The new news 24 thread

[Bucketeer]

Noooooooo Rich, not now. I want your Cherry more than I want my legs.

Swap for some legs?

 

 

EDIT - Just re-read that. 'I want your cherry' probably wasn't the best choice of words.

[RayMK]

My 205 automatic is in for its first MOT in my ownership. I know it needs a new master cylinder (pedal slowly sinks to the floor) but I'm prepared to pay to keep it going as I rather like it.  Fixing it myself was an option until I thought about faffing about in the cold - between showers.  I have not dared to take the Reliant out recently because the prospect of a long walk home does not attract me. Meanwhile, the Stellar has been the daily driver for the last few weeks.  Of course, now that the Peugeot is away on MOT, the Stellar's front wheel bearing has started growling.  It is getting noisier by the mile - started yesterday.  This could leave me with just the Tipo by mid week.  Apart from its 20amp clock which flattens the battery in 2-3 days, it appears to be running well.

[Ghosty]

MR2 on Pirelli P-Slots?! 

Nice.

[Barry Cade]

No collecshun fred I'm afraid, no piccies either, but a mega shiter weekend has just ended. The Volvo was sold on Monday, and the search begun for a caravan, a towcar and a Panda.

 

Caravan was found first, on Ebay, In Durham. A nice 2 berth Swift- looked good in the pics and a nice layout. Collection arranged for Saturday afternoon. The towcar hunt was on seriously,as it had to be ready to head South to collect said caravan. I browsed, bought local papers, local low end traders, but found noting I fancied. As time went on I made the decision I wanted back into a Saab, which had to be an estate for the dogs,and had to have a towbar for the caravan. I'm not a huge fan of the 9-3, so a 9-5 it was to be, not Diesel and preferably auto. One was located on Gumtree up past Dundee, and an Email was fired off- simply saying- "Hi, is the Saab still for sale?" A reply came quickly, "Well, I still have it but have no V5" No thanks.

 

One caught my eye on Ebay as a Buy it Now. A bit more than I wanted to pay, no towbar, but perfect spec- 185bhp Turbo auto SE, leather etc. I looked and kept looking but kept being drawn back. The more I looked and read, the more this one spoke to me. I bit the bullet and pulled the trigger..... Mail fired off, "Can I collect Friday?"  Reply came- "Sorry, busy- how about Saturday?".  Dagnab it, says I, and fired off another mail asking if it would be possible in any way to get it Friday sometime, reply says "yes, OK, but you have to be here 5.30 Sharp"

No probs, says I- I'll be there, cash OK?  Sorted.

 

The plan then was to get Mrs Cade to drive me over in the Zafira, and bring the Saab home. I now needed a towbar sharpish, to be fitted late Friday night/Saturday morning. Ebay suppliers were quoting delivery Tuesday, so spookily, I found a genuine Saab removeable towbar on Gumtree, Livingston. An Email was fired off.... Yes, still have it, yes, collection on Friday evening would be fine, 6.30 ish? No problem.

 

Caravan sorted, towcar sorted,and now towbar sorted, ma heed was buzzin.  Fired up Gumtree again and checked "favorite searches" and my chin hit the floor. Panda Eleganza, Cocktail Blue, 1 owner,low mileage. Phone was grabbed and dialled, and the deal was done there and then, car sounded as new, guy owned a MINT Stag, and even had a ramp in his garage at the side of the house. Collection? Friday evening, location? Lockerbie....

 

So, Friday went something like this for Mrs Cade and I. Zafira to Kirkcaldy train station. Train to Waverly. change for train to Falkirk,cahnge for train to Cumbernauld. Quick sausage supper, then a taxi to the Saab. Stops outside house and find 3 silver Saabs in the drive, guy is a die hard Trollhattan man. Test drive, paperwork, then jump in to head to Livingston to collect towbar. Towbar collected but find 2 important brackets are missing..... no choice, plenty money off and jump back in Saab to head towards Lockerbie. Arrive in Lockerbie around 9 to find the mintiest,funkyest Panda I've ever seen, and the brilliant couple,after coffee and biscuits and a look/listen to the best Stag I've ever seen, made sure we left with a load of paperwork,a genuine dog guard, a genuine boot liner a Haynes manual and a genuine Panda, a soft toy one. As well as a huge apology that sometimes, very occaisionally, the central locking doesn't open the drivers rear door first try.

 

Back up the M74,over to Fife and bed, after checking Upullit website to check for 9-5's with towbars, of which there were 2, 1 with rear end damage. Up at 7.30 on Sat, along to Upull it and removed the required brackets from the rear ended 9-5 estate, a little bent but straightenable and avaliable.... - the other one wasn't there..Home, bumper off mine,brackets fitted with much fiddling,electrics hooked up and all put back together, a bit behind schedule.

 

Finally, myself,Mrs Cade, Starsky and Rosco piled into the Swedish load lugger and headed all the way down the A68, arriving in Durham after 4 to collect caravan, drove around a but and found NO campsites that were open, we all bedded down for the night in a truck stop near Bamburgh. Cracking sleep then back North this morning to finally have a wee rest.

 

Phew.

[stuboy]

Not been using my car but before op i redid wheel inserts and touched up some chips... went to see some friends in sittingbourne and outside there house she kerbed nsf and this morning kerbed the nsr..

 

 

 

Grrrrr

[Honey Badger]

Been given a free Astravan!

 

It's a 99 Astra G with 78k on the clock, it will have a years ticket and it's only had one owner from new. I think it's a 1.7TD sport model with alloys in resale silver.

 

It's my stepfather's old company van which he has used for pottering off to the allotment for the past 8 years, so it needs a good clean as the inside stinks of fags but the rest of the body is really tidy. I pick it up at the start of May when the new Pug 3008 turns up.

 

It needs some sound deadening putting in it and a ply floor with some carpet but apart from that I cant see anything wrong with it.

 

Happy days.

[wuvvum]

Just completed the first two legs of my journey to the US (Stansted to Dublin then Dublin to Heathrow - don't ask). On the BA flight from Dublin I was sat behind Stella Price off of Corrie (also Cindy Beale off of Eastenders back in the day). Next leg is to Chicago in the morning - night in the Heathrow Travelodge beckons.

[John F]

one oil leak - fix it

 

lol... I've never heard of a Land Rover with only one oil leak.

[Supernaut]

lol... I've never heard of a Land Rover with only one oil leak.

One oil leak. The entire vehicle.

[Supernaut]

Think I have a buyer for the Gaudi. I've accepted his offer.

 

Tiny bit less than what I would have liked, but during the test drive the ABS judder at 15mph reared its head again, and the handbrake on it ain't great. Meh, I can sell the winter wheels / tyres separately. Somebody will really need those seeing as the sun has just come out! Bugger.

 

At this point, I'm getting almost what I wanted for it, I won't argue over £50, and then I'm back down to one car, and one set of tax / insurance bills, and I can shove the 6 years' NCD on the Omega's insurance too.

[captain_70s]

Doloshite is stuck midway across my drive with a duff battery, if I could start the bastard life would be much easier but the fuel filler lock is stuck and the key is mangled and bends like butter. Any tips on how to get one of these off?

 

 

[tooSavvy]

1/4" >> 3/8" >> 1/2" drilling, prappsss?

 

TS

[dave21478]

I re-roofed this old building at the bottom of the garden today.

 

 

There is an open section across the front that I thought would be big enough for the wee cars.....its kinda short though, they are only just in there.

I have a dose of wriggly tin left over from other projects so when I can be arsed I might make a sticky-outy bit to provide more shelter.

 

Whatevz.....its better than shitting up the garage and this way with them side by side its easier to get one out. When they are in line Sods Law says the one you want is always at the back.

 

 

The Metro is like "My own space? just for me? AWESOME. Im going to piss on the floor so that Italian cunt knows whats what. Dont want him encroaching on my side."

 

That will be yet another coolant leak, then.     

[dave21478]

Doloshite is stuck midway across my drive with a duff battery, if I could start the bastard life would be much easier but the fuel filler lock is stuck and the key is mangled and bends like butter. Any tips on how to get one of these off?

 

 

Hammer a suitably sized flat bladed screwdriver in there and force it round with a pair of pliers or an adjuster or something. Takes a fair bit of force, though. 

[MarvinsMom]

I re-roofed this old building at the bottom of the garden today.

IMG_20160314_173330.jpg

 

 

There is an open section across the front that I thought would be big enough for the wee cars.....its kinda short though, they are only just in there.

I have a dose of wriggly tin left over from other projects so when I can be arsed I might make a sticky-outy bit to provide more shelter.

 

Whatevz.....its better than shitting up the garage and this way with them side by side its easier to get one out. When they are in line Sods Law says the one you want is always at the back.

 

IMG_20160314_173320.jpg

 

The Metro is like "My own space? just for me? AWESOME. Im going to piss on the floor so that Italian cunt knows whats what. Dont want him encroaching on my side."

 

That will be yet another coolant leak, then.     

 

austin metros.like austin mini's dont leak, they just like to mark their territories.

[HH-R]

The Panda makes the Metro look tiny! Trick of the camera?

[MarvinsMom]

doubt it, even when new the metro, like its older brother the mini, was tiny when compared with its contemporaries.

 

but they were also pretty much the same size inside, again in the best traditions of BMC.

[omegod]

Park up 306 for a few weeks all is fine, come back to it with a snapped front spring....how?

[Kiltox]

Park up 306 for a few weeks all is fine, come back to it with a snapped front spring....how?

Had the same with a Picasso

[dave21478]

Yeah, I was surprised with how much bigger the Panda is. 

[320touring]

Cracking views coming out of Belfast tonight!

 

superb

[John F]

captain_70s, on 14 Mar 2016 - 4:53 PM, said:

Doloshite is stuck midway across my drive with a duff battery, if I could start the bastard life would be much easier but the fuel filler lock is stuck and the key is mangled and bends like butter. Any tips on how to get one of these off?

 

Try a selection of suitably-sized keys, screwdrivers, lolly sticks etc. in it, the BL locks of that era are truly appalling & will not have improved with 3 or 4 decades of use.

 

And get a new key cut before your one snaps

[Barry Cade]

Spent the whole day cleaning the newly purchased caravan. Roof was green so set about scrubbing. Broke the workmate thing I was standing on, then fell off the wheely bin twice. After I'd finished the roof, my neighbour popped his head round and said "If you need my ladders, just take them"  Hmmm. Cleaned up nice though, and everything is now fettled and working properly, even made myself a cup of coffee with the whistling kettle on the cooker. Felt like I was on holiday

 

Tomorrow I'll get stuck into the Saab. Repair the radio/trip computer display, fix the heater flap motor and give it a good clean. Taxed it. That hurt.. first time I've paid road tax on a daily in 2.5 years.

[LC Torana]

Doloshite is stuck midway across my drive with a duff battery, if I could start the bastard life would be much easier but the fuel filler lock is stuck and the key is mangled and bends like butter. Any tips on how to get one of these off?

 

Step 1.

Buy a spray can of WET graphite lubricant.  Spray it into the keyhole, and around the inner barrel as best you can.  Leave for 24 hours, reapplying at least once.

(Don't use WD40 or 3-in one oil.  These will work, but will be no good for the lock in the long term.)

 

Step 2.

Get a new key cut.  Fresh metal will be harder.

 

Step 3.

Insert key, turn with pliers.  Be careful not to snap the key.

If it won't budge, re-spray with graphite and try again later.

[vulgalour]

Hammer a smaller filler cap over the top of it.

[plasticvandan]

overslept this morning because of that * thread

[michael t]

Stumbled across this on FaceAche earlier, some incredible cars there and lots of chod too, would love to know where about in Ireland this is....

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.479852342224350.1073741898.243401289202791&type=3

 

 

 

 

[stuboy]

Bored waiting in for postman... missus said i had to rest... but legs killing me so decided id get on with soldering and heat shrinking some wire for led idea i have

[oldcars]

Spent the whole day cleaning the newly purchased caravan. Roof was green so set about scrubbing. Broke the workmate thing I was standing on, then fell off the wheely bin twice. After I'd finished the roof, my neighbour popped his head round and said "If you need my ladders, just take them"  Hmmm. Cleaned up nice though, and everything is now fettled and working properly, even made myself a cup of coffee with the whistling kettle on the cooker. Felt like I was on holiday

 

Tomorrow I'll get stuck into the Saab. Repair the radio/trip computer display, fix the heater flap motor and give it a good clean. Taxed it. That hurt.. first time I've paid road tax on a daily in 2.5 years.

What did you use on the roof of the caravan? I do mine once a year, hate the job but the green always comes back.

[xtriple]

I have beaten an 'expert' today! Yesterday the spurt told me my stereo was fucked beyond repair and I need to hunt for a new one. After spending most of the afternoon talking to breakers, dealers and other experts, I had got precisely nowhere!

 

So today I raved the head unit out of the car and took it to bits. In a few minutes I had sussed what was wrong with it (tiny connector thing soldered on to one board that attaches to another had broken away. Seeing it was one thing, getting at the sod quite another!

 

But, I got the thing all apart and took it to see a mate who repairs computers for a loving, and while these 8 joints were properly sodding tiny, he did it in less than five minutes. Getting it all back together was a right faff and I couldn't get the cassette player back in for love nor money. I struggled for ages and was terrified of breaking one of the wires, computer chips, connectors and then, it just dropped in! Oh, and I HATE miniscule little screws when I haven't got a magnetic screwdriver!

 

But, all back together, plugged back into the car and .... success.

 

I guess the expert isn't that good at soldering as he obviously could have seen what was wrong with it if I could, he just didn't fancy trying to do these tiny connections. So, the 're-build' on the head unit was money well spent (not)!

 

However, I shall continue to hunt for another head unit as this one is showing its age, and the radio is shit and the cassette player even more so but I only wanted the CD player and that's what I've got. Also, according to the hi fi forums (who knew such a thing even existed?) these old Alpine units are the dogs danglies and worth good coin (not what I wanted to hear) and are popular in 'sound off' for their 'rich, creamy' sound!