The new news 24 thread

[Pillock]

That looks pretty nice, and nowhere near as rusty as those things can get. Did one that old get a heated windscreen amongst the electrics? I remember a mate's granddad having a white J-reg and was amazed you could get electric windows in a small car. WOW! My mind was blown.

[trigger]

No idea about the HFS Pillock, I'd guess so?, I don't think I'll be bothering with that Fiesta anyway It needs a load sensing valve and a mot so once I've messed about with that It's not really worth the hassle.

 

In other news I've just had a phone call from the seller of the Civic, the retention letter has arrived today and the original number plate of LME 258P has been issued back to the car as it's now on the DVLA system, hopefully the V5 should arrive tomorrow then it's game on with the collection, exciting times!

[cobblers]

I had today off work so that I could spend many hours grinding the fuck out of the side of the van when the neighbors would mostly be at work, to save pissing them off too much. 

I woke up at 6am like normal for work, and it was too warm to get back to kip,  so I went out and lobbed some filler on the sliding door and did a bit of wiping stuff with thinners etc, quiet jobs. Kept myself busy while 10am to get grinding bigtime cos I'm a great guy like that. To save my ears I put in my fancy headphones that wedge right in your ear and almost touch your brain as rudamentary earplugs, but for some reason I've never thought about actually playing music through them, until today. It makes a huge difference to angle grindering stamina, I won't grind without musical accompaniment again!

 

So I don't use grinding disks for much these days because they are shit - Flap disks are much nicer to use and remove material a lot faster without being so harsh on the metal or bouncing off etc. Anyway I bought a box of ten cheapo disks off ebay expecting to use all of them for this job, but the first one I used lasted for the whole job - 90 minutes non stop work. I can 100% recommend these, I got 60 grit.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380597837916?var=650084402168&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2648

They're made by blackspur. I'd also treated myself to a £6 bosch flap wheel, and yeah it was a bit better (it's more bevelled so you can use more of the surface without knocking the corners off it) but 6 of the blackspur ones would piss all over it for the price.

 

Today has been one of those days where you make a lot of progress but it looks like sod all in pictures. I sanded so much filler that I had to use the windscreen washers on my golf that was parked 20 meters away behind a wall (sorry neighbours) and I'm physically absolutely broken.

 

I took a couple of pictures at "close of play" like the manager of failing a halfords store would say to make himself sound like a cool cat.

 

 

It doesn't look really any different to yesterday, there's 10/11 hours hard work in that!

[drum]

The wife had a K plate fiesta 1.1. We took it on a 3 week tour of France one summer. Great wee car but it suffered rust and HGF in the end.

[cort16]

Looking good cobblers. I've given up on grinding discs for all but the most hard core of under body grinding jobs as they like removing metal a little too much.

You're going to need a lot of filler to fill that big bit under the back window.

[catsinthewelder]

Great work Cobblers,  I really need to get cracking on mine at some point.  Flap disks are great for all sorts of stuff,  mostly for getting me out of the shit with woodwork that nearly fits.

 

The BX had a close shave this morning,  my youngest daughter asked me to drive back from the school run via the lanes so I did.  Heading down a hill past a farm the road was not quite wide enough for two cars and a friend in a Skoda was driving up so I braked,  locked up all four wheels on the 2" of cow shit the road was covered in and slid onwards with no drop in speed.  There was a sickening crash as the mirrors collided and my already dented N/S front wing scraped the cowshit off a fencepost but somehow no damage was done.

 

Got home to double check that there was no damage and the fucker sprang a water leak,  at least it's done it before I fit a straight wing and change the water.

[cort16]

I've made an offer on that XJ-R.

[dollywobbler]

After yesterday's success with the Disco, though I'd better investigate a rather ominous scraping sound from the back of the Merc. Started with the driver's side. Brakes were fine, then I started picking at the underseal. DOH!

 

Happily, the mount still - remarkably - seems solid and it's just this side that has crumbled. I shall get my welding friend to have a look.

 

Moved to the passenger side.

 

Hmmm. That'll be backing plate on disc then. I have found the reason for the scraping noise. As I suspected. Guess that caliper has been sticking.

 

While there, I prodded a couple of iffy looking areas.

This is the inner wing/outside of the boot.

 

And after the other side, this was no surprise at all.

 

Lots of knackered looking bushes about the place too. 

 

So, that's the Merc off the market then. No way I'm selling it like that. Just need some well overdue invoices to get paid so I can get on ordering bits. On the plus side, it started beautifully this morning after a week of no use. Utterly transformed by last week's tune up. I'm not sure I want to sell it anyway.

[cort16]

^^ Night mare. If you try to weld that up with the bush still in it the chance are it'll melt the rubber. It doesn't look like a very easy bush to change either. Good luck!

[Junkman]

It does look like a right old bitch to change too.

 

EFC.

[dollywobbler]

We'll see. Recon calipers seem to be around £55 while a rebuild kit is only £15. I think the faff will pay off on this one.

[HillmanImp]

^^ Night mare. If you cover that up with filler and underseal the new buyer will never know before the next MOT. Good luck!

 

Another EFA

[cort16]

Epoxy Glue and an old tin of tenents export. Are there no classic car auctions locally you can stick it in? Given the prices at the one I went to in Perth your Merc would make about 5 grand*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*massive exageration but it probably would have seen decent ££ as it's shiny

[dollywobbler]

At the moment, I'd rather flog the BX and keep the Merc. The BX should have some value to it - it's the most desirable model and it's in pretty good condition - so perhaps that will sell more easily than the Merc has done.

Was chatting with a friend who has a 300TD at the weekend. He gets 35mpg, which makes the 27mpg of mine seem quite impressive I reckon! 

[HMC]

Shame about those subframe mounts dw, but far from unusual. Most left have probably got the beginnings of it with the later 93 on models often affected worse.. Mercedes do a repair section but at £75 it's a bit steep for shape easy enough to fab up. My neighbour did an estate I used to own for me

[dollywobbler]

Aye. I've seen photos of a 1995 example where the mounting has entirely disappeared! That's progress for you...

 

Once I get paid, I'll order up the brake parts and get it booked in for the welding. I'll be able to refurb the brakes while my mate welds I suspect - one side each.

[trigger]

Just had the call I've been waiting for, the Civic is all ready for collection. I'm hopefully getting it tonight providing my dad can arrange a trailer in time, the only thing puzzling me now is that the owner doesn't seem to think that the mot certificate has been updated with the new registration number? I thought the mot would have to go to the DVLA with the V5 for the plate change?

[Vin]

That's good news Trig.

 

Don't quote me on this...but I thought the MOT document taken to the issuing garage who then changes it to the correct number. A bit like when you MOT an import on it's chassis or engine number, then get it changed when the new reg number is issued...

 

I could be talking bollox though...

[cort16]

I'm about to go through this plate stuff with this Jaguar it's a pain in the arse. What's your plans for it trigger?

[trigger]

At the moment it's to get it running nicely, clean the crap out of it and enjoy it for the remander of the summer, I'll see how it looks once I've finished working on it and how I get on with it before I decide whether to keep it or sell it on, it's purely a easy (I hope) project to keep me busy on my off days between shift work.

[Rocket88]

At the moment, I'd rather flog the BX and keep the Merc. The BX should have some value to it - it's the most desirable model and it's in pretty good condition - so perhaps that will sell more easily than the Merc has done.

Was chatting with a friend who has a 300TD at the weekend. He gets 35mpg, which makes the 27mpg of mine seem quite impressive I reckon! 

Elderly dizzler Mercs are not exactly paragons of parsimony.............................

[dollywobbler]

True. My W123 300D did 27mpg. It was an auto though, and that's a lot of bloomin' weight for 88bhp to shift. My 300E has 100bhp more, and doesn't struggle to shift itself at all.

[cort16]

 

paragons of parsimony

 

I loved that band.

[cms206]

Although primarily a bus and coach dealer, my boss deals in anything. We've had a 43k mile 08-plate Saab 9-5 Linear 2.2TiD auto sitting for months and a mate of mine asked for more info. Long story short, a deal was done.

 

He offered his Y-reg 9-3SE diesel as a trade in, 133k on it, rear arches on their way out but bang on underneath. I was poised to snap up bargainous Swedish chod but surprisingly my boss accepted it as a trade in.

 

Any guesses on how much boss paid for the 9-3? Not even close.

 

£1250...

[Spiny Norman]

Any guesses on how much boss paid for the 9-3? Not even close.

 

£1250...

 

Probably charged him well over the odds for the 9-5, which I'm guessing was the 'Dame Edna' version? Even the most die hard Saab fans baulk at these things.

 

[cms206]

£6750 was the asking for the 9-5, £1250 for the 9-3 took that down to £5500, 12 months t&t, new battery and a full major service. Not a bad deal I would've said. Dame Edna and a saloon though. I quite fancy a pre-facelift 9-5 estate but the 9-3 traded in would've been tasty had it been available for cheapness.

[trigger]

To quote a well known Spandau Ballet song "To cut a long story short I lost my mind and bought a Civic..."

 

 

I'm actually really chuffed, when i first looked at the car it was running really poorly, today however it started perfectly and ran really sweet, totally differnet to last time!.

 

I've got all the old paperwork back to 1978 but I am missing the current MOT, the owner thinks he sent it of to the DVLA with the plate change stuff but they haven't returned it yet, I'm hoping it will arrive and he will forward it on as I can't tax it otherwise.

 

I was also told by the last owner that his uncle who owned it invited the curved overtaking mirror you find on car door mirrors but he never patterned it which seems quite cool.

 

 

[Wilko220]

Looks spectacular!

[catsinthewelder]

That looks ace,  top bombing

 

Can you tax it online?

[trigger]

I hadn't thought of that, I guess if I insurance it I should be able too, actually forget that, if I did tax it the disc would go to the last owner I'd thought, plus it's currently on sorn.