collection mission to SPAIN!!!! COMPLETED IT M8

[jim89]

4 minutes ago, bezzabsa said:

hammer - bigger hammer, roll of duct tape, can of wd-40 or 3 ...metal coat hanger ,  and possibly a rosary / and or crucifix 

Greek worry beads 👍🏻

[lesapandre]

15 minutes ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

Whats the most common bolt size on one of these heaps? Bet it's like 11.3mm innit

I'm going to guess 13mm but 10-16 would cover most.

[DSdriver]

6 hours ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

I had one of these things back in the day, even the 16-yr old me thought it looked like a load of hopeless thundershite. I’ll pop in one of my spare sets of 30 denier ‘Pretty Pollys’ as an emergency measure instead

 

This actually works, we used it to good effect when the belt failed on the motor of a friend's boat off Start Point - not a place you want to be without a source of propulsion. Unlike an ftp on the road you don't just end up not moving, there is three knots of tide helping you towards the rocks.

[Rust Collector]

35 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Stout hammer, mole grips and a hacksaw...

 

It’s a good shout, but with the miles he’s got to cover on the way back I doubt he’s going to have time to stop and pick up any sex workers. I’d stick with just a socket set for in case the car breaks down.

[mat_the_cat]

10 hours ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

kinell, 4000rpm at 60mph

It's alright, according to Autocar "it showed no signs of stress at being driven flat out all day long."

[warren t claim]

7 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Stout hammer, mole grips and a hacksaw...

 

Those three items already exceed the baggage allowance on Ryanair.

[sutty2006]

[Vantman]

@Mr_Bo11oxHave a good safe journey,i am not far from Folkestone if you should need any UK assistance😀.

[Surface Rust]

54 minutes ago, Vantman said:

@Mr_Bo11oxHave a good safe journey,i am not far from Folkestone if you should need any UK assistance😀.

I'm just north of the M25 if you need any help as well. It's the Autoshite get you home guarantee:

Good luck!

[bigstraight6]

18 hours ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

I had one of these things back in the day, even the 16-yr old me thought it looked like a load of hopeless thundershite. I’ll pop in one of my spare sets of 30 denier ‘Pretty Pollys’ as an emergency measure instead

 

Yes, those were crap. I would be inclined to try and get hold of a few supplies before the drive like a fan belt, plugs points and condenser as well as some oil and coolant. Good luck!

 

[Talbot]

20 hours ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

kinell, 4000rpm at 60mph

The autocar scan above shows 16.12 mph/1000 in top, which is 3700rpm at 60mph.  Still very high by modern standards though.

doing some rough maths with the tyre size, gearbox ratios and final drive gets a fractionally lower, (but similar) figure.  If you can stand to cruise at 4000rpm, you'll hold 65mph, which is a decent speed to maintain in a car like that.

Once back in the UK, if a 5-speed box can be found, that will give about 22mph/1000, bringing that 60mph drive down by 1000rpm.  Well worth it.

... or just leave it completely stock standard.  It's lasted this long, seems almost a shame to improve it.

.. and doing a bit more maths... to get the car back to the UK, the engine will likely do somewhere in the region of 5 million revolutions.

 

Edit:  Just realised that the scan above is for a 1294cc "1100" rather than a 1118cc "1100", hence the 16.12mph/1000rpm could well be for a slightly taller gearbox.

😳

[MJK 24]

Good luck!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

FUCKING WARS!!!!!

So originally I had a train booked from home to Stansted. Then the EMR bit of the journey was cancelled due to strikes. So I kept the Pboro to Stansted bit and have driven down to Pboro this morning. I see Thorpe road is all dug up and half closed so that caused me a load of stress driving for fucking miles following half arsed diversions. Anyway I park up and get to Pboro station with 10 mins to spare. Whereupon I find the fucking Peterborough leg is now cancelled too. FUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK THIS SHIT HOLE ISLAND!!!!!!

Now I'm on a train to Stevenage from where I am gonna have to Taxi it to Stansted. I bet that ends up costing a 3-figure sum. CUUUUNNNNTTTSSSS

[wuvvum]

Looking on the bright side - something is more or less guaranteed to go wrong on a mission of this nature.  If you get the clusterfuck out of the way now the rest should be plain sailing.

[tooSavvy]

.... plain sailing.

French ATC no avvinn a 'baguette break' today 😕

Good On Yerr, lad!

🚙💨

[Mr_Bo11ox]

That's a good way to look at it actually. 

My instinct is that stuff should start to run a bit more smoothly from the moment I'm off the fucking soil of this bombed out shit hole. Woke up this morning to the radio telling me the E-gates at various airports had gone on the blink overnight causing havoc, so let's see how Stansted is looking when I get there

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Right I just called ahead and booked a minicab. £65. I'd already resigned myself to a £100+ black cab ride so now I feel like a winner

[Jim Bell]

*automated disembodied voice*

Please allow more time for your journey. We are currently experiencing late stage capitalism. While you are waiting, take comfort thinking of all the savings the commercial operators have passed on the the shareholders during this time of disruption. Your journey is important to us and we thank you for your patience. 

[wuvvum]

/\ I shouldn't LOL at that really, it's too accurate to be funny.

[adw1977]

18 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Will the petrol filler cap open easily?

As the seller is picking Mr Bo11ox up in the car and driving half an hour in it back to his house, perhaps fill up with petrol on that journey while the seller is still there to assist with any fuelling complications?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

LOL, so true. Doctors, dentists,trains, roads, local councils, all just completely fuckin clapped out. Fucking boils my piss. "YEAH WE'RE CANCELLING THE BIG 21ST CENTURY TRAIN PROJECT AND SPENDING 0.1% OF THE SAVINGS ON SORTING OUT A FEW POTHOLES INSTEAD" Actual words there from a well known East Midlands MP. What a load of shite.

Soz about that lets keep it shite (car) based eh

[adw1977]

11 minutes ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

Right I just called ahead and booked a minicab. £65. I'd already resigned myself to a £100+ black cab ride so now I feel like a winner

And presumably get some of that back from the train operating company?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Would be nice but I'm not gonna hold my breath, will look into it when I'm back though

[Jim Bell]

Just now, Mr_Bo11ox said:

Would be nice but I'm not gonna hold my breath, will look into it when I'm back though

You should get a chunk back for sure. Delay and Repay ftw. Something to look forward to when you return in triumph, piloting the intercontinental bollockcharriot. 

[captain_70s]

As soon as I saw this adventure involved attempting to use public transport in the UK I thought "that's the most likely failure point".

Can't believe you're bringing an additional PRIVATE CAR into the UK when our robust, affordable and reliable public transport should be everything you ever need. Disgusting.

[vinyljunky]

The Labours of Hercules

[Surface Rust]

6 minutes ago, Jim Bell said:

You should get a chunk back for sure. Delay and Repay ftw. Something to look forward to when you return in triumph, piloting the intercontinental bollockcharriot. 

I think you'll find that this is a transcontinental collection mission as opposed to the intercontinental type.

As you were.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Ok waiting for my taxi at Stevenage now

[Jim Bell]

Just now, Mr_Bo11ox said:

Ok waiting for my taxi at Stevenage now

"Morning mate, where you going then?"

Spain. 

"Sorry mate, I don't go south of the river"

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Ok I'm at Stansted now. Taxi driver was a super sound Romanian dude with a lovely Skoda Superb L&K. I liked him a lot and the stress levels are falling so I tipped him a tenner