The new news 24 thread

[Rod/b]

Just had to change one of the zenon headlight bulbs on the F150. Being a large vehicle with tons of room under the bonnet, obviously this operation involved removing the entire headlight unit, to allow for extracting two tiny torx head screws holding the bulb in in the depths of the unit, dropping them inside the housing, swearing a bit, breaking the plug on the back of the bulb, swearing some more, take it all indoors, magnetizing the torx driver, fishing the TINY FUCKING SCREWS OUT THEN REALISING THERES A CUNTING BRACKET ON THE FUCKING DEAD BULB IVE JUST CHUCKED IN THE SHITTING BIN AND FISHING THAT FUCKING FUCKER OUT OF THE DISCARDED SPAGHETTI FUCKING SAUCE TO FIT ON THE NEW FUCKING BULB BEFORE FIXING THE PISSING PLUG AND SCREWING THE WHOLE BASTARD LOT BACK TOGETHER AGAIN.

Gotta love a quick, easy job eh?

 

 

[stuboy]

12 hours ago, Rod/b said:

Gotta love a quick, easy job eh?

2 spanner rating on the HBOL?

[wuvvum]

10 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Ooh, that's a few quids' worth...

[richardmorris]

6 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Ooh, that's a few quids' worth...

http://www.barchetta.cc/english/all.ferraris/detail/3451gt.250gto.htm

[stuboy]

Oil filter turned up for the galaxy today one day I'll fit it..

[HMC]

12 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Lovely! That’s either the 1962 targa florio entry, a 250gto made to looks like that one, or a 250gto replica. The proportions look “right” so it’s a very good replica - if indeed it is one. 

The curse of of the bona fide 250gto/ d type/ cobra owner- “that looks quite realistic”

http://www.barchetta.cc/english/all.ferraris/detail/3451gt.250gto.htm

Edit- That’s the original in the link-  now owned by Laurence stroll of Aston Martin F1 racing By the looks of things. Could be one and the same but the reg numbers are different. Having said that the arrangement of cut outs and repeaters on the front apron is identical (there’s a fair bit of variation) so I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the original targa florio car now owned by stroll.

[cobblers]

Sunday morning I spent a good 2 hours looking round the house for my van keys. Turned the place upside down! Nowhere!

 

Ah yes, that's where they are. In the ignition, out on the street.

I used skills to break in (unlocked the back door with a teaspoon) and drove in to work.

Half an hour after I arrived, my mate turned up for me to sort out a charging fault on his van. I told him about me being a fucking numbnuts and left the keys in the ignition, felt my pocket for them and they weren't there.

Walked outside, and I'd left the bastards in the ignition again! FFS man, I'm going soft!

 

Three garages had been at his van, unable to get it to charge, it had a new alternator on, some horrendous wiring and a random pointless cutoff switch added between the main alternator terminal and the battery.

It didn't take forever to find the problem, no power to the exciter terminal on the alternator. The instrument cluster was OK, but there were a couple of pins bent over in the connector:

 

 

 

[richardmorris]

28 minutes ago, HMC said:

Lovely! That’s either the 1962 targa florio entry, a 250gto made to looks like that one, or a 250gto replica. The proportions look “right” so it’s a very good replica - if indeed it is one. 

The curse of of the bona fide 250gto/ d type/ cobra owner- “that looks quite realistic”

http://www.barchetta.cc/english/all.ferraris/detail/3451gt.250gto.htm

Edit- That’s the original in the link-  now owned by Laurence stroll of Aston Martin F1 racing By the looks of things. Could be one and the same but the reg numbers are different. Having said that the arrangement of cut outs and repeaters on the front apron is identical (there’s a fair bit of variation) so I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the original targa florio car now owned by stroll.

So £40-50 million then?

[MarvinsMom]

we have sent the orange mini, Cocopop, to George's garage in town.

its having the suspension cones replaced, before its MOT'd for the first time in 2 years.

i'm so, so glad that we have farmed this out, as its proving to be a TWAT of a job.

several days in, and  one of the new  cones, is in, at last!

everything is crusted up to buggery,  what with none of these parts have been touched in 23years!

so as well as the cones, the suspension cones and the top arm pivot things will be getting replaced.

and not before time too, as the car chewed up the last set of tires in no time, and all along the inside edge of the tyres cos the car was sat way way too low!

[somewhatfoolish]

Just watched Bullseye on Challenge TV; the runners-up got a second bite as the winners opted to not gamble and go for Bully's special prize, taking their beer mugs and a 35mm automatic camera home; they won it and it was a bright red Proton! 

[Split_Pin]

I finished building up the Cavalier tonight. I didnt refill it with coolant however as I don't yet trust it not to pish it all over my garage floor so I'll reverse it out tomorrow and let it be incontinent on the driveway (UNLESS ITS ACTUALLY FIXED)

Mrs_Pin confirmed that the Civic now has Good Brakes, I guess I was comparing them with the Mini which sent your napper towards the screen if you so much as touched the pedal. 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

.... comparing them with the Mini which sent your napper towards the screen if you so much as touched the pedal. 

That's normal for Citroën 

[Split_Pin]

I'd give this lovely pair a robust 8.5/10.

 

[Barry Cade]

Passed a Bugatti Veyron in Banchory yesterday. I've seen more of these in my lifetime than I have citroen C6s..

 

[Lankytim]

Last week I noticed the master cylinder on the 145 was leaking from the rear, after removing it I found it full of crud and debris so a quick strip and clean out was followed by reassembly. I clamped a piece of paper between the master cylinder and servo to show up any weeps, A a few days later and there’s a tell tale semi circle of brake fluid on the paper. Fucksticks. A new master cylinder is £100 but  a rebuild kit is a bit more reasonable at £15 although the bore didn’t look too happy with some scoring so I might just have to bite the bullet.

Onto the NSF wheel which for some reason has always had loads of negative camber. It turns out these have adjustable camber and castor, all you need to do is loosen off the two bolts holding the upper wishbone pivot to the subframe and add or remove shims as required. Weirdly I needed to remove all the shims before I the wheel was anywhere near the correct angle so potentially something isn’t right there. The subframe can distort over years and mileage apparently so something might’ve moved over the years.  No shims at all is a new one from what I’ve read so I’m not sure if it’s “allowable” by the big Volvo tech book. 

[TheOtherStu]

12 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I'd give this lovely pair a robust 8.5/10.

 

The one on the left particularly tickles my fancy. That's lovely.

Probably a bag of spanners and a service away from costing thousands. But lovely.

[Minimad5]

10 hours ago, Lankytim said:

Last week I noticed the master cylinder on the 145 was leaking from the rear, after removing it I found it full of crud and debris so a quick strip and clean out was followed by reassembly. I clamped a piece of paper between the master cylinder and servo to show up any weeps, A a few days later and there’s a tell tale semi circle of brake fluid on the paper. Fucksticks. A new master cylinder is £100 but  a rebuild kit is a bit more reasonable at £15 although the bore didn’t look too happy with some scoring so I might just have to bite the bullet.

Onto the NSF wheel which for some reason has always had loads of negative camber. It turns out these have adjustable camber and castor, all you need to do is loosen off the two bolts holding the upper wishbone pivot to the subframe and add or remove shims as required. Weirdly I needed to remove all the shims before I the wheel was anywhere near the correct angle so potentially something isn’t right there. The subframe can distort over years and mileage apparently so something might’ve moved over the years.  No shims at all is a new one from what I’ve read so I’m not sure if it’s “allowable” by the big Volvo tech book. 

Sounds fucked Tim.

Best sell it to me 😅

[Split_Pin]

2 hours ago, TheOtherStu said:

The one on the left particularly tickles my fancy. That's lovely.

Probably a bag of spanners and a service away from costing thousands. But lovely.

It's in a lot better condition than mine.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Doesn't look much like an electric car....

[reb]

News? What news?

This has possibly been the least eventful week ever here, I'm really fucking bored.

Haven't even been out in the car all week, I think it's going to have the lowest mileage between MOTs in its whole life this year.

It looks like the weather over the weekend is going to be shit so unless I go to the unit tomorrow I probably won't leave the house. I suppose I'd better go to the unit tomorrow.

[stuboy]

Pallets from next door unit had an autoshite flair about them

[wuvvum]

44 minutes ago, stuboy said:

Pallets from next door unit had an autoshite flair about them

A 2CV is not a voiturette though.  Nor is a tractor for that matter.

[Cord Fourteener]

20 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

Passed a Bugatti Veyron in Banchory yesterday. I've seen more of these in my lifetime than I have citroen C6s..

 

Lol. I was a C6 today parked up in my little village. Never seen it before. If it's there again and I have my phone it's going in the Spotted page!

[stuboy]

15 hours ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

Some know before I started driving I used to ride a little scooter on a CBT and was in a nasty smack.  Just checked the reg on that bike, and the damn things still going, changed colour and now has 22K miles on it.  Fair play to the person who fixed it!

what was it?

[somewhatfoolish]

4 hours ago, wuvvum said:

A 2CV is not a voiturette though.  Nor is a tractor for that matter.

Shite schoolboy french; flogging brits substandard french food and drink since Le Piat D'Or. Mange Tout Rodders, Mange Tout.

[wuvvum]

Been trundling around in the Caliber all week.  I unplugged the MAF sensor at the beginning of the week, which was a surprisingly twattish job but has cured the overfuelling / smoking problem and has also stopped it going into limp mode.  It's put the EML on, but being pre-July 2008 that's not an MOT fail (although the rust in the sills still will be obvs).

I've also been putting the Volvo back together - the centre console is back in, the steering column surround and the driver's door card are back on, the driver's door window is back in its cradle and no longer drops down every time I shut the door, and all in all it's beginning to look rather more civilised.  I've even replaced the chrome trim round the bottom of the windscreen, and I've ordered some tan vinyl off eBay so I can see whether I can repair the top of the rear seat backrest.  The leather on the driver's seat cushion is still utterly fucked, but I've rubbed some hide food into the remaining seat facings which will hopefully stop them deteriorating any further than they already have.

Annoyingly the alternator appears to have died - not completely surprising as it was a secondhand unit with an unknown history which I fitted several years ago, but there don't appear to be any secondhand alternators about at the moment - the cheapest new one I can find is from Rock Auto, but even that is rather expensive once shipping and tax are added.

[Cord Fourteener]

6 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Been trundling around in the Caliber all week.  I unplugged the MAF sensor at the beginning of the week, which was a surprisingly twattish job but has cured the overfuelling / smoking problem and has also stopped it going into limp mode.  It's put the EML on, but being pre-July 2008 that's not an MOT fail (although the rust in the sills still will be obvs).

I've also been putting the Volvo back together - the centre console is back in, the steering column surround and the driver's door card are back on, the driver's door window is back in its cradle and no longer drops down every time I shut the door, and all in all it's beginning to look rather more civilised.  I've even replaced the chrome trim round the bottom of the windscreen, and I've ordered some tan vinyl off eBay so I can see whether I can repair the top of the rear seat backrest.  The leather on the driver's seat cushion is still utterly fucked, but I've rubbed some hide food into the remaining seat facings which will hopefully stop them deteriorating any further than they already have.

Annoyingly the alternator appears to have died - not completely surprising as it was a secondhand unit with an unknown history which I fitted several years ago, but there don't appear to be any secondhand alternators about at the moment - the cheapest new one I can find is from Rock Auto, but even that is rather expensive once shipping and tax are added.

I could help with the leather seat if you like, I've done leather seat upholstery before. 

Well, I started a 924 seat then sold the 924 so I've got one 924 that's largely finished but not quite. I need to finish it and sell it really!

If you need the seat upholstery redoing I could do it for AS rates anyway.

[Cord Fourteener]

No Test Pilots! 

That's what I thought of as I went to test drive a lovely and high powered Volvo V70 yesterday. 

I had seen the listing on Faceache, I'm casually browsing large estates and I'm always drawn to Scandinavian wheels.

Anyway it turns out the car was featured in the YouTube channel Car Throttle on their 150mph for £1000 episode, which I watched when it came out a year ago. 

So it was more for my entertainment that I went. The listing seemed honest and sure enough the seller was a decent bloke.

Then I sat in the car. I pretty much wanted to buy it there and then on the basis of the driver's seat!!!

Then I started the engine, it has a full stainless steel exhaust with custom cat.

It's noisy but sound amazing. Sold!!! Well, hang on not so fast. 

It turns out that I do want it, however petrol  costs will be horrendous... seller says he gets 35mpg out of it. Not sure i believe that, that's cheaper than my old 2.0 petrol Mondeo. 

So now I'm wondering what reasons there are to not buy it. There's one, performance. Or lack thereof. I'm sure if you put 99 octane in (which is apparently required to make the max power) and rev it to its max it's making the alleged 270something horses but as compared with my Roid-boy spec party bus Passat 1.9tdi that's running a ???hp remap it seemed tame at 2000 rpm. But sounds amazing. 

But that's not a reason to not buy it, and I'm left wondering if I actually need to go and pay the man and bring this charming V70 home. 

Damn I'm in a quandary now!

Don't be a test pilot kids, you might regret it. 

[Cord Fourteener]

Oh and in other news, Wifey had to get a lift home from Chester last night after a work do. 

She left her car in a school car park and they locked the gates, now the car is stranded 50 mins away in a locked school. Not handy for going to work on Monday morning in Wrexham...

This is after she 'lost' my car key for my car in Rhyl over the weekend, only for me to have to pick her up in and bring her home, then for her to find the keys in her bag. 

For someone who has a clever job, two degrees and a title she can be daft 🤣

[Stanky]

8 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Annoyingly the alternator appears to have died - not completely surprising as it was a secondhand unit with an unknown history which I fitted several years ago, but there don't appear to be any secondhand alternators about at the moment - the cheapest new one I can find is from Rock Auto, but even that is rather expensive once shipping and tax are added.

Might be worth a call to Mike at just alternators and starter motors, he can probably repair it for about £60-£80.

www.jasm.co.uk