The new news 24 thread

[Bear]

4 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

It was the last remaining part of the factory.

There's no Linwood no more?

[Split_Pin]

7 minutes ago, Bear said:

There's no Linwood no more?

That is debatable.

[Hawkeyethenoo]

CRV needs some love. 

Welding on exhaust done, had been welded to the cat' previously making any repair exensive as would need a new cat' £400. bumper secured, headlight issue thought to be the headlight switch, dipped beam only on N/S. O/S bulb works in near side bulb holder, main beam showing all the time on dash. New S/H switches both sides bought and yet to be fitted, as wheel needs to come off for clockspring. Bollocks. Everything else ignored. Race is on to get free retest. 

[lesapandre]

7 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Very glad thats being restored, especially since the St James Business centre has just been demolished. It was the last remaining part of the factory.

Rootes bros and Linwood factory proposals.

[Joey spud]

The distance between my workshop floor and the yard floor is two sleepers high so a couple of years back I knocked up a step from some roof joist off cuts.

And it's been perfect until it gets wet and after slipping on it one time too many I decided a cheap make over was required.

Two coats of left over waterproof woodstain and a fivers worth of grip tape and it's done.

It's a bit shinier than expected but there's much less chance of me going arse over tit now.

[Yoss]

Where I park my car for work there used to be these two Saab 900s.

Then they disappeared but the owner has stopped to talk to me a few times as he appreciates my Škodas. Said he'd sold them as he has a 9000 that was being restored. Then a couple of weeks ago it made an appearance. But not until this week was I able to get my car and his in the same shot. Then he came out as I was taking the first picture and offered to move it up a bit. 

Here he is. 

They are both J regs, though I suspect his is somewhat more refined. 

He also has this as his modern. Okay, it's seventeen years old but I think we both consider that modern and must be just about as new as you can get for a Saab. 

 

 

[Dan29]

52 minutes ago, Joey spud said:

It's a bit shinier than expected but there's much less chance of me going arse over tit now.

That looks great. Our "patio" is partly (fake) railway sleepers and it's an absolute nightmare when it's been raining. 

[stuboy]

Talks and negotiations are in place in purchasing my step dads ford c max, as he is looking at replacing it soon, so the honda crv maybe heading too wbac ...

[Remspoor]

Drove up from Spain to the Netherlands. One stop off in Poitiers . It has some historical parts but what interested me the more was the bridge near the railway station.

First the view of train tracks from the bridge. The yard was massive yet the only train there was a decorated in graffiti. A train must have been due because of all of the people on one platform.

This is the Léon Blum Viaduct. It is impresive.

 

Poitiers did not have so many historical building. It was bombed during WW2 and then the Americans used it as a base. However the atmosphere was great. It has a large student population, that must help.

Next stop was Rouen. I had read lot about how historical it was. But to be honest I found it a bit disappointing. No atmosphere. I took my digital SLR with me to take photos of the city. They will need to be changed from the RAW format before I can post them here. In the meantime one I took in the Thai restaurant was of the stereotypical bottle cooler.🙄

[Remspoor]

20 hours ago, stuboy said:

Talks and negotiations are in place in purchasing my step dads ford c max, as he is looking at replacing it soon, so the honda crv maybe heading too wbac ...

I hope it is not a wetbelt.

[stuboy]

No1 son is back from Germany and sent me these street spots..

[Popsicle]

Service time again for the couriering Caddy, 34 days and 10068 miles since the last one. Number 33 in my time with it, at 480k miles.

Plenty of kit in stock!

The socket slipped on the sump plug last time, so spent a whole £3 on a new Febi plug as the original had seen better days and the copper washer was almost worn through!

Get the van on the ramps to go again.

All was going swimmingly, until I went to put the new sump plug in, it felt a bit wobbly as I hand tightened it, ah well I'll just wallop it in with the socket, nope, not having it, the bloody thing wouldn't tighten, as soon as it hit some resistance it slipped back down the thread. Fearing I'd bugger the sump plug thread up, I reverted back to the old chewed up original, it went in fine. 

That's the third ill-fitting non-genuine item I've had over the past few weeks, side repeat indicators that fell out and number plate lights that wouldn't fit in the hole, as the originals like to corrode every couple of years, bloody cheap shit. Yes the number plate lamps were only £8 and the genuine VW ones cost £50, but at least they work.

So with the sump plug back in and 4.5 litres of Mannol 507 spec oil sloshed in, my attention turned to the fuel filter, I'd already done the air and oil while the oil was draining.

I have a bit of hatred with this fuel filter housing, the torx bolts only need nipping up to 8nm, but they always leak at that, so give them a little bit more without going mad. I've replaced all the bolts as the originals were getting a bit chewed up. Swapped the filter over, replaced the O ring and started hand tightening the bolts up, well fuck my old boots, one of them went the same way as the sump plug and kept slipping back on the thread at the first sign of resistance. Tried a different bolt and it went the same way, so I've shagged the thread up on the filter housing. Tried to leave it at the resistance point to see how it went. Fired the van up and a nice steady stream of diesel was leaking, bollocks.....

Rummaged around and found a small nut and bolt, that'll do just nicely. Wanged it in, it was a 7mm nut, that fucker slipped on the thread too! I'm really ham fisted today. Fucking cars/vans, I've no other small nuts and bolts left, so fuck it, looks like I'll be ordering a new housing tomorrow. Nothing's built to last these days, it's only been on for 480k miles.....

I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I'm not working Tuesday, I've a couple of hospital appointments, the vans making a noise like a skeleton going round in a tumble dryer, so it's booked in at the garage to have that rectified and the advisories from Decembers MOT sorted. I really wish I'd just left the service alone and let the garage deal with it. Good deeds eh?

As I've a little job to do on Monday, I'll take the Pisshat, trouble is I've not used it since November, so I know it'll be flatter than a witches tit. Fired the XC90 up and lined it up with the Passat, got the jump leads out, went to pop the bonnet on the Passat and the fucking bonnet release handle came off in my hand! Oh man come on FFS, give me a break. Thankfully the bonnet pull went back easy enough, but the release lever under the bonnet was jammed solid, so a long flat head was needed to push the release prong over to open the bonnet! I doused the mechanism with silicone spray, connected the jump leads and the Passat fired in to life, with the EML on and tyre pressure light on.....

Left the ungrateful fucker running, thought about my life choices for a bit and how much a new PCP deal might be, washed my hands and took it for a good run, the brakes were binding, but banged free after about 1/4 of a mile, I did about 40 miles in it, other than the brakes sounding rough it drove lovely. Stopped at the local Shell and pumped the tyres up, one was down at 25psi, so the TPMS light was correct. After about 30 miles I popped in the Coop and treated myself to an iced bun, the Passat fired back up first press of the key, so hopefully I've not killed the battery.

I'll probably ring the garage up Monday morning, they've got a recovery truck, so can bring the Caddy in and I'll get them to deal with it all on Tuesday, while I'm at the hospital.

If there is a moral to this tail, then leave servicing to pro's, or don't be an inept monkey with the tools like me. Also don't leave cars unused for over 3 months and expect them to work!

 

[wuvvum]

I gave the Volvo 164 an oil and filter change today, for the first time in 22 years of ownership .  To be fair I've probably done less than 5,000 miles in total in all that time, and the oil wasn't all that dirty, but it was still well due a change.  I've been meaning to do it for a while now - it occurred to me a couple of months ago that I couldn't remember ever changing the oil on that car - but it's taken several attempts and some buggering about to get a gallon of 20W50 ordered that would actually turn up.  Most places have stopped stocking it now, and the motor factors only do the "classic" oil in a tin which is expensive.

It actually went pretty smoothly once I'd got the sump plug undone, which was a bit of a palaver as it's a 25mm bolt and I don't have a 25mm socket.  I have a 25mm spanner but that wasn't giving enough leverage.  I managed to borrow a 1" socket off a mate and with that on the breaker bar the plug soon came undone.  Filter came off easily enough although it's not the easiest to access, being on the side of the block below the exhaust manifold and above the chassis leg.  In the end I had to wait until the engine had cooled down enough that I could get my hands in past the manifold without burning my wrists.  It was a genuine Volvo filter so definitely not one I fitted!  Hopefully the Bosch replacement will be up to scratch.

I then gave the car a wash to remove both the winter mildew and the more recent Sahara sand.  It looks a bit more respectable now, although it still won't be getting invited to Pebble Beach any time soon...

Didn't do anything else in the way of fettling as I had quite a few jobs around the house to be getting on with, although I did get the lawnmower out for the first time this year - it fired up after half a dozen pulls despite not having been used since October.  Briggs & Stratton engines FTW.  I had been intending to change the oil on the Rover as well but that didn't quite work out.  I generally do that with a pump as the car is a pain in the arse to get up on the ramps, and the filter is on top of the engine so I do it all from above.  Unfortunately I'd left my pump in the boot of the Volvo and it'd got damp and refused to work - it was only a cheapo eBay job anyway so I've ordered another and I'll get the job done next weekend, weather permitting.

[mercedade]

On 07/03/2026 at 20:13, stuboy said:

so the honda crv maybe heading too wbac ...

I like CR-Vs and will travel /justsaying

[stuboy]

Foggy day at margate doing 2 driving assessments...

[davehedgehog31]

With a hint of spring in the air I decided to extract the Boxster from the lockup and bring it to the house for final preparations ahead of being pressed into full use. The gearchange action had never been quite right, the self centering action was quite weak which made it difficult going from second to third sometimes. I reversed it up on the ramps and got a look at the gear linkage at the gearbox end, it's obviously right at the back of the car and a bit exposed, there is a metal pivot which gets a bit stiff so I gave this a good clean up and relubricated the mechanism including the cable end ball joints etc and gave it a good exercising, shift action pretty much spot on. It had an oil and filter just before going into winter storage, so not much else required mechanically.

Yesterday I gave it a good wash, a full machine polish and applied some wax. It has since had a second going over after these photos were taken and is looking mega clean and shiny. Usually giving a car a good going over is when you notice the dings, scratches, shit paint, previous repairs etc, but for a 24 year old relatively high mileage Boxster it's really pretty straight. Excited for the roads to be a bit cleaner in the coming weeks and hopefully we get some milder weather.

[stuboy]

Exciting day... rotten numberplate bulb change... home assessment,  and go collect a repaired ambulance... life in the fast lane..

[Lord Sterling]

Been doing a bit of folder fettling. The blue folder was nabbed from work before it found its way into the bin. I bought a Jaguar transfer stuck it on:

Just makes it look a bit more 'official' and less home-made.

Done one for the BMW too:

I used BMW key button transfers. They look pretty good in my opinion. 

However, this is an official Vauxhall Network Q folder I found on eBay to use to keep paperwork for the Vectra. You may also below the BMW folder a light-blue BL Jaguar folder for the XJ's paperwork which I managed to nab online. 

[Popsicle]

Got the couriering Caddy back from the menders.

Shiny new parts fitted - fuel filter housing, all 4 drop links and both rear wheel bearings.

My fault on the fuel filter housing, as mentioned the other day I stripped the threads and apparently distorted the lid on the original, £180 for a new one from TPS, ouch! I assumed all the drop links were knackered, 3 had been advised on the MOT in December. What I thought were the rear brakes binding turned out to be both rear wheel bearings being shagged. Also they've hopefully stopped the power steering weep I had. £600 all in which I reckon is pretty good for saying they recovered the van in for me. I should have got them to look at it sooner, but work/life has been pretty hectic so far this year.

So with it all being done I did a little delivery out to the seaside.

And got reversed in to by a Royal Mail van.....

The driver denied doing it, but my dashcam was triggered by the thump and I watched her do it. Minimal damage, so meh.

The van performed faultlessly and seems smoother and quieter, maybe those wheel bearing have been moaning at me for a while 😂.

Nice run out for it tomorrow, pick up Birmingham for Manchester and Glasgow, so about a 640 mile day.

 

[Somerset Suffolk]

Not thats its a vehicle as such, but was about to go into a skip ... bought for £50  -  Petter Junior 5HP - not sure where I can store it yet, but glad I saved it 😄

[stuboy]

9 minutes ago, Somerset Suffolk said:

Not thats its a vehicle as such, but was about to go into a skip ... bought for £50  -  Petter Junior 5HP - not sure where I can store it yet, but glad I saved it 😄

that looks a nice project

[Somerset Suffolk]

27 minutes ago, stuboy said:

that looks a nice project

seems complete and not seized 

[Saabnut]

That is 2-300 quid in that condition. Nice two stroke engines, had several over the years.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Somerset Suffolk said:

seems complete and not seized 

You need a project thread on that...resto?

[Somerset Suffolk]

14 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

That is 2-300 quid in that condition. Nice two stroke engines, had several over the years.

I may message you if thats OK ?  

[Somerset Suffolk]

18 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

You need a project thread on that...resto?

will start with seeing if I can get it running - start with the magneto - I've also bought a small Lister engine that was in a another shed  

[Saabnut]

10 minutes ago, Somerset Suffolk said:

I may message you if thats OK ?  

Yes, of course.

[Saabnut]

7 minutes ago, Somerset Suffolk said:

will start with seeing if I can get it running - start with the magneto - I've also bought a small Lister engine that was in a another shed  

These petters are simple beasts. Start with the magneto. Once you have a spark, if possible put a new plug in. They are susceptable to fouling but are an odd (older) size. After that you need fuel, the mixture control is also the choke. Fill the bowl to start it. The fuel tank is in the base, and the pump is driven by a diaphragm which often splits. Happy to talk you these things if required.

[Somerset Suffolk]

16 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

These petters are simple beasts. Start with the magneto. Once you have a spark, if possible put a new plug in. They are susceptable to fouling but are an odd (older) size. After that you need fuel, the mixture control is also the choke. Fill the bowl to start it. The fuel tank is in the base, and the pump is driven by a diaphragm which often splits. Happy to talk you these things if required.

Many thanks @Saabnut 

[Lord Sterling]

Vectra was looking a bit forlorn. Flat tyre (not seen as hidden by wall) and that dust and rain mix we had last week.

Having been left for 2 weeks without starting, it obviously didn't have enough juice in the battery to start, so out with the Noco:

This was the first time I used it properly and it worked like a charm. The Vectra sprang itself back to life.

Now, despite the fact I've just got back from a 10 hour shift at work, I don't feel tired in the least, I'm off to Brussels tomorrow morning so it helps that I can stay awake long enough. 

I took the Jag for a wash as I'll be using that on the trip, then I took the Vectra to the better car wash nearer mine, it came out looking amazing:

The maddest thing is, it drove so well, it sounded great. 

I took it for a bit of a blast around Kidderminster doing a couple of spots on the way. Including another forlorn Vectra that's been sitting on a driveway for a couple of years now.

I miss this car and need to get it sorted.