The new news 24 thread

[quicksilver]

I'd drive a GT6.

 

If there was nothing to hit within a 2 mile radius.

I can't drive a GT6 as I'm just too tall A neighbour had one and it was TINY - I somehow managed to fold myself into the passenger seat but there's no way I could have driven it as the steering wheel was where my knees needed to go. I also had to exit by crawling out on my hands because there wasn't room to get up.

[Six-cylinder]

Liftoff oversteer is a bit different to power oversteer. The light back end means you do have to be wary in a GT6, though I discovered liftoff brown trousers in a Subaru Impreza. Non turbo. Wuss.

 

Any rear will drive car will oversteer if cornering hard and then you suddenly lift off.

[chaseracer]

Cleaned the Polo today,shame I've got to sell it

 

That IS a shame, Dan.  But you saved it...

 

[chaseracer]

300E latest: darkest Staffs to SE1 and back.  More miles in 24 hours than it's done in the past year.

 

Wafty 

[plasticvandan]

That IS a shame, Dan.  But you saved it...

 

That can be my autoshite good deed of the year,ive done a car rescue

[Jerzy Woking]

Love my 300E (for now) and use it whenever I can in preference to the modern I have.

[dugong]

Any rear will drive car will oversteer if cornering hard and then you suddenly lift off.

Only if it's got the grunt to be travelling fast enough. Amazon won't do it unless you're brutal on gravel. 

[Lacquer Peel]

Liftoff oversteer is a bit different to power oversteer. The light back end means you do have to be wary in a GT6, though I discovered liftoff brown trousers in a Subaru Impreza. Non turbo. Wuss.

My first experience of lift-off oversteer was in a Mk1 Clio diesel. Boat anchor engine in a small short wheelbase FWD car for the DRIFT.

[sporty-shite]

 

I've decided to do the clutch on the Celica. Got this far before I realised that Mrs S is on a late shift today, so I have to do the school run. So, I've stopped just before I had to trim the piece of timber to hold the engine up, and haven't undone any subframes yet.

 

I've got a feeling I'm going to regret starting this.

[wuvvum]

My non-turbo 2L Legacy estate used to do an entertaining line in lift-off oversteer.  Interestingly, neither of the turbos did.

[Ghosty]

Just got a set of 16" wheels for the mother's Bini at her request (basic 15"s aren't good enough for her it seems) for £135 delivered:

 

 

Two are slightly kerbed but we'll have them sorted, we aren't going to be getting the tyres for a while anyway.

One NOS wheel is £200+ so it's a good buy, and the 15"s will get sold on eventually.

[dollywobbler]

Penultimate day of 2CV action.

 

Noticed that the clutch had started to drag a bit. I leave the lock-nuts loose so adjusting it again was nice and easy. Not much point given that tomorrow is the final day of Tin Snailing, but thought I'd better make the effort.

 

Also, FINALLY scraped all of the tape adhesive off the XM's roof using Sticky Stuff Remover and an old cassette case. Fact. Sticky Stuff Remover is a halfway decent tar spot remover. Then I got the Autoglym Tar Spot remover out, which is even better. Bottom half of the XM is gleaming now! Here's a shot of it with a steam train.

[Bobthebeard]

After years of cursing the Japanese for using shit phillips crosshead screws on motorcycles/mopeds I have just discovered that they use different screws/screwdrivers. JIS apparently! Japanese Industrial Standard. Phillips screwdrivers are different and chew up the heads. Bought a set of JIS drivers now. End of problem. Sorry Japan. Been swearing at you for thirty years...... Oops.

[HillmanImp]

On the way back from picking up the Volvo I got 27mpg on the motorway. Not bad. 

 

Been using it as a daily hack for a week and I am getting 18.18 mpg. 

 

Ouch.

[chaseracer]

The 300E got 32mpg out of the last tank; bimbling around Staffs, blast to THAT LONDON, trip to Oswestry today.  I had to check my arithmetic twice, but switching to super unleaded and adjusting the timing seems to be paying off.

[JohnK]

Have made arrangements to buy the E23 discussed in the eBay tat thread.

 

Guy sounded genuine on the phone and although he's based in London, he's originally from just up the road from here. We even discussed about him bringing it to me and him visiting family whilst here!

 

Looking at the pics, wheels could do with a refurb and he's told me the seats are tatty, so have shitty seat covers on at the moment. I know somebody who has a spare set of seats I can have though.

 

Got a few more pics from him - this is a late Series 1 car on an X plate ...

 

 

 

 

[Geep]

After years of cursing the Japanese for using shit phillips crosshead screws on motorcycles/mopeds I have just discovered that they use different screws/screwdrivers. JIS apparently! Japanese Industrial Standard. Phillips screwdrivers are different and chew up the heads. Bought a set of JIS drivers now. End of problem. Sorry Japan. Been swearing at you for thirty years...... Oops.

 

I found this out some time ago from research but also found genuine JIS screwdrivers, or bits, hard to come by. Where did you get them?

[vulgalour]

Those fall into the rare category of BMWs I like the look of, the styling on these was really nice.  I bet they're still like sitting on bricks and utterly uninspiring to drive, but they look nice.

 

 

I might have found a solution to two problems with my cars.  The first problem is that now I'm getting through the niggles on the Xantia I'm realising that I'd quite like a replacement bonnet and passenger door rather than getting them de-dented and resprayed.  There's various bits of interior trim I want too, but it's all bits and bobs that's a nuisance to get hold of individually.  With that in mind, i've considered buying a white Xantia whole because they're so cheap, doesn't even need to be an estate or a diesel, and robbing all the bits I need off it.

 

That leaves me with a car that has a complete hydropneumatic system going spare.  Interestingly, from what information I've been able to scrape together it's just as much work to fit the hydro suspension from the Xantia to the Princess as it is to fit any other system.  So, if I had a whole car I'd have every component and would be able to find out what does and doesn't need modifying to fit.  It's certainly more future proof than the Hydragas system and would give a comparable, if not better, ride.  Since the system wouldn't be running the brakes and power steering I don't need to worry as much about LHM fail and I can have an uppy-downy Princess.

 

Does this sound reasonable, or have I completely lost the plot?

[Inspector Morose]

You have completely lost the plot. I see this as no reason to investigate. If you do buy another, say 1.9 TD xantia, I do know of someone who would be willing to take the engine and box off you.

[Pillock]

It doesn't sound easy, but you put forward a convincing argument.

It does sound easier than magicking up new Princess bouncy bits. And you do get to plan it all out, perhaps even blank the brakes off your breaker to make sure the suspension still works etc.

 

WC, as the saying goes, PGW?

[anonymous user]

 have I completely lost the plot?

You have a plot?

 

Seriously it sounds like a world of pain, but it also sounds possible

[cort16]

That BMW looks great i'd really like one, one day. They're alpina wheels aren't they?

[HillmanImp]

1998 'S' Jaguar XJ8 3.2 Sport Auto

1991 'H' Mercedes 190E 2.0 Auto

1989 'G' BMW 525i SE Auto

1989 'F' Volvo 740 2.0 SE Estate

1986 'C' BMW 728i SE Auto

 

You are not far away from me. I need to keep an eye on cars you are selling at any time as there are a few cars there making me think bad things.

[JohnK]

That BMW looks great i'd really like one, one day. They're alpina wheels aren't they?

 

They are mate. The guy who posted it on RR said it looked really clean when he saw it and the seller seemed genuine enough on the phone. Didn't try to pass it off as a minter and gave me a list of the things that needed sorting. All pretty minor stuff for a car 30+ years old.

 

You are not far away from me. I need to keep an eye on cars you are selling at any time as there are a few cars there making me think bad things.

 

There will be some movement in that list in the coming weeks to make for the impending arrival of this 728i and also the possibility of Rob's Volvo 440, plus a couple of other things I have my eye on at the moment...

 

The Volvo 740 will definitely be for sale and its currently a toss up between the E34 525i or the 190E to go also...

[Volksy]

On the way back from picking up the Volvo I got 27mpg on the motorway. Not bad. 

 

Been using it as a daily hack for a week and I am getting 18.18 mpg. 

 

Ouch.

I'm averaging about 20mpg in the Shag of much Beige, it is spending a lot of time with that funny 'S' button illuminated I must admit.  

[stuboy]

friend dean crappy alarm started to work, but it decided it to be silent and illuminate n/s indicator...

 

 

seems this may be part of problem..

 

and unplugging the alarm killed imobiliser so traced back the wires and chopped out and reconnected..

 

will be pulling this out and replacing with new alarm eventually

[HillmanImp]

There will be some movement in that list in the coming weeks to make for the impending arrival of this 728i and also the possibility of Rob's Volvo 440, plus a couple of other things I have my eye on at the moment...

 

The Volvo 740 will definitely be for sale and its currently a toss up between the E34 525i or the 190E to go also...

 

Was it you selling the green 728i on RR last year or did you buy it? Once I am in the new house in a few weeks I could be tempted by something on this list.

[RobT]

I need to get the Renner 25 I bought today transported from Essex to South London some time this week. Can anyone recommend a company either Essex or Kent based I can use? Would rather deal direct that go via the Shiply bollox. There's a local company I used a few years back who were OK, but the communciation was a bit shit so I was left waiting 4 hours at the sellers for the bloke to turn up - the job was only a 60 mile round trip. This time won't be a remote collection either, as I want to go through all the docs with the seller seeing as it needs to be re-registered in the UK, but also to chat to him as he's known the car since new so will be nice to get the back story to it.

 

If it were closer I could be tempted to risk it as the car has MoT, but its 80odd miles away near Clacton.

[RobT]

 

There will be some movement in that list in the coming weeks to make for the impending arrival of this 728i and also the possibility of Rob's Volvo 440..

 

 

Yes please John, cash injection and space would be handy! Just took it for a spin and although the random noises can irritate a bit it drives well enough.

[JohnK]

Was it you selling the green 728i on RR last year or did you buy it? Once I am in the new house in a few weeks I could be tempted by something on this list.

It was me selling it mate, but I had a change of heart and decided to hang onto it and inject a bit of cash into it. I was quite gutted after the sale of my Bronze E23 and couldn't go through with it. It's a bloody good example of an E23. One car I definitely will not sell.