What’s on my mind?
Here we are then!
All looks good. Some rot on the rear doors, and very little on the rear arches. Had a qtick drive around the block around and all seems well. We’ve even polished the headlamps.
There is a smell of diesel, which I reckon is the pump. It’s not dropping any though. Exhaust has a hole in it. Hopefully that can be welded up.
We’re hoping to make it to an earlier MOT so more news later.
The drone of a tired wheel bearing was overcome by polite conversation as we headed out of Wales and into England.
Traffic levels were relatively light, until we left the motorway and headed towards Filton.
This classy Jaguar XJ 40 was about as good as spots got, as we crawled our way through the busy streets of Filton.
Then, just before we reached my stopover, the mother of all spots. Who doesn’t love a decrepit Volkswagen LT?
I’m now out for food – Grounded on the Gloucester Road is very pleasant. Many thanks to Jasper for giving me a lift. He is playing with Songdog on the other side of Bristol tonight. If folk noir is your thing, head to The Thunderbolt tonight.
I’ll be retiring to my AirBNB with Rebus to keep me company tonight. It’s Tooth and Nail, where Rebus will head to London and and feel totally out of his depth. Wondering around the hectic streets of Filton this evening, I know how he feels…
We are now on our way to Bristol! I was expecting a Mitsubishi Delica, but it seems that a Volkswagen Golf Mk3 is the taxi. You’ll be pleased to know that it desperately needs a service, and has a tired wheel bearing. Or two.
But, we are already in Powys as we head to Bristol. This Crazy Car Collection Caper is on!
So, it looks like we could be in for another scrappage scheme, according to The Telegraph. Ministers are desperately trying to reduce pollution in key areas, many of which are in London – home of Heathrow Airport…
Diesels were our friends. Not now apparently.
Diesel owners are being blamed for the current woes, which is pretty seriously unfair. The government has been pushing diesels for some time now – cheaper fuel duty and kinder vehicle tax rates. These rates are based on carbon emissions, but it turns out, those aren’t the main problem at all. Now, thousands of motorists are finding that far from having an environmentally friendly car, they in fact have the new evil. Nitrous oxides are the issue, and as manufacturers chased ever lower carbon emissions, it seems they’ve actually made the Nitrous Oxide problem even worse. This has lead to Westminster council hitting diesel owners with a 50% surcharge when it comes to parking permits. People thought they were doing the right thing, and are now being clobbered. Not fair.
The rather panicky solution appears to be to offer another scrappage scheme, encouraging diesel owners to trade in their ‘dirty’ diesels for low emission vehicles. Petrol is cleaner, petrol-hybrids potentially even more so in a city environment, while electric vehicles are best of all – they take the emission issue right out of the city.
Mind you, while buses, trucks and even aeroplanes are still a MASSIVE part of daily life in cities, it seems rather like trying to deflect the grim reaper with a plastic straw. I have a rather well-documented hatred of scrappage schemes too. If the car gets reused afterwards, ie sold elsewhere, then that’s fine. Sure, take them out of the city. We’ll have them in the countryside. It’s fine. If it’s actually a scheme where cars are traded in to actually be scrapped (like the last one), then it’s just utter, utter stupidity. It’s like throwing away your saucepans every time you make a meal. Yes, you save on the emissions generated by creating hot water with which to wash them, but that completely ignores the emissions that come from making and delivering a new saucepan.
I hope we don’t see any incentives at all to be honest. If I lived in or near a city, I’d have an electric car in a heartbeat. What the government should focus on is charge points for these cars, especially for those who lack driveway facilities. Or here’s a thing. If cars are the problem, ban the things entirely! People still need to move around though, so you’re going to have to do something about public transport. A greener Internal Combustion Engine car is still producing emissions after all. It’s not like it’s pumping oxygen and kittens from its exhaust.
Just hitting motorists over the head with new charges, or funding the deliberate scrapping of vehicles that work perfectly well are not the way to improve things. Mind you, I ranted about how stupid scrappage schemes are the last time, and the government still went ahead and did it. Kia and Hyundai were particularly pleased by that one. Rumour has it that there are still cars parked up from that scheme. What a shocking waste.
PS – naturally, given diesel is fast going out of fashion, I’m about to acquire another one. Go me!
I was going to try and hide the identity of my new car from you, but leaks have started to appear in my attempted secrecy. So, here you are. My first Vauxhall!
Yup, I’ve acquired me a Vauxhall. Almost.
That picture represents all I’d seen of the car when I agreed to have it. I knew it had been off the road since the summer of 2015, parked up with a minor fuel leak. It’s a 1997 Vauxhall Omega Elite TD auto estate, so pretty darned high-spec. Not my usual thing at all. In fact, I’ve never owned any Vauxhall, perhaps hoping that I might one day begin that adventure with a Senator. I love Senators.
By 1997, this was the Senator equivalent. The Omega replaced the Carlton (I like those too) and Vauxhall attempted to overcome the horrors of the Carlton diesel by borrowing BMW’s M51 six-cylinder turbo – the same engine that was also used in the Range Rover P38, several BMWs (badged tds) and, oddly, the UMM Alter (though possibly not in the UK). It’s an old-school, indirect injection diesel, with two valves per cylinder. That’s sounding much more like my cup of tea. Because Vauxhall’s automatic transmission is not very robust, the engine is detuned in this application, to 130bhp (from BMW’s 180). Mind you, they detuned it for the Range Rover too, so maybe BMW just kept the power for itself…
More photos have since surfaced of the car. Disappointingly in some ways, it has been cleaned.
Poshness!
Mind you, to be fair, the owner has also ensured it runs and drives after its lay up, which leaves me feeling at least slightly comfortable about Friday.
The story so far is that I’m heading to Bristol with a friend on Thursday. I’m staying with a complete stranger that night, courtesy of AirBNB. Then, the owner is picking me up on Friday, while a chap I bought a car from five years ago will be joining us in Bath. We’ll do the paperwork, check the car over, fix a few small things (sidelight bulb out, check how bad a reported diesel leak is) and hopefully take the car for MOT at 2:30pm. If it’s a pass, then I shall drive home triumphant. If it’s a fail, then I don’t really have any back up plan at the moment. Too many variables. We could find ourselves carrying out minor repairs, or it could be something major that scuppers the caper. I’m not going to bother worrying about it. The ultimate fallback is to catch a train home.
It certainly promises to be exciting, and I’ll do my best to Live Report along the way – apart from when I’m driving, obviously. If it all goes quiet, well, hopefully that means I’m driving it home. Naturally, a video will be forthcoming. Already, excitement levels are rather high.
One out, one incoming, one unexciting roadtrip
Hello. This is the HubNut News, brought to you on 2CV Day (06/02 – 2CV engine size).
In Honda news, the S-MX has carried out a long journey, for the first time in a very long time. I’m not sure it has left Wales since October. A gaggle of press cars, other fleet members and a Christmas spent at home mean it’s been sitting around a lot of late. Something I’m reminded of when I go to drive it somewhere and the brakes go BANG as the rust breaks free. That open, three-spoked alloy wheel style is perhaps not a good thing.
Nor was it good to discover barely any oil in the engine on the morning of departure. Oops. A substantial amount was added. These engines can and do burn a bit of oil, but I will keep a closer eye on it. Sorry.
Our destination was York, where we attended a wedding, met some lovely Canadians and, just in case the weekend wasn’t busy enough, we went to the National Rail Museum with our nephew and niece (and family). It was worth travelling all that way just to hear my four-year old nephew say “This is the perfect place for me!” He really is quite fond of trains.
York is nice. You should go there. Probably not by car to be honest. Ignore the yellow lines…
I’m sure you’re allowed to stop on double yellow lines if it’s for artistic reasons. Whether most people consider a filthy, boxy Honda worthy of art is an argument I’m not prepared to start.
I digress. The trip was very nearly without fault, other than the usual somewhat iffy gearchanges (usually downshifts – it revs up a bit as the changes aren’t quick enough), the clunking bushes on the rear suspension and the offside headlamp, which did its usual trick of not earthing sufficiently. I will definitely* do something about all of these things at some point. Maybe.
The headlines for the journey are just over 400 miles, at 33mpg. I’ll take that.
In ZX news, well, it’s gone. Today. Didn’t have time for much ceremony, as I’ve spent pretty much the whole day proofing pages for the next issue of Classic Jaguar magazine. It’s press day tomorrow. That typically doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for anything else.
The ZX was everything I expected. It rode superbly well. It handled very nicely. The interior plastics creaked in that way only French interiors can. It was remarkably good on fuel (55mpg). It was also horrendously dull, had one of those stupid, useless single wipers and the speedometer would often only work if you smacked the dash top. I don’t think I’ll miss it.
The ZX. It came. It went. The End.
Which leaves space on my driveway. Of course, I already have plans. Well, things have developed a bit since then. You see, my local buddy Jasper is a rather good fiddle player, and one of the outfits he doth fiddle for is Songdog. They have a gig in Bristol on Thursday night. My new car is in Bath, and is to be collected on Friday. Well, as I don’t have to buy a train journey (nor suffer another three hours of misery aboard an Arriva Trains Wales thundering Class 158 – the train equivalent of stumbling into a Black Sabbath gig when you were expecting Sade), I think I’d rather accept a lift from a friend and spend the money on a no-doubt dubious B&B instead.
That means I can arrive at the car nice and early on Friday. I know it needs a sidelight bulb replacing for the MOT, but I don’t know a fat lot else yet, despite most excellent comms from the vendor. He’s even offered to send me a video if it running, but I want to save that pleasure until I’m there, feeding the clatter of its six-cylinder engine into my ears and the mic of my phone for your future enjoyment.
The story takes an interest twist, because the chap I bought a Nissan Bluebird from about five years ago has offered assistance with The Caper, and has booked my new car into a garage for MOT at half past two on Friday. That’s back up in Bristol, so the short drive there should give me a chance to ensure the brakes are nice and clean. I know some of you know what it is, but I’d ask that we don’t divulge further clues until the day itself. I think a lot of people will be surprised. I hope I’m not one of them, as it all goes horribly wrong, the MOT man dons a black cloth upon his head and I’m faced with the horrors of a train home after all. Oh, the anticipation is so utterly, utterly fantastic!
Until then, I’ve got a magazine to get to the printers, a lunch appointment with some of my favourite elderly folk, and then a morning of taking some different favourite elderly folk into town on the community minibus.
And, finally, I’m sorry to report that the 2CV is yet to turn a wheel in February 2017. I must do something about that. How remiss of me not to get the 2CV out on 2CV day!
I’m not yet revealing what my new steed is, but am giving some very serious thought to how to collect it.
What I know about it is that the MOT ran out in the summer of 2015. It was parked up due to a fuel leak. Being a diesel, this isn’t a good thing. It is not known where this leak is, but it’s safe to assume that it is not going to pass an MOT like that.
My options are as follows:
I’m finding it difficult to know whether to go for option 2 or option 4. A forum friend has offered assistance with either possibility, which makes it seem vaguely possible. In other words, he has tools and knowledge of local businesses. Given that the car is a complete unknown, I do wonder whether it’s sensible to go and see it, assess it and investigate this leak problem. That’s the big question really. If it’s a simple pipe or rubber connector, then solving it should be pretty simple. If the pump needs stripping and a load of seals replacing, then that’s rather more involved. I’m minded to err on the side of caution with this one.
Most Beavertails can’t actually legally carry many modern cars. Low payloads!
I’ve still got a week to think about it though, so let’s see what happens!
Exciting times here at HubNut, as the first collection caper of the year has been scheduled! Yes, I’ve managed to go very nearly two months without buying a car.
The ZX hasn’t done a fat lot wrong really, apart from throwing a wheel bearing on the drive home and needing the auxiliary belt tensioner replacing. But, as I suspected when I won the thing, it hasn’t taken me long to grow bored with its hideous efficiency – 55mpg really isn’t bad going for an ‘old’ diesel.
Before I identified the new car (more details on that later, I’m not ruining the surprise just yet!), I’d already ordered up fresh oil and filters for the ZX, as I had a feeling it was due a service. I’m planning to use the ZX to drive to wedding this weekend, so I thought it made sense to ensure it was in fine health. I’ve been experiencing fuel starvation, so I suspected that the fuel filter was far from healthy. I wasn’t wrong…
Yuck! Definitely needs a change.
I can’t really say the air filter was much better. Guess which is the old one!
Mucky!
The oil filter was also changed. The old one had specs of rust on it, so that may have been a little overdue too. The oil itself was black, but that’s expected with a diesel engine anyway. It does rather highlight their sooty nature…
Luckily, for this performance machine, I had appropriate oil.
Yeah baby. Performance oil! It’ll be 20mph faster now.
With a new oil filter in place, and fresh oil, it remained only for me to forget to prime the fuel system and wonder why it wouldn’t start. With priming achieved, it fired up and runs very nicely.
Mini-service complete!
By the way, how handy is my driveway? It slopes downhill, so if I put a car on ramps, it is actually pretty much level, but with excellent access to the underside. Lovely!
Anyway, a test drive was conducted, and the fuel starvation seems to have gone away. Which is nice. I’ve also booked it in for an MOT on Thursday, though as I type, someone has just agreed to buy it! I may have to cancel that. Perhaps I’ll try and do a better job of washing it instead…
Oh well. Might be using the Honda at the weekend then! It’s well overdue a long trip away.
Getting a car back on the road can be a problem. Motivation can go out of the window, because now, you can go for a drive! Who cares if the interior isn’t finished and that the rear wings are different colours to the fronts? However, I’d like to fit some sound-proofing, and have a good baseline established before I do so. That means getting the interior at least back to factory settings. A horrible weather forecast meant spending some time in the garage would be no bad thing.
I bought a set of trims from a friend, ‘Old Goat,’ though they didn’t seem to fit very well at the first trial. I suspect this had more to do with me not really being the right mood to fit them. So, I roped in some very professional assistance from Rachel. She has already proved her worth with ‘patience’ tasks, such as fitting the rear side windows, so maybe her careful influence is what I needed.
The first piece of trim went in.
First piece goes in. We’ve used PVA glue.
If nothing else, this was going to tidy up the look of the interior no end. At last, the wiring loom would be buried. That does make fitting the trim this side a right faff though. The loom is quite lumpy. Not horrendous to do though. Apparently. I mostly held the pot of glue…
On to the other side.
Applying PVA glue to the body side. Note welds.
Here, you can clearly see the weld line that joins old metal (top) with the new (lower). We’re buying the tell-tale here. Naturally, there is no clue on the exterior surface. There’s no point dressing this joint back too far, as it’ll be out of sight. I quite like to have it there as a reminder.
This side was easier, as there’s no wiring loom to contend with. These trims were made up of three pieces, which meant not hassle of trying to cut around the rear window. They fit around it naturally, though I’ll need to tidy up the exposed metalwork.
Voila! The trim is fitted.
Next, I need to fit the rear door trims (a few seconds’ work) and the rear seat (now I have the correct fixings). Then, when the weather allows, I’ll shoot a fresh video to capture the sound levels. I’m hoping to arrange for some sound proofing to be delivered fairly soon, so I can then fit it and see what it does to the noise levels. A 2CV will never be silent – the aerodynamics are too woeful – but she can certainly be a lot quieter than she is. Stay tuned for more on that front!
Owning the Honda S-MX has been an interesting experience. It’s my first example of a grey import, or a car that was sold new in Japan and had a life there, before a long trip at sea to begin a new life in the UK. If you like stuff that’s different, grey imports usually appeal.
From time to time, I find myself perusing the Japanese auction sites. I’m quite fond of the Daihatsu Tanto for instance, which is like my Honda, but squeezed down to the kei car regulations – in other words, not much longer than a Mini, with a 660cc engine. I could buy a 2004 Tanto for $2340, rising to $3470 delivered to Bristol docks. That’s £2764 for something tiny, interesting and oh so very different. Tempting!
Fabulous! The tiny Daihatsu Tanto.
The same importer has a Daihatsu Naked for sale, which is presumably Mira based as it also has a tiny 660cc engine.
Daihatsu Naked, courtesy of Autorec in Japan.
The Naked, as well as having a very silly name, could be mine, delivered to Bristol docks for just £1514. That is seriously tempting.
For sure, there are more costs. A speedometer conversion is needed, so it reads in MPH, but an electronic unit can be fitted to do this – as it has been on my Honda. Then there’s the registration fee and probably £500 (roughly 33% of the shipping and car cost) of import duty.
I’m not sure either of the above tickle me quite enough to consider splurging such a sum of cash. However, there is one vehicle that really could tick the boxes if I could find one for sale. Ladies and gentleman, let me introduce the Daihatsu Mira Walk Through Van!
Wowzers! What a win wagon!
Incredibly, that livery is an in-house design. This is an original Daihatsu promo shot. Perhaps this is one use they envisaged for this crazy little parcel wagon. It’s a bit like fitting a Luton body to a Mini. In fact, there were some Japanese companies that fitted Mini bodywork to these vans! There is just one seat, and many were just 550cc – with an automatic transmission! I absolutely adore them and I hope I can’t find one for sale. For my own sake.
HubNut - celebrating the average! 