For those interested in "Modern Classic" Cars

[Chris M]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

At least the Mini is actually made here, well most of it anyway 

And it was designed here in the UK albeit with BMW influence.

[stewartingram]

10 hours ago, Nick C said:

A somewhat false tagline as it stopped being British in 1925 (when bought out by GM). Still assembled here though...

I thought Vauxhall cars stopped being made in the UK some time back, only vans being made here. Was it Spain that built the cars?

[russ p]

1 hour ago, Chris M said:

And it was designed here in the UK albeit with BMW influence.

 

So was the 75/ZT  sadly when I get faults with my ZT which isn't that often it tends to be BMW sourced parts

 

I gave it a deep clean , polish, wax and sealer today with products from the car chem range 

 

[brianusa]

Thanks for the reminder.  Our cars have to go through the car wash soon as its our 50th wedding anniversary and thats our mutual present.

[Nick C]

13 hours ago, stewartingram said:

I thought Vauxhall cars stopped being made in the UK some time back, only vans being made here. Was it Spain that built the cars?

They still make the Astra at Ellesmere Port - I don't know about Luton though, that might just be vans?

[big jim]

16 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Odd one, who is the company?

It’s through Adrien flux but it’s the underwriters who wouldn’t accept it

 

drove the car home yesterday, very happy with it, averaged 63mpg in it

 

its got heated front screen, air con, DAB radio, cruise control, sport mode, 1/2 leather interior, quite a step up from the red car but obviously with 1/2 the horsepower it’s not as nippy acceleration but it’s quiet and smooth on the motorway and that’s what matters

 

 

[Quarryscapes]

On 19/04/2021 at 15:21, big jim said:

Im on my way to pick the new Mini up, insured it earlier but had a strange experience while doing so, as I’ve got a multi at policy with the Cooper S and Touareg both on with all mods declaired I thought I’d add the new one to that (basically replacing the convertible I sold in December) 

 

after a while on hold they came back and said due to the value (£1200) and the fact there were NO modifications on the diesel they couldn’t insure it, they could however do it if it was modified so I got them to quote me with a performance chip fitted which they were happy with so reluctantly (yeah right!) I’m going to have to chip it, got myself a TDI tuning performance chip off eBay cheaply that they can reblow for the Cooper diesel that will take it from 110bhp to 145bhp! 
 

normally having mods causes issues getting insurance, not the other way round! 

 

Let me know how you get on with the chip, that's the same engine as in my Volvos (C30 1.6D and 1.6D DRIVe). I've just discovered my new one is remapped, and yes it does go better than the other one, but it is most definitely not running at  anything like140bhp 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Quarryscapes

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, Quarryscapes said:

 

Let me know how you get on with the chip, that's the same engine as in my Volvos (C30 1.6D and 1.6D DRIVe). I've just discovered my new one is remapped, and yes it does go better than the other one, but it is most definitely not running at  anything like140bhp 

Aha but it is on paper 

[big jim]

Done a bit on the new mini today, I happened to mention to a fellow driver I’d bought a R56 mini and he said he had loads of bit for them in his garage as He had one 5 years ago and took the bits off when he sold it so I ended up buying it all of him 

 

I also got hold of a standard exhaust and bumper so swapped them over too from the peashooter 

 

before.....

 

 

the exhaust was shocking! 

 

 

 

and after.....

 

new bumper, exhaust, rear tail lights, headlights, indicators, driving lights sprint boost button, JCW strut brace 

 

 

 

Waiting on the fog light surrounds drying as I’ve painted them black, also getting a black grille with spotlight brackets ordered and am waiting on a black boot handle as well arriving from eBay, got to send the chip off to be reprogrammed to my car so hopefully get that back by the end of the week too

[boxbrownie]

That was a lucky find......the exhaust, was that it, just the tube? 

 

Must have sounded like a wet fart through mesh undies! 

[big jim]

The exhaust was basically the front flanged bracket, mild steel pipe where the resonator pipe was then bits of the original bent exhaust rewelded into a straight through pipe! 
 

it actually sounded no different to the normal exhaust, certainly no louder anyway, the cat appears to have been fiddled with too, certainly had the bottom cut off at some point and re-welded (badly) so I suspect that’s just a hollow piece now and the innards weighed in at a scrappy! I’ve got the replacement on the shelf to fit between now and MOT time in December

[Quarryscapes]

20 minutes ago, big jim said:

The exhaust was basically the front flanged bracket, mild steel pipe where the resonator pipe was then bits of the original bent exhaust rewelded into a straight through pipe! 
 

it actually sounded no different to the normal exhaust, certainly no louder anyway, the cat appears to have been fiddled with too, certainly had the bottom cut off at some point and re-welded (badly) so I suspect that’s just a hollow piece now and the innards weighed in at a scrappy! I’ve got the replacement on the shelf to fit between now and MOT time in December

 

Will have had to have been mapped out to run without DPF innards, there's a pressure differential sensor in the engine bay somewhere that wil be connected to the exhaust before and after the DPF which will trigger faults if there is no pressure drop.  On Volvo/Ford applications the after pipe starts off as metal then connects to rubber pipe in the engine bay which are all weak spots, don't know how it's been plumbed in that though, not a lot of room in that bay! 

[big jim]

do you think it will have been mapped out by the previous owner going by the state of that exhaust!!

 

i may be wrong the innards mught be in it but its certainly been cut open at some point which is also an MOT failure as its showing signs of being tampered with 
 

the replacement cat/dpf combo ive got has the pipes and rubber connectors coming off it that goes to that sensor, its just a case of getting it booked in to have the cat refitted, dont know how much of a job it is but looking in from the top of the engine its beyond my capabilities on my ramps thats for sure!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2021 by big jim

[Quarryscapes]

DPF could have had a DIY bodge clean to go with the bodge exhaust.   They are consumable on these engines, 72K miles IIRC is the replacement interval. They're not particularly expensive, but most cars this age have long since stopped going by the official maintenance schedule, pretty sure both of mine are on their originals at 90k and 102k. 

 

You will need to have the DPF counter reset, and now would be a good time to top up the EOLYS fluid as well (and the counter reset that inevitably goes with that too, hopefully Mini has a better interface than Volvo for it!) 

[big jim]

My mate has a full access mini code reader that can reset all the counters and sensors so I’ll get him to go that, I may see if he can swap the cat too but he specialises in petrol minis so it would be a first for him I think, I can’t see it’s a difficult job to physically get the cat off as it’s just 2 bolts and flared flanges both ends but it looks a pain to actually get to! 
 

This is what I like to see too, £45 worth of diesel and over 500 mile range!

 

 

Edited April 27, 2021 by big jim

[peanuts]

This was outside one of my deliverys today a very well turned out 900 turbo 

[monkeysarefun]

On 28/04/2021 at 05:46, big jim said:

My mate has a full access mini code reader that can reset all the counters and sensors so I’ll get him to go that, I may see if he can swap the cat too but he specialises in petrol minis so it would be a first for him I think, I can’t see it’s a difficult job to physically get the cat off as it’s just 2 bolts and flared flanges both ends but it looks a pain to actually get to! 
 

This is what I like to see too, £45 worth of diesel and over 500 mile range!

 

 

 

 

I've got a 2006 diesel 2 litre mondeo with 397k on it that still says 1300km til empty when I fill it.  Quite the opposite of the 6 Litre V8 ute with its bigger tank that tells me I'll get 420!

[298]

On 27/04/2021 at 20:46, big jim said:

I can’t see it’s a difficult job to physically get the cat off as it’s just 2 bolts and flared flanges both ends but it looks a pain to actually get to! 

 

Put some Toyota or Honda hybrid badges on it and leave it parked in the street during daytime. The cat will be off it in no time at all...

[Co-tr-Paul]

Not so much a classic car as a classic camper. 14k on fb group  , only 8k  vehicles in UK.

[boxbrownie]

Hundreds of those (not necessarily the same model of course) Japanese milk floats down here, as you probably well know they are extremely popular being slightly narrower than Euro/U.K. efforts, good for the granite edged lanes  

[big jim]

I went to work in the white mini the other night, first time out in the dark with the different headlights fitted, managed about 2 miles then got onto a bit of road without any lighting and couldn’t see 6ft in front of me and there was no visibility to the sides, ended up going home and grabbing some tools to adjust them only to find they made no difference so intookt hen off and reverted back to the standard lights, thing is I like the blacked out look so I decided to dismantle the lights and paint them internally 

 

 

makes a big difference over the standard light 

 

and job done, I’ll good and I can see where I’m going too!

 

just waiting on a black grille and spot light brackets arriving as well as a dechromed lower grille 

 

[boxbrownie]

So do you mean the projector lamps were no good?  Are they original or aftermarket stuff?

Edited May 3, 2021 by boxbrownie
Read post properly

[big jim]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

So do you mean the projector lamps were no good?  Are they original or aftermarket stuff?

they were aftermarket, but seriously shocking to an extent they are dangerous!

 

I bought them off a fellow driver very cheap and I’m going. To put them on eBay later as spares or repairs as I’d be embarrassed to sell them as working headlights, best thing is brand new thay are about £300! 

[boxbrownie]

40 minutes ago, big jim said:

they were aftermarket, but seriously shocking to an extent they are dangerous!

 

I bought them off a fellow driver very cheap and I’m going. To put them on eBay later as spares or repairs as I’d be embarrassed to sell them as working headlights, best thing is brand new thay are about £300! 

OK then, that doesn’t surprise me, even 30 years ago we were getting complaints about lamps (rear) fading after one year and found they were counterfeit from China and the coloured lenses just faded like a dry daisy in the sun.

Some of the so called OE stuff boxed as a such we pursued back to the factories in India and China but back then it was even harder to prosecute.

[monkeysarefun]

A bloke living next door back in the 80's when blacked out headlight were a thing did it the cheap way by actually painting the glass of his headlights black, then scraping it all off the next morning after he'd obviously gone for a test drive. 

Man he was a halfwit, the stupid things he did to that car ( a !974 Datsun 1200 coupe) would fill a book.