The new news 24 thread

[vulgalour]

Working on the Princess is keeping me away from my paid work. I haven't yet decided if this is a bad thing.

[cort16]

I spent ages tonight trying to put the halfshaft back into the SD1. I tried to wind it back in by tightening bolts that go through the axle tube and the end of the half shaft but after about 10 minutes I realised all i'd achieved was bending the mounting plate on the end of the half shaft. I unbolted it and took the shaft out and after 10 minutes of shouting "i'm sick of this shit", "why me?" and "whats the number for irvine car breakers?" I realised that when the half shaft came out the outer bit of the bearing hadn't been on the bearing. Sure enough the little bastard was still inside the axle tube, which I eventually got out with some grips (best tool eva?). Once that was out it went in swimmingly although it has a bit of end float. You can shoogle it in and out a bit but not up and down. The other side's the same. Is this normal?

[Pete-M]

^

My fear of doing something like that is why I find using traditional metal car ramps to be a fraught experience. I really should get a set of the modern hard plastic ones at some point.

 

 

Mate of mine used to work for Kwik-Fit, one time I was there one of the junior spanner monkeys had fitted an exhaust to a Corsa. Once he'd fitted the system he reached in with the ramp still 5ft in air and turned the key. Corsa was in gear.... this photo was in the middle of the rescue situation....

[dollywobbler]

The other favourite with garage ramps is dropping an engine or something out, then the now-tail-heavy car takes a plummet!

 

New caliper fitted to the BX this morning. Took less than an hour including bleeding - which is an unusual set-up on these. You start by undoing the pressure release valve to avoid 2000psi of fluid hurtling out, run a piece of clear pipe from nipple to reservoir and open the nipple, get your glamorous assistant to press the brake pedal, start the engine, tighten the pressure release valve and watch the green fluid and bubbles as they progress up the clear pipe. Once the bubbles stop, tighten the nipple and job's done. No pedal pumping here! Binding issue has gone, very happy.

 

Once it's cooled down from the test drive, I'm going to replace the rad fan switch as it hasn't worked since I got it (fan blows if you short the connections, but sender doesn't sent 'owt).

[scaryoldcortina]

The other favourite with garage ramps is dropping an engine or something out, then the now-tail-heavy car takes a plummet!

 

I've only ever seen that once - most people who tip a car off a 2 post lift are doing it wrong (car wrong way round, poor lift pad placement, bad use of prybar/long breaker bar) and you can remove the whole front subframe including engine and box from most stuff without it getting unbalanced.

 

The once that something like that happened it was a reliant robin and we were removing the back axle, it took a nosedive! Luckily the ramp wasn't up high so it just kind of stopped with its bumper on the floor and its arse in the sky.

[eddyramrod]

your glamorous assistant

 

Not just me then! I've always used that term to describe my mate Dave, who's helped me with cars for 25 years. He's a retired truck driver, 75 years old. And is looking forward to me returning...

[Cavcraft]

Hmm, might have sold last nights shite purchase.

[Skizzer]

Hmm, might have sold last nights shite purchase.

 

Oi, you can't do that, you haven't posted the pictures up yet!

 

Blimey, some people .

[cort16]

Hey Skizzer did you see that Porsche you fancied is Pistonheads shed of the week? I guess that means it'll be sold by now?

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=25441

[dollywobbler]

your glamorous assistant

 

Not just me then! I've always used that term to describe my mate Dave, who's helped me with cars for 25 years. He's a retired truck driver, 75 years old. And is looking forward to me returning...

 

To be fair, and not wishing to be rude about someone I've never met, I consider my wife much more glamorous than your mate Dave.

 

BX brakes seem to have a bit of lag about them, so another bleeding session is on the cards. Not today though as I'm feeling proper lazy ahead of moar off road action tomorrow in the Maverick.

[155V6]

Passenger window dropped out of it's channel on the MG yesterday.Luckily,I'm off work this week so spent a couple of hours sorting that out.Today investigated what I thought was going to be a blowing exhaust manifold gasket,but it turns out the (Janspeed)manifold itself has got a split in it

[155V6]

Today investigated what I thought was going to be a blowing exhaust manifold gasket,but it turns out the (Janspeed)manifold itself has got a split in it

 

Stainless?

Does it have a guarantee? You might get a new one.

Was already on the car when I bought it 4 years ago,so won't get my hopes up

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I have been trying my hand at panel beating and advanced filler art today, unfortunately I forgot to take a before picture so you can't all tell me how awesome* I am at it.

[cobblers]

Razzed my mums MX5 to Sheffield to pick her up last night (it had petrol in, and also does 2x the mpg of my van) and the clutch was feeling funny. Came to move it this morning and the clutch didn't work at all, the pedal just dropped to the floor.

 

No fluid in the reservoir, so I topped it up and tried to bleed it through but got nowhere. I guess it was the master cylinder cos there wasn't anything really being pumped through to bleed it, but the bloke at the MX5 specialists reckoned they almost never go, and it was 99.9% certain the slave cylinder. I bought both, and would try the £18 slave cylinder first, if that cured it I could return the £80 master cylinder!

 

Of course, the union rounded straight off on the slave cylinder, and no amount of heat or swearing would free it. Then I noticed part of the flexy pipe was leaking a bit, so I went out and got some new pipes to replace the lot.

 

What a fuppin nightmare that was! Fiddlyest shitty little job I've done for years. Took me 2 hours to get a single bolt out that wasn't even tight to start with. - Makes most other quite shit jobs seem as appealing as being noshed off by that lovely Karren Brady bird off the apprentice in comparison. It's taken me almost as long to replace an 18" long bit of pipe as it did to whip the box off and replace the whole clutch.

 

And after all that, it turned out to be the bloody master cylinder anyway which is 2 bolts and a piece of piss. At least it didn't fail when I was negotiating rush hour through sheffield though, I'd have ended up in someones boot or something.

[eddyramrod]

To be fair, and not wishing to be rude about someone I've never met, I consider my wife much more glamorous than your mate Dave.

 

To be fair, and not wishing to be lascivious about someone I've never met, I'd probably agree with you! Dave would be the next to agree with you, I'm quite sure. He has no illusions. It's just one of those things. We worked together for six years and have remained friends, and especially car-buddies (and boot-sale buddies), ever since.

[Skizzer]

Hey Skizzer did you see that Porsche you fancied is Pistonheads shed of the week? I guess that means it'll be sold by now?

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=25441

 

I hadn't - thanks for the tip! SOTW seemed to like it, but the 200+ comments were mainly the usual arguments about how closely related 924s are to VW LTs . It's still for sale ATM.

 

Mustard mitt I'm a bit put off by the advert, on sober reflection. The guy sounds a bit of a tool and the photos are all either from a long way away or cunningly framed: it looks like it's had a pretty ropey respray down the offside (which explains the missing trim strip) and there are conspicuously no pictures of the dashboard top, which probably means it's split to buggery. I'm not that picky about such things but you do kinda wonder what else he's not mentioning. If it's a shed it's not worth £950 and it's a long way to go to find that out.

 

Actually things are kicking off a bit work-wise today so I probably won't have time for the road trip for a few weeks anyway .

[Cavcraft]

Picture fail special: just on train home from dropping off Thursday nights shite buy to the lucky* new owner!

[Lankytim]

Finished wiring in a new electric fan for the 240,

 

 

Works a treat, cuts in just over half way on the temp gauge.

 

Finally took a pic of the front fogs I fitted a week or so ago.

 

 

Doesn't work a treat, as they are not wired in yet. Look ok though I think!

[Wilko220]

They look class. Just need the headlamp wipers to finish off "the look" there!

[Cavcraft]

New car arrived, more details to follow soon!

[Pete-M]

New car arrived, more details to follow soon!

 

Ooooooh. It'd better be shite.

[Shep Shepherd]

Is that an original Volvo fan, Tim? I think that The Volvo would benefit from a similar set-up

[Cavcraft]

New car arrived, more details to follow soon!

 

Ooooooh. It'd better be shite.

 

It is, but without the 'e'! Details now tomorrow as I'm off to get royally pissed.

[Lankytim]

Is that an original Volvo fan, Tim? I think that The Volvo would benefit from a similar set-up

 

Yes, it's from a 960/v90. It's actually very easy to do once you have the parts and should save a bit on fuel. The engine seems to rev up more quickly, too.

[cms206]

Took 83 orangemen to two marches in the Glasgow area today on a 29 year old Volvo Citybus. Got a £36.77 hat and an invite to Belfast for a weekend of marching over there.

 

Is it time I told them, after taking them places for nearly three years, that I'm actually a catholic?

[Lankytim]

Perhaps best not to.

[M'coli]

Took 83 orangemen to two marches in the Glasgow area today on a 29 year old Volvo Citybus. Got a £36.77 hat and an invite to Belfast for a weekend of marching over there.

 

Is it time I told them, after taking them places for nearly three years, that I'm actually a catholic?

No, not under any circumstances - in fact, milk them for all they are worth. Like wearing a blue/orange t-shirt under your corporate clothing, or union jack sunglasses, or something else that would make them even more generous!

 

Oh, and I believe there are some very fit women in Belfast...!

[cms206]

Took 83 orangemen to two marches in the Glasgow area today on a 29 year old Volvo Citybus. Got a £36.77 hat and an invite to Belfast for a weekend of marching over there.

 

Is it time I told them, after taking them places for nearly three years, that I'm actually a catholic?

No, not under any circumstances - in fact, milk them for all they are worth. Like wearing a blue/orange t-shirt under your corporate clothing, or union jack sunglasses, or something else that would make them even more generous!

 

 

I thought that. I should also say that I'm 6ft 3in tall, with long hair and a long wispy beard. Today's quote of the day was "Alec, that's our bus over there. The bloke driving looks like Jesus, ye cannae miss him... "

[M'coli]

[vulgalour]

Bad news: I have a fat hand as my injury has made it swell up, which also meant I couldn't help with the exhaust refit. I'll update the build thread later, when typing doesn't take a small eternity.

 

Good news: 2 hour exhaust job turned into a 5 hour full refit. All three blows (both downpipes and centre join) eliminated for a grand total of 3 miles. Blow has returned on one downpipe but should be fixable by my brother the exhaust wizard. The good news is that for those 3 miles, what with the mechanical pump and fully sealed exhaust, almost all the cabin vibration has gone and the Princess is so quiet I wasn't sure the engine was even running at times.