The new news 24 thread

[HillmanImp]

Some guy in a big white car of some sort gatecrashed what appeared to be some sort of impromptu Autoshite meet in Sainsburys car park today:

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Will have to wait now until I'm less busy which will be at least a week or so before I can look into it in more detail.

 

Could it be the fault of the infamous 1990s Ford heater valve ?

[JohnK]

Could it be the fault of the infamous 1990s Ford heater valve ?

 

It's looking very likely!

 

I've had a quick look tonight and it's very damp along the black plastic at the rear of the expansion bottle which is in the top left hand corner of the engine bay. The water has obviously been coming from there and you can see where it has gone straight down the engine bay. Just behind that bottle (under the wipers) is the location of said heater control valve.

[wuvvum]

Well I haven't managed to make a great deal of progress on the A35 this weekend.  This is primarily because the flaky grey paint, which I thought would be a 10-minute job to sand down, is actually hard as fucking nails and taking absolutely ages to get rid of.  I'll get there eventually though.  I did wire up a flick switch for the ignition so I can a) turn the engine off without disconnecting the battery and b ) piss about with lights etc. without worrying about overheating the coil.  That's about as far as I got though.

 

I got the new front caliper fitted to the Volvo this morning, complete with two shiny new flexis.  It was actually a comparatively easy job as nothing was seized up, and I found the caliper bolts in the glovebox where I'd obviously put them after I removed the old calipers all those years ago.  I must have been suffering from a bout of common sense at the time.  Once everything was bled up I sort of had a brake pedal, so I took the car up the road to see what was what.  Pressing the brake pedal did indeed cause the car to stop - not nearly quickly enough to be safe to drive on the open road, but it was the first time it'd stopped on the footbrake for at least five years, so that was a positive.  Unfortunately the offside rear caliper took great exception to being asked to work again after five years of inactivity and is now stuck on, seemingly quite firmly.  Oh well.

 

I lost the turbo on the Mondeo this afternoon.  No idea why - it just suddenly had no boost again.  No warning lights on or owt.  When I got to my destination I popped the bonnet to see if one of the turbo hoses had come loose / split, but no sign of anything untoward.  Then when I restarted the car and set off again, normal service was resumed.  Weird.

[gordonbennet]

Dropped another 5 litre  sumpful of oil out the Landcruiser autobox and replaced it with shiny new stuff, that's the second of three, one to go but waiting on delivery of more Dexron3, thought the gearchange was smooth before its now silky, almost impossible to feel the changes at all and no clunk when engaging drive even at cold tickover revs.

 

Love proper servicing, nearly a better fetish than seamed stockings...preferably worn by the woman in your life but each to their own.

 

Dropped the Merc off for service and MOT at my MB indy, and he topped up the aircon on the LC, thats ice cold now.

[vulgalour]

Wuvvum, can you try out an idea for me on the Austin's paint?  I have this theory that you could use kitchen towel soaked in thinners and then wrapped in clingfilm to slow-dissolve the paint overnight, or at least soften it, so it comes off the metal easier.  I have nothing to really put this into practice on at the moment.

[DS20]

I've never overloaded one of my cars.  Except for that one time...

 

110901-01.jpg

 

 

 

 

...ah, moving houses.

 

That's not overloaded - it's just pineappling taken to its logical conclusion  

[dieselassist]

_{At the start of today - I had no 'functioning car' (ive plenty of projects n cars 'half built') - the cube skoda I intended dragging home, with the help of mate, who was 'non vocally' non-volunteering to do so, despite lots of hints given, shall we say, to offer to help me drag it home... wasn't really an issue as the seller/mates brother couldn't find the chipped keys to start it up (once I resoldered up all the skum/car thief 'hot wire attempt cut wires from the ignition barrel)... so all up that was a no goer in terms of providing me with any immediate forms of vehicular transport...}

 

_{...coupled with this lack of transport, I also had the news I have to vacate the unit/lockup I work from (rust repair/vehicle conversioons/welding) - in the next 2 weeks (banks are after the over-borrowed landlord), n hiring a big tow'van daily n borrowing a car transporter to move all my 1/2 repaired n 1/2 built projects (3) plus one 'unstarted project', this left the aul head 'a bit wrecked' at about 9am this morning!!}

 

_{...last two weeks Ive been 'cading n borrowin' the folks cars, n today I asked for the usual 'car lend' off my brother - his 04 focus; he was willing but his eyes told me different; look for a car/van or whatever I'll go with'ya....}

 

_{Long story short Im back home now after a 6 hour round  treck down to Kerry n have returned with a 99 SWB commercial 300Tdi Landrover discovery, complete with working beacons, which ticks both  boxes of 'commercial' n 'towing mule... despite me buying it from a bearded professional  deep sea fisherman its 100% rust free, chassis n boot floor wise n runs perfectly with 135k mile s from new- tho I had to shell out a few more quid than I usually do, n after driving it back im very very happy!!}

[Skoze]

nothing exciting

 

bought these and forgot how heavy they are..

 

Fun fact; a friend of myself and Scruff used these too boost the seat in his Series 3 Land Rover once. 

[stuboy]

Fun fact; a friend of myself and Scruff used these too boost the seat in his Series 3 Land Rover once. 

are you 4'3?

[stuboy]

"Let he who has never overloaded his Mondeo cast the first stone."

slab not stone...lol

[stuboy]

Is she buried where your going to be laying the slabs??

nah she 300 miles buried, i mean living in llandrindod wells,

[plasticvandan]

My 20 mile round trip to work was done at a different pace yesterday:

[cort16]

After listing the cl on eBay I got a pm from a guy who showed an interest in it a couple of months ago on rr. We agreed a price and he's coming to get it Easter weekendn. Even better, no dealing with eBay dick wads. It still feels like I'm giving it away but hey folk seem generally terrified of these things. I'm not going to buy anything (famous last words) I'm just going to concentrate on getting the cortina roadworthy .

[coalnotdole]

I spent some time over the weekend servicing the Scimitar, it was overdue an oil change. So took the opportunity to change the engine, gearbox and diff oil, grease the hubs, handbrake adjustment, bled brakes etc.

 

it went in for an mot today and it passed with a coupe of advisors for tyres and oil leak.

 

New tyres are on order so hopefully I can get the new wheels fitted at the end of the week.

[barefoot]

Scirocco gear linkage sorted. It's like a knife through butter again.

Take the mick all you like, when this works, it works superbly well.

To make amends for my VAG enthusiasm, take a look at my loan car...

 

 

Now, whilst I am ready to concede that it does truly have a very smooth ride, it is utterly, utterly gutless.

It's been a long time since I've sat with my foot pressed hard to the floor on a bit of a motorway incline.

 

And there's more, in true Autoshite tradition, the ignition barrel/switch what have you was fucked.

Removed and replaced with a switch & a button and a rubber band to hang the transponder over 

the wiper switch!

 

 

We are glad to see the back of the thing!

[stuboy]

Why ? Do you need a cv joint for a golf?

 

That's prob what you will get when you ask for a mondeo exhaust . But never mind it's 25 percent off all incorrect parts this week

 

u cursed me...

[twosmoke300]

What's that for ? D9 dozer ?

[Lacquer Peel]

I have spent most of the day trying to get some illegitimate software for the Volvo to work, I resent newer cars with their fancy circuit boards and sensors, but stuff like this is quite cool. At least the timing is in range for an old belt - which reminds me, must do the belts soon...

 

 

If anyone wants a hand installing it PM me, the software is for 1990s Volvos and all you need is a cheap OBD-II cable, mine is for VAG diesels.

[Richard]

Are ECP really that bad for wrong parts?

[twosmoke300]

No , they are much worse

[Lacquer Peel]

I've not had any trouble with ECP, their Inverness branch is quite new so maybe they've not got around to being useless yet.

[twosmoke300]

Give them time

[Ghosty]

I've never used them (obv, what car?) but Old Man's only ever had a problem with them once IIRC. So from that I'll tentatively have to say the Bredbury/Stockport/Manchester seems okay.

[RobT]

Old trims for the bin

 

 

After a quick clean, on with the 'new' proper trimz

 

 

I was going to refurb them but they'll do as is. The front NS one is a bit baggy so will cable tie that on so its secure.

[Skizzer]

^ Must say, these early 440s are growing on me.  That's a fine colour combination too.  

[MarvinsMom]

proper hubcaps on the ovlov FTW! 

 

it looks a millionity time better with correct hubcaps on.

[vulgalour]

OEM trimz for the winz!  Are you missing the last bit of rust trap sill trim that side?

[cms206]

I have to say after turning down a G-reg 440GLEi a few years back I wouldn't kick one out of bed now...

[Pillock]

I suppose that's why they call you barefoot, barefoot.