The new news 24 thread

[andy18s]

Spent Sat down at Race Retro at Stoneleigh Park

Had snow at home as we set off,the sun burst out just as we arrived and stayed with us untill we started the trip home

Wind was bitter tho

Excellent day spent watching various ages of rally cars getting chucked about a "rally stage"

 

Couple of pics

 

Walked around a corner to see this carpark of wet dreams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Star of the show for me was this incredibly rare RS1700T

 

 

Few more here if you are interested

 

http://s304.photobucket.com/user/Ten660/slideshow/Race%20Retro%202015

[mercrocker]

My old neighbour from sunninghill just came over in his new toy. We've just been doing up and down the park's drive. Apart from the plastic switches it's like being in the forties!

Quite agree, I could quite happily spend the rest of my life making that look like a Wellington bomber inside.

[Shep Shepherd]

Bade farewell to The Wentworth yesterday evening, which is to be used as a spares source for the 940 estate (fitted with a truck turbo running 20 psi boost) towing the trailer:

 

 

It was going to go to the buyer as repairable project, but damage to the nearside rear floor sustained during my 'off' put paid to that. At least its many good parts will help keep other 700s and 900s on the road. Why, The Volvo has its road wheels (fitted with almost new Yokohama tyres) and steering wheel

 

As for The Saab, I have driven it over 1000 miles since I bought it, and it's proving to be a sound buy

 

EDIT (1645): The collection could have ended better for The Wentworth's new owner:

 

 

I blame the Wentworth Effect.

[Lacquer Peel]

What SAAB have you got Shep?

[Shep Shepherd]

^

2000 9-5 SE 2.3t manual estate:

 

 

Loving it so far

[barrett]

Spent the day trying to shift the dead Bond from the bottom of my drive in preparation for its journey to pastures new next weekend. One brake stuck on, and I think I used up most of the BX's clutch dragging it around, but eventually we got it roughly where I wanted it. then cleared the garage and organised the huge piles of bits that are going with it. My drive looks even more like a 'neighbours from hell' scene than usual, I'll get a photo in the morning for the lols.

Thanks to Garycox for donating his Sunday to help out.

 

Did I mention new tat tomorrow? I'm actually quite excited despite promising never to buy non-running a car sight unseen again after the Sunbeam debacle. Pics of that to follow, hopefully

[wuvvum]

Looking forward to finding out what you've unearthed.  You do seem to have a thing for obscure British specials.

[coalnotdole]

Dave and myself spent the weekend doing a bit of work to the straight 6 coupe and the crossflow rebel. The straight 6 is now the most drivable it's been at any point since I bought it at the end of last year. Nominally its mot'd but hasn't really been driven much apart from being moved between lockup garages, it hadn't moved in the last month. A new fuel adapter for the fuel hose combined with a rebuilt carb and rebuilt fuel pump have done a lot to make it a much nicer car on the road. It's still very under powered but the only thing I can think of that will cure that is restoring the triple su carbs and replacing the incorrect zenith that's fitted at the moment. In order to put the su's back I need to get the inlet manifolds remade... Hopefully that's something I can get sorted with the foundry tomorrow.

 

In other news the Orji the crossflow rebel was dug out from its long period in storage and taken for a day of tuning / testing after being fitted with a new carb. I'll try and write that up as a full post in the next few days. There's another video too!

 

I've also been having some serious thoughts about the state of the fleet and my current projects so I'll stick up a seperate post about that at some point

[rrsix]

Fuel pump failure on the 320i..where? Right hand lane of the fuckin m8 in rush hour traffic.

RAC plus highway plus polis. Superb.

I fear I may be fitting the second in 5 years to mine soon.

[320touring]

I fear I may be fitting the second in 5 years to mine soon.

This unit was new and has overheated seceral times. Starting ro think its a fault with the wiring.

[barrett]

Hey Joe I don't think I've even seen a picture of the SE4 since it's been back together, get some ruddy fleet photos up man.

My hankering for a Rebel was rekindled for some reason last week, but I really think I need to try one out before actually spending any money on one. And also no more cars

[gordonbennet]

My lad is after a 4x4, he was going to look at a 90 series Landcruiser Colorado yesterday which is the beasty i bought a month ago, so he came over and spent a while under mine which is in good nick underneath so he'd know what to look for, i was at work yesterday so couldn't go with him (just as well it appears i'm blind as a bat)...time well spent, he didn't even ask for the keys at the dealer, 5 mins under the potential purchase saw him get back in his car and bugger off home, rust, more rust and then some rust.

 

Anyway while he's under mine the eagle eyed bugger noticed a thin line right beside the bead on the inside of one of the 4 matching well treaded Cooper tyres...i hadn't seen the bugger and i had all 4 wheels off couple of weeks ago to check stuff over...nasty, its not a line its a single ultra thin crack the whole way round the tyre...then he looks at the others and sure enough all 4 have the same perishing single crack round the entire circumference, not bad but enough you get your finger nail well in.

 

Bollocks, no signs of deterioration, not a single perishing crease on the outside or the tread, bloody glad he looked now.

 

The motors low mileage so they've probably been on for years, big tyres like these 265/75 x 16 usually last at least 50k miles and it's only done 110k from new in 15 years, very low miles with the second owner last 5 years.

 

So thats 4 nearly new Cooper Discoverers coming off and 4 new tyres on their merry way from Germany, my fault, i missed these cracks, one of those things don't think anyone was trying to pull a fast one, it just needed younger eyes to see...looks like the tables have turned, i used to help him check cars out, seems i'd better borrow him to check my possibles out from now, old age has officially arrived.

[320touring]

There is a lot less welding involved in fitting tyress compared to outriggers:)

[Tayne]

What's the date code on the cracked tyres?

[gordonbennet]

There is a lot less welding involved in fitting tyress compared to outriggers:)

Good point.

 

The chassis doesn't tend to rot through on LC's, you get a rust line down the weld seams but they have to get really old and neglected to rot through, its the body sills that suffer first, easy to spot, just look up between the side steps and chassis rails especially at the ends of the sills.

 

What really annoys me about rust is that invariably its sheer bloody bone idleness of the previous owners, who couldn't be arsed to wash the salt off once a year when the spring arrives, if they did that and nothing else there'd be lots of old motors still about.

 

Tayne, date code reads 07, not old on my eyes but still 8 years it might be expected,

[rrsix]

This unit was new and has overheated seceral times. Starting ro think its a fault with the wiring.

 

My original fault which seems to be reoccurring with the replacement now as well is bad stuttering and almost complete loss of power for a few seconds. It's also random as to when it will appear.

[Cavcraft]

I'm down to just two cars! One working (mostly) the other with HGF. WCPGW? I'd better buy another car today, and another vehicle on Thursday, just to be sure.

[Tayne]

Or just not buy a Vauxhall.

[Cavcraft]

Have you been drinking?

[Tayne]

Yes, on many occasions.

Vauxhalls are still all shit when I'm pissed though.

I'm not sure I'd want to drink the mind-bending brews that you must imbibe.

[barrett]

Can you tell what it is yet?

[scruff]

Awesome - Austin 7 based? 

[Cavcraft]

Is it a Peel or something obscure like that?

[HMC]

Look like an Elva courier (going by the rear wing line) crossed with a ferrari GTO

[Ghosty]

I have no clue what it is but it looks fantastic.

[dollywobbler]

Going by the tiny brake drum, I wonder if it's a kit for some old sidevalve Ford. 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

The back end looks like an Ashley ,but the bonnet is far to attractive.

[cort16]

Nissan GT-R?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I'm leaning mor towards Cowley than Dagenham for the chassis , but on reflection it looks a bit too compact for some sort of Ashley.

 

Sad comment on Google , when you image search ' Ashley car' uyou get lots of pictures of Ashley Olsen and Ashley Tidsdale getting in an out of G Wagens and the like.

[coalnotdole]

I think its an Austin 7 Based Special, Something really obscure like a Heron?

 

PS will try and sort out some photos when I post about the fleet review shock news is that I may sell the blue rebel van...!