The new news 24 thread

[grogee]

18 hours ago, Leyland Worldmaster said:

Saw this also... 

 

Lovely. 'Protect and Survive' on the motorway. 

Paul: "Have you ever broken down on the motorway?"

Renault 16 driver: "Do bears shit in the woods?"

[grogee]

2 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Have just seen a very unusual BMW 6 series ( Y reg I think it was, 1981?).  Odd, solid alloy wheels and a very strange body kit that ended with a steeply sloping bootlid and reduced window glass area.

Will try and find pics - the number plate said 4* classics.

Found it!

635csi observer coupe 1982

The Original BMW "M3" – 1982 BMW 635CSi Observer Coupé - The Truth About Cars

 

Made with a hacksaw!

 

Nice to see hand tools and craftsmen being used. 

But... This looks like an awful lot of effort for a 635CSi with a slightly different sunroof. 

I would love to know how Observer got involved with this, and what became of MGA.

[barefoot]

Agreed value insurance...

Insurance company looked at my photographs & agreed that the van should be insured for £30,000. 

[Ghosty]

[brownnova]

You know that thing where a mate says they need a car, so you jokingly offer to sell them one of yours expecting them to turn you down, but they actually want to buy it. Looks as if the Merc might be departing a little sooner than expected!

Pleased that I’m helping a friend… slightly gutted that I won’t be making a profit on this one as I had hoped. 

[Eyersey1234]

Well after 2 years of avoiding a certain virus that you may have heard of that has apparently been going round, it finally reached the Eyersey household today when my stepdaughter tested positive. 

[High Jetter]

Snap. 2 of us +ve. Not happy.

[Eyersey1234]

To be honest I think we have done well to have avoided it up to now especially given the jobs that both me and my OH do. 

[High Jetter]

Absolutely, I've been operating my launderettes throughout. Down to my (excellent) staff now.

[Eyersey1234]

2 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Absolutely, I've been operating my launderettes throughout. Down to my (excellent) staff now.

As some will know I am a bus/coach driver and my OH works in care in the community. 

[RoverFolkUs]

8 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

As some will know I am a bus/coach driver and my OH works in care in the community. 

I too have managed to dodge it for the last 2 years, even despite (inadvertently) coming very close to cases at times I don't know how I've avoided it!

Now I say that I'll probably jinx it and test +ve next week! 

[High Jetter]

11 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

As some will know I am a bus/coach driver and my OH works in care in the community. 

Yup. "Isn't it ironic..." Nothing to do with relaxing restrictions tho, obs...

[clayts450]

Pleased to say the 420 made it onto the MoT testing bay today after disgracing itself last week, and then single-handedly brought down the DVLA online MoT testing service, thus causing a 90 minute delay on all ensuing MoTs at my local F1.

Anyway, eventually it passed. Recurring trailing arm bushes advisory is standard but disappeared this year, replaced by TREs. Scott the tester recommended they get done this year.

337 miles in a year, must do better.

 

[RoverFolkUs]

Why do testers still use manual advisories for items that are testable and have their own advisories!? 

[wuvvum]

17 hours ago, barefoot said:

Agreed value insurance...

Insurance company looked at my photographs & agreed that the van should be insured for £30,000. 

A mate of mine did the same thing not long back with his 1969 Mini Cooper S.

[Rust Collector]

On 3/21/2022 at 9:14 AM, High Jetter said:

I felt sorry for the guys shifting this - and the end of the long second day (it was only supposed to be one day) they got up the narrow lane to the destination but couldn't get the swing in as a dog-walker had left their van right in the wrong place!

I was gutted that I was busy at the weekend and didn't get to go and see this. I think their single day target was a bit optimistic though - I always find collecting just a car normally takes at least twice as long as planned, and I read that these bits of kit were something like 300 tons each 😅 I also would've liked to have seen what they did at the bridge by the Southerham roundabout to reinforce it temporarily for the load.

[cort16]

On 3/21/2022 at 2:09 PM, richardmorris said:

Have just seen a very unusual BMW 6 series ( Y reg I think it was, 1981?).  Odd, solid alloy wheels and a very strange body kit that ended with a steeply sloping bootlid and reduced window glass area.

Will try and find pics - the number plate said 4* classics.

Found it!

635csi observer coupe 1982

The Original BMW "M3" – 1982 BMW 635CSi Observer Coupé - The Truth About Cars

 

Made with a hacksaw!

 

Wow, that's brilliant and totally pointless, didn't the 635i have quite a big sunroof anyway?

[eddyramrod]

I was awake at 4.30 this morning, and had been for a while, so I gave up the struggle and went downstairs to spend time with my little doggy.  I'd just got comfy in the recliner chair when I noticed a reflection of blue lights at the edges of my front window, so I deserted chair and dog to have a look.  Two vans at one end of my little street, with at least 3 officers dealing with someone across the street, against the front wall of one of the houses.  One of the neighbours has now suggested that it was the householder who got taken away... I have yet to find out.

[wuvvum]

On 3/19/2022 at 9:24 PM, wuvvum said:

Things are not quite so rosy on the Rover 75 front.  I took it to the jet wash in the next village to wash the Sahara desert off it, and when I'd finished and got back in to drive home it wouldn't start.  It was churning over but not firing, and the radiator fan was kicking in.  After a short while it flattened the battery (which was fairly low anyway).  I called the AA but they were very busy and gave me a 2 hour ETA, so I walked home and got the Maxus and the jump leads.  With the leads attached and after a lot more cranking it eventually fired up, but all was obviously not well - after a few seconds of running it spluttered a few times and then the idle went up to 1,500rpm and the engine light came on.  Touching the brake took the idle speed back to normal.  Tried stopping and starting it a few times but no difference.  It was running though so I sacked off the AA and started to trundle home at 1,500rpm - which unfortunately is not quite enough to get it to change gear, so I was going quite slowly.  After a bit I discovered that if I floored the accelerator it would pick up, so I was able to get it up to 30 and nurse it home, then get on the pushbike and go back to retrieve the Maxus.

Once I was home I popped the bonnet to investigate and found the scuttle full of water.  Mea maxima culpa I hadn't checked the plenum drains in a while (they've never blocked before in my ownership) - they appear to have been coping OK with "normal" rain but the rather more intense stream of water from the jet wash had proven too much.  I got my longest screwdriver and rodded the nearside drain out and the water dribbled away.  The ECU wasn't under water but some of the wiring had got rather damp.  I'm hoping that once it's been left to dry out for a day or two it'll sort itself out - I could do without having to get the ECU repaired on top of everything else...

So after two days of painstakingly drying the ECU connections out, blasting them with contact cleaner and gently rubbing down the corroded pins with fine sandpaper, this afternoon I refitted the ECU to the 75.  Reconnected everything, turned the key and... we're now up to nine fault codes and it won't start at all.

The only thing I can think of now is that a couple of the multiplugs are showing some signs of corrosion and / or furring.  Obviously it's the two with about a million wires going into them and connectors so small that you can't get any kind of file up inside them to clean them up.  I've soaked them in contact cleaner and I'm going to leave them for a day or two and try again.  If not, well, Cartakeback have offered me £363, which is more than I paid for the car when I bought it* so at least I'll make a profit*.

The battery terminal cover summed it up best.

 

 

 

*Obvs that doesn't take into account the hundreds I've sunk into it since then, but we'll ignore that.

[richardmorris]

3 hours ago, cort16 said:

Wow, that's brilliant and totally pointless, didn't the 635i have quite a big sunroof anyway?

It does seem like a lot of effort for a sliding roof. 

[Barry Cade]

Couple of neds running from the cops just did this to my van... 🤬🤬

[High Jetter]

That's your good* deed for the day then, assisting your local plod. At least they got them, I presume.

[Wack]

I buy all sorts of crap but every now and then I find a fascinating gem at a car boot sale , this was in an album of family pictures 

Cologne in 1949 , 4 years and they still haven't flattened bombed buildings 

 

 

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

So after two days of painstakingly drying the ECU connections out, blasting them with contact cleaner and gently rubbing down the corroded pins with fine sandpaper, this afternoon I refitted the ECU to the 75.  Reconnected everything, turned the key and... we're now up to nine fault codes and it won't start at all.

The only thing I can think of now is that a couple of the multiplugs are showing some signs of corrosion and / or furring.  Obviously it's the two with about a million wires going into them and connectors so small that you can't get any kind of file up inside them to clean them up.  I've soaked them in contact cleaner and I'm going to leave them for a day or two and try again.  If not, well, Cartakeback have offered me £363, which is more than I paid for the car when I bought it* so at least I'll make a profit*.

The battery terminal cover summed it up best.

 

 

 

*Obvs that doesn't take into account the hundreds I've sunk into it since then, but we'll ignore that.

At least you haven't wasted further time with the spring ☹️

It's a shame scrapping them though as parts are getting few and far between. Nobody wants 'em though

I'd be checking all the fuses for engine management incase it's shorted out and popped one. Might as well do all the others while you're at it, and the relays too

[brownnova]

One out! 

Sooner than expected, but fair play in the few months I had it I found it to be an excellent automobile! Far better than expected. If I had all the space and all the money it would have gone nowhere!

All this means I’ve sold three cars and bought none so far in 2022… I’m down to only 8 cars. 

[Floatylight]

50 minutes ago, brownnova said:

One out! 

Sooner than expected, but fair play in the few months I had it I found it to be an excellent automobile! Far better than expected. If I had all the space and all the money it would have gone nowhere!

All this means I’ve sold three cars and bought none so far in 2022… I’m down to only 8 cars. 

Which gives you time/space to sort the non runners?

[clayts450]

1 minute ago, Floatylight said:

Which gives you time/space to sort the non runners?

I think you'll find One out will undoubtedly be followed by One in.

Give it a day or two, am sure Alex will come good...

[Barry Cade]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

That's your good* deed for the day then, assisting your local plod. At least they got them, I presume.

Nope, they did a runner... helicopter was out looking for them...

[brownnova]

36 minutes ago, Floatylight said:

Which gives you time/space to sort the non runners?

In theory… 

33 minutes ago, clayts450 said:

I think you'll find One out will undoubtedly be followed by One in.

Give it a day or two, am sure Alex will come good...

Probably in practice… 

[catsinthewelder]

@Barry Cade. They've properly thumped into that, it's bent more than our old work van and that had a 44 tonner straight up the arse!

Drove nicely afterwards too apart from the rear doors open bong.