The new news 24 thread

[dollywobbler]

So, having given up on the parking brake for now (a replacement caliper has been sourced), I set about changing the bulb for the clock. I mean, how difficult could it be?

 

Well, it ends up looking a lot like this.

 

Sodding ridiculous! You have to remove the ENTIRE front of the dashboard to change one piddly little bulb. Not just that, you then have to pull the clock apart to reach the bulbs, at which point, various little bits fall out that you then have to spend ages hunting for. Then you realise you have no spare bulbs in stock so you're forced to jump into a Volvo (well, seeing as it's still here) and drive to Halfords, who charge you £2.49 for a bulb little bigger than a grain of rice. ARSEHOLES.

 

Then you reassemble the clock and start refitting the dashboard. Then you notice that you've ballsed it up and got the green tint strip on the wrong side of the LCD display. So you dismantle it all again, drop the little bits from inside the clock again (one went down the side of the seat), spend ages hunting for the little fuckers, then reassemble THEN finally get everything back in. Two days of solid tinkering just to change a caliper slider, discs and pads and a sodding bulb.

 

However, it wasn't yet dark, so some of the fleet got a wash.

 

At least I was able to listen to England doing pretty well in the cricket for once.

[vulgalour]

That XM, for all its French attitude towards  being maintained, is an absolute stunner when its washed.  White 90s French cars are just so right.

[Bren]

Our 13 year old focii is having its MOT tomorrow.

 

WCPGW?

[dollywobbler]

That XM, for all its French attitude towards  being maintained, is an absolute stunner when its washed.  White 90s French cars are just so right.

 

I hate white cars generally, but I must agree. It's a fine looking thing. Covered in scrapes though, which washing it only highlights. There's barely a panel on it that hasn't been bashed at some point.

[Bobthebeard]

The (expensive) replacement rear spring for the Oldsmobile has still not arrived. Canada Post has been overwhelmed by Christmas according to the website. Hmmm. Due mid January.

Anyhow, the rain has stopped today so have been out tinkering with the car. It started up easily after a few damp weeks of inactivity. Ran the engine for half an hour and drove it back and forth on the drive. The interior smelled of damp and the steering wheel cover was a touch mouldy but cleaned it off. Dried out the interior using a fan heater etc. All dry again now.

My dear old mum gave me £50 for Christmas, so have been on eBay sourcing bits of trim, badges etc that are missing or broken. Have almost a full set now, or will have when they arrive. Still not managed to get the boot open but that can wait. Managed to get 5 litres of the proper ATF for £18 and am waiting for the local friendly garage to re open after the festivities to sort out the fluid leak and re fill the transmission.

After much poking about and checking stuff, have decided that this will make a good daily car once improved/restored. Solid old thing with a good heart! Am liking it a lot. These old tech American V6 pushrod engines are great.

[catsinthewelder]

Dan,

 

I'm off up to Durham for new year on Wednesday, if any shitters in Newcastle, Leeds or Manchester have the right bit I can get it back down here in time for you to fit it at the last minute on Sunday night.

 

Here is the views that the Midlands Massive could have enjoyed yesterday.

[vulgalour]

Having a chat about odd christmas decorations and ended up photographing the Squeaky Bus that was always on my late Nan's tree.  It's probably from the 1960s like all her decorations were and it used to make a squeaky noise through the injection moulding hole, it doesn't any more.  Look how sad the child in the third window from the right looks.  That's Christmas Joy right there.  The other side of the bus has windows and whatnot but no decoration or people.

 

 

 

Fun fact, one year this particular decoration was deemed unsuitable (not by me, obvs.) for front of tree status.

[scaryoldcortina]

Dan,

 

I'm off up to Durham for new year on Wednesday, if any shitters in Newcastle, Leeds or Manchester have the right bit I can get it back down here in time for you to fit it at the last minute on Sunday night.

 

 

I'm near durham and have a large bike breakers literally on the doorstep. Let me know exactly what you need and I can probably source it tomorrow.

[plasticvandan]

Honda c90 SIX VOLT engine will be stamped c90e,clutch plunger and spring,part 30 and 31 in this pic

Its a tiny part but without it my bike is dead

[scaryoldcortina]

I'll see what I can do. Is this an old points type (pre cub) 90 you are running? I think I may have a load of random spares for one in the shed somewhere.

[Cheggers]

Had a very productive day down at the boatyard. All the rainwater leaks are now sorted and the cabin is as dry as a bone, which meant I could enjoy* a sweary morning putting all the ceiling panels back up. The afternoon was spent fitting a new bulkhead compass and generally cleaning & tinkering.

[Craig the Princess]

Brought the Clove Brown Metro up to London earlier, fully loaded with presents, food and dog. Needed to make use of the split rear seat, amazing what you can get in a Metro.

 

 

All was going well up the A10 and M11 until just before the drop to 50mph coming into London when the alternator light came on. Then the temperature gauge shot up, we stopped in an authorised vehicles only ramp behind an armco barrier and fortunately I hadn't removed the toolbox and spare belt. 20 minutes later we were back in our way.

 

 

Glad we didn't need to call out the breakdown company, the amount of traffic about I'm guessing the waiting time would have been huge.

So after this the second fan belt lasted 2 days doing Christmas shuttles between various family members in South East London before giving up a quarter mile from the in laws house on Sunday morning. Managed to reverse parallel park without the engine to face it overheating.

 

Fitted the second and last spare fan belt and waited to Halfords opened to try and get a couple of spares.

Not so fast, apparently a fan belt (any fan belt will do) is now an order in part??? So after seeing my Dad I nursed the Metro back via M25/M11/A10 convinced we would expire and need a rescue. But no, it made it fine which was nice. Going to replace the alternator which we think has a failing regulator as it seems to occasionally surge making the lights really bright etc.

 

Today we were unpacking all the Christmas goodies and Beige1100 brought the Rover 414's battery back after charging it up, checked oil and it only started! Right result. No coolent in the expansion tank is a concern and the bonnet catch is seized and needs at least a new cable.

 

[cort16]

When I bought my xr4i it had a Sierra RS badge on it, which it removed and replaced with the original xr4i decal. I didn't have anything better to do with it so I glued it to my PC at work and it sat under my desk for years and forgot about it.

 

My PC was replaced a few days ago and I found it again.

 

 

 

I was visiting my Dad yesterday and stumbled across this (well my Dad told me about it). The house has been sitting empty for 2-3  year and it looks like the last tax disc ran out in 2012 and it's not on sorn.. I did a looked up on it and it is a cosworth. It doesn't look too bad on the face of it it but the door on the passenger side looks like it;s dropped to me, which can't be a good sign. 

[fordperv]

Its a sierra left standing, no doubt it will have rot, if it's too bad "reshell" into 1.8lx,

 

from the look of the rust stains on the bumper I'd say the crossmember is rotten as well

[cort16]

It didn't look hanging but who knows what's under those sill covers..

[Bear]

E320 gone, New Beetle acquired!

 

"NO RESERVE AUCTION. 

TRADE CLEARANCE THE FOLLOWING VEHICLE OFFERED WITH NO RESERVE.

VEHICLE WILL BE SOLD WITH NO WARRANTY IMPLIED OR GIVEN."

 

Well, yes, we all know what those words are worth when selling to a private individual, but I'll play nice. Maybe.

 

2002 VW BEETLE OFFERED WITH MOT TIL 4/10/2016.

 

SERVICE HISTORY WITH SERVICE STAMPS AND DOCUMENTED,05/02 PDI, 05/04 12453, 01/06, 11/07, 08/09 48867, 09/12 76404, 06/13 86867, 03/15 108168. 

 

If random scrawls count, sure.

 

NOW FOR THE NEGATIVE SADLY THE VEHICLE SUFFERS FROM CONDENSATION DUE TO LACK OF USE, HAVE TRIED TO CLEAR SUNROOF DRAINS [GLASS SUNROOF CONDENSATES BADLY].

 

HAHAHAHA!

No, the vehicle suffers from BEING FULL OF FUCKING WATER because some incompetent twat replaced the sunroof cassette without sealing it, and left off the sunblind, and forgot to wipe off the scrapyard markers, then didn't do anything about WATER PISSING INTO THE CAR.

 

This is really a master understatement...

 

OVERALL THIS CAR DRIVES WELL AND IS IN TIDY CONDITION

 

It does drive well. Admittedly one balljoint or OS wishbone bush is bad but it sounds good, pulls well, gear changes well. Which is why I didn't run away, however...

 

A sill with filler flaking out, lacquer peel roof, broken console, broken/missing trim parts, fucked radio, MOULD EVERYWHERE, lights adjusted by Marty Feldman, white indicators and side repeaters... Methinks 'tidy condition' is pushing it a bit. I fucking hate traders sometimes.

 

11 owners. Some appear to be related. I think some vandalism in the past, hence sunroof cassette. Now on the hunt for interior parts whilst the poor thing dries out, but - mould and stink aside - I think it's alright

 

More tomorrow when I've had a chance to clean up.

 

 

[fordperv]

It didn't look hanging but who knows if there's anything left under those sill covers..

Fixed that for you, joking aside it doesn't look 3 bad, give it a wash and sell it with some omgrscosworthtax driveway find not barn

[HH-R]

Sounds like it's on the road to omgratlook so just take a Dremel to the paintwork and you're done!

[wuvvum]

Just got back from visiting friends & family in Somerset and Devon.  655 miles in 3 days in the Project Drive Rover.  It nommed 75 quid of pez, which I work out to be almost exactly 40 mpg - not brilliant, but then I had a mo' fo' of a headwind all the way down, plus my parents and their luggage, and north Devon is quite hilly.  It also drank about a pint of water - not bad for a hard-worked kettle over that sort of mileage.  One minor annoyance is that a small section of the outer rubber seal on the driver's door window is missing, which leads to a bit of wind noise at speed, but other than that and having to replace a rear indicator bulb before leaving, the car behaved impeccably.

[Bear]

Attacking the Bugs in the Bug. I think I found four new species of fungus.

 

Seriously though, how can someone manage to break EVERY bit of trim. Centre console, buttons, gimps (that's the rubber filler parts), tops... it's like, someone systematically went through breaking each part just a little bit. Even the little light that shines on the cupholders.

It's cleaning up, slowly, though. And looks a lot better for losing the stupid Betty Boop stickers and strange black line on the rear bumper. Of course the door protectors were hiding damage.

Dashboard slowly getting cleaner, Carpets are going to be hard work.

[vulgalour]

Actually looking forward to seeing the clean up and damage on this one as I've never really had a proper look at one before.

[cort16]

Fixed that for you, joking aside it doesn't look 3 bad, give it a wash and sell it with some omgrscosworthtax driveway find not barn

Given no one lives at the house and the whole place looks untouched I've no idea how I'd go about getting.

[fordperv]

If there's no way of contacting the owner and it is definitely abandoned, People have done it in the past by applying for a log book, like this fella

 

http://passionford.com/forum/general-car-related-discussion/62326-the-escort-cosworth-that-cost-me-450-a.html

[Pillock]

That only gets you as far as being a keeper, not an owner. There was some example of a bloke applying for logbook, restoring an old car, took it to a show and the original owner went "oooh thanks for sorting my car out, can I have the keys please?".

 

If you go down that route, you're best off not telling ANYONE about it, lob a personalised reg on it, and obscure the VIN if it goes to a show.

[worldofceri]

An unexpected spell of blue sky coincided with me having a couple of hours to kill the other day, so I thought I'd investigate the leak from the Saab's sunroof.  It's been a bit leaky since I bought it nearly a year ago but through the summer it didn't seem to matter too much as it would drip onto the passenger seat when it rained but then quickly dry out again.  However it's getting worse and the passenger footwell carpet is now sodden so a remedy is urgently required before the floor disappears (it might have already - daren't look).

 

 

J_Dog_Dyane, the previous owner, told me the sunroof didn't work so I haven't so much as touched the switch til this week.  I prodded it experimentally and to my mild surprise there came whirrings and tickings although no movement.  Electrical tape had been stuck over the join twixt sunroof and roof but was clearly not keeping water out, so I ripped this off.  Underneath was some sort of black sealant which I prodded dubiously; there was a faint squelchy sound and water bubbled out.  Methought the sealant might actually be harbouring water rather than keeping it out.

 

 

Tentatively I began scraping the black gunge out.  Not sure if it is some sort of proper sealant or what, but it was for the most part hard and brittle, not pliable as one would expect, and it came out easily in most places as there was indeed water trapped between it and the proper rubber seals.

 

 

The problem with not being able to open the sunroof was that I couldn't check if the drains were clear, so I decided I'd have to drop the whole sunroof cassette.  This was easy because: no headlining!  I undid about half a dozen bolts; enough to drop the front down a couple of inches.  Wrestling the rubber drain tube off and blowing through confirmed this wasn't blocked.  Returning to the more stubborn bits of black gloop, I discovered - by accidentally leaning on it - that I could raise and retract the 'roof by hand (albeit to the sound of the teeth being pinged off some cog or sprocket or other).  This allowed me to confirm that the drain outlets were definitely not blocked and also revealed the state of the inner seals, wherein, I reckon, lies the problem.

 

 

Where the sunroof cassette bolts to the roof there is a seal which is kind of soft and squishy rather than rubbery.  This was dried out and pitted with flakes of rust.  Basically the roof where the sunroof bolts up has gotten the tin worm.  The only remedy I can see is to drop the sunroof totally and clean the rust up to give a nice smooth surface for the seals to sit against.  However, by this time I was being given a five minute warning that I was required to be sociable with some Christmas guests, so I quickly cleaned everything up as best I could and rubbed a bit of teak oil on the seals in the hopes it will restore a bit of their suppleness.

 

Having bolted the lot back together and left if for a few days it does seem a bit better; just the occasional drip which I can live with temporarily.  I'll hopefully have a burst of enthusiasm before long and get it sorted properly, although that will require a couple of days of guaranteed fine weather, so I may just end up going shopping for more black gunge and electrical tape...

[Angrydicky]

Sierra Cosworths don't get abandoned without reason. I reckon either a very expensive MoT or mechanical failure, a sad story involving the death of the owner, or the owner is away spending time at Her Majesty's pleasure.

[Bear]

Beetle progress:

I have found caulk on everything. Caulk on rear windows. Caulk on wiring boot, on sunroof drains, on window channels, in the gutters, covering the outlet for the drains.

 

Removed the drain hoses. They should be a straight downward run connected to the outlets on the cassette.

They're folded over with a permanent kink and have never been connected.

 

How the fuck does anyone reach the stage of caulking everything and ripping bits of the interior out without checking that first?!

[Eddie Honda]

That only gets you as far as being a keeper, not an owner. There was some example of a bloke applying for logbook, restoring an old car, took it to a show and the original owner went "oooh thanks for sorting my car out, can I have the keys please?".

 

 

Only thing I can remember in recent times was this case in Ireland involving a XK120 (there may be other cases)

 

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/man-who-spent-40k-restoring-car-declared-owner-by-judge-1.2244370

[Pillock]

I'm sure someone can full in the gaps as it was on here I read it.

 

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

[DeeJay]

 I've never really had a proper look at one before.

Richard, cunning plan.

Buy stardrops. bucket Q.tips and scrubbing brush.

Drag Mr V to your gaff.

Hand over newly acquired items. 

You get clean car and Mr V gets a proper look at said  car.

2 happy people.