The new news 24 thread

[coalnotdole]

Rebel Van news; The impending trip to the spring autojumble next week has prompted me to pull my finger out and try and get it finished to a sage where it can go back into regular use. Its barely moved in the last month as its had no seats!

 

Last weekend Dave was able to finish off the hinge brackets for the rear seat. I was missing a set for this seat but before blue estate was sold we remembered to make up a template. The parts to do this job had been sat in a box since then waiting for the time to sort them out and make up the hinge.

 

These photos show the reliant hinge and the card template used to replicate it.

 

 

 

 

The seat folding mechanism is actually quite a clever bit of design as both the base section and rear move in order to give a completely flat load space. I suspect Reliant were well ahead to the trend when it came to fitting features like this in the 60's.

 

The rear seat was a factory option on the van but included as standard on the higher priced estate.

 

With the ply load floor removed you can see that all the mounting for the seat are already in place.

 

 

Here's a pair of the new hinges after Dave had finished welding them up,

 

 

Base section fitting:

 

 

 

 

Floor mounting point:

 

 

Backrest fitted:

 

 

Over the last couple of days I've spent a bit of time doing some of the outstanding jobs, Backrest catches have been fitted for the rear seats, the drivers door has been off for some grp repairs to the area around the lower hinge as a result it no longer sounds like cracking fibreglass every time you open the drivers door!

 

Its been treated to new door seals, the sun visors have been painted and refitted but the drivers side one has very poor paint finish and needs redoing at some point. I've fitted some new rubber matting to the load area which is a more practical alternative to carpet.

 

Heres an assortment of photos:

 

 

 

 

 

Its also been treated to Door cards!

 

 

 

I've even given it a polish...

 

 

The roof rack has gone back on in preparation for the spring autojumble next week. I've still got to get a set of tyres fitted to a new set of wheels in the week which will mean the 13's on the front can go back on the crossflow.

 

 

 

 

 

[wuvvum]

Got the starter motor changed on the Rover of Doom this afternoon.  It was actually a relatively straightforward job once I got into it.  Turns out I was right about the cable 'twixt solenoid and motor being the issue - when I pulled the sheath back to have a look, lots of little bits of copper fell out.  That'll be why there was an intermittent contact then.

 

That was about as far as my shite fettling got this weekend.  The rest of the time was spent either at work, collecting chod or mowing the lawn.

[trigger]

My day has consisted of going to a local rugby club for a small car show in aid of the local hospice where i  got to play in my mates Chrysler Newport which is just mega.

 

 

 

 

Then i spent some time chatting to the owner of this S80 4.4 V8 which i never knew existed until today, 315bhp and 15mpg though! It had a beautiful burble when he revved it.

 

 

 

He also owned this V70 R, It's done 205000 miles yet it still looked like a 70000 mile car, what a testament to Volvo.

 

 

Then it all went to pot as the owner of this amazing 1955 Austin-Healey 100 BN1 which he's spent 35 years restoring turned up and won the show and shine competition (It was a Scotchgard cleaning kit), Fully alloy body and tuned engine, it's worth £70000! He's only just finished restoring it and this was the first show he's took it too.

 

 

 

After that i took the Cortina for a drive to the pub where it got a lot of attention. Here's a awfully boring video of me driving it to the pub.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph0Eb9sCPCA&feature=youtu.be

 

I've just noticed that the first 2 minutes doesn't have any sound, not sure what i done there.

[Jerzy Woking]

I went to the drag racing at North Weald today, which made me smile. It wasnt just the informal and friendly atmosphere there, but the fact there were a number of real nice, standard looking cars competing, and quiet a few others in the car park. I was surprised at how small Ford Anglia are. And at how a Mark IV Cortina can look pretty stock even with a V8 under the bonnet. There were some excellently engineered Fiat 126's fitted with MR2 engines, and one with a Chevrolet V8. And a bright orange Fiat Mirafiori that looked good even with a wide body kit. And a fantastically stock looking Mark 1 Escort RS 2000 Twin Cam that managed to hit 135 mph at the quarter mile line. Top day out-and the sun shone too.

[Craig the Princess]

Did my first car related job yesterday in an age cleaning the contacts for the Rover coupé's front indicator, cleaning off what looked like rusty grease. Still it is working reliably now so I can stop worrying about getting pulled over in Cambridge. Also worked out over dinner over 70k miles in it in just over 5 years, what a car for £100.

 

Also need to get the Saab's front tyre looked at, 30psi to flat in about 4 days is knackering my knee with the foot pump.

[320touring]

Woke up at 7.57am this morn.pandabloodymonium!

 

Should actually be awake about 5.05pm,just in time for train hame

[stuboy]

decided to loosen my bolts in prep for replacing the bumper, all four seized and snapped off, fourth decided to take a bite out od old bumper..

standard issue gaffa tape

well time has come to sack of the old broken bumper..

it was beyond repairing so off it came..

 

shame no foglights

[cms206]

Woke up at 7.57am this morn.pandabloodymonium!

 

Should actually be awake about 5.05pm,just in time for train hame

Yeah... I was 0545 start at Barrhead Station for the first train into Glasgow. Marelle elbowed me in the ribs at 0548 and asked when I was due to start 'cos it's daylight.

 

 

Oops.

[320touring]

Yeah... I was 0545 start at Barrhead Station for the first train into Glasgow. Marelle elbowed me in the ribs at 0548 and asked when I was due to start 'cos it's daylight.

 

 

Oops.

Least you were no on a rrs for my train:)

[ruffgeezer]

Ok so which one of you bastards has been fixing a Citroen today?

 

 

BOLLOCKS!

[hairnet]

shitty civic in for mot tomorrow

 

will cable ties holding the mirror glass on be a pass - you can see 95% behind lol

 

cant grumble apart from batt and starter and two tyres its needed nowt bar water and oil changes

 

less than 150 quid in 3 years

 

do me

 

 

 

 

[ruffgeezer]

Would anyone be interested in a Pug 306 Cabrio Badermatic in a few months time?

[darkfour]

Not really car related but went to see ZZ Top (supported by Jeff Beck) in town at the weekend. Awesome gig and they played most of their famous songs, although sadly Pearl Necklace wasn't amongst them.

 

 

On car related issues, the new MC has been fitted to the Plymouth and has improved the brakes up until the point at which I start the car and then the pedal still goes straight to the floor. I'm going to start from scratch and see at which point the brakes stop working. First job is to disconnect both brake lines and cap off the MC and see if I can get pedal pressure with the engine running. Then I'll move onto the fronts and then the rears. It's incredibly frustrating and working on brakes on your own is a fruitless experience. I need to get some speed bleeders I think

[gordonbennet]

Darkfour.

 

No doubt they are drums on the Plymouth? silly question i know as my 71 Mustang with 5.7 motor had unservoed drums all round which brought a whole new meaning to the term brake fade...

 

I had a bloody nightmare trying to bleed the brakes on my series Landrover years ago, must have pumped half a gallon of fluid through and still no pedal.

 

The problem? being drums the slave cyls were moving out each time the pedal was depressed, eventually i begged and borrowed and bought half a dozen G Clamps, removed the drums and clamped the slave cyls shut, sorted.

 

Might be worth a try for, i clamped my slaves but you could easily wire them shut instead preventing any movement of the piston.

[skattrd]

I'm currently out of the country with work but have just won a car on ebay with pop up lights. Oh and I'm drunk.

[HMC]

Pop up lights?!? Give us a clue

 

In guessing Mazda 323

[skattrd]

Nice try, but no cigar.

I am now very drunk.

[Timewaster]

Wife's fiesta lumped on ebay. A second child due in october means that even as a second car it's about as much use as a tax disc holder.

Pah! Mrs carts 3 around in the 206 that she refuses to be parted from.

[Pillock]

Porsche 924.

 

Oh wait, drunk you say? TR7.

[vulgalour]

Any of these? Volvo 480, Honda Prelude, Opel GT, Nissan 200SX

[wuvvum]

The Chinese Crunchy had its first FTP today.  Strictly speaking it wasn't an FTP as the bike was still running and made it to work, but one of the two engine mounting bolts had sheared so the whole thing was shaking like fuck and vibrating so badly it made my feet go numb on the footpegs.  Too much of that and I reckon the other bolt would have sheared and then I really would have been in trouble.  The bolt that had sheared also held the return spring for the rear brake, so that was sticking on as well.  All in all I decided I'd be better off going home by other means and then coming back in the van to pick it up.

 

The thing is slowly but inexorably falling to bits.  One of the rear indicators fell out last week (I lost both lenses some time ago - the lenses have been made out of Poundland lens repair tape for months now), and yesterday I had to re-tighten the swing arm bolt as that was moving around.  The plastics are continuing to disintegrate and the paint is peeling off like nobody's business.  The engine and 'box are still fine though - it always starts on the button, pulls as well as it ever did and hasn't used a drop of oil in 2,000 miles.  So I'm in two minds whether to junk it and invest a bit more in something Japanese (or just bite the bullet and start commuting on the Spacy), or whether to spend a weekend fettling it and try to squeeze it through its first MOT at the end of the month.

[HMC]

MX5 (mk1)

[coalnotdole]

Fiat x1/9?

[barmatt]

I know what it is

[JohnK]

Women. Just why do they grace the fucking planet?

 

We are off to France next week. Turns out tonight that the passport application for the 8 month old I told her to complete in January, failed to process in her brain. No appts available to get the 1 week service. And to top it all she can't find hers either.

 

That's £400 just fucked away for no reason then!

[catsinthewelder]

That sounds like the perfect excuse for a Leboncoin mission with a friend who does have a passport.

[The Moog]

Civics rear pads replaced. Discs are rusty but not too bad so left them for now. Both rear calipers were a bit sticky but freed them off.

 

Need to adjust handbrake now and everything will be fine and dandy.

 

Mot is up in august. Might lob it through to see how it gets on and go from there. Any major failures it will be bridged.

[phil_lihp]

Ford Probe? Honda Integra?

[skattrd]

No-ones got it yet.

 

Any of these? Volvo 480, Honda Prelude, Opel GT, Nissan 200SX

No, but one of them is quite close

[strangeangel]

Chinese Crunchy

 

What's this - one of those Chinese Super Cub clones by any chance? If it's just a case of your time & not too much spent on parts I'd say fix it, then run it into the ground.

 

Spacy is class, I've had four 125s and a 250 (Elite, Yank model) now. IIRC it was seeing your one on here years ago that inspired me to buy my first one!