Jump to content

The new news 24 thread


Father Ted

Recommended Posts

Bit of a frustrating day today on the fettling front.  Got the new MAP sensor fitted to the A2 with no hassle at all, but it hasn't sorted the running issue - Internet wisdom suggests that MAP errors can also be caused by a split / holed vacuum pipe somewhere, which frankly I CBA to look for.

Got the driver's side front of the Scudo van jacked up, wheel bolts came undone nice and easy, caliper bolts didn't - I was jumping up and down on a 2' breaker bar to crack them off.  Caliper came away easily enough once unbolted, whereupon I discovered that the pads I have bought are the wrong bastarding ones.  I've now ordered the right bastarding ones, so hopefully now the bolts have all been cracked off and retorqued to a sensible level, it should be a 20-minute-a-side job to swap the pads over - assuming the pistons wind in OK.  The discs are not exactly in the first flush of youth, but they've got a little bit of life left in them yet so I'll leave them for now.

The low coolant light came on on the way home from work at the end of last week - I popped the bonnet and checked the expansion bottle and it was indeed empty.  Took just over a litre to get it back to the Max mark.  There were tell-tale copper particles inside the bottle as well - I think what's happened is that the coolant system flush I put in to try and clear the heater matrix has flushed the K-seal from whatever it had been used to fix and that has now started leaking again.  I think it's the heater matrix as there was definitely water dripping down from behind the dash in the vicinity of the heater box - nowhere near a litre of it, but then I suppose when the engine is at operating temperature it probably evaporates rather than dripping.  A replacement heater matrix is £18.50 delivered, so I've ordered one of those - not too awkward a job to replace once you remove the fuse box, which I've mostly done (just need to unplug all the multiplugs now, then forget where everything goes so the van will never run again).  I've also ordered a new expansion cap as the stains on and around the bottle suggest that that might not be doing its job quite properly either.

So lots of bits done, but I haven't actually fixed anything.  Oh well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today I went to the Footman James Restoration Show in Shepton Mallet.  Classic parking area had a great range of cars

Brush painted Viva was gr9.

20191103_125603.thumb.jpg.6d2c6b06f1dd039a4887fb874eb99392.jpg

This pre-facelift Cav CDi would be my perfect car.  Only 5,100 miles too.  Good on him for driving it there considering it was wet and muddy because Somerset.

20191103_130750.thumb.jpg.3891f5eb6e8396c9294115bb7a060b23.jpg

Mk1 Metro headlamps!

20191103_130059.thumb.jpg.f55fd8019e43a54ba1a98c12810d43e8.jpg

Bloke in the hat being a car bore know-it-all.  Poor owner of the Mk10 was too polite to say sod off...

20191103_125852.thumb.jpg.d003e6d10a6c43539c5770b126525f3d.jpg

Olford's old Cortina?  Good to see it still around on the circuit if so.

20191103_133827.thumb.jpg.08260cc7a4438333b41341cfe346227f.jpg

Marvellous Bristol.  barrett probably knows the owner.

20191103_145312.thumb.jpg.ba88291d8528494b81f2295690678ec0.jpg

Barried Interceptor sold for 41k in the auction.  No accounting for taste.

20191103_142818.thumb.jpg.6383cb49b2be60216ba07dc0fb0ee783.jpg

SiC, it could be worse...

20191103_142522.thumb.jpg.822c153ed2a2b2a938b8fb47f90d519f.jpg

I've also decided to keep the Laguna.  For the time being anyway.  I've done 420 miles in it this weekend at 33mpg and it's superb (something I may have mentioned several times already...).  I can't let it go just yet!  Bramz drove it today and he also said how awesome it is, so I'm glad it's not just me.  Apologies to all the roffle goers.  Laugh at me when it breaks next week.

20191103_162226.thumb.jpg.d032d49bc0125583d2b576cdb2498aab.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, RobT said:

Today I went to the Footman James Restoration Show in Shepton Mallet.  Classic parking area had a great range of cars

If I'd known you were there, I'd said hi.

Did you see the 6 wheeled bus? Well couldn't miss it...

20191103_121927.thumb.jpg.4489e1aeb9e00e68448cadf072f73f7a.jpg

20191103_123842.thumb.jpg.0739597f69c01126484be1ea4dc6acf7.jpg20191103_123850.thumb.jpg.1300eff2e275db12cbe6c990558a41f1.jpg

Owner kindly offered me on board to have a look inside

20191103_123816.thumb.jpg.d6f28dc59f9f5fd169b06f0a714e717d.jpg

20191103_123725.thumb.jpg.7d26c94cd4251da60bb3982dd3f58f35.jpg

I'll upload all my pictures at some point. Cba doing it on mobile as a massive hassle to do on this stupid text editor on here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, RobT said:

I've also decided to keep the Laguna.  For the time being anyway.  I've done 420 miles in it this weekend at 33mpg and it's superb (something I may have mentioned several times already...).  I can't let it go just yet!  Bramz drove it today and he also said how awesome it is, so I'm glad it's not just me.  Apologies to all the roffle goers.  Laugh at me when it breaks next week.

Also forgot to mention I went up my my Laguna. The 1.8 auto eeked out 32mpg...

20191103_144353.thumb.jpg.61c3867b4d40d27b2860c166c7f8fea4.jpg

Service warning message on because...

However it works perfectly? I guess it's a dodgy/dirty contact.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I missed the auction but I didn't get there until 12.30, so once I'd done my mooching it was almost over.

Yeah saw the coach.  Was rather taken by it too!

Edit: The MGB was there around 2.30.  It'd probably been moved out of the hall, as they were loading up on flat beds various shit heaps people had bought.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, High Jetter said:

That ADO16 looks fooked

 

It's what you'd call a brave conversion. Welded in all the usual spots that you expect. 

 

8 hours ago, wuvvum said:

What's going on with that off-road TR7?

I think it was a TR7 rally edition going by how it was kitted out inside it. 

 

1 hour ago, Lord Sterling said:

Love this. Symptomatic of the attitudes in the early 90s when those who still drove around in 70s/early 80s cars "updated" their looks by sticking on plastic wheel trims.

Quite a few cars had a fair bit of patina in the public classic parking area. Not many shiny classics, most looked like they'd been driven and enjoyed!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, MikeR said:

Why is it the cameras on the motorways can tell if a car is broken down . speeding . insurance . tax . mot are ok . but not if the kunt has been  sat in the same lane for umpteen junctions ?

Have you tried "lapping" them? 

Overtake. Move to the middle lane. Operate washwipe. Move to slow lane. Slow down. Let them overtake. Move to middle lane, speed up, overtake in.outside lane. Repeat..

My personal achievement is getting ranted at by a passenger on the M53 in 2004 after 5 laps. 

His wife was doing about 60 in the middle lane. 

I believe I may have flipped my middle finger and pissed off into.the distance. 

I haven't bothered* since. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The amount of middle lane buffoonery evident on the M1 between Jcts 19 and 26 yesterday at two different times of the day was jaw-dropping. 

Numpty of the Day award goes to the prick in the Fiat something crawling along in lane 2 at 60 mph, completely oblivious to his surroundings. Undertook him at legal speed, looked over, glued to his phone.  Looked in the mirror - everyone followed my lead and undertook him too.

I do try to do the right thing but it soon becomes very tiresome moving into lane 3 to overtake these idiots then pull back into lanes 2 and 1.  In the end I thought fuck it, kept to a legal limit and just undertook them. The only danger with so doing is that the MLM stirs briefly from their slumber and pulls into lane 1 without checking their n/s mirror, so I tend to edge past them. I always look over at the driver. 99.9% of the time completely oblivious.

These arseholes are simply bags of swag waiting to be plucked off by Highways Agency (forget the rozzers, I ain't see a traffic cop parked up on the motorway for years) but they do fuck all about them.

I reckon Joe Public should be able to go vigilante on these idiots, send in a 5 minute CAMRAH viddy and get 50% of the 100 quid fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exciting news from the barefoot stable; The Rover 75, settling down nicely into its regular commute, taking the wife four junctions up the motorway and back, has managed an impressive 29.2 from the last tankful. I don't think that's bad at all from a 2.5 litre V6/Bader box driven briskly* in rush hour traffic. That's brim to brim with proper maths, the on board trip computer thing reckons it's doing nearly 40mpg!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyway, with that rant exorcised, today I finished off the speaker upgrade to the Rover 620. Bagged some cheap Pioneers from Halfords a few weeks back, but the old spacers didn't work with them. Spotted some solid MDF ones on eBay for a Honda S2000 that looked similar to the Rover 600. Fitted perfectly with the Pioneers - banged out some loud Prodigy tunes and rewarded with crystal clear music, rather than the pathetic fart from the gubbed OEM Goodmans' speakers which had all but disintegrated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Elsewhere, finally managed to ring the Council today about the lack of key-lock interfacery on my new garage. I explained the keys were completely wrong, didn't fit no matter what angle or contortionisms I used. They then said they'd cancel the tenancy and I said 'Noooooooooooo...' (been on waiting list 11 months), I said I'd wait until their Voids team either (1) gave the housing team the right fucking keys or (2) fitted another lock. She said 'oh, you are nice...yes we can do that for you'.

Damned shame as it's a brand new door on the garage, so no doubt they'll wreck it now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...