The Chat Thread - Back to ... school? - WC 02/09/24

[HoTWire]

Hey Folks!

Another week, another weekly chat, your place for stuff that may not warrant a full thread or stuff that is just going on right now that you want to share.

Well September has arrived with a downpour, which is always fun.


I finally got back in to my Flickr account, so am uploading a number of galleries from large to small events. Will be making some threads and stuff as well on events from earlier in the year (Volksworld and Wheels Day for a start!). Currently looking for something to do car wise in September, although weekends may be a little limited with some other commitments floating around.

We've got some interviews from RR Gathering we need to get edited and out on our Youtube channel, will be good to get that going again.

Still working on updating/replacing the Club RR system in a smooth way. Think I've got it sorted, but need to write some extra stuff so it is easier for me to keep track of who is joining and at what level.


What are your September plans?


Previous Thread: forum.retro-rides.org/thread/227580/chat-thread-bank-holiday-time

[LowStandards]

I've finally moved house and have much space for activities



Granted, according to my missus, the activities should be decorating etc, but still

[adam73bgt]

Had a lovely welcome home from holiday as someone took a disliking to my door..



So finding a replacement in the same colour can go on the jobs list once I've got the Crossfire reassembled 🙃

[skinnylew]

Same old same old here, still stuck in Queen Elizabeth Hospital despite a place in Orpington rehab waiting for me (sickness and other issues to solve first apparently.)

But more annoyingly I found out RADWood is only down the road at Chatham Dockyard this weekend which is massively frustrating as I could probably cope with a short trip (wishful thinking tbh)

Looking like the fleet will be culled some what when the chance/health improves and might treat myself to something old depending on the driving status! Maybe a Midget, Spitfire, MGB or something similar but car stuff is a distant dream currently 😂

[mrbounce]

Got a completely full week so won't actually be able to do much car-wise - in fact the only free night is Tuesday. I haven't been this busy for years!

[misteralz]

September now? I've gone in three ways on a unit for a year. Time will tell whether or not this was a good idea.

[slackerTHEpinstriper]

Accelerate show on Sunday at Farmer Copleys in Pontefract.
Going to be on the Ceen Auto stand, first show I've done for a long time with a vehicle.

[misteralz]

Sept 3, 2024 6:53:49 GMT misteralz said:

September now? I've gone in three ways on a unit for a year. Time will tell whether or not this was a good idea.

Probably going to be worth it for the stories alone.

[slackerTHEpinstriper]

Oh yeah, also finishing touches on a 3 way collab too!!

[ratchart]

Ooh that looks interesting, you'll have to show us more when it's complete.

[slackerTHEpinstriper]

Sept 4, 2024 8:07:04 GMT ratchart said:

Ooh that looks interesting, you'll have to show us more when it's complete.

Iyll WhatsApp you 😎

[akku]

Still finding myself too busy to make much progress on things. I have decided to move one of my "stuck" projects out to someone who will actually maybe do the work, so theres some transport to arrange and so on.

Basically I've been trying to get forward drive back into this 1977 Mercury and its not been a simple job. So I bought a replacement transmission for it off Marketplace cheap, but now its not going to get fitted, and I need to move the car from where it is.




The Sovereign is back from whatever it was I sent it out for - prop donut and weird idle I think. Has come back driving much nicer, very nice in fact, but the weird idle is now a different type of weird idle rather than "fixed". I suspect this car will be a round robin of this sort of nonsence.










The Austin Sherborne has a coolant issue and the bypass hose i need to fit has proved annoyingly tricky to get in, so it isn't - now awaiting time for me to drop the water pump off to do it properly

[stealthstylz]

Not done anything interesting for myself for a fortnight or so. Got a load of boring jobs ticked off on the dailies, then the exhaust fell off the Jazz on the M18 so I've put a new one on today. Hopefully that will out last the car as when I was fitting the new one I caught the underseal in a couple of spots and it was a lot crispy underneath so probably be a MOT fail within the next year or two. I've added a small pic dump of some of the old tat I've been faffing with at work. Not all of it because it's none stop at the moment.

[misteralz]

2006 doesn't feel like 'retro', but at eighteen years old my daily can legally drink in pubs. Broke a pigtail off a rear coil this morning. Fortunately I always replace springs in pairs, so I had one 'poor spare'. Had it replaced in a spare quarter hour this afternoon.

[vulgalour]

Somehow squeezed 43mpg out of the Princess. I've got an intermittently squeaky brake (it's getting better with use) and an intermittently sticky starter motor to contend with at the moment, which is annoying. On the plus side, the extra use seems to have reduced the amount of oil it's drinking/dribbling.

Trying to wind up the enthusiasm to get back under it to do some minor welding on the driver's side, fortunately it's raining so I don't have to wind up too much until that stops.

[vulgalour]

Sept 2, 2024 17:09:10 GMT adam73bgt said:

Had a lovely welcome home from holiday as someone took a disliking to my door..



So finding a replacement in the same colour can go on the jobs list once I've got the Crossfire reassembled 🙃

That's rubbish, looks like it was super clean before it got bumped.

[adam73bgt]

Sept 5, 2024 15:30:53 GMT vulgalour said:

Sept 2, 2024 17:09:10 GMT adam73bgt said:

Had a lovely welcome home from holiday as someone took a disliking to my door..



So finding a replacement in the same colour can go on the jobs list once I've got the Crossfire reassembled 🙃

That's rubbish, looks like it was super clean before it got bumped.

Yeah it's annoying really as while it's not perfect it's had one owner for about 20 years before me, full service history, hardly any rust, just the usual car park dings and things really.

[ChasR]

It's actually been a bit of a car week for me.

I have been provided a bluetooth module to try. If it doesn't work, it will be an item for KFW to see if that fixes it.

Besides that.

-I am actually getting stuck into the work of the SL500. I found out why the roof doesn't work. Basically the PSE pump (vacuum/pressure pump) for the central locking does not work. My x124s had these and never had one die, but I am told by a friend of mine that they do occasionally die, and on 124s, he's had to replace 6 or 7 in his time. The 124s with rare options like the orthopedic seats for example, have slightly different pumps to take into consideration.

I rang around for refurb prices, and I was told it would be around £260, albeit the refurb places weren't aware of the part number. None of them would guarantee the pump would work again.

I then found someone who does R230 pumps. He asked things in a manner, where he was using process elimination, so as to establish the condition of the PSE pump, and I could sense the logic from what I've read elsewhere, and what I also deduced (i.e front doors using both vacuum and solenoids to open them, since my car also has the keyless entry option. The TLDR is, my pump is shot, and it's going to be between £270-650 to get it fixed. While I know some are saying to chance BBA reman, I'm tempted to go with someone who knows what he is on about.

To put things into perspective, a used PSE pump is between £550-800, and new one is now £1.3k from Mercedes.

Alot cheaper than a new pump from Mercedes, but still a bit of dough. I suppose it being a £70k car in 2002 with a folding roof doesn't help matters.

So I think we know what is going to happen with the roof of that.

I also did a couple of car events too. Dub Club on Wednesdays, as well as the Atherstone classic car show, where I met a few non-car friends.