The new news 24 thread

[wuvvum]

Trig, Daihatsu Hijets and the like used 155/80R12s, and there's still plenty of those about, although they might be commercial tyres - would probably fit OK but might not do the ride quality any good.

 

I decided I'd try to fit the decat pipe to the Rover of Doom today.  It wasn't going to happen.  There was no way the nuts holding the cat on were going to come undone, at least not with my poxy little breaker bar.  I might possibly have been able to get the front nuts off with a grinder, but the rear of the cat is almost exactly at the centre of the car so no matter which wheels I have up on the ramps the thing is still only going to be about 9" off the floor, and that's not enough for me to get a grinder in there without risking doing myself a serious injury.  Besides, once I'd scraped the crud away I found that the bolts were actually welded onto the cat, so even with the nuts undone I couldn't simply knock the bolts out - I'd have to try and separate the cat from the rest of the exhaust (which would involve breaking apart 16-year-old gaskets) whilst trying to slide the exhaust off the bolts at the same time.  No fecking chance.  So I'm going to have to pay someone to do it.  Should be worth it though once the old girl is back to full power.

 

Then I had a bash at quietening down the blowing flexi pipe on the 75.  This involved a layer of gun gum, then an exhaust bandage, then some more gun gum, then an empty beer can held on with jubilee clips.  It definitely seems to have improved the blow, but unfortunately the beer can now rattles like a bastard at idle.  I might have to wait until everything else has properly hardened and then take the can off.

 

Then I completely forgot to do the one job I really needed to do this weekend, which was to investigate why the scooter has started spluttering above 47mph.  I'm not sure whether it's fuel- or ignition-related - hopefully it isn't the coil starting to break down as that would be a real PITA.  I might treat it to a new plug and lead and a good carb cleanout and hope that helps.  Will have to wait for a sunny evening in the week though, which means that tomorrow morning I'm going to be holding up the traffic on the way into work again.  Still, 47 is still faster than a Tesco lorry.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yo Trig, if you are running round on 30 yr old tyres, you will fall in love with the Civic all over again when you change em, I bet £1 it will transform how well it drives and I'm sure it drives perfectly well already.

[vulgalour]

I'll bet £2.

[trigger]

They have gone quite hard and it does have a very bumpy ride so I'm hoping it will make the world of difference to the ride! I've found a set of Nankang car tyres on tyretraders.com for a reasonable £114 delivered, I bought a set of those for the old Alto from them last year and they were spot on.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Morrisons, circa 1990, this afternoon.

 

 

[RobT]

My Metro had the original 25 year old Goodyear Eagles on it which were hard as fuck, when cold they used to lock up and skid all too easily. Bunged some NOS 135 R12s on them and it became a lot better i.e. less of a death trap.

 

In other news, I've fixed the 220. Some searching on the MR Rover forum brought up a post about cleaning the copper contacts inside the fob with a bit of Wet n Dry. Did this and it worked! Must be the battery not getting a decent contact or something. So I've popped a small bit of Dick Emery paper in my wallet for future use, should I need it. The bloke who recovered me had the mother of all A-frames, electrically operated which folded away neatly into the back of his Transit. Was a first for me seeing one close up as I've always been recovered by flatbed in the past.

[Ghosty]

Old Man still hasn't bought a new car, claiming he doesn't have any money. He passed up a £1600 Corolla T-Sport that had only done 77k on the fact it was in Halifax...

There are three things he's considering, aforementioned Corollas, Civic 1.8VTi 5 door hatches, (been through this), and now 325ti Compacts as well. A bit weird as he's averse to RWD cars after a Capri that a garage borked by rebuilding the diff and not putting any oil in, and a 190E that was all manner of woes.

 

Anyway, after seeing a fairly reasonable 73000 mile Civic VTi go on eBay for £850, I think I've convinced him that it's worth keeping an eye out for a decent one on there (ie one that's not done more than 80k, in his eyes), then selling his current Civic 1.4 auto privately. 

The search begins...

[The Moog]

Back from a wedding in south of France. Over 4 days covered 1800 miles in 405 without it missing a beat. I had half a boot of tools just in case anything happened but they weren't needed. Did it all on veg so mega cheapness was had.

 

Only niggles were that going over mountains highlighted need to change front brake pads & fluid and the pas fluid looks like treacle.

 

The fan switch worked a treat and it didn't use a drop of coolant which means stopleak has worked.

It turned over 240k when away so looking forward to the big 250.

 

Overall twelfvety out of ten.

[Lankytim]

Veg makes you feel good doesnt it? I had multiple orgasms running on autogas but veg takes it to another level.

[drum]

It's been a busy week for the 109.

First, family picnic duties.

 

Then down to Perth for the Game Fair at Scone Palace where it took part in the vintage vehicle display.

 

It even had a drive round the display ring where I'm sure* it attracted many admiring glances.

 

There were some ace old woodies there too, especially this Bentley. It was built for the owner's mother in 19oatcake. Apparently she had to go to the coach builder for a fitting.

 

The Citroen half track in the background deserves a better photo.

 

The 2A will be back down to earth with a skip run this afternoon.

[Richard]

I had multiple orgasms running on autogas.

Same here, until I replaced the coil pack.

[Tayne]

Here we go.

 

Citroen Kegresse par Tayne, on ipernity

 

 

Citroen Kegresse par Tayne, on ipernity

[trigger]

Good call, the dealer stickers are from a closed down Peugeot dealers in Ipswich so they could be connected.

[trigger]

Well spotted, thanks!

[Cavcraft]

I forgot to update the collection and examination of that blue Corsa on the last page of this thread.

 

I was told before I went to see it he'd mislaid the MOT. No problem, I used that online DVLA check and it was (slightly) longer than I thought, so as he hadn't realised (and didn't know exactly when it ended) I used this to chip him down a bit.

Anyhow, got there, agreed a price (quite a bit less than his initial gambit/advertised price) and then he told me there was no V5 either. Subsequent check (thank you, you know who you are)  thankfully revealed it's not pinging anything up on HPi. I realise that sounds mad but the seller was a bit odd, and when we got home and checked in the boot there were a fair number of bailiffs letters, final demands and crazy mobile phone bills in there. I wondered if he'd 'Log-Book-Loaned' it (they take V5 and MOT) to get a hundred quid or whatever, but it's some back clean.

 

Faults: he said he mislaid the key once, so got someone to force entry using a coat hanger or something. Fair play, no real signs of damage to door or lock etc. HOWEVER...when whoever had gained entry, something inside the door card dropped so he did the sensible* thing and shut the door. Now it won't open at all. 'Just take the door card off', he says. That's going to be pretty fucking hard now the bloody door's shut and some of the trim screws are right at the bottom. I could smash the trim off I suppose, refit the lock bar (or whatever's come off) then get another trim from the scrapyard, but I just can't be arsed. Sadly one of the reasons for purchase was to get the matching back seats off for my other one, as the dropping mechanism has packed up. But this one is the same, though there's a chance it can be salvaged. Anyhow there's a set of near new tyres on the blue one plus a great engine and other bits, so if it doesn't sell I'll rob a few bits off it then send it over the bridge. 

[ruffgeezer]

ITS NO USE BECAUSE IT'S NOT FLIPPIN' SILVER YOU FILTHY DIRTY LUTONIST LOVING NUMPTY!

[philibusmo]

I've just ordered the tickets for my train journey to collect the Avantime on Saturday.

 

It's about 180 miles and multiple changes with only a few minutes to spare either way - followed by the same length journey back in a modern Renault.

 

What can possibly go wrong?

[cort16]

I'm going to get mine tomorrow night, good luck everybody!

[HMC]

Volvo 960 sold on tonight locally to a bloke who already owns a factory stretch 740 saloon which he uses as a family car.

 

He's so SVM and doesn't even know it

[Skoze]

 

It made a big bang and now I need a new engine. 

[trigger]

Oh cock.

[Skoze]

Yep, timing gear let go when exiting at junction in a gap in the traffic. Game over. 

 

If anyone knows of a good 3.0/3.1 Essex for sale let me know about it... 

[dollywobbler]

Fibre timing gear. What a good* idea.

[michael1703]

http://www.burtonpower.com/parts-by-fitment-type/parts-by-engine-ford/ford-essex-v4-v6.html

 

More power! Ugg ugg

[michael1703]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=331252147194

[cort16]

What a bummer. Anything salvagable on it,

[trigger]

Time for that winter engine project I guess then, come back bigger, quicker and better than before.

[chaseracer]

Morrisons, circa 1990, this afternoon...

 

koff!>

 

 

[barefoot]

At the VW bash at the weekend, there was a Morry Thou.

I learned to drive in one of those but haven't sat in one in over thirty years.

Did so on Saturday, bloke was chuckling at the size of the steering wheel.

It's nothing in comparison to a T2 but the clutch & the gear change

were SO PRECISE & so light, 

I'd forgotten about that completely.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Yep, timing gear let go when exiting at junction in a gap in the traffic. Game over.

 

If anyone knows of a good 3.0/3.1 Essex for sale let me know about it...

 

You should see this as an opportunity to lose the dodgy old boat anchor

http://www.americanmuscle.com/mustang-crate-engines.html

Only $6000 which is about £500 I think ,and that's if you only want 400bhp.