The new news 24 thread

[cort16]

After you (cavette) talking about those ML's I'm thinking once I sell my Jag and BMW I might buy a wanky 4x4 for the winter I might start a thread seeking advice but I'm currently thinking.

 

Lexus RX300

New Shape Subaru Legacy

Range Rover Vogue

Hyundai Terrahawk

Ford Ranger Double cab.

[panhard65]

4x4 for the winter step this way the perfect vehicle. Doesn't help that I am in somerset but it is taxed and tested til april

[Shep Shepherd]

If it doesn't break terminally/expensively, I'd hang onto that for as long as possible. Getting rare now, especially in Quadra form.

[HillmanImp]

Why are you carrying a lot of flexible piping in the back.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Why are you carrying a lot of flexible piping in the back.

 

That's not flexible piping. It's an Anderson shelter. One of Renault's early attempts to market to safety obsessed parents. 

[cort16]

That's mega fit. I'm no position to purchase until I sell one of my cars but HOW MUCH M8?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

WOULD EAT

[Cavcraft]

I would like a Range Rover but they just seem hopelessly rusty and badly built, ditto the ML it would appear.

The only sensible answer is a Frontera Sport.

[cort16]

The last time I drove a Frontera it blew the headgasket while I was towing a totally shagged out Cortina back from Aviemore. Not something I'd like to revisit.

[DVee8]

Try a Nissan X-Trail

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-NISSAN-X-TRAIL-SVE-TD-diesel-6-speed-4x4-px-/301009347773?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item46158e24bd

 

We are on to 2nd had them for 8 years now no problems with OMGSNOWKAOS.

[M'coli]

Aviemore. Not something I'd like to revisit.

Never a truer word said in jest!

[Junkman]

Tonight was the monthly Rover P6 Owners Club Manchester Chapter meeting. One member showed up with his pristine V8S that's supposed to go on the club stand at the NEC on Thursday.

Well, it won't now. On the way from the meeting, courtesy of bad vision thanks to darkness, rain, and a steamed up windscreen, he clipped one of those stupid bollards some braindead fuckwits put into the middle of the roads all over Britain, and it effectively wiped out the entire offside of the car.

[dugong]

FARK. I would have well gone to that!

[dugong]

The 460 still works. I had a great time driving it up and down the unit access road this evening. Even with the magnificently bodged accelerator cable, it's still a riot to drive. I miss having it around - it's a rocket compared to the C4.
Having 70% of the throttle available is also improving my driving technique. If you mash the pedal from stationary you get wheelspin, but no axle hop. Push harder and you light a bonfire outside a maelstrom of scuttle shake.

I went over the MOT fail sheet again, and it really isn't too bad. Bandage the rear box up for the re-test, find a new OS outer CV boot, fit the new roll pins and chivvy a new hand brake cable on. I have a pair of second hand calipers should the stuck one fail to free off, and a bloke on the 400 forum found me a decent old-stock accelerator cable in a pile of spares. They're incredibly hard to get now, so receiving it gratis was a definite bonus.

 

 

 

I may have mentioned last time that I managed to track down the last NOS bump stop in the UK before I went away on holiday. It got sent to Dai Brace at Classic Swede who's used it as a mould for polyurethane copies to be made from. The ones on my car are hanging off, no doubt contributing to the power-boat stance that the photographer captured at Santa Pod last year.

I've not put the leather SXi interior I took out of a car in Aberdeen yet - it's still stuffed in the 305's load space. I haven't fitted the new Phonocar speakers either.

 

 

Speaking of the 305, it's been drying out for the last eight months in the unit. I'm 80% certain it's staying - unless things turn for the worst and the GS proves impossible to sell. I had some tentative interest in the engine and 'box separately, and with what was left I'd easily better the amount it made last time on eBay by weighing it in.

Yes, I did just suggest scrapping it. You can throw up your hands in horror, but the overdraft always wins. Outpourings of grief will not put me in the black. It's like Pete-M's 604 all over again. 

The CCC have been no help at all in finding it a new home. The high bidder on the eBay auction tried to chip me down over the phone with the weakest excuses I've heard in a long time. I've drastically lowered my expectations price-wise, and admit that I paid too much for it in the first place. Oddly enough the GS Pallas with the 1300 GSA conversion re-appeared on eBay recently - I came very close to buying that  car in 2010 after the cash from the Celeste sale was burning a hole in my pocket.

 

The GS may end up as spares unfortunately. It seems a massive shame, but no-one wants a project at the moment.

[Junkman]

FARK. I would have well gone to that!

 

Yeah, this totally uninhibited joy just didn't emerge.

 

Btw. why don't you flog the C4?

[rml2345]

On the phone at the moment so can't do it myself so can someone please add the 460 lights photo to the calendar thread as it's bloody brilliant.

KTHANX.

It would be a shame to break the GS but I understand where you're coming from. Love of old tat doesn't pay the bills and projects seem harder than usual to shift at the moment, even for the time of year. If it needs split to make the figures work then there's not a lot folk can do unless they stump up. Like with Pete's 604, loads of people (including me) loved it but when it came to actually buying it they couldn't/didn't put hand to wallet and it took ages to sell.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Whats up with the 305 then? I know you were having some carb problems, is there much else needs doing?

[wuvvum]

I really enjoyed my 460 Turbo.  On real roads it was a lot faster point to point than it had any right to be.

 

The Vectra failed its MoT yesterday.  Needs a rear spring & a tyre, has a binding rear brake (which I knew about), a bad exhaust blow (which I also knew about - it's blowing on one of the flexis so couldn't patch it up - I'll be buying a repair section and getting it welded in as a new complete front section is over 200 quid) and the offside headlight is insecure (which I hadn't spotted but probably should have).  So not the end of the world - a new spring is only 27 quid delivered and a part worn tyre probably about the same, exhaust flexi about a tenner - but not jobs I can realistically do myself (apart from the headlight) so I'm going to have to pay someone else to do them.

 

On the plus side, the Piaggio passed its MoT this morning - it initially failed on lack of brake lights, which turned out to just be a slightly corroded multiplug behind the light unit.  So that'll be going up for sale soon as I can't see myself using it much over the next few months.

[RobT]

Operation Fleet Reduction has begun. Brookjm of this parish collected the Sierra today and is currently driving home to Devon in it. Sad to see it go but can't keep them all, and Matthew is a bloody nice bloke so it's in good hands. I sent him on his way with a big bottle of water/antifreeze seeing as the radiator is incontinent, and being a shiteist it didn't seem to faze him!

 

The garage is now empty so I'm off to the parental storage facility soon to collect a Rover, I'll decide which one when I get there.

 

Next up for sale will be the miniMetro, but that needs an MoT first which it should pass no bother. I'm wondering whether to leave it until next spring though when the show season starts up again.

[dugong]

Btw. why don't you flog the C4?

 

 

Because it owes me nothing and it does the job it's supposed to do. It never does less than 48MPG and it takes the day to day drudgery that would knacker my other stuff in its stride. It costs me very little to run and insure. Also, it's virtually worthless. Like 'worth-£500-because-it's-not-a-Golf' worthless. Changing it would cost me and I wouldn't get anything 'better' for the cash involved. 

I'm keeping it until something severe [possibly electronic] cripples it. After that I'll get a GTI-6 and live with the difference in fuel. Sod this XUD-mafia nonsense. 

 

The Amazon has way too much sentimental value, and day to day use would destroy it, not to mention the fuel bills for the mileage I do. 21 MPG and a 210 mile range is not something my wallet could cope with. I ran it as a daily in the summer for a month and it absolutely shafted me financially, even when working full time. It would need an overdrive and a suitable rear axle to do any kind of decent mileage on the motorways, not that it's phased by 70 mph runs. 

 

The 460's better on pez, but I suspect it would eat through CEMs and electrical connectors at an alarming rate if used everyday. It's also thirsty in and out of town. I need to watch the scabs on it as well, and it really needs a pair of bumpers given the scuffs and cracks they've picked up. 

 

Whats up with the 305 then? I know you were having some carb problems, is there much else needs doing?

 

I couldn't find a manual carburettor that fit for less than £300 - or more than what the thing cost to buy. The original engine is utterly paggered and ran badly even when SCTSH_ANDY bypassed everything, set the timing and changed the plugs on a daily basis. I have most of another engine ready to go - but the wiring for the dashboard and fuel injection will be 'interesting' to say the least. I quite like its scruffy outward appearance and the MOT tide mark along the doors contrasts nicely with the 106 S2 Rallye wheels I fitted (costing 2/3 the value of the entire car). I hate that Solex auto choke carb with a passion. 

 

Body-wise it really isn't too bad. It needs a new valance and some patches whacking over the holes in the wings. MM5 reckons £300-worth of welding would have it 'solid but ugly' and that suits me just fine. It's a much easier prospect than the GS if not quite as interesting. The difference in performance will probably bridge that gap, though.....

[Cavcraft]

Can't you put an XUD into the 305, he said from the relative safety of 41.2 miles away?

[Shep Shepherd]

 

 

I love this picture. Reminds me of the launch ad for the US-market Volvo 240 Turbo

[vulgalour]

After my initial grump about the sphere problems, it looks like I'm going to revert to plan B.  I'll be dropping the axles off both my cars and swapping them over, then I'll get the HL pumped up and worry about fixing the HLS later.  I've also contacted Robcliffe's to find out how much for the complete axle from the brown car I stripped everything else off.

 

Old cars, who'd have 'em?

[dugong]

Can't you put an XUD into the 305, he said from the relative safety of 41.2 miles away?

 

Yes, but then I'd feel a strange compulsion to crash it in to ditches and drive uninsured without knowing. I'd also hate all charities, for some inexplicable reason. 

[myglaren]

I agree with Lacquer Peel here. Why the actual hell would anybody want a Mercedes ML? They're as visually appealing as Andrew Lloyd Webber with Myxomatosis,  as desirable as piles and off-road they're as much use as a condom machine in Vatican.

I would rather have gay sex with Kenneth Clarke, and then baste my gentleman's parts with Pedigree Chum and walk naked in a pound of starved, rabid Alsatians than drive one of those.

 

But each to his own.

 

Edit: I have the music taste of a drug dealer, the dress sense of a football manager and the car taste of drug dealer, so can't comment.

My son had to drive one of these while he waited for his wife's BMW to be delivered - took 9 weeks and had to come from Germany apparently.

Anyway, they absolutely hated it.  Nothing was right (brand new car).  He had been driving one of his FILs cars in New Jersey, a Focus ST, that he claimed had far better build quality, was far more comfortable, actually had some power and the satnav was a million percent better - even politely invited you to take the next exit, please

 

They were seriously glad to be rid of it although his wife never drove it - just refused outright.

[Lord Sterling]

I was so bored at work today that I took the opportunity of an empty business park and the unlikely hood of anyone turning up to do a small few jobs to my car.

 

Firstly I drove the car up to the door and gave it a good hoovering out:

 

Then my attention turned to the floor mats, the underside of them were so bad, worn and falling apart, there some sandy substance always coming through the rips and tears on the underside so hoovering would otherwise be a waste of time and effort, but I found some duct tape lying and a pair of scissors about:

 

I taped over the cracks and rips to stop this sandy substance from falling about, hopefully it'll do the job.

 

Oh yeah, and the battery jacket/cover.

 

Then I checked the oil, there hardly seemed any in it. Anyhow after work I eventually tracked down a mid-sized bottle of 10w40, then, stupidly I poured the lot in thinking it wouldn't overfill, I checked the dipstick and seemingly I slightly overfilled it

[Cavcraft]

Duct taping mats is a sure fire way of showing you're a 'shiter.

[saucedoctor]

Got a quote today for respraying the Rover 25 (and fixing the ding in the drivers door and the wee wrinkle on the NS quarter). £500, and that includes fitting the new front wings. Does that sound reasonable, folks? I really have no idea. I've seen the chap's work in the past and was impressed. Also, he lives next door to my best mate, so he knows he'll hear from me if it's not right!

[myglaren]

Nothing much gone wrong with the C5 lately.  Still haven't fixed the CD changer yet.

Coming home from work a few days ago felt something fall on my left foot and stay there, eventually getting under it and making the possibility of becoming janned under the clutch a serious possibility.

 

Stopped when it was safe and took a look.  The blower module that was replaced just before I bought this car a year and a half ago had fallen out from behind the trim.  Picked it up with the idea of shoving it back and fastening it in later.

 

It was VERY hot and I immediately dropped it.  A cloud of magic smoke came from it.  Didn't seem to bother it but the following morning no blower.

Had to wait until the weekend to fix it and then it was just a bodge.  Turned out to be a broken main feed wire that had been stressed and several strands parted, the rest just burned through.  Soldered it then jammed it back behind the trim with a view to fitting it properly later (probably much later)

 

The blower is now like a hurricane, works better than it ever has before, so probably leave well alone then

[cobblers]

This morning I got an early start on the van, bumpers fitted and suchlike then progress was halted by my mum turning up. She brought food bless 'er, but I had to be sociable and talk to her inside in the warmth. She left and then my dad came and did the same for another hour. Then he left, and a mate turned up and I got roped into putting a new bumper on his vw caddy thing. By the time all that was done, it was pissing down and getting dark.

 

Here's the van looking a bit more van like:

 

I managed to get the dash back in. I was in too minds whether to paint it brown or not, but I'm glad I did now:

 

 

By now it was PISSING DOWN and proper cold, so I cheated and just dragged an extension lead and a fan heater in and chipped at a few little jobs inside - stuck some insulation on the side panels, fitted the blower vents to the dash etc etc.

 

 

It was actually very theraputic, bumbling around in the warmth with the sound of rain hitting the roof. I got overcome by the moment and took a fancy picture of a wet window.

 

 

And there we have it. Hopefully tomorrow it'll either not rain, or people will have the common decency to at least turn up to talk bollocks when it's raining and dark.