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1

Omega General Help / Re: Micksgarage and cheap wishbones

« on: Today at 11:56:44 »

Sorry, I seem to have been blind for a while

Hi Nick, any update on when suits?
Many thanks

Yes, I can still help with this. Is there a particular date that would suit you?

PM'd you.


Finally

2

General Car Chat / Re: R50 Bini

« on: 13 May 2024, 17:00:19 »

They're definitely not suitable for most people - you have to be able to fix cars yourself. Parts are plentiful and cheap, working on them is pretty decent. If someone else is fixing it the labour will add up and in no time be more than the value of the vehicle. They're a bit like a little tiny Omega!

You're the only person I've come across who thinks working on them is pretty decent   The usual reaction to suggesting any job on a Mini is either a firm no, or enhanced with workshop Anglo-Saxon.

3

General Car Chat / Re: Motor Factors?

« on: 12 May 2024, 11:36:22 »

Does the old adage 'you get what you pay for' still hold true these days? 

No more or less than it ever did. Just because something is expensive does not mean it's worth buying. And that's true for whatever metric you use for value.

4

General Car Chat / Re: R50 Bini

« on: 10 May 2024, 19:51:50 »

The Prince engine is a PSA BMW blob.

The earlier petrols had a Tritec engine developed with Chrysler

The early engine is rubbish and gearboxes made of cheese,believe it or not the French engine /box is better !!

Add the common steering rack failures, BL quality trim and electrics, horrific ride quality and the verdict is simple: they're utter shite

5

Omega General Help / Re: Micksgarage and cheap wishbones

« on: 09 May 2024, 18:59:20 »

Sorry, I seem to have been blind for a while


Yes, I can still help with this. Is there a particular date that would suit you?

6

General Discussion Area / Re: Alzheimer's disease

« on: 09 May 2024, 08:12:43 »

It's not uncommon for me to walk into a room and then wonder what I went in there for. 

Is this normal?        

It's so common that it has a name - the doorway effect.

7

General Car Chat / Re: Project anyone?

« on: 01 May 2024, 08:22:17 »

Astonishing how prices like that are being paid for fords😱

Boyhood aspirations or boyhood memories.

Proof that marketing can still work decades after it was paid for.

8

Omega General Help / Re: Rear springs elite and broken middle section exhaust studs

« on: 28 April 2024, 21:39:33 »

As I'm planning to give the rear donut bushes a go is it better to do this while I've got the diff lowered for the rear springs or should I put that back up and then do the bushes?

Removing the subframe bushes takes a fair amount of prying, levering and swearing. The last is the only one that is not made easier by having the subframe firmly attached everywhere it can be. Do one side at a time.


There's a bloody good chance your diff mounts are no longer bonded together.....


If your self-levelling is still working, it will work even better if it's assisting standard rate springs and not the much weaker S/L ones. They're much easier to find too.

9

General Car Chat / Re: Wet belts

« on: 20 April 2024, 20:16:34 »

Does the Ecoboom last long enough to actually require a new belt?

Any mileage in retrofitting a 1.0 pinto in it's place

Or just avoiding the ecoboom in the first place.

That's the one


What the hell is a 1.0l Pinto? And don't forget, the normal 1.6 or 2.0l Pintos are long, tall and heavy when compared to similar capacity 4 cylinder engines. Not to mention expensive now that the cars they came in are well over thirty years old.

Wasn't that the original 1.0/1.1/1.3 Fester lump

You're thinking of the Valencia which is mostly the crossflow found in mk1/2 Escorts, but with virtually no interchangeable parts - like the weak three main bearing crank instead of the original unbreakable five bearing one....

10

General Car Chat / Re: Wet belts

« on: 20 April 2024, 13:34:49 »

The question has to be - Why !!!

Because it provides some minute, theoretical advantages for the designers that anyone paying for the bloody thing will never notice. I suspect that the originator of the idea was German, and we all know that German engineers are incapable of resisting any complication that can proved, no matter how tenuously, to be 'better'.

11

General Car Chat / Re: Wet belts

« on: 20 April 2024, 13:32:50 »

Does the Ecoboom last long enough to actually require a new belt?

Any mileage in retrofitting a 1.0 pinto in it's place

Or just avoiding the ecoboom in the first place.

That's the one


What the hell is a 1.0l Pinto? And don't forget, the normal 1.6 or 2.0l Pintos are long, tall and heavy when compared to similar capacity 4 cylinder engines. Not to mention expensive now that the cars they came in are well over thirty years old.

12

General Car Chat / Re: Wet belts

« on: 20 April 2024, 08:43:38 »

Staggering !!! Seen a few youtube videos, literally cannot believe a rubber belt would be intentionally immersed in used engine oil!! Bonkers.

What's really staggering is just how complex changing the bloody thing is, when it's a regular maintenance job on common, relatively cheap, vehicles. The book time for a 1.0l Focus is 9 hours and requires numerous and expensive special tools. That's without mentioning the cost of the parts. This is a job that instantly sucks up the £20pa road tax in one impossible to forget bill.

13

Omega General Help / Re: Micksgarage and cheap wishbones

« on: 15 April 2024, 15:29:26 »

Hence I always suggest people with GM ones refurb them, rather than replace with crap.  Its a bit extra work, but cheaper and will last longer.

Is there any easy to spot tell tale that they are original GM? GM logo somewhere?

They'll look like they were rescued from the Titanic; rusty and covered in crap off the road. You're getting bogged down in details that are unimportant.


You've got new wishbones, so fit the front poly bushes and get them on the car. They'll be an improvement. If the removed ones look vaguely saveable, keep them. If they don't, bin them. To me, the only thing the originals do better than refurbished ones is that the ball joints are rivetted on, not bolted.

14

General Car Chat / Re: Bavarian brawn

« on: 14 April 2024, 11:00:28 »

You could get around expensive technology failure by buying a 'half decent' Morris Minor Woody from the fifties or sixties .......for about £10,000.

   Let me know when you come back to your senses 🤣😱

I could acquire a respectable Minor saloon for about £3500 with a phonecall. Although I wouldn't want to do frequent long trips in one, they're still eminently practical as a daily driver around town or short commute. A few quid spent on some simple upgrades make that even more likely

15

General Car Chat / Re: Bavarian brawn

« on: 13 April 2024, 13:17:27 »

Any car in that class is going to cost more, no different to Jaguar etc. If you want a car to spend minimal money on you go for a simple shopping car with nothing in it except the minimal equipment to drive it - steering wheel etc.

That used to be the case, but now everything has A/C, some sort of display, remote central locking, immobiliser, ABS, electric windows, PAS, various driver aids for the safety ratings, electric handbrakes, etc etc there is no such thing as a simple shopping car.