Your fleet running reports

[Sundayjumper]

I imagine an MGA is a lot more than £3k though ?

[ZedLeg]

Aye a bit over 100k MGAs made and a bit over 500k for the MGB is why Bs are so cheap.

[Rich B]

Just had a quick look, they vary pretty wildly in price don’t they. £3k is cheap in any comparison though. Is it solid?!

[16vCento]

Seems to be semi decent, it had a bit of rust but nothing life threatening, I can always bust the welder out if/when required.

I'm off out now so I'm guessing the decision will be made in about eight beers time

[Rich B]

I fitted some Eibach SoLow springs (-45mm) to the van yesterday (well paid someone to). They need a bit of tweaking because the rear is sitting lower than the front, but they have adjusters to level it out.

I’ve driven it today and ride quality is still perfectly fine (still the most comfortable “car” i’ve ever owned!) and it’ll look a lot better when it’s sitting right.

Got the van back today with the back adjusted to the same height as the front. i’m pretty happy, it still drives comfortably but doesn’t look like it’s on tiptoes.

They reckon it may settle a tiny bit lower, but if the back needs adjusting again they’ll do it. I’m glad i bought the kit with adjustable rears - there’s a fair amount of variables with vans and how much load is in them - it makes sense to be able to tweak it.

before and after:

[V8Granite]

Hang loose brother.

Dave!

[ZedLeg]

I think that’s the opposite effect to what he’s looking for Dave!

[jamcg]

That’s a pretty nice knob.

Ta very much

[Simon]

Clock spring repaired. Took an hour yesterday morning whilst Noah was at school to whip off the airbag, then steering wheel, cowling, remove the clock spring, strip it down, replace the ribbon cable, build it back up and put it all back together again.

Now the steering wheel controls and horn all work again, but the SRS system needs a reset for the airbag light to go out. My OBD tool won't do it so I'm waiting for a quote from a VAG specialist up the road to reset it. If it's over £50 then I'll just buy the tool myself from ebay for £70.

[integrale_evo]

Mito maintenance say not going so well.

Mainly due to rain, but not helped by the undertray screws being Philips head and not the much more sensible 8 or 10mm hex, making their removal a bit of a pain.

Nothing actually broken or siezed (yet) just slower going than I’d hoped.

Did manage to find my timing kit for it pretty quickly. Not bad considering it’s not been used for 5 years or so…

[Barry]

I still have the EP3, it barely moves and that lack of attention has hit me in the wallet recently. I don't use it over winter much, in a vain attempt to limit corrosion, but I do have a reminder to charge the battery every few weeks. Last attempt to open the car, to charge it up, resulted in a very reluctant effort from the key fob and me panicking to get the charger on it ASAP (last time the battery failed it lost connection to the immobiliser and had to go to Honda for reprogamming). Thought I'd dodged a bullet there until I came to fire it up.. starter engaged for a split second but the motor did nothing. Assuming it was battery, despite my CTEK saying otherwise, I thought better to buy a new one than pay twice as much for another Honda trip. New battery = same result. Fvck. RAC called out ( that's a whole different rant ) and he diagnosed the starter being FUBAR. Fcvk pt2.

So, its getting recovered to a place in Crewe for new starter and the lambda sensor (that was failing prior, I just wanted to wait till spring to sort it).

Looking at £750 total, across all these failures, which is ruining my tight northern budget for this car.

50/50 on just getting rid once I get it back, do I risk trying to use it this summer or get rid while its working..

[Sundayjumper]

New radiator arrived for the MINI during week. I’d stripped it down last weekend while we had a surprisingly sunny mild day. It’s now back to cold & damp and I’m sitting here procrastinating.

IMG_3533.jpeg (63.05 KiB) Viewed 5489 times

That’s the ac condenser in the pic, btw. The rad is the same size and fits right behind it.

[V8Granite]

What’s stopping you using it for the weekly shop or run out every couple of weeks during winter ?

I found not being in the shade during winter makes a big difference, when the Defender was down the side drive, which gets virtually no sunlight in winter and not much wind, it feels horrid and brake discs rust very quickly compared to being on the front drive.

Dave!

[ZedLeg]

I still have the EP3, it barely moves and that lack of attention has hit me in the wallet recently. I don't use it over winter much, in a vain attempt to limit corrosion, but I do have a reminder to charge the battery every few weeks. Last attempt to open the car, to charge it up, resulted in a very reluctant effort from the key fob and me panicking to get the charger on it ASAP (last time the battery failed it lost connection to the immobiliser and had to go to Honda for reprogamming). Thought I'd dodged a bullet there until I came to fire it up.. starter engaged for a split second but the motor did nothing. Assuming it was battery, despite my CTEK saying otherwise, I thought better to buy a new one than pay twice as much for another Honda trip. New battery = same result. Fvck. RAC called out ( that's a whole different rant ) and he diagnosed the starter being FUBAR. Fcvk pt2.

So, its getting recovered to a place in Crewe for new starter and the lambda sensor (that was failing prior, I just wanted to wait till spring to sort it).

Looking at £750 total, across all these failures, which is ruining my tight northern budget for this car.

50/50 on just getting rid once I get it back, do I risk trying to use it this summer or get rid while its working..

iirc you only had it for when you didn’t want to use the bikes and you have an ev for that now?

You’re just hoarding, move it on to someone who’ll use it (or take the engine out for a project and scrap the rest)

[mr_jon]

It's just a starter...rock the car back and forth as hard as you can, with it in gear. If the starter is accessible give it a good smack with a soft face hammer (or a hammer with a rag). You might be blowing a load of money for no reason.

[Rich B]

I’ve put the Lotus on its CTEK charger, it starts fine, but the rev counter goes a bit squirrely when the battery is low. I’m trying the Recond mode to give it a thorough go over - then i’ll be leaving it plugged in whenever i’m not using it.

i drove it to work in the traffic and rain when my van was in the garage - it wasn’t really much fun- but still a bit of an adventure. i have a Davies Craig electric water pump and temp digital readout which i watched like a hawk in traffic!

im looking forward to the summer when the roof can come off though!

[Barry]

I still have the EP3, it barely moves and that lack of attention has hit me in the wallet recently. I don't use it over winter much, in a vain attempt to limit corrosion, but I do have a reminder to charge the battery every few weeks. Last attempt to open the car, to charge it up, resulted in a very reluctant effort from the key fob and me panicking to get the charger on it ASAP (last time the battery failed it lost connection to the immobiliser and had to go to Honda for reprogamming). Thought I'd dodged a bullet there until I came to fire it up.. starter engaged for a split second but the motor did nothing. Assuming it was battery, despite my CTEK saying otherwise, I thought better to buy a new one than pay twice as much for another Honda trip. New battery = same result. Fvck. RAC called out ( that's a whole different rant ) and he diagnosed the starter being FUBAR. Fcvk pt2.

So, its getting recovered to a place in Crewe for new starter and the lambda sensor (that was failing prior, I just wanted to wait till spring to sort it).

Looking at £750 total, across all these failures, which is ruining my tight northern budget for this car.

50/50 on just getting rid once I get it back, do I risk trying to use it this summer or get rid while its working..

iirc you only had it for when you didn’t want to use the bikes and you have an ev for that now?

You’re just hoarding, move it on to someone who’ll use it (or take the engine out for a project and scrap the rest)

I keep it as a fun driving toy but yeah, kinda lost interest in fun driving for various reasons. I've been contacted about selling to a mate, for the motor as it happens, so that's likely what'll happen.

As far as the starter goes Jon, my drive is steep so no chance I'm risking letting brakes off or risking it rolling into the street (as I have no safe way of getting it back up there). Also, the noise the starter makes when it tries to engage suggests I've already shagged the splines tbh ( it was slipping on occasion for a few years too ). I need it working in order to move it on easily.

[Rich B]

I still have the EP3, it barely moves and that lack of attention has hit me in the wallet recently. I don't use it over winter much, in a vain attempt to limit corrosion, but I do have a reminder to charge the battery every few weeks. Last attempt to open the car, to charge it up, resulted in a very reluctant effort from the key fob and me panicking to get the charger on it ASAP (last time the battery failed it lost connection to the immobiliser and had to go to Honda for reprogamming). Thought I'd dodged a bullet there until I came to fire it up.. starter engaged for a split second but the motor did nothing. Assuming it was battery, despite my CTEK saying otherwise, I thought better to buy a new one than pay twice as much for another Honda trip. New battery = same result. Fvck. RAC called out ( that's a whole different rant ) and he diagnosed the starter being FUBAR. Fcvk pt2.

So, its getting recovered to a place in Crewe for new starter and the lambda sensor (that was failing prior, I just wanted to wait till spring to sort it).

Looking at £750 total, across all these failures, which is ruining my tight northern budget for this car.

50/50 on just getting rid once I get it back, do I risk trying to use it this summer or get rid while its working..

iirc you only had it for when you didn’t want to use the bikes and you have an ev for that now?

You’re just hoarding, move it on to someone who’ll use it (or take the engine out for a project and scrap the rest)

I keep it as a fun driving toy but yeah, kinda lost interest in fun driving for various reasons. I've been contacted about selling to a mate, for the motor as it happens, so that's likely what'll happen.

As far as the starter goes Jon, my drive is steep so no chance I'm risking letting brakes off or risking it rolling into the street (as I have no safe way of getting it back up there). Also, the noise the starter makes when it tries to engage suggests I've already shagged the splines tbh ( it was slipping on occasion for a few years too ). I need it working in order to move it on easily.

what’s your mate wanting it for, a Lotus?

[Barry]

A 306GTi

The motor only has 109k on it, so despite being the older K20 I'll let him have it cheap enough to work as a test unit.

[Rich B]

A 306GTi

The motor only has 109k on it, so despite being the older K20 I'll let him have it cheap enough to work as a test unit.

random! seems a lot of work to end up with a different looking hot hatch!