The new news 24 thread

[beko1987]

48 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

Heard a huge bang when I was out with the dog yesterday afternoon, gave me a start and freaked him out. Turns out it was the Bomb Disposal Squad detonating some unexploded ordinance which had been found by the A4086 near to where we held Shitefests '22 and '23 - I don't think its related!

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/llanberis-incident-bomb-squad-detonate-29977651

Wow! I blame @twosmoke300, they went out for walks every day... 

[twosmoke300]

1 hour ago, Sunny Jim said:

Heard a huge bang when I was out with the dog yesterday afternoon, gave me a start and freaked him out. Turns out it was the Bomb Disposal Squad detonating some unexploded ordinance which had been found by the A4086 near to where we held Shitefests '22 and '23 - I don't think its related!

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/llanberis-incident-bomb-squad-detonate-29977651

Little bit of history repeated 😂

[Split_Pin]

I'm not paying £15 or so for convertible hood cleaner. Apparently Johnsons Baby shampoo is mild enough not to damage the material but lifts the dirt. For £1.50 it was worth a go.

Took a stab in the dark and went with 50/50 water. It worked really well. No before photos but it cleaned up the red A4s hood really well, very pleased.

My new product* is all ready to be marketed now:

(Bottle thoroughly cleaned out with soap and water beforehand)

[lesapandre]

Motoring Saarf London style...today.

[richardmorris]

Went for a walk this morning after huge thunderstorms last night ( apparently aldershot had a tornado!). Go back and it was sunny and quite warm this afternoon so finished lanoguarding the 2cv for winter and sprayed a bit round the new TIPO. Lots of plastic panelling underneath but did the front and rear spring areas, wishbones and sills etc. plus all the exposed screw and bolts I could see. 

[stuboy]

Installed to take my fat arse weight

[stuboy]

4 minutes ago, stuboy said:

Installed to take my fat arse weight

Are these too small ..

[New POD]

Rather than work on the MX5 today, I went for a cycle ride, down the coastal path. Unfortunately at Crosby I had to head inland to get to my coffee stop at Waterloo marine lake. Because this is the promenade 

 

On the way I went over the River Alt. There's been a new railway bridge put in place. 

[stuboy]

1 hour ago, stuboy said:

Installed to take my fat arse weight

 

[SiC]

4 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I'm not paying £15 or so for convertible hood cleaner. Apparently Johnsons Baby shampoo is mild enough not to damage the material but lifts the dirt. For £1.50 it was worth a go.

Took a stab in the dark and went with 50/50 water. It worked really well. No before photos but it cleaned up the red A4s hood really well, very pleased.

My new product* is all ready to be marketed now:

(Bottle thoroughly cleaned out with soap and water beforehand)

Useful to know. My Z4 roof is in desperate need of a proper clean. I was thinking of using the Vax spot cleaner but not sure if it was too vigorous. 

[Popsicle]

Serviced the van today, piss easy as usual. Managed to get it done before OMG thunderstorms, batten down the hatches and draw the curtains biblical rain 🙄.

New family bus also acquired.

Nice small eco engine model.

To be honest I thought the days of needing a large family bus had gone, we've four kids, 15-25 years old, the eldest two have their own cars, but just lately they've all wanted to come with us on days out and as the Shogun is falling to bits and cramped in the back, the HS only seats five and all the kids are big buggers something larger was needed.

Looked at quite a few and most are pretty fucked/tired or silly pricing, ended up stumbling across this locally from the guy that imported it and a deal was done. First impressions are pretty good but its going to drink some petrol!

 

[High Jetter]

Good for express deliveries too? 😀

[wuvvum]

Well the Merc now has a full complement of wheel bolts.

The broken bolt actually turned out to be a piece of piss to get out after I gave it a good squirt of Plusgas and left it overnight - there was a little ridge where the top half of the bolt had snapped off and I was able to get a small flat blade screwdriver on there and tap it round with a hammer until there was enough of the bolt sticking out to grab hold and wind it out normally.

I also got the front wheels re-balanced.  Annoyingly this hasn't cured the vibration at illegal-in-the-UK-but-legal-in-Germany speeds.  So either no fecker can balance wheels properly anymore, or the vibration is coming from something else (although I'm not sure what - I did wonder if the propshaft might have some play in it but I gave that a waggle and it seems fine).

So I'm now in a quandary again.  For 90% of my upcoming road trip it won't be an issue as I'll be below the speed where the vibration kicks in, but the whole point of taking the Merc was to wind it up on the Autobahn and I'm not sure that's feasible now - the vibrations aren't too bad at the speeds I've been able to attain on the local private roads, but that doesn't mean that at 155 the car won't be shaking like a shitting dog, which at those speeds is potentially dodgy.

So I'm now back to wondering whether I should take the Rover.  That doesn't have any vibration issues, at least not at speeds I've done in it.  It feels gutless as feck after driving around in the Merc, but it's actually not that slow.  It's more comfortable than the Merc and I have more confidence in it reliability-wise.  It uses a bit more fuel, but not excessively so, and European breakdown cover is the same price.  The tyres aren't as good but they're OK, and it has a full-size spare (unlike the Merc which only has a space saver, which can only go on the back as it won't clear the front calipers).  I'm just a bit gutted after all the time, effort and expense getting the Merc ready for the trip...

On a more positive note, it was a beautiful warm sunny day here in Norfolk, so I took the Z4 for what may well be its last top-down drive in my ownership (unless it still hasn't sold by next spring, which is perfectly possible of course...).

Loads of convertibles and bikes out today, and all the coastal villages were rammed as you'd expect.  I even spotted my neighbour snoozing in his XF on the sea front at Walcott (I assume his Mrs had gone to get fish & chips).

[Popsicle]

16 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Good for express deliveries too? 😀

It would lead to a quick/fun bankruptcy!

[SiC]

8 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Z4 for what may well be its last top-down drive in my ownership

My Zed is stable at speeds and the 2.5i should have a pretty high top speed. Just sayin' 😉

[Lord Sterling]

So I was browsing Facebook when I came across this post about the saving of the Keele Services M6 motorway sign:

Apparently it is to be preserved at Aldridge Transport Museum near Walsall, now, I did not know there was a Transport Museum in Aldridge. If that's the case then a visit is on the cards.

[auntiemaryscanary]

17 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

So I was browsing Facebook when I came across this post about the saving of the Keele Services M6 motorway sign:

Apparently it is to be preserved at Aldridge Transport Museum near Walsall, now, I did not know there was a Transport Museum in Aldridge. If that's the case then a visit is on the cards.

Group outing being discussed here if interested:

 

[wuvvum]

8 hours ago, SiC said:

My Zed is stable at speeds and the 2.5i should have a pretty high top speed. Just sayin' 😉

I did briefly contemplate it, but for the amount of driving I'm going to be doing over the next week I really need cruise control.

[320touring]

Found an old sawmill whilst wandering about . Anyone any idea re the drive engine?

 

[High Jetter]

Maker's name states the bleeding obvious! Interesting manifolds.

[somewhatfoolish]

It's a 4V of some description, but there were so many variations sold you'd need a proper R&H beard to identify it. Lots to be found pushing canal boats, although usually 2s or 3s rather than 4 cylinders.

[Popsicle]

While doing the service on the van yesterday I thought I'd swap the damaged passenger wing mirror, it was only damaged last year so I don't want to rush these things.....

The old one is held together with tape, glue and some cable ties through a hole I drilled in the arm, its held together pretty well but has started shaking again, making night time driving pretty annoying due to bouncing car lights in the mirror.

New electric heated one for £70 has been sat in the garage waiting to be fitted for ages, its only 3 bolts to remove once the door trims off, what could possibly go wrong?

The door trim came off easily enough, two bolts behind the door pull, two screws along the bottom, then a few fasteners that popped out easily enough, unplug the electrics, move the door car to one side, this is going well. Popped the interior trim for the mirror off, three pins hold it in place, one snapped, oh well I'm still doing well I'll take that. Three M10 spline bolts hold the mirror in place, unbolt them, being extra careful not to drop them into the door, two down one to go, fuck I've dropped it into the door. Never mind I'll use the telescopic magnet I've had for years, slide it down the hole and somehow I manage to drop that too, oh well I've another broken one I'll put some tape round it and use that. Yea that went well, wet tape doesn't hold very well fishing down a small gap in a door. So two magnetic poles and one M10 spline bolt are at the bottom of the door and the heavens have properly opened, I couldn't be wetter if I threw myself in the sea.

I've come in out the rain by now and considered my options, fit the mirror back with two bolts, I'm sure it will be fine, but the other bolt and telescopic magnets are going to rattle like fuck in the door aren't they? Remove the electrical gubbins plate to get to the bottom of the door or remove the speaker and try to fish things out?

As it didn't stop raining yesterday and was pissing it down all morning it wasn't looking good for finishing this off. Then a break in the rain arrived and I decided to carry on. Speaker out seemed the easiest option, managed to find both magnets but still no spline bolt, WTF. Then the rain started again ⛈️. While getting soaked I shone a torch down the inside of the door and the spline bolt had managed to wedge itself about two inches down from the mirror hole, oh how I laughed as I realised I'd wasted so much time, my knees and back are killing me and I'm wetter than a mermaids minge.

Its all done though, I took it for a drive and nothing fell off, the heating element works and its nice to be able to adjust the mirror again, when I glued it into position I did it with me sat bolt upright in the drivers seat and as I must slump a little while driving it was always not quite lined up right for me.

Watch some bastard clip it within the first week now its all fixed!

 

[SiC]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

I did briefly contemplate it, but for the amount of driving I'm going to be doing over the next week I really need cruise control.

Ah I didn't realise it didn't have cruise. Someone retrofitted it in mine. The cruise is what's made mine a keeper for so long. 

Unfortunately the stalks are NLA new and those online are sold mostly by scalpers. 

[Split_Pin]

Ruston are mainly a manufacturer of railway locomotive power. 

Interesting fact, English Electric bought them over. At one point, as an experiment, a pair of Class 37 locomotives had their EE V12 engines removed and replaced with 6 pots, one a Ruston and another a Mirrlees..

[Lord Sterling]

1 hour ago, Popsicle said:

Mirror etc...

Ma_Sterling's roffle win Micra had a shakey mirror when I got it some years back, the underneath of the casing that holds onto the door was all split so whilst it would sit in place, it just felt very loose.

Sometime last year, I managed to score a pair of mirrors with correctly-coloured casings. Getting it fitted was absolutely piss-easy and I even managed to find the source of a slight movement of metal sound when driving or shutting the door. It turned out to be the bottom peice of a window guide which I promptly fitted back on.

[richardmorris]

Just remembered to post, but speaking to our old boss this week he had just been to Chatham docks museum and highly recommended it for anyone nearby. Just thought I’d mention it, as he’s an 86 year old chemistry professor and loved it.

https://thedockyard.co.uk

plenty of scale models, saws, ropes etc. plus it’s free re-entry for the year.

 

[320touring]

3 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Maker's name states the bleeding obvious! Interesting manifolds.

I got that, but not the model🤣

[320touring]

2 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

It's a 4V of some description, but there were so many variations sold you'd need a proper R&H beard to identify it. Lots to be found pushing canal boats, although usually 2s or 3s rather than 4 cylinders.

Excellent thanks

[Metal Guru]

4 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

So I was browsing Facebook when I came across this post about the saving of the Keele Services M6 motorway sign:

Apparently it is to be preserved at Aldridge Transport Museum near Walsall, now, I did not know there was a Transport Museum in Aldridge. If that's the case then a visit is on the cards.

Having visited Keele services a few hours ago, I’d say by all means save the sign, but the actual services are shite (even by British standards), and can FRO especially charging 40p a litre more than high street petrol stations. 

[Barry Cade]

Mrs Cade took me away for my50th. We ended up here.