N19's fleet - Mondeo corrosion, Capri capers.

[N19]

On 12/29/2022 at 1:08 AM, uk_senator said:

I just realised where that is! 🤣
I`ve seen you go by in the Bluey a couple of times, but I don't recall ever seeing the Capri.. I did see one in the same colour outside a garage not far away a few years back (but not yours):

Remarkably similar and I had to check the interior and wingmirror to confirm it wasn't actually mine...! 

[adw1977]

On 28/12/2022 at 22:10, uk_senator said:

I didnt know the boundary was going to be that far in, I thought it was going to be no more than 50m inside the M25 for most of it

Don't forget that the M25 is not the Greater London boundary, there's quite a lot of non-London inside the M25 that Khan's authority doesn't extend to.

I used to live in the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey.  The entire borough lies inside the M25 but outside London.

[N19]

I ran up the Capri and let it warm through nicely, driving around the private driveway etc at my lockup to hopefully stop anything seizing up. 

Looks odd without the grille. 

Indicators now off, bumper to come out then headlights. I've realised it'll probably need towing up to the garage so may as well take everything that's needed off, without worrying about leaving it road legal anymore. 

I've also ordered up one of those Bissell mini carpet cleaners that YouTubers rate, the interior is in my flat at the moment so we'll see how that works.

[N19]

Carpet cleaner arrived today, decided to practice on the rear seats of the Capri

I'll file that under "unexpectedly mucky"  (right hand dirty tank).

Two front seats, upper bits of rear seat, carpet, boot carpet, headlining all to do.... Plus I'd like to see it have a go at the Mondeo's carpet...

[N19]

Most of the front off the Capri now.

Bluebird has another years ticket.

And, thanks to no residents parking on a Sunday, managed to get two of the fleet together next to each other. 

[N19]

Mondeo parts fun, searching for a driver's door latch for a MK2 = seemingly impossible, for a MK3 = £3.95 off eBay.  Exactly the same part! That's fitted and has sorted the electrical oddities with locking, lights draining battery etc. 

A free Sunday, I went for a drive around some Essex country lanes...

It'd have been more fun in the Capri, but that's increasingly in boxes... Or being swept up...

 

 

And a new tax disc courtesy of @cort16 and his snazzy online tool. 

[N19]

Heater ducts had some damage to the flexis which looks like it's been rubbing on something. Superglue cures all!

 

There was also more organisation

 

Before re packing boxes into the empty car. At least I can move in the garage now.

In ULEZ news, I had hoped that local journeys (eg to/from my lockup) would be possible without triggering any cameras. No such luck - they've appeared already at the bottleneck next to the Co-Op ( @Andrew353w will know ) which I really hoped wouldn't be hit. I suppose the exact location of each will be a state secret to prevent people avoiding it. In the words of Mr hubnut, "Bother". 

[Andrew353w]

You're right! After reading your post I popped down to that location & took these pictures. Oddly, I returned home to find a U.L.E.Z. debate taking place on the "Talking Politics" programme. Several London boroughs (although Barnet was not one of them!) are refusing permission for the cameras to be erected. To date these are: Sutton (Lib-Dem) Bromley, Hillingdon, Bexley and Harrow (I don't know the political complexion of them) so it's not all "plain sailing" for the Mayor. 

 

As a tangent to this discussion, all the commentators agreed that London's air needs to be cleaned up (no dispute there!) but they also all conflated "older" cars with "higher polluting" which is not necessarily the case. I refuse to accept that a 1 litre 05 reg Micra pollutes more than my 10 reg Subaru, but the U.L.E.Z. says otherwise....

[N19]

The latter boroughs you mention are all Tory controlled. 

It looks like the cameras will get anything that passes round there, even if one takes the shortcut through the parade of shops. They certainly weren't there a few weeks ago. There's another one further down, near the Golf Cabriolet that's been sitting there for at least 12 years.

[HMC]

5 hours ago, Andrew353w said:

You're right! After reading your post I popped down to that location & took these pictures. Oddly, I returned home to find a U.L.E.Z. debate taking place on the "Talking Politics" programme. Several London boroughs (although Barnet was not one of them!) are refusing permission for the cameras to be erected. To date these are: Sutton (Lib-Dem) Bromley, Hillingdon, Bexley and Harrow (I don't know the political complexion of them) so it's not all "plain sailing" for the Mayor. 

 

As a tangent to this discussion, all the commentators agreed that London's air needs to be cleaned up (no dispute there!) but they also all conflated "older" cars with "higher polluting" which is not necessarily the case. I refuse to accept that a 1 litre 05 reg Micra pollutes more than my 10 reg Subaru, but the U.L.E.Z. says otherwise....

“Older adults” 

“baby on board” 

Seems like middle aged able bodied people are fair game, presumably.

[N19]

10 hours ago, Andrew353w said:

You're right! After reading your post I popped down to that location & took these pictures. Oddly, I returned home to find a U.L.E.Z. debate taking place on the "Talking Politics" programme. Several London boroughs (although Barnet was not one of them!) are refusing permission for the cameras to be erected. To date these are: Sutton (Lib-Dem) Bromley, Hillingdon, Bexley and Harrow (I don't know the political complexion of them) so it's not all "plain sailing" for the Mayor. 

 

As a tangent to this discussion, all the commentators agreed that London's air needs to be cleaned up (no dispute there!) but they also all conflated "older" cars with "higher polluting" which is not necessarily the case. I refuse to accept that a 1 litre 05 reg Micra pollutes more than my 10 reg Subaru, but the U.L.E.Z. says otherwise....

I may be seeing things, but I passed by about half an hour ago and these cameras appeared to have vanished! I'll check again in the morning, but very curious. Maybe there's a shiter-friendly reader at 55 Broadway.

[Andrew353w]

9 hours ago, N19 said:

I may be seeing things, but I passed by about half an hour ago and these cameras appeared to have vanished! I'll check again in the morning, but very curious. Maybe there's a shiter-friendly reader at 55 Broadway.

I'll try to patrol the area occasionally and report back......

[N19]

1 hour ago, Andrew353w said:

I'll try to patrol the area occasionally and report back......

Went through this morning and, yes, they've disappeared. How odd.

[N19]

Fudge. I'm due to do a 260 mile round trip on Tuesday. My options are...

1. Mondeo. Currently making a scraping noise when turning left or keeping straight, disappears when turning right. I was hopeful that it might be a buggered arch liner or something but no such luck. Driveshaft? joints? Going to take a look first thing in the morning on a ramp.

2. Capri. Mostly in bits. Not roadworthy.

3. Bluebird. Fine enough, no functional spare wheel at the moment though, so I'd be stuffed if anything went wrong in that regard.

[High Jetter]

3 sounds the best option. Maybe take a can of instant air jic?

[N19]

Mondeo - buggered wheel bearing, none coming in until tomorrow. But a replacement tyre for the Nissan wheel could be found and fitted this afternoon which means it will be performing long distance duties tomorrow. It has done Aberdeen, Yorkshire etc from London before, just a little less refined on the motorway than the Mondeo.

[N19]

Definitely nice to get it out on a long trip - though it is that little bit less refined than the Mondeo on long 70mph stretches. 

[N19]

As above, the Mondeo was in the garage for what turned out to be a wheel bearing...

... whereupon I realised just how disgustingly filthy the outside is. 

The interior carpets though got a clean. Bad timing as I'd hoped to take the car out for a good run with the heater and blower on max - they're still damp today

 

Mucky Vs clean...

 

The Bluebird did cope well though, complete with period sat-nav setup for directions...

 

I took the brush to some of the rust blisters on the back of the Capri today, seems like someone doing a previous repair liked their filler...

This little dremel-style battery powered thing was £20 off eBay I think. Clearly it'll not be the most robust or long lasting tool, but it's been incredibly handy for taking little blisters back to metal, and there's mini cutting and polishing discs too. 

[N19]

I did an oil change on the Mondeo last weekend, and realised the air filter & cabin filter were pretty grubby. I was too busy to get down to the factors so ordered some from GSF, throwing a fuel filter, new oil filter and set of brake pads (the latter I didn't really need but they were cheap and make it up to the £25 minimum). WCPGW?

Fitted filters today, and also tackled a cracked plastic trim on the scuttle. The plastic insert here had cracked ages ago, so I took a washer, modified* it with a hammer to be slightly concave, painted it black to fit in and fitted it. 

To avoid having to wait for the paint to dry, I used the in-built paint baking facility on the Mondeo...

 

I then did a bit of undersealing at the back of the car. I decided to take off the tow ball to better access. With a long bar it came off reasonably easy, underseal/cleaning up all done, refitting should be easy enough right. Wrong.

I managed to get it up close enough to get an M8 nut and bolt through, just to hold it in position and give me the wiggle room to get the original bolt back in. M8 then removed and correct M12 bolt refitted. 

Oh and the brake pads that I didn't really need anyway - clearly had been fitted, box re-packaged with sellotape, all the pads scuffed and covered in muck and one of the pad wear sensor cables yanked out of its socket. Clearly returns aren't checked! I suppose that's my penance for not going to the proper motor factors.

I'm considering investing in one of these power washers for washing of cars down at the lockup and even outside my flat.

https://uk.ryobitools.eu/garden-tools/garden-cleaning-tools/pressure-washers/ry18pw22a/ry18pw22a-140/?wgdp=ppc&gclid=Cj0KCQiArsefBhCbARIsAP98hXStVoxqqpAfSiPZaqvsinP5N1Q1oP72kZvXZO9f3mT0GHvo-FQTNfEaAsJ2EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

we've an outdoor tap with a small length of hose, pressure isn't great though. This has a syphon kit included. Clearly won't be as powerful as a proper mains-powered pressure washer, but the price is ok and undoubtably a good habit to wash the underside of the car down in winter more often. Man maths tells me I'll save £4 a pop at the coin-op jet wash down at the Shell garage for 8 minutes.

[sierraman]

Those scuttles were a pain in the arse back in the day. Word of warning, don’t tighten the washer down too much it can actually crack the screen, ask me how I know. The filter housing used to have a foam seal on the back that used to perish quickly, a new one only used to be £6 from Ford but I’d expect they’re NLA now.

[N19]

Yeah, the foam has pretty much gone on mine. I'll have to see if I can get some sticky back foam online or something to replace it. Seems to hold water something silly which won't help. 

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, N19 said:

Yeah, the foam has pretty much gone on mine. I'll have to see if I can get some sticky back foam online or something to replace it. Seems to hold water something silly which won't help. 

I’d just use PU sealant. 

[N19]

Good call and easy enough to cut and re-do if you need to take the scuttle panel off, which I shouldn't need to do for a year!

[N19]

Fairly little going on in my world car-wise. The Capri's still waiting to be welded. It'll have been off the road for nearly 6 months soon, I should really chase up the garage again.

I decided to get the doors off, a two man job. How to do this on my own... easy, ratchet straps.

Crusty A-pillar posts. Looks like there's been some sort of repair here previously. 

and the.... armpit? of the door itself had some corrosion, which rapidly expanded when tested.

[uk_senator]

25 minutes ago, N19 said:

Fairly little going on in my world car-wise. The Capri's still waiting to be welded. It'll have been off the road for nearly 6 months soon, I should really chase up the garage again.

I decided to get the doors off, a two man job. How to do this on my own... easy, ratchet straps.

Crusty A-pillar posts. Looks like there's been some sort of repair here previously. 

and the.... armpit? of the door itself had some corrosion, which rapidly expanded when tested.

I could have given you a hand with the door removal, my arthritis is kicking my arse at the moment, but I`m sure I could have helped to some degree.

The door & pillar look easy enough to weld up, although its a shame the wings gonna have to be ground off to do it properly.

Regarding ULEZ camera`s, I did notice a weird camera on a telegraph pole a couple of roads from me a few days ago, about the size of a packet of Ritz crackers, black, 2 lenses & mounted horizontally..  dunno if that's ULEZ or not, like you, it`ll stop me taking any of mine out for a periodic round the block exercise if it is..

I`ve pretty much come to the conclusion I`m going to have to sell my fleet, which depresses me quite a lot..

[Angrydicky]

17 minutes ago, uk_senator said:

I`ve pretty much come to the conclusion I`m going to have to sell my fleet, which depresses me quite a lot..

Move. London is a shithole anyway.

[uk_senator]

3 minutes ago, Angrydicky said:

Move. London is a shithole anyway.

If my entire family (including kids & elderly parents) & friends & contacts weren't all here, I would..

[N19]

1 hour ago, uk_senator said:

I could have given you a hand with the door removal, my arthritis is kicking my arse at the moment, but I`m sure I could have helped to some degree.

The door & pillar look easy enough to weld up, although its a shame the wings gonna have to be ground off to do it properly.

Regarding ULEZ camera`s, I did notice a weird camera on a telegraph pole a couple of roads from me a few days ago, about the size of a packet of Ritz crackers, black, 2 lenses & mounted horizontally..  dunno if that's ULEZ or not, like you, it`ll stop me taking any of mine out for a periodic round the block exercise if it is..

I`ve pretty much come to the conclusion I`m going to have to sell my fleet, which depresses me quite a lot..

I'll definitely bear that in mind... especially when I come to re-fit things.

The wing will need to come off anyhow to work on the top inner rail. It's a pain, but it's got to happen and better get it sorted properly now.

I think those cameras are ULEZ ones yes. There's another which seems to have gone up at the Arkley Hotel bus terminus. My strategy is Capri (exempt), Mondeo (not exempt, use sparingly a few times a month when need arises, use for long-distance journeys back home and cross country), then something-new-and-boring-and-cheap-and-compliant-and-autoshitey-and-easy-to-work-on-and-reliable for day-to-day trundling around.

[uk_senator]

24 minutes ago, N19 said:

I'll definitely bear that in mind... especially when I come to re-fit things.

The wing will need to come off anyhow to work on the top inner rail. It's a pain, but it's got to happen and better get it sorted properly now.

I think those cameras are ULEZ ones yes. There's another which seems to have gone up at the Arkley Hotel bus terminus. My strategy is Capri (exempt), Mondeo (not exempt, use sparingly a few times a month when need arises, use for long-distance journeys back home and cross country), then something-new-and-boring-and-cheap-and-compliant-and-autoshitey-and-easy-to-work-on-and-reliable for day-to-day trundling around.

Oh right, well, easy enough to deal with then, I expect it`ll extend from the pillar into the firewall anyway?

I`d like to keep one of the Uno`s on the road & swallow the £12.50 when I do use it.. probably the 60S, as I`ve had that one for 15 years, so I feel more loyal to it than the others.. I can probably leave the 1993 Uno 45 in my mates garage for now, as he`s not bothered about it.  I think the rest will have to go..

I`d like to find something pre 82 & historically exempt as a daily, but 1. reliability, 2. rust resistance, & 3. prices... 

[Andrew353w]

20 minutes ago, uk_senator said:

Oh right, well, easy enough to deal with then, I expect it`ll extend from the pillar into the firewall anyway?

I`d like to keep one of the Uno`s on the road & swallow the £12.50 when I do use it.. probably the 60S, as I`ve had that one for 15 years, so I feel more loyal to it than the others.. I can probably leave the 1993 Uno 45 in my mates garage for now, as he`s not bothered about it.  I think the rest will have to go..

I`d like to find something pre 82 & historically exempt as a daily, but 1. reliability, 2. rust resistance, & 3. prices... 

At London prices what really is £12.50? To quote an 80s record; "two pints of lager and a packet of crisps!" 

Ironically Genghis Khan was being interviewed on a London T.V. programme a few days ago and he was explaining about deaths caused by vehicular pollution and became quite animated, ending his rant with "what price a child's life....??" To which the interviewer replied "well, according to your calculations, Mr. Khan, £12.50!" BRILLIANT!!

EVERYONE wants cleaner air, but this is NOT the way to make it happen!