Your fleet running reports

[Mito Man]

The tyre looks oddly high profile in that pic too.

[McSwede]

M140i is still in the dealers and still broken. It's parked outside with a big sign in the window saying "DO NOT START!!"

I've still got the 530e so it's no problem really but I'm looking forward to opening the taps when I get it back. Fingers crossed for Monday evening.

M140i Update.

It's finally fixed I can collect it this afternoon. Cooper BMW in Teeside have been very accommodating and have even done the first service at no charge due to the inconvenience caused. Can't ask any more fair than that. I shall use them again.

Can't wait to let rip in it later. I've missed the performance that little car offers so readily.

[Mito Man]

I had the 6 series in today to get the doors and frameless windows realigned as it was letting in wind noise. It can be quite a fiddly job but my mechanic did it really quickly and didn’t charge
Thank fuck I didn’t spend ages trying to fix it myself first.

But what the baby Jesus gives with one hand he takes with the other...

Defender needs an alignment but it’s one of those shit jobs I can never be bothered to do, however following some further winching it’s now really bad. I winched in a straight line but my steering wheel was turning right by itself, possibly not helped by the sloped ground. When I got out and had a look it appeared as though the passenger side wheel was pointing straight and the driver’s side was pointing slightly to the right. Now to drive in a straight line the wheel needs to be held at 10 o’clock, so I’ve probably fucked something. That said I’m not sure how I could have done it any differently but then again I am the resident potato.

[JonMad]

Moved the seat back in the Fabia about 3-4” so hopefully I can drive it now without banging my elbows on the door. Thankfully the previous owner mounted the bucket seats to a rail where they put lines of threaded holes each side. I think I went back as far as I can without drilling any new holes.

Hope to get out tomorrow after tightening them all up.

[Richard]

I got a 5-6cm single line crack right in the middle of my windscreen a few weeks ago, Mid March. Went online to autoglass for a replacement - all booked for the same week. Autoglass charged £100, which is the insurance windscreen replacement cost

I waited on that day, and nobody from autoglass came. So I emailed them, and they called back saying that they were surprised to find out they didn’t have any windscreens in stock and had to wait 2 weeks for one to come into stock. But knew the day it was supposed to be in, and booked my fitting the day after that.

That day, two weeks later, Autoglass man arrives - “just to let you know, we won’t be fitting the glass today” Apparently, and maybe this isn’t news to anyone else, but they need to replace all the plastic trim around the windscreen too, because, in the guy’s own words, “I’m definitely going to break all of those taking them out, and we’ve been sent the wrong colour replacement ones”

So now I’m waiting again, because Autoglass don’t have the correct colour trim parts, so have had to order news ones from Fiat. And it’s not exactly a common car, or colour.

So 4 weeks later, maybe 5, I still have a crack in my windscreen. Excellent work, Gavin

[IanF]

M4 mileage has been doubled in a week! Had the roof down like a tart most of the week, but with the roof down the boot is smaller than the F430!

[Sundayjumper]

Hope to get out tomorrow after tightening them all up.

If you're over this way, pop in.

[Beany]

Nothing to report on the 330, other than that it *still* needs a thermostat, but as I'm not doing big milage regularly that's not a huge issue - mostly bumbling around town.

Do need to clean the roof properly though, it's god-awful - thankfully, it looks like the office next door are nearly done with their external refurbishment, so I can (no, really) beat and hoover the dust out of the roof, then wet and clean it, then seal it up with something hydrophobic and give the car a proper hand wash, and locate every small scratch and dint, and see if I can get them removed.

As my 'local' (50 miles away) spanner monkey likes the car, I might drop it in with him to properly asses it, clean the underside/sills, seal it up, and borrow his new (to him) XJR for a week. I think if I can afford the petrol, he'd let me, too...

We'll see

[Explosive Newt]

X-type valued at £400 trade in or about a grand if I tried to sell it myself.

Poor old girl, I didn't have the heart to tell her, although I think she knew something was up because her 'normal' burning oil smell when stationery was slightly stronger than normal. That's her crying, that is.

[NotoriousREV]

The Golf had a line of what looks like a line of dead pixels on the centre screen this morning. I'm hoping that turning it off and on again will clear it, but otherwise it'll need to go into the dealer. It's not particularly annoying but they keep reminding me the lease is ending soon (6 months) and everything is supposed to work properly.

It was fine tonight. No sign of any dead pixels. Weird.

Line is now definitely back.

[scotta]

More trackdaying last night in the Lotus for Leven Lotus Sportsclubs inaugural Event.

Think im needing new Discs and pads as they are grinding a bit after giving them death. theres still 4-5mm of pad left but the discs have now done 16 trackdays so probably justify replacement.

Some awesome machinery on track last night. Its not often im the slowest car at a tracknight!



Didnt get a chance to catch this on track. Would have been interesting to see what the pace comparison was like. It expired after a few laps.Think it broke an ancillary belt. I parked in the paddock next to it later in the evening but stupidly didnt grab a pic.



The car snapper guy says hes got a load more pics so ill post a link when he publishes it.

[scotta]

[Sundayjumper]

Nothing to report on the 330, other than that it *still* needs a thermostat, but as I'm not doing big milage regularly that's not a huge issue - mostly bumbling around town.

Get on and do it, the car will run better for it. BMW temperature gauges are very heavily weighted to the centre so even though you can’t tell, the engine temperature will be all over the place.

[Mito Man]

I think I need new glasses as the Senna looks pretty nice in that picture to my eyes

[V8Granite]

Nothing to report on the 330, other than that it *still* needs a thermostat, but as I'm not doing big milage regularly that's not a huge issue - mostly bumbling around town.

Get on and do it, the car will run better for it. BMW temperature gauges are very heavily weighted to the centre so even though you can’t tell, the engine temperature will be all over the place.

Agreed on the above, the Audi is a true 76 degrees at 90 on the gauge. I’ve not checked the ML yet but they are annoyingly vague.

Dave!

[Carlos]

X-type valued at £400 trade in or about a grand if I tried to sell it myself.

Poor old girl, I didn't have the heart to tell her, although I think she knew something was up because her 'normal' burning oil smell when stationery was slightly stronger than normal. That's her crying, that is.

Stick it on Gumtree and see if anyone bites. The last banger I had (Merc S202) sold straight away on there and I held out for the asking price.

[integrale_evo]

Exhaust on the mito done.

Made a bit of an error on the silencer I ordered,should have gone for a centre to offset instead of diagonal offset pipe.

This made it too tight to the heat shields so had to cut a couple of pie slices and stick a bend in the adapter pipe. Recycled the standard tailpipe as I think it suits the car and didn't want to stick a twin round one on.

It's on, doesn't touch or knock anything, and the tailpipe actually sits better in the bumper cutout than before. Louder than standard but nothing daft, overall I'm chuffed

[evostick]

I took the door tops off the truck for maximum exposure to this fine weather. Really ought to buy some new ones as the nearside is really quite rusty but I expect that I'll just leave them off permanently now as it's really reduced the amount of rattling going on. Obviously I'll get a bit wet at times..

Before


After

[Beany]

Nothing to report on the 330, other than that it *still* needs a thermostat, but as I'm not doing big milage regularly that's not a huge issue - mostly bumbling around town.

Get on and do it, the car will run better for it. BMW temperature gauges are very heavily weighted to the centre so even though you can’t tell, the engine temperature will be all over the place.

Agreed on the above, the Audi is a true 76 degrees at 90 on the gauge. I’ve not checked the ML yet but they are annoyingly vague.

Dave!

Yeah, I've had the OBD on it and is running cooler than it should be. It's a job for next month. Thermostat isn't pricey, and I can get my bro over to help (he's got the trolley jack, I've got the axle stands - because of course) but it's not a nasty job - drain the system, pull the electric fan for access, undo half a dozen bolts, swap part, then reverse procedure.

It's definitely not overheating, I can tell you that, but running rich long term won't be good for the cats, I imagine.

[Matty]

Headed into Bridgnorth for lunch this arvo with the Evora, and on the various A/B roads, the way it copes with the really shitty roads is incredible, can carry much more speed, more confidently than I could in the Elise. I'm not going to pretend I don't miss taking the roof off though....Evora Roadster needed.
However, I think the drier weather has shown that the old ARB bushes need a good greasing, it does squeak a bit. I suspect it might benefit from a geo check too, as it was last done 25k miles ago.

Also, the TPMS is on and off like a fucking christmas tree. I'm not sure if the replacement unit is faulty, or replacing the tyres has caused issues with one of the others, but it's annoying. I might take it back to the garage, but I know what the answer will be....