The new news 24 thread

[phil_lihp]

Some may remember the yellow MG ZR, formerly owned by @Six-cylinder which I bought a few years back, didn't get on with it and almost immediately sold it to a friend who's had it ever since.

Well I found out a few days ago that it finally succumbed to a plethora of issues and has ended its days at an MG breakers.  It'd been parked up since about September last year with suspected head gasket failure as it was consuming coolant at an increasing rate having already had the inlet manifold gaskets changed a while back.  The bodywork was looking very tatty even before that and had been getting worse, then it blew a hole in its exhaust manifold.  They'd replaced it with a very early MINI at that point and it hadn't really moved in the last 8 months, so when he looked it over recently and found that one of the sills had rotted through in several places that was the end of it.  It's gone off to help other ZRs live on though so there is that at least.

 

[wuvvum]

Sill rot is what finally did for the Rover of Doom.  It is a bit of a weakness on R3s.

[brownnova]

The 9000 performed nearly faultlessly for the journey to work... it was like setting an old friend again. I’d forgotten how much I like it!! 

[mitsisigma01]

27 minutes ago, phil_lihp said:

has ended its days at an MG breakers. 

That's the tidiest scrapyard I've ever seen ???

[Supernaut]

9 minutes ago, brownnova said:

The 9000 performed nearly faultlessly for the journey to work... it was like setting an old friend again. I’d forgotten how much I like it!! 

I've only seen my one three times so far!

I hope the garage get it sorted today. I want to waft about in it at the weekend!

[Six-cylinder]

43 minutes ago, phil_lihp said:

Well I found out a few days ago that it finally succumbed to a plethora of issues and has ended its days at an MG breakers.  It'd been parked up since about September last year with suspected head gasket failure as it was consuming coolant at an increasing rate having already had the inlet manifold gaskets changed a while back.  The bodywork was looking very tatty even before that and had been getting worse, then it blew a hole in its exhaust manifold.  They'd replaced it with a very early MINI at that point and it hadn't really moved in the last 8 months, so when he looked it over recently and found that one of the sills had rotted through in several places that was the end of it.  It's gone off to help other ZRs live on though so there is that at least.

When I had three MGs, I still have the other two.

[phil_lihp]

I enjoyed driving the one on the left a lot more than the middle one to be honest!   Just one of those cars I never gelled with, but my friends loved it even when it broke down on their driveway while I was selling it to them and it left their house on a flatbed!  Turned out just to be the fuel pump relay which I swapped with the rear window one.  It went through a few issues with the wiring to the starter motor but after that was fixed it didn't give too many further issues.  When they started to notice HGF symptoms I took it back home for a few days to fiddle with and ironically that was probably the last trip of any significant length it went on before it was parked up.  It did OK really, it cost them peanuts to buy and run and went through two MOTs with minimal hassle.  

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

I see a Maybach. 57 or 62?

I didn't see it go in, so can't say.

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

When I had three MGs, I still have the other two.

hnng sick in mouth and barrrrrrrrrfffffffffffff (sorry)

[hairnet]

just found out an as roffle vehicle is RIP DEID EX PARROT ETC

chap is fine tho

[Borsuq]

Well, I guess I'm Polonezless for the weekend. It's away at a paint shop.

It's an extremely clean example to begin with, but there was some pretty bad rust underneath rear quarterlights:

I had all that stuff welded up and painted with some primer the other week pending being able to find a cheap and decent bodyshop:

And now the time's come to get that area painted. They're also going to paint the rear surface of the spoiler to get rid of a ding someone put in it within a week of me buying the car.

I'm really hoping they'll reattach all the badges in the right place. I really hate it when the badges get put in slightly wrong spots post respray; makes the entire rear end look off. And yes, I care way too much about a terrible car like this.

I also got new Caro stickers for it, as current ones don't look that good anyway. Plus, they'll have to be removed to get the paint around the rear quarterlights done either way. Unfortunately, I'm not that happy about how close my replacement stickers are to originals, in terms of the colour gradient reproduction at least.

Original:

Replacement:

They'll have to do for now though.

Since the Polonez is away I guess getting as much 126 driving as I can is in order. :D

[richardmorris]

48 minutes ago, Borsuq said:

Well, I guess I'm Polonezless for the weekend. It's away at a paint shop.

It's an extremely clean example to begin with, but there was some pretty bad rust underneath rear quarterlights:

I had all that stuff welded up and painted with some primer the other week pending being able to find a cheap and decent bodyshop:

And now the time's come to get that area painted. They're also going to paint the rear surface of the spoiler to get rid of a ding someone put in it within a week of me buying the car.

I'm really hoping they'll reattach all the badges in the right place. I really hate it when the badges get put in slightly wrong spots post respray; makes the entire rear end look off. And yes, I care way too much about a terrible car like this.

I also got new Caro stickers for it, as current ones don't look that good anyway. Plus, they'll have to be removed to get the paint around the rear quarterlights done either way. Unfortunately, I'm not that happy about how close my replacement stickers are to originals, in terms of the colour gradient reproduction at least.

Original:

Replacement:

They'll have to do for now though.

Since the Polonez is away I guess getting as much 126 driving as I can is in order.

I’m amazed there are any left. My uncle had one new ( his first new car) in 1988. It was terrible  then.

[wuvvum]

56 minutes ago, Borsuq said:

pretty bad rust:

I can hear hollow laughter coming from the direction of Barrow-in-Furness...

[BorniteIdentity]

10 hours ago, phil_lihp said:

Some may remember the yellow MG ZR, formerly owned by @Six-cylinder which I bought a few years back, didn't get on with it and almost immediately sold it to a friend who's had it ever since.

Well I found out a few days ago that it finally succumbed to a plethora of issues and has ended its days at an MG breakers.  It'd been parked up since about September last year with suspected head gasket failure as it was consuming coolant at an increasing rate having already had the inlet manifold gaskets changed a while back.  The bodywork was looking very tatty even before that and had been getting worse, then it blew a hole in its exhaust manifold.  They'd replaced it with a very early MINI at that point and it hadn't really moved in the last 8 months, so when he looked it over recently and found that one of the sills had rotted through in several places that was the end of it.  It's gone off to help other ZRs live on though so there is that at least.

 

Gutted. It was me that brought that car into the fold. A listener to my old radio show knew I was a car nut so offered it to me. I declined but 6cyl took it on. The dude absolutely loved that MG - but was broke and needed something that didn’t require fixing constantly. 

It might have looked a bit rough around the edges. But it was dearly loved. A shame. 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

2 hours ago, richardmorris said:

I’m amazed there are any left. My uncle had one new ( his first new car) in 1988. It was terrible  then.

British Polonez customers were never given the option of the 2-litre twin-cam, which might have helped sales a bit. They had to make do with 0-60 in 17 seconds instead. 

I vaguely remember a family friend having a Polonez and always thought it could do with a bigger engine to haul that weight around. 

[Borsuq]

On 03/07/2020 at 21:54, richardmorris said:

I’m amazed there are any left. My uncle had one new ( his first new car) in 1988. It was terrible  then.

Mine is a a 1995 Polonez Caro, so it's a heavily facelifted one. Features such improvements as a wider track for better handling, engine bored out to 1.6 l and fuel injection.

It's still terrible. I love it.

[Borsuq]

On 04/07/2020 at 00:05, Tadhg Tiogar said:

I vaguely remember a family friend having a Polonez and always thought it could do with a bigger engine to haul that weight around. 

Yeah, weight is a bit of a killer. Compared to something like an Ital, I believe a contemporary Polonez could be almost 200 kg heavier.

You'll be pleased to know that with it 1.6 fuel injected engine mine has a blistering 0-60 time of around 15 seconds though!

(Sorry for posting twice in a row, got slightly confused by the UI on mobile)

[chaseracer]

On 7/2/2020 at 8:23 PM, Ghosty said:

Been talking to dad and his mate about the car I'm tasked with selling. 

 

'he wants £800 for it, that's all it owes him. Anything else you can keep'. 

MOTHER FUCKIN' WINDFALL!

Max, earlier...

?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

3 hours ago, Borsuq said:

Yeah, weight is a bit of a killer. Compared to something like an Ital, I believe a contemporary Polonez could be almost 200 kg heavier.

You'll be pleased to know that with it 1.6 fuel injected engine mine has a blisters 0-60 time of around 15 seconds though!

(Sorry for posting twice in a row, got slightly confused by the UI on mobile)

I spotted a British-registered Caro a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't get the camera out in time. Definitely left-hand-drive, though.

For those who were involved in marketing the Polonez here, I wonder why it was decided that the 2-litre version shouldn't be offered in Britain. Or the 1.5litre turbo. Those might have disrupted the budget end of the market. 

[Borsuq]

23 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

For those who were involved in marketing the Polonez here, I wonder why it was decided that the 2-litre version shouldn't be offered in Britain. Or the 1.5litre turbo. Those might have disrupted the budget end of the market. 

I don't think they ever got the 1.5 OHV turbo to be reliable enough for mass production. The rally version got nicknamed 'Iron Rain' for a reason.

And then both the Fiat 2.0 DOHC and the 2.0 Sierra engine were only acquired by FSO in very limited quantities and mostly used domestically for slightly special applications.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Just now, Borsuq said:

I don't think they ever got the 1.5 OHV turbo to be reliable enough for mass production. The rally version got nicknamed 'Iron Rain' for a reason.

And then both the Fiat 2.0 DOHC and the 2.0 Sierra engine were only acquired by FSO in very limited quantities and mostly used domestically for slightly special applications.

Shame, though. They could have had a lot going for them.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

New coolant hoses arrived, just as I was going out....

[Borsuq]

3 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Shame, though. They could have had a lot going for them.

You only got the 1.3/1.5/1.6 OHV and the XUD in the UK, didn't you? Bit of a shame Rover didn't allow sale of K-series Poldis in the UK. They were considered a bit of a Polonez GTI back in the day. Didn't have a brilliant reputation for particularly long lasting head gaskets tho. ;D

[chaseracer]

4 hours ago, Borsuq said:

Didn't have a brilliant reputation for particularly long lasting head gaskets tho...

Really?  We never* had the OMGHGF thing here... ??

[Borsuq]

1 minute ago, chaseracer said:

Really?  We never* had the OMGHGF thing here... ??

Yeah. I bet a Rover K-series engine is a completely unknown quantity on these forums. ;D

[dollywobbler]

I think we did get kettle Caros here. Or did I dream that? Would have been very briefly I suspect.

 

[wuvvum]

I don't recall ever seeing a RHD Kettlecaro.  I thought we only got the injected FSO petrol engine and the XUD9.  I've seen a few about but they've been imports.

[eddyramrod]

Traffic news today: this afternoon on the A590 at Grange over Sands someone lost the back end of their BMW coming off the roundabout and finished up across the fast lane with the boot in the Armco.  It must have happened just before I came round because they were all still sitting in the car and two or three had stopped.  So I did too and stood in the road waving traffic down so that nobody charged off the roundabout and ran into the wreck.  When the rozzers turned up one of them thanked me for my help, which was nice of him.  Sorry no pics, I was a bit busy.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Hot tip for anyone who watches Benny’s Custom Works on YouTube, I just saw him driving past towing another Mitsubishi Sigma, it was a white saloon that looks to be only fit for parts.

His workshop is based out of Mittagong, which is only up the road from me.

[holbeck]

9 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

I think we did get kettle Caros here. Or did I dream that? Would have been very briefly I suspect.

 

I saw one in the Flight shed at Longbridge of all places.  Although I did have a nose under the bonnet I can't remember if it was RHD.