Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

It's worse investigating though to just see the condition.

Sounds ace but also terrifying

Oh that is so lovely . One of those done by Alfaholics is my dream car.

New tyres are great, got all the tint off the rear windscreen but the glue won't budge... Almost gassed myself with ammonia, that didn't work... Gonna try orange oil tomorrow...

I could see a little bit in my mirror this morning, it is now cloudy as fuck...

Most photogenic car in N5!

Orange on that all grey street, always looks fantastic.

Anyone have much w203 knowledge?

Got a C220 cdi here which was starting about 1 in 30 clicks of the key. When it does turn over it goes at normal speed. Battery and charging system seem healthy.
Prev garage diagnosed a bad starter and solineoid.
Got a new one, works on the bench fine, but in the car just clicks forever no turning over at all, not one single movement.

At key turn you get three clicks, steering lock relay, starter relay and solenoid clicking pretty healthy.

Still blows it's #52 fuse every so many key turns.

Suspect bad main earth strap but can only find the gearbox one (which is rotten), engine one no where to be found. Any one know? Or other w203 starter issues?

Update. Sorted.
My theory, bad worn starter and mercedes undersized solenoid trigger wire (they blow Fuse 52 all day long even when working properly) has melted some part of the positive main feed (1/2" monster cable) and it has very high resistance. On this car the starter motor gets its positive feed not directly from the battery or distribution terminal but instead via the bottom of the alternator? So there is nearly 2 metres of cable going from battery, to distribution, then to alternator and then back across the engine one last time to the starter, no wonder it broke! The battery to the starter is like 40cm.

So tried all sorts, couldnt' find the break without taking the whole damn car to pieces, so have put on a monster beef cable taken from earth strapping from an industrial control panel, wrapped it in a couple of layers of inner tube then precision threaded it direct from distribution terminal to the starter. That way it least has the big 250 amp main board fuse to protect it incase it goes south. And with the new starter, starts like a boss.

Now just have to fix the rampant black death on cyl 3 (injector is pushed out/bad seal but also not easy to remove, need a big slide hammer on it).

any idea what it is? (dont know much about vintage cars)

The People's Car.

Karmann Ghia.

.

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Lovely. 25 years ago I had a mini sprint / hill climb car built by an ex Special Tuning engineer who built racing and rally minis for BMC in the ‘60s ( he worked on paddy hopkirk cars) and he always had a 6R4 in the workshop as he looked after Tony Ponds cars . At the time I was a “ weekend warrior “ that helped out at an F1 team in Bicester ( Leyton House/ March F1 ) on my days off. Anyway I popped into his workshop one day and he had a black 6R4 trimmed in full leather that he had built for an Sheik so he could go yumping in the dunes . It had about 600 hp and would allegedly do 0 to 100 and back to 0 in about 9 seconds . On gravel. It was evil.

When evil equals cool

I will but first I need to knock on some doors and find out who’s in charge of that seemingly abandoned RX7 I found a couple of months back.

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Seriously cool little cars

Just filled up my oil for the first time ever and obviously, because idiot, didn't use a funnel. Spilled some on the initial pour. Maybe half a cup of tea amount on the engine block. Wiped up what I can see but paranoid about engine fire. Am by a Halfords (shop, not auto centre). Anything I can pick up to put my mind at ease before driving off? I have a 600 mile journey on Wednesday.

I think motor oil combusts at around 400 degrees Fahrenheit so u should be OK. 😎

Good to know : )

Anything I can pick up

A funnel (for next time)?

It'll smoke a little when it warms up and burn it off - won't be an issue.

Apparently anti lag will kill your downpipe before your turbo if you own an STI. Finally ground all the stuck nuts off, managed to slash my palm in the process.

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Spotted?! @Colin_the_Bald

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Some little cuntheads broke into my row of garages. A neighbour scared them off, so they got fuck all.

Now the door is rooted, so I will have to let the local authority know. I am not supposed to be using the car for anything other than parking.

Wouldn't be my first choice of vehicle for tackling snowy Alpine passes. Particularly as its got a very dim-witted auto box.

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Wow.

Got a set!

Thanks - yep, ponged out the car a bit and I was driving with my hand poised to unfasten the seatbelt and dive out of a moving car, but somehow survived. Spent an hour watching it out the window looking for flames when I got back in.