THE GUBBERMINT ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Just put some 'Stomil Eggmaxx' remoulds on, they are literally a 'major contribution to road safety' in that they actively help to eradicate cheapskates from britains roads.

[trigger]

Cheap tyres are a false economy really, I bought a pair of ditch finders when i had my ST24, I fitted them to the rear then one day driving to work in the wet i had it sideways at 40 mph on a slight bend on a main road because the road surface changed type, I pooed myself and decided not to be such a cheapsake after that.The way to look at it is when your racing around with your family in your jalopy at 70-80mph, that's the only thing between you and the road, I've seen cheap tyres strip themselves before now with lumps of rubber flying off.

[Milford Cubicle]

A lot of the cheapskate brands are owned by the 'premium' brands, and often 99% as good.

[dollywobbler]

It does vary. Put budget tyres on my Legacy and Civic and they then refused to go around bends in the wet. Hankook's are hardly premium but transformed the BXs handling. It grips like the gutter press to Jordan. Similarly, Mabor and Toyo budget tyres for the 2CV are in many ways better than the proper Michelins (which are now stupid-expensive!).

[mnde]

Ian, do you have any info on Mabor? I had a pair on the front of my GSA that I picked up at a CCC meet that were 100 times better than the gash Firestones I had previously. The 'Stones wore a bald stripe on the outside edge and had bits of steel cord poking out . Understeer city!! They just weren't designed for the specified pressure of 26 psi (for the Michelins) and I didn't realise until too late. I tried searching for Mabor stockists on the web a while back but didn't have any joy.Similarly I don't know whether I can get Toyo or Nankang tyres here in a 145 R15 ... I know Vredestein offer a 155 R15 that I've seen on a couple of Gs.

[dollywobbler]

Mabors are 135s, so a bit skinny for Gs. Toyos are so grippy that the 2CV racers are using them now.

[Tayne]

.

[155V6]

I've got Toyos on the Fiat,well impressed & not particularly expensive.Don't always seem to last that long though. When I had my Metro GTI,it had Camacs on the front.Not too bad in the dry,but lethal in the wet.After a year of hooning it around flat out everywhere,I don't think they'd worn down at all.

[meggersdog]

Fitted new front brake pads to the Discovery today.While I was at it thought I might aswell check the fluid levels.Underneath checking the transfer box oil I notice the near side sill is a bit crusty.Poking about with a screwdriver reveals a small hole.Out with the grinder then,hmm small hole now two foot long.Swap grinding disc with cutting disc and get cracking.Rusty metal cut away and new steel let in with what resembles pigeon shit.Bit of underseal slapped on and I put it all back together.So fitting a set of brake pads turns into a three hour job involving grinders and welders...cool...The MOT is not due for a few months but I had a spare afternoon so welded it up today.Three or four off road days at Tixover and Yarwell and the quarry mud will soon "age" the underseal anyway.Whilst checking the front axle I noticed play in the hockey stick bushes too.That will be fun.Twenty year old bolts that see mud.clay and water once a month anyone ?

[FredTransit]

Just had a day's welding on me newly MOT'd luton! . It was straight MOT before you ask......

[gearoil]

Sell sell sell...One Sierra sold, paid for, guy picking it up on Monday. And....In a bizarre sales triangle the Alfa is back with my mate I got it off via one of his workmates. I'd recommend a good Alfa to you all, it put the fun back into driving for me, it'd been yonks since I went for a drive just for the sake of driving. Stretched my cashflow a bit far taking this on and then not really using it that much so, sadly, sense briefly took over and off it went. Next: 50 / 50 about clearing out my Sierra parts stockpile...

[garethj]

But in the window they had one of these:

 

Managed to haggle them down to £4 because I thought the "Memo" button was missing, turns out that's just what they look like. Excellent! Have no idea what I'm going to do with it, probably just add it to my collection of radios that I don't need.

Cooool, if you decide you need to move it on for a quick profit then let me know.

[Pillock]

More Golf fixings..... decided to tackle the high/lumpy idle so went with sporty_shite's first guess of a badly timd replacement dizzy.... spot on! A degree to two out, it now idles at 850rpm and doesn't jump about like KRIS_KROSS on a trampoline.Winner, another free fix

[Pete-M]

I need to replace a leaky injector pipe on the Rover tomorrow, and quite possibly sort the timing. Can't get it to idle happily below 850ish rpm and the idle speed screw does bugger all. This means the throttle butterfly must be out of adjustment as the idle screw is basically a bypass tract so if the throttle flutterby isn't quite sitting right the idle screw won't work.Unfortunately, replacing the injector pipes means stripping the bloody plenum chamber and ram housing off, which means disconnecting the coolant pipes to it, which in turn means I suspect I'll spend tomorrow burping the cooling system ready for Sunday.Cars, eh? Who'd have 'em?

[dollywobbler]

With the rusty 2CV sold, thoughts are already turning to a new motor. If the Bedford goes too, so much the better as space is getting tight here at the mo!Car and Classic has yielded an A90 Austin Westminster that's almost within budget - quite fancy one of these. Alternatively, there's a rather seductive little Imp on Retro Rides which is more my thing - ie small and chuckable. However, the Oss-tin is something a lot different to my usual thing, which could be nice in itself. Finding it tricky to decide but I guess a lot depends on how good this Westy really is. Tricky decisions!

[Cavcraft]

Freed the brakes off the Merc and showed it daylight for the first time in yonks.Unfortunately it was only to dry bum it for the wheels as hopefully will be selling them tomorrow to fund the family holiday.Need to give the Mk3 Astra a run out incase I decide to go to Cholmondely in it Sunday.Mk4 Astra continues to run perfectly despite the potential hg failure signs and is used daily.Tomorrow going to try and get an hour or so and go for a bloody good blast on the scooter and then consider wiring the extra lights up.

[Minimad5]

Shame you are selling the Merc' wheels Billy , it looked very good with them on.Dashing News from Interview land ..Out of 15 people, me and two others had an interview today.And a secret word was whispered in my ear "We are only interviewing you 3" , so it looks quite promising.But i shall not get my hopes up.Ooh, and the manager said today that he now wants to take 2 people on instead of one.... fingers crossed.

[mnde]

Mabors are 135s, so a bit skinny for Gs. Toyos are so grippy that the 2CV racers are using them now.

Hi Ian, the Mabors I got hold of were 145s... Way superior to the Firestones for grip and wear, and the steering was noticeably lighter too. I just wondered where you source Mabors from. It seems choice at the moment for the G is limited to £££ Michelins, Firestones and Vredestein 155s.No news about my "fleet" at the moment, but I'm scratching my head thinking of the logistics of getting the BX MOT'd soon and cheaply. Mark.

[Cavcraft]

Good luck Mark, is it garage work?

[Polystratus]

With the rusty 2CV sold, thoughts are already turning to a new motor. If the Bedford goes too, so much the better as space is getting tight here at the mo!

Resto or spares donor ? Resto hopefully as it look not too bad from the previous pics.

[mnde]

@Billy: Ah um erm... yes and no. I'm conscious of the fact I really ought to save money towards our forthcoming wedding... It's stuff I can't do with the tools I have: a front wheelbearing, repairing/replacing the rear height corrector that has had a slow leak for ages. Also I need to find out why the front is wandering around on rough roads: I suspect track rod ends or the rubber steering coupling. That's the minimum, bearing in mind it's been off the road, out in the open, for the best part of the year. I've started it and run it up to temperature every so often and taken it for a couple of runs. It's taxed but the MOT expired end of Feb.Dilemma is, I could probably get the height corrector to pass the MOT - last year, Autoshite fashion, I thoroughly jetwashed the rear subframe area and took it for a test on a rainy day and it sailed through. If the car needs work before the MOT, I could do the same, but obviously there's more time for the leak to become apparent... Mark.

[dollywobbler]

Get the Mabors from ECAS 2CV parts.As for the 2CV, it's really quite bad, so wouldn't be surprised if it became a parts donor. Whatever happens, it's better than the lot being scrapped, which is what would otherwise have happened I imagine.

[Guest]

Shame you are selling the Merc' wheels Billy , it looked very good with them on.Dashing News from Interview land ..Out of 15 people, me and two others had an interview today.And a secret word was whispered in my ear "We are only interviewing you 3" , so it looks quite promising.But i shall not get my hopes up.Ooh, and the manager said today that he now wants to take 2 people on instead of one.... fingers crossed.

SKILLS. Looks like you might have your foot in the door at least, and that's never a bad position to be in.

[Minimad5]

Good luck Mark, is it garage work?

Hopefully i am correct in thinking you are asking me .. or was it mnde ?It's not garage work no, which is not a big problem, it's servicing machines that print, fold and cut paper and small card.They seem like a very good company, that is expanding rapidly.And being part of there team would be fantastic.Thanks Watanabe, it makes me feel all good lol

[mnde]

Oops Sorry, I didn't read all the posts... Good luck Mark!Mark.

[Minimad5]

Haha, i could be wrong Mark !Billy could have been talking to you The confusion Thanks buddy, really appreciate it.Good luck with the work needed on your car !!

[Cavcraft]

I did mean MiniMad but had meant to talk to 'other' Mark about his cars too so result alround!MNDE: none of the BX gang live near you? I bet one of them would be willing to help sort out your car. Are the rear height correctors WD40-able by the way?

[dollywobbler]

Well, Bedford's sold to Moog of this very parish. Hope you enjoy her mate! Top old bus, despite (or perhaps because of) appearances!

[Pillock]

The free Golf fixes ran out... had to go and get a slow puncture fixed, when they took the tyre off it appears that me driving it with only half the pressure has wrecked the sidewall, which had turned to little rubber flakes inside the tyre.£36.50 for a new budget 205/55R15.Still, they fixed the exhaust hanger properly, which was a cheap fix seeing as they charged me £37 all in

[Cavcraft]

£36.50 isn't bad for a low profile tyre like that Pillock. The inside of the tyre sounds like a classic case of 'run flat' and would have needed replacing before it blew out so probably just as well you had a puncture in some respect.Today I got off my fat, lazy arse and rode my trusty old (Daewoo!) push iron six or seven miles to get the Golf.