A long time ago in a Galaxie far, far away (and other shit)

[loserone]

8 minutes ago, grogee said:

Rexton bork is good news or bad news,

Probably bad news for the hedgehog who bought it, but probably good news for the Cubicle who suddenly needs a Rexton engine..  Swings and roundabouts.

[davehedgehog31]

4 minutes ago, loserone said:

Probably bad news for the hedgehog who bought it, but probably good news for the Cubicle who suddenly needs a Rexton engine..  Swings and roundabouts.

Not bad for me at all. It was sold to me at a very competitive price point with my eyes fully open that it was likely an end of life vehicle. 

I actually enjoyed owning it for a week or two.

Timing worked out well for it to help WV02VEG live on. 

[sdkrc]

Live, laugh, scrap

Just bought this. Think I'll be ~£500 deep after I get the bill for fixing and MOTing. It's a pd100 with absolutely none of the options but all of the miles. I keep putting my elbow down into thin air expecting an armrest. I've yet to find the cupholder as well.

Drives well. Has 2 matching, new, winter tyres on the front. 12 months MOT with a clean pass I believe. Not exciting for anyone but I fucking love a Passat. This should make an excellent winter beater and keep the Lexus out of the salt. 

I'll likely be driving it to 200miles and sleeping in it on Wednesday. 

The madman @Jimbob McGregor took the V90 away and drove it through the night. Sadly it sounds beyond economical repair so the future's not looking great.  Goodnight shit prince. 

[sdkrc]

2024 has been a good year in that I've bought nothing (that is road legal). Since moving gaff, funds are tight and I can't be as frivolous as I once was, gambling on gumtree scrap bimonthly. 

- The Passat:

Provided absolutely fucking stellar service from November to February. I drove it 2,000 miles, treated it like shit and then donated it to my sister. It had a noisy water pump (based on poor hearing, me guessing and not knowing shit) so I told her that if it breaks down to call the scrap man and get a taxi home. It hasn't. In fact it's eaten up another 2,000 miles without fault. Cracking car. The B5 + B5.5 Passats are the absolute GOAT car in my eyes. I've had nothing but success with them.

 

- Lexus LS400:

Fuck this car. 

 

- Peugeot 106:

Easily a 5 bags of popcorn car. It's like 'Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust', it just gets better and better with every listen. 

I ordered some new rubber on the fronts as the old ones weren't going to cut the mustard for a 350 mile trip to the north. I'd done almost 1k on those tyres in that state. 

 

It drove 175 miles there without a single issue. In fact, it didn't even appear to be using any fuel at all according to the gauge. 

I ran a marathon, got a 15min break at the finish line and then drove straight home without even a greasy McDonald's. 

60 miles in and it began to grumble and stutter. I managed to nurse it to Pitlochry, 100 miles from home after a handful of stalls and some 40mph uphill sections. I overheard some Americans talking about the Key West surfboard branding as I was sitting in the car in pain, suffering.

The symptoms seemed like a clogged fuel filter, I had no tools and no spare filter and I was struggling to walk/bend over after the running. @davehedgehog31 suggested the fuel pickup. I removed the spider graveyard back bench,  cleared a further spider colony from inside the access panel and wiggled off the pipes which triggered some desperate gasping for air from the tank. I opened the fuel cap to equalise pressure more quickly and the fucking thing started first time. Magic. Made it home and polished off 3 large maccy d meals. 

 

[sdkrc]

Big shout out to the mobile tyre fitters btw. Not only did they turn up 4hrs late without any contact, they also managed to fuck up the balancing.

A salute to the hard working tyre fitters of the UK 🫡

[sdkrc]

The 106 is a fucking hoot to drive. Since it came back from @Jimbob McGregor's and I've used it regularly it's been fantastic. He fixed the tracking which I only noticed on the drive home and when I got tyres with air in them 5 months later.

It sticks like shit to a blanket. I take every roundabout flat out. It does 65mpg+ and insurance is dirty cheap on a classic policy. Parking bays feels so big that you can park at comical speeds.

I've helped a mate move house, I took 100kg of used cat litter to the tip, I've picked up a petrol lawnmower. 

What a car! Genuinely in love with it

[2316cc]

Came into this thread looking for a Galaxie update, leaving it wanting a Peugeot 106.

[loserone]

Just now, 2316cc said:

wanting a Peugeot 106.

Everyone should want a 106.

 

Loved my piss yellow one

[Split_Pin]

Well done on the marathon.

I was thinking I needed a small, economical and uncomplicated car in my life and this has confirmed that it is a good idea.

[Stinkwheel]

I used to like my old Green 1.1 106. It did good MPG was years old but one giffer owned and only had 39k on when i got it. Only thing i would moan about was it wasnt great if you pushed in the bends, i managed to make it swap ends on me a couple of times quite viciously

[mercedade]

Fuck me that's a lot of cat litter

[sdkrc]

2 hours ago, mercedade said:

Fuck me that's a lot of cat litter

It's all the cat litter the family wasn't able to eat over winter. I used to put the used cat litter into the wheelie bin like a normal person but it's so heavy that our bin handle broke and the whole bin fell into the bin lorry and got squished a couple months ago. Now I have to take it to the tip like a fool. 

There's a lot to be said about 90s Peugeots. The rear end does like to come loose if you let off the accelerator, I partially lost it round a mini roundabout once. I think that's part of why it's such fun. 

Galaxie updates will come in due course. I'm spending most of my spare time trying to improve myself right now. Saying that, does anyone have any tips on doing the head gasket on a 2.5tdi A6 C4? 

[sdkrc]

The power steering in the LS400 has been occasionally heavy for the past couple of years. Think I've topped up the fluid a couple of times but nothing major. I knew the leak was coming from these cooler pipes in front of the radiator as they were 𝔼𝕏𝕋ℝ𝔼𝕄𝔼𝕃𝕐 ℂℝ𝕌𝕊𝕋𝕐 

Replacement pipes specific to the LS are awkward to find and expensive to ship. Since it's low pressure I decided to hand bend and cut my own 10mm copper pipes using the Jeff Bezos delivery service. 

I eyeballed it and used my thumb to measure the distance between the pipes. Came out well

Removing the old pipes was a 40min struggle as the pipe was rusted into the rubber sleeve. I somehow managed it without butchering the rubber or putting a fist through the radiator. 

Instead of draining all the fluid, I plugged the pipes up with kitchen towel.

Topped up the pas, bled it and checked the pipe was uniformly heating. No leaks so far. 

[sdkrc]

Shit car purchased!

£480 and drives beautifully. I'm convinced tat prices are returning to affordable levels. Nature is returning...

Got invited inside to do the V5, the sellers' border collie burped directly in my face and then wrestled another dog under a table for 10mins. Was worth the trip for that alone. 

[SiC]

You just don't get interior seat fabric like that on German cars anymore. A shame.

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, sdkrc said:

Shit car purchased!

£480 and drives beautifully. I'm convinced tat prices are returning to affordable levels. Nature is returning...

Got invited inside to do the V5, the sellers' border collie burped directly in my face and then wrestled another dog under a table for 10mins. Was worth the trip for that alone. 

Nice one, looks like a bargain. I'm still oddly attracted to the S3 of the same generation while having zero interest in the later ones. And I agree, I think prices really are coming down now, dangerously so!

[Split_Pin]

If you squint really hard, part of the number plate looks* like an anagram of the purchase price.

Great seats indeed!

[Supernaut]

[Zooms in]

Ooh a TDI with a red I. Nice.

[Lacquer Peel]

Following the A3 up the road they have barely aged at all, still looks like a newish car from 20 foot away. 

[sdkrc]

And now for some completely unsolicited A3 updates because I'm quite smitten. It's tatty as fuck but mechanically ace. Exactly what I was hoping for. Heavy steering, heavy clutch, notchy gearbox. Wooft. 

Full service history up to 270k! Timing belt 40k ago. 

New radiator, new front discs and pads, front springs, 4x good, recent tyres, 3 of them matching brand names! Fancy detachable towbar. Needs a control arm but the new part was supplied. And 3.5 keys.

 

[320touring]

Had a drive of this. Is ACE.

 

need to get it drapped n mapped on veg asap

[sdkrc]

On 28/08/2022 at 14:49, sdkrc said:

 

Almost 2 years on since we last tried to get the Galaxie running. Holy fuck time passes quickly as an adult.

Massive thanks to @320touring and brothertouring for coming over and helping out

Established the Fuel pump works
Cleaned up the earth point
Cleaned up the starter solenoid 
Replaced the positive lead so it no longer smokes
This means it now turns over much happier on the key.

Big win - got the new dizzy fitted!

Sorted the firing order - it was the right order but the leads were one position out

Identified that the carb was leaking badly

Got it to actually run for about 5 seconds

It's basically ready to fire, but the carb leaks and the timing could do with being set up properly.

[SiC]

15 hours ago, sdkrc said:

Was a bit of --force was going on here during install?

[loserone]

As long as it's not --quiet --noprogress

[320touring]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Was a bit of --force was going on here during install?

Not at all. Just checking the screws on the power valve and accelerator pump..

[SiC]

17 minutes ago, 320touring said:

Not at all. Just checking the screws on the power valve and accelerator pump..

Ah I was wondering if his engine-strict was set to true.

 

(There are only so many attempts I can make at humour with npm/node and I'm struggling here 🤣)

[sdkrc]

WHOA FUCKIN LAWDY

106 has now gone. Which leaves me with 1 car with MOT...and it's totally fucked. I changed the control arm, de-dogged the interior and fitted an alternator. It's been making some horrific noises for a while which I attributed to the front wheel bearing which is toast. Today I checked the rear bearing and holy fuck, I think I'm maybe 30miles from total bearing failure. 

[sdkrc]

Now for the dilemma. Do I bin the A3 or persevere? I'm ~£650 in and I've gotten 4k miles out of it which I'm happy with. It needs 2 wheel bearings which is ~£400 and I can't do that myself. At that point I've got another 6 months MOT left and it's hit/miss whether it'll pass another. Tyres, brake lines and discs are likely needed. 

I have the budget for a new* car and I'm looking electric. I will still need an ICE backup car for long trips. 

[Asimo]

Bin it. It’s an A3.

[sdkrc]

As a MK4 golf apologist, I'll be gutted but you're probably right. Sad times.