THE GUBBERMINT ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

[barefoot]

Put winter tyres on the Scirocco Thursday - Hankook IceBears!

as if IceBears wasn't cool enough - £42 each.

Snowed to buggery Friday night

Saturday went out to play....

 

last winter - scared to poopydoo in a 944

now - blatzing it

 

Winter tyres are AMAZING!

 

the car was carefully chosen to be very light - 875kg

 

but the tyres have transformed it!

 

.

[Cavcraft]

Cleared the garage around the Merc today. Gave some of it a quick wash and polish, noticed some marks on the paintwork which'll want buffing. Finally dawned on me it has to go now, have half arsedly tried to sell it before but really need the garage space back. Think there's some interest in export for it but don't want to go down that particular route unless absolutely neccessary.

Although I've not driven in it in a couple of years and it's been out of view in the garage it'll pain me to see it go. Have some potential interest in it from an enthusiast so will see how that goes.

 

Still pondering a 1995-ish Celica I've been offered but awaiting the MOT failure sheet before I commit. It definately won't be a keeper whatever happens though, not my cup of tea and as such it's not worth me using it as three door cars are a pain with kids and if I ever get one it'll be something I have an interest in.

[The Moog]

Changed the front Accumulator sphere on Xantia. Was very very simple and came off really easily. Rises up and down pretty quickly now. Once I get a few quid I will swap the rest over. Whilst I was doing that found an air leak in the diesel. Went round and tightened everything and now it is gone. About 10x easier to start now!

[mattblack]

Went to look at a 2001 'Y' plate Vectra 1.8 LS estate today, 111K, clean and tidy, service history, full ticket. Up for £985, garage offered £185 for our Astra. We'd be happy with that as I can see a world of arseache trying to sell a cheap runner, esp. at this time of year. Provided O/H can get a sensible insurance quote looks like we'll go for it.

 

(Awaits hoards of people telling me how crap Vectras are...)

[peter9000uk]

Went to look at a 2001 'Y' plate Vectra 1.8 LS estate today, 111K, clean and tidy, service history, full ticket. Up for £985, garage offered £185 for our Astra. We'd be happy with that as I can see a world of arseache trying to sell a cheap runner, esp. at this time of year. Provided O/H can get a sensible insurance quote looks like we'll go for it.

 

(Awaits hoards of people telling me how crap Vectras are...)

 

Wish I'd have known yesterday, mate just sold X plate 1.8 SXi with tax and mot for £200. Needed drivers leccy window sorting and a very good valet

[Negative Creep]

So I'm making enquiries on a couple of cars. There was a Fiat Tipo 16v on retro rides that the guy appeared to have trouble shifting so I sent him a PM expressing interest. He doesn't reply and later in the day declares he will be scrapping what he admits is a rare car The other is a mk.2 MR2 which I seem to be having more luck with. The seller actually seems like an enthusiast with a long, well written ad and he's sent me plenty of info by email. Can't view until next weekend but presuming it's still there and as described I'll almost certainly be taking it home

[Cavcraft]

Went to look at a 2001 'Y' plate Vectra 1.8 LS estate today, 111K, clean and tidy, service history, full ticket. Up for £985, garage offered £185 for our Astra. We'd be happy with that as I can see a world of arseache trying to sell a cheap runner, esp. at this time of year. Provided O/H can get a sensible insurance quote looks like we'll go for it.

 

(Awaits hoards of people telling me how crap Vectras are...)

 

Tell me about the Astra please...

[Guest]

UNIT NOOZ

 

 

(This pertains to the unit I share with SCTSH_ANDY and Reanimation-films, and which MM5 is a part time resident).

 

We have a merry old time down at NSJC Towers [stockport]. We normally have to deal with bovine and equine audiences, idiotic next door neighbours and the occasional parking misdemeanour. Storing our outdoor rammle is often a problem. Political correctness be damned! We shall henceforth refer to our body shop bodge artist next door as 'spastic leg biscuit man', due to his tendency to bitch loudly about the pain in his legs and his unreasonable demands on our biscuit supply.He parks his cars all over the site. This means my 480 has to be parked out of the compound and near the path to which the public have access - not great when the adjacent thoroughfare is used by knuckle draggers who last time broke into our landlord's static home and took his Dexta for a drive.

 

I'm paying for a space inside the unit. Aside from a BIGDUG shelf containing Piazza offcuts, a B18 block and several sets of alloys in an Amazon friendly PCD, there's very little evidence of my tenancy. SCTSH_ANDY's two cars block the entrance, and Reanimation's L300 sits in my space, ready to be dispatched. His Cortina sits clowns to the right.

 

I don't think it wants to go. Mark has had no end of grief from eBayers and their various urine extraction schemes.

 

Mark's first attempt was to place it in an auction. An Essex bidder with decidedly questionable feedback won, and never returned subsequent messages and calls. This played out over several weeks. MM5 and Mark cracked on with the Cortina while I shuffled the 480 from pillar to post. Mark tried again with a BIN \ Best offer lot. It was at this stage the shady doings of our Essex friends really began to make themselves known. Winning bidder #2 seemed slightly better than the last - he was answering texts - albeit in a two line sub literate fashion - and had booked a collection for the van on Shiply. Within the space of a week, our man had gone quiet before the promise of a weekend pick up was made. Before the blackout Mark gave him several dates that could be done - and one that categorically, absolutely was not possible.

 

Anyone want to guess when our chappie decided to send a trailer up?

 

It got stranger from there. It transpired that he only had Mark's old flat address, and not the address of the unit. Luckily, as this turned out. Further examination showed that he lived two doors down from the original bidder, and that building turned out to be a bar. Mark never did quite unravel their scheme completely, but I suspect he was trying to rinse him of some cash by claiming he sent a trailer up to collect a van that wasn't there. The fact that the amounts quoted 'twixt Shiply and bidder varied massively - and that he didn't have the correct address for collection - set alarm bells ringing at Chez Robison. Our man later claimed that the Shiply driver was marooned somewhere in the North West and had done a runner with the cash he set aside for buying the van. Indeed.

 

Mark was now getting fed up, and was on to buyer #3 for the dear old L300, who seemed by all accounts to be a hardcore Mitsubishi perv. He had owned a Celeste from new along with a Sigma, and planned to transport the van home on his Canter beavertail. More on that vehicle later.

 

The last of our eBay triumvirate seemed a class above the wastrels that had tried to buy the van previously. He sent Mark an advance, and promised to effect pick up on Saturday.

Yesterday was a no-show, because of the weather. Cheshire seems to have escaped the worst of the deteriorating conditions at present. Arrangements were made for a PM collection today.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, work continued on the Cortina. MM5 assumed his residence and Mark stayed behind to help.

 

Our man failed to proceed. His Canter had nary a gallop before the ignition failed outside Oxford. His deposit was left to remain in Mark's bank account for the time being. In the ongoing comedy of errors, Mark appears to have inherited the cudgel of misfortune from me. This means the 480 has to stay outside for another week, which is bad for the parking arrangements and even worse for the battery. It also means that we have to put off the delivery of a pair of couches (allusions to Area 52 unwelcome) whilst the L300's new custodian sorts out his wagon.

 

I'll keep you posted.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I had big plans for a full day in the workshop today, but as it was such a beautiful day I sacked it off and went walking in the Peaks instead! Lovely. However I did get a couple of hours in, i've cleaned up the cylinder head of the Cavalier, fitted all new valve stem seals, reassembled the head and stuck it back on the engine. Hopefully i'll have time to re-attach all the wires and pipes one evening this week. After that lot I was too cold to do any more so I came home and cooked a big pan of chilli for tomorrows tea. Yum!

[mattblack]

Went to look at a 2001 'Y' plate Vectra 1.8 LS estate today, 111K, clean and tidy, service history, full ticket. Up for £985, garage offered £185 for our Astra. We'd be happy with that as I can see a world of arseache trying to sell a cheap runner, esp. at this time of year. Provided O/H can get a sensible insurance quote looks like we'll go for it.

 

(Awaits hoards of people telling me how crap Vectras are...)

 

Tell me about the Astra please...

 

1998 'R' plate Merit 1.7 turbo diesel estate, GM engine. White. 116K on the clock, MOT May 2011, taxed end of Jan. Had advisories for warped discs, weak front shocks and exhaust blowing at last MOT. Starts/stops/steers. Bit of bubbling around rear arches, usual chips/scrapes/dings of a 12 year old car. Lens missing from N/S/F indicator (only noticed today), N/S mirror needs refitting properly, centre air vent in dash doesn't close. Probably other bits and pieces if you went over it.

 

REALLY don't need it hanging around, tho'...

[Inspector Morose]

Yowser Wat!

 

Meanwhile in the area known as Cradley, tinkerings have been taking place on the new Sweede shite:

 

Bought from a dealer with very little MoT and Tax last Friday, the a cursory check showed a few minor problems to overcome before the MoT man would stop laughing me from his doors.

Firstly emissions were through the roof. Hmm. A quick check through it's history file showed it had overheated through a blown top hose not to long back. The hose had been replaced by a section of crappy convoluted. I punted on the thermostat not having been replaced either and it was running too cold and forked out the heady sum of 6 quid on one along with a new air filter. I was feeling flush.

 

Next, headlights were all over the place and the nearside had no beam pattern whatsoever. Easy one that, change the wanky omg hid lookalite halfords special bulb and replace with a proper one. A quick adjust and all is well there. A shed load of bulbs to replace the blown ones saw the lighting back to how SAAB intended.

 

Lastly a job that wasn't strictly necessary but I just hate some of the crap things people put on cars instead of maintaining them properly so off came the wanky tailpipe trim, sticky chrome letters and piss poor door knock guards and off to the tester.

 

It passed! No advisories! Result. As a celebration I tried the roof to see how broken that was. Well it is but not in the normal NG900 way (motor/gear faliure) It seems it needs resetting as the operation seems to have gone out of kilter with itself but it all operates after a fashion so open top winter motoring is possible!

 

So now it's pressed into service (after an oil and filter change) as my winter daily. Much more relaxed on the motorway than the 216 and returning roughly the same MPG, maybe a little worse but not too bad. It costs the same to insure this (with Tesco of all people) fully comp than it did to insure the 216 third party. That I just don't understand but I'm not complaining.

 

All in all, a great winter hack at a good price. Still plenty to do (Top hose has to get replaced very soon and SRS light needs resetting after jump starting to name but a few) and it has scuttle shake like no other modern convertible I've ever driven but I seem to have landed a car I promised I would have when I was little (well okay it was the classic 900 I wanted but beggars can't be choosers, can they?)

 

Happy bunny, me.

[Lankytim]

That looks great, love it!

[messerschmitt owner]

fff fff ffff fffffff reezing today

but I spent the day emptying the garage, removing all unnecessary stuff to the new shed, some into the bin and reorganised the garage so I now have space to work around the bubblecar. Have space for both vices now, have organised the toolkit and still have space on the shelves for parts and bits of car. This winter will see the schmit road ready!

[dollywobbler]

2CV runs again. After discovering that the oil feed bolt to the LH head had stripped, I pulled the LH head off the other engine and fitted it all back together yesterday. Was BLOODY cold but before hyperthermia set in, I was able to get the engine back together. However, I almost cried when one of the exhaust manifold nuts on the other side refused to tighten. I ended up tightening another nut above it and that seems to have worked and to celebrate, gave the engine a quick exhaust-free run. Loud and proud.

 

However, my exhaust clamps were all looking exceedingly borked, so rather than try to fit them and then have more trouble when they all leaked, I've ordered a new set which should arrive tomorrow.

 

BX is still dead and today's shock headline was the CX. I opened up the bonnet and noticed frost on the water hoses. Gave them a squeeze - hmmm, crunchy. Mini would have to be used for a mercy dash to Aberystwyth for an (ultimately aborted) trip to Newcastle by my wife. That now seems to have binding brakes and is pinkier than a pink thing.

 

Got back, left the CX's bonnet open for a bit of solar defrosting and then decided to just start it up. It ran fine. Left it idling and it gently warmed itself waiting for the worst to happen. It didn't - no signs of overheating or leakage, no pressurising of the cooling system, so added more anti-freeze and went for a drive. Heater motor refused to work but I managed to get back home before frostbite set in. Quite pleased. Seems these crap, fragile cars are bloody tough!

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

The Triumph won't run at all, despite nothing appearing to be broken. The Mini wouldn't start, its battery was dead. Although that was the least of the Mini's problems today, as my dad reversed into it. One of its brand new spotlights is smashed and the grill is crumpled. I haven't checked to see if the distributor is damaged yet.

[Negative Creep]

What about this as a possible Creep Mobile?

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

 

[The Moog]

Bugger front sphere didnt fix leak. Looks like might be accumulator. Got booked into Citroen specialist for thursday cause in this weather I dont want to be rolling on the floor trying to fix it.

 

Not sure where I draw the line with it regards to £££.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I got the winter tyres lobbed on my Rover and had the tracking done today. It had a slight pull to the left which is now gone and the steering whel is bob-on centre. Basically it drives 100% perfectly now, i cannot find anything at all to improve on it mechanically. I R loving it! Bring on the snowdrifts!

[red5]

Treated the Calibra to a new cambox cover gasket (old one was falling out gradually), and have a quick shufti at the breather to see how solid it was....mostly solid!

 

 

 

 

A lttle light scrubbing/soaking in diesel and voila!

 

 

 

Then treated the old girl to a Tech1 test (mostly to see if it still worked!)

 

[MrDuke]

I'm now sure I actually have the Car From Hell. I've had utter disasters before, but none of them timed their screw-ups so perfectly in succession.

After drenching its own engine bay in oil (of unknown origin) and slowly pissing away coolant, tonight the wipers stopped working. There's a weird manic click-click-click when I try intermittent, so that's probably the relay, which is secreted somewhere deep behind the dash - of course, it wouldn't be something simple like a loose wire or blown fuse Never mind, it's not as though I've got to use it to commute every day, on roads shared with lorries chucking up salt spray......

Oh well, while I've got the dash off this weekend, I can get at the non-working heater as well. Although then I'll have to leave the flooding/starving carb until next week. Oh, Deep Joy.

[AlsoMike]

Got my beige 205 auto up for sale here, if you're looking for the low-point of the Peugeot 205 experience, then this is the vehicle for you!

 

 

Much room for negotiation on the price for Autoshiters.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I finally started up my cavalier tonight after doing the head gasket. it seems OK, but i didnt give it a proper evaluation as I was freezing my bollocks off in the workshop.

[Guest]

Today I renewed the Amazon insurance which includes the 480 fully comp and unlimited miles FOR NO EXTRA CHARGE.

 

Yes. Finally a benefit to being over 25.

[Cavcraft]

Got my beige 205 auto up for sale here, if you're looking for the low-point of the Peugeot 205 experience, then this is the vehicle for you!

 

 

Much room for negotiation on the price for Autoshiters.

 

Borrocks. Insurance says £5,877.05 for my son.

[The Moog]

Meanwhile in the area known as Cradley, tinkerings have been taking place on the new Sweede shite:

 

Happy bunny, me.

If you ever fancy moving this on .. I would be interested.

[boobydoo]

Borrocks. Insurance says £5,877.05 for my son.

 

How much!?! You're kdding!

 

That 205 looks a lovely little thing!!

[Mr Lobster]

SEAT now equipped with SNOW PWNING Avon IceTouring M&S tyres now.

 

They are GR897668 4 not drifting. However, really they should be fitted on all four wheels rather than just the fronts as with regular tyres on the back and massively grippy ones on the front, if you are a little bit too quick on a roundabout it can get very exciting indeed

[dollywobbler]

Got the 2CV back together on Tuesday. Seemed good, though there was a slight oil leak from somewhere. Thought I'd sorted it but yesterday, we drove to Aberystwyth and on the 25 mile round trip, oil was gushing out to such a degree that at one stage, burnt oil smoke came pouring through the dash vents. That was quite alarming! Poured more oil in and continued home to discover that I'd missed a copper washer on the oil feed to the RH head. With that in place, all was well and as it was snowing again, I went for a hoon about, discovering in a car park that actually, lift-off oversteer is very possible on a 2CV! (and the only way to get the back end out!). Had a hairy moment on an icy decent when frantic pedal prodding was required to get me to a stop. Manual ABS FTW! 2CV has amazing traction on the white stuff though - in fact, on the drive back from Aber, a Vauxhall Insignia suddenly removed itself from my tail when we hit snow. CU L8ER!

 

I'm due to travel to Oxfordshire on Saturday. It could be a very interesting day given the weather and the fact that the 2CV is my only car option (unless the CX decides that it will start operating the heater blower again...)

[garethj]

The Volvo 740 does a fair job in the snow, the wheels spin up a bit but it keeps on trucking through. Heater is ace, wafting status is ace. High speed handling is NOT GR8 but at least you don’t get chronic understeer like a FWD barge would give you. High speed anything in this weather is unlikely, you can’t go far without coming up on someone doing 15mph.

 

I bought some new wipers which are shit. Should have gone for the Bosch ones for the extra tenner.

[dollywobbler]

The BX lives! Gawd did I have some fun and games though. It's parked next to a slope. Thought I could just get the CX through to provide jump assistance, but turns out I was wrong and ended up sliding down the slope and getting stuck. Suspension into high mode, dig out the snow from behind the wheels and thankfully I was free.

 

So, got the 2CV, which is rather narrower. This could indeed squeeze through and with a jump and a lot of cranking, the BX finally fired into life. Joy - though I still need to try and find what's actually wrong.

 

Then, reversing the 2CV out of the way - you guessed it - I slid down the slope and got stuck. Sliding sideways down a slope, in something quite high up, is f*cking terrifying! Eventually let bravery took over and steered down the slope hoping the Tin Snail wouldn't fall over. It didn't. I'm still not sure how.

 

Gave the BX a run and have now parked it up somewhere much easier to get to with the jump leads. Of course, none of this would have had to happen had I been able to find the leads for my battery pack which have gone missing in the move...

 

So, all three Citroens are now working! Sort of...