The new news 24 thread

[N19]

Chilly out this morning. And frost on the inside of the Bluebird windscreen - guess I haven't totally solved the damp issues yet then... 

[Split_Pin]

2 hours ago, Shirley Knott said:

Of all the tools I have, the Pela pump has to be biggest game changer. Great aren't they?

Loads of others have made life easier- Ratchet spanners, mains impact tools, Sealey brake bleeder etc, but none of the above have seen as much use as the Pela. In the 8 years or so I've had mine I must have done 40-50 oil changes with it, still going strong.

Mine is a Laser one, identical in every way to the Pela,  just a fraction of the price. I've done about 20 oil changes in it since I bought it in late 2018. I had to replace an o-ring in it this year but otherwise it's been great. I no longer wince at the thought of having to do an oil change, they are now that easy.

[danthecapriman]

I’ve just ordered a Silverline fluid pump off eBay. I’m more interested in it for doing shitty jobs like diff/gearbox oil changes etc rather than engine oil. 
Ive got the diff and power steering oils to change on the Volvo, which is why I bought it, so hopefully it’ll work well! It’s got to be easier than trying to undo ancient seized drain bungs or trying to catch old fluid in cut up bottles etc in the engine bay. 

[Split_Pin]

Make sure the oil is warm if possible.

[Joey spud]

It's been sitting since February,forty minutes later..

 

A pass with advisories that'll do.

[danthecapriman]

21 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Make sure the oil is warm if possible.

I tried doing the diff oil on the Capri a few years ago by using a big old syringe with a length of plastic washer hose stuck on the end. 
It worked, but my god it was hard and time consuming trying to suck cold thick gear oil out with it!

[loserone]

3 hours ago, Craig the Princess said:

I remember from the 206 I had the multiple options Peugeot put on things for no reason, very annoying.

Peugeot made more 206s than any other car, and I think it's their only car which started with normal wiring and was multiplexed during production.  They were also made in several different factories.

 

Agree though, @Lord Sterling that 407 actually looks appealing, well done!

[BorniteIdentity]

Inspired by Mr the Pin I also have my Pela doing the Clio at the moment.  I ordered the sump plug tool 2 months ago but the ground temperature is zero and it's nice to be able to do an oil change whilst WFH.  Without getting changed.

How much of a fight the oil filter puts up I'll let you know.  Like everything done by a garage, it's probably tighter than an Nun's chuff.

[Split_Pin]

At least access is ok on that era of Renault. I always have a total war with the Audi as the engine is longitudinal and the spin on filter points diagonally back and down towards the bulkhead. Even although I give the new one the customary smear of oil, tighten it by hand only, Giant Haystacks sneaks in and nips it up a further 850nm in the intervening 6 months.

[beko1987]

Evas watching some horse tripe on netflix and I keep spinning the plates through the mot checker... 

There's a vw camper in this episodes plot, typical shiny outside and modern plates for a 1976 van

Had that twice in a month too before suddenly a pass with all the welding gone... 

 

[N19]

4 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I tried doing the diff oil on the Capri a few years ago by using a big old syringe with a length of plastic washer hose stuck on the end. 
It worked, but my god it was hard and time consuming trying to suck cold thick gear oil out with it!

Which axle? For some I believe it's quite easy to whap the rear cover off. Mine's a banjo where the cover is on the other side though.

I have an old soap pump bottle from the kitchen which I use to top up gear/diff oil as required. Thoroughly recommend for awkwardly mounted fill holes high up on the side of boxes!

[Supernaut]

You lot actually change gearbox oil?

 

[crunches into reverse attempting to leave]

[N19]

7 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

You lot actually change gearbox oil?

 

[crunches into reverse attempting to leave]

My favourite job! Everyone loves smelling of cat piss...

[Supernaut]

1 minute ago, N19 said:

My favourite job! Everyone loves smelling of cat piss...

The worst part is that I've had a bottle of gearbox oil in the boot of my Saab since a couple of weeks after I bought it (in late June) and it even has a lovely plastic filler neck on the gearbox, clearly visible in the engine bay!

No excuse!

[cort1977]

You should have said the other day! No excuse at all!

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, N19 said:

Which axle? For some I believe it's quite easy to whap the rear cover off. Mine's a banjo where the cover is on the other side though.

I have an old soap pump bottle from the kitchen which I use to top up gear/diff oil as required. Thoroughly recommend for awkwardly mounted fill holes high up on the side of boxes!

Sadly, no rear cover on mine either.

I might steal your soap pump bottle idea, it’s awkward using the spouts on the oil bottles and trying to squeeze them to force oil out. I did fill the Capri up using one of those little oil cans with the little pump handle but it took ages and made my thumb ache!

[richardmorris]

2 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Evas watching some horse tripe on netflix and I keep spinning the plates through the mot checker... 

There's a vw camper in this episodes plot, typical shiny outside and modern plates for a 1976 van

Had that twice in a month too before suddenly a pass with all the welding gone... 

 

Glad I’m not the only one that does that! Inspector morse, lovejoy and minder are great for this.

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, Supernaut said:

You lot actually change gearbox oil?

 

[crunches into reverse attempting to leave]

Well I don’t personally, but I do have a garage that does it for me. Point and pay!

[SiC]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

Sadly, no rear cover on mine either.

I might steal your soap pump bottle idea, it’s awkward using the spouts on the oil bottles and trying to squeeze them to force oil out. I did fill the Capri up using one of those little oil cans with the little pump handle but it took ages and made my thumb ache!

Got compressed air? Make a hole in the top of the bottle, pipe into diff and blow air in the hole on the top of the bottle.  

[catsinthewelder]

If I tried that I would rustproof most of the village.

[N19]

I actually managed about two hours down at the garage before I got a bit parky. First up was an alternator swap on the Capri. Newer alternators seem to have a slightly larger pulley, thus needing a fanbelt one size up from usual. Proper tensioning to follow tomorrow and the obligatory test run if it's not too salty. 

That done, I decided to sort out the corner of the garage where I should have some more workbench space. I've also improvised a parts/grubby hands washer out of two old adblue cartons and an old ikea bookshelf for extra ingenuity. The shelf at high level should hopefully clear some of the crap out of the way so that I can keep the work area clear for whatever I'm working on. I have somewhere some extra LED rope light to go round there to light up properly. 

[lesapandre]

New Russian 4x4 imported into USA by Italian company...what could possibly go wrong?

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/12/29/bremach-taos-uaz-import/

[Jim Bell]

9 hours ago, Joey spud said:

It's been sitting since February,forty minutes later..

 

A pass with advisories that'll do.

Well played man. 

Is it definitely going up for sale now?

[Joey spud]

Well i have just ordered up new discs and pads for it (the green stuff ones are absolute Horseshit) and i have even found a good second hand exhaust for it in Tunbridge Wells.

And it needs,i hope just the wheel balancing as there is strange vibration at 70 mph.

Once that's done and i'm happy then it'll need to find a new home and i will offer it on here first.

 

[Split_Pin]

Ran an essential* errand today, took the Audi.

Took my seatbelt off.

Ah yes, that could be suboptimal in a crash. No idea how that came loose. I did notice it was loose but I thought that it was meant to be articulated and didn't realise that it was actually loose. I have a suspicion that a garage may have done this to assist the belt retraction as they're a bit slow. I will sort this properly when the weather is better.

Also, life in winter with a 20 year old convertible:

The carpets are actually bone dry, it's just to stop drips onto the seats from the door seals. The dehumidifiers haven't collected any moisture in a week either so that's good.

Still a GR9 car though, hopefully won't need much for it's upcoming MOT.

[davehedgehog31]

8 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Ran an essential* errand today, took the Audi.

Took my seatbelt off.

 

Ah yes, that could be suboptimal in a crash. No idea how that came loose. I did notice it was loose but I thought that it was meant to be articulated and didn't realise that it was actually loose. I have a suspicion that a garage may have done this to assist the belt retraction as they're a bit slow. I will sort this properly when the weather is better.

Also, life in winter with a 20 year old convertible:

The carpets are actually bone dry, it's just to stop drips onto the seats from the door seals. The dehumidifiers haven't collected any moisture in a week either so that's good.

Still a GR9 car though, hopefully won't need much for it's upcoming MOT.

A lovely car that, has done you very well so far. 

[Zelandeth]

Ah...the early days of experimenting with 3D printing.  Attempt 1 at this model failed to adhere to the print bed and was sent skittering off across the floor by the extruder at about 45%.

Cleaned the build plate and tried again.

This time it's bonded sufficiently well to the build plate that I could probably lift the printer, desk and house foundations by the print stuck to the build plate.

What fun!

 

[stuboy]

No snow as predicted in ashford kent this morning 

[wuvvum]

4 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

The dehumidifiers haven't collected any moisture in a week either so that's good.

Those dehumidifiers are shite though.  I've got two in the Felicia and neither of them has collected anything despite it being 99.9% humidity in there.

[egg]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

Those dehumidifiers are shite though.  I've got two in the Felicia and neither of them has collected anything despite it being 99.9% humidity in there.

I've had similar experience. 

Happy New Year folks, have we had a new year's resolution thread yet? Even though most people's will probably be 'buy cars, fix cars, sell cars at loss, move on'