The new news 24 thread

[richardmorris]

Tractor porn on countryfile bbc1 now.

[stuboy]

not that i need it currently i can not find my towing eye for the mondeo, looked in the cars, the shed, missus handbag and no avail.. so ive ordered one from amazon, bet the missing one will turn up shortly....

[meshking]

2 hours ago, richardmorris said:

My skills are always along the lines that it’s already buggered so I can’t make it worse.

Bit late now, but I have the tool here as the van has four windows with the same trim. 

[adw1977]

23 hours ago, morrisoxide said:

Aye they could and that's the half of it. I saved the car from the track years ago. It was owned by Rea's Creamy Ices (Chris Rea's Dad) and used to move fridges about with Ice cream in them hence no back door handles and odd floor strengtheners.

Interesting!  Do the rear doors not open at all? 

I've never heard of a van conversion of an A55 Mark 2 before, of course BMC carried on making the van version of the A55 Mark 1 all the way through to the introduction of the Marina.

[wuvvum]

I've been having fun this weekend with parts not fitting.

My first job to get done this weekend was to get the fuel filter changed on the Getz.  I got everything unplugged, got the filter assembly off the car, drained and unscrewed the old filter and then went to fit the new one.  It was exactly the same size and shape as the old one (I'd checked the dimensions before I bought it), with one crucial difference - the hole on the bottom of the filter for the water detector has a completely different thread.  Given that the water detector is also the plug for the bottom of the filter, not being able to fit it was a bit of a show stopper, so the Getz is immobile until the correct filter arrives.  (Annoyingly the correct filter is about half the price of the one I bought.)

This afternoon I backed the Volvo up onto the ramps to have a look at the brakes.  First job was to measure up for a replacement brake pipe to the nearside rear load sensing valve, which was easy enough.  The next job was to fit the replacement valve I'd bought for the offside, which appears to have seized and isn't letting any fluid through to the caliper.  Except the replacement valve doesn't fit - the mountings are completely different, and they're not really modifiable either as the ones on the car use much bigger bolts and there isn't enough metal on the replacement to drill a hole the right size.  So that's back to square one too.

I did get the valve clearances done on the Renault though.

This is a job I've been intending to do for the last 16 years but only just got around to, partly because it's such a pain in the arse removing all the bits that need to be removed to get the rocker cover off.  The clearances were easy enough to adjust while I was in there though.  Some of the valves were spot on (one was even a bit tight, but I left it because it was only .05mm out), some needed a minor tweak, and a couple you could have driven a fugging bus through.  They're all where they should be now though, and the engine sounds the quietest it ever has in my ownership (it's still a Cléon-fonte, so everything is relative).  I had a bit of a worrying moment when I first started it up and there was a loud buzzing from somewhere, but I soon realised that I'd left my ratchet on the crank pulley from where I'd been turning the engine over, and it was now merrily being spun at 1,500rpm by the engine. 🤪 

Reassembly was the reverse of removal, with a few bits that needed taking apart again and redoing when I realised I'd forgotten bits.  The most awkward bit was getting the new rocker cover gasket to stay in its groove in the cover while I manoeuvred it back onto the head - in the end I had to run a bead of Hylomar round the groove to hold the gasket in place.  Next job is to fix the bonnet lock (I've ordered a R12 lock which I'm going to butcher for the bits I need), then the car should be properly usable again, hole in the floor notwithstanding.

The Visa is the next in the queue to have the valve clearances done - I suspect that's going to be awkward as well being a flat twin.  I also need to look at the brakes again - the pedal is nearly on the floor again, but what is different now is that if I pump it once it comes back again and the car stops as it should.  So I'm wondering if air has got in somehow - I did bleed all the brakes before but I'm going to give it another try.

I had been intending to look over the Toyota and the folding electric scooter for their upcoming MOTs, but I realised when I went to check the advisories that I'd got my dates wrong and the Toyota doesn't run out until August and the scooter in September, so that was a Brucie bonus.  So I went for a top down drive in the Z4 instead.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, stuboy said:

looked in the missus handbag 

Brave man! Why might it be there, tho?

[Ohdearme]

Espace gone in for an MOT...with my local runner bloke, always love a nosey around what's there,

Clio V6 on the ramps, An Avantime that hasn't moved since my last MOT, a 2.0 Laguna coupe and a 3.0v6 Vel Satis badermatic.

As if to curse myself, I looked round the Vel Satis and remembered the Lon standing handbrake dramas of the forum bike version.

 

Just received the MOT call,

A stuck front brake (explains what I thought was an air leak spacing power 🫣 - Weird it never smelt burny but I hardly drive it)
A knackered rear tyre cut through cords - Not a biggie - it was old

...but...maximum drama alert.

Passenger side handbrake not working - Cable appears intact, probably control unit (👀) 

They're used to the units so there's a chance with the case of it can be resolved or it may need a spare.

Once they've got a view of the likely damage, it may get fixed and then serviced up or it may get sent to become bean tins  

 

[JJ0063]

Currently having an outside socket fitted so I can wash and hoover the cars a bit more lazily. Exciting.

[grogee]

On 31/05/2024 at 18:04, Longbridge Apologist said:

Meanwhile, on a similar theme:

At my GF's parents is this, which I managed to start up with nothing more than some jump leads and then move off the drive into a nearby garage:

Anyone interested in a project...?

What cheerful seat fabric. I can't think of any modern that achieves the same effect. 

Would be a nice project but <insert the usual excuses here>. 

[grogee]

19 minutes ago, JJ0063 said:

Currently having an outside socket fitted so I can wash and hoover the cars a bit more lazily. Exciting.

Good skills - sweep up any electrons that leak out. 

[Marshall2810]

Just been up to Ray's Breakers in Rainworth who had a 107 in the right colour. Got a new to me cat and good bonnet for £60 which didn't sound bad (hoping it works mind). The bumper on it was cracked unfortunately so that'll keep for another day. 

[JJ0063]

26 minutes ago, JJ0063 said:

Currently having an outside socket fitted so I can wash and hoover the cars a bit more lazily. Exciting.

Lovely job, total cost £10.99 for the socket and the sparky charged £30 to fit 

[Ohdearme]

1 hour ago, Ohdearme said:

Espace gone in for an MOT...with my local runner bloke, always love a nosey around what's there,

Clio V6 on the ramps, An Avantime that hasn't moved since my last MOT, a 2.0 Laguna coupe and a 3.0v6 Vel Satis badermatic.

As if to curse myself, I looked round the Vel Satis and remembered the Lon standing handbrake dramas of the forum bike version.

 

Just received the MOT call,

A stuck front brake (explains what I thought was an air leak spacing power 🫣 - Weird it never smelt burny but I hardly drive it)
A knackered rear tyre cut through cords - Not a biggie - it was old

...but...maximum drama alert.

Passenger side handbrake not working - Cable appears intact, probably control unit (👀) 

They're used to the units so there's a chance with the case of it can be resolved or it may need a spare.

Once they've got a view of the likely damage, it may get fixed and then serviced up or it may get sent to become bean tins  

 

Turns out to be seized cables so £50 from eBay and hoping that dissembling the Johnny 5 electrical unit doesn't make the electrics go bang.

Trust is high in my spanner man though.

Needs a total of £400 to get through the MOT and a mother £300 of bits to do a service, oil/filters, pads, etc.

They're doing the £400 and I'm deciding how I feel about the rest given it's basically a glorified tip runner at the minute.

[morrisoxide]

19 hours ago, captain_70s said:

They're also a bastard to get looking perfect as soon as they've had the inevitable replacement sills and door bottoms due to the slab sided shape being very unforgiving.

Yes they are! The sills have been replaced with saloon sills (only one jacking point) at some point in its life. The drivers door is the only one I haven't fitted.

19 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

What a back story.Bet you get lots of Driving home for Christmas comments!

I always know what road I'm on... The road to hell. 😊

14 hours ago, adw1977 said:

Interesting!  Do the rear doors not open at all? 

I've never heard of a van conversion of an A55 Mark 2 before, of course BMC carried on making the van version of the A55 Mark 1 all the way through to the introduction of the Marina.

They do open from the inside but the child locks still work (I found that out the hard way) It isn't a factory job. It also came with some aluminum sheets (old early reflective road signs) to cover the back windows to turn it into a fake van. It was a old worthless car when it was owned by Rea's Ices so I guess it was all done on the cheap to lug about freezers about.

The back doors had handles when I bought it, but the doors where rotten (like the rest of the car). So I swapped them for the spare doors with no handles that came with the car, which seems to tie up with the van theory. 

[Marshall2810]

1 hour ago, Ohdearme said:

Turns out to be seized cables so £50 from eBay and hoping that dissembling the Johnny 5 electrical unit doesn't make the electrics go bang.

Trust is high in my spanner man though.

Needs a total of £400 to get through the MOT and a mother £300 of bits to do a service, oil/filters, pads, etc.

They're doing the £400 and I'm deciding how I feel about the rest given it's basically a glorified tip runner at the minute.

Roffle it as is and buy the octavia  👍

[Ohdearme]

6 minutes ago, Marshall2810 said:

Roffle it as is and buy the octavia  👍

Or… this is by the train station on the way home.

It would save me the taxi fare so only 99 more taxis to go and it’s paid for…

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405169786893

[Ohdearme]

Just now, Ohdearme said:

Or… this is by the train station on the way home.

It would save me the taxi fare so only 99 more taxis to go and it’s paid for…

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405169786893

Hatch would better for the dog though… 🤣

[cort1977]

Did a bit on the rusty Mustang yesterday, closer to an MOT at least.

Fast flashing indicator was eventually traced to a dodgy earth after fishing out the conversion relays that were mounted in a stupidly inaccessible place.  Also, new stereo fitted, not strictly needed but the factory unit was causing a drain and was also shite.  Dash came apart easily with actual screws and wiring up was drama free except for needing an aerial adaptor. So the dash is still in bits waiting on that.

All this exciting* progress means the only obvious thing outstanding for an MOT is the axle leak at the rear wheel.  These things have a standard Ford 8.8 inch, the seal has gone on the passenger side. Changing them out involves unbolting the halfshafts from the diff and slide hammers to get the bearings out. Breaking the bolt in the diff puts the fear in me so I'm punting that to my local garage prior to the MOT. Unfortunately they can't fit it in for two weeks. I have sourced SKF bearings and seals and the special unicorn tears LSD additive so hopefully it will be relatively easy for them when they get to it.

All this has reminded me that I have an MOT exempt Cortina sitting here so will get that out this week, should get it running just in time for the rain to start again.

[Ohdearme]

Ah, that moment you realise you left the house keys in the car glovebox expecting a same day turnaround on the MOT and now you’re sat on the train heading towards a locked door.

Oops.

[adw1977]

15 minutes ago, Ohdearme said:

Ah, that moment you realise you left the house keys in the car glovebox expecting a same day turnaround on the MOT and now you’re sat on the train heading towards a locked door.

Oops.

I always take the car key off my bunch of keys and just give the garage the car key. 

You never know if someone dodgy could be working there and if your address is in the garage records and your house keys are in the car, what's to stop them copying your house keys and then letting themselves in weeks down the line when you won't have a clue who's knicked your stuff?  Not to mention explaining to your home insurers how your stuff got stolen with no break in!

[Ohdearme]

25 minutes ago, adw1977 said:

I always take the car key off my bunch of keys and just give the garage the car key. 

You never know if someone dodgy could be working there and if your address is in the garage records and your house keys are in the car, what's to stop them copying your house keys and then letting themselves in weeks down the line when you won't have a clue who's knicked your stuff?  Not to mention explaining to your home insurers how your stuff got stolen with no break in!

There is nothing in my car except a 25kg bag of quicklime. They can work out what that means for anyone trying to break in…

My car keys and house keys aren’t on the same chain tbh. I just chuck them on another cubby and forgot to grab em.

 

 

[stuboy]

Missed last month's meet due to legs hurting but went yesterday's... mix of old new and crap ie my mondeo...

 

 

 

 

 

 

hope you enjoy..

 

 

 

 

[jonathan_dyane]

17 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I've been having fun this weekend with parts not fitting.

My first job to get done this weekend was to get the fuel filter changed on the Getz.  I got everything unplugged, got the filter assembly off the car, drained and unscrewed the old filter and then went to fit the new one.  It was exactly the same size and shape as the old one (I'd checked the dimensions before I bought it), with one crucial difference - the hole on the bottom of the filter for the water detector has a completely different thread.  Given that the water detector is also the plug for the bottom of the filter, not being able to fit it was a bit of a show stopper, so the Getz is immobile until the correct filter arrives.  (Annoyingly the correct filter is about half the price of the one I bought.)

This afternoon I backed the Volvo up onto the ramps to have a look at the brakes.  First job was to measure up for a replacement brake pipe to the nearside rear load sensing valve, which was easy enough.  The next job was to fit the replacement valve I'd bought for the offside, which appears to have seized and isn't letting any fluid through to the caliper.  Except the replacement valve doesn't fit - the mountings are completely different, and they're not really modifiable either as the ones on the car use much bigger bolts and there isn't enough metal on the replacement to drill a hole the right size.  So that's back to square one too.

I did get the valve clearances done on the Renault though.

This is a job I've been intending to do for the last 16 years but only just got around to, partly because it's such a pain in the arse removing all the bits that need to be removed to get the rocker cover off.  The clearances were easy enough to adjust while I was in there though.  Some of the valves were spot on (one was even a bit tight, but I left it because it was only .05mm out), some needed a minor tweak, and a couple you could have driven a fugging bus through.  They're all where they should be now though, and the engine sounds the quietest it ever has in my ownership (it's still a Cléon-fonte, so everything is relative).  I had a bit of a worrying moment when I first started it up and there was a loud buzzing from somewhere, but I soon realised that I'd left my ratchet on the crank pulley from where I'd been turning the engine over, and it was now merrily being spun at 1,500rpm by the engine. 🤪 

Reassembly was the reverse of removal, with a few bits that needed taking apart again and redoing when I realised I'd forgotten bits.  The most awkward bit was getting the new rocker cover gasket to stay in its groove in the cover while I manoeuvred it back onto the head - in the end I had to run a bead of Hylomar round the groove to hold the gasket in place.  Next job is to fix the bonnet lock (I've ordered a R12 lock which I'm going to butcher for the bits I need), then the car should be properly usable again, hole in the floor notwithstanding.

The Visa is the next in the queue to have the valve clearances done - I suspect that's going to be awkward as well being a flat twin.  I also need to look at the brakes again - the pedal is nearly on the floor again, but what is different now is that if I pump it once it comes back again and the car stops as it should.  So I'm wondering if air has got in somehow - I did bleed all the brakes before but I'm going to give it another try.

I had been intending to look over the Toyota and the folding electric scooter for their upcoming MOTs, but I realised when I went to check the advisories that I'd got my dates wrong and the Toyota doesn't run out until August and the scooter in September, so that was a Brucie bonus.  So I went for a top down drive in the Z4 instead.

Looks like the R6 missed out on a few oil changes (I'm sure before your custodianship!)

On the Visa brakes I would try pumping them up then leaving the pedal wedged down overnight; it may alleviate need for bleeding/snapping off bleed nipples

[artdjones]

23 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

Out and about in the diesel Jetta.

Deepest rural Tipperary visiting my uncle.

You can nearly hear the banjos!😂

 

Typical rural Munster car in the background, too.

[wuvvum]

2 hours ago, jonathan_dyane said:

Looks like the R6 missed out on a few oil changes (I'm sure before your custodianship!)

On the Visa brakes I would try pumping them up then leaving the pedal wedged down overnight; it may alleviate need for bleeding/snapping off bleed nipples

It missed out on quite a few things before my custodianship to be fair!  I did think about trying to degunk it but then I decided that that was likely to result in bits of solidified gunk getting stuck in oil ways so I left it be.  The oil in the sump is fairly recent and still reasonably clean.

I'll give that a go with the Visa, although the bleed nipples were all free last time I tried them.

[Markeh]

7 hours ago, Marshall2810 said:

Just been up to Ray's Breakers in Rainworth who had a 107 in the right colour. Got a new to me cat and good bonnet for £60 which didn't sound bad (hoping it works mind). The bumper on it was cracked unfortunately so that'll keep for another day. 

I didn't realise Ray's was still going, despite being from Rainworth and my folks still living there. Probably one of the last old school yards still going anywhere near here now Looms at Spondon is closing.

Haven't been since the start of 2018 when I hit a pothole and cracked an alloy on my Megane.

[Marshall2810]

44 minutes ago, Markeh said:

I didn't realise Ray's was still going, despite being from Rainworth and my folks still living there. Probably one of the last old school yards still going anywhere near here now Looms at Spondon is closing.

Haven't been since the start of 2018 when I hit a pothole and cracked an alloy on my Megane.

Yes still going strong and Ray is as sound as a pound. I was introduced by a friend a while ago and wasn't disappointed. Not a big yard but usually has something and new stuff coming in daily. Decent prices and payment in cash. Coal fire burning with his dogs wandering round. Reassuringly old skool.

[Bear]

12 hours ago, Marshall2810 said:

Yes still going strong and Ray is as sound as a pound. I was introduced by a friend a while ago and wasn't disappointed. Not a big yard but usually has something and new stuff coming in daily. Decent prices and payment in cash. Coal fire burning with his dogs wandering round. Reassuringly old skool.

That sounds interesting - I didn't realise Looms was closing, that's very sad to hear as I had been browsing their list of cars hoping for parts for some of my collection as a reason to go and visit. Their website lists a couple of Montego-type items!

[richardmorris]

[dozeydustman]

I’ve found a local garage with an old fashioned Krypton Tuner and in a couple of weeks the 205 is booked in for a mixture and timing check. I don’t have a timing light. I did, but god knows where it went.

Procrastinating on car related jobs, I laid down some reclaimed teak Parquet flooring in the entrance hall, which I picked up on Bookface Muppetplace for peanuts.

I’m pretty chuffed for my first effort. Just need to sand it and apply some kind of finish, and make some trim for around the inset boot mat and a moulding to cover the gap around the wainscoting and stair carpet. I only used around a quarter of the blocks I bought so I’m going to count how many I have left and work out roughly how many square metres there are left, as I fancy solid wood floor in the lounge now….