Your fleet running reports

[speedingfine]

Looks like the 6 is ready for collection tomorrow. It merely needed a new pair of £10 gaskets to stem it’s rather large oil leak. Unfortunately said gaskets were the upper timing chain ones so quite a bit of labour. Had a bunch of other brittle hoses and sensors and gaskets replaced whilst pulled to bits. And a major service.
Seems to be basically regular maintenance on the V8 and they all need new seals at 80,000-100,000 miles and mine went right in the middle of that.

Entertain us if you dare, how much was all that?

Good news it's sorted though

£1200! Hopefully no more big bills on it, although it only needed tyres the year before and shouldn’t require anything next year.

Not too bad actually!

[duncs500]

Got some carbon brakes for my elise, no idea if they'll work but they look clever.

Ooh la la! Where are they from? I'll be interested to see how they go.

They’re Freno - I shall be intrigued myself!

I saw on twitter, 3kg saving per corner (over belled rotors)!? How does that compare to MMC? Is that on your car or a customer car?

[Mito Man]

Entertain us if you dare, how much was all that?

Good news it's sorted though

£1200! Hopefully no more big bills on it, although it only needed tyres the year before and shouldn’t require anything next year.

Not too bad actually!

Final bill was £1163. Also had a brake fluid change and coolant change. The alternator bracket was leaking oil too which was apparently a "real cunt" to get to.

[John]

Vile weather today so what better than to take the Panda off tarmac for the first time. I had a drive into the Peak District as it's only half an hour away and unsurprisingly it was very quiet. As I was on my own I wasn't going to do anything too tricky so just stuck to the lanes and a couple of bridleways. Obviously nothing to test the Panda at all really and I'd really like to try something more challenging one day.

Just one pic from behind Hope quarry for anyone who knows the area.

[John]

Behind the banking to the right you have this, photo not taken today obviously. To give an idea of scale if you look carefully there is an excavator/dumper to the upper right.

[Jobbo]

John, have a look on OS maps for Byways Open To All Traffic and Other Public Rights of Access. Some of the ones you’ll find will be shut by TRO or otherwise impassable or uninteresting; that’s where GLASS membership comes in. That gets you access to Trailwise2 which has comments and details on rights of way. Worth the annual fee even if you only use it once or twice a year, IMO.

[John]

Thanks Jobbo, I'll have a look.

[dan]

I saw on twitter, 3kg saving per corner (over belled rotors)!? How does that compare to MMC? Is that on your car or a customer car?

Mine all mine!

[Mito Man]

Well that new coolant didn’t last long



Now to knock people’s doors for some water...

[Mito Man]

Made it home. Must say they ought to make a slush puppy flavour out of that coolant, it’s finger licking good

[integrale_evo]

Pay over a grand for a load of work and they can’t even push a hose back on properly.

And people wonder why I do my own work on my cars

[JonMad]

Ah, that's rubbish. Are you going to have words with them about that?
Glad you made it home.

[speedingfine]

Sorry to see that dude, proper shit

[Mito Man]

I’ll call them on Monday, I was in 2 minds whether I should drain it and just go to Halfords and buy some coolant and distilled water to sort it out myself but I think the mechanic ought to sort it as it’s his own doing.

[Foz]

Picked the 335d up, doesn’t look as good but rides better and now takes speed bumps!

Who knew

[Delphi]

Fitted the new fan controller to the 928. Everything seems to work fine, had to adjust the potentiometer for the fan trigger condition right down as it wasn't switching on even when it got very hot. Why Derale didn't set it to a sensible setting from the factory, I have no idea. Haven't connected the A/C override as the A/C currently doesn't work and I need to replace the compressor at some point anyway.

Had the new back box fitted which has quietened it down a fair bit, but I suspect a new mid-section is required to get things back to approaching stock. On the way back I swung by the trimmer Strasse recommended to get a price on the interior bits :-

Seat recover - £1650 + VAT
Seats and new carpets - £3K
Full interior re-do (including leather dash, binnacle and centre console) with alcantara headlining and new carpets - £5K


Made progress with the interior lights. The main dome light works when switched to always on and in the other position seems to work when the rear hatch is open. Opening and closing the doors has no effect - I'm going to check the pin switches next, although it seems unlikely that both would be faulty. Neither of the puddle lights in the doors works. Both door puddle lights are broken - the drivers side has had the live wires chopped off . Apparently, 2009 VW Passat lights are a cheap direct replacement.

Reversing lights appears to be a faulty transmission switch.

[Matty]

Seat recover - £1650 + VAT

is that the going rate to re-cover a seat?

[Matty]

Future car update...it's going in to have some work done Friday...then the new owner is picking it up, then travelling on business, then back but needing to quarantine for 10 days, and pretty much he's 'clear' then I'm off on Holiday myself. Potentially won't be collecting until the end of June...so...sad face.

[Foz]

Loltus race car up for sale, in parts or complete, generated so much interest it’s actually irritating!

Currently considering various offers including other lotus cars and large cash deposits.

Watch this space.

[16vCento]

Picking up the V60 on Saturday, was a shock to find its both cheaper to tax and insure than the 308.

Need to get a WBAC appointment for Saturday morning to get rid of the 308 really, I can't be arsed dealing with people trying to sell it so I think it's the easiest option.