The new news 24 thread

[320touring]

good stuff Rob! looks suitably junior management.cav as middle management and senny as the bossmachine:)

 

hope you don't mind me describing you as a gent in the vectra vid;)

[Guest Hooli]

Can't fault that for 175squid

[DeeJay]

..... and we have another baby.

 

 

*please let the pop up headlights work.

 

Is that a euphemism.

[andrew e]

I always though those Vauxhall airbags were well integrated compared to others at the time (except the Mondeo).

[RobT]

good stuff Rob! looks suitably junior management.cav as middle management and senny as the bossmachine:)

 

hope you don't mind me describing you as a gent in the vectra vid;)

Not at all, I've been called worse!

 

I may be chopping in the middle management Cavalier soon though, as there's loads of things need doing and not sure it's worth it sadly. I know of a mint pre-facelift CD auto locally that might be for sale, so I'm quite excited by that prospect. With the Daimler going garage space will be available!

[vulgalour]

That Radio Reiss car is spectacular.

[320touring]

Not at all, I've been called worse!

 

I may be chopping in the middle management Cavalier soon though, as there's loads of things need doing and not sure it's worth it sadly. I know of a mint pre-facelift CD auto locally that might be for sale, so I'm quite excited by that prospect. With the Daimler going garage space will be available!

Whats up wi the cav?

[warren t claim]

I've Sky plussed an entire series of Classic Car Rescue with Bernie and Mario. I feel dirty.

[BorniteIdentity]

Another fucking saga in the 190e.

 

Making hell of a racket on my way to work, pulled over to see what was going on.  Just looked like a small piece of plastic that keeps the HT leads tidy had worked loose.  Too hot to touch but thought "Meh - I'mma Drive 50mph and fix at work when cool".

 

15 miles later it stalls... the distinct aroma of 10w40 and no starty.

 

Look under the bonnet and the timing chain is exposed - the very top end of the engine has become erect and there's a generous coating of Castrol GTX all over the engine and the A421.

 

Just got recovered to work which is hopefully my "place of safety" before the AA then pull it somewhere else.

 

Gutted.

[richardmorris]

I expect you have comeback against the garage who did the work.

[danthecapriman]

Got the Mercury out today after a ball ache trying to get out the driveway (other peoples twatish parking).

Ran perfectly and seems to be really improving with use.

Took it out towards Petersfield on the A3 then decided it was a good idea to try it out the back lanes! It's not good! The size of it makes it really awkward on the narrow back roads, especially when there's someone coming the other way.

I went through South Harting and Compton, which are two small typically English villages with thatched cottages and tiny stone churches, that sort of thing. The big bright green Merc looks so ridiculous in places like that!

Great fun though and it gets such a great response from people too. Everyone looks at it as it goes by and kids love it!

There's a long steep hill on the route too, I absolutely love the sound of the big V8 burbling it's way up the incline. One of the best things about cars like this.

Overall, a good day!

[Parky]

I've Sky plussed an entire series of Classic Car Rescue with Bernie and Mario. I feel dirty.

Bladdy 'ell Mawio!

[Parky]

Changed the oil in the daily today using the Pela.

 

What was wierd is the Pela extracted four litres as per usual, but when i tipped into an old container, it only indicated three litres? I am actually starting to wonder if the four litre cans of Halfords own brand oil actually contain five litres of oil but only have markings that go up to four litres on the container. I am very confused.

 

I put four litres in, and the dipstick is at the correct level. Very strange. Makes me slightly concerned that when I bunged in the whole four litre can last time, had I actually put in five? It's not exactly the Twilight Zone or Tales of the Unexpected but it has foxed me....

 

Mrs P not keen on me utilising her kitchen equipment to check it and to be honest I could barely be arsed to type this yet alone frig about with weights and measures today. Too hot

[dave21478]

Go by what the dipstick tells you and forget everything else.

 

The markings on the side of oil bottles seem to be a complete joke. I was reusing one for something else and getting annoyed with inconsistant results so measured it and the scale on the bottle is bollocks. The marks are equally spaced while the shape of the bottle tapers to a narrow top.

[BorniteIdentity]

Eventually got recovered to work.  Breakdown was 7 miles from work and it took them 90 minutes to get me there.

 

 

They took me to work as a "place of safety" (although I'm not sure I'm completely safe from the boss tomorrow for being late).

 

Recovery agent forgot to tell The AA that I'd need to be pulled home, so two calls to them to sort it out.  The expect to be here about 4:15 to take both the car and I back home.

 

Still absolutely bloody gutted.

[danthecapriman]

Eventually got recovered to work.  Breakdown was 7 miles from work and it took them 90 minutes to get me there.

 

13288609_10153809055288264_2081116600_o.jpg

 

They took me to work as a "place of safety" (although I'm not sure I'm completely safe from the boss tomorrow for being late).

 

Recovery agent forgot to tell The AA that I'd need to be pulled home, so two calls to them to sort it out.  The expect to be here about 4:15 to take both the car and I back home.

 

Still absolutely bloody gutted.

That sucks! A Sierra wouldn't do this to you!

I hope it's nothing serious though.

[BorniteIdentity]

That sucks! A Sierra wouldn't do this to you!

I hope it's nothing serious though.

TBH it looks ugly AF.  I'd imagine that if it isn't terminal, it'd probably be quicker to put another engine in.

 

I'm gutted - it's had about £1200 thrown at it in the last 3 months to get it mechanically A1.  I still have my suspicions that the timing was still not qutie right, and being able to see the timing chain sort of reinforces that.  However, what do I know?

[fordperv]

That sucks! A Sierra wouldn't do this to you!

I hope it's nothing serious though.

A pinto sierra wouldn't, a twincam sierra would shit in your cornflakes the moment your back was turned given the chance

[danthecapriman]

TBH it looks ugly AF.  I'd imagine that if it isn't terminal, it'd probably be quicker to put another engine in.

 

I'm gutted - it's had about £1200 thrown at it in the last 3 months to get it mechanically A1.  I still have my suspicions that the timing was still not qutie right, and being able to see the timing chain sort of reinforces that.  However, what do I know?

Yeah I bet your gutted! That's a lot of money for this to end up happening.

 

It's a shame as the car looks lovely and it's bodily at least in good looking shape. It's got to be worth a recon or at least used engine?

[BorniteIdentity]

Yeah I bet your gutted! That's a lot of money for this to end up happening.

 

It's a shame as the car looks lovely and it's bodily at least in good looking shape. It's got to be worth a recon or at least used engine?

I guess we'll have to see what's happened. It doesn't great but nor is anything particularly out of place.

 

I will ask Senor AA to have a better look when he drops us at home.

 

[richardmorris]

Hope you can sort something.

[BorniteIdentity]

Hope you can sort something.

Thanks for your kind wishes.

 

On quick inspection the timing chain is off and the man reckons bent valves are a certainty.

 

Fucksticks

[dollywobbler]

Can't believe RobT has replaced a tasty Jag with a miserable Astra. Only on Autoshite.

 

Anyway, here's some more Jag action. I'm looking after the Kelsey Media XJS at the moment. Today, I took it to Prescott Hillclimb for a Jaguar Enthusiasts' Club meet. One unfortunate highlight was an E-Type taking itself for a drive, straight into the face of a brand new MINI. Never trust a handbrake! Here's 'my' XJS lowering the tone.

 

This thing is deliciously shabby. The flanks and bootlid are heading for a lovely tone of Pogweasel and the wheels are just absolutely awful. It's had a ton of work done to it over the past year though, including a recon steering rack and rear bush overhaul. Goes well in Sport mode, and handles nicely too! I had two runs up the hillclimb course and lacked the bravery needed to really go for it. Went quick enough though and didn't bin it. RESULT.

 

However, having spent almost the whole of last weekend in the Jag, I must say that I don't like the driving position. For the same reason as the XM. No foot rest for the left foot! The RAV4 has one though, so that's nice. Also nice is managing to average 24mpg in this thing. Not bad.

[vulgalour]

One unfortunate highlight was an E-Type taking itself for a drive, straight into the face of a brand new MINI. Never trust a handbrake!

Nothing of value was lost.

[Noel Tidybeard]

Nothing of value was lost.

 apart from a desirable mini

[Ghosty]

Given the A4's springs a day to settle and the ride height is, er, the same-ish at the front (yay reverse rake ), however handling properties are transformed (removed all original front end on 81k!). Oh, and all four front upper arms were changed too, from a full suspension arm kit we bought a while ago. That'll have helped.

 

Next job is to replace the rear shocks as one of them is absolutely bollocksed, and that'll be done in a couple of weeks when Old Man is paid. Plan is Bilstein B6. 

(I should look for summer work, I've four months to kill).

 

I have to wonder if functioning rear shocks might level the car out, seeing as the back is very low, or if the weird reverse rake is going to be permanent (I think??? A4s are always higher/have a larger arch gap at the front).

From what I've heard standard Audi sport springs are about -20mm when the Apex springs are -40mm, so I don't understand why nothing would happen to the ride height at the front. However Old Man mentioned that the springs looked very similar uncompressed. Hm.

 

Seeing as we currently have foglight wiring but no foglights (lost the foglights when we changed the lights as they're in the headlamp unit on early cars???), we might end up sticking some rectangular aux lights in the bumper's end grille slots where foglights would go on a later car. It's too much effort fucking with 2 different types of mounting bracket to fit a later bumper (with integrated foglights) to an earlier car, and bumpers are £££ because Audi. Seeing as the front bumper is visibly bent and full of filler anyway, we don't care about cutting it up. It's great having a car that you can mess with externally, but is fine mechanically.

[Cavcraft]

I collected this today. 175 quids worth of misery.

 

20160521_191651.jpg

 

20160521_195249.jpg

 

Actually, it's not that bad at all. 5 months MoT and half a tank of pez, and it drives fine. It's a 1.6 LS so looks basic but still gets central locking, PAS and electric front windows. I nearly went for the mingebag tax bracket 1.4, but am glad I got this as it has that bit of extra poke. Cruises quietly on the motorway doing 3000rpm at 70, and has a nice light clutch and easy gearchange. Perfectly adequate!

 

90s base-spec seating material is in good nick. Gopping bloody steering wheel though, and when they changed to the airbag wheel these lost the height adjustableness.

 

 

 

$_57.jpeg

 

 

I love that interior, they're very comfortable. They're my 'arm chair' cars those Astras, I always feel at home in them and would drive one across the world and back without a care if I had to.

 

 

 

That Corsa C I got on Thursday and towed home yesterday has gone now.

[catsinthewelder]

2nd day of mower racing today was fun but our luck can be summed up by

 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gg5yp7h5C2U"frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

We lost the wheel twice and the belt twice coming in last out of 13.

[wuvvum]

It seems to have been a bit of a week for tyres on here.  The part worn for the Saab arrived on Friday, but due to feeling like shite yesterday morning I wasn't able to get it fitted - I'm going to try nipping in before work tomorrow morning.

 

The red Rover once again managed to mysteriously make all of its coolant disappear.  It's very odd - it had gone for weeks without using any, then it managed to lose it all after a two-mile blat round the block.  I got the mother and father of all airlocks when refilling it, but eventually it sorted itself out after I "burped" it - it nommed over a gallon of water but probably spat about half of that back out again.  I took it for a quick blast, firstly to ensure that normal service had indeed been resumed and secondly to test out my makeshift dash cam, which consists of my mobile telephone and a Poundland universal device holder.  The results weren't too bad considering the poor state of the back roads round here, although the phone films in quite high definition which results in massive file sizes.

 

 

All seemed well, so I took the Rover into Norwich this evening, and again it behaved itself (and managed to piss off a tailgating Seat Leon FR, which was a bonus).  Keeping my fingers (and toes, and other bits) crossed for Marham next weekend.

 

Didn't get a great deal else done this weekend.  Did a bit of rattle-can tarting up on the Mk6 Transit, and stuck the Mazda 121 up on ramps to check the state of the underside in advance of its upcoming MOT - found a couple of slightly tender-feeling bits, but it depends how pokey the MOT man gets with his pokey tool.  It really needs a new exhaust flexi too.

[Bucketeer]

. . .  coming in last out of 13.

You weren't last, you were 13th out of the entire field.

 

In me news, I'm heading up the mountains for a while this morning. I have use of a rattly diesel Mitsubishi Shojero SWB to get about with up there. I'm hoping to visit a village market today where I've been told there is an old guy who sells pigs out of the boot of his Moskvitch.