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27 minutes ago, MrGTI6 said:

I did the opposite with my 306 when it got the 6-month COVID extension. 6 months came and went and I still had the old expiry date in my head! 

Unknowingly put a few thousand miles on it without an MOT!

yeah that's what I normally end up doing!

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2 hours ago, wheel nut said:

My mother's Volvo C30 was needing a pair of new tyres.  I swapped the wheels between front and rear so that the new ones were fitted on the rear.  The ones that were on the rear are starting to crack so I expect they'll need replaced in a year or two. The more I work on this car the more I like it - it feels really well engineered. It's a pity that Volvo have stopped making sensibly sized cars, in recent years they seem to have got obsessed with overpriced bloated SUVs.

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Fair play M9, but I don't like the thought of raising one jack while a car's up on another, whichever you did first.

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29 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Fair play M9, but I don't like the thought of raising one jack while a car's up on another, whichever you did first.

I did the trolley jack at the front first as I thought it was reasonably stable. There’s no way I would do it on 2 jacks if the scissor jack had been first, however in hindsight it would still have been more sensible to slide an axle stand under the first end before tackling the other.

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So the "family bike" Xsara Picasso that's been laid up for a year has been squeezed in for a last minute cancellation MOT slot in the morning (there was a nice logistical plan in place, then they cancelled so I thought I'd bung the Picasso in instead to stop the chain of events collapsing 😄)

Despite its low mileage, that MOT dread has set in! Watch this space. Result should be in at the crack of dawn or just after tomorrow... 

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Awoke the MG from its winter slumber yesterday. A boost from the jump park saw it start easily.

Gave it a wash, and headed out for a quick blat round the lanes to check all is in order… 

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Turns out it is, and all appears well… 

So now to get it advertised for sale again so I can put some money into the Nova project/probably buy something equally unsuitable. 

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1 hour ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Picasso is waiting at the test station.... 

Man from the ministry has said YES

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And it's gone straight through!

Both the tester and driver very complimentary about it's condition and the way it drives

Definitely a keeper this one. 

Only one advisory for a dicky exhaust rubber, which I knew about ages ago but completely forgot about so that's a helpful reminder 

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Our Vectra has been being a bit needy just lately, nothing major just a few little niggles that needed sorting.

First off was the cruise control kept cancelling and the indicators would cancel as soon as the tiniest bit of input was put on the steering wheel. Vectra indicators are not well liked, the stalk self centres after any input and takes a little getting used to. Google suggested a knackered CIM unit, but this didn't make sense to me as other errors usually manifest, like the horn/lights not working. I'd tried a new stalk but still no joy. I stripped the CIM unit down at the weekend and the unit that the stalk plugs into seemed loose, there was no positive click when moving the stalk.

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So a second hand CIM unit was ordered Sunday evening and surprisingly it turned up this morning. I didn't need a virgin CIM as I couldn't be arsed to get somebody to swap all the info from mine to the new one, I just wanted the socket for the stalk to plug into, being locked to another car made it a far cheaper option too, under £20.

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So with ET doing the heavy lifting the replacement CIM was scavenged for the indicator socket and fuck my old boots its only gone and worked! Indicating properly and cruise control working spot on too.

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Cars look better/weird when the steering wheels removed.

 

Next up to fix was why it kept cutting out when the fuel level went under half a tank, I suspected the intank pump was blocked or weak, so a second hand unit was acquired.

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Bit awkward removing the old pump as the metal locking ring was rusted solid, the fear was it would snap and leave me in shit street, new one from Vauxhall was under £10 so was picked up as a precaution.

Not really much crap in the old pumps filter, thought I'd wang the new one on too see how it went and fuck my old boots again, its bloody fixed the cutting out, even had the fuel light come on, not been able/dared to let the fuel level get that low for a while.

So with me being on fire I thought I'd tackle the aircon not working. This used to work brilliantly, freeze the knackers off a penguin, but I think all the refrigerant made a bid for freedom through a hole in the condenser. 

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So new shiny condenser fitted and off to the local place for a regas. It took the gas and held pressure, no sign of any leaks, looking good so far....... But the compressor wouldn't cut in  when the aircon was turned on. Bugger, looks like the clutch pulley is seized.

Ah well, in the words of Meatloaf two out of three ain't bad and for me, with my skills, its pretty good.

So just the aircon to fathom out and the wipers are making a slapping noise, I replaced the arms on the mechanism a couple of years ago as they always fail on the ball joints and pop off leaving you with no wiper action. I had a shufty at it all and the mechanism is floppy as fuck, so new mechanism and arms ordered, should arrive in this week, then hopefully, once the aircon is sorted, all the little niggles will have been sorted.

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Spent a long but interesting day off work yesterday driving from London to Lincolnshire to view a couple of Skoda Estelles.  Both requiring levels of recommissioning.  A really nice looking beige one but it was a lot of money and a straight and solid red one but with pretty weathered paint.  As of yet neither purchased

 

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While I was waiting for the  cancelled train this morning, I thought I would look at why the rear speakers were not working on the Punto.

It looks like someone has already fitted some custom fit speakers in the rear, but have made a complete bodge of the speaker wiring which is a bonus.

The wiring had been cut and spliced together without any connectors or heat shrink in the rear.

I’ve got some solder and heat shrink indoors so that’s a free repair.

It’s also got a very nice pioneer Bluetooth head unit fitted, which doesn’t turn off, unless you take the front of the stereo off, so I’m guessing that’s also a free repair, which should be just a case of swapping the red and yellow over.

So it’s happy days apart from the front speakers sounding a bit flat, but I’m going to check and see if the speaker wires on the front are also bodged before buying new speakers, as chances are they might of been changed when the rear speakers were installed, with the stereo.

I’m also going to move the microphone for the Bluetooth, as it’s stuck in front of the speedo and will take the front pillar trim off and reinstall it up near the sun visor.

The install looks like it’s been done by a 16 year old Halfords employee on a Saturday late afternoon for cash, while they were changing a lightbulb lol.

Its all quality stuff though and  I will be taking the heater vents and ashtray out anyway, as I’ve managed to obtain new items for the broken ashtray and vents etc.

I’ve got attached to this lovely little motor already and the Mrs says keep them all, So I don’t have to sell it for “300 toknight bro”

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4 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

A nice simple 90s car with just a Bluetooth head unit as the only nod to modernity is just perfect.

Hence me still having an E36 on fleet, with exactly that upgrade.

We think alike my friend, as my E36 is exactly the same,  as it’s totally original apart from a nice Bluetooth head unit.

Out of all my cars my Ti is the favourite out the lot and if I had to make a choice of keeping just one car, the E36 would win hands down every time.

 

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1 minute ago, Vince70 said:

We think alike my friend, as my E36 is exactly the same,  as it’s totally original apart from a nice Bluetooth head unit.

Out of all my cars my Ti is the favourite out the lot and if I had to make a choice of keeping just one car, the E36 would win hands down every time.

 

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Mine is a 323i sport that a previous owner fitted a fruity rear silencer to, and I shoved a Pipercross air filter in...

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45 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

Mine is a 323i sport that a previous owner fitted a fruity rear silencer to, and I shoved a Pipercross air filter in...

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That’s a real beauty and I would love a Six pot.

The last 6 pot I bought was  with some mates  and it cost us £50 about 12 years ago and we drove it down to Rome.

Ours was only a 320 automatic though but throughly reliable and was a pre vanos model.

My mate kept it afterwards and the flames stayed on the car.

I paid £750 for mine,  but even back 8/9 years ago it was getting hard finding nice examples.

I bought another really nice cabriolet example as well around the same time and sold that 3 years ago for £1200 with I think 68000 on the clock but didn’t realise at the time how much a nice E36 was worth.

 

 

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Thankfully the Kia’s steering problem looks like it’s only a pipe or hose. Bad news is it looks like a Kia special order unless I play parts darts with Autodoc. Stepdaughter needs the car soonish so I think Kia may be best bet but will try a couple local motor factors on way over to Bognor.

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1 hour ago, sdkrc said:

Friend of a friend bought this seemingly good MR2.

Seemed reasonably solid on initial inspection. Some rust but nothing chronic. 

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Turns out it's fucked. Not massively surprised but shit break for the young owner

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Probably the last thing he wants to hear right now, but if he's in the market for a similar driving experience in an equally lithe shell, the mk3 MR2 Roadster is a riot to drive. So direct, so much fun and apart from rear crossmembers, not particularly prone to rust. Sad to see the state of his mk1 though - it looks pretty rogered.

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