The new news 24 thread

[dome]

31 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Don't worry I bought a Megane under the influence as well.

Was this self inflicted or was there an enabler I the question 😂

No, it was all me! 

I'd messaged him yesterday and was supposed to go see it after 3 today. He messaged me about 2 saying he was home so I asked for his address as Lyndsey and I were on our way to Toolstation. It was approximately 45 seconds off our route and Lyndsey graciously* agreed to the detour. 

I went away and thought about it, then dropped him a message with an offer about half an our later which he agreed to with him delivering it to me. 

As he was leaving to deliver it another punter turned up who was supposed to have been there at 1pm. He then went into a strop  when he was told it was sold and offered more money, which the seller declined. He then asked for petrol money for his wasted journey!

Understandably (and thankfully, I think) the seller told him to bolt and suggested that if he'd arrived when he said he would then he wouldn't have missed out. 

[Cord Fourteener]

7 minutes ago, dome said:

No, it was all me! 

I'd messaged him yesterday and was supposed to go see it after 3 today. He messaged me about 2 saying he was home so I asked for his address as Lyndsey and I were on our way to Toolstation. It was approximately 45 seconds off our route and Lyndsey graciously* agreed to the detour. 

I went away and thought about it, then dropped him a message with an offer about half an our later which he agreed to with him delivering it to me. 

As he was leaving to deliver it another punter turned up who was supposed to have been there at 1pm. He then went into a strop  when he was told it was sold and offered more money, which the seller declined. He then asked for petrol money for his wasted journey!

Understandably (and thankfully, I think) the seller told him to bolt and suggested that if he'd arrived when he said he would then he wouldn't have missed out. 

Lol, I love that there are genuinely decent folk selling cars out there, fending of the baying Facefook hoard.

[stuboy]

Take 1 rusty trolley jack...and some old paint in tins from my shed..

[Split_Pin]

18 minutes ago, dome said:

No, it was all me! 

I'd messaged him yesterday and was supposed to go see it after 3 today. He messaged me about 2 saying he was home so I asked for his address as Lyndsey and I were on our way to Toolstation. It was approximately 45 seconds off our route and Lyndsey graciously* agreed to the detour. 

I went away and thought about it, then dropped him a message with an offer about half an our later which he agreed to with him delivering it to me. 

As he was leaving to deliver it another punter turned up who was supposed to have been there at 1pm. He then went into a strop  when he was told it was sold and offered more money, which the seller declined. He then asked for petrol money for his wasted journey!

Understandably (and thankfully, I think) the seller told him to bolt and suggested that if he'd arrived when he said he would then he wouldn't have missed out. 

He sounds like a top gent! There are some out there after all then!

[Cord Fourteener]

Today was day 1 of Mondeo mk4 estate daily life. 

It is nice, I'm settling in. I miss the crazy power of the remapped Passat but the Mondeo is composed and comfy, and is definitely capable. 

And it's very very big inside. 

It even did a regen without me noticing when I must have been on the A494 crossing the Clwydian hills or bypassing Mold to join the Chester bypass. Not a place i would have guessed, but it makes me happy that it's regenerating the DPF in my regular travels without fuss. 

I think I'm going to like the car. 

It's proving the rule though; all Mondeo diesels are smoky. 

[SiC]

Did the droplink today. Piece of piss to do.



It was buggered.


Clonking now gone when you go over speed bumps.

[stuboy]

20 minutes ago, stuboy said:

Take 1 rusty trolley jack...and some old paint in tins from my shed..

It's lil bit weepy..

[SiC]

Something that I didn't realise on this Fabia is just how clean underneath is. Not just no rust but not even dirt. The headlights are also crystal clear too and none of the clouding. I'm pretty certain it was owned by a succession of elderly people that only drove in nice weather and garaged it. Would explain the scuffed body and high clutch bite point.



Plenty of meat left on the brake pads too.


I do think it may need a clutch soon...
Might even get it done because I'm a bit mental.

[stuboy]

... and need to box the galaxy in for its mot this week.....

[dome]

13 minutes ago, SiC said:

I do think it may need a clutch soon...
Might even get it done because I'm a bit mental.

For a man of your abilities that'd be easy. And you've got a decent garage to do it in. Get it done!

[Fumbler]

2 hours ago, bobdisk said:

She doesnt keep her foot resting on the clutch pedal all the time, does she?

No, she redlines it when exiting the driveway and slips the clutch at high revs when manoeuvring in the driveway.

[SiC]

For a man of your abilities that'd be easy. And you've got a decent garage to do it in. Get it done!

Would be a driveway job until I get the Dolly done if it goes before I get that in a better state.

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Did the droplink today. Piece of piss to do.



It was buggered.


Clonking now gone when you go over speed bumps.

Drop links are one of those jobs that should take 10 minutes but almost never do.  It is nice when you get an easy one.

[Rusty_Rocket]

...which is a good job as you'll be doing them every 12 months!

More exciting is the rear lower arm bush, where the steel through-bolt shears off in the aluminium carrier.

I like the Polo/ Fabia/ Ibiza as a car, but can't abide the fragile 3-cyl paperweight most of them seem to have.

[SiC]

42 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Drop links are one of those jobs that should take 10 minutes but almost never do.  It is nice when you get an easy one.

I think this might have been the first time ever done them on a car?

I was prepared to just chop them off with the angry grinder. But thought I'd give them a go with the wrench. Bought a 30cm long 3/8" Sealey job and they undid no bother. 

Definitely helps that nothing is rusted underneath. I know I'll get bored of this car but I also know I think I've got a bargain (until the clutch goes!). 

[SiC]

2 minutes ago, Rusty_Rocket said:

...which is a good job as you'll be doing them every 12 months!

More exciting is the rear lower arm bush, where the steel through-bolt shears off in the aluminium carrier.

I like the Polo/ Fabia/ Ibiza as a car, but can't abide the fragile 3-cyl paperweight most of them seem to have.

This is the 4pot 1.4 16v of 75bhp. Quite how VAG got so little power out of that engine is a bit of a mystery. 

No idea how strong these engines are. Have read rebuilds aren't easy as something about the crank being machined to fit the block. Also piston rings I believe can cause grief. 

[Rusty_Rocket]

That's the best-bet engine for one of those I reckon.

[loserone]

Got a message to rescue someone who locked their only key in a Kia.  

 

On getting there, discovered that have lost literally all the even slightly appropriate rakes and torsion levers for car keys.  FFS.

 

Still, at least I had the back up option of some furniture moving airbags and an old wire coat hanger.

Open it up a crack

 

Grab the key 

 

 

Drop it on the floor, FFS.

 

Anyway, no deadlocks so just pulled on the lock lever on the drivers door and BAM get hit in the face with a door which was under pressure, quite literally.

 

Sorted.

[SiC]

Saw this at a petrol station earlier today

[Yoss]

14 minutes ago, SiC said:

This is the 4pot 1.4 16v of 75bhp. Quite how VAG got so little power out of that engine is a bit of a mystery. 

No idea how strong these engines are. Have read rebuilds aren't easy as something about the crank being machined to fit the block. Also piston rings I believe can cause grief. 

I think the 1.4 16v was 100hp. My 1.6 8v in the Felicia is 75hp. This isn't great when the ancient 1.3 pushrod of Škodas own design chucks out 68hp. The VW engine is much quieter, that's its only advantage. 

When I used to frequent Briskoda (rarely bother any more as the Favorit/Felicia section dried up as the cars disappeared) the 1.4 16v that you have was a popular conversion as it was so easy. The block for the 8v and 16v are very similar so would mate up to the standard gearbox, but you had to make a new engine mount at the cambelt end. There would be no point doing the swap if both engines had the same power. 

The only swap really worth doing was the 1.6 16v but this was trickier as something was different, can't remember what now but I seem to remember you had to put the 1.6 internals in a 1.4 block which meant you needed two engines to start with. And the 1.6 16v was a much rarer beast to start with. 

This is all a very long winded way of saying I think you have more power than you think you do. 

[SiC]

6 minutes ago, Yoss said:

I think the 1.4 16v was 100hp. My 1.6 8v in the Felicia is 75hp. This isn't great when the ancient 1.3 pushrod of Škodas own design chucks out 68hp. The VW engine is much quieter, that's its only advantage. 

They did it in 75bhp and 100bhp tunes. I believe the 100bhp is a different cam and map. Also only on the top end too. Mine is a BKY engine code iirc. 

Tbh this engine isn't exactly the quietest or most refined units. Not just this example, seeing other videos of work being done on them they sound pretty noisy. Especially at cold.

However the car is well sound proofed and it reduces the sound to a quiet thrum. Probably why you hear/see old people rev the feck out of them!

[Yoss]

Ah, never knew that. I know mk1 Fabias were available with a 1.4 version of the Škoda pushrod too. I don't know the power of that but it must have been similar. Didn't realise there were quite so many engine options available. Maybe your engine replaced the 1.4 pushrod, I see yours is a late mk1. Probably detuned to meet some sort of emmisions target though in the real world the 100bhp engine would need less effort to keep going so was probably just as economical. 

[SiC]

11 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Ah, never knew that. I know mk1 Fabias were available with a 1.4 version of the Škoda pushrod too. I don't know the power of that but it must have been similar. Didn't realise there were quite so many engine options available. Maybe your engine replaced the 1.4 pushrod, I see yours is a late mk1. Probably detuned to meet some sort of emmisions target though in the real world the 100bhp engine would need less effort to keep going so was probably just as economical. 

I believe the 100bhp required super unleaded too. Renault managed 100bhp standard out of their humdrum 1.4 16v in the Clio/Mégane/Scenic/etc. 

I seem to vaguely remember reading that they are low output for insurance purposes in Germany. 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Saw this at a petrol station earlier today

Did you check to see how thin the door skins are now?

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, Rusty_Rocket said:

That's the best-bet engine for one of those I reckon.

That would be the 1.9 SDI surely?

[SiC]

That would be the 1.9 SDI surely?

Never seen the appeal of those engines. Very slow, heavy, unrefined rattly and noisy lumps. Big units that fill the engine bay and makes working in there more awkward. Also injection system more complex than a 2000 era MPI petrol.

This petrol you can barely tell is running at idle. Yet still gets 45+ mpg.

[wuvvum]

Been having a poke around the newly acquired C4 Grand Pigsarsehole today.  It runs OK and has MOT until next July, but it has a few jobs that need sorting - there is a dead ABS sensor, which is making the car throw up error messages for the ABS, ESP and EPB (although the parking brake actually works fine); the struts for the tailgate have given up; and the front strut top mounts are knocking like a bastard (apparently they were done a couple of years ago but the garage that did them presumably got the parts from Aliexpress as they're knackered again.

None of the parts required are expensive, but I suspect the strut top mounts are going to be a bugger to do as they're buried under the windscreen in typical modern MPV fashion.  I might just live with the knocking for a bit.

It's interesting to compare it with the Scénic - they were on sale at the same time and aimed very much at the same type of buyer.  The C4 is noticeably quicker, despite having exactly the same power (the 110bhp version of the ever reliable* 1.6 HDI) and one less gear.  It's also bigger in the back, and the seats are a better design - the floor is flat with the second and third rows folded down, which it isn't on the Renault.  It also has the advantage of working aircon, which the Renault doesn't currently have.  I still prefer the Scénic to drive though - although annoyingly I discovered this weekend that it's done a Renault and broken a rear spring, so that's another job that'll need doing before the MOT - I'll probably farm it out to the garage as I hate buggering around with spring compressors.

The Picasso doesn't have as sophisticated a dashboard as the Scénic - it's a "traditional" LCD display rather than a TFT screen - but you can change the colour of the backlighting which is quite a neat trick.  It also has the funky C4 steering wheel with the stationary boss which I've always rather liked.  And it has the advantage of a towbar, although I'm not sure I'd fancy towing anything too heavy with a 1.6-litre engine.

Not sure what I'm going to do with them - I think the C4, being the most vanlike, will stay until I can find myself another van and then it'll be punted on.  The Renner might stay a bit longer as long as it doesn't need too much for a test, as I do rather like it.

[PhilA]

9 hours ago, sdkrc said:

Hope it was a modern @PhilA?

Yeah, my orange Challenger has gone.

[dozeydustman]

9 hours ago, SiC said:

Saw this at a petrol station earlier today

Much want.

[reb]

I start training for my new job in just over an hour. It's been so quick going from interview to offer to start date I've not really had a chance to worry about it. I visited a couple of friends who've worked in call centres on Saturday and they assured me I'm going to love* it. How bad can it be?