The new news 24 thread

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'm going to attempt to fetch that Rover 25 commerce van home tomorrow morning! Warwick to Cheshire (avoiding motorways). Fingers crossed!

[dollywobbler]

GarethJ is on his way to collect the BX (this time with no OMG SNO KAOS). There is a fairly large part of me realising the sheer stupidity of selling this car. Oh well. I've got the red one to focus on now. I should remember that the silver BX was a bit of a dog when I got it. I just need to go through the same 'sorting' session with the red estate to try and bring it up to the same standard.

 

Still need the Mercedes to go really. May have to resort to the evils of Ebay. Bit concerned that a slightly-shabby 230E down in South Wales sold for about £350 the other day. Classified Ad might be the way to go. I'd rather keep it as a driveway ornament than let it go for bugger all.

[Rocket88]

Lob it on classicandsportscar sight, might even be worth wanging into one of the classic car auctions

[dollywobbler]

Might well do. Brightwells isn't too far away. Am going to order a new temp sensor and see if that improves things first.

[cort16]

Getting the train down to Burmham tomorrow to collect a Vel Satis.

 

If this was anyone buy you I'd think this was an April fools joke

[wuvvum]

I buzzed into Norwich on the new moped (£100-'orth of SYM Jet 50) this afternoon. It's actually not as restricted as I thought - it will buzz along at 40+ on the flat, which was as quick as my 80cc Vision used to go. It does take a lot longer than the Vision to wind up though, and any slight incline drops it down to 30-35. I think I may have set my expectations a bit high tbh - it's been ages since I've ridden a 50 and I think I'd forgotten just how gutless they are. It made the 15-mile run with no problems though, and I reckon it's just about fast enough to commute on if need be.

[vulgalour]

[televangelist]I've been sAAAaaaaAAAvvveeed-AAH![/televangelist]

 

Read about it over on my appallingly self-serving blog, Perambulate No More. Don't worry, it doesn't contain any televangelism.

[dollywobbler]

Found a better photo of the new BX on the Kent roadtrip.

 

That's it parked up in Margate, looking remarkably shiny. I think the previous owner must have polished it. The paint is pretty crappy in a few places - usual sun-bleached lacquer fail - but looks good from a distance! You can see that the flanks are filthy, thanks to 300 miles of salt-laden roads. I had great fun washing all that nasty filth off earlier today.

 

However, tomorrow will result in some actual 2CV news as I'm off to visit a renowned specialist for some suspension fettling and to help decide if the engine is really f*cked. I'm pretty confident it'll get me the 70 miles to Hereford and hopefully, with the work done, it'll get me the 70 miles back home too. I was hoping to have time this week to get the other 2CV running, but the quiet week I'd planned as turned into a week busier than usual somehow! A mixture of work, community minibus driving, more work, 2CV fettling, BX selling and a fair bit of 'bloody hell it's cold out there' means that will be happening another time. I might try and pick up a spare fuel pump tomorrow though, as they don't like not being used, and I suspect the one fitted to New 2CV is borked.

[Shep Shepherd]

Margate's looking surprisingly Brighton-esque nowadays, or at least that bit is - perhaps the Turner Contemporary is giving it some shine?

[dollywobbler]

Margate's looking surprisingly Brighton-esque nowadays, or at least that bit is - perhaps the Turner Contemporary is giving it some shine?

 

This was the nice bit. All folksy-little streets and tiny non-brand shops and pubs. There are still some very grotty bits, including a huge, concrete tower block pretty much on the seafront!

[Shep Shepherd]

That tower block is a monument to all that's wrong about Margate, as is what's left of Dreamland. Ditto Northdown Road in Cliftonville, which is somewhere that is best avoided after dark

[vulgalour]

Well, apart from Mr Simms which is a chain of olde worlde looking sweet shops that are remarkably well marketed.

[Shep Shepherd]

^

We've got one in Southend, too - they seem to be the Greggs of sweet shops

[wuvvum]

I fitted a new horn to the Ducato today - so that's one less job that'll need doing for its test. The horn buttons on the steering wheel were knackered and the horn itself was loose (and the mounting bolt completely inaccessible with the front bumper in place) so I bought a universal push-button switch and a £6.99 disc horn from Wilco - the switch actually slots perfectly into the space left by one of the blanks on the dash, so unusually for something wired in by me it looks quite neat. It's a fairly pathetic horn to be fair - sounds more like a moped than a 3.5-tonne van - but it'll pass the test, which is the main thing.

 

I also bought a sheet of plastic mirror and cut a replacement offside door mirror for the Twingo - it hadn't occurred to me before that, being a left hooker, it'll probably fail a test on a cracked o/s mirror. The plastic mirror isn't entirely flat and gives a somewhat warped view of the world behind the car, but again it should pass the test.

 

Didn't do much work on the cars apart from that as it was too fugging cold. I did fire up the Renault 6 yesterday though, for the first time since October - and almost killed the 164 in the process as, unbeknown to me, the jump lead had pulled the positive terminal off the battery, so I was jumping the Renault directly from the Volvo's alternator - which was smelling decidedly hot by the time I realised what was happening.

[pictonroad]

Ex long time lurker now moved on from tat love recognises autoshite royalty on other site shocker

 

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/avalanche

 

That thread quickly got humorous btw.

 

Bye again.

 

Pictonroad

[Shep Shepherd]

Some of you may know Alex Child from his Twitter feed, or his facebook, or the film projects and cars he's interested in. I've just learned through Twitter that he's an official missing person and thought it best to spread the word here because while there's not much I can do, perhaps this will help a little. I've only just started to get to know him through Twitter, but from what little I've learned so far, he seems like a thoroughly good egg.

 

There's this over on Facebook (you don't need an account to view) http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?s ... 1348202679

 

" At the moment Alex Child is currently a "missing person" if you know of his whereabouts please contact Kent Police on:

01622 690690 Ref: 240527.

He was supposed to be filming in Bognor Regis on Sunday, (possibly with some Chichester College Students/ Students in the West Sussex area?) but his car was found abandoned near Maidstone in Kent. The car is very distinctive so maybe someone will remember seeing it?

If anyone has any information please get in touch. Please spread this message even if you don't know him."

 

Here's hoping he turns up safe and sound, whatever has happened.

 

 

Happily, Alex has turned up alive and well in Kent

[Lacquer Peel]

Turbo, 6 cylinders, coil springs, RWD. Sounds sporty eh?

 

Incorrect!

It drives pretty well, and has low miles for a diesel one. Chuffed.

[Cavcraft]

Christ on a bike, I'd imagine those snow drifts moved quicker?

[Lacquer Peel]

It goes quite well by my shite standards - 0-62 in 11.6 seconds. The turbo lag is very old school.

[CreepingJesus]

Nice! I'm assuming it'll have been selected for its' veg-friendliness?

[wuvvum]

I've had a couple of those old LT-engined Volvos - they actually don't hang about once the turbo finally kicks in. They don't sound bad by old diesel standards either.

[Lacquer Peel]

Yes, it's already got some veg swilling about in its fuel tank.

 

It would sound better if the viscous fan wasn't fooked.

[cort16]

That Volvo looks good. I didn't even know the Volvo diesel was a six cylinder. That snow bank is also well impressive too I imagine it wouldn't exactly be soft if you spammed into it.

 

I got the ForFour hooked up to a proper (i.e. not some shite I got off ebay) diagnostics machine and it found a lot of random fault codes but none relating to it smoking like it's on 80 B&H a day. I think the next step is to get the injectors checked by someone who knows what they're doing.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Pulled the Mini into the garage and did some stuff I've been putting off - new non bent aerial, found and fixed a split steering rack boot while doing that, some new fuel hoses, and best of all fixed the blowing manifold/downpipe joint which has been an issue at the last three or four MOTs.

 

Don't expect it to last long, because it never does. Engine mounts and steadies are in great condition, the engine doesn't move about when revved so I'm not touching them unless it breaks again immediately. The car's much nicer to drive now, but there's a whooshing sound coming from somewhere and I don't know if it always made that noise and it was masked by the exhaust noise or if it's new.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Does your mini have a clamp that fastens the exhaust to the diff? If not that will explain why it busts its manifold joint every 100 miles.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Yes it does. This is the first time I've tried to fix the exhaust instead of getting a garage to do it, so if it lasts this time then it means three garages cocked it up. If it fails again, I need to start investigating mounts etc.

 

On the topic of my mechanical competence: I fixed the wooshing noise. I disconnected the air vent pipe to fit the new aerial and I'd forgotten to reconnect it

[Lacquer Peel]

Baws. One of the Volvo's injectors is leaking since I disturbed the fuel injection pipes to access the glow plugs, and it's running like a pig.

 

Has anyone got an injector for one? VAG 1.6 TD, 1.9 TD and 2.4 TD injectors are the same.

[HMC]

Had a bad run of unreliability with both the jag and the volvo so decided it was time for another w124 and have bought myself a low budget 200te (estate) auto. Tis slow, and with its fair share of rust bubbles, but true to the form i have come to expect with these old buses it has been running like a dream ever since i picked it up.

[dollywobbler]

Took the Mercedes today, on my way to my voluntary minibus driving gig. The start process involves disconnecting the temp sensor, starting the engine, waiting a few seconds and then reconnecting the temp sensor. Works brilliantly! Otherwise, it pretty much refuses to start. A new one has now been ordered. I'm just hoping it's the right one.

 

The Merc is a fine antidote to the frenetic Ami. Click into D and waft, though it does have a pretty handy turn of speed. Perhaps a bit too much judging by the expressions on people's faces. They always seem surprised to see something so big travelling so quickly. The BX doesn't seem to have this effect. My old W123 certainly did. Tax is up on the Merc at the end of the month. Something else to budget for, but at least it costs no more than a BX turbo diesel.

[ProgRocker]

A work colleague may be having a look at a 4,000 mile 03 reg Fiat Seicento tomorrow night. £1,650 ono. She wants to replace her decaying Ford Ka.

 

I said it sounded tempting but a 10 year old car that has just pootled to the shops and back can be bad news.