The new news 24 thread

[Aston Martin]

I got to my sisters and discovered her Caddy battered.

 

Turns out she had done it. She rang insurance, it'll be "£100 now or wait till it goes back. When you've washed it you won't notice." 

 

Turns out the insurance guy, couldn't be bothered and I think she's leaving it.

[wuvvum]

2 hours ago, trigger said:

The plan is to sell it and get something old but with rear seat belts to replace it, trouble is the selection of cars that interest me under £4000 is getting slimmer and slimmer as the years go on now, the other option is to sell the Marina as well and buy something nice with the money from both, maybe a Triumph 2000/2500 but i don't feel ready to sell the Marina... First world problems as all that!

My Volvo 164 has rear seat belts - and £3K spent on it would get it looking pretty nice.  #justsaying

[chaseracer]

23 hours ago, egg said:

If autoshite was a car club where we could all rent chod from each other, I'm sure we'd all be a damn sight better off.

That's a terrifyingly plausible idea...

[Slowsilver]

 

3 hours ago, trigger said:

After much soul searching I've decided to try and sell the Ital van, I've known the van 25 years and spent many hours getting it back on the road again but i hardly ever use it as i just don't have the time what with the Marina as well and when i do have time i can't take the family as it obviously doesn't have rear seats and the Marina doesn't have rear belts (Or any way to fit them)

Your Marina should have rear seat belt mountings, so you can retrofit rear belts to it. Can't find the actual year that the rear mountings were made compulsory but it was definitely some time in the 1970s and our Maxi (built in 1977) has them.
If you look under the rear seat squab below the seat back you should find four tapped holes for the bottom mountngs. The top mountings are probably behind the trim on the upper C pillar.
They only provided three mounting points for each belt, meaning that only static ones could be fitted. However it should be possible to fabricate a fourth mounting point for an inertia reel type. We did this on the Maxi using some mounting plates with captive nuts which can be bought quite cheaply  from ebay (search for rally car mountings). You can also fit a centre lap belt between the two centre mountings under the back seat.

Hole drilled in luggage compartment side panel:

Fit mounting plate behind hole (accessed through rear light aperture):

Et voila!

Belts mounted at an angle to clear the folding rear seat back, which folds backwards as well as forwards on a Maxi to form a double bed. Yours could probably be mounted vertically.

The finished installation:

Two four-point inertia reel belts and a centre lap belt. Belts also sourced from ebay. Total cost around £60-70 if I remember correctly.
 

[reb]

One day I'll have an indoor workshop, or at least a covered outdoor workspace.

Today is not that day.

Today's job is to recover the front wiring harness from the 307, a job which is going remarkably well considering the levels of can't be arsed that overcame me this morning. Of course 5 minutes in the sun gave way to biblical rain, hence the above piss poor attempt at shelter. Mostly to keep my back getting soaked, I don't like that, I don't care what else gets wet.

Everything is disconnected and detached from the engine bay, so I came in to make a coffee and a box arrived!

I opened the box, bubble wrap for days!

A turbo charger! How exciting!

It is indeed some sort of mechanism for taking air and turning it into boost!

It cost £13 delivered and is predictably completely shagged. However, it will serve well as a reference for the modifications I need to make to get the bastard thing to clear the engine mount. This may not be as simple as I'd hoped given how the wastegate actuator is mounted. This whole engine mount saga has been an important lesson in checking these sorts of things before charging ahead of myself.

That outlet flange might also be useful, which is a nice bonus.

[egg]

On 8/5/2019 at 1:34 PM, egg said:

If autoshite was a car club where we could all rent chod from each other, I'm sure we'd all be a damn sight better off.

Anyway, proof I'm in glorious East Sussex

I've now found out that the vessel in the background is a 'jack up'  barge having a rest in port between jobs - it's normal role is to help with the foundations of offshore wind towers

https://saltkick.com/Excalibur-Jack-Up-Barge/

[ruffgeezer]

Collected this today as part of a deal from work, any one here bike lickery enough to be able to value/ id it? 

Non runner and no keys sadly.

[wuvvum]

Predecessor to the ZZR600.  If memory serves they handle rather oddly due to 16" wheels (tyres are getting awkward to find these days too).  Quickish in a straight line though.

[reb]

MY SPARE ECU IS FULL OF BABY FUCKING SPIDERS

I hate spiders.

[MikeR]

nearly got the ton !!!

 

[Fumbler]

Went to a breaker's yard in Hereford today. Brilliant visit. Pulled some mirrors off of a Micra so I now have some spares. Loads of Volvo S40s and some Fiat Cinquecentos amongst other things Should have taken photos but wasn't comfortable given the people running the place.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

2 hours ago, MikeR said:

nearly got the ton !!!

 

 

Reminds ds me of having a Yaris rental car once and going in it to Stratford upon Avon to pick up some wheels off eBay. It couldn't quite get 3 figures up on the digital speedo. The closest it came was slipstreaming a VW Touraeg, it clicked over 98........99.............94! Yes the Tourareg pulled over.

[trigger]

8 hours ago, Slowsilver said:

 

Your Marina should have rear seat belt mountings, so you can retrofit rear belts to it.:

Thanks for the photos, I did spent some time looking into this, I even bought a pair of new belts for it, there's a fixing point in the wheel well and another under the rear seat for the buckle but there isn't one for the main unit body bit, I thought about bolting it to the rear side panel and having come over the back of the seat but the panel is thin and it really needs to bolt up high but there's no mounting point up there, also the cars so original I kinda feel bad having to drill holes into it too!

 

[beko1987]

I think it's best left  virginial... If someone had tried before and the holes were there then yea, lob them on but in that state... It wouldn't feel right would it? 

Pisser really as it doesn't help you does it? 

[MorrisItalSLX]

You could potentially fit lap belts, not ideal, but better than nothing.

[Eddie Honda]

On 8/5/2019 at 7:22 PM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

London and the Home Counties is just expensive.

Well that's cobblers, as a former resident of High Wycombe, Flackwell Heath and Staines. I can assure you that my insurance in Bucks & Middx was bargainous.

[Eddie Honda]

19 hours ago, mitsisigma01 said:

Morning Eddie, who with and are most if not all insured as classics? 

Footman James. I did have a "Specialist Vehicle Insurance" policy a.k.a. Classic Car but that used to have a max of 5 (that was unlimited miles), but I have been moved to the "Multi Vehicle" scheme this year as >3 cars. I have declared market values of the cars at least £1500. Unlimited mileage on the pool would have been around £90 extra. I haven't taken the £12 extra for agreed value, but there are many bolt-ons to the policy available should you wish to tailor it. I think we can safely say they are all qualify as classics by the underwriting gods, but they also can combine modern + classic on the one policy. I'm a club member (DAF Club Nederland), but simplest thing is just give them a call and throw any particular questions you have at them. They will cover drive to work too. Admin fee for changes £25.

https://www.footmanjames.co.uk/multi-vehicle-insurance (Product information PDF downloads here)

[Eddie Honda]

19 hours ago, Lacquer Peel said:

Being poor is expensive.

If you choose to run around in a reliable cheap older car insurance is more expensive than insurance for its rubbish post-2004 equivalent.

True, but if you choose to run around in a reliable even older car the insurance gets cheaper. What you need is a BX dizzler.

[Eddie Honda]

14 hours ago, Slowsilver said:

Can't find the actual year that the rear mountings were made compulsory but it was definitely some time in the 1970s and our Maxi (built in 1977) has them.

I think it is actually c. 1981 for the UK. (Other markets or pre-compulsion may differ).

Having had a 1977 Reliant Kitten in bits and a 1981, I can tell you there are more bits welded to a 1981 chassis to comply.

[davehedgehog31]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49249884

Well whoop-de-do, my fucked 2003 Skoda Superb had a solar roof... 

In ideal conditions it could "power the car for up to 800 miles". Yep, that seems worth hacking a huge quantity of silicon out the ground and refining it into a massive solar panel. 

My 405 will do 800 miles on a tank of oil someone had cooked their chips in. Progress. 

[Lacquer Peel]

True, but if you choose to run around in a reliable even older car the insurance gets cheaper. What you need is a BX dizzler.

Can you even get classic insurance on your *only* car? Commuting to work, parked outside, 10k a year? I'm not sure that's possible but happy to be proven wrong and justify* purchasing a 30 year old 309 or BX.

 

[loserone]

With some policies you can, I've also heard of a £60 scooter being the modern.

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Lacquer Peel said:

Can you even get classic insurance on your *only* car?

im going to find out soon enough!

well to be fair i'm just hoping i can get it insure it AT ALL 

(it doesn't have to specifically be a "classic policy" per say but any normal company wont touch cars older then 20 years let alone what I own so im guessing it will have go via a classic car insurance broker)

1 hour ago, loserone said:

With some policies you can, I've also heard of a £60 scooter being the modern.

is that technically allowed because that sounds like the car equivalent of fronting LOL

although I guess if they have nothing in their policy against it then its fine?

(tho I imagine if it did become a problem like fronting did they would write something against it)

[Tickman]

1 hour ago, Lacquer Peel said:

Can you even get classic insurance on your *only* car? Commuting to work, parked outside, 10k a year? I'm not sure that's possible but happy to be proven wrong and justify* purchasing a 30 year old 309 or BX.

 

Chuck just insured the 205 as her only car, classic policy and the added complication of bring under 21.

Wasn't too horrific either.

Adrian Flux though...

[loserone]

It's not fronting if you're genuinely using a scooter as the primary modern vehicle.

 

It's "access to another vehicle"

[captain_70s]

FJ insure my Acclaim as my daily car. Although technically I have access to another car (the Dolly). The Dolly is also insured with them and the Acclaim is declared as my other car...

[anonymous user]

12 hours ago, trigger said:

Thanks for the photos, I did spent some time looking into this, I even bought a pair of new belts for it, there's a fixing point in the wheel well and another under the rear seat for the buckle but there isn't one for the main unit body bit, I thought about bolting it to the rear side panel and having come over the back of the seat but the panel is thin and it really needs to bolt up high but there's no mounting point up there, also the cars so original I kinda feel bad having to drill holes into it too!

 

Is the upper mount along the roof edge concealed by the head lining?

[trigger]

I had a little look but couldn't see anything and didn't want to take all the headlining back as I'd never get it back in again!

[MikeR]

just lined the floor of the focus with plywood so the dog has a comfier ride  ,

it can just slide into the rear seat backs if I slam on as opposed to rolling ....

[vulgalour]

Our Ital estate had rear seatbelts after Dad retrofitted them.  I don't recall him drilling holes or modifying the car in any way so I wonder if the Ital had pre-made holes where the Marina didn't.  What I can't remember is if it was the Datsun Sunny or the Morris Ital that had the seatbelts that were uncomfortable because they were mounted in the C pillar, both cars were yellow with black vinyl interiors and I was small, so they sort of blur into one in my memory.