The new news 24 thread

[andrew e]

You just want a travel assistant, not a signum!

[Cavcraft]

Ecotecs are well known for this kind of damage when the belt snaps. Odds on all 16 valves said hello to the pistons

 

Does the 3.2 V6 Ecotec have a belt or chain? Closer than ever to taking the plunge for a Signum and it would be good to know...

 

Belt it would seem...

 

http://www.lmfvauxhall.co.uk/Timing-Belt-Kits-c-1781

[M'coli]

I put the Skoda up for sale on RR earlier this evening. First two messages were from a chap in Blackpool who wouldn't be able to collect it for a while, and a certain leather-seat-averse vegan gentleman from the North East. Part of me wants to sell it to him just because I'm curious to meet him...

If you sell it to him, make sure to leave a kipper somewhere it'll rot nicely...

[R9UKE]

You just want a travel assistant, not a signum!

 

LOL You're right - it's such a shite feature, a must have!

 

 

Belt it would seem...

 

http://www.lmfvauxhall.co.uk/Timing-Belt-Kits-c-1781

 

Thank you sir.

[alf892]

Second hand engine £150 at most.

 

I had a look on ebay, it was about £200 for a new lump but then you have to add the labour costs in for the fitting off it, (I couldn't do it) and it soon mounts up again, my neighbour had a quote from a local garage of £1000 to fix it!

 

Plus to be on the safe side there is a cambelt change needed on any replacement engine, just to be on the safe side! Ecotecs are well known for this kind of damage when the belt snaps. Odds on all 16 valves said hello to the pistons

 

 

True........I bought one from a mate much the same when enemployment came to visit late last year. Reall nice order and even a tank of fuel. It was fine until the pas/aircon/alt belt went and got inside the cam belt cover and lift the cam belt off the crank pulley.....so the whole lot went round out of time. I budgeted for 16 new valves (100 quid) but did not realise that you have to hammer the valve back in a bit which knackers the guide. This happens because the valve gets bent when fully open and so there is no compression left on the valve sring to release the collets. It only happens to the exhaust valves but they are 8 quid each. Luckily I only gave 80 for the car and had a trouble free 6 months of motoring. All in I think it owed me about 350 but realistically you can't include the cam belt kit in any comparison as you would have to fit this to any second engine you put in.

 

In the end I sold it for 750 after it went straight through the Mot

[DSdriver]

I will be collecting a DS23 efi engine tomorrow that I won on ebay. I'll try and make a road trip photo thread out of it as I'll be picking it up in the Safari.

I will take it straight to Rad at Pallas Auto for expert assessment and while I am there collect the saloon which is now rebuilt after it's crumple zone test.

The plan is to get the engine checked out and any necessary rebuild done before swapping it with the lump in the saloon which has bottom end rumble.

[mnde]

I'm going to collect the GSA from Hitchin tomorrow after a long stay in the workshop having some new underbody protection and a repair to stop a long-running water ingress problem, which - if anyone's interested - was finally traced to the bulkhead drain where the metal has rotted out surrounding the rubber drain tube, and water was traced trickling down into the footwell and the floor/inner wing box sections through a gap between two panels. Here's a recent picture.

 

 

Hoping to hook up with Chris so we can go up in a Renner of some description to avoid me having to take the train, but he's not answering his phone...

 

Mark.

[dollywobbler]

Put a new fuel filter on the BX today. Took it for a drive, still feels a bit hesitant. Decided to do the 'pikey' fuel additive by bunging in a few litres of unleaded with fresh diesel. Seems to be pulling a little better. The housing was horribly gunked up, so the fuel filter was definitely worth doing. Biggest problem with the BX is that the front footwells are very, very damp, so the car's steaming up big time even without being used. I really need my garage back until I can trace the leaks, but house refurbishment is still continuing.

 

The BX is booked in for the first welding session though, in a couple of weeks. Give me a few years and it might be somewhere near sorted!

[garbaldy]

I put the Skoda up for sale on RR earlier this evening. First two messages were from a chap in Blackpool who wouldn't be able to collect it for a while, and a certain leather-seat-averse vegan gentleman from the North East. Part of me wants to sell it to him just because I'm curious to meet him...

 

 

I wanted to buy a delica he was selling a while back so pmd him for more pics and got the same two sent to my email address

he seems rather bad a priceing as the price kept going up and down like a yoyo

 

on a more shite note tell us more about the silver teardrop you are selling they are uber shite i would love a shot in one

[mnde]

Can't find a pic of your BX Ian, but guessing it doesn't have a sunroof?

 

I would check under the washer fluid bottles for holes and detritus in the bulkhead drain. I had holes in this area in my BX and through the holes you could see the carpet.

 

Just got a call from the garage to say the battery in the GSA is borked and it needs a new one fitted. Another £72 then I did tell them to unhook the battery if the car wasn't being moved for a while... but I guess all the starting up and moving around has done for it - it won't hold a charge and it's been on the charger all afternoon apparently. Need to trace and fix the pesky off-key drain!!!

 

Mark.

[dollywobbler]

Aye, no sunroof as it's an estate. Both front wheelarches have holes. Didn't realise they went into the footwell as well...

 

If the budget will allow, I'll get those seen to when it's in for welding as well then! I'd got them down as Phase 2, but if I don't sort it soon, new floors will end up being Phase 3 of the bodywork!

[OwdChina]

Worldwide Honda recall.

 

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/1617 ... g-problems

[eddyramrod]

I drove the X1/9 last night, which is progress as my back wasn't up to it before! Tonight I've been typing up the routes for the event I've organised: sending some of our local classics out and about to shoot the best photo of their car at a location of my choosing. Went down well enough last year, so I thought I'd try it again. So that'll be my Sunday....

[Angrydicky]

My mate casually mentioned he was scrapping his Fiesta last night. It's an S reg 1.3 Encore, about 80k on the clock, and solid as a rock. Very tidy apart from some idiot has painted all the scratches on the car with red hammerite. His mum bought it as a birthday present for him when he was 17, although he didn't even have a driving licence then, so it sat by the side of the road until the tax and MOT expired then it was shoved in a lockup. Last time it moved was about Sept 10 when they moved house and I helped him get it going again with a scrapyard battery - it started up first turn of the key. It drove to the new place under its own steam (illegally!)

 

Although he passed his test over a year ago he hasn't been able to insure it due to a lack of a job and has finally decided to scrap it to get his £150 or whatever. Just seems like a waste of a good car, that I reckon would go through an MOT with minimal work (might just need a battery).

 

I'm banned from buying any more cars (even to sell on) so if anyone's interested it must be gone by the end of December as he is moving house. It's in Rayleigh, Essex.

[mattblack]

The rear wiper on the Rover packed up ages ago, I had a half hearted look at it, found there was no power to the motor and then did nothing more about it. Krujoe of this parish very kindly sent me the column switch and relay from the one he was breaking, so I swapped the relay (located behind the O/S rear light cover) and it still didn't work, so I put the old relay back in. This morning I decided to have a proper look at it, pulled the trim back inside the tailgate and found the plug was disconected from the motor, obviously from the first attempt I had at it. Reconected it, fitted the 'new' relay and it works... the relay is on a bracket that goes on one of the rear light mounting studs and I hadn't refitted it after removing the light to seal round it ages ago so it was hanging upside down. When I prised the cover off it was a lump of rust inside...

 

I R A SPACCA SUMTIMES...

 

Anyway, while I was on roll I took the driver's door interior light switch apart and cleaned the contacts so that works now as well. Oh, and I treated it to a £2.70 trip to the local car wash last night as well. Now looks half cared for rather than something with one wheel in the scrappy.

[andrew e]

Two of these arrived today - very good quality with proper quality clasp one end, and a loop the other. Just a heads up if any shitters need a new tow rope or strop. Cost me £22.50 BIN to the door for a pair (cheaper if you wait for an auction to finish).

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FRENCH-ARMY-H ... 3163wt_877

 

[R9UKE]

Had a Prius moment with the Avantime just now.

 

Kickdown ended up with the accelerator sticking to the floor - scariest shit I've ever experienced. A V6 petrol can move. I was doing 65 in a 30 before I managed to release it... and that all happened in about 5 seconds. I'll be using the manual mode for overtaking from now on....

[Felly Magic]

Had a Prius moment with the Avantime just now.

 

Kickdown ended up with the accelerator sticking to the floor - scariest shit I've ever experienced. A V6 petrol can move. I was doing 65 in a 30 before I managed to release it... and that all happened in about 5 seconds. I'll be using the manual mode for overtaking from now on....

 

I've had that with Volvo B7 coaches. If you think its scary in a car, just imagine it with a full load of 57 punters, and you are going off the clock.

[dollywobbler]

Always remember, a car stops accelerating if you turn the ignition off... (though this does mean you'll lose PAS and only get a few pumps of brake pedal effort). I've had the throttle jam on the 2CV a few times, once on the M6 just before some services. I turned the engine off, flicked into neutral and coasted silently and majestically into the car park, grateful that a 2CV has no brake servo or PAS...

[ProgRocker]

Buggeration!

 

I booked my car in @ the Nissan dealers on Tuesday to have a look at my temperamental clutch. Just been out in the car this morning and its pretty much had it. Nursed the car back home in 3rd gear and dare not use it until Desira Nissan can look at it.

 

Just need to get the car up there - I hope that the dealer can recover the car on a flatbed.

[TagoraSX]

My newly acquired 100 Avant is now running

 

New battery and fuel pump, drain/refill tank, touch of easy-start and away she went.

The rear wheel cylinders are rusted solid, I was expecting them to be £££££ but it turns out they are the same as a POLO =£5 each!

[Albert Ross]

Was hoping to remove a front axle assembly from an early 80s military Land Rover yesterday. It took me 4 hours to get home instead. "Can you just" was the message I got.... So, armed to the teeth with cash, I entered the Forbidden Zone. One of those reatil centres with 2 lanes into the car park , and 1 lane out. Well, having made my meagre purcheses, I attempted to get out of the car park. People who had been queueing to exit when I arrived, were, surprise surprise, still in the queue. Well I spied an exit. A wide, little used pedestrian ccess path. Flashing light on, through the bollards, onto an empty main road, wher there were no traffic lights to "zone" me, and on to the next place. Got into the car park, and was met with another long line of exiting (That's "going out", not "really interesting") traffic. I summised that if I drove down the offside of the line, I could reach all the empty spaces that they were siting next to. So I did. 16 feet of Land Rover nuzzling up to a brand new C class, with an apoplectic owner screaming at me, that's class that is. I missed it by a goodly 3 inches. How stupid he must have felt. So I parked in a vacant space, went and made my purchases, and came out of the shop. To be met with the SAME cars in front of my Land Rover. I put the stuff in the back, and went back into the shop to get some snacks. Came out, sat and played silly games on my phone, had my snack, by then the traffic had subsided. I then came home, got pissed and went to bed. I got up ready to graft outside today, to remove the axle, but it has been pissing it down all day so far, so I've put two lots of curtains up, refelted the shed roof (it's got my workshop manuals etc in it) and am now sat on my arse.

[loserone]

Buggeration!

Best of luck. Mines just left, 5 minutes ago. Not even slightly sorry to see it go - four years of four-figures-a-year depreciation, terrible motorway manners, poor economy, worse performance and frequent and ridiculous garage bills.

 

"I know, I'll buy an Almera, el_one_Snr's (N15) was remarkably reliable." Fail.

 

It wasn't a diesel mind, I can see why you might like that.

[Pete-M]

Mate of mine was flogging his trusty E39 528i SE recently, so being an incurable car buyer, and needing something to do the daily duties while the XJR is off for remedial work here and there, I bought it.

 

2 owners from new, my mate being the second, full insanely detailed service history, immaculate cream leather interior, all the little bits and bobs that get lost instantly when cars change hands - handbooks, spare keys, dealer keyfobs etc. CD changer, bluetoof, working aircon, cruise, and generally a rather nice old barge.

 

I think this may be my winter wheels. It drives really well, and everything still works. Volcanic heater, too.

 

 

This makes me grin.

 

[Cavcraft]

Seem tough as old boots those things Pete. Take it was suitably cheap?

[Pete-M]

It wasn't hideously expensive. 12 months MOT too.

[Skizzer]

My newly acquired 100 Avant is now running

 

This is great news - I have been harbouring immoral thoughts about that car since you posted up the pics the other week.

 

The rear wheel cylinders are rusted solid, I was expecting them to be £££££ but it turns out they are the same as a POLO =£5 each!

 

Christ, if that's a breadvan-era Polo the brakes had enough trouble stopping my 1050cc C Formel E, never mind a 100 Avant, so I hope not all the parts are interchangeable. Good luck if they are...

[fiatdaft]

The rears don't do much,for example your dedra turbo rear discs are cinquecento fronts.

[Skizzer]

The rears don't do much,for example your dedra turbo rear discs are cinquecento fronts.

I suppose they don't, hadn't really thought about it. Can I just say, that's a fantastically obscure nugget of knowledge to have at your fingertips Mr Daft, and one which may well save me time and money in the near future. Thank you

[fiatdaft]

Nae bother,anything to help these had lots of parts sharing with other fiats.