Your fleet running reports

[Swervin_Mervin]

I did wonder - it was in at the local specialist a month ago for a new exhaust clamp and they didn't mention anything, despite them usually taking a moment to go over everything.

[Sundayjumper]

How's the passenger window?

Not looked at it yet, I put the groundsheet over the car when I got home and left it. For everyone else - after the first two, maybe three runs, I noticed that the passenger door glass was sitting at a rather jaunty angle, and it did not sound happy about going back up. Jon spent the rest of the day being very well ventilated Good job it was a dry day ! I guess it's just bounced off its fixings. Hopefully easy to fix.

I think I might have been persuaded to try an auto solo in the Megane...

Yes, you have !

...but maybe not the stuff we did yesterday as it's clear you need to be able to look after the car yourself...

You do, but that's all part & parcel of it !

(Jon already know this but for everyone else...)

Most of the cars there were cheap, or very cheap. So if you break it, you get another one.

Example - the Rover 25 / MG ZR is very popular for road rallying. We were talking to one of their proponents and they were saying you can usually pick up a car for about £300. Buy a few upgrades (seats, suspension) that you can transfer from one car to the next and even if you write the car off one day, you're only a few hundred quid down. Move the decent bits to the next car. Rise. Repeat.

And doing that is absolutely the BEST way to learn about fixing cars. If it's not your daily driver, and you prang it, and it's off the road for a few weeks, so what ?

I was brought up with bits of cars and bikes around all the time so maybe I'm weird like this, but it always strikes me as a Catch-22 when people won't do work on their cars because they've no experience of doing work on their cars. Break the cycle !

[integrale_evo]

It won't have jumped off, it'll be the little white plastic clips.

Get a set of four off eBay for about £4 and do both sides. Hopefully it's not bent the mechanism out of shape, even if it has I think they're pretty cheap.

[Sundayjumper]

Yeah, the driver's mechanism was broken when I got the car, I think I paid about £20 for a replacement.

[Sundayjumper]

Or I might buy another Compact for parts. Ahem.

[integrale_evo]

Or I might buy another Compact for parts. Ahem.

Definitely the way forward

Although I may be about to lose my storage and have to dispose of the rest of my old one. If there are any little bits and pieces which may be helpful let me know. I'll be keeping quite a few bits for mine, but there might be something that would be handy that might otherwise go in the bin.

[Sundayjumper]

If there are any little bits and pieces which may be helpful let me know.

I'm sure there will be, but most likely to be random tiny odds & ends that aren't worth storing "just in case".

Besides, I'm picking up another one on Thursday that I expect I'll be breaking, so I should be OK for odds 'n' ends !

Are you still looking for sports seats ? The fronts from mine (black & grey) are redundant now, and I'll have a set of black & red ones soon too.

This conversation would be better suited to PMs....

[Mito Man]

Opened the bonnet and had a fucking dead mouse drop from under the insulation which made me jump!

Found 2 bodies now so at least the poison is working.
The insulation smells utterly vile, hopefully won’t cost much to replace. I actually walked past the car and could smell a waft of shit which is what made me open the bonnet in the first place

[Sundayjumper]

Compact passenger window is fixed, the rearmost clip had unclipped allowing the window to jump out of its tracks and then jam.

Tomorrow I’m driving to Worcester to collect a donor Compact. A 318ti with an E30 3.91 LSD. The engine & diff are going into my car. So I’m getting 30% more power, dropping the gearing by 20% and adding LSD. My car was brilliant fun sliding around at the weekend, this should make it ever bettererer

[IanF]

Compact passenger window is fixed, the rearmost clip had unclipped allowing the window to jump out of its tracks and then jam.

Tomorrow I’m driving to Worcester to collect a donor Compact. A 318ti with an E30 3.91 LSD. The engine & diff are going into my car. So I’m getting 30% more power, dropping the gearing by 20% and adding LSD. My car was brilliant fun sliding around at the weekend, this should make it ever bettererer

Nice!

[nuttinnew]

Mito; insulation should at least be cheaper than wiring.

SJ; coming together well

[Beany]

First 'long' run in the 330, down to London to do some server kicking.

Unsurprisingly, it does it pretty well. M-Sport suspension isn't as calm as I imagine a cooking 330 would be, but it's far from harsh, and the damping works well at speed. Even quite silly speeds.

Average of 29mpg according to the OBC which sounds about right for a straight 70 most of the way, with the odd run up to, er, speeds that I wasn't expecting to be coming up that quickly. This thing blows past 100mph like the Mondeo blows past 70 it just keeps pulling. Oh, and that includes crawling through London too.

Surprisingly quiet, too. I mean, it's not silent, but there's not much wind noise, even at aforementioned interesting speeds, even compared to the Mondeo.

Got into a habit of where if I came up behind two lorries overtaking, I'd wait behind them in third, and once they were clear, I'd pull through third and most of the way through fourth; with the rear windows down, you get a muted rasp over the wind noise. I do think I need to get shot of those resonators, get a bit more bark out of this thing....

[tim]

Skoda Octavia vRS Estate

After 35,800 miles it finally needs new tyres. I put Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3s on at 300 miles because the OE fitment whatevers were so fooking loud. I've been umm-ing and ahh-ing about putting winters on, but in the process left it too late and Sottozeros are now £160 a corner, so another set of the same Eagle F1s are going on tomorrow. They should easily see out the remainder of the time I have with this car. Brilliant tyre in all conditions and nice and quiet. Strong possibility I will replace this car at 3 years with another one the same, most likely a petrol one though.

BMW R1200RT SE

A sniff under 13,000 miles now. I've got a local All Year Biker franchisee coming round next week to give it a clean and ACF50 treatment. Best bike in the world, still. Although a fella recently tried to tell me I was wrong and his ST1300 was, but he was wrong.

BMW S1000R Sport

Hasn't moved in 3 weeks due to shitty weather. I've no inclination to ride it unless it's at least properly dry, because there is just no need.

Ducati 748 biposto

Hasn't moved in over a month for the same reason as the S, and also, because S. I can't bring myself to sell it.

Yamaha FJR1300 Authority

It's had a tracker fitted along with the rest of the charity fleet, and shortly after the cruise control broke. Turns out it was something in the rear brake mechanism fooling the sensor (common issue I'm told). A small adjustment at the yam dealer sorted that FOC. Brakes are crap for what it is. Does what it does very well though, so long as you don't need to stop in a big hurry. I've also got used to the bizarre switchgear now, so I flash oncoming motorists less and engage cruise control more (when it works).

[Gwaredd]

I fited a cheap set of 'Snowdragon' tyres to the front of the Alhambra so it can cope with the school run & christmas dutys safely. I'm not worried about dry road performance on that, as it does so few miles.

On the Auris, I've just plonked a new set of the latest gen Michelin CrossClimate tyres that are getting ace reviews. Apparently they perform like a summer tyre on dry roads, but are a fairly competent winter tyre when it gets cold, even working well on snow, so I'll be interested to see how I get on with those. Not cheap mind at £210 fitted for a pair!

[Sundayjumper]

Long day. No probs collecting Compact #2 and The Touareg reckons it did 25mpg for the 220 mile round trip. Half of it with an empty trailer, obvs. Seems OK. I wouldn't go so far as to say you don't notice the trailer, it would be absurd to suggest that sticking nearly two tonnes on the back makes no difference, but on steady motorway sections with the cruise control at 65, you don't need to think about it. Uphill drags just mean a change of engine note, no drop in speed and no downshifting nonsense from the gearbox. It just keeps going. The instantaneous fuel consumption does drop well into to single figures though

Stopped on the way home for the compulsory McD's. A tradition that Gavster & I have.

IMG_8197.jpg (121.84 KiB) Viewed 2769 times

From a quick look over Compact #2 seems OK. Cosmetically much tattier than Compact #1 but a surprise bonus is that it has quite new-looking Bilsteins & Eibachs fitted. Nice. Financially I'll be best off breaking it once I've had the bits I want, but seeing as apparently I hadn't entirely been clear with the wife about what I was up to today, there might be some encouragement to get rid quite quickly...

[JonMad]

Looks alright from that distance. Top news about the suspension. Tyres any good also?

[JonMad]

On the Alhambra, I've just plonked a new set of the latest gen Michelin CrossClimate tyres that are getting ace reviews. Apparently they perform like a summer tyre on dry roads, but are a fairly competent winter tyre when it gets cold, even working well on snow, so I'll be interested to see how I get on with those. Not cheap mind at £210 fitted for a pair!

I was pretty impressed with them on the Yeti in snow. Previous/old gen variant of them from a couple of years ago. Have them on all year round.

[Gwaredd]

On the Auris, I've just plonked a new set of the latest gen Michelin CrossClimate tyres that are getting ace reviews. Apparently they perform like a summer tyre on dry roads, but are a fairly competent winter tyre when it gets cold, even working well on snow, so I'll be interested to see how I get on with those. Not cheap mind at £210 fitted for a pair!

I was pretty impressed with them on the Yeti in snow. Previous/old gen variant of them from a couple of years ago. Have them on all year round.

Good to hear!

[Rich B]

Long day. No probs collecting Compact #2 and The Touareg reckons it did 25mpg for the 220 mile round trip. Half of it with an empty trailer, obvs. Seems OK. I wouldn't go so far as to say you don't notice the trailer, it would be absurd to suggest that sticking nearly two tonnes on the back makes no difference, but on steady motorway sections with the cruise control at 65, you don't need to think about it. Uphill drags just mean a change of engine note, no drop in speed and no downshifting nonsense from the gearbox. It just keeps going. The instantaneous fuel consumption does drop well into to single figures though

Stopped on the way home for the compulsory McD's. A tradition that Gavster & I have.


IMG_8197.jpg


From a quick look over Compact #2 seems OK. Cosmetically much tattier than Compact #1 but a surprise bonus is that it has quite new-looking Bilsteins & Eibachs fitted. Nice. Financially I'll be best off breaking it once I've had the bits I want, but seeing as apparently I hadn't entirely been clear with the wife about what I was up to today, there might be some encouragement to get rid quite quickly...

Even the cars you break for bits are silver!!

[Sundayjumper]

Even the cars you break for bits are silver!!

Of course ! If I'm breaking I'll keep the bumpers as spares. No point buying spares in the wrong colour !