The new news 24 thread

[vulgalour]

Having to use the grinder a lot less than expected, in part because some bolts are, against all odds, just undoing.  In part because some areas have evaporated.  I'm pretty sure all the little square nuts we found when we emptied the car are actually the skeletons of long dead captive nuts.

[hairnet]

6 hours ago, The Vicar said:

 

 

durty import

is it still 56 yo a year for old stuff?

 

[McRusty]

This happened to a mates Merc last night. Drunk driver coming up the road in the background hits his neighbours Fiesta which goes on to mount his car which is on his driveway!

[RoverFolkUs]

So one of my many neighbours seem to have a habit of ruining cars

The model is as follows: 

Buy a nice, straight example of a particular car

Slam it 

Deep dish alloys

Wrap it in any random colour, as long as it's different to original

Tint the lights 

Drive it around without MOT for however long they deem necessary 

Strip it to a bare shell and weigh it in 

An optional part of this process is crashing it. Not always though. 

Some recent victims being a MK2 Golf and a Civic Aerodeck. 

Now a nice little Metro, of the Rover variety, has landed on their driveway. 

Fully expecting it to also receive their treatment if they can work out how the hydrogas suspension works 😂

[Stanky]

32 minutes ago, McRusty said:

This happened to a mates Merc last night. Drunk driver coming up the road in the background hits his neighbours Fiesta which goes on to mount his car which is on his driveway!

Sorry to hear this, but out of curiosity, how does the insurance claim work in this circumstance? Does fiesta-owner claim against drunk driver, and merc-owner claim against fiesta-owner? Or does everyone claim against drunk driver? Who emerges with any no claims still intact?

[McRusty]

25 minutes ago, Stanky said:

Sorry to hear this, but out of curiosity, how does the insurance claim work in this circumstance? Does fiesta-owner claim against drunk driver, and merc-owner claim against fiesta-owner? Or does everyone claim against drunk driver? Who emerges with any no claims still intact?

Very good questions. Still very early days yet but I'll be intrigued too. 

[Wibble]

3 minutes ago, McRusty said:

Very good questions. Still very early days yet but I'll be intrigued too. 

All gets dealt with by drunk’s insurer.

[McRusty]

12 minutes ago, Wibble said:

All gets dealt with by drunk’s insurer.

Yes, that makes sense. Be very messy if there are a "cascade" of claims.

[Mally]

Providing drunk driver is insured and hasn't legged it.

[SiC]

Boxster went in for its MOT during the week. Nothing exciting as it passed without issue. Gave it a clean to celebrate its pass.



Bought a load of hedging to make the front of the house wall a bit more interesting. It was supposed to be a combined job with Mrs SiC and myself, except I managed to get out of it. Anyway she did a good job.


Instead I replaced the light switch on the P4. Connections are a bit different than the original. I tried working it out but ended up guessing until it worked properly.


Finally bought a proper tool for the Lucas switches. Worked alright and better than scratching the dash with screwdrivers.



Looked inside the switch. Not easily fixable but I'll keep it to repair it with another broken one in the future. These older Lucas switches have a much nicer feel than the modern repro ones.


The front bumpers had flashed over with rust already. With a scouring pad and Autosol, I cleaned them back up again. Then covered in a high quality wax to protect it.


Then took the Boxster down the road to the beach and have fish & chips in the sunset.






I'm supposed to be taking the BGT to a car show on Weston super mare seafront. However I really can't be arsed. I need to get the car there between 9-10am. It finishes at 5pm, so hang around for all that time. Or take another car too then leave it there and make sure I get it out before 6pm and it locks up. So massive hassle.

Instead I might just go down and have a gander during the day instead. That way I won't lose the whole day doing nothing. I really would like to get the garage sorted and the nice weather will give a good chance to pull everything out onto the drive.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Finally bought a proper tool for the Lucas switches.

Deep socket or tube spanner not in stock?

[Lankytim]

Visited some friends in Barrow and went for a spin in his Wolseley 15/60. What a nice motor! I had an Oxford years ago and it put me off Farinas as it was so shite but this thing is an absolute honey! 
Dave has another 15/50 in his garage but it’s a bit….. erm… crunchy. 

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Finally bought a proper tool for the Lucas switches.

In other words is that the 'magic smoke' recirculation valve? 😄

[Cookiesouwest]

At the local shops today.

[mitsisigma01]

On 4/5/2023 at 8:56 PM, Jazoli said:

merc as a hire car

How much was that to hire and which rento company please?

[Jazoli]

1 hour ago, mitsisigma01 said:

How much was that to hire and which rento company please?

It came from Enterprise, I have no idea of the rates as work has a corporate account and I just ask for a car when I need one.

[Rusty_Rocket]

8 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Deep socket or tube spanner not in stock?

The locking rings are perfectly round with two small notches in them, no hex for a socket to grip onto.  Very difficult to turn with screwdrivers/ circlip pliers without damaging the surroundings. 

I usually just struggle with them as there's at least two different sizes and I'm too tight to buy the proper tools!

[Timewaster]

8 hours ago, mitsisigma01 said:

How much was that to hire and which rento company please?

Trouble is you can't specify what car you want.

Ask for an Astra and you are just as likely to get a Hyundai i30.

One time we asked for a small van like a combo and got a lwb Sprinter.

You get whatever they have got available.

[richardmorris]

The decadence.

[New POD]

2 hours ago, Timewaster said:

Trouble is you can't specify what car you want.

Ask for an Astra and you are just as likely to get a Hyundai i30.

One time we asked for a small van like a combo and got a lwb Sprinter.

You get whatever they have got available.

I booked an astra or similar from Avis at Brussel Airport last week, got a 2008 pug. Decent enough car, but I wanted an astra. They don't have astras in their belguims fleet. 

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, Rusty_Rocket said:

The locking rings are perfectly round with two small notches in them, no hex for a socket to grip onto.  Very difficult to turn with screwdrivers/ circlip pliers without damaging the surroundings. 

I usually just struggle with them as there's at least two different sizes and I'm too tight to buy the proper tools!

Thanks, had forgotten about that type. Yes, they could be a right bugger to undo without a special tool, especially if very tight.

[RoverFolkUs]

Either today or yesterday, can't remember exactly, marks 1 years ownership of the Picasso. 

As you were..

[richardmorris]

Dad forgot to plug the battery in after mot in December. 

[vulgalour]

A very productive day today.  Pat spent it repairing the sinking drive as best he could with the materials to hand, had a bit of a sand spill incident which took a while to clean up but hey, the slabs are properly sanded in now.  Lanchester offered up all four doors, boot lid, and fuel tank.  Had to take the impact driver I didn't know we had to some of the fixings and one fought even that and had to be drilled out.

Removing the glass will help teach us how the seals are replaced for when we do ours.  Really not looking forward to removing the mechanical bits off the chassis, I've a horrible feeling it's going to need a lot of angle grinder attention given how crusty some of the threads, nuts, and bolts are, especially at the front where it looks like it's spent a few years up to the steering box in mud.

[BorniteIdentity]

Good to see the famous Great Yarmouth Vitesse is still hanging in there… 😳

I’m not sure how - the last MOT was quite damning, so arguing roadworthiness might be difficult as I’m 100% certain it’s not moved since I last saw it back in 2018!

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, vulgalour said:

"Not scrap" - sorry not sorry 🤣

[stuboy]

Busy day.. open day at cat sanctuary... drive missus car and her dads trailer to get some paving slabs from a work colleague... and realised I couldn't raise funds to buy my dads car and it maybe sold 😢..

[w00dy]

As satisfying jobs to do when feeling quite ill and needing cheering up go, this was a.great success.

Before

After

[Popsicle]

Incredibly its been a year since daughter number 2's first car was put back on the road after a two year hibernation. You may remember it thanked me for waking it from its slumber by pissing oil all over the drive.

Thankfully it was just a rusted through oil filter so a nice easy fix - it passed its MOT a few days later with advisories for drop links and front pads wearing thin. Daughter number 2 passed her test in September and has been razzing around and traveling to Nottingham Uni four days a week, happy as a pig in muck.

As its MOT is due again I thought I'd check it over and give it a service, I'd completely forgotten about the advisory for front pads until the daughter said last night 'dad the cars making a funny noise when I press the brake pedal'. When asked how long this has been happening for she replied 'oh about a month'!

Luckily GSF had the droplinks, pads and discs in stock, so managed to pick them up this morning.

Ok bit of a lip but not too bad.

Oh bugger she's had her monies worth out of the inner pads!

Other than the droplinks putting up a fight and me just giving up and getting the angle grinder out, it all went together pretty well. I even managed to service it as well. In for its test on Tuesday and other than a side light bulb thats out it all seems ok to my untrained eye.

I've spoke with daughter number 2 about letting me know in future if the car starts making strange noises, I really don't like the thought of her driving around with brakes in that state, I do take the blame for it, I completely forgot about it. While speaking to her about it daughter number 1 informs me her Beetle is making a funny noise! Went for a blast in it earlier and sounds like a front bearings out to me, oh joy something else to do.

[uk_senator]

On 4/1/2023 at 8:02 PM, wuvvum said:

That Ital estate looked a decent buy for 1500 quid.  I was tempted but I consider the £500 deposit to get a bidder number to be a pisstake, given that it used to be a fiver, so I didn't get one.

That Ital should have gone to @triggerreally.. (& that visually challenged Herald based kit car that went through first & sold for £1600 or so, is already on ebay at 5 large)