together, so I'm happy with that. All I need do now is buy another wiper for the Micras rear window and sort out the squeeking.

[vulgalour]

Skattrd Maestro returned. When I first picked this car up it used nearly all of the 1/4 tank of petrol, delivering it back on the same route used less than 1/8th of a tank, I'd say that's an improvement, though I suspect it still needs setting up properly as it's not quite as right as I'd like it if it were mine... which it's not.

 

Got home, found that the Ledbury is the only car to be covered in ice but that the little A+ engine DOESN'T CARE and is happy to start whatever the weather. Interesting how different the two cars felt having driven them in such a short time apart and I must say I do prefer the Ledbury to the Auto, but I suspect I'll mostly be on my own with that.

 

Tomorrow is destined to be the day I finish off the polishing as the weather got the better of me yet again after having cleaned and polished most of the car. I'll also be vacuuming and scrubbing the interior and, hopefully, doing a bit of panel beating on the rear valance and rear bumper.

 

Took the front end of the Princess apart and have discovered that while part of the valance and wing is deformed, on the whole there really isn't much damage. Straightened the big kink out of the bonnet by using brute strength and almost managed to straighten the slam panel too, but I need a pushy-pully-device to get that sorted. Bumper looks salvagable but I might need to buy a wing not because of dents, but because of rot.

 

All in all, this has been a good car day. Long may it continue.

[dollywobbler]

Had a rather jolly day laning in the Maverick. Weather was superb this morning, then turned pretty horrible. I got no pics but I know others did, and there might even be video.

[Rocket88]

INDEEDEE

 

Whilst driving home from work in the Micra last night, I noticed the wipers were squeeking quite badly against the screen, I thought the the wipers were on thier way out so today I actually forked out £40 for 4 wipers, 2 for the Micra and 2 for the Rover, very unlike me as I tend to be rather mean with my money.

 

Give the screen a thorough clean, usually sorts out squeaking wipers.