The new news 24 thread

[GrumpiusMaximus]

2 hours ago, volvov70 said:

I had a Cowely built 1966 Morris MINI Cooper.

It used to squeak going over bumps due to body flex and regularly broke despite continuous fettling.

Cool story.

[blackboilersuit]

F**k me some days you should just stay in bed. If you're tired or just CBA then stay away from the tools as complacency will bite you in the ass!

Went to put track rod ends on the Astra, should only have taken 20 mins a side as quite a lot of the front of the car has been in bits recently. So the story goes like this.......

Forget that the first side hasn't had the threads cleaned up on the TRE and apply windy gun. Nut comes half way off and then jams and breaks the taper so the shaft is just merrily spinning away, won't wind back on either. 

Bollocks, CBA with sparks and noise of grinding off so I'll burn the nylon out of the nyloc with a blowtorch. Plan works nut winds back up, thread cleaned with wire brush then nut comes fully off with the gun. Yea, go me.......

Bollox as I notice that outer CV boot now has a hole big enough to drive through as I had my head up arse and was just going through the motions when heating up the nut on the TRE and the blowtorch was pointing at more than just the nut. 

Despair as I realise that the saab is already in bits for work happening tomorrow and that all bikes are on SORN so I'm faced with driving the astra to the factor as it slings CV grease absolutely everywhere.  This is shortly followed by the elation of remembering I have a universal stretchy boot on the shelf in the garage. Yea, go me (again!)....

Start stripping down with head full of annoyance, tiredness and CBA'ness. Drive shaft needs a tap to get it out of the hub so run on nut a couple of turns  to protect the threads and thwack it with a hammer. Bollocks again  as I see I should have wound it on further as it's now sitting at a jaunty angle. Unwind to view the now rather funky threads on the end of the shaft. All this because I couldn't be bothered to walk the 20ft back to the garage to get the deadblow hammer or a block of wood.

STOP, HAVE COFFEE AND FOOD...................................

30 minutes with (new found) patience and a junior hacksaw blade see the driveshaft threads all sorted out. I had a new nut left over from a wheel bearing kit and it now winds on easily by hand. The slightly damaged area is proud of the nut when installed so no worries.

CV cleaned up, old boot removed and new stretchy boot installed. A wry smile is raised as I notice the big plastic cone used for fitting the new boot resembles the dunces hat that I should be wearing!

Everything goes back together without any further drama and I've now stopped for lunch and more coffee before I do the other side.

I hope everybody else is having a better day.........................................

[Floatylight]

Just popped up to Stoke and picked up these 4 Michelin 205/55/16's for the Passat, 2 are brand new, the other 2 have plenty on them, on VW 5 bolt steels £40!! Billy bargain!!

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

[N19]

Wire brushing the old waxoyl and flakes off the rear spring mounts on the Capri. Going to see the man with the magic sparkly stick tomorrow to get his assessment of it. Best take my cheque book... 

[greengartside]

Small update with Dudley the Micra.

Went to the scrappers today in search of Micra bits. There were no less than 6 K11’s in, where there were none last month (March must be scrap your Micra month..) anyway, I was in search of a new aerial as Storm Dennis had decided to snap it clean off, and maybe find the elusive 14” wheel trims that would have been original to the car. The first three Micras had aftermarket trims but the fourth gained an aerial at least. The last Micra I came to was a ‘Tempest’ model just like mine.

I thought maybe my luck might be in, so I opened the boot...

JACKPOT.

These are the ones I’ve spent so long looking for. All four present and correct, unbroken with minimal scuffing.

I also liberated a wiper stalk from it too. I thought this would be the last part I could change to get the wipers to park correctly.

Other gems from the yard included..

A SUPER-CLEAN Mk2 Mondeo with NO GAFFER TAPE ON THE BUMPERS! I honestly thought I was going to have a brain seizure. I’ve never seen this type of activity on a Mondeo before. I would snap those fuckers up STAT. Only 69k on the clock, 2.0 Pez Mills-o-matic.

In the front yard and WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS DOING HERE?

Oh man that is sexual. Shame it’s ended up here.

Anyway I paid just £10 for all that haul, so a quick drive back to the ‘rents house and let’s set to on this car like John Smeaton on a terrorist.

Before: Cheap, nasty generic trims.

 

After: What a difference,

I replaced the wiper stalk and guess what...

..it only bloody works. So all that’s needed is a fresh oil change and it’s ready for an MOT! Wahoo! Video below.

(And FATHA_S Mercedes will be going to the same yard as he was offered good money for it.)

 

 

 

 

[bramz7]

That 'Rolla saloon is an import. 

I've never seen one on an L, ever. 

[New POD]

7 hours ago, volvov70 said:

I had a Cowely built 1966 Morris MINI Cooper.

It used to squeak going over bumps due to body flex and regularly broke despite continuous fettling.

Well, that's me told. Who knew? 

Did they have 2 assembly lines in the same country? Fecking madness. 

[New POD]

4 hours ago, Dannyk said:

Been a month since the mot still being a brilliant car, my dad has an app to check his MPG, I don't usually care but thought I'd check mine, Shirley this can't be right?

There's an app to convert the price per litre into mpg.  I think I've got a tab in an excel spreadsheet that converts mpg to price per mile. 

[greengartside]

39 minutes ago, bramz7 said:

That 'Rolla saloon is an import. 

I've never seen one on an L, ever. 

Yes deffo import - rear fog light on the bumper etc. Dealer sticker for Olympic Toyota on the window.

The plate now lives on a Skoda Octavia.

[egg]

@greengartside - good to see you about, and scouting around scrapyards. Keep it coming!

[wuvvum]

14 minutes ago, greengartside said:

The plate now lives on a Skoda Octavia.

Has the British car owning public become so debased / up its own arse that L115WAH is now considered a vanity plate? 

[egg]

I assume that's a rhetorical question, mon brave!

[greengartside]

7 minutes ago, egg said:

@greengartside - good to see you about, and scouting around scrapyards. Keep it coming!

Thank you kind Sir!

A shameless plug to my Flickr page if you like this sort of thing... https://www.flickr.com/photos/24252872@N05/

Not sure why anyone would want to keep L115 WAH unless it’s for sentimental reasons. I wanted to keep T451 KBE off FATHA_S Mercedes for sentimental reasons but I’ll be damned to pay £80 for the privilege!

[egg]

Though he uses the words barn find un-ironically, I will be interested to see this...

[greengartside]

The Allegro SS video he’s put up is definitely a cup of tea and biscuits job. Half an hour of much excellence.

[Split_Pin]

3 hours ago, blackboilersuit said:

 

Coffee

Liked for the saviour that is half an hour and some caffeine!

[BorniteIdentity]

I didn’t realise that Jonny Smith wasn’t doing much TV anymore; looks like the opportunities have dried up a bit - although it’s usually presented with a narrative of “Telly is dead - Youtube is the future”

I enjoyed the videos from the farm with the old heaps, but it was desperately missing some tv production and shine. There’s a really good thing waiting to happen there if they can get some proper investment and production. 

Richard Porter is brilliant; utterly wasted writing gags for Clarkson and co. I’d love to see more of him on screen. 

[wuvvum]

Got the V5C through for the Merc today, and have taxed it.  So all that's preventing me from getting it on the road is the small issue that it won't start.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Has the British car owning public become so debased / up its own arse that L115WAH is now considered a vanity plate? 

Isn't it Essex for Lisa?

[somewhatfoolish]

The reasons for it being on Teh News are grim, but my eye was drawn to an array of Iranian poojoe 405 cabs getting hosed down with disinfectant.

[DVee8]

Has anyone's Top Tech 7pc Ratchet Spanner Set ordered from ECP turned up yet?

 

[somewhatfoolish]

10 minutes ago, DVee8 said:

Has anyone's Top Tech 7pc Ratchet Spanner Set ordered from ECP turned up yet?

 

Affirmatron; it arrived this afternoon, I ordered on Sunday I think.

[richardmorris]

No reply from the recommenced dent removal guy regarding the mercedes’s deer troubled door, so I’ve just emailed the body shop. However it’s been my daily car for eight years now and I’m getting restless thoughts. Oh, and just paid for 12 months VED for it too. £265 now.

[egg]

19 minutes ago, DVee8 said:

Has anyone's Top Tech 7pc Ratchet Spanner Set ordered from ECP turned up yet?

Still no.

[Angrydicky]

Today I travelled to sunny Edmonton to collect the Rover 45 of Much Waftiness from AS legend purplebargeken. 

It was great to see Ken once more and meet Mrs PBK as well. The Rover is in impeccable condition for a 20 year old Longbridge product, Ken had described it perfectly and it was a pleasure to take ownership of this fine automobile which I shall really enjoy owning. It behaved itself perfectly, even through the horrendous Friday afternoon school run traffic in North London and the needle stayed slap bang in the middle of the temperature gauge the whole time. Very very comfortable and easy to drive. The CVT transmission is different to a normal auto but I’m used to it now.

Traditional handover shot:

 

[stuboy]

Today I attended a training course on fleet maintenance etc and on way back to base the bastard piece french crap brokedown... orange triangle.. then STOP light, pulled over asoon as safe and bloody thing rattled and stopped

[wuvvum]

49 minutes ago, DVee8 said:

Has anyone's Top Tech 7pc Ratchet Spanner Set ordered from ECP turned up yet?

 

Also no.

[Supernaut]

1 hour ago, DVee8 said:

Has anyone's Top Tech 7pc Ratchet Spanner Set ordered from ECP turned up yet?

 

Yes.

It would have arrived yesterday, but I wasn't in, so it arrived today.

[New POD]

8 minutes ago, volvov70 said:

Indeed, investigation of wiki leads me to understand that 1966 Morris Mini Coopers were all built in Longbridge. 

My bad

In my defence I bought and sold the car almost 40 years ago.

when it worked it was fun, mostly - like most’70’s shite it required weekly fettling to keep the fear at bay.

 

My dad had a 1959 Morris mini 850 deluxe 

3 gearboxes under warranty and leaks through the floor. 

The BINI really is the spiritual successor to the original. 

[reb]

As mentioned elsewhere, I've been growing tired of my stereo lighting up like a cheap disco:

So I took to eBay and exchanged twenty-five of my hard earned GBP for a somewhat nicer JVC:

It even has tilt adjustment on the face!*

It sounds absolutely fantastic compared to the one that the previous owner fitted, which I'm fairly sure was the cheapest new CD unit on eBay. There's a DAB add on box available but the cheapest I can find one at the moment is £50, which is a bit much for something I would likely use once and never again. I did buy a £10 Bluetooth box that I can plug into the aux on the back but I likely won't even use that much. MP3 CDs are where its at.

 

 

*I think a belt is slipping because it needs a helping hand else it makes concerning noises and throws an error code.