The new news 24 thread

[mercrocker]

@Angrydicky....if your coil is mounted on the starter or horizontally it will tend to have overheated with the electronic ignition and possibly without it.   "Brand new" and "Lucas" ring alarm bells with me too.   I had loads of coils burn out on my Farina and the one on the Cowley gets hot too.  I am trying a Bosch oil-filled coil which is supposed to withstand higher temps.   The coil on my Minor, mounted high up on the bulkhead is an old, nameless black heavy thing which has never overheated and has been on the car at least a dozen years.   got my Bosch coil on ebay, simonbbc I think it was....

[Angrydicky]

It's mounted horizontally in the usual place on the dynamo. Haven't had many problems with coils in the past, have had a couple of very old ones fail but they both started leaking to give me some warning of what was going to happen..

 

Unfortunately, as I got my electronic ignition from the aforementioned Ebay seller I don't think I'll be buying anything else from him. Thanks anyway!

[ruffgeezer]

Onto today's news then,

 

The C15 now has new undercrackers up front, the TCA bushes were buggered as were the rear arb bushes, the arms took half an hour to do both, the bushes considerably longer as they entailed dropping the back of the subframe to remove the clamps.

 

 

Also I did a bit more to this; what it really needs is a pocket-Vulgalour unleashing on it to make it as good as it can be, but realistically many lunchtimes huffing auto-sol will have to suffice.

 

[richardmorris]

Fitted a posh badge - I'm not a member, just like the badge.

[Shep Shepherd]

After work today, I went to IKEA for the first time since I've owned The Wentworth:

 

 

I'd go there more often if they sold Volvo parts and accessories...

[dollywobbler]

That Daimler is very tasty. I've only enjoyed a very brief drive in one around the Browns Lane factory before it was flattened. Sadly, the chaps looking after the car didn't seem to understand how a pre-selector, fluid-flywheel transmission works. I've always had a soft spot for these Conquests. Far less caddish than a Jag.

[xtriple]

I've got a Merc 'S' class (W126) rad grill on my wall along with a Daimler V8 (Jag mk2 shape) and an Austin A30 as well. People do think I'm odd.....

 

Coming out of the co-op today (dog food required) I saw an ancient FSO pick-up barreling down the road, Think it was 'F' reg, red and extremely battered but it was going well (too fast to get a picture), no smoke or nasty noises. Made me smile.

[Bren]

Just bought a couple of hinge pins for our fiesta.

 

Two pins and two clips were just shy of a tenner.

 

Lets see how stubborn the old ones are to remove...

[The Moog]

Been to pick bits off another 405. Got boot and side trim, window trim, fuel filter housing, door lock solenoid and some other bits and bobs. The one thing I wanted was the osf brake caliper. Not only was it the wrong type it was a massive ball of rust.

 

Looks like I will have to fork out for a recon caliper plus disc and pads.

[vulgalour]

6 litres of Total brand LHM bought for £20 delivered.  Won't arrive for another week or so, I think they're sending it by carrier pigeon or something, but it'll be a learning experience doing an LHM change on the Xantia as I've never done it before.

[twosmoke300]

When I was in France on holiday I noticed that the supermarkets had lhm on the shelf. Made me smile

[beko1987]

6 litres of Total brand LHM bought for £20 delivered.  Won't arrive for another week or so, I think they're sending it by carrier pigeon or something, but it'll be a learning experience doing an LHM change on the Xantia as I've never done it before.

Lhm change is messy but satisfying.

 

I found a 4 pint plastic milk bottle cut in half lengthways fits where the reservoir went, to sit the cap in whilst you clean the reservoir and filters.

 

Washing up liquid cleans them well!

 

Then bleed the brakes, easier as you just wedfenthe brake pedal down and undo them one at a time, checkinf the level. The pump makes sure theres no back pressure. Then citrobatics!

[dollywobbler]

Important LHM change rule number 1. Watch yourself on the reservoir. BX ones at least have a razor sharp lip. 

 

Important LHM change rule number 2. Make sure you know where the pressure regulator bleed screw is. Make sure said screw is accessible with the car lowered (as it will be with no suspension pressure). On some BXs, it's hidden behind the front bumper, so very hard to access unless you plan ahead and park it on ramps or blocks of wood. 

 

Important LHM change rule number 3. Check the brake bleed nipples BEFORE starting the job. You can do it without bleeding the brakes at all, but it does make sense to clear those lines too. Nipples often seize as they're fromage. 

 

I've only done changes on BXs but it's a rewarding job. They can be a sod sometimes and refuse to rise back up. Operating the steering and the bleed screw should eventually cause something to happen. Don't forget to move the height lever from low before you start wondering why it won't go up. It's a bloomin' good price you've got for LHM though. I may need to restock myself.

[trigger]

My V888 form came back today for the Merc, I find stuff like this fascinating, learning the history of my cars.

 

The first owner was Mercedes themselves for the first 10 months before a printers in Colchester bought it in 1992.

 

[AlabamaShrimp]

What's a v888?

[mat_the_cat]

Lhm change is messy but satisfying.

 

Very much like making love to a beautiful woman...

 

[trigger]

What's a v888?

It's the form you can download to request the pervious V5 history for your car of the DVLA. It's £5 but worth every penny if your car's a bit old and you don't know it's history.

 

You'll get a number of photocopies of the old log books and other documents that the DVLA have on file.

[AlabamaShrimp]

It's the form you can download to request the pervious V5 history for your car of the DVLA. It's £5 but worth every penny if your car's a bit old and you don't know it's history.

 

You'll get a number of photocopies of the old log books and other documents that the DVLA have on file.

Ta, Didn't know this but will now be trying to scrape up £5 to see if my mk1 fiesta has always lived within 2 miles of me

[rml2345]

So... I didn't bother taking the radio apart again to find out if someone cleverer than me can salvage it but I did fit the posh* Aldi radio instead which is actually quite a bit better. I also fitted some extra Caramac stuff salvaged from the dead 760.

 

 

No doubt this has reduced its saleability to zero but I quite like it.

[Shep Shepherd]

Interesting juxtaposition of black and beige there. Looks quite upmarket

 

In other Volvoish news, I took The Volvo to the local garage this morning for an MOT and some handbrake fettling:

 

 

Hopefully, it will be road legal by the end of the day; four months is way too long for such a nice car to be off the road.

 

EDIT (1340):

 

Hooray!

 

 

Apparently, there is nothing at all wrong with the car's handbrake. I guess that the tester last time around didn't realise that RWD Volvo handbrakes are set-up a bit weirdly. It did get an advisory for the driver's side front suspension swivel having play, but I'm sure that It will be fairly easy and fairly cheap to replace at some point during the next 12 months. All I need to do now is drive the car a bit to give it some exercise and an airing, give it a polish and run some injector cleaner through its fuel system

 

Also, who says that big old cars have to be big old polluters?

 

 

[Volksy]

The wifes 106 has finally gone off to pastures new, as he managed to bugger the clutch to the point where it wouldn't go up hills. Only took him 3 months. I stuck it on gumtree and had a few bites, but it finally departed today to spend it's retirement as a race car. We got £200 for it, which isn't half bad considering that it didn't really work anymore, and the MOT was due in ten days.

Here it is being towed away:

 

So it's been replaced with this:

 

 

It's a 1.8 petrol, but has been a little barried up. GTi6 wheels etc. However it drives really well and is a step up from the 1.1 106.

 

Only faults so far are a none functioning cooling fan, which I've bridged to bring it on with the ignition so he doesn't blow this one up too. After a hair-raising journey to Devon Last weekend, he's not allowed to drive the Celica anymore.

 

[anonymous user]

For once I have actually purchased something useful off ebay, a proper Volvo dog-guard for my 240 estate, it arrived this evening and thanks to the last owner helpfully leaving all the fixings on the car (it must have had one fitted before) it has slotted into place with no problems (and I have all the fixings that came with it left over). Hopefully it won't be long before the pup has grown too big to squeeze through the gaps at the side.

[trigger]

Currently sat in a dodgy car park waiting for recovery as my daily Focus TDCi (which my wife was driving) decided to burn it's alternator out on the one way system.

 

 

After all the other problems I've had with this piece of shit that deal I've been offered on a brand new Suzuki Swift Sport is getting all the more tempting...

[myglaren]

After all the other problems I've had with this piece of shit that deal I've been offered on a brand new Suzuki Swift Sport is getting all the more tempting...

 

I've heard great things about those Swift Sports. Great fun to drive etc. I know it's a modern and all moderns are obv rubbish... I'd have one.

Mate at work has one and showers praise on it continually.

[trigger]

I've heard nothing but news about them.

 

I've towed the car home now, as the battery had totally discharged itself we had to go back to mine to take the battery of the Civic as that we could run a beacon of it on the back seat, towing it home in the dark on a 6 ft tow pole with no lights and a steamed up front screen wasn't much fun mind!

[stuboy]

not much... hang some spanners..

and replaced dodgy battery terminal on the rover..

[320touring]

Currently sat in a dodgy car park waiting for recovery as my daily Focus TDCi (which my wife was driving) decided to burn it's alternator out on the one way system.

 

20141009_190153_LLS.jpg

 

After all the other problems I've had with this piece of shit that deal I've been offered on a brand new Suzuki Swift Sport is getting all the more tempting...

Ideal opportunity to convert to 6V system  for added reliability

[Angrydicky]

Just get rid of it and use the Merc Trig! It should be more than capable of the miles you do in the Focus, and probably a lot more reliable as well.

[mat_the_cat]

Currently sat in a dodgy car park waiting for recovery as my daily Focus TDCi (which my wife was driving) decided to burn it's alternator out on the one way system.

 

Mine was the Mk1, but that too had the alternator fail suddenly. I wasn't annoyed that it failed, just at the fact the battery warning light came on about 100 yards before the engine cut out due to low voltage. It's not even the traditional type of battery light which comes on when the alternator has no output (just triggered by voltage); if it was I'd have been able to go a few miles just on battery power.

 

Fortunately I was only 50 yards from home, so I could grab a booster pack but still frustrating.

[trigger]

Mrs Trigger said it started making a loud whirring noise and then started to smell like melting plastic before all the lights started coming on the dash and everything packed up.

 

Annoying it has electric power steering which stopped working and the boot doesn't open so i had to climb through the back to get to the spare wheel for the tow eye.