The new news 24 thread

[dollywobbler]

I'm having a bit of a 2CV crisis. I'm not enjoying the driving experience so much lately. This causes me great concern. Took it for a bloody good hoon earlier, but it felt more exhausting than enjoyable. I think I need to borrow a less knackered one to see if the problem is me or the car. Or perhaps I need to stop owning things like W124 Mercs, which offer a very, very different driving experience. So much refinement, serenity and speed! (though the 2CV is a LOT more fun down a twisty road if you're in the mood to push on).

[holbeck]

My first properly new picture and a great way to kick off a new week.  I had this urge to draw something inspired by Russian religious ikons this morning and instead ended up with this, which I'm actually rather pleased with.  Certainly the sort of thing I'd like to draw more of, so we'll see how I go.  Sam Glover should also be credited for unwittingly providing the inspiration for the content.

 

Should you wish to buy the original of this it is for sale.

I can confirm that the circular aluminium trim around the light is made from a quality brand of pie dish

[myglaren]

Daughter #2 has bought a new car.

 

1997 Escort cabriolet.  It's in Cornwall and she has to drive it back to Teeside.

 

What could possibly go wrong? 

[Barry Cade]

MGF passed it's MOT today :0  Emissions perfect, 118,000 miles.. in your face K series haterz...

[Barry Cade]

Now this is why I have Green Flag: they follow me to Asda in case anything goes wrong...

Well, one of them does anyway! 10/10 sir.

 

 

 

Volvo spotted again this morning at 07.40.  Green Flag. We've got you covered.......

 

 

Anyone got a Zazophoretz or a Horsey Horseless? Could have a bit of fun at B+Q

 

http://www.greenflag.com/healthchecks.html

[CreepingJesus]

I'll probably be going back along the A91 about 5 ish, if it's any help. If you really can't wait, nip into Prestonhall, it should be there somewhere. Hopefully.

[The Moog]

Back from my trip abroad and I was excited to see my new steed, M Reg Pug 306 XRDT bought unseen from a guy on blue forum and transported to my mums house. MOT till Feb next year and with shipping costs etc owes me £300.

 

Online insurance was only £200 fully comp (scottish address FTW). 

 

Battery was dead, so went and bought a new one. New battery on, no joy. After having a poke and finding a very odd green toggle switch, loads of odd wires in engine bay, I worked out it was Immobilizer.  

 

Cue Micrashed to the rescue and she started in a plume of smoke ... rattling like a proper old tractor. It has a Bosch pump so will be veggie soon enough. Driven it up and down the drive and everything feels ok. I know the clutch was high so will keep an eye on that. 

 

First bodge completed, the bonnet stay clip was broken so a cable tie soon sorted that. Changed the diesel filter as well. Will do oil in a couple of days as I need to do the cam belt before using her fully.  

Things to do

• Cambelt
• Waterpump
• Oil change
• Air Filter
• Driver door card is loose
• Rev counter fix
• Stereo (got a philips one in but wrong connections)
• Mats 
• Sort out sticking handle on rear door
• get a front badge
• Sort out broken numberplate
• Clean and polish it

First impressions are good. Looks pretty good, done 155K and certainly that shows in places. Inside is a niceish place to be. Got elecy windows and PAS so Missus is happy. She is ultimately going to end up the owner as i am going to get Ruffgeezers Xantia aas we have adopted two massive dogs arriving in October.  

[dollywobbler]

Thought I'd see how long the Disco's clutch would continue working after bleeding it up. Not very is the answer! Could just buy a new slave cylinder, but have bought a (Bearmach) rebuild kit instead, just so I can find out how these things work. I mean, how hard could it be?

[worldofceri]

Scored a front door and mirror in the right colour yesterday from a friendly local Polski vehicle dismantlist to replace the biffed one on the S40.  He didn't have the rear o/s though, so still on the lookout for one of those;  I'm going to wait and see if one turns up in the right colour, 'cause I can't be arsed having to get them painted.

 

Then today, an exhaust section turns up for the Argenta, courtesy of Mr Bo11ox.  It's been rattling and blowing for a while now, so hopefully that should get sorted this weekend.

 

Meanwhile, Mrs_Ceri has been buying bits for our Beetle, since the plan is that she will be clattering around in it come October when the Argenta returns to Crewe, and this means we need rear seatbelts.  I boshed these in t'other weekend :

Not the most elegant installation but means we can strap a child seat in at least.

 

Of course, this is putting the cart before the horse somewhat as I am yet to formulate complete solutions for how I'm going to repair the fuel line, mount the headlights or solve the cold-starting issue, let alone what ever else it might need for an mot!

[Lankytim]

Finished my job today.

 

Goodbye electronics, Hello working on rotten old shite (and a bit of HGV driving)

[Sigmund Fraud]

I had the afternoon off today, so I decided to get some pre-MoT work done on the 740.

 

I knew the brakes were overdue some attention, so I decided to tackle them first : jack on, wheels off, caliper bolts off. Pistons looking nice and shiny, plenty of meat on the pads... hey, wait a second... the inner pad on the offside is down to the metal ! And why doesn't the lower slider pin move at all ? Hmmm... Let me try some gentle persuasion... *SNAP*

 

I won't reproduce the torrent of profanity that followed, but the pin was rusted to buggery and broke in half, rendering the caliper carrier useless.

 

A couple of phonecalls revealed that there are no 740s in the local scrappy and that the Volvo dealership parts system lists all the bits I need as NLA.

 

No problem, there's a lovely 760 in the corner, which has the same type of caliper (choice of two types in Volvos of that era) and can temporarily lend its carriers to its smaller brother. Jack on, wheels off, caliper bolts off. All looking splendid, slider pins are nice and smooth. Carrier bolts off, and I walk smugly towards the 740. I try the 760 carrier on and realise that it's too big. And then the penny drops : the 740 has smaller diameter discs than the 760, the calipers on both are identical so... yep, you guessed it, the carriers are different !

 

More profanity followed, and when I calmed down I decided that going down the OMG TUNING BIG BRAKE CONVERSION route would be the easiest and fastest way to get the 740 working again. As the discs on the 760 are well below the 24mm minimum thickness, I admitted temporary defeat and returned indoors to order some new discs.

 

Now my wallet is £25 lighter, and tomorrow some demented sloth from Yodel will be picking up a heavy parcel with my address on it... Let's hope it gets here before the weekend, so I can get some more work done and book the thing for its test next week.

 

 

Here's a random picture of my well-equipped* workshop*, also demonstrating an interesting, alternative use for SWMBO's posh ceramic flowerpots :

[vulgalour]

Of course, this is putting the cart before the horse somewhat as I am yet to formulate complete solutions for how I'm going to repair the fuel line, mount the headlights or solve the cold-starting issue, let alone what ever else it might need for an mot!

 

Duct Tape should do it.  Probably.  Just use lots until things stop leaking and falling out.

[Cavcraft]

Way to go, Tim, hope it works out for you chief.

 

 

Meanwhile the Corsa did NOT break down today, if suffered from hereditary OPS syndrome and decided that Runcorn Expressway was the best place to piss out it's oil.

 

The RAC fella was ace. He routed round for an OPS, didn't have one and rang round to see where he could get one. One of his oppo's had the bit so he towed us to McDonalds, shot off to get it whilst we grabbed a bite to eat and before you know it he was outside fitting it for us. Luckily no damage done to engine as we knocked the engine off as soon as the oil light came on.

[cms206]

My girlfriend has ok'd purchase of another car, apparantly because I neither drink nor smoke this is okay. To this end I am off to look at an E-reg 760 Turbo saloon on Sunday which only has a 5-figure mileage and caramac leather interior. Eight weeks before we move into our own house.

 

I fear I may be quite, quite skint, quite, quite shortly.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

My girlfriend has ok'd purchase of another car, apparantly because I neither drink nor smoke this is okay. 

 

Glad to hear other people using that as justification for spending money. "I see [acquaintance] smokes a couple packs a week - he's spending £730 a year on cigarettes! I don't smoke, so if I spent that on myself I'd be no worse off than if I'd smoked for a year".

 

"But some people smoke a pack a day, and that's £2,500 a year... it doesn't matter that this car costs more, plus the insurance, because I don't smoke a pack a day!"

 

You've got to be careful though, last year I bought a laptop on the strength of not being addicted to heroin. 

[dollywobbler]

It seems I might be swapping the BX for a Volks(Watanabe please look away now)wagen Golf Mk2 Driver. My fleet archives reveal that I'm yet to own a Volkswagen. More on this breaking news story next week, when the exchange will hopefully take place. I'm already very excited about the idea of having TWO windscreen wipers. 

[Lukas]

I was excited about your idea of buying a Perodua or a Matiz and a bit disappointed to to read it might be a VW Golf II.

[hairnet]

ROFLMAO - what lukas said (ps did you buy something yet)

 

stickerbomb and roofrack imminent

[dollywobbler]

I'll get the Nitromors on order...

 

Worry ye not though - I'm pretty sure I'll end up with something hopeless, small and Korean at some point. I don't rush these things. It took me two decades to get a Discovery!

[Sigmund Fraud]

Mr.Wobbler, I hate to be a pessimist but I give you a couple of weeks before you're terminally bored with the Golf - I've found the GTi's pleasant to drive but the lesser models are just dull.

 

At least, it should be pretty easy to sell on, thanks to the 'iron cross, worn-out suitcase and pineapple' brigade.

[Volksy]

Took the 205 on a long run over to Lancashire then Sheffield and back to Leeds. I've started to notice a slight rumble from a driveshaft so have ordered two new ones today. Each was £35.00 which isn't bad for brand new complete ones.

 

It does have an annoying design fault though, if you have the window open in the rain, the corner of the hood drips water onto your right thigh and the seat bolster. No wonder the bolsters on these are always buggered.

[cms206]

Glad to hear other people using that as justification for spending money. "I see [acquaintance] smokes a couple packs a week - he's spending £730 a year on cigarettes! I don't smoke, so if I spent that on myself I'd be no worse off than if I'd smoked for a year".

 

"But some people smoke a pack a day, and that's £2,500 a year... it doesn't matter that this car costs more, plus the insurance, because I don't smoke a pack a day!"

 

You've got to be careful though, last year I bought a laptop on the strength of not being addicted to heroin.

It was her who said it, not me! In fairness she doesn't smoke or drink either and uses that as an excuse to buy shoes she can't walk in so fair's fair I suppose.

[dollywobbler]

Mr.Wobbler, I hate to be a pessimist but I give you a couple of weeks before you're terminally bored with the Golf - I've found the GTi's pleasant to drive but the lesser models are just dull.

 

At least, it should be pretty easy to sell on, thanks to the 'iron cross, worn-out suitcase and pineapple' brigade.

 

To be honest, what I want is 'dull' at the moment. I just hope it also proves dependable. 

[vulgalour]

DW don't do it!  The Mk2 is a basic old thing, it's true, but it has none of the charm of the 2CV, none of the comfort of the Merc and none of the go anywhere capability of the Disco.  It also has none of the fun of the Matiz and is one of the most boring cars ever.  In fact, the only car more boring than a Mk2 Golf I've ever driven was a Toyota Carina E and even typing the name of that car brings me close to narcolepsy.  Try it, but only if you can give it back, don't spend money on one.

 

There are more interesting VWs you could try.  I'd Lupo is probably a bit more your bag, a Beetle certainly is and a Mk2 Passat estate would very much suit, but not the Mk2 Golf, Driver or otherwise.

 

EDITED TO ADD:  just saw you wanted 'dull'.  Fine, go for it, the Mk2 Golf has that in SPADES.

[Volksy]

I'm already very excited about the idea of having TWO windscreen wipers. 

 

But are they on the right way? Some were supplied with the LHD set up.

[dollywobbler]

Yes. They changed over in about 1987 I think. This one's a 1990 1.6 Driver. Don't see many with the LHD set up these days. I remember Top Gear complaining about them!

[cort16]

Sounds like you where quite lucky with that Billy. Is that a 1.0 12v power house in there?

[Cavcraft]

It's a 3 banger 1.0, Glenn. Not sure how many valves, quite possibly in the minus though!

 

It's one redeeming feature though is mpg. It might sound like a Briggs & Stratton running on Woodbines and cat piss but its effing ace on juice.

[Slappy]

My Fiesta having just turned 10 years old passed it's MOT first time. Not really AS territory yet I know, but as it's my 1st car it's nice to know I haven't kippered it in the 9 months that I'd owned it thus far . Treated it to some fresh boots at the front as a reward for good behaviour

[dollywobbler]

Hey, I've owned the Discovery for over two months and I'm not bored of it yet, even though it's broken! Must be some sort of record.