Wibble’s Wittering - Cortina, Senator & occasional Skoda & family ramblings, soz!

[Wibble]

Planned to continue using the Superb whilst waiting for the sensor to arrive but it had other ideas. Although the previous fault lights were now on all the time, it had been fine.

However, leaving work this evening it pinged another fault up for stop/start system malfunction. Don’t care about that so headed home anyway. Got less than half a mile when it lost drive, the engine surged and many bongs went off!

Steering felt funny too so returned to base and swapped it for the pool car. Behold the mighty Arona:

Another modern that feels like driving an I-pad. 1.0 litre DSG and absolutely gutless. Zips along fine at speed but trying a quick pull out on a roundabout is pointless. No feel at all in the steering either. Hoping the sensor for the Superb arrives soon!

[Wibble]

Someone’s left a note on the Senator asking if I’d be willing to sell it. Not sure whether to just ignore or message them saying no but thanks for your interest🤔

[Bren]

3 minutes ago, Wibble said:

Someone’s left a note on the Senator asking if I’d be willing to sell it. Not sure whether to just ignore or message them saying no but thanks for your interest🤔

Depends what they are offering.

Usually much less than it's worth to you.

[Matty]

4 minutes ago, Wibble said:

Someone’s left a note on the Senator asking if I’d be willing to sell it. Not sure whether to just ignore or message them saying no but thanks for your interest🤔

Obvs question. "Yes it could be for sale but I couldn't possibly accept less than (insert ridiculous figure )"

[Wibble]

And it would be a ridiculous figure! I’ve had it since it was 6 years old. Might message saying thanks but no thanks, just to be polite.

[Matty]

1 hour ago, Wibble said:

And it would be a ridiculous figure! I’ve had it since it was 6 years old. Might message saying thanks but no thanks, just to be polite.

Fair point. They become part of the family, to the point it's not about money.

[danthecapriman]

Must admit, I tend to ignore such notes and don’t entertain door knocking style interest. I don’t like that sort of thing really and it makes me a bit uneasy for obvious reasons! 

Might be me though, just seeing the worst in everyone.😆

[Wibble]

It’s not just you. I’ve sent a message saying thanks for your interest, but it’s not for sale and haven’t had a reply. Always worried about the banger boys though😕

[Wibble]

Still waiting for the sensor for the Superb, it was sent 1st class last Friday with Royal Mail! I’ve found sport mode for the Arona though, so not quite so lethargic now but still don’t like it.

Still nervous about the Senator’s safety though , as no response from the enquirer since I messaged them and I can’t hide it anywhere. Hoping it was genuine interest for the right reasons🤞

[Wibble]

I’ve got a couple of days off for tinkering and accompanying Mrs W to her hospital appointment tomorrow.

The Superb is sorted, was just the ABS sensor. Thought I’d swap it out quickly at work but then found it was stuck fast, as had corroded internally and swollen. Meant calliper & disc coming off to tap it out from inside, so fucked it off up the road as I didn’t have time.

Had a look at the Senator rear brakes today. Popped the O/S/R pads out and quickly discovered it wasn’t a sticking calliper as it was still stiff to turn, so handbrake must be the culprit! Took the calliper and disc off and emptied a load of brake cleaner into the drum. Worked the lever a bit but still felt stiff so just backed off the adjuster and tapped the shoes in.  Didn’t fancy stripping it all out. Sounds like there’s a slight drag on the other side too, which I’ll tackle tomorrow but it’s much quieter already. Who needs a handbrake in an automatic anyway!🙂

[Wibble]

 I’ve not had a lot of time recently for the cars and the weather hasn’t helped but I grabbed a couple of hours today while Mrs W had a nap.

More rear brake fettling on the Senny and it’s now much better but I can still hear something. I had cleaned the front calliper sliders before but might try to find some new ones to rule that out. Frustrating, as it drives and pulls up dead straight.

Also gave it a quick wash and wish I could afford a full respray, as it’s starting to look pretty poor now. Anyway, was a good distraction, poor dark photo follows:

[Wibble]

The Senny is happily back on weekend duty but the weather has been too crap to use the Cortina. Only driven it once this year unfortunately.

Getting ready to head north to Volvoland. Finish on Friday for 2 weeks leave and Mrs W’s last treatment has been pushed back a few days to allow us a week away to visit mum and hopefully, polish up and sell the Jazz.

Why is it when your trying to get things straight at work to get away, shit always happens? Now got this to deal with before I go:

fucks sake😡

[danthecapriman]

Wow! What’s going on with that? Looks like it was a nice place before burning down!

[Wibble]

3 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Wow! What’s going on with that? Looks like it was a nice place before burning down!

Yep, beautiful place with gorgeous gardens and pool. Gardeners still working when I visited.  Fortunately the family were away when it happened, unfortunately this meant the alarm was raised too late. 
 

First floor and roof is gone. Literally the stairs go to nowhere and there’s talk of it being demolished it’s that bad, which we don’t come across often. 
 

So, no point in a building clean and deodorise, just empty ground floor contents for possible restoration. From what I’ve seen, apart from kitchen/utility room cupboards, it’s a total loss sadly.

It’s very rare that we can’t do more but happened long before we were instructed unfortunately, which causes major implications in the viability of restoration.

[danthecapriman]

32 minutes ago, Wibble said:

Yep, beautiful place with gorgeous gardens and pool. Gardeners still working when I visited.  Fortunately the family were away when it happened, unfortunately this meant the alarm was raised too late. 
 

First floor and roof is gone. Literally the stairs go to nowhere and there’s talk of it being demolished it’s that bad, which we don’t come across often. 
 

So, no point in a building clean and deodorise, just empty ground floor contents for possible restoration. From what I’ve seen, apart from kitchen/utility room cupboards, it’s a total loss sadly.

It’s very rare that we can’t do more but happened long before we were instructed unfortunately, which causes major implications in the viability of restoration.

What a shame! Still, good nobody was hurt. Stuff can be replaced and all that.

Hopefully something as nice can be rebuilt in its place.

[Wibble]

44 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

What a shame! Still, good nobody was hurt. Stuff can be replaced and all that.

Hopefully something as nice can be rebuilt in its place.

Exactly this. Owner wants to rebuild differently which will cause problems, as insurers will want to use existing footings, so I expect this will be cash settled.

[Wibble]

Let me introduce you to the Joyous Jazz of Johnstone (well, near Johnstone but hey).

Some might remember this is my mum’s car and I have to sell it. Arnold Clarke previously offered £8k+ and then knocked the offer back by over £2k saying it needed 6 panels repainting.

Now I’ve had a chance to look at the car myself, this was of course bollocks, as we all suspected. It was minor scratches like this:

So I’ve spent the afternoon washing and machine polishing it and it now looks like this:

Tossers! I’ll be visiting 3 Arnold Clarke tomorrow to try and get the history printed off as they’ve always serviced it but are claiming it has no history. It was serviced in April and mum hasn’t even had the invoice, never mind the service book. And look at the mileage:

After trying to get the history, I’ll then list it on Motorway, Autotrader and probably visit that dealer in Dalry that @AnnoyingPentium suggested before. Fingers crossed I get rid of it this week.

[Wibble]

I went to see Arnold and his merry men yesterday and persuaded them to print off the invoice for the service in April and managed to get 3 others, taking it back to 2019. They said 2020 was missing and they had nothing before that, grrr.

As a result, I’ve listed the car with Motorway with a partial service history and it goes live at 8am tomorrow. 
 

Naturally, I found the book pack wallet tonight, complete with every service invoice and stamped service book🤦‍♂️. Just happened to be looking at a bookshelf and saw a black wallet and took a look. Fucks sake!

One thing that did amuse me whilst cleaning the car was, despite the sharks claiming every minor scratch meant 6 panels need repainting and two alloys need refurbishing, they didn’t notice the near side front wheel is a completely different alloy to all the others😆. The correct one is in the boot following a puncture repair and was never swapped back. The odd one is one I bought dad, along with a jack and wrench, as he wasn’t comfortable not having a spare.

I’ve not swapped them over as the correct one is in far worse condition. Reserve set by Motorway is £7832 so let’s see what happens 🤞

[Wibble]

The Honda had no offers, which surprised me to be honest. They’ve asked me to consider reducing the price but they set the reserve, not me.

Think I’ll try Autotrader now.

[Wibble]

The jolly jazz has gone. I spoke to Parks Honda in Hamilton and they took details and said they’d call me right back. They didn’t. Mum was getting anxious, so I suggested the last resort, WBAC. She asked me to go ahead and their initial valuation was £7495 but I warned her they would knock that right down when I’m there. Her decision was to take whatever they offer, as she just wants it gone.

Nice guy and he was fair in ignoring the worst chip over the filler cap and the condition of the wheels but the offer came down to £6635 with a further £74.99 admin fee. Disappointing but deal done.

She is happy and it’s a weight off my mind but still a tinge of sadness as it’s a big step for her and it was the last car dad bought. Hey ho.

[Wibble]

Oh, and of course 2 hours later, Motorway emailed to say they’d had a secure offer of £6880🤦‍♂️

[High Jetter]

Next week, if you hadn't sold it to WBAC, they'd very likely have upped their offer.

[Wibble]

Maybe but I’m not here next week and it had to go🤷🏻

[Wibble]

I’m still on leave and have been using the Senator again but the chrome trim insert on the rear bumper keeps coming adrift.

The left rear corner section comes out from where it ticks under the centre section because the clips are broken.

I was in the garage pottering and saw this on the shelf:

So I thought I’d give it a try, it says it sticks to plastic too. Cut a chunk off, squished it all to one colour and shoved it behind the chrome. Tucked the chrome strip back in and pushed it back and removed what JB oozed out.

15 mile run and appears to be stuck solid🤞

[danthecapriman]

That chemical metal putty is good stuff. We used to use it on big electricity transformers and stuff where I used to work and it always did the job. Even when it was completely submerged in oil it’d still be fine! 
I’ve always kept a tube of it in my tool box since.

[Wibble]

38 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

That chemical metal putty is good stuff. We used to use it on big electricity transformers and stuff where I used to work and it always did the job. Even when it was completely submerged in oil it’d still be fine! 
I’ve always kept a tube of it in my tool box since.

Cool, that’s good to know and fingers crossed it’ll hold a bit of chrome trim in place.

[Wibble]

Since seeing @danthecapriman’s chrome tail pipe finisher, I’ve wanted to try one on the. Cortina.

The old one I had on the shelf was for 45mm diameter exhausts but just a tad too small so I picked up one from Halfrauds that said would fit 43-50mm diameter pipes. Got home and it doesn’t fit🤔

I reckoned mine was only 46/47 so measured to find this trim was only 45mm, exactly the same as I had for fucks sake.

Back to Halfrauds who were happy to change for one to fit up to 48mm, with a £4 refund for the win.

Anyway, it fits but the clamps are too short to fit both back on. It’s coming off tomorrow and I’ll either take it back, find longer bolts for the clamps or resort, again, to metal epoxy putty and stick it on with that. Shit photo of it now (also showing my shit rear bumper chrome):

[danthecapriman]

Looks good! Definitely smartens things up a bit with one on imho. It’s not so bad on a rough car but on something nice a bare metal rusty tailpipe just lets the look down.

The one I’ve got comes with a tiny hole in the underside and a short fat screw so you can tighten the trim onto the pipe underneath but I found mine such a tight fit against the pipe it really didn’t need it. I had to beat the trim on to get it fully on. No chance of it falling off though!

Btw, that chemical metal putty does work on exhausts. But it smells funny when it gets hot. Almost like a weird fishy smell!

[Wibble]

Thanks @danthecapriman. Think I’ll have a fettle tomorrow. Not sure I want a fishy smell though but then it’ll be behind me, so fuck it😁

[danthecapriman]

3 hours ago, Wibble said:

Thanks @danthecapriman. Think I’ll have a fettle tomorrow. Not sure I want a fishy smell though but then it’ll be behind me, so fuck it😁

My fishy smell comes from the centre pipe joint, stinks if the car’s running and you step out! Driving around it’s other people’s problem though! 
It works well as exhaust sealer though. I tried a bit of GunGum first but it just flaked off so chemical metal to the rescue! No such problems.