The new news 24 thread

[trigger]

Do you have a thread on your Dolomite?

 

Yep, not updated it for a long time though, probably should now the cars gone, in fact i might do that now.

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/21505-dolomite-se-all-finished-for-now/page-1

[wuvvum]

This weekend I have mostly been fighting wheel bolts.  Yesterday's job was to swap the barely legal offside front tyre on the Stilo with the much better nearside rear, to give it a slightly better chance of getting some traction on the damp and muddy roads of Norfolk.  Seven of the eight wheelnuts came off eventually, although not without a fight, but the final wheelnut on the front wheel would not budge.  Using the weight of the car on the breaker bar only succeeded in splitting my 17mm socket; I then tried the original wheelbrace with a length of exhaust pipe on the end for leverage, and split that too.  It'd obviously been torqued up to about 500 lb ft by some Kwik Fit gibbon.  In the end I got pissed off, took the other three bolts out completely and took the car for a "spirited" drive round the village - that did the job.  The car was definitely noticeably better to drive in the pissing rain earlier this evening.

 

Today, in between downpours, I decided to have a bash at doing the same on the Relay van, which has two pretty shagged front tyres and two quite decent rears.  The wheel bolts on that were bloody tight as well, but jumping up and down on the end of the breaker bar eventually persuaded then all to come undone (although it was getting a bit old by the 20th bolt).  The nearside was made more awkward by the fact that I wasn't sure if the bolts were reverse thread or not (they aren't).  The original plan was to use the spare to go on the nearside rear (as that has a better tyre than the nearside front), but in typical Sevel fashion the bolts retaining the spare wheel carrier are rusted to buggery so that didn't happen.  I used the Relay's scissor jack along with another scissor jack borrowed from the Movano to jack up an entire side at a time, and pleasingly (given that bits of the underside are starting to get a bit frilly, another Sevel trait) all four jacking points held the van's weight without any signs of bending or ominous crunching noises.  I did however stick another jack under the rear axle beam and one on the front subframe before actually removing the wheels.  16" van steels are actually fucking heavy to lug about, but I'm glad I made the effort as the van is a way better steer now and has completely lost the wheel wobble it sometimes got at about 30-40 mph.  I'm going to saturate the spare wheel carrier bolts in GT85 for the next week and have another bash at getting the spare out next weekend.

 

The heater on the Rover of Doom continues to baffle me.  I decided to try backflushing it by running the inlet pipe into the outlet stub - this nearly didn't happen as the matrix end of the inlet pipe wouldn't come off for love nor money (and there's no room to get a decent set of pliers in there), but then I found a bit of pipe the right diameter in the boot of the Volvo so used that instead.  It made bugger all difference - there was plenty of flow going in, but almost bugger all coming out.  I thought the matrix must be blocked up solid, but when I took the inlet pipe off the valve I was able to blow through it with relative ease - there was some resistance there, but certainly less than I would have expected given the pathetic dribble of coolant coming out the other end of the matrix.  So I'm no further forward and the heater is still lukewarm at best.  I bought some soda crystals which I'm going to try flushing it out with anyway, but I'm starting to think the problem may be something else.

 

The other job I was hoping to do yesterday (but didn't get around to due to all the faff with the Fiat wheels) was taking the scuttle cover off the C4 in an attempt to get the inlet pipe off the throttle body and give it a good blast of carb cleaner to see if that gets rid of the TPS fault.  Another job for next weekend, weather permitting.

 

The Stilo is continuing to give sterling service - it does everything I need a car to do, and even the lack of a heater fan isn't as much of an issue as I expected, as most of my commute is at 50-60 mph, at which speed there's enough ram air effect for the heater to be plenty effective enough.  It doesn't seem to be a car that is prone to misting up either, which is a bonus.  I have however splashed out £9 on a second hand blower motor assembly - it's the wrong one for the car as it's for a car with manual aircon rather than climate, but it should still fit in the hole.  I'm going to take the old one out and see if it's possible to just swap the motor over, but if not the replacement one is getting bunged in there as is and wired up to a separate switch.  I'm determined to spend as little on the car as possible, as befits its comically low purchase price.  In fact I was trying to fathom out a way to make some kind of wheel arch liner for the offside front out of an old rubber floor mat, but eventually gave up on the idea due to too many brackets, wires etc. running here there and everywhere, and have splashed out a further £15 on a used liner from a scrapyard, which should hopefully keep the worst of the road shite off the ECU... 

 

Further expenditure this weekend has included a new rear hub and new glowplugs for the 45, and a 15" snow tyre to match the one I already have waiting to go on the Rover 25 wheels, which will be going on the 45 over winter instead of the silly 17s.  I still need to get the nearside rear trailing arm bush done though before I can test it, and I'm going to have to farm that job out as it's way beyond my DIY capabilities - I might get them to fit the hub as well while I'm at it, depends how lazy I'm feeling.

[wuvvum]

Fuck me that was a long post.

[New POD]

The trick is to put the other bolts in and tighten them up and hope it releases the pressure a little on the offending bolt.

[cort16]

I tried to bleed the brakes on my cortina and seem to have locked the front brakes on . Skillz

[beko1987]

I read everything. I'm a whore...

[320touring]

I tried to bleed the brakes on my cortina and seem to have locked the front brakes on . Skillz

Rusty pistons?

[Guest Hooli]

I tried to bleed the brakes on my cortina and seem to have locked the front brakes on . Skillz

 

At least you know it'll stop.

[dollywobbler]

I like the Autoshite section as it is. I rarely bother with the Open and Modern sections unless I actually have time, in which case I just see New Content and read what takes my fancy. I like the mix in the main section.

[SiC]

Yep, not updated it for a long time though, probably should now the cars gone, in fact i might do that now.

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/21505-dolomite-se-all-finished-for-now/page-1

Thanks. Looks to be some great reading for idle moments. After visiting the NEC today, I've been enchanted on Dolomites.

 

As a side note, this post from DW made me chuckle in light of today's comments

 

Where are all the people who complain there aren't any good threads then eh? Or are they waiting for the full 'back on the road' glory? I must concede that I sometimes hold off posting waiting for TEH JOY of full revival.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Removing the exhaust from the 307 last night. I was on my back under the car and managed to drop a 1/2 inch ratchet about a foot onto my face. That really REALLY hurt and it hasn't improved my looks any either....

 

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

[cort16]

Rusty pistons?

They did work the other day until I started pissing around with them .

[cort16]

But they needed pissing around with .

[The Moog]

Has it spoken to the Panda?

[Guest Hooli]

Removing the exhaust from the 307 last night. I was on my back under the car and managed to drop a 1/2 inch ratchet about a foot onto my face. That really REALLY hurt and it hasn't improved my looks any either....

 

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

Stings that doesn't it?

[cort16]

Has it spoken to the Panda?

It is in the same garage . Bastard!

[captain_70s]

Triumph is at the garage having it's MOT done. 2 years in a damp garage haven't done it any favours. I tarted it up with a variety of Isopon products and rattle cans but I'm bricking it...

[Supernaut]

Best of luck!

 

 

News from me? Hmm. I have a day off today to relax after the road-tripping at the weekend. I have my eye on a set of 16" steelies with winter tyres for the Mondeo. Somebody at work is selling them on smallads. Asking £180 and I offered £140 as they've been up for a few days. Good condition wheels and the tyres have lots of tread, and looking at gumtree / ebay et al suggests they're a decent price.

 

I just get the feeling this winter could be a bad one, I don't know where that feeling is coming from, but it just is. I also realise the Mondeo is exactly the type of car that would struggle in the white stuff. Big, heavy, fairly powerful and FWD. Not a good combination. Part of me also loves the idea of such a high trim level sitting on black steelies.

[Eddie Honda]

Triumph is at the garage having it's MOT done. 2 years in a damp garage haven't done it any favours. I tarted it up with a variety of Isopon products and rattle cans but I'm bricking it...

RONG FRED M9

[Mally]

Good end to the Stock car season. Eldest son led the final until last lap yesterday, got pushed wide on last bend and finished 2nd.

Youngest won heat and final last week, but hes always winning so I forgot to mention it.

[Coprolalia]

Busy week here. Octavia in for MOT today, picking an engine up then will be farting about on Friday with the Scirocco trying to fit the new (older) 1.6td lump in.

[dollywobbler]

I just get the feeling this winter could be a bad one, I don't know where that feeling is coming from, but it just is. I also realise the Mondeo is exactly the type of car that would struggle in the white stuff. Big, heavy, fairly powerful and FWD. Not a good combination. Part of me also loves the idea of such a high trim level sitting on black steelies.

 

Could be worse. Could be big, heavy, very powerful and RWD...

[BorniteIdentity]

I’ve just won a rear quarter panel for the sierra for £100! The other side cost about £170, and this guy seems to have various bits that may help.

 

I wasn’t planning on buying anything physical for it any time soon, but this is the first NOS panel I’ve seen since setting up the eBay search earlier this year.

[tooSavvy]

At least you know it'll stop.

 

... Don't get me started!! 

 

TS

[tooSavvy]

Removing the exhaust from the 307 last night. I was on my back under the car and managed to drop a 1/2 inch ratchet about a foot onto my face. That really REALLY hurt and it hasn't improved my looks any either....

 

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

 

FFS man!! Ouch...fffffff Aghh....

 

Exactly! The guys down ATS, who just swapped [and REswapped] my front section, have the whole car above their head + Windy tools + 12side/6side HD sockets.

 

No Other Way..... GONE are the days of crushed appendages/sandy eyes/sumpoil hair gel... 

 

I feel your pain M8

 

 

TS

[plasticvandan]

random thought for the day, with the upcoming tax and mot exemption for 40 year old shite,does that mean that if insured,anything,regardless of condition can be legally parked on the street now? 

[New POD]

Could be worse. Could be big, heavy, very powerful and RWD...

 

I have a spare set of wheels for my 3.2 Omega. Do Calway Remoulds do a rally mud and snow tyre in a 245/45/17 size and a ZR rating ?  

Should I be investing in winter tyres ? I've got 4 Rainsports on it.

[Six-cylinder]

random thought for the day, with the upcoming tax and mot exemption for 40 year old shite,does that mean that if insured,anything,regardless of condition can be legally parked on the street now? 

 

No, my understanding is it has to be in MOTable condition to be legally on a road moving or parked.

[beko1987]

 

 

I just get the feeling this winter could be a bad one, I don't know where that feeling is coming from, but it just is. I also realise the Mondeo is exactly the type of car that would struggle in the white stuff. Big, heavy, fairly powerful and FWD. Not a good combination. Part of me also loves the idea of such a high trim level sitting on black steelies.

I know what you mean, it's been more frigid recently than last year! I doubt the auto gooner will me ace in snow either, but luckily I can work from home! Being unable to get to work even if the gooner was alright due to big hills and the m40 getting shut at the drop of a hat on the hill to stokenchurch helps me here!

 

A zx, that's what you need! On bald tyres my old 1.4 was fucking ace!

[SiC]

I know what you mean, it's been more frigid recently than last year! I doubt the auto gooner will me ace in snow either, but luckily I can work from home! Being unable to get to work even if the gooner was alright due to big hills and the m40 getting shut at the drop of a hat on the hill to stokenchurch helps me here!

 

A zx, that's what you need! On bald tyres my old 1.4 was fucking ace!

Stick the box in manual and shift it into third to set off at. See my post on Grump thread about the fan.