Your fleet running reports

[Sundayjumper]

Aston. MOT. Flying. Etc.

Comment from the MOT guy that the handbrake cable outers are slightly cracked, just as a heads-up, not an advisory. I’m guessing these will either be Aston-specific and hugely expensive, or they come from the Ford/Jaguar parts bin and cost £20.

[integrale_evo]

Compact exhaust cracked almost all the way round just before the backbox.

Removed, welded up and plated over. Much less farty.

Need to decide the next move. Cheap crap one from euros which probably won't fit very well for about £120, cheap crap one off eBay which probably won't fit very well for about £60, proper one from BMW which would fit like a glove but probably be about £500

Still tempted to get some bits and make a quiet sounding stainless one, there's tons of room under there and looks a pretty simple shape. Will have to measure the boxes and price a few bits up.

[Sundayjumper]

Dunno if they do BMW exhausts but a couple of years ago I got a full system from a Polish seller on eBay for the T4. The construction was solid although not always especially pretty, it fitted fine except for one hanger than needed trimming slightly, and it was incredibly cheap. Overall I was very happy. I’ll see if I can dig out the details.

[Simon]

Front suspension overhaul is paused. I've got the new wheel bearing fitted ok into the carrier, but separating the lower arms from the carriers earlier showed they could do with replacement too, so I popped down to ECP for a pair of those. Then onto Ford for some new bolts for the same. However, rebuilding the turrets this afternoon shows I could use some new dust boots and rubber mounts for the springs, and Ford is closed now, so I'll leave it disassembled and order them up on Monday. Brother is away for a couple of weeks now so I'll borrow his car to get to work.

Should all feel very different when I've put it back together!

[John]

A rare occurrence on the forum but I've had an MOT failure today, a broken front spring on the Berlingo was responsible. It doesn't look like the original spring and was rust free, I've had no unusual noise hinting at problems either. It was fine when I had new tyres fitted last year so I'll blame it on the the rubbish state of the roads rather than the excellent way the Berlingo can handle speed bumps without slowing down

It’s fucked then. I’d mend it with fire.

It shall live again!

To be honest I was quite happy that was the only thing it failed on. I was a bit concerned about the emision test due to all the horror stories about diesels failing the new MOT but that was fine.

[Mito Man]

Is the MOT actually stricter in terms of emissions though? As I understand it the car has the plate value by the VIN which specifies the emission limit and they have always tested it to that value? And then again I don’t know how big the error for margin is with that value that the manufacturer has put on the VIN but my car put out half its plate value so I imagine you’ve got to have a pretty shagged engine to fail it.

I think previously on some diesels you could remove the particulate filter and the plate value was quite relaxed therefore previously it would still pass the MOT but now that’s a fail (and all the better for it really...)

[John]

To be honest, I'm not sure. The DPF test is most definitely welcome though as some of the yoof around here, in their Fabias and Golfs, are taking the piss. The back of the cars are often black with soot and they seem to wear it as a badge of honour.

[Maurice]

Exige passenger door barrel has broken meaning it can’t be opened from the outside.

No pavement car jacking for me. Thanks Lotus.

[Mito Man]

Noticed that I’ve picked up another stone chip. Gutted as that’s the 446th one on the bonnet now

Genuinely wondering if I can get it to a stage where it’s more primer/metal than paint

[JonMad]

Lost key not turned up. Ordered one off eBay, with a recommendation to a locksmith to code it for me. Hopefully not a case of 'buy cheap buy twice' but the dealer wanted £300 and this should end up around £120.

Tuner chap is on holiday so still not sure whether the Stage 1 map on the car is fine for the long term now the cat is back on. Will see when he's back and looks at the files. When I spoke to them they said to revert it to standard, or to Stage 1. So as it's actually Stage 1 already (according to a printout of the dyno from the day it was tuned)...

[ste]

UPDATE

Caterham Superlight R #29

Deposit taken, will be collected on Friday.

Vauxhall

Purchased.

[JLv3.0]

Thank you. No more details required.

[Maurice]

It’s some kind of absurd VX220 isn’t it?

[JLv3.0]

I'm going with Cavalier Convertible.

[nuttinnew]

^ mit Red Top, or turbot and Calibre bodykit.
Calibra.
Monaro.
Chevanne.




We've had much rain the last couple o'days, the misty foglight in the yeti has pretty much cleared, and the A2's misfire has gone from major to minor ('k off Hucknall)

[Rich B]

I saw a vx turbo the other day - I thought it looked great- it’s aged we’ll.

[integrale_evo]

Carlton gsi
Chevette hs
Nova redtop

??

[John]

Vivaro.

[Coaster1]

The mighty Corsa C 1.4

In red I mean faded red I mean pink.

I had one.

[Matty]

If it's a VX220, must be pretty special to top a Honda Elise...

Seen the light that myself and Mik left behind and bought a VXR8?