The new news 24 thread

[cms206]

The Volvo has a problem with the earth; sidelights on all is well, headlights on we have an orange offside sidelight, and indication is by way of alternating main and dipped beam. Bumhats.

[Cavcraft]

I was going to Chris and was also going to give WAT a shout, but sadly time was against me. Went to Bond Street, WA7, ropey looking transport/storage yard with a very pissed off looking alsation hanging about.

[Negative Creep]

I know this sound churlish and ungrateful since it was a gift, but I'm really bored with the Punto. It's just a car with nothing interesting or unique about it at all, hence I cannot get excited about it. In fact the only things that I prefer over the Bluebird is the insurance and fuel economy (which to be fair are pretty much half and double respectively)

[Junkman]

Sorted the headlight of the 405 today.

It only had sidelight, or main beam, but not dipped beam, which made for interesting driving by night in the rain through a forest.

I thought it may be the headlamp relay, which turned out to be true - in a way. The 12V feed to the relay had snapped off at the connector in the block that holds the relay.

I surgically removed the connector from the block, stripped 1/2 inch off the cable insulation, soldered the wire to a new connector, inserted it back into the block, put the relay back in, and whooshbonk! Dipped beam working!

[Rocket88]

Set about sorting out the "fail" sheet on the Riley roadster.Rear brake imbalance caused by tiny weep from halfshaft seal. Rear brake drum contaminated to a small degree, as are the brake shoes. Brake shoes cleaned up reasonably ok, and drum is going on the fire this evening to burn off contaminates. Sealed up some small leaks in the exhaust by resealing joints with bodging paste. Re-routed wiring loom to clear bottom of steering column.

[Bobthebeard]

The Volvo has a problem with the earth.....

Me too..... The Volvo is not alone. The earth is trying to reclaim my car!

[Largactil]

Found an old CD containing photos from about 8 years back - Including a few of my old Mk2 Golf which I gave away to a mate for a case of beer.

 

 

 

Also, these are the only photos I have of my Avantime... Wonder where it is now...?

[trigger]

I've had a few Sierra XR4x4s. The 2.9 in that spec is a nice thing to drive, and that looks like a nice one. Expect 18 mpg in cities, anything up to 32ish on a run.

 

This XR4x4 is still on my mind, I spoke to the owner again today, with some more details, it has mot until April, tax until the end of the month, only 64k from new and the bodywork is mint, He's been offered £1500 for it so won't go any lower but wants a swap with my Golf with cash on top, I don't think you can go wrong for £1500 as the values of these old Sierras seem to be going up, the trouble is I sold my old Mondeo ST24 as it was too expensive to run, will i regret buying this for the same reasons?.

[vulgalour]

Take one satin white Maestro with stains, dings and dents.

 

Apply clay bar (see tailgate) over the entire car to remove the majority of the marks you can see and a lot of dirt you can't see bringing the car up in a different colour. Then apply Farecla G3 (see everything but the tailgate) to everything you've just clayed above the bumper line.

 

 

 

Still have to do the top of the bumpers and clean the grey tide properly, but I reckon that's a reasonable job. Come payday I'll get some more Autoglym super resin polish to finish things off properly, that stuff is great at keeping the dirt off and makes the weekly wash a doddle.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

3 months after I acquired it, the Granada requires a bit of expenditure for the first time. Struggled to start it this morning, rang the RAC who came, jumped it and declared that the battery only has 222 CCA left out of an original spec of 540! Of course, it's the square terminal battery and dealing with the adaptor-clamps would probably end in tears if not death (this is the man who spent 2 weeks trying to undo a wheel nut), so I can only choose from two completely shit-looking budget brands and the Unipart-branded one (made by Yuasa) which is pretty salty at just over seventy quid (similar-sized models with round terminals seem to be about £50-55). Obviously, they won't have one in stock on Monday and then I will end up getting stranded in the middle of one/both of the trips I have to take to Leicester and Newcastle later in the week.

[vulgalour]

Can you not just get some of these and hammer them over the round terminals on a new battery?

 

[sporty-shite]

Scored a Gunson gas tester and timing strobe in a chunky tool box for £20 today. Seems like a bargain, and it might help me get the Scirocco to run considerably better.

 

In preparation for this tune-a-thon, I blew the fuel lines through and fitted a new inline filter this afternoon. Tomorrow, I will be mostly tuning*

 

 

 

 

Thank f*ck I've got the Audi to get me to work on Monday.

[Pete-M]

I've had a few Sierra XR4x4s. The 2.9 in that spec is a nice thing to drive, and that looks like a nice one. Expect 18 mpg in cities, anything up to 32ish on a run.

 

This XR4x4 is still on my mind, I spoke to the owner again today, with some more details, it has mot until April, tax until the end of the month, only 64k from new and the bodywork is mint, He's been offered £1500 for it so won't go any lower but wants a swap with my Golf with cash on top, I don't think you can go wrong for £1500 as the values of these old Sierras seem to be going up, the trouble is I sold my old Mondeo ST24 as it was too expensive to run, will i regret buying this for the same reasons?.

 

In my experience, the 2.9 Sierra 4x4 is better on fuel than the ST220, but not by much.

[phil_lihp]

3 months after I acquired it, the Granada requires a bit of expenditure for the first time. Struggled to start it this morning, rang the RAC who came, jumped it and declared that the battery only has 222 CCA left out of an original spec of 540! Of course, it's the square terminal battery and dealing with the adaptor-clamps would probably end in tears if not death (this is the man who spent 2 weeks trying to undo a wheel nut), so I can only choose from two completely shit-looking budget brands and the Unipart-branded one (made by Yuasa) which is pretty salty at just over seventy quid (similar-sized models with round terminals seem to be about £50-55). Obviously, they won't have one in stock on Monday and then I will end up getting stranded in the middle of one/both of the trips I have to take to Leicester and Newcastle later in the week.

 

Must be something in the air, went to wake up the Nova for its usual weekend trip and it decided it would rather sulk in the garage, battery totally flat. Of course I have jump leads, but it's parked facing forwards, the driveway is sloped and there's no way I'm jumping it off the Kia for fear of upsetting the modern electronics as I have heard of happening before. I have a charger but lent it to my sister who is several hundred miles away.

 

It can stay there until next weekend now, part of me knew it wouldn't like the last short outing in the rain with wipers, lights and demister on, it needs a proper long run. The alternator belt is ancient (new one on order) and I think I might have over-tightened it trying to get rid of the squeal. Well, I guess it worked, it's perfectly silent now

[stuboy]

crap news......... went through a large puddle, but hit a huge unsigned roadwork resurfacing ramp... thought id fugged my 18inch wheels.. but rear brakes started to make this noise..

 

so eventually whipped the drum off with a lump hammer as usual adjusters seized dead... and need new shoes,drums and cylinders are leaking.. so theyre being done by garage on tuesday..to save money i brought parts needed...

 

[sporty-shite]

http://www.retrorides.proboards.com/ind ... =1#1671609

 

My God, what have I done???

[wuvvum]

I've been having some fun with jump leads today too. The Ligier needed a jump to get going this morning, then I took it for a bit of a thrash to get some charge in the battery before stopping off at Tescos. When I got back to the car it decided it was going to play awkward buggers with doing a hot start, which it does sometimes. Usual technique is to floor the throttle and crank it over until it goes; unfortunately with the battery being less than fully charged, it gave out before the engine fired. So I had to walk home and get the Rover and the leads and drive back to Tescos to jump the Ligier again.

 

Then this afternoon I ran the Renner Six down to Norwich to put it back in the shed for the winter. Surprisingly, it didn't need a jump start (the battery is getting rather tired), but the Innocenti most definitely did. I had a lot of shifting about of cars to do to get everything where I wanted it, so I initially jumped the Innocenti off the 164, then decided to fire up the Rover of Doom and leave it running so I had a reliable source of 12v power if I needed it. Only the Rover had a flat battery too. So I had to jump the Rover off the Volvo, then back the Volvo out onto the road and jump the Innocenti off the Rover (twice, as the bloody thing cut out when I tried to move it). Then the Volvo ran out of petrol as I was pulling it back into the drive - not entirely unexpected, and I had a gallon in a can in the boot of the Renault, but all the starting and stopping had drained the Volvo battery (actually the MX5 battery as the Volvo's died long ago) so the Rover had to return the favour.

 

Having finally got everything where I wanted it, I set off home in the Innocenti. After about five miles the steering started to feel a little vague and wandery - which is when I remembered that when I put the front suspension back together a couple of months ago, I hadn't been able to tighten the track rod nut up properly due to a lack of a pry bar to hold the ball joint in place. So it'd worked itself loose - I pulled over and tried to tighten it up with a 17mm socket, but it was having none of it and so I just had to nurse it the rest of the way home. Made it OK though, so will see if I can tighten things up tomorrow. Thanks to Mr Bickle I'm now fairly sure the front lights are from a SEAT Ronda, so I'll also be paying a visit to ebay.es over the weekend to see if I can find a light to fit. That and a flush out of the screenwash (months of sitting in the shed have turned the fluid into gunge) and it should be more or less ready for a test.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

segundamano is at least as popular as ebay, possibly more so.

[Cavcraft]

Corsa returned form MOT work. Fair play, my mate and his fellow worker seem to have done an ace job of it. Subframe was jet washed and painted before fitting and he was LOLOCOPTERING at the state of the clutch as it was down to the rivets and a chunk of it fell off when he removed it.

Praying I can get a re-test on the car tomorrow so junior can finally drive himself around.He's even going to forfeit a months tax by taxing it this week if we can get the re-test sorted.

[ashmicro]

Just been out for a run in an Astra VXR. It's DREADFUL. Understeer, oversteer, torque steer, rock hard suspension, granite seats. All of which is a shame, because it looks really good. Headlights seem to be pants as well. It's been brake-upgraded to enormous Brembos which will be getting used. A LOT! My mate who owns it called me an old man!

[vulgalour]

Would it be entirely nobbish of me to ask a seller to hold a car until November so I don't have to pay a month's tax for the last week of October? That is, providing I place the winning bid tomorrow morning of course. Yes I am being a penny pinching miser, that's because I'm borrasic at the moment and every little helps.

[philibusmo]

I have had a productive weekend with the Alfa Romeo. I picked it up on Thursday from the address it was residing at waiting for insurance to be bought for it.

On the drive back home I found myself rather disappointed. It was hardly faster that the Fiesta, getting up to 3000RPM quite nicely but then being lumpy and horrid from then on, rendering all but about 50 of its horses severely wounded. Additionally there is a very loud clonk from the front right suspension over every bump, although the handling is still pretty sweet. Add that to the absolutely foul interior, a scratch or scrape on every panel, dead wiper blades, a falling apart key, need for a cam belt change and duff battery and it did not seem likely that it would make the week before this Alfa Romeo 156 2.0TS would meet the crusher of destiny.

 

However a little research during a slow day at work on Friday revealed that the airflow sensor on these is a common fault, causing all manner of running problems. When home I popped the battery on charge using one of these fancy pants battery chargers which is also meant to repair a not quite dead battery. I have no idea how it works, but work it did.

 

Saturday morning arrived and I set off in search of a can of anti-static electronics cleaning spray. Having been victorious at Maplin I came home, had a spot of lunch and whipped out the airflow sensor. Half an hour of very careful cleaning with a couple of cotton buds later and I had a spotless airflow sensor and two grubby cotton buds. After slapping the sensor back in I also ran through an ECU reset, just to be on the safe side.

In case anyone’s interested the procedure for a late 90s or early 2000s Alfa Romeo ECU reset is thus:

 

1. Disconnect battery for at least 45 minutes.

2. Reconnect battery and turn key to ‘MAF’ position for 90 seconds

3. Turn off for 90 seconds.

4. Start car and leave idling for 15 minutes, at no point touching the throttle, either when starting or idling.

5. Turn off for 10 minutes.

6. Go for a drive in a variety of different conditions, town, motorway, A-road thrash etc…

7. Job jobbed

 

This worked perfectly and it is now properly rapid, smooth and quiet. I was most pleased.

 

Today, in the spare few hours I had, I set about cleaning the interior.

 

Objects found included a golf ball, two golf tees, three unknown pieces of trim, a receipt for onion bajis and a heavy nappy in the spare wheel well. This was not pleasant and required a thorough bleaching of the wheel well afterwards, amazingly and luckily it didn’t really smell.

 

I then set about the upholstery which had massive unidentified stains all over it which I now expect if baby hork, along with mud and general grime.

And a stunning close-up…

 

I found some multi-purpose foam in a can cleaner in the garage with a British Rail part number on it. I have no-idea what it is in that can, but it cleans Alfa Romeo interiors very well.

 

It’s called Ambersil Amberklene. Spray on, lightly scrub and use a carpet shampooing hoover to vacuum it off, repeat if necessary. Fantastic stuff, the best stuff I have found yet for removing ground in dirt, stains and general festering unpleasantness from a car interior.

 

Here it is on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ambersil-Amberc ... 065&sr=8-4

 

And here’s the results, sorry for the quality, it had begun to go dark by this point:

 

I promise that the improvement is much more than you can see here.

 

With two cans I managed to do the whole interior except the passenger seat back, headlining and boot. I am very pleased with the results and am now quickly warming to this car.

Next job is to order more cleaning foam and investigate the front suspension. I am expecting severely worn bushes, possibly on the drop link or anti roll bar. It is bad enough to hear a small clunk just pushing up and down on the front wing.

 

I have some time off work next week so as long as the weather holds there should be more Lancia and Alfa Romeo progress along with my new far more British purchase arriving on Tuesday.

 

On an unrelated note I saw this in the car park where I work about a week back and it made me smile.

[Cavcraft]

That Cossack dancing looks hard.

[philibusmo]

That Cossack dancing looks hard.

 

It is, but by golly it tones up your thighs.

[sporty-shite]

Alfa 156 front end clunks will either be drop links or top suspension arms, both are common failures.

 

Looking at that trim, is it a 156Ti?

 

BTW I :heart: 156s, and a good one WILL make you grin.

 

Edit: that Flight looks properly tidy, too. Can't remember when I last saw one. They used to be regularly stolen for their wheels BITD.

[philibusmo]

Alfa 156 front end clunks will either be drop links or top suspension arms, both are common failures.

 

Looking at that trim, is it a 156Ti?

 

BTW I :heart: 156s, and a good one WILL make you grin.

 

Thanks for that info, those will be the first things I look for, any ideas on pricing of these if they are knacked?

 

In terms of exact trim level, I have no idea. Its a very early one, 1998 S-reg. Cloth sports seats, air con, cassette player, 16" teledial alloys. Those clues narrow it down any further?

[sporty-shite]

Alfa 156 front end clunks will either be drop links or top suspension arms, both are common failures.

 

Looking at that trim, is it a 156Ti?

 

BTW I :heart: 156s, and a good one WILL make you grin.

 

Thanks for that info, those will be the first things I look for, any ideas on pricing of these if they are knacked?

 

In terms of exact trim level, I have no idea. Its a very early one, 1998 S-reg. Cloth sports seats, air con, cassette player, 16" teledial alloys. Those clues narrow it down any further?

 

It could be. Either way, I think teledials are quite sought after, and I would think 16s would be fairly big for an early car. Either way, It sounds like a nice thing.

 

As for parts prices, I'm not too sure about the quality, but these don't seem to be bad value.

[Lankytim]

Investigated the poor handbrake on the SAAB today. It worked on when the car was parked downhill but would easily allow the car to roll backwards. A quick* removal of the brake discs showed that the handbrake shoes had broken up, with the braking material separated from the metal shoe. A trip to Halfrauds came up trumps for once and I now have a working handbrake, although I'll do some final adjustments tomorrow after everything has centralised and "bedded in"

 

Also scored a full service kit including fully synthetic oil for a bargain price from ebay. Yay for SAAB!

[cobblers]

Would it be entirely nobbish of me to ask a seller to hold a car until November so I don't have to pay a month's tax for the last week of October? That is, providing I place the winning bid tomorrow morning of course. Yes I am being a penny pinching miser, that's because I'm borrasic at the moment and every little helps.

 

Book MOT close to your house, drive it home, cancel MOT, no tax problem solved. Make sure you book and cancel the MOT days in advance so as not to inconvenience the MOT bloke. Or you could just drive it with no tax, it's unlikely to be a problem. Or, just tax it and stand the £15 loss?

[philibusmo]

 

It could be. Either way, I think teledials are quite sought after, and I would think 16s would be fairly big for an early car. Either way, It sounds like a nice thing.

 

As for parts prices, I'm not too sure about the quality, but these don't seem to be bad value.

 

Thanks, I may well be needing that, and at the price it has to be worth a punt. While I'm at it I think I will chuck in some fresh oil and filter as the current stuff is as black as your hat. Now I am thinking about it, this doesn't half seem like a lot of expenditure on a car that could ping its cam belt at any moment, Hopefully it will last a couple of months and I might get that done as well. Then all I need to do is get a code for the cassette player which sadly is not one that is available online being a Clarion unit and get some new paint on the scuffed and scabby bumpers.