The new news 24 thread

[anonymous user]

1 hour ago, puddlethumper said:

I also worked with the late great Horsdini, the greatest escape horse known to equinekind.

We have had a few of those, Nick the pony would untie his rope and then go around the yard to untie the others, if his bottom bolt wasn't done up would let himself out of the stable,  usually to be found in the hay shed. I can't remember if it was him or one of the others who mangled a combination padlock that had been put on the top bolt to stop him undoing it. Blossom the Welsh Mountain pony preferred to let herself in and if she could, would open the field gate and her stable door to come in if it rained, she was also desperate to get in the kitchen and let herself in there a few times.

[SiC]

Lovely sunset this evening with plenty of colours



[Tadhg Tiogar]

Quality control problems in West Yorkshire

[Borsuq]

Just found out that the latest issue of the Polish Classic Auto magazine contains a big feature on the Polonez Caro. It's causing quite a bit of upset on FB with people calling the car 'not a classic'.

Really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy.

[mitsisigma01]

1 hour ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Quality control problems in West Yorkshire

Wait till it gets on Farcebook, you'll have all the comedians saying "bit of T-cut, be as good as new" ???

[wuvvum]

Over the last couple of evenings I have been attempting, almost entirely unsuccessfully, to sort the remaining issues on the 75.  I took the nearside headlight out with the intention of disconnecting the headlight self-levelling motor - this works very intermittently, and when it decides not to work the headlight ends up pointing about 3' in front of the car, which isn't a lot of use.  So the idea was to disconnect the motor and then wind the headlight up to the correct height using the manual adjuster.  Except that the manual adjuster fell to bits, which left the reflector flapping around inside the light unit.  So it's now held in place with a spring clip, but I'm going to have to buy another headlight, which is annoying.

Whilst clearing out the shed a couple of weeks ago I found my old clip-together fan belt.  It occurred to me that I could use this as a test belt to see if I could get the aircon working - it would only be a temporary solution as it's a V-belt and the pulleys are designed for a ribbed belt, but I thought it'd stay in place long enough to test the system.  Which it did, although it was a bit of a faff to get in place as access is quite tight.  The aircon still doesn't work though - the compressor clutch wouldn't engage.  It's not the switch as the radiator fan comes on as it should when the switch is pressed.  There appears to be gas in the system as it hissed when I pressed the valve in with a screwdriver.  So I think the compressor might have had its day, which is annoying as I was hoping it'd just be a case of replacing the belt to get the a/c working again.

The next job was to investigate the trailer electrics to see why they worked fine with my trailer board (which has LED bulbs fitted) but wouldn't work properly with standard trailer lights.  I suspected a dodgy earth, but the earth connection looked fine.  So I swapped the bulbs in the trailer board for normal ones and plugged it in to test, but now the trailer lights don't work at all.  Even with the LED bulbs back in there wasn't even a flicker.  So now I'm going to have to rip out the boot floor at the weekend and do a full investigation - I'm wondering whether it's either the live feed which has come apart or even the 7-way relay itself which has packed up.  At least I have the Mondeo for now if I do need to tow anything.

[Pat Earrings]

Tinted the focus today. I wanted it to look similar to my departed Mondeo with the rear tints and I think it really suits and lifts the car, giving it a meaner look. I'm going to give the headlamps a polish soon, and use some gtechniq C4 stuff on the black trim such as around the wing mirror and the headlamp washers. Really love driving this car. Never been so fond of one!

[loserone]

Ye gads, I thought it had been lucky to have escaped that particular stick for so long.

[DodgyBastard]

The guy I bought my lada from also has a UK rhd fiat 124 which has a seized engine and might need some welding.
He offered it a month ago for £1650 which I wasn't sure about, he's now dropped the price a little further and offered a tuned 1600 Lada engine as well.
I'm considering buying it but have some reservations with the amount of other shite projects I already have sitting around.

Sent from my moto g( power using Tapatalk

[SRi05]

4 minutes ago, loserone said:

Ye gads, I thought it had been lucky to have escaped that particular stick for so long.

I like it *runs*

[loserone]

Oh, I don't dislike it, and it's probably very practical in these temperatures, but now it looks like all the other boyoed ST170s I wouldn't want to touch with a bargepole.  

 

Still, it'd be easy to fix.

[paulplom]

It's his car, he can paint a cock and balls on it if he wants to.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

That blue Fiat 124 used to belong to that absolute turkey of a lad in the NE who had the Holden estate and various other old clunkers that were all fucked before he got them and more so afterwards. Was his name PandaSelecta? Panda something anyway. He always used to be on the blue forum saying he was 'just about to start a major resto on it'  'Oh I'm getting a twin-cam motor from Greece' 'just sourcing new panels' etc... predictably he never even got the friggin engine started, the fucking massive donger. I remember feigning excitement and geeing him up about it  ('Any news? Can't wait to see how this progresses' etc)  along with a few other winder-uppers so that the inevitable climbdown was all the more spectacular.

[Zelandeth]

Abby has been suffering from blinding toothache for the last couple of weeks and was finally able to see her dentist today.

Given the Jag has no functioning A/C (yet), I opted to park in the shade and get out to wait outside (given the heat soak through the transmission tunnel is bad enough when it's not 29C outside).

I made a discovery today in that the *back* of the car ends up nigh on too hot to touch after an hour on the motorway.  That kind of puts in perspective how ridiculous the amount of heat that this engine chucks out!

[Borsuq]

4 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Quality control problems in West Yorkshire

So Lambos are now officially Autoshite from the get-go?

[Pat Earrings]

1 hour ago, loserone said:

Ye gads, I thought it had been lucky to have escaped that particular stick for so long.

Fear not, I've nothing else planned modification wise. Just a k&n panel and that's it.

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

That blue Fiat 124 used to belong to that absolute turkey of a lad in the NE who had the Holden estate and various other old clunkers that were all fucked before he got them and more so afterwards. Was his name PandaSelecta? 

Yep, that was the chap.  Quite a character.

[dollywobbler]

Black cars are definitely not ideal in this weather. After being parked here for about 40 minutes, the GSA's roof was so hot I could feel it radiating down inside the car. 

[Six-cylinder]

15 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Black cars are definitely not ideal in this weather. After being parked here for about 40 minutes, the GSA's roof was so hot I could feel it radiating down inside the car. 

Lucky I can remove the roof on my black car!

[richardmorris]

In pushbike news I took the posh carbon bike to Goodwood today. It was hot, the car got hot ( cabin nicely cooled, but engine not so much). Stuck on the Hogs back in traffic before 8.30am saw the thermostat meet 100. It saw it again climbing the South Downs past haslemere and climbing the hill up to Goodwood horse racing circuit.  Coming home at midday was hotter with temp heading to 100 every time the gradient increased, and taking longer to come down again. Then I got to roadworks at hindhead and, after a long climb was stationary for a few mins- we saw 110! 

Then nearly home and temp relatively stable at 90, some dingbat had closed the a 322 bypass to Bagshot for resurfacing , and allowed two sets of roadworks on the a30 detour route. 

However, the car drove faultlessly, air-con ice cold and by far the oldest car at Goodwood. I just need to try and relax a bit and ignore the temperature gauge.

[plasticvandan]

Hottest day of the year and I have,aided by Guinness, changed the cambelt and tensioner on my rover 400 first time I've ever done a belt,and I've saved £200 by doing so.decided to leave the pump as with 35k on it felt good and isn't leaking,and is probably better than the Chinese replacement that came with the kit. Even better,it started straight up and didn't explode,so win win! Very chuffed with myself as this is far more in depth than changing a timing chain tensioner on a reliant! Off to have more beer I think!

[RayMK]

3 minutes ago, plasticvandan said:

Hottest day of the year and I have,aided by Guinness, changed the cambelt and tensioner on my rover 400 first time I've ever done a belt,and I've saved £200 by doing so.decided to leave the pump as with 35k on it felt good and isn't leaking,and is probably better than the Chinese replacement that came with the kit. Even better,it started straight up and didn't explode,so win win! Very chuffed with myself as this is far more in depth than changing a timing chain tensioner on a reliant! Off to have more beer I think!

Well done. I've never attempted a cambelt replacement. Pushrods and chains I can (could!) handle in longitudinal layouts and of course side valve engines are a doddle. Transverse engines are just bloody awkward. Full marks also for the Guinness assistance.

[Pat Earrings]

5 hours ago, paulplom said:

It's his car, he can paint a cock and balls on it if he wants to.

Well the work lot usually do when it gets dirty on the windows!

[Mally]

1 hour ago, richardmorris said:

 Hogs back in traffic before 8.30am saw the thermostat meet 100.  Coming home at midday was hotter with temp heading to 100 every time the gradient increased, 

However, the car drove faultlessly, air-con ice cold and by far the oldest car at Goodwood. I just need to try and relax a bit and ignore the temperature gauge.

What you actually need to do is forget the air con and turn the heater on full.

You may sweat a little* but the engine will thank you for it.

[richardmorris]

5 minutes ago, Mally said:

What you actually need to do is forget the air con and turn the heater on full.

You may sweat a little* but the engine will thank you for it.

I’ve done that before with success. I hadn’t quite reached that stage yet today- the ac, matrix and radiator are perfectly fine and the thermostat is new. The system works as well as designed it’s just that I don’t like it going so high a temp. I know it’s designed to though. Also the twin electric fans on the front only work with the ac on, today I thought I’d be better keeping them running. Checking this evening when it’s all cold, and it’s used no oil or water.

[Mally]

Would have been worse in a 2cv, but you'd not notice until it started smoking.

[richardmorris]

5 minutes ago, Mally said:

Would have been worse in a 2cv, but you'd not notice until it started smoking.

Not overheated a 2cv. Yet! I’m similarly nervous in the fiat though- scouring the gauges!

I am just a hypochondriac driver- not helped by knowing that the Mercedes wiring loom disintegrates in high temp. 

[HillmanImp]

Hey everyone.

Not been on here much of late. Real life getting in the way etc. Hope everyone is groovy and I've not missed much. 

Heres my update on things car related. 

Took the Legacy to the garage a few weeks back to sort out the stalling. 

They charged me £33 but didn't do the work, they said the car was fucked and I was best scrapping it. The £33 was for them looking at all the broken stuff on the car apparently. 

Most of it was minor things, broken spring, ball joint etc but they reckoned I needed a full exhaust system as it was blowing and the rear subframe was cheese. 

Now, none of this appeared on the last MOT. How's it got so bad? 

So I jacked up the car..... what a fucking hassle that is on this, you jack it on the diff but need to jack it up elsewhere beforehand to get the jack under.....and had a look at the subframe. 

Yeah, its rusty but its 15yr old. So I got out the wire brush and the dremmel. 

Brushed back everything I could get to on the floor of my drive, then gave it a lick of chassis paint. 

Most of it ended up on the exhaust and my head though. 

Take 2 bottles into the shower? Not me, I just use white spirit. 

Also looked at he exhast. Its blowing (slightly) from 2 joins. I'm just gonna bandage them for now. 

Fucking idiots at the garage it seems. Definitely not taking this for its MOT there. They'd probably fail it for me having shit music on the stereo. 

Letting the car off the jack was fun, especially as this one is a bit jolty, it will not move at all, then suddenly..... SLAM. 

Managed to keep my arm though. 

Anyhow, onto the stalling. The cars got an intermittent drain on the battery. At one point I'd left it and it had gone completely flat.

Volksy found some instructions online about what you have to do for some Subarus with an electronic throttle body if you've had the battery go flat. Had no idea if my car did or not but gave it a punt. 

Here's the instructions:

1) Turn off the lights, aircon, stereo or any system in the car that draws extra current on top of the engine.

2) Disconnect the battery for 30 mins.

3) Reconnect the battery.

4) Before you start the car for the first time, turn the key to the ON position but do NOT turn the engine over. Wait 10-15 seconds so the electronic throttle body or IACV has time to go to the factory programmed home position.

5) After waiting, start the car and let it idle without any load, lights, A/C etc.

6) Every 20 seconds or so the idle will be adjusted up and down as the ECU tries to adjust it towards a stoichiometric fuel / air mix.

7) Leave the engine running for a full 10 mins but DO NOT TOUCH THE ACCELERATOR during this time or turn on anything that will cause extra electrical current draw.

Turn off the engine, and leave the key in the OFF position for at least 20 sec.

9) As per step (4) turn the key back to the ON position for 10-15 sec without actually starting the engine.

10) Start the engine and leave to idle for a further 5 minutes without touching the accelerator and without turning on other systems in the car.

11) Turn off the engine again and wait at least 20 sec before restarting.

12) Take the car for a test drive as the ECU should now be fully retrained.

FFS. Why didn't I think about doing that in the first place, seems so bloody obvious now..... 

It worked though, cars running fine again now. So the garage wouldn't have been able to do anything with that anyway. 

Anyhow, have a photo to cause people to have kittens on t'interweb. 

There were 2 other axle stands under the car, I just had to lift the car and move one of them every now and then to paint where they were and that was an emergency measure to hopefully allow me to get out before it folded if something happened. You cant be too careful. 

Still need to service the fucker though and sort everything else. 

Porsche news is that Imp Jr found this in the toy shop today. 

ABS sensor needs sorting though. ABS lights came on the other week. No judder in the pedal or owt, just a light. However some kids ran out infront of me on a country road the other day so I braked harder than normal and the o/s/f wheel locked so something is amis. Will have to look at it in the next few days when I get a chance and also get rid of the dent the kids left on my bonnet as I couldn't stop /s

Regarding the other cars:

Visa is Visa.

Imp is shelf. 

[loserone]

Sorry the legacy is being a pain.  I had the stalling thing after I was advised to leave the battery disconnected to try to get the old stereo working and did the same as you to sort it.  The exhaust blow seemed to be really slight and didn't get any worse (or be worthy of mentioning on an MOT) all the time I had it.  

 

Definitely sounds like a garage scared off by a Subaru.

 

Which spring?

[HillmanImp]

7 minutes ago, loserone said:

Sorry the legacy is being a pain.  I had the stalling thing after I was advised to leave the battery disconnected to try to get the old stereo working and did the same as you to sort it.  The exhaust blow seemed to be really slight and didn't get any worse (or be worthy of mentioning on an MOT) all the time I had it.  

 

Definitely sounds like a garage scared off by a Subaru.

 

Which spring?

Nah, its fine. Just service stuff really. Was the n/s/r spring.

The subframe was a worry, especially combined with the exhaust but they were both fine IMO. Panic over. 

I was shitting myself initially as the MOT was due today but I've got my Boris extension till December. Result. Gives me some breathing space. 

Exhaust blows not bad. I had noticed it a while back but its nothing excessive. Not like they suggested. 

The garage I used do classic rallying and probably go a bit OCD on shit with their own cars. When they see my old badly maintained clunkers they most likely have an aneurism.