The new news 24 thread

[Shep Shepherd]

Congrats Shep. My class C test had more minors than Michael Jacksons birthday party.

 

Oo-er, missus! 

[captain_70s]

Going over my finances and pondering about the future of my fleet post Christmas... 

 

My biggest cost, aside from housing, is the Civic which costs a giddy £70 a month in insurance and tax, mostly insurance. Its also getting to the sort of age where I'll actually have to start laying out proper money if I want it to keep going. The engine is sound but the clutch is noisy, the suspension creaks and the rear brakes make horrible noises, the underside is rusted solid. Parents are suggesting I replace it with a brand new Pug/Citroen city car or a Dacia Sandero. Obvs I'd go for the 90hp Sandero in brown with steel wheels and the only option being the spare wheel but leather seats 'cause I'm a weirdo but that's irrelevant.

 

I'm tempted to replace it with something old enough to qualify for classic insurance (£150 a year vs £700 for the Cvic) but new enough to be easier to live with than a shagged out mid 1960s BLMC design like the Doloshite. Namely a Triumph Acclaim.

Would cost £30 a month to insure and tax, it's no more thirsty than the Civic, tyres are cheaper, I'm more comfortable with DIYing it, they are appreciating in value. Also helpful that I now do far less miles (20 miles a day rather than 50 and public transport is an option should the car be out of action) than when I lived in the Moray wilderness. I also happen to love the styling inside and out and have wanted one for yonks.

 

Of course the risk is that the Acclaim ends up being a Dolomite-esque money pit and the £480 saving ends up being eaten away repairing the thing constantly. Although they are TG approved and the vast majority of surviving cars seem to be well maintained giffer mobiles... I can't see it costing vast amounts, but I said that about the last two Triumphs... 

[vulgalour]

Speak to logicaluk on Retrorides, what he doesn't know about running an Acclaim daily probably isn't worth knowing tbh. http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/189808/1983-triumph-acclaim-frank

[simon8201]

A couple of pics of the aforementioned BL promotional items arrived in my inbox today.

 

$a.jpg

 

$b.jpg

Whoever owns these must be one of life's winners!

[Vantman]

It now turns out, having got his address, that the traction seller lives in streatham. I blame my deaf friend! Going to look on Saturday morning with overalls and trolley jacks! Maybe a purchase thread, but "pinch 6cyls Range Rover and trailer and drive 30miles" isn't very exciting , so could be pick up mechanic drive thirty miles and he drives it back to his workshop.

 

Anyone want to buy an excellent 2cv?

 

If you do purchase the Traction,depending on what model it is i have a genuine Citroen workshop manual purchased when I had mine about 15 years ago.

[stuboy]

Needed to replace the centre section, stanley cat was not much help, then hangers were rust on the cat ( not feline ) so touched with sparkly stick.. forgot mask so pointed and fired...lol

 

Sounds ahem fine on a slushomatic.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Seen a Lada Riva saloon earlier. Didn't have time to take a picture but it really made my day. Haven't seen one in the wild for years

 

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

[Guest Hooli]

My broadband has finally settled in from it's early shiteness, downloads are finally up from the massive 1.4mbps...I now get 1.99mbps!

[egg]

My wheelie bin is K REG!

 

[Guest Hooli]

I think that means it's on the change over about you having to own a cat to put in it...

[Ghosty]

Just seen our old A4 in Glossop.

It’s had a stainless exhaust put on since we sold it.

[richardmorris]

If you do purchase the Traction,depending on what model it is i have a genuine Citroen workshop manual purchased when I had mine about 15 years ago.

SAM_1217.JPG

 

Just back from streatham- glad I wasn't driving!

 

Nice car overall, my mechanic couldn't find much wrong ( apart from wrong radiator and a Slough built air filter from a light 15). Bit of play on one wheel bearing and a perishing silent block. Interior like new and paint presentable apart from the doors which had been hand done in a slightly different shade of black to the rest of the car. The rust on the rear door bottoms was filled with about an inch of wob though and so they stood proud of the body quite a bit. I'd buy it and get them fixed properly at the right price, but I think he's firm on £10,000 not the £8,000 I think I'd pay. I'm sleeping on it though. Nice seller though, left us alone with the car to check over and we had a good drive around Balham.

[HMC]

My new e46 BMW is a bit grim

[MarvinsMom]

been to rochdale today,

 

what a fuckin' shit hole (and i've been to Hartlepool)...... BUT we now have a wing, bonnet and bumper for the Lexus!

 

the parts are even in the same paint code (apparently) and they seem to be a pretty damn close match to the rest of the car.

 

only bit we know we are missing is the n/s side light unit. 

 

no luck so far with ebay or the local breakers, so we might have to go and see if Toyota have one, though god only knows what that will cost!!

 

now if only we can have some good weather next weekend while we pull the car to bits and fit said new panels.......

[dollywobbler]

Is yours the same shape as mine? I'm about to replace the sidelight/indicator units.

[MarvinsMom]

Is yours the same shape as mine? I'm about to replace the sidelight/indicator units.

i dunno, its P reg so its a 1996-97 car.

 

i'm led to believe that the car is same for a 1995 to 1997 model years.

[stuboy]

Needed to replace the centre section, stanley cat was not much help, then hangers were rust on the cat ( not feline ) so touched with sparkly stick.. forgot mask so pointed and fired...lol

 

Sounds ahem fine on a slushomatic.

 

seems a tad louder inside

 

[wuvvum]

Been working on the Stilo today.  Fitted the new osf wheelarch liner first, which turned out to be a ten-minute job - there weren't even any seized screws, the remains of the old one came straight out and the replacement slid in just as easily.  So the ECU should now be protected from the worst the winter roads can throw at it.

 

Emboldened by the quick win, I decided to crack on straight away with replacing the blower motor.  Predictably, that turned out to be rather less straightforward.  I can see the three bolts which hold the motor assembly in, and I've got one of them out, although the other two are going to be a twat to get to as they're right up behind the dash and my arms only have one elbow.  They're also piddly little 5.5mm heads so somewhat of a fiddle.  The main problem though is that there's no way of getting the motor assembly out as the steering column and pedals are in the way (obvs this wouldn't be a problem in a LHD car).  I spent a while with my head in the footwell trying to see if there was any way it could be manoeuvred out, but decided it was a non-starter.

 

So my next thought was that you must have to take the entire heater assembly out and then remove the motor once it's out.  So I spent the next hour or so ripping half the dashboard out.  I got to where I could see the whole heater assembly, but I couldn't work out how it was fixed in.  There were hundreds of the piddly 5.5mm bolts, but they seemed to be holding bits of the heater to other bits rather than the whole thing to the car. 

 

After some more poking around to no avail, I eventually came in and did what I should have done in the first place - went online and found a guide on the Fiat forum.

 

Step 1 - undo the steering column bottom clamp and detach the steering column.

 

Oh bollocks.

 

I've got to decide whether I can be arsed to have a go at it tomorrow or not.  The bolt has one of those silly male Torx heads, and I don't have any Torx sockets.  I found that a 3/8" hex socket was a pretty good fit, and I could probably hammer an 11/32" over it if need be, but the only sockets I have in those sizes are 1/4" drive and I imagine (hope...) a steering column retaining bolt is torqued up fairly hard, so I might struggle a bit.  I've got to put the dashboard back together anyway - apart from anything else I've removed the heater control panel, which is less than ideal at this time of year.

 

I was supposed to be having a bash at the Rover wheel bearing tomorrow as well - I have a feeling I'm probably not going to get time to do both...

[drum]

I found pictures of my allegro on n the interweb.

 

Turns it was owned by someone on retrorides.

 

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/57809/1979-austin-allegro-north-yorkshire

[dollywobbler]

i dunno, its P reg so its a 1996-97 car.

 

i'm led to believe that the car is same for a 1995 to 1997 model years.

 

Yes then. Mine is a UCF20, which began production in late 1994 for 1995. I'll let you know when I've got my new lenses fitted.

[John F]

I was offered an "old car" by a man in the pub last night. Not something I either particularly want or need.

 

So naturally I'm planning to view it today.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Here is a freshly washed Jaguar, Just because.

 

[Guest Hooli]

That's a beauty, I'd love a S3 XJ.

[John F]

John F, on 19 Nov 2017 - 09:59 AM, said:

I was offered an "old car" by a man in the pub last night. Not something I either particularly want or need.

 

So naturally I'm planning to view it today.

 

Righty, I've been to see this car.

 

I was told it was a V-reg. Jaguar XJ-S 3.6 automatic with 55,000 miles on the clock and 10 months' MOT, and the seller wanted £500 for it.

 

Which confused me slightly because the 3.6 auto didn't come out until 1988, so maybe it was on a private plate? Still, that's a very good price for any XJ-S with low miles and some MOT.

 

It turned out to be a bloody S-type 3.0 V6 on a V-prefix plate 

 

Swerved.

[bramz7]

Hmmm the 406 really didn't want to start today. Think it's the plugs doing it...

[panhard65]

Righty, I've been to see this car.

 

I was told it was a V-reg. Jaguar XJ-S 3.6 automatic with 55,000 miles on the clock and 10 months' MOT, and the seller wanted £500 for it.

 

Which confused me slightly because the 3.6 auto didn't come out until 1988, so maybe it was on a private plate? Still, that's a very good price for any XJ-S with low miles and some MOT.

 

It turned out to be a bloody S-type 3.0 V6 on a V-prefix plate 

 

Swerved.

I had a customer ring me up yesterday and ask if I could help one of his friends out who had 2 old cars. They both didn't work but if I was prepared to help them out getting one back on the road for them I could have the other one for free. I will go and have a look next week anyway, but when I asked what they were he said a clio and a micra. As tempting as it may be I think I will have to turn the generous offer down.

[SiC]

I had a customer ring me up yesterday and ask if I could help one of his friends out who had 2 old cars. They both didn't work but if I was prepared to help them out getting one back on the road for them I could have the other one for free. I will go and have a look next week anyway, but when I asked what they were he said a clio and a micra. As tempting as it may be I think I will have to turn the generous offer down.

Plot twist if you fixed the Micra and the Clio turned out to be a MK1 Williams... (Probably just some rotten mkII)

[beko1987]

I'm sure 320_touring will have the clio off you... Seems to be his thing this month

[hairnet]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dacia-Sandero-1-2-Access-5-Door-Left-Hand-Drive/322891064335

 

seems we only got white acceses

 

 would pull trigger if only the phakt the old git would freak at being sat on the wrong side of the car

 

[MarvinsMom]

got a call last night from the local picture framing emporium,

 

"the BL car poster you brought in the other day is ready to be collected"

 

 

its the one i bought at the NEC last week, and the one that i had half a dozen offers to buy it off of me.

 

i declined all offers for me to sell it on cos it will look cool in my hall.

 

and while getting it framed has cost a few quid, it will indeed look cool in my hall.