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Father Ted

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I haven't got quite as much done this weekend as I'd hoped due mainly to slightly shaky weather, but I've managed to do pretty much all the jobs the Swift needed for its MOT - I just need to fit one more CV boot clip tomorrow and then in theory that's it - whether I've done things well enough to pass (especially the brakes) will remain to be seen - although the brakes should be OK, the shoes were moving freely and there was fluid getting to the drums so hopefully the seized cylinders will have been the only issue.

Nothing was actually seized but various bits were a pain in the arse to get off.  The offside drum didn't want to come off and I had to bolt the wheel back on and use that as a lever to wrangle it off - that wouldn't work on a "normal" setup but the Swift has a combined drum and hub setup where the wheel just bolts to the drum and then the whole caboodle is just held in place by the dollywobbler hub nut.  Speaking of which I'm going to need two new hub nuts as the ones on there are pretty mangled and won't lock in place properly anymore.  The wheel cylinders came out easily enough though, the only awkward bit being that the bleed nipple is too close to the pipe union so I couldn't get my brake pipe spanner in there without removing the nipple.

The front suspension arm was a bit of a pain, partly because the ball joint didn't want to come out of the hub (it came out most of the way but got stuck on the last bit, eventually it was persuaded out with a lump hammer and a breaker bar) and partly because the rear bush had basically fossilised and so was an absolute nightmare to get off the car, and even when it was off required much scraping with screwdrivers to get the residue off.  The new arm is safely on there now though.  When looking for something completely different in the van I also found a random CV boot clip along with my special CV boot clip pliers, so the nearside is going to get treated to a proper clip (as long as I don't balls it up) - the offside has had to make do with a couple of Jubilee clips strung together, and mounted right on the edge of the hub because any further out and they foul the ball joint.

The Ypsilon flashed up a warning the other day, in a brief moment when the display was legible, telling me a brake light was out.  A quick check ascertained that the offside light wasn't doing anything (that's the side that took a punt - the indicator bulb had gone too when I bought the car).  No problem, thinks I, I've got plenty of brake light bulbs.  Except I hadn't factored in that it's a modern, and therefore different for no apparent reason - it takes some bizarre 25 watt wedge bulb which looks like a giant 501 bulb.  So I think I'm going to have to take a trip to the motor factor on Tuesday, and no doubt get bent over as usually happens with exotic bulbs - I once shoehorned a 233 bulb into an Alfa 166 for the MOT as I begrudged paying 7 quid for the fancy halogen side light bulbs it was supposed to take, but I don't think I'm going to have much option with the Ypsilon.

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Great start to the day... galaxy started 1st time in 2 weeks of jump pack, swap car place aa need it to go to FIL to the rubbish dump, 8am, need to go look after the mongrels but the b8stard galaxy is stone dead , it wouldn't jump off the pack, the v6, so got grumpy i ment the missus come jump off her disesl focus, thankfully she has grass outside her gaff so I can plug in battery charger whilst I eat crumpets and drink tea...

 

I reckon its the central locking draining the battery... as I've run out of ideas over 3 years..

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11 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Cadillac XLR? I'm surprised it even reached here. LHD only?

I once saw a BLR coupé. Not bad.

XLRs were all hardtop convertibles. They sold them in europe, I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them somehow made it to the UK. I'm more surprised the G37 coupe was sold here, I thought these all came from Japan as Skyline grey imports.

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48 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

A little local difficulty at Doovla this week...

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I should not have said anything!

so thats what I get for complimenting the DVLA's recent impressive turn of speed LOL

23 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

blimey the DVLA are not hanging around are they! I have been helping @st185cs finally apply for the logbooks for his bundle of Model 70's

and the first ones already showing a new V5 issued! (same date as VJN953S above which is fun, not often you see Model 70's with date matching V5's LOL)

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the V62 was only sent off on the 20th of April! its almost suspiciously quick LOL

I know this Model 70 does not have a scrap marker and I know those generally go the quickest but 9 days is impressive

 

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Cambelt/tensioner kit for the Rover arrived in the post today. Just waiting for the new rocker gasket to arrive, and I can have a crack at doing the cambelt. Never done a cambelt before... what could possibly go right? :D 

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3 minutes ago, chadders said:

What's the building it's parked in front of?

It’s an abandoned house along a slightly forgotten historic street in my city. Hopefully the council figures out what to do with this building before it falls apart.

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1 hour ago, Borsuq said:

It’s an abandoned house along a slightly forgotten historic street in my city. Hopefully the council figures out what to do with this building before it falls apart.

That looks to be  a beautiful  building. I would love something like that.

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56 minutes ago, DVee8 said:

That looks to be  a beautiful  building. I would love something like that.

It really is. Since my city suffered extremely extensive damage during WWII there are fairly few old buildings left. I hope this one gets saved. I know there were some people who wanted to turn it into a community centre, but the city council doesn’t seem too keen.

Here’s an older photo of the building from before it was secured and boarded up:

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5 hours ago, Borsuq said:

After a proper grim couple of weeks we finally got some nice weather so I got to take my cars out. A couple of cool photos ensued. :D
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Photos, cars, buildings and forest with tank are epic, I love them! Is that a T34? Presumably its stood where it was either disabled or broken down from the war?

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32 minutes ago, Tim_E said:

Photos, cars, buildings and forest with tank are epic, I love them! Is that a T34? Presumably its stood where it was either disabled or broken down from the war?

That is indeed a T-34. It’s part of a monument to an army unit that was formed in that particular village. There’s also a pillar with a memorial plaque and a cannon on that same site.

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6 hours ago, LabRat said:

4 hours later, it's home. Wouldn't be so bad, but it's only a 5 mile journey!

(Helps if I put this in the right thread... It's been a rough day!)

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I've had cars like that, without big yellow taxi to speed things up

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Yesterday, Alison's Tracking and Driver's Door Check-strap were checked and replaced respectively. 

A neighbour left a note in my letterbox; they were most apologetic about an extremely minor incident; they accidentally opened the door into Alison's wheel-arch. This is a plastic panel and there's just Paint Transfer. 

As I don't believe that anything useful is achieved by feeling quote: "Disappointed with myself[...]" 

I responded to the note using the Mobile Telephone Number provided and said no worries. 

It's heartening to see that there are still people who are decent enough to do this. They have hit Alison before, but cars are cars; they're gonna get bumped and scraped! Shit happens and I'm sure my neighbour did not intend to cause (the most minor damage) so fuck it! 

😎 👍 

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500 miles in and the ex-HMC Merc is going well.  You pilot rather than drive this...big old lump that it is.  Such refined waft.

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Mingebag Merc on the above trip, as I ran it on LPG for 140 odd miles.  70p per litre from the only place I could find in SE London, Sainsbury's on Greenwich Peninsula.  That was a nice feeling as it does chew through pez otherwise.  But then I'd got used to chucking a score in this, which seems to last ages.

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Bought in late February and I haven't really posted about it.  Very short MoT so I tested it and replaced the rear wheel bearings (surprisingly easy), together with a pair of tyres and new battery, and I've been pootling around in it ever since.  Gets a bit busy on the motorway, but it's comfortable and quite a fun thing to drive when you want it to be.  I think the NS track rod end advisory has escalated to fucked status, but I've got the parts so will sort that next weekend.  I'd also like to fix the AC, as having that working will cement its place in the fleet.  The Merc doesn't have AC oddly, and for once I would like a bit of cooling over the summer months.

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