The new news 24 thread

[Craig the Princess]

Citroen AX return to the road, day 1. Not the best start requiring a jump start from an applejack allegro, then because the fuel gague no longer works needed to stop at the village garage. School-boy error, no hope of starting so needed to walk to the village garage who lent me a jump start.

Managed to make it the 30 miles to work using a combination of pulling the choke out when approaching a roundabout, about 4 very close bump starts as I ran out of momentum and lots of heal and toeing to try and stop stalling. Not a very happy engine currently. On the plus side the battery held a charge all day so managed to make it home. The *reliable allegro will be back in service tomorrow.

[vulgalour]

That S-Type is a beautiful thing, before I got sidetracked by the Princess I was trying to find one I could buy which would have been really sensible on my budget.  Bit of a horror story with the bonnet, but at least it sounds like you're going to get a happy ending out of it.

[Lord Sterling]

Well, I've actually started to do something to the Sterling to make a lttle less shitey looking. I had the Prestige Sterling alloys I picked up from London fitted to the car finally.

 

Before:

 

After:

 

Some of you might have noticed that the drooping front bumper has also been slightly lifted, it would have been a simple job but the passenger side bracket that holds the side of the bumper decided to snap off due to immense corrosion. I bodged it back with a bolt until I can be bothered to change it for a spare I have somewhere.

 

Drivers side bumper bracket, all present and correct:

 

Passenger side bracket worn and open:

 

I treated it to a wash and tyre shine and its starting to once again look more presentable.

 

Next on the list:

 

Fitting tailgate.

Fitting a working CD Changer.

 

The passenger side one has suffered from ageing and wear, it should be closed to hold a plastic clip inside which holds the side of the bumper but they seem to just open and not hold the bumper properly.

[alf892]

That S type is lovely.......that colour really suits as well.

[Cavcraft]

+200, that Jag is seriously fit.

[Honey Badger]

Accord Coupe came back from it's service/once over by my mechanic yesterday.

 

It's in great nick he said, bodywork underneath is spotless, suspension and breaks are all in cracking condition and the V6 is a belter. The hesitant autobox has been cleared up with a fluid change and it's now nice and smooth changing up.

 

The only dark cloud is it may need a new exhaust which is a Honda only job and comes in around £600 

 

So does anyone know a good stainless steel exhaust fabricator in the northants area? I figure stainless is cheaper than honda made unobtainium.

[trigger]

This flasher unit on my Acclaim is being a right PITA, the hazards work fine but the flasher unit doesn't work, the one I bought from wilcos blows the fuse and the one listed for the car I bought today doesn't work.

 

A 2 pin unit that's listed for Honda's doesn't work either so I've now been to Unipart and ordered another one that's listed for Acclaims thinking that being Unipart it might be right??.. I doubt it.

 

It's doing my head in now, I know it's had a tow bar in the past so the old one might have been upgraded to compensate for it, I don't know, the strange thing is all the lights flash with the hazards (it has a separate relay) so it can't be a short  with a bulb somewhere and powers coming into the plug in the fuse box where the rely plugs into.

 

I wish i never bought the bastard thing now!

 

[darkfour]

Trigger, could it be a short in the indicator stalk/steering column switch that's causing the fuse to blow?

[trigger]

That has crossed my mind but the steering column hasn't be touched and the fuses wasn't blown, it only blowed when I fitted the Wilco "Ring" unit?.

[Angrydicky]

The fruits of today's efforts:

 

 

 

Thread forthcoming in the next day or so, when I'm less knackered.

[vulgalour]

Is that the Garycox-Barrett Maestro?

[Angrydicky]

Certainly is.

[vulgalour]

I look forward to reading about it then.  Not that I wouldn't look forward to reading about a beige B reg Maestro normally, of course.

[barefoot]

Porsche sent off for service and belts today.

Chap phoned back a couple of hours later to ask if the properly spaced number plates were in the car as that was all it had failed on!

Fucker only mot'd it in error!

 

Not the end of the world.

[dollywobbler]

Is that the Garycox-Barrett Maestro?

 

The ex-Angry Dicky now ex-Garycox now Angry Dicky-again Maestro indeed. Good stuff!

[phil_lihp]

Good: finally got a lockup, and a cheap one at that too.  This is superb news and means the Rover no longer needs to live out on a main road half a mile from my house with only a mossy Citroen campervan for company.

 

Bad: Left the Kia parked up at a work parking area overnight yesterday whilst using company car to go to a seminar, got blocked in by a van some time this morning, owner not answering his phone and no-one seen him for hours.  Come 6:30PM, van still there and clearly not moving again tonight.  Took bus home.  Someone's going to get sworn at tomorrow.

 

On balance, neither grin nor grump and barely news, meh.

[RobT]

Great work Dicky, glad to see another one remain in the fold.  I suppose having the Maestro again now means you're in possession of a modern (relative to your other ones!).

[ruffgeezer]

Citroen AX return to the road, day 1. Not the best start requiring a jump start from an applejack allegro, then because the fuel gague no longer works needed to stop at the village garage. School-boy error, no hope of starting so needed to walk to the village garage who lent me a jump start.

Managed to make it the 30 miles to work using a combination of pulling the choke out when approaching a roundabout, about 4 very close bump starts as I ran out of momentum and lots of heal and toeing to try and stop stalling. Not a very happy engine currently. On the plus side the battery held a charge all day so managed to make it home. The *reliable allegro will be back in service tomorrow.

 

I think I've still got a set of gauges and a sender unit for a mk1 ax in my stash of old crap, drop me a pm if they might be of use?

[beko1987]

I need new tyres soon, and fancy a set of new rubber for once rather than part worn cast-offs. Been looking at Winters rather than all seasons, £280 for 4 isnt too bad in the grand scheme of things. Will I have enough money to pay for them though, or will it be back to the part worn place?

[dollywobbler]

Have you tried the various internet sites for tyre prices? Mytyres, black circles and Camskill usually worth checking out.

[beko1987]

That was from MyTyres, seemed to be the cheapest without going for cheap indian tyres. Want to keep them for a few years so want something that will last a bit, with a tyre swap when the fronts get low etc

[vulgalour]

I still haven't been able to shift the fixings on the spare axle and I've been getting a little nervous about the car being sat on the street instead of the drive.  Drove around the block very slowly mainly because the front brakes were a bit grindy - not serious, just from being stood inactive with the handbrake on for a while - and I have to say it's the strangest suspension experience because it's rock hard and bobbly one side and softly damped the other.  Definitely not something I'd want to use for any longer distance so I'm relieved the local garage can come to me when I need the suspension pumping up again.  Car is now on the drive again and I feel much happier about that.

 

I may yet have to admit defeat and pass the axle on to a garage as I just don't have the relevant powered tools to make the job easier.  Anyone got anything to remove a sheared bolt from a captive nut?

[R9UKE]

 

Set out to investigate why the 306 threatened to overheat the last few journeys and had its cooling fan on for most of the trip.... Result? It swallowed 3 litres of coolant which may or may not have disappeared because of a shagged radiator, the next few days will tell. The amount of coolant it took should explain why the heater was so shit though - I'd rather it was good because I plan to spend most of winter topless.

 

 

And the Safrane met the rest of the fleet and got its scuttle drains cleared of what seemed to be 16 years worth of shit - should be a service job with Renaults, very poor design.

 

 

[vulgalour]

Those 306 floppytops have aged incredibly well, I always like the look of them when I see them and yours is no exception.  I thought they were a bit glib when new.

[Micrashed]

Went from Preston to the Wirral via Speke owing to a slight directions scribbled down on the back of an envelope error - anyway spied this just round the corner from where I was visiting

[wuvvum]

Cool.  That's the absolute spit of my old 33 (except a year newer and quite a lot tidier...).  I'd love another Daf one day.

[dollywobbler]

If anyone is keen on a bit of Vario action, my mate is selling an immaculate Volvo 340. 3-door so OMG GR12 4 DRIFTIN. It's in absolutely lovely condition and because he's like me, he's thrown a daft amount of money at it. Asking £600. I reckon a cheeky offer might tempt him.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C438946

 

Amusingly, when I had the Golf for sale, the Volvo appeared below it in Classics under a grand on that site. Skattrd's XM was below that!

[vulgalour]

Well if a picture with the arse end of a Reynard Allegro, two men moving a gigantic box and a Mercedes A Class in the background doesn't sell that Volvo, I don't know what will.

[trigger]

This weekend I'm displaying my Civic down at Brands Hatch to show with the Honda stand at the Touring cars finals along with 14 others, this I'm excited by, I'm not so excited by the thought of the drive down there though tomorrow.

 

Driving round London, over the QE2 bridge in a 40 year old Honda which has done less then 2000 miles since 1986 in early evening Friday rush hour traffic, in the dark and in strong wind and rain with seriously wanky wipers.

 

Except to hear off my exploits on Sally Traffics Radio 2 traffic reports tomorrow evening on your way home from work!

[Cavcraft]

Yeah those 306 convertibles do look really fit as it goes. God alone knows what kind of insane idea it is to let water near French trim and electrics though.