The new news 24 thread

[eddyramrod]

Maybe so FD, and it's not exactly pretty either, but have you looked at a 307? Ye gods and little fishes, who the fuck let that out? I say keep the Astra.

[fiatdaft]

That was a poke at the 8 page long shit thread Eddie!

[cobblers]

Keep the Astra and wait 10 years and buy a 307 when they are a novelty rather than just an awful motor that still holds some value cos they aren't that old.

[Split_Pin]

Not sure where to put this and pointless starting a thread about it:

 

Just weighed in five batteries. One was a big heavy duty thing, another was slightly smaller and he other three were small-ish car ones. £25.00 the lot which isn't GR8 but there you go. The metal yard said alloy (car wheels) was paying 80p per kilo (which is £800 a tonne by my calculations) so once I've stripped all the tyres from the ones I have they're going over the scales too.

Hopefully that info will be of some use to fellow shiters who may also be looking at cashing in their scrap pile/s.

 

Bums, I have just taken some to my local tip - didnt know they were worth something!

 

My mate Alan just wieghed in some alloys he had from his old Lexus. The milled finish on them was goosed. He got £40 for them so he was well happy!

[fiatdaft]

307 and holding value in the same sentence does not make sense?

[Lankytim]

I've seen some 61 plate 307's on ebay for 1p buy it now!

[cobblers]

307 and holding value in the same sentence does not make sense?

"some" value, only through people going "Oh that's on a 56 plate its got to be worth more than £350"

[fiatdaft]

It's a scam then! The 308 came out 5 years ago !

[cms206]

It's a scam then! The 308 came out 5 years ago !

 

 

Late registration madness then?

 

[fiatdaft]

Very!

[Lankytim]

Ok, This PUG 307 estate is a 56 reg, 1.6 110hp manual and they want £2900 for it. Is that much of a rip off? We buy any car offered £3150 when I punched the reg in, so it must be cheap!

 

Its a bit over our budget really, but I could tap my parents for a bit of money "just knock it off the inheritance, Dad"

 

They also have a 58 reg 308 for £3900. Way too much for a froggy runabout.

[Cavcraft]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=5 ... m270.l1313

 

Reasonable price it would seem but doesn't strike me as desperately cheap. Done many miles?

[dollywobbler]

I seriously wouldn't go for a 307. 07 Pugs tend to be a nightmare, though I will concede that my F-i-L's 307 SW has generally behaved itself.

 

In my news, it's been an eventful day today. Went to go shopping in the 2CV but the ignition barrel wouldn't accept the key. Couldn't be arsed trying to swap the wires over to my spare barrel, so I just took the Mav instead. Then, despite me not touching the wiper stalk, the wipers changed from intermittent to normal speed and refused to turn off. Great. As the rear wiper's intermittent setting sometimes doesn't work, I guess the switch is borked. Switching to fast and then to off does stop the wipers, but this quickly gets annoying in changeable Welsh rain.

 

Despite all the omens suggesting a day away from cars is a good idea, I gave the Mini an oil change as it's due to head to Cornwall tomorrow - which will be a bit of a shock for it. All went smoothly, apart from the hideous access to the oil filter (I couldn't be bothered to remove the eleventy twelve screws that hold the grille in place, some of which always end up lost). Then, while I was topping up and checking the oil level, I heard a trickling noise. I did put the sump plug back in didn't I?

 

Yes, I did. But half a litre of oil had still poured over the driveway. This baffled me. It was clean, fresh engine oil. Where did it come from?!

 

My conclusion is that the rocker cover gasket is knackered (it shows signs of seeping) and that I must have filled the rocker area with oil when filling up, pushing it out of the rocker gasket. I can't see how else it would have poured out in such a way as a test drive has revealed only the usual leaks! (driveshafts, gearshift gaiters). It has caused some fear for the 300 mile trip tomorrow, but I think it'll probably be alright...

[cobblers]

I couldn't be bothered to remove the eleventy twelve screws that hold the grille in place, some of which always end up lost.

 

Man, I'm so glad my mini came with a set of grille buttons fitted (http://www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?ty=pb&pid=35124)

 

I can't imagine what a ballache access would be with the grille on!

[dollywobbler]

I just pretended I was working on a van. It's what Issigonis (the sadistic bastard) would have wanted.

 

Got a pic of yours? I'm keen to see what these buttons look like fitted.

[cobblers]

Here's a picture of the hateful little thing from before I sold it:

 

[dollywobbler]

Nice. Doesn't look like they do them in black though. Proper Minis have black grilles and bumpers!

[Pete-M]

Jeep fettling today. Had a ball joint repaired. That's a mad trick. Removed the panhard rod and took it to the ball joint centre then watched how they do it. Bloody clever, they empty all the shit out of it, heat it up, inject some fancy liquid polymer stuff into it at mentally high pressure and it sets quite quickly. Put the ball joint back together, clean it up, paint it, re-grease it and Bob's your not so distant relative. They guarantee it for a year and it's cheaper than buying a complete replacement panhard rod.

 

10 mins to pop the rod back on and it's made one hell of a difference.

[Rocket88]

Here's a picture of the hateful little thing from before I sold it:

 

 

Seconded.....the spawn of Satan

[The Moog]

The sun has put the Volvo in a good mood. It decided to fix itself by sorting out the central locking on the drivers door. I love cars like this although on the downside the sub fame bush is making a hell of a noise ...

[Lankytim]

The sun put my Volvo in a bad mood, the rear caliper is sticking again!

 

May sack the idea of that 307 off. Its cheap, but 3k is still alot of money- plus the Astra is ace.

[eddyramrod]

Been out in the Granada tonight. The fogs don't work.

[Guest]

Hello there, boring and unimaginative pixels.

 

 

I've lost a bloody wheel weight on the C4. Wibbly wobbly motorway motoring until I can jiggle over to Liverpool to get it sorted. It's still not as bad as it was after several local garages 'balanced' the wheels, though.

 

In other news, all of my NOS CAR magazines have turned up, so I'll be posting up my overs very soon. I was stunned at how quickly they sold. Currently [bar November 1990 being missing in action] I have a full run of CAR spanning 1985 to 1992.

 

 

I also picked up these wheels for the 460 last week. The originals will be kept and restored, because they're kerbed to death. Sadly, they're not Watanabes, but Black Racings. 4.3kg each, 14" x 6 and with a 4 x 100 PCD and suitable offset.

 

 

I also fitted a new radiator to the Amazon. There was some confusion as to what the smaller top tube did, as the original rad didn't have it. Turns out it's a fixing for a radiator blind. G12 and new hoses purchased, new bolts and supports en route. Saturday is the fill up and we'll see if we can't it going for a bit.

[Father Ted]

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/v ... nforcement

 

Bored?

How to wind up a VOSA operative if they stop you.

[cort16]

I was a the local tat auction last night and amongst the chod was an E38 728i will full Alpina kit. The car looked to be in nice condition and had very nice full sports leather.

Tempting? Yes except, er well it's a Repo doesn't have any keys. I was going to leave a bid on it but given you can't lock it, steer it or start it, it sounded like a ball ache I didn't need.

They had quite a lot of stuff without keys so does anyone know what the deal is for getting a new key made? Could I just drop this off at the BMW dealer with the v5 and the could cut me a key re-keyed to the immobilser?

I'm guessing it wouldn't be cheap?

 

728i by cort16, on Flickr

[Cavcraft]

I was a the local tat auction last night and amongst the chod was an E38 728i will full Alpina kit. The car looked to be in nice condition and had very nice full sports leather.

Tempting? Yes except, er well it's a Repo doesn't have any keys. I was going to leave a bid on it but given you can't lock it, steer it or start it, it sounded like a ball ache I didn't need.

They had quite a lot of stuff without keys so does anyone know what the deal is for getting a new key made? Could I just drop this off at the BMW dealer with the v5 and the could cut me a key re-keyed to the immobilser?

I'm guessing it wouldn't be cheap?

 

728i by cort16, on Flickr

 

Key cutting/programming is a bit easier than it used to be. I'd suggest a second hand ignition key and lock then have it programmed, if it's anything like run of the mil cars you can download a programme to a laptop, put the key in the car then within seconds it can be programmed. One obvious downfall is that if the keybob battery crashes you can't unlock the doors unless you buy a full lock set.

 

One other thing possibly worth noting is that if the previous owner knew the repo men were coming he/she may have deliberately knackered the car up somehow. Having said that if it's been repo'd without the keys then they've probably just taken it off his drive and possibly he/she won't have arsed about with it.

Service history (if main dealer0 Can be had for a tenner or so and a copy of the MOT cert can be had from any test centre. Trouble is with something like that you could do with hearing it running to make sure it's not knackered.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

If it's cheap enough and it doesn't work out, you could always break it...

[cort16]

That's a good point about changing the locks Billy. I guess if it's been repo'd and the previous owner spots it on the street even if they can't start it, they'd still be able to get into it with the old keys.

So is reprograming it something you recon an decent auto electrician could do?

 

Luxo, you're right about breaking it. All those Alpina bits on it go for a fortune. Also the sports interior, wheels and front spoiler wouldn't look bad on my oown 740. The problem is with not being able to steer, start or lock it I'd have to keep it inside and I don't have any available space. It'd be a shame to break it anyway as it's a cracking looking car.

[Cavcraft]

You could possibly find someone with a laptop with the programme who could do it mate. My neighbour has the Vauxhall one on his and did the one on my Zafira in record time, I'll have a mooch round and see if there's a download for BMW key sensors somewhere.

[wuvvum]

The Alfa 75 passed its MoT today. Then promptly seized its rear brakes up on the way back from the testing station. I reckon that having not been used to their full potential in several years, something in the circuit objected to the pedal being stamped on during the brake test. The fact that it has inboard rear brakes does not bode well for my labour bill if the calipers have to come off - I'm hoping it's something more simple like a collapsed flexi.