For those interested in "Modern Classic" Cars

[Nick C]

14 hours ago, MJI said:

My main fear is rust as the repair parts are £3600.

Ouch! It's the back of the chassis that goes on the D2s isn't it? I used to have a late D1, which was going in the usual places at the boot floor and rear arches - fortunately not too badly, so it could be patched instead of needing replacement panels.

 

We've got a 21 year old Micra, and at the last MOT they mentioned "there's a bit of rust on the front crossmember, you might want to have a look at that" - of course when I took off the trim to look at it, the 'bit of rust' turned out to be the whole crossmember rotten. A replacement aftermarket one cost a whopping £35! (plus a week of evenings to fit it...)

[MJI]

6 hours ago, Nick C said:

Ouch! It's the back of the chassis that goes on the D2s isn't it? I used to have a late D1, which was going in the usual places at the boot floor and rear arches - fortunately not too badly, so it could be patched instead of needing replacement panels.

 

We've got a 21 year old Micra, and at the last MOT they mentioned "there's a bit of rust on the front crossmember, you might want to have a look at that" - of course when I took off the trim to look at it, the 'bit of rust' turned out to be the whole crossmember rotten. A replacement aftermarket one cost a whopping £35! (plus a week of evenings to fit it...)

 

 

That 3600 is how much a galvanised chassis costs, I could do with rear 3rd but a whole galvanised one is tempting.

 

Late D2 are starting to know pick up in value as tin worm takes hold.

 

D3 and D4 seem to wreck their engines.

[big jim]

Got the cooper back from the mechanic on New Year’s Eve and it’s running so much better with it’s new gearbox, clutch and street cam, it’s booked in Thursday for a rolling road power run at lohen (as annoyed as I am about the standard of work they carried out on my car im taking it to them as I’ve used the rolling road before I can get a consistent result with the new bits added 

 

I’m hoping for a 10bhp gain, anything more will be a bonus, anything less then I’ll stick to el cheapo eBay tuning bits!

 

 

 

earlier this afternoon I decided to finish my stereo install by tidying up the boot area, made a false floor to mount the amp on then fitted a 3 piece carpeted platform, one part for the amp to sit on, the middle for the amp to poke through and the 3rd a filler 

 

got too dark to carry on so I’ve got to re-connect the wires to the amp tomorrow as well as maybe sound deadening under the seats and boot area

[boxbrownie]

Glad it’s all getting back on track, but I never realised just how small the boot on the Mini was......a lot smaller than our i3 and not much bigger than the original Mini probably! 

[big jim]

The boot is about the same size as an i3 I recon, I get them a lot as hire cars, the rest of the cabin is defiantly bigger than an i3 or certainly you can get into a comfier driving position in the mini and with only having 3 doors you don’t have the door pillar to negotiate when you are getting in and out

 

As for the boot in the convertible that’s even smaller, so much so that you can I clip the rear of the roof and lift it up to give you more room to get things in and out! 

Edited January 6, 2020 by big jim

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, big jim said:

The boot is about the same size as an i3 I recon, I get them a lot as hire cars, the rest of the cabin is defiantly bigger than an i3 or certainly you can get into a comfier driving position in the mini and with only having 3 doors you don’t have the door pillar to negotiate when you are getting in and out

 

As for the boot in the convertible that’s even smaller, so much so that you can I clip the rear of the roof and lift it up to give you more room to get things in and out! 

Looks a mite smaller to me, and I just unloaded a weeks shopping from ours.....

 

You sure you mean an i3 as there is NO door pillar (B post) on an i3.......one of the main reasons we bought theni3 was ease of ingress/egress  as Mrs BB has restricted mobility, the i3 is much taller also, the H point is actually exactly the same as the Audi Q3 we had previously, when we were given a Mini while the i3 was serviced we found it really very much more difficult to use regarding front cabin space.

Edited January 6, 2020 by boxbrownie

[boxbrownie]

21 hours ago, big jim said:

Got the cooper back from the mechanic on New Year’s Eve and it’s running so much better with it’s new gearbox, clutch and street cam, it’s booked in Thursday for a rolling road power run at lohen (as annoyed as I am about the standard of work they carried out on my car im taking it to them as I’ve used the rolling road before I can get a consistent result with the new bits added 

 

I’m hoping for a 10bhp gain, anything more will be a bonus, anything less then I’ll stick to el cheapo eBay tuning bits!

 

 

 

earlier this afternoon I decided to finish my stereo install by tidying up the boot area, made a false floor to mount the amp on then fitted a 3 piece carpeted platform, one part for the amp to sit on, the middle for the amp to poke through and the 3rd a filler 

 

got too dark to carry on so I’ve got to re-connect the wires to the amp tomorrow as well as maybe sound deadening under the seats and boot area

Nah.....not quite, ....210 > 266 litres apparently.

[big jim]

Yeah, it’s the i10 I’m thinking of!

 

we do get the both as hire cars though, I had an i3 sport a few months back and that was a cracking car, very similar it the Kia cee’d sport 

 

regarding the mini space I had a brand new cooper s as a hire car about 6 months back and found it to have less space than mine mainly because the door linings, dash etc are a lot deeper, I assume for crash worthy ness and the fact they are full of airbags etc!

Edited January 6, 2020 by big jim

[boxbrownie]

Aha OK....yes the i10 is a small city car, our friends had one for use when visiting some of their friends (rich friends ) and although he loved driving it, said it reminded him of his first Mini (the original Mini) it was small, I can understand his view as it is basic and very much a feel the road sort of drive

[peanuts]

does this count as a modern classic 

 

 

[Chris M]

The MG ZT 260 V8 is probably a classic - and rare too. I had a drive in one once and very nice it was too. Relaxed but powerful and sounded great (as do all V8s). Shame it only had the standard fuel tank so you couldn't go far between petrol stations.

[Nick C]

17.5k is a huge amount for an ornament - after 16 years in a showroom it'd need totally rebuilding if you wanted to use it on the road again - certainly all new rubber, seals, gaskets etc. Chances are the engine is seized too..

[big jim]

Didn’t like the boot build I did on Sunday so I took it out and rebuilt it to make the speaker fit better sideways and swapped the amp for a better one to cut round! 
 

 

Just need a strip of carpet to cover the blue metal at the front of the boot and if I can be bothered I may fit the reversing camera I’ve had sitting round for a while 

 

In other ‘modern classics’ news one of the coil packs in my wife’s Murano has gone so it’s running like a nail, phoned Nissan who want £125 a piece for them, the car is a V6 So 6 required, managed to get them from a specialist Nissan breaker for £60 for the whole set delivered so that’s the next big job as it’s an inlet manifold job off, going to take the opportunity to change the plugs too as they haven’t been done in the 6 years I’ve owned the car

 

ita like the car that juts won’t die, I keep telling my wife we should swap for something newer but she’s happy in her battle scarred ‘tank’ to keep it running until it won’t run no more 

[Hobby]

22 hours ago, Nick C said:

17.5k is a huge amount for an ornament - after 16 years in a showroom it'd need totally rebuilding if you wanted to use it on the road again - certainly all new rubber, seals, gaskets etc. Chances are the engine is seized too..

 

That depends on the owner, whilst i agree about the seals, they could have run the engine regularly and kept it in good fettle.

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, Hobby said:

 

That depends on the owner, whilst i agree about the seals, they could have run the engine regularly and kept it in good fettle.

Possibly, but the brake cylinder seals will at least require changing, and if the brake fluid hasn’t been changed in that sixteen years heaven knows how much moisture has invaded the braking system through the fluid.

 

Of course it may have been used occasionally and serviced regardless, a question for the prospective buyer, not us. 

[Classsix T]

If peanuts' post is a current ad, they bought it in 2016 (and basically had a static demonstrator) meaning it had done little after rolling off the production line for twelve years previously!

 

If you moved the decimal point left one unit I'd be curious, but apart from trailering it to concours competitions, nah!

 

C6T. 

Edited January 8, 2020 by Classsix T

[big jim]

While I was down at my stepdads house over Christmas he gave me some more photo albums my mum put together before she died one of which included some pics of her old rav-4 (it was brand new to the uk when she bought it in 1995) and also some pics of my Lada Niva Cossack, Hated it after a couple of years ownership but really wish I still had it now! 
 

Also in the pics is my sisters many times stolen Astra! 
 

these off roading pics were taken at a closed sand/silica quarry near Mold not far from where we used to live, it certainly handled the ground easily and you can see the axle travel in a few of the pics 

 

[big jim]

Something not quite right with the cooper S, had it rolling roaded today after fitting a bigger intercooler, k&n induction kit and streetcam and the result was a loss of 1bhp!

 

we are going to have a look at what the possible issue is but it may be the superchip may have reset itself while the ecu and battery were disconnected and reverted to standard factory settings, it’s unlikely but a possibility as the car looks to be hitting the Rev limiter earlier than the last time it was dyno’d 

 

other than that it may be a case of the chip being a one size fits all product cannot handle the addition of the street cam as the stage 2 I have is designed for cars with bigger intercooler and smaller pulley but the cam may not be helping matters if the current map doesn’t have settings to allow for one, I may have to get the car properly tuned by a specialist to take into account the cam

 

im hoping it’s just the fact the ecu has reset as that’s a free solution to reprogram it via the bluefin handset 

 

Edited January 9, 2020 by big jim

[russ p]

On 08/01/2020 at 18:12, big jim said:

While I was down at my stepdads house over Christmas he gave me some more photo albums my mum put together before she died one of which included some pics of her old rav-4 (it was brand new to the uk when she bought it in 1995) and also some pics of my Lada Niva Cossack, Hated it after a couple of years ownership but really wish I still had it now! 
 

Also in the pics is my sisters many times stolen Astra! 
 

these off roading pics were taken at a closed sand/silica quarry near Mold not far from where we used to live, it certainly handled the ground easily and you can see the axle travel in a few of the pics 

 

 

 

That astra SRi is a very rare vehicle,  not many made and very few survive 

[RANGERS]

On 09/01/2020 at 23:48, russ p said:

 

 

That astra SRi is a very rare vehicle,  not many made and very few survive 

Not sure how many were made but in mk2 guise at least, they seemed fairly common in the day. The originals were 1.6 but the later 1.8i engine was pretty torquey, which made them more driveable than the XR3i. My first GTE had the 1.8 and it was pretty well bullet proof, very refined for its day and economical, even when driven in a lively fashion. Those mk1s are now very rare, I wish I still had mine, and for that matter the 16v mk2 that ended my love affair with the sporting Vauxhalls. That was a tough act to follow and the “sensible” 1.4 mk3 that replaced it was never going to be quite the same, even if it did last to see 150k miles.

[RANGERS]

On 09/01/2020 at 23:48, russ p said:

 

 

That astra SRi is a very rare vehicle,  not many made and very few survive 

Not sure how many were made but in mk2 guise at least, they seemed fairly common in the day. The originals were 1.6 but the later 1.8i engine was pretty torquey, which made them more driveable than the XR3i. My first GTE had the 1.8 and it was pretty well bullet proof, very refined for its day and economical, even when driven in a lively fashion. Those mk1s are now very rare, I wish I still had mine, and for that matter the 16v mk2 that ended my love affair with the sporting Vauxhalls. That was a tough act to follow and the “sensible” 1.4 mk3 that replaced it was never going to be quite the same, even if it did last to see 150k miles.

[russ p]

1 hour ago, RANGERS said:

Not sure how many were made but in mk2 guise at least, they seemed fairly common in the day. The originals were 1.6 but the later 1.8i engine was pretty torquey, which made them more driveable than the XR3i. My first GTE had the 1.8 and it was pretty well bullet proof, very refined for its day and economical, even when driven in a lively fashion. Those mk1s are now very rare, I wish I still had mine, and for that matter the 16v mk2 that ended my love affair with the sporting Vauxhalls. That was a tough act to follow and the “sensible” 1.4 mk3 that replaced it was never going to be quite the same, even if it did last to see 150k miles.

 

I think  the SRi was 1800 which is what  the mk2  GTE was at launch with the misleading top speed of 126mph 

The SR on the launch  of astra mk2 was rare but the SRi was very rare 

[big jim]

The one in the pic was defiantly an 1800cc

 

as for the cooper S I called Superchips for advice and they have sent me a set of tuning parameters for a car with an updated cam to try, it’s not one they normally sell but they said to program it onto the car (which I’ve done) and see if the power improves when it’s rolling roaded again on Tuesday 

[MJI]

Astras, I will look at the second generation, the blobby ones. At the time I had a part time job delivering them.

 

1.2* (50something)

1.3* (75)

1.6Early* (90)

1.6Late* (82)

1.6D* (between 1.2 and 1.3)

1.8* (@ 110)

2.0* (@ 120) GTE

2.0 16V (@ 150)

 

* means driven

1.2 was terrible

1.3 fun

1.6 early quite good

1.6 late underpowered, slower than 1.3

1.6D OK but slow

1.8 torque steer city

2.0 scary

 

Ex company car 1.3s would go round to about 7500rpm and were quite quick, real thrashmobiles. They were accurately described as fun.

1.2 was dreadful, took one from Cornwall to Gloucester, when dropped off I said it was junk and they should ask for the car I dropped off back (1.3)

Drove a S/H 1.6 once, quite nippy, old 90bhp engine

The later 1.6 was slow, slower than a 1.3 as barely any more power and it had a rev limiter.

Diesel OK in a van but slow

1.8 bit torque steery but quite quick, only took short distances.

Only drove 1 x 2.0 and it was quick (driven a lot quicker but scared me most) found it a lot scarier than any of the 3.0l cars (12v Senator was quicker on a twisty road than a 1.8 Astra!)

 

As to the 16v that engine would have been better in the Cavalier or even the Carlton.

 

Drove a lot of that range, and the one which stuck in my memory the most was the Carlton (2.0 injection of course).

 

What was confusing was same sized engines, some good, some junk.

 

Good

1.2 Nova

1.3 Astra

1.6 Cavalier

1.8 Astra

2.0 Carlton

 

Not

1.2 Nova

1.3 Nova

1.6 Astra late

1.8 Carlton

2.5 Senator (similar shell 2.5 was gutless)

[Hobby]

I hired a couple of Mk1 1.2 Astras and certainly wouldn't call them terrible. I drove one feom Glasgow to Aberdeen and back and it did the job just fine. I suppose it depends on what you were used to driving, from a more powerful car (as you seem to have driven all of them!) it might seem terrible but when you were used to lower powered cars it was good, and more lively than similar sized engines from Ford and BL at the time. It did it's job well, if you want terrible then look no further than the "blobby" Nissan Micra 1.0l, now that certainly was terrible and made even an 850cc Mini seem good!