The new news 24 thread

[trigger]

I'm lucky really as my mechanic is very good but just works from a barn and is a friend of my dad so charges very little, he just took a look at my symptoms, moaned a bit about my choice in cars and said £100 plus parts which i can't argue with for a head gasket.

[M'coli]

To say my first taste of British Leyland ownership has been a negative experience so far is a bit of a understatement!

But it's the Honda engine so no chance of OMGWTFHG...oh, wait; it has. 

[Cavcraft]

I think I might have to get an Alfa now, I've fallen in love with my son's 147.

 

Been using the Speedight a bit recently too, it's ok but it's not quick enough for someone of my frame. I'll keep it a while yet then progress to something a bit faster I think.

[Angrydicky]

But it's the Honda engine so no chance of OMGWTFHG...oh, wait; it has. 

It's a shame, but any car will blow its head gasket if it's neglected for long enough. I think you said the idiot who bought it from Devon drove it 150 miles at 80mph with a clogged radiator and boiled it! Look at the Alto, they aren't known for blowing head gaskets either. My dad's Acclaim was a superbly reliable thing and lovely to drive, as you've found out. You won't regret getting it fixed.

[Fat_Pirate]

Went to see Rush, was very pleased.  It's no documentary, but it's up there with Grand Prix and Le Mans; great film.  Only an anorak would question if that Renault 5 or Fiat 128 are period or not 

[trigger]

I think you said the idiot who bought it from Devon drove it 150 miles at 80mph with a clogged radiator and boiled it!

And a non working radiator fan! That's the reason my mechanic wanted to pressure test the head as well as skimming it, it should be a nice little motor once fixed.

[Micrashed]

I have picked up today FIVE (count em) Tyres on Micra rims all with about 5mm tread for 99p (yes thats 99p for all five)

 

Rearrange the following to form a popular Autoshiteist phrase.

 

Labrador

Grip

Laminate Flooring...

Of a

On

All the

[Cavcraft]

Worse than that (and trust me I'm not making this up) an anagram of 'changchun jintong' is 'Changing Cunt John'.

 

You, sir, have quite literally got the most Autoshite-ist tyres ever.

[cort16]

I went to upullit in fife today and scored 2 headlamps and full carbon trim for 30 notes. Good, as the wood trim is bogging.

 

They also had an m reg cavalier expression 1.8 in the cars bit for 450. They only other stuff was a quite tidy ls400 for 650 and a couple of x types for 650.

[Cavcraft]

Those 'X' and 'S' Types are getting stonkingly cheap these days.

[chaseracer]

...a superbly reliable thing and lovely to drive, as you've found out. You won't regret getting it fixed.

This is why I'm spending 40% of the (very low!) purchase price sorting out the Mercedes. Yes, it shat a driveshaft after two weeks - but these things happen with old motors. Mister Wobbler's still my favourite hippie journo...

[michael t]

Back on my own PC today so there will be a Bumper Mega Shite upload coming later   

[cort16]

I went to upullit in fife today and scored 2 headlamps and full carbon trim for 30 notes. Good, as the wood trim is bogging.

 

They also had an m reg cavalier expression 1.8 in the cars bit for 450. They only other stuff was a quite tidy ls400 for 650 and a couple of x types for 650.

 

I've noticed that. You seem to be able to get decent s and x types for around a grand. The two in the yard where 2.5's I recon you could have driven off in it for 500 quid but I'll bet the dash board would be lit up like a christmas tree.

[Cavcraft]

Incontinent 306 estate fixed today. Turned out to be the far right injector (as you face the car) and on that is a sort of blanking rubber pipe as there's no leak off on that one. The pipe had perished so basically just pissed fuel out all over the shop, resulting in lots of slippery mess and bright coloured patterns in the rain.

 

Anyhow an ace local spares shop came up trumps with the little rubber pipe and some lengths of leak off pipe. Obviously the little rubber pipe just knobbed itself off as soon as I tried to fit it and has gone AWOL, so I did the next best thing by cutting some new leak off pipe off, jamming a screw in (with chewing gum to help it seal) then put a dudt cap over the top of that and we forced the MUTHA on. Resul, no leaks!

 

Anyhow my lad replaced his snapped handbrake cables on the Corsa (thanks to another small auto factors open on a Sunday) but the best news of all is saved to last...

 

 

 

 

...thanks to Barold CrapBeans. It arrived yesterday and we fitted it today. Naturally because the fitting instructions read 'do not find in damp weather, keep the sticker dry' etc, we fitted it in a force 28 gale when it was pissing down.

[dollywobbler]

Pleased to report that after disgrace on Friday, the Golf got me home from Shitefest with no problems at all, and managed a record 34mpg. That's pretty impressive considering I gave it a bit of a ragging on the way back - indicated 80mph down the motorway and overtaking duffers at every opportunity. It may have got itself back in my good books, which is nice as it makes sense to keep it for a while. GS/GSA desires on hold while I fix the Disco. Not had chance to assess it yet.

[Cavcraft]

Now 2,010 miles since I last stop for diesel. I don't reckon I'll reliably crack 3,000 though, as it's getting colder now which means the car will start getting harder and harder to start.

[trigger]

I was thinking of buying a rear window flash for my Acclaim, that chap on RR doesn't do them anymore though.

[vulgalour]

While on the subject of the fuel economies, I was impressed that the Princess managed 203 miles from half a gauge (which is about 6.6 gallons) which is around 30mpg... I'll know exactly next time I fill up.  Doesn't sound too impressive until you realise I now definitely have a blowing exhaust - sounding more and more like a Morris Minor when under load - and I went up and down the vertical Malham hills and got stuck in the queues around the M62 so I reckon apart from the little hiccup with the gears which is hopefully just an overdue fluid change on the hydraulics, that's pretty good.  I did realise the clutch and brake fluid haven't been flushed or changed for at least 2 years, I have no history before that date to tell me if/when it was done last so it's likely really, really overdue.

[ruffgeezer]

I've just dropped £111 on a pair of wheels for the Farting Flea....

 

 

...fuck!

[Ghosty]

Old man's said he wants to swap his Y-reg Civic SE for a later Civic 1.7 VTEC Coupé, citing lower tax (the current Civic would be cheaper if it was registered 3 months earlier), and higher MPG, when funds permit.

 

One of these things in a reasonable colour, auto, and under 50k miles, and in the north west preferably.

Good luck to him, though in fairness it'd be great if he got one, anything's more interesting than his current blandmobile.

[vulgalour]

So... I appear to have sold the Golf to my brother in a convoluted financial shuffle that sees all slates wiped clean.  He's happy because he loves the Golf, I'm happy because I don't have to own the Golf anymore and Dad's happy because I'll only have 2 cars living here and not 3 (which I don't have room for anyway).  There are rules imposed in the sale, one of which is that the Golf is not permitted near scrapyards and is banned from all weighbridges.  The other rule, imposed by my brother himself, is that the Golf needs to be mechanically perfect before it's allowed to go for an MoT.

 

Fingers crossed that this actually works out, in part because I'll be involved with helping restore the Golf... brother is even talking about putting the Golf back to it's original boring grey-gold colour and wants me to continue with the brown retrim of the interior.  There's hope for him yet

[Honey Badger]

Something about those Civic coupes makes me think of them as a poor copy of the old Rover R8 coupe, Honda really missed a trick not sticking the 2 litre lump from a Civic type-s in them in place of the 1.7.

 

Continuing the 2000 ish Honda coupe theme after spending 3 weeks searching for and test driving Jag S-types the wind direction has changed and I'm off to look at a 99 Accord coupe 3.0 V6 auto on Tuesday, does anyone on here know anything about them?

[vulgalour]

You see this?  This is proof that I'm some sort of mental.  Deposit paid for delivery from Plymouth and just a final date sometime in the last week of September to finalise with the present owner who I've been in regular contact with for the past couple of weeks.

 

I can't begin to justify this to normal people, that's actually impossible.  But it's a very late Princess, one of the last, with a 2ltr O series on a manual box in HLS trim in a fabulous colour combination that's just a bit down at heel... and probably a bit rusty... and probably has all the problems my HL did when I first got it.

 

This is the best photo I presently have of it.  It's been off the road for 12 long years, obviously it's the most rational thing to replace my Mk1 Golf that'd been off the road for 3 years.

[cms206]

You see this?  This is proof that I'm some sort of mental.  Deposit paid for delivery from Plymouth and just a final date sometime in the last week of September to finalise with the present owner who I've been in regular contact with for the past couple of weeks.

 

I can't begin to justify this to normal people, that's actually impossible.  But it's a very late Princess, one of the last, with a 2ltr O series on a manual box in HLS trim in a fabulous colour combination that's just a bit down at heel... and probably a bit rusty... and probably has all the problems my HL did when I first got it.

 

This is the best photo I presently have of it.  It's been off the road for 12 long years, obviously it's the most rational thing to replace my Mk1 Golf that'd been off the road for 3 years.

That looks OKK to me! TBH I prefer the quad headlights on the beige one but a Princess is a Princess.

[Mr Livered]

Glad to see you've managed to sort the delivery issue Vulg. As a Devonian I was scratching my head trying to figure out how I could be of assistance, before coming to the realisation (again) that I'm pretty useless really. Looking forwards to hearing that you managed to get it back to Vulgalor Towers

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Looks ace!!!

[nigel bickle]

Looks like its nearly ready to go. Nice one

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

100% CLASS. 

[Brent_Crude]

You see this?  This is proof that I'm some sort of mental.  Deposit paid for delivery from Plymouth and just a final date sometime in the last week of September to finalise with the present owner who I've been in regular contact with for the past couple of weeks.

 

I can't begin to justify this to normal people, that's actually impossible.  But it's a very late Princess, one of the last, with a 2ltr O series on a manual box in HLS trim in a fabulous colour combination that's just a bit down at heel... and probably a bit rusty... and probably has all the problems my HL did when I first got it.

 

This is the best photo I presently have of it.  It's been off the road for 12 long years, obviously it's the most rational thing to replace my Mk1 Golf that'd been off the road for 3 years.

Seems like perfectly rational behaviour to me. That could be bloody ace

[purplebargeken]

You are a complete and utter nutjob.

 

Fabulous buy and love the colour. The Golf was never really you anyway. Stick with what you know and well, what you know.  12/10 for pure autoshite joyousness.