THE GUBBERMINT ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

[HillmanImp]

Went round to my mates house to redo the welding that I did for her 1984 Corollas mot the other week in the dark and the rain (she got me to do it the day before the retest so had to persevere). It based the test but was shit.

 

Looks okay now. I like to do a half decent job on the Toyota as is got to be really rare now. As it was a nice day I went round the whole car looking for rot, welded a couple of bits on the wheelarches, took back some (a lot of) surface rust and treated it, it just needs painting tomorrow. In hindsight I should have maybe done some work on one of my 5 cars........

[cort16]

I haz Alfa. I now fully understand what torque steer is.

[dollywobbler]

Fabulous. Video soon please!

 

I've finally dropped the coolant flush on the BX and got some actual anti-freeze in there. Bit of a panic when I dropped a bleed screw. Thought I'd dropped it into the bellhousing! Thankfully I hadn't.

 

In other news, the Range Rover is nice and clean and I think I might lob it on Ebay. Too many cars with too many issues and no time to fix them all!

[HillmanImp]

Too many cars with too many issues and no time to fix them all!

 

I think this might be a problem shared by many people on this site.

[Cavcraft]

Too many cars with too many issues and no time to fix them all!

 

I think this might be a problem shared by many people on this site.

 

Indeed it is, thinking of lobbing two cars on the dreaded bay of doom.

However from a cursory glance around the world wide interwebz I think there may be more money in breaking the Mongdeo for parts as the engine seems to be worth about £300 alone (2.0 Duratec) there's probably £250 in the wheels and maybe £200 in the interior. Madness to break a car with loads of MOT and six months tax but sod it if it bring the dosh in.

[Cheggers]

Oily fun in the sun with the Triumph this afternoon. New clutch slave cylinder, freed up the diff breather and changed the oil. Sounds better, more driveway-friendly and the clutch feels as positive as I've ever known it!

 

I love it when a plan comes together

[wuvvum]

I appear to have sorted the hot running problem on the Solara - the pick up pipe for the expansion tank had dropped off the cap, so the rad could chuck water into the jar when it got hot but couldn't draw it back in when it needed it. Put the pipe back on and held it on with a jubilee clip, and initially it didn't seem to make much difference on the odd run to Tesco's and back - car was still getting hot and rad fan was cutting in. Took it for a bit of a run this evening though and the temp gauge gradually dropped as the miles went on - presumably it was slowly sucking coolant back into the rad and getting it up to the level it should have been at. Still no heater though - reckon the heater matrix is pretty well blocked.

 

Unfortunately, now the rad is nice and full again it has become apparent that it is leaking, so a bottle of K-seal may be finding its way in there fairly soon - probably via the "DO NOT OPEN" cap on the rad, as it seems to take ages to draw anything in via the expansion jar. What I'm not sure about is that I've recently put a bottle of that Wynn's Coolant System Flush in there - will I have to drain this out before I drop in the K-seal? Don't know if the flush will flush the K-seal away from the hole, if that makes sense.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I could never make any sense of the cooling system on my Alpine, the heater was always freezing cold for a start and filling it up with coolant was a right balllache. I think theres a filler plug on the thermostat housing or something which seemed to be the best place for adding water, radweld, eggs, 7-up etc.

[dollywobbler]

Drat. A relative has died so we've got a funeral to go to in Croydon. Perhaps selling the Saab wasn't such a good idea as the BX is not ready for that sort of trek yet, the Range Rover needs a service and drinks a bit too much, the Mini causes too much pain and the 2CV is too bloody noisy. Guess I'll have to dig out the earplugs!

[Cavcraft]

If you get stuck Ian drop me a pm, I'll probably have a car you can borrow if needed.

[dollywobbler]

Thanks Billy. Not sure the logistics of that would work out. Given that I've driven about 95,000 miles in the 2CV, a few more shouldn't hurt really. I just need to man up!

 

EDIT. Rangie is on Ebay as a Classified ad. Think I've got a nice pic of it thanks to some actual sunshine! Asking £995 which I think is about fair enough.

[trigger]

1988 Ford Orion 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1988 Ford Orion 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Dilemma, I've just spotted this for sale up the road, It looks very, very tidy, It has only covered 40000 miles with 2 owners, Mot till may, tax until Feb, and local plates and dealer stickers, Full electrics inside as well, The only faults were a slightly rusty dog leg on side and a small dent on the arch on the other.

 

Sadly there was no price and the owners were out, I have no need for it but i really fancy, especially if it's cheap i.e £300-400, I might ring later and find out.

[trigger]

I've just got through to the owner, Him and his brother have had it since new, It has full history and sounds a very well looked after car, Sadly he wants £750 ono which is very fair but that's more then i'd want to spend as sadly, He did take my number and said he'd ring back if he can't sell it.

 

And just for Spottedlaruel, It came from Frenchs in Felixstowe new, I've never heard of them though.

[cort16]

Day 2 of Alfa ownership and I've already had the welder on it. I had to replacing stripped captive bolts on the bonnet release. It wouldn't shut before and I've been blezzing around at approx 60 mph with it on the safety catch gulp.

[Cavcraft]

C U L8R VECTRA.

[Lord Sterling]

Brilliant, the heater blowers in my Sterling have decided to go on strike. It does eventually heat up but only after about 10 mins or half way to work, and even then its only just warm enough. The blowers were fine a few days ago so I'm hoping its just a fuse. Only another 2 days at work before I get some 'free' time to try and sort it out.

[dollywobbler]

Brilliant, the heater blowers in my Sterling have decided to go on strike. It does eventually heat up but only after about 10 mins or half way to work, and even then its only just warm enough. The blowers were fine a few days ago so I'm hoping its just a fuse. Only another 2 days at work before I get some 'free' time to try and sort it out.

 

Are the fans actually blowing? Sounds a bit like you're on about heat output itself, for which other things could be to blame.

[wuvvum]

It looks like I will be making a trip to Bournemouth in the near future. Better double check my AA cover is up to date.

[KruJoe]

DS crewcab is coming?! U R WINNAR

[DSdriver]

Welcome to the insecure world of DS ownership.

I hope you knocked him down a bit, the add said he was going to scrap it if it didn't sell in which case he would only have got a couple of hundred. I was going to add that it will be the perfect car for a road trip movie of the collection but it depends whether it gets you home or not. A spare bottle of LHM in your back pocket might come in handy.

[Cavcraft]

Spotted the absolutely PERFECT car for sale. Right model, right colour, right gearbox and (save for a couple of semi-chavish bits) it's a proper 'what could possibly go wrong' special.

Just waiting to hear back from them seller now...

[dollywobbler]

Well, Rangie's been on Ebay for just over 24hrs and the offers are flooding in. Two of £600 with one upped 'generously' to £700. As it's a 28 day classified ad, I have declined. Wondering if using the 'submit best offer' option was a good idea...

[George-Roper]

Chancers / hold out and it should go up a bit when its seen your not despirate.

[M'coli]

I've been doing a bit of chipping around at the arches on the Imp. Front left:

Rear left:

Spot the hammer dimples above the grot - time to get Grandpa's best wood chisels out and give it a go:

And a bit of a go with a flap wheel:

Hmmm, so it's only been tacked on then wobbed up, eh? What else can we find? How about grinding the suspect-looking welds where the rear wing meets the sill bottom? Can't be arsed doing that? Just rip them off then:

I forsee welding ahead.

[HillmanImp]

That does not look like fun (actually it does, but you know what I mean). Just shows what can be hidden, as that car always looked/does look so nice. Good luck with it.

[M'coli]

Aye, that's just the left side - the right side's against the wall of the house so I need to turn it around and give it a going over prior to bulk panel purchase.

[The Moog]

To be fair I have offered some cheeky bids on cars. Normally quite polite about and make sure to say thank you etc after when they normally say no!

[Jon]

Erm, sorry about that M'Coli - I never knew it was such a little rotter! Actually, am genuinely embarrased. Anyway, judging by your Cavalier antics, the future looks hopeful. Just cast a glance of the pic of it on my bookshelf from when I picked it up in 2002 from Impspeed prior to reading this post, funnily enough. IIRC they said that the paint they used on the cheap blow-over respray was from a 205 GTI, so hope that helps somewhat.

[HillmanImp]

Erm, sorry about that M'Coli - I never knew it was such a little rotter! Actually, am genuinely embarrased. Anyway, judging by your Cavalier antics, the future looks hopeful. Just cast a glance of the pic of it on my bookshelf from when I picked it up in 2002 from Impspeed prior to reading this post, funnily enough. IIRC they said that the paint they used on the cheap blow-over respray was from a 205 GTI, so hope that helps somewhat.

 

There will be no need to worry about it, twas not your doing. It was well hidden and is not awful, especially for an Imp. Will have been rotting from the inside out for 10 years too, you know what they are like. Could be worse. That floor still needs protection by the looks of it but thankfully looks like the car should be getting sorted soon.

 

Give me a shout if you need a hand M'coli. I reckon it would be a lot easier to patch that together rather than buy panels. Depends on how flush you feel.

[wuvvum]

Welcome to the insecure world of DS ownership.

Thanks - technically it's "welcome back" but this'll be the first one I will have had on the road.

I hope you knocked him down a bit

I didn't in the end. I decided I thought it was worth £1200 seeing as that knackered black saloon is up for double that, and that's a left hooker and not MoT'd. This may be one I'll live to regret, but I vowed to myself when I sold my Safari that one day I'd have a roadworthy DS, and the way prices are going, short of a lottery win this is the only way that was going to happen. If I lose a couple of hundred quid when I come to sell it on then so be it.

 

I'll definitely be taking a bottle of LHM with me, and a bottle of 20W50 and a bottle of water. Think I've still got some LHM left over from my last CX, but I have no idea where I put it so might have to fork out for some more.