The new news 24 thread

[vulgalour]

Postal services continue to baffle.  Ordered some replacement mirrors for the Princess from Thailand not expecting them to arrive until January and they got here last week.  This is the peril of buying aftermarket parts and having to remember what you searched for when you bought them a decade ago.  I'm astonished I could find exact replacements so easily.

Today the replacement rear light lenses arrived from America, again an item I wasn't expecting until the new year.  An acquaintance in the States had to help out with this one because while I could find plenty of '64 Galaxie rear lights, hardly anyone would post them even within the States, let alone to the UK.  There's also about as many variants of '64 Galaxie rear lights as there are Mazda 323s so these have a different chrome trim to the ones on the car.  Modular units though, so I can chop and change as I wish.  The little bonus Lego* car was a surprise.

Not going to disturb anything on the Princess that might disable it in any way before the house move now for fear of opening cans of worms all over the place.  Still undecided about driving it or having it transported, it'll come down to funds in the end I think.  I'm just paranoid it's going to break down on the 200 mile drive and I'll be stranded at the side of a smart motorway in the rain/snow/sleet/dark for six hours waiting for recovery and you don't need that on top of a house move as well.

[Ghosty]

I've gone to visit Reb in Fife, I got here late last night. 

Late, because I came up in the Cav - which got six miles short of Reb's after driving all day, then seized the nsf caliper on. Car would reverse most of the time, but not drive.

Fuck.

Managed to get the 6 miles done in about an hour by rocking it back and forth and neutral dropping it to twat the pads off, combined with engine braking and the limited travel on the handbrake (needs adjusting).

We have no car, hardly any tools, and the Cav is dumped on a verge on the farm track. I don't know if it'll move, going to find out shortly.

Need to go back to Manchester by the end of the week. We're going to try and source a caliper but I'm not sure how easy that'll be given proximity to Christmas and location - and about £100. ECP have them but I can't get to Kirkcaldy to collect, and I don't know if Brakes International's next day shipping will get up here next day. There's a factors in Cupar that I could try, but who knows what they'll say, and I've still got to get there somehow.

If anyone has any ideas, chuck me a message.

[Ghosty]

Yeah, it won't move. 

[Metal Guru]

16 hours ago, richardmorris said:

9kg though!

Asda would send you that as a substitute if they didn’t have water cress!

[Mr Pastry]

20 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

Yeah, it won't move. 

Lever between caliper and disc to force the pistons back?

[beko1987]

Having a mooch around our company intranet for something else and I found our rewards page. Signed up for a few! 

Free accident cover/if I get into an accident (not breakdown) il get recovered by the service at zero cost, excess refunded, onward travel paid for, curtosey car and other promises. They didn't moan about the age of my car which seems promising, although the gumph about like-for-like replacements and being repaired made me chuckle. Hopefully I don't have to use it, but it's free for a year

Next I found a fuel card scheme we can apply for! 3p min off fuel, and I chose 3 cards that cover my local stations. Acts as a payment card, then direct debits me at the end of the month so my plan is to just move any money for fuel I spend into a pot (Monzo talk) as I 'spend it' then the dd can come out of that. I barely use £100 a month so I doubt I'll save much but every little helps! 

Should waste time on the intranet more often! I'd get cycle cover if I owned a bike too

[gm]

1 hour ago, Ghosty said:

I've gone to visit Reb in Fife, I got here late last night. 

Late, because I came up in the Cav - which got six miles short of Reb's after driving all day, then seized the nsf caliper on. Car would reverse most of the time, but not drive.

Fuck.

Managed to get the 6 miles done in about an hour by rocking it back and forth and neutral dropping it to twat the pads off, combined with engine braking and the limited travel on the handbrake (needs adjusting).

We have no car, hardly any tools, and the Cav is dumped on a verge on the farm track. I don't know if it'll move, going to find out shortly.

Need to go back to Manchester by the end of the week. We're going to try and source a caliper but I'm not sure how easy that'll be given proximity to Christmas and location - and about £100. ECP have them but I can't get to Kirkcaldy to collect, and I don't know if Brakes International's next day shipping will get up here next day. There's a factors in Cupar that I could try, but who knows what they'll say, and I've still got to get there somehow.

If anyone has any ideas, chuck me a message.

sounds like a right pain  i’d be tempted to free it off then clamp the flexi to get you mobile again and find a local garage to drive (very carefully) to.

hope you get it sorted 

 

[The Moog]

I am in Glasgow today but can come and help after work.  

Might have a car you can borrow if needed - will just have to stick you on insurance.  

 

Also heading back down to Accrington on Sat - so could give you a lift if none of that works 

[beko1987]

2 hours ago, Ghosty said:

Yeah, it won't move. 

FFS I edited your OP not quoted it, sorry!

Is it beyond some big smacks of the caliper with a bar and bfo hammer?

I've only had calipers violently sieze once (smoke pouring out the wheel, the office building I pulled up infront of nearly evacuated) and some huge smacks with the handle of my jack and a lump hammer popped them free. They seemed to work ok after too although I drove to work and back barely using them at all

[Ghosty]

Weirdly there wasn't not much smoke/heat - but whatever's jammed is well jammed. After getting off the Forth bridge something went bouncing along the left side of the car - first thought was 'shit, there goes another centre cap' but it's still there. The brakes then started to judder and got progressively worse with each application until they stuck on, only freeing off with a big bang after an hour or so - having repeated this twice more it's now completely stuck. Either something's mangled or the caliper is f*. Brake fluid is all there... 
Have sourced a caliper for tomorrow for £reasonable. 

The main problem is that I need to move the car somewhere I can jack it up, as it can't move itself. That's if I do manage to get it moving which is pretty unlikely given it's now on grass and can only reverse, and if it works any application of the brakes at all seizes it right back up.

The handbrake isn't enough to stop it either as it needs adjusting  

[Zelandeth]

3 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

Weirdly there's not much smoke/heat - but whatever's jammed is well jammed. 
Have sourced a caliper for tomorrow for £reasonable. 

The main problem is that I need to move the car somewhere I can jack it up, as it can't move itself. If I do manage to get it moving, any application of the brakes at all seizes it right back up.

Get a Flexi line as well.  Only time I had a brake behave like that it turned out to be the flexible line had swollen up internally and was acting like a one way valve, letting fluid in to the caliper but not back out.

Of course I only figured that out *after* I replaced the caliper.

If you crack the bleeder off, there's a bunch of pressure in there and the brake suddenly frees off, you've found your culprit.

[beko1987]

Plus if you've got a new flexi to go on you could chop+clamp that line and try not to need emergency braking to get you onto nearby hard standing? 

[Popsicle]

While I'm laid up at home recovering from an operation at the start of the month Mrs P took the couriering Caddy for its MOT.

Woohoo all good for another year.

I've managed not to catch the advisories on the pic,

Corrosion on exhaust rear box - meh had that one for the past 3 years.
Front brake discs worn, pitted or scored - yea that will be from it being parked up for the last 3 weeks.
Front wishbone rear bushes splitting - yea they need doing again, they were last done at 213k, a mere* 127k miles ago, cue rant about nothing lasting these days!

[Ghosty]

As an aside, does anyone want to buy a Civic?

[Ghosty]

Progress - it's freed off enough to move. Definitely a dragging caliper. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

I am currently reading one of my favorite car books to date and want to share something about this.

This book covers motoring in Norway during the war years and a little after. And the author has put a lot of work into this, the history of many cars has been found and documented and lots of rare photos from the war years have also been added.

Cars then had very long lives and experienced a lot and here are 3 car stories from the book.

1930s Wanderer this one was seized and used by Qusling's Minister of Culture, he and his wife drowned in this car in 1942 when it was driven into a Norwegian fjord. The car was raised and fixed and was on the road until 1963, the remains of  it still exist in the Telemark area.

1934 Chevrolet truck the author came across a picture of it where it was heavily damaged after the fighting in Norway in 1940 and he began to investigate its history. Documentation on the truck still existed and he was surprised when he was sent copies of this as they were 21 pages long. This had a long life and was fixed after the damage in 1940 and continued to work under several owners until 1958, so this both helped to defend Norway in 1940 and helped rebuild it after the war.

1936 Opel P4 this was borrowed from the owner by Norwegian forces during the fighting in 1940 and was heavily shot at and was no longer drivable, the owner found out where the car was and towed it home with a horse, picture below is of this. Due to the damage, the car was never requisitioned during the war and the owner had it fixed and got it on the road again after the war. It was used by the family until the mid 1960s when it was stored in the barn. It still exists and is still in the same family and still has some bullet holes preserved from the fighting in 1940.

And the book has more stories like this. It is called  På hjul med Wehrmacht  and is unfortunately only available in Norwegian.

[stuboy]

..... i topped the oil on the v6..... exciting stuff........................ sorry all

[Split_Pin]

The new thermostat on the Audi was worse than the original and the car barely got over 60 degrees. I got a link to the supposedly correct Gates item and fitted that today. Getting to the 2 10 mm bolts was an absolute arse but fuck taking the alternator off. 

All done now, I just need to test drive it to see if it has made a difference.

[Ghosty]

Update... the caliper carrier bolt has fallen out. Fixable one way or another. I think Reb has found a local Vauxhall enthusiast...

[RoverFolkUs]

Had an interesting* "quarter-of-an-FTP" in the Focus earlier. 

Thankfully it had the decency to do it about a quarter of a mile from home, on my way home. 

I was just pootling along with minimal fuss, spotted a car in the distance that I'd need to give way to so held back to let it pass without having to slow down. Hyper miling innit

Anyway, once it passed, I booted it in 3rd gear at ~25mph which naturally provides a bit of engine load but it's perfectly capable of accelerating from that speed without dropping to 2nd. 

There was this almighty *BANG* from what seemed like the front driver's side... I pulled over immediately and then set off, there was this weird "HUMMMMMMM" noise pulling away, almost like when a brake gets seized on or, less commonly, when a clutch's friction material separates from the disc without actually catastrophically failing... Weird. It seemed to drive fine. 

I turned around and headed back down the road to see if there was any debris I may have hit without realising, there was none. The "BANG" sounded maybe like a tyre blowing out or a broken spring, or both, just not *quite* as loud. I pulled over again to check the front springs incase they had snapped at risk of penetrating the tyre, and no, they seemed intact. 

I was pretty concerned at this point but since home was only 2 minutes or so away I figured I'd just carefully carry on and see how it behaves

It quickly became apparent that this *HUMMMMM* noise is actually intake noise... So an intake pipe or something has blown off. Weird, because this is a naturally aspirated engine!? The manifold is under vacuum!? 

Got home, opened the bonnet and soon discovered that the air box has burst open, clearly with such force that it smacked the bonnet! The self tapping screws appear to no longer have anything to bite into as the plastic in the air box seems stripped out

I'm not even going to begin to try and work out the physics behind this.. I can only assume at moderate throttle, with the restriction of the air filter, there was enough of a vacuum that when the screws let go and somehow allowed the lid to rise up, the rush of air created the noise and a pressure which blew the top off!? 

I've never come across this sort of failure, to see an air box quite literally explode!

Fixed* 

Grump: air boxes seem really expensive. Like £50 expensive for a second hand one! I'm struggling to justify that since they pretty much almost always end up getting crushed with the car in the breaker's.... 

[junkyarddog]

I've had reasonable* success by stuffing a Rawl plug into the stripped out plastic threads then re-tightening the screws.

HTH.

[richardmorris]

 

For Sale: Lagonda 4,5 Liter LG 45 Rapide (1937) offered for £650,000 (classic-trader.com)

 

[camryv6]

9 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Had an interesting* "quarter-of-an-FTP" in the Focus earlier. 

Thankfully it had the decency to do it about a quarter of a mile from home, on my way home. 

I was just pootling along with minimal fuss, spotted a car in the distance that I'd need to give way to so held back to let it pass without having to slow down. Hyper miling innit

Anyway, once it passed, I booted it in 3rd gear at ~25mph which naturally provides a bit of engine load but it's perfectly capable of accelerating from that speed without dropping to 2nd. 

There was this almighty *BANG* from what seemed like the front driver's side... I pulled over immediately and then set off, there was this weird "HUMMMMMMM" noise pulling away, almost like when a brake gets seized on or, less commonly, when a clutch's friction material separates from the disc without actually catastrophically failing... Weird. It seemed to drive fine. 

I turned around and headed back down the road to see if there was any debris I may have hit without realising, there was none. The "BANG" sounded maybe like a tyre blowing out or a broken spring, or both, just not *quite* as loud. I pulled over again to check the front springs incase they had snapped at risk of penetrating the tyre, and no, they seemed intact. 

I was pretty concerned at this point but since home was only 2 minutes or so away I figured I'd just carefully carry on and see how it behaves

It quickly became apparent that this *HUMMMMM* noise is actually intake noise... So an intake pipe or something has blown off. Weird, because this is a naturally aspirated engine!? The manifold is under vacuum!? 

Got home, opened the bonnet and soon discovered that the air box has burst open, clearly with such force that it smacked the bonnet! The self tapping screws appear to no longer have anything to bite into as the plastic in the air box seems stripped out

I'm not even going to begin to try and work out the physics behind this.. I can only assume at moderate throttle, with the restriction of the air filter, there was enough of a vacuum that when the screws let go and somehow allowed the lid to rise up, the rush of air created the noise and a pressure which blew the top off!? 

I've never come across this sort of failure, to see an air box quite literally explode!

Fixed* 

Grump: air boxes seem really expensive. Like £50 expensive for a second hand one! I'm struggling to justify that since they pretty much almost always end up getting crushed with the car in the breaker's.... 

Bigger screws ?

 

[beko1987]

10 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Had an interesting* "quarter-of-an-FTP" in the Focus earlier. 

Thankfully it had the decency to do it about a quarter of a mile from home, on my way home. 

I was just pootling along with minimal fuss, spotted a car in the distance that I'd need to give way to so held back to let it pass without having to slow down. Hyper miling innit

Anyway, once it passed, I booted it in 3rd gear at ~25mph which naturally provides a bit of engine load but it's perfectly capable of accelerating from that speed without dropping to 2nd. 

There was this almighty *BANG* from what seemed like the front driver's side... I pulled over immediately and then set off, there was this weird "HUMMMMMMM" noise pulling away, almost like when a brake gets seized on or, less commonly, when a clutch's friction material separates from the disc without actually catastrophically failing... Weird. It seemed to drive fine. 

I turned around and headed back down the road to see if there was any debris I may have hit without realising, there was none. The "BANG" sounded maybe like a tyre blowing out or a broken spring, or both, just not *quite* as loud. I pulled over again to check the front springs incase they had snapped at risk of penetrating the tyre, and no, they seemed intact. 

I was pretty concerned at this point but since home was only 2 minutes or so away I figured I'd just carefully carry on and see how it behaves

It quickly became apparent that this *HUMMMMM* noise is actually intake noise... So an intake pipe or something has blown off. Weird, because this is a naturally aspirated engine!? The manifold is under vacuum!? 

Got home, opened the bonnet and soon discovered that the air box has burst open, clearly with such force that it smacked the bonnet! The self tapping screws appear to no longer have anything to bite into as the plastic in the air box seems stripped out

I'm not even going to begin to try and work out the physics behind this.. I can only assume at moderate throttle, with the restriction of the air filter, there was enough of a vacuum that when the screws let go and somehow allowed the lid to rise up, the rush of air created the noise and a pressure which blew the top off!? 

I've never come across this sort of failure, to see an air box quite literally explode!

Fixed* 

Grump: air boxes seem really expensive. Like £50 expensive for a second hand one! I'm struggling to justify that since they pretty much almost always end up getting crushed with the car in the breaker's.... 

I did a Laugh for the actual issue, rather than the expensive fix. Brand new air filter, tiger seal, more cable ties and forget it for 2 years? 

[RoverFolkUs]

12 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

I've had reasonable* success by stuffing a Rawl plug into the stripped out plastic threads then re-tightening the screws.

HTH.

 

2 hours ago, camryv6 said:

Bigger screws ?

 

I like those ideas. Will give it a whirl, or anything that works!

[Zelandeth]

There's something you don't see every day.

Nacreous clouds if my memory is right.

Edit: Apparently not as that's something which happens at dawn/dusk...not at 1300.  

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

There's something you don't see every day.

Nacreous clouds if my memory is right.

Edit: Apparently not as that's something which happens at dawn/dusk...not at 1300.  

mother of pearl clouds?

Rare ‘mother of pearl’ clouds spotted over Scotland | Science | The Guardian

[junkyarddog]

2 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

 

I like those ideas. Will give it a whirl, or anything that works!

I've used them on the undertray of my Mondeo,hasn't fallen off yet.

😂

[lesapandre]

Transport mayhem this afternoon.  Staff at Getlink - the parent company of Eurotunnel and LeShuttle are having a 'wildcat' stoppage over their Christmas bonus - or paucity thereof.

So no Shuttle this afternoon and folk in for a long wait at Cheriton and Sangatte. Knock on to M20 with Operation Brock triggered reducing lanes - no Eurostar out of St. Pancreas this afternoon and traffic pushed on to the ferries.

Hopefully it will get resolved. 

But folk can find themselves trapped in the mayhem and unable to exit the terminals.  I use this route a lot  and it's a sad fact how many people cross the international border (in winter) in vehicles without making proper provision for these delays. 

I've delayed my crossing from Dover till the 28th when the madness decreases - that is if my van gets it's MoT tomorrow.

All the latest mayhem here - no sign of a a resolution:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-67784644

Merry Christmas 🌲

[Saabnut]

So glad I was able to travel yesterday. It will be chaos  for the next 3 days, it always is but these strikes will make it worse.