Jump to content

The new news 24 thread


Father Ted

Recommended Posts

I went to see the Mx-5, it was for sale for £350 which I didn't think was too bad for a rwd car with 11 months mot to have some fun with. I found that the roof would only lock on one side and the seats were soaking wet. There were also hundreds of holes drilled all over the body. I wasn't entirely put off at that point but I forgot to bring a spare battery and jump leads so couldn't get it started and just thought ah fuck this, it's just not my day. I never saw the seller, he just left the keys and v5 inside it and stayed in the house.

I just didn't seem worth the effort in the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My lads Pug 207 has been providing good service since the last bout of major surgery, although cold start had become awkward and once started a misfire was noticeable but quick to clear and drove ok otherwise. 
Decided plugs were the most likely candidate, on removing the coil pack there was evidence of damp and further evidence on the plugs themselves, had a worrying moment when number 1 plug didn’t want to unscrew any further so I filled the recess with penetrating fluid and worked the plug back and forth. I had visions of seeing bits of aluminium on the threads as it released but all was well in the end, thankfully. Put some high temperature grease on the threads, rebuilt everything and normal service was resumed. You can see where spark leaked, plenty of WD40 used on the coil pack. 
457FA438-C7B4-46F9-A010-6D89A8E8BB9B.thumb.jpeg.dc032c5fca060bdb90c40dedaaf9d0a3.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the way up to oxford yesterday to join my “bubble”for the weekend, the Mercedes clicked over to 130,000. There’s always something satisfying when actual numbers on dials rotate to align 0000. Extremely thick fog up the a34 from the m4 though. Never seen it so bad- I was doing 60 with the lights and fog lights on and seeing the occasional truck loom out of the fog 50m in front and there were several organ donors bombing past at probably 80+ with just the daylight LEDs on - no rear lights at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Driving back from work on Friday, at dropping my phone and smashing the screen to bits, they Multipla was reluctant to go into 5th.

Then extremely reluctant to leave 5th. Drove home like Michael Schumacher did that time he won a race stuck in 5th and left it until today.

IMG_20210207_120757940.thumb.jpg.2f7c5ae896963f51a3246f152fa12620.jpg

The black arm at the top is meant to be attached to the grey ball just below it (above the green painted bolt on the left).

The arm was attached by the last scrap of metal and came off in my hand mate.

IMG_20210207_121310088.thumb.jpg.ad86c38a77a33ebedf8c3e511674754b.jpg

Secondhand replacement found on eBay for £33

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/6/2021 at 5:08 PM, Stanky said:

fixed the clip that secures the end of the bowden cable for the heater temperature adjuster knob in the Daewoo again, its an absurdly fiddly job and it will probably pop off again before long. The clip that holds it to the back of the adjuster knob is useless and after a while of the temp being adjusted it just pops off again.

At least i know what I'm doing now, it only took me about 20 minutes to get all the fascia stuff off, radio out and disconnected, cable popped back on and then reassemble everything. I didn't even cut myself this time round.

Also, changed the dehumidifier in the mercedes earlier, it had collected quite a bit of water over the last 3-4 weeks

IMG_20210131_164900135.thumb.jpg.23432fbd36decca2b67034b640896bfb.jpg

That was it about 10 days ago, the collected water had about doubled in volume and I was worried it'd fall off the RVM and go everywhere. I've put a new one in now and this one in the bin.

to be brutally honest, the cars doesn't seem to be any less damp. the windows still mist up on the inside when its parked facing away from the sun. I'll keep using them up, but probably won't buy more. 

I’ve got a few of these for sale for 69p. I bought 18 earlier but want to keep 6. 
C8F848D5-2ACE-4E47-B38C-71A5A403E5E6.thumb.jpeg.6ccb861948b6f033c53932578dc12574.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tried my hand at some more brush painting using cellulose paint. I quite like turquoise blue so I bought a big tin of RAL5018 and set to it.

20210205_194922.thumb.jpg.4416d3dad48e5dc29c9a25027e3d71b5.jpg20210205_200152.thumb.jpg.0c96db211d52e71b6a524a3f5b19ea20.jpg
Coat 1 on the left and it being flatted back on the right

20210205_200305.thumb.jpg.e5bcc01620a11e4fbf8e951b0dcd53df.jpg
Small paint reaction for some odd reason.

20210205_222215.thumb.jpg.f8314eb7cc8d35c61e8eb0587693cf9e.jpg20210206_125456.thumb.jpg.ac5b4b9b91b893b12813ab83fd6bd80b.jpg

Coat 2 also sanded back and a final third coat. Looks quite nice for a first attempt! Would have helped if I wasn't using a tiny, awful brush but hey-ho, this piece will eventually be folded round and bonded to my car's exhaust silencer, just to prolong the little life it has left.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had to take the Clio on the M2 this afternoon (don't ask!) . Local roads had mostly been cleared, but not the M2! Have to say though, the little Clio really held it's own. On my last trip, the heater fan had jammed flat out at 24 degrees, which was rather toasty, but with the wonders of old cars, seemed to have fixed itself again! A few scary moments, but it handled well. Main concern was the imbeciles who kept sitting on the back bumper - one flashed me for having fog lights on  in a snow storm, which everyone else had on too, but they are quite bright when they are only 6 inches away! I think that it's a new entry to my all time top ten least enjoyable journeys.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As @willswitchengagehas already been rather disparaging in praising, I walked down to northmoor lock on the Thames today with my bubble. Much flooding and -3 degrees feeling!  At the moment there’s no need for the lock as the water either side is the same level.

 

E8556F50-F700-437D-83D5-7F8A584E34BE.png

284BE55E-633F-48C2-9780-AAB76A5EF408.png

F6B3D20A-C28D-426B-AEBC-8FF7F5A9E513.png

20CF2947-9AF4-42ED-89EF-5CB107B74560.png

842A5864-23E2-4CD9-8E40-472E81A774C9.png

863B088E-C2FF-467A-992F-42E3E9B04E0C.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beast from the East II appeared to be moving in this afternoon so only went as far as the garage.

I retrieved the old knocking Corsa engine from the spares pile  in the garage and got pretty far in to the tear down. Currently the 'keep' pile is smaller than the engine so space efficiency is currently being achieved.

20210207_201928.thumb.jpg.20feeaa60c8e069b0e2a1b59f8035f83.jpg

The sump bore no metal shavings which was a surprise as the knock was quite pronounced. 

376122536_Screenshot_20210207-201628_VideoPlayer.thumb.jpg.79c16bef7bafff002fb7d285986e778b.jpg

I'll pull the head and extract the pistons tomorrow for a look before calling my local scrap picker to collect the remains together with some other car parts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Managed to get the roof of the 900 to close pretty much properly.... which is good so it won’t get lots of water in it.... a quick facebook ask has yielded a couple of things to try... but I’m not hopeful.

Other than that I wussed out and decided it was too cold to play with cars this weekend. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Craig the Princess said:

 

Then extremely reluctant to leave 5th. Drove home like Michael Schumacher did that time he won a race stuck in 5th and left it until today.

 

I don't want to be picky, but I can't help it. Seriously, I'm saying to myself 'just leave it' but here I am typing away. 

I remember that race, though not enough to remember where it was, but I think you'll find he came second. But he was stuck in fifth gear for a good portion of the race so it was still quite an achievement. 

 

EDIT :

Had to look in to this for my own curiosity. It was Spain 1994. The gear problems started at the first pit stop on lap 22 and got gradually worse until he was only left with fifth gear. It was a 65 lap race and he even had to make another pitstop and pull away in fifth. Brilliant. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The new battery for the 75 turned up and has been fitted.  The promised "upgrade" is a battery that is grey instead of black and says "prestige" on the sticker - I think it has a theoretical 2 extra AH but is otherwise identical to what I ordered - but then the delivery wasn't all that delayed in the end so I don't really mind.  It fired straight up and last I checked it hadn't started doing the self-locking thing again, but the driver's door switches still aren't working, which is annoying.  I'm not sure if it's possible to reset such things without the fancy (and very expensive) Rover diagnostic equipment.  It's not an issue this time of year anyway - I'll revisit it in the spring.

The new door locks for the Trafic also turned up, but those haven't been fitted yet.  The locks are correct for the van, but they come as a barrel only - the plastic arm which operates the door mechanism needs to be removed from the old lock and fitted to the new one.  The arm is held in place by a small push-fit steel pin.  Said steel pin has (presumably) been stuck through the alloy body of the lock for the last 24 years, and is hitherto showing very little interest in any suggestion - however insistent - that the situation should change.  The arms don't appear to be available on their own, and they also don't look the same as those on other Renaults, so I'm a bit stuck on that at the moment.

Got very little else done this week due to freezing temperatures and howling winds, but I did do a bit of pottering in the back of the Iveco - I improved the load bay lighting situation by removing the absolutely filthy lens from the rearmost light, blasting it with brake cleaner and then scrubbing it with a scouring pad, and fitting a 21w bulb in place of the 10w one that was in there.  Whilst this made the light a great deal brighter, it didn't actually do much for the light levels in the back of the van - however much light the lamp was throwing out, it was immediately being absorbed by the red paint and dark stained plywood so I really couldn't see what I was doing any better than I could before.  So I grabbed a tin of Poundland white gloss and a brush, and did a very slapdash job of painting the plywood on the sides of the van white to get it to reflect more light.  It seems to have worked, although it needs another coat.  Annoyingly the indicators started playing up again so I've now ordered an electronic flasher unit which will hopefully cure the problem.

The diesel C2 continues to give good service - it has a cracking heater and is reasonably competent in the snow given that it's on budget summer tyres.  I treated it to a pair of wiper blades this week and I've also bought a secondhand Kenwood stereo for it off eBay - the original stereo needs reprogramming with Lexia to stop it beeping, so shoving an aftermarket one in is quicker and easier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Insurance is up on the bikes, took two off and replaced them with a couple of others.  13 bikes (includes scooters and mopeds) was £520 or something fully comp, changing them over is usually £30-£35.

Probably stupidly, one I added was the Burgman scooter. I'll tax it and try and get it for a decent run out to see if the problem/s occur, just to see what they're actually like. Don't especially want to get involved fixing anything to be honest, don't plan on keeping it long enough but it can be swapped for another on the insurance.

 

Corsa has now got 13 months MOT: The second hand (£50) eBay fuel pump has been fitted and works. The old one leaked and a previous owner had just tried to put silicone round one of the external seals without even removing the cover plate things that was leaking! £30 a year tax and mingebag running costs are GR8! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The old engine on the Corsa was knocking and it was replaced. I completely  stripped it down tonight and the piston which I thought was knocking has no play in the small end like I thought. 

However, I do recall taking the plugs out and an electrode was missing from the piston closest to the gearbox, looks like this is what it did:

20210208_214146.thumb.jpg.f15dc7b23277ec3514990f9d71846e65.jpg

This was the piston that I heard the knock from. The crown is also pretty howling and looks very chopped and potted, like its mashed something. All the bore looked fine.

Would that chip cause anything untoward?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The diesel heater I ordered got delivered today, to my surprise - intrepid Hermes courier braving the snow in a Citroën C1, which I thought was an unusual choice of delivery vehicle.

It is quite slippery out there - I went to Tesco in the Iveco this evening and just coming off the accelerator in second gear was making the back wheels lock up...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, wuvvum said:

The diesel heater I ordered got delivered today, to my surprise - intrepid Hermes courier braving the snow in a Citroën C1, which I thought was an unusual choice of delivery vehicle.

It is quite slippery out there - I went to Tesco in the Iveco this evening and just coming off the accelerator in second gear was making the back wheels lock up...

My 107 wasn't *too* bad in it - once I'd replaced the original plastic tyres and pulled the ABS fuse.

The main thing I remember from the first winter I had it when we had some mild slush was that the ABS made it absolutely lethal.  The system had always been somewhat hyperactive, but on an even slightly slushy road there was basically a 1/3 chance when you came to a junction that you would find that you essentially had no brakes, no matter how gently you feathered the pedal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, wuvvum said:

The diesel heater I ordered got delivered today, to my surprise - intrepid Hermes courier braving the snow in a Citroën C1, which I thought was an unusual choice of delivery vehicle.

It is quite slippery out there - I went to Tesco in the Iveco this evening and just coming off the accelerator in second gear was making the back wheels lock up...

A few of the fly by night couriers around here turn up in a variety of middle-aged tat... although I think because lots of them are falsely self employed, if their van breaks down they have to use their car or they get a penalty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

The C1 raised an eyebrow not because of its abilities in the snow but more because of the relatively low number of parcels that can physically fit in such a small vehicle.  The box the heater came in would have filled half the boot space on its own.

When I used to direct couriers for UPS at EMA, one morning a driver turned up and had forgotten to bring the keys to his van which he stored at the airport. He offered to take the express packages in his car - a Corrado! We managed to get in a surprising amount with the seats folded, but I still had to use a second, chase vehicle.

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...