The new news 24 thread

[Fumbler]

I did a bit more thinking about the BX's electrics after yesterday and I think I can almost conclude that the aftermarket alarm fitted to it isn't working anymore. It did nothing when the battery was disconnected and reconnected. The only life I can get out of it is the (rather dead) integral buzzer trying to work. There should be a fob with Waso systems- it helps that they were also fitted to Mercs and BMWs from the era too. The one for this car has disappeared into the mists of time.
https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=1000098
The link above shows the tribulations a Porche 944 owner has had with his. Even though the pictures are broken, the description of the main unit, fob and everything sound the same as mine. Knowing what I know now, there are covers I can prise off and see what all the knock sensors, ultrasonics and whatnot are set to. There's also a switch to turn the whole thing off- that may have already been done, I'll check later. It's encouraging, though, that this was a professionally fitted device from back in the day. I'm by no means pleased that it's installed on my car, but at least it was done to some degree of prefessionalism and minimises the risk that it'll randomly break one day.

At some point I want to remove as much of the system from the vehicle. From what I can see, it is spliced into the loom by use of a large, removable connector, and has a separate 25A fused +ve supply. Bits of it have already been taken apart: for example, the bonnet switch is disconnected.  The telltale on the column has a mind of its own, which is weird, so the sooner I can rip it out, the better.

EDIT- Some snooping on the internet finds that mine looks to be a Serpi Star GR5 system. An absolute brick from the late 1980s. Yikes!

[artdjones]

23 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

I did a bit more thinking about the BX's electrics after yesterday and I think I can almost conclude that the aftermarket alarm fitted to it isn't working anymore. It did nothing when the battery was disconnected and reconnected. The only life I can get out of it is the (rather dead) integral buzzer trying to work. There should be a fob with Waso systems- it helps that they were also fitted to Mercs and BMWs from the era too. The one for this car has disappeared into the mists of time.
https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=1000098
The link above shows the tribulations a Porche 944 owner has had with his. Even though the pictures are broken, the description of the main unit, fob and everything sound the same as mine. Knowing what I know now, there are covers I can prise off and see what all the knock sensors, ultrasonics and whatnot are set to. There's also a switch to turn the whole thing off- that may have already been done, I'll check later. It's encouraging, though, that this was a professionally fitted device from back in the day. I'm by no means pleased that it's installed on my car, but at least it was done to some degree of prefessionalism and minimises the risk that it'll randomly break one day.

At some point I want to remove as much of the system from the vehicle. From what I can see, it is spliced into the loom by use of a large, removable connector, and has a separate 25A fused +ve supply. Bits of it have already been taken apart: for example, the bonnet switch is disconnected.  The telltale on the column has a mind of its own, which is weird, so the sooner I can rip it out, the better.

EDIT- Some snooping on the internet finds that mine looks to be a Serpi Star GR5 system. An absolute brick from the late 1980s. Yikes!

This kind of thing just makes one detest thieves all the more. The trouble that their greed causes to others, even 30 years later.

Cutting their hands off goes too far but two dozen with a thieve's cat might deter somewhat.

[Fumbler]

22 minutes ago, artdjones said:

This kind of thing just makes one detest thieves all the more. The trouble that their greed causes to others, even 30 years later.

Cutting their hands off goes too far but two dozen with a thieve's cat might deter somewhat.

It does, however, show that the original owner liked the car enough to make sure it was secure. It's rather eary to slimjim a BX IIRC.

Because of the alarm's age and the need to be fob activated, it isn't much help anymore now that it is gone. What is a massive help is that it was professionally fitted, meaning there aren't any horrible splices. It's a set of two connectors where it intercepts the loom, aiding the ability to remove it. That is, if I have the balls to.

[Cord Fourteener]

Out in Burford, and it's like every other car is an immaculate classic or an AS suitable 'retro '.

I've never seen anything like it in the wild! Not even on my road back at home!

[richardmorris]

Drive it day,

[dean36014]

Need I say anymore

 

[High Jetter]

VELly SATISfying!

[phil_lihp]

5 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Is that the 1.9 tdi? I'm assuming they're pre-PD at that point? As for the service mode idea, how refreshing! I can't imagine Wolkswarken would entertain designing such a convenient feature in a vehicle now. 

It is not a TDi, apparently they're different - confusingly I think there's a 1.9D (which is extremely slow), a 1.9TD (mine) and a 1.9TDi.  Not sure what PD is but I think this is quite an old fashioned lump, which is fine by me.  The one everyone wants is the 2.5TDi but this is fine for me, it has adequate performance which is all I want.

[Fumbler]

Turns out the alarm fitted is a Serpi Star GR 8 (ha! GR8), of which there's literally nothing on the Interwebs for it. Contrary to what I originally thought, it doesn't splice into the loom at the main unit/siren on the bulkhead. A bundle of wire wrapped in tape goes through the bulkhead and into the pedal compartment. From there is goes up to the column. The keyswitch on the alarm is set to 'on' (how helpful), and I've traced some immobiliser wiring down to the dicky main engine earth I was playing around with yesterday.

It may be as simple as pulling the two large connectors and the two spade terminals and seeing what happens. I found a diesel BX thread on another forum where the person had the exact same alarm and their immobiliser was cutting the feed to the fuel pump. As mine is petrol, I have a feeling the non-original wires at the coil are the immobiliser wiring for my engine. There are also headlamp and indicator flasher wiring to it, but that is in parallel to the car's original wiring.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

Alison driven on Drive it Day. I may have happened on some like- minded people. 

Great afternoon! 😎😎😎

[Dick Cheeseburger]

42 minutes ago, phil_lihp said:

It is not a TDi, apparently they're different - confusingly I think there's a 1.9D (which is extremely slow), a 1.9TD (mine) and a 1.9TDi.  Not sure what PD is but I think this is quite an old fashioned lump, which is fine by me.  The one everyone wants is the 2.5TDi but this is fine for me, it has adequate performance which is all I want.

I think the 1.9TD lump is the one used in the later mk3 Golfs. 90ish bhp if I remember correctly, and whilst a bit agricultural compared to the PD, pretty bombproof. Mrs DL's old mk3 Golf did 50 empeegees on a bad day, although I guess a T4 is a little more portly.

[SiC]

5 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Is that the 1.9 tdi? I'm assuming they're pre-PD at that point? As for the service mode idea, how refreshing! I can't imagine Wolkswarken would entertain designing such a convenient feature in a vehicle now. 

Service mode position for the front bumper has been a thing on Audi's for years and still is - usually on the longitudinally mounted engines. Nice idea in theory when all the fasteners are fresh. Perhaps less so when things are rusted up. 

[stuboy]

Anyone identify these seats?

[stuboy]

Been round future fil place and made a start clearing the bus converted  camper.. as it will need to go to make space for the standard 8 etc... probably scrap it , or anyone want a project once its cleared of personal affects...

[chancer]

44 minutes ago, stuboy said:

Anyone identify these seats?

Proton Persona coupe 

[Zelandeth]

22 minutes ago, stuboy said:

Been round future fil place and made a start clearing the bus converted  camper.. as it will need to go to make space for the standard 8 etc... probably scrap it , or anyone want a project once its cleared of personal affects...

If it does wind up scrapped, any chance a few simple to remove bits could be pulled off first?  Or is time etc likely to preclude that?

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, Dick Longbridge said:

I think the 1.9TD lump is the one used in the later mk3 Golfs. 90ish bhp if I remember correctly, and whilst a bit agricultural compared to the PD, pretty bombproof. Mrs DL's old mk3 Golf did 50 empeegees on a bad day, although I guess a T4 is a little more portly.

75hp in the Golf/Vento, 68 in the T4. Now quite sought after for dropping into T3s.

[HMC]

Been for a moorland blast in the fiesta lx. Fully warm even it’s fine and will stop and start on demand. It just seems to throw a wobbly restarting if it’s  been on an extended Trip; I’ve yet to calculate the exact point of no return distance/ time wise. Any ideas. Would a dodgy coil pack do this?

[catsinthewelder]

1 hour ago, stuboy said:

the bus converted  camper..

It would be a shame to see it scrapped but if it has to be has anyone got Bollox's number?  I'd quite like the canopy off the side but you're a long way away.

[richardmorris]

3 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Drive it day,

She’s named it Miss Deuzy.

[loserone]

12 minutes ago, catsinthewelder said:

It would be a shame to see it scrapped but if it has to be has anyone got Bollox's number?  I'd quite like the canopy off the side but you're a long way away.

I've pinged him a link

[BorniteIdentity]

As reported in the Escort Thread, my chum and neighbour organised a trundle out this morning for a spot of motoring. A gentle 15 mile jolly across salubrious Cambridgeshire awaited our intrepid motorists, and what fun it was.

A friend invited that lovely Fuzz off of the telly and he was just wonderful; a beautiful, gentle man. He spent five minutes telling his kids about the rarity of the Escort before modestly agreeing to a photo. 
 

There was a wonderful variety in the turnout, as ever I felt thoroughly under dressed but fortunately some legend turned up in a MK1 Multipla to save my blushes. Danny Hopkins off of Practical Classics turned out in a smart TR7 and spent the morning in the Escort’s rear view mirror.

Here are some more photos. Sadly @alf892couldnt join us in the end with his smashing Rover 12 but next time eh! 

[stuboy]

14 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

I'd quite like the canopy off the side

Ffil muttered about taking it off....

[Cord Fourteener]

1 hour ago, BorniteIdentity said:

As reported in the Escort Thread, my chum and neighbour organised a trundle out this morning for a spot of motoring. A gentle 15 mile jolly across salubrious Cambridgeshire awaited our intrepid motorists, and what fun it was.

A friend invited that lovely Fuzz off of the telly and he was just wonderful; a beautiful, gentle man. He spent five minutes telling his kids about the rarity of the Escort before modestly agreeing to a photo. 
 

There was a wonderful variety in the turnout, as ever I felt thoroughly under dressed but fortunately some legend turned up in a MK1 Multipla to save my blushes. Danny Hopkins off of Practical Classics turned out in a smart TR7 and spent the morning in the Escort’s rear view mirror.

Here are some more photos. Sadly @alf892couldnt join us in the end with his smashing Rover 12 but next time eh! 

Looks awesome!

[brownnova]

Had a spare half hour earlier. Having used the 2CV today it was out and I decided to see if I could make the radio work properly, something which it has never done in the time I’ve owned it. I unfurled all the mass of random wires and traced them all through. A couple of very poor connections repaired later and we have sound!! Will test on the way to work tomorrow seeing as the weather looks set to stay good! 

[Minimad5]

3 hours ago, HMC said:

Been for a moorland blast in the fiesta lx. Fully warm even it’s fine and will stop and start on demand. It just seems to throw a wobbly restarting if it’s  been on an extended Trip; I’ve yet to calculate the exact point of no return distance/ time wise. Any ideas. Would a dodgy coil pack do this?

What type of coil does it have ?

If it is the non H.T lead type (so individual leafs from coil to spark plug) I might have one in the stash.

Also have a genuine Ford RS kit that will fit and look amazing on this, as I took it of a very rotten SX I had.

[N19]

8 hours ago, Tim_E said:

Met @N19for a quick transfer of a Mondeo towbar. 

Sorry I couldn't hang around and chat longer this time but it was a great pleasure to meet you. 

 

Great to meet you Mr E and many thanks for the towbar. It'll hopefully find its way onto the back of the Mondeo this week, though the wiring may need to wait! 

[Rave]

3 hours ago, HMC said:

Been for a moorland blast in the fiesta lx. Fully warm even it’s fine and will stop and start on demand. It just seems to throw a wobbly restarting if it’s  been on an extended Trip; I’ve yet to calculate the exact point of no return distance/ time wise. Any ideas. Would a dodgy coil pack do this?

It looks happy to be off my in-laws drive and out and about!  

If it runs fine but refuses to restart that would potentially suggest that the cam position sensor was crapping out when it gets hot enough. However that wouldn't explain why it cut out on Rob on his way down. Yet more googling suggests that the pipe to the MAP sensor can degrade and collapse once it gets hot so that might be worth a check too.

[Split_Pin]

I replaced the rocker cover gasket on the Cavalier yesterday, very easy job indeed. 

Cams still look in great condition given that its done a quarter of a million miles. There's also absolutely  no sludge inside the cam box at all and the underside of the rocker cover was the cleanest I've seen, with a new- looking gauze filter.

I think its also leaking a touch from the camshaft end seal as when I replaced the distributor  cap and rotor there was a small amount of oil there. Not bad enough to bother me but an observation nevertheless.

According to the service history the timing belt was last evidenced in 2008 so I'm hoping that my Gates kit arrives sooner rather than later. The engine behaves well so I think it would be a shame to risk it and play roulette. I'm undecided whether to do it myself or not. On one hand I'm sure its easy but on the other, labour costs to change it would probably not be more than an hour or 2. I'll just see how I feel the day the postman brings it!

I've also found @Burnside s thread on it in the Cavalier owners forum and I'm reading through it. Seems to have had a clutch and replacement box around 2009, all still good there.

[wuvvum]

Yesterday (when I eventually got up at least) was mostly spent round my mate's helping him to weld the Swift up.  That's all done now - I'm just waiting for the wheel cylinders to arrive and then I'll go and retrieve the car from his garden and bring it back to mine to do the rear brakes and the front suspension arm.  That should be done next weekend, assuming the cylinders I've ordered are the right ones for the car (they should be but I'm always a bit apprehensive about these things) and it can then go in for a retest.

I drove up there in the Trafic - went up the coast road on the way there which was a mistake, things are very much back to normal with dithering idiots everywhere, in fact I did a couple of overtakes on NSL sections which is not something one does very often in a 25-year-old Trafic.

Today I'd been hoping to have a go at the exhaust on the Innocenti, but my ramps appear to have gone AWOL.  It's probably my fault as I think I left them in the car park after doing the Suzuki exhaust last weekend, but it's still annoying.  I'll have to nip to Wilco tomorrow lunchtime and buy a new pair.  I had another go at starting the Spacy, but it wasn't playing ball.  The problem is that the fuel line coming down from the tank splits in two as there are two inlets on the carb, but the way the fuel lines are sloping means that the fuel taking the path of least resistance all goes into the bottom inlet, and the top one isn't getting any.  I need to shorten some bits of pipe and lengthen others so the fuel isn't going uphill at any point - that doesn't work in a gravity-fed system.

I got the vacuum bleeder on the Carina's front brakes this afternoon - it's made naff all difference once again.  I'll have a go at the rears once I can get the car up on ramps again - I really couldn't be arsed taking the wheels off today.  The brakes are starting to annoy me though as I have no idea how they even got air in the system in the first place.  I mentioned it to the garage that does my MOTs (in the context of "would it fail if the brakes work but the pedal is spongy AF) and the chap reckoned he'd had issues in the past with rear brake shoe adjusters playing up and causing excessive pedal travel, but I'm not sure how that'd work as normally self-adjusters only work in one direction, and anyway I'm pretty certain there's air in the system as pumping the pedal makes it go firm again.  Irritatingly I couldn't find the HBOL for the car so I wasn't able to look up the brake adjustment thing, but the handbrake is fine and I think it uses the same shoes on those so I doubt it's that.

Didn't get much else done other than clearing out the C2 ready for it to be collected next weekend, and getting some of the white marks off the passenger door of the Ypsilon.  I did take the Renault 6 to Tesco and then into Norwich - didn't see many classics but it was late afternoon by then, there was a floppytop Vitesse in front of me at one stage and I passed a Rambler wagon and a green Rootes Arrow saloon (think it was a Sceptre) coming the other way.  The Renault needed the brake caliper twatting a couple of times, but that was when I'd had to anchor up because of some dithering Sunday idiot doing something unexpected.  Other than that it drove fine.