The new news 24 thread

[EssDeeWon]

Bournes Green....

 

Better to be pushing a Maestro than driving past in an Aldi 

[Angrydicky]

Yep, Bournes Green! Fortunately not far from home. I drove to Basildon and back this morning in the Somerset and it was fine, then later I got as far as Bournes Green (about three miles) and it just cut out. Never known such a sudden and unexpected breakdown before, especially with nothing obviously wrong.

[EssDeeWon]

My yellow SD1 used to do that when the dizzy was on its way out... But once it had cut out once it was fine for the rest of that day.....until the next time you used it.

 

First time it happened IIRC I was on Manners way near the airport roundabout.

[HMC]

Q. What's green and fizzes when wet

 

A. An Alfa 166 ECU for the indicators when a tired heater matrix dribbles coolant on it from above.

 

Deep in the dash earlier....

I've got a replacement from a scrapper and the word on the alfa forums seems to be that k seal and bagging the various ecus under the heater matrix is the way forward. At least it's not the automatic- that ecu is stuffed down there too and when it dies often so does the car.

 

Edit- image rotated left- you can make out the drip of coolant from above if you zoom

Meanwhile the MOT is a month away, the dmf (at least I think it's that) is rattling like a bastard and the belts are overdue.....

[For Fiats Sake]

I ordered a tow bar for the Maestro so I could get a trailer tent or similar for shitefest.  Turns out it's actually special order and could take up to 7 weeks to make.  Now cancelled the order.  I have a tow bar for the old 4x4 panda but it requires some bodywork taking off the doner to fit it and I wouldn't know where to start with the wiring.  The 4x4 is pretty gutless as the carb setup is crap and only manages 60mph on the motorway and is much happier at 50, which is why I was having a 1242cc fire fitted.

I think I'll go back to plan A and bring the tent in the Maestro.

[Lacquer Peel]

Between work shifts this afternoon I changed the cambelt on the 106 diesel in bang on one hour, from driving in to driving out of the garage.

 

The book times on the TUD5 seem to be about half that of the XUDs!

 

Is there more room between the timing belt and inner wing on the 106? The XUD would be easy enough if there was more access to it.

[phil_lihp]

Meanwhile the MOT is a month away, the dmf (at least I think it's that) is rattling like a bastard and the belts are overdue.....

 

On the other hand, it still looks quite fabulous.

 

Fingers crossed for the MOT, you've looked after it so hopefully it will reward you.

[drum]

eBay purchase Allegro suspension thingies arrived today.

[Jim Bell]

Huddersfield Volvo Breakers came and dragged the S80 away. Left me with £360.

 

Went to eBay.

 

Spent £311 on the first non desirable conveyance that presented itself. Weekend collection thread to follow.

[dugong]

Huddersfield Volvo Breakers came and dragged the S80 away. Left me with £360.

 

Went to eBay.

 

Spent £311 on the first non desirable conveyance that presented itself. Weekend collection thread to follow.

Forgive me, but what happened to the S80 for it to be scrapped?

[Jim Bell]

Gear box failed. Suddenly and reasonably spectacularly. Price of a new or reconditioned gear box was unaffordable and nobody else wanted to buy an S80 with a broken box, though I offered it round. The breakers were the only people that showed any interest.

[cms206]

Nothing exciting unfortunately; been doing rail replacement out of Carlisle recently and saw a V-reg 5-door Pride outside a car dealers, minty fresh on Dumfries plates. I really need to get mine back, I forget how terrifying it is to throw down a back road flat out.

[320touring]

Nothing exciting unfortunately; been doing rail replacement out of Carlisle recently and saw a V-reg 5-door Pride outside a car dealers, minty fresh on Dumfries plates. I really need to get mine back, I forget how fun it is it is to throw a car you don't own down a back road flat out.

EFmy A

[254575]

I ordered a tow bar for the Maestro so I could get a trailer tent or similar for shitefest.  Turns out it's actually special order and could take up to 7 weeks to make.  Now cancelled the order.  I have a tow bar for the old 4x4 panda but it requires some bodywork taking off the doner to fit it and I wouldn't know where to start with the wiring.  The 4x4 is pretty gutless as the carb setup is crap and only manages 60mph on the motorway and is much happier at 50, which is why I was having a 1242cc fire fitted.

I think I'll go back to plan A and bring the tent in the Maestro.

I have a towbar and wires you can have for gratis, I took it off a Clubman D.

 

i also have an official maestro roof rack, to complete that rat-rod look 

[plasticvandan]

Yep, Bournes Green! Fortunately not far from home. I drove to Basildon and back this morning in the Somerset and it was fine, then later I got as far as Bournes Green (about three miles) and it just cut out. Never known such a sudden and unexpected breakdown before, especially with nothing obviously wrong.

who the fuck drives a 60 year old car and not even have a plug spanner on them? lol

[MarvinsMom]

mini is now MOT'd, taxed and road legal.....

 

HAPPY DAYZ!!

[HillmanImp]

I must be bored.

 

I have just worked out that if I am to put 20 litles of fuel in the Jag for next week it would cost me exactly an extra £1 to use the garage a mile away from my house compared to the cheapest in the area.

 

If I was instead to drive to Sainsbury's which is an extra 2.19 miles away it would cost me an exra £1.02 in fuel both ways because my MPG is so eye wateringly bad at the moment for some reason*.

 

 

*I think the reason is that I worked it out instead of just ignoring it.

[JohnDeere]

For long and complicated reasons I keep removing the trim panel under the steering wheel on the Disco. It's just clipped in so dead easy to pop out. Unfortunately each time I do, the metal trim clips ping off into oblivion somewhere deep inside the inner workings - and the little bastards are £2 a pop (JLR totally take the piss on parts prices, and I haven't found them anywhere else).

 

I was quite pleased with this bodgetastic solution involving a piece of thread and sellotape:

 

[Guest Hooli]

The franken-goona has fucked up again, the same fault with the throttle again.

 

Pretty convinced it's the new ECU having a dry joint or something, too coincidental that the fault appeared with the ECU.

[explosive-cabbage]

Is there more room between the timing belt and inner wing on the 106? The XUD would be easy enough if there was more access to it.

Yes, there isnt much more space, but slightly more.

The job is sped up by the fact there are only 2 cambelt covers rather than three, and you dont have to remove the top engine mount for acess. Plus the timing and tensioning is done at the same time by loosening off the cam and fuel pump sprockets anbd putting pressure on the tensioner, so much easier!

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I got a new electronic distributor for the Rover. Unfortunately it only works when it isn't in the engine. If I pull it out of the block and turn the drive gear by hand, I get big, juicy blue sparks. If I bolt it back into the car, with the wiring completely unchanged, nothing. 

 

I think the engine may be turning too slowly for it, but I don't have any way of testing this hypothesis. It certainly doesn't sound like it's turning slowly, and the points setup never had any bother. 

 

It's driving me crazy. 

[panhard65]

Took my £600 MG Midget for mot today. It failed but only on a dodgy light switch. Typical as I bought a windscreen for it last week as I expected it to fail on that at least.

[Cavcraft]

If mine passes that easy I'm going to buy everyone on Autoshite a pint.

[andy18s]

If mine gets out the garden in 1 piece I'm going to buy everyone on Autoshite a pint.

EFA

[320touring]

How was everyone's drive home?mine was fuckin exhaustin..

 

this is why you should only buy touring e30s

[BorniteIdentity]

Goodbye 20x8 greenhouse.

 

You're stopping me from hoarding more shite... So today I must fell you.

20160416_075102.jpg

20160416_080135.jpg

 

Jeez.

 

So it took the bloke about 14.8 yonks to deconstruct the greenhouse.  I thought I was doing him a favour with a free greenhouse for his allotment, he thought he was doing ME a favour with free disposal, and everything just seemed to take an age.

 

Anyway.  Finally done.  Jewsons arrived with the gravel I didn't want.  Long wait time on the right stuff.  Then they wouldn't reverse up the 40 foot driveway because...well... I don't know.

 

So I had to manually move 3 metric tonne's of gravel by hand up the drive.

 

Anyway. Done.

 

 

[billyboy406v6]

Took my £600 MG Midget for mot today. It failed but only on a dodgy light switch. Typical as I bought a windscreen for it last week as I expected it to fail on that at least.

ebay 584.jpgebay 584.jpg

I scrolled down and thought this was cavcrafts latest adventure !!!

[Guest Hooli]

The franken-goona has fucked up again, the same fault with the throttle again.

 

Pretty convinced it's the new ECU having a dry joint or something, too coincidental that the fault appeared with the ECU.

 

Update, fixed for free again!

 

See the franken-goona thread for more french shittyness

[Angrydicky]

who the fuck drives a 60 year old car and not even have a plug spanner on them? lol

Well, there definitely was one in the tool box in the boot, but it must have been pinched to do a job on another car and not put back. We can't all be perfect.

 

Anyway it's fixed now, it was the condenser. The whole distributor came off my Cambridge and that condenser has done 23k with me on two cars and was probably 20 years old when I bought the Cambridge. So not a bad innings.

[dollywobbler]

I did wonder if it might be condenser. That was clearly an old one if it lasted that long! Do yourself a favour and go points-assisted!