The new news 24 thread

[Craig the Princess]

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?

 

Thanks Ruff, I'll have a look next weekend (I think it's just bulbs in the dash and hopefully the fuel gauge problem is the same as every other sodding connection on the car and just needs de-corroding). Do you have the plastic roof part that the sunvisors clip into/interior light sits in?

 

Took the AX in again today, seemed a bit happier but still wants to stall when approaching roundabouts? Is this the sort of thing that will clear with a bit more running and fresh petrol or does it sound more like it needs a carb clean/timing done/etc?

 

Will be taking the allegro for reliable transport this weekend.

[R9UKE]

Thanks chaps, The scuttle shake with the roof down is pretty terrifying tbh, but when you get out and walk away looking back at it you kind of forgive it everything (including the most temperamental electrics I've experienced yet)

[Brent_Crude]

The wife's modern (Saab futureshite) is in for repairs due to some idiot crashing into it, but for once the replacement car hire co. have come up trumps (sort of, I think) and given us a BMW 320d Touring. So far, I don't much like it, but will give it more of a drive over the weekend and see how it goes. I've yet to find any car I like to be sat in more than the old Classic Rangie and this Boschewagon has not made much of a first impression.

[dollywobbler]

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.

 

It gets worse. Some Italians put these ones together - built by Pininfarina. I do like them. There's a whiff of Alfa Romeo Duetto about the tail. They look really good with a hardtop too.

[vulgalour]

Yes they do.  Dad and I saw one in that peculiar dark gold/copper with a silver hardtop that looked surprisingly suave as it whizzed down the motorway.  First one I'd seen with a hard top and even the mismatch colour worked and looked deliberate.

[vulgalour]

As I have previously mentioned, I'm looking for opportunities to get into classic car work, particularly interior restoration stuff.  That's really how this commission came about.  When I got this steering wheel the varnish was cracked, flaking and missing in many places, the entire wheel had red and white overspray on it and the wood was cracked and had blackened areas where the varnish had failed.  For some reason I didn't take a before photograph like normal, I just got stuck into stripping the wheel back to bare wood and repairing the damage.

 

After building up a few layers of clear shiny stuff and after a few days to allow the new varnish to harden I tackled the final job of giving the spokes a hand-buff.  The whole idea was not to restore the wheel to brand new condition but to renovate it so that it wore some of its age and matched the interior of the car, looking like a cared for original part rather than a shop bought replacement and, I hope, I've achieved that.

 

I certainly enjoyed this commission a great deal and I hope looks as good in a few years as it does now, if not better for a bit of wear to tone down the high gloss of the wooden rim.

[dollywobbler]

Nice. I do like a timber wheel. They feel superb. Though oddly, the most miles I've clocked up while holding one was in a Nissan Vanette Cargo...

[trigger]

 

I dropped this at my old mans today to get this indicators fixed once and for all, I'm thinking it might be the stalk on the way out now.

 

 

And this bad boy has just completed the most horrendous drive ever from Suffolk to Kent in the heavy rain and survived 10 miles of standstill traffic on the M25 on the QE2 bridge!

[RobT]

Well done Trig, I had a similar journey on the M25 last week, took me two hours to do 40 bloody miles. Have fun at Brands.

[dollywobbler]

Awake hideously early to go off-roading in Bala. There are owls hooting FFS. This time of the morning shouldn't be allowed.130 miles in the Sirion yesterday, 120 miles in the Disco today (and about ten hours at the wheel). 

[R9UKE]

Does anybody know if the front wheels brushing against the splash guards in the wheel arch on full lock is an MOT fail? I put the bigger 18" wheels from the Vel Satis onto the Avantime and they've improved the look and ride massively, but do catch and rub slightly on full lock only. And no.... I can't just stick the old wheels back on for MOT - they tyres are nearly all shit, another reason I did the swap!

[HillmanImp]

Off to look at a new old french car. With my extensive knowledge of hydropneumatic suspensions what can go wrong?

[Jim Bell]

Off to look at a new old french car. With my extensive knowledge of hydropneumatic suspensions what can go wrong?

 

The hydropneumatic suspensions.

 

And all of the electrics.

 

 

Par.

[dollywobbler]

Probably too late now. Listen out for the 'tick' of the pump. How often does it cut in? More than ten seconds is good. Less is bad, but may be an easily changed accumulator sphere. Otherwise, leaks. Minor dribbles not a problem, gushing is. 

 

My news is that I've had another successful visit to Landcraft, with some Series 1 action in our group. Superb fun watching them bounce about the place while they proved that less can be more. A Disco 3 sauntered around the site with the greatest of ease, and looked no fun at all. I had plenty of challenges to deal with in my Disco and it certainly didn't disgrace itself, other than leaking bloody engine oil from the oil cooler unions AGAIN. Sodding thing. Oh, and it occasionally makes really horrible noises that then go away again. A high-pitched screechy squeal, of metal in distress, occurred briefly on the way home, then went away again. Perhaps I'd better get back to my plan of checking all of the other wheel bearings...

[HillmanImp]

I went, I saw, I drove, I liked, I got scared by what I didn't understand, I bailed.

 

The Xantia was really nice. Lovely interior, outside rust free and everything was spot on.

 

Mechaincally it seemed good but there was no paperwork so it would need a cambelt change. I could not hear any clicking from the pump though (I was listening but was either missing it or it wasnt happening) and the pump made a right groaning noise when it was raising the suspension up, which I don't recall hearing before. It did it when I sat in it to level the car up again and then again when Mrs Imp got in. 

 

But what made me bail was that the rear suspension was really slow coming up. I have read before that this coild be a simple £10 fix but without any sort of knoweldge I got scared and ran away.

 

Shame as it ticked all the boxes. Big enough, frugal enough being a diseasal and over 20yrs old for my insurance.

 

I should have asked if Lanktim could meet me TBH as he knows more about this sort of shizzle than me and it was in his neck of the woods. However if everything had done what I exepcted I suppose there would have been no need for him. I think as there were things that didn't happen that should have done it was a good warning that I should stay away.

[hairnet]

Does anybody know if the front wheels brushing against the splash guards in the wheel arch on full lock is an MOT fail? I put the bigger 18" wheels from the Vel Satis onto the Avantime and they've improved the look and ride massively, but do catch and rub slightly on full lock only. And no.... I can't just stick the old wheels back on for MOT - they tyres are nearly all shit, another reason I did the swap!

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/archive/index.php/t-35058.html

 

sounds like depends on the tester

[cort16]

I think it depends on the tester. My mates Punto went through it's mot wearing tyres about 2 sized to big and it rubbed on the liners. He improved it a bit by heating it up with a heat gun then pushing the plastic in so it didn't fowl as much before putting it in for the test.

[R9UKE]

Cheers, I'll chance it and see. Hopefully he'll appreciate seeing something different.

[dollywobbler]

Clutch adjusted on the Daihatsu. Incredibly simple. One 10mm bolt to remove the entire air intake assembly, including filter box. That gave lovely access. Then there's a little adjuster that you can operate by hand after disconnecting the cable from the lever - also by hand. Now the bite is no longer on the floor. Also found a sticker confirming the cambelt change 5k miles ago, last August. 

 

I was so pleased that I spent a short time cleaning the engine bay. Please don't hate me. Also gave the Disco a wash. The engine bay was FILTHY. I'm not apologising for cleaning that engine. Everything was muddy brown. Two very different vehicles. I like them both. The 2CV is being somewhat ignored at the moment. In fact, Mrs Wobbler is driving it more than I am. Odd really as the last time I took it out for a hoon, I had so much fun in it. 

[trigger]

Rather than a new thread I thought I'd chuck these up here, as I'm sure many of you have read about how I took my little Civic down to Brands Hatch this weekend, after a shitty drive up including crossing the QE2 bridge at 5.30pm Friday rush hour in a heavy downpour and my speedo backing up I managed to make it to Brands on Saturday morning to be greeted with this lot.

 

 

Tasty hey, we was tuck up beside the Kentagon restaurant a bit but we had crowds of people around the cars all day.

 

Too Jazzy?.

 

 

 

 

This was once a wreak that needed work but the owner couldn't kind the panels so it acciently ended up lookingt like this, he's now strapped a turbo of a Citroen C4 to it which improves things he said.

 

This S800 was a right stunner.

 

 

 

This Japanese imported Prelude still had a catalysis  and all the emissions bollocks attached.  

 

 

 

Another early Civic but the owner has fitted very early 1972 bumpers and bike carbs.

 

 

 

This Prelude was mega clean!

 

 

 

 

Talking of clean, this Accord was stunning, never restored and doesn't have a speck of rust on it.

 

 

 

 

This Accord just turned 13000 miles on the drive down from Yorkshire.

 

 

 

Another twicked Civic, this time with a later Acclaim engine.

 

 

 

Over £750 for a toy car!

 

 

 

 

The new Astra looks so bloated compared to the Mk2.

 

 

 

 

[trigger]

Sadly Sunday was a tad wetter!, still we had a couple of new arrivals join us.

 

Another S800.

 

 

This N600 was stunning, a real credit to it's owner, it sounded like a little sewing machine!

 

 

 

One of those Acclaim engined Civic, these S's look the bees knees.

 

 

 

Mine again!

 

 

This Ginetta also went up in flames on the track.

 

 

 

 

 

Matt Neals Saturday clanger.

 

 

Soon fixed though!

 

 

I enjoyed watching the dolly birds get cold from my nice warm hospitably box.

 

 

 

 

Two MG's in the wet and not broken down!

 

 

So all in all it wasn't a bad weekend really!

 

[retrogeezer]

great pics Trigster...

 

I'm stunned that Mk1 Accord is original, I was sat in the back of those as a trainee painter in 1987 with a fire extinguisher while they were being welded up underneath..

[vulgalour]

I want to take that little N600 home!  What an adorable and utterly charming little thing it is.  Japanese car design is quite interesting during that period too, features like the very high-sitting rear lights on the really small stuff is something that is de rigeur on modern vehicles as it's much more visible and a lot of the lights were really rather massive which again must have been for visibility and perceived safety advantages, especially since they were breaking into the American market.

[phil_lihp]

Great photos, I do like an eighties Honda, remarkable that the Accord has never been restored, it looks brand new!  Tonight though I would like to take either the Civic S or orange Mk1 Civic home please.

[wuvvum]

I love the fact that the touring MG is sponsored by Tesco petrol and a cheap imitation of Red Bull.

[Barry Cade]

A bit numb writing this post.

 

My brother in law bought a brand new Volvo v40 R-Design 3 weeks ago,after really wanting one for months. He ordered it in the spec he wanted,with all the extras he thought would be useful. Traded in his 2011 Focus and took out a 3 year servicing plan for the Volvo. He collected the V40 and drove home from the dealership,and parked it in the drive. He never got the chance to drive it again. He fell ill and died on Thursday last week. The car had done 75 miles. We are all devastated and still in shock.

 

He told my sister a few days before that if anything happened to him, the car was to go to me and my sister has told me the car is mine. She doesn't drive. It's an amazing gift and she has assured me that they both wanted me to have it but I just can't get my head around it. I am a lifetime autoshiteist and have never dreamed of owning a brand new car. Can you give me your thoughts please?

[trigger]

Firstly and most importantly, condolences on you and your families loss, That must be awful for you all. How do you feel about owning and driving the car?, If it feels too weird or upsetting could you sell it back on or trade in back in and split some of the money with you sister, maybe offer to pay for the funeral with some of the money as a thank you for the kind offer?.

[Lord Sterling]

Tiff - I am sorry to hear of your loss. I guess its a bit of an unexpected bittersweet gift. I agree with Trig, but alternatively if you do keep it, enjoy it whilst you can or keep it stored somewhere undercover until you feel the need to change.

[saucedoctor]

Very sad news Tiff. Condolences sir.

[Barry Cade]

Thanks trigger, they had been together over 40 years and married for 38. 10 weeks after losing our mum too. Difficult time for everyone.

 

She's given me all the paperwork and told me umpteen times the car is mine and that's what they both wanted. She has also told me I can't sell it,which I wouldn't do anyway,because that's what was agreed between them before he died. They had spoken about it and know that I will look after it better than anyone. I just can't take in what's happened,and that someone would do something like this for me.