The new news 24 thread

[hairnet]

2 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

Been into garage and one of the toolboxes is full of water. 

Just that, nothing around it. There's HBOLs on the shelf above, theyre okay and the floor and workbench the tools are on is fine. 

Its been raining heavily today so I've been in the garage to see where its coming in and its dry still. 

Frigging mystery. Someone call Scooby Doo. 

HBOLS are incontinent?

 

[dozeydustman]

I am considering getting the jobs on the Ignis done, whacking a year’s ticket on it and moving it on.

I may be getting a van with my promotion, I can *just* about afford to insure the stepdaughter on it at renewal (many other cars will be much much cheaper for a 20 y/o) and despite the headroom and a 6ft 5 idiot being able to fit in it I’ve started to get backache driving it.

If I don’t get a van I’ll keep it, if I do it’ll be used once a week if that and seeing that the Toyota only gets used once or twice a week we’ll have no need for 2 cars.

I have also entered roffles....

[outlaw118]

Started the day with a list of jobs, some car-related some not.

Went into town first thing in SWMBO's Kia, noticed on return that the NSR tyre was a bit flat (but only at the bottom). As these tyres - Winglong Happyday Ditchfinders have been on the car since we bought it, I'd been considering changing them for the last couple of months as whilst there is just under 2mm of  tread the sidewalls are getting a bit cracked. Got home, pressure down to 12.5 psi from a recommended 32. As she's off to her mate's in Suffolk tomorrow I checked the others, OSR @ 25, both fronts at 31. All sorted, but will check NSR before she goes in the morming.

Workvan has been taking a beating (relatively speaking) in the last 3 weeks, and is absolutely filthy, inside and out. Removed 12 2 litre pop bottles, 5 Maccy D's bags, 9 empty fag packets and another carrier bagful of other detritus from the cab, topped up the windscreen washer bottle, then ventured to the garage to get the glass cleaner and Rain-X, got distracted by a small bucket full of sockets that had mysteriously jumped off the shelf, then got the arseache, went indoors.

Then it started raining.

[plasticvandan]

Coming home from work Friday,got out and heard a hissing noise,sounded like a radiator leak..no,sodding wood screw in my front tyre and I had already booked in to have a set of four fitted on Thursday....did a trail and found a set of nearly new winter tyres on rims for £50 not too far away,so fitted those and will get the original set changed in the week,least they won't have to take the wheels off!

[Vince70]

Today my mate Mitch wanted me to have a look at a 53 plate Fiat for sale for £750 which was up for sale on Facebook and I went round the address to meet my mate and knocked on the door and we didn’t get a reply.

My mate could only contact the seller via Messenger as he didn’t have a number and got told he was in but no one was at the address and the seller walked down  the road about 15 minutes later and no car was insight.

We asked where the car was and he said he will go and get it and he came back 10 minutes later with the car but forgot he lived down a one way street  and we had to stop him driving down it lol.

So When he went to get the car that wasn’t parked at the address I told my mate to basically walk now as I had already done a basic check online anyway as the seller only had the V5 for two weeks on this so called immaculate Fiat but my mate wanted to humour the dodgy seller who needed to get rid of the car as he was moving to London apparently otherwise he would never of got rid of it.

He finally turns up with the car and I could hear it before I saw it as the water pump was making a horrible noise and opened up the badly aligned rattle canned bonnet to be greeted to expanding foam in the chassis leg and no coolant and oil that looked like coal and all that was found in under 20 seconds so we didn’t look at anything else on it.

Also the photos that were taken of the car  were  nowhere I knew locally.
 

Im surprised he didn’t buy it lol

 

 

[ProgRocker]

Hmmm...the clock in my Almera didn't set itself to winter time? 🤔 It has done in previous years. I wonder if it's an age thing as its now 17 years old. 

[N19]

Bluebird light seals re done with Tiger Seal - hopefully will keep the water out. Left it in the garage to dry so just had* to bring the Capri back home and of course needed* to take the long way around. 

[stuboy]

Well after hermes snapped my last spoiler I decided to keep looking,  someone suggest  a rover 75 spoiler look good and fit ok, only problem was getting one not bollocksed or broken fixings. Finally got one delivered in the week, 1 broked free fixing ive glued in.  Only thing it'll have to wait till after my op on Tuesday  ** INFRA RED MONDEO ST220 FOR ILLUSTRATION ONLY NOT MINE (sadly)**

Edited October 25, 2020 by stuboy
cause im stoopid

[Jenson Velcro]

Not really how I wanted to spend my birthday, but have spent this morning dodging showers and stripping the head off my r50 Mini Cooper. It’s a tidy enough car that I bought pretty cheap just before lockdown and knowing it had a cooling problem. I replaced the fan resistor but it started loosing water. It has previously had a new radiator and I have replaced the thermostat housing. We pressure tested the system and found a leaking hose and replaced that. Re pressure tested and still leaking but nothing visible so assuming an internal problem. Nothing obvious with the head gasket so will pressure test the head. Ho hum but I don’t like being beaten and am determined to sort this out.

[SiC]

Went to storage and put a dust sheet over the Boxster. Where I store my cars is an old battery chicken shed. The cages are still above the shit pit (where the cars are) and oil has a habit of dripping down onto the cars. Not great.

Hopefully this cheap and very thin dust sheet from Toolstation will prevent this happening. Also be thin and light enough that it doesn't scratch or damage the paint.


Also checked on the MGB. Still there and happy. But the roasting trays keep blowing away and leaving the oil to drip on the floor. It's a term of the conditions for the storage to make sure that doesn't happen. I'll have to find some heavier trays.

[Tickman]

25 minutes ago, SiC said:

I'll have to find some heavier trays.

Just put a brick in the tray.

[SiC]

27 minutes ago, Tickman said:

Just put a brick in the tray.

A brick is really close to catching the bottom of the car!

[Agila]

3 minutes ago, SiC said:

A brick is really close to catching the bottom of the car!

Plenty of oil drip trays on ebay. 

[hairnet]

31 minutes ago, SiC said:

A brick is really close to catching the bottom of the car!

half a paving slab or a roof tile obvs

 

[KitKat]

Clio got a couple of bits done on it this weekend. New engine mount fitted, but my suspicions that the old one was broken were wrong - it was fine

Changed the exhaust mounts because the old ones were saggy and cracked, and the exhaust was so embarrassingly crooked I'd shudder every time I drew the curtains in the morning

Tapped out the old threads and copper slipped all the bolts

Spent an hour hefting it and trying to manipulate it straight, then after installing the new mounts, its only marginally better. Trouble is the spacing between the pipes doesn't quite match the bumper apertures. Subsequent Googling revealed all 182's with this exhaust fit like this

Broke one of the the new exhaust mounts during fitting and the associated heftage anyway. FFS.

[RobT]

It can only mean one thing.  I wouldn't choose to be on it otherwise.

[brownnova]

Oooh and you can usually pick ‘em too @RobT so this will be exciting! Bonne Chance!!! 

[New POD]

16 hours ago, Jenson Velcro said:

Not really how I wanted to spend my birthday, but have spent this morning dodging showers and stripping the head off my r50 Mini Cooper. It’s a tidy enough car that I bought pretty cheap just before lockdown and knowing it had a cooling problem. I replaced the fan resistor but it started loosing water. It has previously had a new radiator and I have replaced the thermostat housing. We pressure tested the system and found a leaking hose and replaced that. Re pressure tested and still leaking but nothing visible so assuming an internal problem. Nothing obvious with the head gasket so will pressure test the head. Ho hum but I don’t like being beaten and am determined to sort this out.

I had a look on You tube at r50 head gasket replacement, and decided it would break me. 

I would have attempted it in the past. 

4 years of University level Engineering training and 30 years as a manufacturing engineer, and I've just started to know my limitations. 

[SmokinWaffle]

Did some servicing and fixes on the BX in prep for the MOT - posted it in the thread but thought I'd post it here too for those who'd be interested:

  

On 10/24/2020 at 5:47 PM, SmokinWaffle said:

And keep you updated I will!

Apart from running it for the past two months I've not really done much apart from enjoy it (and replace a glow plug relay that wasn't in great shape). It hasn't had any issues (touch wood) with idling in around 1000 miles or so if not more (ish? I didn't count) - and I've been using it daily. It's been a very good car for me and I really do adore it.

I replaced the Hydraulic pump belt a couple weeks ago as it was slipping like nobodies business and causing the pump to squeal / stop rotating under load.  £7 from chevronics. Good thing I did as it was very perished. The mounting bolt thing was also very loose so the pump was moving 3 - 5CM back and fourth (probably didn't help) as the car moved around. Retightened it all and aligned it with the cam, happy days.

Today was a day of many little things and niggles in prep for the MOT next week - first time I've serviced one of my own cars myself (with my dads help)

Fixed the mounting bracket on the RHS for the indicator after it flew off on the motorway the other week and was lost forever (thankfully on the way to rip apart another BX which had a good one on it.) Looks like it had a chunk taken out of it / has had a front end knock at some point - probably why it never quite aligned for @vulgalour - as the headlight mounting/metal was kinked back and the paint is crazed/weird.
 

Pulled that out, made & riveted on a bit of metal to make up for the missing chunk and mounted the indicator with a new bolt:

Also lopped off the dodgy, intermittent and brittle sidelight connector and just put two connectors on it instead - you can see it in that pic. Rear view:

The other indicator was also very loose the other week and it turned out that the mounting bolt seems to have previously snapped and been repaired and was now broken again. I superglued it and it worked- but noticed it was a bit pissed today. Good thing I took it out and checked it as the superglue was holding on by the tiniest little bit and it was close to falling out and meeting a similar fate to the other indicator that went missing.

Redid it with some metal putty stuff:

Dries rock hard and can be drilled, grinded ect so that should keep it in place for a little while.

Had to make up a little drive tool to take out the sump plug as it was some weird size:

Good to have someone who is very handy and has many tools. Been a HGV mechanic all his life and always has a solution.

Gave it some new SemiSynth 10W40 and a Mann filter once we'd got it drained. It's a little more refined on the motorway now which is always nice and sounds a bit happier overall. It wasn't due a change on miles, but it's been nearly a year and a half so probably best.

Also recently had the low coolant light coming on and off randomly, it had a cable tie holding up one of the wires and I took that off and all seemed well until a week later when it came back. Took apart the plug (very cool, had a flippable bit to easily take out the contacts) and found one wire hanging on by pretty much nothing. Re cut and crimped it back in place, put it all back together and no more horrible stop light. Picture below is when the other wire basically just fell out.

Also fitted a new rear washer pump and one way valve as the previous pump gave up the ghost. Was a universal fit one but does the job lovely and fits in the gap where the old one did.

Tightened the alternator belt and it's mounting bracket as it started to squeal the other day.

Also gave it new indicator bulbs and sidelights, all ready for it's MOT next week sometime, fingers crossed.

Oh, I also fitted a bluetooth stereo with a nicely hidden microphone the other day as I'm dailying it, the old tape deck did work but gradually got quieter and quieter until it was useless:

Looks whack and too bright there - but the camera made it look weird. Actually looks quite swish and covered with the panel when not in use/I don't want to change it to keep the retro look. It's a really nice one, £95 new and I got it for a tenner, used once. Crazy.

Had to wire it into a switched live instead of a permanent one to make it come on / off with the ignition - but that was easy enough.

Wired the old one up to a spare computer PSU I had in the office with some messing around - now I just need some speakers for a cool new office radio:

I'll keep this thread updated when I do work on it/when stuff happens so I have a record, and it's fun to know what happens between different owners.

 

[richardmorris]

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, RobT said:

It can only mean one thing.  I wouldn't choose to be on it otherwise.

baaaaa baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

[Jenson Velcro]

50 minutes ago, New POD said:

I had a look on You tube at r50 head gasket replacement, and decided it would break me. 

I would have attempted it in the past. 

4 years of University level Engineering training and 30 years as a manufacturing engineer, and I've just started to know my limitations. 

I just don’t have any imagination. It was pretty straightforward following the HBOL to get it dismantled. Whether it solves the problem or ever runs again is another matter..... it would have been good to have found an obvious break in the head gasket 

[SiC]

13 hours ago, sickboy said:

Subsequent Googling revealed all 182's with this exhaust fit like this

Haha yes. You won't unsee 182 exhausts when you're behind them in traffic now. 

My exhaust mounts have had an "interesting" repair done to them by a previous owner.

 

Looking at those very crusty mounting studs, it looks like whoever changed the exhaust last decided to fuck off changing that and bodge the mount. Unfortunately the car is quite boomy at 4k+ rpm and I think that's partly down to this bodge. I dare not remove that mount though given someone else thought that too.

Probably send it to my local garage to deal with. Will be a million times easier for them on a lift and with a blue wrench to hand. 

[KitKat]

2 minutes ago, SiC said:

Haha yes. You won't unsee 182 exhausts when you're behind them in traffic now. 

My exhaust mounts have had an "interesting" repair done to them by a previous owner.

 

Looking at those very crusty mounting studs, it looks like whoever changed the exhaust last decided to fuck off changing that and bodge the mount. Unfortunately the car is quite boomy at 4k+ rpm and I think that's partly down to this bodge. I dare not remove that mount though given someone else thought that too.

Probably send it to my local garage to deal with. Will be a million times easier for them on a lift and with a blue wrench to hand. 

Interesting approach to the problem I guess. Those studs are grim!! Definitely would shear off if you try and touch them. Any idea what type of exhaust is on yours @SiC ? 

[SiC]

Interesting approach to the problem I guess. Those studs are grim!! Definitely would shear off if you try and touch them. Any idea what type of exhaust is on yours [mention=20071]SiC[/mention] ? 

Bosal I think

I'd prefer stock Reno but they're mightly expensive. Looking through the history, the cars had three back boxes in its life.

[richardmorris]

[richardmorris]

[HMC]

^ what even is that number 8 car? Looks 50’s competition (up to the wires being chromed at least)

[richardmorris]

2 minutes ago, HMC said:

^ what even is that number 8 car? Looks 50’s competition (up to the wires being chromed at least)

Not sure on the model, but the script on the rear panel was Allard. Sounded good!

 

Ah, it's new!

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/09/25/englands-allard-rises-from-62-year-slumber-to-make-continuation-cars/#slide-2266548

[Six-cylinder]

2 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Not sure on the model, but the script on the rear panel was Allard. Sounded good!

I think it was a Cadillac engine.