The new news 24 thread

[Craig the Princess]

Another huge amount of love for the Granada. Not sure I would have one as it would break my heart if I came out one morning and it had disappeared.

[greengartside]

Genuinely excited for you Trig, check everywhere for rust but I think that looks quite good in the photos. I would say to take a spare fuel filter if you have one, my dad's 2.8 estate had a clogged filter near the carb which provided a few fail to proceed moments. When we found it was the filter that was goosed, it was chocked-full of rust presumably from the tank where dad used to boot it all the time.

[richardmorris]

Lovely day today at my niece's third birthday in Oxford -14 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. BUT, my sister's mother in law's 04reg Hyundai coupe had something of an incontenance problem that led to me lying in the street trying to find the source of the coolant leak. Bottom o/s corner was wet but I couldn't tell exactly if it was coming from the hose in that corner or the rad itself.

Apparently she had topped it up the day before- determined not to miss granddaughter's birthday and on the drive from wolves to oxon had lost what she had put in.

 

Is this a common problem? It also has quite a whine in reverse and full steering lock (eg reversing out of drive onto road)'which seems to me like a power steering pump, but if anyone has any other ideas I'm going to pass them on to her so she has some info going to the garage in Monday.

 

By the way, anyone asking my help is in dire need of assistance!

[dugong]

I needed to see if I could hack driving an open car after my accident. Colleagues had been debating the fate of my MGF VVC since my spill; I decided the only way to see whether or not I could cope was to drag the 'F off the gravel drive it had been sat on since late December. I had intended to get it running sooner, but a certain Midget had other ideas.

 

As predicted the battery was flatter than a Dutch pool table. With the aid of a slave battery I keep around it fired up fine, the brakes taking a wee while to deglaze. It was Jackson Pollock'd in nigh-on two months of bird eruptions, but following a swift explanation at the local hand car wash, all was well.

 

The 'F didn't scare me - in fact, it was nice to make the most of the good weather we've had in the Fens over the past week. A blessed relief, really - although I easily managed NSL, I had very little inclination to plant the throttle hard. In fact the scariest thing about the entire drive was the road surface that changed from flat tarmac to rutted over the brow of a hill. That wasn't fun but the 'F coped and so did I - otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to enter work's new storage unit.

 

 

 

In a hilariously cyclical turn of events, my colleague Jozza decided to purchase an MG Midget 1500 for use over the summer. It's a lovely, solid condition 2+ car that will see him well. Getting back behind the wheel of an A35 sports was a weirdly contradictory experience.

 

 

Alas, there's more! I have news about the Amazon as well. It's been so long off the road the MoT and insurance have lapsed; no matter, it'll get a proper airing in 2015 having missed out on most of last year following an over running restoration, various setbacks and the sainted roof panel parting company on the A55. I can't say it'll be appearing at many shows, though - I want to enjoy rather than endure yet another round of derision and pointless sniping because it isn't concours. The appalling reproduction door mirrors will be coming off and the glasshouse profile strip will be staying off because of a problem with the paint around the gutter which will have to be eventually blown in again. That can wait - I want to drive it and enjoy it again.

 

 

Roof aside, Classic Swede is also putting right the other things the previous restorers threw back together in their rush to get the car out of their unit. It should finally receive some of the touches I've wanted to add to it for a while - decent seatbelts, headrests, the 'Sixties Nardi I've owned since 2007, early front door caps, the 1957 clock I bought at the Eskilstuna Vederandag - plus a correctly adjusted clutch, a properly bled braking system, non-oval rear wheels and a functional headlining.

 

 

This innocuous-looking bracket is the main reason why the Amazon hasn't been out and about recently. It's one of two slider catches which hold the metal sunroof plate in its aperture, allowing it to move fore and aft with a pivot helping to seat it flush against the outer roof skin. Long story short - the previous restorer took the roof to pieces against my wishes and put the mechanism back in minus a catch. Net result? A 20lb metal plate cartwheeling down the A55 at NSL towards FATHA_DUGONG who was following behind. The shock dented the panel but left the rest of the cartridge unscathed, although the one die cast catch remaining twisted in the melee and had to be thrown away because of stress fractures.

 

I'd been told a cock and bull story about the Golde roof on my Amazon; it was more common for the dealer to fit full-length Webastos in period. Quite a few of these converted cars remain, and in good condition, they're a charming feature, especially if it's a pre '61 120 in two-tone.

Golde roofs were different in that they were fitted by Volvo itself, a factory endorsed option if you will. Volvo bought the cartridges en masse from Golde and sent the cars down a special section of the line if the build sheet requested it. Either it was an unpopular extra or hideously expensive - certainly I've never seen another and spares aren't exactly plentiful. I was left with a conundrum - weld the roof up or have it repaired properly, somehow.

 

Eventually, research led me to a supplier in Australia which had begun to remanufacture the sliders in brass using a CNC milling machine. A cross reference of the parts numbers revealed that the same Golde cartridge was used by Ford Down Under in three consecutive series of Falcons. Enough cars had survived to warrant a cottage industry supporting their repair - albeit at an exorbitant price. As the remaining catch couldn't be used as datum, I bit the bullet and sent away for them. The total bill came to nearly £400 - for two brass catches.

 

Plans nothwithstanding, I should get the car back in April in time to break down for Drive It Day 2015.

[dollywobbler]

Orsum news all-round Mr Dugong. If you're getting the Amazon properly back on the road, I really can't hang about reviving the 2CV can I? Where do we race next?

[trigger]

Great news Jon, Glad to hear you're starting to feel better again mate.

[wuvvum]

Fucking supermarket lorries.  Fucking roadworks.  Fucking moronic temporary speed limits.  Fucking sat navs.  Fucking winch cables.

 

On a more positive note, the A628 is a stunning road.

[Bren]

The quack prescribed me something for my sinusitis.

 

Fuck me it's strong......

 

 

[wuvvum]

[Ghosty]

Fucking supermarket lorries.  Fucking roadworks.  Fucking moronic temporary speed limits.  Fucking sat navs.  Fucking winch cables.

 

On a more positive note, the A628 is a stunning road.

Ey, Woodhead! Tour de France was up there last year - and as chez Ghosty is abut 3 miles from the eastern end of it, I was watching it. A discarded water bottle landed in my open backpack!

 

 

Woodhead is the main A-road across the Peak District - there are much, much better ones that aren't plagued with trucks. For one, a road across the Derwent Valley from the A628 in Langsett down to the A57 - stunning views, crazy gradients, and a wonderful way to drop down into Sheffield.

[wuvvum]

I actually only got stuck behind one truck over the whole length of the road, and I got past him on the long uphill two lane bit.  To be fair, he wasn't hanging about - I could see him in my mirrors for quite a while going down the other side - but I wanted to look at the scenery rather than the back of an artic.

 

I came home via the motorway though - there are some quite steep bits on that road, and I wasn't sure whether the Mondeo (or I)would enjoy dragging the Austin up them.

 

Here's a couple more pics.  It is rough, bless it.  Underneath and floorpans don't seem too bad though.  I didn't do much with it yesterday as it took me 11 hours to get it home (5 hours driving each way plus half an hour each end for loading / unloading) and I was knackered, but I've ascertained that the clutch works, the handbrake sort of does and the footbrake doesn't.  It has no lights but the rear indicators do work, as do the wipers and the heater blower.  The engine turns over happily and the oil light goes out after a short while, so hopefully it will be healthy enough once I get it fired up.  The gearbox may have issues though.

 

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I saw this horrendous reg plate in B&Q car park yesterday. What is it that makes people so utterly desperate to have their name on their reg plate I wonder? Hopefully they'll get a fine soon anyway.

 

 

A virtual pint to anyone who can fathom out what the actual reg number is.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

oh i get it now, its T111ABF

[JohnK]

I think it's to warn any lasses off that it's Tina's boyfriend driving ...

[Bren]

Never had a car wothy of a private plate.

 

I may change my name to VE07WOV.

[Pillock]

I dunno, I found a £250 plate that spells PILLOCX or something which is amusing. I'd definitely have one that was a rude word but to spend twenty minutes drilling enough holes to make a shit plate read a word is daft.

[Slappy]

It's OFFICIAL*, the Volvo 340 is now cool*. A hipster just drove past me in one, so that makes it as good* as fully grown but slightly pointy beards, gourmet burger restaurants and "American style" craft lager (not to be confused with the piss that's made by Budweiser).

[trigger]

Well today has been a load of wank, left home at 9.30am to go and look at this Granada near Barnsley, 370 miles later I've just got home without it... 

 

I turned up at the sellers garage to first be confronted with a Renault Master minibus that had just been painted in the yard and looked like it was melting with all the runs and then saw the Granada next to some portacabin.

 

I walked over and the first thing i saw was the 2 tone bonnet with the paint peeling off, then i saw the bottom of the doors which were 2" thick in filler with bubbles pushing through, onto the rear arches which had been hand painted over rust, the base of the rear screen again was rusty and been painted over and the front valance was full of holes behind the bumper and again full of fiberglass and aerosol spray.

 

By this point I'd had enough but my mate who came with me to look it said we should look under the bonnet, this was a mistake as i nearly took my eye out on the abysmal welding on the patch on the inner wing, the engine bay again was covered in overspray and the engine was dripping in oil.

 

Inside the car was quite tidy but it was very grubby with missing switches and buttons, I asked the seller if i could start it but it wouldn't start as he couldn't even be bothered to charged the battery, by this point i was proper pissed off, I told him there wasn't a chance in hell that it was only a 35000 mile car, it was easily on the 2nd time round, he started going on about how the MOT history says it was 31000 miles in 2006 and how the family of the last owner wouldn't have lied about it.

 

I told him it wasn't even worth £700, by this point he walked off, fucking time waster, £50 in diesel and a sunny day wasted and all i had to show for it was a Burger king. Joy.

[HMC]

^ shame about that Granada trig, I'd already pictured it next to the cortina in the fleet.

 

Speaking of fleet shots...

 

 

Had a productive weekend welding the x member and replacing the front brake pipes on the land rover, had to shunt cars about to get it in the garage, so thought I'd take a pic.

[Six-cylinder]

Trigg sorry to hear the Granada was a washout, I was looking forward to seeing it as I had a couple when they were young cars.

[cort16]

That's a pisser especially when you've travelled so far . It looked good in the pictures too.

[RobT]

Just got back from Austin Morris day at Brooklands, which was awesome as usual with all the BMC/BL tat to perve over. Spent a lot of the day chatting to Angrydicky which was good, as it always helps having a friendly shiter to chat to at these events. Group shots of our cars in all their Champagne Beige loveliness...

 

 

 

One of my favourites there was an early Maestro HLE in Cashmere Gold (I think), sorry no pics but it was a corker. I had the chance to buy it a few years back as I know the previous owner and he offered it to me, but like a twat I didn't. Dicky was rather taken by it too.

[Bren]

Nothing worse than having your time wasted.

 

It sounded like it will end up on the oval.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Sorry to hear of your wasted day Trigger, it reminds me of buying cars in the olden days when you saw an ad in Motoring News or Exchange and Mart and drove all over the country wasting time and fuel , when you hadn't even seen a grubby b&w picture . There were lots of ebay wankers long before computers were invented.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Tells you a lot that the guy hadn't even bothered to charge the flippin battery up, what a massive shitehawk.

[worldofceri]

As it was sunny yesterday I wound the window down all the way so I could pick my Mum up from the station looking 'like a Boss'.

 

Big Mistake.

 

Got home and it wouldn't flippin' go back up.

 

I reckoned the best place to start was with the switches.  I pulled them out of the centre console where they sit next to the handbrake and had a fiddle about swapping them around, but this made no difference to anything, i.e. rear windows work fine, passenger window is stuck closed, driver's window stuck open.  I decided to take them apart and clean them up anyway as they were bound to be gummed up with crud and I've previously managed to fix the 'leccy windows in Mr_Bo11ox's Argenta by this simple but fiddly expedient.

 

 

As expected, this made no immediate difference either, but after a bit more random fiddling the stuck-open window sprang into life.

 

So I closed it, packed my tools away, and vowed not to open it again until I have at least a full sunny weekend in which to figure out what's actually wrong with it.

[EssDeeWon]

Its always the further you travel the worse the POS is that your going to buy...

 

I travelled from Essex to Doncaster last year to buy an SD1 2600 VDP, one owner since 1988, garaged and serviced annually without fail etc etc...

 

Well what a disappointment that was, I turned up cash on the hip preparing for the long ride home...The thing was tatty, interior was just filth, no service history whatsoever, so I know the feeling Trigger, and despite all the modern digital photography it still hides all the bad bits.

[trigger]

Yep, I've been there before when after encountering a 4 car pile up on the M11 and writing my car off, the next day i get a lift to Nottingham from Oldford of here only to find that the car was hanging, That was a bad weekend.

 

I wish i had paid attention to all the alarm bells i was hearing, normally i have a 6th sense for these things but i fucked up this time, Still I've found a nice Audi 200 Quattro that's local which i've arranged to view. 

[dollywobbler]

Well, it's a danger we always face. Mind you, most of us pay so little that we can accept something that's hanging! Not what you want if you're looking to pay decent coin for something advertised as being actually nice.

 

I'm eyeing up a potential purchase at the moment actually, and there's very little chance of me seeing it before buying. S'pose I could make my train ticket a return...

 

With the 2CV going off the road next month, we really do need another little runaround. A very cheap little runaround. The challenge is to find something I actually like for £300 or less. 

[wuvvum]

Audi 200 Quattro is a superb bit of kit.  A bit clinical in the usual Audi manner, but devastatingly competent, and with that nice snarly 5-pot.  Can I have a go if you buy it?