The new news 24 thread

[dollywobbler]

Finally visited my friend's restored Subaru pick-up. Is this the best showroom in the world or what? Neither are for sale. 

 

The Saab is a 90 - pretty rare and comically low mileage. I forget how much but saw it at a show a local show a couple of years ago. 

 

This makes up for the fact that the XM blew a headlamp bulb. Fortunately not much of a trauma to replace. Once you've worked out how the clip comes undone (differently to a BX as it happens). I say replace, I don't have another H1 in the house. Duh!

[vulgalour]

Who fixed a Corsa/Vauxhall?  Nugget's OEM radio has stopped working for no reason.

[beko1987]

The cambelt hasnt snapped yet on the meriva, and ive been contemplating lower balljoints and droplinks...

 

I take full responsibility

[dollywobbler]

In other news, I drove lots of cars at the weekend. Again. Naturally, as it was a Citroen event, I drove a Saab 96.

https://classichub.wordpress.com/2015/07/06/road-test-saab-96-v4/

[Six-cylinder]

MGB GT seems to be fixed, not sure if I am very impressed with the Auto electrician as he diagnosed the starter motor so I produced a reconditioned one, he fitted that and it would start but not very happy to turn over initially so he said battery I found a know good battery and still a reluctance for the starter to get going. He then fitted an additional earth strap and that seems to have sorted it and it starts happily now. Originally the fault was intermittent and sometimes it would start fine other times not, I do wonder if it was just the earth strap?

[Semi-C]

Obviously not content with the forthcoming retrieval of one of Dunfermline's choicest conveyances, this evening I have agreed to rescue a stalwart of Bury St Edmunds's aged motor carriage populace.

 

The vendors inability to locate the V5 has suspended any collection shenanigans for tonight but, hold ye hard...

[twosmoke300]

Our spartan kit car went straight through the mot again this year . One advisory for a perished spare . Happy with that . I looked at the history and we have done 1000 in ten years!

 

Soooo she's up for sale .

[Inspector Morose]

Spartan you say...

 

Fancy a P4?

[twosmoke300]

Not really but will check with the wife like

[Ghosty]

 

And that was that - only took 6 days.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Spartan you say...

 

Fancy a P4?

 

 

Andy, have you ever suffered from car ownership ADD?

 

P.S. The wife would like me to buy the P4 but she would insist that I got rid of something else first, so no luck.

[cms206]

MONEYSHOT

[stillOrange]

 

Love this car and simply can't get myself to write up an ad to sell it ... only option is to keep it

[dave21478]

Still alive.

 

Nothing to report, really. Getting stuff done in the evenings is nice.

 

The ShitLander is in "mincing tart" mode for the summer.

 

 

I rigged a pulley to the garage roof to keep the hard top out of the way.

 

 

The Escort is still chugging along nicely, although "chugging" is the appropriate term recently....its developed a hesitation/misfire at low rpm when accelerating....just a couple of judders and away it goes. Might chuck some new spark plugs at it.

 

 

Trying to talk myself into / out of buying this....

 

http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/826323747.htm?ca=16_s

 

Cheap for what it is, and very close to me but I have zero actual use for it. Buyers remorse is kicking in and I havent even been to see it yet.

 

 

Ran some dick over in the DIY store carpark. They have a gated area for loading larger merchandise (wood etc) directly into your vehicle and you pay on the way out. I was trundling along slowly in first gear with the trailer behind me and passed an older gent on foot. He was in such a daze that he wasnt looking where he was walking and as I passed him he blundered into the side of the trailer. Apparently that was my fault. It nearly came to fisticuffs as he was a right gobby wanker about it refusing to acknowledge he should look where the fuck he was going but I realised that a sturdily built fat skinhead in his thirties decking a pensioner might not look too good, so left it.

 

Did I miss anything exciting?

 

[panhard65]

So come on how is this not in your barn already !!

Doesn't look too bad in the pictures and would make decent coin over here

[Inspector Morose]

Andy, have you ever suffered from car ownership ADD?

Don't think that I d...

 

 

OOH LOOK AT THE SHINY SHINY!

[twosmoke300]

Don't go on the snap on van ffs

[Lacquer Peel]

 

In an attempt to get the Volvo to run better on veg I've advanced the injection timing - so far it seems a lot better, starting readily from cold on a strong mix of veg with less spluttering.

Unlike the 4-cylinder VAG TDIs the 5-cylinder engine isn't so keen on veg, if this doesn't work out long term I might convert it to a twin tank setup. Or buy skattrd's C250 TD, or just sign up for a new Dacia on finance.

[anonymous user]

 

 

or just sign up for a new Dacia on finance.

Who are you and what have you done with Lacquer Peel?

[garethj]

Just returned from a full weekend with a mate from school, helping him remove the engine from his Subaru because after having all kinds of love and money thrown at the car, the ungrateful thing is knocking its main bearings.

 

Stage 1, park the car on level ground and apply the handbrake.

 

Stage 1a, if no level ground is available, build yourself some decking with some loft insulation boards.

 

Stage 2, remove all the stuff that makes a modern engine work.  The last time we did this kind of thing was with an aircooled Beetle engine and it took about 10 minutes to remove all the ancillaries.  This took about 6 hours.

 

Stage 3.  Oh, are you still trying to remove the last couple of bolts from Stage 2?  I'll come back in a few hours.

 

Stage 3, put the engine crane into position, making sure its wheels don't punch through the temporary decking.  As this is in Wales, it's obviously rained which helps the decking boards be even softer and more dangerous.

 

See the yellow trolley jack under the car?  That's supporting the gearbox because you have to lift the engine and box up so the engine mounts clear.  I was under the front of the car pumping the trolley jack and the engine hoist at the same time, a bit like at the end of Wizard of Oz when he's working all the levers.

 

Stage 4, lift the engine out.

 

Yes, it's gone alright.

 

Stage 5, put it on a trolley and drag it across uneven, stony and sloping ground into the garage where it can be collected later and rebuilt.

[bub2006]

Who fixed a Corsa/Vauxhall? Nugget's OEM radio has stopped working for no reason.

Sorry,I attempted to stop a squeaky Bush or something or another on the back end of the vectra today. Managed to quiet it down a bit.

[coalnotdole]

Yesterday I fitted Lumenition electronic ignition to the Scimitar.

 

Put a few miles on it this morning and the timing was clearly miles off. Pulled the Dizzy out and moved it round two teeth and had another go which resulted in a total lack of running! So I decided to pull the distributor out and set it up statically from scratch and when it was pretty close I tried to make the fine adjustments with the timing light. mine is an old gunsons one which was given to me by a neighbor and I'm not really sure how accurate it is!

 

In the end I resorted to going for a drive this evening and making a series of fine adjustments by the roadside, I'll know a bit more when I've been out for a run over to Chichester in it tomorrow... So far the most obvious improvement is that now seems to be much easier to start!

 

Straight 6 Coupe news. A buyer has been found for the engine thats currently in the car, this means I'm going to have to pull my finger out and get rebuilt race tuned engine prepped for refitting so that I can get the old one out and the new one fitted in a single hit. The new engine will want, seals, core plugs, spark plugs and a fresh coat of paint as a minimum.

 

The rebel van is also now on sale I've had a few early expressions of interest but I am expecting it to take a while to sell as its a bit specialist.

[dugong]

Now fit a remote servo so the damn thing stops!

[nacho man]

I was thinking about some electronic ignition for my scim.

 

But it starts pretty much first turn with a tiny bit of choke and runs lovely. I fitted it to the stag I had but it made starting worse, and it used to back fire afterwards. Many tweaks later it ran o.k* but it seemed a lot of effort for not much gain.

 

Apart from the fuel pump packing up at the weekend, but 30 odd quid for a new one and ten mins to fit were running again.

[coalnotdole]

The scimitar already has a remote servo fitted as standard! and if you think Scimitar brakes are bad you should try driving a Rebel!

 

My main reason fitting electronic ignition is mainly for easy maintenance, I've still got the standard autochoke on mine and it has always been a bit of a pig to start from cold. So having a car that goes first turn of the key without pumping the accelerator and swearing is actually a bit of a shock.

 

I'm also aware that over the last 4 years I've not given the points and condenser as much love as I possibly could have... My engine has the improved Bosch distributor which is a bit awkward to get the condenser out of due to an external screw, the close proximity to the carb and lots of autochoke hoses running in the area which make it impossible to get a screwdriver in there. I also think that the scimitars hot engine bay temperatures take their toll on the condensers.

 

Todays run seemed pretty good, I suppose I'll have to wait and see if any of the other claimed improvements are noticeable over the next few weeks.

[forddeliveryboy]

 

In an attempt to get the Volvo to run better on veg I've advanced the injection timing - so far it seems a lot better, starting readily from cold on a strong mix of veg with less spluttering.

Unlike the 4-cylinder VAG TDIs the 5-cylinder engine isn't so keen on veg, if this doesn't work out long term I might convert it to a twin tank setup. Or buy skattrd's C250 TD, or just sign up for a new Dacia on finance.

 

Easier than twin-tanking is fitting an engine heater, running off the mains. If you can trail a wire out to the car wherever it's left.

[Shep Shepherd]

Took The Saab to a local tyre & exhaust place (F1 Autocentres) in order to have its aircon/climate control recharged. Sadly, it couldn't be done, as when it was pressurised, the system was found to have a big leak where some pipes go into the compressor, possibly due to degraded seals

 

Also, the condensor is quite gnarly, but it held pressure, but it really needs be replaced, as most of the cooling fins at the bottom have rusted away. I have a good used replacement from a Saab breaker in mind for that, which I'll have fitted at the same time I have the leak properly diagnosed and repaired - the car is a keeper and I'd really like to have the aircon/climate control in working order before the summer's out. I'll discuss the repair with my local garage when I take the car in for its MOT in a couple of weeks, as they can do aircon repairs.

 

The best thing is that I wasn't charged for the diagnosis, let alone the recharge, which absolutely wasn't going to happen today. Also, the bloke who dealt with the car said that it was nice. Thanks, mate!

[stillOrange]

 

This appeared on my local sale/swap page.

It is 1969 and what he wants is ridiculous (he said it's worth £15k) but he wants quick sale. Ticket until mid August. Apparently all welded up.

Will go and have a look tomorrow, probably make a stupid offer but happy to pass over any info to anybody interested.

 

[anonymous user]

^ Ideal for painting matt black for that moody look

[Bren]

Took A6 for it's MOT which it passed with no advisories.

 

Fitted a set of mudflaps to the focus - they make the car look much better, however the wheels were corroded to the hubs - hot water unstuck them.

 

My dad is fitting a new kitchen, went round to lend a hand,cutting a channel in the wall for a water pipe with an SDS breaker he did not notice a cable buried in the plaster until he cut through it.

 

Surprising the bang that a domestic supply can make and good that modern houses are wired to prevent you being killed. He didnt even have hair like Don King.