The new news 24 thread

[MrGTI6]

3 hours ago, auntiemaryscanary said:

And we're home 

It did the 137 miles back perfectly. A fine example of a nice little well designed car. Nippy and fun. The comically huge blade on the single pantograph wiper makes me smile, in fact the whole car does.

We called in at the sis-in-law's and hubby's on the way back. They gave daughter a Dunlop pressure gauge in original 60's card box plus a tyre inflator and can of gloop from an Audi. They've just had a Build Ya Dreams Seal - not for me ta.

Daughter used a petrol pump and paid for the fuel for the 1st time - just a shame it was with dad's money

I'll get it fully insured in the week and in the meantime dtr and I will clean it inside and out and dtr can start learning how to check fluid levels and how to use the pressure gauge and inflator. She can also walk to the Post Office to get some magnetic L plates. She has to wait 51 days to legally drive it.

I might have to see if I can find a private road so dtr can make her 107 move under her control.

Didn't bother with a collection caper (abridged: Captur drove us all to @wuvvum's, Mrs amc and youngest came back in the Renault whilst eldest daughter and I returned in 107. Food and drink consumed. PC : N/A cuz family)

Further thanks to @wuvvum for being an all round good egg and leaving a half tank of 4* in it. PS he's got some lovely motors.

Well bought. Fantastic little cars and about as expensive to run as a push bike! 

[DVee8]

8 hours ago, auntiemaryscanary said:

And we're home 

It did the 137 miles back perfectly. A fine example of a nice little well designed car. Nippy and fun. The comically huge blade on the single pantograph wiper makes me smile, in fact the whole car does.

We called in at the sis-in-law's and hubby's on the way back. They gave daughter a Dunlop pressure gauge in original 60's card box plus a tyre inflator and can of gloop from an Audi. They've just had a Build Ya Dreams Seal - not for me ta.

Daughter used a petrol pump and paid for the fuel for the 1st time - just a shame it was with dad's money

I'll get it fully insured in the week and in the meantime dtr and I will clean it inside and out and dtr can start learning how to check fluid levels and how to use the pressure gauge and inflator. She can also walk to the Post Office to get some magnetic L plates. She has to wait 51 days to legally drive it.

I might have to see if I can find a private road so dtr can make her 107 move under her control.

Didn't bother with a collection caper (abridged: Captur drove us all to @wuvvum's, Mrs amc and youngest came back in the Renault whilst eldest daughter and I returned in 107. Food and drink consumed. PC : N/A cuz family)

Further thanks to @wuvvum for being an all round good egg and leaving a half tank of 4* in it. PS he's got some lovely motors.

I got magnetic plates for N01 son when he was learning. Due to forward motion, they blew off a few times. We ended up circling back to collect them. We ended up with the laced ones around the grill, 

 

 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

6 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Pain in the arse that clean air zone!  Did they end up having to head west to the Pont de Brotonne?  That's what I had to do last year in the Rover.

They turned off before Rouen and headed through the countryside to the east, past the airport, then joined the A13 a bit earlier. I'd probably have done what you suggest, or even made a thing of it and turned off earlier and gone cross-country to the A28 (but that's because of the increased spotting potential, and I'd turn a 4hr journey into someting taking all day).

They're heading off to Ile-de-Ré today, I think avoiding the autoroutes from now on as they have a series of shorter journeys. Spending a couple of nights there, hopefuly not too rainy.....

[paulplom]

9 hours ago, gm said:

good luck finding somewhere to stick them on at the back  

looks like a great wee car, we bought ours from Paulplom for my nephew to learn in, he loves it

 

I cabled tied Owen's L plate to the rear wiper.

[chadders]

9 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Didn't tackle any major jobs this weekend but did some pottering type bits on the fleet.  First job was to sort the minor diesel leak on the Rover - appeared to be coming from the fuel line into the underbonnet pump.  Poking around revealed that the line had gone rather soft and the original crimp-type retaining clip wasn't holding it in position very tightly.  So I persuaded the old clip off with the aid of assorted screwdrivers, snipped the last couple of cm off the pipe and reattached it using a proper screw-type clip - so far it appears to be doing the job.

Next job was to try and sort the centre exhaust mounting on the Renault 6 - the "cotton reel" hanger had broken so I fitted a replacement, but the bracket on the exhaust was way out of line with the hanger.  I could lever it across but that was then putting way too much strain on the rear mount.  So I had a rummage around in my box of "useful bits" and found one of those crappy little spanners you get sometimes with cheap tat from eBay that needs assembling.  Two of the holes were exactly the right distance apart, one just needed drilling out slightly to fit an M6 bolt.  Quick bit of hacksaw action to chop off the bit that wasn't needed and hey presto I had a bracket - very bodgy but it works.

Then I had a go at adjusting the idle mixture.  It was managing to idle with the choke off purely by virtue of the fact that the idle screw was wound way in, which wasn't ideal, so I broke out the HBOL and had a go at doing it properly.  The 6 has separate air and fuel screws, and the idea is to wind the fuel screw until the engine reaches maximum rpm, then use the air screw to bring it down to idle speed, then repeat until the maximum and idle speeds are one and the same.  Unfortunately the 53-year-old carburettor didn't respond entirely by the book to the adjustments I was making, but it's better than it was and I've been able to back the idle screw right off.

The other job to do on the 6 was to try and find out where water is getting into the cabin, and I think I've sussed it - there's two possible points of entry, one of which I've sorted, the other will need further looking at - there was some ancient expanding foam in the gap in question which was no longer doing anything much, so I've dug it out and bought a can of foam to redo it (closed cell stuff so it shouldn't get waterlogged), but I'm going to wait until things dry out properly before attempting it.  Next door's cat came to assist, which was nice of it.

Then it started raining so I moved onto the two "indoor" jobs.  First was to make up a new brake pipe for the Volvo, but that stalled when I realised that the unions I have in the drawer are metric and the Volvo uses 3/8 UNF.  So I'm going to need to pop into the motor factors tomorrow. 

Second indoor job was to have a play with the broken headlight from the Leaf and attempt to extricate the DRL gubbins, as the DRL on the replacement headlight isn't working properly.  I've got the bottom LED out OK but the top one is going to require me to attack the headlight unit with a hacksaw, so that'll have to wait until a later date.

Then @auntiemaryscanary and family arrived to buy the 107 - the rain still hadn't let off by then though so I had to wait until after tea to do the last job of the evening, which was to clear out the boot of the Volvo - there was a lot of heavy crap in there (old brake discs, calipers, suspension bits etc) and it was making the back of the car sag somewhat.  It looks slightly happier now.  I might be taking it to a show (of sorts) next weekend, which will be the first time it's been to any kind of classic event in about 20 years.

Which show are you talking about?

[EyesWeldedShut]

10 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Why do you say that? Most likely culprits, i'd have thought.

A young lady of my acquaintance had one of the Crayford ones , boot was the standard Fiesta one, cut down then welded shut to help brace the car.

Not very convenient but, when you’re young and daddy was buying?

 Hers looked like this one

 

[adw1977]

Yes, there's pics of several of these Crayford Fiestas on Flickr and they all have the standard lights, I don't think Crayford were in the habit of introducing bits of other cars into their conversions.

The rear end of the one @stuboy posted here reminds me of a Peugeot 305.  Looks reasonably well done and appears to have a functioning boot, at the expense of rear seat space.

Crayford from a similar angle:

Original photo by Andrew 2.8i on Flickr

[JJ0063]

Had a random WhatsApp today from a wrong number but I replied, made me smile that there’s still decent people that will have a laugh nowadays. 

[Ghosty]

206 was bought by someone on my Instagram for £asking, and paid for me to deliver it to them. 

Train back left me a very convenient 61 minutes delayed, which means I should get a full refund on my ticket too

Shuttle is paid for in full and being collected on Wednesday. 

Paid off a fuckton of bills and levelled myself out financially  - with both my five door cars gone, and a little breathing room, I started looking for a replacement practical/no fucks given car as the 206 had proved to be incredibly handy, just a little too small. It's me, I need something for bikes, camping, moving irresponsible Marketplace purchases things around, taking some mileage off the MX5, just a general 'lifestyle vehicle'. 

Okay fine, I started looking last week.

I had something saved on Marketplace that looked reasonable for £1500, then the price dropped to £1250.

I was setting myself up to enquire about it, and while mulling it over, the price dropped again to £1k, so I've asked to go and view it as it's not massively far away.  
The spec is unusually generous for the body style, and it ticks all of my boxes. 
Low mileage, petrol, velour seats, a/c, and it's possible to add cruise. 11 months ticket! 

I'm going tomorrow after work, seller has even agreed to pick me up from the train station (4 miles away - very welcome).

[danthecapriman]

I’m staying at a cottage in Wales for the week just as a little break. 
While the place is alright (would make a lovely house to be honest!) it’s a bit grubby in places and in need of some decorating and a really good strip out and deep cleaning.

I was having a look around earlier in some of the cupboards (I’m nosey!) and so far found a bottle of Soy sauce which expired in 2013. A bottle of eye wash in the medical kit with an expiry date of 2010. A bottle of Dettol disinfectant expired in 1998. But then found this… 

Which was also in the medicine cupboard!😄 

Not good.

Just found this too.

Thats the only extinguisher in the building.

[Ghosty]

First train cancelled. 
 

I’m on split advance tickets so it’s time for a load of unnecessary bullshit explaining that to any ticket inspectors now - but it means Delay Repay and I know my rights so it’s all a laugh, right? 

[loserone]

6 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Not good.

What's wrong with old TCP? My bottle is used regularly and has a similar date on

[danthecapriman]

Just now, loserone said:

What's wrong with old TCP? My bottle is used regularly and has a similar date on

I’m sure it’s probably ok, but imagine if a guest had to use it then got an infection or something then it turned out the 30 year out of date was used it might not look great on the owner.

[richardmorris]

Next French Car meeting at Blackbushe Airport on Saturday.

Meeting @ Blackbushe Airport GU17 9LQ  this Saturday  26th July morning 08.00-1pm (French car Drivers)

last month had several tractions, 2cv, c6, ds, c5 etc.

[richardmorris]

48 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I’m sure it’s probably ok, but imagine if a guest had to use it then got an infection or something then it turned out the 30 year out of date was used it might not look great on the owner.

That even beats the bottle of Worcestershire sauce I finished last year with a ‘99 expiry.

[danthecapriman]

Some nice old furniture here though. I’ve no idea what exactly it is, but it’s lovely. Maybe @Wibble might know?

 
The outer walls to the building are incredibly thick too, really old stone built building.

 

[catsinthewelder]

I was visiting my dad last year and stupidly tried to keep up with my 20 year old son climbing some rocks so inevitably arrived back covered in scrapes so a bottle of Dettol was dragged out of a cupboard which after using it I realised was the same bottle we used when I was growing up complete with a best before 1996.

Didn't die, its fine.

[Wibble]

5 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Some nice old furniture here though. I’ve no idea what exactly it is, but it’s lovely. Maybe @Wibble might know?

 
The outer walls to the building are incredibly thick too, really old stone built building.

 

French Empire chest of drawers/commode. Shame about the marble, potentially quite valuable.

[N19]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

I’m staying at a cottage in Wales for the week just as a little break. 
While the place is alright (would make a lovely house to be honest!) it’s a bit grubby in places and in need of some decorating and a really good strip out and deep cleaning.

I was having a look around earlier in some of the cupboards (I’m nosey!) and so far found a bottle of Soy sauce which expired in 2013. A bottle of eye wash in the medical kit with an expiry date of 2010. A bottle of Dettol disinfectant expired in 1998. But then found this… 

Which was also in the medicine cupboard!😄 

Not good.

Just found this too.

Thats the only extinguisher in the building.

And it looks to either be water or foam! Powder would probably be more appropriate. 

 

As to TCP... I visited a nuclear bunker in Essex that's run as a cold war museum last year. They had little dishes of it everywhere in the mockup surgery area for appropriate smell!

[danthecapriman]

17 minutes ago, Wibble said:

French Empire chest of drawers/commode. Shame about the marble, potentially quite valuable.

I knew you’d know!😄

It’s lovely, that set of drawers. I’d just love to know exactly what’s under the marble top.

The place is full of old stuff though.

This is that little box thing on top of that chest of drawers,

 
That has a little manufacturer label inside.

 
The box under the cabinet is an old writing set with ink bottles inside.

 

[Wibble]

13 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I knew you’d know!😄

It’s lovely, that set of drawers. I’d just love to know exactly what’s under the marble top.

The place is full of old stuff though.

This is that little box thing on top of that chest of drawers,

 
That has a little manufacturer label inside.

 
The box under the cabinet is an old writing set with ink bottles inside.

 

The box is a writing slope with stationery cabinet. Certainly some nice pieces there.

The damaged marble is a classic example of poor handling. When moving it, the marble should be slid forward so you can get your fingers under the front edge and lift it up, so it’s upright and then carried like that. This has clearly been lifted flat by someone at each end, so it’s broken through the middle. Always made sure any new guys working for me were taught this from the outset. Enjoy your break Dan!

[Wibble]

10 minutes ago, Wibble said:

The box is a writing slope with stationery cabinet. Certainly some nice pieces there.

The damaged marble is a classic example of poor handling. When moving it, the marble should be slid forward so you can get your fingers under the front edge and lift it up, so it’s upright and then carried like that. This has clearly been lifted flat by someone at each end, so it’s broken through the middle. Always made sure any new guys working for me were taught this from the outset. Enjoy your break Dan!

Ps: the chest of drawers that the writing slope is on, looks like it’s had it’s feet cut off.

[stuboy]

mrs stuboy says i can have the honda back from tommorow, i asked is there a fuel left in it and will she be hoovering it out, yes there 1/4 a tank and whats its only been used for kids etc etc.... i gulped..

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

The place is full of old stuff though.

This is that little box thing on top of that chest of drawer

That's nice, so is that box.

[Ghosty]

That took a while. But it was worth it. 

[loserone]

Dats gon' be thirsty

[Brigsy]

Bought a new set of 18" Nankang Ar1 for the r26 tonight. Picked up in blue clio.

Put to one side in prep for when i finish off the current set at Anglesey this sat.

[Wibble]

1 hour ago, Ghosty said:

That took a while. But it was worth it. 

I know they get slated but I loved my Mk4 estate. I inherited it when I first started at TSG with 39000 miles in January 2002. I was quite happy, as I’d just given up a 6 month old Mondeo Mk3 Zetec, which I loved and it was a 1.9tdi with the “I” in red, so could have been 115 or 130 bhp, I don’t know but it felt fast as fuck but not quite big enough for the job. I remember driving back from Ireland in it, knowing my brand new 03 plate Avensis Estate was waiting for me at work after doing 54k business miles in the golf in my first year and taking it to 150k miles before it passing to the business owners son. Happy times.

[wuvvum]

Another job done on the Renault 6 tonight before the light faded completely.  I'd noticed at the weekend that the exhaust was blowing a bit - turned out to be the clamp that holds the down pipe to the manifold which was on the point of disintegrating and wasn't really holding things together very well anymore.  It'd been on there since I replaced the exhaust about 15 years ago so it'd had a good run.  So I fitted a new clamp - I even managed to find a tube of assembly paste which hadn't gone completely rock hard, which was a bonus.

Doing jobs like this to keep the car going though always makes me feel a bit like I'm fiddling while Rome burns.*  The car needs so much work to bring it back to good condition, for years now I've just been basically patching it up to keep it usable, but at some point soon I'm going to have to make some major decisions about its future.

 

*Yes I know that's the wrong analogy, I can't think of the right one at the moment, it's late and I'm tired.

[Ghosty]

8 hours ago, loserone said:

Dats gon' be thirsty

Yeah, I’ve had a few people assume it’s a diesel and a couple of ‘2.0 bad’ comments already. 
but I don’t care, economy isn’t the point. 
 

79k, 11 months test, very generous spec, full history. Bought it from some madman closet shiter that did things up for fun who also had an EF he was engine swapping 😀. He knew damn well he was losing money on it and absolutely didn’t care, he picked me up from the station in a really tidy Fabia diesel that he'd got for £300 as someone had mistakenly diagnosed that the oil and coolant were mixing. 
 

He got it from BCA with a collapsed rear subframe, replaced it, all the springs, dampers and brakes and sent it for an MOT. For some reason he never registered it to himself so it was still marked as in trade (I got pulled for this as MID hadn’t updated, but nothing came of it). 
 

as such I know some history- it’s a Manchester car, the first owner had it for 8 months (?), the second was from my town and had it for a year, then the third owner was someone with a very ‘old money’ name from Buxton who seems to have cared about it quite a bit and had it 20 years!
 

needs a clean (surprise) but it drives spot on - great cruiser.