The new news 24 thread

[vulgalour]

I've been looking at what I can cut out of my current work responsibilities, stuff that I don't get paid for but do in the hope that one day I will, and there's enough hours I can get back to put into a part time position easily enough.  Part time work would be great for things like paying the rent, artwork could then pay for the rest and still make me better off so that's the current plan.  I suspect I'll drop the artwork completely if things don't improve drastically within the next two years and I'm definitely re-assessing it at the end of this year.  So having a low demand position where I can focus on getting on with my colleagues and generally being the best [insert basic job role here] I can be is going to be ideal.

I'm having to make some very uncomfortable decisions.  I'm running out of time.  If I don't pay some attention to money I'm going to be properly screwed when I'm actually old.  Worst of it is I've been given an opportunity to improve my lot in Wiltshire which I've so far declined because it's so damned expensive down there and if it goes wrong I definitely wouldn't be able to escape.  I've been homeless once, and close to homeless several times, so there's certain risks I just won't take no matter how good they look on the surface.

I just want to live a quiet little life and not worry about things like rent and bills and whether or not I can afford food from one week to the next.  I'm tired, I just want a nap.

[egg]

49 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

I just want to live a quiet little life and not worry about things like rent and bills and whether or not I can afford food from one week to the next.  I'm tired, I just want a nap.

Might be something you already know, but have you been through moneysavingexpert's income boosting tips?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/boost-your-income/

[vulgalour]

It assumes a level of financial solvency I've never experienced.  I am doing several of the things on their list already and the vast majority of it is stuff I simply can't do.  I'm not saying this to be awkward or dismissive, it's just how it is.  Until someone can suggest a way I can stop paying rent, my finances will continue to be a struggle until I get a better job.

[Boycie]

4 hours ago, andyberg said:

Europcar. I'll be a driver picking up or dropping off cars. They have promised that I will never use public transport, there will always be a 'runner' to collect me. There will be some car cleaning, which I don't mind. I do like a clean car! I'm just after as minimal amount of stress as possible. I thought the airport was going to be it but then an American company took over the company I was working for and ruined everything.

Ditto , which branch are you starting at

[andyberg]

Bath. But could also go to Bristol airport or Bristol branches if they are short staffed. I am actually looking forward to it, if only for the 8am start 😁

[Pat Earrings]

Several hours today were spent spannering.

Did the rear discs and pads on dads i20, but I found the shoes far too tricky to do behind the hub so I’m farming that job out. As expected both rear calipers were near enough seized as were the sliders. The second hand units were in fantastic condition, fitted them up and bled easily.

the difference in braking is night and day. Before it used to really need a firm press and took a while, now, it’s like a new car. The shoes when fitted will sort the slightly lazy handbrake as the shoes on the car at the moment aren’t down to metal but are worn quite a bit.

i then got to doing the Vectras rear drop links and bushes and my god, what a hateful job it turned out to be. Two sheared bolts (replaced now) and those bastard drop links…they are nigh on impossible to just push on. I ended up boiling them in water and it helped thankfully. All the knocking has gone and you could see how much the bushes had worn.

to get to the drop link bolt, I just ended up taking the rear spring out by removing the spring cup base bolt. Made things a whole lot easier. Everything greased up back together now.

Tomorrow the sensors will be fitted to the i20 too.

[mk2_craig]

Frig. 
 

 

Thats my favourite 17/19mm socket busted, used at the time for its intended purpose of tightening wheel bolts but after over 20 years service it finally cried enough. Sent me on my arse too, hope none of the neighbours (or my family) were watching 

[GeordieInExile]

Stupid lump of French luxury misery still doesn't have a working handbrake. The new module was fitted to the car, and the car didn't want to talk to it. Even more strangely, it turns out the old module wasn't knackered inside, either. 

At least the suspension and dodgy ABS sensor have been sorted, but still. I want my handbrake back.

[Noel Tidybeard]

as an example

you could look into ambulance driving- my hours are 10.30 - 21.00 4 on/4off +1 extra workday approx every 8 weeks

that would surely give you enough time for "other stuff"

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 14/04/2024 at 23:58, wuvvum said:

Now that it's properly spring I thought it was time to dig the Renault 6 out of the garage.  It always needs a jump start after it's been sat for a while, and I cleverly* hadn't left any room to get to the bonnet when I put it away - I remember thinking at the time "that's going to be a problem - oh well, fuck it, I'll worry about it in the spring".  Well the good news is that my brake repair last year seems to have held as the brakes were still free, and thanks to the new tyre on the nearside front all the tyres were fully inflated.  So all I needed to do was climb in through the tailgate, knock it out of gear, climb back out again, grab hold of the back bumper and pull, and out it came.  

The Rover 75 and a pair of jump leads soon got it running, and I took it for a quick run round the block and was reminded of the issues that had cropped up shortly before it went into hibernation and that I hadn't had a chance to look at properly.  So that was the first task for today once I finally got my arse in gear.

The first issue is that the bonnet latch isn't locking the bonnet.  I couldn't immediately find what was causing this, but removing the latch soon revealed the problem - the mechanism is made of plastic (yes, really) and after 51 years one of the bits had decided it had had enough and snapped off.  So that's irreparable then.  Of course bonnet latches for Renault 6s are completely unobtainium, but a Google session suggested that the Renault 12 latch is similar - or at least the plastic bits are - and those are available (albeit at some expense), so I'm going to order one - worst case I can butcher it for its plastic bits and make one good one out of the two.  For now I've put a Bungee strap on to stop the bonnet flipping up - it's a forward opening bonnet so in theory shouldn't be an issue but aerodynamics can do strange things.

The other two were easier fixes.  The nearside rear indicator was behaving funny when the lights were turned on - this turned out to be a cock up on my part, when I refitted the light unit after the car was hit last year I put the earth wire behind the clamp instead of between the clamp and the nut, so it was flapping around and barely making contact.  The other problem was that the choke wasn't returning properly when the knob was pushed in - this was a slightly stranger one as it transpired that the clamp that holds the end of the cable had come off the carb - I certainly don't remember doing this (and I would have remembered as it was a fiddly bastard) so can only assume that the bolt had vibrated loose and fallen out.  One of the three screws holding the end plate on the carb had also vanished, but I found suitable replacements for both in my stash so that's all sorted.

I then chucked a bucket of water over it to get the garage grime off - next job is to make a template up for the repair section I'm going to need to make for the nearside front floor, but I didn't get time for that this weekend.

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent playing with pushbikes.  I did get the Mobylette fired up - it took a few more kicks than last year but still not bad for an elderly two-stroke engine that's been sat for six months - but I didn't get a chance to take it for a spin as I'd been hoping to do, and the forecast looks shite for this coming week so that might have to wait a little while.

renner 12 you say?

there must be loads of spares for a dacia 1300/1310 etc

[High Jetter]

47 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

as an example

you could look into ambulance driving- my hours are 10.30 - 21.00 4 on/4off +1 extra workday approx every 8 weeks

that would surely give you enough time for "other stuff"

I would have loved to do that, but thought drivers were medical staff who drove, rather than just drivers? I did look at driving for on-call doctors once.

[RoverFolkUs]

2 hours ago, GeordieInExile said:

Stupid lump of French luxury misery still doesn't have a working handbrake. The new module was fitted to the car, and the car didn't want to talk to it. Even more strangely, it turns out the old module wasn't knackered inside, either. 

At least the suspension and dodgy ABS sensor have been sorted, but still. I want my handbrake back.

I'd wager a broken wire, is the module underneath the car? I've never had the pleasure* of working on a C6

[ruffgeezer]

17 hours ago, vulgalour said:

I've been looking at what I can cut out of my current work responsibilities, stuff that I don't get paid for but do in the hope that one day I will, and there's enough hours I can get back to put into a part time position easily enough.  Part time work would be great for things like paying the rent, artwork could then pay for the rest and still make me better off so that's the current plan.  I suspect I'll drop the artwork completely if things don't improve drastically within the next two years and I'm definitely re-assessing it at the end of this year.  So having a low demand position where I can focus on getting on with my colleagues and generally being the best [insert basic job role here] I can be is going to be ideal.

I'm having to make some very uncomfortable decisions.  I'm running out of time.  If I don't pay some attention to money I'm going to be properly screwed when I'm actually old.  Worst of it is I've been given an opportunity to improve my lot in Wiltshire which I've so far declined because it's so damned expensive down there and if it goes wrong I definitely wouldn't be able to escape.  I've been homeless once, and close to homeless several times, so there's certain risks I just won't take no matter how good they look on the surface.

I just want to live a quiet little life and not worry about things like rent and bills and whether or not I can afford food from one week to the next.  I'm tired, I just want a nap.

Have a look and see if there are any signaller roles advertised,  not many colleagues to worry about, 3 months paid training then a well compensated job with a decent bit of downtime during working hours.  IIRC there is a box in Brigg that sees only 2 trains a day - plenty of time to do tour artwork around the job!

[vulgalour]

I'd never even considered that, I shall add it to the job hunt possibles.

[Noel Tidybeard]

13 hours ago, High Jetter said:

I would have loved to do that, but thought drivers were medical staff who drove, rather than just drivers? I did look at driving for on-call doctors once.

no- there's 2 types of ambulance

1. yeller ones with moar blue lights & nee naws than you can shake a stick at who appear on TV
2. white ones the go under the radar doing the less important* job of actually taking peeps home* and getting them to appointments & hospital transfers

*if we don't take them home the yellows cant drop off

[ruffgeezer]

1 hour ago, vulgalour said:

I'd never even considered that, I shall add it to the job hunt possibles.

I won't lie to you, it is bloody hard graft learning the rules to pass out the training, but definitely worth putting the effort in. Drop me a PM if you want to ask any questions.

[Yoss]

I've never had my three parked side by side before. They have to park line astern on the drive and even then one of them has to be in the garage. 

Well I was doing a bit of shunting this morning and there is a space at the top of our Close for two cars that was empty, which is a rarity in itself. Plus the sun was shining and the leaves have just started coming out on the trees so I thought why not.

Like I say, parking for two cars, but when they are all quite small and all yours you can squeeze three in. Obviously you have to start from the left. If I'd put the Triumph in last I couldn't have got out of the car.

Also, how to make a Favorit look like a big car. Park them either side of a Triumph 1300.

[andyberg]

6 minutes ago, Yoss said:

I've never had my three parked side by side before. They have to park line astern on the drive and even then one of them has to be in the garage. 

Well I was doing a bit of shunting this morning and there is a space at the top of our Close for two cars that was empty, which is a rarity in itself. Plus the sun was shining and the leaves have just started coming out on the trees so I thought why not.

Like I say, parking for two cars, but when they are all quite small and all yours you can squeeze three in. Obviously you have to start from the left. If I'd put the Triumph in last I couldn't have got out of the car.

Also, how to make a Favorit look like a big car. Park them either side of a Triumph 1300.

Love the Skoda's.

[Joey spud]

Walking past a near neighbours house yesterday and they were having a clear out with a hippo bag full or random crap on their drive. In front of the bag was this jack and a couple of bits of copper pipe.

Obviously I couldn't let what looked like a perfectly good 2 tonne jack go for scrap so asked if I could take it away. They said yeah no worries but beware as it creeps down after a few minutes.

So I carried it home (a bit of a faff with two fuck wit Beagles in tow) and gave it a once over/top up and last night lifted Boris the Morris up with it no problem.

In my old RAC days when you were taken off road for your vans annual safety inspection the H+S guy would test your service jack by lifting your van with it then having a fag break. If your van was still in the air after his break then it was deamed to be ok. So if you let your jack down while he wasn't looking it failed and you were told to scrap it and get a new one from Brown Brothers/Taskmaster (most patrols always had at least a couple of 'spare' jacks at home).

This morning the Minor is still in the air so it looks like I've acquired a nice dinky little jack that takes up hardly any boot space.

 

[GeordieInExile]

19 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

I'd wager a broken wire, is the module underneath the car? I've never had the pleasure* of working on a C6

The cables are brand new as well. Unless there is wire related nonsense going on. But then surely it would do absolutely nothing at all when connected to the computer - it'll release the cables in service mode but that's all. 

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, Joey spud said:

Walking past a near neighbours house yesterday and they were having a clear out with a hippo bag full or random crap on their drive. In front of the bag was this jack and a couple of bits of copper pipe.

Obviously I couldn't let what looked like a perfectly good 2 tonne jack go for scrap so asked if I could take it away. They said yeah no worries but beware as it creeps down after a few minutes.

So I carried it home (a bit of a faff with two fuck wit Beagles in tow) and gave it a once over/top up and last night lifted Boris the Morris up with it no problem.

In my old RAC days when you were taken off road for your vans annual safety inspection the H+S guy would test your service jack by lifting your van with it then having a fag break. If your van was still in the air after his break then it was deamed to be ok. So if you let your jack down while he wasn't looking it failed and you were told to scrap it and get a new one from Brown Brothers/Taskmaster (most patrols always had at least a couple of 'spare' jacks at home).

This morning the Minor is still in the air so it looks like I've acquired a nice dinky little jack that takes up hardly any boot space.

 

I've had that exact same jack for my entire car owning life! Mine's alot more battered and barely fits under the Xsara but still works! 

Came as a set my mum bought me, that, the 2 axle stands I still use, a car creeper that's long gone and some wheel chocks

[Christine]

Could've put two dogs on one lead , the other lead on the jack and pulled it  , saying " C'mon,  Jack  !  "    as you pass other people ...   What a  fucking nutter , they'd think ..

[Dyslexic Viking]

Started Vivaro today after sitting for 6 months. The battery had died but found a working one in the back from a tractor that can be used for now. In the 6 months it has only been started once before which was about 4 months ago and despite that it started now immediately. Good van this is.

It is now on the equivalent of sorn, so is not road legal and needs an mot pass. So next week it will go in for a mot and I have ordered temporary registration plates for that and for test drive to get the rust off the brakes. The mot will determine the future of this it seems like a good van, but if it becomes a lot or serious, I may have to give it up, biggest concern is the camper conversion, it should be fine but you never know.

[Joey spud]

20 hours ago, Christine said:

Could've put two dogs on one lead , the other lead on the jack and pulled it  , saying " C'mon,  Jack "... as you pass other people ...   What a  fucking nutter , they'd think ..

No. They are absolutely mental and total poo bandits they spend all their time when out on a lead seeking out Cat (especially cat),Rabbit,Horse even Unicorn cack.

I love these hounds but they are totally driven by excrement.

[hairnet]

35 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Started Vivaro today after sitting for 6 months. The battery had died but found a working one in the back from a tractor that can be used for now. In the 6 months it has only been started once before which was about 4 months ago and despite that it started now immediately. Good van this is.

It is now on the equivalent of sorn, so is not road legal and needs an mot pass. 

5000 nok tonight m9

[Spottedlaurel]

Family fleet attendance at another enjoyable East Coast Japanese meet:

Star car of the day, for me at least, was this lovely Camry:

Recently purchased at an ACA sale.

Closely followed by this Piazza:

The Laurel was second-oldest, with a friend's Celica Liftback taking the honours of being the most aged:

[brownnova]

Being such a glorious day it was definitely an excuse to get the 2CV out (plus it was drive it day…) 

Went to a little meet in the morning, and it was little. But there were a few gems there! 

Then a short drive to the beach, and met up with some friends and their Morris Traveller. 

(There was a car between them when we parked)

The long way home was used too… a lovely day out in the 2CV! 

[Yoss]

3 hours ago, Joey spud said:

Walking past a near neighbours house yesterday and they were having a clear out with a hippo bag full or random crap on their drive. In front of the bag was this jack and a couple of bits of copper pipe.

Obviously I couldn't let what looked like a perfectly good 2 tonne jack go for scrap so asked if I could take it away. They said yeah no worries but beware as it creeps down after a few minutes.

So I carried it home (a bit of a faff with two fuck wit Beagles in tow) and gave it a once over/top up and last night lifted Boris the Morris up with it no problem.

In my old RAC days when you were taken off road for your vans annual safety inspection the H+S guy would test your service jack by lifting your van with it then having a fag break. If your van was still in the air after his break then it was deamed to be ok. So if you let your jack down while he wasn't looking it failed and you were told to scrap it and get a new one from Brown Brothers/Taskmaster (most patrols always had at least a couple of 'spare' jacks at home).

This morning the Minor is still in the air so it looks like I've acquired a nice dinky little jack that takes up hardly any boot space.

 

 

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

I've had that exact same jack for my entire car owning life! Mine's alot more battered and barely fits under the Xsara but still works! 

Came as a set my mum bought me, that, the 2 axle stands I still use, a car creeper that's long gone and some wheel chocks

I have one too. As you say it's quite compact so it usually lives in the boot of the Triumph where it tucks in neatly on one side. This is because the Triumph went through a phase of popping the driveshaft out of the CV joint if you accelerated too hard on full lock. Fortunately it hasn't done it for a few years. But I found if you put a trolley jack under the hub and got the angle right you could pop it in again without having to undo any ball joints so I always carry that and an axle stand in the boot now. 

Coincidentally I took a crap picture of it only yesterday for my own thread. I have a big jack for the garage but I used the little one for refitting the rear strut, jacking it up until the holes lined up. It's there hiding behind the big jack handle. 

 

[HMC]

Watched the chinese GP

Looked over last weeks Barcelona photos

And Took delivery of an old skool ford

 

[stuboy]

9 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

1. white ones the go under the radar doing the less important* job of actually taking peeps home* and getting them to appointments & hospital transfers

*if we don't take them home the yellows cant drop off

6 years in august for PTS, many wouldnt get to treatments without non emergency ambulance service