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The grumpy thread


outlaw118

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8 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

 

The difference between super and regular unleaded seems to have skyrocketed since the whole E5/E10 thing kicked off.

Companies seeing an opportunity to price-gouge motorists?  Surely not!

Certainly one reason to sell the w124 was super unleaded fuel concerns. £1.60 A litre for the 2cv or x1/9 as an occasional toy at 48mpg is fine. At 26mpg as a daily car it’s a fair cost jump.

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40 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

The difference between super and regular unleaded seems to have skyrocketed since the whole E5/E10 thing kicked off.

Companies seeing an opportunity to price-gouge motorists?  Surely not!

Fortunately the CX's super unleaded at Sainsbury's has been entirely funded by accumulated Nectar points for over a year now, so I haven't had to spend actual cash for it. 

£1.66/ltr is taking the piss; that was motorway service prices not that long ago. Down here it's more like £1.45/ltr.

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6 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Fortunately the CX's super unleaded at Sainsbury's has been entirely funded by accumulated Nectar points for over a year now, so I haven't had to spend actual cash for it. 

£1.60/ltr is taking the piss. Down here it's more like £1.45/ltr.

Paid £1.52/L for Tesco super last weekend in Oldham. It's the preserve of the Audi now and it's elderly K-Jetronic 

Everything else is getting E10 even if it's slightly not recommended. 

There's not a lick of difference in MPGs out of the Suzuki with E10 or E5, it's all 33-35mpg. I do feel like getting a little oil burner for Uber economy on the way to work now. Can feel the cost of fuel now. It's taking the fun out of driving now, constantly watching the speed on the motorway, always trying to hover about 55-60mph 

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52 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Fortunately the CX's super unleaded at Sainsbury's has been entirely funded by accumulated Nectar points for over a year now, so I haven't had to spend actual cash for it. 

£1.66/ltr is taking the piss; that was motorway service prices not that long ago. Down here it's more like £1.45/ltr.

Saw £1.72/litre on the M6 on the way south last week!

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11 hours ago, Spurious said:

Paid £1.52/L for Tesco super last weekend in Oldham. It's the preserve of the Audi now and it's elderly K-Jetronic 

Everything else is getting E10 even if it's slightly not recommended. 

There's not a lick of difference in MPGs out of the Suzuki with E10 or E5, it's all 33-35mpg. I do feel like getting a little oil burner for Uber economy on the way to work now. Can feel the cost of fuel now. It's taking the fun out of driving now, constantly watching the speed on the motorway, always trying to hover about 55-60mph 

It’s an impossible predicament, a diesel could save you a few quid a week, then shit the DMF. Wiping the savings out. 

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10 minutes ago, carburettor said:

ULEZ charges.

....

Fuck London. Thats that, I’m not going.

seriously how can that be logical?

The cynical might say that this is all designed to make that London look even wealthier because it will only have new / nearly new / electric cars in it.

Londoners did have a chance to vote for over-earnest Shaun Bailey who aimed to do away with the whole ULEZ extension thing as well as review the cycle lane arrangement but, since nobody likes Tories even if they're black, they voted for a second helping of Khan instead.

It is what it is.

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35 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

The cynical might say that this is all designed to make that London look even wealthier because it will only have new / nearly new / electric cars in it.

Londoners did have a chance to vote for over-earnest Shaun Bailey who aimed to do away with the whole ULEZ extension thing as well as review the cycle lane arrangement but, since nobody likes Tories even if they're black, they voted for a second helping of Khan instead.

It is what it is.

Khan is doing the rest of the country a favour, holding back the tide of corrupt, racist Tory bilge subsuming the rest of the country. 

Congestion charging is the same as ULEZ - it doesn't discriminate between a Mini or a Maserati, they both have to pay the same. I'm not saying it's right, but it is at least consistent with CC and (to a degree) VED. 

VED by CO2 is another awkward 'multi-choice' solution that suits no-one. Why should someone emitting 119g/km pay £30/year, but us shiters get penalised x10 for twice the pollution? It should be £1.50 per g/km across the board. That's a fair incentive and it would bring in more to Govt coffers. 

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IMAG6119.thumb.jpg.ce3d32fb95a2b6a24df64c3daa5df978.jpg

I have spent days doing this stupid euro torch conversion on the welder.  I had the option of fitting an OEM replacement torch or getting the arguably better euro torch upgrade.  I'm well out of my comfort zone with this one, but I've soldiered on with it, as you do, in the vain hope I'll learn something.  I've learned my welder doesn't work properly now and I've no idea what's actually wrong with it.  I can get the wire feed to run nice and smoothly right up until I actually do any welding and then it goes all to pot and makes copper bird nests inside the case.

Do I chance getting a new wire feed at £100-150, or do I splurge on a new welder which I can't sensibly afford right now?  Either way I've got to fix it otherwise the car won't go through the MoT given it has no outer arch on one corner at the moment.

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21 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

I can get the wire feed to run nice and smoothly right up until I actually do any welding and then it goes all to pot and makes copper bird nests inside the case.

My Clarke welder started playing up last time I changed a reel.

Ran fine until you tried to weld at which point the tiny resistance against the wire would stop it dead.

@GingerNuttz, did you ever get anything out of it or has it just been in the naughty corner?

I know @blackboilersuit successfully converted his similar machine to Euro torch and it massively improved it.

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9 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

My Clarke welder started playing up last time I changed a reel.

Ran fine until you tried to weld at which point the tiny resistance against the wire would stop it dead.

@GingerNuttz, did you ever get anything out of it or has it just been in the naughty corner?

I know @blackboilersuit successfully converted his similar machine to Euro torch and it massively improved it.

I didn't bother opening it up once you got the GYS, didn't see the point until either of the decent ones pack in 😂

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I'm not feeling the joy for the conversion.  Well outside of my comfort zone and far from a straight swap, it's required modification to parts and soldering, and a spacer to be fabricated (I'm on attempt three of that) and now I have a welder that works badly, rather than not at all, which is somehow more frustrating.  A new equivalent welder is about £430ish and can be got on finance, so that's very tempting right now, rather than throwing money at a problem I don't understand with this old welder which, up until very recently, has behaved spectacularly well.

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7 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

I'm not feeling the joy for the conversion.  Well outside of my comfort zone and far from a straight swap, it's required modification to parts and soldering, and a spacer to be fabricated (I'm on attempt three of that) and now I have a welder that works badly, rather than not at all, which is somehow more frustrating.  A new equivalent welder is about £430ish and can be got on finance, so that's very tempting right now, rather than throwing money at a problem I don't understand with this old welder which, up until very recently, has behaved spectacularly well.

120SN-500A PANA 2 drive weld feeder assembly wire feeder for MIG welding  machines | Welding machine, Welding accessories, Mig welding

try spacing it closer to the rollers so it doesn't have the space to birds nest. 

I don't know if it'll work but it looks a bit far away in your pic

 

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Wifes Focus has started leaking power steering fluid again-3rd time in 9 years. There's a fault on the pipes for the 1.6 100bhp model. I could take a chance and replace the pipes £45 - but if the pump is leaking I have to replace the pipes anyway. The pipes have a one use push fitting thingy on the pump.  Really would like to get another estate-but even shit is expensive!

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3 hours ago, vulgalour said:

IMAG6119.thumb.jpg.ce3d32fb95a2b6a24df64c3daa5df978.jpg

I have spent days doing this stupid euro torch conversion on the welder.  I had the option of fitting an OEM replacement torch or getting the arguably better euro torch upgrade.  I'm well out of my comfort zone with this one, but I've soldiered on with it, as you do, in the vain hope I'll learn something.  I've learned my welder doesn't work properly now and I've no idea what's actually wrong with it.  I can get the wire feed to run nice and smoothly right up until I actually do any welding and then it goes all to pot and makes copper bird nests inside the case.

Do I chance getting a new wire feed at £100-150, or do I splurge on a new welder which I can't sensibly afford right now?  Either way I've got to fix it otherwise the car won't go through the MoT given it has no outer arch on one corner at the moment.

The euro socket I used for the conversion had a brass feed tube that clamped into the original liner holder and had to be cut to length so that once fitted it was as close to the feed rollers as possible without touching. Here's a pic of mine with the end of the tube circled. 

welder.thumb.JPG.e1351dc67d6130dda8861ae40dd8d254.JPG

I'm guessing the gap between roller and tube on yours is at least part of your problem. 

Fitting the socket to the sloping front panel was a faff but in the end I just packed out around the bolt holes with penny washers and live with the unsightly gap between socket and panel. 

Wiring in the gas solenoid was a faff too because these machines are built down to a budget and don't have a conventional welding contactor. IIRC the welding power uses a switched neutral through an unfeasibly small relay on the wire speed PCB to switch power to the primary side of the transformer. I think I piggy backed that and a permanent live from the back of the on/off switch to power the (240v) solenoid.

Happy to take mine apart and check connections if needed just let me know.

 

Edited by blackboilersuit
spellings and grammer
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I didn't opt for the gas solenoid extra, I didn't want more complication and since I'm used to the machine only having a one-stage trigger whenever I need wire and not gas, I just turn the bottle off so I don't waste gas.  As for the wire guide, looking at your picture I reckon that's going to be at least part of the problem.  I'll have to fettle mine just a bit more to make the tube fit better and hopefully that'll stop the birds nest issue.  One more go at it tomorrow and we'll see if that fixes it.

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5 hours ago, grogee said:

Khan is doing the rest of the country a favour, holding back the tide of corrupt, racist Tory bilge subsuming the rest of the country. 

Congestion charging is the same as ULEZ - it doesn't discriminate between a Mini or a Maserati, they both have to pay the same. I'm not saying it's right, but it is at least consistent with CC and (to a degree) VED. 

VED by CO2 is another awkward 'multi-choice' solution that suits no-one. Why should someone emitting 119g/km pay £30/year, but us shiters get penalised x10 for twice the pollution? It should be £1.50 per g/km across the board. That's a fair incentive and it would bring in more to Govt coffers. 

Politicians? Every single one of them is as bent as camp Freddie. They all make me absolutely sick.

Khan, as Johnson did before him has done nothing positive in his entire tenure, in my opinion.

 

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45 minutes ago, grogee said:

Tesco 'Finest' ready meal curries. Tasteless wank. 

Although probably because they're not allowed to put loads of salt in. 

Yeah, I know, lazy lardasses not cooking - tonight was Shopping Night and that's the only time we have a Reddy Meal.

😂😂😂

maybe you need to spend a little more money on your food. TV dinners are absolutely horrible

I like this line in the song, 

TV dinners I'm feelin' kinda rough
TV dinners this one's kinda tough
I like the enchiladas and the teriaki too
I even like the chicken if.... the sauce is not too blue.

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