The new news 24 thread

[Arthur Foxhake]

12 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Yesterday morning I drove into Norwich in the Granvia to meet up with my work colleagues - some of whom I haven't seen since March - for a pre-Christmas walk, which was nice.  Then I drove into the centre of Norwich to get a few bits from the pound shop - it wasn't as manic as I'd been expecting.  Then I drove another 130 miles to deliver the old crate to its new owner.  The gearbox was stuck in third all the way in to Norwich in the morning, but would you Adam & Eve it, as soon as I left Norwich for the run down to Bucks it behaved impeccably - the gears were all there all the time, and even the torque converter lockup started working, which it's never done since I've owned it...

I've booked the C2 in for an early MOT tomorrow, so this morning I backed it up onto the ramps for a quick check underneath.  Although most of it is pretty clean, when I pressed on the back of the sill (the bit not covered by the bodykit) with my thumb it went "crunch".  Pushing harder made a dent.  My thumb didn't actually go through but I imagine the tester's poking tool almost certainly will. 

I'm in two minds what to do now - my welding mate isn't going to want to get involved at this time of year and I certainly don't fancy attempting it myself in the cold and wet.  If it is only a small area and the car doesn't need anything else I might be able to justify getting the garage to weld it up, but if the car needs other things doing or the welding turns out to be more extensive than it looks, it will quickly get too expensive to justify.  I might use the MOT slot to run the Rover 75 in instead, and leave the C2 until the spring when things will be a bit more straightforward.  I won't be using it much over the winter anyway - the back roads of Norfolk are too damp and muddy for hooning at the moment.

It seemed to shift fine from cold yesterday as well. 

Gives me a dilemma, I would have happily stripped it if it was broken and needs welding, now, I'm not so sure I should.

I'll inspect the rot and make my decision then. 

 

A warning to all shiters.

Never buy a car to strip, you'll end up keeping it! I must have done this 3 times now!

[Floatylight]

10 hours ago, clayts450 said:

My Xiaomi Mi A1 has shat itself (touch screen no longer works, despite factory reset via recovery). I need another back up phone in the van, which also serves as a Wifi hotspot for my tablet which acts as my satnav.  The old backup phone (Cubot X19) has been promoted to main phone duties.

Rummaged through my box of old phones and remembered I had a Microsoft (Nokia) 640 Windows phone. I'd actually always liked the phone (in spite of the obsolete OS) and thought I should recommission it. But then I remembered it was locked to EE, and it costs stupid money to unlock. Quick visit to ebay. Aye, that'll do. Old skool (and unlocked) 640 back up phone and hotspot for £20. Thankyou please.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Microsoft-Lumia-640-LTE-8GB-Black-Unlocked-Smartphone/224195175094

 

I've just bought one of these https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1514435642277822/ to give me 4g internet, seems brilliant for the price, runs off 12v mains adaptor so could easily be wired to run off 12v supply..

[Arthur Foxhake]

2 hours ago, Arthur Foxhake said:

It seemed to shift fine from cold yesterday as well. 

Gives me a dilemma, I would have happily stripped it if it was broken and needs welding, now, I'm not so sure I should.

I'll inspect the rot and make my decision then. 

 

A warning to all shiters.

Never buy a car to strip, you'll end up keeping it! I must have done this 3 times now!

Jumped the gun.

Back to broken gearbox today, stuck in 3rd, flashing O/D light.

It's fate is sealed...

[Supernaut]

12 hours ago, clayts450 said:

I always get da fear when I use superspeed wiping, especially on the motorway, usually when passing trucks in torrential rain. I always envisage both wiper blades parting company with their arms simultaneously, leaving me with a tiny amount of RainX residue to provide crystal-clear* forward vision. Hasn't happened yet, of course, but now I've said that.....

I've only ever had that happen once. When I bought my first car in 2010 (a Peugeot 306) I was driving it back down to Aberdeen from Elgin after having just bought it. Somewhere on a remote bit of the A96 in the pissing rain, the driver's side wiper parted company with the arm.

I pulled in sharpish and shoved it back on, and it was perfectly fine. My mate following me in his 405 was a bit puzzled as to why I just rammed it into a gravel trap at the side of the road still doing about 20mph odd though.

[Pete-M]

I've moved to Germany. First day out of isolation I spotted this. 

I'll be flogging old and interesting cars, and occasionally sourcing parts if anyone needs them*

 

*UK import taxes and transport costs to be paid by buyer, naturally. 

[N19]

After about half an hour trying, given up any hope of a roadside repair. Bus home and will return later with a tow rope. 

[egg]

28 minutes ago, N19 said:

After about half an hour trying, given up any hope of a roadside repair. Bus home and will return later with a tow rope. 

Any idea what has broken?

[barefoot]

I found a pic of my old Cortina.

bean tin exhaust trim FTW

[N19]

14 minutes ago, egg said:

Any idea what has broken?

Yeah, one of the rubber hoses going onto the cts, original as far as I can see, jubilee clip has been done slightly* too tight by the garage and torn. Should be a 5 minute job when I have the part. 

[egg]

Would it originally been a Ford spring clip thing?

3 minutes ago, N19 said:

Yeah, one of the rubber hoses going onto the cts, original as far as I can see, jubilee clip has been done slightly* too tight by the garage and torn. Should be a 5 minute job when I have the part. 

[wuvvum]

17 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I'm in two minds what to do now - I might use the MOT slot to run the Rover 75 in instead, and leave the C2 until the spring when things will be a bit more straightforward. 

I took the Rover in in the end, which turned out to be the correct decision as it went straight through.  So that's another year of Longbridge wafting sorted.  

[strangeangel]

On 12/13/2020 at 7:52 AM, stuboy said:

 

 

GR8 LETTER OPENER M9 👍

 

[dome]

1 hour ago, Pete-M said:

 

I'll be flogging old and interesting cars, and occasionally sourcing parts if anyone needs them*

 

*UK import taxes and transport costs to be paid by buyer, naturally. 

 

 

You could be a very useful man to me! 

 

 

[N19]

58 minutes ago, egg said:

Would it originally been a Ford spring clip thing?

I think so, there are a few on there which are original. As the cts has a flange at the end, with the tightening it seems to have put a lot of pressure on a particular bit which has gone. 

[wuvvum]

Found a picture of the Rover 75 dashboard I took when I first picked the car up.  Comparing it to the MOT certificate I've only done around 12,000 miles in the car in nearly 2 1/2 years.  I thought it'd be more than that, but then I suppose it didn't go anywhere last winter as I was using the Elantra, and then we were locked down for three months, and since then I've been working from home so it's done relatively little driving this year.

[somewhatfoolish]

4 hours ago, Pete-M said:

I've moved to Germany. First day out of isolation I spotted this. 

I'll be flogging old and interesting cars, and occasionally sourcing parts if anyone needs them*

 

*UK import taxes and transport costs to be paid by buyer, naturally. 

What's that? The brain's gone. 

[wuvvum]

Datsun innit?

[Pete-M]

280 Z, I reckon. 

[BorniteIdentity]

4 hours ago, N19 said:

flange at the end, with tightening pressure

😏

[egg]

Kids round here are so bored they're shooting out bus windows after dark with air rifles - they've had to divert from some parts of their normal route.

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/herne-bay/news/bus-route-no-go-zone-as-yobs-shoot-windows-out-237484/

This happened to me once. I was on a bus in Grenoble in 1998, when a brick came through a window 6 feet away from me one evening. A delightful* experience.

[wuvvum]

43 minutes ago, egg said:

This happened to me once. I was on a bus in Grenoble in 1998, when a brick came through a window 6 feet away from me one evening. A delightful* experience.

Whereabouts in Grenoble was that?  There were a couple of dodgy areas - Villeneuve and Cité Mistral - where bus drivers feared to tread.

[egg]

3 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Whereabouts in Grenoble was that?  There were a couple of dodgy areas - Villeneuve and Cité Mistral - where bus drivers feared to tread.

Yeah, Villeneuve. We lived on Rue Aimé Pupin on the edge of the 1968 Olympic Village.  It was a little bit dicey.

[wuvvum]

14 minutes ago, egg said:

Yeah, Villeneuve. We lived on Rue Aimé Pupin on the edge of the 1968 Olympic Village.  It was a little bit dicey.

I don't envy you - the Village Olympique had a bit of a reputation...  How long were you there for?

[egg]

27 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I don't envy you - the Village Olympique had a bit of a reputation...  How long were you there for?

Sep 97-Jun 98. One of my mates had the good sense to live on Uni campus. We were living in a building for young rural workers seeking work in the 'big city' - in reality mostly young male migrants. We didn't walk through the Village after dark if we could help it, it was menacing even in the day time. Kept a low profile. 

This was my room in this lovely* block.

I've posted this before, but once my Flat mate burst into to my room naked at 2 in the morning because he could smell smoke....This was why...

This was the next morning, I guess when you're 20, these things don't bother you so much!

[Bren]

We got the vectra back from the garage. They admitted being too busy to do the job. I suppose it's easier than saying we would rather do MOT repairs.

I had it recovered to the local VX specialist. He said it might be after christmas before he starts however he messaged me to say one injector was a PITA so he has started it.

Up to now I am £120 in - £70 for recovery and £50 (!) for a timing belt.

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, egg said:

Sep 97-Jun 98.

Heh, we just missed each other.  I moved away in August '97.

[RobT]

2 hours ago, egg said:

I've posted this before, but once my Flat mate burst into to my room naked at 2 in the morning because he could smell smoke....This was why...

I felt like doing that to my old 11 a few times...

[N19]

4 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

😏

As the actress said to the Bishop! 

Recovery complete. A bluebird towing a Mondeo probably isn't a usual sight. One snagged towrope, another bump at a set of lights (on the shiny new mondeo bumper! At least I'm good at fitting them now) and hopefully not too flat a battery. 

[davehedgehog31]

7 minutes ago, N19 said:

As the actress said to the Bishop! 

Recovery complete. A bluebird towing a Mondeo probably isn't a usual sight. One snagged towrope, another bump at a set of lights (on the shiny new mondeo bumper! At least I'm good at fitting them now) and hopefully not too flat a battery. 

Got one with tow rope in shot? Calendar shot!

[RobT]

Fleet update.  MoT pass on the Rover 820 last week, which was a relief as getting any work done was a hassle I could do without.  I spent ages on those rear calipers and handbrake so it felt like an achievement getting a fresh ticket.  After all that I'll make an effort to sell it now (not a process I'm looking forward to tbh), and will also ask actual money for it.  Gets a bit tiresome losing money on cars every single time.  Plus it's a lovely old thing and drives really well.

Front wheel is on lock as I was checking out the CV boot severely deteriorated advisory.  Doesn't look that bad, so I'll leave it for the new owner.

The Xantia keeps doing main car duties well, and my hydraulic pipe fix seems to be have worked.  Nail in the rear tyre last week means I'm running it in the 25 year Michelin spare, so I'll get that fixed soon.  Here it is with the Skizzer Espace, which is still fantastic despite losing electricity.  I'm hoping a new voltage regulator will fix that.  Got the part, just need to remove the alternator.  I'll do that on Boxing Day or something.

It's also an ideal location for a coffee break, when I couldn't be arsed fixing cars the other day.

I've also been mucking about with the Morris.  It needs a new brake master cylinder, or a refurb of the existing one, as the braking is finally comically shit.  Reversed into my garage wall the other day because no brakes and ill judged twattery.  No major harm done though, just a giffer style sent on the bumper.

The itch to buy something else has also reappeared.  Shouldn't, but these things are inevitable aren't they...