Weird Car’s weird cars! ‘NEW CAR INCOMING’

[Weird Car]

So the new plugs showed up which in typical Weird Car luck turned out to be the wrong ones 😑

Austin 7 club said they were the right ones for a Ruby so I’m guessing my car might have had an earlier engine transplanted in at some point, but as not to waste a trip to the garage i thought I’d get the original plugs back out and really go to town with a wire brush and brake cleaner to try and get them as clean as possible and after spending about 45 minutes on each plug and it’s accompanying washer I had plugs that really didn’t look that bad

My phone couldn’t focus for a brilliant picture but this was after about half hour of work on one of the plugs

much better than the pure black dripping plugs they were before, we will have to wait and see if it’s bought the spark back though as I currently have the battery here on a trickle as all the messing around checking sparks on New Year’s Eve has killed it and whenever I try and hand crank it it kicks back and scares me 😆

 

I also pushed it right into the corner of the garage and I’m shocked how little space it takes up in a modern 1 car garage 

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

33 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

 spending about 45 minutes on each plug 

An easier way is to burn the soot off them with a butane torch - only takes a couple of minutes.

You'll also need to find why they got so sooty. Are they the wrong heat range (a common issue with modern plugs in pre-war stuff, as @barrett said) ? Is the mixture set too rich ? Is the engine burning oil (or, rather, even more oil than it's meant to) ?

[Weird Car]

8 minutes ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

An easier way is to burn the soot off them with a butane torch - only takes a couple of minutes.

You'll also need to find why they got so sooty. Are they the wrong heat range (a common issue with modern plugs in pre-war stuff, as @barrett said) ? Is the mixture set too rich ? Is the engine burning oil (or, rather, even more oil than it's meant to) ?

I’ll get round to finding all that information out once I get it running 👌

[Weird Car]

So not only have I managed to get classic car insurance on my 2006 CityRover but they’ve also valued it at £1800!! 😮
Double win 👌

[Weird Car]

Probably the most snow we’ll ever get in Portsmouth and what a fantastic car to drive in such weather, that ferocious heater keeping me lovely and warm 

[danthecapriman]

32 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

Probably the most snow we’ll ever get in Portsmouth and what a fantastic car to drive in such weather, that ferocious heater keeping me lovely and warm 

2010 (I think it was!?) was a good year for snow in Portsmouth. I was working for SSE at the time and remember one of my colleagues got called out somewhere in Pompey and ended up getting his van stuck on all the snow & ice down some little street. Another colleague went to go help and he got stuck in the same place. Then another colleague went and also go stuck😄 

I drove past later that day and there were three SSE vans all blocking the road dumped at different angles across the street!

It doesn’t freeze up so much with sea surrounding Portsmouth though. I lived on the inland side of Portsdown hill and we used to get a bit, but as soon as you drove over the hill there was nothing around Farlington and Portsmouth. Gosport was the same.

Thats an impressive clag cloud from your ovloV though! No better car for cold weather!

[Weird Car]

4 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Thats an impressive clag cloud from your ovloV though!

Really shows that it’s not running’s its best, that guy I spoke about in locksheath with 8 of them is coming down at some point this week to have a fiddle with it, and possibly sort out the head gasket and running issues 

[Weird Car]

14 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

2010 (I think it was!?) was a good year for snow in Portsmouth

I do slightly remember that, I was 9 at the time and we made a small snowman with the snow from the roof of dads car 

[danthecapriman]

40 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

I do slightly remember that, I was 9 at the time and we made a small snowman with the snow from the roof of dads car 

Someone had built a big snowman on the road up in Clanfield in the turning bay bit. I tried to run it over (because I’m a nasty little man😄) when turning the Transit van I had at the time. Damn thing must’ve frozen solid as it stopped the van dead and did nothing to the snowman!

48 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

Really shows that it’s not running’s its best, that guy I spoke about in locksheath with 8 of them is coming down at some point this week to have a fiddle with it, and possibly sort out the head gasket and running issues 

I can vaguely remember someone who had a load of old Volvo’s on their driveway over that way. It was near the roundabout and petrol station on Bridge Road. I used to drive past now & again while working and used to see what cars were there. 
There can’t be a great deal to yours really. Those old B20 (I guess that’s what’s in yours?) engines are dead simple and robust.

[Weird Car]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

There can’t be a great deal to yours really. Those old B20 (I guess that’s what’s in yours?) engines are dead simple and robust

A lot of people have said that, and have raised that point that the B20 is meant to be mega reliable, I genuinely think those twin SU’s aren’t helping matters at all, I’ve always hated twin carbs on anything, every car I’ve had with twin carbs have been awful to balance properly 

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Weird Car said:

A lot of people have said that, and have raised that point that the B20 is meant to be mega reliable, I genuinely think those twin SU’s aren’t helping matters at all, I’ve always hated twin carbs on anything, every car I’ve had with twin carbs have been awful to balance properly 

Quite probably is at least part of your issue. Although if they’re both set up and good nik they should be fine. 
The last carburettor Volvo I had was a 244 with the 2.1 ‘redblock’ engine. Fantastic engine but the carb was a single Solex jobbie, which was an absolute nightmare to keep running while cold. It’d always start ok but you’d have to keep your foot on the gas for a few minutes until it was warm enough to run on its own. I never did manage to fix that one, although the reputation of that particular carb wasn’t good!

[Weird Car]

On 24/03/2025 at 19:47, Weird Car said:

Oh I also just realised that I failed to mention that the S class has now gone and has been replaced by this 1990 Eunos Roadster that I absolutely adore. I’ve wanted one since I was 17 but was never in the position to have a 2 seater until now so it’s been great  making up for lost time. I’ve actually owned it since the 1st of February and I guess just forget to update my thread 🙃

I thought literally the day after I sold this car that I was an absolute idiot for selling it, it was an amazing car and it never let me down, we drove all over Europe and the UK together and it’ll always hold a special place in my heart as the first car I ever drove abroad

 

anyway enough being soppy and stroppy because I’m picking this up on Saturday 

 

 

[IronStar]

I love your cars.

That's all.

[Weird Car]

2 minutes ago, IronStar said:

I love your cars.

That's all.

I try to keep the variety going by rarely owning the same make and model twice but I absolutely love NA MX5s 

[IronStar]

2 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

I try to keep the variety going by rarely owning the same make and model twice but I absolutely love NA MX5s 

Every single one on this thread, including City Rover.

I've never driven an MX-5, but you can't possibly go wrong with popup headlights anyway.

[Weird Car]

1 minute ago, IronStar said:

I've never driven an MX-5, but you can't possibly go wrong with popup headlights anyway.

The pop up lights and smiling face, I just love them, and I know it’s an overused cliche but my auto honestly handled like a 2 seater go kart 

 

2 minutes ago, IronStar said:

including City Rover.

Honestly that’s a car I didn’t think I’d like as much as I do, another super fun little nugget 

[Rustybullethole]

A fine selection as ever. Its does really look like should one desire one could squeeze another three in that lock up.

 

[Christine]

Weird car, i imagine your're now swatting on A7  forums ? Should you see anything about GP 4427 , (i think it may be in Devon)  it was my mothers car  in the Sixties ... and I have the handbook for it if the owner wants it .     

 

 

 

[Weird Car]

3 minutes ago, Christine said:

Weird car, i imagine your're now swatting on A7  forums ? Should you see anything about GP 4427 , (i think it may be in Devon)  it was my mothers car  in the Sixties ... and I have the handbook for it if the owner wants it .     

 

 

 

I’ll keep an eye out, if you use facebook the Devon Austin 7 Club have a page, I’m sure you’d be able to find the owner on there if it’s still in Devon 

[angle]

On 05/01/2026 at 11:38, danthecapriman said:

2010 (I think it was!?) 

 

On 05/01/2026 at 11:53, Weird Car said:

I do slightly remember that, I was 9 at the time

Oh fuck I'm old

[Weird Car]

Just now, angle said:

 

Oh fuck I'm old

Sorry, I’ll try and be born a bit earlier next time 😇

[Christine]

4 minutes ago, angle said:

Oh fuck I'm old

Me too !  And she thinks i do Facebook ...whatever that is  

[Christine]

I did a post about it years ago thinking about it !  

 

[SiC]

55 minutes ago, angle said:

 

Oh fuck I'm old

How to make you feel older...

Millennium was before @Weird Car was born and 9/11 is just something that was read in the history books. 

(I'm turning 40 really soon, so feel old myself)

[Weird Car]

8 minutes ago, SiC said:

How to make you feel older...

Millennium was before @Weird Car was born and 9/11 is just something that was read in the history books. 

(I'm turning 40 really soon, so feel old myself)

It makes me feel old that I drive a school bus full of kids born in 2020 and they’re actually sentient not just babbling babies 😭 like dude you were born yesterday what do you mean you’re gonna play Xbox when you get home?  

[SiC]

4 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

It makes me feel old that I drive a school bus full of kids born in 2020 😭

Technically ... If I had kids at 16-18 and those kids had offspring at 16-18 too, I'd be old enough to be a grandparent 😂

(I'm sure there are some people out there that are...)

[Weird Car]

1 minute ago, SiC said:

Technically ... If I had kids at 16-18 and those kids had offspring at 16-18 too, I'd be old enough to be a grandparent 😂

(I'm sure there are some people out there that are...)

Doesn’t bare thinking about 😳😂

[Mr Livered]

I've got a mate who became a great grandfather at 52, that blows my mind a bit.

[mintwth]

1 hour ago, Weird Car said:

Doesn’t bare thinking about 😳😂

All those mini- @SiCs? 😉

[Wibble]

Please, stop it folks, I’m 56 in a couple of weeks!