The new news 24 thread

[Lankytim]

The Fusion has been parked up for 2 years or so, it’s  been a “spare” car but was never needed. I decided to get it MOTd and either sell or keep it for myself as it’s sat there basically rotting away. It’s been in the family since it was a few years old so it will be a bit of a wrench to get rid of it. 
 

After a quick wash and check of tyre pressures it was delivered to the MOT garage.  The test showed up front brakes, to be expected I guess. The bulb was slightly annoying as I swear it all all working the evening before! I had the bits needed at at home so an hour of tinker time and a retest was scheduled and pass issued. Result! It’ll probably end up parked up for another two years. We’ll see what happens.. it’s at least ready to use.  

Can anyone  identify the reason for the slight mark on the lower wishbone? Only level 10 or above shiters will recognise it’s origins. 

[artdjones]

I was parked having a coffee this morning when a friend with a 2005 Audi A4 1.9PD rang to ask about whether timing tools are really necessary on that engine, as the water pump had failed. I informed him they  most certainly were, and told him that a mutual friend had them. I called by to see what was up later and helped him take the front end off the car. When we took the cover off the water pump had half an inch of play and the belt teeth had worn or been stripped away down to 1mm long, with the whole area full of shredded bits. We timed it up with a kit he had already bought and miraculously it sprang into life and ran fine. I think it had been within a second of disaster, because he had tried to start it up this morning before phoning me and it alreadyhad slipped enough to be a non starter.

[Rod/b]

Started to hear a slight knock from the front end of the F150 the other day, and thought i’d ask the garage to have a look when they service it. Fast forward to today. Up at 6am and 180 mile round trip to Dubai and back, then dropped the truck at the garage. “Probably a drop link or something” I confidently predict. 
 

Not quite. Seems the other excellent* insurance approved garage that fixed* the truck after a slight mishap last year forgot* to torque up the lower arms when they fitted them. 
 

 

[MikeR]

electrictrickery and Shitehalls ?

come on ,it will have electric steering and they cant even get that right ..

Vauxhall reboots one of its worst ever cars as an affordable electric SUV (msn.com)

 

[MJK 24]

After a very very protracted search, I appear to have found the holy grail (in old VW circles) of a decent AAZ engine!

Hoping to have it in the Scirocco, soon!

 

[EspenO]

Ladies and gentlemen, the most norwegian news story ever:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/01/floating-sauna-rescues-motorists-whose-tesla-plunged-into-oslo-fjord

[Ghosty]

Cav gone to an excited young lad from Fife, on a mad collection mission with some mates that also involved picking a CL500 up from Norwich!

[beko1987]

7 hours ago, Ghosty said:

Cav gone to an excited young lad from Fife, on a mad collection mission with some mates that also involved picking a CL500 up from Norwich!

Was Angus McFife his name? 

 

 

[Split_Pin]

My wife's line manager owns a 40000 mile S-reg Citroen Xsara MK1 that she bought from her neighbour about 4 years ago when he gave up driving. I think it was about £300 or something. 

The car has never been washed inside or out, her husband won't go near it and it's just passed another MOT needing only a bit of welding to the exhaust.

That made my day.

[Split_Pin]

Fife is where all 3 of my Cavaliers ended up, although the last one was only for a short time as it was to be raffled.  I still see the TD about from time to time.

[stuboy]

Felt bad not using the galaxy, so went out to start it, dam thing didn't wanna know , 2 jump packs and jump leads it wouldn't go... think the batteries knackered... yes I know lion are 5hite 

[Dyslexic Viking]

The amount of neglect old tractors get never ceases to amaze, am surprised this one got fuel an ran.

[stuboy]

Just been down to GSF and bought this ... hopefully I can't get it started and drive around at 50mph..lol

[JohnK]

New Year’s resolution … don’t buy more shite

Got to February at least 🤷‍♂️ payday and marketplace do not go well together 😂😂

2.5 10 valve auto with 93k. Test due mid March, but it has a VERY clean history, so hoping this could be a good gamble at the stupidly low price I paid. Watch this space ….

[MJK 24]

Good advise for anyone rustproofing their car:

 

When applying Bilt Hamber to the bottoms of your doors through the drain holes, please ensure your windows are fully UP!

If they’re down, they’ll get very messy indeed.

[HMC]

[richardmorris]

19 minutes ago, HMC said:

That reminds me that passing the rolls Royce dealer in Sunningdale this morning I couldn’t help spotting the bright yellow cullinan in the showroom. Subtlety has long left the modern rolls Royce .

[artdjones]

[richardmorris]

Bad taste doesn’t come cheap either….

[Six-cylinder]

3 hours ago, HMC said:

Does this mean you have bought a yellow K11?

[Ghosty]

I don't think this needs explanation. I'm surprised I didn't mention it sooner. 

[High Jetter]

These knob obsessions are getting out of hand. (Or into?)

[goosey]

pulled the Jeep out of hibernation to remove this useless piece of shit immobiliser and paired ECU and fitted the ECU I imported from the States which works perfectly, so now I have a car that starts on the Key first time every time and doesn’t drain its battery overnight.

sadly the interior was full of mould as the footwells have filled up with rain water, I’ve removed the bungs in the floor to allow it to drain and removed the sodden sound proofing, for now 

[RoverFolkUs]

On 01/02/2024 at 17:28, artdjones said:

I was parked having a coffee this morning when a friend with a 2005 Audi A4 1.9PD rang to ask about whether timing tools are really necessary on that engine, as the water pump had failed. I informed him they  most certainly were, and told him that a mutual friend had them. I called by to see what was up later and helped him take the front end off the car. When we took the cover off the water pump had half an inch of play and the belt teeth had worn or been stripped away down to 1mm long, with the whole area full of shredded bits. We timed it up with a kit he had already bought and miraculously it sprang into life and ran fine. I think it had been within a second of disaster, because he had tried to start it up this morning before phoning me and it alreadyhad slipped enough to be a non starter.

That's one of the beauties of these, if the tensioner or water pump lets go near enough idle speed then they'll usually conk out due to losing timing before any catastrophic damage occurs. 

[wuvvum]

Not had the most productive weekend because I've been stricken with man flu, but I got a few bits fitted to the Volvo.

New window channel fitted to the regulator on the driver's door:

And catches fitted to the front door quarterlights:

The window channel was a bit of a pain in the arse because the old one really didn't want to part company with the regulator mechanism after 51 years.  In the end I had to unbolt the regulator from the door and drop it down so I could get a big screwdriver in and lever the old channel off.  It was proper rusty too, to the point where it was actually bending as I wound it down.  The new one popped on OK, but refitting the springs, washers and spring clips pretty much blind was a bit of a challenge.  The old window channel rubber was pretty knackered - I should have bought a new one really - but it seems to be holding together for now.  I might add a couple of blobs of Tiger Seal just to help hold everything together.

The quarterlight latches are a rather basic, even crude, design and to be honest I slightly begrudge paying over 30€ for them, but they do the job and they're the only option for keeping the quarterlights properly closed so I can't whinge too much.

I didn't make any further progress with the Z4's front suspension as it turns out that the new shock has a spring inside it which needs to be compressed to extend the shock far enough to get the spring on.  That was a new one on me (thanks to Andyrew for figuring it out pretty much straight away) and means it might be a bit of a challenge for me with my limited facilities, so I might end up farming it out to the local garage.

I taxed the Rover 75 from 1st Feb and have been running around in it for the last few days.  I'd forgotten just how much I enjoy driving it.  The sat nav even came back to life today, for the first time since last summer.  I'm going to have another attempt at getting the aircon sorted this summer, that's about the only thing letting it down as a year-round car now.

[stuboy]

Friend shared this picture saying it was me. Shame I can't find anymore information on it.. also went boot fair and bought some retractable self defense batons....lol

[brownnova]

Quick trip to the local ‘cars and coffee’ meet revealed many cars which would not look out of place in Asda car park (other supermarkets are available) but also a few gems: 

We took the Saab… 

I also bought some 2CV parts with the aim of getting the Yellow one back up and running next week! 

[grogee]

4 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Quick trip to the local ‘cars and coffee’ meet revealed many cars which would not look out of place in Asda car park (other supermarkets are available) but also a few gems: 

We took the Saab… 

I also bought some 2CV parts with the aim of getting the Yellow one back up and running next week! 

The Merc next to the Calibra is possibly the most boring car I've ever seen in a car park, let alone a 'cars and coffee' meet. 

Is it proper coffee or instant? 

Also that metro is presumably Heinz 57?

[brownnova]

7 minutes ago, grogee said:

The Merc next to the Calibra is possibly the most boring car I've ever seen in a car park, let alone a 'cars and coffee' meet. 

Is it proper coffee or instant? 

Also that metro is presumably Heinz 57?

Yeah, there was some absolute dross for sure! 
 

Yeah Metro is Heinz 57

[EyesWeldedShut]

6 minutes ago, grogee said:

The Merc next to the Calibra is possibly the most boring car I've ever seen in a car park, let alone a 'cars and coffee' meet. 

Is it proper coffee or instant? 

Also that metro is presumably Heinz 57?

Calibra is a car that I just never see around these days - so much so that even a picture is a bit of a surprise.
Rocly the SaaB gets my vote although the Opel Estate is a close second.
Any coffee suits me so long as it's not Mellow Birds?