What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread

[DodgeRover]

Just watching Coast Australia. Neil Oliver did a bit on the Robe South Aus. bowling club. One of the little old grey haired bowlers hopped in her car to go home. A 1975 Holden Torana SS V8 with what sounded like not much mufflers. Her comment "it's grunty but a bit noisey". That made me grin !

I hope someone has told her they aren't cheap anymore, I regret not buying an SL/R 5000 when I could afford one .

[Roobarb]

Check out the small print!

[SiC]

Well it got you to take a picture and share it, so looked like his marketing trick worked!

[somewhatfoolish]

The cost of a Simca Vedette today in NZ  is GBP 2500, but it looks quite solid and the engine is likely to be recoverable. This has been on sale for YEARS.

 

456079131.jpg

 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/specialist-cars/other/auction-1536582362.htm?rsqid=6fd5aa9145ef45a1b9ea06921356e20a

 

 

Are gallic flathead v8s that undesirable in NZ? Or is it just fucked?

[xtriple]

I have just had a snowball fight with the dogs, strangely, I won!

 

 

 

These were after I used the snow in the bonnet/roof/bootlid as ammo....

[Pillock]

Australians looked at pickup racing, with fibreglass bodied spaceframed V8 monsters, and thought "That's a bit dull, mate".

 

So they added jumps.

 

[320touring]

Australians looked at pickup racing, with fibreglass bodied spaceframed V8 monsters, and thought "That's a bit dull, mate".

 

So they added jumps.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB02Gd_yC_g

Not quite - Robby Gordon of that there NASCAR developed the series - properly good to watch!

 

"3 wheelin's a good feelin'"

[Pillock]

I stand corrected! All the races I could find on YouTube were in Australia

[320touring]

I stand corrected! All the races I could find on YouTube were in Australia

Yeah it's not that heavily promoted, but it's great:)

[SierraMikeHotel]

Went to a thing today with my wife's old schoolfriends and their partners.  I've only met them at our wedding, which was of course a very brief introduction, so didn't really know anyone.

 

Finished up with the other husbands and boyfriends, cue much chat about cars and various other hobbies.

 

The real grin was when my wife came to find me and said, "Are you *still* talking about cars?"

 

Guilty looks from all of us until I piped up and said, "We've talked about planes and trains as well... we're just talking about cars again now."

[Spottedlaurel]

The Camry made some friends today:

 

This frequently-seen, elderly-owned Bonus had appeared next to me when I came out of the supermarket.

 

 

And the other local Camry estate owner paid me a visit to purchase some parts.

 

In non-car news, a mystery cat (not ours) was playing "What's the time Mr Wolf?" with rabbits out in the field today:

 

[bramz7]

I saw three Peugeot 104s today in Lille. Pretty happy with that.

 

Old car report: plenty of crud on the go but you have to go to the iffy parts of the city to see a lot of it.

Happily Sunday mornings in France still seem to break with the sound of knackered old vans going to market.

[drum]

Morning dog walk

[davehedgehog31]

I usually drive the motorway into work, a ~35 mile dirge of selfish fuckwits in their leased white Audi's. Despite my work being in a very scenic location, just minutes away from the shores of Loch Lomond, it's a miserable drive with not a lot to see.

 

Today I thought I would try the back road again, I've not driven it much over winter owing to the weather and the terrible condition of the road itself. What a pleasant surprise this morning, they've been hard at work resurfacing most of the bad patches.

 

A lovely bright, crisp morning here and I enjoyed a relaxed drive into work through stunning scenery at the foot of the Campsie Fells. It's about 9 miles or so shorter and was actually quicker without slaloming potholes. Result. 

[155V6]

[catsinthewelder]

I bought a little arc welder in very good condition before christmas from the very nice Eddie Honda.  It got in the way around the house for a few weeks before Ms C demanded that it was rehoused in the shed.

 

A few weeks later I decided to use it,  traipsed down the garden to find the shed unlocked and no welder.  I was quite pissed off that it had obviously been nicked before I'd had chance to use it.  I came close to reporting it stolen in case it was found at a burglars but didn't as I have been meaning to get some home contents insurance and a report of crime might increase the price.

 

I've just found it,  hidden behind a pile of her tat in the dining room.  I remember putting it there now and grinning that I would get away with hiding it there for ages as she never did anything with all that shit 

[Eddie Honda]

I've just found it, hidden behind a pile of her tat in the dining room.

LOL! (You share a similar storage system to me.)

[CanaryinManc]

Grump and grin today. Finally got back to work on the A40 Somerset as my sciatica improved so now mobile again and nice day.

 

Replaced blown head gasket (twice) last Autumn (didn't realise my new solid copper gasket needed to be annealed) but today still had a fuel drip from pump outlet to sort out.

 

Grump is at the long dead Austin designer who positioned the fuel pump outlet in such an inaccessible position that none of my ring, open ended and adjustable spanners would turn the pump outlet connector by more than about 20 degrees due to fuel pump, manifolds, engine, engine mounting and carb all being in the way.

 

Eventually managed to remove fuel pipe by alternating 4 spanners of various types and sizes to find I'd left a washer off the fuel pump outlet to fuel pipe connector when I last re-assembled the engine after the second head gasket change. New washer installed then a further hour using the same 4 spanners in alternation to tighten it up again. Might have been quicker to take off carb, manifolds etc.for a third time for access but just couldn't face it,

 

Engine started after some churning (luckily battery fine after 3 months without use) then out for a test run and battery charge.

 

Grin was very enjoyable drive, even though South Manchester at school chucking out time, sunny dry day, car driving well and no more fuel dripping.

 

Next job: change gearbox for the one I had rebuilt last year so we can have synchromesh on second for the first time since car bought in 1990. 

[eddyramrod]

^Need to see this at some Lake District events this summer!

 

My Grin today: it's my wedding anniversary, 20 years today.

[CanaryinManc]

Congratulations on your anniversary. We reach 20 years this year.

 

What Lake District events are you referring to? We normally go to Austin Counties Car Club National Rally in June (West Yorks this year) and have been to Tatton Park Classic shows in the past.

[danthecapriman]

^Need to see this at some Lake District events this summer!

 

My Grin today: it's my wedding anniversary, 20 years today.

Happy anniversary!

[eddyramrod]

Congratulations on your anniversary. We reach 20 years this year.

 

What Lake District events are you referring to? We normally go to Austin Counties Car Club National Rally in June (West Yorks this year) and have been to Tatton Park Classic shows in the past.

Congratulations to you too!

 

A few to go at (I can PM details of any that tickle your fancy)

28/5: Rampside, Barrow

17/6: Grasmere

15/7: Retro Rendezvous, Ulverston

12/8: Grange-over-Sands

 

Plus monthly meets at the Lakeland Motor Museum and Walney Island.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Saw an old Fiesta today. Reg number ABC 123

 

Ratio of car value / plate value?

[robinmasters]

When I was little I went for a piss once and it came out bright red! It’s quite shocking when you see that and you start fearing the worst.

It turned out it was the masses of pickled beetroot I’d been wolfing down earlier that day! I used to love the stuff.

 

Solved the red pee mystery but god knows what all that vinegar was doing to me.

I did the same. Gave myself quite a scare, but it seems hilarious now.

 

 

Saw an old Fiesta today. Reg number ABC 123

 

Ratio of car value / plate value?

To me? 1/1, with both being worth the square root of FA.

[Pillock]

Old Fiesta like a mint Mk1 Supersport, or old Fiesta like a widemouth Mk5 with the filler cap rotted out, patchwork sills and the drivers door frame bent out of shape?

[Joey spud]

 

 

 

Been playing with this old Supra the last couple of days.

 

Ever since my Son has owned it the brake pedal has had way too much travel and it felt like the rears were not doing anything so it was booked into a "Jap car Specialist" and left with them as a fill in job to sort out the poor brakes.

Fast forward a few months and the Toyota still had useless brakes and guesses of faulty master cylinder or servo were being mentioned so it got dropped off to me for a look.

 

I quickly tried bleeding it the old fashioned way with a bit of hose submerged into some brake fluid in a "pop bottle" while an assistant pumped the pedal but it made no difference to the long pedal,so i splashed out £14 on a Vacuum brake bleeder off of Ebay and although it bled the front calipers fine the rears were full of air or not pulling any fluid at all.

 

It was getting a bit annoying now but then i noticed the rear calipers are handed with a big R or L on each one.

This was my Eureka moment.

The calipers had been fitted to the wrong side of the car (upside down) and because of this the bleed nipples were below where the brake hose entered the caliper so you had no chance of getting trapped air out of them and a decent pedal.

 

With the calipers fitted up the right way it took seconds to correctly bleed thru and get a solid pedal.

 

Not sure how much my Son has spent with the "Specialist" but i think they're going to be getting a call.

[catsinthewelder]

Am I being stupider than normal or is that a photograph of some kind of paint sprayer connected to the brake bleed nipple of a hover car?

[The Moog]

Vacuum bleeder

[dave21478]

Its a vacuum brake bleeder. Im more concerned with the total lack of shroud around the fan.....thats asking for finger removal.

 

Lovely car though.

 

 

 

edit - too slow

[Joey spud]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Van-Brake-Bleeder-Bleeding-Fluid-Change-kit-Air-Pneumatic-Garage-Vacuum-Tool/222226693667?epid=1481169910&hash=item33bdbe3e23:g:BXcAAOSwZVlXuwPG

 

One of these.

It works really well but you do need a good constant 80psi of wind for it to do its job.

 

 

Every now and again i get a run of small Fiats that have broken their plastic clutch slave cylinder to clutch arm operating rods allowing the piston/seal to pop out the end of the cylinder.

It's easy to use a bit of studding to replace the plastic rod but they can be a sod to bleed out at the side of the road so i am hoping this toy will save me some roadside grief.