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The grumpy thread


outlaw118

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4 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

That's not bad oil consumption.Over 200 miles per pint. When I got rid of my 1.7 O series Ital, it was doing a pint in 36 miles. Are you putting proper old fashioned oil in that doesn't want to come out the can, it's so thick?

I am not, because I quite like being able to change gear without being The Incredible Hulk.

Got my first full rebuild quote in today of £1500-1800, which includes every part it might need and all the machining it might need.  I don't know if that's a good price, or a bad price.

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47 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

I am not, because I quite like being able to change gear without being The Incredible Hulk.

Got my first full rebuild quote in today of £1500-1800, which includes every part it might need and all the machining it might need.  I don't know if that's a good price, or a bad price.

If it includes a rebore and new pistons it seems fairly reasonable.

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3 hours ago, jamescarruthers said:

Don’t worry too much over this. It is quite common to not be able to check in online now as some airlines want to physically check some of your documents before you check in now. For example, vaccination, Covid test, insurance, passenger locator form. It does vary massively with airline and destination.
 

For Spain: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain/entry-requirements

I've done that and I have checked in online, just when I try to generate my boarding pass I just get error messages from both my phone and my PC.

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Ah yes, it's that bloody day where I basically have to not look at anything.

Already had three moments of "That's a strange decision, but fair enough..." Before realising about thirty minutes later it was an April Fool "joke."

Fair enough, come up with something, but please just add a disclaimer once you're done which makes it clear it's not true rather than leaving people to figure it out themselves.

It's really not bloody funny if you happen to be autistic.

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1 hour ago, artdjones said:

If it includes a rebore and new pistons it seems fairly reasonable.

Price was for everything to be replaced that needed it, and any machining work as required.  They even source the parts so I shouldn't even need to worry about that side of things, even though I do have some parts I already sourced in preparation for this job.  General consensus thus far seems to be the price is fair for the work involved, it's not something I want to cheap out on but it's a big scary investment sort of a thing.  If it were any other car I probably wouldn't bother.

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2 hours ago, vulgalour said:

I am not, because I quite like being able to change gear without being The Incredible Hulk.

Got my first full rebuild quote in today of £1500-1800, which includes every part it might need and all the machining it might need.  I don't know if that's a good price, or a bad price.

Pretty sure that back in the seventies when Princesses were a thing, they'd have used good old Duckhams Q 20 50 or Castrol GTX or somesuch,like most cars of the day. I'm sure modern oil finders will say to use something thinner and synthetic  but not quite sure how that works with engines that are well used. Regarding gearchanging, I can remember putting SAE 90 stuff in separate gearboxes, as specified, and being able to change gear ok. 

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23 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Price was for everything to be replaced that needed it, and any machining work as required.  They even source the parts so I shouldn't even need to worry about that side of things, even though I do have some parts I already sourced in preparation for this job.  General consensus thus far seems to be the price is fair for the work involved, it's not something I want to cheap out on but it's a big scary investment sort of a thing.  If it were any other car I probably wouldn't bother.

Sounds pretty reasonable to me based on prices from when I was looking at things like that, there's quite a few hours work involved and a lot of little parts that add up in a hurry. Given rust is the biggest killer on these cars I wonder if just finding another engine might be the more sensible option... though again it's presenting the unknown of whether that one too will cause headaches...so it's down to you to weigh up the pros and cons I think.

Finding one someone isn't charging the earth for because it ran great when removed from the car (despite that being 30 years of storage in a damp garage ago) is probably a challenge too.

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1 minute ago, Dobloseven said:

Pretty sure that back in the seventies when Princesses were a thing, they'd have used good old Duckhams Q 20 50 or Castrol GTX or somesuch,like most cars of the day. I'm sure modern oil finders will say to use something thinner and synthetic  but not quite sure how that works with engines that are well used. Regarding gearchanging, I can remember putting SAE 90 stuff in separate gearboxes, as specified, and being able to change gear ok. 

Book says 10w40 for the Princess and I've always used that.  I've tried 20w50 and it just made the gear change very stiff and difficult when cold.  Remember, no separate gearbox on the Princess, gearbox-in-sump so it shares the oil with the engine.  That's why it's a ridiculous quantity of oil when you have to do a change, you're changing the gearbox oil at the same time.  It does have the benefit that the gearboxes tend to outlive the cars because they're always getting fresh oil.  Besides, I doubt a heavier oil would actually help the situation I've got at the moment.

@Zelandeth If I get a replacement engine I'll have to get it pulled apart to check it's okay so I'm not really gaining anything.  Makes more sense to fix the one I've got, it runs well enough that I can't imagine it's beyond the point of no return.

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2 hours ago, Pieman said:

I've done that and I have checked in online, just when I try to generate my boarding pass I just get error messages from both my phone and my PC.

Sorted it - nowhere did it tell you on the website that you can't access your boarding pass until 48 hours before departure, even if you check in before then!

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9 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Book says 10w40 for the Princess and I've always used that.  I've tried 20w50 and it just made the gear change very stiff and difficult when cold.  Remember, no separate gearbox on the Princess, gearbox-in-sump so it shares the oil with the engine.  That's why it's a ridiculous quantity of oil when you have to do a change, you're changing the gearbox oil at the same time.  It does have the benefit that the gearboxes tend to outlive the cars because they're always getting fresh oil.  Besides, I doubt a heavier oil would actually help the situation I've got at the moment.

@Zelandeth If I get a replacement engine I'll have to get it pulled apart to check it's okay so I'm not really gaining anything.  Makes more sense to fix the one I've got, it runs well enough that I can't imagine it's beyond the point of no return.

Yeah, if I were in your shoes and could reasonably afford the rebuild that's almost definitely the route I'd go down.  At least if there is anything terminally wrong with it you'd think it would be spotted pretty quickly.

It's difficult to put a price on your own time and stress, but that's why these days I farm out quite a few jobs I know I *could* do myself.  Generally anything that involves taking apart suspension or steering components beyond changing a track rod end if it's really easy to get to will go to a garage.  

I spent enough years without two pennies to rub together so had to deal with jobs like that without the right tools on a gravel driveway on the top of a damned hill, 18 miles from the nearest source of tools/parts if I broke anything.  Then had to deal with the fallout when a critical bolt snapped or rounded off.  Sod that nonsense now I can afford to pay someone to do that work who has a proper lift and a toolbox with several grand worth of decent tools!

I can see rebuilding an engine being quite enjoyable - but not when there's pressure on getting it done.

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56 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Book says 10w40 for the Princess and I've always used that.  I've tried 20w50 and it just made the gear change very stiff and difficult when cold.  Remember, no separate gearbox on the Princess, gearbox-in-sump so it shares the oil with the engine.  That's why it's a ridiculous quantity of oil when you have to do a change, you're changing the gearbox oil at the same time.  It does have the benefit that the gearboxes tend to outlive the cars because they're always getting fresh oil.  Besides, I doubt a heavier oil would actually help the situation I've got at the moment.

@Zelandeth If I get a replacement engine I'll have to get it pulled apart to check it's okay so I'm not really gaining anything.  Makes more sense to fix the one I've got, it runs well enough that I can't imagine it's beyond the point of no return.

Back in the seventies, I had an Austin 1300GT and always put Q20 50 in that. Being an old git I can unfortunately remember when gears in the sump was still a current thing. Must say I wasn't over impressed with the O series engine in the Ital I owned in the eighties. I suppose it was fairly easy to work on though. Still got the camshaft holding down things I made for doing the valve clearances somewhere, I think. Remember changing the timing belt on a Princess in a half hour lunch break at work as well. 

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12 hours ago, Fumbler said:

Tax rules changed today which I forgot about, so I taxed the BX completely unaware it's now £180 per year.

I remember the <1549cc band being about £120 not so long ago! Sharks :( 

£10 a year extra for what!? To be told its going to 173 light years before your V62 gets acknowledged!? 

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26 minutes ago, omegod said:

Chasing cables into a wall that is of "No fines construction" Oh the joys ! 

Running wiring through this house is right up there with my least favourite jobs ever.  There's no access to the wall voids from the loft and the downstairs floors are concrete so it's a huge faff.  

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4 hours ago, omegod said:

Chasing cables into a wall that is of "No fines construction" Oh the joys ! 

I avoided that joy. After I pulled out of a house purchase in 1989, after my uncle who had been in Birmingham city council's housing department in the 1960s, told me NOooooooooooO! 

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5 minutes ago, New POD said:

I avoided that joy. After I pulled out of a house purchase in 1989, after my uncle who had been in Birmingham city council's housing department in the 1960s, told me NOooooooooooO! 

I swear this house would withstand a direct nuclear strike, walls are so solid you can't even chop in a socket 

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I went to a nightclub for the first time since the pandemic last night, a girl told me I looked like Jeffrey Dahmer (I don't). I think this was supposed to be a good thing. I danced away slowly.

The clutch also started slipping on the Volvo last night, though it seemed to cure itself, so I'll see how it does when I retrieve the car today.

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Decided to go out for a pub lunch yesterday , nothing special, it’s a nice pub but it’s a chain 

a shared starter platter  for 2

sirloin steak meal

beef rib meal

2 large glasses of wine and a pint of shandy

£64 

it wasn’t even that nice , we were going to go to miller and Carter as I do like their steaks , wish I had now as it’d have been worth the  extra £15-£20

the hospitality industry is going to be the first to suffer once people start looking how much money is left after all the ever increasing direct debits have emptied their bank accounts 

 

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Hence why you can't beat a *massive Sunday Roast, for value.  Especially if you end up with enough leftovers for a stew on Monday, and Sandwich fillings for a week. 

(In my sandwiches today is Turkey from Christmas, which I froze on the 26th December) 

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That reminds me of the Oscar Wilde comment which seems particularly apposite:

‘a man who knows the price of everything and the value of  nothing.

Everyone I know or knew who focused on money was miserable and also useless at dealing with it, they had no sense of proportion or perspective.

 

 

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I hate bleeding brakes. In my experience it rarely seems to improve things (unless the pedal is REALLY bad).

A friend came round to help with some other car work and he has an obsession with bleeding brakes. Now the pedal just goes to the floor although all nipples are closed. I'm going back soon to have another go. I was so pissed off with it on Saturday (when he came over) that I just packed up and left it and didn't do the other jobs I actually needed to do. 

 

Yesterday, the charger port on my phone seems to have broken. I can wirelessly charge it but this isn't a great long term solution, I think.

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