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Father Ted

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I think I've found the cause of last week's FTP at the Shiteisteddfod.

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The two lower posts in the dizzy cap have worn away to almost nothing. I'll replace it and the rotor arm but I'm left wondering what's caused such uneven wear. Is it just the effect of gravity (those two posts are orientated at the bottom of the cap when it's in place) or does it point to a more serious issue with the distributor drive? Would folks advise I replace just the cap and arm or should I replace the whole distributor? I guess I could replace just the cap and arm for now and see if it happens again although the cap doesn't look that old so maybe this has happened before?

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After cleaning everything up with contact cleaner and an old toothbrush I put it all back together so I won't lose anything while I wait for parts to arrive. Having got that far I thought I might as well try and start it and to my surprise and delight it fired straight up and sounds like it's running ok. 

Given how worn those contacts are I guess it wouldn't have taken much moisture getting into the dizzy cap to cause  the engine not to start.

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After a week of phoning round, a very nice bloke from the mg6 owners club (yes, that's a thing!) dropped me off a used full passenger side strut and spring assembly along with 2 genuine SAIC air filters, 2 rear coil springs and 2 rover 75 droplinks (they fit a 6 but need about 5mm taking off the top to clear the spring cup.).

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All for the princely sum of £50. The job is a total twat for me to do at the roadside, but I've got a mobile mechanic coming on Monday to swap the strut over for another £60. Then it's a replacement tyre and it's roadworthy again. 

Until then, it's doing it's 3 legged dog impression on axle stands, cos the wheel won't fit back over the broken spring. IMG-20210515-WA0003.thumb.jpeg.ce499b1411e515d3573b11bd89c52228.jpeg

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1 minute ago, Leyland Worldmaster said:

*To be read in the style of Alf Garnett*

English Bluebells only. I'll have none of that foreign tat in my woods... 

😁😁😁

Both my sister ( oxford) and mum ( north wales ) have loads of bluebells in their gardens, but only Spanish ones. I have lots of English ones in the park here, and on the bridlepath on my commute.

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5 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Both my sister ( oxford) and mum ( north wales ) have loads of bluebells in their gardens, but only Spanish ones. I have lots of English ones in the park here, and on the bridlepath on my commute.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/bluebell/

I'm feeling confident these are English Bluebells. These are well known locally and regarded as the best in the area. 

They're lovely this year, if not a little later than normal! 😎😎😎👍👍👍

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20 minutes ago, stuboy said:

As you may off seen before about me clearing out deceased missus uncles house well his standard 8 needs to be moved and not sold , so plan was to get rid of the blue bus and move the standard 8 to its place..

 

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Camper conversion that never happened? Seems he was a bit of a shiter.

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2 hours ago, stuboy said:

As you may off seen before about me clearing out deceased missus uncles house well his standard 8 needs to be moved and not sold , so plan was to get rid of the blue bus and move the standard 8 to its place

Jeepers, that's some overhang - they could wipe out a village with it!

Is it going to be broken for spares or used as a big van banger?

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Miss SL's Yaris collected yesterday without any great incident:

2004 Toyota Yaris 1.0 Blue

There is something of a theme to this half of the driveway. The LS400 is hiding in the corner.

2004 Toyota Yaris 1.0 Blue

Not perfect, it has a few dinks and scrapes and I'm sure mechanically we'll find a few things, but so far it seems to drive nicely. I'd like to get a matching set of tyres on it before too long and the washer pump is dead. Had to stop at Halfords on the way back as the wiper blades were pretty dire.

Tag on the rear plate for the local dealer who sold it new - by coincidence about that time I did some work for them, doing drawings for the 'retail concept' refurbishment of their showroom.

Had the excitement of a couple of runs out with her in it.

Mrs SL seems to approve too, it's quite similar in feel to her Auris, so should be handy as a back-up car and more so than my '88 Sunny or the Camry which have served that purpose until now.

2004 Toyota Yaris 1.0 Blue

A shame they ditched the central speedo on later models. MPG is now up to 48-odd.

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This little Citroen has been in the family since 2006 when i collected it on an A frame behind my Impreza from Horsham.

My mother in law used it most days until she passed away in 2016 and since then its been in the corner of my drive and used as a pipe smoking room for my father.

My father has now moved in to a residential home nearby so the Ax's time is up.

We did have plans to resurrect it again but the inside has suffered badly from the smoke and debris that only an OAP with a pipe loaded with Condor can create and i have stood on the roof to cut some trees back away from the power lines with obvious dire results.

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I thought it would be nice if it could be started and driven out of its corner rather than be dragged out so i bunged a battery on it and reconnected the cut fuel pipes to the throttle body.

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The engine span over fine but wouldn't start so i tipped some petrol down the throttle bodies throat and tried again where it ran up straight away and sounded great until the fuel was used up.

The in tank fuel pump isn't pumping any more so i pulled it out and tried to running it directly off the battery but it has seized from lack of use sitting in a near empty fuel tank.

Not wanting to give up just yet i stripped the pump apart and freed it up with the aid of much WD40 and constantly reversing the polarity to and fro.

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Then i borrowed some fresher fuel from Boris the Morris and cobbled up supply and return pipes into a can.

I was super confident now the pump was spinning up when the ignition was swithched on and when it was cranked but no it still wouldn't push any petrol to the front of the car.

I guess that although the pump spins and sounds ok something has failed inside that i cant get to.

I really wanted the Citroen to move under its own power one last time so plan B was hatched which basically involved pumping the tyres up to 40psi and removing the spark plugs followed by squeezing  behind the steering wheel selecting first gear and cranking her over.

This saw the little warrior's starter motor effortlessly pull the car out of its gravely resting place of the last five years onto the block paving again.

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13 minutes ago, Joey spud said:

20210513_170050.thumb.jpg.9ba5fedec02a2412c66a57358f95a875.jpg

This little Citroen has been in the family since 2006 when i collected on an A frame behind my Impreza from Horsham.

My mother in law used it most days until she passed away in 2016 and since then its been in the corner of my drive and used a pipe smoking room for my father.

My father has now moved in to a residential home nearby so the Ax's time is up.

We did have plans to resurrect it again but the inside has suffered badly from the smoke and debris that a pipe loaded with Condor gives off and i have stood on the roof to cut some trees back away from the power lines with obvious results.

20210513_170105.thumb.jpg.f5939bd3a32392192476403846f1774a.jpg

20210515_134659.thumb.jpg.adf92f51418c28d247a7946342af4e7e.jpg

I thought it would be nice it it could be started and driven out of its corner rather than be dragged out so i bunged a battery on it and reconnected the cut fuel pipes to the throttle body.

20210515_134554.thumb.jpg.b7ea6406218b8bb84356d4ce48c03abb.jpg

The engine span over fine but wouldn't start so i tipped some petrol down the throttle bodies throat and tried again where it ran up straight away and sounded great until the fuel was used up.

The in tank fuel pump  wasn't pumping any more so i pulled out and tried to run it direct off the battery but it has seized from lack of use sitting in a near empty fuel tank.

Not wanting to give up just yet i stripped the pump apart and freed it up with the aid of much WD40 and constantly reversing the polarity to and fro.

20210515_141551.thumb.jpg.ee69135e80ae8b182d90b4cac0225194.jpg

Then i borrowed some fresher fuel from Boris the Morris and cobbled up supply and return pipes into a can.

I was super confident now the pump was spinning up when the ignition was swithched on and when it was cranked but no it still wouldn't push any petrol to the front of the car.

I guess that although the pump spins and sounds ok something has failed inside that i cant get to.

I really wanted the Citroen to move under its own power one last time so plan B was hatched which basically involved pumping the tyres up to 40psi and removing the spark plugs followed by squeezing  behind the steering wheel selecting first gear and cranking her over.

This saw the little warrior's starter motor effortlessly pull the car out of its gravely resting place of the last five years onto the block paving again.

20210516_121422.thumb.jpg.1498d819e6aee8a0721ce85785d5ac73.jpg

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1 weekend, some g101 and a steam cleaner and it'll be fine...

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Switched the Mk1 TT to Tesco's Momentum99 fuel and been running it for a couple of tanks now after recommendation on the TT forums. Since the switch though the idle has changed when warm, like a popping/misfire noise every so often (coincidence maybe? I'm still not sure!). This morning before work I lashed a bottle of cataclean into the tank before the journey and it seems to have done the trick! I really should start a thread on the forum for this car as it would have produced quite a bit of content over the last few months!

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My living room is full of Maestro.  A frankly embarrassing amount of parts were donated by someone I met through Youtube comments on the Maestro videos.  I now have far more things than I ever expected to for the car, including a complete dashboard and just about every bit of interior trim, a full set of door cards and seats that are even better than the excellent ones in the car, and several body panels that even seem to be the correct shade of Targa Red.  The cost for all this was (because I had to repay it somehow and the donor didn't want money try as I might to give some to them) a couple of pieces of artwork of Renault Estafettes.  It's absolutely amazing what happens in the car community sometimes when you're not even actively looking.

There was also, bafflingly, a ludicrous oversized chrome Austin mascot on a plinth that just happened to fit the slope of the Princess' bonnet perfectly.  Not a permanent fixture, though it may get a speaker magnet stuffed inside to make it a stupid temporary adornment for trolling at shows.

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Mechanic friend called today. Says he hasn’t forgotten the merc but his new role as supervisor / inspector at his day work ( London buses) is taking up all his time and so he’s not hunting for car jobs. Meeting up at my work this week to look at diary schedules. The rear drums on the 2cv have started groaning a bit now too so that’s another job for him.

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I've fixed my Vagshite central locking!

The PimpPassat never had remote central unlocking from the key  only boot unlock and global lock.  SOP for entry was to unlock the boot thus disarming the alarm, use the key to open the driver's door and use the door mounted unlock switch.

Needless to say that's a right pain every single time.

I suspected low battery in the key fob. Clearly someone's been here before as all the plastic at the prise points are well used. But no! Battery was showing 3v as its meant to.

So I bent all the contacts visible and refitted with same battery - 

And it works! 

Winner.

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