The new news 24 thread

[RobT]

For a brief moment you were cured.  It never lasts, we all know the feeling!

[Bren]

Reassembly of the SD1 continues -

I have got all the headlights working - the underbonnet lights, despite not looking original, have never worked. Cleaning the connections made no difference.

I cheated by connectind the lights connectors ( behind the end of the bonnet) to my battery charger. They work.

But not from the cars own supply. I began checking the connections behind the n/s headlight. I managed to find 12 v at a bullet connector which feeds the lights - so I have a wire or connector issue.

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, chaseracer said:

Zel.  Two words:

Side.  Pipes.

Thank me later ?

Sadly given the lack of ground clearance or generally any cubic nanometre of space anywhere on this car I think that would be really difficult to engineer. 

The exhaust on this runs very nearly above the height of the floorpan for most of its length, with the main silencers right in front of the rear axle...sure it could be done...but it would mean basically making a whole new system...and I'd rather not be throwing four figure sums of money at what is absolutely a luxury.  Plus the cutouts in the rear valance would look odd without anything in them.

Already have a side pipe (ridiculous one at that) on the van at least, though I do wish it was on my side.

[PhilA]

1 hour ago, cort16 said:

Does it have cylinder decactivation?

Thankfully yes. De-selecting that changes it to about two-thirds of the average economy.

Phil

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, Speedy said:

Must have been shared and driven back-to-back. No way one person could do 128k in 15ish months, surely?

When I first knew the cab trade they were using Ovlov 145's like you see Piouses now. Some were Hackneys, shared as the plates here cost around £30k then! So, obs interstellar mileages resulted. 

[wuvvum]

Didn't get as much done today as I would have liked, primarily because every time I tried to get on with anything it'd start belting it down with rain.  I had to go out and get a headlight bulb for the 75, as the offside dipped bulb blew last night.  They're a right fiddly twat to fit even with the access hatch - that poxy spring clip is a bastard,

I thought I might start investigating the Innocenti's subframe.  Greatly to my surprise, all of the bolts (the five subframe mounting bolts, the bolt that holds the lower arm onto the subframe and the anti-roll bar retaining nut) cracked off easily.  Even the lock washer on the lower arm bolt bent back without a fight.  Whether this means they'll all come all the way undone without a fight remains to be seen, but it's a good start.  If we get a dry weekend with not too many distractions I think I should be able to get it swapped over.  I also wire brushed and Kurusted the inner sills / edge of the floorpans - I'll give the offside a spray of underseal next time I have the car up on the ramps, the nearside will need to wait until the hole at the back is patched up.  I've also finally reached the conclusion that the exhaust centre section is beyond help, so I'm going to order a new one, which won't be particularly cheap - the joys of owning a car which is the only example of its type in the country.

I took the Renault 6 for a quick spin as it hadn't been out for a while.  The lights were playing up again - the nearside indicators stopped flashing whenever I braked.  Last time this happened I "cured" it by wiggling the earth wire for the nearside rear light unit - this time I thought I'd better do the job properly, so I got under the car and found the earth was in fact two bits of wire which I'd twisted together as a temporary bodge when fitting the lights a few years back, then never got round to sorting properly.  So the manky ends of the two wires were cut off, the insulation stripped back and they were joined together with a proper connector - hopefully that'll avoid the issue arising again.  I do still need to look at the offside front brake caliper though as it's still sticking on a bit when I brake hard - a swift twat with a rubber mallet frees it off so it's not sticking badly, but it's an annoyance.  Last time I tried having a look (a couple of years ago  now) I gave up because I couldn't get the caliper off the disc due to the lip which had worn round the edge of the disc.  I now own a large enough G-clamp to (hopefully) persuade the pads far enough apart to clear the disc, and I can then grease whatever needs greasing (and also check that the discs aren't wearing too thin).

[stuboy]

Had been putting off tidying up boot of the car, so bought some reduced basket from tesco.. hopefully i can cure the habit of just lobbing it in and shutting the boot..lol

[mitsisigma01]

Anyone would think you had a Laguna with the amount of tools you carry ?

[richardmorris]

[Ghosty]

Dad came to me this morning and asked if I'd go on a collection mission for him. His long term friend and occasional colleague is selling one of his cars, and doesn't have time to sell it - could I retrieve it and do it up to sell on his behalf?

The thing is, it's a similar value to the C30, won't be much worse on fuel, far more likely to go up in value, and practicality is less important now I have the 205. 

If I like how it drives I might buy it and sell the C30 because absurdly, the C30 is twice as much to insure. 

[mitsisigma01]

Intrigued already, just get it bought anyway, whether it's sensible or financially beneficial is irrelevant ?

[bunglebus]

Mate asked me to help with some spanner twirling the other day - Ashtray now has a nice new exhaust (under £100, Formula 1 wanted £300+) and a set of lowering springs.

We were somewhat hot and sweaty after struggling with bolts that hadn't been undone in ever

 

20200626_151225 by RS, on Flickr

 

Wetter weather last night at least provided me with this

 

20200628_202323 by RS, on Flickr

[HMC]

3 hours ago, richardmorris said:

I don’t know much about these but the overall proportions and high profile tyres (and in the context of all the other stock they have) make me think that is not a fake snake.

I freely admit to utter confusion with these as some are “genuine” but were made on unused chassis numbers in more recent times. Surely anything not contemporaneous, no matter who made it is a “replica”? “Continuation” seems the word aka expensive and made by the modern equivalent of the manufacturer, or someone who has special permission etc.

Whenever, whenever it was made I bet it made a great noise!

[LightBulbFun]

35 minutes ago, HMC said:

I don’t know much about these but the overall proportions and high profile tyres (and in the context of all the other stock they have) make me think that is not a fake snake.

I freely admit to utter confusion with these as some are “genuine” but were made on unused chassis numbers in more recent times. Surely anything not contemporaneous, no matter who made it is a “replica”? “Continuation” seems the word aka expensive and made by the modern equivalent of the manufacturer, or someone who has special permission etc.

Whenever it was made I bet it made a great noise!

there are probably more genuine AC's on this forum then there is on an actual AC forum

[Borsuq]

Had a bit of a poke around the Polonez interior today and discovered that the previous owner was a bit of a butcher. Good thing he only owned the car briefly.

In an attempt to replace the original radio, he ended up cutting the original wiring, giving up on doing a proper job and nicking the lighter socket power to run the new radio.

Was already considering sending the car off to an electrician to get a few niggles sorted (broken wiring going to the driver's door and the loom starting to crack inside the bootlid shut), so having to redo some of the wiring under the dash has made that decision easier. Got an appointment tomorrow so hopefully it'll get done this week so that the car can go to the paint shop on friday.

[richardmorris]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

I don’t know much about these but the overall proportions and high profile tyres (and in the context of all the other stock they have) make me think that is not a fake snake.

I freely admit to utter confusion with these as some are “genuine” but were made on unused chassis numbers in more recent times. Surely anything not contemporaneous, no matter who made it is a “replica”? “Continuation” seems the word aka expensive and made by the modern equivalent of the manufacturer, or someone who has special permission etc.

Whenever, whenever it was made I bet it made a great noise!

The noise is what made me look out of the window. Even through the double glazing you could hear a deep base burble. 

[Six-cylinder]

@ianbmw has forgotten his password, what is the system for getting it back?

[Mrs6C]

5 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Wetter weather last night at least provided me with this

If you squint a bit, that rainbow photograph is pretty much the Astra's rear wheel, tyre and wheelarch...

[Mrs6C]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

@ianbmw has forgotten his password, what is the system for getting it back?

There is a Password reset function on the AS login screen. Click on that and follow the instructions sent by email to the address used for siging up to AS.

[loserone]

Not a grin, not a grump, not car related, just a bit sad.

 

Mrs L1 had a request from a friend for some assistance in dispatching a very poorly chicken which was obviously in a lot of pain.  Just been along and done it, showing the friend's husband how to do it and trying to show some respect for the life I've just taken.  

Two blokes who've never met before, holding a corpse in a bag to stop it from flapping for minutes until it stops trying, and then trying not to look in each others eyes as they both clearly have some dust* in them or something.  

Then talking about the excitement of hatching eggs and growing chicks, more apt as his wife is 28weeks pregnant.

Probably not wording it very well, but doing something like that builds an enormous sense of one's place in the world, and makes me think I don't really want to eat something that was alive which someone didn't get at least a lump in their throat over.

[hairnet]

3 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

@ianbmw has forgotten his password, what is the system for getting it back?

register as forgetfuloldfart

@tobyd @chaseracer sort him out ffs

[barefoot]

You may remember that last year I fitted new curtains to my bay window van, and then promptly drove it back under my car port with the roof still raised. What a twat! The renewal for my other three vehicles; 75, 944 & Scirocco has just come through with Peter James. I rang up to confess my accident & there was no increase in premium! £320 the lot! 

[SiC]

19 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

@ianbmw has forgotten his password, what is the system for getting it back?

Ask your missus to reset it for him, she's an admin user!

[paulplom]

I'm after a bit of advice. Cash out or not.

I'm very nervous. Think of the shite I could buy!

 

 

[wuvvum]

'Kinell.  If that was me I would cash the f*ck out.  A bird in the hand being worth 2.33995 in the bush etc.

[andyberg]

Shit yeah, cash out. Its a guaranteed £39k yes you could win more, but as it stands now that's £38k more than you had last week. If you lose it in a couple of weeks you will be gutted. You have 38k now, but only MAY have 90k in a couple of weeks. You are a winner already

[Agila]

CASH OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[paulplom]

I wish it was mine! A mate put it on fb. I'd cash out.

[hairnet]

cash out obvs

leeds nope - been there before and they have no balls

man city

if they were inthe final then maybe.........but semi still............no

 

[BorniteIdentity]

As my old Doris says, you never see a bookie on a bicycle. Take the money and scarper (if this is for real).

I’d not be wondering about the other £60k, Leeds will blow it again anyway.