THE GUBBERMINT ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

[Station]

It could do with a suspension pump-up - cracking wee car though, I take it it's a multi-point job?

 

Yeah it's MPi, I'm looking forward to it, esp omg 40mpg.

[Cavcraft]

Continuing the rather stupid theme of buying cars in the dark I've just scored an E46 323 is (2.5) Beemer. More to follow over the next day or so probably.

[M'coli]

Continuing the rather stupid theme of buying cars in the dark I've just scored an E46 323 is (2.5) Beemer. More to follow over the next day or so probably.

No doubt it will be sold within the week too...

[Cavcraft]

Plan is to keep it a while and use it as a daily. I'd love to run the Omega everyday but the urge to welly it all the time will mean I can't really justify the fuel costs as nearly all my journeys are short trips. Can't go off the trip computer either as (according to to it today) it's doing between 11 and 66mpg doing 40mph with the cruise on.

[Pete-M]

You can.

 

The Jeep regularly shows 6 on instant. That isn't a nice thing to look at, so I set it to the compass mode instead.

 

The Jag's instant is a force to be reckoned with if you're into small numbers. I leave that one on 'distance to empty'.

[Cavcraft]

I'll try that, cheers.

I might slam it in for a pre-MOT and if it doesn't want much just keep it as a sort of part time play thing. Today's fun was had after I was tailgated by some 'yoof' type in a Mk4 Astra. Got onto a dual carriageway, let him get a few yards ahead then put it into 'sport' mode and welted it. He was soon a small dot in my anti-dazzle rear view mirror.

[Shep Shepherd]

I received the latest issue of the Volvo Owners Club magazine yesterday. When I read it at work last night, I was amazed to see a photo of The Volvo and TV2 on page 10, which I originally posted on the RWD Volvos forum during the snowy conditions of early December:

 

 

http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t326 ... can001.jpg

 

I don't know who submitted it to the magazine (I certainly didn't, as I thought that it wasn't that good), but a big thanks to whoever did, as seeing the Volvos in print really made my day

[seth]

That's PaulH's Amazon estate in the top left too.

[Shep Shepherd]

That's PaulH's Amazon estate in the top left too.

 

Yes. I recognise the reg from the VOC forums

[The Moog]

Stuck a new battery in Saab. Started straight up and warmed up nicely. Idle is rock solid.

 

Tyres are knackered. TRX tyres are £285 each! Not fitted .. ouch .. So scored set of normal alloys on ebay for £40. Will stick some part worns on them and then put the car through MOT.

[scaryoldcortina]

The VOSA area examiner popped into the garage this morning to do a spot check. I had just logged off a test on an 04 laguna DCi... This isn't a coincidence, he likes to wait around the corner until central services ring him to say a test has just been logged off.

 

So... he checked the car, agreed with my failure (bulge on tyre sidewall) and didn't find any more fails that I missed, asked me a few questions and then went again. He was quite impressed that I had found the VIN tag and checked it against the old MoT too. Took some finding as well, the stamped number is under plastic in the engine bay (can't remove the plastic) the windscreen tag has curled up and fallen off (you can see the remains of it lying under the "window") and the VIN tag itself was nowhere to be seen. Eventually (thanks to the VSI screen) it was found at the bottom of the B pillar, behind the back edge of the driver's door (and it's a sticker too!).

 

Still, could have been much worse.. I could have been testing one of autofive's cars

[Station]

New fuel and a battery on the 3-year+ standing Metro, and it started up and ran first time. Will replace cambelt, brakes and the usuals when I get it to a more permanent place.

BTW, that white one isn't mine.

[HillmanImp]

Finally moved into the new house properly and am online so will no doubt be subjecting all you goons to my usual drunken ramblings in the hours of darkness once again.

 

All the cars are moved. However not to the right places.

 

In summary:

 

The Imp that is meant to be in the garage is in the lock up

 

The DAF that was meant to be in the lock up is on the drive

 

The GT6 that was meant to be on the drive is in the garage

 

As you can see from the photo of the DAF the driveway is quite steep. Therefore i decided i needed brakes on the Imp before we pushed it up in case we had any accidents so it could stop. Fitted new brake pipes all round and for the first time in my life bought a proper brake pipe spanner to to do it but somehow still managed to round the fucking bleed nipple. Handbrake is fubar so could not be used (i got hacked off with it on a bad day as it would not release so cut the fucker, bastard has got its revenge now). Therefore the Imp went into the lock up.

 

So, new plan. Need to do some work on the GT6 as its got some rust bubbling up here and there (did both sills a few months ago but needs a bit here and there) and needs some paint as its pretty flat. (why would someone paint it from this colour from google:

 

 

to what it is now???? It looked lovely in that colour, but each to their own)

 

Because it needs work I thought I would bob it in the garage.

 

In the photo of the GT6, if you look at the fence on the right you can see how steep the slope is to the garage off the drive. Drove the GT6 up it grounded with the wheels in the air and had to get rocked off. I had put some cardboard sown to protect the drive and the car if it did ground, so no biggie. However i was having a bad day (having just replaced the earth, fuel pipes and distributer to get the fucker running after being neglected for 4 months) and just whacked it up the drive as fast as i could forgetting that the cardboard had moved with my last attempt. grounded it, took out the bottom of the garage door frame and some of the drive (you can see under the '4'). Judging by the damage the cardboard would not have done much anyhow. Thankfully the car seems intact.

 

DAF took 2 attempts to get up the drive even with the 'FUCK ME THATS STEEP!!!!!' button pressed. Had to use the driveway of the old lady opposite for a run up.

 

Now at least I can relax as they are all moved. DAF is getting welded up and new crankshaft oil seal in April and the Imp painted in July.

 

[sporty-shite]

I CAN HAZ NU MOTAH. Pics will follow.

[ashmicro]

When Fords were good

 

[barefoot]

Scirocco update - rear shock absorbers replaced, this was a bit of a debacle since the upper spring mounting plates were slightly rotten & had to be replaced, a nice bloke on the Scirocco forum sent them to me without even waiting for my cheque.

Also changed the front pads & discs - shock horror £20 a pair! and lubricated the clutch mechanism for all I was worth.

I've even bought a replacement Weber carb which is down at the local rally/race prep place waiting for him to have a bit of spare time.

This is turning into an even nicer car.

[Cavcraft]

I CAN HAZ NU MOTAH. Pics will follow.

 

 

Ooh, ooh do tell!

 

Right update time:

 

Omega might be off to a new home at the weekend. Depsoit received but he hasn't seen it yet though I can't see him knocking it back. I'll miss this old bus (despite having only owned it five minutes) as it's utterly brilliant to drive and probably the nicest car I've had in a long while, I just can justify keeping it though unfortunately. Worse comes to worse I'll retest it and keep it as a spare car/weekend toy.

 

E46: Not a bad old thing really. Spent fifteen minutes adjusting the seat to how I want it (I can't stand being uncomfortable for even very short journeys) and playing with some of the buttons. Happy to report it has (working) heated seats and switchable traction control, plus a 6 disc changer in the boot to fill with Specials/Van Morrison/eighties rave shit/Carter U.S.M/random punk stuff/etc.

It's the S.E model of E46 so seems pretty well spec;d and the interior looks pretty good for the age and mileage. I even like the standard alloys on it so they'll probably stay on it.

[CreepingJesus]

^ 6 discs is never enough, though, is it? The Mondy has 10, and I've been tempted more than once to buy a couple of spare magazines (cartridges?) to fill up, and keep in the car...

Excellent, tho' - the myriad electronics on these things can be a nightmare if they're non-functional. Mind you, it's a BM, chances are they'll work!

[trigger]

Is this the 320d you was talking about the other day Billy?

[dollywobbler]

Love that tale about needing a run up from someone else's driveway to get the DAF onto your own drive. That sounds like a perfect "you know you drive Autoshite when..." moment.

 

I've done sod all with my cars this week. Actually, that's not quite accurate. I have had another go at fitting the 2CV's exhaust, and it now seems much less fumey. Which is nice. Celebrated by driving it through a rather deep ford to undo all of my work to dry it out recently...

 

Something fell off the Land Rover - a heat shield of some sort. Exhaust is blowing in a number of places. Need to find a garage ideally as I don't like lying under a car that's got the engine running while I try and trace leaks. I need to grease the propshafts though, so might have to give in and roll around beneath it. It is running much more sweetly after new plugs/HT leads.

[Shep Shepherd]

Loving that Daf

 

Despite only being awake for about ten minutes before commencing the job and having to work in sporadic heavy rain, TV2 now has all of its front brake pads fitted, which means that I can actually drive it this weekend. What's more, the annoying squeak when the brakes are applied (due to a previous mechanic not using any copper grease on the backs of the old pads) has disappeared, which was the reason for replacing them in the first place.

 

To celebrate, I gifted the car some nice new rubber floor mats

[scaryoldcortina]

Something fell off the Land Rover

 

 

Get used to that, it's going to keep happening

[Cavcraft]

No Trig, it's a 323 which (for some strange reason best known to BMW) is a 2.5 engined thing. Doesn't seem that quick initially then things suddenly start kicking off and it starts going some.

[worldofceri]

Done a bit of grovelling around cars this week for the first time in ages.

 

First up Mrs.Ceri's Scenic which has had a hole in the n/s headlamp for a while now. Looks like someone's shot it with a pellet gun or summert.

 

 

New one was only a tenner off Ebay but I was a bit miffed to find it had an undisclosed crack in it. Never mind, it went on easily enough. Last time I changed a headlamp - on a '97 Accord - I seem to remember I had to get it up on ramps and remove the bumper and sundry other bits.

 

Next up the Volvo which has a bent bumper due to some OMGAccidentalDriftingGrazingTheArmco action at the Nuerburgring last October.

 

 

 

Having not invested in any new parts I could do little more than take it to pieces and put it back together again after a half-arsed attempt to hammer the internal cross-member back into shape. Time taken: about 3 hours. Approximate percentage improvement: 3%.

 

 

 

As it was now dark I decided to have a look at the Beetle which I haven't touched for months since spending a load of money getting half a new floor-plan welded in.

 

 

Plan is to splash some Hammerite around and then put it back together. But how to get the front wing off? Messrs Haynes say "pull the wires and grommets through the holes in the wing..." No mention of the connector for the headlamp being bigger than the hole it's supposed to pass through.

 

 

So, butcher the wing or snip the wires?

 

 

After careful deliberation, I chose wires. Yay! Rusty metal be free! Time to get my paintbrush out!

 

.

[dollywobbler]

Is that a scotchlock? Pretty sure Mr Haynes wouldn't have encountered those when stripping the Beetle!

[worldofceri]

No, it's the original Hella fitting. Albeit covered in blue paint from a previous cheap blow-over.

[messerschmitt owner]

Is that a scotchlock? Pretty sure Mr Haynes wouldn't have encountered those when stripping the Beetle!

Mr Haynes wouldn't have bothered. He'd have taken a generic photo of some other car and used it in every manual since, then written some woolly cobblers that roughly tells you how to do the job, without ever actually doing it on the car the manual is about, thereby missing out a specific part of the job that only applies to the car you have part dismantled and now cannot put back together until you have a specific special tool that Mr Haynes forgot to tell you that you might need.

 

Mr Haynes, you're a lazy fuckwit!

 

 

Oh, should this be in the Grump section?

[Mr Lobster]

Newest vehicle in the fleet being troublesome again

 

Start engine.

 

Engage gear.

 

Release handbrake.

 

Start to drive off.

 

*Clunk*

 

*Grind Grind Grind*

 

Engine mounting on o/s snapped, cambelt cover now grinding happily away on pulley, belt wearing dramatically on edge Thats that off the road til garage get a new mount next week. I'm preparing myself for extensive open wallet surgery.

[oldford]

My car had a thorough MOT test yesterday. It was quality controlled, where the quality controller tester assesses the test methods and standards of another tester.

 

I was hoping that it would get a completely clean sheet, without any advisories. I thought that I had taken every possible step to acheive it this year, the bollocking bloody track control arm bushes are moving, I replaced them 18 months ago. Could have been worse as the tester was going to fail them, but took the pass and advise option from the quality controller.

 

Ah well at least that's over for another month, until it's due again.

[Vin]

But he does make exceedingly small cakes.

 

EFA