The new news 24 thread

[Asimo]

All go in the Aldi car park this evening. A Lancia Fulvia coupe in a lovely grey ( a bit like the P6 Rover grey), some poor lady pouring a lot of coolant into a Mk1 Freeloader, and a bloke in a scruffy Disco who got a bit agitated when I snapped this:

 

Holden Commodore Wagon!

[cort16]

I just got offered a stonking deal on a new Astra GTC. ALL vauxhalls R shit?

[tooSavvy]

This looks suitably 'en famile', parked outside SMYTHS by the Coast Road.

 

 

.... is this our sort of chod, then?

 

 

TS

[Cavcraft]

I just got offered a stonking deal on a new Astra GTC. ALL vauxhalls R shit?

 

 

Predictably I think they look quite HOT. But it's an opinion probably in a minority of one on here.

[stuboy]

popped into tesco and noticed the car next to me needed a hoover out..

[twosmoke300]

Standard fit to most puntos I see. Young girl drivers usually

[Skizzer]

 

I just got offered a stonking deal on a new Astra GTC. ALL vauxhalls R shit?

 

Predictably I think they look quite HOT. But it's an opinion probably in a minority of one on here.

 

Nope, minority of at least two, I like the look of these as well.  Wouldn't actually own one, but appreciate the styling details.

[cms206]

Nope, minority of at least two, I like the look of these as well. Wouldn't actually own one, but appreciate the styling details.

Make that three...

[M'coli]

Will the mucky brown liquid in the Pug 205's driver's footwell be rainwater that has leaked past a seal or the missing 2 litres of antifreeze-laden coolant from the cooling system? One bottle of brown muck and one control -ve of dehumidifier water currently undergoing freezer tests!

Prace bets now!!!

[DVee8]

I just got offered a stonking deal on a new Astra GTC. ALL vauxhalls R shit?

Tell more as i have a sporthatch and am looking for a new daily

[M'coli]

 

Bumhats. Control on the left and footwell brown muck on the right. Looks like I have found the missing coolant. Anyone got a 205 heater matrix..?

[dollywobbler]

2CV has been booked in for MOT on Thursday. Will all of the lights work on the day? Had to fiddle with the fog lamp and one side indicator to get them working. Gawd knows if they'll still be working in two days time. Incredibly, both sidelight bulbs are currently working. I bet at least one of them has stopped working by Thursday. 

 

The next typical pre-test ritual for a 2CV will involve packing as much grease as I can into the kingpins. It had a new one last year, so I'm hoping it can get through.

[Volksy]

Krujoe's bro might. IIRC they are a pig to change....

[Angrydicky]

Somerset is currently at the garage waiting in the queue for its MoT. Predictably on the way there the trafficators and fuel gauge stopped working, so I had to fiddle with the wiring and fuses under the bonnet to get them to come back to life. This lasted all of 30 seconds before they stopped working again! Fortunately there was a pack of fuses in the glovebox so I lobbed one on the ignition controlled side and it seemed ok from then on. Fingers crossed!

[The Moog]

Can you not lob in some Forte Stop leak? I did this in the Xsara and fixed it pretty quickly and doesn't bung up the waterways elsewhere

[Ratdat]

My Mazda MX5 just gained a fresh ticket an hour ago. This may seem unsurprising what with it being a Mazda but not long ago it was looking like this...

 

 

..and this...

 

 

and this....

 

 

Having actually pulled my finger out and finished it, it now looks more like this...

 

 

..and this...

 

 

Nice to have it back, it's been over a year since it was last on the road. I'd almost forgotten how much fun it is to drive.

[forddeliveryboy]

2CV has been booked in for MOT on Thursday. Will all of the lights work on the day? Had to fiddle with the fog lamp and one side indicator to get them working. Gawd knows if they'll still be working in two days time. Incredibly, both sidelight bulbs are currently working. I bet at least one of them has stopped working by Thursday. 

 

The next typical pre-test ritual for a 2CV will involve packing as much grease as I can into the kingpins. It had a new one last year, so I'm hoping it can get through.

 

Does your tester mind any play (in and out) in the rack? That can exaggerate (and encourage) swivel pin wear quite a bit. If they start heaving on the front wheels and find they're strong enough to compress the springs in the joints, they may try and fail the rack. Remind them there are sprung joints not only at the outboard end, but also at t'other end of the rods too.

 

Always best to remain with the car when it's very ancient or an oddity, like the twin-pot Cits. I think the tester's manual says something about the owner being allowed to sit in the car and work the controls for the test, if it's not a vehicle the station is completely au fait with. Which often means a 2cv. That way, you don't wear off your handbrake pads either - the design isn't intended to slow a moving car, but grip a stationary disc - the pads are soft and tiny as you no doubt know.

 

Is it worth removing the side indicators (and filling in the hole), given they're ugly, always crud up and stop working  - and the lengths of wiring wending their way along the inner wing never look tidy. Increasingly I find testers' minds are overflowing with information overload of recent amendments;  if an old car's structure is good, everything works (maybe worth a couple of new sidelamp bulb holders?), it doesn't fail to start on them and it doesn't look like an uncared-for lump of scrap, then chances are they won't bother.

[dollywobbler]

This is an old school tester. I doubt he'll even sit in it. Rack has been overhauled in the past and the TREs seem free of play. Which is astonishing, as I've only replaced one of them in over 100,000 miles. Quite why some people feel the need to fit grease nipples for them I don't know.

 

The handbrake is designed to stop the vehicle though. It's kind of important that it can do so. It may need adjusting as I last did it more than five minutes ago, but I'm hoping to get away with it. Had new discs, pads and handbrake pads back end of last year.

[Angrydicky]

The Somerset passed! Just one advisory for an oil leak, which is usual for that tester. To be fair it's better than average for leaks, just a bit from the crank pulley seal and rocker cover.

 

To celebrate have this picture I found online of me storming* the test hill at Brooklands last month.

 

 

http://www.photoparazzi.com/p282094914

[cort16]

I saw a red new shape corsa today in full pogweasel pink ploomage. Good to see some vauxhall traditions haven't change.

 

I can't decide if I'm going to get this GTC or not so I took the day off today and went to Shotts car auction to see if I could pick up something useful. I stopped off on the way to look at a new shape C5 and it was horrible. The C5 seemed okay it's just this one was horrible. There was another one at the auction I had marked on my list but it flippin went through when I was in the cafe stuffing a bacon roll in my face so that was out.

There was also a Saab 95 diesel on a 57 plate. 76k with FSH but it went through for £2800, which seemed a bit salty to me especially given the 200 quid indemity. The oddity and something I nearly went back to make an offer on until I thought about the car tax was a miserable looking 08 plate new shape Passat in doom blue fitted with the 3.2v6, dsg gearbox and 4wd. It went through at 2500 but didn't hit the reserve. I bet the car tax is near on 500 quid on it.

[320touring]

Shotts is about the cheapest for indemnity roundabout here..

 

I miss them running both halls at once-was good to figure out what car was what. I'm tempted to take a tues off and head up for a perusal

[Mr Lobster]

Hey sleepy, its springtime, wake up!

 

 

After coming out of winter hibernation we need a new battery. Quick and easy job? Nope. Obviously the bolt holding the clamp was seized so after removing that and the old battery we discover the battery tray to be nice and rusty. Curust and hammerite to the rescue -

 

 

New battery fitted and we are away. All seems good so far!

 

In the meantime, SEAT is off to bodyshop tomorrow for the minor front end damage fixing and an MOT. I'm hoping it should be ok but I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

[derskine]

Decided to break the 340, it's going to take a lot of time to put right with all the rot, which means time I'm not working on the Cortina - which I really should get finished.

I don't think anyone would buy it in it's current state for anything other than parts, and I could do with the finances.

 

 

This is only some of the rust, the other rear arch and both inner arches are completely knackered.

Both front inner wings are also holed.

The jacking points are all rotten, both front wings have rot.

The sills also need attention.

[320touring]

yeah, thats pretty much ready to drive into the "Smartprice colander" box as is!

 

likely see a lot more cash from the spares

[Gerald]

Saw a white ?Viva on a flatbed trailer behind a Disco 2 through Cudworth earlier.

 

Anybody on here?

[cort16]

Not a lot of chod at shotts but their prices seemed reasonable on most stuff and there was a good selection . It doesn't half move fast though.

[320touring]

Not a lot of chod at shotts but their prices seemed reasonable on most stuff and there was a good selection . It doesn't half move fast though.

 

a quick swatch at their website usually makes up my mind- sight of a gifferspec motah gets me on the road to them:)

 

any stuff there today?

 

I see this never sold

 

http://www.shotts-auction.co.uk/view-stock/StockDetail.aspx?lot=3024&regno=SV52NLM&sale=2476&type=car

 

this caught my eye

 

http://www.shotts-auction.co.uk/view-stock/StockDetail.aspx?lot=3001&regno=SM03WRC&sale=2476&type=car

 

few rovers/MGs etc

[cort16]

I didn't see either of them. There was a low miler rover 25 gifftronic but I didn't see how much it went for. The only thing I really fancied was the 4 motion 4 passat just because it was a bit of a a Q car.

[320touring]

I didn't see either of them. There was a low miler rover 25 gifftronic but I didn't see how much it went for. The only thing I really fancied was the 4 motion 4 passat just because it was a bit of a a Q car.

 

 

The wifey at the top of the street has the 2.8 4matic passat.. it eats more oil than my old e30!

[Cavcraft]

Did we get details of how cheap the new Astra is?