The new news 24 thread

[ruffgeezer]

When has that ever stopped you before? You could always drop off one of the 2CVs to me?

[oman5]

I've just dropped off the replacement engine for my P6 to the workshop where its stored. things are finally finally moving on this project.

[Cavcraft]

Can't seem to find a correct coloured front bumper for the Corsa locally, not altogether sure if buying one blind from eBay is such a good idea. So...I went to Hellfraud's armed with my trusty trade card and got two cans of Petrol Blue and one BFO can of grey primer.

The bumper was fairly new anyhow so just wanted a wash and a very light keying with sand paper. Anyhow I did it 'council estate' style over two wheelie bins and to be fair it looks pretty reasonable. There's a couple of small runs and it might want another coat (and some clear lacquer) and there's always the chance when I put it back on the car it'll look fucking rubbish, but I think it was worth a bash.

[Pillock]

Meh, bumpers are usually OK to paint - on most cars they don't line up perfectly like a door to wing, or wing to bonnet join. Doesn't the Corsa have a black stripe across the top of the bumper too? Both those will help take away any slight paint mismatches, you'll only see it with two panels next to each other at the same angle.

 

As a bonus, you've probably got a lovely glittery wheelie bin. I had a lovely L30B [VW] Kasan Red bin for years.

[Cavcraft]

Meh, bumpers are usually OK to paint - on most cars they don't line up perfectly like a door to wing, or wing to bonnet join. Doesn't the Corsa have a black stripe across the top of the bumper too? Both those will help take away any slight paint mismatches, you'll only see it with two panels next to each other at the same angle.

 

As a bonus, you've probably got a lovely glittery wheelie bin. I had a lovely L30B [VW] Kasan Red bin for years.

 

I think there's one bit near the top of each corner that lines up with panel colour so it will probably be a bit off-key but f*ck it.

 

Edit: here you go and same colour, too...

 

[Pillock]

It'll be fine, certainly betterer than the black placca finish that looked like you'd invented the Corsa Popular complete with fag lighter blanking plug and an AM-only radio. And it's exactly the same trick AvailableCar pulled with my 8 grand Focus, where now the sun has finally come out I can see the colour mismatch.

[ProgRocker]

I'm off sick from work today (should have stayed away yesterday too) so I may post on this forum quite a bit.

 

Not much news from me. A few weeks ago I got my Almera serviced at the main stealers. I asked them if they could investigate the whistling turbo noise (makes some peds turn around and look at me with disapproval whenever I give it the beans ) Apparently the turbo would have to be replaced, not repaired and would cost me £1700. So about what the car is worth now then?

[Lacquer Peel]

Dolly there is a Xantia up here for £400, which I'd have optioned on if I hadn't already committed to a *spit* C5...

 

Sinclairs are great.

Is the Xantia a TD?

[dollywobbler]

I was getting dangerously close to buying that VALUE Cavalier Mk3 on Ebay, so I've just spent a good chunk of cash on a set of suspension spheres for the BX. I might as well try and commit to the thing having just splurged so much money on it. Must get around to giving it a service too, and possibly replacing the cam cover gasket.

[Cavcraft]

Never mind that one, have you seen the red one on RR? Looks bloody ace for £350!

 

Meanwhile, hopeless picture aside, there is a slight improvement on the Corsa bumper

 

corsacfront by Cavlover1, on Flickr

 

Colour match isn't perfect (the guide said grey primer, I think white would have made a better final result but it's a bit better.

[dollywobbler]

Duh! It was Retro-Rides I meant! Can't believe no-one has snapped that up yet.

[cort16]

That looks alright billy. Did you laquer it?

Most bumpers on modern cars are painted in a different factory from the rest of the car these days so the paint match isn't usually that great right out the box. My Merc is a perfect example of this.

[vulgalour]

On a whim, I got a new badge for the Princess for supercheap - I was actually hunting for a windscreen seal. I thought that it would make a pleasant alternative to the original badges that got vandalised on mine and being Austin Morris and BL all in one it nicely describes the car. It was only after I'd bought the badge and it was in the post that I decided to research how large a badge for a J4 actually is, matchbox for some sense of scale. Note to self (again): Research then bid, not vice versa.

 

 

I'll clean it up anyway, it's a nice thing to have even if I don't use it and it only cost me £1.

[shedvan]

Thats a really cool badge VA, like the font a lot, whats it from originally? Something commercial?

 

EDIT: So I actually read the post and ... oh is that where I left my hat and coat? Splendid

[dollywobbler]

Decided I needed a small victory so I decided to investigate the non-working rear screenwash on the BX. Dead pump. Decided to see if it's possible to revive a dead pump. It is! Pulled it apart, gave it a little grease, got the driveshaft turning, then put it back together. Sorted. Almost. The connectors to it are a bit iffy as well. A job for another day as I've run out of electrical contact cleaner (marvellous stuff. Bought it when I owned an Alfa Romeo...)

 

Then decided to have a peek at the air filter. Bit of a faff on the BX as some trunking has to be removed to allow access. Filter was far from clean, but there was a fair dose of oil in there too. Looks like a breather issue, or the piston rings are goosed I guess. Left the filter out, went for a drive and it was still smokey, if not quite as smokey as usual.

[Cavcraft]

That looks alright billy. Did you laquer it?

Most bumpers on modern cars are painted in a different factory from the rest of the car these days so the paint match isn't usually that great right out the box. My Merc is a perfect example of this.

 

Haven't lacquered it yet, Glen but will do over weekend I think. Was going to tax it to make it easier to sell but I'll lose half a month so that idea can FRO for the moment.

[Pillock]

I'm off sick from work today (should have stayed away yesterday too) so I may post on this forum quite a bit.

 

Not much news from me. A few weeks ago I got my Almera serviced at the main stealers. I asked them if they could investigate the whistling turbo noise (makes some peds turn around and look at me with disapproval whenever I give it the beans ) Apparently the turbo would have to be replaced, not repaired and would cost me £1700. So about what the car is worth now then?

 

Because the turbo is shot, or because they didn't want the work?

Even after mine mullered itself it was only a £400 rebuild through a turbo specialist, and even then I found the kit of parts was available for half that if I wanted to do the work myself. Start by getting the model number of the turbo and google it, or search on ebay for a rebuild kit. Also, ask the dealer for their exact diagnosis instead of "it's broked".

[ShiteRider]

Black cortina going on ebay this weekend, am prepared for deluge of txt spk pricks. Never sold anything on ebay, let alone a car.

Should sell easy enough, OSF scene tax being what it is.

More concerned about it finding a good home than anything else, so it'll be on buysellcortina and a few other ford forums (not putting on retro rides, it'd be inundated with penis wrestlers saying it wants "hitting wiv da stick" and sticker bombing, and i'd just find that wearysome).

[DSdriver]

Safari was put to work today before going in for some minor surgery.

Safari roofrack gets used at last by DSdriver, on Flickr

It went in for new bottom ball joints on front suspension, cylinder head removal to replace worn cam followers and a bit of welding underneath. Had a phone call when I got home to say that they have had the car up on the ramp and the bit of welding is bigger than anticipated. Anticipated by them anyway, being a regular on this forum I KNOW that when you start poking around under old cars it is going to look like the sky at night.

[Micrashed]

Tomorrow I should be working 7am to 5pm at the Mill. But Im not because the bloke I work opposite wanted to swap weekends due to a wedding next weekend....

So Instead...

 

Im off here!

[Cavcraft]

.

Safari roofrack gets used at last by DSdriver, on Flickr

It

 

 

Breaking my own picture reposting 'rules' once again, I still reckon you've got the nicest looking car on Autoshite. There is absolutely nothing that could make your DS look better.

[DSdriver]

Thanks Cavette, what do you think of the period roofbox?

In other news, the missing wheel trim has now been replaced.

[andrew e]

Someone photoshop that DS into a 70's Majorette bubble pack! Toy cars were always better with canoes/surfboards/boats/RPG launchers on the roof.

[Lord Sterling]

The Sterling failed its MOT today on a number of small things; namely the emissions, which is due to the lambda sensors, a bit of rot on the sills, couple of CV boots and advisories for other minor stuff which is actually quite trivial from a seemingly fairly picky tester. I am paying to have this stuff rectified by my mate Steve as I'm still pretty much a novice with mechanical stuff.

 

I won't have the Sterling for a bit but that doesnt bother me too much, I have the Micra for the 'taking me to work' duties.

[Guest]

Tomorrow I should be working 7am to 5pm at the Mill. But Im not because the bloke I work opposite wanted to swap weekends due to a wedding next weekend....

So Instead...

 

Im off here!

 

Hmm, I may join you for that! Got any more details?

[cobblers]

My mate welded me a sill on my van about 18 months back, before I had a welder. He was in a bad mood at the time and didn't want to weld "butt" up panels, so I had to lap it under the existing, like so:

 

I'd been dreading filling this lot for ages - I was really worried it would end up looking wobbly and crap because I am not mega skilled with filler.

 

Anyway I took my time with it, only used a 15" flat sanding block with light pressure and after about 10 hours work, I got to the point where I wanted to put some paint on it to see if it was anywhere near straight.

 

I mixed some old dark brown paint with the primer to darken it a little and give it more shine (until it dried) so I could see the reflections. This is the result. I only intended to paint the sill, but I mixed too much paint up like usual - this was only about 200ml though, and there's 3 good coats on.

 

I'm dead pleased, it's absolutely straight as a die - amazing considering it's filler from the swage to the bottom. The mix-n-match primer colour actually looks great in person, I've painted an old computer side and I'll take it down to the paint place and see if they can match it, so I can paint the whole van that colour (but shiny, not matt finish, I'm not a complete twat)

[vulgalour]

That's actually pretty good looking work on that, Mr Cobblers. The primer-with-brown is a pretty good colour, looks like the sort of thing you might find on a mid-90s Audi.

[wackywacerwill]

Nice job on the sanding, must get me a bigger block to do the sides of the transit with. Good exercise is sanding, still a job I hate though.

[cobblers]

Cheers lads

 

I used a long bed block like this with Abranet abrasive on it, which I reckon is to blame for it actually turning out so nicely rather than anything other than sheer patience on my part.

it's not cheap but about 3 years ago me and a mate put together for 50 pads and the sander -it was about £70 all in but and I reckon there's still 30 pads completely unused after doing a few full hits on vans - it's fantastic stuff for knocking filler back.

 

 

That's actually pretty good looking work on that, Mr Cobblers. The primer-with-brown is a pretty good colour, looks like the sort of thing you might find on a mid-90s Audi.

 

Yeah - it's fairly dull but not too dull, and suits the blocky cubeness of the van I reckon.

[catsinthewelder]

After a week of feeling like shit I cracked on with the BX today.

 

Fixed the exhaust (again) after looking at Krujoes photo of the car from behind and finally sorted out the issues with the drivers electric window. For as long as at least the last 3 owers know the window has worked but not gone back up straight. A common BX fault with this symptom is that the steel channel that the bottom of the glass sits in has rotted away. I've had the glass and channel from the white BX sitting waiting to go in for ages, but have been putting it off because it's tinted and the blue BX has plain glass. Something went wrong with the window this week though so I had to take it to bits anyway and found that the window channel had already been replaced with aluminium and that the problem was worn bushes in the mechanism. Fortunately I don't throw anything away so the mech from the white one was still here and dropped straight in* with only an hour or two of cursing and scratcing the paint on the inside of the door