The new news 24 thread

[brownnova]

2CVs are so much fun aren’t they! ?

[Zelandeth]

56 minutes ago, brownnova said:

2CVs are so much fun aren’t they! ?

Can't be many things which compete for smiles per mile.

[dollywobbler]

Ah, but Citroen. I'm having bother with mine. Having scraped the GSA along a door, I've now been informed that it looks like the big ends are knocking on the 2CV. That's the engine I hastily assembled the day before setting off for Croatia last year. Annoyingly, Sparrow Automotive had just fixed an oil cooler leak (which he had to do because oil was getting on the brakes and making things 'interesting') and discovered the knock on a subsequent test drive. I have been hearing an odd vibration at speed, which I guess is related. Thought the tap I could hear was iffy valve clearances or piston slap. 

All the more annoying because the engine rebuild to 652cc began because of a previous oil cooler leak! That engine then ripped out a cylinder head stud, which is why I swapped the 652 kit to an entirely unknown engine I found at the back of my garage. As it happens, I have a complete engine stripped down, so may well find myself building up yet another engine. Which is annoying, as it pushes everything else down the priority list.

On the other hand, this was the drive to England yesterday.

And this was the drive home a bit later.

The red one is Pete's own car, built with a tweaked 720cc engine with 123 electronic ignition which is not only controlled by BlueTooth, but has vacuum advance too. The difference from my 652 is utterly remarkable! It flies, but is oh so tractable too. I'd sign up for a 720, but the cost of admission is about £2500-3000 once the hotted-up cam is fitted, the heads ported and the carburettor tweaked. 

I can't help wondering if I should have just rebuilt the engine with standard 602 pistons and barrels and maybe none of these issues would have happened. But then I do like the extra grunt of 652, even if it's some way from 720.

GSA mess

 

[richardmorris]

Any chance the engine conversion has caused the big ends to wear?  As for the 720, I am happy with the standard 2cv performance. A £3000 bill on top of the cost of a nice car is not what I think sensible- I had no idea it cost so much!. I have a sportscar for that sort of thing.

[Six-cylinder]

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Yep...that would explain why she's louder than I remembered...

Missing screw replaced, larger washers fitted all round and a bigger screw fitted to the one hole that was stripped out so wouldn't let the screw tighten up.

Still present, correct and secure after a run out.  Definitely a fair bit quieter!

But I have a new one courtesy of Richardmorris.

[SmokinWaffle]

On 9/14/2020 at 8:55 PM, holbeck said:

The MINI has landed. 

Thanks to @gadgetgricey for a smooth transaction, very happy with it. Drove back to Devon sweet as a nut. 

Thanks also to @simon8201 for his time and assistance.

That's a hell of a roof!!

MX5 is having some time out in the garage, waiting for sealant to set for 24/48/72 (probably the latter as I'm busy tomorrow) after replacing the rear CAS O ring and camshaft cover, hopefully this will stop it doing such a good impression of a sieve all over the floor. Was planning to do the sump but I'll have to either lift the engine out or drop the subframe and front axle to do that so I'll see how much this helps first...

[paulplom]

A joiner in my street has just paid £520 for a cat back system for this.

He tried four different places and three of them couldn't even source one.

I think he's had his arse felt.  The car is hanging. The arches are rotten and every panel is dented. Poor bastard.

 

[dollywobbler]

12 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Any chance the engine conversion has caused the big ends to wear?  As for the 720, I am happy with the standard 2cv performance. A £3000 bill on top of the cost of a nice car is not what I think sensible- I had no idea it cost so much!. I have a sportscar for that sort of thing.

The bottom end is entirely unknown to me. It's an engine I acquired many years ago and it had been sitting outside. I threw it in the car, but ended up fitting the 652 kit as the bores were badly glazed and water damaged on the 602. That tells you what state the engine was in. 

Suggest you try a 720 before writing off the idea. The difference is remarkable.

[egg]

In India (where the car was built) they do gingercators for Hyundai i10s. Never standard of course. They're £2. From 'bigpartsboss'!

Postage probably horrendous.

https://www.partsbigboss.in/indicator-light-i-10-yellow-ag.html 

[richardmorris]

[Tadhg Tiogar]

^^
Pity that's not painted blue.

[Stanky]

10 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Windows fallen off its runner?

incidentally these are tiny, I saw one in the metal a few years ago and was astonished how compact it was. Very pretty though

[Split_Pin]

The normall my lovely interior smell has been replaced with wet dog.

I pulled up the mats and the carpets are damp. The previous owner modified the sunroof drains to stop any leaks so I'm not sure what's causing this. 

It's all drying out just now but I need to investigate.

 

[dollywobbler]

1 hour ago, Stanky said:

Windows fallen off its runner?

 

Nope. That's as good as the opening gets on those.

[Stanky]

1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

Nope. That's as good as the opening gets on those.

Given how 'focussed' these seem to be, I'm surprised that Lancia didn't just use a NACA duct or slidey vent in a fixed window glass. Does it sort of pivot around the bottom rear corner then when you wind it down?

[paulplom]

Just been caught trying to steal 20 bottles of king goblin in tescos. The shop assistant came running in the car park and collard me. Is use that scan and shop thing and forgot to scan them. Very embarrassing being lead back into the shop by the trolley.

 

[paulplom]

I could feel my face glowing red. Not like me at all. I normally couldn't give two f's.

I had loads of other shopping and the beer was the last thing I bought. I counted twenty going into the trolley but forgot to scan one twenty times once finished. 

I'm sure the wife didn't believe me. She said 'it's rather alot to forget to scan' along with other stuff.

I'm in there every other day. It's making me wonder if I've done it before and got away with it!

[wuvvum]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

The normall my lovely interior smell has been replaced with wet dog.

I pulled up the mats and the carpets are damp. The previous owner modified the sunroof drains to stop any leaks so I'm not sure what's causing this. 

It's all drying out just now but I need to investigate.

 

Blocked scuttle drains?  They're one of the usual culprits on 75s.

[Split_Pin]

All clear and a plenum guard is fitted. The previous owner also replaced the sunroof drains. I'm going to look at the screen surrounds next.

[N19]

The plastic trim has a sheared off clip on the nearside, which I'm trying to epoxy back into position without it pulling away. Appropriate* support mechanism now in place. 

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, paulplom said:

Just been caught trying to steal 20 bottles of king goblin in tescos. The shop assistant came running in the car park and collard me. Is use that scan and shop thing and forgot to scan them. Very embarrassing being lead back into the shop by the trolley.

I guess, technically, you had stolen them, even though totally accidentally (m'lud). I'm sure they recognized it was a genuine error by your beetroot shade and good attitude but I bet this is happening an awful lot, with people seeing that they get away with it accidentally once then taking advantage. It's only going to push prices up in the long run. 

I never use scan and shop or self scan in the (probably vain) hope that I'm contributing to keeping checkout jobs going.

[vulgalour]

Finally booked the Kennedys to come out and regas the Princess.  A necessary procedure and one I've been putting off for at least 6 or 7 years now.  They're pretty busy so it's not happening until the end of October, I do hope it ends up being a smooth job for them and that the car doesn't throw any toys out the pram about it.

[N19]

39 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

I guess, technically, you had stolen them, even though totally accidentally (m'lud). I'm sure they recognized it was a genuine error by your beetroot shade and good attitude but I bet this is happening an awful lot, with people seeing that they get away with it accidentally once then taking advantage. It's only going to push prices up in the long run. 

I never use scan and shop or self scan in the (probably vain) hope that I'm contributing to keeping checkout jobs going.

They want 50% of shoppers to use self scan or says as a minimum. However, the number of hours available to supermarket managers depends on things including sales but also queue times, which is a factor of the number of people waiting for a proper checkout. 

[SiC]

With all this talk of 2CVs on here, I'm thinking that I ought to give one a go. I personally don't really like them but I'm slowly convincing myself to not...

Also didn't realise how plentiful and cheap parts are for them. New chassis for under 500 quid to complete shells for only 4k! I guess it helps that there isn't much to them. 

[richardmorris]

9 minutes ago, SiC said:

With all this talk of 2CVs on here, I'm thinking that I ought to give one a go. I personally don't really like them but I'm slowly convincing myself to not...

Also didn't realise how plentiful and cheap parts are for them. New chassis for under 500 quid to complete shells for only 4k! I guess it helps that there isn't much to them. 

When I first had mine new parts were harder to come by but seconds hand bits were plentiful. Now it’s probably the other way round. If you don’t think you like them then I think you need one to drive first before committing. 

[N19]

Bluebird trim seems to be curing, but left for a bit longer to set. Also treated the battery tray to a coat of bilt hamber. In the meantime I've managed to lose the J-clamp for the battery, dammit. A cable tie will suffice for a bit until I can find the old one, inevitably as soon as I order up a new one.

Been doing a few errands in the Mondeo this evening, and noticed the temperature gauge flopping around. Uh oh. I had just left the car idling for about 5 minutes, but it carried on on a decent run. Coolant level below minimum and a small trickle of coolant under the thermostat (the housing of which was recently replaced when it dramatically fell apart on the A1M). Topped it up and gave a run around for a bit longer and no more came out. I'll have a proper look tomorrow, but it's really less than ideal on a car which is going to Scotland in a week's time... Fingers crossed it's an expired hose or clip that's obvious when seen in daylight. 

[dollywobbler]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

With all this talk of 2CVs on here, I'm thinking that I ought to give one a go. I personally don't really like them but I'm slowly convincing myself to not...

Also didn't realise how plentiful and cheap parts are for them. New chassis for under 500 quid to complete shells for only 4k! I guess it helps that there isn't much to them. 

Certainly give one a go. They're not for everyone, but I can't imagine life without one, and I've owned them since 1996. If you can weld, that helps, because they do like to rot. Can make projects attractive as most are on decent chassis these days. Be warned that they can be quite different to drive depending on chassis, dampers and suspension heights. Six-cylinder's feels very different to drive to mine.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, richardmorris said:

..... If you don’t think you like them then I think you need one to drive first before committing. 

They have a certain charm but, having tried 6Cyl's 2CV, I think more practice with the gear change is required. I kept thinking I was going to end up selecting reverse from 3rd gear.

[Mally]

The gear change is a challenge at first.

I do think are a little sedate for SiC though.

Long hair or a beard often helps for some strange reason.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Just now, Mally said:

The gear change is a challenge at first.

I do think are a little sedate for SiC though.

Long hair or a beard often helps for some strange reason.

Not jamming the handbrake on also helps.