RichardKs wanderings: Insight or in-stinked? Smokin! (advice request)

[RichardK]

3 hours ago, 666jjp said:

is the number plate a sign of things to come 🤔

I would say it's a sign of things already present, but... despite being the cheapest car I have, with the shortest MOT, and the most warning lights, the bloody thing only went and IMPRESSED* a teenage boy while taking him and his mum to the airport.

After the airport run, the M25 was KNACKERED so it also had to do 1:40 across London to open up a tomb.

22 miles.

Of grid-almost-lock.

It not only did it beautifully, I was absolutely calm and sort of 'generous but also an absolute stubborn twat who is impervious to entitled black BMWs and Mercedes with entitled drivers beeping at me because I happened to occupy a bit of tarmac before they did'.

And after that it also made it home through the absolutely tedious M1 50mph bollocks.

The ABS/ESP lights stayed off. The air con was not a con. The steering headlights swivelled. The suspension fault stayed away until the car was stuck back on bumpy roads. The passengers enjoyed the reclining seats.

But more to my amazement...

What. The. Actual. Fuck?

HOW?!

On top of that, the tomb contained something more interesting than expected. I need to rent a recovery truck.

*he expressed positive reaction to the car and interior before returning to headphones and vaguely pensive expression.

[Schaefft]

8 minutes ago, RichardK said:

I would say it's a sign of things already present, but... despite being the cheapest car I have, with the shortest MOT, and the most warning lights, the bloody thing only went and IMPRESSED* a teenage boy while taking him and his mum to the airport.

After the airport run, the M25 was KNACKERED so it also had to do 1:40 across London to open up a tomb.

22 miles.

Of grid-almost-lock.

It not only did it beautifully, I was absolutely calm and sort of 'generous but also an absolute stubborn twat who is impervious to entitled black BMWs and Mercedes with entitled drivers beeping at me because I happened to occupy a bit of tarmac before they did'.

And after that it also made it home through the absolutely tedious M1 50mph bollocks.

The ABS/ESP lights stayed off. The air con was not a con. The steering headlights swivelled. The suspension fault stayed away until the car was stuck back on bumpy roads. The passengers enjoyed the reclining seats.

But more to my amazement...

What. The. Actual. Fuck?

HOW?!

On top of that, the tomb contained something more interesting than expected. I need to rent a recovery truck.

*he expressed positive reaction to the car and interior before returning to headphones and vaguely pensive expression.

Somehow I forgot you bought the C6 and still have it. It still looks so good in the photos, I gotta own one at some point. Without handbrake issues.*

[Dave_Q]

Was C6WOE on something else compliant before?

They are famously shit at updating after plate changes.

[RichardK]

7 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Somehow I forgot you bought the C6 and still have it. It still looks so good in the photos, I gotta own one at some point. Without handbrake issues.*

It has two seconds left on the MOT and I'm still no further along with the handbrake, despite having a module in bits. I need a four poster or a pit. Or taller ramps and bigger cojones.

6 minutes ago, Dave_Q said:

Was C6WOE on something else compliant before?

They are famously shit at updating after plate changes.

C6WOE was never issued, bought from DVLA, applied when I got the car - it's definitely recalling the right car. And I definitely pay the right tax bracket *sobs*

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, RichardK said:

1 hour ago, Dave_Q said:

Was C6WOE on something else compliant before?

They are famously shit at updating after plate changes.

C6WOE was never issued, bought from DVLA, applied when I got the car - it's definitely recalling the right car. And I definitely pay the right tax bracket *sobs*

what does the V5c say *specifically* for the NOx and Particulate level? the only thing the ULEZ checker actually cares/checks for is no more than 80mg/km (0.08g) of NOx and and I think 4.5mg/km (0.0045g) of PM 

I have notice the odd obviously non compliant diesel ULEZ vehicle come up as compliant and I have often wondered if thats down missing/incorrectly recorded data on the logbook? 

and further to that I have wondered that *if* emissions data *is* recorded but it is incomplete, does the ULEZ checker assume compliance for the missing bits of data?

(I know for vehicles where no emissions data is not recorded it is assumed non compliant, but I dont know for sure how it handles cases of only partial data)

[RichardK]

I suspect it is a lag between two databases. I'll check again in August

[RichardK]

Right. I need to hire a recovery truck.

[RichardK]

This is a recovery truck

I am driving it

This is another clue

[Shandylegs]

German - Coupe, CE?

[Leyland Worldmaster]

1 hour ago, RichardK said:

This is a recovery truck

I am driving it

This is another clue

Mazda MX5? 🤔

[RichardK]

An indication

[RichardK]

So - my friend's car, suffered overheating in 2008, parked up.

Their garage door got changed by Hackney Council for a new one with a fancy lock - and we have  no idea who they gave the key to.

The bikes and personal things stored in the garage were taken. As was part of the car. If anyone remembers me offering an MX-5 in this area a while back, which turned out to have had the cat stolen - same owner. So you can imagine what they thought might have become of this...

I expected to find a rusty heap covered in dents and scratches from assholes nicking bikes etc. around it.

But no.

It last saw light four years before the Olympics, the year Obama was elected, etc. etc.

Good grief that wing height and profile. Bloody hell.

Emerging from the shadows...

Careful now

Cat still present

Not bad for a 12 year old Mazda. Stasis fields are real and exist in council lockups apparently.

Official UK model.

Secured...

New home

Safe.

[dome]

Phornicate a Mallard, that is exceptional. An actual, UK spec RX7 barn garage find.

They're worth fortunes now, despite needing engine rebuilds every few feet. 

Needs to lose those alloys 🤢

Not jealous. Much😳

[MAF260]

Have you now officially entered your 'black with a private plate' phase...?!

[RichardK]

1 hour ago, dome said:

Phornicate a Mallard, that is exceptional. An actual, UK spec RX7 barn garage find.

They're worth fortunes now, despite needing engine rebuilds every few feet. 

Needs to lose those alloys 🤢

Not jealous. Much😳

I love the RX8 alloys - and to my shame, the tinted windows.

This had a recent engine rebuild - it's on 75,000 miles or so, so probably its second 😂 it had also just been valeted before the coolant incident.

Can highly recommend SWS Hand Car Wash for an interior clean that stays fresh for 16 years...

Plus it's only £3.99 and your fifth wash is free!

 

[Dave_Q]

Such Gran Turismo, 15 year old me is very excited about this.

[Schaefft]

Holy crap, absolutely winning with the FD, loving it!

[Imhotep]

Wow, UK spec FD. That’s about as cool of a thing as I think I’ll see this month 😎

[Sigmund Fraud]

Outstanding !!! Does it still have the oddball asymmetrical twin turbo that those came with ?

[RichardK]

18 minutes ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

Outstanding !!! Does it still have the oddball asymmetrical twin turbo that those came with ?

I think so, I haven't dug that far yet

[RichardK]

You can take the car out of 1990s Japan, but you can't...

Look, it's smiling!

[ruffgeezer]

You certainly seem to have found it rather exciting...

[yes oui si]

48 minutes ago, RichardK said:

You can take the car out of 1990s Japan, but you can't... 

 

Subtle 😂

Heroic purchase. Extra likes for the WY shirt as well. 

I've got a set of staggered 17x8/9.5 Azev As here in 5x114.3 that would look the bo-shizznat on that... 

[RichardK]

1 hour ago, ruffgeezer said:

You certainly seem to have found it rather exciting...

It wanted a cake to celebrate!

I'd never heard of a buk cake, but who am I to deny a car's needs?

[ruffgeezer]

Just be careful where you put the candles.  

 

Can't wait to see this one brought back to life.

[RichardK]

5 hours ago, yes oui si said:

Subtle 😂

Heroic purchase. Extra likes for the WY shirt as well. 

I've got a set of staggered 17x8/9.5 Azev As here in 5x114.3 that would look the bo-shizznat on that... 

I was just telling Denny I'd probably have put Azev As on it.

As for the t-shirt - I went to an inhospitable place, encountered a sleek black alien monster, and insisted on bringing it back. It is the perfect organism. And shiny.

Offset, cost, condition? I haven't stolen it from a friend for pennies, and I haven't hidden what it may be worth while discussing what he wants to do with it, but if they're affordable for me to do (I may not get anything back for saving this, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't nicked) I'd love to get them on it.

People spot the RX8 wheels a mile off.

(Value-wise he paid £8K back in the day. When a new RX8 was £17K from Motorpoint. I said project cars were £8K now - he thought that I was saying that this was worth that now... So I sent a picture of one that is £6.1K reserve not met - and also pointed out that this is what I expected to find in the garage. I don't think he wants to sell, but he may never drive again so I wanted to make sure he knew that this was as it already is, a source of a significant chunk of cash if needed).

[RichardK]

"It boiled, and I think it was the thermostat".

I do remember talking to Denny about the car's failure, but I can't remember exactly what the scenario was - only that it started overheating, so got nursed back to the garage and then life got in the way.

For a long time.

So if it's the thermostat... I can have a look pretty easily.

However, if it's the waterpump... it looks like I'll be wanting one of those handy wheeled workshop trolleys to store all the parts on 😂

Today's thought: how do I deal with a full tank of 16 year old unleaded? I have electric and vacuum pumps, my gut feeling is to use the electric pump and three sacrificial jerry cans.

But where do I dispose of said fuel?

The dirt is very ingrained, despite looking like sensible dust - a couple of snow foam and gentle washes hasn't been nearly enough. I got some blue towel and cleaning spray on the front wing as I wanted to work out how much dirt was left and how much might be a case for clay bars and Magma spray - I think, if I get the car fully outside and go full two-bucket on it it will come up nicely.

Looks like it's had paint rectification on the roof and it has a couple of rusty chips/scratches to attend to there.

But I reckon when it is properly clean, then a couple of wax things like the black hybrid ceramic I used on the Boxster (tried here) it will look very nice.

It's a proper UK car first registered January 1995. Denny had it from around 10 years old I think - certainly long enough to have plenty of adventures in Slimelight-and-Cyberdog Camden goth circles, a scene I missed out on because of geography. He's actually suggested I remove the tints on the windows already - his mod. I'm considering tracking down the model of amp and sub that were stolen and leaving the chunky cable and power cap in place as an really authentic '90s-sportscar-in-2000s feel. Waiting to see if the faceplate turns up for the radio cassette and then I can see about sourcing a replacement CD changer as well.

Dreading changing the brake and clutch fluid. I wonder how many hoses have perished, though all the rubber parts on the body have fared amazingly well - lack of UV exposure.

I have fixed the alarm - I need to find a perfect housing for a Gemini Aquila 5060T fob, as this one has pieces cracked around the edges. It looks like in some specs the Aquila even came with a remote fob key, with a blade cut and installed to suit the target car - very swish!

[Christine]

My civic was 10 years garage  slumber , i swore   i wouldn't  attempt to start it until i'd drained the tank , changed the cambelt , and tyres . The battery had dried out .  Itching to check the car out , i filled the battery with tap water and charged it .  And it took a charge !  I fitted it turned the key a click ,  and the cd  started playing ... all the lights worked... couldn't resist , and turned it a bit more .. and the engine started  instantly ! The old  petrol was fine ! 

  It's a year gone by , i've done 6000 miles , and touched nothing , and it's been faultless !  The battery has just started failing , ( i left the lights on ...)the rock hard tyres  have worn out , a cv gaiter has split ..

mot on monday ..

[yes oui si]

Long weekends for Slimes adventures are cherished memories... 

Used to kick with a lass named Helen, God knows what she's up to these days. 

[RichardK]

No real progress on the RX-7 this week, but it has been washed. Not cleaned, but I've got the dust off it and had a chance to poke around the bodywork.

The biggest cosmetic issue is where it was hit by something on the rear corner. This has damaged the bumper and knocked some paint off, so I know that as much as I don't want to, I need to remove the bumper to make sure I protect both sides of that corner even if I can't fix it.

It's creased the rear 1/3 panel on some complex curves, I need a real artisan, professional bodyshop to fix this. Or one of those people you see in Eastern European videos of bodyshops where they take a crumpled ball of car and turn it back into something by making it look like a hedgehog and hitting it with hammers.

When I washed the 16-year old wheel arch dirt away from the inner arches... This isn't a great pic but both rear arches, you can run your fingers around the inside lip and at best you'll feel the scruffier end of the factory spot welds. It's in excellent shape on inner, outer arch, wheel tub, upper shock mounts and floor seams. I flushed out the tailgate seal and tail light drains, and behind the fuel filler pipe plastic shield, but haven't taken any bits off for proper inspection yet.

I wonder if the sunroof only works if the engine is running, or I've got a duff switch or relay. The switch is a proper git of a design, soldered into the overhead light, and it is physically damaged.

Either way, I had to check the condition, so out with the allen key and the manual override.

Glad I did that on two counts. One, it's grubby as anything in there.

Two, I can catch a notorious problem area before it's bad. Most RX-7 FDs have just rotted away here, or had the roof skin swapped.

I can't decide if I should wirebrush/sand that back (bearing in mind it'll be the same on the other side) and paint, or just entomb in waxoil after brushing jenolite on the exposed metal.

Pain levels mean I'm being very slow on cleaning/detailing type behaviour, but my sister and BIL wheeled the car out of the garage and far enough up the drive for me to finish the wash, which means I can panel wipe/clay bar/polish bits.

The tail lights are in great shape, but have a milky appearance. It looks to me like a problem with the plastic paint on the inside, but I've seen people claiming that polishing the plastic on the outside restores the black gloss and original style.

I can see why Mazda got it into their heads that this could be marketed at 911 prices when it came out though.

I've  chatted to the owner about their options, as they'd no idea of what RX-7 values had done, and pointed out I could probably put this on the market as is and get more than they paid, covering my costs and getting them some cash. I'm rather happy that they've chosen to go with 'press on, make it work again, even if it does take a long time'.

So far I haven't seen any UK spec RX-7s to judge a 'recent sales' figure on, they're all FD3S imports of varying states. You can get MOTd runners for £17-20K of the imports, and in some ways the imports are better – they had more power, there are obviously more cars for body parts or lighting assemblies (that rear bumper will have to be repaired, I don't think there will be any out there to be found secondhand or NOS for any sane price), and they were on the market right up to the introduction of the RX-8.

I was always a fan of the FC and the RX-8, and not into the FD as much. But seeing one close up, appreciating the size, scale, style, it's absolutely gorgeous. And such an iconic video-game dashboard.

I am looking for period-correct Alpine head unit, amp, CD-changer (Ai-Net? It's not pins, it's the more complicated looking connector) and spare-wheel-well subwoofer to restore what was stolen. Denny worked for Alpine for a bit, so I think the car benefitted from a few shop seconds or warehouse incidents. He asked if the door speakers were still there – I assume something nice lies behind the grilles,, as the doors haven't been touched. I've yet to identify which head unit it has, and there's always a chance that the front panel is lost in a storage unit or was in the car and got taken.

I'm also looking for a new shell for a Gemini Aquila alarm system. It's made of the most brittle plastic ever chosen for a car alarm keyfob.

So the next stage should be to strip down the cooling system, remove and flush the radiator, clean out the thermostat housing and AST and pipework, fit a new thermostat.

My gut feeling is that the turbo's water cooling is the point of failure. It was the last bit of the car to be messed with when trying to solve an intermittent power loss fault, and allegedly a turbo was rebuilt. The fault sounds more like it was a vacuum/controller problem.

There are some silly posts and video clips on my Instagram or RTKDrives Twitter(X) accounts.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C98Jk9TCgr1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

https://www.instagram.com/p/C97inBCowO7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link