The new news 24 thread

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Picasso is waiting at the test station.... 

Man from the ministry has said YES

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 

[Back_For_More]

On 3/20/2023 at 6:37 PM, 320touring said:

I turned 42 on Sunday....

Happy birthday from a fellow 19th March fish..... You, me, n Bruce Willis apparently. 

[andyberg]

4 minutes ago, Back_For_More said:

Happy birthday from a fellow 19th March fish..... You, me, n Bruce Willis apparently. 

And my son @BerginJR so happy birthdays all round 🎂

[Eyersey1234]

On 3/20/2023 at 2:52 PM, Vince70 said:

I love a dig around old world war 2 structures,

When we were kids, we had a massive governmental H bomb shelter that gave us hours of fun exploring.

An old pillbox was dug out recently just up the road from me.

 

This would go nicely in the warshite thread

[RoverFolkUs]

If a Zafira B doesn't catch fire, it dissolves it would seem...

That's one less on the road then to become a Zanussi...

[richardmorris]

4 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

If a Zafira B doesn't catch fire, it dissolves it would seem...

That's one less on the road then to become a Zanussi...

Ah, the yellow crayon of shame. Sorry for the loss

[RoverFolkUs]

Just now, richardmorris said:

Ah, the yellow crayon of shame. Sorry for the loss

It's not mine, thankfully 😄

[Popsicle]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

[Popsicle]

Almost forgot, the top mounts were creaking so they got replaced too.

[wesacosa]

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

 

[Vince70]

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”

[Supernaut]

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.

[Vince70]

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.

 

[Supernaut]

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.

 

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

[Vince70]

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...

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.

 

 

[dozeydustman]

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.

[sdkrc]

Friend of a friend bought this seemingly good MR2.

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

 

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

[SiC]

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. 

 

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

Is that inbound to @GingerNuttz soon? 

[Dick Longbridge]

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. 

 

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

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.

[GingerNuttz]

37 minutes ago, SiC said:

Is that inbound to @GingerNuttz soon? 

[chodweaver]

Friend of a friend bought this seemingly good MR2.
Seemed reasonably solid on initial inspection. Some rust but nothing chronic. 

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

I've taxed worse.

Doesn't have a reg ending in XLM does it?

[sdkrc]

10 minutes ago, chodweaver said:

Doesn't have a reg ending in XLM does it?

Nah, 'tis JHJ

 

 

14 minutes ago, GingerNuttz said:

@GingerNuttzOn the topic of welding PTSD, I thought you'd enjoy what a mate uncovered in his recently purchased mx-5. Sill plates had been hot glued down over this. 

 

Seller said the the floors were perfect. This is after brushing them down. Underside appears to have been undersealed dirt-and-all 

[GingerNuttz]

1 minute ago, sdkrc said:

Nah, 'tis JHJ

 

 

@GingerNuttzOn the topic of welding PTSD, I thought you'd enjoy what a mate uncovered in his recently purchased mx-5. Sill plates had been hot glued down over this. 

 

Seller said the the floors were perfect. This is after brushing them down. Underside appears to have been undersealed dirt-and-all 

That sill is just pure laziness and the fitter should be ashamed  😂

 

[GingerNuttz]

I had a good one earlier in the week.

Tack welded arch repair panel but at the rubber side strip they just stopped welding the 5mm gap they somehow cut and fiber glassed it 🤣

Soon as I tapped it the whole thing cracked right up to the rubber

[JakeT]

6 hours 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.

Funnily enough, so do I. A Kenwood one I had a few years ago for a Golf GTi. Pulled it out before sale as the car was ruined.

 

Even matches the interior illumination nicely and dims when the lights go on.

[Markeh]

24 minutes ago, JakeT said:

Funnily enough, so do I. A Kenwood one I had a few years ago for a Golf GTi. Pulled it out before sale as the car was ruined.

 

Even matches the interior illumination nicely and dims when the lights go on.

Had the exact same head unit in my Megane II. Was honestly brilliant. Even kept it for 3 years after selling the car in case I bought something that took a single DIN unit again.

[horriblemercedes]

29 minutes ago, JakeT said:

Funnily enough, so do I. A Kenwood one I had a few years ago for a Golf GTi. Pulled it out before sale as the car was ruined.

 

Even matches the interior illumination nicely and dims when the lights go on.

One & One? Children? 

[320touring]

Boat day #3 started off well:

Hollandaise sauce and black pud ftw!

Then it was off down the Staffs canal.

Had to do a double take when I saw the name of this boat, thought i was on the m6...

I had originally wanted to turn the boat at Tixall wide - as the name suggests plenty space..

But the good lady had other plans. There was a winding hole further on, so we went for that instead.

A 55ft boat, about 70ft of width at the widest point, and boats either side..

Thankfully the boat went round well, no issues!

 

We moored up and went for a stoat. Here you can see an antiquated victorian mode of transport, and a narrowboat

 

On our wander, we saw a rotting hulk, and a narrowboat called Sheldon

 

There was a 'Billy Big Baws ' in Milford - what a two car fleet

Cannock Chase is ahead* of the times..

On the way back we got to some heady heights of revs..

And we're able to keep up with this walker

At Tixall Lock, the wind caught the boat -literally no steering. 

Had to aim for the mouth of the lock, and the burd stepped off and took the centre line to pull the boat into the lock landing.

That dealt with, we have moored for the night at Tixall Wide, with a few miles to do tomorrow.

It's a grand holiday, and a lovely way to travel

[JakeT]

18 minutes ago, Markeh said:

Had the exact same head unit in my Megane II. Was honestly brilliant. Even kept it for 3 years after selling the car in case I bought something that took a single DIN unit again.

I did the same. Came out of the golf, Into a stopgap fiesta, and then into this. Agreed, been a great unit. I have a remote for it too.

14 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

One & One? Children? 

Children I’d imagine. Great tune, and reminds me of playing the original Ridge Racer game.

[BorniteIdentity]

Is this the one with our tyres on it?