The new news 24 thread

[trigger]

I've just had a bit of a add up. these guys http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/index.php who were recommended by some chaps on the BSC forum came in at £319 all in for 4x Gaz shocks and 4x 1" lowering springs. The same from Burtons are £365! Bit of a difference!

[cort16]

That is good. 319 quid well spent I'll bet. I want the same dampers for mine once I coax it through its mot.

[Junkman]

In a further quest to improve the OMGMPG of the RoD, Mr Conelrad and I changed the main jets in the carburetters of said haunted British Leyland product today. I admire his valour, since he could have attracted some of the evilness on him.

 

In a clear case of whileiamatitis, I also corrected* the float levels of both carburetters, thus violating my long established doctrine of not touching anything that works.

Needless to say that after re-installing the carbs, the car didn't run.

It took two more attempts at getting the float levels back to where they were, until the beast of burden started up and ran remarkably well, even sounding sweeter than before. Mr Conelrad was visibly relieved, after it turned out, that the hassle was not the least bit caused by his rather helpful handiwork (many, many thanks again, Sir!), and that I am solemnly to blame.

 

So next week, it's off to my tame carburetter wizard, for some fine tuning. I have the impression that after this cure, it is running a tad lean, but am a tad reluctant to do the adjustments myself, due to a total lack of talent in this respect.

 

So within the past three weeks, I changed the floats, needle and seat valves, needles and guides, and the main jets. I couldn't see any wear on the pistons, or any other components, so hopefully the car will now do better than the hitherto even for Junkman standards excessive 14 MPG.

 

I am kind of - and on the other hand not at all - looking forward to the retaliation the grumpiest and eviliestest car of EVAH is currently plotting.

[Junkman]

I've just had a bit of a add up. these guys http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/index.php who were recommended by some chaps on the BSC forum came in at £319 all in for 4x Gaz shocks and 4x 1" lowering springs. The same from Burtons are £365! Bit of a difference!

 

Not sure what exactly you are looking for, but the stated cost is a clear indicator that you haven't sent me shopping for it yet.

[stuboy]

It's not been the same since the demise of the the Boulogne car ferry and the Rotunda

after naughty boys club i went to meet a friend along seafront and it s all demolished, i admit i went to la parisienne/bonkers night club

[stuboy]

 

Me "take a pic of that golf"

Missus "why"

Me" because it's a L reg mk2 golf"

Missus "so"

Me "quick the lights are gonna change"

Missus "ok, but what for"

Me " to show some people on the internet"

Missus "you need to get out more"

even got my lad doing it

[stuboy]

mate is returning his mondeo to std so we swap front suspension... now lowered 40mm

[The Moog]

Bloody Peugeot wouldn't start this morning. Well it did but then cut out half way up the hill. Managed to coast back down and park in layby. Pulled the fuel tank filter but that was clean and it had a new fuel filter yesterday. Waited 10 mins then it started slowly. Still hesitating and got flat spots. I am going to run a couple of tanks of diesel through to see if that helps.

[Cavcraft]

If it's had a new fuel filter yesterday then the car played up this morning, that'd be my fist port of call. Has something become dislodged in the fuel filter or the housing? Could the filter itself be duff?

[HMC]

Air in the system?

[dollywobbler]

Junkman - twin carbs definitely benefit from a specialist's touch. Had my P6 tweaked by a Jensen specialist. Must have been odd for them working on such a small V8. Naturally they were largely undoing my tinkering, which had ballsed things up nicely. That P6 V8 once achieved 26mpg on a run, and generally did 20mpg in mixed driving. I still miss it.

[The Moog]

Took out the filter emptied it and put it back. That helped. Might order a new one and swap it out. I don't think it has got air in it although might lob some sealant round filter housing.

[Lacquer Peel]

Those PSA plastic fuel filter housings are awful.

[cort16]

Sounds exactly the same problem as I had with the zx, which had a leak in the housing that was letting air into the system.

[Junkman]

Junkman - twin carbs definitely benefit from a specialist's touch. Had my P6 tweaked by a Jensen specialist. Must have been odd for them working on such a small V8. Naturally they were largely undoing my tinkering, which had ballsed things up nicely. That P6 V8 once achieved 26mpg on a run, and generally did 20mpg in mixed driving. I still miss it.

 

Those figures are congruent with the ones usually circulated within P6 V8 owner circles. Mine hitherto never achieved anything better than 21 on a run, and on that run it was really cotton balled. Lately it returned as low as 16-17 on a run, and also struggled to reach 90 OMGMPH.

All needles were visibly worn, so I do hope it's going to be better now.

[The Moog]

Took it all apart and cleaned all the surfaces. Lobbed gasket sealant on there and seems to be happy enough now. Just done 250 miles in it at 80. Still got a slight flat spot up towards 4K so I think that I need to do all the engine bay hoses as they are looking a bit ropey. I will also do glow plugs and leak off pipes at the same time.

 

Is there any value in putting a clear filter on the pipe before the OE filter? It might catch any rubbish in the system but is easy to check and cheap enough. I am running 100% veg at moment.

[beko1987]

Those PSA plastic fuel filter housings are awful.

I snapped one of the outlet bits off mine whilst changing the filter, needed just the top bit with the unions on, had to spend £80 for the full fucking housing! Tried various glues but the derv got through!

[nacho man]

Last year I had a running motd Clio. This year.................

 

[Cavcraft]

Your garage floor mate is on the wall.

[Lacquer Peel]

Took it all apart and cleaned all the surfaces. Lobbed gasket sealant on there and seems to be happy enough now. Just done 250 miles in it at 80. Still got a slight flat spot up towards 4K so I think that I need to do all the engine bay hoses as they are looking a bit ropey. I will also do glow plugs and leak off pipes at the same time.

 

Is there any value in putting a clear filter on the pipe before the OE filter? It might catch any rubbish in the system but is easy to check and cheap enough. I am running 100% veg at moment.

 

 

It's worth putting clear pipe in to find the source of the air ingress.

[The Moog]

Twas part of the plan. Didn't know if an extra filter would help somewhat

[Lord Sterling]

Today, I 'aave been mowstly tinkering with a....

 

 

DAIHATSU SIRION.

 

Believe it or not, this is one our company cars. It is the only one that is bought rather than leased and the only one that isn't a new Skoda, no idea why but thats what I found when I came to work here. One of the other houses has borrowed our Skoda Fabia for a trip to Montpellier leaving us with the "Green Machine" as its currently sporting a spacer saver wheel and therefore not allowed on French Motorways.

 

Anyway, the Sirion has not been a hugely well looked after motor. Trim bits were falling off, the windows were playing up and the passenger side door lock was playing up.

 

So, seeing as we swapped cars for the day, I thought I'd do a bit of tinkering just to see if I can repair a couple of niggling things....

 

One of the rear speakers didn't work, the rear door card was taken off and the offending speaker replugged back in, we now have a full symphony of sound.

 

Various trim bit fitted back on properly.

 

The passenger side door lock rod was unfixed and hanging about, it wouldn't stay unlocked despite being pulled up, so off the door card came and a load of feeling about and impossible pictures taken on phone to see what I'm working with, I still couldn't figure out why the the door lock wouldn't stay up, so I bodged in a peice of wire tied around 2 seperate holes below the locking rod and actuator in order to help the lock stay in place when unlocked. It's not great but it keeps the lock firmly up to stay unlocked. The central locking actuator was seemingly kaput.

 

The Green Machine was given a good valet so at least it looks respectable.

 

The front electric window switch pack buttons were fucked, the plastic on the button retainers were all broken off, due to this the windows would go down spontaniously. I took the switch packs apart and tried a few bodges but nowt seemed to work, it simply needs new switch packs. At least the windows dont go down on thier own anymore. The drivers side window though is best not touched as it goes down but won't close again, although it did work for a while whilst I had the switch pack apart.

 

I sprayed a few forgotton parts with GT85 to lubricate them so hopefully I've at least given a bit more attention than it would otherwise get.

 

Driving it is an absolute hoot, it's almost like driving a Mini or a Metro or some small buzzy car from the 60's. It's small, buzzy and fun, a great car for towns and cities but certainly not great for long journeys or Motorway driving. At the moment its sporting a space saver of the drivers side due to a puncture, a new tyre was ordered about a week ago but nowt has arrived yet.

[EssDeeWon]

Train ticket booked for Tuesdays collection of chod from oop norf, to be driven back down to Essex. Its a 27 year old British car. WCPGW??

[wuvvum]

I bought a tube of Petro Patch putty this morning to see if it'd be any good at curing the Spacy's incontinence.  It was quite frustrating to work with as it seemed far more interested in sticking to my fingers than the bike, but I got it on there in the end.  I'll check in the morning to see if it's wet itself or not - although I have a sneaking suspicion it may be leaking from elsewhere as well.  While I was at it I whipped off the oil filter cover and cleaned out a load of dead leaves (!) from the gauze filter. 

 

My bright* idea to fit a pushbike side stand as a temporary replacement for the broken centre stand was not a resounding success.  The mounting point I'd initially planned turned out not to be anywhere near strong enough, and the only other place I could find to mount it wasn't all that great either, as the stand now sits rather low, and there's also nothing to keep it straight so once the weight of the bike is on it it swivels slowly and eventually collapses.  I think I might have to drill a second hole through the stand and the bike frame and put a smaller bolt through just to hold things in a straight line - that's a job for another day though.  I couldn't do it today as I couldn't find the chuck key for the drill, so was stuck with the BFO 8mm bit which as luck would have it was just the right size for the stand.

 

I got the Innocenti back up on the ramps, and in fact my repair from yesterday is only blowing very slightly (probably not badly enough to fail a test).  The blow I could hear is coming from further back on the pipe (aft of the front silencer so more subdued), which has a substantial hole in it on one of the bends.  It was too big to gun gum up, and the motor factor's was closed by then so I couldn't pop in there for another bandage.  So that's another job for another day.  I've also decided I'm going to have a bash at sorting (or at least improving) the blowing flexi on the Rover 75, using a beer can, some gun gum and several large jubilee clips.  I do like a nice bodge.

[HillmanImp]

I put on the Petro Patch and a layer of fibre glass on the Audi after some chavs had drilled it and it seemed to work.

[dollywobbler]

Not sure about the Sirion not being great on motorways. Mine is far better there than around town. City car FAIL. Yes, it's doing 4000rpm at 80mph, but it's very smooth!

[richardmorris]

Just back from the French National 2CV meeting. Apart from lots of 2CVs (over 2000 by some counts)I saw these near my hotel.

 

Not sure what the first one is (Mr Barky the alsation stopped me getting closer). The beta looked perfect.

[Skizzer]

Peugeot 203 maybe?

 

 

Talking of Betas, my newly acquired HPE arrived several days early today at Day and Whites, the place where I'm having it MOTd and inspected and serviced and cambelted.  Possibly the seller can't get rid of it quickly enough.

 

Apparently the exhaust fell off on arrival.  It sounds like they had to partly dismantle the trailer to extract it.

 

It's going to be one of those, isn't it?

[The Moog]

Peugeot did it again this morning. Ages to start then started. Let it warm up a bit, off up the hill only to conk out on a blind bend. Luckily did a 3 point turn using the starter motor!

 

Managed to coax it to start again before rev the nuts off it to the nearest petrol station. Lobbed in 15 litres of diesel and now it is a happy car. Looks like either the veg it has in it at the moment has water in it or it has decided that it cant be 100% veggie. Strange as it has been fine up until now.

 

Bought a new fuel filter and leak off pipes which I will fit later on in the week. Still waiting for the fan relays.

[cort16]

YO, Scotchland shitters the gumball 3000 rally is coming to Prestwick airport first thing on Sunday morning.

They're having a drive by around 7.30am. The fuggin bat mobile is going to be there so I'm in. Richard Rawlins from Fast N Loud will be there and I believe he's in the market for a clutchless Volvo 850T5.  Wooo!

 

http://www.glasgowprestwick.com/news-and-events/gumball3000.html