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Cars to 2019

SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE UPDATED BLOG
All the cars! Ones in Bold I still have.
Up to Dec 01th 2018 this is my car history so far..... Click a link to read more.

Car1 F923 EDS (1988) Lada Samara 1.3L (White) (Aug92-Nov94) Sold to sister.

Car2 A957 LKP (1983) Nissan Sunny 1.3? (Red) (Oct94-Mar95) Sold to Hoo engine center.

Car3 E86 xxx (1987) Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8GL ( Galaxy Blue )(Nov95- )EBR1

Car4 TNP xxxY (1983) VW Golf Formel E (Mars Red) (May98-April2011 ) EBR2 (Sold on ebay!)

Car5 G211 LHH (1989) Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8LX ( Red ) (Apr99-Mar00) PXed for Bro's 325i sport

Car6 J937 DWU (1992) Vauxhall Carlton 2.0CDi (Burgundy) (Mar00-Mar03) Sold at auction

Car7 G400 SDS (1990) Ford Sierra 2.9 XR4x4 ( Tasmin Blue ) (Nov02-Jan03) Broken

Car8 G713 CRL (1990) Ford Sierra 2.9 XR4x4 ( Black ) (Apr03-Apr04) Sold

Car9 G100 KKW (1990) Ford Sierra 2.9 XR4x4 Twin Turbo ( White ) (June03-Aug03) Broken

Car10 F384 FRH (1989) Ford Sierra 2.9 XR4x4 ( Metalic Grey ) (Feb04-Mar04)
Sold

Car11 Hxxx xxx (1990) Ford Siera 2.0 XR4x4 (Tasmin Blue ) (Mar04-Jun04) EBR3 Sold Local

Car12 A508 AVO (1983) Ford Sierra XR4i Converted to 2.9 Twin turbo ( white ) (May04-July04) EBR4 Sold to Taps

Car13 K480 AHP (1992) Ford Sierra 2.0 XR4x4 ( Black ) (July04-Oct04) Sold to Locost owner.

Car14 M285 DVL (1994) Volvo 855 T5 ( Metalic Dark Green ) (Oct04-Sep06) Broken

Car15 D794 MNS (1985) Ford Capri 1.6 Laser ( Laqure Red ) (Jun05-Jan06) Swapped for Car 16.

Car16 L530 HJO (1993) Peugeot 405 STDT ( Black ) (Oct05-Feb06) Sold local.

Car17 J579 YEV (1992) Ford Sierra 2.0i Ghia (Tasmin Blue) (Jan06-Jun06) Broken

Car18 K202 FJN (1993) Ford Sierra 2.0i XR4x4 (Smokestone Blue) (May06-Sep06) Sold to Nathan

Car19 M672 BMA ( 1995 ) Ford Scorpio Cosworth 24V (Tourmallard Green) (Sep06-Mar09) Broken

Car20 Xxxx RDT ( 1982 ) VW Golf MK1 (Mars Red) (Jan07-May07) EBR5 Broken

Car21 J672 KVK (1992) Ford Sierra GT ( ? Blue ) (Aug07-Jan09) Broken

Car22 (1995) Ford Mondeo 24V Si (Stardust Silver) (Oct07-Mar2012 ) EBR6 Sold on.

Car23 L744 MLS (1994) Ford Granada Cosworth (Tourmallard Green) (Jun08-Jul08) Broken

Car24 (2002) Ford Galaxy Ghia 2.3 (State Blue) (Oct 2008 - ) (Oct08- )EBR7

Car25 EE0..... (1981) VW Golf 1.1 (Mars Red) (Apr09-Jan 10) EBR8 - Broken Up

Car26 G..... (1989) Ford Sierra XR4x4 Twin Turbo (Diamond White) (Dec09-) EBR9



Car27 ...... (20xx) Haynes Roadster (Zinc Yellow and Black) (Jan 10-) EBR10

Car28 ...... (2000) Volvo V40 1.8S (Red) (May 2011- Sep 2011) Sold Ebay

Car29 P457 HRM (1997) Merceded C230 Elegance (Ruby Red)(Sep 2011- Dec 2011) Sold Ebay

Car30 AE52 GBF (2002) Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCI Ghia X (State Blue) (Dec 2011 - Dec 2012.. ) Sold Via Ebay


Car31 Y653 UOT (2001) Jaguar S-Type 3.0 Sport (Pacific Blue) (Nov 2012- Oct 2014) Sold Via Ebay



Car32 N89 BNB (1996) VW Passat 1.8TDI CL Estate (Indian Red) (Jan 2014 - Aug 2014) Sold to a m8



Car33 GM04 BJY (2004) BMW E61 530D SE (Oriental Blue) (AUG 2014-   Mar 2015)to WeBuyAnyCar

Car34 Y869 ... (2001) Jaguar S-Type 4.0 ( Pacific Blue) (Apr  2015 - )

Car35 W167 ... (2000) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec ( Panther Black ) (Nov 2015 - July 2016)
Sold to Friend and then bough back for parting out..
Car35b W167 ... (2000) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec ( Panther Black ) (June 2017 - )

Car 36 V98 ... (1999) Jaguar S-Type 3.0 ( Cardinal Red ) ( May 2016 - May 2017)
Stripped for parts and scrapped.

Car 37 XXXX (xxx) Jaguar S-Type 3.0 ( Light Blue ) ( Nov 2017

Car 38 ST56 xxx (2006) Transit MWB HIgh T350 100 (White) (June 2018- XXX)

Car 38 ST56 xxx (2006) Transit MWB HIgh T350 100 (White) (June 2018- XXX)

Mid life crisis????

Time to get a van! [ Back in June! ]

Yes I decided for a number of reasons to get a van, my startup trading business in Mantiques and retro items made collecting stock in the Jag was impractical most of the time. Also we do a few car boot sales and although I have a trailer, it was not easy to just get up and go!.

Also with building works going on and other things....

A van made some sort of sense.

Found a clean white transit on ebay. Did not know much about them but got it for a good price..

Found out soon enough that it had a terrible whine and kept cutting out.

However with some guidance from the forum I found "FORSCAN" and it told me some things that my very cheap Bluetooth OBD2 reader did not. The information tied in with some hints from forum members that the SCV (suction control valve) is a likly culprit... £170 from Ford or £60 from PF Jones... Orderd, Fitted, Sorted!!

I have a new Axle to go on which will hopefully cure the whine, and also drop the RPM at 70MPH as it's got quite a low ratio in at present.. The garage will be fitting it..

The bulkhead has already been removed and I have a pair of seats to go in the back so we can use it as a Day Van with bikes and stuff. Need to get a glazed sliding door though. I actually got a full set of minibus seats and have managed to sell the extra for a good proffit...

Over all it's been quite useful. And the jag has had a rest for a couple of months.

Trying to sell the trailer now!

2017 Christmas Update...

Well we are at the end of 2017 what has happened in the last year and a bit???

V8 Jaguar :- She has been fairly good to me. The MOT this year picked up a few advisories on the rear brakes, then a month later a slightly noisy wheel bearing changed to a very noisy wheel bearing with a lot of play! Parts were supplied to the garage and she came back fixed :) . It's now arround 12K since the engine went in. Still a few niggles to sort out, and having replaced ARB deop links for MOT in May I am finding they are starting to knock again ( CHEAP! ) . I have some new rear shocks to go on that I got very cheap 70% off list! so that will be done in the spring. Tyres keep goign flat and the battery is on it's last legs.  Love it still and it's entering the rare breed of cars I have owned more than 3 years as a driver ( despite a long period off the road )

Galaxy:- This was showing signs at 108K of a failing head gasket, I put in a bottle of K-Seal and that did the trick but I wanted it sorted so forked out ~£700 on having the head gasket replaced. Still loosing water but not sure why. She runs ok though. Just need to keep nursing it along for as long as possible.

Red V6 Jag:- This was eventualy stipped bear and the shell dispatched. made a decent little proffit on it.

The Focus:- This came to the end of it's working life with my friend, and as agreed I bought it back cheap as I wanted the engine, my alloys and the interior. It's had a hard life in the time it was not with me. I need to find the time to begin the strip out.

Blue V6 Jag:- Picked this up locally as a total MOT failure. It's to be stripped for parts too but maybe not as drastic as the last one... who knows..

Galaxy update...

The galaxy tends to get slightly neglected, we have had it over 8 years and covered just about 50K.

In the last couple of years it's had a few maladies, the water pump failed in 2014, closely followed by the wiper mechanism ( common fault ), then the coolant sensor, when I also uncoverd a collapsed gearbox mount) and then the battery. The wiperes seized again whilst on holiday March 2016, but stripping and lubricating on the camp site restored them to opperation.

The last few years have also been beset with random electrical oddities with the alarm, locking and indicators. At one point the tailgate was failing to open and rear light and demisters were playing up. I checked the tailgate loom and it was shorting and breaking up in places. I replaced it and everything seemed good for a couple of weeks. then the normal indicator alarm issue returned. It was difficult to diagnose, as soon as you moved the car onto the drive to have a look the issue went away.

We got used to this, however whilst on holiday in August 16, I decided to have a poke under the bonnet at the distribution box to see if I could get the issue to present itself. I could not. Next morning, the alarm, indicators and boot release were non functional. We had to tow the trailer home the next day!! ARG!

On the way back to the campsite that day ( sans indicators ) we stopped in Aldi, and had such good fortune that they had Digital Multi Meters on offer!!

Back at the camp-site I quickly diagnosed a lack of power on one of the connectors out of the junction box. I rigged a jumper cable and everything worked again. Not only that It worked as it should.

Satisfied that the in hand issue was fixed I ordered a replacement box while still on holiday. that was quickly swapped on a few days later and we have had no further issues ( except there are some broken wires in the passenger front door that cause an occasional problem)

As I was now satisfied the core issue was solved I felt it was worth spending a bit more time on the old girl.

the Drivers rear door had not worked on the central locking for a few years, I quickly traced this to a dead earth at the motor so just rigged a new earth.

A full new exhaust was fitted at MOT with no other issues.

The only other electrical oddity is the passenger rear window motor that does not work on the switches but does through GLOBAL. both loom and motor were swapped with the door a few years ago so I need to look further.

Number . 3.0 Jaguar S-Type V6 Parts Car.

This car was on EBAY for a few weeks with ever reducing price, mechanically it was not of great use to me as it's a V6 not a V8. but it looked fairly good and had under 83K on the clock. It was only half an hour up the road.

 I thought that I could probably strip it for a few good bits, and flog the rest to make the purchase price back. I got it for £200 in the end, +£40 for insurance to drive it home.

The car looked very good, A colour I had not previously liked but now do. The front hubs  were rough , as was the brakes. But she drove lovely other than that. It seemed a shame to break her, but when totting up the cost which would also require a rear subframe replacement  it was obviously an uneconomical car to repair.



Quite a number of little trim bits were swapped to my V8 car, the headlamp washers have been put to one side to fit to my car.  The heated seats were swapped to my car.  generally made my car better using ~£170 retail on parts.

The rest of the car was quickly stripped although there is still a bit to do and she sits on the drive quite sad :( . But selling bits and bobs netted ~£600 extra profit and a few other spares remain on the shelf.

I would do it again but space and time do become a problem.

 

Between March and May, I hauled out the dead V8, it was a long and drawn out process due to partly to the weather, stuck fastenings and the fact the gearbox bell housing had corroded to the engine making it almost impossible to split the two.

In the end the old lump finally broke free of the gearbox and was hauled out. I cleaned up the engine bay made sure everything was prepared and ready and then on one afternoon went from no engine to having the lump bolted in in ~1hr and the rest of it connected up and ready to run over the next 3 hrs.

The first start up was noisy due to no exhausts. Subsequent ones were quieter but it was a bit smokey. Since I had never seen or heard the donor engine I was a little worried.

However she went for MOT and passed without any issue of note. She stayed off the road till the end of June. But then was put back into service and now in late December has accrued 3800 miles.

The Focus was sold on to a friend, on the proviso that it was retuned for a 50% rebate as the car was fitted with my Wolfrace VooDoo wheels and a reasonable ST interriror. It also has a 1.8 Zetec that may be useful ;)

The  focus was a fun little beast, it did everything asked of it.

The Jaguar is super, it does require a little fetteling due to rattles from the suspension. And a cold misfire. But it's FAB.

Dead Engine, And a focus....

On the way to Keswick one Saturday afternoon in late October we were stuck behind a slow moving tractor on the A66 in the V8 Jag.

At an opportune moment I pulled out and accelerated hard to overtake, then the car started behaving ODD! I let off the throttle but it kept up the revs. I pulled back in, cut the ignition and tried to restart but it would not play ball.

We costed to a layby, and she would not turn over. Not even a little. RAC took 4 Hrs to get to us and another 1.5 to get us recovered.

The engine eventually started at home but sounded dreadful. I am in the process of replacing it.


To keep me mobile I started scouring EBAY/Autotrader. Looking at everything from some horrid euro trash to XJ8's .  Eventual I bought a Panther Black 1.8L Zetec focus 3Dr. The trip to pick it up over in the north east was not fun as the weather was dreadful with torrential rain and flooding.

£300 bought it, and so far 5 months later I am still enjoying it's fun handling ( although it's a bit slow. It needed a window winder £40, cam cover gasket £8, rear bearing £12, and a caliper £15.  I also swapped on my Wolfrace Voodoo wheels and bought an ST170 half leather interior... MOT next month!

This is the beginning of the strip down to replace the engine that sized in October. The grill was swiftly removed. The front bumper was more of a problem due to rusty fittings.