Dollywobbler's Consolidated Tat Thread

[twosmoke300]

I’m beginning to realise why we have fights at fuel stations and warnings in handbooks not to drink the battery acid .

[Equihectay]

Just a heads up..

[Remspoor]

3 hours ago, St.Jude said:

You say that, but then they still have instructions on shampoo bottles.

I find they are a better read in the shower than books. With the latter the pages disintegrate too quickly.

[Remspoor]

1 hour ago, Equihectay said:

Just a heads up..

Does that mean no dickheads purchase Dysons?

[dollywobbler]

9 hours ago, twosmoke300 said:

I didn’t think I had to tell anyone to drain it first but here we are 🙄

To be fair, you should never assume I really have a clue about what I'm doing! Confirmation never hurts, though I am indeed planning to drain the oil. Despite the fact it actually looks really fresh. Have a new oil filter too. I can't easily get the sump off by the look of it, which would be ideal, but I'll leave the oil draining for a goodly while - though it's been slowly draining itself for a week now...

[twosmoke300]

You can always save the oil and reuse it ! If you can squirt brake cleaner through the sump plug hole in the direction of the back of the damaged section to clean the inside up a bit 

[Barry Cade]

I remember trying to braze a sump on a Punto Mk1 many years ago. In place. 

It got very interesting, very quickly! If you've ever made popcorn in a saucepan, and have been to a fireworks display you'll know the noise it was making. 

[richardmorris]

Sunbeam test was good.

[dollywobbler]

Had to go to Cardiff today to do some filming with the family. Panic buying twats made the journey home more exciting because it took until our sixth petrol station to actually get some fuel. We started in Cardiff and found none along the entire length of the M4 from there, but finally found some in Carmarthen. Computer reckoned we would have got home with 12 miles to spare, but I don't trust computers, and there are a lot of hills in Wales.

Horribly stressful and so unnecessary!

[richardmorris]

Watched the east coast retro vid on my bike riding up a virtual alp. Looked like a varied turnout.

[busmansholiday]

On 9/25/2021 at 1:34 PM, Equihectay said:

Just a heads up..

Laugh all you fucking want, but I know that after refurbishment of (when I was still working) one of our toilet blocks somebody really thought that the Dyson hand dryer was a new style urinal and pissed in one....

[richardmorris]

7 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Laugh all you fucking want, but I know that after refurbishment of (when I was still working) one of our toilet blocks somebody really thought that the Dyson hand dryer was a new style urinal and pissed in one....

Hopefully he was taken out of the continuing gene pool as a result.

[Barry Cade]

@dollywobbler

Got to say, your X1/9 vid really did the car justice. A good one is brilliant.. sadly lots were neglected  or badly modified and driving those can be horrible. In my mind, it's one of those cars that was just "right" standard. The power matched the brakes which matched the handling which matched the grip.  Change any of these and you upset the whole experience.

Makes me regret not having one any more, great to see the car getting recognition lately, but sadly this just pushes prices up. 

[Spurious]

24 minutes ago, Barry Cade said:

@dollywobbler

Got to say, your X1/9 vid really did the car justice. A good one is brilliant.. sadly lots were neglected  or badly modified and driving those can be horrible. In my mind, it's one of those cars that was just "right" standard. The power matched the brakes which matched the handling which matched the grip.  Change any of these and you upset the whole experience.

Makes me regret not having one any more, great to see the car getting recognition lately, but sadly this just pushes prices up. 

You could say the same with uprating the power of a MX-5. It just upsets the whole experience. 

[dollywobbler]

Cheers folks.

Got up the unit today and started de-pimping the Multipla. 

Those side pipes were just screwed into the rear wings. The screws were going rusty and the 'holders' were starting to delaminate. It needed removing for safety reasons more than anything else. I've dabbed touch-up paint into the screw holes for now, and tapped them down so there are no sharp edges. I'll need a better solution at some point. Thankfully, there is a mud guard in the wheelarch.

Also smeared some JB Weld over the sump hole, so leaving that overnight to cure thoroughly. (says six hours, but no point rushing). I'm wondering if the front suspension has sagged as I'd hope the sump wasn't that likely to clout a simple speed hump from factory...

Back tomorrow to see if the repair has held, and perhaps remove the rather silly exhausts attached to the rear bumper. Green interior is likely to stay as quite a lot of it is glued into place. I think it'll be more hassle to remove it.

[twosmoke300]

I’d leave the jb weld as long as possible 

[dollywobbler]

13 hours ago, twosmoke300 said:

I’d leave the jb weld as long as possible 

Well, that situation is being aided by Parcelforce as I have new filters on the way that didn't arrive yesterday as claimed. Should be here today so it'll be a full 24 hours.

Going to try and lube up the clutch arm as well. The clutch is fairly stiff and prone to jamming - ie the clutch doesn't release cleanly for the first few tries of the pedal. Wondering if it might help with the crunchy gears too. Suspect it also needs bleeding/fresh fluid, but that's more of a pain in the arse apparently, and needs the battery tray to come out.

[Eyersey1234]

@dollywobblerDid you manage to get fuel for Betty in the end? 

[dollywobbler]

19 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

@dollywobblerDid you manage to get fuel for Betty in the end? 

We did, at the sixth petrol station. There was none along the M4 at all. Not even rip-off Pont Abraham Services. Got a bit squeaky bum that did!

[Talbot]

18 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

remove the rather silly exhausts attached to the rear bumper.

With a chainsaw, one hopes.

[Eyersey1234]

4 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

We did, at the sixth petrol station. There was none along the M4 at all. Not even rip-off Pont Abraham Services. Got a bit squeaky bum that did!

Liked for the fact you got petrol not the fact it took you 6 garages to get some 

[dollywobbler]

Went up to the unit. There was a single drop of oil hanging on the repaired corner. Despite this, I chucked a new oil filter and some fresh oil in, but sure enough, oil was welling through the repair. Much slower than it was, but still there. So I drained the oil into one of the oil cans I'd used to fill it (so I can reuse it) and put another two layers of JB Weld over the repair. Of course, that means another wait to see if it has worked. I'll report back.

I did pull out the air filter to lube up the clutch arm, and I reckon you can actually bleed the clutch without removing the battery. But I was on my own, so I couldn't do that today.

Once the biblical rain stopped, I removed the rear bumper exhausts and replaced the wiper blades. Sadly the rear wiper spring seems to have not enough tension - perhaps because Peter Crouch is hanging off it...

I then turned my attention inside, cutting holes in the astroturf so all rear seats can correctly be fitted (I never thought I'd type those words) and removed the front centre seat entirely. This should be held in with captive nuts, but one is missing. I'll take the extra space instead then. And legroom!

I'll find out tomorrow whether the latest bodge is successful. Oh, and I found the service history, which actually existed until about 86,000 miles (113,000 on the clock now). It confirmed the timing belt was changed at 74,000 miles, but also confirmed that this was in 2009...

[MT606]

the green reflecting on the windscreen not distracting/bit crap in glarey conditions (even more so than the rest of the interior)?

[brownnova]

9 hours ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

You need a suit made from the same material as the seats, but in purple for when driving this fine steed.

[dollywobbler]

9 hours ago, MT606 said:

the green reflecting on the windscreen not distracting/bit crap in glarey conditions (even more so than the rest of the interior)?

It doesn't seem to reflect as badly from the driver's point of view, but if it causes issues, it's going.

[Mrs6C]

You could have a football diorama on the dashtop, with a few Sabbuteo players and a couple of Model 70s!

[dollywobbler]

It already has the diorama, though sadly it does (currently) lack Model 70s. I wonder what scale Subbuteo is?!

[Sham]

Just watched the young driver video. My lad did one at the Norfolk Showground in the summer. Excellent, it was. He really enjoyed it. They have a proper road system, so is a little more "real world", but any chance to get kids safely behind the wheel should be taken in my humble opinion. Well worth the money.

[wuvvum]

I was in the Under 17 Car Club when I were a lad.  As a car-mad 12 year old, getting to hoon my mum's diesel 205 round Castle Combe was the best thing ever.

[Spurious]

I was driving my dad's old 1.3 Corolla across a field at 13. Best thing ever and really fostered the hobby today.