THE GUBBERMINT ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

[Lankytim]

Can you imagine how much that van would be worth if it was a VW?? faded hand written sign writing FTW!1!

[Negative Creep]

Mr N Creep... would you be talking about possibly moving the MR2 on? Would it a T-Bar and cheap like? Not that it's local to North Yorkshire!

 

 

 

Yeah I fancy something else now. Not really sure what, ideally a marque I've never had before. It's not the t-bar but the sunroof model, so still the extra ventilation minus the leaks.

 

MOT is out on the 5th May though and I don't know how long my current job will last

[worldofceri]

Bidding just ended on The Scenic on Ebay. £581.28. Not too shabby.

[Formula Autos]

I liberated my Ford Cougar from its lock-up recently. Both a good and a bad thing. I say I liberated it, it was actually done by the garage I use regularly. Push had come to shove - it needed an MOT. Thing was, it had a dead battery. Tried the jump start pack. No joy. Winter had comprehensively Donald Ducked the battery. This meant the car hadn't moved in months. It had started to go mouldy inside as well, and whiffed a bit. All I succeeded in doing was blowing the tyres up. So off to plead with the garage then. Not only did they recover the thing, but fettled the battery back to health with a trickle charge. With a fresh MOT on the passenger seat (no advisories, the only thing needed being a de-gunging of the washer jets and lines) they even dropped it off outside my house. The charge for all this? The standard MOT charge of (from memory) £54 or so. When I paid up I did offer to pay for at least an hour's labour they must have spent getting the thing going and getting it to their garage, but my friendly mechanic said it was OK - if they hadn't recovered it, they wouldn't have been able to do the MOT anyhow. He even threw in a free air freshener to deal with the mouldy smell. Top man!

 

All was not well though. Bouyed by my car being seemingly indestructable, I decided it deserved a valet. The mould in the interior was soon dealt with, so I moved to the outside. A patch of what looked like seagull crap on the back wing wouldn't come off. Undetterred, I took it to the car wash, and purchased a hot wash. Then the aerial wouldn't come off for me. Still, the car wash code was valid for seven days, so I drove off and doused the join between aerial and aerial base in penetrating oil. No joy with that until a few more doses of penetrating oil and a couple of days later. So off to the car wash again. Bird crap still there after the wash and, by now, it was shiny. Mmmm. Is it actually bird crap? Whatever it is, I better be careful about removing it. I'll use something mild like a clay bar.

 

Several hours of elbow grease later, it was clear that whatever this stuff was, it wasn't shifting easily. In fact, it seems to have pulled the paint 'up' a bit in some places, meaning I'd polished through to the base coat. Three small areas of white base coat were now taunting me. I'd just Donald Ducked the finish on this panel.

 

I drove over to the lock-up and had a look around. There was a patch of this 'bird crap' on the floor, exactly where the back wing of the car would normally be. Looking up, I saw a spit like trail of beige goo hanging about an inch and a half from a join in the roof sheets. Seems like it was some form of resin from the roof, and not bird crap. By the looks of it the person who owns the next garage has 'helpfully' resined the joins in my roof with some stuff they've put on their own roof. I guess it becomes fluid again when it gets hot in the sun. Arse!

 

So, onto teh interweb for a car cover and solar battery charger then (I can hang up the solar panel up by a gap betwixt roof and wall at the back of the garage, or even chance putting it on the roof). No mains power in this lock-up, so hopefully this charger will keep a trickle of power going into the battery while the car is laid up. Found both easily on Amazon, delivered for under £20. Now, for the paintwork problem.

 

A local bodyshop (recommended by my mechanic friend) weighed it up, and gave me an estimate of £200 for sorting it properly. This would also involve sorting out a slight dent in the wing too, so the car will be far better when it's all done. Still, £200! All because someone decided to put some unknown stuff on my lock-up's roof without asking.

 

I was a bit pissed off. Still, at least I've a working Cougar again. For all its faults (chief of which is to look like a sports car and then fail to deliver on this promise) it makes a glorious noise. The V6 sounding not unlike Alfa's equivalent at full chat.

[scruff]

the first tank full reached 500 miles!! The tragic state of my bank balance meant I was driving it like a granny but I'm well chuffed with it. I should be getting on with my Land Rover but the summer is nearly here and it's more fun getting the steam engines ready so I've been doing that today. I must get the LR radiator re-cored this week though; any recommendations in the Peterborough/Stamford/Wellingborough areas?

[dollywobbler]

240 miles in the 2CV today, completely off motorways, so feels more like 400. Seriously - there's barely a straight section of road between here at Warwick!

 

Still, an average of 40mph on single-carriageway roads is not to be sniffed at, and that was with being stuck behind people for most of the journey!

[pogweasel]

I would appear to have bought an LDV Convoy.

Fucking w00t!!1!

[Jon]

Ex - Royal Mail spec for the win/lose? Requires more information....

[pogweasel]

Long wheelbase, low roof, no side door (wtf?), walking distance from home, not much munny. Peugeot engined apparently too...

[dollywobbler]

Convoy of win by the sounds of it. Didn't like 'em with the Tranny unit. Just made it feel like a really shit Transit. The simple, no-thrills Peugeot engine is spot on for an LDV.

 

On the subject of the Cougar, that resin stuff sounds well crap. With the aerial, can you push it down flat against the body? Used to do this all the time with my 306 in automatic car washes and never had an issue. That had seized and was never coming off. I always used to stop both front and rear wipers in the upmost position (took some co-ordination to get front and rear both vertical!) as well.

[KruJoe]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LDV-CONVOY-3-5t-L ... 3f08754c26

Looks VALU @ £256, Pogmeister. Includes previous victims' personal effects.

[Father Ted]

Out of the Frying Pan

And into the Fire

I can Haz nu Bus

[Timewaster]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LDV-CONVOY-3-5t-L ... 3f08754c26

Looks VALU @ £256, Pogmeister. Includes previous victims' personal effects.

 

Pog is a bargainologist! Tommorow at work, when listening to ken Bruce I shall sing along with the quiz #POG POG Master# in his honor.

 

It will be ok, they all think I'm a bit odd anyway

[seth]

I would appear to have bought an LDV Convoy.

Fucking w00t!!1!

 

GR8 4 IMPORTING WINE/FAGS/IMAGRANTS

[Father Ted]

Twin Electrics - GR9 for towing caravans (slowly) - and WTF is that weird micro-septic tank affair in the back? Policewomans tie too....

[wuvvum]

I bid on that Convoy the first time it was on - it made £300 that time around. I didn't spot that he'd relisted it. Fugging bargain at £256 - only £6 more than I bid for it, and it would have cost me another £50 to get it home.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yo Pog! Hope you're gonna play this while driving it around, this song makes me LOL my bollocks off every time I hear it (not very often, fortunately).

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWO_AIh8drk

 

Its such an utterly shite song!!! You can't lose with it.

[seth]

Had a nice productive automotive day today in between garden centre/toilet plumbing/circumcision.

 

First up was another look under the back of the Herald. Tightening loose diff/UJ bolts in the week did not eliminate a knocking noise. I disconnected the prop and its UJ felt fine but there did seem to be a bit of unwanted play in the diff. I've kind of been waiting for it to grenade itself as the front and one of the side seals have not been very good at their job since the Mazda engine went in so I have kind of assumed there not to be much oil inside. I put some gear oil in - not as much as I thought it might need - so it will no doubt spread itself over one side of the floorpan again soon. But then with handbrake on and wiggling the input flange for the last time I discovered quite a lot of play in the pass side driveshaft UJ. That'll be the knocking then. Will get one ordered this week with some other parts I've been meaning to get. I hate pulling driveshafts off the Herald though. Always a struggle with the leaf spring and involves having to bleed the entire braking system too as you have to disconnect the flexi from the hardline.

 

While under the back, bits of previously repaired chassis got seen to with a wire brush and some Dinitrol. I'm normally rubbish at trying to prevent cars from rusting so this made me feel good, though also left me covered in sticky black overspray.

 

Then this afternoon I took the drivers seat out of the Hillman to see if the NOS Rapier rubber diaphragm I'd bought would be a direct replacement. It wasn't unfortunately but I did manage to improve matters by pushing wires and hooks into their correct relative positions. So some sort of success there I suppose. Until it rips itself totally in half...

 

[TagoraSX]

I've just bought a Fiat 130 Coupe, collecting it in a couple of weeks.

 

I am well pleased

[scaryoldcortina]

Yo Pog! Hope you're gonna play this while driving it around, this song makes me LOL my bollocks off every time I hear it (not very often, fortunately).

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWO_AIh8drk

 

Its such an utterly shite song!!! You can't lose with it.

 

No, for true shite you need this

 

 

was this purchase revenge for not being allowed a jaaaaag?

 

My news - I have to drive to london next week. Deliver an escort, claim a capri.

[TagoraSX]

From Martin Buckley?

 

No, bloke in Manchester, Is he still hoarding them?

[garycox]

The radio cassette in my Astra's packed up, so I had a mega-dull journey from Brighton to Bexley and back again this weekend. I took the battery out to charge it, then needed to put the code in. I have the code, but I didn't realise that you need to use the radio preset buttons (one of mine doesn't work) to put the code in. So it looks like I'll have to replace the stereo because one preset button doesn't work. FFS.

 

In other boring Astra news, I missed out on a couple of wheel trims (one of mine's missing, another's bent) on ebay by 9p, which was annoying.

 

Has anyone got one (or more) of these wheel trims laying about? Or a stereo that'll fit the Astra with minimal hassle/expense?

 

 

The visit to my parents' house also made me realise it's been nearly 5 years since I used my Mini last...

 

 

Really must do something about that...

[Mr_Bo11ox]

From Martin Buckley?

 

No, bloke in Manchester, Is he still hoarding them?

 

 

Not Dermot Healy?

[pogweasel]

LDV #1 collection scheduled for later in the week.

Hope it's a good un, because I am gonna need it to fetch LDV #2....

[garycox]

What happened about the Allegro, Pog? Did you get it?

[pogweasel]

Not yet.

To say the vendor is being unhelpful is a fugging understatement.

I've paid for the thing twice now, bloke seems unable to comprehend either paypal or any other form of remote payment.

[TagoraSX]

From Martin Buckley?

 

No, bloke in Manchester, Is he still hoarding them?

 

 

Not Dermot Healy?

 

No, next.

[dollywobbler]

Fred Dibnah's wife?

[seth]

If its my Father in law I want to know where he's been hiding it!

[Cavcraft]

I've bid on something shite on eBaY that ends in about 15 minutes and I CANNOT BE ARSED to wait up to see if I win it or not. Probably won't if truth be told, but at least it'll save me being dragged into a bidding war and paying more than I really want to.