Driving standards

[PhilJ W]

5 hours ago, fulton said:

. Just watched a clip on the BBC, New York state, heavy snow, car overtaking a lorry, hits snowplough going the other way.

 

[Sidecar Racer]

On 20/01/2024 at 12:45, fulton said:

Not all old cars were easy to work on, I remember in order to remove the starter motor from my MK2 Jaguar, the drivers seat had to come out, to gain access to a panel on the transmission tunnel, then to get it out of the engine bay the carbs also had to come off. Just watched a clip on the BBC, New York state, heavy snow, car overtaking a lorry, hits snowplough going the other way.

 

 Try a rear brake pad change on a Jag XJ 6 .

Edited January 21 by Sidecar Racer

[MrWolf]

48 minutes ago, Sidecar Racer said:

 

 Try a rear brake pad change on a Jag XJ 6 .

 

Much easier to wait until the rear subframe falls off, greatly improving access.

 

We knew that it was the beginning of the "Take me to your dealer" era when we started to get things like the Opel Kadett / Vauxhall Chevette where in order to remove the starter motor, you had to detach the exhaust header pipes from the manifold and then remove the left hand engine mounting in order to remove the starter motor that in itself was a two minute operation to remove.

 

Things have been going downhill ever since!🤣

[figworthy]

5 hours ago, MrWolf said:

We knew that it was the beginning of the "Take me to your dealer" era when we started to get things like the Opel Kadett / Vauxhall Chevette where in order to remove the starter motor, you had to detach the exhaust header pipes from the manifold and then remove the left hand engine mounting in order to remove the starter motor that in itself was a two minute operation to remove.

 

Things have been going downhill ever since!🤣

 

I never worked out what the problem was, but with my old Land Rover, periodically the starter motor would fail.  It would start the engine, but the solenoid didn't turn the motor off (it was a pre-engaged starter).  The only solution was to disconnect the battery, then remove the starter motor.  I eventually worked out that rather than taking off the manifolds, I could do it by removing the dipstick tube, and lowering the motor.  On a good day, it only took an hour to swap starter motors over.   Nice job on a wet winters evening.

 

Adrian

[MrWolf]

The usual problem with a sticky pre-engaged starter was a chewed up ring gear, often caused by a motor that was loose, or badly fitted. I've seen one on a Toyota recently that had a bent shaft after a clutch change because it hadn't been tightened up properly.

Not a pleasant job changing the ring gear on a Land Rover, (Or a FWD Toyota!) the Toyota we got away with by poking a small file through the starter aperture and fettling the damaged teeth, otherwise an engine out job.

 

Some modern era cars had been designed with maintenance in mind. The front drive Cavalier II/III and Astra I/II could have their clutches changed without splitting the engine and box. The AA used to carry clutches in their vans and could change them at the side of the road in twenty minutes.

 

Can't imagine trying to do that now, even on an A road, let alone an (allegedly) smart motorway. 🤣 

[Enterprisingwestern]

9 hours ago, MrWolf said:

The usual problem with a sticky pre-engaged starter was a chewed up ring gear, often caused by a motor that was loose, or badly fitted. I've seen one on a Toyota recently that had a bent shaft after a clutch change because it hadn't been tightened up properly.

Not a pleasant job changing the ring gear on a Land Rover, (Or a FWD Toyota!) the Toyota we got away with by poking a small file through the starter aperture and fettling the damaged teeth, otherwise an engine out job.

 

Some modern era cars had been designed with maintenance in mind. The front drive Cavalier II/III and Astra I/II could have their clutches changed without splitting the engine and box. The AA used to carry clutches in their vans and could change them at the side of the road in twenty minutes.

 

Can't imagine trying to do that now, even on an A road, let alone an (allegedly) smart motorway. 🤣 

 

Was it the Triumph Herald that could have the clutch changed from the comfort of the interior of the car?

 

Mike.

[Sidecar Racer]

3 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Was it the Triumph Herald that could have the clutch changed from the comfort of the interior of the car?

 

Mike.

 

 It wasn't exactly comfortable , remove front carpet to remove the gearbox cover , then

pull gearbox back into the car far enough to access the clutch parts while laying over the door sill

between the seat and dashboard .

 

 This is the working area . Not really my idea of comfort .

 

 

[MrWolf]

58 minutes ago, Sidecar Racer said:

 

 It wasn't exactly comfortable , remove front carpet to remove the gearbox cover , then

pull gearbox back into the car far enough to access the clutch parts while laying over the door sill

between the seat and dashboard .

 

 This is the working area . Not really my idea of comfort .

 

 

 

The Haynes manuals probably missed the important bit about taking the four bolts out and removing the passenger seat. Even easier with both seats out. 

 

Not the most fun of jobs, but much better than crawling around under what is a very low car getting showered with muck with the 75lb gearbox balanced on your ribs trying to wriggle the input shaft back into the clutch splines..

[Sidecar Racer]

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Not the most fun of jobs, but much better than crawling around under what is a very low car getting showered with muck with the 75lb gearbox balanced on your ribs trying to wriggle the input shaft back into the clutch splines..

 But the gearbox will not drop out from underneath , it sits over the top of the chassis rails

hence removing from inside the car . The only alternative is the engine out way , more time

consuming .

 

[MrWolf]

Yes, the mechanical bits are dropped in before the body is fitted. I've done a few Heralds and Spitfires over the years.

Most other cars of the era you have to crawl about underneath to remove the gearbox, which is slightly less of a PITA than doing something FWD where it's easier to drop the whole engine and box out from underneath. The only really hateful job on a Triumph with a chassis is removing the differential, but still not as bad as the setup on 70s jaguars.

[Sidecar Racer]

55 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Yes, the mechanical bits are dropped in before the body is fitted. I've done a few Heralds and Spitfires over the years.

Most other cars of the era you have to crawl about underneath to remove the gearbox, which is slightly less of a PITA than doing something FWD where it's easier to drop the whole engine and box out from underneath. The only really hateful job on a Triumph with a chassis is removing the differential, but still not as bad as the setup on 70s jaguars.

 Sorry , my bad , I read other your post as still being a herald and not any others .

[MrWolf]

2 hours ago, Sidecar Racer said:

 Sorry , my bad , I read other your post as still being a herald and not any others .

 

No worries, I have a nasty habit of trying (and failing) to keep my responses concise and end up jumping to the next thing I have in mind.

 

[MrWolf]

Back on the subject of driving standards, I had an interesting experience on the way home tonight around 10:30.

 

Coming home from a quiz night I was following a car out of the village which was trundling along just under 30mph, all fine so far, until we came to the 50mph section, clearly signposted and with repeaters. The car in front didn't speed up and there wasn't room to pass as traffic built up behind.

Over a small roundabout and onto the bypass, a very wide single carriageway where the national limit applies. Still the car in front was doing about 28mph and hogging the white line.

The road ahead being completely empty in both directions, I overtook the slowcoach and wound up to sixty, as did the three cars behind me.

The driver of the slow car seemed oblivious to all of this.

It was then I spotted the next car pull out and begin overtaking everyone, despite the fact that we were driving at or just over the limit. They were driving a tiny white Ford with a go faster stripe which barely seemed to have enough power to get past and the two occupants were staring across at us like they'd seen a flying saucer.

They indicated and pulled across with a bit of a wobble and of course slowed down.

 

I think that driver one was probably drunk and driver two had little idea of their or their car's limitations.

 

That's the polite verdict BTW.

 

 

[big jim]

Proper pi$$ed off 

 

juts been out to take the lad to youth club in winsford and caught the edge of the wheel in a pothole on one of those separated roundabouts where it’s wider for HGVs to turn 

 

 

 

ripped a hole in the sidewall of the Skoda wheel 

 

sat waiting for green flag as when I went into the boot of the car the wheel brace was missing so j couldn’t swap it myself, at least the wait time has given me time to go and get some pics and put a claim in with the council! 

[Hroth]

I see it's given the rim a good chewing too

 

 

See if you can get the cost of a new wheel too.

[big jim]

35 minutes ago, Hroth said:

I see it's given the rim a good chewing too

 

 

See if you can get the cost of a new wheel too.

I’ll have a proper look tomorrow when the tyre is off to see how bad it is

 

on the plus side the youth club was organised by the local community police and they had prize bingo and gethin won the main prize, an Xbox series S! 
 

 

[PhilJ W]

This is absolutely horrific.

 

[PhilJ W]

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

This is absolutely horrific.

 

The incident took place in May 2015. The six year old, Ally Rednour was dragged for 1,000 feet and suffered 12% abrasions to her legs and lower body. She required several skin graft operations over several years. The bus driver was sacked. The rules state that school bus drivers should make sure that all children are more than ten feet away from the bus before they pull away.

[Guest]

Where's Wally?

 

 

[PaulCheffus]

On 26/01/2024 at 19:22, big jim said:

Proper pi$$ed off 

 

juts been out to take the lad to youth club in winsford and caught the edge of the wheel in a pothole on one of those separated roundabouts where it’s wider for HGVs to turn 

 

 

 

ripped a hole in the sidewall of the Skoda wheel 

 

sat waiting for green flag as when I went into the boot of the car the wheel brace was missing so j couldn’t swap it myself, at least the wait time has given me time to go and get some pics and put a claim in with the council! 

Hi

 

Know the feeling well. I did something similar at the beginning of November and I’d only had the car five months.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[Deeps]

1 hour ago, PaulCheffus said:

….. and I’d only had the car five months.

Five months! We’d had a car five days before the side wall of the front nearside tyre blew out. This was due to it being skewered by a piece of wood resulting from the council trimming the adjacent hedge. I applaud roadside maintenance but I wish they could remove the arisings afterwards. And don’t get me started on pot holes and sunken drain covers.

[big jim]

I’m sick of the school over the road, deliveries are still going on on the zig zags and today a refuse wagon went into the yard to collect the bins only to be yelled at by the caretaker and ordered to leave and unload on the zig zags as ‘we’ve got parents arriving to pick up the children’ the wagon driver was actually quite angry about it as she came out screaming at him to move and he thought he’d ran someone over, my wife heard her from inside the house too!

 

they really don’t give a flying fig about anyone outside of the school, they are actively encouraging law breaking and despite highlighting it to the headmaster he hasn’t replied to my emails 

 

I’ve reported it to the police, council planning department as I think that they are once again in breach of planning regs and I’ve raised it to a proper official complaint with the school so they’ve got to respond, I’ve asked the head how he can possibly justify what’s he’s allowing to happen! 
 

 

 

[johnofwessex]

3 hours ago, big jim said:

I’m sick of the school over the road, deliveries are still going on on the zig zags and today a refuse wagon went into the yard to collect the bins only to be yelled at by the caretaker and ordered to leave and unload on the zig zags as ‘we’ve got parents arriving to pick up the children’ the wagon driver was actually quite angry about it as she came out screaming at him to move and he thought he’d ran someone over, my wife heard her from inside the house too!

 

they really don’t give a flying fig about anyone outside of the school, they are actively encouraging law breaking and despite highlighting it to the headmaster he hasn’t replied to my emails 

 

I’ve reported it to the police, council planning department as I think that they are once again in breach of planning regs and I’ve raised it to a proper official complaint with the school so they’ve got to respond, I’ve asked the head how he can possibly justify what’s he’s allowing to happen! 
 

 

 

 

The Driver was quite right to be upset 

 

Yu do have a Right of Review for Anti Social Behaviour issues

 

https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/report/asb-case-review/

 

 

[big jim]

36 minutes ago, johnofwessex said:

 

The Driver was quite right to be upset 

 

Yu do have a Right of Review for Anti Social Behaviour issues

 

https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/report/asb-case-review/

 

 

now that’s interesting! 
 

Another avenue to go down 

[Pete the Elaner]

I really don't understand some drivers.

 

I have just driven home from the club, along the A421 between the A1 & M1. For those unfamiliar, it is 70mph dual carriageway & I was in my car, so 70 was the limit for me.

I was in the overtaking lane & accelerated to 70 but had to back off because the car in front was doing just over 60. A car pulled up on my left because he did not want to pass on the left, so I tried to stay slightly in front but not closer than about 2 seconds behind the car in front of me.

The car in front was a little slower than those in front of them, but backed their speed off to around 56 & matched their speed with a lorry in the left lane, remaining in their blind spot. They even dabbed their brakes a couple of times to stay there & maintained this position (yes, in the blind spot) for a minute or 2. I was not sure if they were trying to brake check me, even though I was still a couple of seconds back. I began to wonder if there was a car in front of them which I could not see, but it was clear.

Eventually they got past the lorry & pulled over.

I see many on dual carriageways/motorways who are completely oblivious to others' blind spots. Lorry drivers are usually pretty good, but not invulnerable to mistakes, so I try not to leave myself vulnerable.