The new news 24 thread

[Cavcraft]

Hmm, may be getting something from the eBay thread. Not a Jag either.

[vulgalour]

Just completed an enjoyable drive back from Chez Skattrd's country pile to the bijou Chateau Angyl residence in a 1.6 badermatic Austin Maestro.

 

It was comfortable, surprisingly quick off the mark, possibly the sharpest brakes I've ever encountered on any car (could've done with those in the Princess recently ¬.¬) and very, very easy to get along with. I have to do something about the silicone spray everywhere, my hands are squeaky with it, and it does pull slightly to the left all the time just like the Princess, weirdly, it also occasionally smelled very strongly of biscuits and I have no idea why that would be. The only downer on the way back was the windscreen which, every time oncoming traffic appeared, rewarded me with so much glare on both sides of the glass I couldn't see anything which was a little alarming but I think that's mainly down to requiring a bit of a deeper clean and a de-shine of the dash top.

 

HOWEVER, Skattrd is super generous and a top bloke so my ridiculous hat is firmly doffed in his direction for being saviour of the hour by putting his trust in me and allowing me to make use of the old Maestro. My other problem is I like the Maestro more than my old Polo to drive and I am a teensy bit smitten by it. For now, Maestro is in the garage waiting until I need to use it for work or other light duties. I suspect I won't be able to help myself from wanting one of my very own, especially since this is the first auto I've driven that I actually get along with, I can feel a call to the insurance company coming on to see just how much it affects my payments.

[ashmicro]

Maestros are for winners.

[vulgalour]

Maestro news.

 

Worked out I travelled about 42 miles to get it home, and I've just put 7.2 litres in to bring the needle up to pretty much where it was when I set off. According to my calculations that works out at a meagre 26.5mpg which is worse than I'd expect from the Princess. I'm blaming a combination of auto box, blowing exhaust and me not knowing the car or being used to automatics.

 

Corrected the tyre pressures to 30psi all round and now the pulling to the left has gone. Gave it a wash, but I'm probably going to have to give it a clay bar work over to get it as clean as I personally would like, but that might spoil the character of it so I should probably leave it alone^. Although it wasn't, the rear driver's door central locking now works... sometimes. Also got the sunroof to open and close properly, though it makes some crunchy noises so I'm leaving it shut for fear of breaking that or making it leak or both^. The source of the biscuit smell was the air freshener, and as much as I like biscuits, it gets a bit much when all I can smell is Rich Tea, so I've taken that out of the car but not binned it^.

 

I'm having to resist the urge to do all the little things I'd do if the Maestro were mine. There's some bits of rust I'd like to fix^, a few paint scratches I'd like to blend back in^ and of course I want to bring the shine back on the white^. The rear wiper tried to work once, then gave up, the rear washer jet didn't even bother with that much. One of the front washer jets doesn't work, even though I've cleaned all the sludge out of it, so I've put that on the passenger side so I can see out the driver's side of the windscreen. Windscreen is now much better for a wash and a clean of the wiper blades, it had a weird sort of smeary film on the outside which is probably my fault for insisting on cleaning it in the dark at Skattrd's.

 

We'll see how I feel when I've asked the car to do more menial tasks, but I can certainly see that there's likely a Maestro shaped hole in my life, though I suspect a manual would be cheaper on the dinosaur juice. Any tips on how to get the best fuel economy out of an auto?

 

^it's not mine.

[Spiny Norman]

Any tips on how to get the best fuel economy out of an auto?

 

I'm assuming it's just a standard old 3 speed slushbox in a Maestro? With those, I've always found that accelerating fairly briskly up to speed, then backing right off once it's in top is the way to go. Learn the shift points, where it changes up or down, and how much or little throttle you need to apply to make it do what you want.

26mpg isn't disastrous from an old carb-fed 1600 auto but you might improve it a bit once you get used to it.

[ashmicro]

What's the engine oil like? S Series engines don't like mucky oil.

[skattrd]

Feel free to tidy up the Maestro if you want VA - just don't paint it purple

As for the mpg I think the stuck (open) thermostat and dodgy choke cable could well be the culprits. You're also assuming the fuel gauge is accurate ....

[vulgalour]

@Skattrd: if I do blend stuff back in like the scuffs on the driver's wing, it'll be original colour only, so no fears on the purple front. I'll see how it comes up after a proper clean, I can't try and polish it until I've got all the ingrained dirt out. I'm pretty sure it's blowing on the exhaust where there's a massive glob of exhaust paste, I hadn't really noticed it until today, I just thought the noise was the sound it made normally. I'll investigate just what's what with the thermostat and choke cable when I know I can replace them, in the meantime it's reliable enough and not hideously expensive, super easy to pilot too now I'm a bit more used to the 'box. Btw, when does the MoT expire? One of those 'just in case' questions.

 

@stude: Yep, 3 speed box, but I only know that because Skattrd told me.

 

@ashmicro: no idea, I haven't looked. I will investigate.

[ashmicro]

Got a box load of this range today free gratis:

 

 

Wax, wheel cleaner stuff etc as well. My mate's thinking of stocking it in his shop, so I'll tell him if it's any good after the weekend. It would need to be good - the relatively small box of stuff he gave me retails at a total of over £150 Will report back if it's any good/shit/indifferent.

[M'coli]

Cavalier has a fresh MOT, and been to look at a dog-rough 168000 mile E-reg Polo with no T&T, I'm undecided about what to do about it.

[vulgalour]

Turns out a Manual 1.3 Maestro costs about the same as the Polo to insure. The 1.6 auto like the one I'm borrowing from Skattrd is only an extra £100 per year. Didn't expect that really, but it just adds weight in favour of replacing the Polo with a Maestro for me, providing I get the right model which will likely be a 1.3 manual base spec to make me happy.

[dollywobbler]

Feeling the urge to replace the Maverick. It's far too competent so I'm considering buying a Discovery instead. While the Maverick is good, I'd rather have permanent 4x4 and a centre diff, and a bit more economy would be pleasant too. I'd like to get £750 for the Maverick (long MOT, tax until next year) though I wonder if this is realistic. It's very solid underneath and runs well.

[outlaw118]

Should have got my new van last week - a Vauxhall Combo/Fiat Doblo.

Except I haven't, apparently they've been recalled, summat about the brakes - blokes mouth was moving but nothing seems to have registered properly, but there's nothing about it on the DVLA site...Hmmm...reckon someone is pissing me about....

[wuvvum]

I vicariously bought a car last night. Fit bird at work passed her test yesterday morning, so much of the conversation during the morning revolved around cars, driving and what she wanted as a first car. Which suited me fine.

 

One of the cars that got mentioned as being near the top of her list was a Pug 206. Idly browsing eBay at lunchtime, as is my wont, I happened across an S-reg 1.1L about 10 miles away from Norwich. It's black, so the povvo-spec black bumpers aren't really noticeable. It had a few minor dings and 131K on the clock, but it had 11 months' test and 5 months' rent. Showed it to fit bird and she told me to sling a bid on it - ended up winning it for £570, which is more than I would have paid myself but probably not over the odds really.

 

We jumped on the train straight after work and picked it up - she'd asked me to drive it back for her. Now I've experienced the 1124cc engine in an AX and a 205 and it's always come across as a sweet little lump, but it really does struggle in a 206. Accelerating up the sliproad onto the A11 required a lot more revs than I'd anticipated, and it appears to need about half throttle to hold itself at 70 - in fact the performance seems quite similar to my Transit van. It also comes with keep fit windows and no central locking - luxuries are apparently limited to a pop-up sunroof and PAS.

 

It drove well enough apart from the lack of grunt and the driving position though. I've actually been half-thinking about a 206 as a runaround as they do seem to be getting quite cheap, but driving hers put me off, mainly because it seems to have inherited the pedal box from the Saxo, on which the pedals are positioned on top of each other rather than side by side. I'd have to drive it in socks if I were doing any distance.

 

Still, the lucky new owner is over the moon with it. As an added bonus, on the train down she took out her new iphone (4S, not 5) to show me, and she seemed to have forgotten that her wallpaper was a picture of her on holiday in a rather skimpy black bikini. I politely pretended not to notice.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yo VA, you'll never get anything like an accurate MPG number off a 40-mile journey so don't worry about it, you need to do a few hundred miles to get a semi-accurate figure. I bet you'll get low 30's

[coalnotdole]

I've bought this....

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's fucked... Does anyone have a spare chassis lying around?

[HillmanImp]

| don't profess to know much about mechanical shizzle but just in case you didn't know the wheels should be on the outside. Its normally the first thing I look for when I am buying a car.

[rml2345]

If I may step it up a technical notch from Mr. Imp, should the body and chassis not be... You know... Connected in some way?

Was it very cheap?

[vulgalour]

I've got a metal stepladder, that's a bit like a chassis, right?

[holbeck]

Nice project you got there.

 

I've always had a want for a Scimitar GT, after seeing a nice white one with minilite wheels in St.Albans 20 yrs ago.

 

My fantasy scimitar GT project would be to drop in the Daimler V8 lump as used in the Ogle GTS.

[ashmicro]

 

Jaaag. Washed, clay-barred. Machine applied Poorboys Blackhole and then Poorboys Carnuba.

 

For: Easy to put on, not too bad to take off, smells nice.

Against: Makes very little difference to the quality/depth of the shine. Instructions on the bottle contradict those on the poorboysworld.com website

Score: 5/10 (would give it 7 if it was cheaper)

Verdict: Meh. Average. Meguiars 1-2-3 is better, and costs a lot less.

[vulgalour]

I'm looking into clay bars to try out on the Maestro, it seems like a good opportunity since the paint is white and super flat and clinging onto any dirt at all. I kinda like the matt white look it has, but it's a devil to keep clean. Any suggestions on clay bars? The result:price ratio has to be favourable, obviously, and the £18 item that Autoglym are offering seems a bit steep.

 

In other Maestro news, I fitted a new thermostat (only £5, a worthwhile investment to make the heaters work early in the morning when I'm driving to work) and now the temperature gauge does things. I also got the passenger washer jet to work all the time so no longer do I get this mess with a dribbly jet.

 

Turns out the washer bottle had some black gunge and limescale sediment in the bottom that wasn't visible with the bottle in situ but kept getting pumped through and blocking the jets anyway. Took the bottle off, gave it a good swill out and a quick wipe down on the outside before reinstating it with some fresh screenwash and water and now it works brilliantly. The rear driver's door has decided that it can now stop working again, thus restoring the Autoshite balance. Only other thing I want to sort out is the blow on the exhaust so that the car runs and sounds better and uses less petrol, but that's a bigger job than I want to tackle today so it can wait a while.

 

Oh, and I found out that a 'jiggle pin' is a real thing. I thought the motor factors were pulling my leg. The replacement thermostat doesn't have a jiggle pin, none of the ones in stock did, but apparently it makes no difference anyway.

[loserone]

... a nice white one with minilite wheels ..

 

Yum. Is the chassis the same as that one the more familiar shaped Scimitar?

 

323F news: Clutch hydraulics have failed, leaving the car stranded for the last 4 weeks. New master cylinder finally fitted last weekend, proving quite nicely that the problem lies with the slave. New slave has arrived, but I can't get the old one off because the engine mount is blocking access to one of the mounting bolts. And the car is currently stuck on the grass at the bottom of my steep drive.

 

My last attempt was to use a very small socket (which fits onto the bolt as long as there's nothing attached to it) and try to rotate it with mole grips. It didn't work. Going to trail around cheap tat shops this afternoon looking for a box spanner I can cut down to size.

 

VA: PM me your address, I ended up with three (quite small, but still perfectly usable) claybars after a birthday present confusion incident last year, and you'll do more with one than I possibly ever could.

[ashmicro]

@ volksangyl: any decent clay starter kit is gonna be in or around a score of quid. I use the Meguiars one, dunno what the Autoglym one is like, but I'd imagine it's fairly good.

[vulgalour]

The £18 is for just a clay bar, not for the kit, the kit is about £30-35. That's why I think the bar is a bit on the steep side.

[Spiny Norman]

The £18 is for just a clay bar, not for the kit, the kit is about £30-35. That's why I think the bar is a bit on the steep side.

 

Urban legend has it that Blu-Tack is a cheaper alternative, and certainly more suited to shite since you can use it to hold stuff together afterwards, but does it actually work?

[sporty-shite]

I bought a set of clay bars off ebay (three different grades). I just use them with soapy water as a lubricant, and they work fine.

 

They weren't dear. They can't have been. I'm far too tight.

[skattrd]

Wishbone bushes - as a shiter I prefer to buy the bushes and press the old ones out and new ones in instead of buying the easier and more expensive alternative of new wishbones with them all ready in. Of course this involves quite a bit of sweating & cursing to save a few quid. The bushes needed doing on the Volvo and at £20 for bushes or £80 for a whishbone I bought just the bushes.

Obviously one of the bushes is an absolute pig to get out/in, after arsing about for half an hour I gave up. Thankfully I have a tame mechanic who is better at this shit then me, it still took him another half an hour, use of a 20 ton press and blow torch to change one damned bush... Theres still the other side to do, but that can wait until next weekend when it's getting the MOT done.

 

The Galant Sapporo is almost ready after it got cooked earlier this year. It's had quite a bit skimmed off the head and had a bit of an engine rebuild. I was hoping to take it to Limes tomorrow, but have been advised against it as it has an occasional staring issue, which we think may be a tight piston

 

VA: good work on the Maestro, I'm not going to recognise it if you carry on like this.

[coalnotdole]

Was it very cheap?

 

By Autoshite standards No it wasn't cheap, but by by Scimitar coupe standards it was probably an ok price. Only 1000 Coupe's were made so they are ten times rarer than the se5/5a and they are in demand at the moment.

 

Its now unloaded and I've got various options in mind for the chassis. I can start a project thread if thats of interest?

[Cavcraft]

If it's of interest?

 

Of course it's of bloody interest, what are you waiting for?