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Father Ted

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Am now back from Japan with it's electric heated toilet seats, to the UK with it's copious rain and er... other great stuff, I imagine.  Some photos;

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Kyoto railway museum, where I exchanged knowing glances with other nerds.

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I remember these from Top Trumps.

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Akihabra electric town in Tokyo.  I'm also an old gaming nerd so I remember when this was the epicentre of Japanese gaming culture.  Now it's multiple floors of those bloody claw-crane machines, baffling.

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Did find a floor of retro arcades machines eventually though, had a go on OutRun.  Was rubbish at it.

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There were also some modern arcade machines - this train sim for a start, then drums/guitars games, etc.

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Didn't have any space in my luggage for anything here.

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Went on a open-top bus tour and took a photo of a particularly plush taxi - yes, this is normal behaviour.  They made these up to 2018, apparently.

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Anyone know anything about buses breaking down? Parents went to Chester yesterday on the bus from Wrexham, broke down on the way back, engine fine but gearbox wouldn’t have it. Driver said it’s his sixth failure this year.  And the parents think they’ve been on at least three that have died en-route in the last few years. 

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One out! 
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Ovlov will be staying on the forum, I’ll allow the new custodian to reveal themselves should they so desire. 

Deal was done for this: 

One in! 

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Uber dad wagon - easily fits all the kids, their car seats and their gubbins in. Really rather good this.

Collected a toy kitchen in it today.

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8 minutes ago, brownnova said:

 

Deal was done for this: 

One in! 

D0BECB3E-0114-476A-842F-46B76418B833.jpegD50D1D80-FC40-4086-AE46-BA3C445162D5.jpeg

Uber dad wagon - easily fits all the kids, their car seats and their gubbins in. Really rather good this.

Collected a toy kitchen in it today.

i did consider these before buying the galaxy, on negative was only 'temporary 6/7 seats'

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Hadn't intended it to be this way, but turned-out to be quite a car-filled weekend for me.

Started off with a handful of Hot Wheels purchases and a few 1:1 car spots when we had to nip into town on Saturday, then changed a headlight bulb on Mrs SL's Auris. £4.99 from the local parts shop, open bonnet, remove dead one, fit new one, sorted - no removing bumpers, going to the dealer or anything.

Master SL came back from a driving lesson and his instructor started talking to me about Japanese cars (he runs a Yaris), and did I know anyone who might be interested in an old one? Err, maybe.....

He says it's an R-reg Mitsubishi Carisma auto, owned by his father from new then passed onto mother when he died. Been standing a while, might go for scrap if no one takes it on. It's up in Lincs, which is less than ideal for me, but certainly worth getting more details. I know it's not the most exciting car out there, and it might be knackered, or it could be a low mileage gem just needing a good clean-up and getting ready for FOTU etc.

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In between starting to dismantle nextdoor's pretty decent greenhouse which she's kindly giving us, and building the log store above, I then spent a bit of time on the LS400.

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Most important task was to change the wheels and tyres, as the Pirelli had gone bad (it'd split like that around the whole circumference) and the rest were a bit of a mixture.

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It now has the very good set of matching Dunlops  on better wheels I bought off @Semi-C several years ago and had on the Camry for a while. They were a bit messy from being stacked for the last 14 months,  and the rest of the car was grotty from being stood, so I gave it a quick clean-up:

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I know it doesn't make any difference, but I'd like to think the MoT tester will be a touch more sympathetic if it looks half-decent rather than having moss and other plants growing in the gaps and crevices.

Also emptied this lot out, as it'd been used for storage:

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With that done, it was time for Master SL to get his Yaris over to the garage in readiness for tomorrow's MoT on that one. The plan is for his to be done, then swap it over with the Lexus later in the week (after payday!). But how would we get home?

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No problem, the ex- @BorniteIdentity Avensis taxi was waiting for us. Miss SL and her BF had come back for the weekend to swap his MR2 over for more sensible winter transport. It's been parked-up in the garage since they got back from their European trip and after a checkover and top-up of the tyres in the week it was ready to go.  They think it still has French fuel in it. They'd forgotten how well it drove and even as a passenger I could enjoy the smoothness. As a treat I've been promised I can have some drives of it when they're back for Christmas.

Yaris and LS400 MoT news to follow as and when.....

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5 hours ago, Fat_Pirate said:

Am now back from Japan with it's electric heated toilet seats, to the UK with it's copious rain and er... other great stuff, I imagine.  Some photos;

20221118_145650.thumb.jpg.36781ddc65ff95ade548b74d6e24487e.jpg

Kyoto railway museum, where I exchanged knowing glances with other nerds.

20221118_145943.thumb.jpg.cb384eba6b39f132dc1e43931fd04e60.jpg

I remember these from Top Trumps.

20221118_150407.thumb.jpg.f705692e913a9cc37589aa9e754c3ebb.jpg

 

20221112_182701.thumb.jpg.04df7a0366fe606cbfd9ed39e0816c30.jpg

Akihabra electric town in Tokyo.  I'm also an old gaming nerd so I remember when this was the epicentre of Japanese gaming culture.  Now it's multiple floors of those bloody claw-crane machines, baffling.

20221120_105944.thumb.jpg.fb73f0197e56ed9d1ea02abe322faa80.jpg

Did find a floor of retro arcades machines eventually though, had a go on OutRun.  Was rubbish at it.

20221112_200650.thumb.jpg.2cb70aa5be727be976bef3ca8ae9c4bb.jpg

There were also some modern arcade machines - this train sim for a start, then drums/guitars games, etc.

20221112_200837.thumb.jpg.e56cf2040846f371c2319d01d7a3c6a4.jpg

20221112_183205.thumb.jpg.34536746a477b2baa808c576c5d84258.jpg

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Didn't have any space in my luggage for anything here.

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Went on a open-top bus tour and took a photo of a particularly plush taxi - yes, this is normal behaviour.  They made these up to 2018, apparently.

Looked a great trip had there. 

Japan is a country I'd love to visit someday.

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18 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

He says it's an R-reg Mitsubishi Carisma auto, owned by his father from new then passed onto mother when he died. Been standing a while, might go for scrap if no one takes it on. It's up in Lincs, which is less than ideal for me, but certainly worth getting more details. I know it's not the most exciting car out there, and it might be knackered, or it could be a low mileage gem just needing a good clean-up and getting ready for FOTU etc.

I know a lad who is very much into his Carismas, I'll pass this on if you like. :)

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10 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

I know a lad who is very much into his Carismas, I'll pass this on if you like. :)

Please do! That's what I'm hoping will happen here, either straight off to a good home or at least me knowing it has an interested party if I take it on for a bit.

I seem to recall we had someone on here who liked them.

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Doing some autobahn testing in the 300E caused the ABS light to randomly come on. I wondered if a ring was duff as just before coming to a stop, the brake pedal would 'ping' a few times, so to speak. 

MOT's on Weds... 😬

Restarting the car put the light out, and the brake pedal isn't pinging any more. Wonder if sheer speed and power dislodged some corrosion or something. 

In other news I have a job interview in the morning for a first line support role. The pay's not great but the job sounds alright - Fujitsu no less. Unfortunately I'm shite at interviews.

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I was planning on having a day on the Visa on Saturday, but then on Friday night I got a text from a mate saying that there was a classic auction on at Wymondham, so I met up with him and went to that instead.  It was the usual eclectic selection of classics, semi-classics and vaguely interesting moderns, with a couple of rarities including a 1921 Kenilworth scooter.  The autojumble wasn't as big as usual, but I did nab this rather excellent FSO Caro model:

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By the time I got home there was less than two hours of daylight left, but I thought I'd get a bit done on the Visa anyway.  I fitted the electronic ignition system that I'd bought for it, but I couldn't get a spark and eventually had to give up as it was getting too dark to carry on.

This morning rain stopped play, but this afternoon it dried up a bit so I went out to have another go.  After some buggering about trying various things I realised that the ignition live that I'd used to power the ignition module, which I borrowed from the electric fuel pump, was cutting off whenever the starter motor was engaged, which would explain why I wasn't getting any sparks.  I borrowed a live feed direct from the battery, turned the key and the car soon started popping and farting and trying to start.  With the choke halfway out it did actually eventually fire up, and ran for a minute or two, but then it died again - it appears to be leaking fuel from the carb, which was a recurring issue when Lankytim owned it, so that's going to need looking at next.  At least I've heard it run now though, even though I haven't been able to drive it yet, and it does sound quite sweet.  I also need to mount the ignition unit properly, which will mean drilling and tapping the mounting holes as at the moment it's half-heartedly held in with a couple of M5 bolts which don't hold it very securely.

I've also got the screen wash working and more of the rear lights, although I still can't get the offside indicator to work despite cleaning up all the contacts - I think it might be a PCB issue, I'll probably try and find another light cluster eventually.  I've fitted one cardboard heater tube, I'm waiting for the other to be delivered, but that should at least give some heat assuming I can get the engine running.  It becomes MOT exempt on Tuesday, I'll probably tax it on Thursday so at least then it's legal and nobody can whinge about it being on the car park...

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3 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I've also got the screen wash working and more of the rear lights, although I still can't get the offside indicator to work despite cleaning up all the contacts - I think it might be a PCB issue, I'll probably try and find another light cluster eventually.  

The rear lights are always a hit and miss affair on Visa's.

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17 hours ago, Ghosty said:

In other news I have a job interview in the morning for a first line support role. The pay's not great but the job sounds alright - Fujitsu no less. Unfortunately I'm shite at interviews.

I think my firm is in talks with part of Fujitsu at the moment.  They're definitely doing a lot of stuff in the UK right now.  Good luck!  First line isn't so bad.

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2 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

I've always quite liked the look of the mk1 TT tintop. Yours confirms they've aged well. 

What's the MPG supposed to be like for the 180 vs 225? 

Similar I believe. Go on the boost all the time and they like a drink. Likewise the VR6 isn't supposed to be far off economy wise.

I have been told mid to low 20's if you hoon it everywhere. Mid to high 30's if you drive sedately. 

I'm getting 22-30 mpg but the MAF,  thermostat and oil all need(ed) changing. Just the MAF left to go now. Hopefully will get some improved economy. I'd be happy if I get low 30s on 95RON.

225 needs 98RON to get the performance out of it. I believe 180 prefers 98RON for smoothness but is perfectly happy on 95RON without it being noticeable. VR6 is happy on 95RON. 

With fuel prices as they are, this will be run on 95RON in the future and one of the reasons why I don't mind having the 180. 

Especially as diesel is 20% more expensive than petrol in most places now. 35mpg petrol is equivalent to 42mpg diesel if I've got my maths right. 

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39 minutes ago, SiC said:

Similar I believe. Go on the boost all the time and they like a drink. Likewise the VR6 isn't supposed to be far off economy wise.

I have been told mid to low 20's if you hoon it everywhere. Mid to high 30's if you drive sedately. 

I'm getting 22-30 mpg but the MAF,  thermostat and oil all need(ed) changing. Just the MAF left to go now. Hopefully will get some improved economy. I'd be happy if I get low 30s on 95RON.

225 needs 98RON to get the performance out of it. I believe 180 prefers 98RON for smoothness but is perfectly happy on 95RON without it being noticeable. VR6 is happy on 95RON. 

With fuel prices as they are, this will be run on 95RON in the future and one of the reasons why I don't mind having the 180. 

Especially as diesel is 20% more expensive than petrol in most places now. 35mpg petrol is equivalent to 42mpg diesel if I've got my maths right. 

Interesting reading. The fuel preferences between the engines are a relevant point with the way fuel prices continue to ramp up. 180bhp is still more than respectable power for a sports car designed more than 20 years ago. 

A quick look online suggests prices will never be any lower than currently. There also appear to be plenty of examples for sale which have not been particularly well maintained over the last few years. I guess it's a buyer's market although there are plenty of cars to swerve. 

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1 hour ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Interesting reading. The fuel preferences between the engines are a relevant point with the way fuel prices continue to ramp up. 180bhp is still more than respectable power for a sports car designed more than 20 years ago. 

A quick look online suggests prices will never be any lower than currently. There also appear to be plenty of examples for sale which have not been particularly well maintained over the last few years. I guess it's a buyer's market although there are plenty of cars to swerve. 

They're cracking value for what they are. However you need to go in with your eyes open and hands prepared to get dirty.

Like today mine spontaneously decided to break itself just sat there on my drive. It was fine just an hour before hand too!

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Some models/engine combos are more of a liability than others. Be warned, they do seem to attract dickhead sellers (including on here) and be prepared to get frustrated trying to find one if you do.

Basically the 1.8t 180FWD is the lowest of the lot and basically close to a tarted up Golf 1.8t or Octavia VRS. The model that is (stereo)typically also owned by your middle aged lady in a big house and money thrown at it because it's her main and favourite car.

So don't buy one like mine. Mine isn't at the top of the liability chart but it was cheap and had issues. Possibly not cheap enough however there was enough broken on it to keep me challenged and thus interested in buying it. 

There is a bit more on why I and others think these are cheap on my main thread:

 

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Was speaking to a friend this morning and her Polo twist has failed it's MOT. She was unsure what to do with it but eventually decided to bridge it as after shes paid a garage to do all the MOT work and sold it on, it'll only make her a couple of hundred quid.

My mistake then was saying 'What are you going to get next?'

Apparently, it needs to be 5 door, with a boot, not too big and between £5-7k. I said you should maybe consider a Fiesta or a Focus so sent her a couple of random ones to see if it was something she fancied.

10 minutes later she rang me and said that she didn't like the person selling the Fiesta and that she was going to look at this one this afternoon.

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'That's not what I meant, I was just sending you a random one to illustrate the cars I was referring to.'

Anyhow she absolutely loves it. I've pointed out that it has shite tyres, except for one that looks really old. It has also just hit 8yrs old and being the 1.6 zetec I think it will be due a cambelt.

She's mentioned this to the garage and they've said they'd do the cambelt at cost for £350 on top of the full purchase price (Do you do the waterpump on these at the same time too, or is it driven separately?). This is pushing the cost of an 8yr old Ford to £7,800. This is still with shite tyres. 😂 

Fucking crazy world we live in.

Anyhow, I think I'm gonna tell her to swerve this one and look at a couple of others where the cambelts already been done but I'm thinking she might still buy it anyhow but will see.

I was just wondering what the 1.0t ones are like? When these all came out I was convinced that they'd all have grenaded themselves several times over but there are probably more of them for sale than normal ones (although I don't know how many there were to start with I suppose). Reading online theres a few bits about carbon build up but not much else. On a relatively low mileage one with regular servicing it'd probably be okay.

Although just read that the cost of doing a cambelt on an ecoboost is a bit mental doesn't it. Considering the ones she is looking at will be coming up for a cambelt change on the ecoboost I reckon that probably answers my question unless anyone knows better? 

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46 minutes ago, HillmanImp said:

 

 

I was just wondering what the 1.0t ones are like? When these all came out I was convinced that they'd all have grenaded themselves several times over but there are probably more of them for sale than normal ones (although I don't know how many there were to start with I suppose). Reading online theres a few bits about carbon build up but not much else. On a relatively low mileage one with regular servicing it'd probably be okay.

Although just read that the cost of doing a cambelt on an ecoboost is a bit mental doesn't it. Considering the ones she is looking at will be coming up for a cambelt change on the ecoboost I reckon that probably answers my question unless anyone knows better? 

Wouldn't touch one outside of warranty. I briefly owned a Focus estate with that engine and it was fine, but it was less than two years old at the time.

I see you've already discovered how much of a ball-ache the cambelt is on a 1.0 Ecoboost. Ford originally said the (wet) belt never needs replacing. Now that early examples are a decade old, it's clear that they're not actually that durable. Ford has since introduced a recommended 10-year interval on new cars sold with that engine. Getting the belt replaced will likely run into four figures.

If you're after a mid-range petrol Focus of that vintage, I'd be looking at the naturally-aspirated 1.6. Not as high-tech, but much more robust. 

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