Project Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- A good start to the day followed by disaster.

[Shirley Knott]

43 minutes ago, Tickman said:

How's the house?

All done obviously....

Miles off being anything resembling done.

As time goes on I'm realising that things will never truly by 'finished'. At the minute it's a constant campaign of restoring timber window frames in-between a miriad of other esoteric old house issues that need to be addressed. 

I really should update my 'house' thread TBH. It's been a while and there's been a fair amount of progress/changes/*hilarious issues.

 

[Shirley Knott]

Busy week with the Clio and the V70 preparing for the forthcoming onslaught of winter road salt (They're 17 and 24 year old cars respectively so need all the help they can get)

Monday- Both undersides jetwashed and a decent run out to dry off.

Wednesday- Wire brushing and Jelonite rust converter where needed.

Yesterday- Waxing the bejesus out of them both with Dynax UB fed through my new (And incredibly impressive) compressor at 80psi.

[danthecapriman]

I suppose it’s that time of year again!😣

Looks a nice job though, it’s something I need to do on my 740. How’s the compressor going compared to using the aerosols?

[Shirley Knott]

47 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I suppose it’s that time of year again!😣

Looks a nice job though, it’s something I need to do on my 740. How’s the compressor going compared to using the aerosols?

Way better.

It belts the product out really well and not having to keep tilting cans to get them to work makes it much less frustrating. Also 5l of UB comes in at under £50, the equivalent volume in aerosols is nearly double that, so over a couple of cars it basically means the compressor is free (Or at least that's what I've allowed my man maths to tell me)

[Erebus]

That looks great.  Very interested to see how it holds up over winter.  Was the Lanoblack you previously used not much good?

[Shirley Knott]

53 minutes ago, Erebus said:

That looks great.  Very interested to see how it holds up over winter.  Was the Lanoblack you previously used not much good?

Looked great upon application but all gone very quickly- Much like lanoguard I suspect, really easy to put on but needs reaplying every 8 weeks.

I've used UB many times in the past, it's much tougher but none of these products are 'fit and forget'... Honestly I think that's where people go wrong with them, they ALL need reapplication and none of them last indefinitely. 

[danthecapriman]

Have you ever used the tins of brush on Dynax? 
I’ve been looking at that for the Volvo instead of aerosol’s just for doing the floor pans, chassis, wheel tubs etc. it looks very thick though!

[Shirley Knott]

3 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Have you ever used the tins of brush on Dynax? 
I’ve been looking at that for the Volvo instead of aerosol’s just for doing the floor pans, chassis, wheel tubs etc. it looks very thick though!

Yep.

The brush on stuff is an entirely different consistency and takes much heating.

Honestly,  it's horses for courses but brushing it on is a universally miserable experience for anything other than small sections.

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Shirley Knott said:

Yep.

The brush on stuff is an entirely different consistency and takes much heating.

Honestly,  it's horses for courses but brushing it on is a universally miserable experience for anything other than small sections.

😄 screw that then!

Ive only used the big aerosol cans on my cars and they are a pain in the arse at times to get them into small spaces. Being so big you constantly knock them on things as you’re trying to spay too. 
It’s a bugger really as I haven’t got a compressor. Maybe it’s time to change that.

[Shirley Knott]

41 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

😄 screw that then!

Ive only used the big aerosol cans on my cars and they are a pain in the arse at times to get them into small spaces. Being so big you constantly knock them on things as you’re trying to spay too. 
It’s a bugger really as I haven’t got a compressor. Maybe it’s time to change that.

What you must ask yourself is given how useful they are, at under £100 delivered, can you afford NOT to buy one?

[Shirley Knott]

Bit of a catch up here. New car in, 10/11/25. 

Mrs Knott had been nagging for ages for a newer vehicle with four doors as she's apparently fed up of having to move seats forward to allow our offspring in and out (Its a hard life eh) 🙄 

Enter Peugeot 107 (Aygo really)

Bit of an interesting one. 2010 reg, only 37k clocked up (good) but had been stood for the best part of a year not being used (bad). A southern car and one of the cleanest I've ever seen underneath. Virtually spotless after a jet wash.

Impressed. 

I promptly ruined all of that by covering the underside with several coats of Dynax UB.

New discs and pads fitted as the old ones were a bit past their best even by my relaxed standards.

Followed this up with a service. Oil, filter, plugs, air filter. 

It immediately thanked me by bursting its radiator.  New radiator fitted.

Not impressed.

Polished the bejesus out if it and waxed it.

Impressed.

Next step, pre-emptively replaced all of the rear light seals with uprated items and removed the rear bumper to seal around the rear vents in an attempt to avoid the inevitable boot leak that these are plagued by.

Wait for it.... Still FKN leaks.

Not Impressed. 

This brings us up to date. It hasn't let me down in any massive way *yet, but it'll take another few months before it's earned my full trust.

 

[danthecapriman]

Crikey, that little Pug looks mint! You wouldn’t believe it’s the age it is.

Funnily enough, I was watching a video on YouTube of a big scrap yard in Liverpool or somewhere and they shredded on of these. The interesting thing was, when they flipped it over to rip the fuel tank and CAT out it showed very clearly where the rot spots were! It was absolutely rotten. The area directly behind the front wheels and directly in front of the rear wheels were brown with rust. Definitely worth concentrating some wax in and around there on these cars.

It always amuses me when people say, ‘southern car’ does it make a lot of difference then?

[Shirley Knott]

I always tend to buy cars in part led by their condition underneath (I know, I probably should get out more/look into getting a better hobby).

Yep, these are absolute rot boxes and almost invariably it's what sees them get bailed. Everything else is cheap and easy to fix. Just as you say, behind front wheels as well as rear beam and beam mounting points seem to be the problem areas in addition to sills.

I've taken a view with this one that in effect I've bought it to obtain a rust free shell. All of the mechanical bits are just nuts and bolts, even replacing an engine/gearbox isn't prohibitively expensive or complicated. 

RE 'Southern cars', IMO its not important with vehicles that aren't predisposed to rust (French stuff, Volvos too).... but.... with Japanese cars/Ford's etc,  the 300+ mile difference seems to have a massive impact on how much road salt is used and what they end up like (Bearing in mind this is just my personal experience, Im sure there'll be plenty of exceptions )

 

[danthecapriman]

5 minutes ago, Shirley Knott said:

I always tend to buy cars in part led by their condition underneath (I know, I probably should get out more/look into getting a better hobby).

Yep, these are absolute rot boxes and almost invariably it's what sees them get bailed. Everything else is cheap and easy to fix. Just as you say, behind front wheels as well as rear beam and beam mounting points seem to be the problem areas in addition to sills.

I've taken a view with this one that in effect I've bought it to obtain a rust free shell. All of the mechanical bits are just nuts and bolts, even replacing an engine/gearbox isn't prohibitively expensive or complicated. 

RE 'Southern cars', IMO its not important with vehicles that aren't predisposed to rust (French stuff, Volvos too).... but.... with Japanese cars/Ford's etc,  the 300+ mile difference seems to have a massive impact on how much road salt is used and what they end up like (Bearing in mind this is just my personal experience, Im sure there'll be plenty of exceptions )

 

When I hear ‘southern cars’ I always think of the American thing with California cars and rust free desert cars😄.  
I can’t say I’ve ever noticed the difference in salt to be honest, but I’m a southern softy! I know Scottish cars are much more prone to rot.

Those Pug’s and the Toyota/Citroen versions do seem really simple little cars. It’s just a pity about those rot spots. Are the shells not galvanised or anything?

[Shirley Knott]

9 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Are the shells not galvanised or anything?

Honestly IDK.

What is clear is that whatever they did with them in terms of corrosion protection was not a great success 😆

[AxWomble]

6 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Crikey, that little Pug looks mint! You wouldn’t believe it’s the age it is.

Funnily enough, I was watching a video on YouTube of a big scrap yard in Liverpool or somewhere and they shredded on of these. The interesting thing was, when they flipped it over to rip the fuel tank and CAT out it showed very clearly where the rot spots were! It was absolutely rotten. The area directly behind the front wheels and directly in front of the rear wheels were brown with rust. Definitely worth concentrating some wax in and around there on these cars.

It always amuses me when people say, ‘southern car’ does it make a lot of difference then?

Can make a huge difference. I was checking out a Dacia on Autotrader the other day - hadn’t noticed the reg but spotted that lots of the fittings were corroded (in a way I don’t see down here in the SE, even with decade old cars)  and it set my spidey senses off as a Scottish car. Sure enough, SH plate, Glasgow registered. 

[AxWomble]

6 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

When I hear ‘southern cars’ I always think of the American thing with California cars and rust free desert cars😄.  
I can’t say I’ve ever noticed the difference in salt to be honest, but I’m a southern softy! I know Scottish cars are much more prone to rot.

Those Pug’s and the Toyota/Citroen versions do seem really simple little cars. It’s just a pity about those rot spots. Are the shells not galvanised or anything?

Galvanising is just a sacrificial layer on the steel - once it’s gone, it’ll rust just as happily as anything else. In high impact areas around the arches, especially without proper liners, you’ll get rust eventually whether or not it was galvanised.

 

Folks always harp on about Sevel vans (Ducato, Boxer, Relay, Dispatch, Expert, Scudo) being galvanised as a selling point - but the truth is that they’ll rust like anything else will if neglected for long enough. Road salt is like a grit blaster on the underside of a car, it’s a miracle the Citybugs last as long as they do! 

[Shirley Knott]

Today started well with a clean sheet pass for the 107.

It got better again transporting two seven foot christmas trees home on the now 25 year old V70. Wholesome stuff.

After this things went downhill rapidly.  Unbeknownst to the rest of you I'd sold Mrs Knotts £450 Clio of excellence to @BorniteIdentity who turned up bang on time, was incredibly pleasant, spirrited it away with no drama and also was a complete gentleman about what was to follow...

Frustratingly by the time he'd reached Thirsk it started  to have some issues with steering coupled with its first ever (To my knowledge) EML to boot. Whilst it did get him home (Relief) this is obviously not ideal and also a bit of an embarrassment. 

Long and short of it- Hopefully it's something quick/cheap/easy to put right,  if not, I'll sort it/something out from my side. 

Le sigh.