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Father Ted

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I'm currently on the mainland and in that beautiful position of having to find something interesting to drive back to Belfast after delivering a Mercedes CLK to my aunt in Walsall.

 

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I had a Renault Megane auto lined up, a potential next car for my grandmother, but the ebay auction was pulled early.  Having not won the Buick roffle..... I'm seriously struggling for something to buy.  The last two times I have done this, it was a 2006 Laguna V6 Initiale and a 2005 Cadillac CTS (formally of this parish), both of which I still have.  But didn't mean to keep.  I just ended up liking them that much.

 

Must be petrol, preferably auto, preferably a ridiculous engine size and wafting points are always welcome.  The closer to Birmingham the better. Should be capable of doing 300 miles up to Cairnryan in comfort.  Around £1000 would be nice. Even more points if it's cheap enough to flog back in Belfast for enough profit to make it a free trip home!

 

Been looking at Saab convertibles, big Volvos.....  There's a Pug 407 SW V6 Exec in Manchester for £995 which might end up being the back up plan.  It's bloody typical.  Usually I'm sat on the other side of the Irish Sea salivating at what is out of reach.

 

Anything you happen to come across, I'd be happy of the link.

 

Thanks chaps.

 

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Irritated the weather gods by attempting to fettle the fleet today.  Something is definately wrong with the Rover as it struggles to turn over with a fully charged battery and the jump leads hooked up to the Focus (bonnet down and resting on plastic case to prevent it latching this time).  I tried using the leads to give it a better earth without joy.  I'll borrow the better leads from work and try again.

 

With spirits low I tried the Dacia,  it churned over but didn't catch.  An idea formed and I hooked a wire between the coil and the +ve jump lead and tried again.  Great success, she fired straight up and took me and the smallest child for a lap round the block once the brakes had freed off.  A session with a multimeter a few months ago seemed to disprove this being the fault so I imagine a connection somewhere isn't behaving.  For the time being some wire and a switch can hopefully make her reliable for this summer.  Once I've got a garage to work in the better dashboard can be fitted and the electrical gremlins chased out.  Perhaps a new loom would be the best approach here.

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First day on the road for the Astra following minor post purchase repairs. Nothing major or unexpected just things you'd expect on a car with such a low price tag. New handbrake cables, new O/S wishbone, new alternator belt, one part worn tyre and new wiper blades were the only parts required. Bonnet catch adjusted, tuning box removed (fear of causing damage with excessive rail pressure), locking wheel nuts binned and replaced with regular ones.  Brakes checked, fluids topped off, wheels scrubbed and moss scrubbed out of window seals. CRV kept on drive (now uninsured) as emergency backup. Will take to WBAC in 2 weeks just as the tax runs out using temp insurance as long as the Astra behaves. 

Fuel tank straps and sump are both very crispy and not long for this world so have ordered good used straps and new sump pan for £cheap off the bay for fitting at my leisure. I'm at work for the next 10 days so that's plenty of time for a shakedown.

 

In lieu of a petrol station shot have a pic from Aldi's car park.

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Playing with 'joy', couldnt decide if too flyeye headlamps or tint film them, so did headlamps and foglamps flyeye, wanted a low key spoiler for bootlid but wasnt gonna pay £55/£75 quid, so ordered £10 jobbie off ebay, also saw another car body stripe used on edge of wind deflectors so had a go at this, and finally decided to tint the rear lights i won off ebag for £3.60, reasonably happy with results, but not fitted them yet

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I've discovered a Vel satis 3 litre diesel automatic for sale locally me at 699. How quick would this bankrupt me? It's done 88k from new. What, other than the autobox obviously should I be looking for as problems? It's got a full mot. I should I see if bramz still has his Volvo estate for sale?

Isuzu engine is shit - not that powerful 42 mpg if your lucky. Expensive parts, nobody will do any work on them.

Head gaskets and suction control valves an issue. Go for it.

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Quite a car-filled weekend for me. Jumpingjehovahs came to visit yesterday so we could compare moderns and he had a play with some of my old rubbish.

 

Most important job today was fitting the ex-Semi-C LS400 alloys I picked up from him the other night:

 

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1993 Toyota Camry 2.2 Estate by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

Tyres and wheels are all in very good condition and it genuinely seems to have a quieter, smoother ride than on the aged Toyos on V6 alloys it was previously wearing. Hopefully they'll do a better job of holding air too, so I don't have to pump them up every weekend. Celebrated by cleaning it. Really not sure what issues MoT time will bring at the end of April, but with these good tyres that's one less potential thing to consider.

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I second Supernaut’s appraisal, dead chuffed they’re doing you a turn.

 

Took my LS on a meandering tour of East Anglia today, most of the North Norfolk coast was devoured, including a gull feeding stop in Cromer and a subsequent wander-thon in Walcott.

 

The sky was beginning to bruise as Mrs -C and I returned from our stone skimming class, even a brisk saunter wasn’t enough to spare us a dousing of the rain and hail variety, all set against a background of sunshine, magic.

 

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Quite a few of us seem to have taken our cars out for spins just for the sake of it today, myself included. After having taken the 75 to Belgium it was only fair that the MV6 got a trip out to to stretch its legs, including a cheeky traffic light GP with a Maserati Ghibli in Ipswich (one of the new ones, not one of the pornographic beasts from the 70s) and back road cruise around mid-Suffolk. The opportunity to get a photograph at a quality dining establishment couldn't be missed either. 

 

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I also got to see a particular favourite of mine in the Asda car park in Stowmarket earlier in the day, in the shape of this 75 V8.

 

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Today I finally got round to fixing the hatch on the Campervan which broke on the way to Chumley in September.

 

It didn’t stop us using the van and for its winter storage I chocked a tarp over that bit if the roof. But with plans being made for camping trips it was time to fix it. Turns out 6 screws a little push and it was off and the reverse to replace!

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So to celebrate we went for a run in the 2CV!

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Which got very wet in the rain and to protest said rain decided that left side indicators were a luxury we didn’t need! I’ll see if it fixes itself when it’s thoroughly dried out...

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I second Supernaut’s appraisal, dead chuffed they’re doing you a turn.

 

Took my LS on a meandering tour of East Anglia today, most of the North Norfolk coast was devoured, including a gull feeding stop in Cromer and a subsequent wander-thon in Walcott.

 

The sky was beginning to bruise as Mrs -C and I returned from our stone skimming class, even a brisk saunter wasn’t enough to spare us a dousing of the rain and hail variety, all set against a background of sunshine, magic.

 

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Walcott is about 10 minutes from me - I got that bizarre hail / sunshine combo this afternoon as well.

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Today I finally got round to fixing the hatch on the Campervan which broke on the way to Chumley in September.

It didn’t stop us using the van and for its winter storage I chocked a tarp over that bit if the roof. But with plans being made for camping trips it was time to fix it. Turns out 6 screws a little push and it was off and the reverse to replace!

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So to celebrate we went for a run in the 2CV!

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Which got very wet in the rain and to protest said rain decided that left side indicators were a luxury we didn’t need! I’ll see if it fixes itself when it’s thoroughly dried out...

Do you always have someone taking professional 'action' shots of you when working on vehicles? ;)
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Stalham.

The same Stalham that is home to a brown Metro with flat tyres and a Morris Minor Traveller in the same car park?

 

I would have thrust myself at the Buick, dribbled towards your Innocenti and coo-ed at your Fiat van had I have been more competent.

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Did a bit of titivating to the Astra estate yesterday,

 

Fixed the front grilles in the bumper, changed the headlight out as it was all cloudy, fitted a new window switch so the windows now work, and fitted the aerial adapter so I've now got DAB radio

 

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Also managed to get hold of a rear spoiler, just waiting on that being delivered :)

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The same Stalham that is home to a brown Metro with flat tyres and a Morris Minor Traveller in the same car park?

 

I would have thrust myself at the Buick, dribbled towards your Innocenti and coo-ed at your Fiat van had I have been more competent.

 

That's the one.  There's also a gold Mk1 Astra just round the corner from there (on Bank St).

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On the assumption that's sporting the grey tweed interior it seems to be, I could do with a front seat base that isn't threadbare, either side is fine since they swap.  Apparently they come out easily by unhooking the rubber bands under the  seat?  I've not done it, Dean-numbers has.  I could also do with the central sunvisor clip thing as mine has broken around one of the fixings.  If it's got the Citroen branded floor mats in the front, I'd like those too.

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