The new news 24 thread

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, Mrcento said:

Think it depends on the marque/brand/specific dealership and its possible clientele.

Walk into an Audi or Merc dealer, they don't tend to be all over you. They might ask (eventually) if they can be any help, but will usually leave you alone and say 'Well if there's anything i can do, let me know'. Low pressure sales.

Walk into an Arnold Clarks selling Fiats and the salesman will be on you in a matter of second trying to 'match' you to a car. Fuck off,

There's an AC down the road from me and i used to occasionally pop in for a look (i was considering buying something at one point) and i could barely get my foot in the lot before somebody was pestering me and wanting to talk finance packages. Which was mega off putting.

The selling of cars just seems to be a necessary evil to enable them to sell finance packages these days. Last time I bought a car , I told them I had the money , didn’t need finance but they still took about 20 minutes trying to sell it. Then even after we’d established I was paying in full, they tried selling me Gap insurance.

Maybe things will change with interest rates rising and businesses will welcome having cash in the bank.

[bobdisk]

Nice drive back from Portsmouth, first time with a car like @Snake Charmers Merc. Confirmed I like the bigger car rather than little diddlers.

[lesapandre]

Seen round me this morning - they were making a big film here yesterday - prop.

[SRi05]

10 hours ago, Mrcento said:

Think it depends on the marque/brand/specific dealership and its possible clientele.

Walk into an Audi or Merc dealer, they don't tend to be all over you. They might ask (eventually) if they can be any help, but will usually leave you alone and say 'Well if there's anything i can do, let me know'. Low pressure sales.

Walk into an Arnold Clarks selling Fiats and the salesman will be on you in a matter of second trying to 'match' you to a car. Fuck off,

There's an AC down the road from me and i used to occasionally pop in for a look (i was considering buying something at one point) and i could barely get my foot in the lot before somebody was pestering me and wanting to talk finance packages. Which was mega off putting.

The last time I bought a modern car,  I went round a few Arnold Clarks after they'd closed for the night so I wouldn't get hounded by salesmen 😂 I can't stand it.

Seen one we liked then came back the next day. As you say walk into one and they're over you like a rash 

[richardmorris]

[Six-cylinder]

3 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Mercedes CLK GTR, in case you wondered!

[Metal Guru]

5 hours ago, SRi05 said:

The last time I bought a modern car,  I went round a few Arnold Clarks after they'd closed for the night so I wouldn't get hounded by salesmen 😂 I can't stand it.

Seen one we liked then came back the next day. As you say walk into one and they're over you like a rash 

Trouble is my wife falls for all the bull shit and then instead of saying “yeh, we’re think about it, depends on the price / trade in etc”, she immediately says “yes, I love it! That’s the one I want . “ No chance of any deal after that, you’re paying sticker price.

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

Mercedes CLK GTR, in case you wondered!

Getting it off the loader was fun to watch. It's got the chin spoiler of Jimmy Hill and they had to build up the ramps with bits of wood and mats to stop it grounding.

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

Mercedes CLK GTR, in case you wondered!

Pretty sure I used to have a 1:18 model of one of those in a black and silver racing livery.

[Lankytim]

Woo! The Laguna went and passed! 

[hairnet]

On 26/10/2023 at 10:08, richardmorris said:

I'm in Slough. This electric 500 abart is £40,000!

two words for that and one is 'that'

[lesapandre]

Spotted S. London. Chevrolet Suburban - peak Suburban - this thing is huge.

[Rust Collector]

Reduced the 2007 Clio to a grand for the general public today. No offers.

Father and son team viewing now.

I’ve been given the third degree over its history, now ‘we need 5 minutes to lift the carpet mats and have a look around’

Will I get the offer I’ve explicitly said I don’t want?

[Rust Collector]

‘It has some condensation under the oil cap, we think it has OMGHGF m9, it’s not for us’.

They were polite at least.

[lesapandre]

"condensation" 

Yup... condensation...they described it!

[Dyslexic Viking]

1 hour ago, lesapandre said:

Spotted S. London. Chevrolet Suburban - peak Suburban - this thing is huge.

I like them but prefer the look and simplicity of the previous model as below.

This 6.2 diesel is for sale here and have looked at it a lot

[lesapandre]

I've had one of the earlier ones - they are very crude and prone to rust. The later one is really a better made vehicle and not much more complex.

[Dyslexic Viking]

4 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

I've had one of the earlier ones - they are very crude and prone to rust. The later one is really a better made vehicle and not much more complex.

I'm no expert on these but didn't the diesel engine become much more complicated and fragile on the newer ones? And the old 6.2 was mechanical?

[lesapandre]

The diesel is a Detroit V8 diesel - not the dieselised GM V8 petrol - which was awful. But really you'd be better off with an early Landcruiser or Patrol which are much much better.

[Schaefft]

There's nothing complicated in a Suburban all the way to the late 2000s until they introduced cylinder deactivation.

[lesapandre]

4 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I'm no expert on these but didn't the diesel engine become much more complicated and fragile on the newer ones? And the old 6.2 was mechanical?

I think both generations are mechanical. I think - but the later ones have a better reputation in the US. I would not have another early one.

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

9 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

I think both generations are mechanical. I think - but the later ones have a better reputation in the US. I would not have another early one.

 

After a quick look at wikipedia, 6.2 in the old ones is mechanical while 6.5 in the newer ones is electronic, so older ones are simpler, so with that and the fact that I like the look on the older ones much better, I would choose an older one .

[lesapandre]

1993 and older is a mechanical rotary pump 1994 and newer is an electronic rotary pump according to Wikipedia. If you want an early one go and try it - see how you like it. 

I changed to an 84 Landcruiser which is a much better tool for challenging conditions.

[Dyslexic Viking]

8 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

If you want an early one go and try it - see how you like it

I guess it's like the old Pajero I had so quite agricultural so nothing for me but I still like them.

[greengartside]

Another SMOLL update on the ORKSHUN FIND Fiesta.

First job was to sort out the buggered bonnet latch. Unhelpfully, my local scrappers has just had a mahoosive clearout of old vehicles, many of which were Fiestas. There were just two of my shape left there and one of them yielded the bonnet latch we were after.

New one on the right. Spot the difference? The spring for the release mechanism is completely missing on the old one. That may have something to do with the issue. Parts swapped over and a bit of latch adjustment and hey presto, the bonnet opens and shuts as it should. It’s also a good job I took the bolts from the donor car as the sizes were completely different on mine.

A quick check over on the car and a blown sidelight bulb on the front passenger side was attended to and rectified.

What else? The drivers seat latch was broken which is common on these. Thankfully the bay of E came to the rescue and for just £9 I had a pair of latches in my hand. Only fitted the drivers one as the passenger one is still operational. If it ain’t broke and all that….

And now the seat tilts and shuts like a good’un.

Lastly, my OCD was killing me and I had to do something about the lack of TRIMZ on this fine machine. Again, the bay to the rescue and I actually bought the trims that were pictured on here in the last segment of this journey. Just £10 and the last piece of the puzzle gets fitted. There’s a broken clip on the drivers front but I’ll throw a cable tie on it to stop it doing the falling offs.

BETTER.

There is one more job before it’s MOT, to sort out the towbar wiring as someone has cut a wire in the back and is laying in the boot. Might have been from a fancy sound system but I think it’s probably the indicator buzzer or something. Who knows.
 

More next time.

[richardmorris]

6 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Mercedes CLK GTR, in case you wondered!

8-10million £!

[Rust Collector]

1 hour ago, lesapandre said:

"condensation" 

Yup... condensation...they described it!

I got to say TADTS at least. Renner put the oil fill hole on the end of a tube, so the oil residue around the cap never gets that warm if you only drive around town.

I’ll just wipe it down next time, like the dirty bastard driveway trader I’m suspected of being.

[New POD]

9 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

I got to say TADTS at least. Renner put the oil fill hole on the end of a tube, so the oil residue around the cap never gets that warm if you only drive around town.

I’ll just wipe it down next time, like the dirty bastard driveway trader I’m suspected of being.

Same with the omega V6.  Castrol products made it worse according to some "experts". Using genine GM oil did improve it, but it only really went away if you did long journeys. 

[Split_Pin]

I noticed a weird patch on the drive just ahead of the TTs NSR wheel.

Not oil, not fuel (for once!) 

Ah arses:

Shit picture but the brake line has swollen and corroded at the bracket and under its plastic coating.

Thankfully ahead of this looks good (picture is sideways)

..and at the other end of the breach is a union.

I have all the tools and equipment to replace a section of line but not the experience so I'm going to have a look in YouTube to see if its something I feel confident in tackling. 

[greengartside]

More progress on the Fiesta today.

I decided to tackle the towbar wiring on this beast.

A quality* installation of the wiring. A rat’s nest looks more appealing than this madman’s work.

Ok, so this is the O/S rear lamp - all wiring present and correct, even though scotchlocks of doom have been applied in this instance.

Here is the offending loose wire, which on closer inspection the yellow is the wire for the left hand indicator. Coupled with the length of the wire, this is likely the wire going to that. It seems that when Keith removed his 73” SUBWOOFAH and MEGGER SAHND INSTOWL from the boot, he’s knocked the wire off.

Let’s have a look at the other side.

Bingo. That’s where the wire’s come from then.

Fixed. I pushed dad’s trailer round to the back and connected things up. Because the trailer hasn’t been on the road for 20+ years, I’d imagined all the wires to be corroded and bulbs not working. 

But no. Lights came back to life with the exception of……the left hand indicator. FML. I don’t know what Keith has done but no dice on the wire. Unless I’ve not put the scotchlock together properly. I’ll sort it another day and if it fails the MOT for it then I’ll ask nicely if the tester could sort it out for me, he’s good like that.

More worryingly, when I was running the car for the trailer wiring faffing, there is a few wisps of blue smoke coming from the back, and on closer inspection it does seem it’s burning a bit of oil. I think this is the reason why it was at the auction now, Keith has absolutely ragged the bollocks off it and flogged it on. A bit of a shitty thing to do but I guess I’ll have to deal with it at the MOT. I’m hoping it’ll just scrape the emissions. As long as I can get a year out of it, I’ll be very happy. What I may do is stick some smoke additive in before the test and fingers crossed it’ll do enough to make it through.

I did check the PCV valve out of curiosity and it rattles so that’s working according to the interwebs. The hose going to the valve had a huge split in it, so I’ve expertly* repaired it with tape. This may be a contributing issue towards the smoke? I also took the air filter off and it’s absolutely fucking filthy so I’ll order up a new filter along with some plugs and a tin of snake jollop for the journey to the MOT place.

I won’t lie, I’ll be quite upset if it fails. Poor little car deserves a second chance on the road IMHO and it’s absolutely ideal for what I need it to do, especially with the towbar.