1988 Renault 5 Extra Wheelchair Van - Ramp Inspection

[lesapandre]

10 hours ago, vulgalour said:

But then you've got the issue of emissions because what if it needs to be hot to pass those?  It's great going for an MoT, you can convince yourself the car isn't going to pass in all sorts of ways.

Being an 87 the emissions are less stringent? Best of luck with this. 🍀

[vulgalour]

Well yeah, it's on a carb and no cat as standard so you've got to be going some to fail emissions.

@Noel Tidybeard I've left the fan wiring as is, just in case.  I'll reconnect it once it's passed the MoT, that way if it is a duff switch rather than just the rad being cold at least it'll be easier to test and find out, worst thing would be reconnecting the switch properly, presenting for the MoT, and having it overheat because the switch actually is duff.

[vulgalour]

Guess who got an MoT with no advisories today?

Frankly amazed, and so was the tester at how solid the van is underneath since he knows the reputation these have for just dissolving.  Taxed, insured, all that good stuff which is just as well since the Princess is out of action AGAIN thanks to needing some welding that's rather important.

It's off to get the tracking sorted out tomorrow afternoon and that should make it a lot more pleasant to drive.

[RayMK]

1 minute ago, vulgalour said:

Guess who got an MoT with no advisories today?

Frankly amazed, and so was the tester at how solid the van is underneath since he knows the reputation these have for just dissolving.  Taxed, insured, all that good stuff which is just as well since the Princess is out of action AGAIN thanks to needing some welding that's rather important.

It's off to get the tracking sorted out tomorrow afternoon and that should make it a lot more pleasant to drive.

A slightly mixed blessing but the MOT is excellent news.  Pity the Princess now needs some welding.

[2flags]

Great news on the Renault. Shame about the Princess needing another kiss with the sparky stick. Will you be up to doing that yourself?

[vulgalour]

I'll have to be.  It's not a terrible job really and with the Renault active now I can at least take my time sorting the Princess out which I might need to.

[vulgalour]

I had a big drop in my coolant recently, wasn't really sure why because there's nothing obviously amiss.  Today I spotted the van doing a little wee when I came out of the supermarket.  When the van was stone cold, or up to operating temperature, it didn't leak, I just had to catch it at exactly the right temperature.  A couple of turns on the hose clamp screw and the leak stopped, happy days.

The other issue I'm having is the van has the same problem as my old dark blue Ledbury Maestro in that people keeping pulling out on me.  I don't know why it's apparently invisible, perhaps it's because it's small and people think it's further away than it is (very tempted to get a Father Dougal sticker because of this), I'm just grateful the brakes are pretty good.  Today it was a taxi that pulled out of a static lane right in front of me, fortunately I was slowing down already because I was approaching lights so I did have enough time to stop, was still quite alarming.  I might just start driving with the lights on, motorbike fashion, I used to have to do that in the 414 sometimes, another car of mine that was apparently invisible.

[vulgalour]

I forgot to put the latest video in here, oops.  Stick around to the end of it to learn a bit more about who made the van and a little bonus because of where the info came from.

 

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, vulgalour said:

I had a big drop in my coolant recently, wasn't really sure why because there's nothing obviously amiss.  Today I spotted the van doing a little wee when I came out of the supermarket.  When the van was stone cold, or up to operating temperature, it didn't leak, I just had to catch it at exactly the right temperature.  A couple of turns on the hose clamp screw and the leak stopped, happy days.

The other issue I'm having is the van has the same problem as my old dark blue Ledbury Maestro in that people keeping pulling out on me.  I don't know why it's apparently invisible, perhaps it's because it's small and people think it's further away than it is (very tempted to get a Father Dougal sticker because of this), I'm just grateful the brakes are pretty good.  Today it was a taxi that pulled out of a static lane right in front of me, fortunately I was slowing down already because I was approaching lights so I did have enough time to stop, was still quite alarming.  I might just start driving with the lights on, motorbike fashion, I used to have to do that in the 414 sometimes, another car of mine that was apparently invisible.

Same issue I had with the wheelchair adapted Caddy I imagine. 

Everyone thinks you're 90 years old and will only be driving at 15mph everywhere.

If you dare overtake them, especially on the motorway they will then get exceptionally upset about it and make your life misery for the next ten miles.

It was the single worst thing about owning that car I found (cost of insuring it being a close second).

[vulgalour]

I had someone on an e-bike ACCELERATE when I tried to overtake them.  My man, your tits, calm them.  Weirdly, insurance on this is pretty cheap for me, not much more than the Princess for a very similar policy, mind you Classic Line have been pretty good for me in that regard so far.  I haven't braved the motorway yet, not that it's particularly easy to do that in Lincolnshire anyway, it's such a lightweight wobbly thing I can't imagine it's going to be particularly relaxing as an experience!

[Supernaut]

I highly recommend driving with lights on all the time.

I reckon people subconsciously expect a moving vehicle to have DRLs now. Thus the cutting up / pulling out. Some people are just thick cunts, mind.

However I have noticed a positive difference when driving with at least sidelights on.

[loserone]

32 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

I highly recommend driving with lights on all the time.

I reckon people subconsciously expect a moving vehicle to have DRLs now. Thus the cutting up / pulling out. Some people are just thick cunts, mind.

However I have noticed a positive difference when driving with at least sidelights on.

Lights on. All. The. Time.