The new news 24 thread

[Richard]

Could it be a positive earth radio?

[oman5]

I am in the middle of changing the rear subframe bushes on the pug 306, as its nearly time for its first MOT in my ownership. Its the first time I've done this job and its a lot easier than the Haynes manual makes it out to be. next up is to MOT the Ovlov with a view to shifting it on

[The Moog]

T25 has got MOT. Woo hoo.. needed £350 of welding but they have done a good job.

 

Need to clean it and then bung it up for sale. I am going to try ebay first and then go from there.

[cobblers]

T25... needed £350 of welding

 

OUCH! T25s usually stay pretty solid underneath, which bits needed doing? I did my cab steps this afternoon for the MOT in the morning - I don't think they're actually in the "prescribed area" but they bugged me.

[The Moog]

Both cab steps. Plus some of the sills.

 

I assume that as the cab is so close to suspension the steps needed doing. I couldnt see that it would be structural. I have used it loads over the last year and it has been parked on grass a fair amount and then driven through the sea at lindisfarne, so dont really have too many complaints.

 

Not looking forward to selling it though...

[trigger]

I've had a semi successful day today, Firstly i manage to make the car radio worse by removing the front and then not being able to get the dial to work again, Blast, but more successfully I took my Mondeo to have a pair of rear tyres fitted this afternoon and asked them to change the rear wheel hub bearing that i bought the other day for £70.

 

It turns out that it wasn't the hub after all but one of my tyres had gone squire causing the noise, Result, £70 saved

 

Also whilst i was there a RAC van turned up with a lady, she had just had a blow out, this was one of her tyres, the other one was even worse!, I've never seen such poor tyres in my life, the one that had not burst was so bad distorted with wire hanging out it was amazing that hadn't popped either, Total death trap. It scares me that there are people out there happy to drive like this.

 

It also worries that the RAC man said it's wasn't uncommon to see them like this and he's seen even worse before now!

 

[barefoot]

although in fairness to the woman, you can't see the wear indicators.

[skattrd]

I'm on the train on my way to York to collect new french barge shite. Mixed feelings as it wasn't really what I was after, but I'm looking forward to the drive home. I've got a bit of a detour I need to do, so I'll be doing 150 miles or so in it tonight.

[ayd]

complete sunroof from ebay arrived today for the A4

 

Went in a dream and works a treat, no swearing, no throwing of tools and nothing broken.

 

Only down side is I've left a few grubby prints on it, any recommendations on a decent cleaner that won't ruin what looks like quite delicate fabric.....

[cobblers]

T25 passed the MOT earlier, with just an advisory for a "noisy exhaust" which is doing my head in but the tester thought it sounded nice and only put the advisory to cover his arse. The emissions would have passed the cat test which is nice, even though there isn't even a cat fitted. Hydrocarbons were something like 38PPM which I reckon shows I've picked a healthy engine especially considering the miles on it (119k)

 

Tester is pretty sound so said I was welcome to have a snoop round under the van - things sure look different when it's up on the ramp. He said all the bushes are 100% great too so there's not a lot for me to do other than maybe adjust the handbrake on the OSR which was slightly lower than the other side.

Dead happy with that. £24 for a pair of balljoints and an hours welding in two 2" patches (which it turned out wasn't even in a "prescribed area") is good going for a 25 year old van.

[The Moog]

T25 passed the MOT earlier,

Dead happy with that. £24 for a pair of balljoints and an hours welding in two 2" patches (which it turned out wasn't even in a "prescribed area") is good going for a 25 year old van.

 

strange how mine was in prescribed area and needed doing and yours didnt. Mine were awful though ...

[cobblers]

T25 passed the MOT earlier,

Dead happy with that. £24 for a pair of balljoints and an hours welding in two 2" patches (which it turned out wasn't even in a "prescribed area") is good going for a 25 year old van.

 

strange how mine was in prescribed area and needed doing and yours didnt. Mine were awful though ...

 

He said that depending on how you measure things they could be in or out of the prescribed area, but they clearly aren't structural so he would have been happy to take the "risk" and pass and advise so long as they were mostly solid. When I got the hammer and old screwdriver into mine, only the bottom 15mm wide joining plate thing came off, leaving about an 8mm x80mm gap at worst. I cut about 50mm x 140mm out just because it was easier than trying to put a tiny patch in.

[Angrydicky]

I've been doing more welding today. So far I've replaced both front inner wings and the LH floorpans, inner and outer sills, A post, outriggers, chassis rails, front crossmember and valance. Today I decided to buy one of those zirconium flap discs for the angle grinder that they're always going on about on RR. I bought a pack of three and they really are a godsend, you can get such a neat finish with them. The following pictures are of the rear inner wing.

 

From this:

 

 

 

To this:

 

 

 

 

To this:

 

 

And then this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure if you can see in the pictures, but I had to replace the outer 1" of the boot surround as well, due to severe rot.

[Angrydicky]

Here's the front A post as well, which I was particularly proud of.

 

 

 

[trigger]

That's coming on well Dicky!,

[Volksy]

I've had a car day, for the first time in ages..

 

Was kind of helping M.Imp with the 'Co-Owned' Lancia Colander S3, finally, there is no daylight showing through the floor. The difficult bit comes next.

 

The Ex Scooters/SamGlover/M.Imp/Etc Volvo was delivered to my dungeon for storage, (Get well soon Scooters), and we needed to get the current M.Imp Audi working after some scrotes drilled the peztank, and we fear, tried to nick LPG from it. (One for the Darwin awards there if they had succeded).

 

Got the Audi running on pez, (It's only run on LPG for the last few months as M.Imp is such a miser) and the Carb happily squirted most of the fuel on to the exhaust. Brill.

Good Job I was watching the carb at the time, as M.Imp would have happily drove off and had some OMGFIREBALL action.

 

So anyone know where I can get a new accellerator pump diaphram for a VW KS2 carb from, all my usual factors and specialists have drawn a blank. As it's LPG in the main, its redundant, in a way, but needs sorting. So tomorrow, we'll see how LPG goes. as that doesn't need the pump. I think....

 

maybe like this...

 

[skattrd]

R25 is home and drives very nicely. Faults so far, non working speedo, temp gauge flutuates a bit (look like the needle is loose) & occasionally squeaky power steering.

I'm going to use it for work tomorrow (another 150 miles) and have a think about whether it stays or goes ... I like it, and its a very comfy barge, but I do have a hankering for an auto XM for barge duties.

[vulgalour]

Princess has had the door mirror adjusted and a very small dent on the front wing has appeared thanks to our friendly neighbourhood vagrants. Constructed a barricade that looks fit to keep zombies out, wired the whole lot (sadly not to the mains) to structural parts of house and garage and made it in such a way that it'll make a lot of noise and hopefully injure the miscreants should they attempt to dismantle it. Eventually we'll build a proper gate of course.

 

I'm watching two pairs of wing mirrors on eBay too. I can't afford them, unless my eBay items sell/I get new work in but I think one pair are badly listed MG A items which are ideal for the Polo and the other are some lovely long-stem swept back Tex items, which will look stellar on the Princess. Low prices at the moment, and I'm winning on the Tex mirrors, but we shall see what happens.

[dollywobbler]

I cleaned the 2CV this week. You can tell it's been too long when the car suddenly looks a LOT better...

 

Bloody rusty though. Much to attend to this summer. The cleaning was preparation for La Vie en Bleu at Prescott Hillclimb this weekend. Always a nice mix of French automobiles - though oddly the Rover 75/ZT boys were guests last year! Wonder what they'll have in store this time...

 

What I'm looking forward to most is taking the 2CV up the hill in the cavalcade again. OMG BODYROLL!

[HillmanImp]

My Lancia

 

My rotten Lancia

 

My Lancia on the drive

 

the 'Co-Owned' Lancia Colander S3,

 

Oh yeah. Forgot you own half of it. Now I have welded up the back I am happy for you to have the front half.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Mini passed its MOT, but I couldn't do the service I planned because the sump plug is an obscure size and I had to order a socket off eBay. I have a million sockets, but not this one of course.

[wuvvum]

Took a half day off work today (which I half regretted doing as fit bird had turned up with the unusual combination of low-cut top and hair tied back, which meant the view to my left was even more aesthetically pleasing than usual) so I could wait in for the buyer of the SVX to turn up and collect it. I was half expecting it to be a waste of an afternoon as he was coming from West Lothian and I hadn't heard from him all day, but then just before 2 I got a call from him to say he was parked next to the car. He seemed a nice enough chap, and he paid in cash then loaded it onto his trailer and trundled off - just the way eBay should be. He paid almost entirely in Scottish bank notes though, which raised some eyebrows when I went to the bank to pay it in, but it ended up being OK.

 

This evening I'm going to a charity gig organised by work, in aid of the Alzheimer's society which is the company's chosen charity this year - which suits me as my grandma had Alzheimer's for nearly 30 years and it's not a nice disease. One of the lads I work with is keyboardist for one of the bands who are playing, so pretty much the entire department is going - should be a fun night.

 

Then tomorrow I'm going on a work-organised trip to the Cambridge beer festival - coach is £5, and I've managed to borrow one of the lads from work's CAMRA membership card, which means I get into the festival free and only have to pay for my drinks. Fit bird is going too, and since she's not going with anyone it has been decided that I'll be wandering around Cambridge with her. Suits me.

 

In less good news, the locking button on the Laguna's key card has suddenly decided it's had enough. Oh well - that's another few quid knocked off its already pitifully low resale value...

[CreepingJesus]

 

Ouch. N/S/R chassis rail is surprisingly crusty. Well, not for a 14-yr old car really, but considering the rest of it's in good fettle, this came as a bit of a surprise. Sounds solid enough to a tap, so a good strip paint and rustproof should see it fine. Exhaust hanger bracket (where it appears to have started) is held together by wishful thinking. Could be worse...

[skattrd]

As planned I used the R25 for work today, got to the office fine in the traffic this morning. 200 miles now completed without issue. The fuel gauge was showing just over half a tank used, not bad for a big old barge, it is the least powerful they did though (2.0l carb). On the way home tonight I noticed the coolant temp start to rise, so I pulled over as soon as I could. I opened the bonnet and steam was coming from n/s of engine, a closer look saw it was coming from a small hose. A 2" length of 1/2" of pipe had split ... I'm now relieved I grabbed a few basic tools and fluids before leaving this morning. I left it to cool down a bit then patched the hose the best way I could with what I had (electric tape and cable ties). I then added all the water/coolant I had with me, and nursed it home. Temp never got over half way on the gauge, so I'm now home somewhat relieved.

Garage tomorrow to replace the offending hose, refill the system then check the coolant system fully.

 

Anyway, I'm quite enjoying the R25 atm, its not quick, but its not painfully slow and it is very comfy

[cort16]

Is this wuvvums SVX as pistonheads shed of the week (even though it's sold)?

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=25747

[vulgalour]

My card reader has properly gone on the fritz today, so I couldn't get any snaps of the tiny bit of tinkering I did. I've resealed the fuel pump which was leaking a tiny amount of oil from the bottom of the seal. I've also noticed a tiny water leak from one of the caps which is either a broken cap or a broken thing it screws on to. nothing too serious mind. There's been a ticking noise too that I've been unable to locate but has been more noticeable since the exhaust - which no longer blows, btw - was made to shut up as well as the engine occasionally hunting a tiny amount. This is me wanting things to be perfect again I think, the average car owner (which none of us here are, obviously) wouldn't know it was amiss at all. Anyway, I'm rambling, the ticking noise is coming from a spark lead, which you can stop if you move the lead slightly before the engine is warmed up. Once the engine has warmed up the ticking doesn't go away and you can feel it through the lead, it also gave me a little nip through the lead while I was investigating. Another lead is on it's way out in a similar fashion, so I've put new leads further up the list now, I think I can get a new set for about £15 so it's not rudely expensive.

[Albert Ross]

CJ is that an Escort Estate?

[CreepingJesus]

No, '98 Volvo V70.

[The Moog]

Spent today cleaning the T25 ready for sale. Used the silverline mop recommended on here a month or so ago. I didnt get any before pictures but here are some after. It is very shiny!

 

I have bunged it on ebay in the hope someone will want to buy it to use in the sunshine.

 

[The Moog]

Spent today cleaning the T25 ready for sale. Used the silverline mop recommended on here a month or so ago. I didnt get any before pictures but here are some after. It is very shiny!

 

I have bunged it on ebay in the hope someone will want to buy it to use in the sunshine.