Moments of joy in your day today

[mac11irl]

ive only failed to read through 4 books in my life.

3 of them because i was too young really.its what happens you run out of books and start raidi g your dads shelf.. couple Archer and ludlums and forsythes later....

the shoes of the fisherman - age 15... i got fed up of being told the pope was dead 396 times in the first 11 pages. 

don Quixote- 15... it did nothing for me.

ivanhoe - 14...my first give up. it was just tedious

 

since then only The Last Templar has made me stop reading... ive gotten to within 20pages of the end but its been so predictable its hard to be arsed finish when i know the ending already..

 

[shyVRS245]

Leicester City good win tonight against the Saints moves them back to 2nd in the Premier League. Now for a Man Utd 0 Liverpool 0 tomorrow hopefully.

[Westbury63]

Bought some Castrol oil today from Halfords. Used the remaining balance from an insurance promotion gift card, leaving me just £3.49 to pay! I'll go and collect the Bosch oil filter from Euros tomorrow for £6.49. Oil and filter change for £9.98 with quality parts !!   

 

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-and-fluids/engine-oil/castrol-magnatec-5w30-a5-oil-4-litre-918672.html

 

 

[Breezy_Pete]

What car is that for, it doesn't mention any VW group specs as far as I can see?

[Westbury63]

1 minute ago, Wino said:

What car is that for, it doesn't mention any VW group specs as far as I can see?

 

It's for our Honda. Halfords have Castrol at VW spec if you have a look at the rest of the range.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-and-fluids/engine-oil/?prefn1=brandname&prefv1=Castrol&prefn2=size&prefv2=4 Litres&pmin=16.50&pmax=20.80

[Breezy_Pete]

OK, no worries; thought you might've picked the wrong one for a sec there. 

[Westbury63]

Just now, Wino said:

OK, no worries; thought you might've picked the wrong one for a sec there. 

 

It wouldn't be beyond me what with all the excitement of a £9.98 oil and filter change!!

[Breezy_Pete]

I had a good one yesterday. I'd been tinkering with the exhaust on the missus's Fabia on Sunday, fixing a leak at one of the couplings. While the car was still raised nice and high I thought I'd have a quick look around as the MOT is due 1st March.  Spotted a split rubber boot on the nearside TRE, thought to myself "hmm, I wonder if that's what's been making the knocking noise that's been bugging me for a couple of years?".  

And it was! 

Got a new one in the morning, booked the last half day of last years leave for the afternoon to crack on with it. Test drive was blissfully knock free.  Looks like at least the last MOT if not the one before too must've missed the boot damage; the balljoint was quite rusty and a little loose inside.

[Westbury63]

1 hour ago, Wino said:

I had a good one yesterday. I'd been tinkering with the exhaust on the missus's Fabia on Sunday, fixing a leak at one of the couplings. While the car was still raised nice and high I thought I'd have a quick look around as the MOT is due 1st March.  Spotted a split rubber boot on the nearside TRE, thought to myself "hmm, I wonder if that's what's been making the knocking noise that's been bugging me for a couple of years?".  

And it was! 

Got a new one in the morning, booked the last half day of last years leave for the afternoon to crack on with it. Test drive was blissfully knock free.  Looks like at least the last MOT if not the one before too must've missed the boot damage; the balljoint was quite rusty and a little loose inside.

Nice one.   Good to get a repair done on your own terms, not have to rush around and then present again for a re-test.

[Gaz]

Sally (Mrs Gaz) finding the only remaining photo of the one car I can never remember the registration number of.  It's odd, because I can remember every other car reg, including all my parent's cars since the late 1960's:

 

 

This was the last 132 I owned.  It tried to kill me three times!

 

Gaz

Edited 24 January, 2021 by Gaz_

[Westbury63]

36 minutes ago, Gaz_ said:

Sally (Mrs Gaz) finding the only remaining photo of the one car I can never remember the registration number of.  It's odd, because I can remember every other car reg, including all my parent's cars since the late 1960's:

 

 

This was the last 132 I owned.  It tried to kill me three times!

 

Gaz

 

Nice car, lovely colour. I've not seen once of those in a very long time.

[shyVRS245]

Moved 2" inches of snow off the cars and from my drive as the Karoq is due it's MOT at 10am tomorrow morning and need to take it to work at 6pm tonight for my night shift. All my neighbours including 2 ex-Army and a serving Policeman kept warm and dry watching me shovel snow. Nice.

[skomaz]

Managing to fix two sets of headphones - one on the ear set and an earbud set.  My daughter, had taken both to school and managed to sever the wires to them either in the zip of her school bag or just by brute force.  So not wanting to miss a challenge I managed to bare the tiny wires and re-solder them so both now working fine again.

[Breezy_Pete]

 Good work.

 

[Mickvrs220]

3 hours ago, Gaz_ said:

Sally (Mrs Gaz) finding the only remaining photo of the one car I can never remember the registration number of.  It's odd, because I can remember every other car reg, including all my parent's cars since the late 1960's:

 

 

This was the last 132 I owned.  It tried to kill me three times!

 

Gaz

A mate of mine had a gold colour mirafiora 132 ,everytime it rained a bit of it would disolve haha 

[mac11irl]

29 minutes ago, skomaz said:

Managing to fix two sets of headphones - one on the ear set and an earbud set.  My daughter, had taken both to school and managed to sever the wires to them either in the zip of her school bag or just by brute force.  So not wanting to miss a challenge I managed to bare the tiny wires and re-solder them so both now working fine again.

 

spud jr has managed to pull the wires off the speaker in one side of my BT in-ear headphones. they have an around next strap so he grabed them one day annnnd.. then it stopped working. ive really no idea if i can open it to fix it.

 

good work on the repairs

[Gaz]

8 minutes ago, Mickvrs220 said:

A mate of mine had a gold colour mirafiora 132 ,everytime it rained a bit of it would disolve haha 

 

Ah, the Mirafiori - that's the 131.  I had four 132's all told. Green, bronze, silver and blue.  If ever I got bored, I could always go out and watch them rot.  Silver one was the worst for that; rotted faster than I could fix it.  Loved them as cars but they had some truly atrocious design features, like the sidelight/indicator unit being held on with clear plastic screws that'd shatter rather than unscrew, bonnet pin that'd need welding back on regularly coz of the weak tin it was welded to, the seat adjusting screw that when fully adjusted (where I needed it) would snap every other month or so.  And my personal favourite, the petrol tank being in the boot, with it's base in the OSR wheel well, vertical welded central seam, so that when the drain blocked and the well pooled with water, the petrol tank rotted - sure sign was getting headaches just before noticing the fumes! 

 

Gaz 

[Mickvrs220]

24 minutes ago, Gaz_ said:

 

Ah, the Mirafiori - that's the 131.  I had four 132's all told. Green, bronze, silver and blue.  If ever I got bored, I could always go out and watch them rot.  Silver one was the worst for that; rotted faster than I could fix it.  Loved them as cars but they had some truly atrocious design features, like the sidelight/indicator unit being held on with clear plastic screws that'd shatter rather than unscrew, bonnet pin that'd need welding back on regularly coz of the weak tin it was welded to, the seat adjusting screw that when fully adjusted (where I needed it) would snap every other month or so.  And my personal favourite, the petrol tank being in the boot, with it's base in the OSR wheel well, vertical welded central seam, so that when the drain blocked and the well pooled with water, the petrol tank rotted - sure sign was getting headaches just before noticing the fumes! 

 

Gaz 

I stand corrected gaz 131 it must have been then ,most cars back then were rust buckets but the italian stuff really did not like rain ,but as i remember it use to go well when it were running 😁

[skomaz]

1 hour ago, mac11irl said:

 

spud jr has managed to pull the wires off the speaker in one side of my BT in-ear headphones. they have an around next strap so he grabed them one day annnnd.. then it stopped working. ive really no idea if i can open it to fix it.

 

good work on the repairs

 

Got to be worth a try...   If I can do it with my hamfisted soldering anyone can.  The wires were very fine but were self insulated with a coating that burnt off as you soldered so yours should be the same if you can find the break.

 

Having had some 'practice' I'm waiting to get back to the MILs in NI now to get my hands on a set on vintage 1970s Leak 3000 that I know are there...   Not sure if they work but having managed to fix the similar vintage Teac cassette deck and Dual turntable a while back for my FIL before he died you never know!

 

I think my family get a bit fed up of me fixing stuff when they'd just like new every now and again.

Edited 24 January, 2021 by skomaz

[shyVRS245]

Well despite 5cm of snow in our Town took the Karoq on the commute as planned and the Bridgestone S001 high performance summer rubber performed just fine and cruised at 63mph on the motorway. Took just 46 minutes at a remarkable 43.9mpg.

[Mickvrs220]

48 minutes ago, skomaz said:

 

Got to be worth a try...   If I can do it with my hamfisted soldering anyone can.  The wires were very fine but were self insulated with a coating that burnt off as you soldered so yours should be the same if you can find the break.

 

Having had some 'practice' I'm waiting to get back to the MILs in NI now to get my hands on a set on vintage 1970s Leak 3000 that I know are there...   Not sure if they work but having managed to fix the similar vintage Teac cassette deck and Dual turntable a while back for my FIL before he died you never know!

 

I think my family get a bit fed up of me fixing stuff when they'd just like new every now and again.

Some of the older stuff is better tho sko ,ive got a pair of teac speakers from 20 years ago ,pretty pricey when i bought em but still sound fantastic today .

[mac11irl]

2 hours ago, skomaz said:

to be worth a try...   If I can do it with my hamfisted soldering anyone can.  The wires were very fine but were self insulated with a coating that burnt off as you soldered so yours should be the same if you can find the break

oh im pretty sure i know where the break is... its at wire-speaker bud interface.... theyre only Lidl middle aisle specials, but still.. the sound quality for spotify streaming is good and the in ear fit of the buds is really comfy. 

[skomaz]

1 hour ago, Mickvrs220 said:

Some of the older stuff is better tho sko ,ive got a pair of teac speakers from 20 years ago ,pretty pricey when i bought em but still sound fantastic today .

 

Oh yes!  I've got a Transcriptors Hydraulic Reference turntable and Fluid arm from the mid-60s playing through a Rotel amp and Monitor Audio Bronze speakers that must be close on 20 years old.  So the teac A150 tape deck, Leak headphones and Dual turntable that are sat doing nothing at the MILs would fit in nicely.  

[Westbury63]

22 hours ago, Mickvrs220 said:

On 24/01/2021 at 13:50, Gaz_ said:

Expand  

A mate of mine had a gold colour mirafiora 132 ,everytime it rained a bit of it would disolve haha 

 

That is back in the day when Fiat made their cars out of Russian steel. Apparetly the Lancia Beta used to have the engines drop out because of rotting mounts!

 

23 hours ago, skomaz said:

Managing to fix two sets of headphones - one on the ear set and an earbud set.  My daughter, had taken both to school and managed to sever the wires to them either in the zip of her school bag or just by brute force.  So not wanting to miss a challenge I managed to bare the tiny wires and re-solder them so both now working fine again.

 

Full marks! So good for the environment to repair. 99% of people would have just fired up the Amazon prime solution to life!

[Westbury63]

17 hours ago, skomaz said:

 

Oh yes!  I've got a Transcriptors Hydraulic Reference turntable and Fluid arm from the mid-60s playing through a Rotel amp and Monitor Audio Bronze speakers that must be close on 20 years old.  So the teac A150 tape deck, Leak headphones and Dual turntable that are sat doing nothing at the MILs would fit in nicely.  

 

I've still got my Technics amp and Marantz CD player I bought in '96. Had to downsize speakers to bookshelf though, the old Tannoys were too big!