The new news 24 thread

[wuvvum]

To balance out Zel's experience on the grumpy thread, I too was pulled over by the police last night, for the first time in years.  I was on my way back from a mate's at about 2am, and rounding a bend rather enthusiastically in the Ducato van I passed a police car.  I looked in my mirrors and didn't see it turn round or anything, but about 5 minutes later there was suddenly a pair of headlights behind me and a couple of minutes after that the blues came on. 

 

I was half expecting a similar experience to Zel's - someone driving slightly* too quickly in a shonky old van at 2am in the middle of nowhere is bound to arouse plod suspicion I thought - but they were perfectly civil (as Norfolk Constabulary have tended to be in my experience to be fair), one of them breathalysed me (I hadn't had a drink all week so passed that with no problem) while the other shone a cursory torch at the tyres and then ran my details through the police computer to check for any outstanding wrongdoings.  The whole thing took about three minutes, then they sent me on my way with a friendly reminder to keep an eye on my speed.

[dean36014]

Was coming home from a day out and found this old bailey caravan dumped on the a429 between Warwick and Oxford. Looked great behind the bx and I'd imagine they probably towed these same vans back in there day. Windows smashed and interior vandalised but would make a great project as classic caravans are shooting up in price due to the bunting brigade.

Also found this old Sykes pickavant brake pipe flaring tool on Facebook. Must be at least thirty years old and I've never seen one like this before. All works perfectly too and in good condition. I'm a sucker for old tools. No use for it as doesn't do Citroen pipes but just added it to the collection.

[Six-cylinder]

The “Volvo 600” record attempt to gather at least 600 cars to run around Bruntingthorpe today was a stunning success with 1438 driving around the track. The plan was batches of 50 cars would go round keeping below 30 mph, what actually happened is it was like a giant traffic jam with Volvos nose to tail around the whole circuit because of the number that attended.

 

I had always planned to go but had not been able to get our 740 running or V70 MOTed so at the last minute I hitched a ride with a friend in his 2002 S60. I am so glad I did what a spectacle it was, 1438 Volvos of all types.

 

 A certain amount of silliness took place with car decoration!

 

What a great day out.

[Broadsword]

Fantastic!

[JJ0063]

Anyone know how I’d go about getting these identited?

 

They were dug out of the garden

 

[vulgalour]

Ask at your local museum, if you have one.  If they can't identify them, they'll be able to point you to someone that can.  The little boar is a neat find, even if it turns out to just be a replica rather than something truly ancient.  The bust looks somewhat Victorian in its proportions, and the Victorians did like a bit of replica antiquity.

[Timewaster]

Anyone know how I’d go about getting these identited?

 

They were dug out of the garden

 

 

Looks like John Peel to me.

[richardmorris]

It’s got rid of the albatross shit too.

and I’ve just noticed almost exactly 200,000 miles more than mine.

[strangeangel]

Was coming home from a day out and found this old bailey caravan dumped on the a429 between Warwick and Oxford. Looked great behind the bx and I'd imagine they probably towed these same vans back in there day. Windows smashed and interior vandalised but would make a great project as classic caravans are shooting up in price due to the bunting brigade.

IMG_20190331_172041.jpg

Also found this old Sykes pickavant brake pipe flaring tool on Facebook. Must be at least thirty years old and I've never seen one like this before. All works perfectly too and in good condition. I'm a sucker for old tools. No use for it as doesn't do Citroen pipes but just added it to the collection.

IMG_20190331_180328.jpg

 

Did you save the poor old Bailey, then? Can't imagine things ending well for it if not.

[Cavcraft]

I saw your post on the classic caravan page on Facebook, Dean. That must have been dumped, can't see any complaints if you manage to get it home and do it up.

 

 

In other news, sorted two more fraggers today, mostly from the comfort of my arm chair.

 

 

 

[Lord Sterling]

I saw your post on the classic caravan page on Facebook, Dean. That must have been dumped, can't see any complaints if you manage to get it home and do it up.

 

 

In other news, sorted two more fraggers today, mostly from the comfort of my arm chair.

 

 

fragpassataaa.jpg

What was wrong with the Passat?

[catsinthewelder]

Badge snobbery innit

[Cavcraft]

I think the engine is knocking. Obvs the stupid pile of shit wouldn't start anyway.

[dean36014]

I bought a picture today just because I liked it. Thought it was rather apt seeing as my friends know how much I love cars and animals!

 

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[SiC]

I bought a picture today just because I liked it. Thought it was rather apt seeing as my friends know how much I love cars and animals!

 

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Looks to be the work of Simon Drew?

[loserone]

I towed a trailer today for the first time ever.

 

It tows okay, though it's impossible to see the angle it's at which makes reversing difficult to impossible. It will be mighty handy getting free woodchip for the allotment.

[dean36014]

Did you save the poor old Bailey, then? Can't imagine things ending well for it if not.

I had no where to put it unfortunately, but i've seen far worse on camp sites! Whilst i was looking at it some of our traveller friends pulled up in a Transit van, as an aside, why do they never wear seat belts? Anyway I digress, the female, stunning by the way, said it used to be her parents and take it away!

 

I saw your post on the classic caravan page on Facebook, Dean. That must have been dumped, can't see any complaints if you manage to get it home and do it up.

 

 

 

That's why I chucked it on there with the location, hopefully one of them will save it.

[dean36014]

Looks to be the work of Simon Drew?

 Hard to tell from the signature but it could very well be.

[wuvvum]

Well I managed to fix the blowing-sidelight-fuse issue on the Rover of Doom - turned out it was nowt to do with shorting through the catch at all, it was the wiring loom where it goes into the top of the tailgate which was slightly dodgy, and was getting pinched just at the point where the tailgate closes.  So it now has a full complement of working lights again (apart from the offside sidelight which has a blown bulb). 

 

It has, however, developed a leak from the PAS pump, which is an embuggerance.  It's not pissing it out, it's an occasional drip, but it's evidently been leaking for some time as the whole pump is covered in fluid (as is the crossmember underneath it), so I wasn't able to ascertain exactly where the drip is coming from. but I think it's the pump itself rather than a pipe, unfortunately.  I might try one of those Lucas stop leak snake oil treatments to see if that works - the pump looks like it'd be a bit of a twat to get out, can't come out through the top without removing the alternator and probably the tensioner as well, and to get it out underneath the crossmember would have to come off.

 

Speaking of the alternator, it's a bit broken:

 

 

Never seen this happen before.    It's still charging fine so I'm going to leave it for now.

 

 

I treated the Y10 to a fresh set of plugs.  The plugs which came out were actually quite a healthy colour, which appears to disprove my theory that the occasional spluttering was caused by over-fuelling.  Still, they're done now, and it does seem to run a bit smoother.  Distributor cap and rotor arm next - I think the leads are OK, I've poked my head under the bonnet in the dark and couldn't see any signs of escaping sparks.

 

I also removed the rear wiper mechanism in preparation for repairing the tailgate where it's gone grotty around the hole the wiper spindle comes through.  I was half thinking about simply wobbing over the hole and forgetting about the wiper, but then I took the mechanism indoors and stuck 12 volts on it and to my surprise it worked - I was expecting it to be seized tae feck given the amount of time it must have sat idle.  This does however mean that I have to find a way of repairing the tailgate whilst leaving a hole of the correct size - I do have a couple of ideas which I'm going to try when I get a minute.

 

 

The Saab got an oil and filter change this afternoon - the oil that was in there wasn't in the first flush of youth and I have no idea if it was the correct type or not.  It now has a sumpful of 5w40 fully synthetic - I very rarely use fully synth in any of my chod but semi-synth in Saab engines causes them to sludge up.  It was a nice straightforward oil change as everything came undone fine and the filter was easy enough to get to with my BFO pliers.  I even managed not to spill too much...

 

 

As regards the rest of the fleet, I managed to nab a pair of half-decent sun visors for the Maxus for a tenner off eBay - the only ones on there before were proper manky with biro all over them and the seller wanted 30 quid each.  For that sort of money I'd rather be dazzled, but a tenner for a pair was reasonable enough, and they were a 5-minute job to fit and are a massive improvement over the roller blind fixed to the screen with suction cups which was my previous bodge. 

 

The Innocenti's new headlight glass fell off as the sealant I'd used to attach it wasn't strong enough - it'd worked fine on the original glass but the replacement isn't a perfect fit.  Fortunately it'd only fallen onto the bumper so it was fine.  It's now fixed on with Tiger Seal so hopefully won't be going anywhere for a while.

 

I spent an hour or so today clearing crap out of the Toyota - ended up with a big bin liner full of rubbish and another bag full of assorted cans of paint / lubricant etc.  I need to get it booked into the local tyre place to fit the tyres I bought for it ages ago, then it can go in for a test.  It might have to take over daily duties for a while as the 75 runs out of test in just over a month and that's probably going to need a number of bits doing for a ticket.  I've bought a HBOL for it but as with a lot of "moderns" I'm expecting a lot of jobs to be listed as "refer to dealer" - which is a tad awkward with a Rover.

[MikeR]

This person I know .. The starter was lazy on his focus over the last few days ...

 

 

Left the elm car scanner plugged into the obd port ....

 

Soft sod .

[SiC]

This person I know .. The starter was lazy on his focus over the last few days ...

 

 

Left the elm car scanner plugged into the obd port ....

 

Soft sod .

A colleague spent months trying to figure out why his mk2 Focus had a battery drain issue. He didn't even consider the ELM327 left plugged into the OBD port as he thought it would turn off with the ignition or go into low power mode if not used for a period.

[HillmanImp]

Volksy came over for a few drinks over the weekend and freed off the GT6 binding brake. Turns out I just wasn't being violent enough which really surprised me as I am definitely in the 'if it doesn't work bray the shit out of it until it either does or you need to buy a new one' group of bodging amatuer mechanics.

 

I must be mellowing in my old age.

 

Whilst he was there we tried starting it. It ran almost straight away but then lost its spark so I'll try again later in the week or next weekend.

 

Heres an action shot.

 

 

In other news, the Porsche developed a fast idle yesterday on the way back from the BMX park. Been looking online and it can be a number of things so will have a look at that too.

[The Moog]

In other news, the Porsche developed a fast idle yesterday on the way back from the BMX park.

I heard google street view caught you in action 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[busmansholiday]

9.30 this morning I was down at our local Heron frozen food store, aka the post office. "Can you change this to historic please and tax it?"

"No problems".

 

Yes, the MGB Roadster is now tax and MoT exempt as of today.

 

Shame it's going to rain for the rest of the week, but hay ho.

[vulgalour]

Thanks to SoC's sterling work, Princess is back in service and back at home.

[HillmanImp]

I heard google street view caught you in action 

I'd just like to stress that it wasn't me on the BMX, it was Imp Jr.

 

 

*photos from last year. Its not that warm or green yet.

[stuboy]

Think i need help...lol

[jumpingjehovahs]

Think i need help...lol

That’s a wheely big collection, are you not tyred of tripping over them?

 

(Apologies in advance...!)

 

 

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[Pete-M]

Spent ages trying to track a tailgate rattle on the C32, adjusted the lock, replaced all the trim clips (just in case), stripped and rebuilt the load cover/ dog guard.

 

 

Wouldn't mind, it was a tiny rattle, but it was there. Wouldn't hear it for a week, then you know those rumble strips on motorway slip roads sometimes? Sounded like Mitch Mitchell was sitting on the spare wheel.

 

ust found the fucking rattle. There are two little wedges either side of the tailgate which for some inexplicable reason were fitted back to front, so I swapped them over and adjusted them so the tailgate no longer rattles.

 

This is good, as the previous owner spent approx £1500 replacing the rear suspension trying to track the same rattle.

 

So. A happy chappie I am.

 

Now the creak from the n/s/f lower wishbone to attend to.

[reb]

I got a new hat.

Obviously the old hat was the problem with my low quality YouTube content. This new, vastly superior, hat should improve things.

 

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