Car Talk

[BroadAmbition]

Hmmm, seems I fooparred there - That's not the first time and certainly won't be the last

No Mer arrived from Amazon yesterday as I expected it to do so.  On checking the order it is not due to arrive til April 24th What?  I mistakenly assumed it was on the 'Prime' order system - It wasn't.  So, order cancelled, over onto Ebay. same stuff, a tad cheaper with free delivery and it'll arrive in the next three days.  By that time I'll have to rinse Trevor off to get rid of any airborne dust particles and rain residue before the polishing can commence

I did however have a small tidy out of the load area (To be continued) and have come up with ideas of better storing the tub of 3mm spacers and the work light.  Need to come up with a solution to get the mini wet cutter stowed off the deck too.

There are LED interior lights in the load area, I'd quite like a couple more of em - Have to converse with Trev's previous owner to find out where he sourced them from

Griff

[OldBerkshireBoy]

When I did the Vito lighting I brought a couple of LED lights much like the British Gas vans have but wasn't entirely happy with the result when searching for a small part late one night. 

Then brought the strip of lights on a flexible roll and the difference was illuminating and easier to fit.

[BroadAmbition]

Vito? - Vito?  I once had a Merc Vito van - Never again.  As a result of that van will I never own a merc of any description.  Damn thing cost me far more than it ever earnt me

Griff

[OldBerkshireBoy]

1 minute ago, BroadAmbition said:

Vito? - Vito?  I once had a Merc Vito van - Never again.  As a result of that van will I never own a merc of any description.  Damn thing cost me far more than it ever earnt me

Griff

You wont like me for saying that other than the drivers side electric window switch and front calipers it`s been trouble free in 130k. Recently downsized to a Caddy Maxi as i no longer need the space and the ruddy engine management light keeps coming on for no reason that can be found.

[annv]

Hi Grif I had the same problem with a sink plug two to three days then suddenly twenty one days coming from China they are a cunning lot use a english name so you think its coming from england then bingo when you find out to late to cancel, will have to be more attentive next time. John

[JanetAnne]

1 hour ago, annv said:

Hi Grif I had the same problem with a sink plug two to three days then suddenly twenty one days coming from China they are a cunning lot use a english name so you think its coming from england then bingo when you find out to late to cancel, will have to be more attentive next time. John

If it's coming out of China I would welcome the 21 days incubation period!

[Paul]

The logistics company I used to work for won't have anything other than Merc vans. Their vans work six and a half days a week day and night, most will cover half a million miles in their three year life. They've tried Peugeots, Transits and Movanos as the high load bed of the rear wheel drive sprinter luton is not ideal but nothing else can handle that kind of usage.

even the sprinter panel vans don't stand up as well as the lutons

[WherryNice]

11 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

There are LED interior lights in the load area, I'd quite like a couple more of em - Have to converse with Trev's previous owner to find out where he sourced them from

This is how I did my(much smaller of course) Caddy....

The lights come as a string(I cut and extended the middle section) with each having an adhesive pad on the back along with a countersunk hole if you want to screw them on( I also used then as engine bay lights on my last boat).

They weren't terribly expensive at the time but it has been about 4 years so couldn't say how much these days.

[WherryNice]

Here they are in boat use...

[BroadAmbition]

We have a set daisy chained for use onboard 'B.A' in her engine space, very pleased with them we are too

The four that are currently installed in Trevor are fine.  I thought I could do with a couple more seeing as I have time on my hands

Griff

 

[OldBerkshireBoy]

One 4 or 5ft strip of LED`s crimped into exisiting light.

[MauriceMynah]

Well, there comes a time when your car say's it's had enough and my old faithful Volvo 850 estate told me just that, not long before the lockdown.

A whole bunch of things needed doing not one of them was major in itself but collectively would have presented me with a bill for not far short of £3000. Brakes, suspension and steering were on the top of the list, along with 4 new tyres, and a leaking fuel pump. Other pieces also needed attention. All this for a 25 year old car worth £500 tops, probably rather less!.

I decided that a new (to me) set of wheels was neeeded, I just hadn't decided what.

I worked out what I needed, what I wanted and what would be quite nice.

It had to be a largish estate and it had to be a diesel. I decided that an automatic might make a pleasant change and I wanted a make that would be a bit of a change.

I looked at a Saab estate.  … didn't like it. I looked at a BMW estate.   ...didn't like that either.    I looked at several other cars including a fairly newish Skoda Octavia estate (Which even though I'd driven one in my cabbing days, I decided I didn't much like.)

I made a further decision, I would go for a flat colour as my last few cars had all been metallic silver, blue or green.

Then it happened !! I saw a car I liked.

It was advertised by Autotrader and was available albeit in Peterborough some 70 miles away. I read the details several times. It was a diesel estate. It was an automatic, and it was in it's day pretty well towards the top of its range and fully loaded. (I believe that's the term.)

The previous Sunday the Pubs were closed to help stop the spread of this virus, and we were asked not to make journeys unless they were important. I reckoned that having a working safe car was pretty important, important enough for me to drive to Peterborough and have a thorough look at it.

When I arrived I was left alone with the keys to look over the car, and told that when I wanted a test drive to go to the office. I had pretty much made up my mind before the test drive but went ahead with it as a formality.

I asked about part exchange and he looked at the 850 which to be honest I hadn't cleaned. After a short inspection he asked me if there were any panels on the car that weren't dented. I told him that to the best of my knowledge, No, They were all dented. I could see him looking at the cable-tie that looked rather like it was holding the rear bumper on. He asked me what it was there for, and I explained that it held the rear bumper on. He asked when it was last serviced, but didn't press the point, as I think my confused look told him all he wanted to know.

Then he asked if it had been in any accidents. I was relieved as that gave me the chance to explain the hole in the rear bumper which was due to a VW going into the back of me and pushing the towball up and into the bumper. It also proved to him how good that cable tie was as it didn't damage it at all. Surprisingly, he made an offer.

I bought the new car there and then.

So! There it is! I am now the proud owner of a Volvo V70 Estate in pale metallic blue.

Good to know I can still stick to my guns! 

[BroadAmbition]

The Mer polish turned up at last.  Had to bath him yet again as airborne dust and rain residue were in evidence.  So, Trevor is now completed in the valeting department inside and out, I must have the cleanest Tiling van around these here parts.

Next it was the turn of MrsG Focus, bathed it, polished it including inner door returns and reveals,  Did the glass inside and out.  I am refusing point blank to valet the inside of it for her.  It's a principle thing.  I have dropped a few hints like leaving upholstery cleaner / Dash cleaner and the Henry hoover next to her car - We will see

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

MrsG's car - Still not internally valeted.  There's a stand off brewing here. 

Even when I exhaust all other tasks within our hovel, on principle I'm not starting in our tip of a garage until she starts on the inside of her car.  You think Grendel's workshop / conservatory is / was bad? - My garage tops that and then some.

Anyroadup, after much dithering / research I have at last ordered the led upgrades to Trevors interior cab lighting. Six lamps in all not including the two behind the sun visors which I don't think I will bother with

Griff

[Lulu]

1 hour ago, BroadAmbition said:

 

MrsG's car - Still not internally valeted.  There's a stand off brewing here

 

She’s concerned you will run out of jobs to do then drive her nuts with you being bored so having a standby job for you is an excellent idea. I can see how her brain is working, I’d do exactly the same! 

[BroadAmbition]

She is gonna be disappointed then!

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

There's me thinking that I have just about exhausted issues / upgrades on Trevor.  Well I now have three items in front of me (Good).  There's the LED in the cab to change over to, there is two carpentry items to sort out for stowing step ladders and a small wet diamond saw in the cargo area.  Then I discovered in our office one of those dash cam thingies that my Bro' bought me ages ago. I will get that installed / wired up.

Next week for this lot

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

The cab LED lights arrived today, they are now in place, all seven of them, just need one more for the vanity light behind the sunvisor for the passenger. Huge difference in light output, plus its a cleaner whiter light no longer yellow and using less power too.  Impressed and job done

The Dash cam is now installed too.  Just need to refine the settings.

That just leaves a small amount of carpentry work in the cargo area.

I'm still running on those newly fitted winter tyres early March to my smaller set of alloys.  These should have been off by now.  However, to get back on the larger / wider summer tyres, I need the tyres and my suppliers are shut.  I also need the alloys refurbished and painted - My contact can do them now, however I can't afford them just now.  The saving grace is that Trevor isn't doing any running anywhere at present

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Get in there!  A job has come to light which is right up my alley and I will enjoy doing

Yesterday when fitting the dash cam and the like to Trevor the onboard computer tells me that the brake pads need changing.  Not sure if it was the fronts or the rears.  I will have a look see today. 'euro car parts' have stock and can deliver free, currently with an end of month 50% discount.  Now if I do a deep clean to the whole area around each suspension leg etc. surely I can stretch this out to a full day, especially if I paint the callipers and mounting brackets.  That'll delay making a start on the garage clear out 

Griff

[MauriceMynah]

Griff,  How easy and roughly what is involved in fitting dash cams? Did you do fore and aft or just fore? and finally, what make did you go for?

As you might be able to tell, it's a project I'm thinking of doing.

[BroadAmbition]

MM  -  Very easy, its plug n play, sucker fixed to the windscreen, route / hide the cable as best you can.

I didn't really 'Go' for anything as this kit was bought for me as a gift from Bro'  so it's fore only.  It came with an optional extra a micro card with adapter for file transfer.  The kit has power lead and usb lead for data transfer.  Just got to go through its own menu and get it set up correctly

Hope this helps

Griff

 

 

[BroadAmbition]

Yep - having checked the pads all round, the front need changing now, the rears anytime soon.  Therefore front and rears ordered along with some brake cleaner.  Had to migrate over to Ebay to order some high temperature brake calliper paint that is also now on its way.

Looking forward to this lot arriving and gettin stuck right in

Griff

[grendel]

MM, my dash cam was just a plug into lighter socket, lick and stick to windscreen, the only difference is that to hide the wiring, the 12 v power plug ends up in the glove compartment, so i had to run another adaptor from the lighter socket to the glove box with a 3 way socket on the end, this gave me a spare socket for the ancient tom tom sat nav. if you want a rear one the wiring should just reach from the rear screen of a v70 to the arm rest / console lighter socket in the rear.

[Regulo]

If not, extension cables are readily available.

[ZimbiIV]

Most dash cams with a reverse camera have a connection to the display and take power from the reversing lights which switch the display to reverse view.

I fitted  a sat nav with a rear camera to the boat, when I switch on the nav lights on it switches to the rear view camera.

I lets you know what you are about to hit!

paul