The new news 24 thread

[Cavcraft]

If it's a 16V I think it's X16XEL, or something like that. We (i.e my lad) did the belt on a Zafira with the same lump not that long ago and it wasn't especially difficult. I think he just had to lock the cams in and thatw as it. It's right about water pump and 'stat too, may as well change them at same time.

At that sort of age they can be worth the same as ones two or three years newer, as it does appear to be condition and mileage that sells them.

 

I'm not sure if they made a 1.9TD or 2.1TD Berlingo, though I have heard the HDis don't half go some. I just want to put one (pref. 2.1) into the 306 then try and tune it up a bit for a laugh. It's sad at my age but I'd be interested to see how far I can push the handling: at the moment it's perfect in most situations as it feels like it's dead right for flat out roundabouts etc.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Shite models in TK Maxx, looks like some ex Modelzone stuff could be ending up in TK Maxx! I bought this Burago 1:20 Citroen C6 yesterday for £12 they had a couple of Smart Cars and some PorscheFerrari type stuff too, this was the Bletchley branch .

[Sigmund Fraud]

I braved the STORMCHAOS* and spent an enjoyable* morning doing some long overdue work on Mrs.Fraud's modern-ish VW.

 

It's no secret that I don't particularly like VWs, and this little car has played a role in this... Don't get me wrong, it's a fairly simple car and has proven itself to be fundamentally reliable, having achieved 130K miles so far with little more than routine maintenance. Unfortunately, it's full of small components that were poorly designed and cheaply made, which are usually a pain in the arse to replace.

 

The conspiracy theorists will tell you this was done deliberately : faced with a £300 labour cost to replace a £5 part, most owners would be tempted to get rid of their 5-10 year old 'banger' and buy a shiny new car. If two or three such components fail within the space of a year, the temptation will surely become a decision.

 

Anyway...This time, it was the wiper linkage that had decided to fail : the ball-and-socket joints had so much play in them that the wipers would hit the scuttle panel and A pillar alternately, smearing the windscreen in between. Very irritating, and not a fault I had encountered in all my years of driving old shitters.

 

Thankfully, I was able to buy a complete linkage with motor from ebay for £30 and -contrary to my expectations- replacing the whole lot was quick and straightforward. I was quite pleased with the little car, so I thought I would treat it to some fresh coolant before the SNOWCHAOS* season arrives. Everything went fine, until I had to take the coolant sensor out to bleed the system. The damn thing had become brittle with age and the sealing surface cracked and fell off when I removed it, rendering the car undriveable until a replacement is obtained. Irritated, I drove to the motor factors mumbling my usual mantra of ALLMODERNCARSARESHIT.

[cort16]

That Multipla's got to be a right late one as they caved in and changed it to look like a bendix washing machine around that time.

[dollywobbler]

As some of you recall, I owned what was thought to be the last RHD Mk1 Citroen BX estate last year. Another one was spotted in the South West recently, and now another has come up for sale in Thetford! Has been stashed in a garage for years - more details on the BX Club forum if anyone is interested (think you ,may have to be a member to see it). 

 

It's a 16RS petrol, but it's only distance (and perhaps a lack of funds) that is stopping me from buying it. Anyone on here interested? 

http://www.bxclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18838&start=30

[Guest Tony Hayers]

700 Auto spares, Pontarddulais has shut up shop this week. Went down today (for Rover bits)  and the entire yard has been cleared and the site is up for sale.

 

So if anyone was popping down there for anything, save your time & pez.

[vulgalour]

Wow, that Mk1 BX estate is lovely.  Way beyond my abilities/budget at the moment otherwise I'd be making him an offer, even though it's not a veg-friendly machine.

[ShiteRider]

I may have a unit sorted, a mate of a mate has seven owld shitters and has fast run out of space. Big news, litte news we're going to look at some friday night.

As long as we can it three each in, with fettleing room, it should be all systems go. Anyone got any advice on what i should be away of from a legal point of view? The two we're going to see are car friendly ie; the neighbouring units are semi -pro tinkering outfits.

[Mr Lobster]

^ find out how much rates are. You will be liable for them, councils are very, very hot on them round here.

[Mr Lobster]

Shite models in TK Maxx, looks like some ex Modelzone stuff could be ending up in TK Maxx! 

 

Most of the ex ModelZone stock was either sent back to suppliers or sold quite some time ago. A fair bit went abroad sadly and a fair amount of the stuff they had was on SOR so not theirs anyway (Corgi, Hornby etc). Incidentally, the ModelZone brand is now owned by WH Smiths.

[cobblers]

Today I nipped in to the painters on the way home, and SHIT THE BED HE HAS ACTUALLY DONE SOME WORK.

 

After 3 months of arsing me about I finally got really very pissed off and went up and literally threw a volley of fucks at him last week. It seems to have somewhat done the trick and he's finally pulled it in the "booth" and got on with it. 

 

Look, check out the booth:

 

There's only lacquer on the insides - the outsides will get a nib down and another couple of coats once the doors are hung, so the whole outside is sprayed in one go to keep all the pearly metallic flake stuff uniform. and stuff. Tomorrow after work I'm going round to help put the doors on (and take the hinges). Quite happy with the colour but it's a nightmare to take a photo of especially in the mega booth lighting.

[Alexg]

Faulty wipers on Chevette traced to what I thought was a dodgy motor. Replacement fitted today and still nothing! Power seems to be getting there so assume possibly second motor faulty too.

 

Just getting dark so go to put everything away and the bloody thing won't start! Engine fires up but instantly conks out as soon as the key is released. It will run and rev up with the throttle whilst the ignition key held on. Ace. Pushing the car out the way seems to have done my back in too. What am I checking first shitters?

[vulgalour]

That's actually looking nice, like it'll be a very flattering colour for the van.

[vulgalour]

@Alexg:  bad connection on one of the column stalks perhaps?  On stripping down the stalks on the Mk1 Golf and removing the green corrosion and the paint (previous owner numptiness again) things all worked fine.

[Lord Sterling]

Shit me, I've actually got some car content to share 

 

Today has been a bit hit and miss car repairing wise today. I've not touched my own car but I got to know an old fella who lives in Halesowen who owns this:

 

 

You might just be able to see 2 different coloured rear lenses. A few years ago, a truck bashed into the back of his car causing some minor damage. When the repairers replaced the rear light lense, they fitted a later tinted rear light lense, so the old fellas been driving a Sterling with 2 different coloured rear light lenses.

 

I managed to get a hold of a correct 'Orange' rear light lense and a rear door handle as his had broken off. I went down today and fitted the correct lense to his car:

 

 

The door handles though, proved to be more a bastard to do. The rear door handle on the old_lads car had completely broken off. I undid the door card to have a look, normally it would have been easy to simply unbolt the handle from 2 sides, except the other side of the rear of the handle was covered with the window channel. The Haynes Book of lies said that to access the bold would require removing the rear window. As the weather was unpredictable we decided to call it a day on that handle.

 

I put everything back but suddenly as I sat inside the rear of the car to check the handle, it wouldn't open, oh crap thought I. happily though, it turned out that it was simply locked, however, the lock had come off so dismantling the door card to access the locking mechanism was required.

 

Next, for some unknown reason, I thought it would be a good idea to tackle the front door handle as it was rather fragile. At this point I was rather apprehensive but thinking I had better access to the rear of the handle I thought it would be fine. I got to the mechanism only to find that the plastic handle bit was also broken, i'd manage to get it off but couldn't really figure out how to put it back. I was bricking it. The old fella was, well, basically old and not as agile and he relied on his car so access was vital. Thankfully, I managed to figure it out and put it all back together just as before, I did see what was broken/breaking but there wasn't much I could do as it was the plastic bits that broke.

 

So, a score on the rear light but nil to me on door handles. I will help him get his car in tip top condition though.

[Cavcraft]

Alex: check the earth point/s out, I seem to recall having merry hell with a shit earthed Chevette years ago.

 

My news 24? I can't bring myself to sell the 306 estate, least not yet. I had someone bona fide racing to get here tonight with £250 in cash, but I just don't want to offload it. Partly (and as a measure of how tight I am) it's because I've realised it's taxed until the end of Feb, not December, partly because it's a useful static security device and partly because if naff all else it's a source of spares for the hatchback, should I need any.

[alf892]

 

Faulty wipers on Chevette traced to what I thought was a dodgy motor. Replacement fitted today and still nothing! Power seems to be getting there so assume possibly second motor faulty too.

 

Just getting dark so go to put everything away and the bloody thing won't start! Engine fires up but instantly conks out as soon as the key is released. It will run and rev up with the throttle whilst the ignition key held on. Ace. Pushing the car out the way seems to have done my back in too. What am I checking first shitters?

With just ignition on see if you have power at the coil.....because (on some/most) ballasted igntion systems the coil gets a full 12v from starter when cranking and then reverts to the feed from the ignition switch when key is released

[Alexg]

Cheers folks

[dugong]

Yeah.

Went to see how the Amazon was progressing.



At the moment it's living in a shed with a buggered Merc and a minty Stag for company. Could be worse.



Now it's elsewhere on site to have the wings, bonnet and front panel blasted. The inner wings were a lot better than I thought - a couple of repairs to the top rails and some cannoned Waxoyl and it should be alright.



Boot came off another car and isn't aligned right. All Amazons were hand finished so each boot lid panel is effectively tailored to that car. Original fit beautifully was like a tea bag. This one's fitted wrong, doesn't squash the seal properly and lets water in.

It has new floors, too.

[trigger]

I wasn't aware that they were all hand finished, they are such a good looking car I think.

[dugong]

I wasn't aware that they were all hand finished, they are such a good looking car I think.

Er........probably more accurate to say they were hand fettled - some of the panels had to be persuaded on to the bodyshells, the boot lids being a case in point.

 

I think Jan Wilsgaard spent a bit too much time looking at the Chrysler 300, to be honest.

[vulgalour]

Mmm... Chrysler/Volvo 300/Amazon.

 

[dugong]

Mmm... Chrysler/Volvo 300/Amazon.

 

 

Aye. No similarity there whatsoever*

[daveb47]

Finally figured out how to get rid of that bloody nn People Are Viewing This Item Per Hour blue pop up box on ebay item pages.

[dollywobbler]

Do tell Dave! I'd like to wave that sodding box goodbye too.

 

That VW is going to be super. Is that metallic brown?

 

Chevette - power may be getting to the motor but like Cavette says, that's no good if the earthing is buggered. I'd grab some wire and rig up a wire direct to the NEGATIVE (double check which one you're waving a wire at!) terminal to see if it works. In fact, with two pieces of wire, you could presumably bench test the motor that has been removed?

 

Volvo - nice to see it again. At this rate, it'll soon be in better condition than my 2CV. In fact, it might already be there...

[dollywobbler]

Forgot to mention - the only drama was me pulling a sicky as the dressing on my thumb injury was changed last night (by my qualified and very kind sister-in-law). Felt queasy, so headed for the loo. Heard a loud thump and woke up collapsed on the floor. The loud thump was my head striking the breeze-block wall. Very, very lucky not to injure myself! Neck was a bit sore and my head hurt a bit, but I wasn't actually sick, so that was a bonus! No idea why the thumb thing was upsetting this time compared to the several other times I've seen it so far. 

 

Went to bed feeling very concerned about the drive back today, but made it most of the way (Mrs Wobbler drove for a short 15 min section to give me a break) with no problems.

[Barry Cade]

Been scaring myself reading about Diesel particulate filters, now that I drive a car with one fitted. DO NOT WANT.

 

"Engine filter warning for city drivers.

6 February 2007

A WARNING has been sounded over potential problems with new-generation diesel engines.

Leasing company Lex says drivers in urban areas are at risk of the engines’ Exhaust Particulate Filters (EPF) clogging up. Some of the firm’s drivers are having to visit a dealership every six weeks to have their filters unblocked. The problem occurs predominantly in traffic at low speed, it adds.

Lex says fleets can alleviate the potential problem by following manufacturer operating recommendations.

According to manufacturer guidelines, an EPF-equipped diesel engine is likely to clog up unless it is operated at 50mph for at least 20 minutes, or covers 50 miles at motorway speeds at least once every couple of weeks.

These driving conditions effectively burn off the soot particles that the EPF has been equipped to prevent from escaping into the atmosphere.

Drivers should look out for a warning light that notifies them that the EPF is blocked and that the car needs a run out at 50mph for a prolonged period."

 

This did tickle me a bit though..

 

"FAP is the abbreviation for the French "Filtre à particules", i.e. particle filter, and FAP is registered as a proprietary name for PSA's DPFS."

 

"The FAP system was introduced on PSA vehicles back in the year 2000"

 

Who will be first to introduce FUBAR?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Dragged Ms_Ba11s' Astra back down the MOT shed for a retest tonight. Fingers crossed!

[Cavcraft]

Haha, that guide to not knackering up DPFs is the polar opposite to how our work ones get treated. Driven round at 20mph everywhere, they smoke their absolute bollocks off and get clogged up to high heaven.

[barefoot]

Bum holes. Horrible 944 vibration.

Take to specialist who suspects broken engine mount and sent me home in a Citroen C4 VTR which goes like a bit of a bastard but is desperately uninvolving to drive. The controls are all weightless and sudden, the acceleration is all or nothing and it feels like flying through a hedge instead of going round a corner could come as a complete surprise.