The new news 24 thread

[cort16]

The radio takes some finessing . I don't think I have cruise control. I bought a dab thing today that broadcasts fm so I can listen to 6 musics and jazz hands fm.

What spec is yours (the spec badge is inside the top centre bin obviously )? mine is a dynamique.

[philibusmo]

Privilege; which I think is top spec.

 

I have the usual electric windows and sliding glass roof arrangement and I also have the following fancy toys:

Sat Nav - run by a DVD player in the passenger side glove box.

6 Disc CD changer (broken)

Rear parking sensors

Dual zone climate control

Heated front seats

Heated front screen

Cruise control

Steering wheel controls for the stereo and cruise control

Trip Computer

A 3.0 V6 with manual gearbox

[Ratdat]

Did some Nissan Corporate event today with a bunch of other wierdos in old Datsuns (and some in Renaults). I'll post some pics up in a bit when I've uploaded them. One highlight was going for a ride in this monster which somewhat re-defined to me what a fast car actually is. Now I finally know what a 1000hp feels like. Fortunately my retinas managed to stay attached. Just.

 

[cort16]

Ooof yours is well fancy I have hardly any of that . I only half leather as well. Less to go wrong I suppose . Does your roof rattle?

[vulgalour]

Gah. I've just found a BX for sale. In Wales. In my favourite BX colour (Olympic Blue). In my favourite spec (DTR Turbo, or TRD Turbo in other markets). It's pretty cheap too. Anyone want a Maestro van?

 

I'd love to relieve you of the Right Wife van but I am completely unable to do so, which is really irritating.

[dollywobbler]

Probably for the best. Seven BXs have all ultimately failed to completely win me over (even the silver one, mainly because it was silver). Perhaps I should stick with two windscreen wipers.

[cort16]

Have you had many petrol bxs dollywobbler? I imagine a gti is a more satisfying experience than an Na diesel .

[dollywobbler]

This one's another turbo diesel. A GTi auto is one I'd really like to try. The holy grail is a TZI auto estate, but I'm not sure they exist.

[trigger]

Done roughly 90 miles to North Norfolk in the Civic today, it's been exactly a year since I dragged it out of the last owners garage where it had been unused for 3 years (and hardly used for years before that) it's running great now, it still has its little moments where it dies after a run but I'm hoping that will improve.

 

One thing that has improved is the ride, fitting those tyres has made the world of difference! It doesn't bump so much and the road noise is much quieter.

 

Looking good forwards to the Super doper 70's car show at Wroxham barns now tomorrow, I just hope it says dry!

 

[cort16]

I had a gt which was rather splendid. I'd break my lhm ban for a nice gti or 16v .

I'm sure there was a tzi up recently all be it a manual . I can't remember seeing any bx autos at all back on the day.

[michael1703]

i love north norfolk,whats the itinerereryyyy?

[wuvvum]

Well they got the forecast wrong again for today.  The predicted thundery showers turned out to be scorching hot sunshine all day.  So I spent most of the day outside.

 

After mowing the lawn, I had a brief play with the bikes.  I resealed the exhaust on the Spacy (last time I'd fitted it I didn't put any paste on the pipe / cylinder join).  It now blows a bit less than it did...  I then spent ages, and half the skin off my knuckles, getting the spark plug out of the NH125.  I've never known a plug to be as much of a bitch to get out.  It initially loosened off OK, but then got gradually stiffer and stiffer, to the point that I was worried the bloody thing was going to snap off in the head.  It didn't, though, and I eventually got it out - it looked to have seen better days, with the centre electrode being somewhat worn, so I bought a new one.  I was also intending to whip the carb off and give it a clean out, but due to a really quite stupid piece of design, the air box is one piece with the rear mudguard, which means that to get the airbox off (which is necessary if the carb is to be removed), one has to unbolt the left rear shock.  I quite frankly couldn't be arsed, so I took the top off the carb and sprayed a shitload of carb cleaner down there instead.  Not very scientific, but better than nowt.  Maybe.

 

Then I fired up the Cagiva, intending to take it for a spin as it hadn't been out for a while.  After a few minutes of listening to the engine rattle (see Stupid Question Amnesty thread) and umming and aahing, I switched it off again and went indoors for a cuppa.

 

After that I headed off to my mate's who's storing the Corsair (and the Renner Six) for me.  After hauling all the crap that was piled up in front of the lean-to out of the way, I stuck a battery on it and drove it out into the garden for the first time since before Christmas.  As one would expect, it was fucking filthy, so I chucked several buckets of water over it, then I took some photos.

 

 

 

 

It had actually survived its lay-up pretty well - the crossflow fired up easily, and brakes and clutch were all free, although the clutch is probably going to need bleeding as it needed pushing right to the floor to engage reverse, and even then it crunched.

 

Once I'd put the Corsair away I then fired up the Renault 6.  Surprisingly, given that I hadn't tried to start it since April and the battery is at least ten years old, it still turned over on the key, and fired straight up with a dribble of petrol down the carb.  Unfortunately the battery didn't have enough juice to drag the fuel through from the tank on the slightly feeble mechanical pump, but the battery I'd been using on the Corsair soon had it chugging happily away.  I left it to run for a while for the fluids to circulate, then moved it backwards and forwards a bit to keep everything free.  By that time my mate was about to go out, so I had to park the Renner up again - next time I get a free day with decent weather I'll take it for a proper spin.

 

Then I came home and washed the Volvo.  It now looks rather more presentable and less mildewy.

 

 

[trigger]

Your horse hair is gorgeous Wuv, I don't think I've seen photos of it before.

[wuvvum]

Nope, this is the first time I've got proper pictures of it - I didn't think of taking any when I first bought it in the autumn, and it's been laid up since then.  It isn't bad - the bonnet is a bit rough though, and it still needs some weldage underneath.  Should be quick though, with a 1600 X-flow running a twin-choke Weber.

 

I'm hoping to make it to the '70s show tomorrow btw - will probably be late morning as I'm going out in the afternoon.

[Ratdat]

I'm not that big on Fords but Corsairs are awesome. I'd happily smoke round in one.

[hairnet]

wuv should be banned from posting about cool cars spesh if theyre his [/jelus]

 

[EssDeeWon]

I saw one of those Corsairs yesterday looking rather rough on the back of a flat bed Transit, I fear the worst;

 

 

[EssDeeWon]

Here is a close up, rough or what? Not been taxed since October 1994 !!

 

[dollywobbler]

I had a gt which was rather splendid. I'd break my lhm ban for a nice gti or 16v .

I'm sure there was a tzi up recently all be it a manual . I can't remember seeing any bx autos at all back on the day.

 

I've owned one petrol BX - a shabby 16v. It was sheer lunacy and had to be swapped for a Rover 414 bubble before I either killed myself or lost my licence. The way the power kicks in at 4000rpm is just astonishing.

[steve_earwig]

A quick hint on BX 16 Valve driving - if you get it air bourne it will return to the ground in full ABS mode - you will have no brakes for quite a few heartbeats so it's not a good idea to do this on, say, a humpback bridge on the approach to a mini roundabout

[Bucketeer]

I've owned two BXs in the past, a GTI 16V and a 19RD Estate. If I had to pick one model to have again, it would be the N/A diesel every time.

The 16V just felt like it was trying to shake itself to bits at every opportunity and I had no confidence in it whatsoever. The ride wasn't great and it just didn't feel like a BX to me, whereas the 19RD was a paragon of comfortable, relaxed, competent smokiness where every aspect was perfectly suited to every other. Even equal, transferable qualities just felt different, the diesel seemed light and nimble, the GTI seemed flimsy.

_{I've tried explaining my feelings on this subject to people before and have never managed to make any sense or explain coherently what I mean. No change here, apologies.}

 

Also, were there many differences between the engines in the BX 16V and the ZX 16V? It was probably just that specific engine, but my ZX felt A LOT faster than the BX.

[steve_earwig]

Maybe your BX 16v had seen too much time in the air... Comfy yet rock solid, both of them, even at vastly illegal road speeds. Mind you, the cars I'm talking about were only a handful of years old.

[nacho man]

So it's the weekend. Nice relax me thinks. No gotta service the old mans van

 

 

Luckily these to me are mega easy to work on and with no under tray it takes about 73 secs to change the oil and the filters up top, That's all it got today.

 

Then I get dragged to a country show my missus wanted to go to, I don't normally mind but it was full of toffs in disco 4's literally hundreds of the things everywhere.

 

Still I saw this

 

 

I also saw the 2014 mr universe of the cattle world

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

From 1991-1993 I had a TZi estate manual as my official company car,as I had access to lots of pool cars and demonstrators my wife used it and I only drove it to either fill it up or tow something. The thing always impressed me with its ride and refinement even when getting out of something costing up to 5X as much, it was also pretty lively- sort of hot hatch quick and could tow about 3 tons legally*. The only problems were that it took ages to warm up and defrost in winter and was forever steaming up. The throttle cable broke once and I drove it 200 miles with a bit of string through the window,with an XR4i on a big tilt bed car trailer across the Cambrian mountains in December, by the time I got home I was a little peeved, not to mention fuckin cold!

A diesel would probably have been more suitable but in those days company car user choosers just didn't want them, our fleet had about 25 Gtis a couple of TZS autos and my estate.

[cort16]

I had a gt and my house mate had a gti at the same time . We didn't buy them because we liked them they were just cheap old bangers. His gti got crushed after it shit all it's lhm on the a1 and he lost a brakes on a slip road with his whole family in the car. Only avoided disaster by sticking it some bushes at the aside of the road . I never really trusted them after that .

[Cavcraft]

I sold one of the Corsas tonight, luckily* for you lot it wasn't the metallic red one for sale on here.

[Fat_Pirate]

I had a ride to Beaulieu today, as it was the annual motorbike ride-in thing.  I park up, take off my helmet, and immediately see not 1, not 2, but 6 Chrysler Alpines!  

 

 

For a moment I wonder if I've actually crashed, and this is the afterlife.

 

 

 

It was actually a Simca club thing.  Being charged £7.50 for piss-poor sausage and chips dispelled any thoughts about being in heaven.

 

[wuvvum]

My latest fleet reduction exercise has begun, as so many of them have, with the fleet getting larger.  I picked this up this evening from down in Surrey:

 

 

Now that summer's here*, I'd found myself missing the Saab and envying people driving around with the roof down.  Idly browsing through eBay one lunchtime at work, I spotted the above beastie, put a ridiculously low bid on it, then ended up winning it for less than my bid.

 

It's a 1.8, so performance is adequate rather than fast.  It's also been lowered and has a rather silly loud exhaust on it at the moment, which might not be staying long as it's quite embarrassing.  It has a few issues - door windows don't go down, locks are temperamental, ABS light comes on after a while, much of the Milford on the boot lid has Cubicled, and the clutch is getting towards the end of its useful life.  However, crucially there's nothing that'll stop it being used straight away (the last thing I need is another project), and it has 11 1/2 months' test and 4 1/2 months' rent so no immediate expenses to worry about either.  It drives well enough - structural rigidity is vastly better than the Saab, although the roll bar means it's never going to be as elegant with the top down.  It doesn't get hot, despite me making the mistake of driving back through central London (I thought to myself that it's a Sunday evening and the football's on so there won't be any traffic - how naive  ).  And before you ask, that puddle of oil in the photo was already there.

 

 

Other things that happened today:  I popped into the '70s show at Wroxham Barns, had a quick look round and a chat with Trigger in a wig.  I also appear to have broken my scooter - having fitted the new spark plug, it now barely runs at all, and won't rev about 6000 even with no load.  It does feel ignition-related rather than fuel - I don't know if the coil is on its way out, or maybe I just need to gap the spark plug (although I've never known a Honda engine to be fussy about that kind of thing).  Which means that I'm going to have to press the Spacy into use to get to work tomorrow, which will be interesting.  It does seem to have managed to retain most of its oil despite the leak, although I would imagine the rate of loss will increase once the oil gets hotter and therefore runnier.  We shall see.  Also, it still has no stand, so I might have to end up leaning it against the bike shed.

[stuboy]

bored in afternoon as was raining, so artist paintbrush, some gloss black paint and voila living room has more usage

[trigger]

For the money the Golf looks surprisingly good! Well played!