The new news 24 thread

[Skizzer]

Aside from some Lotus fondling (qv), today’s little car job was to fix the right rear light cluster on my unloved modern BMW, which had gone out of service.

 

BMW, being a purveyor of quality*, premium*, reliable* automobiles as everyone on the Internet and in car magazines will tell you, makes its lamp connectors with excessively flimsy contacts that regularly burn out.

 

 

(This is one of the two reasons why BMWs often pull out on the motorway without indicating. I’ll leave you to guess the other. Me, I always signal, which is why mine has burned out, and probably why I’m blackballed from the owner’s club.)

 

Luckily, and contrary to appearances, there’s enough metal left there to still make contact with a bit of jiggling, so I cleaned it all up with a squirt of EasyStart (=carb cleaner, basically) and squeezed in a bit of graphite paste to the female side:

 

 

So far, job’s a good ‘un. Driving it to London tomorrow so we’ll see how well it lasts; I’ve ordered a new connector (cheaper from BMW than on eBay, interestingly) but you only seem to be able to get the male side which is annoying.

 

Annoying seems to be what the BMW ownership experience is all about. But don’t get me started.

[SiC]

Went to Gaydon and the Motor Museum today. It wasn't intentional but there was a Mini and Metro show on.

 

I think I've found my next car.

:wub:

 

Genuinely tempted to get one next. I really like the look of the mark 1 - far more than any of the later ones. They do have quite an angry look on them, which is a bit unusual given the year and not being modern.

[Six-cylinder]

I was at Gaydon with the worst Metro there! There were the lovely ones and then mine hiding in the middle.

[Shep Shepherd]

Took The Volvo for a run this evening, in order to see if my recent machinations had cured the misfire. Almost, but not quite. Next job will be to remove, clean and refit the throttle body, which I'm pretty sure has a faulty sealing gasket. If that doesn't cure the misfire, I'm going to have to remove the fuel tank sender in order to clean the screen on the fuel pick-up pipe, and if that doesn't work, I don't know what I'll do.

 

Anyway, misfire apart, it was a nice drive. The countryside to the east of Southend puts me in mind of that of the flat parts of Cambridgeshire, albeit with more trees:

 

 

 

[Mrs6C]

I was at Gaydon with the worst Metro there! There were the lovely ones and then mine hiding at the middle.

Oi! Careful what you say about MY MG Metro!

[Guest Hooli]

I had a metro as my first car. It was a fun willing thing to chuck about but a bloody awful driving position.

[somewhatfoolish]

Welsh Water, whilst not nationalised, is supposedly a not for profit company, with everything invested back into the company. At one point it was registered in the Seychelles, which did make me wonder a bit, also they inhabit some of the most expensive office space in Cardiff, which has its own in house Costa Coffee outlet, so I suppose it makes not making a profit easier.

It is effectively state-owned and is run for the benefit of the welsh, unlike the water utilities in englandshire which are run exclusively for the benefit of shareholders; isn't "the most expensive office space in Cardiff" tantamount to "the most expensive Proton/Perodua/Trabant in the catalogue"? I once helped to deliver a yacht for a senior Welsh Water heidbummer.

[Six-cylinder]

Oi! Careful what you say about MY MG Metro!

 

Time for you to put some anti rust paint on its beauty spots then!

[HMC]

^ how I remember them circa mid 90's, usually with all or most of the bumper end caps missing.

[320touring]

I'mma leave these here..

 

Explanation to follow.

 

 

[SiC]

I was at Gaydon with the worst Metro there! There were the lovely ones and then mine hiding in the middle.

Oh man. If I knew, I'd have stopped by and said hello! Beautiful day there wasn't it?

[MarvinsMom]

we were supposed to go to Gaydon with Marvin, but in the end we couldn't be arsed. the alarm went off EARLY this mornign, and it got turned back off sharpish!

 

so, instead we took the black mini out for a run to see it we had fixed it, and whether or not it could be trusted.

 

we went to Helmsley,

 

then we drove some more

 

kerry decided to try her luck, seems Felix the Cat isn't that keen though.....

 

we had to buy some fuel cos we aren't sure about the gauge....

 

kerry wanted to go to Scarborough (dunno why either!)

 

my foto skilz have no end (or beginning too for that matter!)

 

stopped briefly...

 

and back home to put it away in the garage. been around 80-odd miles in it today without any overheating/FTP/other unintended stoppage so we are pleased with that, maybe we'll take th eblack mini to Gaydon for BMC/BL day to make up for missing the mini and metro day today.

 

 

 

[MarvinsMom]

dupicate post.......

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Went to Gaydon and the Motor Museum today. It wasn't intentional but there was a Mini and Metro show on.

 

I think I've found my next car.

:wub:

 

Genuinely tempted to get one next. I really like the look of the mark 1 - far more than any of the later ones. They do have quite an angry look on them, which is a bit unusual given the year and not being modern.

Bloody brilliant little cars. We've had a few Austin metros / rover metros / rover 100s in the family.

 

The Austin has the most classic appeal, and the A series but don't overlook the rovers....ever so slightly longer front end to fit the 8v K series which is an absolute peach of an engine. The one I had for a year made surprising progress down country roads as long as you kept the momentum up...

 

The later 100s have appeal if you can find one of the daft versions rover started churning out with premium market aspirations, plenty of plah...

 

If you did fancy a slightly shorter dollywobbler style trip I've seen plenty of very clean looking Austin metros for sale in Malta....

 

Sent from my F3211 using Tapatalk

[cort1977]

Back on track. We have pics from 2cvgb registers day on the sunny Wirral peninsula.

 

Is it compulsory to have an amazing beard if you're a Citroen botherer?

[MarvinsMom]

Renationalise English and Welsh water. It's nationalised in Scotland, fixed rate for domestic water and every penny is re-invested in the infrastructure.

problem with that is Scottish Water are fuckin' useless, and on 4 projects that i worked on for them they never spent a penny on anything unless it is utterly fucked. they even insisten in re-using a pair of ancent pumps (that looked like they had been stored in the fuckin' North sea) on the last flood aleviation scheme that i was involved with . 

 

scottish water infestructure is completley fucking worn out. it will be only a matter of time before some flooding event brings them to their knees, its all held together with duct tape and bailer twine.

 

GOOD!

 

Scoittish Water are without doubt the very worse water board i've ever had any dealings with. worse even that Yorkshire Water (and that takes some doing) on the flood scheme i worked on with Yorkshire Water in Hull, they deemed it acceptable to have one the one pump within the pumping station. the scots wanted at least to use 2 pumps even if they were older than time itself.

 

now compare that with Nortumbrian who are the best lost i've ever worked with, on a similat scheme for them, Northumbrians specificatation had 3 layers of redundancy, so they had a "duty" pump, "stand by" pump and "emergancy" pump.plus their building specification insists on the finest materials and workmanship. and they stick to it too, so if the test pieces or final work don't match up, then it gets torn out and re-done. plus their clerk of works/quantity surveyors are shit hot on keeping an eye on the progres of the works and the workmanship been used.

 

the others i've worked with, United Utilities, and Severn Trent were a bit hit and miss, some design teams were good, others less so, but they were all a country mile ahead of Scottish Water and Yorkshire.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Is it compulsory to have an amazing beard if you're a Citroen botherer?

No.

[SiC]

 

 

Bloody brilliant little cars. We've had a few Austin metros / rover metros / rover 100s in the family.

 

The Austin has the most classic appeal, and the A series but don't overlook the rovers....ever so slightly longer front end to fit the 8v K series which is an absolute peach of an engine. The one I had for a year made surprising progress down country roads as long as you kept the momentum up...

 

The later 100s have appeal if you can find one of the daft versions rover started churning out with premium market aspirations, plenty of plah...

 

If you did fancy a slightly shorter dollywobbler style trip I've seen plenty of very clean looking Austin metros for sale in Malta....

 

Sent from my F3211 using Tapatalk

 

The 100 is a big nononono from me. My grandad bought my other grandad one from new. I seem to think it was a Gainsborough trim? I travelled in it as a passenger quite a lot of times. Unrefined, noisy and slow ... not just my grandad either!

 

My grandad and nan loved it though. Utterly their pride and joy.

 

The original Austin probably has the most appeal to me, but unfortunately they're the most expensive. In fact even the Rover 100 are like £700+.

 

What surprised me, is that I didn't realise that they're not too dissimilar in size to a classic mini either. Speaking of size comparisons, the show gave many a chance for this comparison:

 

[Slowsilver]

Time for you to put some anti rust paint on its beauty spots then!

 

What's the plan for painting the Metro?

Sad to see it's nice new panels still unpainted and going rusty.

Could rattle-can them for you at the next FoD weekend, weather permitting, if you'd like me to.

Yes, I can bodge paintwork as well as mechanical stuff.

Probably won't be pretty or permanent but would (hopefully) make it look a bit more presentable until you can get it done properly by someone who actually knows what they are doing.

[wuvvum]

Bollocks to that idea. I like many others refused to pay (we'll pay twice) and they had to get tae.

 

I love how it's considered perfectly normal in Scotland for a group of 10-year-olds to be holding a sign about paying for beer.

[Guest Hooli]

Beer is before they are weened onto the hard stuff

[wuvvum]

I've done almost nothing of any use this weekend.  The 205 failed its MOT (dismally) on Saturday morning and since then I've been hit with a chronic case of CBA and seem to have spent most of the weekend sleeping.

 

The offside rear brake of the Pug is still shite, although thanks to some useful advice on the Ask a Shiter thread I now have a couple more things to try.  I went on the hunt for some brake shoes this afternoon, and Wilco had a set on the shelf for a tenner, which was cheaper than I could find them anywhere on eBay.  I also bought a split CV boot kit (the 205 has managed to rip its nearside CV boot since it was last tested, as well as gaining a hole in its offside sill) - I know some people think split CV boots are the spawn of Satan but I fitted one to the Rover of Doom and it's now passed three MOTs so they can't be all bad.

 

I couldn't be arsed to fit any of them though.  In fact the only car-related thing I did this weekend was to drill a hole in the number plate light cover on the Renault 6 to enable me to fix it on with a bolt, rather than Aralditing it which doesn't seem to last very long.  Oh, and I mowed the lawn and did a bit of weeding in the driveway.  Livin' la vida loca, etc.

 

In other news, the Rover of Doom now appears to have a badly sticking offside rear brake.  So that's another thing to add to the list once the Peugeot is sorted.  The thought of an 18-plate Corsa on PCP is looking more attractive by the minute at the moment.

[Guest Hooli]

we were supposed to go to Gaydon with Marvin, but in the end we couldn't be arsed. the alarm went off EARLY this mornign, and it got turned back off sharpish!

 

so, instead we took the black mini out for a run to see it we had fixed it, and whether or not it could be trusted.

 

we went to Helmsley,

DSCN7567.JPG

 

then we drove some more

DSCN7568.JPG

 

kerry decided to try her luck, seems Felix the Cat isn't that keen though.....

DSCN7570.JPG

 

we had to buy some fuel cos we aren't sure about the gauge....

DSCN7571.JPG

 

kerry wanted to go to Scarborough (dunno why either!)

DSCN7573.JPG

DSCN7574.JPG

DSCN7575.JPG

DSCN7576.JPG

 

my foto skilz have no end (or beginning too for that matter!)

DSCN7577.JPG

 

stopped briefly...

DSCN7578.JPG

 

and back home to put it away in the garage. been around 80-odd miles in it today without any overheating/FTP/other unintended stoppage so we are pleased with that, maybe we'll take th eblack mini to Gaydon for BMC/BL day to make up for missing the mini and metro day today.

 

Chuckle at the 'tax in post' disc.

[Tayne]

I love how it's considered perfectly normal in Scotland for a group of 10-year-olds to be holding a sign about paying for beer.

That photo was taken in Dublin at an Irish water protest.

[Tayne]

Must be all the money we subsidise Scotchlund with then.....

 

 

/ducks

 

Your Westminster government won’t subsidise a spare bedroom in a council flat (or even pay the extra £200k so the residents won’t all burn to death) but will fight tooth and underhanded nail to keep “subsidy junkie” Scotland....

[Eddie Honda]

Is it compulsory to have an amazing beard if you're a Citroen botherer?

No too.

 

(Well to be truthful, I'm actually a seasonal beardy)

[Ghosty]

Old Man linked me to a job ad on Indeed earlier, still in the self employed delivery business, but...

it was for riding about on a folding bike, going to garages/dealers, being given a customers' car, lobbing the bike in the boot and dropping the car back to the customer. 

 

£8/hour plus bonuses.

 

Sounds alright...

[dollywobbler]

I've done almost nothing of any use this weekend. The 205 failed its MOT (dismally) on Saturday morning and since then I've been hit with a chronic case of CBA and seem to have spent most of the weekend sleeping.

 

The offside rear brake of the Pug is still shite, although thanks to some useful advice on the Ask a Shiter thread I now have a couple more things to try. I went on the hunt for some brake shoes this afternoon, and Wilco had a set on the shelf for a tenner, which was cheaper than I could find them anywhere on eBay. I also bought a split CV boot kit (the 205 has managed to rip its nearside CV boot since it was last tested, as well as gaining a hole in its offside sill) - I know some people think split CV boots are the spawn of Satan but I fitted one to the Rover of Doom and it's now passed three MOTs so they can't be all bad.

 

I couldn't be arsed to fit any of them though. In fact the only car-related thing I did this weekend was to drill a hole in the number plate light cover on the Renault 6 to enable me to fix it on with a bolt, rather than Aralditing it which doesn't seem to last very long. Oh, and I mowed the lawn and did a bit of weeding in the driveway. Livin' la vida loca, etc.

 

In other news, the Rover of Doom now appears to have a badly sticking offside rear brake. So that's another thing to add to the list once the Peugeot is sorted. The thought of an 18-plate Corsa on PCP is looking more attractive by the minute at the moment.

Chucking money at a garage to do some of the shitty jobs would be cheaper than a PCP deal...

[drum]

I've been cleaning up engine parts in readiness for the putting back together stage.

 

That gunk is good stuff.

Look at that sump! 

 

Pistons with new big end shells fitted and ready for new rings.

 

[oldcars]

I stopped in the mecca of Tebay services in a Rover 75 last night. Not sure if its allowed but what a cracking service station. I had proper food, not plastic muck. Makes a change.