The new news 24 thread

[Spottedlaurel]

12 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Did you treat it to a regas m8?  It normally works for about 8-12 months once topped up!  Maybe it's finally let go though...

A bit cooler today, just 34deg, and they sent a pic of this neat mileage as they headed back up the Adriatic coastline:

1,721 miles recorded from Norfolk before they turned around headed for home. Looking at their route they'll be close to 4,000 by the time they get back here.

Apparently the car is using a bit of oil - particularly on the hills - and the wiper motor is suspect, but otherwise it's going well.

[wuvvum]

Got the gearbox mount on the Innocenti changed yesterday.  It was fairly straightforward in the end, everything came undone easily, it took a little while to prise the old inner mount out of the metal frame and the gearbox needed some wrangling with the jack to get the holes to line up, but overall it was relatively easy.

Knackered old mount out, shiny new mount in.

And all back together again.

Took it for a drive and the dreadful whining / scraping noise it used to make under acceleration in the lower gears has completely gone, so that's a result.  I tried adjusting the clutch cable having managed to free off the adjuster, but it's not given me any more bite, just more free play at the pedal, so I'm definitely going to have to do the clutch at some point.  I also changed the fuel filter as the one on there was ancient and rather manky looking - took a couple of attempts as I didn't get a good enough seal first time around to allow the fuel pump to pull petrol through.  It's running a bit better but still kangaroos occasionally under acceleration.  I've ordered it a new air filter as the existing one hasn't been changed in my ownership and is looking a bit grey - when that arrives I'm going to take the housing off and give the carb a good blast out with cleaner, see if that sorts it.

I made a start on the Volvo brakes - didn't get as far as I wanted as the weather was a bit variable, but I've got the nearside rear caliper off.  To my surprise the brake pipe union came undone easily - the caliper bolts took a bit more persuasion though (not a lot of clearance and suspension bits in the way so I couldn't get a breaker bar on there, ended up using a ratchet and twatting it with a lump hammer, not ideal but it worked).  The caliper can't be removed from the disc with the brake pipe still attached as it's a rigid pipe - the flexis run to the axle just to the nearside of the diff and then it's metal pipes from there to the calipers - so I've sealed (hopefully) the end of the pipe off with a female union blocked up with JB Weld.  I will just double check it in the morning to make sure the fluid level hasn't dropped - if it does I might have to put a clamp on the flexi.  I've cleared several decades' worth of cobwebs and dead leaves off the caliper and squirted some penetrating oil round the pad retaining pins - I'm going to have a go at getting them out and lubing up the pistons tomorrow when I finish work.

I had a quick look at the air filter on the Rover 75 as that hasn't been changed since I bought the car either and I've done a few miles in it now.  It actually still looks pretty clean, although there were some paper towels in the housing for some reason which was a little odd.  Annoyingly when doing the housing bolts back up I managed to drop a 5mm Allen key and it disappeared into the bowels of the engine bay.  Fortunately it's at the opposite end of the engine to all the spinny bits so touch wood it's unlikely to get caught up in anything, and it was only a cheap Rolson job anyway, but it means I now have another incomplete set which is annoying.

I've upgraded the horns on the Maxus and the 107.  Each had a single tone disc horn, the Maxus' was low tone and the 107's was high tone.  So I bought a pair of disc horns off eBay for the princely sum of £5.22, and fitted the high tone to the van and the low tone to the Pug, using piggyback connectors.  The Maxus was easy enough to do but the 107 was more of a pain - the horn is behind the bumper and the only easy way to get to it is to take the undertray off, but when I tried this one of the captive nuts came loose and just span, so I ended up having to prise the wheel arch liner away from the bumper and squeeze my hands through the gap.  Got there in the end, and the horn sounds rather less pathetic now so that's good.

That was about it for the weekend's fettling - I've got a couple of bits on order (brake pads for the Renault 6 and a headlight relay for the 121) which should be here during the week, so that's the plan for next weekend, weather permitting.

[RoverFolkUs]

Just sprung to mind that I passed a house the other day with 90's-00's PSA chod aplenty parked outside! 

Out one side was a pre facelift Citroen Berlingo, 2x silver Xsara Coupe's, a silver Xsara estate and round the other driveway was a Xsara Coupe that looked immaculately clean, with no reg plates, in that fetching yellow/gold colour like the one below

Taking a look on streetview, they've clearly been 90's-00's PSA chod botherers for some time:

In 2009: (ignoring the Octavia)

In 2011:

In 2012: 

(Would love to know whats under that cover, which can also be seen in 2009 from another angle)

In 2015:

In 2018: 

And 2020: 

I love how shonky the blue van is. 

I wish I had time to stop and speak to the owner!

That Xsara estate is the one I saw the other day, none of the Xsara Coupe's were in these streetview images unfortunately. I thought they're pretty rare now? So was surprised to see someone with three of them! 

[wuvvum]

14 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

I love how shonky the blue van is.

Any Sevel Sud van of that generation painted in anything other than white will eventually lose its paint.

[Split_Pin]

8 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Got the gearbox mount on the Innocenti changed yesterday.  It was fairly straightforward in the end, everything came undone easily, it took a little while to prise the old inner mount out of the metal frame and the gearbox needed some wrangling with the jack to get the holes to line up, but overall it was relatively easy.

Knackered old mount out, shiny new mount in.

And all back together again.

Took it for a drive and the dreadful whining / scraping noise it used to make under acceleration in the lower gears has completely gone, so that's a result.  I tried adjusting the clutch cable having managed to free off the adjuster, but it's not given me any more bite, just more free play at the pedal, so I'm definitely going to have to do the clutch at some point.  I also changed the fuel filter as the one on there was ancient and rather manky looking - took a couple of attempts as I didn't get a good enough seal first time around to allow the fuel pump to pull petrol through.  It's running a bit better but still kangaroos occasionally under acceleration.  I've ordered it a new air filter as the existing one hasn't been changed in my ownership and is looking a bit grey - when that arrives I'm going to take the housing off and give the carb a good blast out with cleaner, see if that sorts it.

I made a start on the Volvo brakes - didn't get as far as I wanted as the weather was a bit variable, but I've got the nearside rear caliper off.  To my surprise the brake pipe union came undone easily - the caliper bolts took a bit more persuasion though (not a lot of clearance and suspension bits in the way so I couldn't get a breaker bar on there, ended up using a ratchet and twatting it with a lump hammer, not ideal but it worked).  The caliper can't be removed from the disc with the brake pipe still attached as it's a rigid pipe - the flexis run to the axle just to the nearside of the diff and then it's metal pipes from there to the calipers - so I've sealed (hopefully) the end of the pipe off with a female union blocked up with JB Weld.  I will just double check it in the morning to make sure the fluid level hasn't dropped - if it does I might have to put a clamp on the flexi.  I've cleared several decades' worth of cobwebs and dead leaves off the caliper and squirted some penetrating oil round the pad retaining pins - I'm going to have a go at getting them out and lubing up the pistons tomorrow when I finish work.

I had a quick look at the air filter on the Rover 75 as that hasn't been changed since I bought the car either and I've done a few miles in it now.  It actually still looks pretty clean, although there were some paper towels in the housing for some reason which was a little odd.  Annoyingly when doing the housing bolts back up I managed to drop a 5mm Allen key and it disappeared into the bowels of the engine bay.  Fortunately it's at the opposite end of the engine to all the spinny bits so touch wood it's unlikely to get caught up in anything, and it was only a cheap Rolson job anyway, but it means I now have another incomplete set which is annoying.

I've upgraded the horns on the Maxus and the 107.  Each had a single tone disc horn, the Maxus' was low tone and the 107's was high tone.  So I bought a pair of disc horns off eBay for the princely sum of £5.22, and fitted the high tone to the van and the low tone to the Pug, using piggyback connectors.  The Maxus was easy enough to do but the 107 was more of a pain - the horn is behind the bumper and the only easy way to get to it is to take the undertray off, but when I tried this one of the captive nuts came loose and just span, so I ended up having to prise the wheel arch liner away from the bumper and squeeze my hands through the gap.  Got there in the end, and the horn sounds rather less pathetic now so that's good.

That was about it for the weekend's fettling - I've got a couple of bits on order (brake pads for the Renault 6 and a headlight relay for the 121) which should be here during the week, so that's the plan for next weekend, weather permitting.

I think the housing screws for mine are 6mm, strange. I use an extra long allen key to get to the ones down the back. The most stupid design ever, imagine having to take off an engine cover, ducting and then another cover just to change an air filter!? The filter is inordinately large too, almost as big as a lorry one.

[BorniteIdentity]

8 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

A bit cooler today, just 34deg, and they sent a pic of this neat mileage as they headed back up the Adriatic coastline:

1,721 miles recorded from Norfolk before they turned around headed for home. Looking at their route they'll be close to 4,000 by the time they get back here.

Apparently the car is using a bit of oil - particularly on the hills - and the wiper motor is suspect, but otherwise it's going well.

Was it serviced before it went off and - if so - did he put 5w30 in it?  I found it would use 5, but 10w40 would do a good 5-6,000 miles without needing a fill up.  I used to just service it every 5k so there was less oil to get rid of!

The little yellow light will ALWAYS come on when the oil level gets to the minimum mark on the stick, at which time it needs another litre to go from empty mark to full mark.  

Good to see it plodding.  Superb old thing.

[RoverFolkUs]

7 hours ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

Skoda Fabia 1.4 or a MK IV Golf 1.6?

Autobox only of course.  Which is the least headache likely day to day?

Make sure it's a 16v 1.4 Fabia. That's all

Otherwise I expect they'd be fairly similar

[Jazoli]

11 hours ago, sims00 said:

I did a buy today. Best car I’ve owned by a mile, and I’ve owned a fair few. Powerful, comfortable, practical and economical. Love it and it’s a treat to myself. Literally nothing needs doing. When I get a chance, I’ll clay bar and ceramic coat it. 

Looks great, I'll have dibs please

[JJ0063]

12 hours ago, sims00 said:

I did a buy today. Best car I’ve owned by a mile, and I’ve owned a fair few. Powerful, comfortable, practical and economical. Love it and it’s a treat to myself. Literally nothing needs doing. When I get a chance, I’ll clay bar and ceramic coat it. 

Well played

Genuinely can’t believe nobody bought it sooner. Absolute bargain.

[artdjones]

15 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

Picked this up last Friday evening. 

1996 VW Golf 3,1.9 N/A diesel.

She's a ripe one,but it runs good so will make a good engine doner for a Mk2 Golf. 

Ideally I wanted a turbodiesel one,but these are now extremely thin on the ground. 

I do have a 1.6 turbodiesel engine I was going to use,but needed various extra parts,crankshaft pulley,power steering pulley,starter,vacuum pump,and various other bits n pieces so in the end it was more cost effective to pick up a runner and cannibalize that.

Bosch injection system too,so veg friendly.

216k,and it has history up until 148k,timing belt was done at 207k along with the water pump,but the camshaft seal is weeping and the belt has the appearance of being a bit damp,so will have those jobs to attend to.

Spending it's life on the west coast of Ireland hasn't done the body work any favours at all,the Atlantic coast is vicious.

 

 

Some of those na 1.9 engines have a TD block. It may be possible to adapt the 1.6 turbo onto it. I've seen it done on a couple of T3s.

[junkyarddog]

40 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Some of those na 1.9 engines have a TD block. It may be possible to adapt the 1.6 turbo onto it. I've seen it done on a couple of 

I'd never be that lucky!🤣

The turbo I have on the 1.6 is actually from a 1.9,so I have all the bits.

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, junkyarddog said:

I'd never be that lucky!🤣

The turbo I have on the 1.6 is actually from a 1.9,so I have all the bits.

Look on the back of the block, it may say 1.9TD.

[SiC]

11 hours ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

Skoda Fabia 1.4 or a MK IV Golf 1.6?

Autobox only of course.  Which is the least headache likely day to day?

About the same as from a similar era of VAG. Iirc they should be proper slush boxes and not the troublesome CVT that some VAG have. Like any auto at that age, it's probably never had its fluid changed and most will be starting to be fucked. 

[bunglebus]

In Great Yarmouth. I wonder how old this stock is?

[artdjones]

14 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Any Sevel Sud van of that generation painted in anything other than white will eventually lose its paint.

The red ones aren't too bad for paint falling off, but they usually look as if they had a respray using red oxide primer.

[bunglebus]

I feel like I've gone back in time, do I want a Custom Car or Loadsamoney T-shirt?

[anonymous user]

22 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Checked the prices of Volvo 240s now and it looks like I will never be able to afford one again. All under 3,000 pounds in Norway are rusty wrecks. This below is a 2200 pound 240 in Norway.

It is also an auto something I dislike as much as the rust. So this makes me sad as I like these and would love to have one again.

My only auto 240GLT estate was a pain in the bum, it never ran right. I'm also priced out of 240 estates  they are still one of my favourite cars, although my current Citroen ZX estate has a similar comfy, relaxed way to travel.

[Dyslexic Viking]

24 minutes ago, anonymous user said:

My only auto 240GLT estate was a pain in the bum, it never ran right. I'm also priced out of 240 estates  they are still one of my favourite cars, although my current Citroen ZX estate has a similar comfy, relaxed way to travel.

Yes there are cars that have some of the same qualities as the 240 but it will never be the same for me as there is something special about them that is difficult to explain.

[Cord Fourteener]

So it looks like my Mondeo is not regenerating the dpf because its covered in oil from the turbo having an oil leak. 

Sad news, but it has done well, in 9 months all its needed is a drop link. 

So Volvo is getting a tidy Ebay tow bar and working the daily jobs while i look for something fun* with a tow bar to do the daily work grind in the long term. 

[anonymous user]

24 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Yes there are cars that have some of the same qualities as the 240 but it will never be the same for me as there is something special about them that is difficult to explain.

You don't need to explain, I have had several over the years, plus a couple of Amazons and a 164. My father was a Volvo man which introduced me to them, I've never had the front-wheel drive ones, although my brother has had several.

[artdjones]

8 hours ago, bunglebus said:

In Great Yarmouth. I wonder how old this stock is?

That looks like the kind of shop that if you keep digging you'll find a souvenir with "I Love The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway"printed on it. As it's Yarmouth.

[richardmorris]

8 minutes ago, artdjones said:

That looks like the kind of shop that if you keep digging you'll find a souvenir with "I Love The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway"printed on it. As it's Yarmouth.

I’d be more impressed if the cars were actually identifiable.

[Spottedlaurel]

15 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Was it serviced before it went off and - if so - did he put 5w30 in it?  I found it would use 5, but 10w40 would do a good 5-6,000 miles without needing a fill up.  I used to just service it every 5k so there was less oil to get rid of!

The little yellow light will ALWAYS come on when the oil level gets to the minimum mark on the stick, at which time it needs another litre to go from empty mark to full mark.  

Good to see it plodding.  Superb old thing.

Top tip, thanks! Duly reported to them and acknowledged.

Here it is somewhere on the coast near Split:

And they found some British people tonight with something interesting:

 

Apparently driven down there, but possibly to be used/left at a holiday home. The owners were impressed with the Avensis!

Edit: 2019 Barons listing for the Mini: https://www.barons-auctions.com/view-lot/2865/for-sale-at-barons-auctions-1979-austin-morris-mini-1100-special-convertible

[MrDuke]

Top tip: before assuming that the horrendous noise & stuttering steering are due to your PAS pump being totally fragged... try actually checking the fluid level in the reservoir. Relief at the cause was wholly eclipsed by embarrassment at my fuckwittery.

Belated query - am I right in thinking that PAS/ATF fluid is 'backwards-compatible', i.e. Dexron 3 will work with anything older?

[Spottedlaurel]

Seemed a little odd to be washing the car that was already the cleanest one here, but after being driven to work today the Laurel was given a quick spruce-up in readiness for Master SL's prom night tomorrow:

Called into a local, old car friendly garage to fill up with E5. Pleasingly(ish) it was less than expected, the same price as their E10 which at £1.899 is already the cheapest locally. It was a rare occasion where I could do a brim-to-brim check, apparently it'd done 33mpg. Even if there's 10% optimism I'm happy with 30mpg for a brick-shaped barge with a carb-fed straight-six engine dating back to the '60s. Perhaps getting a couple of longer runs in has helped, cruising along in 5th, but even on short journeys it can be rowed around on the torque. Just as well, as it's not overly keen to rev.

Mileage should click over 98k tomorrow. I'd been hoping to get to 100,000 this year, but I think it'll just be 99-odd thousand and that's something to look forward to next year.

Got into conversation at the garage, turns out that he will be using one of his old cars to take his daughter to the same prom. A Fairlane in his case.

P.S. Lexus having a rest this summer, pending being brave enough to take it for an MoT. I suspect expense will be required on the cat's and exhaust, if so then do I go for a stainless system?......

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I feel like I've gone back in time, do I want a Custom Car or Loadsamoney T-shirt?

No. Act your age. (Not your shoesize)

[Yoss]

Just let the dog out for his pre bedtime wee and there was a kerfuffle and he jumped back. I wondered what was going on and then saw this. 

Once Chieveley had his wee I stood by the hedgehog until the dog went in. I then found some softer dog treats to give to the hedgehog but by the time I got back out he'd gone. 

Chieveley wouldn't settle and was sitting by the back door batting the handle so I went back out with him. He was sniffing all over the garden then gave a growl and jumped back out from under a fern, and sure enough there was the hedgehog. This was right at the bottom of the garden so he didn't hang  about. Chieveley will soon learn he can't win against hedgehogs. 

[High Jetter]

You give a dog a posh name...

 

[andy18s]

Legacy bumped over 336k this week and is starting to show its 25 years.

There's a fair bit of rust starting to appear in the usual rear wheel arches and the base of the front wings.It is due it's Pregled (mot) this week and needs at least a couple of tyres to start with. 

I need to get underneath for a proper look but I'm thinking it's time to send off to live on the farm.

With the cost of fuel going daft over here in Bg we've decided we only really need the 1 car so with the Mrs deciding she now hates her ml270,she wants to px it in and spend her yearly bonus on something else.

Edit. No idea why the pic is sideways now,

 

[paulplom]

9 hours ago, MrDuke said:

Top tip: before assuming that the horrendous noise & stuttering steering are due to your PAS pump being totally fragged... try actually checking the fluid level in the reservoir.

Problem is where has the fluid gone? Something's amiss.