The Current Driveway...

3,867 · March 1

The Surf is back in action btw, NOS throttle position sensor fixed it, and even liberated a few extra horsepowers!

36,996 · March 2

What's the plan for the ol' Audi Coupe? Loved this car especially the sound of it in that video you made ragging it round the Highland roads!

Back in November, I had several messages from the then current owner of my old 80 Cabby, all gushing and full of plans to return it to showroom condition. Scrapped a few weeks later 🙄

3,867 · March 2

11 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

What's the plan for the ol' Audi Coupe? Loved this car especially the sound of it in that video you made ragging it round the Highland roads!

Back in November, I had several messages from the then current owner of my old 80 Cabby, all gushing and full of plans to return it to showroom condition. Scrapped a few weeks later 🙄

It's sitting needing only work to the front brakes (new discs fouling on the calipers, never had that one before?!).

It's funny you mentioning it today as we've just been in amongst it for the first time in ages... The battery's on charge as we speak for a run up at least tomorrow.

It's looking ok though, no water ingress which is always the worry in this slightly damp part of the world!

I am in the first stages of preparation for my big plan this year though (don't tell anyone!), which is the building of a new workshop/garage. This will involve the demolition of the old one, which is too small and in the wrong place. After this, I'll have the same amount of outside storage, but a larger garage better suited to fixing them up (ramp of some sort, and possibly a rotisserie etc.).

The wee caravan has already gone off-site (not sold yet but hopefully soon) to make a bit of space. I've been doing the old trailer up a bit today, to help with clearing out etc. too.

All that's not a great answer to your question I know, I'm minded to keep all of the cars at the minute, but a couple may have to go. The trouble is I'll never replace them, they've all got a lot of character (in very different ways), and if I do get my workshop built I'll be able to keep on top of them a lot easier. I'd regret selling any if them I think...

TLDR... Don't really know!

36,996 · March 2

You do a lot better than me with the old keeping a hold of cars! I'd be a lot richer if I didn't keep buying new stuff needing work but my problem is that the most exciting car is always the next car ( (c) Jim Bell, 2021).

3,867 · March 4

I've been off since Monday as that's how my shifts work out after a seven-day stint last week. This was especially good as the weather has been very nice up here in the Highlands.

Today was the first bit of real car time I've had though (been diy-ing in the garden whilst the sun shone), and I wanted to give the Rover the once over prior to another bout of commuting.

Pulled a plug to check t'mixture...

Seems ok to me, I'll keep an eye in case it veers towards lean?

Then I turned my attention to the fuel filter...

Still pulling a lot of rust up then...! It's very small particles now, but obviously the electrolysis didn't get everything. A very small amount had made it through to the float bowl, so that's all been cleaned and blown out.

A check drive up the lane followed, after an instant start, and she is suitably rorty as per.

I've also been able to calculate the fuel consumption thanks to my newly-functional gauge, and we are achieving (even on the conservative side) a good 27mpg. I thought it was about that when I first got her on the road, but good to confirm it's still the case.

My commute is 11 miles each way, on hilly but very quiet back roads (I keep meaning to film it, it's bloody beautiful on a sunny day), and I'm not pushing her beyond 50mph really.

The P4 will be 67 years old in October, so with £94 insurance, and no tax or MOT bills to bother me, I'm quite happy with that cost per mile!

3,867 · March 6

Right, mistakes have been made... not entirely my fault, but I will have to revise the P4's fuel efficiency down a bit!

There is an issue with my fuel/oil gauge, in that it normally reads oil, showing the fuel when pressed... the opposite of Rover's intent.

I wondered why if anything, my fuel quantity had increased, after I'd topped the oil up... Pressed the button on the way home today and finally put two and two together!

Anyway, at just a quarter of a tank remaining (as low as I'm going to let her get), I have achieved around 21 mpg. More realistic, and still acceptable for the old lady's more advanced years I think...!

Whether the gauge function is the result of a wiring error (I slavishly note and refit exactly any electricals I mess with), or the switch to negative earth(?) I'm not sure. But now I know at least...

Onwards!

14,028 · March 6

On the upside. You own the only P4 with a low fuel warning light. Sort of. 🤣

3,599 · March 7

I'm not sure what relevance the gauge has to MPG, surely the only way you can work it out to any level of accuracy is to brim it, zero trip, then when refilling brim it again and work it out based on fuel used over covered mileage?

Mine tends to get about 23mpg incidentally..

3,867 · March 8

19 hours ago, jonathan_dyane said:

I'm not sure what relevance the gauge has to MPG, surely the only way you can work it out to any level of accuracy is to brim it, zero trip, then when refilling brim it again and work it out based on fuel used over covered mileage?

Mine tends to get about 23mpg incidentally..

I know, I've just not had a decent fill up yet, as having no fuel gauge was giving me the fear! I've been topping up too little and often to get a good distance between them.

I'll be doing as you describe tomorrow, so will have a more accurate measurement going forward!

What do you think about the fuel/oil gauge function btw? I think it's more likely wired up wrong than just being the result of the change to negative earth? Not that I'm that bothered about having to press the button to see the fuel level, just wondering...

Today was a tinkering day after giving the old car a good wash and hoover yesterday. I have pumped the front tyres up a bit (from 30 to 36 psi), as recommended on the Driver's Guild to help with the heavy low speed steering. I've left the rears at 30.

My pal with the Rover 75 discovered the badge pictured below in his boot, and I swapped him a couple of drams of the local brew for it. Fitted today...

That reminds me I need to fix or replace my '100' grille emblem!

I then removed the rear numberplate for a clean up and repaint of its surround...

Really looking forward to getting stuck in to the bodywork now. I have the paint etc. in stock, and am going to erect the old campervan awning as a makeshift booth. Just a few other jobs in the way first (currently refurbing my old trailer, so I can knock down and get rid of an old lean-to, which would be blocked by the Rover during painting).

Final job was the wiper motor, as sometimes they took a wee while to start up, and could also be a bit slow. The brushes are very worn, and the commutator ring was filthy. All cleaned up now, and with the brushes turned over (as a temporary measure) the wiper action is crisp and immediate, much improved. I am missing one of the wee wheels that's supposed to smooth the arm's passage off the glass and onto the bodywork to park. Will see if they're available.

Anyway, she's fully loaded with my tools and gear for work tomorrow, she fairly takes the sting out of it, the commute is the best part of the day!

3,599 · March 8

3 hours ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

What do you think about the fuel/oil gauge function btw? I think it's more likely wired up wrong than just being the result of the change to negative earth? Not that I'm that bothered about having to press the button to see the fuel level, just wondering...

Mine is still positive earth but that doesn't normally affect gauges; I suspect most likely someone has reversed the wires on the switch.

It will look amazing with some paint, it's so straight and rust free.

2,168 · March 8

The wiper wheels are definitely available from Wadhams or Wearings. They are a bit of a pain to fit as the originals are riveted in place, see if you can get the wiper arm off first!

Your daily driving efforts are motivating me to get mine sorted and commuting again!

3,867 · March 8

58 minutes ago, jonathan_dyane said:

Mine is still positive earth but that doesn't normally affect gauges; I suspect most likely someone has reversed the wires on the switch.

It will look amazing with some paint, it's so straight and rust free.

57 minutes ago, Surface Rust said:

The wiper wheels are definitely available from Wadhams or Wearings. They are a bit of a pain to fit as the originals are riveted in place, see if you can get the wiper arm off first!

Your daily driving efforts are motivating me to get mine sorted and commuting again!

Thanks both 👍

Please feel free to post a pic of yours, be lovely to see! I've been really pleasantly surprised by the P4, to still be a properly useable car at this age is just incredible.

Edit, just remembered and re-read your 'Condensed Shite Log' Surface Rust... Hopefully not far away from the road again?

3,867 · March 10

Thought she was looking quite purposeful on the drive tonight, after conveying me home from work again...

Discovered I hadn't jubilee clipped up the rubber part of the filler pipe onto the steel part... An embarrassing puddle developed as I filled up! Will have to sort at the weekend.

All good otherwise... showing 6700 miles now, so that's fully 1000 miles in my ownership.

3,867 · March 14

Well, I'm up to my eyes in welding my old trailer, but I've had a delivery...

This lower wing is the only really bad bit of bodywork on the old P4, and I know as soon as I 'investigate' it I'll be left with a gaping hole.

There's a lot of filler towards the bottom I suspect...

Anyway, Wadhams stock these repair panels, here it is mocked up...

Yet another reason I'm enjoying doing this car up, everything's available! This bit was £130 delivered, which isn't nothing, but I'd struggle to replicate the shape I think.

The upper front end of the wings are bad as well (around the indicators and sidelights), but not enough to warrant buying the repair panels for them yet. They'll get the fibreglass and filler treatment this time round.

Cheers all.

36,996 · March 14

I recall trying to shape a curved sill repair panel for the 75 using only the head of a lump hammer as a forming device and totally questioning my entire existence. So repair panels FTW!

3,867 · March 14

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

I recall trying to shape a curved sill repair panel for the 75 using only the head of a lump hammer as a forming device and totally questioning my entire existence. So repair panels FTW!

Yes, I can do without the existential angst myself!

March 15

Indeed, a lot of panels/repair sectionsyou can make yourself but something like this would be difficult and if the shape isn't right it will stick out like a sore thumb.

14,028 · March 15

What colour are you spraying it when its all done Ronnie? Cos id lay a fiver on it youll end up wanting to once youve minted the panel work 🤣

3,867 · March 15

21 minutes ago, Matty said:

What colour are you spraying it when its all done Ronnie? Cos id lay a fiver on it youll end up wanting to once youve minted the panel work 🤣

Post Office Red is the colour!

The day I've got £4000 to splurge on a spray job may be some time away though to be honest!

You're dead right that she'll need tidying up once the bodywork is sorted though, and to that end I'm planning a coach enamel paint job, by hand. It is (according to YouTube !) possible to achieve decent results, and the paint will be hard-wearing and corrosion resistant.

It is already in stock, with the associated thinners, rollers, brushes etc, so I can start experimenting with the best techniques as soon as I'm ready.

14,028 · March 15

2 hours ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

Post Office Red is the colour!

The day I've got £4000 to splurge on a spray job may be some time away though to be honest!

You're dead right that she'll need tidying up once the bodywork is sorted though, and to that end I'm planning a coach enamel paint job, by hand. It is (according to YouTube !) possible to achieve decent results, and the paint will be hard-wearing and corrosion resistant.

It is already in stock, with the associated thinners, rollers, brushes etc, so I can start experimenting with the best techniques as soon as I'm ready.

Oohh brilliant!! Ill be watching closely. Mines a brush paint job but not in enamel. I think what happened was the previous owner of mine spent a lot of money on metal work. And it must have been done right as ive had it since 2022, its seen rain and its never come through with rust. But then he must have run short on funds. So i have the original factory roof in cream but body in brush painted rustoleum blue instead of the almond green it should be. Its the only thing i dont like about the car, but much like yourself, the thousands needed to do it proper just doesnt exist. For what its worth mine would be old english white with a black roof. Or Farina Grey with a black roof.

Believe me its not this shiny in the flesh

3,867 · March 15

Very cool car that Matty (jealous of your bumper chrome!).

I'm approaching this in a similar way to yours, better that these old cars continue to exist rather than rotting away waiting for a perfect paint job!

For now though, another week's commute beckons for Old Red, earning her keep...!

14,028 · March 15

1 hour ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

(jealous of your bumper chrome!).

Pitted to fuck. Photos on sunny days are great things 🤣

32,293 · March 15

I don't understand why people brush paint cars when spray cans exist.

I have had good experience with 2K epoxy primer and 2K paint mixed to color code. This costs more than regular spray cans but is proper paint and gives very good results. If I wanted to paint a car I would choose this. I painted half of my dad's former van with this and it was still looking good after 5 years.

Below is my dads's Yaris, which I replaced a front wing on almost 3 years ago and it still looks great.

Test fit.

Epoxy primer.

Painted.

And on the car.

I also did some other paint work on that car.

3,867 · March 15

33 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I don't understand why people brush paint cars when spray cans exist.

I have had good experience with 2K epoxy primer and 2K paint mixed to color code. This costs more than regular spray cans but is proper paint and gives very good results. If I wanted to paint a car I would choose this. I painted half of my dad's former van with this and it was still looking good after 5 years.

Below is my dads's Yaris, which I replaced a front wing on almost 3 years ago and it still looks great.

Test fit.

Epoxy primer.

Painted.

And on the car.

I also did some other paint work on that car.

You've made a really good job of that DV, something I've never managed with a spray can yet! Just seems very hard to get a consistent shiny surface in the very compromised conditions I have to work in.

Coach enamel is a different thing though, designed for the painting of commercial vehicles etc... Apparently, it loses the brush marks (or roller marks) as it dries, leaving a glossy and very hard paint coat. It is oil based, offering good resistance to corrosion also.

As you say, proper paint in a spray can is expensive also, and a lot is wasted. Coach enamel here is £60 a litre or so, and goes a long way without any wastage.

I may be wrong, I've never done this before, but the paint is pretty worn as it stands, and she'll soon be spotted with primer patches, so I can't make it any worse!

32,293 · March 15

1 minute ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

Coach enamel is a different thing though, designed for the painting of commercial vehicles etc... Apparently, it loses the brush marks (or roller marks) as it dries, leaving a glossy and very hard paint coat. It is oil based, offering good resistance to corrosion also.

I have no experience with that but it sounds good.

My experience with brush painting and roller painting cars is with Hammerite which was not great.

30,897 · March 15

Seeing you mentioning wiring a few posts back reminded me I meant to post this for you. I ran out of patience with the nigh on impossible to follow diagrams in the manual so happened to it.

Should hopefully be a little easier to follow in colour and labelled rather than having to look everything up in a seemingly randomly ordered list. I do want to properly redraw it at some point from scratch but just haven't had time.

My fuel/oil switch is also duff and currently is linked out.

Worth checking if the voltage stabiliser on the panel is working. Otherwise the fuel and temp gauges will read ~20% high. Not such a worry for the temp gauge, but could catch you out with the fuel gauge. And indeed did on my previous P4 which conked out barely below 1/4 on the gauge. Thankfully the reserve pump on that one still worked! This one has a single pump fitted - I'll need to get the correct one back in there at some point.

3,867 · March 15

19 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Seeing you mentioning wiring a few posts back reminded me I meant to post this for you. I ran out of patience with the nigh on impossible to follow diagrams in the manual so happened to it.

Should hopefully be a little easier to follow in colour and labelled rather than having to look everything up in a seemingly randomly ordered list. I do want to properly redraw it at some point from scratch but just haven't had time.

My fuel/oil switch is also duff and currently is linked out.

Worth checking if the voltage stabiliser on the panel is working. Otherwise the fuel and temp gauges will read ~20% high. Not such a worry for the temp gauge, but could catch you out with the fuel gauge. And indeed did on my previous P4 which conked out barely below 1/4 on the gauge. Thankfully the reserve pump on that one still worked! This one has a single pump fitted - I'll need to get the correct one back in there at some point.

Thank you very much Zel, much appreciated. The dash binnacle in general is definitely on the list for this year, I always put it off as I'm such an electrical biff though!

30,897 · March 15

24 minutes ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

Thank you very much Zel, much appreciated. The dash binnacle in general is definitely on the list for this year, I always put it off as I'm such an electrical biff though!

Yeah, I need to go through mine from end to end as my headlight circuit has been thoroughly got at. Hard to tell if there was actually a fault in the first place or if someone just hadn't figured out the side/dip switch on the steering column. As far as I can tell the switches and wiring all tested good, but I did only spend half an hour on it.

Behind the dash was a complete mystery until I colour coded the diagram then I was like "Hey, I can actually tell which system each of these bundles is for now! That's novel!"

It's one of those things that looks worse than it is - just take everything one wire at a time or at least one circuit at a time and take a thousand photos along the way and you'll be fine.

I also found that stop trying to think of positive and negative - on positive ground that just gives you a massive headache very rapidly. I switched to the term power for the battery side and ground for the body side, and that for some reason I found far easier to keep track of.

36,996 · March 16

'2 coats wet on wet' was what I was told. When I was younger my pals dad had 2 1950s Foden lorries painted as such and they looked brilliant.

3,867 · March 28

Very little to report from me, but I am once again on back shift and so have refurbed a bit of old Rover. My old fuel pump should be able to act as a back up, following a strip and clean out. The points were dirty but have cleaned up ok...

Diaphragm looked ok to me...

And all this filth has been removed...

It will now live in the boot until required, hopefully years hence. Old Red is running beautifully, I'm just waiting for better weather for the bodywork phase. I have been commuting in the P4 so much that I thought I'd better use the big Audi today, as it doesn't like to sit too long I find. It's going well too, if not quite with the same sense of occasion...!

That's all really. I have had an initial poke at the Trabbi, as I want that MOT'd soonish... The owner's club is coming up for a road run (their 'Highland Fling'), and will be passing quite close to me. Rosie and myself will join in the convoy on the last day, with a trip to a local Motor Museum. All being well with the rather neglected wee thing of course... I have new sparkplug leads coming on Monday, as I cannibalised them when trying to get the Rover running last year. I had forgotten this.

Anyway, back to work for me, cheers all!

The Current Driveway...

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