THE GUBBERMINT ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

[cort16]

Spent Friday and Saturday literally welding the SHIT out of my Rover. My welders doing my friggin head in as it won't give an even wire rate, which I suspect is caused by me leaning the liner thing again some recently welded shit red hot material a couple of months ago and nearly blowing myself up. Thanks to all of this there's some not so great looking welds in there although it's plenty strong. Time to place that job lot order of flapdiscs and filler.

[scaryoldcortina]

I just agreed to buy a sierra. It is cheap, local and has T&T. I know nothing else about it at all.

What's the worst that could happen?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

 

 

Any of these: http://sierraclub.lv/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 4a2b5f1b79

[Cavcraft]

Spent a fair bit of time piss arsing about taking the o/s/r door card off the E46 to replace the silly bit of plastic trim at the back of the door handle only to find we didn't need to take the door trim off

 

Replaced the o/s/ headlight washer cover and discovered the leak of washer water is down to the seal on the bottom of the reservoir, so either scrappy or new from a dealer job.

[Angrydicky]

Did a compression test on the A35 to investigate the rough running. 1 = 85psi, 2 = 95psi, 3 = 110psi, 4 = 0psi. Ah.

[dollywobbler]

I'm on to the final wheel! Painting wheels takes a bloomin' age due to all the waiting for coats to dry. I would tackle some of the bodywork cosmetics, but it's a howling gale outside - not ideal conditions. I can get a wheel into my workshop, but sadly not an entire car...

 

Took the Saab out for another run yesterday. It really does have the worst steering of any car I've ever owned when it comes to feedback. Jack the front end of your car off the ground and you'll have some idea of the feel the Saab delivers. It's dreadful. Very swift, quiet and comfortable though, and averaging 36mpg on the display. This figure boosted by the number of dawdling tourists...(though I did follow a Fourtrak towing a caravan, which was overtaking the slower stuff! Respect.)

[Rod/b]

What pressures have you got in the Scab's tyres?

[seth]

Did a compression test on the A35 to investigate the rough running. 1 = 85psi, 2 = 95psi, 3 = 110psi, 4 = 0psi. Ah.

 

I place a bet on it being an exhaust valve with a bit missing.

[dollywobbler]

What pressures have you got in the Scab's tyres?

 

Good question! I'll dig out my pressure gauge. Annoyingly the handbook only mentions pressure in bar.

 

EDIT - they're spot on. No quick-fix then!

[Richard]

Isn't there a sticker in one of the door shuts or the fuel flap? That might have the pressures in PSi.

[dollywobbler]

Isn't there a sticker in one of the door shuts or the fuel flap? That might have the pressures in PSi.

 

I think the sticker has fallen apart. Got the conversion on-line and they're fine.

[Rusty Pelican]

What pressures have you got in the Scab's tyres?

Talking of tyre pressures went to check the Bimmers yesterday , theres a sticker in the door jam with various tyre sizes on it and little pictures of 2 adults , 2 kids , 1 adult , 4 adults etc etc etc with differing pressures for each.

No fugging good as a Taxi then if taken literally

[Rod/b]

There's one in the Sportage:

 

2 folks: 30 PSI

4 folks: 30 PSI

4 + kit: 30 PSI

4+ kit and towing: 30 PSI

 

Needless to say it doesn't mention : 4 up with a cooler full of water, in the dunes: 8 psi.

[Angrydicky]

Did a compression test on the A35 to investigate the rough running. 1 = 85psi, 2 = 95psi, 3 = 110psi, 4 = 0psi. Ah.

 

I place a bet on it being an exhaust valve with a bit missing.

 

Yeah I reckon so, either that or one stuck open (the car has been laid up since '95).

[whitevanman]

Since I was last on.............

Re MOT'd the ex Scooters Shogun

Fitted out a workshop

Sorted out the non running in the ex Scooters Shitetrak

Done a shit load of welding

destroyed the P100's engine....well the water didn't LOOK that deep

bought an XR3i and sold it on at no gain............

and I've bought another heap of shit Cortina...........

her indoors has now been bought a Trike......saves me the time building it

 

 

 

I'm off to London in a week or so to collect said trike...........and another Cortina P100 bussiness as usual for me

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I've been supa productive today, started off with a rotten bonnet:

 

 

did a load of welding:

 

 

finished up with this:

 

[dollywobbler]

Nice work. Like the 1970s shite family transport next to the 1990s version. How are the rear arches on the Avenger? It's like manufacturers forgot how to make non-rusting ones at some point in the 1980s.

[cort16]

Nice repair B0ll0x. What gauge of mig wire are you using for that kind of repair? Is that 1mm steel you used for the repair section?

I'm just learning this stuff and don't know if I'm doing it right.

[shite_meister]

Admirable skillz there senor Ball-locks, did the bonnet not warp? I doff my beret to you good sir and raise another glass of rose to UR effortz.

[Timewaster]

I just agreed to buy a sierra. It is cheap, local and has T&T. I know nothing else about it at all.

What's the worst that could happen?

 

1.6 E-max?

[red5]

1.8 Pinto!

 

All the power of the 1.6, with the economy of the 2.0

[Pillock]

I seem to remember they did the same with the Focus - a completely redundant 1.8 engine choice with the bad points of both the 1.6 and 2.0.

[scaryoldcortina]

No, it's a 2.0 injection ghia but it's been reversed into a garage door with the hatch open so there is a bit of bodywork to do (or a lot of part swapping onto my other ghia shell)

 

Waiting to hear back from the seller. I'll get pics when it happens.

[Cavcraft]

1.8 Pinto!

 

All the power of a 1.1, with the emissions of several large refineries

 

EFA?

[cobblers]

MOT is creeping up on golf and the back brakes (and handbrake) were doing absolutely sod all - The rear disks were fully rusted over and obviously hadn't done any braking since at best 20 minutes after the last MOT.

I was expecting to need a pair of callipers, but when I got round to actually jacking it up and having a wiggle, 10 minutes and some wd40 saw them both back in action. Sticky handbrake was cured by a pair of £6 cables. I still forget to use it though. It seems that buying a car off someone who can't fix cars means that problems that could well be a big deal are usually caused by the simplest possible thing, but there are plenty of them.

 

A couple of proper suspect looking jacking points ended up not really needing the welding I expected they would once I'd hit them with the wire wheel and got loads of bits of wire fired into my arm and leg. Since I was all geared up for action we cut the pitted metal out and put some plates in nicely, then seam sealed them and shultzed them up good.

[Shep Shepherd]

The Volvo's all clean and shiny and ready to get dirty again when I drive it to Manchester on Friday:

 

 

[dollywobbler]

The Saab had an almighty rear caliper seize-up today. I'd parked it less than half a mile away as I was doing some bus driving. Yeah, didn't really need to drive that far so I walked back to bring it home. On that short journey, the LH rear brake got SERIOUSLY hot. Proper ponging and the wheelnuts were too hot to touch for about ten minutes. Did the most sensible thing - got the wheel off, let it cool down, had a cup of tea.

 

Once things were cooler, I pulled the caliper apart. It's a sliding jobby on these. The guides, which I presume it's meant to slide back and forth on, were seriously tight so I greased them up and put them back in. Also used a little grease around the piston itself once the pads were out of the way. Seems to have done the trick, and the brake pedal is much firmer - though I'm not entirely sure about whether I'm inventing that after driving around in a Merc Sprinter with a hideously soggy middle pedal (only a four-pot as well. Bad times).

 

Will be keeping an eye on this as we've got a 500 mile weekend coming up.

[Lankytim]

All the dash lights went out and the battery stopped charging on the Audi on the way to work, signifying that the quick soldering a job I did on the back of the instrument cluster had fallen off. I borrowed a nice soldering kit from work but on the way home everything seemed to be working again so I did what every other shiter would have done and pretended the issue hadn't happened at all. Sorted!

 

At 9pm I nipped out to get something from the Audi but curiosity got the better of me, I put the key in the ignition and found the dash lights were out again. This prompted a 45 minute dash stripdown in the dark with a torch to get the instruments out and solder it up properly. Took the time to replace a faulty bulb too. Boshed it back in and everything is how Audi intended, yay!

[The Moog]

Had a new gearbox fitted to the Micra. at £400 fitted didnt think it was too bad. Clutch apparently had gone into the gearbox and wrecked it. New clutch feels seriously weird with no pressure for the first 1/3rd of travel. Hoping it will ease off otherwise will take it back in next week.

[scaryoldcortina]

Super light (like it isn't there) is how micra clutches feel when they are new. Knackered ones feel like you have a medieval longbow connected to the third pedal.. I have to say it's usually the gearbox takes the clutch with it when it fails on micras, worn boxes have a habit of selecting 2 gears at the same time and grenading big style (you do get some wonderful noises before it all goes bang though)

 

 

My new sierra is in the yard. I have pics (but no broadband so they will have to wait)

Spent part of today jacking the roof back into shape so the tailgate will shut. Apart from that, it's all pretty good - it even has half a tank of fuel (which goes almost quarter of the way to paying for it!) and is a H registered 2.0 ghia, last of the mk2a type, with a twink and injection, but drum brakes and electric windows at the back. My other H reg 2,0i ghia is a facelifted type, has disks at the back but keep-fit windows and a spoiler. Ford spec and trim levels continue to baffle me.