The new news 24 thread

[Cavcraft]

My lad's done wonders on his Corsa recently. It has that 'electronic steering' nonsense and it's always pulled to the left wince we had it. You can remove them and have them sent away to be 'done' I believe, but there's an internet guide to doing it yourself which he's done. It's now far nicer to drive and the steering is perfectly weighted, plus he's saved himself a few quid.

[Negative Creep]

Ordered my Retro Rides Gathering weekend pass. Now I just need to find a car club to get on a stand with

[dollywobbler]

Is the Stagea turbocharged Wuv? Wondering if it's got a turbo-timer fitted to it or something like that.

[wuvvum]

Is the Stagea turbocharged Wuv? Wondering if it's got a turbo-timer fitted to it or something like that.

Good thinking. Yes it does have a turbo timer buried under the dash - it's never kicked in before though, even after I'd been for a proper hoon, so strange that it should decide to start working after a quick trundle round the block. Maybe it's bollocksed and needs unplugging. Slightly embarrassed that it didn't occur to me at the time.

[beko1987]

The ZX just passed it's MOT with only a few advisories. Handy really as I can now potentially sell it with a full years test and 6 months ticket if/when the car I'm going to see tomorrow is any good!

[skattrd]

Quicker than expected the V5 has landed for the Storia, I can now get some number plates and book an MOT

 

Comfy wafty Volvo S80 sold yesterday

[dollywobbler]

I have gapped a set of brand new spark plugs for the Merc. They all needed enlarging slightly. I can't fit them until my plug lead tool arrives. Mind you, having worked for 11hrs today, I've not really had time either! Work and volunteering has all gone a bit silly and I'm wondering when on earth I can get the Merc in for MOT. It runs out next week.

[cort16]

I got offered a SD1 2000 tonight. £400 but it has no engine or box. Well it has an engine but it's not in it and the head gaskets blown.

The guy who owns it started to convert it to a v8 but got fed up with it and bought a Scimiter. It's got a Vitesse rear axle, brakes and is very solid. It'd be good to save it but I'm not sure I can be arsed doing the work.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'd like an SD1 2000. I reckon pretty much every one ever built has suffered exactly the fate you describe. 'yeah i'm gonna convert it to a V-... oh hang on, Coronation street is on in a few minutes'

[shedvan]

I'd like an SD1 2000. I reckon pretty much every one ever built has suffered exactly the fate you describe. 'yeah i'm gonna convert it to a V-... oh hang on, Coronation street is on in a few minutes'

 

 

Yo Bo11s while your flush with Citroen windfall cash why not roll all that into the SD1 diesel on t'Bay?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Rover-SD-1-2400-turbo-/271157146646?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3f2239b416

 

Tis only up the road in Cheshire and has the distinction of being one of the fastest derv car in Europe (some time ago) with that Italian oil burner on board -£750 with no bids and 7 hours left

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'd flipping love that I would. I don't think I want to spend £750 on it though. If it gets no bids and he relists a bit cheaper I night well try to get involved with it! I would love to upgrade it with a 2.5 VM from a jeep cherokee or whatever, thats one of my all-time favourite engines.

[cort16]

It's a shame as it's really tidy too. It has the mingebag spec demin interior with windup windows etc. The 2 litre blew it's head gasket so he went to swap it for a v8 and got pissed off half way through.

The 2 lire motors still sitting there but the box is gone. It'd probably be ideal for someone wanting to re-shell a flakey vitesse. Shame really as the 2000 and dizzlers are the rarest of all the SD1's

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Fairly sure I've got a box for one in the back of my dad's garage, although it might be out of a Sherpa now i think about it.

[ruffgeezer]

C15/Trev3 looks to be leaving as quickly as it arrived, a chap is heading down tomorrow with a view to taking him away, once the deal is complete, I'll fill you in on the hows and whys of the deal.

[skattrd]

Storia dropped off at the garage for the MOT, which was a nice little drive.

 

I decided to give the Galant Sapporo a run for the first time since it's engine rebuild, as I was thinking about taking it to the Limes for the RR FUCEM meet . However the engine died at every junction when coming to a stop, and it got progressively harder to start. It also smelt as if it was running very rich as well. I don't think I'll be taking it to the Limes this weekend.

I know nothing about 25yr old Japanese fuel injection, so I'm guessing here, but initial thoughts are idle control valve and/or warm up regulator ... Assuming the car has these.

[vulgalour]

Made a start on some free fuel. Got some demijohns doing very little, some spare coffee filters and the contents of the chip pan. So far so good, but I'm not running 100% veg, I just don't want to throw away something I could turn into useful engine explosions.

[sporty-shite]

For page 306, did a very small but satisfying job on the Pug today. Put new batteries in the key, and now have REMOTE CENTRAL LOCKING.

 

Fuck, it's nearly a modern!

[vulgalour]

Presently feel like a traitor to the cause of Shite because I decided to sign up for proper break down cover with the AA. Up until now, I've not had any breakdown cover beyond that which my bank offers (which is next to useless), I've always just carried tools and hoped my regular tinkering maintenance would see me through. Still, at least it means I can get home if I *do* get stranded somewhere in one of my old cars.

[Shep Shepherd]

^

 

I've had Roadside, Relay and Home Start since 2000, all of which have been used to good effect

[Micrashed]

I might be changing jobs.

This means I can join the shite high club again as I will be getting 54p/mile travel and doing about 100 miles / day - which opens the door to all manner of shitetastica in the sub £1000 ads.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-Citroen- ... 232393cfcb

Fingers crossed then please....

[Richard]

That's pretty strong money for a 1.8LX, especially one that's been messed about with.

[dollywobbler]

Presently feel like a traitor to the cause of Shite because I decided to sign up for proper break down cover with the AA. Up until now, I've not had any breakdown cover beyond that which my bank offers (which is next to useless), I've always just carried tools and hoped my regular tinkering maintenance would see me through. Still, at least it means I can get home if I *do* get stranded somewhere in one of my old cars.

 

Never a bad idea. I've had breakdown cover via my insurance for many years, and was in the AA before that. When my wife had the Mini on her own modern policy, she had AA cover - which did get used a fair bit! She was chuffed one time to get a chap who understood points gaps and the like.

[Shep Shepherd]

Spent a bit of time today removing the winter filth and industrial fall-out from TV2. It was quite considerably dirtier in reality than it looks in the photo:

 

 

That's more like it!

 

 

I plan to do the same thing with The Volvo tomorrow, although the car is far less dirty, due to my aversion to driving it on wet, salty winter roads.

[Angrydicky]

Hey Shep, just wondered if you were coming to the Southend RR meet at Chalkwell Beach on Saturday?

 

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.c ... ead=145126

 

I'm thinking of popping along, it'll be nice to meet up with some fellow local car nuts!

[Shep Shepherd]

Count me out, as I'm working all weekend. In any case, I'm not really a clubby, get-together sort of car person and am not into the RR 'thing' at all.

[Pete-M]

De-bodged the Mitsubishi today. It's been throwing random readings from the N/S/R wheel speed sensor, which in turn makes the diffs go mental, the gearbox get confused and the brakes to be utterly bollocks until the car finally decided to put the ABS light on.

 

Plugged it in and took it for a spin whilst reading the wheel speeds. If three wheels were doing exactly 40, the N/S/R was reading between 37-44 mph and flicking up and down. Car figured it was a deformed tyre, so dealt with it accordingly. Basically it shifted power away from the N/S/R.

 

Cause was this.

 

 

N/S/R ABS reluctor ring had been bodged by a cowboy mechanic the previous owner told me had cost him a fortune after using. New AYC pump, as the mechanic had decided to tighten all the connections and had broken them off. That's £700 by itself. Then the bodgemaster had decided to bleed the diffs without actually connecting the AYC unit up, the AYC unit which absolutely has to be running in order to bleed the diff clutch fluid..

 

Massive bodge, he'd snapped the ring trying to do remove the ABS sensor - which is absolutely fine, so instead of replacing the ring, he chemical metalled some of it and spot welded other bits then shoved it back on. If you weren't looking very closely it looked fine, all the teeth in place, no obvious marks or damage. It wasn't, the ring was cracked, quite possibly occasionally spinning on its shaft, and it's not uniformly all the same metal... so the ABS sensor had bugger all chance of getting things right.

 

I know a lot of you don't like computers in cars, but I wouldn't have liked to find this fault without 'em...

[Angrydicky]

Count me out, as I'm working all weekend. In any case, I'm not really a clubby, get-together sort of car person and am not into the RR 'thing' at all.

 

That's cool. Neither am I really (all my cars are standard), but I am interested to see what will turn up. Hopefully it won't all be OMG slammed stuff.

[Shep Shepherd]

Or OMG RAT-LOOK and EURO-LOOK Volkswagens

[skattrd]

Thats ridiculous Pete, especially when abs rings are like £3 each and piece of cake to change (in my limited experience).

[barefoot]

Well loyal readers, some of you may recall a while back I had a bit of a problem with noisy hydraulic tappets in the 944.

Local Porsche specialist sorted it - temporarily!

It started again so i took it back & it turned out he'd done 10, leaving the other 6 original

I know, the mind boggles doesn't it.

Anyway it went back for the other 6 to be done yesterday - free of labour - obviously - mind boggles a bit more.

 

Anyway to my point, my car of courtesy was an R registered Golf GTi - exciting or what?

It was without shadow of a doubt, the worst car & the worst maintained car I have driven in a long, long time.

 

You know how sometimes you hand back a courtesy car & instantly become aware of the shortcomings of your own?

A particular instance was surprisingly a Ford Ka, getting back into the 944 felt like being strapped to a plank with no springs,

but the sit up & beg Golf was spectacularly bad, I've not even mentioned the fact that it cut out at every junction

or went sideways when you gave it a few beans in second gear.

 

Rant over - 944 feels very nice - I am a bunny of much happiness.