The new news 24 thread

[Lankytim]

2 hours ago, Christine said:

That strap is mighty close to the posi  terminal ....

Yes it is, I’ve noted it but it seems that’s how they’re designed. I’ll just have to make sure I’m careful, although if the clamp rattles loose somehow and drops down on one side it might create a short. Perhaps a rubber “collar” under the terminal would help.

[Mally]

7 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

Yes it is, I’ve noted it but it seems that’s how they’re designed. I’ll just have to make sure I’m careful, although if the clamp rattles loose somehow and drops down on one side it might create a short. Perhaps a rubber “collar” under the terminal would help.

I'd chop the  top diagonally left to right.

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

What's the copper flexi pipe coming out the back of the cylinder head on the GN?  Some kind of primitive VTEC YO?

That will be the rev counter drive at a guess, comes off the back of the drive to the cam.

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, Lankytim said:

Yes it is, I’ve noted it but it seems that’s how they’re designed. I’ll just have to make sure I’m careful, although if the clamp rattles loose somehow and drops down on one side it might create a short. Perhaps a rubber “collar” under the terminal would help.

On mine the nut and bolt are on the inside of the battery terminal so no chance of connecting with a spanner to the bracket. See if you can flip it upside down. May need to free off the starter end to help.

[Snake Charmer]

On 12/05/2024 at 13:09, Lankytim said:

Nothing says  cheapskate owner like a Halfords Essentials battery but there we are

Can you cover it with a blue and white striped Tesco Value sticker?

[Snake Charmer]

3 hours ago, wuvvum said:

What's the copper flexi pipe coming out the back of the cylinder head on the GN?  Some kind of primitive VTEC YO?

Direct line from the captains seat to the engine room?

[Stinkwheel]

In todays absolutely pain in the neck motoring news this little bugger has upset me  today by collapsing its water pump bearing and dumping all its coolant, luckily at the very end of my 160 mile trip (commute) rather than in the middle, it being in totally the wrong place and me needing it again Thursday to do the return commute home, means I had to throw it at the local garage (great bunch of lads) to get it fixed quick smart (I’m also lucky the aforementioned great bunch of lads  had time and inclination to do it) 

I should get it back tomorrow in exchange for about 600 quid 

Still, could be worse, it could have snapped the cambelt when the pump bearing disintegrated. 

[artdjones]

 

Spent Saturday and Sunday afternoons fitting a towbar to the Doblo. The worst parts being rear bumper removal without destroying the various screws holding it to the van, and wiring up the bypass relay, as it's a few years since I last fitted one.

Just as I was about to put the back wheel on I noticed a screw stuck in a back tyre which hissed all the air out after removal. The spare wheel crane was working fine, but Fiat have seen fit to hold the wheel on with a shoe that has a stud sticking through a wheel bolt hole with a nut encapsulated in a plastic thumbscrew to hold it together. The steel nut inside the plastic was totally seized so the plastic had to be broken away and the nut carefully unseized before the spare could be liberated and the job finished.

[egg]

It's our 20th wedding anniversary today, here's the Austin 16 we hired for the occasion in 2004.

[lesapandre]

1 hour ago, egg said:

It's our 20th wedding anniversary today, here's the Austin 16 we hired for the occasion in 2004.

There is a joke in here somewhere - but I'm not going to make it...

I'm just going to say congratulations!

[Lankytim]

Some parts showed up for the 2cv today! Side repeater indicators, apparently for a classic Fiat 500 but fit the 2cv perfectly and a used hazard warning switch. 
 

The indicators took a few minutes to fit, including adding an earth wire. I put bulbs in the bulb holders and put them down somewhere. Can I find them now? No. Hopefully they’ll show up at some point.

The “new” hazard switch didn’t work.. however I found that if I bridge out a couple of terminals with a piece of twisted wire everything works perfectly, hazards, indicators etc. This is true of the old switch too which I thought was faulty. 
 

No idea what’s going on there, but I might have to make a semi-permanent repair out of twisted wire, seeing as there doesn’t seem to be any negative side effects. 
 

I also moved the batteries live terminal to see it makes it safer. I’m not sure it does as now the live can wear against the battery clamp. 

[Stinkwheel]

Nice to see that the side repeaters are a good fit, have no clue what’s going on with your hazard switch though. 

Why is your voltage regulator just sitting on top of the battery? 

[Lankytim]

32 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

Nice to see that the side repeaters are a good fit, have no clue what’s going on with your hazard switch though. 

Why is your voltage regulator just sitting on top of the battery? 

It was cable tied to the battery clamp when I got the the 2cv and I didn’t know what to do with it so stuck it under the batter handle.

[Lankytim]

WHERE ARE YOU, YOU BASTARDS

[Mr Pastry]

2 hours ago, Lankytim said:

The “new” hazard switch didn’t work.. however I found that if I bridge out a couple of terminals with a piece of twisted wire everything works perfectly, hazards, indicators etc. This is true of the old switch too which I thought was faulty. 
 

No idea what’s going on there, but I might have to make a semi-permanent repair out of twisted wire, seeing as there doesn’t seem to be any negative side effects. 

No live feed to the switch?

[GMcD]

A collection of sorts.

Brought baby gmcd home from the hospital this afternoon.  To say I'm buzzing is an understatement.  Mrs gmcd is a superstar. 

Not sure I can justify having a brace of two-seaters now 😆. 

[Coprolalia]

8 minutes ago, GMcD said:

A collection of sorts.

Brought baby gmcd home from the hospital this afternoon.  To say I'm buzzing is an understatement.  Mrs gmcd is a superstar. 

Not sure I can justify having a brace of two-seaters now 😆. 

Huge congratulations. As a father of two under 3, your life is going to upended. It is worth it.

[Lankytim]

1 hour ago, Mr Pastry said:

No live feed to the switch?

There’s a live feed but the switch doesn’t switch it to anywhere.

[Mr Pastry]

2 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

There’s a live feed but the switch doesn’t switch it to anywhere.

It needs a constant live feed and an ignition switched feed. 

[RoverFolkUs]

Pulled into my road, and it clicked over. Extremely satisfying milometer moment at the end of a journey! 

Engine not running hence warning lights!

Focus joined in on the excitement a couple of weeks ago as well

[Lankytim]

1 minute ago, Mr Pastry said:

It needs a constant live feed and an ignition switched feed. 

It doesn’t work with the ignition off so I’m guessing there’s no permanent live.

[richardmorris]

5 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

It doesn’t work with the ignition off so I’m guessing there’s no permanent live.

should have one obviously.

2cvs after 1985 originally had a bracket on the side of the battery for the regulator. Before that there’s a metal bracket on the bulkhead. It’s easy to wedge it to the side of the battery between the battery and holding rod thing.

[Mr Pastry]

25 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

It doesn’t work with the ignition off so I’m guessing there’s no permanent live.

I think so, in that case.  IIRC the hazards are supposed to work with ignition on or off but I'd be surprised if an MOT tester made an issue of it.  You could disconnect the live feed (black) at the switch, then take a new live feed direct from the input of the ignition switch..

 

[Rust Collector]

1 hour ago, GMcD said:

A collection of sorts.

Brought baby gmcd home from the hospital this afternoon.  To say I'm buzzing is an understatement.  Mrs gmcd is a superstar. 

Not sure I can justify having a brace of two-seaters now 😆. 

Congratulations mate! We have a toddler and just recently had our second baby, life will be different but you won’t look back! Enjoy as much time with your new arrival as you can possibly squeeze in 😁

[Mrcento]

Why do so many cars on the road right now sound absolutely knackered?, absolutely tons going about sounding like they've got no oil in, all sorts of rattling and knocking.

Not even old stuff either (Although a disproportionate amount of the really knackered sounding stuff does seem to be Corsas from around 2011, including a neighbours that sounds like it's on its final death rattle, top end sounds like it's in bits), But todays 'oooft' was a Mercedes Sprinter. 21 plate. Sounded like a rod was trying to get through the block.

[AndyIggs]

4 minutes ago, Mrcento said:

Why do so many cars on the road right now sound absolutely knackered?, absolutely tons going about sounding like they've got no oil in, all sorts of rattling and knocking.

Not even old stuff either (Although a disproportionate amount of the really knackered sounding stuff does seem to be Corsas from around 2011, including a neighbours that sounds like it's on its final death rattle, top end sounds like it's in bits), But todays 'oooft' was a Mercedes Sprinter. 21 plate. Sounded like a rod was trying to get through the block.

People seem to be holding onto their cars for longer now. The old cost of living excuse but its absolutely true! For some people, as mad as it may seem, a 2011 Corsa is an old car.

[Popsicle]

As mentioned the other week our 1.5 dci Qashqai crankshaft pulley decided to fall to bits. ECP wanted a staggering £198 for a INA one. Parts In Motion on Ebay had the same one for £56 with an extra 20% off, so £45 delivered. Due to postal cock ups it took forever to turn up, no big deal as the Qashqai isn't being used much, but it arrived a few days ago so time to get it done.

The original crank pulley bolt needed some serious effort to remove it, several extension bars to clear the wheel arch and my big breaker bar managed to crack it off. I did let my new Parkside impact gun have a go, but yea it wasn't having any of that.

For something I was doing it remarkably all went well, no swearing at all, just a little fiddly getting the belt back on.

One shiny new pulley.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, GMcD said:

A collection of sorts.

Brought baby gmcd home from the hospital this afternoon.  To say I'm buzzing is an understatement.  Mrs gmcd is a superstar. 

Not sure I can justify having a brace of two-seaters now 😆. 

Swinging it,so cash... Congrats!

[lesapandre]

Spent some time in the big Lotus showroom in Piccadilly London. Very friendly.

Right next door to the old Rootes showroom at Devonshire House.

The Evija (sounds like a character from Star Trek) is £2.5 million and made of carbon fibre. Very beautiful but it should be at 2.5 million. Electric.

I thought it looked £250,000. But I'm not their target customer...

The big SUV things at the back seemed to belong to another company even though they were Lotus - great big whale-like things. Electric.

There is a 'cheaper' sports  car at under £100,000 - petrol - the car in red which I did not snap.

I liked the Evija - the SUVs seemed a bit clunky and over-designed IMHO. Bit too big for UK roads

Nice to see something happening though - and Lotus not joining the long long list of defunct car brands.

Worth a visit if you are down that way. I even got given a brochure after a very interesting chat.

They are planning a smaller electric sports car.

[meshking]

13 hours ago, Lankytim said:

It was cable tied to the battery clamp when I got the the 2cv and I didn’t know what to do with it so stuck it under the batter handle.

You need one of these :

https://ecas2cvparts.co.uk/products/clip-bracket-screws-onto-bulkhead-to-fix-voltage-regulator-vrb1