THE GUBBERMINT ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Lets see a few pics then Hirst, be interesting to seee what state its in now. The lad chopped the springs then drove round in it for a year then parked it up when the test ran out as far as I know, dont think he did a lot with it.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

Was he planning to break it?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I sa a meat head lad driving round stoke in a really knackered one, with 'MY NEXT BANGER CAR' written down the side in marker pen a week or so ago.

[ashmicro]

A very weird thing a couple of days ago. The rear silencer on the Rover 25 went (not bad for 9 years!). I took it off, but there was no welding in it, as I had a wee try with the MIG and it just blew an even bigger hole in the pipe!

 

I went to Keith my motor factors mate, and got another. £22, very reasonable.

 

Here's the weird thing - the thing looked right, but there was no way on God's green earth it would go up 'n over the rear beam. Luckily, I still had the old one and set them side by side. Total length of the new one was 2.5 inches more, the box was shorter but deeper by a fraction, and the bend on the inside was about 5 degrees more acute. So, he gave me another, which went straight on, no bother. Same part number, same stickers even!

 

The exhaust suppliers came to get the oddball one back, and phoned the motor factors later to say that they were baffled (pun). It wasn't the wrong exhaust, incorrectly labelled. They said "Thate back box won't fit anything, it's just not made right. We've been in the business over 20 years and we've never come across this!"

 

Bloody odd

[Guest]

No HIGH POWER pics yet as I forgot my camera when it was delivered, it's over at the depot. Might get some later today though.

 

As for condition, I'm pretty chuffed really! Your welding has held up fine. Just the usual cobwebs you'd expect from a car which has been stood about and a fair list of bits need doing for test - mostly just daft stuff like the bonnet catch not locking, brake cables, tyres. Interior is mint and still contains the superb tape deck. It retains those spokey wheels though one is in the boot at the moment due to a puncture. Has a minor radiator leak, but he's kindly dug out two (!) spare ones so that shouldn't be a problem. Drives fine (though not far with it being on a spacesaver), engine sounds great.

[trigger]

Bloody odd

 

Not odd, Very common in fact, We was always getting exhausts back as they seemed to be cast wrong, Often the books don't label them right neither, You was guaranteed a ill fitting exhaust at 4pm on a Friday evening which your worse customer.

 

We sold Walker who are meant to be one of the best as well so god knows how local companies like Exhausts unlimited got on who sold shite ones made of tin foil.

[ashmicro]

Walker? Where'd you get good ones of those? We sold them in the motor factors when I worked there, and the trade wouldn't touch them. Terms like "fucking shit" and "tracing paper" were regularly used. That said, the system I put on my 3i was OK.

 

The middle section on the 25 hasn't long to live, and I've been contemplating a custom, single-box system. There's a one-eyed hermit in Ballyclare who makes systems for the mad Irish rally contingent, and he's reputed to be not hard to pay. What's thr craic with the MOT on these? If I keep the Cat and it isn't too loud, my thinking is that it'll be ok?

[Lord Sterling]

Well, after the polishing sesh with the Rover yesterday I decided to try and tackle the Micra, as Mother_Sterling unexpectedly returned home a day early from work, the Micra was available and in real need of a clean. The Micra has never seen T-cut or proper polish, though it did once have a half-arsed attempt at polishing it a few years ago when I was young and stupid.

 

As with the Rover I took it to my mates IMO/ARC car wash place, chucked yet another £5 for "The Works" and got car washed and waxed, vut unlike the Rover, the Micra's paintwork was more than acceptable, got home and set about with polish:

 

Have some half-arsed pics, I think my phone is on the brink of giving up.

 

 

When I got home, I polished the exposed metalwork in the car and wiped the outer plastic trims with a bit of WD40.

 

The car really does shine, and the paintwork is alot smoother now. Well chuffed.

[Guest]

Bloody odd

 

Not odd, Very common in fact, We was always getting exhausts back as they seemed to be cast wrong, Often the books don't label them right neither, You was guaranteed a ill fitting exhaust at 4pm on a Friday evening which your worse customer.

 

We sold Walker who are meant to be one of the best as well so god knows how local companies like Exhausts unlimited got on who sold shite ones made of tin foil.

 

Did anyone else read this in a Mike Brewah voice, or was it just me?

[dollywobbler]

Have been tarting up the 2CV again. Needed some primer and rubbing down paper stuff, so headed to town in the Scimitar. Took a load of rubble to the tip while I was heading that way. Certainly got some attention when unloading!

 

Filled up the tank after letting it get a bit low (ie well into the red). £92!! However, it does seem to be managing 26mpg according to my sums. That can't be too bad really, even if it's a few mpg out (very hard to tell when the tank's actually full as it was a bit click-happy). Needless to say, I won't be driving it too much I don't think...

[Cavcraft]

Ashmicro: you'd have to put the cat back on for the MOT as the emissions would go out of kilter.

 

Lord Sterling: Glad I'm not the only shonky photographer on here, good work on the Micra though dude.

 

Today:

 

Taxed the Astra, BMW and Cortina. At least the latter was free though. Got the Ford out of the garage, took it for a 25 or so mile drive and bought it's first present which is quite 'period', will remain hidden when fitted and should improve the part it's replacing. More on that later if I get some pictures and perhaps a short video clip.

The drive was wonderful: sun out in full, leafy Cheshire lanes and arm out of the window just pootling along was heaven sent.

[TimothyClaypole]

Today my Astra Estate shite was mostly failing it's MOT.

 

Two broken front springs... funny that as the Polo I had before had a broken spring too... nothing to do with the "Speed Kills Red Pyramids of Giza" at the end of the street though of course.

 

 

And the tester kindly broke the handbrake cable.

[Cavcraft]

Hitler and I only have one ball. His other is in the Albert Hall, mine is in the footwell of the Cortina after I ROFLD it off after fitting these...

 

 

Cholmongdangleberry Castle visitors better have some earplugs ready next Sunday.

[Lord Sterling]

Had a half-arsed go at trying to see if I can solve the 820e's running problems. Didnt get anywhere. It idles quite fast and will slowly flow up and down between around 1700rpm and 2000rpm, sometimes it will stay up at around slightly over 2000rpm. First thought would be the throttle body or Idle control valve which must be well coked up. Sadly being pretty much a novice at mechanics I would'nt know where to start looking.

 

I downloaded a free copy of the haynes manual covering the Rover 800, I managed to get an idea of where it might be but exactly where wasnt clear, in fact, nothing seemed clear. Throttle body seems to be located under the air box to the injector housing, this'll need to be removed and I should find the throttle body. It is a bit windy today and I dont have the right tools so I think I'll leave that for some time next week when I go down and see my mechanic mate, at least if I mess anything up he'll be able to direct me.

 

Also today I decided to see if I could tackle the remote boot release soleniod as it died a few days after I got the car, the solenoid is visible under the boot lid but is secured to something which is located under the number plate plinth, again its windy and the boot lid kept falling on my head, I just kind of gave up, put everything back together and left it at that.

[dollywobbler]

Wheels. Here's what I was up against.

 

Now, I didn't go the whole hog, remove tyres and valves and get rid of every last bit of rust. This is a pure cosmetic job as it's a waste of time having the best wheels in the world when the body is knackered.

 

However, I was still pleased with the finished result.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yo sterling! Dont these 820e's need their brains reset after a flat or disconnected battery? MAybe thats why yours is running badly.

[Guest]

Here is the Integra parked at the edge of the world:

 

This vehicle was formerly owned by Mr Bollox, who is currently serving a life sentence in HMP Wakefield for selling counterfeit hats.

[skattrd]

Just picked up my new daily ... Alfa 155 running on lpg ... I'm hoping it will halve my weekly fuel bill

 

*pic shamelessly stolen from for sale ad

[Cavcraft]

Hey, that Alfa is bloody ace. Tell us more please...

[Lankytim]

I have today arranged for the Krusty Krab to have its body welded up by a shite specialist. Ill sling the new slave cylinder on and see if the clutch starts working or not, i've got a funny feeling it won't though. If not the engine and box will be removed, along with the interior and the shell will get carted off to the body bloke for a few weeks while I fix the clutch and paint the engine. Having the interior and powerplant removed will atleast make it easier to fix the rust damage, plus it will enable me to give the engine bay a bit of a spruce-up.

[fiatdaft]

is that a widebody?

[Lord Sterling]

Yo sterling! Dont these 820e's need their brains reset after a flat or disconnected battery? MAybe thats why yours is running badly.

 

I tried a proceedure to reset the ECU (Which basically involves switching the car on and off at certain point, depressing the accelerator 5 times etc........) not sure if I have done it correctly but will have a go at that. Having said that, the idle does settle down after a little bit of driving, it also needs a service as I doubt its been serviced for at least a good couple of years.

[KruJoe]

I had just an hour to prepare the Impreza Sport for a ticket today - I rang Jack up for an appointment after Cholmondeley but he's off on hols, so it was now - or wait 'til he's back. All I could do was put on the "MOT boots" and power wash a few inches of farm track crap from the underside.

Fuggin thing only passed first time! I usually spend half a day checking things over then come away with a red list of jobs.

A few celebratory images from the MOT station...

 

Jack's testing wellies

 

 

 

His daily driver

 

 

 

4 ALL UR VOSA NEEDZ TEL

 

[Guest]

Just picked up my new daily ... Alfa 155 running on lpg ... I'm hoping it will halve my weekly fuel bill

 

*pic shamelessly stolen from for sale ad

 

Is that Clarkson's old 75 behind it?

[skattrd]

The Alfa's a 1992 155 2.0 8v twin spark, chain driven not belt, so hopefully less worries there. It just clocked over 130k on the way home, its got a few mods, 145 interior, 16v steering (quick) rack,brakes & suspension. The car is quite well known on some Alfa forums and its a good shell without rot.

It did the 170 mile trip home with no problems ... apart from a verbal warning from a nice police man about my slightly excessive speed

The lpg set up isn't the best, manual switch over and single point injection. I'm going to get it looked at by a local lpg place and see what numbers they say about changing it to something a bit better ... Got a feeling it will be £££ so it's likely to stay as it is.

 

fiatdaft - It wasn't originally, but is now. It was converted by a previous owner.

 

Watanabe - yes it is, the guy I bought the 155 off is an Alfa nut and in the process of restoring it linky

[KruJoe]

Bloody is! I remember wind deflectors and painted tyres

 

After t' MOT WIN, I went to see the (sister's) R8 Rowvah 214. Boshed in a fresh £3 eBay indicator, and had a go at the ill-fitting, immobile driver's door window.

Nothing broken. Problem:

 

 

That's pictured with the glass back in the plastic holders. The best I could do with limited tools was to jimmy the runner straight-ish, and super-glue the glass into the plastic. Any suggestions if that fails?

[ashmicro]

Use MOAR glue next time if it fails. That's what I did on my shitbox R8.

[KruJoe]

My niece found a Morrisons's carrier bag with about 20 tubes of super glue, half of which had been started and dried up, so I though I might as well blow a whole tube on the job. Half in each of the glass/plastic interfaces. When I wound the window up to squash it all together, I witnessed glue squirting out towards the door handle, lock and catch I hope they can open the driver's door in the morning!

[mk1_4dr]

Here is the Integra parked at the edge of the world:

 

This vehicle was formerly owned by Mr Bollox, who is currently serving a life sentence in HMP Wakefield for selling counterfeit hats.

 

Nice thing that, Im sure.

 

Id be interested in a looksee round it just to check out the family resemblance with the Prelude.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

HEY, THOSE HATS WERE 100% KOSHER MATE, SWEAR ON MY OLD MANS GRAVE, FACKIN ELL WHAT A TRAVESTY