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

Think that is the year that the Prince engine went to PSA. Is it N13 and N18 in the Mini? But wasn't it an engine that was used for 10 years.

N14 and N18 I believe

In my opinion, the EP6 Prince motor is best avoided unless a very thorough service history and records of the updated chain tensioner being installed are available. It's not just that but it has the usual direct injection carbon build up issues, oil feed lines to the turbo blocking, valve cover leaks, high pressure fuel pump issues....

Thought it was the chain and the tensioner that gave the issues, as well as some of the cogs.

This is on the PSA engines, but being assembled in a different factory should mean there are different issue.

Oh, one other random thing is that the design of the windscreen washer reservoir means that over time gunk can build up and block the jets. To remove and clean you need to take a wheel off and remove bodywork from the inside wheel arch.

It's the sort of thing you could diy if you have off-street parking and all the equipment. Not expensive to pay someone to do it though. Anyway point is, if you're buying from a dealer check the jets work properly and you're best off using premix rather than adding london tap water. That said, when I did the maths it was basically equal price over 5hrs to pay a garage to clean the reservoir. So it's not really important.

All in all they're great cars.

If you're in North London, tecnosport are a good indy.

Seems to be common on lots of cars and mixing premixed can cause issues.

Yes I'm cleaning my reservoir, pipes and jets for that reason. Seems to contain something akin to a gelatinous substance. That is very difficult to remove.

One more go at starting the Focus with a freshly charged jump pack and eventually it started, and a bit of driving round the car park has charged the battery.

Phew.
Now to CT it and get it sold as a runner!

Cheers for this! We're up in the North East but there are a couple of local specialists up here. Hoping to get a few cars lined up to look at next weekend.

Bye bye to my freebie ;) How much do you pay for a CT?

Oh where would you buy stainless nuts and bolts, or what is the place called where you buy nuts and bolts in France.

Stripped the bumper off the x type, to open the headlamp to repair the broken plastic adjuster. Most of the bolt were missing, so would like to replace them.

If it works the Focus is worth 2.5 to 3k over here. CT is cheap. Can’t remember but I think it’s less than 30€

The word for stainless hardware you’re looking for is quincaillerie. You can buy by the unit at Bricomarché or similar, but I get stuff from a place called Destock MTX where they sell it by weight. Much cheaper!

Don't you think I have enough car projects in this country ;) Never mind bikes and a house. The interest arose if it met the crit air for Paris.

Asked about the CT as the S is out of MOT and was tempted to stick it through a CT as see if there are any major issues that need looking at. Not sure if the S is worth more in the UK ouside the ULEZ, all the work done and no real history. So thinking selling the engine here and working out how to scrap the vehicle. That would be the most efficient way of dealing with the ca.

Thought that quincaillerie was just hardware, is there a place for fastenings specialist?
The DMX place is quite far from me ;) Not sure of the viabilty for just 10 bolts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyne6c9ysyE

Not found a specific fastenings supplier. Not been looking, mind you.

Actually the CT is 72€ so a bit pricey. If the Jag is on UK plates then I'd send it back to the UK to sell. It'll cost too much to register in France, especially if you can't prove it came over before the end of 2020 and have to pay Duty + VAT as well. You could always sell it to another Brit and make it their problem I suppose.

With my MX5 finally back in action, I'm planning on doing a few trackdays this year to make up for the last few years.

First one is booked for Saturday 26th Feb, at Bedford. It's £143 which is quite decent for a weekend trackday.

Bedford has loads of run off and isn't tricky, so it's a good beginner track if you're interested in trying a trackday for the first time.

I've also booked Anglesey for Monday 23rd May.

If those two go ok with no car problems then I'll probably be booking 3 or 4 more in the 2nd half of the year if anyone is interested in coordinating.

It was a freebie as the hassle of sorting a car out that has been in France for quite a few years and been on sale for a long time with no takers and no scrap dealer wanted it.

Not sure what it is worth in the UK. But from looking the engine is the bit that is worth more than the car to land rover people

Bedford

My last trackday with the Eunos was Bedford. Super satisfying hustling faster cars in the tighter bends then inevitably getting passed on the long straight. Would recommend, especially for the generous run offs.

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Please can I have some garage advice?
Mid December I dropped my car into a garage for an engine diagnostic as I had an engine warning light. £50. Was either the cam sensor or the glow plugs iirc

He couldn't do any more work that day so booked it in for yesterday.

£250 for a new sensor, decided against as the car isn't worth much.

£190 for new glow plugs. I said yes.

Get a call today saying the broken glow plug has snapped and it'll be +£150 on top of the £190 as they need an engineering firm to come out.

There was no warning that this might happen and that work needs doing, as the car won't currently start ..

I could potentially get behind splitting the extra £150 but not sure why I should be paying all of it given the lack of warning

Cheers

There is always a risk of glow plugs breaking when being removed and perhaps they should have warned you of the risk.
Not sure if they will split the cost because the £150 is what the guy is going to charge to come out and remove the snapped one.
Only my opinion

If the car's not worth enough to spend £250 on the sensor I'm assuming it's fairly old and so all the more likely that something like this could happen.

Not sure it supports any argument to be had with the garage over any carelessness or cack handedness on their part, unless they've a history of either?

It's really annoying, but I'd write it off as "just one of those things"

Ok firstly what car and engine is it. Did the garage give you the codes? Was the car starting easily during the cold snap?

Is the garage a diesel specialist? Glow plugs are easy to test in situ as you just test the resistance, do you know if the garage did that? How many plugs have they removed so far and how many have broken? I'd speak to the garage and see what guarantee the engineering firm can get the plug out damage free.

I'd try and find a local diesel specialist and ask for what they would do as they may have better experience in removing broken glow plugs.

https://mynextclassic.net/produkt/1949-volkswagen-brezel-kaefer-typ-11-aus-prominentem-vorbesitz-musiker-der-band-kraftwerk/

My driving instructor (BMW 3 series) joked ‘each one gone good’.

I fucked my cars paintwork today with one of those self wash brush things. I sprayed it (the brush) first to get rid of any grime, but appears whatever was all over my car already was enough to basically destroy the black paint - which was already swirly enough. Now I have random brush marks everywhere.

Machine polisher recommendations please? I'm going to have to take a day off to fix this aren't i...?

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Pay someone. It is easy to cause more damage. Then the cost of a decent machine polisher, head and chemicals.

How much money are you willing to spend?

How much money are you willing to spend?

As much as it takes to get right. What am I talking here? A pro spending a day on it?

Tbh nothing feels deep i.e I can't feel it with a nail, so I presume a machine polish will sort. Then I'll have to just pay a person to wash it for me in future. Perhaps then I can call them my valet.

The crux of this all is; I need to get an outside tap installed. This is why I went to the garage and after taking a verbal bashing from the father in law last time I was there about my use of car washes I then thought the manual wash would save me. Alas...

An elliptical polisher, plus a range of pads, plus a low abrasion compound and finally a decent polish will set you back about £200. I use a Poorboys machine and compound followed by Mer polish and get very good results. Presumably you already have some good wax for a final protective finish. The job will take half a day approx, if you've fucked up the paint all over.