The new news 24 thread

[dollywobbler]

You may differ all you like, but will never convince me.

I've had a couple of Hardlys. People used to ask me to fire them up.

 

So they could laugh?

[Mally]

So they could laugh?

 

Dunno, couldn't hear for the noise.

[Tamworthbay]

My vfr750 with a race can sounded like a Lancaster according to a friends dad (ex glider pilot by name of Hargett who was at Arnhem no less) and he should know. That was gorgeous. The old 500cc race two strokes are audible orgasm material.

 

 

Harley's just sound like a load of fat people farting in a bath. The one thing about Harley's that makes me laugh the most is the stupid merchandising that the owners thinks it's cool to be seen in. My favourite of all was the limited edition boot spurs, the spur bit being a sprocket with HD on it (despite HDs being in belts for years). I mean come on, grown men and all that.

[richardmorris]

Collected the Mercedes this weekend after leaving it with my parents for a few months. Gave it a polish ( popped the new battery in) and drove it 200 miles in just about 3 and a half hours. This afternoon I have attacked a bit of rust I saw bubbling the paint under the o/s rear lamp unit. Removed the lamp box, Scraped and wire brushed it back then kurusted and dinitrolled for now. It's not really visible to need painting. Yet! Oddly the n/s, which I thought I'd better check while I had the kurust and gunk out, had no sign of rust at all.

 

One thing some of you folk more knowledgeable than me may know is about the oil pressure. On the move it's showing 3bar with no fluctuation. But when hot it's now dropped down to 0 at idle. When I first bought it five years ago it would drop a bar when hot, this gradually got lower and lower until this year when it's dropped to the little peg off zero. Oil pressure light never comes on after starting.

 

Is there a separate oil pressure sender from the switch? And does this misbehave at all? The car runs perfectly and silently. To be honest the fiat does the same, but it's always done this from new and so I'm not worried, for the merc this is new territory:-)

[Tickman]

Collected the Mercedes this weekend after leaving it with my parents for a few months. Gave it a polish ( popped the new battery in) and drove it 200 miles in just about 3 and a half hours. This afternoon I have attacked a bit of rust I saw bubbling the paint under the o/s rear lamp unit. Removed the lamp box, Scraped and wire brushed it back then kurusted and dinitrolled for now. It's not really visible to need painting. Yet! Oddly the n/s, which I thought I'd better check while I had the kurust and gunk out, had no sign of rust at all.

 

One thing some of you folk more knowledgeable than me may know is about the oil pressure. On the move it's showing 3bar with no fluctuation. But when hot it's now dropped down to 0 at idle. When I first bought it five years ago it would drop a bar when hot, this gradually got lower and lower until this year when it's dropped to the little peg off zero. Oil pressure light never comes on after starting.

 

Is there a separate oil pressure sender from the switch? And does this misbehave at all? The car runs perfectly and silently. To be honest the fiat does the same, but it's always done this from new and so I'm not worried, for the merc this is new territory:-)

Have you used a thinner grade oil?

 

That's all I can think of as I don't know anything about Mercs and their sensors.

[fordperv]

I beg to differ. I could understand it if motorbikes sounded nice, but some V-twins and triples aside, they invariably just sound shit. Harley Davidson topping that particular tree.

There's nothing like a bigger engined bike with an aftermarket exhaust singing away

[richardmorris]

Have you used a thinner grade oil?

 

That's all I can think of as I don't know anything about Mercs and their sensors.

 

Me, use oil ha!

No I've just bunged it in the garage each year. He's always asked what grade I want and we've gone for the semi-synthetic correct grade each time. It's not using any at all between annual services.

[richardmorris]

Also in news. I was driving up the stokenchurch cutting on the m40 at a not unreasonably slow 80mph on the speedo when a Vauxhall insignia passed me like i was standing still. Had to be doing 130 easily. Do they fit them with warp drive?

[andy18s]

There's nothing like a bigger engined bike with an aftermarket exhaust singing away

Used to have straight through Raceline cans on my TL1000s which sounded fantastic from tickover all the way up to 8-9k...

Loved how it set off car alarms as I rode past too...

[Timewaster]

Used to have straight through Raceline cans on my TL1000s which sounded fantastic from tickover all the way up to 8-9k...

Loved how it set off car alarms as I rode past too...

I tried to ride out with a mate who had a VTR 1000 with high mounted race cans.

I couldn't follow him as it was such an assault on the ears, even with earplugs. I swear I could feel the pulsing of his engine on my chest.

 

I like fast loud bikes, but that was too much.

[Guest Hooli]

Collected the Mercedes this weekend after leaving it with my parents for a few months. Gave it a polish ( popped the new battery in) and drove it 200 miles in just about 3 and a half hours. This afternoon I have attacked a bit of rust I saw bubbling the paint under the o/s rear lamp unit. Removed the lamp box, Scraped and wire brushed it back then kurusted and dinitrolled for now. It's not really visible to need painting. Yet! Oddly the n/s, which I thought I'd better check while I had the kurust and gunk out, had no sign of rust at all.

 

One thing some of you folk more knowledgeable than me may know is about the oil pressure. On the move it's showing 3bar with no fluctuation. But when hot it's now dropped down to 0 at idle. When I first bought it five years ago it would drop a bar when hot, this gradually got lower and lower until this year when it's dropped to the little peg off zero. Oil pressure light never comes on after starting.

 

Is there a separate oil pressure sender from the switch? And does this misbehave at all? The car runs perfectly and silently. To be honest the fiat does the same, but it's always done this from new and so I'm not worried, for the merc this is new territory:-)

 

I think there is a separate sender for the gauge, there normally is as far as I know.

 

I've known them to get slightly gunked up side & need cleaning out, could be as simple as that.

[MarvinsMom]

wish me luck,

 

the Metro goes for its MOT tomorrow afternoon.....

 

checked the car over, and all seems fine, but you never know.

[Ghosty]

I cleaned the Volvo.

 

 

[andy18s]

I tried to ride out with a mate who had a VTR 1000 with high mounted race cans.

I couldn't follow him as it was such an assault on the ears, even with earplugs. I swear I could feel the pulsing of his engine on my chest.

 

I like fast loud bikes, but that was too much.

A Vtr? shouldn't they be at the back somewhere?......

[spike60]

Me, use oil ha!

No I've just bunged it in the garage each year. He's always asked what grade I want and we've gone for the semi-synthetic correct grade each time. It's not using any at all between annual services.

My 200k mile Merc 300SE oil pressure used to noticeably drop on hot idle as the oil got older then jump back up when it was changed. The owners forum said pressure at 1500 rpm was the important bit, not at tickover.. My gauge dithered about all over at idle anyway.

[dollywobbler]

Also in news. I was driving up the stokenchurch cutting on the m40 at a not unreasonably slow 80mph on the speedo when a Vauxhall insignia passed me like i was standing still. Had to be doing 130 easily. Do they fit them with warp drive?

 

On a possibly unrelated note, my cousin is a Police Officer, and last time I saw her, she said she had been undergoing emergency driving tuition in an undercover car, WITHOUT blues and twos. Which sounds a bloody ridiculous game to me. Apparently, they were going quite fast...

[Guest Hooli]

Used to see plod play that sort of game around Cowfold when I lived darn sarf, they did seem to carry a lot of speed at times.

[Lord Sterling]

Also in news. I was driving up the stokenchurch cutting on the m40 at a not unreasonably slow 80mph on the speedo when a Vauxhall insignia passed me like i was standing still. Had to be doing 130 easily. Do they fit them with warp drive?

...Errr....Yep, pretty much. They don't hang around.

[dougiefourspeed]

Also in news. I was driving up the stokenchurch cutting on the m40 at a not unreasonably slow 80mph on the speedo when a Vauxhall insignia passed me like i was standing still. Had to be doing 130 easily. Do they fit them with warp drive?

In my experience one thing big Vauxhalls do extremely well is high-speed stability. I had a Vectra a few years ago which always felt very planted even at silly speeds. I was talking to my old man about it once who remarked that his Mk2 Cav SRi was much the same.

[Pillock]

Also in news. I was driving up the stokenchurch cutting on the m40 at a not unreasonably slow 80mph on the speedo when a Vauxhall insignia passed me like i was standing still. Had to be doing 130 easily. Do they fit them with warp drive?

 

Probably a hire car, everyone knows they're faster than other cars.

[taxi paul]

The police rang today to tell me that they had my Foster child in custody. He will be held overnight and then appear in court tomorrow. Shame really has we had a chat this morning about what his future holds if he carries on like he is doing. You can lead a horse to water ETC..

[egg]

^^ ghosty, Volvo paint is great in terms of its ability to look good after 20+ years

[mercrocker]

In my experience one thing big Vauxhalls do extremely well is high-speed stability. I had a Vectra a few years ago which always felt very planted even at silly speeds. I was talking to my old man about it once who remarked that his Mk2 Cav SRi was much the same.

 

I drove the firm's Mk2 SRi at ridiculous speeds on the motorway and it (or at least, me) did indeed always feel much more composed than the 3 series and even 5 series BMs on our fleet at the time.     

 

With the Vectra I think it is also a bit like low-spec Mk4 Cortina estates once were - the fastest thing on the motorway especially loaded up with photocopier brochures.   They seemed even faster in the rain.....

[strangeangel]

they invariably just sound shit. Harley Davidson topping that particular tree. 

 

Quite, nothing says 'Dumper Truck With A Fucked Exhaust' like a Harley. Old British singles sound quite nice (when actually working) though.

[cobblers]

A lad at work has a Harley with a full "I'm a complete shithead" exhaust on it - it's the loudest thing I've heard in my life, just a couple of 18" long pipes out of the heads . It's loud and awful and his bike is the slowest one they do, it's a fucking embarrassment and I tell him that pretty much every day. I try and tell him that everyone who sees him on it is either pissed off at him or laughing at him, but it doesn't sink in.

It's sad, he's genuinely a really good lad but he's completely swept away by the whole Harley scene, he was even going to join Chesterfield's effort at hells angels, the "crooked knights" ffs.

Honestly all he needs is a PT cruiser with chrome flames on it and a 57 year old bird from Lincolnshire who has sex with dogs and he's ticked off every box in the "I wish I was American despite never having ventured more than 50 miles from home" playbook.

[dougiefourspeed]

I drove the firm's Mk2 SRi at ridiculous speeds on the motorway and it (or at least, me) did indeed always feel much more composed than the 3 series and even 5 series BMs on our fleet at the time.

 

With the Vectra I think it is also a bit like low-spec Mk4 Cortina estates once were - the fastest thing on the motorway especially loaded up with photocopier brochures. They seemed even faster in the rain.....

No idea about the Mk2 Cavalier but I liked driving the Mk3s. I sampled 1800's and two litres and they all drove nicely. Never seemed to give much trouble either.

 

People had a downer on the Vectras for being a bit dull and I guess the basic ones were a little but no more so than the base Cav that preceded it. The posher ones made for a really nice long distance cruiser. I always found them very good ergonomically and also better on fuel than the Ford or BMW equivalent.

 

I don't have any photos of mine to hand but it was identical to this. I put 40k on it in 18 months going from Sussex to the Dordogne regularly. Loved it.

 

[DodgeRover]

A lad at work has a Harley with a full "I'm a complete shithead" exhaust on it - it's the loudest thing I've heard in my life, just a couple of 18" long pipes out of the heads . It's loud and awful and his bike is the slowest one they do, it's a fucking embarrassment and I tell him that pretty much every day. I try and tell him that everyone who sees him on it is either pissed off at him or laughing at him, but it doesn't sink in.

It's sad, he's genuinely a really good lad but he's completely swept away by the whole Harley scene, he was even going to join Chesterfield's effort at hells angels, the "crooked knights" ffs.

Honestly all he needs is a PT cruiser with chrome flames on it and a 57 year old bird from Lincolnshire who has sex with dogs and he's ticked off every box in the "I wish I was American despite never having ventured more than 50 miles from home" playbook.

Loud pipes save lives but Harley's do just sound crap with some of the slash cut un muffled efforts and TBH a tractor running with just a manifold is quieter than some of them.

Even when I used to ride a mx bike on the road it came in mostly under 100db.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Got my renewal quote through from Flux for the citroen - £674! Considering I paid just a shade over £200 last year thats taking the piss somewhat

 

Any decent classic insurers out there? My annual mileage on the XM looks to be less than 2000...

 

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

[beko1987]

Also in news. I was driving up the stokenchurch cutting on the m40 at a not unreasonably slow 80mph on the speedo when a Vauxhall insignia passed me like i was standing still. Had to be doing 130 easily. Do they fit them with warp drive?

No, they've just been gunning it since oxford! I can get on at j6 at the bottom of the hill and be doing cough90cough at the top by 5 if the traffics good and I'm late for work.

 

Usually I potter up with the lorries though as I can't get over to l2 due to the volume of traffic...

[Six-cylinder]

I have a friend who transports cars and sometimes he takes a detail photo puts it on FB and asked us to guess what it is, I usually get them. Not this time and I had the whole car but still failed.