The new news 24 thread

[Asimo]

Transit Connect.

 

This is dissapointing. I have zero tolerance for rot and have scrapped cars for less.

 

I expect I can find someone to bodge this for me but I would rather get it fixed properly. That will not be easy. I have little luck in finding anyone to do anything these days.

[Talbot]

Transit Connect.image.jpeg

 

This is dissapointing. I have zero tolerance for rot and have scrapped cars for less.

 

I expect I can find someone to bodge this for me but I would rather get it fixed properly. That will not be easy. I have little luck in finding anyone to do anything these days.

Looks like a very easy cut-out and let-in of new material. 2 hrs tops, which includes several cups of tea and setting up and packing away. If I had a workshop that is.

[Kiltox]

Where are you heading.

I'm just off to buy steak for my nephew.

Was a flying visit to pick up this beast of a car

 

 

[jonathan_dyane]

Didn't take you long to get back!

[Noel Tidybeard]

150bhp is why ^^^

[New POD]

Aren't we all on this fine day.

Aye. Pint of ipa and a rump steak each. Chat about the time he went to a student party and told 52 people a different name for himself.

 

He wanted to pay. I refused. Bloody students think they are made of money.

[New POD]

Was a flying visit to pick up this beast of a car

 

149107B4-3AE2-43E4-A13E-114923CE20A4.jpeg

 

 

Liverpool were playing leicester so that might explain the beer. ( or not)

[cobblers]

 If I had a workshop that is.

 

Story of my flipping life!

[Kiltox]

150bhp is why ^^^

Used about 4bhp for most of the pissing roadworks on the M6!!

[SRi05]

Was visiting mi madre there and she asked me to look at her car as she's noticed water that's dripped on the ground from her exhaust when she's been parked up the past few days. Car idles fine, no smokeyness, coolant levels fine, oil perfectly brown. Temp gauge sits right in the middle when warmed up. Safe to assume its fuck all? Or imminent OMGHGF?

[Lord Sterling]

Wow. Didn't want to drive the BMW in the weekend. But it ended doing a couple of hundred miles round trip with family_Sterling, shopping and a bloody car battery.

 

Roffle_Micra needed a new battery. So I got one from work only to find that it doesn't fit in the battery box. So that'll have to go back.

 

So instead of Birmingham > Telford > Birmingham I had to pass by home, rob the battery from Ma's old Micra and fit it to roffle Micra. It now starts and drives at least.

[Richard]

I found myself singing along to Lyin' Eyes in the beige interior of my Volvo while trundling along the motorway at 55 with the lorries and the slows. I think peak middle age has been achieved.

[BorniteIdentity]

I found myself singing along to Lyin' Eyes in the beige interior of my Volvo while trundling along the motorway at 55 with the lorries and the slows. I think peak middle age has been achieved.

Congratulations.

[richardmorris]

X1/9 now has new brake pads and flexi hoses.

[richardmorris]

The reason rick is lying under the middle of the car is to adjust the handbrake!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

I found myself singing along to Lyin' Eyes in the beige interior of my Volvo while trundling along the motorway at 55 with the lorries and the slows. I think peak middle age has been achieved.

 

Will there be a crisis to go with it?

[Richard]

The crisis comes before the peak.

[GeordieInExile]

Will there be a crisis to go with it?

And will that involve the purchase of a sports car?

 

There's a nice MGF up for roffle...

[MarvinsMom]

Was visiting mi madre there and she asked me to look at her car as she's noticed water that's dripped on the ground from her exhaust when she's been parked up the past few days. Car idles fine, no smokeyness, coolant levels fine, oil perfectly brown. Temp gauge sits right in the middle when warmed up. Safe to assume its fuck all? Or imminent OMGHGF?

sounds like now't to worry about.

 

it'll be condensation from inside the exhaust.

 

and the catalyst turns exhaust gasses into CO2 and water.

[Guest]

Sounds like a fuckin’ winnar

It's a Duster 4x4 DCi Black edition, never knew these things exsisted.. It's actually a really dark grey brushed stainless wrap.

 

"

However, after creating a Black Edition concept car to celebrate the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Dacia has now decided to offer these additions to its production models in the form of a rather expensive upgrade.

Making your Duster either an Ambiance or Laureate-spec model look like the Goodwood show car will cost you a whopping 5885, and that means your total spend will be at least 17,480.

That extra cash gets you a matt black vinyl wrap over the bodywork, a leather interior, 18-inch alloys and an integrated infotainment system with sat-nav, a DAB radio and Bluetooth.

The Black Edition pack is available on both two- and four-wheel-drive models."   :0

 

[SRi05]

sounds like now't to worry about.

 

it'll be condensation from inside the exhaust.

 

and the catalyst turns exhaust gasses into CO2 and water.

Thought as much, just looking for reassurance!

[stuboy]

Nice weather today so jobs got done on 3 cars..

 

1. Front pads renewed on the galaxy

2. Replace air filter with alledged long life jobbie.

3.replace headlamp bulb in my fozzie focus with some ive had for years in the shed as they were dull as a candle

4.replaced leds on missus focus as there too blue than white and she was worried about getting stopped by the police.

[Mally]

I've got a sack truck like that.

Check your wheel nuts, wheel fell off mine today.

[alf892]

It's a Duster 4x4 DCi Black edition, never knew these things exsisted.. It's actually a really dark grey brushed stainless wrap.

 

"

However, after creating a Black Edition concept car to celebrate the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Dacia has now decided to offer these additions to its production models in the form of a rather expensive upgrade.

Making your Duster either an Ambiance or Laureate-spec model look like the Goodwood show car will cost you a whopping 5885, and that means your total spend will be at least 17,480.

That extra cash gets you a matt black vinyl wrap over the bodywork, a leather interior, 18-inch alloys and an integrated infotainment system with sat-nav, a DAB radio and Bluetooth.

The Black Edition pack is available on both two- and four-wheel-drive models."   :

 

But why?

[phil_lihp]

I attached my secondhand wing mirror to the Focus today, replacing the one kindly modified by a drunk chav last weekend.  For £20 a slightly scruffy fully electric/heated wing mirror was procured and fitted, I swapped over the (tatty) coloured panel so it looks original and it works perfectly.  Sadly, the Hiace mirror wasn't so easy as the previous owner's fitted replacement mirrors which I think are for a different model, they have never had enough adjustment in them to get a proper view down the side of the van and the glass I was sent is a slightly different shape.

 

I then turned my attention to why the Focus' high level rear brake light and washer don't work.  I reckon there might be a connection there - or rather, a lack of connections...

 

 

 

It's a common problem on these it seems, the wires chafe through at the point where they're routed through the gap between the tailgate and body and the plastic washer pipe joiner, presumably used because the rubber could get squashed, has also split, making all the chafed wires nice and damp.  This would also explain the persistent dampness in the boot.  The wires are lovely and green and every one is damaged - the fun bit here is that if they break completely, I don't think I'll be able to open the boot as the release is electronic.  Well done Ford, great design!

 

I've ordered some heatshrink and wire, I'll break out my soldering iron and will have a crack at repairing it - can't make it much worse and a new loom is about £130 plus all the hassle of pulling out the headliner to find the plug where it joins the main loom, as it's nowhere to be seen from what I could establish during my ferreting about yesterday.  I can't find a part number for the plastic pipe so I'm going to glue the two halves back together (they fit neatly together, fortunately) and have ordered a length of washer pipe to sleeve it with as an added precaution.

 

I also went around the car with a touchup brush and made some of the stonechips, scuffs and scratches slightly less obvious - concours it is not, but nothing short of a full respray will rescue this car's paintwork.  Goodness knows what the previous owner was doing with it, but judging by the numerous heavy etchings of bird poo on the bonnet and roof, I don't think it got washed much.

 

I ended the day on a familiar note.

 

 

It would seem that a number of short-ish journeys, leaving the radio on for a couple of hours while I worked on it and having a battery with 'warranty expires 2016' written on it in biro was a winning combination - battery voltage was down to 9V and it didn't even try to turn over.  Hiace to the rescue once again.

[mrbenn]

Lovely Focus there, much wood for an ST170 here.

 

Re the washer pipe, don't bother with the fenuine Ford part. I bought it a few months back. From memory it was around £15 (with discount) and was far too long. Would honestly have been better with some 50p washer tubing. I cut a good bit of it off. Let me know how long that corrugated bit is (I threw mine away) and, if the bit I have is long enough, I'll bob it in the post for you.

 

Wires went on my hatch too. Bugger all excess length to work with as I recall!

[tooSavvy]

Congratulations.

*topical

[phil_lihp]

That's very kind, thanks!  Alas I've already ordered the washer pipe to sleeve the tube with, I have some JB Weld mega-glue which seems to be good for this sort of thing so I'll see if that does the job - should do, I can't imagine it's dealing with extreme pressures.  I'm assuming they use the plastic bit to avoid it getting crushed when the boot is shut but there's a metal bracket pop-riveted inside the top of the tailgate nicely positioned to rub through both the wires and the washer pipe.  They're all taped together so it's perfectly designed to keep the damaged wires permanently wet, all the better to allow corrosion to set in.

 

Yes, I've unclipped the loom in various places and there's barely a spare mm on it, hence ordering some wire to extend it by a couple of cm for a better repair.  

 

I do like the ST170 but it has been a bit frustrating lately - it may come up for sale soon but a friend has dibs.  Cosmetically it's pretty rough, the paintwork and wheels are very poor but there's no big dents or scrapes and aside from one aftermarket front wing bubbling up, there's not a spot of rust anywhere.  It is an absolute hoot to drive, Ford absolutely nailed the Mk1 Focus but I do understand the complaints made about the ST170 when it was new - there's oodles of power but since it's mostly hidden up at the 4-6k RPM range and the clunky gearbox is so long-legged, it doesn't feel particularly fast until you really nail it.

[mrbenn]

I do like the ST170 but it has been a bit frustrating lately - it may come up for sale soon but a friend has dibs.  Cosmetically it's pretty rough, the paintwork and wheels are very poor but there's no big dents or scrapes and aside from one aftermarket front wing bubbling up, there's not a spot of rust anywhere.  It is an absolute hoot to drive, Ford absolutely nailed the Mk1 Focus but I do understand the complaints made about the ST170 when it was new - there's oodles of power but since it's mostly hidden up at the 4-6k RPM range and the clunky gearbox is so long-legged, it doesn't feel particularly fast until you really nail it.

 

Agreed re the power delivery. My brother had an ST170 for a bit and he hated the fact that you had to rev it hard to get it to shift. The 1.6 Zetec that I have certainly feels more willing at lower revs. It has much less to give than the ST, but it's ready without having to beat the hell out of it.

 

That said, if your friend doesn't have the ST when you come to sell it please drop me a PM.

[phil_lihp]

Will do.  I like low-down torque so this doesn't suit my driving style very well but I've got used to caning it harder than I normally would - something it actively seems to encourage.  Doesn't do the fuel economy much good but I don't do enough mileage for that to matter!  Also, if I do say so myself, Imperial Blue is absolutely the colour to have these in.  Even though it's scruffy, it does look good from 6ft away when it's been washed and polished.