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1

General Car Chat / Best paint for door cards

« on: 06 October 2025, 23:35:30 »

So the new door cards for TPC aren't quite the same colour trim as the ones fitted. The panels are textured vinyl on a foam layer covering an epoxied fibre board. Each colour is a separate piece of vinyl when originally assembled.

An example of the current trim, but medium grey instead of cream:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314881596956

And an example of the colour of the new door cards:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166733719117

To address the obvious question, Mercedes only made a handful of SWB S Class with rear door blinds, so parts are like rocking horse poo and the door cards are unique to the cars with rear door blinds which makes getting an exact trim match is akin to finding a V8 Omega convertible for sale. Hence grabbing the parts as they're available. The hard plastics and armrests will be swapped over.

The basic panel is an exact colour match to mine, but the area behind the pocket and the top edge are black rather than grey. Any suggestions for recolouring?

I am thinking possibly the poly carbonate paint you might use on an RC car as it's both durable and flexible, Tamiya  PS-5 being my first thought... but it's the first time I have recoloured anything other than hard plastics. I have used Tamiya TS paints to good effect for this, and they stood up well in my Omega when I was using that as a taxi.

2

General Discussion Area / Importing some parts from Spain. Question.

« on: 01 October 2025, 14:08:35 »

Confused.com

So, found a pair of used door cards for TPC at a breakers in Spain.

Seller has agreed to sell them to me if I arrange shipping.

That's fine, and have found a courier company who will collect and ship them for a reasonable price. However seller is asking for me to complete the customs paperwork.

Would a CN23 suffice? Obviously I am not a business and the parts are for my personal use so getting an EORI form that they're asking for seems excessive.

3

General Car Chat / 03 Fiesta 56k

« on: 29 September 2025, 15:56:37 »

Anyone with kids of a certain age looking for a first car project?

Mate has acquired a 3 door Zetec.

Very tidy body, needs a clean and the bumpers are scuffed. Big issue is a head gasket leak at cylinder 3.

No rust on it.

4

General Car Chat / Mercedes ML 280 CDI Project.

« on: 08 September 2025, 23:56:32 »

So, what does £600 buy you these days?

Well, an 8 owner 2007 ML280 CDI with 7 weeks MoT and 204k miles on it might not be top of everyone's wish list, but horses for courses

Basically the garage that my mate uses for all his bits and bobs had bought it from a customer when it looked like their bill was going to far exceed the value of the car. They used it as a dog van for a bit and until it started to, er, have issues. At which point they offered it to my mate. After a quick test drive, he was all set to break it and asked if I could help strip it. I felt that the issues, whilst not exactly economically viable in the scheme of things, weren't insurmountable and felt it had at least another year in it... So having a soft spot for high mileage sheds and being the total idiot that I am, I bought it from him

The good bits:

2 ok tyres.
Starts, runs, drives and stops.
MoT until October.
Aftermarket shin breaker

The not so good bits:

2 knackered tyres
Aircon inop
Osr tail light out
Number plate lights out
Fuel gauge inop
Radio inop
Absolutely minging inside
Some cosmetic issues
Bodged wiring for said shin breaker
Interior light burnt out. Literally.
Auto lights not working (see above).
Surging at low speeds.
Oh, and a stretched transfer box chain... Sounds like a machine gun if you stomp on it.

And that's just the things I knew about...

5

General Discussion Area / I'm lost.

« on: 23 August 2025, 23:07:29 »

Got home from a 3 day trip to find out our beloved Tibetan Terrorist had to be put down on Thursday afternoon.

Thank you Koko, life won't be the same without you.

6

General Car Chat / Anyone older than 55? Take note...

« on: 07 August 2025, 09:06:11 »

https://empofish.com/new-july-2025-driving-licence-rules-for-over-55s-in-the-uk/

Snidey bastids.

7

General Discussion Area / Gaza famine...

« on: 26 July 2025, 00:06:29 »

Fact or fiction?

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMdH3aRt9xG/?igsh=MTQ3MHJ4MHFxeGxvNg==

8

General Car Chat / '58 Corsa D 1.3cdti Q

« on: 23 July 2025, 22:51:05 »

Does the pedal trick work?

Looking at one for a mate, got an EGR cooler coolant pipe leak and an EML on.

Coolant leak should be easy enough to find, if not access to fix...

EML is apparently a pressure sensor, but need to try and identify which one.

Car on question has 161k on it so presume that it's seen something vaguely reassembling maintenance over the years.

9

General Car Chat / Would you have the balls to do this?

« on: 20 July 2025, 20:30:50 »

https://youtu.be/pInB9--VbTs?si=EHXgGynZ6tJZTuSG

10

General Car Chat / Cylinder Head Question.

« on: 22 April 2025, 10:57:52 »

Is 0.013mm a reasonable amount of distortion?

So, head is off the Nissan and whilst the block surface is true, the head is not. Basically it has this amount of distortion evenly in the centre of the head...

If you draw an oval around the middle two combustion chambers, the centre of the oval is dished into the head by this amount.

It is central both side to side and end to end.

The technical information states the following:

"Do not rework cylinder head (3) and crankcase (surface grinding).

The permissible production tolerances will otherwise be exceeded.

i Tightening the cylinder head bolts (4) compensates for a slight distortion of the cylinder head (3) in the longitudinal or transverse direction.

If cracks or unevenness are present,

↓

replace cylinder head (3) and crankcase.

Engine 282 in model 177 with transmission 700.42

AR27.10-P-0005MFD"

There are no obvious cracks and I take "unevenness" to mean rippling or twisting.

11

General Car Chat / Mercedes S500 Ongoing "Project Upgrade"

« on: 13 April 2025, 08:15:55 »

I acquired The Proper Car, a SWB W221 S500 back in July 2006 and bought it based on condition and mileage for the price rather than spec. Although I did get lucky with the colour... Flint Grey metallic with a grey over black interior... anything that might get grubby is black and helps break up what would otherwise be a sea of grey.

On the subject of spec, the car is reasonably well optioned from new:
Cornering Bi xenon's.
Upgraded leather.
Heated/ventilated Dynamic front seats.
Harmon Kardon sound system.
Telephone/Bluetooth installation.
Black headliner/A/B/C pillars.

All in all a very nice place to be but missing a few options I would have liked to have... We'll come back to that...

Some background:

I don't think I have owned a single car that I haven't done something to, generally sticking to factory (ish) upgrades, whether it's adding a Ghia X interior to my first car, a  1985 2.3 Granada LX, or replacing the plod interior on my '54 plate Omega estate for a full Elite interior with customised door cards and Irmscher kit/wheels and then subsequently reverting it back to full police spec, lights and siren included

The key to a successful upgrade project is the availability of information, parts and wiring. Nowadays, information is reasonably freely available. For parts and wiring there's a sweet spot of availability around 10-20 years old, (depending on the car), where there are enough around for a choice of used parts and availability of anything else from the manufacturer. So the Granadas were an easy car to work with in the late 90s, and likewise the Omegas until about 5 years ago with a decent inventory of cars being scrapped and dedicated breakers.

My first S Class, aka The Barge, (a '99 W220 S280) whilst not my first Mercedes, was a forced introduction to Canbus systems and fixing some previous bodgery opened up some creative retrofit possibilities. The ABS didn't work because the car thought it had Distronic, (Radar Cruise) fitted... it didn't, and this had to be programmed out of the car. If something can be programmed out, then why can't it be programmed in? That base S280 ended up with cornering Bi xenons, parking sensors front and rear, a different steering wheel and W221 wheels, but the bodywork left alot to be desired so there wasn't much point taking it further.

It's replacement, a '10 R350L, aka The Alabama Mumsybus, didn't escape the upgrade itch. It left the factory with prewiring for rear entertainment. It left me with rear entertainment fitted along with some US only rear stowage bits.

Mercedes retrofits are well documented in their maintenance system WIS, and with a bit of time and effort trawling through the EPC it's pretty straightforward identifying all the parts required for any given retrofit, even if it's not actually an official retrofit item. It doesn't hurt that they have pretty decent long term parts support so getting anything from a nut to a wiring harness for a near 20 year old car is still feasible, and their service item availablity is excellent.

12

General Discussion Area / Oh my days...

« on: 25 March 2025, 05:49:57 »

Sitting in the lounge at Gatwick, and the lady behind the bar is chatting to a chap with Down syndrome. He's quite chatty and when she asked if he played any sports, he replied that he's quite partial to a round of golf...

Her next question, without so much as a pause, "What's your handicap?"

Priceless

13

General Discussion Area / One of those weeks...

« on: 21 March 2025, 06:08:09 »

Get to work on Tuesday, park on the roof of the multi story staff car park.

Just start boarding passenger and get an email saying that said car park is close for emergency repairs.

Get to Seattle to another email saying that no cars have been damaged and that the car park is still closed but we'll be able to collect our cars without issue.

Just boarded to come home when a passenger announced that Heathrow is closed until midnight because of a fire in Hayes.

Get back to the hotel 5 hours later.

14

General Discussion Area / Licence renewal...

« on: 01 March 2025, 04:33:36 »

My photocard expires at the end of the month so have had to have a medical as it's the first one after 45...

Apparently because I was drinking 3-5 pints once or twice a week whilst away, that's considered binge drinking even though I have probably had 10 drinks since the beginning of January.

Some prodding and poking following TCV in October has so far discovered pre diabetes, a fatty liver, slightly elevated cholesterol. A recent ECG was fine but with a heart scan scheduled for a couple of weeks time that was noted on the form along with the drinking even though I am taking no medication for any of it.

Basically none of the above has been considered significant enough for anything other than monitoring, and apparently my blood pressure is high, even though it was exactly the same as the average from last week and in line with a previous set from November, aka normal for me, and certainly nowhere near the levels set by DVLA for the HGV medical.

Licence sent in for renewal, but I have absolutely no idea if it will come back with C1, C1E, C, CE, D1, D1E.and provisional D/DE on it or not.

Apparently, in order to retain the pre '97 entitlements ie C1/C1E you're required to have a medical as anything between 3.5 and 7.5t is considered to be Large Goods Vehicle and is treated as such and choosing to not renew my C/CE could potentially wipe out my C1/C1E/D1/D1E

If this is the case, then there is also a question as to whether I might need to take a test to tow over 400kg with the car as well.

And to top it off, the cheeky sod who did my eye test suggested I need varifocals inspite of being told about two smudges on the screen I was supposed to be reading from.

On a positive note, if you ignore the £150 for the medical, the renewal is free.

15

General Car Chat / Nissan Cumquot

« on: 27 February 2025, 16:18:01 »

Petrol, possibly '68.

Poor cold starting followed by stalling upto temperature.

Full Nissan history from new.

Recently been in to investigate and found that the thermostat casing had split. Fixed and highlighted a misfire. All plugs found to be heavily fouled and replaced and car returned only to suffer poor starting again.

I suspect that the thermostat housing contains a coolant temp sensor and as the coolant dropped it misonformed the ECU causing it to over or under fuel. Resulting in the non starting and misfiring.

Is the above a reasonable diagnosis?

Three weeks later and the thermostat housing has failed again.