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25 is ready to collect from the garage.

Good points: Bottom ball joints changed so it's no longer in danger of falling apart.  One baggy track rod end was also changed.

Bad: The drop links I had sourced are totally wrong.  As do all the ones I can seem to find.  They're about an inch too long and the wrong shape.  Guessing I may need to get the ones off the car and re-bush them.  Also the anti roll bar bushes I've got are totally wrong - they're for a 22mm bar, the one on the car is 24mm.  That may be something I can resolve though...

Anyhow...at least I won't be nervous driving it now.  A clonk that I know is coming from a slightly baggy drop link bush is annoying rather than potentially dangerous.

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1 hour ago, Bren said:

Got the BMW back from BMW. No paperwork but car was washed and vacuumed.

I want to see if any weldjng has been done because " BMW main dealer" and "welding" simply doesn't compute.

The car doesn't smell like it's been on fire.

Maybe they filled it with chicken wire and wob? 😂

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16 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

25 is ready to collect from the garage.

Good points: Bottom ball joints changed so it's no longer in danger of falling apart.  One baggy track rod end was also changed.

Bad: The drop links I had sourced are totally wrong.  As do all the ones I can seem to find.  They're about an inch too long and the wrong shape.  Guessing I may need to get the ones off the car and re-bush them.  Also the anti roll bar bushes I've got are totally wrong - they're for a 22mm bar, the one on the car is 24mm.  That may be something I can resolve though...

Anyhow...at least I won't be nervous driving it now.  A clonk that I know is coming from a slightly baggy drop link bush is annoying rather than potentially dangerous.

If its good enough for a genooooowine race car.. 

Screenshot_20230110-114822_Facebook.jpg

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On 1/9/2023 at 6:52 AM, Split_Pin said:

I wasn't aware that the trailing arms rotted on the 75, its normally the upper arms which are the same for saloon and tourer. You can get them from DMGRS.

The rear bottom arms also rot badly. They generally have a protective* plastic cover.

My MOT man said they will break at some point, but I can't see, so I cant fail it.

Advisory for rust.

 

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4 hours ago, andy18s said:

If its good enough for a genooooowine race car.. 

Screenshot_20230110-114822_Facebook.jpg

Wasn't there a specific failure item on the MOT for welded repairs to suspension components (seemingly irrespective of how they were originally assembled)?

If I can't find appropriate replacements I think re-bushing the originals sounds a bit less sketchy!

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2 hours ago, Mally said:

The rear bottom arms also rot badly. They generally have a protective* plastic cover.

My MOT man said they will break at some point, but I can't see, so I cant fail it.

Advisory for rust.

 

Mine were all replaced in 2019 a year before I got the car (it's the upper arms that rot badly as they contain a recessed spring seat, no drain hole and are made from mild steel. New ones have been remanufacture now by DMGRS.

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43 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Wasn't there a specific failure item on the MOT for welded repairs to suspension components (seemingly irrespective of how they were originally assembled)?

If I can't find appropriate replacements I think re-bushing the originals sounds a bit less sketchy!

Yeah, comes under unsafe modification

Whether it's actually unsafe to cut and reweld a drop link could be up for debate 🤔

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29 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Yeah, comes under unsafe modification

Whether it's actually unsafe to cut and reweld a drop link could be up for debate 🤔

My T2 has been running on dropped spindles for a decade or more, which obviously makes the bus look incredibly* cool. Are they just cut & welded together at a different length? And should they be an MOT failure? 

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2 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Yeah, comes under unsafe modification

Whether it's actually unsafe to cut and reweld a drop link could be up for debate 🤔

Thought so.  It was a shock absorber mounting lug that got me.  Despite it having been held on by two tiny crap welds from the factory (which is why this car had already had the wishbone swapped once because the mount broke off the original one in exactly the same spot).  Having welded it back on following the weld cracking on the replacement wasn't deemed acceptable.  Wound up having to replace the wishbone for a second time in six months...which I was rather cranky about.  Especially as I couldn't find a used one so had to buy a new one at a couple of hundred quid.  After I'd already paid to have the mounting lug repaired!

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A house I pass when walking the dog which has an abandoned Cinquecento parked outside is for sale, looking on the ad the house is empty and decor suggests it could be an elderly person so perhaps a deceased estate.  Guessing its likely to get scrapped. If it was a yellow sporting I would have already put a note through the door but not sure I am interested enough in a cooking version to try and save it but would be a shame to see it gone.  

That said I'm sure the brother in law of the person dealing with the sale has seen a few episodes of wheeler dealers and is convinced its worth 20 grand or something 

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1 hour ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Aah yes but don't forget @Cavcraft joke book 🤣

But they did raise £1700 for the nightingale house respite care unit.

https://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/23238483.wrexham-chester-vintage-bus-day-raises-money-nightingale-house/

 

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8 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Excellent news

I’m always in two minds about this, 1 that such charity shouldn’t be necessary and government should fund it, and 2 that gov doesn’t fund it and we need to. 
nightingale house was started a couple of decades ago by Dr Arthur who worked with my mum in the wrexham maelor hospital for many years. It was originally called Dr Arthur’s. They have a couple of shops in wrexham taking in furniture, clothes and electrical stuff. All our family unwanteds go there.

What clothes aren’t good enough to resell go to the local homeless shelter.

which, incidentally do need underwear, socks and toiletries - eg hotel shampoos and soaps.

 

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5 hours ago, barefoot said:

My T2 has been running on dropped spindles for a decade or more, which obviously makes the bus look incredibly* cool. Are they just cut & welded together at a different length? And should they be an MOT failure? 

No they'll (hopefully!!) be manufactured with the spindle higher to raise the wheel in the arch, thus achieving an overall lowering. It's not really lowering, because the suspension (and it's geometry) is unchanged, the wheel just sits higher and "lowers" the vehicle that way.

A cut and reweld should be a fail. A part manufactured to a modified dimension would not be an unsafe modification. 

As an example - 

Cut springs - unsafe modification 

Lowering springs - not an unsafe modification

They both achieve the same result (lowering the car) but one is manufactured to do that, the other isn't. 

I hope I'm making sense

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4 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Thought so.  It was a shock absorber mounting lug that got me.  Despite it having been held on by two tiny crap welds from the factory (which is why this car had already had the wishbone swapped once because the mount broke off the original one in exactly the same spot).  Having welded it back on following the weld cracking on the replacement wasn't deemed acceptable.  Wound up having to replace the wishbone for a second time in six months...which I was rather cranky about.  Especially as I couldn't find a used one so had to buy a new one at a couple of hundred quid.  After I'd already paid to have the mounting lug repaired!

When you say mounting lug, do you mean a location/installation lug? The bit that simply ensures you locate it correctly, and doesn't affix or mount it in in any way? If so - I think that would be an incredibly harsh fail

Do you have a diagram for me to better understand exactly? 

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15 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

When you say mounting lug, do you mean a location/installation lug? The bit that simply ensures you locate it correctly, and doesn't affix or mount it in in any way? If so - I think that would be an incredibly harsh fail

Do you have a diagram for me to better understand exactly? 

No, actually the thing the shock absorber attached to.  Which I'd have said fair enough to not allowing it to be messed with if it weren't for it having been put together that way from the factory.

I'll have to have a look when I'm next back at my PC.  May have some photos of it, I do remember snapping a couple when the first one failed.

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Just found out Moss in Manchester has closed down permanently. Bit of a shame.

Screenshot_20230111-230018.thumb.png.9afa11a2208cf2e25cdeaf00a6b7c5e3.png

https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/about-moss-manchester

 

Charles Ware Car Parts went broke the other week. That one is a bit more complex story. 

Parts and restoration split. Restoration went broke. Restoration then phoenixed as a new company. Now looks like the parts has gone pop.

Screenshot_20230111-225036.png

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We have 6 family members visiting from abroad on Saturday. We do not have any 7 seater cars, so we are having to drive two vehicles up to Stansted airport to collect them, and then again a few days later to drop them back. Out of the fleet, the only three vehicles up to the journey are the Clio, the Insight and the Shogun Sport. The Insight is only a 2 seater so that is ruled out straight off the bat. This means the Clio and Shogun Sport are the only two vehicles that can be used for the job.

Stansted airport is about a 225 mile round trip for us. The Clio sips petrol, but the Shogun Sport is ruinous at about 20mpg if that. I reckon it'll be in for about £150 of petrol for those two journeys, then chuck in the days out that are planned and I wouldn't be surprised if I end up putting £200-250 into the Shogun over the course of their visit.

I've just seen a Rover 416 auto locally for scrap money with two months ticket on. Apparently it runs and drives just fine... Surely* it's good financial sense to buy the Rover, run it for a few days, save money on petrol and then sell it? 🤔😅

 

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Screenshot_20230112-135944_Chrome.thumb.jpg.2899d6b8362e36aacf88553eb1dbd010.jpg

The dream...and reality...

20221218_113452.thumb.jpg.b5000d46519632993d44bb4b1000d603.jpg20221218_113502.thumb.jpg.4774de80061b1c464619fa27eeaeb3e8.jpg20221218_113532.thumb.jpg.4ded7d528a7e94e2ea735d5829a78a68.jpg

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/12/halfords-shares-tumble-shortage-mechanics-profits

Investment advice: sell.

I have no evidence of it but I bet they don't pay and are ****'s to work for.

Properly managed this is probably a good business but I bet it's being run by the usual cheese-paring-mingebags.

£60M profit on an operation this big is pitiful:

"As of June 2021, Halfords has 404 stores, 3 Performance Cycling stores (trading as Tredz and Giant), 374 garages (trading as Halfords Autocentres, McConechys and Universal Tyres and Autocentres) and 143 mobile service vans (trading as Halfords Mobile Expert and Tyres on the Drive) and 192 Commercial vans."

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1 hour ago, Rust Collector said:

We have 6 family members visiting from abroad on Saturday. We do not have any 7 seater cars, so we are having to drive two vehicles up to Stansted airport to collect them, and then again a few days later to drop them back. Out of the fleet, the only three vehicles up to the journey are the Clio, the Insight and the Shogun Sport. The Insight is only a 2 seater so that is ruled out straight off the bat. This means the Clio and Shogun Sport are the only two vehicles that can be used for the job.

Stansted airport is about a 225 mile round trip for us. The Clio sips petrol, but the Shogun Sport is ruinous at about 20mpg if that. I reckon it'll be in for about £150 of petrol for those two journeys, then chuck in the days out that are planned and I wouldn't be surprised if I end up putting £200-250 into the Shogun over the course of their visit.

I've just seen a Rover 416 auto locally for scrap money with two months ticket on. Apparently it runs and drives just fine... Surely* it's good financial sense to buy the Rover, run it for a few days, save money on petrol and then sell it? 🤔😅

 

Not worth ringing round to see who'd do that round trip in a big cab - given the big on-costs and stress on vehicles and humans?

Screenshot_20230112-140914_Chrome.jpg

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