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I've driven past John Childs Perodua dealership, which is out in the Kent countryside not a million miles from Ashford. It's a fantastic looking old place, with lots of signage and lots of knackered Peroduas out back (and decent ones in the showroom). I reckon he would be a good source of hard-to-find parts.

 

I did enquire about service parts when I first got the Nippa, but they seemed to be about twice the price of Ebay, so that was the end of that. Hard to justify splashing out on expensive bits for a £300 car.

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It's a boy!

 

Austin Michael Raymond Harris was born at 2352 last night and home by 0400 this morning.

 

He's bloody ace, as was MrsH during the entire process and the entire staff of the Birthing Centre at Treliske hospital.ab7d4fd605eadbfec678c4adadf844b1.jpgfcbe2edfd987f4180b0dfb5f0cce4c12.jpg

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

Congratulations

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Had a lovely lie in this morning! Got up had breakfast saw it was a nice morning and decided to refit the interior on the civic.

 

Newly acquired front seats in all clips back went to pop back seat in and I got a wiff of what I’m trying to get rid of!

 

Two Alsatians that must of smoked 40 a day! Ha so back out with the seats soaked boot carpet rear seats and matts in cleaning solution and scrubbed them. Yuk

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Actually isn't raining, so I emptied the garage.

DVMX8ybX0AAqxbb.jpg

 

As I want the 2CV back on the road, that meant getting the Invacar out of the way. I cleverly* bodged the broken transmission mount back together with cable ties to allow me to move it.

 

Then I had room to manoeuvre the 2CV and get it jacked up, so I could adjust the handbrake. Now much better. I also made a bracket for the tiny li-ion battery, so that's now actually bolted in. Thought the MOT man might prefer that to tying it in with baler twine...

 

Also greased the kingpins, before finally losing my rag with my utterly shit grease gun. For every few squirts of grease you get, there's about ten minutes of pissing about trying to bleed the sodding thing. I need a better one.

 

Then rolled the 2CV outside. Had to resort to chucking a bit of fuel into the carb, but when I took the top off the air filter, I found this...

DVMbNopWkAMYsZU.jpg

 

Seems I likely did bring some little mouse friends back from Sussex then, and they've transferred vehicle...

 

2CV has now had a driveway test run to clean the brakes up. Will get it booked in for a test...

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Lovely day today so I went for a walk round Farley heath. Car was steamed up when I got back so once home decided to check if the carmats were damp. Well they weren’t damp. They were drowning. Removed them, squeezed out about two litres of water and they’re now leaning against a radiator. Dried the floors and used some wd40 to clean up the oxygen sensor connections that are helpfully placed under the driver’s mat.

 

It’s the one thing I dislike about running an older car as daily.

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Now that my horrible cough has calmed down a bit I’ve spent a bit of time in the sheds this morning.

 

The Lotus almost starts but not quite. First there was no sign of life from the fuel pump; after going away and coming back later that fixed itself, but still no starting. There’s a spark and fuel, and sometimes a bit of a cough like it’s nearly catching, but it never quite does. It’s cranking pretty slowly so I’m going to treat it to a new battery and see what that does. Could also be a dodgy earth, and the +ve terminal clamp will benefit from a clean.

 

The unyielding SD1 tailgate continues to fight me at every step. I’m inside the boot via the back seat now, and can see the latch bolts, but two are virtually inaccessible and the third is rusted and will need drilling out. The photo below gives some sense of the level of swearing required.

 

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I’m searching online for the world’s tightest offset screwdriver to get at the inaccessible bolts.

 

The Vauxhall 2300S repeated its performance of starting and idling reasonably happily, so that’s good. If the Lotus hadn’t been in the way I’d have taken it for a run round the farm.

 

More happily, my shed neighbour Bob has got his 1978 Cavalier 1600L running sweetly and braking properly again after 10 years off the road.

 

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It’s booked in for a respray shortly with a really good local guy, because it’s got some microblistering and surface rust on the roof from an earlier blowover when it got pogweaseled. It’s done 75k but the engine is newer because of some episode early in its life. The whole car drives really well and feels very together with no rattles or squeaks. The engine is smooth and surprisingly torquey.

 

Bob will be selling it soon to make room for more projects. I’m tempted to buy it, and I know he would like me to. It was his father’s from new and then his, and it’s a very sound car with just the right level of honest wear. But I have too many cars and I’m not sure I’d use it. Hmm. Anyone on here interested? Probably priced around £3k with fresh paint and MOT. PM me if keen.

 

Bob is the coolest guy I know and also let me drive his scruffy 1967 Mustang notchback to Mumbles and back. It’s flippin excellent - mechanically good but very DO NOT PAINT. (Bob is a hotrodder, so he won’t.) Sorry no pics this time.

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Actually isn't raining, so I emptied the garage.

DVMX8ybX0AAqxbb.jpg

 

As I want the 2CV back on the road, that meant getting the Invacar out of the way. I cleverly* bodged the broken transmission mount back together with cable ties to allow me to move it.

 

Then I had room to manoeuvre the 2CV and get it jacked up, so I could adjust the handbrake. Now much better. I also made a bracket for the tiny li-ion battery, so that's now actually bolted in. Thought the MOT man might prefer that to tying it in with baler twine...

 

Also greased the kingpins, before finally losing my rag with my utterly shit grease gun. For every few squirts of grease you get, there's about ten minutes of pissing about trying to bleed the sodding thing. I need a better one.

 

Then rolled the 2CV outside. Had to resort to chucking a bit of fuel into the carb, but when I took the top off the air filter, I found this...

DVMbNopWkAMYsZU.jpg

 

 

Seems I likely did bring some little mouse friends back from Sussex then, and they've transferred vehicle...

 

2CV has now had a driveway test run to clean the brakes up. Will get it booked in for a test...

How are you handling the charging of the LiPo battery?

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Charges off an alternator no bother. You can't use a domestic 240v to 12v charger though, as they don't charge at a high enough rate. Resting voltage is a smidge over 13. That has been an utter pain in the arse, which is why I've had to hook up jump leads so often. Can't say it's worth the money really - they're fearsomely expensive.

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How does it balance the individual cells of the battery - that's the main issue with them?

 

Gawd knows. Maybe that's the bit that makes them so expensive. I blagged it for a test, as you can certainly see the appeal in a lightweight classic. Had no idea the thing would be borrowed for Invacars when I got it.

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mini news.....

 

have had the back drums off today, and the differnece between the front axel and the back is marked, as the back wheels have working adjusters, wheel cylinders and fresh shoes. all signs of recent (?) maintainence. 

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unlike the fronts which have not been touched in years!

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door cards and furnture back on, though still dunno what to do about the carpet.

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well we do, i need another one, but which too choose! i can see why Ryan got the carpet he did, as its a good match for the rest of the interior. its just a shame its a rotten fit!!

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The ex-HMC £160 Mondeo rolled past 200,000 miles on the way to work today.

 

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The trip meter is reset each time it needs oil, it does like a drink. Max of 300 miles between top ups to be on the safe side and normally takes around 0.75 pint. It's not particularly smoky but you do get the smell of burning oil after a run when you pull up at the lights.

 

The annoying kocking from the exhaust has stopped since I went over a speed bump in the car park at work and it is still surprisingly quiet. It did damage the plastic at the end of the rear bumper trim when it came off so I've had to cable tie the trim to stop it coming loose all the time.

 

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Spent £12 on it so far, new aerial and rear wiper blade and coming up to 2500 miles since I bought it, bargain.

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The supposedly buggered transit pinto motor that I bought to rebuild turns out to be a 205 block and a rebuilt unit that's done very low miles, new cam and spray bar in it along with new shells.

In the mean time 400 motorway miles seems to have cured the visible smoking habit my original engine had developed. It still managed a pint of oil though.

 

Does anybody on here speak technical Polish? I want to know if I can put boost through my BLOS LPG carb, I emailed and I think they have said it should be ok to 5 psi but google translate leaves a lot to be desired.

 

Bought a bargain head unit off ebay, had to solder on ISO connectors but it worked straight out of the box!

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Could you use a screwdriver bit in a spanner, the bit might need cut down a bit to fit the gap.

Yes, I think I’ll have to do the cutting down. Maybe even weld on a handle. I tried with a regular bit and spanner and got nowhere - plus they’re some stupid spanner size like 6.5mm which I don’t have. You can get ‘confined space’ ratchet drivers but this makes their idea of confined space look like the Etosha plain.

 

Nothing like having to fabricate your own bloody tools to do a pissy little job, is there? Grump.

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Yes, I think I’ll have to do the cutting down. Maybe even weld on a handle. I tried with a regular bit and spanner and got nowhere - plus they’re some stupid spanner size like 6.5mm which I don’t have. You can get ‘confined space’ ratchet drivers but this makes their idea of confined space look like the Etosha plain.

 

Nothing like having to fabricate your own bloody tools to do a pissy little job, is there? Grump.

Are these any use?

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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bahco-2058S26-Ratchet-Socket-26-Piece/dp/B000Y8TIMY

 

I have a cheapy Titan set I got from Screwfix. Its been a useful get out of jail free card a couple of times. Appears they no longer do it.

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