The new news 24 thread

[NorfolkNWeigh]

 

Here's a picture of my BMWs, just for LP.

My pride and joy is a 316 auto in AS racing beige truly The Ultimate Driving Machine.

[cort16]

BMW 3 series are just german MG6's anyway

[cort16]

Cortina passed MOT. The bill was 400 quid + all the parts I spunked on it. Ooff, It did look quite labour intensive to be fair.

 

Oh Flaps. 

IMG_1255 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Good job I didn't buy that 75 v8

[Richard]

DSC_0963 by RichardB5, on Flickr

 

DSC_7841 by RichardB5, on Flickr

 

DSC_7040 by RichardB5, on Flickr

[cort16]

400 v8 powa. This is the one that took me 6 weeks to change the brakes discs.

 

740_1 by cort16, on Flickr

[Ghosty]

Ghosty, you've also forgotten (wisely I'd say) the bog ugly 3GT and 5GT.

 

 

They do, although it's actually a 5-door hatch.  Here's mine [awaits flames].  

 

BMW 428i Gran Coupe by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

It's almost exactly the same size as my SD1 on the outside, but much smaller on the inside and a whole lot less interesting.  One day I'll do a back-to-back road test, Dollywobbler stylee: the Rover will win on everything except drag race and fuel consumption.  (Don't plan to do a crash test.)

 

4 coupé = 3GT surely? That's just daft.

 

 

What's going on with modern design? Everything went all angular for a while, and now we've gone back to 'blob'? 

[Tayne]

The last couple of pages are vomit-inducing. STOP IT.

 

 

But I've not posted mine yet...

 

Not Lost by Tayne, on Flickr

 

With the the neighbours.

E46 by Tayne, on Flickr

 

Nor the e34 my sister ran up to 217k miles.

Fwd: by Tayne, on Flickr

[Lacquer Peel]

They are probably the last of the elegant BMWs.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I like the 5-dr hatch BMW's, the 4- and 3-series GT's look really well proportioned to me and almost cancel out the horror of the X6.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Was flashed by an unmarked police car on the way home today.

 

Turning off the M42 onto the A435 dual carriageway, sped up to about 78 pretty rapidly then stayed there and noticed a BMW (silver 62 plate 5 series estate) catching me.

They turned on the radiator lights and I backed off and pulled over, they then passed by with a finger wag in my direction.

I'm guessing that I was saved by, not going over 80, not being near any other traffic and being very quick to notice their lights.

 

Can't believe that I have never had a speeding ticket.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Was flashed by an unmarked police car on the way home today.

 

Turning off the M42 onto the A435 dual carriageway, sped up to about 78 pretty rapidly then stayed there and noticed a BMW (silver 62 plate 5 series estate) catching me.

They turned on the radiator lights and I backed off and pulled over, they then passed by with a finger wag in my direction.

I'm guessing that I was saved by, not going over 80, not being near any other traffic and being very quick to notice their lights.

 

Can't believe that I have never had a speeding ticket.

 

Cripes that was lucky. Sure you weren't actually under the limit and just in a Chrysler PT?

[Pillock]

I had a finger wag too, at 85 (dropping to 75 when I noticed the unmarked car behind me) on the M1. Again, it was clear, I was using the right lanes and showing observation. Probably did as much good as a ticket, and was easier to administer.

[JohnK]

BMW 428i Gran Coupe by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

 

Back end is pretty much just the same as the 5 ...

 

[AnthonyG]

I was nearly going to buy a last generation 3 coupe but I couldn't find a nearly new one that wasn't MSport spec ( or at least trim level) or painted in an actual colour. So I will wait until 2006-2007 ones are cheap enough to get a pez model as a toy. I think the 4 series coupe is gopping, they've really lost it. Like Audi, I wonder how long their premium image can last given they offer more models than Ford/GM, at least half of which seem rather pointless.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the only people making cars in 20 years time will be the Germans, Japanese/Koreans and the Chinese. There will be a few German cars with nice interiors with British/Italian heritage badges (like Bentley now) and maybe Chevrolet / Ford trucks in N & S America but that will be about it for variety. I strongly suspect Alfa will be the next brand to bite the dust in the face of the German onslaught.

[AnthonyG]

Apologies, that last post turned into a bit of a grump, I didn't mean it to be!

 

BMW do turn out some genuinely interesting/good stuff - the i8 is amazing and the i3 is a fascinating 'out of the left-field' punt on the future.

[Ghosty]

The i8 had 150% appreciation in value almost immediately as the demand for them was so high, and the retail price new is £100k! The petrol engine is a Bini lump IIRC.

[Coprolalia]

Scirocco causing more trouble. Getting properly fed up now.

 

Took it into tame mechanic to sort timing. Was running ok-ish, but down on power since I fiddled with the dizzy to get it running when it started playing up.

 

They timed it up properly to factory and it was running sweet. Then proceeded to dump a litre of oil on the floor. No idea where from, seemed to be coming off the exhaust heat shield. Not seeping anywhere obvious. Mystery oil shits.

 

Got it home and it's stopped leaking oil but has a really bad rattle. Only comes on when under heavy load at low revs. Sounds like the exhaust manifolds falling off (it's not). Passersby must think I'm an LT1 taxi with 500k on the clock, it's that sort of noise.

Could it be pinking? Only other thought is it's some exhaust problem.

[TimothyClaypole]

Some thread redress with my BMW -

 

 

 

[holbeck]

A friend from work has just amazed me by saying that he's bought a beige Rennner 5 Auto as a 'fun' car.

 

Stone me, I've known him for 10 years FFS. How can I not have known?

 

(I have of course, pointed him in the direction for AS enrolment and Tat threadage).

[Tayne]

Is he somewhere near Nottingham?

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/20677-any-of-you-lot-got-a-champagne-coloured-renault-5/

[wuvvum]

The words "Renault", "auto" and "fun" are rarely heard in the same sentence.

[Sigmund Fraud]

Scirocco causing more trouble. Getting properly fed up now.

...

Could it be pinking? Only other thought is it's some exhaust problem.

 

Is the dizzy clamp loose ? That could explain both the oil leak and the timing issues. Also, are you sure that the quality* replacement dizzy has the correct ignition curve for your engine ?

[cros]

The Golf box sounds royally fucked, but is still better than the one currently in the Loopoo.

 

Complete failure to proceed suggests that the previous owner had decided that the best way to deal with the loud gearbox whine was to turn up the volume of the radio... Which is the best way to turn an 085 with tired/dry bearings into cog soup. Nice.

 

 

There's no call for this sort of barbarity when faced with a slightly worn transmission. With horrendous back axle whine from my wife's A35 I quickly effected a properly engineered solution rather than resort to fitting a radio.

[Coprolalia]

Is the dizzy clamp loose ? That could explain both the oil leak and the timing issues. Also, are you sure that the quality* replacement dizzy has the correct ignition curve for your engine ?

 

I wondered that, but the oil came from the rear drivers side of the engine, and the dizzy's front passenger. China's finest dizzy is a pattern part which is the part number for my car's dizzy. Original Bosch ones are NLA. Recon ones are £200 odd.

 

In traditional chod style, ran like a champ this morning. Pulls like a train. So arse knows.

 

My working theory is that it's oil that had collected on the exhaust manifold heat shield a month or so ago when it was pissing oil out of the rocker cover gasket (since been replaced). Somethings gone awry with the exhaust heat shield and it's dumped this collected oil as a present to it's grateful owner, and is now rattling away. Only makes noise at <1.5k RPM under heavy load, so I think it must be exhaust knocking. Boot it at 3k RPM and no noise.

Time to stick on that 4-1 manifold I've been hoarding.

[Bobthebeard]

The Honda Prelude has been making a rattling type noise from the rear for around six months now. Not all the time, just on bumpy/jiggly road surfaces. Sounded like the wheel trims rattling (as they were a loose fit due to missing plastic washers under the wheel nuts).

Removed the trims, still rattled. Spent hours jacking up the car and checking suspension bushes, nothing obvious. Gave up and took it to my local friendly garage, nothing seemed to be amiss.

Decided to take everything out of the boot apart from spare wheel, which is solidly mounted and doesn't seem to move at all. Still rattled. Took out spare wheel and, YES!!

A wheel brace had somehow got under the spare wheel and was rattling around on the metal floor! Result.

[gordonbennet]

I had an annoying rattle on the Landcruiser, its quiet over large undulations its the hundreds of crap road fixes following endless cable/pipe laying and bodged pot hole fixes round here that sets it off, could not find the bugger, then when the dogs shoved their noses on the back window to peer out i had to clean the nose prints off, caught the high level brake light with my hand, rattle rattle rattle, sorted.

 

Hummph, the roads are that bad in Kettering you need a bloody 4x4, everything else will shake apart.

[Bobthebeard]

^^ Was in Kettering yesterday funnily enough. Windmill Avenue I think it was. Mrs Beard was working at Tresham College...

Agree about the standard of the roads! Although the roads in Lytham St Annes are as bad TBH.

[danthecapriman]

Fitted an electronic ignition conversion kit to the Mercury. It's the Pertronix kit which isn't cheap but, my god what a difference!

I have always been a bit sceptical about these, I've always thought the points/condenser set up has done the job for the last x amount of years so why change it! But I'm now fully converted!

It's piss easy to install, needs sod all for the rest of its life and the engine runs much better. The biggest improvement is in starting though, it's on the button now. And it still looks original spec too from the outside. The only noticeable difference is the addition of an extra wire to the coil.

The timing has been reset now and it needed some adjustment from how it was with the old points in there.

I'm so impressed the Capri and Transit will both be getting the treatment soon aswell!

 

In conclusion, points and condenser are shit and I'd recommend anyone to swap over if they still run the old set up.

[richardmorris]

Just finished cleaning the car for my grid position at goodwood tomorrow. Took some new photos for the insurance valuation as it looked good.

[gordonbennet]

^^ Was in Kettering yesterday funnily enough. Windmill Avenue I think it was. Mrs Beard was working at Tresham College...

Agree about the standard of the roads! Although the roads in Lytham St Annes are as bad TBH.

 We live other side of town, near the old football ground...if you thought Windmill Ave was bad don't venture along Rockingham Rd which is presumably owned by Millbrook as an extra proving ground.

Are you still in Kettering perchance?