The new news 24 thread

[chaseracer]

VA, all the very best with everything.

 

As a wise man once said to me, "you can choose your friends, lad, but you're stuck with your family". Oddly, that wise man was - and remains - my dad...

[cort16]

I think I got sun stroke on holiday as I've just bought a smart for four with a borked injector on ebay. I now need to get it home. Anyone know of a man with trailer for rent in scotland?

[Lord Sterling]

Had the rear tyres on the Micra changed today, I don't like them, they are lower profile tyres and frankly look shit. Tyres on the front are very good 165-70-13, but the rears are now 165-65-13. The tread is low too, they need to go.

[cobblers]

swap front to back?

[Cavcraft]

Car really does look good, Trig. The pictures (of the wheels) don't look bad but obv. in 'real life' they probably look far too shiney or the wrong sort of silver. I've always had this when refurbing/respraying steel wheels, sometime they look worse once done as it makes them appear they've been tarted up by some Arthur Daily type.

[dollywobbler]

About to set off on the second consecutive Saturday Shite Collection. Manchester here I come!

[trigger]

sometime they look worse once done as it makes them appear they've been tarted up by some Arthur Daily type.

 

That's excally how I feel, still Garfield seems to like them.

 

[ruffgeezer]

 

Oh you twat! I'd not long forgotten that I have a completely pointless desire for a stick on Garfield, and now I'm going to have to look for one all over again, thanks for nothing, girlie car!

[HMC]

About to set off on the second consecutive Saturday Shite Collection. Manchester here I come!

 

Best of luck with the shite collection mission Ian. Looking forward to reading the write up.

[ruffgeezer]

Good luck wollydobbler, I might be changing shite unintentionally this week too, trev2 out, burpingo multispazz in...

[trigger]

Oh you twat!

 

It's got to be done!.

 

My mate's just dropped off next weeks project, Not sure what I've let myself in for here, not only has it got the front damage, I've also got to get it moted for him which means it needs 4 new tyres and a brake load sensing valve, both which I can't do as the mot garage will have to replace them, It's done nearly 150k, you have to ask if it's worth bothering some times.

 

[skattrd]

I spend large chunks of my time driving the boring diesel, but apart from general maintenance never spend money on it. The other cars, which hardly ever get used, get all the toys and shiny bits. Very recently this struck me as odd ... Today I have bought and fitted some sporty seats from an A3, which should hopefully make the car comfier to drive, let the pimping begin

[dollywobbler]

Well, the car made it home. A fair dose of drama, but nowt too serious. A tale of bloody football fans, grim urban sprawl, driving in the heart of Manchester, some scary noises, an unwanted warning light, extreme weather (of several kinds) and chilly extremities to follow once I've had some tea.

[Albert Ross]

Well, successfully replaced the Turbo on my Son's Astra. 6 hours outside when I am full of cold, and have no whisky. I should have been wrapped up inside..... sniff.

[Negative Creep]

Got my new Watanabes on. I rather like them but appreciate it won't be to everyone's taste.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh wait, what I meant to say was OMG JDM LITEWAIT RIMS AE 86 DRIFT H8TERZ GONNA H8 COME AT ME BRO

 

[garycox]

Those wheels look great! The standard trims are well dreary.

 

Not sure about the filler cap mind.

[wuvvum]

Ran the LNA down to the jet wash earlier on. My local jetwash is shit, but I wanted to give the underside of the car a good blast to get rid of salt and accumulated winter crap, and I can't do that with a bucket and sponge. It's cleaned up fairly well - it could do with a polish to make it look really nice, but at least it doesn't look like it's been sat in a car park in Surrey for four months.

 

For today's trick, the LDV decided to seize its wiper linkage solid. I squirted the washers and the wipers made it half way up the screen then juddered to a halt. The motor is still drawing power so it's definitely something that's seized. I've just pulled the fuse and yanked the wiper arms down so they're parked at the bottom of the screen. This van really is the most unreliable heap of shit I've ever had the misfortune to purchase, and much as it goes against all my principles to weigh in a running vehicle with 6 months' test, if it carries on the way it's going it will be headed to the scrapyard in the very near future.

 

And I still can't get the fugging Solara to run right. I think I may have to take it to someone who actually knows about carburettors.

[cort16]

I retrieved my latest random ebay purchase from deep in the Scottish central belt this afternoon. It's a smart for four with the 1.5 3 pot diesel and as it's got a borked injector so I organised a taxi for it in the form of a transit low loader to cart back to my shite cave. After a bump start down a hill it started with a good puff of white smoke all be it running on 2 (out of 3) so was able to drive it onto the back of the transit, which was a relief. A while later it turned up just as it started to piss down spectacularly. After a bit of coaxing it started and got it stashed away in my lockup. It seems to be in pretty decent condition if not a bit filthy inside. One wing mirrors gaffa taped on and the others cable tied so i guess that'll need addressing once/if I can get it to run right..

 

Smart by cort16, on Flickr

 

Smart by cort16, on Flickr

[dollywobbler]

Nice buy. I quite like those Smarts. Definitely different in terms of looks.

[Largactil]

After 3 months of slumber, I dug my Honda S2000 out the garage the other week.

 

 

...and after acquiring an MOT, I promptly sold it... The peasant Pug is my sole form of transport now... (Although Warren's 545i BMW Mega-barge tempts me in a big way... )

 

This also appeared in the garage over the weekend...

 

 

[shedvan]

Supercinq!

[Albert Ross]

Don't be daft, as any fule can see it's a Golf (trolley)

[vulgalour]

Miniature Princess update: Clutch issue seems to have resolved itself with repeated driveway trundling and now it feels something like normal again. Handbrake still feels odd, but I begin to wonder if it's because the three-notch-lift on the Princess seems strange compared to the multi-notch-lift on the BX and the Maestros before it rather than there being anything inherently wrong. The only problem with keeping the Princess warmed over is that it just makes me that much more frustrated that she's not road legal at the moment.

[trigger]

Those Smart Forfours are quite cool, nice buy!.

 

As I had a few hours to spare this afternoon after cleaning the Golf I decided to tackle my mates Berlingo vans wing, (See last page), It wasn't a bad job to change to be fair except having to remove the bonnet to get a wing bolt out.

 

 

The inner wing was quite bent at the front and the bumper bracket is bent so I used the jack to straighten it all out, I'm quite pleased considering but the door catches the wing now as somethings still bent, my mates not bothered so it staying like it is now, I'm just waiting for the headlight now so I can finish it off and run it to the mot station.

 

 

The annoying thing is that this van was pretty mint until my mate got a new van in October and past this on to the lad who works for him to use, he's completely fucked it in 4 months, the interior minging too, my mates well pissed off about it all.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

well if this lad works for him surely he can give him a bollocking about it and threaten him a bit ("any more repairs come out of your pay packet etc etc etc")

[trigger]

Well after my mate saw the state of the van when he collected it yesterday he's decided to get a mot on it and give the van to this chap so if he damages it again he'll have to sort it himself, I'm not sure if that's such a bright idea myself but It's his van...

[cort16]

He should make him do rounds for a couple of weeks on a BMX then he'll know what the value of having a van is.

 

The smart seems quite a nice little thing. It's got the full glass roof too, which is quite a nice touch. I've been trying to get a workshop manual for it without much luck.

[messerschmitt owner]

He should make him do rounds for a couple of weeks on a BMX then he'll know what the value of having a van is.

 

The smart seems quite a nice little thing. It's got the full glass roof too, which is quite a nice touch. I've been trying to get a workshop manual for it without much luck.

Workshop manual for a smart lol

 

You'll need the diagnostics on it. There's a decent smart indie in airdrie called mcsmarts. Owner is called Sam.

[wuvvum]

Well it seems to be my day for windscreen wiper issues. I went out in the Scénic this evening - was dry when I left mine but absolutely lashing it down in Norwich. Got halfway round the ring road and the driver's side wiper stopped. It has one of those funky eccentric linkages with dual spindles that is supposed to make the blade wipe right up into the corner of the screen, and the bearing between the active spindle and the wiper arm has fallen to bits, causing the spindle to pop out of the arm. I've done a temporary repair by tying the spindle to the arm with a bit of wire, but I have no idea how long this is going to last. Replacement arms aren't exactly cheap so unless I can find one in a scrappy it's probably just going to end up with a more permanent bodge fix. Bloody modern motors...

[dollywobbler]

Interesting co-incidence Wuvvum. On Friday I noticed a couple of Clios with that linkage and some VERY eccentric wiper action going on. With so many moving parts, there must be a whole world of free play opportunity going on. You can tell how much effort the French put into developing that action as they never fitted it to the home market cars...