The new news 24 thread

[fred]

Shite 'n Scenery, post No 124. Too late in the evening to remember how to link.

Here you go - you owe me a toffee !

 

[Essex V6]

Currently watching an early episode of Auf Wiedershen, Pet. Some quality stuff knocking about Dusseldorf then - early Mantas and Asconas and even a 128 3P on period rims!

[The Moog]

And lo when the apocalypse comes all that will survive is cockroaches and Hondas

 

Civic failed mot on slight emissions and torn boot rack gaiter. £132 including re alignment after.

 

So far cost £400 to buy, £70 for centre pipe, £13 rear pads and now £132 for another years motoring. Missus Moog is happy

[320touring]

Not true-the courtesy car at the cockroach staffed dealer will be an Avensis 2.0cdx auot like me da's

[brickwall]

First day  of sunshine for a few weeks so set about the welding.

 

First cut all the shite away and then the rubbed paint off and acid treatment.

 

 

 

New light base made up. it was a bit fiddly, but I couldn't justify the £40 quid to buy and have delivered.

 

 

 

Next up was to measure and fit the rear plate - it's made from old bonnet. Measure and measure again. And then again and again!

These two bits were welder together on the bench to make things easier, like less upside down welding in a wheel arch.

 

 

 

Test fit. Not bad me old son.

 

 

 

Rained like a bastard for 1/3 hour and then Mr Sunshine comes out again.

 

 

All welded in, with just some wee scraps to do tomorrow.

 

 

That's the very last of the major rusty bits in the RR. All the other stuff is just wee bits n bobs to do now and again.

[gm]

look at what I scored the other day at the scrappies

 

 

a precision tyre tread depth gauge, a little weather worn but still giving good accurate readings (the metal block has a channel exactly 1.6mm deep for calibration)

 

can anyone guess what type of vehicle this may have been found in ?

 

[gm]

yep, and it was in a right state - a sticky end to a high speed chase I reckon, but the occupants presumably came to no harm as even the cops up here are part of the SVM

[Steviemillar]

My brother got a new addition to his garage today.

image.jpg

 

He's finally got something interesting in there.

image.jpg

Lovely, very jealous!!!!

[alf892]

look at what I scored the other day at the scrappies

image.jpg

a precision tyre tread depth gauge, a little weather worn but still giving good accurate readings (the metal block has a channel exactly 1.6mm deep for calibration)

can anyone guess what type of vehicle this may have been found in ?

image.jpg

 

Not that a shifter would ever need to know this but..........

 

If you get a copper that wants to nick you for a tyre just take the ticket.

 

If he has not used the gauge that defines the central three quarters of the tread ( in conjunction with the gauge above) you can successfully argue he was mistaken as he will have had to estimate the wear area. This is not a pub fact.......

[Ghosty]

A4's gone on a trip to Essex for the week with Old Man. Apparently it has an integrated 'take a break' warning that comes on after a while. Nifty feature for 1996. 

Expansion tank was meant to show up today courtesy of UPS, but it hasn't.

[Skizzer]

I have made an offer on some new chod.  

 

It's in France.

 

More news soon, hopefully.

 

OK, scratch that, French seller was unresponsive.

 

BUT - I've found another one of the same thing, this time in Belgium.  

 

Bear with me.

[stripped fred]

A4's gone on a trip to Essex for the week with Old Man. Apparently it has an integrated 'take a break' warning that comes on after a while. Nifty feature for 1996.

Expansion tank was meant to show up today courtesy of UPS, but it hasn't.

Yes mine had that. It flashes up after 2 hours if I remember correctly.

[The Moog]

How many years since you bought it?

Only since November but if can eek another year out of it missus will be happy.

 

Gave it massive thrash on motorway after collecting it and now feels much livelier.

[cobblers]

I've spent £400 on tyres in the last 6 weeks. This is no good.

Bought a pair to replace bald front ones on the daily, had a blowout on the back of the van for no reason I can fathom (pressures checked regularly) and ended up getting a pair of budget tyres fitted in desperation. Now this!

 

The daily megaturbo ibiza had a bit of a wobble from a back wheel about a month ago, I thought a balancing weight must have fired off because there were no potholes or anything to cause it.

I left it a week while I went away in the campervan that was running like shit and would barely do 50mph (and had a blowout at said 50mph) looking forward to coming back to my nice comfy fast car.

Park the van up in the garage at my mums, load the car up and set off down the M1  at 55mph (50 limit roadworks) and all of a sudden the back end of the car is shaking like a shitting dog, enough to rattle the USB stick out of the stereo.

 

Got home and jacked it up, span the wheel and the tyre was shaped like Lisa Rileys bog seat. Looked fine from the outside though.

 

Inside was a different story:

 

 

Massive crack about half way round and piles of rubber shavings from being run flat.

But I've had the car for about a year and the pressures are always checked so it must have literally fallen apart inside on it's own? It's OLD but was totally fine for 8k miles.

 

So now I'm all of a sudden a mega tyre worrier and every car withing 100 yards is getting a new set of tyres or I won't sleep.

[gm]

how grim does the block of flats in the background look ?

 

http://www.gumtree.com/p/alfa-romeo/alfa-romeo-156-2.4-20v-jtd-175ps-diesel-estate/1126321792

 

[cobblers]

you don't get road surfaces like that anymore

[derskine]

Finally changed the 18's water pump, for the past year it has been living on K Seal. 

Naturally, it was totally fucked.

 

 

 

Snapped a bolt and couldn't find my metric taps but managed to get a nut on the other side.

[beko1987]

Centre section ordered from ebay from a generic picture and just the description and make/model of car thing ebay does for the ZX. Now I get to play the fun* game of 'is it the right part and will it fit my car' for the next few days...

[Semi-C]

Passed my HGV class 1 test.

 

Yip yip yippee!

[Slappy]

MOT day for my Fiesta - Fails on sidelight (didn't have time to replace it, though I supplied the bulb), driveshaft gaiters, and back box not being supported at all by the body due to corroded mounts failing.

 

And 9 advisories. Hmmm, looks like I'm gonna need to budget for some preventative maintenance before winter arrives!

[cort16]

I paid a quick visit to the local shite auction tonight. Anyone need a vw caddy?

 

[anonymous user]

Do they have them in any other colour?

[320touring]

I paid a quick visit to the local shite auction tonight. Anyone need a vw caddy?

 

we should have an auction meet there one day

[twosmoke300]

Do they have them in any other manufacturer?

[cort16]

They've got a good cafe. Well cheap. There's a Saturday morning auction once a month .

[320touring]

They've got a good cafe. Well cheap. There's a Saturday morning auction once a month .

lets make that be a happens!

[Craig the Princess]

Rover Coupé failed it's MoT on a tyre, a big hole in the exhaust front section which is hopefully the cause of the emissions being way off and the number plate lights not working.

 

Apart from the pain in the arse of the new MOT system not giving out the emission values it should be ready for around £100

[derskine]

Cooltina is fixed to fuck. Fitted carb to manifold spacer, a new fuel pipe from the main pipe to the carb, and the electric pump at the tank, and it's totally faultless now.

 

Back of the net!

[dollywobbler]

Er, I washed the XM. That's the total of my fleet excitement this week. There was black sh*t absolutely plastered all over the arse of it, that really didn't want to come off. I'm wondering if that's related to the super-sticky veg oil it had a tank of earlier in the year. It certainly hasn't been washed since Shitefest (not a dig at Will, just an observation!). The wash was because it's entered in the 'vintage' section of a local show on Saturday. I'm hardly going to go all concours on it, but thought I should make some effort at least. May even empty all of the rubbish out of the door pockets. Tomorrow, I plan to give all of the windows a good Rain-Xing, as a crap car can look a zillion times better with clean glass. 

 

Oh, there is more. A friendly neighbour has offered some garage space. I plan to move the 2CV there. This is so I can open my own garage door without feeling guilty every time, and offer the Dyane a bit of protection from the elements and/or me some undercover tinkering space.

 

Dyane - I have a vague plan to head over to Wiltshire next week to fit a new brake master cylinder and give it a good going over before an MOT. It should be getting welded this week hopefully. Not had an update yet and applied-for V5 is going to take a while to arrive anyway.

[wuvvum]

Now that derv is cheaper than unleaded for some reason, I thought I'd press the silver Mondeo back into daily duties.  According to the computer it averaged 63mpg on the run into work this morning - not bad for a big 12-year-old barge.  It still has the mystery electrical drain fault - I've solved* it by popping the bonnet and whipping the earth lead off the battery every night, saves having to jump it in the mornings.

 

I really must get the blue Mondeo through its test - it's nicer to drive (albeit slower), even better on fuel and the aircon sort of works.