The new news 24 thread

[ruffgeezer]

The ax is emptied, cleaned and charged ready to go for it's mot soon...

[shedvan]

Oh boohoo Mr Neighbour, you're going to have to walk an extra 500 feet to knock on our door to ask me to move one of my shitty cars so you can go out doing whatever it is people with children do. You might have to do it every day. How terrible. What a shame. See the amount of fucks I cannot give.

 

Sounds rather unfair to me, if you were to take a minute and stand back and consider both sides I think you'd agree.

[barrett]

I have tentatively agreed to buy HIGH PERFORMANCE SPORTS CAR* for my commute to the office. It's great and an absolute bargain. No more information yet cause I'll jinx everything.

 

Roll on May, 2nd!

 

*cruising speed 45mph

[messerschmitt owner]

I have tentatively agreed to buy HIGH PERFORMANCE SPORTS CAR* for my commute to the office. It's great and an absolute bargain. No more information yet cause I'll jinx everything.

 

Roll on May, 2nd!

 

*cruising speed 45mph

 

sounds like you bought a Berkeley!

[cort16]

Here's the artex covered dash board in a frankly terrible picture. I was starting to get my hopes up that it was stickyback plastic but alas no it looks like it'd need an airchisel to get it off.

I think it needs a new temp sensor as the temp gauge stays at nothing then when you stop at traffic it eeks up by about 2mm.

 

Artex by cort16, on Flickr

[vulgalour]

So, the Leary/stubborness thing was held off due to me not being a complete dick as it was impractical of me to be on the drive last night. That meant parking in a slightly different place, still in view of the house and out of everyone's way, because the parking situation on street was all jumbled. That in turn meant that today when I went out in the BX I got a horrible set of noises and vibrations that, when I returned home after a very short errand, turned out to be 12 loose wheel nuts.

 

You see, there are some very sensible reasons I want to park on the drive and not on the street. The readjustment of mirrors I can tolerate, the occasional bumping of a child - encouraged by its parents, I might add, having witnessed this - into my car makes me grind my teeth but again, there's little I can do about it. Actively vandalising my car and making it dangerous is something I won't tolerate, at all, in any way shape or form. From now on my cars live on the drive, I don't care who it upsets. I have my suspicions as to who is responsible and it's not the neighbour who we share a driveway with but rather a troublesome set that have been conspicuous by their absence today.

[shedvan]

[Angrydicky]

Well on Tuesday morning dad scrapped the Rover 75, as the head gasket was well and truly f*cked. He's had three Rovers over the years, and each one has suffered engine failure of some description - HGF on the Montego and 75 and the bottom end went on his MK1 800. Most normal people would have been put off Rovers by now, but he decided to look for a Honda engined 600.

Two possibilities came up, both in the same area - a genuine one owner, FSH example in dark blue at £795, and a 163k mile example in Nightfire Red with virtually no description and rubbish pictures, at a dealer. As it turned out, the blue one had been sold, so on Sunday we headed to Colchester to view the red one, which turned out to be an excellent car. After scrapping the 75 yesterday, we headed back to Colchester to pick up the new 600, a 1997 620 SI 2.0 manual. It's MOT'd until December, and cost just £400!

 

It ran faultlessly on the way back, and had its first 'fail to proceed' moment later on at the supermarket, when it refused to start due to corroded battery terminals (the car had been standing on the dealer's forecourt for nearly a year before selling). So far we've spruced up the interior, fitted the mats from the 75, and dad's started to polish the bonnet. Still needs a wash though! As a bonus, the air filter is brand new and the oil is clean (although there's no recent service history), the alloys are unkerbed and have a full set of Dunlops with decent tread, even the spare is a new Michelin! Bodywise it's wearing its miles very well, there's the usual car park dings and a few stonechips that have been touched in badly on the bonnet. There's a few small bubbles on one of the rear arches which was caused by a build up of dirt - now removed. Apart from that the car is rust free, and unwelded.

The radio required a code, which we eventually found at the back of the service pack, so that all works now. Another bonus was finding a 6 disc CD multichanger under the passenger seat and a spare set of keys that the dealer didn't know about

 

There's a few old receipts and MOT's with the car, and it's only had three owners. The first owner lived in Scotland (supplied new by David Morrison of Falkirk), then two local owners, the last had it for 10 years and 130,000 miles.

 

Minus points are that the clock is missing a couple of pixels, and the passenger side door mirror is held on with gaffer tape - if anyone has a N/S door mirror for a 600 in Nightfire, give me a shout! Also the drivers electric window doesn't work, and the electric aerial clicks and whirrs when the radio is switched on, but doesn't move and is currently stuck in the up position. Also the air-con doesn't work.

 

Here's a few pictures:

 

 

 

 

Dealer plates front and rear.

 

 

 

The only rust on the car:

 

 

Original Rover radio/cassette with CD changer under the seat:

 

 

Interior came up well for a scrub.

 

[Cavcraft]

After my epic 11 minute journey to pick up the Astra where I looked out the window of my wifes car at some shops and watched an old dog crossing the street slowly I got this home safely.

It looks clean other than a little dent on the boot lid. Theres an engine management light on, the clock doesnt work, the temp gauge is slow or intermittant and the centre console looks like its been painted with hammerite but over all pretty good for a 10+ year old Astra. If anyone fancies it then give me a shout as it was a random ebay purchase.

 

 

WOULD.

 

Ace that, what engine is it?

[dollywobbler]

Nice Rover Dicky. Think I shall have to have one at some point. Think the only real issue with those is the window mechanisms falling apart. Might be an idea to get a cambelt change done before more OMG ROVURS R SHIT moments...

[cort16]

 

 

WOULD.

 

Ace that, what engine is it?

 

It's a 1.8 billy. It seems to go pretty well and looks to be quite good on fuel.

The spec say 0-60 of 8.5 secs but it doesn't feel that quick.

[worldofceri]

The window regulators on those 600s are pretty simple to replace; even I can do it. The switches on the door pillars for the courtesy lights are easy to break meaning the interior lights have to be switched manually; I've got a couple somewhere you can have AD, if yours is so afflicted.

[dollywobbler]

My Mercedes doom-mongery may have been a bit premature. Nipped down to my trusted local garage this afternoon. The car was shifting fine. Check the fluid on arrival, no sign of a problem. Bloke hooks up his pressure testing kit to the cooling system. Bingo! Big split down the side of the radiator. So, thankfully, it doesn't seem to be pumping coolant into the transmission, but I do still need a new radiator for it. This job has been filed under 'when I can be arsed' unless someone want to take it off my hands? Go on.

 

Also got the BX back from same chappy. New lower balljoint one side and inner track rod the other and all tracked up nicely. Drives much better but is still hilariously smoky. I should probably try and do something about that as it's more sooty than a certain silent hand puppet.

[cort16]

Unlucky with the Merc Dollywobbler it seem to have had it's share of problems although it was possibly giving all the hints of being a crock by being broken before you even picked it up. Not I do any better mind you that Xantia I bought conked out before I even picked it up doing me a massive favour in the process.

[RobT]

My Mercedes doom-mongery may have been a bit premature. Nipped down to my trusted local garage this afternoon. The car was shifting fine. Check the fluid on arrival, no sign of a problem. Bloke hooks up his pressure testing kit to the cooling system. Bingo! Big split down the side of the radiator. So, thankfully, it doesn't seem to be pumping coolant into the transmission, but I do still need a new radiator for it. This job has been filed under 'when I can be arsed' unless someone want to take it off my hands? Go on.

 

 

Glad it's not just me with teutonic troubles! I'm taking the Beemer in tomorrow for them to diagnose the misfire/loss of power thing. I haven't even started it for two weeks so I'm gonna risk taking it for a run later. The garage is 20 minutes from me in deepest West Norwood (lovely part of South London ) so the rush hour drive tomorrow morning might be fun, I just hope it gets me there. Once fixed, I'll have another pop at selling it. Then its replacement 'Project Rover' can commence

[dollywobbler]

OMG ALL GERMAN CARS R SHITE! I think it's entirely sensible to point out that had I baled out of this car at the opportune moment - ie when the chap selling it started reckoning it was misfiring - I'd probably have a much nicer car now instead. Or Red5's Range Rover. One of the two!

[Lord Sterling]

Sigh

 

Just spent £295 on the Micra, its had a new exhaust system (from the manifold) new track rod ends on both sides and the clutch cable re-routed as its never been the same since my old garage man changed it a few years ago. The rod ends feel great, the car feels more planted on the road, the exhaust being an after-market pattern part sounds comically sporty at the moment, its also missing some part which muffled the sound, I'm sure (hope) the sporty type sound will quieten down after a few hundred miles. The wheels were also properly tracked.

 

Its great that these things have been done and by somone more trusted than my old garage man who would have done a half arsed job. My bank balance isn't so healthy though, a few weeks ago I had near 1k, now I have about £95 left to my name, and although I am getting paid tomorrow, my account will still be taking a hit when I pay for my speed awareness course and the wing/boot/rear bumper I am buying for the KV6 Sterling. Looks like I'll be needing to be a 'scrooge' from now on, I simply can't afford to go on like this.

[cobblers]

MK3 golf purchase (that I still haven't paid for) has come up trumps - Done my first tank of fuel and averaged 50 and a bit mpg, and that's really driving far from gently. The weather is picking up now and work are sorting me out a Makro card (on the proviso that I fetch them a load of double decker choccy bars for customers) so I'll be running on veg in a few weeks once I kill this tank of diesel, I was too nesh to try it when it was freezing weather and really am not dedicated enough to buy a trolley full of litre bottles from asda or whatever, there's no room in the wheelie bin for the empties!

 

I got some surprise holiday pay (was on temp contract for 3 months and ended up with almost £500 holiday pay when i transferred to permanent????), so instead of paying my way overdue tax bill I decided to treat the car to new clutch and throttle cables - both are stiff and stick like mad so about 50% of gearchanges end up with the engine revving itself up to about 4500rpm then the clutch sticking about halfway up the biting point then snapping your head off when it all finally springs into place with a clunk of baggy engine mounts.

[Lankytim]

Just used one of those plastic cone things to fit a CV joint gaiter to the Xantia. It was pretty difficult TBH, almost like trying to stick a shaved cat onto a minature gimp-suit or something. I ended up covered in CV grease and made a right mess The greasier I got the harder it became to pull the gaiter over the cone, and then back onto the CV joint. Still, it seemed to do the trick. Unfortunately ended up breaking the plastic cone, so that's the end of that.

[Vin]

I don't know if it's been mentioned elsewhere....but it was a pleasant surprise to see Autoshites very own TRIGGERnometry in the current edition of CRAPTICAL PLASTICS that I did get this morning along with a copy of Private Eye (MAGGIE! MAGGIE! MAGGIE! souvenir edition OUT! OUT! OUT! now...)

 

He's stood flaunting himself against his Cortina. What a whore.

[Shep Shepherd]

Just dropped TV2 off at my local garage for its MOT. I can't see it failing, but if it does it will be on minor things only. I'd rather that it didn't fail, though, as its current MOT expires today and I'd quite like to drive the car to Abingdon this weekend. I'll find out around midday.

 

Worst comes to worst, I'll drive The Volvo, which is 100% legal but is currently only being used once a week to drive to work and back:

 

 

It needs to get out more

[Rocket88]

Just dropped TV2 off at my local garage for its MOT. I can't see it failing, but if it does it will be on minor things only. I'd rather that it didn't fail, though, as its current MOT expires today and I'd quite like to drive the car to Abingdon this weekend. I'll find out around midday.

 

Worst comes to worst, I'll drive The Volvo, which is 100% legal but is currently only being used once a week to drive to work and back:

 

 

It needs to get out more

 

 

I know that Ovlovs make fine tow cars, but I think you're being a touch optimistic there...................

[Shep Shepherd]

The car would probably be able pull an unladen tanker trailer for a short distance, given a suitable coupling system, but it probably wouldn't be very happy afterwards

[cort16]

I fitted the Astra into my lockup with about 0.4 of a cm to spare. This is good as shuffling cars around in front of the house is a pain in the arse. I also stuck the code reader on to it and it seems the management light is on because of the lamdba sensor. I cleared the codes and the light went off if comes back on soon I'll look at replacing it but I fear it might be a battle.

[Shep Shepherd]

TV2 passed its MOT

 

A few advisories, all of which will be easy enough to sort out before the next test, however:

 

 

Not too bad considering the car was submitted without checking it over. Let's hope that The Volvo fares at least as well in June

[dollywobbler]

New sensor FINALLY arrived for the Mercedes. Plonking it on and for the first time in a very long time, it started first turn on the key. Still smells rich on idle though, but does seem to drive better. Spotted a drip-drip trail of oil on the driveway and am currently trying to work out which car is doing it. Or should I just assume it was the Postie's van?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Why is an oil leak an advisory item?

[dollywobbler]

Why is an oil leak an advisory item?

 

Because it's not a good thing? I've had a far few advisories of that nature...

[Shep Shepherd]

Why is an oil leak an advisory item?

 

My pet MOT tester likes to advise on things which other testers would regard as trivial; the car has had a slight leak from its rear main seal for years, caused (I think) by the PCV system needing cleaning or replacing, a job which I have been putting off for ages (I need to remove the inlet manifold and fuel rail to access the gubbins), but intend to do at some point in the next few weeks, now that the weather is getting better.

[Bobthebeard]

Fitted an EBay purchased replacement driving light to my 944 this morning. The original had a broken lens. All went well. Switched on the lights, tested main beam to check the replacement light was working, then got a whiff of a horrible burning smell. Switched ignition and lights off, ran around in a panic, found a spanner and disconnected the battery but still the awful smell of burning plastic. After five minutes of rushing around sniffing the car like a dog sniffing a lamp post I noticed a plume of smoke from a nearby garden.

Neighbour burning garden rubbish. Some of it in bin liners.

I was relieved to say the least!