Your fleet running reports

[Gavin]

In more mundane news, the Volvo went back to Cleland's due to a warning message and a rattle. One new Clutch Position Sensor later all fixed. Apparently the rattle is "after market pads" on the rear which are safe but somehow rattle.

I also got roof bars for it for cheap so I can stick bikes/kayaks/roof boxes on the top.

It is my first experience of a derv with more than 4 cylinders and whilst I would prefer a petrol 5 cylinder warble, the derv unit does sound far better than all previous 4 bangers.

What did you buy?

Volvo S60 D5 SE. tatty body work but 77k on the clock and feels different league to the S40.

[Maurice]

Mr Ross - can you please remind me of your car history? Your nationality precludes me from any compliments but from memory it's been flawless

How can you forget the majesty of the Corsa 1.2 Elegance? Or the GT-R derived Primera 1.6Si?!

[JLv3.0]

Or the Z4M etc

[Gavin]

In more mundane news, the Volvo went back to Cleland's due to a warning message and a rattle. One new Clutch Position Sensor later all fixed. Apparently the rattle is "after market pads" on the rear which are safe but somehow rattle.

I also got roof bars for it for cheap so I can stick bikes/kayaks/roof boxes on the top.

It is my first experience of a derv with more than 4 cylinders and whilst I would prefer a petrol 5 cylinder warble, the derv unit does sound far better than all previous 4 bangers.

What did you buy?

Volvo S60 D5 SE. tatty body work but 77k on the clock and feels different league to the S40.

[NotoriousREV]

Looks like the bumper is nearly the right colour too!

Better thatn the "VW Approved" bodyshop managed at the first attempt with my Golf.

Paint match off by Scott Armstrong, on Flickr

That still shocks me. Who thought that was OK?!

I genuinely can’t see a problem, but then I am colour blind.

[Maurice]

Nissan Primera Si
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 Elegance
Mini One
Mini Cooper
BMW Z4 Coupe 3.0
BMW Z4MC
Lotus Evora NA
VW Polo GTi
Lotus Exige V6
VW Golf R Estate.


Consider the flawless illusion shattered.

[JLv3.0]

Done

[integrale_evo]

That golf colour match is worse than I usually get on 20 year old paint with paint mixed to the generic code.

For a proper body shop to send something out like that is horrendous.

I bet if it was a leaser and you took it in like that at the end of the term they'd charge you for a poor quality repair.

[integrale_evo]

Had a crack at starting on the suspension on the Compact. Discovered that the rear subframe bushes are totally - like, TOTALLY - shot and none of the others look too good either. And loads of surface rust to tidy up. So it'll be needing full strip down of the rear beam. Seeing as this is just the start of it, I don't think there's much chance of the car being back on the road this year

Both of mine have had beam bushes which look knackered and like they're doing absolutely nothing to prevent vertical movement, but have very little side to side movement. I keep meaning to pull the one off my blue one to clean up and stick some powerflex bushes in.

I had planned on welding in some tabs to make it adjustable, but powerflex do eccentric arm bushes with an adjuster so might just get those instead.

[duncs500]

I'm considering a proper swap about.

Anyone interested in a Caterham Superlight R or an E70 4.8i Sport? Drop me a message if so.

Huh? You've just spent a small (and predominantly unrecoverable) fortune on getting the car close to your exacting standards.

Can me and Chris fight to the death over all the fancy bits you'll basically be giving away by selling it?

[unzippy]

Last one, I promise - just to confirm to Jobbo McBeal that they gave it a clean



This can all be boxed off now. Next.

Nice, happy days.

[Sundayjumper]

Both of mine have had beam bushes which look knackered and like they're doing absolutely nothing to prevent vertical movement...

Mine are definitely doing nothing to prevent vertical movement ! The core is completely detached from the outer. There's no way it should pass an MOT like that so I'm in a quandry. Changing all the bushes is a bit of a PITA job so I was only planning to do it if/when I do the Z3 swap. But that's going on hold now until I have a workshop sorted out - the wife is quite clear that she doesn't want two dead cars on the driveway So either I fix this up now and run it as a 316i for a bit, or accept it's not going back on the road this year and aim to have it fully ready for the 2019 season.

I've used Powerflex before and been happy with them but they're not cheap and I don't really want to end up buying two sets. I came across these as an alternative, cheaper, not as good ?

www.duraflexpubushes.com

Replacement window regulator turned up yesterday so that can go in at the weekend. I've also started on the lightening by removing the rear wiper mechanism that was completely seized. If I can maintain the enthusiasm I'll gradually remove all the excess wiring gubbins too, working back down the car. To stay in production class I have to keep a full interior, glass, and original body panels (i.e. can't change them to lightweight fibreglass), but there's no rules against removing the soundproofing, a/c, central locking, radio, blah, blah. Some of it's very minor but it all adds up !

[scotta]

That golf colour match is worse than I usually get on 20 year old paint with paint mixed to the generic code.

For a proper body shop to send something out like that is horrendous.

I bet if it was a leaser and you took it in like that at the end of the term they'd charge you for a poor quality repair.

Yeah soon as i saw it i rejected it. They re-sprayed it and its less bad but still not perfect.

[scotta]

Correct pads arrived from Elise-Shop so will get them fitted tomorrow.

Weekend jobs on the Lotus in that case

• Cleanup Disks

• Fit new Pads both front and rear.

• Clean and re-oil the air filter.

• change the engine oil and filter.

• re-lube the damper stems.

[Sundayjumper]

Rear wiper delete finished ! Pack of ten 25mm plastic plugs from eBay for £2.25 and a quick spray of some random silver wheel paint I had in the garage. It’ll need some silicone in there as well to waterproof it but for a cost of probably less than 50p it’s not bad

04A4F29E-D244-45F3-808F-6BAD172A0F85.jpeg (49.74 KiB) Viewed 2892 times

[integrale_evo]

If the arms aren't too bad you could just do the beam bushes, shouldn't have to remove everything to do them and would be reuseable in another beam later on as they don't really wear.

[Beany]

The Mondeo is as quick as an M140i when the owner of the M140i is incapable of throttle modulation, keeps tripping the traction control and seems to have no concept of steering input. Proper mash and saw stuff.

Got a big thumbs up and a smile, I think he thought the Mondeo was faster than it actually was - that is, I think he thought I was as fast as his car should have been.

Aaanyway, took the Mondeo on a bit of road that I know upsets many a car today, and was quite surprised by how well it took it - it's the road that used to make the Pumas brakes fade before I upgraded them. Brakes seemed fine, and the car hid it's weight well....up to a point. that point being a bit of road with a drop in it on one side (not a yump, just a drop) and when the car hit that, it really struggled to maintain composure, the first time I've really seen it have a bit of a wobble. I mean, I did hit it at near 80, er, kph, but the Puma took it far better.

Big heavy car gonna be big and heavy I suppose. Was tricky to get the back moving in this heat too, tyres too sticky.

Still, the glances at the speedo suggests that bags of torque make it move plenty damned quick cross country.

So overall, an interesting day I suppose.

[DeskJockey]

Replaced all three wipers on the Galaxy. It was disappointingly simple and easy. Didn't take five minutes.

Difference it makes on the car is astonishing though. No smearing, squeaking or juddering. Should have done it much sooner!

[JLv3.0]

New wipers are perhaps the ultimate in terms of effort & money compared to reward.

[Nathan]

I have just ordered wiper refills to fit into the blade.

Stingy