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1

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.

2

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

3

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.

4

General Car Chat / Re: Bavarian brawn

« on: 12 April 2024, 21:52:43 »

I think the 5 Series in all generations (except perhaps the E60/61 at the time) has the most tame styling of all the vehicle ranges they make.

If I had the cash i'd happily go from my F10 to a G30 or G60 but I don't so that's the end of that! 

Yeah, but in 10yrs when the prices are better....

Yes, although in ten years I may have carked it so won't be an issue!

The main problem I found when looking for a used 5 series is getting the options you want in a decent example of the model you are after. I mean you can retrofit a lot of the kit but it's a lot of work which £ for £ you may as well just pay more in the beginning imho.

Assuming that someone ordered the spec you want and it's available for you to buy at a price and in a condition that meets your requirements.

And that the previous owners continued to provide the open wallet maintenance that such cars require if they're going to be viable at 10,15, whatever(3,5 ) years old

5

General Car Chat / Re: Bavarian brawn

« on: 12 April 2024, 10:03:20 »

It's a trend started by those dickheads at Vag who couldn't package a car if their lives depended on it.

There's nothing different about VAG that makes them do it, it's just how German engineers think.


Like this:


E1 - Nobody has ever considered putting this bit here before, but it might sort-of-work if we did


E2 - Let me do my PHD thesis on how there's a nominal 1.76749499963638399% improvement in the alpha wave retention feedback circuit** if we do


E1 - Congratulations, see you in three years by which time we'll have built 23.5 prototypes and have it ready for production!


E2 - I'm back, and the improvement is 0.057483929% better than we thought, so all this work and extra 37 parts are more than justified!!!!


Foreign Engineer - Wow that looks complicated and expensive to make   And it means that changing the oil filter will take now 3hours if the mechanic follows the 12page procedure and has the special tools


E2 - It is expensive***, but I've done the maths and it's better. Written procedures and special tools Now  I've got a hardon for a second doctorate, see you in another 3 years


E1 - What's a mechanic?

Foreign Engineer - opps me, I wish I was still at Citroen where things made sense....





** or whatever techy bullshit that nobody care about is in fashion at the time


*** No German engineer has ever understood the word complicated, especially when paired with unnecessary

6

General Car Chat / Re: Bavarian brawn

« on: 10 April 2024, 18:17:17 »

It's a nice colour under all the vulgar black trim and white upholstery. And I wondered what all the noise was when I was gardening

7

General Discussion Area / Re: Chemist prescription deliveries

« on: 10 April 2024, 16:36:10 »

What I don't get is...The pharmacists' job appears to be counting. Not sure when it became a requirement to have a university degree to count up to 14 (or multiples thereof)


So it takes at least 2 people 15 minutes to move a pre-sealed box of pills about 3 feet from the shelf where they were stacked to the "customer". You get home, take that day's pills and wash them down with a nice single malt.

The pharmacist's job is checking, not counting. They're checking that the prescription is safe both singly and in combination with other medications, correctly prescribed(the right dose, chemical, amount etc), labelled and given to the correct person before putting their name and reputation on it. It's not unusual for a pharmacist phone the prescribing doctor and read them the riot act about dangerous prescriptions as they have far more understanding of how the drugs actually work, and don't just look up the symptoms and likely drug in  a list.


What you're implying is the equivalent of Boeing relying on the new, barely trained, over-worked employee being able to fit a door panel without supervision and inspection. Or some fool designing his own deep water submersible.

8

Omega General Help / Re: Micksgarage and cheap wishbones

« on: 05 April 2024, 22:47:49 »

Can't help with the ride height as my car is long gone, but the new springs and uncompressed top-mounts raised the front of my car 30mm. The new rear springs didn't change the ride height as my self-levelling was working correctly, but the pump hardly ever needed to run instead of nearly every time the car was started. Overall ride improved from an wallowy, uncontrolled mess, to comfortable with similar differences in the handling.


I've fitted new springs and shocks to many of the cars I've owned in the last 35 years, and have never regretted any of them.


The poly bushes are a hand-tight push fit once you've removed the originals. That is quick and easy with a suitable tool, or dirty and longwinded butchery without. There isn't a downside to them as the factory bushes are a normal service item, and need to be fitted correctly which often doesn't happen. Here's the tool I made for the job:



and just after removing the bush:

9

Omega General Help / Re: Micksgarage and cheap wishbones

« on: 05 April 2024, 17:35:01 »

That's a very kind offer to do the work, and I'd be more than happy to assist in any way I can.  Do you have any recommended brands/suppliers for the springs/top mounts/bump stops?  I'll try and do some shopping and get all the parts together in the next couple of weeks

I've never found any benefit in worrying much about brands for car parts, although there are few I won't buy due to limited, anecdotal experience. It's really easy to waste lots of time searching some ultimate part recommended by a stranger on the internet....


I bought all four springs for my car from ATP for less than any of the UK suppliers wanted for one estate rear. All quoted delivery dates as to be advised. The ATP order, which included some other stuff, arrived in three days.


ATP no longer seem to list the top mounts and bump stops which is a pain, although various UK supplier do with the usual variance in prices. I would buy them, including the strut bearings(sometimes included with the top mounts, so be careful), from a single source who could supply them all.


Given that your rear springs have probably been replaced recently, I suggest that new ones should be considered nice to have instead of just change them. Polyurethane wishbone front bushes are essential, whatever else you decide to do. Some careful shopping should get all the parts as discussed for under £200 per side. This is not a cheap job, but will make the car drive like new.

10

General Car Chat / Re: Grandland X

« on: 05 April 2024, 12:43:38 »

Did a run to Durham last year. My average speed was 68mph over 4 hours which included a stop off in a town.

Averaging 70mph.  What happened to the laid back useless student of yesteryear

 

When 2/3 of the passengers are young children, who wouldn't take every opportunity to decrease the journey time?

11

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: 05 April 2024, 11:59:18 »

Looks like yesterday I hit the wrong button on a well known online retailer.  I thought I was getting a pair of DJI Mini 2 batteries, but a paddling pool turned up.  Upon checking my orders, that's what I clicked.

Bugger.

It's your subconscious rejoicing in the fact that summer is coming - sit down, dangle your feet in the nice cool water, enjoy a beer, try not to break anything, the usual routine

12

General Discussion Area / Re: Why do some people behave so stupidly.

« on: 04 April 2024, 22:23:35 »

George Carlin was right,
 Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

13

Omega General Help / Re: Micksgarage and cheap wishbones

« on: 03 April 2024, 17:16:57 »

All a visual inspection of the springs will tell you is if they've snapped. But over time they lose some of their rate, which affects the ride height and quality which is usually such a gradual process the driver doesn't notice. The same applies to the top mounts, which look OK until you compare them to new ones that haven't compressed 10-15mm. A pair of springs are about £50, the top mounts with bearings(you can clean and re-grease them, but they're usually in a poor condition) about £30 per side, and the bumpstop/dustcover kit about £15. As you say, replacing these parts only adds a couple of minutes per side, most of which is swapping the spring compressor onto the new spring.


If the Omega front suspension wasn't such a fussy design requiring a full alignment after removing the struts for any reason, taking a gamble on some of those would be worth considering, especially as the cars age like this. But they are fussy, and a complete rebuild and alignment transforms even a car that seemed OK before the work.


How does  £125 to do all that sound, which would include a rough and ready alignment to make the car at least drivable.

14

General Car Chat / Re: Costs of running a car

« on: 03 April 2024, 12:21:47 »

My first car, a 1980 Renault 5 GTL produced about 500bhp and went like stink!                                                 

A long, long time ago, back when the pubs still closed on Sunday afternoons a friend picked up his new car carefully selected to be faster than his brother's 1.4l Renault 5. Out of all the options to achieve this in the early 90s, Alan opted for a 1.7l R5. It's guaranteed to be faster


When the pub closed, we discovered that if all three rear passengers throw themselves against the outside when the car is at full lean on a 90° bend at the bottom of two hills, the whole car skips across the road in a hilariously dangerous way.


About 15 years later, the same bend at the bottom of Water Works Hill was the scene of the Trabant Incident which was even more dangerous, but nowhere near as funny when sheer luck prevented it from being a fatal crash...

15

Omega General Help / Re: Micksgarage and cheap wishbones

« on: 02 April 2024, 15:52:08 »

£780!!!


I'd expect to spend less than 2hours per side doing the job in the street. I say that, because I have, several times. I still have a box with the few parts you don't replace(mainly the rubber isolators and upper spring cup) to build strut assemblies before starting the job, which makes an hour per side entirely feasible.


Personally, I wouldn't be reassembling a 90,000 mile suspension without replacing all of the wear parts: shocks, springs, top mounts, bump stops, strut bearings, wishbones and track rods. That's because at 90k, it's well past the nicely worn in stage, and is heading for distinctly tired. Most of these parts wear imperceptibly, and it can take someone who didn't recalibrate their brain as that happened to point out just how bad they've become. Changing them all, with a proper alignment utterly transforms how the car drives.


Estate doesn't make a difference to the front springs, as they're all the same. Rears are different to saloon, but fitting the non-self levelling springs is a good idea even if the levelling still works(it's essential if it doesn't!).


I could do this whole job if you don't mind driving around London and into Kent.




Have a pic of all the bits in almost the correct order:





1,4 & 5 are the only bits that are reused.