The new news 24 thread

[wuvvum]

The Subaru van is now officially the second slowest post-1950 motor I've owned.  It's in some good company - the petrol Ligier did 0-60 in 55.5 seconds, the Dodge 50 camper did it in 58.5.  The Subaru wouldn't actually do 60.  It ran out of puff at 57, and no amount of rocking back and forwards in the driver's seat would persuade it to go any quicker.  I did record a 0-50 time of 28 seconds though. 

 

So I now have a Subaru as both the slowest and the fastest vehicle in the fleet - at least until (if) I get the S40 running properly, as I reckon that'd give the Forester a run for its money once it has its boost back.

 

In other news, I've managed to shoehorn a Renault 6, a boat, a Mobylette, a Honda Spacy, a Maserati Biturbo rear door and a Renault 6 tailgate into a standard single garage.  I'm quite pleased, as those were the main things I wanted to keep dry over the winter (apart from the pushbikes, which can live in the back of the van most of the time, and the Innocenti, which looks like it's going to spend the winter outdoors).

[Pillock]

Having just received an original, boxed Jaguar leaper keyring as a present, I've now discovered that the one I got with my main dealer-supplied, approved-used S Type was a knockoff. Cheeky bastards!

I have to admit wondering why Jaguar would put a leper on a keyring.

[The Moog]

I have discovered that I needed ball joints that are bx/405 rather than 405/406, which seem to be bigger.

[brickwall]

Buggered up the bob weights in the dizzy. Sigh....had to strip and rebuild, fingers numb and toes long departed.

[cort16]

Have you still got the vel shatis wuvvum?

[ruffgeezer]

Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggggggg

 

Thank fook the 944's not sold yet or I'd be all over that. I love the colour.  

 

I'm quite partial to a 944 since working on one years and years ago, I'm hoping we can bring the 928 back to better health mechanically, I'm going to take a fuel pressure gauge and set up a different fuel supply on it and see where that gets us.

[Cavcraft]

Went (more) shopping, had to actually do something called 'walking' then returned about 25 minutes later to the Vectra. Which started first go.

[dome]

I'd check the dizzy caps and rotor arms-if its sat for a while they could be corroded and causing the rough running. Is there two on one of these?

 

And if you fancy a 944...

[catsinthewelder]

I've had a go at bleeding the brakes on the Vito of doom using the 'bolt in the end of the rubber tubing' method that someone brought up on here the other day.  I'm not certain that I did it right but they seem better.  I'm going to try and blag a go on the brake tester of the nearby tyre + MOT place before testing it and giving it back.

 

It needed to be out of the workshop because I've got an L200 waiting for front pads before a trip to the Leominster 4x4 auction on Thursday.

[Fat_Pirate]

Some serious shite in the excellent Black Mirror last night; Rover SD3 and Axiam action. 

[Bren]

Just got back home from my christmas / leaving do.

 

I have no right to be alive after the alcohol I consumed.

 

I may change my name to Eddie Hitler.

[Slappy]

Needs more spikey death...

 

 

 

The MIlky Way race has definitely jumped up a notch!

[wuvvum]

Have you still got the vel shatis wuvvum?

Alas yes.  I took it to Tescos last night.  Aside from the leaky cooling system, it now has no climate control and a funny noise coming from the steering column.  Not one of my better purchases.

[vulgalour]

Righty-tighty lefty-loosey is Mike's mantra with mechanicals.  That's great, but if you forget your spacial awareness you can end up righty-loosey lefty-tighty, which he thinks he might have been attempting with the ball joint on the Xantia.  They're difficult to remove at the best of times from what I've read, but tightening it further is definitely not going to make the job easier.

[320touring]

Righty-tighty lefty-loosey is Mike's mantra with mechanicals. That's great, but if you forget your spacial awareness you can end up righty-loosey lefty-tighty, which he thinks he might have been attempting with the ball joint on the Xantia. They're difficult to remove at the best of times from what I've read, but tightening it further is definitely not going to make the job easier.

The correct response is "it's FRENCH Mike, of course it is rusted solid/stripped/holed/generically fucked*"

 

*delete as appropriate

[Mike D]

The passenger front wheel bearing on the 330 has been a bit grumbly for a while now, and as I had some holidays left to use up I thought today would be a good opportunity to change it

 

 

Not a particularly bad job to do, off for a quick test drive in a mo

[steve_earwig]

Attention photovoltaic phreaks, we iz up and running

 

Horrible and overcast here today so that's as good as it got. The total for today was 7kWh.

 

We still don't have a feed-in meter thing, it's supposed to go live January 1st but Croatia still didn't sort out their tariffs or anything (they must enjoy being fined by the EU) so it's just firing straight into the grid and running the meter backwards (yes, they really do that   I was watching it today in amazement). The only problem is if it goes below the last meter reading it might get tricky as it's kind of illegal doing that.

 

The stand alone thing works too, the PV guys switched it over and had me going round the house turning everything on to test it. Not that it'll run for long like that but if I turn off all the heavy stuff we'll be able to run the heating all night and watch telly while the neighbours freeze.

[Asimo]

Mike, hope the apparent lack of BMW rated axle stands / blocks of wood is just for photographic purposes.

[Mike D]

There's an axle stand there as well as the jack

[320touring]

The passenger front wheel bearing on the 330 has been a bit grumbly for a while now, and as I had some holidays left to use up I thought today would be a good opportunity to change it

 

bmwbearing.jpg

 

Not a particularly bad job to do, off for a quick test drive in a mo

 

front bearings on BMWs are a doddle.. rears not so much

[drum]

Attention photovoltaic phreaks, we iz up and running

 

DSCN0718.JPG

 

pv 17-12-2014.jpg

Horrible and overcast here today so that's as good as it got. The total for today was 7kWh.

 

We still don't have a feed-in meter thing, it's supposed to go live January 1st but Croatia still didn't sort out their tariffs or anything (they must enjoy being fined by the EU) so it's just firing straight into the grid and running the meter backwards (yes, they really do that   I was watching it today in amazement). The only problem is if it goes below the last meter reading it might get tricky as it's kind of illegal doing that.

 

The stand alone thing works too, the PV guys switched it over and had me going round the house turning everything on to test it. Not that it'll run for long like that but if I turn off all the heavy stuff we'll be able to run the heating all night and watch telly while the neighbours freeze.

That's good. I'll be lucky if I made 2 kWh up here in dark scotland.

[John F]

Disco is losing coolant AGAIN... heaters were blowing cold, it's just needed two kettles full of water.

 

I've already replaced just about every failure point in the coolant system this year, i.e. P gasket, water pump, radiator. And I did the HG about 10,000 miles ago.

 

FUCKSTICKS.

[Mr Lobster]

Small milestone achieved today...

 

[fordperv]

Disco is losing coolant AGAIN... heaters were blowing cold, it's just needed two kettles full of water.

 

I've already replaced just about every failure point in the coolant system this year, i.e. P gasket, water pump, radiator. And I did the HG about 10,000 miles ago.

 

FUCKSTICKS.

I feel your pain

[derskine]

Success!

Now have a working fuel gauge, temp gauge, rev counter and dash warning lights in the 340.

Basically something was wrong with the wiring between the fuse box and the clocks, and all of the gauges are supplied by the same common live.

I couldn't be arsed figuring out what so I soldered a wire to the dash side of the fuse holder and fed that directly to the connector on the back of the clocks.

 

I also "installed" the jack, wheel brace and spare wheel strap from the red breaker car.

Tried to get the windscreen washers working but there's something up in the wiring to that aswell.

 

Overall a productive nights fettling.

[Luckythirteen]

Righty-tighty lefty-loosey is Mike's mantra with mechanicals. That's great, but if you forget your spacial awareness you can end up righty-loosey lefty-tighty, which he thinks he might have been attempting with the ball joint on the Xantia. They're difficult to remove at the best of times from what I've read, but tightening it further is definitely not going to make the job easier.

Also easily messed up, if you're not looking straight on at the thread. If you're working round the back of something, or overhead...'which way is counter-clockwise now?'

[derskine]

Gonna be honest if it's upside down or behind something I always get really confused and set my ratchet to whatever I want to do and use it in the same position. It happens quite a lot.

[mercrocker]

I still piss myself off with this.....Setting the ratchet is something I have to do, even if I am going to use a spanner.   I used to think of it as some sort of directional dyslexia and still have to stop and think if I am using two spanners on anything.   Once or twice, and its really as few times as that, it has actually helped that I tried to turn a nut the wrong way!

[Pillock]

Small milestone achieved today...

 

Our daily did this not long ago, but I was sad enough to reset the trip at the correct mileage to make that also pleasing to the eye

 

[Jon]

Had a day to kill in Auckland yesterday whilst Mrs_Jon's Clio was in the garage (cambelt change on a 172 - not something I'd want to attempt at home), so I made use of the Citroen C3 courtesy car they lent me. Was happy to see that it was a manual and was a 2003, so the same age as the Clio. I reckon for a 1.4 it went OK, though this particular one was feeling quite second hand inside, though more through frequent use and neglect than anything else. I was all up for doing a DW-esque report, albeit with pictures instead of video but it was pouring down most of the time and I CBA. Think I'd recommend a Clio over a C3 but it seemed to do the job well enough. Auto wipers seemed to work only if you switched to manual, then switched back. Kept them on auto, as either it doesn't have an intermittent setting in manual, or I'm a dunce and couldn't find it. Never had a green car or even driven one before and I quite like a colour and am not superstitious, though it did seem to attract near-miss incidents yesterday out on the road.

 

 

Here it is next to a Clio V6 I spotted. That was a series 1 registered in the same year (2002) as manufactured, so I'm guessing this may have been sold here. If so, it'd would've been hellishly expensive. Was a bit down at heel in places and there was quite a bit of stuff littering the interior, but then where else would it go?

 

 

Apologies for the crappy focus but that's what you get for doing a drive-by (on an empty street). I saw another yellow one in a scrap yard later on, when killing a bit more time. What are the chances?