The new news 24 thread

[stripped fred]

I've been dropping the fuel tank out of the MR2 with my son today as we need to change the fuel pump. We've almost got it out but it's hard with all the connections going through the bulkhead. Will need a couple more visits I think and then hopefully we can hear it running again.

After that we need to send the calipers off for refurbishment as they've always been a weak point, put it back together, treat some small areas of rust in the edges of the sills and put it though for an MOT.

[stripped fred]

Meanwhile, my other son put the secondhand engine back in his Hyundai Getz, which he plans to drive when he takes his test in September.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

Been on another 200 mile day trip with the Škoda. This time to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway diesel gala (reports in the railshite thread). 

Stopped off at Stow on the Wold for breakfast. 

Parked in front of a fancy building (yes I can see the Maxus, I parked next to it deliberately but that has its own thread). 

 

But also this was over the road. 

 

Then I found a bakery. 

I had actually already had one breakfast so I kept it light. 

 

I then stopped off at Stow again on the way home mainly because I had no signal to post my last railshite post when I was parked under this viaduct. 

Obviously much busier in the afternoon but I found another space right next to the Rolls which had moved further up the High Street. 

Which also happened to be outside an ice cream shop with a couple of chairs outside. So I sat here and ate my ice cream and watched several old men eye up my car including this one. 

The Rolls was obviously attracting all the normal tourists but my car seemed to attract men of a certain age. 

He looks gifted in the height department. Did you speak with the custodian of the Rolls?

[RobT]

2 hours ago, Yoss said:

 

 

Rolls is in exactly the same spot I saw this back in 2019.

Wonder if it's the Stow-on-the-Wold equivalent of our @Six-cylinder

[Yoss]

2 hours ago, High Jetter said:

He looks gifted in the height department. Did you speak with the custodian of the Rolls?

Nah, it's just a smol car! The Rolls appeared to be completely unattended both in the morning and afternoon. Anybody could have just jumped in and driven off (I'm sure it's quite easy to hot wire) but they probably don't do that sort of thing in Stow. I followed his lead and left the drivers  window open and unlocked whilst I ate my ice cream as it was quite warm. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

Getting up early on a Sunday in summer and taking a drive is recommended, cool temperatures and little traffic makes it a really nice drive.

[Split_Pin]

Collection day today.

After the mix-up with the last travelling companion, I made sure to give my close buddy for the day, all round earworm-producing genius, Phil Collins plenty of notice.

He is definitely ready this morning after being out with Peter Gabriel the night before.

"Morning Phil!"

[brownnova]

11 hours ago, Yoss said:

my car seemed to attract men of a certain age. 

I find that with my Saab 9000… 

Although the lad in his early 20s serving at the Costa drive through who expressed how awesome he thought it was a nice change. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

10 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Collection day today.

Another Audi? 
I'll get me coat ....

[Split_Pin]

19 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Another Audi? 
I'll get me coat ....

Nope.

[Bear]

Got asked to service a friend's car.

Whoever designed this engine bay was evil. Angle the oil filter housing so only one specific length of 27mm socket will work without the ratchet fouling on something and put coolant hoses in the way of clean removal of the cartridge.

And the diesel filter is so evil it is in a metal prison...

Don't worry, the cheap Mannol bottle is for draining - the car is getting the right spec oil, as I suspect it's a wet belt on a 2017 1.5 diesel but I'd never put crap oil in anyway, the Mannol mineral is for the RX-7's "flush through and get checked over" phase.

Also "I hate working on diesels" the oil is always so rank.

[Rustybullethole]

Wasn't even drifting it on the back of the quad this time. Was a little flat so added air. Cant have been more than 20psi and it went bang.

Note the cockerel. He turned up the other day and has been following me around. Very sociable.

Arse

 

[Rustybullethole]

Went to put the new shafts on the Citroen. 

Plan thwarted by 34 mm socket being in my London lock up and not here up the woods.

Repacked the cv with grease and zip tied it back up.

And relax 

 

[brownnova]

Torbay Old Wheels show for us today. Nice to see some variety of vehicles!

[Bren]

My wife has plantar fasciitis. I have a bad back.

We are both walking like Jack Pott and Tom Bowler from the fast show.

[stuboy]

50p boot fair find... few things that cause my eye

[High Jetter]

^^^ Sherpa camper wins Concours de Elegance! 🤣

[Asimo]

I was there, as the gate opened on the first, expensive, public day.

[stuboy]

Spotted in the auction lot at the boot fair

[SiC]

I went out this evening for a little potter around in the VP1300. I'd fancied going out in the Spitfire more but the VP is currently blocking access to the garage. I could have moved the VP to get the Spitfire out but if I'm in the VP already I might as well carry on driving it!

I've finally sold the VP seats though - once they're picked up and out of storage, I plan to put it away in storage again. 

This little car is definitely most happiest between 20mph and 40mph. Above that things get loud and unpleasant. Gear shifts always surprise me how generally good they are. You do occasionally get the slightly harder shift but nothing mechanically painful to feel. 

Definitely a car to smooch around in rather than drive the nuts off. Smooth mechanical sympathy is the name of the game. It just doesn't appreciate having the throttle slammed open and brakes smacked on hard. Respect that and it rewards with pleasantly smooth progress. Drive her hard and she shows her displeasure. I mean the engine and box have done at least 80k miles and possibly even a one before that.

Jumping back in the Z4 to park it back on the drive felt like piloting a jet fighter compared to the VP1300 bi-plane!

 

I have pondered about potentially moving the VP along. But I'm not sure what I'd get to replace it. I still do fancy a Austin 7 but I'm waiting for Chummys to continue dropping in price. 

However what I do know is that I don't want something that needs work. Which any replacement car I buy will need. Just because it's my luck with cars! 

This afternoon I did spend a few hours clearing and cleaning the garage in preparation to finally start back on the Midget again. So much for getting that done for this summer!

In truth I'm a bit fed up with it now. Still seems a long way to go in finishing it. With decent ones around the £5k price point, it's tempting to just flog this on as a going concern (or parts) and buy one that I can use immediately ...

[JJ0063]

I finally washed my van. Been looking like a proper neglected builders van lately but having 4 new tyres yesterday meant it came out with loads of finger marks in the brake dust and looked even worse, so I gave in and washed it.

[wuvvum]

I went to a small localish car show / autojumble yesterday morning.  I'd been half thinking about taking the Volvo but it looked like being a nice day so I assumed that Wroxham would be an absolute shitshow on the way home, and given that I'm not 100% certain yet that I've fixed the coolant leak on the Volvo I didn't fancy running the risk of getting stuck in traffic for ages.  So I took the Rover and parked up in the main parking field.

My mate took his 1969 Mini Cooper S, which has just been put back on the road after 8 years in storage - it doesn't seem to have suffered too badly and it was nice to see it out and about again.

There was quite a variety of cars there - something for all tastes.

Something for @BorniteIdentity

Something for @Spottedlaurel

And even something for @Kiltox.

Highlight of the show for me was this Corvair estate.

Although this Rover 100 was amusing.  It'd had some completely daft turbo engine conversion which has been dyno'd at 466bhp.

It was Old Buckenham airshow this weekend as well so there was a variety of interesting old planes flying over.

Unfortunately at about 11:30 it started to chuck it down, and although it was only a shower (we sheltered in the Mini), by the time it stopped most people had buggered off and the autojumblers were packing up, so it was a bit of a washout.

Not strictly show-related but there was even something for @beko1987 - mate with the Mini gave me this Hoover 1334 he'd had in his garage for ages - apparently I told him about 20 years ago that he shouldn't throw it out and that I'd have it if he got rid - I'd completely forgotten but he'd remembered.  I had to reassemble it as he'd taken the handle off to get it in the boot of the Mini, but it works fine.  Bit tatty, but hey, it was free.

 

[Spottedlaurel]

5 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I went to a small localish car show / autojumble yesterday morning.  I'd been half thinking about taking the Volvo but it looked like being a nice day so I assumed that Wroxham would be an absolute shitshow on the way home, and given that I'm not 100% certain yet that I've fixed the coolant leak on the Volvo I didn't fancy running the risk of getting stuck in traffic for ages.  So I took the Rover and parked up in the main parking field.

My mate took his 1969 Mini Cooper S, which has just been put back on the road after 8 years in storage - it doesn't seem to have suffered too badly and it was nice to see it out and about again.

There was quite a variety of cars there - something for all tastes.

Something for @Spottedlaurel

 

Was that Arminghall? I usually try and get to it once or twice a year and I've seen that nice Laurel there (and elsewhere) before.

I managed to get to a small local* car meet on Sunday (local at the moment being within sight of Mont Ventoux as I sit now, just south of the Vaucluse/Drome border):

 

Quite a bit of Italian and British stuff, but not quite as many French cars as I'd hoped. Escort Mk2 Ghia, Corsa 1.3 GT (equivalent to Nova SR) and beige 5-door 205 were good to see, and a Simca 8 with nice patina turned up later on. Also saw a Volvo 240 estate, Peugeot 404 Cabriolet, MGB and Beetle Cabriolet as we were on the way there, and there still seems to be a decent amount of older stuff in use, parked-up or languishing at rural garages and yards. About to start updating my thread.

In Carina E news it now looks like it's made it down to the Med, near to Agde. Miss SL + BF should be making their way up to us later today, look forward to catching up with them and finding out how the car's been getting on.

[beko1987]

A rose Junior 1334a, very nice! That red fabric bag is the rarest type of all! Matching trim too, and an age appropriate MK plug ❤️

[Lord Sterling]

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

XJ40, tawk teh mey

[EyesWeldedShut]

16 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

 

You say tomato, I say tomateo,
You say T3rry, I say T3lly

[alcyonecorporation]

Look how happy Tel is with that Jag. 
Ahhh, that's fucking great. 

[wuvvum]

9 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Was that Arminghall? I usually try and get to it once or twice a year and I've seen that nice Laurel there (and elsewhere) before.

Yup, Arminghall.  I've been twice this year - last month everyone buggered off early because it was too hot...

[stuboy]

0730 hrs out in the car park.. treating surface rust , air filter and spark plugs..

[Bren]

The Ponderosa - cafe on the horseshoe pass - is not reopening. Initially is closed for refurbishment but is now up for sale.

It used to be a big bikers meeting place. I think the 20 mph speed limits have been a big factor - even on nice days you dont see many bikers in North Wales now.