The new news 24 thread

[Lord Sterling]

Seems like I may have a job at the carwash where I usually take my cars to. My mate who runs the place phoned me up and asked me to take the the job (As I'm the only one he knows and trusts who can speak good English, no one else seems to want a 2 day part time job) my current job is getting a bit slow and being an agency worker means that I'll probably be out of the door sometime soon.

 

Looking forward to always keeping my cars clean.

[Pete-M]

Congratulations, LS.

 

Part-time jobs rocketh mightily if you can find something to do the rest of the time. Well done.

[eddyramrod]

Top work LS. Something like that should suit me nicely when I move...

[Cavcraft]

Just worked out we've had 48mpg out of my lad's Corsa 1.0!

[Mike D]

I have just finished fighting with the 840s wiring and managed to remove the god awful dvd player in favour of my nice usb sony effort - still some more wiring to do, but at least I can see all the dash now!

 

In mpg news, the readout says 18 don't know how accurate that is, I've been driving like a bit of a pussy too!

[cort16]

Nope, that's about right. I've been getting about 20mpg from my 740i driving like a big girls blouse.

[cms206]

18mpg?

 

I drive a 9.6 litre Volvo B10M at work. Current estimations me being light footed with an automatic... 6.1mpg

[dollywobbler]

Maverick did 22mpg on its first tank, and that's only got four cylinders! It doesn't sound anywhere near as nice as a Beemer V8.

[Mike D]

That makes me feel better!

 

Having had the old beast a few days now, I can say with confidence it's the biggest car I've had that has the most ridiculously small amount of room inside! Comfy mind!

 

it also seems to have developed some faults I didn't spot on the test drive! I'm pretty sure it needs a new viscous fan coupling as the fan seems to be constantly on, therefore making it sound like a big leafblower rather than a burbly V8, and also the front track control arm bushes seem to be shot, as it has a bit of steering wheel shake round corners. Nothing that isn't a reasonably easy fix though

[dollywobbler]

Aye. I think the Maverick is the first car I've owned with a viscous fan that actually works. It always spins, but slows down considerably after a few seconds of running so doesn't sound like a leaf blower.

[Shep Shepherd]

^

 

The viscous fan on The Volvo still works perfectly after almost 22 years and still makes a really cool whooshing sound when the car is revved just after start-up

[RoadworkUK]

My Dads 540 gave 28 mpg overall on a convoy down to Cornwall this summer, and he had a Rover 825 to keep up with!

 

He still wishes it was an 840, though. He once had an opportunity to buy one that used to belong to Mike Stock. Bit o' trivia for you, there.

[Minimad5]

Need to find a local and cheap supplier of Welding gas and Mig wire, as i've discovered a wee bit of welding to do on the Herald.

I hate rust !

[ashmicro]

Got this today

 

 

fitted it to this:

 

 

FUCK YEAH! Sons of Anarchy.

[wuvvum]

I drive a 9.6 litre Volvo B10M at work. Current estimations me being light footed with an automatic... 6.1mpg

Presumably that's round town though? I don't know if I could drive a B10M gently personally - they sound lovely when they're being given some beans, much nicer than the Euro5 hairdryers most new buses seem to be fitted with.

[Pete-M]

Chatting to a friend today who drives those Ãœbermegahuge trucks you occasionally see on motorways. The ones that carry massive things and take up a couple of lanes and normally need escort vehicles. 100+ ton payload jobbies. At 40 mph they do 5 mpg, tops. At 50 mph it's not unusual to get 1 mpg. At 56 "it's a lot worse than at 50".

[trigger]

I popped into a local bodyshop today whilst out in the Cortina to get a quote on getting the bodywork sorted, They said to strip it right back, weld the tops of the wings, prime and paint the car to a good standard and do inside the door shuts it would cost £2000.

 

A bit more then i was expecting, I'm still really tempted to throw caution to the wind and get it done but I'll shop around first, the trouble is that i spend £2100 on the car, then if i spend another £2000 on the bodywork would i ever see my £4100+ again?

[TagoraSX]

I don't think its possible to get a GOOD paint job for less than £2000.

That was the ballpark given to me for my 200, before it all spiraled out of control

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I popped into a local bodyshop today whilst out in the Cortina to get a quote on getting the bodywork sorted, They said to strip it right back, weld the tops of the wings, prime and paint the car to a good standard and do inside the door shuts it would cost £2000.

 

A bit more then i was expecting, I'm still really tempted to throw caution to the wind and get it done but I'll shop around first, the trouble is that i spend £2100 on the car, then if i spend another £2000 on the bodywork would i ever see my £4100+ again?

 

You could always try to see whether Pete-M, RedSparrow, Timothy or someone else with Central European connections could recommend you a decent shop in CZ/SK/PL that can do a good job for a bag or so. In the end, after the costs of getting there and back, you wouldn't be saving much, however it could be a fun-filled* shite trip...

[barefoot]

the old Porsche 944 passed its MOT re-test today.

 

as a matter of interest, since my blast the other week following a Vauxhall Integra ECO something at *2*mph

the occasional tappety clatter that I have occasionally experienced when starting from cold has not re-occurred.

To celebrate, (having found myself being tailgated by an aggressively driven Alfa in a 50 mph limit just before joining the motorway)

I managed to pull a full & proper six and a half thousand revs in second gear up the acceleration lane.

Alfa no-where to be seen,

a full 2 miles later at a steady 70mph, clacking down hill, the Alfa 146 1.7JTD potters past.

 

I always thought that an Italian tune up was a brisk drive, not a full bollock hammer.

I do not see that this will be a problem.

 

I am however intending to start a bit of an 8v Vs 16v discussion / argument when I manage to sober up.

[Cavcraft]

Are 944s easy to live with, Barefoot? Quite fancy one one day.

[barefoot]

We've had it since 94.

Wife drives it from J24 to J28 every day.

Superb, if revvy motorway car.

Acceleration is fun, cornering is more fun.

I've only ever managed to do 125mph, but I'd left it in 4th so I suspect it would show a lot more in top gear!

Fuelly signature is accurate.

Parts dear, back box £380, distributer cap/rotor arm £100+

but it is massively over engineered & doesn't go wrong

Although I do spend a few bob having it serviced / maintained by a local specialist to make sure it doesn't go wrong.

1987 car currently on second speedo at about 240,000

[Wilko220]

I popped into a local bodyshop today whilst out in the Cortina to get a quote on getting the bodywork sorted, They said to strip it right back, weld the tops of the wings, prime and paint the car to a good standard and do inside the door shuts it would cost £2000.

 

A bit more then i was expecting, I'm still really tempted to throw caution to the wind and get it done but I'll shop around first, the trouble is that i spend £2100 on the car, then if i spend another £2000 on the bodywork would i ever see my £4100+ again?

 

Might be a bit far for you to travel, but these guys are worth a shout for a top job at bargain basement prices:

http://www.google.co.uk/m/place?cid=171 ... nghamshire

[trigger]

Thanks for the heads up but that's a bit far, I'm in no panic it's just that I'd really like to make it look good again, it's quite patchy up close.

 

I could do a lot of the prep work myself but i know they I'll end up losing interest and leaving it half way through.

[Cavcraft]

We've had it since 94.

Wife drives it from J24 to J28 every day.

Superb, if revvy motorway car.

Acceleration is fun, cornering is more fun.

I've only ever managed to do 125mph, but I'd left it in 4th so I suspect it would show a lot more in top gear!

Fuelly signature is accurate.

Parts dear, back box £380, distributer cap/rotor arm £100+

but it is massively over engineered & doesn't go wrong

Although I do spend a few bob having it serviced / maintained by a local specialist to make sure it doesn't go wrong.

1987 car currently on second speedo at about 240,000

 

Sounds pretty reasonable that (except backbox costs!) what's the script with belt changes on these please, seem to recall there's three that have to be done so imagine it's an expensive job?

Cheers.

[cort16]

Thanks for the heads up but that's a bit far, I'm in no panic it's just that I'd really like to make it look good again, it's quite patchy up close.

 

I could do a lot of the prep work myself but i know they I'll end up losing interest and leaving it half way through.

 

You're better just getting someone to do the prep as for one thing it's a miserable thankless task (I'm spending the next 2 days doing it) and for another you don't want your expensive paint job let down by some prep not up to pro standard especially if there's filling involved, which is a black art to get looking right.

I've spend 3 days trying to 1 wheel arch on my Rover looking right and it's almost driven me to insanity.

 

I'd maybe think about sticking a little wanted add up on RR as there's some good painters on there and even more who've had their car painted.

[trigger]

I used to do prep work so i know I could get it up to a good standard the trouble is i haven't got a compressor or the equipment to do the work and I'd get bored midway through doing it, Another garage had a look at it this morning and said if i strip the chrome and bumpers off they would do the work for £1600 cash, A XR4i in the workshop they just done the same thing to looked really good but that £1600 wouldn't involve doing the door shuts.

[Pete-M]

I'd say bring it up here and get it done, but it's more than 25cm from your front door.

 

If, however, you decide to venture past the corner shop I'm sure it could be done for less than £1600....

[trigger]

Cheeky git!, I travelled 400 miles to collect the bloody thing!

[Pete-M]

Heh, but you didn't go and look at it before bidding, did ya?