The new news 24 thread

[bunglebus]

I'm amazed this is even a news story, anyone fancy saving a Beetle? 

https://www.donegallive.ie/news/crime---court/984614/abandoned-vw-beetle-to-be-disposed-of.html

[bunglebus]

It's a little chilly 

[chadders]

10 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Regular use helps, stops the points fuzzing up and plug getting clogged from running on choke all the time.

Left the Dolly sitting a month or two and it took an hour of fucking about to get it to fire, filling dashpots and sanding points and waiting 20 years for the fuel pump to bring petrol up from the tank. Now it goes on the first turn of the key again. Doesn't help the choke isn't rigged up and is actuated by jamming a screwdriver in the linkage...

I used to daily my MGB in the late 70s/early 80s on a 12 mile, each way, trip to work. It used to start and run OK, subject to the usual choke juggling whilst warming up. Having a good heater also helped to make it quite acceptable.

[bunglebus]

Just rescued a little old lady with an 04 Almera, left her lights on at Tesco so the battery was flat, and she didn't have her phone.

Got lucky that the space in front of her became free just as I needed to pull in there.

Quick jump start and she was away, second car I've jumped this month...

[GrumpiusMaximus]

3 hours ago, artdjones said:

Mk1

Mk2

Ambassador 

As I said, I’ve been wrong before…

[Asimo]

All of the pre autochoke BL / BMC stuff I have driven had “choke”*** controls that locked when turned. Has this feature been forgotten / worn out / omitted from cheaply made replacement cables?

*** Pedant mode  “chokeing”not possible on SU carbs., mixture enrichment by lowering the jet.

 

[Asimo]

Shitty weather suggests I should keep this rather than let it go for p/x.

Heater-fan controller now fixed.

A thermal fuse had failed. It did it’s job, protecting the power transistor. 

No thermal fuses to hand so replaced by a thin piece of wire. Normal operation restored.

[Ghosty]

Old radio out.

Pleased to find a proper job done of the wiring and install.

New one in:

Alas the aerial lead is too short so it's strictly Bluetooth, but that's what I want it for anyway. The old radio can go in the other MX5.

 

Was also surprised to find the emergency flare from Japan is still intact! 

And lol at the window sticker. 😄

[wuvvum]

Never heard of a Clarity before - is that one of those JDM stereos that will only pick up Radio 2?

[Ghosty]

16 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Never heard of a Clarity before - is that one of those JDM stereos that will only pick up Radio 2?

No, it's not Japanese  - the car's been over here since about 2000 (the flare expired in 2003!). The original Mazda radio would have been a Panasonic double DIN FM/tape/CD unit.
This radio seems fairly new as it's still listed online, albeit discontinued, it's FM/CD/aux/SD/USB/DAB - everything except Bluetooth (argh!). The front flips down to access the SD and CD slots. It's okay, nothing special, but the volume is a bit odd as you have to put it into the 50s/60s for it to be audible as opposed to the typical 10-15. Not much info on Clarity online, seems like they only do digital radio products though. 
Doesn't feel massively high quality but doesn't feel cheap either. I couldn't get the DAB to work, even though it had a windscreen aerial. 

[chadders]

3 hours ago, Asimo said:

All of the pre autochoke BL / BMC stuff I have driven had “choke”*** controls that locked when turned. Has this feature been forgotten / worn out / omitted from cheaply made replacement cables?

*** Pedant mode  “chokeing”not possible on SU carbs., mixture enrichment by lowering the jet.

 

I've got a couple of spare cables and both can be locked when turned.

[richardmorris]

Charlie et les hangers on visited wrexham afc friday. before a ceremony making the town a city. To be green he apparently took the train, but the chauffeur and police escort still had to drive the Bentley there.
The car was spotted increasing the weekly fuel sales in Chester. The bp off the a55 I think.

 

Mum’s vicar joked this morning that he’d shaken hands with the king at the parish church and could pass it on for £5.

https://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/23183502.king-charles-car-spotted-petrol-station-chester/

 

[High Jetter]

That's posh, having yer own vicar! 😄

[MiniMinorMk3]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

Never heard of a Clarity before - is that one of those JDM stereos that will only pick up Radio 2?

Sounds like some Aldi middle isle copy of Clarion

[RoverFolkUs]

Spent this afternoon putting the Christmas tree up 👍

Decided to spice things up a bit this year because for some reason everyone seemed a bit underwhelmed last year: 🤔

[richardmorris]

18 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Spent this afternoon putting the Christmas tree up 👍

Decided to spice things up a bit this year because for some reason everyone seemed a bit underwhelmed last year: 🤔

Yours has more decorations than mine. Only put it up as I was writing cards as last posting day is tomorrow.

[MJK 24]

11 hours ago, artdjones said:

Mk1

Mk2

Ambassador 

Is it controversial to claim the Ambassador is by far the most attractive of the three?

[artdjones]

45 minutes ago, MJK 24 said:

Is it controversial to claim the Ambassador is by far the most attractive of the three?

No, but if they had made it a hatchback from day 1 and given it the 5 speed gearbox it deserved it would have been a much bigger seller. I still enjoyed mine ( Princess ll 2.0 HL auto).

[stuboy]

Nothing exciting all it just snowed a bit...

[Ghosty]

3 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Sounds like some Aldi middle isle copy of Clarion

Does a bit. Aldi would be Tevion though surely?

[vulgalour]

9 hours ago, Asimo said:

All of the pre autochoke BL / BMC stuff I have driven had “choke”*** controls that locked when turned. Has this feature been forgotten / worn out / omitted from cheaply made replacement cables?

*** Pedant mode  “chokeing”not possible on SU carbs., mixture enrichment by lowering the jet.

 

In my limited experience, the BMC era ones tended to be notchier and more inclined to stay put even with a lot of use.  BL era ones aren't as notchy and are far more difficult to persuade to stay in one place.  Even the brand new one I fitted to the Princess lasted about a week before it refused to lock, you could twist it to set the position and it would simply untwist itself and release. Could be worse, could be an Ambassador auto-choke.

[Asimo]

2 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Could be worse, could be an Ambassador auto-choke.

Yes indeed, worse than useless. Maestro’s stepper-motor driven thingy wasn’t much better. 
All they needed to design was a better choke cable!

[Noel Tidybeard]

45 minutes ago, Asimo said:

Yes indeed, worse than useless. Maestro’s stepper-motor driven thingy wasn’t much better. 
All they needed to design was a better choke cable!

mine worked fine

[ruffgeezer]

7 hours ago, Ghosty said:

Old radio out.

Pleased to find a proper job done of the wiring and install.

New one in:

Alas the aerial lead is too short so it's strictly Bluetooth, but that's what I want it for anyway. The old radio can go in the other MX5.

 

Was also surprised to find the emergency flare from Japan is still intact! 

And lol at the window sticker. 😄

I believe I have an aerial extension lead in the garage if you'd like?

[Rust Collector]

Whilst getting fuel earlier I saw a land crab in the wild:

Apologies for the shit photos, I have a water ingress problem in the truck currently…

[wuvvum]

/\ That's a Maxi that is.

[Rust Collector]

4 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

/\ That's a Maxi that is.

I saw something British and ugly and automatically thought land crab, my bad 😅 it was very tidy, the boot lid was just badged as 1750 or something oddly specific.

[adw1977]

They were badged 1750, until Maxi 2 launched in 1980 and the 1500 engine was dropped, at which point they stopped putting the engine size on the badges.

[wuvvum]

Got pretty much bugger all done this weekend, due to a combination of being busy and the weather being shite.  Literally the only thing I got done on the fleet was to fit a cover to the front passenger seat of the Visa, whilst trying not to go arse over tit on the icy car park.  I had been hoping to give the 107's headlights a polish - it'd be nice to be able to see where I'm going in the dark, given that it's dark most of the time at the moment - but I'm not sure polishing products work very well when it's -5 outside.

I've ordered some Osram Nightbreaker bulbs as well, which should help a bit.  I've also ordered a carb rebuild kit for the Visa - it comes with a new float and a new needle valve and for the sake of £22 I thought it was worth a go.  Probably won't be here until after Christmas though so will have to wait for the first dry and mild weekend of 2023.  Once the carb is sorted and the ignition is fitted properly the old girl should be fully mobile.

I got a new phone this weekend - I did what I often do, went into the shop knowing what I wanted and came out with something different.  I'd decided on a Galaxy A53, but the salesman talked me into a deal where I get a Galaxy A13 and a Samsung tablet for less per month than the A53 on its own, and with a much higher data allowance.  We went through the comparative specs and I decided that the areas where the A13 is lower spec are areas that I can put up with.  The tablet is quite nice - I've not used it much yet but it'll be good for Internet browsing when on collection missions etc.  It came with its own sim card with a separate 2GB of data per month, which should be enough for what I'm likely to use it for.

[Ghosty]

1 hour ago, ruffgeezer said:

I believe I have an aerial extension lead in the garage if you'd like?

That'd be great - radio does have its uses sometimes, especially if I don't know what I want to listen to! Let me know if you want any beer tokens/postage etc.