The grumpy thread

[meggersdog]

4 hours ago, Mally said:

As there's nothing much to do between Xmas and New Year,

 

 

Will my next post be a grump or a grin? Place yous bets now, I'm about £300 in so far, and that gearbox is heavy.

 

 

That's progress. I remember the Saab 900 was a bit like a Mk2 Cavalier where you pulled the clutch out of a cover in the bell housing. The clutch was on the front of the engine. Like the Vauxhall you needed someone to press the clutch pedal , the Vauxhall had three clamps to hold the pressure plate (came in the clutch kit) but the Saab didn't.You could get a special tool to hold the fingers in place but I used a bent wire coat hanger.

[robinmasters]

Cars with names. 

It's a thing, not a person, and it already has a name. Referring to your car as Archibald doesn't suddenly imbue it with a personality; it was dull as fuck before you named it, and it still is. If it is interesting, people who will realise it's interesting will recognise that from the model designation, 'Gertie' means nothing to them. 

I realise I'm not the first person to complain about this, but people are still doing this. Car namers, please stop being such fucking dicks. 

[PhilA]

I can currently be no further than ten feet away from a toilet.

[Yoss]

12 hours ago, meggersdog said:

That's progress. I remember the Saab 900 was a bit like a Mk2 Cavalier where you pulled the clutch out of a cover in the bell housing. The clutch was on the front of the engine. Like the Vauxhall you needed someone to press the clutch pedal , the Vauxhall had three clamps to hold the pressure plate (came in the clutch kit) but the Saab didn't.You could get a special tool to hold the fingers in place but I used a bent wire coat hanger.

The original Saab 99 had an engine derived from the Dolomite 1850 and a gearbox developed from the Triumph FWD. Sadly, for me, they were both developed sufficiently that you couldn't drop one in to a FWD Triumph. I seem to remember it was the other way round in the Saab.

But what they did both share was an easily removable clutch. All I have to remove is the heater blower, three bolts, to gain access th the clutch cover and a bit of carpet and a big rectangular plate inside the car to slide out the input shaft. 

It seemed for a while that manufacturers were thinking about this, not only the Vauxhauls but the six cylinder Landcrabs had a removable section to get to the clutch. But it was short lived. Why make it easier when you can charge three times as much by boxing it all in. 

[Out Run]

13 hours ago, MikeR said:

the EML is on again winging about the cat efficiency  ..

@Dick Longbridge cat has similar issues, ATM.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

48 minutes ago, Out Run said:

@Dick Longbridge cat has similar issues, ATM.

Eh?

Edit: Ohhh! Yes, Martin the ginger tosser is sat outside the back door in the rain currently.

Sympathy level 1/10. 

[junkyarddog]

9 hours ago, robinmasters said:

Cars with names. 

It's a thing, not a person, and it already has a name. Referring to your car as Archibald doesn't suddenly imbue it with a personality; it was dull as fuck before you named it, and it still is. If it is interesting, people who will realise it's interesting will recognise that from the model designation, 'Gertie' means nothing to them. 

I realise I'm not the first person to complain about this, but people are still doing this. Car namers, please stop being such fucking dicks. 

My 205 picked up the nickname the Peashooter from when I used to collect my nephew from the school bus in it some evenings,all his mates used to slag him about it(he found it funny,and I didn't give a shit)and it sort of stuck.

🙄

[sierraman]

4 hours ago, Yoss said:

The original Saab 99 had an engine derived from the Dolomite 1850 and a gearbox developed from the Triumph FWD. Sadly, for me, they were both developed sufficiently that you couldn't drop one in to a FWD Triumph. I seem to remember it was the other way round in the Saab.

But what they did both share was an easily removable clutch. All I have to remove is the heater blower, three bolts, to gain access th the clutch cover and a bit of carpet and a big rectangular plate inside the car to slide out the input shaft. 

It seemed for a while that manufacturers were thinking about this, not only the Vauxhauls but the six cylinder Landcrabs had a removable section to get to the clutch. But it was short lived. Why make it easier when you can charge three times as much by boxing it all in. 

Yeah but clutches lasted a few winters then they were done. Car could easily do 100-150k on the original clutch now. It being easy to change isn’t a concern. 

[Yoss]

You make a fair point. 

[chaseracer]

11 hours ago, robinmasters said:

Cars with names. 

It's a thing, not a person, and it already has a name. Referring to your car as Archibald doesn't suddenly imbue it with a personality; it was dull as fuck before you named it, and it still is. If it is interesting, people who will realise it's interesting will recognise that from the model designation, 'Gertie' means nothing to them. 

I realise I'm not the first person to complain about this, but people are still doing this. Car namers, please stop being such fucking dicks. 

You seem inordinately vexed about this.  Other opinions are available...

[sierraman]

It seems a bit daft to me but each to their own. At a banger level it’s letting sentimentality cloud your judgement, ‘can’t kill Cyril the Fiesta off for the want of £700 worth of welding!’ A bit like a farmer with his cattle, he’ll look after it but at some point he’s going to have to put a bullet through back of its head so you don’t need unnecessary emotions adding to the problem. 

But if it makes people happy let them get on with it. 

[Timewaster]

Frankly I'd be embarrassed to admit calling my car a cutesy name in public. 

 

 

[cobblers]

16 hours ago, robinmasters said:

Cars with names. 

It's a thing, not a person, and it already has a name. Referring to your car as Archibald doesn't suddenly imbue it with a personality; it was dull as fuck before you named it, and it still is. If it is interesting, people who will realise it's interesting will recognise that from the model designation, 'Gertie' means nothing to them. 

I realise I'm not the first person to complain about this, but people are still doing this. Car namers, please stop being such fucking dicks. 

100% guarantee that any car with a name is absolutely shagged in on way or another. If somebody is mental enough to call their scruffy motorhome "betsy" they're definitely not going to do anything proper about the galloping rot in the sills and frame, and will just "drive around" the fact that it takes eight minutes to get it into reverse because the engine is falling out 

[MikeR]

1 hour ago, cobblers said:

100% guarantee that any car with a name is absolutely shagged in on way or another. If somebody is mental enough to call their scruffy motorhome "betsy" they're definitely not going to do anything proper about the galloping rot in the sills and frame, and will just "drive around" the fact that it takes eight minutes to get it into reverse because the engine is falling out 

in that case my Focus is well fucked ....   arnt you Nancy  ! ( derived from number plate letters ! )

[PhilA]

2 hours ago, cobblers said:

100% guarantee that any car with a name is absolutely shagged in on way or another. If somebody is mental enough to call their scruffy motorhome "betsy" they're definitely not going to do anything proper about the galloping rot in the sills and frame, and will just "drive around" the fact that it takes eight minutes to get it into reverse because the engine is falling out 

 

TV commercials that do this with the vehicle's model name annoy me.

Using the model as a descriptor- "You can buy the new Nissan D37 today! It's a car!"

Compared to "Buy D37 today! D37 has USB sockets! Nissan dealerships stock D37."

 

The latter mode of speech made it into American marketing in the seventies, vanished, and has come back again.

Irksome. I understand your internal reference but at the end of the day it's the D37, not just D37. 

Honey! Which car should I take to the store? 

Take D37, dear. It's got more fuel in.

 

Nope. Noooope.

[Out Run]

9 hours ago, sierraman said:

It seems a bit daft to me but each to their own. At a banger level it’s letting sentimentality cloud your judgement, ‘can’t kill Cyril the Fiesta off for the want of £700 worth of welding!’ A bit like a farmer with his cattle, he’ll look after it but at some point he’s going to have to put a bullet through back of its head so you don’t need unnecessary emotions adding to the problem. 

But if it makes people happy let them get on with it. 

Shhhh. Her eyes are closed, she's sleeping. 😂

Agreed with it being daft to assign a gender to and/or naming a vehicle. I guess people want whatever it is to feel more special.

Personally, I laugh when it is all 'she' this and 'her', that. 

[GMcD]

2 hours ago, PhilA said:

 

TV commercials that do this with the vehicle's model name annoy me.

Using the model as a descriptor- "You can buy the new Nissan D37 today! It's a car!"

Compared to "Buy D37 today! D37 has USB sockets! Nissan dealerships stock D37."

 

The latter mode of speech made it into American marketing in the seventies, vanished, and has come back again.

Irksome. I understand your internal reference but at the end of the day it's the D37, not just D37. 

Honey! Which car should I take to the store? 

Take D37, dear. It's got more fuel in.

 

Nope. Noooope.

It's one thing that annoys me when watching Harry's Garage. He does it all the time. (Also don't like his use of "etcetera", but I digress) 

[Andyrew]

Names dont bother me tbh, 

What I find odd is that people never complain about cars in film/tv/youtube having names. 

Binky, neighbour, leroy, general lee, christine, kitt, herbie, foxanne , bluesmobile, brown sugar, etc etc

Is it because the car itself is a character in a story being told or the just the name of the "project"? 

 

 

[High Jetter]

A car is a car. A wife is a...wife. No names required.

[mitsisigma01]

4 hours ago, PhilA said:

Irksome. I understand your internal reference but at the end of the day it's the D37, not just D37

Why the fk would you call it a D37 ... of all the words in the English language D37 was the best they could come up with 🤔

[Spurious]

The Jimny did its best 2cv impression tonight. Sudden loss of power going up a steep and narrow street. Actually no way of moving under it's own steam. Was very close to calling the AA for recovery

Annoyingly and amazingly it didn't throw a code either so it's a bit of parts roulette. 

It did sound like it was running on 2 cylinders, and one coil pack powers two plugs so that's number one culprit at the moment. 

It fixed itself about ten minutes later after leaving it off for a while. Thankfully I'd not made it onto the m62 at the time, would have been zero fun breaking down on the hard shoulder. 

 

[Spurious]

And nothing useful from the engine sensors either... 

[mintwth]

Saab has rewarded me for replacing the spark plugs and ignition cassette (coil packs) by snapping a rear spring..... 🙁

[Andyrew]

8 hours ago, Spurious said:

The Jimny did its best 2cv impression tonight. Sudden loss of power going up a steep and narrow street. Actually no way of moving under it's own steam. Was very close to calling the AA for recovery

Annoyingly and amazingly it didn't throw a code either so it's a bit of parts roulette. 

It did sound like it was running on 2 cylinders, and one coil pack powers two plugs so that's number one culprit at the moment. 

It fixed itself about ten minutes later after leaving it off for a while. Thankfully I'd not made it onto the m62 at the time, would have been zero fun breaking down on the hard shoulder. 

 

My other halfs jimny coil pack died in a similar fashion. The spark plug hole was full of oil from a weeping rocker seal and killed it that maybe worth checking too.

 

 

[grogee]

I don't know if it's lockdown, old age or grumpy old man syndrome - but fuck me, family gatherings are boring. Been at stepmum's for 24hrs, I keep making tea and washing up just to have something to do. 

Kids are having fun though and it's not all about me. 

BiL to be is a fat useless bore. He thinks he knows about cars too, which is annoying. 23 stone of anti-facts. 

[TataBobu]

Wagon induced grump number two this year: after having to replace the 4x4 gearbox with a 4x2 one, today I can only shift it into 3rd, 4th and reverse. The lateral movement cable snapped. It's the most expensive gearshift cable I've ever seen, at 640 RON (that's more than 110 pounds). 

[wuvvum]

4 hours ago, mintwth said:

Saab has rewarded me for replacing the spark plugs and ignition cassette (coil packs) by snapping a rear spring..... 🙁

Coil springs do seem to be service items these days.

[cobblers]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

I don't know if it's lockdown, old age or grumpy old man syndrome - but fuck me, family gatherings are boring. Been at stepmum's for 24hrs, I keep making tea and washing up just to have something to do. 

Kids are having fun though and it's not all about me. 

BiL to be is a fat useless bore. He thinks he knows about cars too, which is annoying. 23 stone of anti-facts. 

As a pair of antisocial bastards with no kids, me and the wife now point blank refuse to go round the houses at Christmas. Neither of us have a lot of family anyway and it's so nice to not have to be held hostage in an unfamiliar house surrounded by people we're not that keen on. 

[grogee]

1 minute ago, cobblers said:

As a pair of antisocial bastards with no kids, me and the wife now point blank refuse to go round the houses at Christmas. Neither of us have a lot of family anyway and it's so nice to not have to be held hostage in an unfamiliar house surrounded by people we're not that keen on. 

"Held hostage" is very apt. We agreed to stay one night then have lunch and leave. Lunch has turned into dinner (roast potatoes were put in at 4pm) so we'll be eating about 5.30 with a 2 hour drive home afterwards. 

It's fine as we've nothing better to do but it would be nice to be on the road by now. 

 

[MikeR]

3 minutes ago, grogee said:

"Held hostage" is very apt. We agreed to stay one night then have lunch and leave. Lunch has turned into dinner (roast potatoes were put in at 4pm) so we'll be eating about 5.30 with a 2 hour drive home afterwards. 

It's fine as we've nothing better to do but it would be nice to be on the road by now. 

 

I now like to be on the road before light fails , it helps a lot when loading up and finding the worst part of the way home ..

I see our driving life is being made easier by the latest AI devices so the legal coffers can be filled ..

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10355673/New-spy-sky-camera-catch-eating-drinking-wheel-makers-say.html

when it says it "addresses all forms of distraction "   all forms ????

including the back seat driver ?