The new news 24 thread

[wuvvum]

Drive It Day tomorrow. Planning a little jaunt around the Elan Valley which should be nice. Especially if the weather manages to be better than forecast...

I'll be trundling over to Hunstanton in the BMW, together with a mate in his P6 and a very odd woman from the next village who has a Wolseley 1500. There's a bit of a gathering of old motors there, so hopefully will see a few on the road.

 

My SVX is for sale as well - currently on the Bay, but no bids so far - I'm beginning to think I should have put it in the Classic Cars section rather than general cars. I did have a chap ring up about it earlier though - sounded pretty interested, but he's in Edinburgh. I suppose mine is a bit of an odd one as it's worked for a living - you don't see many SVXs for sale over here with nearly 200K on the clock, and I think it might be putting some people off.

[KruJoe]

...ebay steering wheel repair kit...

Thanks for the link, it looks like they're all tailored to individual cars, so none for the Shamara chav edition. I'll probably bodge it for now with insulation tape, or splash out on tennis racket handle tape (or what's that stuff they use on road bicycles?)

Ideally I'd like an original Samara two spoke job in grey. It needs a larger wheel.

 

Seats I think we worked out that they wouldnt fit the estate, so cats they are all yours

Yeah, I found the old Volvo breaking thread. I also was thinking of someone on the Volvo forum, in the end he couldn't come for them, so I've just pm'd Cats with an offer for his mate.

 

 

My SVX is for sale as well - currently on the Bay, but no bids so far.

Your one's M6 SVX? That's a steal at a monkey, such a well written ad too.

I can't help thinking you should have put it on at £1500 ono. There is a market for 'em out there. It ain't gonna happen for me this year though, so good luck with it, it deserves to do well. Let's hope some good snipes come in.

[sporty-shite]

My SVX is for sale as well - currently on the Bay, but no bids so far -

 

Just had a look for this. I would love it, but lack of space and money mean it's a no-go. Unless you'd like a lovely* Volvo 480. Or a Y reg Lupo.

[The Moog]

...ebay steering wheel repair kit...

Thanks for the link, it looks like they're all tailored to individual cars, so none for the Shamara chav edition. I'll probably bodge it for now with insulation tape, or splash out on tennis racket handle tape (or what's that stuff they use on road bicycles?)'d like an original Samara two spoke job in grey. It needs a larger wheel.

 

Whilst he sells them for specific cars they are pretty universal. What you need is diameter and width of wheel. I would have a measure and drop him a line. Video of how to do it is here http://youtu.be/nnEh2_4gzh4

[Pete-M]

Pissed off that the 604 hasn't had much real interest. Loads of nutters promising to come and look at it, none have actually turned up.

 

If it doesn't sell before the end of April then that's my Czech trip fucked for now.

 

Not happy. Not happy at all. I can't believe it's badly priced, it's just the old story with 'classic' folk promising the world and delivering fuck all. "I'd love that", "It's for sale", .

[Lord Sterling]

Looks like the Senator may need to be moved on as it appears my old dear has kicked me out.

 

Doesnt sound too good. Got kicked out myself once, and my Sterling wasnt even on the road

[skattrd]

The SVX has gone so I'm down to 10 cars. XT should hopefully be going next weekend.

[SambaS]

I FOUND SOME POWER! Beyond the slipping clutch, blowing exhaust and pretty serious low rpm miss-fire. I really should pay the little Samba some attention, I miss how it 'used' to drive!

[ProgRocker]

As my car gets a good daily run to get to my new place of work, I have treated it to 4 new tyres.

 

Although the tread was still OK, the old tyres were cracking around the edges. Was warned about my tyres by the Fast Fit place when i got the tracking done some weeks ago. I didn't want to risk a disaster at 70 mph so they all got changed. It now rides much nicer now too.

 

Only the whistling turbo to sort out now. That will have to wait until I can get some time off work.

[HillmanImp]

Pissed off that the 604 hasn't had much real interest. Loads of nutters promising to come and look at it, none have actually turned up.

 

If it doesn't sell before the end of April then that's my Czech trip fucked for now.

 

Not happy. Not happy at all. I can't believe it's badly priced, it's just the old story with 'classic' folk promising the world and delivering fuck all. "I'd love that", "It's for sale", .

 

I cant believe its not sold. At that price I would have thought it would be a no brainer? Its the same as Wuv's BMW. How are they both still up for sale?

[ProgRocker]

Pissed off that the 604 hasn't had much real interest. Loads of nutters promising to come and look at it, none have actually turned up.

 

If it doesn't sell before the end of April then that's my Czech trip fucked for now.

 

Not happy. Not happy at all. I can't believe it's badly priced, it's just the old story with 'classic' folk promising the world and delivering fuck all. "I'd love that", "It's for sale", .

 

I cant believe its not sold. At that price I would have thought it would be a no brainer? Its the same as Wuv's BMW. How are they both still up for sale?

 

Agreed. I would have thought it would have sold pdq!

[wuvvum]

Pissed off that the 604 hasn't had much real interest. Loads of nutters promising to come and look at it, none have actually turned up.

 

If it doesn't sell before the end of April then that's my Czech trip fucked for now.

 

Not happy. Not happy at all. I can't believe it's badly priced, it's just the old story with 'classic' folk promising the world and delivering fuck all. "I'd love that", "It's for sale", .

 

I cant believe its not sold. At that price I would have thought it would be a no brainer? Its the same as Wuv's BMW. How are they both still up for sale?

To be fair, my BMW has pretty much been withdrawn from sale - I still respond to email enquiries though when they come through, but nobody's actually gone so far as to arrange to view it (apart from one bloke when I first advertised it, who didn't seem to have a clue what the car was).

 

I did 120 miles in the BMW today, from mine to Hunstanton and back round the coast road (as part of a "drive it day" classic car run, to which a good couple of hundred cars turned up despite the weather) and it behaved perfectly all the way apart from a slightly binding NSR caliper for a short while. It trundled along quite happily on the way there at about 40-45 behind an old RM Riley, then on the way back (when I was in more of a hurry as I had somewhere to be) it happily overtook whole lines of dithering Sunday afternoon OAP drivers.

 

It did use a fair bit of pez though - I reckon it did around 23 mpg, but then the A149 round the north Norfolk coast is a tiny, winding little road that potters through countless villages and is actually down to single track over a couple of bridges (how it's classified as an A road is beyond me) so not ideal for economy in a big heavy car, plus I was pushing it quite hard on the way back. Would have been cheaper to take the Renner Six, but the wipers on that are rubbish, and given the forecast I thought the Beemer would be the better option. I reckon I was right - I'm now even less inclined to sell it than I was before.

[wuvvum]

More mixed results for Operation Fleet Reduction yesterday. The SVX failed to sell; the 607 sold to a Lithuanian who can barely string a comprehensible sentence together. He's apparently coming for the car tomorrow evening, which should be interesting. My experiences of selling cars to Eastern Europeans have generally not been good.

[RoadworkUK]

The "service me soon, please" warning on the Audi has been blinking away for a little while, now, but the urgency of the operation was put in perspective when I got an oil pressure warning during a spirited overtake. Cost me £12 for an emergency bottle of Shell Helix.

 

So, time for a quick oil and filter change at work. Stuck a bottle of flush through it to get rid of any nasties, and sure enough what came out was blacker than Simon Cowells bank balance. But there wasn't very much of it. I know the sump only takes 3.5 litres, but I'd say quite a lot less came out than that. I wouldn't mind betting that the last 99000 miles has seen a little reservoir build up in the intercooler pipes; there was some in there when I did the cambelt 40k ago. Anyway. New Mobil 1 and filter done, a 15 minute job when you can nick a ramp at work.

 

Next job is to investigate why my temperature gauge doesn't gauge temperatures. First port of call will be the sender at the back of the head.

[Pete-M]

I'd love Wuv's BMW, that's another one on my bucket list....

[Cavcraft]

Something of a result from eBay. Same coloured ace condition door scored for the C*rsa and the (20 miles south of Birmingham based) seller managed to get it to his sister's house in Nantwich, so collected today after work. Just got to fit the bleeder now.

[Negative Creep]

Have been painting my wheels but is now on hold, due to both me and Halfords running out of the paint I need

[rml2345]

Got a good second hand gearstick and mounting for the Yaris at the weekend for a fiver. Result!

Also got a couple of second hand camshaft position sensors whilst I was there. Neither solve the problem. Spoke to my tame mechanic today who suggested trying a flush and oil change before committing to being bum raped for the cam chain.

To be fair, it hasn't been done in a little while...

[loserone]

Unplanned challenge "leave the MX5s lights on for a fortnight and then wonder why it doesn't start" now completed. Aldi battery charger only charges if it's about 8 volts or so, which meant it had some way to go when it read 1V when I checked it this morning. Just jumped it from the 323f and took it for a 20 mile round the block run. Now reading a much healthier 12.6V, and I'll leave it trickling overnight.

 

Accessing the battery without things in the way meant pulling back a bit of carpet, which I then jammed in the boot catch. This in turn switched on the interior lights every time we went over a bump, round a roundabout, or touched the brakes.

 

Just need to find somewhere local that I can trust to cut the rot from the sill and weld some pretty new metal in before it takes over as these things are apparently capable of doing.

[vulgalour]

Decided to work on the Princess today because the weather was so nice. Ended up gardening instead. Oops.

[ashmicro]

Just posted

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-17834710

[Craig the Princess]

Just posted

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-17834710

 

Worked well for MG Rov- oh shit.

[messerschmitt owner]

just had the smart roadster MoT'd - failed on an almost inaccessible sidleight bulb (which I knew about) and a wiper blade - another year's pleasurable motoring from my pile of tat which is rapidly heading for shitedom.

 

The BX is in next Monday for an MoT and new zorst. I'm hoping it doesn't need much as it has done 1100 miles since the last MoT.

[Danblez]

Accepted an offer on the camper, will be gutted to see it go. New car arrives Sunday! Whoop!

[dollywobbler]

BX now has the boot trim re-fitted, and so has a parcel shelf again. A quirky feature of an estate for sure, but a useful one.

 

On the downside, replacing the rotor arm and dizzy cap on the Maverick has failed to cure its misfire. Now a bit stuck. How do I work out what's causing it? My feeling is it's likely to be a sensor up the swanny, but which one? Assuming it has a MAF and a lambda but I'm far from expert in such matters.

[M'coli]

I've been doing some more welding on a mate's Triumph Vitesse, this time the boot floor at the right rear above the rear chassis leg. It's an awkward sod to get to when removing duff metal and cleaning up the surfaces after, partly because most of the rear strenghtening plate's still there! The patch itself is straightforward enough bar the chassis getting in the way, but ran out of CO2 yesterday and had to stop. I didn't have any more CO2 in the shed so today used Argon/CO2 mix - I'd forgotten how differently it operates with this! Still, it did the job.

 

Next I went on to repairing the strengthening plate that goes over the boot floor - and used the stick welder on a car for the first time in 15 years! I was fairly impressed with my results - if I knew where my camera was, I'd take some photos.

[dollywobbler]

BX now has the boot trim re-fitted, and so has a parcel shelf again. A quirky feature of an estate for sure, but a useful one.

 

On the downside, replacing the rotor arm and dizzy cap on the Maverick has failed to cure its misfire. Now a bit stuck. How do I work out what's causing it? My feeling is it's likely to be a sensor up the swanny, but which one? Assuming it has a MAF and a lambda but I'm far from expert in such matters.

 

Progress. A mate reminded me that I've got his strobe. Connecting that up to each HT lead in turn revealed unevenness on the leads to cylinders 2 and 3. Looks like a set of HT leads might be a good idea then. Also proved that the Mav will fit in my garage! This is good. I can now set about changing the rear wheel cylinder indoors. A much nicer job when rain isn't dropping into your ears... (hopefully!)

[Craig the Princess]

We have (Mrs_the Princess has) decided that we should really get round to fixing the Morris Marina we have had for the past two years.

 

It needs the back half of an exhaust and a set of piston rings (hopefully) as it smokes like a bugger after it warms up (no smoke up to that stage). So on Sunday we decided to drive it into our "workshop" outbuilding. That meant starting it, if we had been thinking about it charging the battery might have been an idea. It's ok use the jump start pack, oh it's buggered .

 

Fall back plan A (after breaking one set of jump leads)

Nice to finally get the two Applejack cars together. Made bugger all difference to starting.

 

Fall back plan B

Big diesel battery will work. Nope. In the end plan C was to use a tow-rope (this also freed off the rear brakes). I then took the head off o start the piston rings job, drained the oil, removed the head. Might have been an idea to drain the coolant by this stage . Mopped out the bores and sprayed with WD40.

 

Net job, remove sump and buy a ring compressor.

[scooters]

New phone turned up today...an HTC One X....flipping awesomely powerful and has the ability to be a windscreen mounted 8 megapixle Chod snapper which AUTOMATICALLY!!! uploads photos to photobucket.

 

Very much recommended

[KruJoe]

Ace pics there Craig. Your van looks surprisingly well on those wheels.

Good luck with the Marina!