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1986 Vauxhall Carlton CDi, Daily use of a 37yr old car. Now haz tunes!


sutty2006

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15 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

Bargain. I’d imagine getting parts for that will be harder than getting parts for the Carlton. Hopefully it won’t end up on a banger track. 

Parts. And rot. Sadly it is easier to buy a good one.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Captains log. Star date 180523. We had a fuel leak yesterday. I didn’t fully tighten up the tank sender bolts because I feared snapping them off was imminent. Nipping them up a bit more cured that problem. Along with a coolant leak from the main elbow to water pump, again, tightened the hose clamp up a bit. 
 

First meet of this year done. Pre 2000s daily driver meet. The caddy has a 6.5 v8 turbo diesel as fitted to Humvees that me and a mate shoe horned in one day 👌

 

 

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Today I treated the Carlton to some new shoes.

 

the fronts are 15 year old Firestone fire hawks. They still had the nobbles on when I received it. But I think it had sat on 4 flats for some time. The rears are 23 yr old Camacs and the captains side had begun to open up. Very perished and I didn’t trust them. I did the right thing and ordered Firestone multi hawks, which aren’t directional. £107 for 2. Wasn’t worth putting cheap shite hyfly on it.

Grabbed a spare 30mins at the end of my shift to throw them on

 

off with the camacs

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shiney rubber

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lovely job. 
 

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On 4/29/2023 at 7:00 PM, Bren said:

On car and classic there is a V reg Royale saloon being auctioned. Been off the road since 1995. Bidding is up to £300.

It's identical to the one I had.

Now on ebay. Too much work for the new owner.

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On 4/30/2023 at 7:03 PM, EyesWeldedShut said:

Congratulations - I wondered where mine had gone. (Found out yesterday the barge is doing 22 mpg  - told the wife it's doing 32 :-) )

When my Mrs had a V8 Disco I used to sneak out and put the odd £20 in it, she couldn’t understand it when people would comment on the consumption, she told them it’s better than the diesel Espace she had before it!

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12 minutes ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

There looks a lot more than 20ish years between the Carlton and PA, by Comparison a 2003 Vectra and a new Insignia  aren’t much different.

We aren’t developing as quickly as we did during the 70s-90s that’s for sure. 

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I’ve been toying with fuel economy. I can’t afford to fill the tank yet. Infact no, I lie. I DARE NOT fill the tank yet, it’ll probably leak. They all do. 
 

I have done a very rough calculation on fuel economy. I put 14L of e10 in last week when the gauge gets to “uh oh!” and reset the trip. Done just about 80 miles until the gauge reached “uh oh!” again. That equates to 28mpg….and that’s round town/going to work… which is 4 miles each way. I’d say 28 is about right for one of these. Especially with a shift-o-matic! 

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  • sutty2006 changed the title to 1986 Vauxhall Carlton CDi, Daily use of a 37yr old car. Living the dream.
On 5/25/2023 at 8:58 PM, Wibble said:

Sounds bloody good to me for an old auto on short trips.

Yes. And my plan worked. 
 

I had threatened 12 months ago to push this into daily service as the fuel economy is comparable to the A6 Allroad round town. Yet diesel was loads more expensive than petrol. 
 

now, petrol is becoming more expensive than diesel again. 
 

you can thank me later. Lol

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On 5/25/2023 at 8:58 PM, Wibble said:

Sounds bloody good to me for an old auto on short trips.

Definitely is.  I had a W124 230E automatic and you’d have to drive very carefully to get 25mpg on short journeys.  

A steady motorway cruise got 31mpg absolute max.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Back from body shop tonight.

pin striping didn’t get fitted. I know a guy for that though 😉

 

front splitter is actually wrong. It’s a mk2 cavvy splitter but he’s made it fit. It’ll do for now. But the front end is looking much better now

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just isn’t quite long enough

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sexy

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rear quarter didn’t need cutting out. He was able to grind it back, treat the rust and paint over. 

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needs a damn good clean and polish now.

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The Carlton came with a new rear bumper.

 

And new it is!
 

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Thankfully it’s the right one too. Can’t believe how easy it was to change. One bracket bolt seized up but I was able to get the grips on the back and relieve it of duty. 
 

I cleaned up the paint behind 

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only two nuts hold this on! Imagine if this was a 2010 insignia, you’d have to set fire to it to get the rear bumper off! 
 

plenty of copper jizz on the studs

 

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and there we have it. 👌


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