The new news 24 thread

[dollywobbler]

Stands a fair chance. Some grease monkeys still seem to think using an impact driver to do wheelnuts up is a good idea. Then they get the torque wrench out and 'click' them all, even though none of them have moved because they're already over-torqued. 

[trigger]

That would make sense.

[oldford]

My boss has got a Voyager - so that's something to look forward to.  Only problem is, that my name's on its recent rest certificate. He didn't like the comment I made about scanning it with a bar code reader after his recent altercation with a concrete gate post (black car with white primer) and he liked the MOT fail somewhat less.

[Ghosty]

Theory test is at 12pm tomorrow. Not worried about multi-choice as it's a piece of piss, just possibly hazard perception.

[Junkman]

Ah, bollox. You'll be fine.

[Ghosty]

Theory test is at 12pm tomorrow. Not worried about multi-choice as it's a piece of piss, just possibly hazard perception.

Passed first time!

[barefoot]

Well done Miss.

[dollywobbler]

Sadly (unless you are Gary Cox) the Disco's steelies are unlikely to be revived in time for Shitefest, so I guess it'll be staying on the even-more-povo Defender steelies. Need to get two cracked tyres swapped for new'uns. 

 

General consensus with the Golf is that the shockers are entirely knackered, and the springs are probably tired. I think that will be getting ignored for now. Still handles tidily.

 

2CV is the steed for the weekend as we're off to the snazzily titled Citroen Car Club Midland Section Rally at Stratford upon Avon racecourse. I'm hoping for a reunion with at least one of my previously owned BXs.

[RobT]

 

 

2CV is the steed for the weekend as we're off to the snazzily titled Citroen Car Club Midland Section Rally at Stratford upon Avon racecourse. I'm hoping for a reunion with at least one of my previously owned BXs.

 

I'm collecting my new R8 shite from Warwick on Sunday, might pop along to this on the way home Ian if it's open to the public (depending on entrance fee as I'm now skint!).

[dollywobbler]

£5 I think, though I've now discovered that the DS3 club will be having a gathering there. I still don't get what's interesting about these blobby messes. 

[Junkman]

There is a lot of plastic stuff you can add and you can put some boom-boom boxes in the boot, you know.

[Ghosty]

A low-spec diesel DS3 is one of the three cars I've driven (the other two being Corsa SXis) and they're just bland. If anything, the Corsa is nicer...

 

 

Well done Miss.

If that refers to me, I'm male!

[Jim Bell]

A low-spec diesel DS3 is one of the three cars I've driven (the other two being Corsa SXis) and they're just bland. If anything, the Corsa is nicer...

 

 

If that refers to me, I'm male!

Not till you've passed your practical.

[Ghosty]

I suppose the Corsa comment does no favours. It's not good, just not as bad as a DS3.

[wuvvum]

Tell you what, a mate of mine who is a driving instructor has just bought a Corsa D 1.3 CDTi.  I followed him along the back roads to the classic car auction at Kings Lynn last Saturday, and I was amazed with how well the thing went.  Wasn't particularly comfortable to ride in mind, and was surprisingly cramped for such a massive car, but the way that little 1.3 diesel went when the turbo kicked in at 2,000rpm was proper impressive.  Still wouldn't buy one though.

[Sigmund Fraud]

I was bored this morning, so I decided to try running the Megane on some SVO, which I've been meaning to do for ages.

 

One gallon of delicious* soya oil went into the tank, giving a roughly 30% mix. The car started without issues at 15°C ambient temperature. It seemed to run more smoothly than on Tesco's finest* DERV alone and was more willing to rev - by naturally aspirated diesel standards, of course !

 

I drove it to the shops, which revealed the only potential risk of SVO ; the car seemed to attract the attention of a remarkable number of obese young ladies ! I can only assume they caught a whiff of the exhaust fumes and thought a mobile McD's was heading their way !

 

[wuvvum]

Just a heads up - Tesco are doing some piss cheap oil at the moment.  2 litres of 5w30 fully synth for £2.50, or 15w40 turbo diesel for £2.  There may be others, but that's all my local garage had in stock.

[Ghosty]

Farting about on GoCompare gave me a cheaper, albeit still ridiculous quote, for a Cortina 1.6GL, than an L-reg Astra 1.4 and a P-reg Cincquecento 0.9, by a few hundred quid.

Pays to be original tasteful.

[Lankytim]

I found that google found dead cheap car insurance quotes, I can't remember how to get into the quote area now though!

 

I didn't even know google provided insurance quotes like go compare and the like.

[Richard]

They might not do it any more, they retired some of their little-used services a while back.

[r.welfare]

They still do: https://www.google.co.uk/compare/carinsurance/form?_mc=wl_MSExpert_3981

[Ghosty]

I just tried that and the best quote was £2k more than GoCompare's best quote that wasn't a women-only insurer.

[rml2345]

Insurance for the young is a proper rip off at the moment. 
Volvo now wears a new tax disc for the next year thanks to the local Post Office. I must be the only one left who likes to go to the local PO and pay someone to give me the little paper circle. 

[vulgalour]

Not shitey enough, but still very, very pretty.

 

I was helping by fitting this carpet set which looks far better in the photograph than it really is.  I quite literally could have done a better job of it myself and if things go according to plan, I will be doing just that sort of thing.

 

I'm just glad that Mike trusted me enough to help out with the Alfas, it's probably the most expensive thing I've ever had my hands on.

[Cavcraft]

Insurance for the young is a proper rip off at the moment. 

Volvo now wears a new tax disc for the next year thanks to the local Post Office. I must be the only one left who likes to go to the local PO and pay someone to give me the little paper circle. 

 

Having taxed three in two weeks myself, I reckon you might be the only one who enjoys it!

 

 

Fleet news:

 

406: going for scrap tomorrow I think. It's donated it's snazzy floor mates to the... 

 

306 estate: taxed, but decided to imitate one or two of my other motors and piss fluid all over the place. My lad spotted a leaking injector, he thinks it's probably a seal. What a waste of veg oil though! Also went to replace a couple of bulbs, but we think the problem is fuse related.

 

Black cab: taxed, fixed fag lighter (fuse, as Ken had suggested), went to have a look at door lock problem but upon removing door card it seems the bolts are rounded off to bollocks. No biggie, once time permits we will drill them out. Power steering leak seems to be coming from steering rod 'thing' which we suspect must have a seal in it. It's not the end of the world just yet so will have to keep topping it up occasionally until we find the part and replace it.

 

306 hatch: Nothing to report except it's creeping towards 1,700 miles since last petrol station stop now.

 

Speedfight: Nowt much, but it keeps subliminally telling me to insure it and razz round on it for a while. It really does seem great fun and has a reasonable amount of poke.

 

My lad's Corsa has 'done a Vauxhall' and the handbrake cable/s have pinged. I swear Vauxhall must have used Chinese cycle brake wire to make the handbrake cables out of, they never seem to last long.

[phil_lihp]

Were I not off on my travels next week I'd seriously consider trying to save the 406, I don't like to see good cars get crushed but obviously sometimes its the only sensible option. Dare I suggest a 24hr ebay auction?

[cort16]

My SD1 doesn't have an air filter. It never has and this obviously isn't very good so decided it was time to do something about it. I bought a cone filter off ebay to fit onto the intank for the carbs but the angle of the exisiting intake meant it fouled on the intake manifold. I chopped a bit out, bent it up then welded section back in. Seems to work okay and cost 10 quid.

Also the shit HT leads I bought are slight too long at the end so weren't engaging on to the plugs properly so i trimmed the ends and with a little tweak to the timing seems to be running a bit better.

 

The final thing to fix was the intermitant horn not beeping. I found it rolling around in the front grill not connected to anything, tested it off a battery charger (okay) , cleaned the contacts and bolted it back on. The way the cars parked in the garage means there's a small triangle of space in front of the car so I was in there in the fetal position trying to bolt on the pissing horn for about 20 minutes. I then told my glamous assistant* to peep the horn to see if it worked. Unfortunately my head was about 2 inches from the horn and it worked REALLY well. I can still here the bastard rattling about in my head now.

 

Just need to get it back in for the retest now.

[trigger]

 

Oh yeah! Currently at in South Minns services with a KFC whilst nursing a hangover and driving home with this bad boy! My neighbours are going to love me!

[cort16]

Is the purchase and the heavy drinking that caused the purchase related? It looks great. OMG it's so OTT

[trigger]

If anyone asks, yes it is!