The new news 24 thread

[saucedoctor]

Spacers?

[DVee8]

I still can't help but wonder how many other people would be pissing about with a old rusty Sierra like this?!

 

Oh many would if they could.But we will let you do this then buy it when done.

Good luck with it you are doing a good job.

[Six-cylinder]

Today arrived at my storage driving a 32 bhp Citroen and left in a 321 bhp BMW. Driving –The 2CV always puts a smile on your face and you are non threatening to other drivers, the M3 is just so capable and you can overtake that caravan. Very different but I enjoy them both about equally.

 

[michael t]

Bought my first car yesterday, nice little 1.2 so reasonably cheap insurance and tax. Picking her up tomorrow evening and I'm absolutely delighted!!

 

 

I suppose it's a little late to ask this but is their anything in particular I should look out for on these? This is the Ghia model with Air con, electric front windows and alloy wheels, not too bad for 1200 Yoyos....

[doobietoo]

Still not got the engine in the allegro to do a full turn so assume there is a stuck valve or 8.... head coming off in the week.... Not been able to get underneath it yet as I don't have a jack that fits and I don't want to put a trolley jack through the sills if its more rusty than it looks, does anyone have one they could post to me can paypal reasonable finders fee....

 

This is what it must look like....

 

 

Once I get this I can make one for the trolley jack.

 

Cheers in advance...

[vulgalour]

Bought my first car yesterday, 

 

I suppose it's a little late to ask this but is their anything in particular I should look out for on these?

Rust. It is a Ford after all.

[Shep Shepherd]

Finished servicing The Saab this afternoon. All went well, although the old fuel filter was a bit recalcitrant, as the mounting bracket was somewhat bent, no doubt an issue caused by whoever replaced it previously. It isn't any more, though

 

All I need to do as a consequence of the service is replace the front and rear brake pads, as they are just over half worn. An easy job for the near future

[Ghosty]

eBay in non-mong shocker!

 

11pm last night I got a message asking if someone could view the Civic at 3pm today. I said yes, gave them our address. 

They ask about minimum price, I say I won't disclose before viewing but may be flexible.

This doesn't put them off, and they say they'll come between 3 and 4.

Got a message this morning asking if they could come an hour earlier.

And they did - about half 2, a bloke and his dad show up in a 62 plate Megane, come from Urmston.

They have a look around and go for a brief drive, offer us £800 and we accept.

So it's soon off to live into Urmston as a commuter into MediaCity.

 

Job done - sold to the fourth enquirer, first to view, and first from Manchester too. The others were from Stafford, Birmingham and Runcorn...

 

 

Went out for a brief drive in the A4 to work out where the local scrappy is - on the way back the ABS light came on, and now it's gone off again.

Oh VAG...

[catsinthewelder]

As an Aggro is similar to an 1100 underneath I'd just put the jack under the subframe.  It's fairly thick steel and if it's rotton enough to worry about it needs replacing.  Best of luck with it

[Six-cylinder]

A bit more car stuff, towed the MGB GT across the road with the Audi convertible from a layby because I have an Auto electrician coming tomorrow to work out why the starter no longer works and in case you think it must be the starter when you switch the ignition on the interior light dims a lot and there is a whirring noise?

 

The Auto electrician is also going to find out why the airbag light on the Xantia won’t stay out and Mrs Cyl reports the cooling fans are not cutting in on it.

 

I have been away for two weeks and now the battery on my BMW 7 series is flat so that is being charged this afternoon, along with my BMW M3 battery as it has not been used since November last year and needed a jump to collect it.

 

[Six-cylinder]

And for those who care that my 2004 Range Rover TD6 came home from Carlisle on a RAC truck last Saturday. It has been fixed, turns out to have been a seal in the main high pressure diesel pump.

[JohnK]

Took the little Triumph Toledo for a jaunt over to Whitby today, had a really good run out. I cleared the fuel breathers out before the drive and there's no longer the stench of petrol when driving so that was a quick and easy fix.

 

I'm trying to sort out collecting my new Civic from Blackpool - this was supposed to take place on Friday but it didn't go ahead. I was hoping I would have had interest in the Rover but I've had zilch so far. It's off to Wigan tomorrow with work and I'm half tempted to go to my sisters on the return trip, leave the Rover there and return in the Civic. I can worry about the Rover later when I have a buyer.

[The Moog]

Civic has put its ABS light on permanently now.

 

MOT is due in a month and with that and sticky rear caliper I am not sure it is going to pass. Also noticed water dripping from under the glovebox in the heavy rain earlier.

 

 

If it was my car I would replace it but missus Moog likes it, so going to have to see if I can get it to soldier on

[Ghosty]

That's a shame, I've just sold a very similar one...

 

It seems unlikely but does anyone know of a manual for the Audi 2.6 12 valve V6?

[richardmorris]

Stressful weekend of driving up and back to North Wales. 4 and a quarter hours on Friday pm- normally takes 3.5 for 190 miles. Crawling from Warwick up to m42 on the m40. X1/9 not happy in 30 degrees plus stationary traffic for 45mins and cut out with the water temp heading to 100. Restarted ok but had to heel and toe it the rest of the way to clear traffic to keep the revs up at idle. A guy on the hard shoulder with a steaming mr2 waved. I waved back with fingers crossed!

 

Then five hours back again this afternoon in the merc. 1hour crawling on the m40 South in a very spectacular thunderstorm. Basically solid back down to Warwick again. Water temp went up to 110 ( as did my blood pressure) as the oil pressure dropped to 1. I was just contemplating which bit of the hard shoulder to enjoy when the water temp started coming down - air con fans must have kicked in. This dropped the temp to a cool 100, then it cycled this 100-110 for the next 45mins. Can ran impeccably throughout though I would have been a lot happier with 10 degrees lower. Lots of newer cars stuck on the side- and more than one idiot belting along the hard shoulder too. Turned out to be a caravan spread over the road. Then stopped again at Stokenchurch, so I gave up the motorways and came down through Marlow.

 

Now typing while enjoying a nice 2013 Bergerac grand claud.

 

Twenty years I've been doing this and it's the longest it's ever taken.

[vulgalour]

The rollercoaster that is my job and its crazy payment schedules means the money for that relay on the Xantia appeared tonight.  Since my brother is moving house soon and I'm helping with Xantia and trailer it's took some pressure off knowing I could get the relay.  Only one thing I don't get, the part is £62ish direct from GSF but only £38ish direct from GSF's eBay shop.  Euro car parts is similarly priced but GSF tend to be a bit more reliable for French stuff in my experience.  It's more than I want to pay for a relay, but it comes with a 12 month guarantee from a reputable* supplier and will arrive well before my brother's moving date and the current second hand one goes kaput on me.

 

I can't be too cross though, this is the only unexpected breakage since inheriting the car last year and everything else that's been fixed that was broken has stayed fixed.

 

I ran some insurance quotes on it again too, looks like I should expect a drop in price on my next premium, which is excellent news.  I'm not thrilled that the compare websites value the car at £115, I'd love to know where you can get a Xantia estate in any condition for that money.

[The Moog]

Someones civic must have broken down.

 

Used a paperclip to read the code, light just went out. Quick trip round the block and all is well.

[Lacquer Peel]

My insurance company valued my written-off Xantia TD estate at £470 IIRC because it had a fresh MoT test. I did try to push for something closer to £600 but they weren't having it.

 

I think the base line is scrap value for cars that are in 'banger' territory.

[richardmorris]

Oh, and I've now tried to chop the end of my left index finger off!

 

Must cut back on the red!

 

Not easy doing stitches one handed with blood dripping down your wrist!

 

Now need more red for painkilling!

[Coprolalia]

Part grump, part grin, therefore posting here.

 

Post day 7 of 7 working, having done a 78 hour week of early shifts, I popped down Tesco's for a treat grub and pint. Promptly back the new Octavia into a bollard when I forgot I wasn't in the Scirocco and I was driving an estate.

Nice big scratch on one corner.

 

It's led me to have a closer look, and actually all the corners are covered in giffer scratches, which have been giffer-covered in poorly matching, poorly applied touchup paint. Looks OK from 10 feet.

 

I've had a change of plans due to this. 

Went out and bought turtlewax, T-Cut, clear lacquer, a colour-matched (Halfords finest) rattlecan, 1500 grit wet and dry and WOB. I previously washed my cars with hair shampoo.

I vaguely know how to do paintwork properly, but I've never tried to do a good job. It's always been a quick rattlecan to cover a shitter. Decided I'm actually going to try and do a good job and get the Octavia looking clean and scratch free. I'll then probably get it remapped to make the most of the stock stuff and take it to a 210bhp/230ftlb sleeper.

 

I've also decided that I should stop patching the Scirocco and rebuild it properly now I have a working reliable daily and it doesn't need to be permanently on standby. This will start with renewing all the underseal and temporarily sorting any surface rust prior to a respray, then a full engine rebuild. A long time coming.

 

This is all not very shite-ist, but I hope fabrication and work on the Scirocco will keep people amused. I may add a XUD9/AAZ turbo to the fleet at some point to add MPG points.

[beko1987]

Stressful weekend of driving up and back to North Wales. 4 and a quarter hours on Friday pm- normally takes 3.5 for 190 miles. Crawling from Warwick up to m42 on the m40. X1/9 not happy in 30 degrees plus stationary traffic for 45mins and cut out with the water temp heading to 100. Restarted ok but had to heel and toe it the rest of the way to clear traffic to keep the revs up at idle. A guy on the hard shoulder with a steaming mr2 waved. I waved back with fingers crossed!

 

Then five hours back again this afternoon in the merc. 1hour crawling on the m40 South in a very spectacular thunderstorm. Basically solid back down to Warwick again. Water temp went up to 110 ( as did my blood pressure) as the oil pressure dropped to 1. I was just contemplating which bit of the hard shoulder to enjoy when the water temp started coming down - air con fans must have kicked in. This dropped the temp to a cool 100, then it cycled this 100-110 for the next 45mins. Can ran impeccably throughout though I would have been a lot happier with 10 degrees lower. Lots of newer cars stuck on the side- and more than one idiot belting along the hard shoulder too. Turned out to be a caravan spread over the road. Then stopped again at Stokenchurch, so I gave up the motorways and came down through Marlow.

 

Now typing while enjoying a nice 2013 Bergerac grand claud.

 

Twenty years I've been doing this and it's the longest it's ever taken.

Its a much better drive that way now they have re surfaced the road into lane end! You drove my "ah crap the m40s fucked" route to work!

[trigger]

I went around one of my mates this afternoon, I tagged my mate on for sale post on facebook a few weeks ago for a Sierra which I knew he was after, he contacted the seller and ended up buying it, sight unseen for £700 the jammy sod, although his wife isn't so happy with me!

 

It's a early Sierra 2.3 V6 Ghia Estate with the 5 speed box, 93000 miles and in really good condition, it doesn't have a not and needs a couple of sills and a exhaust repair but it's awesome, even down to the orginal bill of sale. I'm seriously jealous, it still has its orginal FM tape player, electric aerial, orginal wheel trims in the boot, the Ghia badge on the door cars, the lot. Bastard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dugong]

Yeah Trig man, you need to buy that off him.

[danthecapriman]

That Sierra is bloody lovely. Seems a bargain at the price too.

Your not the only one who's jealous!

[fordperv]

That estate looks lovely, I especially like the tinted textured plastic bumpers that ford's of this era came with

 

 

Today I have whipped the sump off the saph because I was curious to whether there was sludge in there as it's 23 years old, I popped it off and it was fairly clean in there, there was a very small amount in the groove by the sump plug, i did find a small washer in the sump which I can only presume someone has dropped down whilst doing the timing chain or replacing a tensioner in the past because it wasn't dropped when the chain was done recently, just as I was connecting the engine back up and bolting it together the heavens opened and there was a thunderstorm, i looked up at the sky and said "fuck you" carried on doing what I was doing and within 10 minutes the rain had stopped. I'm so glad I finally got around to doing it as now I have peace of mind.

[trigger]

Yeah Trig man, you need to buy that off him.

It's Roo's who runs East Coast Retros with me, my shitty camera phone doesn't do it justice, it's pretty much the perfect Sierra.

[Jerzy Woking]

Now allowed to drive again, took the Mercedes out for the first time in 4 weeks. It's so nice to bimble around in, so went to North Weald for the Track & Tune day. Got there at 09.45, left at 5pm, and no recourse to crutches all day.

 

It therefore seems that my knees have been fixed, and after the 14 days of inactivity recommended by my surgeon, have had the desired effect as they appear to be recovering well.

[Shep Shepherd]

That Sierra looks amazing. I do love a Y-reg Sierra, especially a Ghia

 

In Volvoish news:

 

Discovered this afternoon while bumbling around underneath it that The Volvo will need a small (2 inch by 2 inch) patch welded into its driver's side chassis rail before its next MOT. I'm not too concerned, as the car is 25 years old and has so far not needed any welding; I imagine other cars from 1990 needed welding in 2000, if not before...

In all other respects, the car's structure is extremely sound for its age. Must cover the whole lot in Waxoyl or similar before the winter, though
 

[Slappy]

Family business news: The remaining DAF 45 that we have is a bit broken, so in their infinite wisdom they've brought in a modern Sherpa dropside to tide them over for a bit. I'm afraid I'm 120 miles away from taking photos of all its presumably rusty glory though.

[captain_70s]

I tried to attach my exhaust to the manifold with jubilee clips, I maintain that the theory is sound but the clips were too small...

 

Ah well, I managed to clear out the rocker cover breather pipe and get the horn working so today's car tinkering wasn't a complete waste.