The new news 24 thread

[saucedoctor]

Should have tried the proven* Irish method of firing a shotgun up the chimney.

 

*proven to demolish your chimney, probably.

[cobblers]

Theres an elbow in my mates chimney in his workshop where the pipe goes through the wall, we burn all sorts of shit on it (Anything that will burn, wood, carboard, Van lining out carpet, old thinners etc etc) so the horizontal bit of the pipe gets clogged every month or so and the fire starts smoking the workshop up a bit. 

 

Rather than rod it out proper, I just drilled a hole in the end of the elbow allowing you to poke a bit of 8mm copper pipe in connected to an airline off the compressor.

With the venturi effect it draws like an absolute bastard and fires all the muck out of the top of the chimney.

On a cold morning you cane some air down it with the fire going and it works fantastic to get the workshop nice and warm really quick too (Just hope none of the neighbours complain about the 4 foot flame and mushroom cloud coming out of the top of the chimney)

[richardmorris]

Was it one of those chimney cleaning bricks you set fire to in the hearth and hope for the best?

[Richard]

My mother tried that method of cleaning the chimney once.

 

Fire by RichardB5, on Flickr

 

Actually I think she was using paraffin to light it. No harm done though, she lived in the downstairs flat.

[richardmorris]

Nice sunny morning, so I thought I'd poke at the scab on the n/s rear arch on the merc. About 1inch of paint fell off. Picked at it a bit which made it no better it has to be said, then put some kurust on it and did what I've been meaning to for over a year and drove it down to multitech in chobham. Just to see what sort of place it is.

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Multi-Tech-Automotive-Body-Paint-Repairs/201796866499712

 

Turns out they guy was there polishing a beautiful midnight blue pagoda. Anyway, he didn't think the arches were too bad and was happy to do both rear arches at an estimate of about £400 depending on how bad he rust went. The o/s one is probably worse, but you cant actually see it, the n/s one is on the edge of the arch. Told me the front wings were pattern ones, but quite good quality so at least 10 years old. Also said don't bother sending money on them, it's cheaper to paint new front wings than repair and paint old ones.

 

Now I just have to sort out the fleet as I'm getting the X1/9 down here at Easter to do drive it day, brooklands and good wood. Then I have a holiday in Normandy booked in it.

 

 

I think this should go in the first world problems thread!

[myglaren]

Drove the Xantia on some errands after all that carpet refitting faff yesterday.  It's a nice thing, it's a very nice place to be, I'm making a mistake keeping it up for sa-ARRGH MY FUCKING BACK.

 

Every time, every freaking time I start to give it the benefit of the doubt those seats put paid.  If these seats from Moog are comfortable then it's a keeper, that's for definite now because the only problem with the car is the seats.  In fact the only problem is one seat, the one the driver sits in.

I had the same problem with my Accord (followed the Xantia) for about three months it was purgatory - I literally had to fall out of the damned thing, then all of a sudden it was OK.  Must have got used to it and found it fine after that.

[stuboy]

Is that a can of easy start in the Toyota dealers window.....?  

nah K & H cars palmers green

[dugong]

Mazda is leaking oil.

 

A lot of oil.

[oman5]

There's a few of the VW 6 pot turbotdizzler Volvos on here now.

I was thinking that. Between us we must have cornered the market in surviving lorry engined RWD volvos. I guess the secret is out about how bloody fantastic they are!

[stuboy]

collegue at work says her car squeaking and making funny noise.. 

noticed were the rubber bung and dust cover got too?

and that nylon spring cup is breaking up..

she will be taking it to her local garage asap

[captain_70s]

Dolomite 1850's starter motor finally gave up in Aberdeen yesterday. I just managed to get it going by lying under the car and smacking it with a spanner while somebody was turning the key but I think that was pot luck.

 

I've now drafted in the 1300 as the daily driver, the run to work is going to be bloody slow tomorrow...

[richardmorris]

Oh I remember smacking mt 2cv's starter motor with my maglite torch. Shouting at it didn't seem. To be as effective.

[Asimo]

Always park a Triumph 1300 facing down hill.

[vulgalour]

Is that because the front of the engine is more oil-tight than the back?

[red5]

There was this bang noise, then it went all low on the front....

 

 

[Six-cylinder]

My Son's Girlfriend who is in Canada now works for Monster Drinks part time while still at collage and now gets to drive this from time to time.

 

[Cavcraft]

/\

 

I think she sponsored every f*ck*ng Ford Mondeo and Chinese moped on every council estate in Britain.

[Asimo]

There was this bang noise, then it went all low on the front....

 

 

Looks like a textbook example of fatigue failure originating from corrosion!

[Keymaster]

Fired up the Talbot Express for the first time since October as its due its mot in a couple of weeks. Seems to have survived standing through the winter pretty well, only fault I could find was a weeping fuel pump. Good.

[derskine]

Had a group of French people laugh at me trying to manoeuvre out of a tight (by non pas r18 diesel standards) parking space today.

[wuvvum]

I've been playing some more with the A35 this weekend.  I undid the metal fuel pipe which runs from the fuel pump up to the carb, flipped it through 180 degrees and then ran a rubber pipe to it from a jerry can.  It fired up more or less straight away and idled happily.  Once it'd warmed a bit I gave it a tentative rev and it behaved as expected.  I left it running for about 10 minutes - it was smoking a bit but no more than I'd expect of an old engine that's been sat for a couple of years.  Apart from what sounded like a dry bearing in the water pump it sounded quite healthy. 

 

It's going to need an oil and coolant change before I run it for too much longer though - there's quite a bit of gunge in the rocker cover and the contents of the rad looks like ditchwater, complete with bits of something floating in it.  I didn't spot any leaks though - even the carb seemed fuel-tight once the fuel was entering through the correct orifice.  I tried moving the car backwards and forwards - reverse gear now seems to be working OK, but first is AWOL, so I think a replacement 'box will be needed before it goes back on the road.

 

After much persuasion I managed to remove the brake master cylinder cap, and I filled it up with fluid.  Obviously given the amount of air in the system the brakes were never going to operate, but the master cylinder does seem to be pumping the fluid, which is one less thing to worry about.

 

This morning I drove down to Angrydicky's in Essex to pick up some A35 bits he had lying around.  So I now have some seats, as well as a better pair of nearside doors and a better offside front wing and bootlid, plus a boot mat, spare carbs, front indicators and sealed beam units.  Cheers AD!

 

I also got to have a go in AD's own A35, which is a sweet little thing and feels a lot tighter to drive than my old one, as well as his lovely FE and the beige Maestro.  All I could offer in return was a drive of my scruffy diesel Merc - the verdict was "it drives a lot better than you'd think from looking at it"...

 

Funnily enough, given the conversation we'd had about the price of 2CVs these days, this evening I papped what is probably the shonkiest 2CV I've seen in the wild for a long time.

 

 

[trigger]

Yesterday was 5 speed gearbox fitting day.

 

 

It all went surprisingly well considering it was just me and my dad doing it on my garage floor, we had the old one out within 2 hours. Refitting the new box was a arseache, you have to lift the box up over you head and line it all up whilst this metal spacer plate thing keeps coming off, what a mare.

 

 

Other than that and having a few problems with the redrilled Capri gearbox crossmember not lining up lifting the box up a bit high against the body it all went well.

 

My old clutch used to judder when warm so we thought the rear main oil seal had gone leaking oil onto the clutch but the old clutch was dry and in good condition still, we replaced the seal anyway but the reason it juddered ended up being a perished prop doughnut that fell to bits as we removed it, thankfully a mate had one in his shed that he gave me so I replaced that quickly too.

 

 

I haven't driven it on the road yet as we haven't connected the speedo drive cable to the back of the dash yet but it moves and changes gear nicely, we started at 11am and was done by 5pm and we wasn't really rushing so pretty good going. The new gear lever feels a bit long though.

 

 

The screwdriver is there to try and force the box down away from the bodywork for a bit to see if it stays there.

[fordperv]

I hate those metal plates they are a bugger for dropping, i usually secure them with those thin cable ties then when the first bolt is in the thread snip and withdraw them, with the type 9 levers i usually carry the thread on down the lever then chop and inch or 2 off the length then you can still use a standard gearknob

[trigger]

I think that's what I'm going to do, cut it down a inch or so and then rethread it again. Good idea about the cable ties, we didn't realise it was going to keep falling off until both of us were under the car balancing the box above our heads though!

[mat_the_cat]

What I prefer to do with box changes (dunno if there is enough room in this case) is screw a couple of studs loosely into the block. A slot in the end helps you get them out, but I find it easier to line up the box this way and I guess it would keep this spacer plate in position too?

[Richard]

Had a group of French people laugh at me trying to manoeuvre out of a tight (by non pas r18 diesel standards) parking space today.

 

[derskine]

Haha superb!

[DS20]

^ Is that St Andrews, down by the harbour?  

[derskine]

Oui

[jonathan_dyane]

Managed to score a recon driveshaft for the XM for bargain £20 off the ebay. If it's the correct one and rectifies the problem I might just celebrate by splashing out on a pair of quality Kingpin retreads...