The new news 24 thread

[RayMK]

On 6/30/2019 at 4:11 PM, RayMK said:

Today, with my son's help, I (he) cleared my garage loft and took the junk to the recycling yard.  There were nearly empty cans of paint (why the hell did I keep them???), waxoil pumps that never worked properly, utterly knackered small mechanical bits of Citroen Dyane and a small number of Volvo 66 bits in similarly useless condition, my mildewed crash helmet from the 1970s, bent tent pegs and assorted worn out/completely broken household stuff. Some items were wrapped in local newspapers dated 1989.  Anyway, it all filled the V70 with rear seats folded and was duly transported to the yard.  The only item that I kept was my Peugeot moped's original saddle.  It looks worth a scrub and refurbishment so, for the moment, it will provide me with something to do on a rainy day.

To get the ladder up to the garage loft, my 1961 Reliant Regal had to be moved.  I had not touched it since mid August 2018 when I went around the block once.  Today, I connected the battery which has not been charged since its last outing, sat in and turned the key.  It started after 10 seconds of turning on the starter which primed the fuel system and settled to a stable tickover. My son apparently recorded the event to shove on to FB.  He had never driven the Regal and experessed a wish to have a go.  With his 6'2" 16 stone frame and size 12 feet somehow installed, I then levered my 5'10" elderly inflexible frame in to the passenger seat.  This took some time.  I left the internal engine cowling off to prevent fuel vapour lock problems - it's a hot day.  My son then familiarised himself with the controls.   The clutch can be used progressively but, to the initiated, feels like an on/off switch.  He mastered that ok.  Gear selection is very positive provided that it is not rushed.  He was too quick once or twice, causing a slight crunch.  The brakes work fine.  He was not convinced.  They require a firm shove and are nothing like modern brakes.   1st gear has no synchro.  I advised him to use 2nd, 3rd and 4th only.  We hurtled* around the estate at speeds approaching 20mph.  He said the car felt as though it would fall over.

We got back safely, he got out and declined a repeat trip with me driving.  I went round the block at 30mph and enjoyed the vintage feel of the car.  It's now parked in the garage again. 

  

...............a link to the start-up which my son has put on you tube.

 

[clayts450]

6 minutes ago, Honey Badger said:

Aye it does, mine was V791FLE, I don't know if @twosmoke300 still has it? 

 

Mine was a V6 and to be honest I loved it, the Lexus I have now is a nice car but I still miss my coupe.

You see a lot of coupes with FLE reg, they must have been pre registration cars by Honda? Mine was sold from a Glasgow dealer is there any info where yours was registered? Looking forward to hearing about it in your thread.

Yup you're right, deffo a pre-reg : mine was sold by Honda in Slough (even got the original PDI here !)

[trigger]

I'm off to North Wales this weekend in my Marina, mental I know, it's the Marina National rally and we'll be tackling the horseshoe pass in cars with front drum brakes and trunnions, WCPGW?

In the preparation I've starting to get mine sorted, I've had it tuned up as it was running really flat and gutless, my mate managed to get to the butt of the problem and now it's much more responsive.

I also took it to National tyres as the steering was a bit wandery, they were doing a £15 wheel alignment offer online so I decided to take my chances...

After having to explain what the car was and how you got it into reverse the lad put on the ramp, I took a while to find the car on their computer system as it was under Rover and there was no listing for a Marina car only pick up and van, but credit where credit is due he did manage to sort it out and amazingly there's no extra charges, it now drives much nicer, to celebrate I gave it a clean and took some photos for a change.

In other news I also dug the van out at the weekend after its  6 month storage, I had a issue with a fuel pump whichpacked up but I luckily sourced a second-hand one which got it running again so I gave it a wash.

I was rather taken by the X reg Vauxhall Brava double cab behind it too! Its now in a garage of dreams with my Marina.

[Ghosty]

MX-5 folks, are Raceland coilovers any good? That's what I suspect I have on mine, they have no labels on them, are silver with red springs and stamped with RA 3404 and 1409 (a date code?). 

[trigger]

Also tomorrow Practical Classics magazine are coming to the East Coast Retros car meet that I run as we was voted in the top 10 best UK car club competition they are running, amazingly.

I should be taking both of mine and rumours has it we'll have over 300 cars so I'm in for a mega busy night! It's well worth a look if your local though.

[gm]

7 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

MX-5 folks, are Raceland coilovers any good? That's what I suspect I have on mine, they have no labels on them, are silver with red springs and stamped with RA 3404 and 1409 (a date code?). 

budget kit, I've no personal experience but they have a reputation of being a pretty harsh ride. How do you find them ? 

[Ghosty]

They seem alright to me, wouldn't call the ride harsh at all (we used to have an A4 quattro on 35mm lowering springs and Bilstein B4s that was rock hard - I hated it). I'd call it taut, there's a bit of a soft bounce to it but it's perfectly usable. You have to mind some bigger bumps but it's completely usable, feels a lot like my old Prelude. Great handling, and a really nice balance of sport and comfort.

 

The thing is, if the 1409 is a date code, then there's about 30,000km on them, based on MOT history. That's about 18,000 miles. They don't feel worn out though - I know how fucked suspension feels, as the A4's struts had collapsed when we bought it.  

 

It feels fine to me, but I don't know MX-5s that well yet. I do need to adjust the front suspension though as there's a slight gasser stance going on at the moment, that needs levelling out. 

[Amishtat]

4 hours ago, trigger said:

Also tomorrow Practical Classics magazine are coming to the East Coast Retros car meet that I run as we was voted in the top 10 best UK car club competition they are running, amazingly.

I should be taking both of mine and rumours has it we'll have over 300 cars so I'm in for a mega busy night! It's well worth a look if your local though.

Cheers for that Trig, off work this week so that's my Thursday evening sorted! 

[New POD]

The Horseshoe Pass? what could possibly go wrong? Pendarosa cafe? you could actually eat there

[dollywobbler]

Trig - having cooked my 2CV's brakes in Snowdonia, I'd urge actual caution. Don't get too much speed up (60mph down one hill was a definite error!) and don't hold your foot on the brake for extended periods. I see folk doing that around here all the time. The stench of hot brakes is horrific! On-off with engine braking should be ok.

Or do what they did on the Monte Carlo rally back in the day. Get people with buckets of water to chuck at the wheels as you drive past.

 

[trigger]

I feel slightly more confident with my new fangled discs and servos but I know a few of the guys do have drums and no servos and are a bit anxious about it!

Having done the pass back when I was 10 in 1990 4 up with a week's worth of luggage in this Metro 1.0 I still have a fear of the road!

[The Moog]

Wouldnt worry too much about 18k on a set unless it was banging massively.  Even my properly fucked knocking suspension mx5s handle really well and get round roundabouts at 60+ (private ones of course) 

Things to do I would suggest is

1) brake brace - this has changed the car for me

2) LSD (if you havent got one)

3) Timing mod - makes the car much more perky, my current one is missing it and I can feel the difference

4) A proper mx5 alignment - I have got AVO specs somewhere. Utterly transforms the car. 

[clayts450]

Fuck everything, I'm off to Skegness

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Cavcraft]

Conceded defeat now. Attempted to change kick start shaft and haven’t a clue. It’s back together but not properly and I truly CBA any longer.  Gumtree here we come.

 

 

[gm]

13 hours ago, Ghosty said:

They seem alright to me, wouldn't call the ride harsh at all (we used to have an A4 quattro on 35mm lowering springs and Bilstein B4s that was rock hard - I hated it). I'd call it taut, there's a bit of a soft bounce to it but it's perfectly usable. You have to mind some bigger bumps but it's completely usable, feels a lot like my old Prelude. Great handling, and a really nice balance of sport and comfort.

 

The thing is, if the 1409 is a date code, then there's about 30,000km on them, based on MOT history. That's about 18,000 miles. They don't feel worn out though - I know how fucked suspension feels, as the A4's struts had collapsed when we bought it.  

 

It feels fine to me, but I don't know MX-5s that well yet. I do need to adjust the front suspension though as there's a slight gasser stance going on at the moment, that needs levelling out. 

if it feels fine, don't worry about it, just get out there and enjoy the car

[vulgalour]

Drove the Princess home after over a month of the brake job palaver (nobody's fault, just one of those jobs) and it is a revelation.  I thought the brakes were pretty good before, and they never really disappointed or gave issues at MoT.  Compared to how they feel now, the brakes were fucked and have been since I bought the car and I never even realised it.  They're so much lighter and so much more responsive.  Well worth the faff.

[clayts450]

4 hours ago, clayts450 said:

Fuck everything, I'm off to Skegness

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 

Lovely impromptu day trip - the beach really was that empty, so I walked along the shoreline for about an hour getting soggy - the sound of the wind and the sea drowned out everything else, truly a wondrous 60 minutes in my own company.

Meandered around, had some fish and chips (the law when you're at Skegvegas), lost four quid in a tight fruit machine (not a penny back, the  bastard), went back to my car after two and a half hours  (three quid to park not too far from the pier) and drove home.

Cracking day out, some good driving roads (the A158 in particular is very good fun when everyone is doing the national limit - and amazingly, for huge stretches of it, everyone was - super hooning by all concerned). Usual one or two bimblers who got dutifully despatched by the 620 - really does pick up its skirts and fly when it wants to, that one.

And yes, I did get sunburnt. Bloody tourist.

And I might have picked up a NIP. About 5 miles from home. Typical.

 

[richardmorris]

On 7/2/2019 at 6:08 PM, richardmorris said:

It’s been a stressful day.

 

 

Today was worse. Most of my customers are PhD level or above. Why are many of them so stupid?

no, we haven’t got your sample as you forgot to seal the Jiffy bag and it could be anywhere from Stockholm to stanstead.

one form per sample means that, not one for per hundred.

 a 15mg size requirement doesn’t mean we can do the analysis with the 1mg you sent.

Plus the garmin 520 I bought from evans cycles and collected this morning from local dpd drop in Johnson’s cleaners ascot doesn’t work. It only turns on when charging and shows anything from 100 to 15% when doing so. Also it’s not ex demo/display as they left the previous purchasers till receipt in the box, with his full name and address. Surely a faulty return ? And definitely against GDPR.

On the bright side I’m off to goodwood on a freebie tomorrow and several cars loading outside my window today we’re off that way.  Including Schumacher’s 1991 ? Benetton f1 car.

[richardmorris]

I’ve been sent a book to review, do any seasoned reviewers have tips for doing it? 

[richardmorris]

And I’m on the cover of the ccc magazine this month.  From afar I admit....

[stuboy]

Bloody insurance company, renewing mondeo insurance i updated the missus employment status, all ok on the mondeo with that insurer , but when adjusting her employment status on the galaxy it all went tits up, the insurer for galaxy wont allow her to be on the policy as we live apart, bollocks, they offered to removed tracey, but i need her to be on the policy for galaxy, so they offered a new insurer a policy at a staggering £1600 per anum, obviously i said screw you, told them to cancel policy and i going elsewhere... so legally they have to give 7 days cover, ive now got hastings direct insurance for us both for £587 fully comp with protected 1 years noclaims.... phew sorry about waffling on..

[skattrd]

I've moved a few cars around outside skattrd_acres so I can clear some of the weeds away and create a little more parking space. 

The P38  has been run around the yard, it seems to run ok, so that is going to head off for MOT and fixage soon. Worst case scenario, it needs a new gearbox, but I'm feeling optimistic.
Both Aerodecks have been started and moved, the blue/grey one was missing most of its coolant, so I've refilled that and it seems to be ok, I can't see where the coolant went either and it doesn't appear to be leaking anywhere obvious. I'll keep an eye on it.  I might even stick that in for MOT and use it a little this summer.

The red e36 tds has now had new brake pipes done by the garage and a few other minor bits, I reckon I'll take the P38 up there and swap it for the e36, leaving them to hopefully fix the Rangey.

[Cavcraft]

Recovery truck has gone, couple of really nice Bulgarian blokes came for it today. 

[83C]

43 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

Recovery truck has gone, couple of really nice Bulgarian blokes came for it today. 

Balls, missed the advert for that. Keeping an eye out for a beavertail...

[Split_Pin]

Spoke with the Mrs last night. As I have paid more than 50% of our Dacia Duster I will be looking to hand it back. 

Plan is to get her a runaround sub £500 mean time then when things improve, get an older BINI.

The monthly finance payment on the Duster is better in my pocket than Dacia's.

[Cavcraft]

9 hours ago, 83C said:

Balls, missed the advert for that. Keeping an eye out for a beavertail...

They’re useful things to be fair. Been fighting the urge to buy a brand new one.

[Kiltox]

8 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

They’re useful things to be fair. Been fighting the urge to buy a cat C Citroen Relay, chop the van body off and convert it to a beavertail 

 

[davehedgehog31]

1 hour ago, auld_ALS said:

Spoke with the Mrs last night. As I have paid more than 50% of our Dacia Duster I will be looking to hand it back. 

Plan is to get her a runaround sub £500 mean time then when things improve, get an older BINI.

The monthly finance payment on the Duster is better in my pocket than Dacia's.

Splendid. 

Whats her views on veg oil...?

Does she like driving the Audi?

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, davehedgehog31 said:

Splendid. 

Whats her views on veg oil...?

Does she like driving the Audi?

No on both.

WBAC have valued the car at £1300 more than we owe so that's an option.

[davehedgehog31]

1 minute ago, auld_ALS said:

No on both.

WBAC have valued the car at £1300 more than we owe so that's an option.

Have a swatch at this one too;

https://www.evanshalshaw.com/sell-your-car/