The new news 24 thread

[hairnet]

Tim that's fugging ace

 

In other news Cheshire just got itself another shopping car

 

Commuter train pffft

[Negative Creep]

944 ended at £500 which I'm happy about. Of course whether this will result in the sale actually going through remains to be seen...........

[Lord Sterling]

Well, I finally installed a working boot-mounted CD-changer in the boot of the Sterling. The original one didn't want to work, so ages ago I took it out, took it apart and released some trapped in CD, sadly I had to completely smash the CD apart to get it out as there just too many nooks and crannies in the way. With CD out I tired the old one in, changer didn't want to work, so I left it floating about in the boot until I could be bothered to do something about it.

 

Then I bought one off the Rover 800 site from one of the members, it came today, worked perfectly but the bloody thing was swear-inductively difficult to to out in, I couldn't remember what I'd done with the original fixing blots, but I found some that fit Ok. So its in and I now I have something else that actually works.

[cort16]

There's a Jag specialist opened not far from work so I called them with the view of them doing the jobs my XJR needs for it's mot. The bearings are supposed to be a specialist job and I've not got the time, tools or inclination to do it. When I ran through the list the guy discounted 3 things on the fail sheet as the mot tester not knowing Jags. Apparently there's suppose to be a little movement in the bearings and the car needs to be running to check another couple of things. Anyway, it's good to speak to someone who understands them and didn't immediately try to dry bum me for work not needed. It's going in next week.

[Micrashed]

Been to London (not to visit the Queen but to a WHO/PHE conference whre I learned the art of gatecrashing like a pro!) Decided after a spirited and interesting dash over Limehouse way that I quite like the older (and in this case battered to fuck) Frontera - even if I have no idea how to use the hi/lo box. 

Though whether it was the car or the battered to fuckery couldnt give a tossness of the car I liked I dont quite know.

[dollywobbler]

Been to London (not to visit the Queen but to a WHO/PHE conference whre I learned the art of gatecrashing like a pro!) Decided after a spirited and interesting dash over Limehouse way that I quite like the older (and in this case battered to fuck) Frontera - even if I have no idea how to use the hi/lo box. 

Though whether it was the car or the battered to fuckery couldnt give a tossness of the car I liked I dont quite know.

 

If you're driving around London, you don't need to bother with the high/low lever. Playing around with it on tarmac is a good way of knackering it up anyway.

 

Fronteras are ace, as anyone who attended Shitefest '13 will tell you.

[Lord Sterling]

Thanks Tayne! It does look very similar, I did give some of the running gears a bit of lube but it still didn't work. When I investigated the old changer, it had a CD caught between the changer and the magazine, I tried to move the runners manually to free the CD but that didnt seem to work, the only other way was to crack the CD itself into peices, I think it had already been damaged anyway. It was quite tricky to feed the pieces through.

 

When I connected the old changer back up again, it came alive for a second but then did nothing, it wouldn't even release the magazine. Although its not worth nowt, I intend to see if I can get it fixed anyway.

[saucedoctor]

Not long home from investigating why the "Engine Management Light" was on in an A Class belonging to Jaz's mate Sarah. I arrive tooled up with two code readers a laptop and an EOBD cable. It was the fucking low screenwash light. Sarah was told by another woman that it was the EML.

Splitarses - leave the technical stuff to those of us who piss standing up.

 

[Lankytim]

The front end of the AX is being A framed away for scrap tomorrow morning. The A frame was just long enough to attach to the front suspension and still enable me to hook it up to a tow vehicle. A strap holds everything together so it can't tip up or anything.

 

 

 

It looks a bit odd, but from what I can see it obeys the letter of the law! (if not the spirit)

[phil_lihp]

A shame, says he who didn't make any attempt to rescue it, but you can't save them all.  I do find it odd that no-one wanted such a cheap runaround, I guess Mk2 AXs are going through that worthless and unloved phase as with other early-mid 90s chod right now.  I'll be interested to see what the trailer looks like!

[dollywobbler]

Have you hooked up a fuel can and tried towing the Xantia with the AX yet? Hope you've locked the steering or it'll be very entertaining!

[Lankytim]

The fuel pump is still in the back end of the AX, so it can't run anyway. Interesting idea though.

 

The steering is locked via the steering lock, but the wheels aren't exactly straight but it will still be OK for the short tow to the scrapyard.

[oman5]

Have you hooked up a fuel can and tried towing the Xantia with the AX yet? Hope you've locked the steering or it'll be very entertaining!

precisely what I was going to suggest. it would be rude not to at least try it.

[r.welfare]

Aye. GR8 4 a Roger Moore View To A Kill tribute.

[Micrashed]

If you're driving around London, you don't need to bother with the high/low lever. Playing around with it on tarmac is a good way of knackering it up anyway.

 

Fronteras are ace, as anyone who attended Shitefest '13 will tell you.

I wouldn't be driving round London, it was a Kosovo registered left hooker used by Medicines sans frontiers and driven by a mad woman who spoke very little English, looked like she was used to driving through things rather than round them.

[Volksy]

 

 

 

 

You should grow Tomatoes in it.

[vulgalour]

I just removed the rocker cover from the head and things did not go as expected.  Camshaft didn't stay in the head, it came away with the rocker cover.  Then the valves reset themselves with a clunk.  Then the camshaft rotated.  What now?

 

Edit:  Applied logic and rotated the cam back to where it was according to the sprocket marker.  Valves don't matter so much as they need to come out to have the seals done.  I really hope I don't mess this up.

[cort16]

I'll just pop down and change that front bumper on the BMW I thought. It'll only take me an hour I thought. The new bumper had every bloody but of trim and grill etc stripped off it so I had to move everything over. Happy with it now though.

 

alpina by cort16, on Flickr

[vulgalour]

Looks like you're part way through giving the BMW a US style make over with a massive bottom lip there. Fibreglass the gap, save yourself the hassle of refitting it properly.

[cort16]

It's an Alpina B10 front bumper fitted to a 520i. I'm a scenester!

[DVee8]

We drove past this last week on the A1 anyone know what it is? Unimog maybe

It was on the back of a camper

I got our lass to photo it on the way past

 

[dollywobbler]

Steyr Puch Haflinger. Brilliant things.

[DVee8]

Cheers DW

At looked almost new very very clean

Quick google search

[wuvvum]

The Solara is now running more or less properly again after I ran it up to a mate's this afternoon and we stripped the carb and blew through everything with his high pressure airline.  It's still not 100% perfect, but then it never has been in my ownership.  It will now idle properly and trundle along on a light throttle without kangarooing.  So a set of part-worn 165x13s (there's plenty of tread on the tyres but they are perished to buggery) and it'll be ready for a test.  Once it's tested and I have a bit of spare cash, I'll take it to someone who can set up carbs properly and give it a tune-up.

 

I recently went on holiday to Rome, and one of the things I noticed is how many of those big scooters there are - everyone seems to be zooming around on them.  I'd never really taken much notice of them before as you don't get many round these 'ere parts, but they looked like quite an enjoyable way to get around.

 

So I bought one.

 

 

It's a Piaggio X8 400i, with, as its name implies, a 400cc engine.  It's a single-cylinder lump so not the smoothest of things at low revs, but it's quiet enough and fine once it's got a bit of speed up.  It has fuel injection and a cat and an immobiliser and all sorts of modern stuff that I'm not used to having on bikes.  There are a few things missing though which I was surprised about - there's no rev counter for one - I'll admit that a rev counter isn't a necessity on a twist & go bike, but seeing as most of the cheap Chinese 50s have them these days, I was a bit surprised.  It also doesn't have hazard lights, which would be a useful feature on a bike which by its nature is probably going to mostly be used around town.  And the headlights are hardwired into the ignition and can't be switched off, which annoys me.  Not that I generally ride with no lights on, but I like to be given the choice.

 

I'm not quite convinced by the riding experience yet.  It's extremely comfortable, and I'm sure I could ride to Scotland on it without getting a numb arse, but it's a fugging heavy old lump (over 200kg) and quite softly sprung, so it's not the most agile beast.  It also doesn't have a great deal of lock on it for a bike designed to zip through traffic jams, and the weight and small wheels make it an absolute bastard to push around on my soggy lawn.  Performance is adequate, but with a relatively low-tuned 400cc engine moving a big lump of bike, acceleration isn't exactly to superbike standards.  I can wind the throttle wide open from a standing start on a damp road without a care in the world, and it just glides up to speed in its own sweet time - I haven't tried timing it yet, partly because I haven't yet worked out quite how optimistic the speedo is (my guess is "very"), but I reckon something like a 2-stroke Gilera Runner 180 would show it a clean pair of heels up to 60.

 

So it's not unpleasant to ride, but I can't see myself keeping it too long.  I'll probably put a fresh ticket on it and flog it, then get a proper bike with gears an' stuff in the spring.

[cms206]

If any of you Scottish chaps passed a Van Hool bodied DAF on fire on the M77 earlier it was me.

 

Soz.

[Barry Cade]

The Solara is now running more or less properly again after I ran it up to a mate's this afternoon and we stripped the carb and blew through everything with his high pressure airline.  It's still not 100% perfect, but then it never has been in my ownership.  It will now idle properly and trundle along on a light throttle without kangarooing.  So a set of part-worn 165x13s (there's plenty of tread on the tyres but they are perished to buggery) and it'll be ready for a test.  Once it's tested and I have a bit of spare cash, I'll take it to someone who can set up carbs properly and give it a tune-up.

 

I recently went on holiday to Rome, and one of the things I noticed is how many of those big scooters there are - everyone seems to be zooming around on them.  I'd never really taken much notice of them before as you don't get many round these 'ere parts, but they looked like quite an enjoyable way to get around.

 

So I bought one.

 

 

It's a Piaggio X8 400i, with, as its name implies, a 400cc engine.  It's a single-cylinder lump so not the smoothest of things at low revs, but it's quiet enough and fine once it's got a bit of speed up.  It has fuel injection and a cat and an immobiliser (over 200kg) and quite softly sprung, so it's not the most agile

 

I bought one of those a while back- the previous model and 500cc. Bought as spares or repairs as it sounded like a Moulinex and had no oil pressure. Stripped it down and found the oil pump drive sprocket is made of plastic.... Ended up having to get a good used crank from Italy and rebuild it. hen I rode it I found I hate riding with my feet out in front of me, but it was fun passing cars at 110mph on a scooter.

 

 

 

 

[stuboy]

agreed to buy some old manuals off a mate from his elderly relative.... god knows why i did though..

[cms206]

I didn't, I've only driven to the suprmarket and back today.

 

Hope you're ok?

Yeah Tayne, cheers; bit shook up watching £35k's worth of coach get destroyed in front of me but thankfully no passengers. Speedy response from the fire brigade too, which was nice.

[HillmanImp]

Is there anything left of the bus or was the fire localised? Glad you are okay but at the same time would love some photos.

[HillmanImp]

Naughty CMS smoking at the front?