The new news 24 thread

[scaryoldcortina]

Son and I went to the local car auction this evening to look for a cheap stopgap runabout due to the impending OMGHGF situation on the rover. We were looking for a small 4 or 5 seat hatchback, pref either small engine or diesel. I failed entirely and bought this because no-one else bid on it.

 

 

Collecting it tomorrow!

[catsinthewelder]

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are more or less identical to Suzuki Altos which apart from having the thinest paint of ever seem to cope remarkably well with rental abuse.  One of ours is up to 21k in 15 months and hasn't given any trouble at all.

[xtriple]

I may have mentioned before (Ha!) that I have an Insight. I looked at the one above and nearly shit myself as it was sooooooo cheap!  Then I realised it is the base spec and a bit leggy to say the least. But they do seem to wear big miles well as I've seen a few with 160.000 and still working well.

 

I would not get the base spec one though as they are a lot cheaper and missing loads of fun gadgets and are less desirable to resell.

 

I wouldn't say 'I love' my Insight but I do like it a lot. It's a bloody good, quirky car and you don't see that many of them around. I do pathetic mileages and I'm still getting 45-50 MPG which is bloody good. You do notice when it runs out of 'leccy power though! I've had a Jazz courtesy car a few times and they are good but really dull and with the CVT box feel as flat as a fart.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Following my woes with German 3.0 diesel I vowed to buy anything as long as it was not German or diesel........

 

Here's the pez station shot of my new wheels

 

In my defence, there are very few petrol engined cars around and this 58 plate e280 with all the bits was cheaper than a year newer Insignia or Mondeo. I even looked at a C6 the same age but with more miles for more money and it drove like a slug, that 2.7 V6 dizzler feels faster in 5 tons of Disco 3!

[fred]

Having had a camera down my fecking throat a few weeks ago, to look at my Lungs, and throwing up and much swearing, My Doc said today ''need to have another endoscope down your throat mate'

''Why?'' I replied ''Oh we lost the recording, no hassle, we can do it again''

''Like Fuck you can, not having that down my gullet ever again, Im breathing, I walked 800 yards uphill to get here, doth this not tell you Im getting better for cocks sake?''

''Well we need...'' NO its a no shit Sherlock, 8 weeks ago I couldn't make 30 foot walking , Now I can do 800 yards''

Lets just say Im cured !

[Bren]

A handful of NASA personnel are going to live in isolation in Hawaii in an experiment to see how people cope in such conditions. For 12 months.

 

The will be living in a dome 36' wide and 20' high.

 

I bet they still get some turd flogging solar panels or PPI claims mithering them though.

[cort16]

Following my woes with German 3.0 diesel I vowed to buy anything as long as it was not German or diesel........

 

Here's the pez station shot of my new wheels

image.jpg

 

In my defence, there are very few petrol engined cars around and this 58 plate e280 with all the bits was cheaper than a year newer Insignia or Mondeo. I even looked at a C6 the same age but with more miles for more money and it drove like a slug, that 2.7 V6 dizzler feels faster in 5 tons of Disco 3!

 

My mates got an E320 Cdi one of these and it's very nice. Does that 2.7 diesel engine not get deployed in single and twin turbo applications? I thought the C6 would go okay with that motor in it god only knows that the 2.2 hdi is like!

[oldcars]

Saw a 65 plate VW UP! walking back to the car past night. The inner arch near the front of the wheel did'nt seem to even have red body paint on it, just primer like it was missed when painting. That's going to last long!

[Shep Shepherd]

Finally got around to having The Saab's new alloy wheels fitted today, in time for a trip to the Netherlands this weeked.

 

Old:

 

 

New:

 

 

 

[Ghosty]

Just got back from U-Pull-It (the York one).

 

We now have a foglight bumper for the A4, a better mirror (both of these need painting), and some general odds and sods like wiring plugs, trim pieces, the shift pattern label on the gear knob. Oh, and a scissor jack.

 

Found an REM CD in the boot of a 206, and a Draper 10mm spanner in a Polo.

 

Not a lot of interesting chod in there, but there was an LHD E-Class in Berlin taxi beige!

[tooSavvy]

Daachaa 0.9Trrbot will be quick! (as in not galactic europe crossing leggieness... but traffic light hopping nippy).

 

Looking forward to more @ pocket[rocket]money prices

 

 

TS

[J-Rod]

 

The VTR is slowly being fussed back into full health. All the crud is now gone, new set of tyres, soon to have new pads and discs and a full service. Small rip on the seat and scuff on the front bumper will be history soon too. 

[Lacquer Peel]

VTR looks smart, it's nice to see an unmolested one, bet they're a cracking drive.

[J-Rod]

Yeah, it's fun! It's a great little car! The driving position is good in it too, so you don't have that 'sitting at a desk' feel you get with some small cars. 

 

Interestingly, since I first mentioned it on here, I've seen its file and it does have a very comprehensive history, including the original sales receipt. For the last few years, it's been a bit unloved (by which I mean, left to sit about) but the only mod it has ever had is a personal plate. Just needs a spot of tidying really! 

[Cavcraft]

£57 for a local place to supply/fit back box to my 306. £28.50 for CES to pass me one over the counter, so latter option taken. I haven't used the car for ages due to the noisy exhaust, the back box decided to throw a wobbly after we'd replaced the centre pipes.

[beko1987]

Hopefully my exhaust should see some welding action on saturday!

[beko1987]

 

A hoover collector mate had this happen to his 1.4 golf whilst driving when the cambelt tensioner disintegrated.

 

Glad I did the meriva now!

[twosmoke300]

Got a 1.4 16v half in at the mo that shat it's cambelt . Further investigations reveal a seized inlet cam

[Skizzer]

Today, ladies and gentlemen, was a BIG DAY in these parts.

 

 

For today was BIG SHED DAY.

 

 

 

It's not quite as huge as it looks in the photo - there's room for two rows of three cars comfortably plus parts/tools storage and a bit of workshop.  No leccy yet but it's coming.

 

Renault should be there too, but FTPd this morning due to a flat battery so is still in its own cosy ex-council lock-up.  Will go for MOT next week and then move into Big Shed.

 

The Discovery and Golf are still at home at the moment - the former is being used to ferry tools etc back and forth, and the latter needs trailering over due to an ongoing lack of brake hydraulics.  (The Jag and Dedra are up England way somewhere.)

 

I was very pleased with the Rover, which ran very nicely in spite of being laid up for quite a while.  New clutch hydraulics all seem tippy-top, which is unheard of for a job I did myself (see above reference to Golf brake hydraulics for what usually happens).  Since the SD1 is MOT-less and on SORN, how lucky I am that it's all* private roads between here and the Shed.  That's going for MOT shortly too, just have to rewire the tailgate so I've got number plate lights.

 

Skoda is still around because it's started showing unconfirmed symptoms of impending DMF failure AGAIN, so I've put off selling it until that's settled either way.

[cobblers]

I dream of owning a shed like that. In an ideal world I would park the camper in the back, live out of that and I could just do as I flipping pleased. Did you build it?

[Lord Sterling]

Much envy here Skiz

 

My Rovers and Merc are currently scattered around a muddy yard waiting to have thier equally muddy area jettisoned of highly grown weeds, a caravan and a Golf GTi.

[Skizzer]

I dream of owning a shed like that. In an ideal world I would park the camper in the back, live out of that and I could just do as I flipping pleased. Did you build it?

Sadly I'm only renting it and didn't build it, but thank you for thinking I might have been capable of doing so

 

It belongs to a friend of a friend, who did build it. Really nice chap with ace carpentry and joinery skills. I'm well impressed with the job he's done - real old fashioned pride in the job. It was derelict when I first saw it but he's taken it down to the slab, repaired the slab, and put an entirely new structure on it.

 

It's not even expensive - miles cheaper than any other industrial unit I could find, even small ones, and a good bit less than six council lock-ups (if you could find six available, which you can't).

 

Well chuffed

[derskine]

I might be swapping my Beetle for a brush painted Hillman Imp, is that totally mental?

I've always really wanted an Imp.

[captain_70s]

Nah, Imp is way cooler. Also brush painting is for winners... and/or people who can't afford to paint their cars properly.

[derskine]

I have a feeling I might be able to upgrade it to a roller paint job as I have previous experience.

[Jim Bell]

Did you used to work at Rolls Royce?

[Cavcraft]

Skizz, that shed is fantastic. Impressed and jealous in equal measures.

[320touring]

the cheeky fuckers at pistonheads binned a link in one of my threads from a while back - saying " dont use threads to promote your blog"

 

fair enough.

 

Wednesday this week they made the thread "Thread of The Day" and presented it as something they'd been involved in.

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/general/totd-inappropriate-drag-racing-cars/32829

[garbaldy]

To be honest I don't click your blog links anyway but enjoy reading your posts when you write them out here. I waste enough time on forums already without adding another to the list.

I don't know how some of you lot do it to be honest my heed would be fried.

[phil_lihp]

That shed is just amazing.  I am a little jealous, I will admit.