The new news 24 thread

[Craig the Princess]

On quiet motorways I rather enjoy seeing lane 2 ditherers shuffling back into lane 1 after high speed lane 1-3-1 overtaking

 

/\ This, with returning to lane 2 earlier than normal.

 

Also I think I can admit this here, I undertake cars in lane 3 in lane 1 if both lanes 1 and 2 are clear.

[myglaren]

Twice today I came southbound on the A1 for only around five miles and the plethora of idiots was astounding.

You would think lane 1 was a prohibited area.

[Shep Shepherd]

Twice today I came southbound on the A1 for only around five miles and the plethora of idiots was astounding.

You would think lane 1 was a prohibited area.

 

The southbound stretch between Leeds and Peterborough was execrable today, as was the southbound M11

[Wilko220]

Apologies if this is a pearoast, but just a reminder to anyone interested that this event takes place in my neck of the woods on Wednesday:

http://www.classicsonthecommon.com/index.php

Usually a nice afternoon/evening if you like that sort of thing...

 

Me and Gary will be there in the Simca, parked next to Seth in either the Herald or Minx. Come say hi if you see us!

 

I'll keep an eye out!

[vulgalour]

@Barrett: congrats on the new purchase, look forward to reading all about that.

 

@skizzers: Barrett's right, you know, you could do a lot worse than that white Princess that's up for grabs. I'd have it myself if I could because it's such a bargain with the amount of spare stuff it comes with.

[dollywobbler]

I've decided that it's time to move the BX Mk1 on. Yes, the fabulous, prize-winning shed is for sale. The Mini is still also for sale. I'm getting nowhere with the fleet at the moment really, so it's time to consolidate - and I don't mean in an Ocean Finance way.

 

It's tricky with the BX, because I really want it to go to the right person - someone who's going to actually get it sorted. The Mini I'm less bothered about. It someone wants to turn it into a Cooper replica or whatever then go for it. Just give me cash! The Mini will probably go on Ebay shortly (after an appearance in one of the weekly classic rags - the one that doesn't have weekly in the title) but I'm not sure what to do with the BX. Do I just flog it to anyone who's got the readies?

 

I've decided it makes more sense to get rid of the Mk1 and focus on getting the Mk2 in better shape. The Mk2 already drives beautifully and is solid in quite a few places (but definitely isn't in others).

[Guest]

Shame that Ian as I thought you had done so well with the mk1 - but needs must etc. Cant understand why the Mini has not gone though the market must be bad.

[cort16]

I got the TR7 into my garage last week after moving the Rover out and back to the house. The garage is a double plus a bit but for reasons no-one can explain it' s about a foot to short to get a normal sized car in straight on. You can't for example get an E46 3 series in but luckily TR7's are nice and dinky so with a bit of a re-shuffle I managed to get it in straight on but it's still quite tight. It does however give me a whole spare garage space which gives me loads of space for working on stuff.

Now it's in I decided to remove the burst window winder mechanism and have a look. It came out okay and there's a few teeth missing, which I should be able to fix with a bit of weld and some fileing. While I was at it I whipped the broken seat out (it looks like it's been welded about 14 times before) then got the carpets up and started poking around. It's mostly okay but there's a couple of grim bits right under a cross member and a hole at the front under the pedals. Lucky I just bought those spot weld drills.

[rml2345]

Might've written the Yaris off on a wet roundabout earlier...

Bumhats...

[dollywobbler]

Battery seems to have randomly died on the 2CV. Bother.

[cms206]

Classic insurance on the shonkiest Volvo on the planet: £200.18

Classic insurance on the Senator which isn't entirely rotten: £501 on the nose

Normal insurance on the Senator which isn't entirely rotten: £976

 

(UPDATE: Senator now insured for £330. Admiral were reportedly "surprised they couldn't be more competitive").

 

Also been offered a J-reg 50k mile Volvo 440GLE hatchback for an extremely low amount of coin... Anyone interested?

[warren t claim]

Battery seems to have randomly died on the 2CV. Bother.

 

[John F]

Battery seems to have randomly died on the 2CV. Bother.

 

 

 

[dollywobbler]

Sadly it looks like an earth failure has let the voltage regulator cook the battery - and possibly the regulator itself. I did try the starting handle! No dice. I always find with the 2CV that it'll be fine for months (sometimes years) and then shit-loads goes wrong with it all at once. Meh. S'pose a 602cc peasant wagon with 189,000 miles on it can't be expected to be perfect.

[Pete-M]

The eggy smell is normally a giveaway that the battery has been set to 'fry'.

 

Many moons ago I was driving the shoddiest Lincoln Town Car limo in the UK when it fried the auxiliary alternator voltage reg on the motorway. The little opera lights down the sides lit up spectacularly and then started blowing left right and centre. The new auxiliary battery swelled by about a third and gave off some truly noxious sulphur fumes. Halfords, to give 'em their due, replaced the battery under their 12 month warranty, but I suspect that if it hadn't been their youngest spotty oik walking the battery aisle there's no way they'd have replaced it. The casing was badly swollen, cracked down one side and stank.

 

I just wish I could have seen the majesty of the utterly fucked Lincoln being thrashed down the M62 from the outside. Those little opera lights looked like someone had fitted a load of little xenon units instead of wanky filament jobs. They were lighting up both the central reservation and hard shoulder pretty well, it must have looked like something from Close Encounters.

[garycox]

Random conversation at work earlier:

 

"Gary you've got old cars"

"Er Yeah"

"My friend's got an old car, it's been in the garage 12 years, she's selling the flat and wants rid of it, any suggestions?"

"What is it, does she want to sell it or scrap it or what?"

"Dunno, it's green. And small. I think she just wants rid of it, she probably won't want much for it, might even be free."

"I'll have it - as long as it's very cheap, or free"

 

So - I may have agreed to have a non-specific small old green car that's been unused since the last century.

[wuvvum]

Random conversation at work earlier:

 

"Gary you've got old cars"

"Er Yeah"

"My friend's got an old car, it's been in the garage 12 years, she's selling the flat and wants rid of it, any suggestions?"

"What is it, does she want to sell it or scrap it or what?"

"Dunno, it's green. And small. I think she just wants rid of it, she probably won't want much for it, might even be free."

"I'll have it - as long as it's very cheap, or free"

 

So - I may have agreed to have a non-specific small old green car that's been unused since the last century.

 

[cobblers]

I predict

[Guest]

[cms206]

[dollywobbler]

The good news is that the 2CV's electrical system seems ok. The bad news is that the battery is f*cked.

 

The chaps and chapesses on the 2CVGB Forum came to my rescue. I went into town earlier and utterly forgot to get any distilled water. However, the nice folk on 2CVGB suggested that any freezer or dehumidifier should be chock full of distilled water - condensation in other words. Ker-ching! My dehumidifier still had plenty of water in it, so I topped up the battery. With a LOT of water. Eep.

 

Got the 2CV started on the handle (eventually...) and it was charging at a sensible rate - 14.6v. Took it for a run, turned off at the top of our driveway (there's a reason for this...) and the starter just clicked. Arse. Rolled down the drive (forward thinking!) and bumped it so I could park it back up easily. So, I've sort-of got a working car again. I'll have to order a new battery but at least nothing else appears to be amiss. The battery has been fitted since at least 2006 and this is the first time I've checked the levels...

[vulgalour]

I'm wondering if it's brave or foolish to expect the Princess to serve me for commuting if I land a job that isn't in Chesterfield (for which I would catch a bus). I'm looking at a 10-20 mile daily commute for most of the jobs I'm applying for and the Polo won't be ready probably until next year, it's all got a bit involved. I don't really want to commute in my own car, I want to reserve my cars for pleasure rather than drudge, but perhaps commuting to work in a 70s barge is just the ticket to keep whatever job I do end up with interesting after the honeymoon period of reliable income?

[mk1_4dr]

MOT passed, tax bought, car broken down.

 

Typical, but its not broken my spirit (yet...)

[Shep Shepherd]

Received TV2's refurbished ABS module in the post this afternoon. That's the car's most pressing (not to mention most depressing) issue sorted out. Another big old Volvo saved from the crusher, or at least from being sold on for peanuts to an unsuitable new owner

 

I also received a can of TR-3 Resin Glaze car polish from a friend in California, a product which I have heard great things about, specifically its ability to revive oxidised paint, but which isn't available in the UK any more*:

 

 

Despite having polished The Volvo (with Mer) this morning and it looking quite good as a result, I was so eager to try the TR-3 out that I did the whole car again (what's that they say about mad dogs and Englishmen?). If anything, the car ended up even shinier - I was astounded/gratified by how much muck (presumably ground-in dirt and oxidised paint) was on the application cloths when I'd finished. Time will tell whether the polish will provide long-term protection for the paint, but I'm quietly confident that it will.

 

I can't wait to apply some to TV2's paintwork

 

 

 

 

* I recall that it was advertised on TV over here in the mid-1980s by Mr. T

[Cavcraft]

I hope it's like this

[dollywobbler]

I'm wondering if it's brave or foolish to expect the Princess to serve me for commuting if I land a job that isn't in Chesterfield (for which I would catch a bus). I'm looking at a 10-20 mile daily commute for most of the jobs I'm applying for and the Polo won't be ready probably until next year, it's all got a bit involved. I don't really want to commute in my own car, I want to reserve my cars for pleasure rather than drudge, but perhaps commuting to work in a 70s barge is just the ticket to keep whatever job I do end up with interesting after the honeymoon period of reliable income?

 

In my experience, older cars are fine - as long as you have back-up. They can be prone to a few more niggles than newer cars, but are often easier to fix if any niggles do arise. Chuck electronic ignition (or at least points-assisted - my current favourite) on it, carry a spare coil and service it. Once upon a time, all these old shite cars were 'modern' cars that did daily duty all of the time. It's mainly age related things (corroded electrical contacts etc) that count against them. I combat any reliability issues by owning at least two cars.

[vulgalour]

Buy a back up Princess, you say? Okay, that sounds reasonable

[garycox]

The Simca is VERY BROKEN.

 

It decided to lose all it's oil on the M25 and now the engine's knocking like buggery.

 

 

FUCKSAKES.

 

Got a lift back home on the back of an RAC truck, dumped it in a street near my house, it'll be there until I decide what to do with it.

 

As a result I now have ZERO working cars (technically the Maestro's working but the MOT's expired, so I can't use it).

 

Also I have NO money, so I can't even afford to fix anything.

[Negative Creep]

The Yugo (yeah, remember that?) should be getting some new sills on Friday. Yay, progress!

[trigger]

Progress today, My old Motorcraft distributor has been playing up recently on the Cortina, It turned out my Vacuum advance unit was knackered and i wasn't able to source a new one, a few pm's to scaryoldcortina highlighted that i was better of swapping the unit for a Bosch one as that was a better unit.

 

I sent these guys Ignitionland a message over on ebay and he came back saying that he could do me a new unit for £49 or with their Ultra Spark electronic ignition (basically Accuspark) fitted for £69 delivered.

 

This sounded bloody cheap, especially as the ignition unit alone is £35 so i decided to order it Monday afternoon, yesterday morning it arrived, It is brand new, all set up very neatly, all you have to do is just bolt it in and wire and time up.

 

This afternoon i popped over my dads and we managed to fit it without to many issues, It now runs perfectly and i don't have the splutter anymore when accelerating and i ticks over really sweet.

 

I really recommend these now for that kind of money if anyone is thinking of the same conversion, this is their website http://www.ignitioncarparts.co.uk/Default.aspx

 

Sorry no photos as I forgot but you know what a dizzy looks like.