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Well that was fun...we were lucky enough to be graced with a concert by Drums & Roses just now.  They were bloody awesome.

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My ears are still ringing, and that was with earplugs in to tone the volume down a bit!

We were meant to have a mini car show this afternoon, but heavy horizontal rain sadly put a damper on that.  Shame as I was hoping to get a closer look at the CX I spied in the car park yesterday.

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2 hours ago, r.welfare said:

GM H-body; Chevrolet Monza, Buick Skyhawk, Oldsmobile Starfire or Pontiac Sunbird from 1975-1980.  The squared-off chrome edge on the rear side window is unusual.

Yes.

I had already searched GM H body cars, but a bit more hunting this morning revealed a variant of the Buick Skyhawk called a "Skyhawk Road Hawk" has that vertical cut rear window. Strangely none of the pictures I have looked at have chrome window surrounds so maybe some of the black had peeled so the owner took the rest off like I did with my MG ZT-T sill trims.

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So, I've been on my new duty for three weeks now. Here are a few spots and observations. 

Firstly I've swapped my Peugeot Partner for a mk2 HCT. 

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It is utterly pogweaseled. 

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It is the oldest mk2 in the office but only by a couple of years, probably over ten years now, but none of the others have faded like this. 

Now you might think this is a demotion from a van but it's really not with our vans as they too are about ten years old and quite fucked. All that ever goes wrong with these is the odd brake cable (but I have two) and wheel bearing. 

And apart from the reliability I don't have to worry about whether it has been blocked in. Our yard isn't really big enough so some vans have to go down the middle and if these haven't been moved before you want to go out you have to go and find whose they are and get them moved. Also, I don't have to de ice the trolley and obviously I can't get the big packets in the trolley, there are separate drivers duties to cover the big packets (generally anything bigger than a shoe box) so that's another thing  I don't have to worry about. Best of all, I'm on my own. My previous duty was a shared a van and even if you have a good partner it's much more relaxed working on my own.  

So what have I found on the new delivery? 

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This Celica is nearly as pogweaseled as my trolley. The picture doesn't really show it but every panel has some laquer peel and bits where the paint has worn down to the primer. 

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But this is the top find. It's unusual to find three cars of the same type on one drive, let alone the same colour and all within a year of each other. We have a 51, 02, and 52 reg. 

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None of them look like they move, though the middle one was jacked up the other day, so work does happen. 

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I need to start a conversation with the owner but they haven't been getting much mail. 

Opposite this house is the local swimming pool which has this Northern Counties Olympian being used as a cafe. 

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I should put this picture in the Bus Shite thread and somebody will tell me it's history. 

 

But weirdest of all is this really dull square block of four flats. 

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Whose address is Quadrophenia. That's it. So I get mail addressed to flat 3, Quadrophenia. Then closer inspection shows it has a bit of scooter nailed to the wall over the door. 

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Took me a week or so to notice this as I don't look up much. But really, who thought this was a good idea? There's no other references, it's a bog standard modern block, no other 60s themeing, we're 65 miles from Brighton and....just why....? 

If I ever get to own a crappy block of flats I'm going to call it The Third Man. Or Some Like It Hot. Or Muppet Treasure Island and nail Gonzo over the door. 

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27 minutes ago, stuboy said:

Mate gave me his tpms he brought of amazon.. he complained it all it did was beep at him, so he said u have it.. there not pretty looking on the wheels.. but lets see if there crappy..

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I have always thought that having something like that would be good on a trailer, on a car you often feel a low tyre before it is totally flat but on a trailer that is not the case.

 

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2 hours ago, stuboy said:

Mate gave me his tpms he brought of amazon.. he complained it all it did was beep at him, so he said u have it.. there not pretty looking on the wheels.. but lets see if there crappy..

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Mrs Popsicle had the same set on her Vectra, worked really well, even warned of an issue when the temperature reading went really high on one wheel (sticking caliper).  But they fuse on to the valve stem and are a right bastard to get off. Deffo put some copperslip or similar on the thread to save you hacking them to bits and pulling bits off with a set of irwins like I had to.

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1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

I have always thought that having something like that would be good on a trailer, on a car you often feel a low tyre before it is totally flat but on a trailer that is not the case.

 

My semi-employer has them for his racing Porsche. Tells him when tyres are up to temp because pressure increases slightly with temperature. 

I don't know if it's these actual ones but it's something similar using a sender on each valve. 

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Not driven the crap 320 Touring for 3-4 weeks. Got in it yesterday to go to friends for dinner in Guildford. Leap in and...

Think "Oh cock, it's shat another ECU AGAIN". Call out AutoAid and pop in the app that it just wont start.

Man arrives in UK National 24 Hour Renault Kangoo. He doesn't even ask me anything, gets a big Jump Start pack out the back, walks up "pop the bonnet mate". Sticks it on. "Try that".

Bloody thing fires first time.

Gave the ungrateful bastard a new Yuasa in the summer as well. What on earth has drained it in 3 weeks?

Bloody modern tat!

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52 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Latest Harry garage video is interesting. Especially the expressions on Ian Tyrell’s face when the countach gearbox is making death noises. Incidentally the tractors were outside my work last year after being auctioned.

 

I can’t believe he’s been driving it around for 12 years making that sort of noise.  Foolhardy in the extreme.  The gearbox oil was filthy too.

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9 minutes ago, MJK 24 said:

I can’t believe he’s been driving it around for 12 years making that sort of noise.  Foolhardy in the extreme.  The gearbox oil was filthy too.

Turn the radio up to drown out the noises!

i think the issue will be that removing an engine and gearbox plus repair will be a £20,000 bill!

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2 hours ago, MJK 24 said:

I can’t believe he’s been driving it around for 12 years making that sort of noise.  Foolhardy in the extreme.  The gearbox oil was filthy too.

That car certainly has seem some action over the years. This is from Chris Harris personal YouTube channel

 

 

 

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23 hours ago, SiC said:

Think I might have just bought another car. Colleague is selling his 2006 A4 estate as he's just had a text to say his Tesla is ready for delivery. The Audi has just had its clutch+flywheel done. He's offered it at WBAC price and said somewhere between 1k and 1.5k.

Anyone want to buy a Fabia? 🤣

Price agreed on the A4. Colleague then started remembering all the problems it had and if I still wanted it. Of course it made it even more interesting to me...

It's got the usual crappy VAG problems of this era. Drivers window inop (regulator), cruise inop (clutch switch?), Glove box door falls off (hinge) and rear wiper missing (seized and forced then broke). Nothing unsurmountable.

Reading up has reminded me that these engines have the notorious oil pump hex drive that rounds off and kills them. Not as high liability as the earlier BLB engine but this BRE still has its issues. Hopefully those Siemens injectors have long been replaced.

Anyway it looks smart. Won't be getting it for a few weeks as his Model Y came so unexpectedly, he hadn't got a fast charger installed at home and waiting for that to be installed. He's keeping the Audi as backup until he knows he is able to get a decent charge in between uses.

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Also sold the Fabia to someone on here.

Next up on the chopping block is probably the Moggie. I've one too many cars at the moment and need to clear a few. Still want a Puma, so need to clear some room.

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Got a few bits done this weekend - it was bloody windy again but the rain had the decency to stay away until aboutn 4pm today, by which time I'd had enough anyway.

I found the boost leak on the Laguna - the intercooler-to-inlet-manifold hose has split right at the top by the Jubilee clip.  It doesn't really look repairable (I did think about trying to bodge it with silicone sealant but I was a bit worried about bits breaking off and getting ingested into the engine) and new ones are obscene money - even secondhand ones on eBay are going for 60 to 80 quid, which is ridiculous for a 2' long bit of plastic pipe.  Unfortunately it's an awkward shape to clear the PAS pump, so I can't really bodge something in like I did with the Mazda radiator.  There are people selling a replacement top section of the pipe, in silicone rubber rather than rigid plastic, for 45 quid - which is still a lot, and entails sawing the plastic pipe in half and using a metal joiner to connect the rubber replacement section - but that might be the way I have to go. 

Interestingly the car will barely run at all with the pipe disconnected - it starts straight up but chugs away at about 500rpm making all sorts of odd noises and won't rev at all.  Which could be awkward - the car needs to be on ramps to get to the bottom end of the hose, and it ain't going to make it up the ramps as it is.  I might have to dig the big trolley jack out of the garage.

I've adjusted the Rover's handbrake up as much as I could.  It's still not great but it's a lot better than it was.  If it's still not good enough to pass then I'm probably going to have to fork out for new handbrake shoes (and I'd probably replace the discs at the same time as they're getting a bit worn).  That was the final pre-MOT job so I can now book it in, assuming the local garage has a pair of tyres that will fit (although I think the rears might just about scrape through, they're rapidly approaching pisstake condition).

I fitted an LED strip light in the back of the Maxus - there was no working lighting in there at all, but I found a permanent live feed up by the original lights so I've used that to wire the LED strip onto a switch just inside the rear doors.  It does a much better job of lighting things up than the original pair of 10w festoon bulbs would have.  Threading some of the wiring through the entrails of the van was fun though.  I've also now got both front fog lights working.

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I did 30 miles in the Mazda on Friday evening and the rear wheel is still on, so that's good news.  The heater was adequate in the sub-zero temperatures, but it won't blow any warm air out of the dash vents - screen and feet is the best it can manage.  I do need to do something about the exhaust though as it's still smelling decidedly fumey in there.

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11 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Interestingly the car will barely run at all with the pipe disconnected - it starts straight up but chugs away at about 500rpm making all sorts of odd noises and won't rev at all.  Which could be awkward - the car needs to be on ramps to get to the bottom end of the hose, and it ain't going to make it up the ramps as it is.  I might have to dig the big trolley jack out of the garage.

Presumably the MAF is on the air filter end of the intake trait? A pipe missing after that would make sense to cause rough running as it'll be confused what metered air is going through. Probably will run with that sensor disconnected. 

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