The new news 24 thread

[eddyramrod]

Oh I didn't spot that! Happy Birthday Trigger!

[Lord Sterling]

Happy Birthday Mike!

 

Found a good door in the same colour from a bloke near Birmingham too who may be able to bring to Nantwich for me as well.

 

Billy - If the bloke cant deliver to you, let me know and I shall get it and store it for you.

[rml2345]

Happy Birthday Trig!

And to Eddy too, since I missed it

[SambaS]

Happy Birthdays Trigger and Eddy... 4 Cars, 20 tyres and not a single vehicle that doesn't do this! FSO is a daily flat, Xr and Samba weekly and the Monza every month or so. What to do? They all leak passed the rims

[skattrd]

Happy Birthday, Trigger, Eddy and anyone else I missed.

 

My work trip to Scotland just got canned at the last minute, so I asked for the days off, which was ok'd. My first thought, the X1/9 in Preston can be mine, so I got in touch with guy but its sold all ready, I thought it was a bit cheap.

No plans for the rest of the week atm, except get the Mitsubishi road legal and think about selling the XT, SVX and Saab ... and possibly the GTA and Alfa.

[Tayne]

Happy birthday Trigger.

 

Have a pint and a cigar to celebrate.

 

[vulgalour]

Belated birthday wishes!

[HillmanImp]

I'll just say happy birthday to everyone who has a birthday in 2012. As its a leap year I am pretty sure I will not have missed anyone out.

[vulgalour]

The Austin Princess exhaust maintenance procedure:

1. You notice the exhaust is blowing.

2. You spend some time fixing this blow, all is good.

3. You drive for approx. five miles.

4. Start from point 1 and repeat until completely fed up.

[Craig the Princess]

Mrs the Princess's Metro is being oushed into daily service as the Rover Coupe is at the garage as the battery keeps going flat. New battery didn't fix it, nor did the starter motor (old back put back on at no cost for either). Garage now calling out an auto electrican to find out why after a 5 minutes after turning it off with no discharge it pisses its electrcity away.

[Lankytim]

Got a phonecall from the Wife today saying the right hand incicator on the Astra was stuck on, not flashing but constantly lit, she was at work and the battery eventually went flat. Shot down after work in the Volvo and jump started it, turns out the relay had stuck, a quick bash with a screwdriver and all was well. Nice cheap fix!

[wackywacerwill]

Happy Birthdays Trigger and Eddy... 4 Cars, 20 tyres and not a single vehicle that doesn't do this! FSO is a daily flat, Xr and Samba weekly and the Monza every month or so. What to do? They all leak passed the rims

 

Had the same constant arse ache with my van, inner tube (and patch since) now fitted as the tyre still has many miles left and I can't find the leak for love nor money.

[trigger]

Sorry guys i missed this, thank you for the birthday wishes and happy birthday Eddy!

[eddyramrod]

Sorry guys i missed this, thank you for the birthday wishes and happy birthday Eddy!

 

You missed your own birthday????????? As it happens it's my mate Danny's birthday too, he's a photographer, did our wedding snaps. Hope you're enjoying your break!

[Pete-M]

Loads more lunatics calling about the 604 today.

 

So far, none have actually turned up. Geezer who bid on it on eBay 'accidentally' bought a Merc 320 estate he's offered as a swap.

 

Not much bloody use when I could do with the cash, but hey ho.

 

It's still ace. 430 miles and counting.

[skattrd]

Had a phonecall from the garage yesterday evening (the garage is run by my BIL, so I get random calls and updates) and I can go and pick up the Mitsubisihi MOT cert when I want

It's legal, but still needs a service, HT leads, rear shocks and the belts changing, so its not ready to drive away yet.

 

As I've now unexpectedly got a couple of days off work I'll go round and do a couple of bits myself ... or grab the MOT cert and camp out at the DVLA office for a bit.

[Cavcraft]

Would the Merc be easier to shift or fetch more money though Pete, or just another millstone?

[rml2345]

I'd guess it depends on how much of a snotter the Merc is.

Good news! The eBay OBD2 thing works a treat.

Bad news! Camshaft position sensor fault code. Hoping it's just a glitch, or a dodgy sensor. Otherwise it's timing/chain/garage expense.

[Negative Creep]

Spent the day respraying my wheels, although continuous rain means I've had to do them indoors and thus make the house smell of paint. Just need to apply the colour now - if you're wondering what colour they'll be, I'm going to be honest and say it's more of a Retro Rides than Autoshite finish.......

[Pete-M]

Today, more 604 mouth breathers.

 

Ebay 'tard: "Hi mate, interesting car. Can you send me pics of the interior and engine bay? Will you take £750 for it?"

Me :"Don't take the piss you cretin".

 

Haven't heard back.

[wackywacerwill]

Send him the pics then demand your 750 as promised

[Pete-M]

I'm going for the old "raise the price" technique.

 

It was at £1250 for a week, now it's up to £1450. Next week it'll be £1650 then I'll pull the ad, or possibly advertise it for £2250 and continue raising the price on a daily basis until it gets daft.

 

Weirdly enough, this has worked for me in the past. As all I'm getting is jokers at the moment, I may as well have some fun with the ad.

[RoadworkUK]

Just completed a three day First Aid course' AKA a terrific way to gain more responsibility at work while earning ZERO ADDITIONAL MONEY.

 

Furthermore, my job role looks like changing. It appears that my current position is going to be discontinued but they'd ever so much like me to be the new Service Advisor. Smashing, but I'll have to begin as an assistant, natch, so NO ADDITIONAL MOTHERFUCKING DOLLAR is payable.

 

To whit: no bunce for shite or owt. Phooey.

[TimothyClaypole]

Ah yes, similar to the old "try it for 3 months and see", ending up doing more work for the same money in a year's time...

[e287yba]

The Austin Princess exhaust maintenance procedure:

1. You notice the exhaust is blowing.

2. You spend some time fixing this blow, all is good.

3. You drive for approx. five miles.

4. Start from point 1 and repeat until completely fed up.

 

My MG Maestro 1600 does the same at the front pipe/mid section joint - though lately, oddly, it's pulled its socks up and managed a couple of hundred miles since the last bodge... Thank goodness for the massive clamp on the original exhaust, that has been refitted and covers a multitude of splits, sorry, sins ...

 

It's heritage - or character . It sounds good with 2 twin choke webers sucking the air and small animals in - and even better with an exhaust blow !

[RoadworkUK]

Ah yes, similar to the old "try it for 3 months and see", ending up doing more work for the same money in a year's time...

 

You'd think I'd have picked up on this after four years, wouldn't you? At least I'll be in a better position from which to demand that they buck their ideas up or I bugger off to some better paid job, like, for example, livestock and those beagles that Rothmans used to test fags on.

[Pete-M]

Mr £750 has been in touch again. He reckons £250 would be taking the piss. Cheeky bugger.

 

I've just searched everywhere I look in Europe for a road legal 604. Any flavour. None.

 

I then sent him this reply;

 

I'll take some pics in the next few days and add them.

 

I have pics of all the work that has been done to this car, but no current ones of the engine. The interior pics in the ad are two weeks old, but I'll take some more next time I get the chance.

 

£750 is nowhere near enough. You won't find a road legal 604 anywhere in Europe for that. Never mind a structurally sound useable right hand drive one. There is, however, a resto case barn find one that's been lying in a barn for 10 years on eBay.fr for €990. Four non-legal ones in France again for between €500 and €4500 and a battered looking diesel with a knackered engine for €600 - the replacement engine is another €600. There's a scrap Ti with 350k miles near Dusseldorf for €290, another that has been sitting in a barn in Felbingert, which needs a clutch, that's €500.

 

There is a road legal SL for sale in Beverstedt, but that's a tidy early non-injected job with 117,000 km on the clock. It's €2900. I imagine you'd get it for €2700, and Germany isn't that far to go.

 

My one isn't perfect, as I've stated in the advert. It is, however, right hand drive and useable. It's priced to sell, and it will. If it doesn't, I'll enjoy this years show season with it and put it into storage somewhere.

 

I know most of the only other people in the UK with road legal 604s, and where most of the dead ones are as well. Road legal, There's a beige carb SL manual in Suffolk, a very early brown SL auto around London which has just been put back on the road after 20 years in a barn, and an LHD STI on French plates also around London. That won't be all of them, but it's not far off. There's bound to be a few Turbodiesels about somewhere.

 

There are 12 604s on the road in Germany. You could buy one of those I suppose.

 

I'm not asking the world for this one, but I know how hard it'd be to find another.

 

Strangely enough, he's upped his bid significantly.

[ashmicro]

10 years ago today, I took delivery of this:

 

 

I had a 190e at the time too. Since then I've had 4 x X Types, 2 x S Types, a Tucson, 2 x Getzs, a 911, a Merc S class, a C280, a W203, 2 HH-Rs, a 600 and also a Xantia for 3 days.

 

I hope to have the Rover for another 10 years

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Sorted my barely functioning handbrake today. The wheelnuts were stronger than the handbrake so in trying to undo them I was just wheeling the car up and down the drive.

[dollywobbler]

Sorted my barely functioning handbrake today. The wheelnuts were stronger than the handbrake so in trying to undo them I was just wheeling the car up and down the drive.

 

That's one of those "you know you own Autoshite when..." moments! I'm very familiar with it.

 

The Maverick continues to lose brake fluid and given that when I took the rear drums off after the OMG MUDFEST off-road session, they were damp and oily, I suspect rear wheel cylinders. Might also explain the knackered laquer on the inside rim of the rear alloys... There won't be much left on the braking system that I haven't replaced at this rate, but at least soaking them in fluid means the rear brake shoes are unlikely to wear out anytime soon!