Roffle Puma: holey shite!

[Sunny Jim]

He's up early so something's up. I was perfectly happy sleeping with my head on a bookshelf. He's been packing tools and cable ties in a back pack so I reckon we're off to pick up a new mobile kennel for me.

Great we're off for a walk.

Poo count 1.

First mode of transport.

Bader-matic for the win.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Second mode of transport.

[Flat4]

I can see I'm gonna enjoy this thread What does he think of the train?

Chodspeed!

[mitsisigma01]

Well if the poo count suddenly rises we'll know 💩💩💩

[Sunny Jim]

Made it to Crewe where I stole the remains of a child's muffin off a cafe table while himself queued for coffee - good times!

I'm not allowed on the seats but as long as I've got somewhere to rest my head I travel quite comfortably.

 

 

 

[Sunny Jim]

Made it to that London, just as well I was ready for poo number two.

Time for a bit of sightseeing as we walk the next bit.

Made it with 5 minutes to spare before the next train.

[tooSavvy]

'Furry Fred'..... 

*hope quarry is Dogs Bollo#s, m8

[Sunny Jim]

That @Dan29is a lovely bloke and this mobile kennel is a comfy place to be (I'm allowed on the seats).

[djoptix]

Whip it, you say?

 

[Sunny Jim]

Arrived at the FoD. 

Himself has cunningly fixed* the driver's window which was slipping with a block of wood.

[mitsisigma01]

Quality shitmanship 👍

[grogee]

Did you find the gearknob cold, hot or Just Right?

[Sunny Jim]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

Did you find the gearknob cold, hot or Just Right?

You mean in my hand? Just right 😁

14 hours later and the whippet is back where he started.

Thanks again to @Dan29 for making the pick up so straightforward and to @Six-cylinderand @Mrs6C  and everyone else for the warm welcome at the FoD - me and the dog both look forward to the next time.

I absolutely love the Puma: I've driven 280 miles today, for the first 230 I was thinking this is good but I'm not sure why people rave about them so much. After Froncysyllte the A5 grew emptier and twistier and it all made sense. 😁

[High Jetter]

But did he get a walk?

[Sunny Jim]

Yes! We walked a couple of miles this morning to get a lift to Bangor Station, then another couple between Euston to Waterloo en route. Mrs6C kindly walked him around the paddock at the FoD and we went round the block when we got home. He's sleeping it off now.

[New POD]

3 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

You mean in my hand? Just right 😁

14 hours later and the whippet is back where he started.

Thanks again to @Dan29 for making the pick up so straightforward and to @Six-cylinderand @Mrs6C  and everyone else for the warm welcome at the FoD - me and the dog both look forward to the next time.

I absolutely love the Puma: I've driven 280 miles today, for the first 230 I was thinking this is good but I'm not sure why people rave about them so much. After Froncysyllte the A5 grew emptier and twistier and it all made sense. 😁

Up.to.this point the dog was doing the talking. Now he's fucking driving. Brave. 

Hey @Sunny Jim you must live near* one of my sisters.  She's at the Top.of the hill just the other side of the Menai bridge....

[Sunny Jim]

Is her married name Trellis?

 

[Sunny Jim]

Fitted some desperately needed new wiper blades today and then went for a blast along some of my favourite b roads. It needs rear tyres and a service in addition to sorting the window (I'm awaiting a manual and some fastners to replace the rivets holding the mechanism in before tackling that - for now the AC works) but today was just about enjoying it...

... and ignoring this for now. Looks like a previous repair panel has lifted I guess? I'll have to work out how much needs stripping back to tackle it.

 

[New POD]

9 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

Is her married name Trellis?

 

A spinster. Lives alone. 1

[Sunny Jim]

Not a fan of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue then @New POD?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTMKj2eHB28

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, Sunny Jim said:

... and ignoring this for now. Looks like a previous repair* panel has lifted I guess? I'll have to work out how much needs stripping back to tackle it.

 

FTFY

(Sorry @Dan29 , will assume that wasnt you )

[Sunny Jim]

Dan was a pleasure to deal with and completely upfront about the issues with the car - an honourable shiter indeed - would win brilliant roffle prizes off of again.  1679/10 ⭐

[hairnet]

When it's a riffle and it gets you to a meat or similar 300 miles away stuff like that don't matter

 

barg right there

When does the dug get a go

 

[Sunny Jim]

He's too busy navigating to drive.

[hairnet]

And getting the snacks in

[RoverFolkUs]

I wish collection threads featuring dogs had two like buttons, one for the caper and one for the hound  

[stuboy]

pooch in a puma...

 

i always fancied a FRP one..

[KitKat]

1 hour ago, Sunny Jim said:

... and ignoring this for now. Looks like a previous repair panel has lifted I guess? I'll have to work out how much needs stripping back to tackle it.

FWIW if you need repair panels, get some Peugeot 206 front wings. The contour and radius is a very very close match to the Puma's rear arches. Use OSF for NSR and vice versa.

[Sunny Jim]

Thanks, I believe that was what was used in this attempt but it sounds like the way to go if I have to replace it (I certainly don't have the fabrication skills to try and make a repair panel from scratch).

[Sunny Jim]

It's four months to the day since I collected the Puma so I thought it was time for an update. Long story short I've been dailying it and loving it and it's been reasonably trouble-free.

As mentioned above; it required a good service, some new rear tyres and a window regulator. The more I've driven it and got to know it the more I love it. It's ride and handling mean it's ideally suited to the A and B roads around here and to my mind has just the right amount of usable power. Sure the Mini Cooper S I had was faster but most of the time you couldn't actually use all the power and if you did give it a boot-full the traction control would kick in anyway.

Last month it developed an issue where there'd be a whistling noise when I came off the brakes. I followed @grogee's advice and checked the vacuum lines but they all seemed fine. Although it didn't seem to be affecting braking performance ignoring the issue hasn't made it go away so I got my local tame mechanic to have a look. He said the problem was actually with the servo itself. Ebay scrappers wanted £130 for a used servo delivered but I was fortunate enough to score one through a Facebook group for £30. I've decide to put the £100 'saved' towards paying the mechanic to sort it as I've a lot on at the moment.

The other elephant in the room is rust - well it is a Puma! The arches have had some attention* in the past but that seems to have consisted of just wobbing some repair sections on without any effort to remove rust or prevent it rusting again so it's all bubbling out.

I can get reproduction sills and arch repair sections for about £450 but wouldn't be capable of fitting them myself. At the moment my thinking is that to replace the Puma with something else suitable would cost me in the region of £2k so I might as well put that money into the Puma as I acquired it for £16. Although the rear subframe appears ok there is rust in the back end so I'll have to get some advice and quotes for how viable it it is. It's certainly saveable but it's a question of whether my pockets are deep enough and how much I can do myself.

The MOT expires in November. While it's at the garage having the servo done they're going to assess whether it would get a ticket as it is now. If it would I'll put it in for a test early so I'm not in the position of having to have an MOT patch done in a hurry in November to keep it on the road. I'm going overseas for ten weeks this winter so I could put it in a bodyshop then to get properly sorted.

I've just realised that the underside of the car seems to have remarkably similar colouring to the dog!