The new news 24 thread

[barrett]

Went to pay for the Regal today and see if I could get it going well enough for the 12 mile drive back. No battery obviously! I can at least confirm that it has an engine and I reckon it will go without too much effort. The throttle sticks open but helpfully the engine cover has been removed so you can just knock it off at the carb. And I can fit in it, which is lucky.

 

Also had a serious sounding enquiry about the Dyna. The chap wants to drive it back to Carlisle... WCPGW?

[stuboy]

Sat in waiting for virgin media engineer whom was supposed to be here 1 to 6pm... bored out of my head kept raining as wanting to do bits to mondeo..and cut down my clothes rail and weld back up.. sat indoors pi55ing about doing nothing..

[Kiltox]

Hermes are the most incompetent bunch of cunts known to man. It seems my local driver can't always make it to my house with a parcel so just puts down a failed delivery attempt without even fucking trying

 

Just had a vendor contact me because Hermes aparrently tried to deliver my MX5 steering rack today despite no card being left and someone being in all day!

[coalnotdole]

Dave and I have had a busy weekend fitting the upgraded brakes to the GTE, inevitably some of the time was spent doing some much needed servicing jobs to the front suspension which after 5 years and many thousands of miles of use was due an overhaul. So trunnions, upper fulcrums and Many bushes / seals have also been changed. I've modified the lower wishbones to have grease nipples as the old trunnions bolts were very dry.

 

The front shock absorber bushes had also seen better days....

 

 

I've also fitted the anti roll bar with uprated droplinks, New and old comparison:

 

 

Dave has turned down the spacer nuts to suit the geometry of the GTE.

 

 

 

On the car:

 

 

 

I've also fitted uprated stub axles which I hope will reduce pad knock back, I bought these from the USA after seeing them used in this crazy coupe rebuild: http://www.scimitarweb.co.uk/sgwrs/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=10292 I've fitted new old stock Timpkin bearings bearings as well.

 

 

my photos are a bit crap as they dont show the central spacers but you can see them better in this advert by the manufacturer :

 

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tonydrews.com%2Fparts%20for%20sale%2Fspindle%20flyer.JPG

 

The following photos show the vented disks p, I've also had new dust shields made in stainless just because! I do sort of wish I'd had them polished though...

 

 

 

The calliper goes on:

 

 

 

With pads fitted, I've put nos mintex's in to begin with I'll see how they go but may try some ebc green stuff pads in the future but wanted to keep the pads standard to begin with.

 

 

 

The drive to work today has suggested that the pedal feel is much improved, Hopefully the pads and discs will be nicely bedded in for the MOT on friday...!

 

Joe

[doobietoo]

MILs Dog had to be put down today at the ripe old age of 14, MIL and MrsD are in bits and I am more than a little sad. This I have realised is the down side of having a pet.....

[nigel bickle]

Chris , is 'like' appropriate here?

 

Lost my third recently - sorry for your loss. Hurts, doesn't it!

[OwdChina]

I'll be back in England for a couple of weeks as of Monday the 4th........... Real beer, proper roll-up tobacco, fish and chips and football,,,,using the feet,..... oh yes.

 

There is a downside though, because of the ridiculous mark ups and other added on costs of car rental in the UK, which I and at least one other forum member ran into last time we were "home" ( remember Clangers rant last year ) , it looks like my hard earned is going to British Rail and public transport...........the joy.........oh well.

 

Note to self : Must renew UK driving licence from paper one.

[Matt]

Here's a good case to not replace the Swift with the XM; 70 MPG. 9 MPG better than the listed figure!

 

[AlabamaShrimp]

That's the plan in the long term. Then I can have a Cherry Europe to play with. A 1.7 16v boxer would be a lot of fun in one!

I'm a bit confused by this. Aren't they technically different cars? I mean I know the arna and cherry look the same bit I thought the Italian one was different?

 

Saying that I don't understand this reshelling thing as to me it's totally different car (even if exactly the same) with another ones trim and stuff stuck to it. With sounds like legal ringing to me.

[Craig the Princess]

There is a downside though, because of the ridiculous mark ups and other added on costs of car rental in the UK, which I and at least one other forum member ran into last time we were "home" ( remember Clangers rant last year ) , it looks like my hard earned is going to British Rail and public transport...........the joy.........oh well.

Where are you going to be? Are any local shiters with a spare car able to do an AS rental?

[MarvinsMom]

I'm a bit confused by this. Aren't they technically different cars? I mean I know the arna and cherry look the same bit I thought the Italian one was different?

 

Saying that I don't understand this reshelling thing as to me it's totally different car (even if exactly the same) with another ones trim and stuff stuck to it. With sounds like legal ringing to me.

this is what i thought this also,

 

that the nissan cherry, and the cherry europe/arna looked vaguely the same, the cars were in fact utterly different?

[Ratdat]

I'm a bit confused by this. Aren't they technically different cars? I mean I know the arna and cherry look the same bit I thought the Italian one was different?

 

Saying that I don't understand this reshelling thing as to me it's totally different car (even if exactly the same) with another ones trim and stuff stuck to it. With sounds like legal ringing to me.

 

Yes and no. They are based on the same floorpan but from the windscreen forward they are different under the skin although the outer panels are the same. The Europe also has a different rear panel to accommodate the different tail lights. It'll be my rusty Europe that gets fixed using the N12 shell as a metal donor (mainly the rear quarters and doors and possibly the roof skin). It's a long way off though happening though as I've got three and full restorations the finish first!

[holbeck]

Car fettling today, Audi jump starts the BMW out of Hibernation

 

[The Moog]

Here's a good case to not replace the Swift with the XM; 70 MPG. 9 MPG better than the listed figure!

 

How did you get that!

[AlabamaShrimp]

Yes and no. They are based on the same floorpan but from the windscreen forward they are different under the skin although the outer panels are the same. The Europe also has a different rear panel to accommodate the different tail lights. It'll be my rusty Europe that gets fixed using the N12 shell as a metal donor (mainly the rear quarters and doors and possibly the roof skin). It's a long way off though happening though as I've got three and full restorations the finish first!

OK ta. I know I should come up with a more in depth answer and ask more questions but I can't think of any

[Lacquer Peel]

Here's a good case to not replace the Swift with the XM; 70 MPG. 9 MPG better than the listed figure!

 

Half the MPG, 10 times the comfort.

[Matt]

How did you get that!

 

I'm not totally sure as I've never seen it that high! I guess it was because there wasn't much traffic, no wind and I was paying more attention than normal to throttle position and gear in relation to terrain and road layout. Thin soled shoes make it easier too. Shoutout to the ScanGauge II, really neat device.

 

Half the MPG, 10 times the comfort.

 

I know, proper dilemma.

[Cheggers]

Subjected the SL to the twice-weekly commute today, returning 27mpg over the 150-odd mile round trip. For comparison, the Murano struggled to do 20.

 

Therefore, applying man maths, my decision to buy a 3.5 litre convertible GT has its basis in sound economics

 

 

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[vulgalour]

Started sorting through the invoices for the Rover and so far I'm up to nearly £750.  That doesn't include the purchase price.  Erm... oops?

[The Moog]

 

 

Shoutout to the ScanGauge II, really neat device.

What is this magic gauge?

[Matt]

What is this magic gauge?

 

It's a LinearLogic ScanGuage II. It does a fuck ton of stuff so is fairly expensive as a result (£113) but I think the ScanGuage E is cheaper with less functions. I've already wrote about it in my blog so I'll just link it:

 

https://thirdlanemotors.wordpress.com/2016/01/27/scangauge-ii-the-fuel-saving-device-that-works-and-does-lots-more-besides/

[Tayne]

So is that cabled directly to the OBD2 port?

And how is it mounted?

[derskine]

I fixed my 360's non working fuel pump by wiggling the fuel pump fuse connections.

After I had bought a new pump.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Opened the boot to the Fiesta this afternoon and found a bag and the floor wet. This isn't normal so pulled the rubber off

 

 

Proper wet inside and has made the edge of the boot expand permanently betting the metal in the seal

 

 

I'm hoping that darker mark on the rubber meant I had the bag stuck when I last shut the boot and this isn't going to be a regular thing.

[Matt]

So is that cabled directly to the OBD2 port?

And how is it mounted?

 

It comes with a nice lengthy cable that plugs into the OBD2 port and terminates on the other end with an RJ45 (Ethernet) connector. The device itself has a port on the right hand side and one on the back too easing a tidy installation. My suggestion is to buy a spare cable that way you can neatly hide one away under the dash and then you've got another in the event that you need to use the code reading function on another car. They come with a pair of sticky back velcro pads but you can buy a window sucker mount from them. I've only seen it on their US store for about $20 but I'm sure they'll ship it happily. The first one I bought had a dead motherboard and the sent a new board out FOC with no fuss. 

 

So far as I know they work in virtually any cars with OBD2 (so anything after 1997) although I think some Subaru's don't like them. Fuel pressure isn't reported in a lot of cars but whatever.

[The Moog]

I have ordered one with rebate from xantia insurance.

[Cleon-Fonte]

Started sorting through the invoices for the Rover and so far I'm up to nearly £750.  That doesn't include the purchase price.  Erm... oops?

 

If that were me that would be the total on each invoice, never mind all of them together. I sit here in admiration of your cheap motoring skillz.

[Matt]

I have ordered one with rebate from xantia insurance.

 

Nice one! It's not unheard of for people tweak their driving habits and find alternative, more efficient routes that end up saving them more than the purchase price. The more regularly you drive the same route the better it'll be. One of the neat things that it's taught me is under what conditions the ECU in my car cuts fuel delivery so I'm learning more and more places that I can coast using no fuel at all with the instant MPG at 9999. For example there is one hill that I would go down in third that would show an average of about 200 MPG all the way down but it's taught me that if I use second I'll go down slower but with the ECU delivering no fuel at all.

 

Set one gauge to instant MPG and another to average MPG then it's just a game of trying to keep the instant higher than the average. Another gauge set to throttle position can teach you how little throttle you need in certain circumstances to maintain speed.

[vulgalour]

I sit here in admiration of your cheap motoring skillz.

I thought it was rather a lot to spend on a £275 car that's worth maybe £500. General opinion seems to think otherwise. Perhaps I am doing this Autoshite thing right after all.

[Matt]

I thought it was rather a lot to spend on a £275 car that's worth maybe £500.

 

You just have to try and not look at it that way. My cars worth about the same but because I'm a nerd and track my fuel stats I know I've spend nearly £1,500 fuelling the thing over the last three and a bit years. Spent about it's value on repairs last year and more than half that the year before.