Sorta Successful Sunday…

Sunday, the day of rest. The last slivers of the weekend while away in a gravy soaked roast dinner kind of a day. Or at least they do for most folks – however us at Fu’Gutty Towers work hard 7 days a week to bring you some words relating to a selection of auld scrap.

This day was to be no exception. After an unsuccessful attempt to get the CX running last weekend (Despite best efforts) it was time to roll out the bug guns. Step forward the Emperor of the Electron – my mate Paul.

Citroen CX

Paul is a spark to trade, and the kind of top chap who will drive 100 miles round trip in snow to have a gander at a shonky old car that someone who should really know better has bought.

I primed him with Cooncil tea and chocolate biscuits before introducing him to the CX in all its snow covered glory.

We set about ruling out certain components – spark at the plugs showed that the coil, dizzy, rotor arm, cap and leads were good. The cold start injector was howlin a power of fuel into the inlet, but nothing was happening with the injectors – so it was time to trace that out.

Somewhere in here is elecamatricity – we just need to channel it!

Initial passes with the meter suggested that the wiring loom had no obvious shorts, and that the relays were all functioning normally. The fusebox was located in a less than accessible place, but we managed to check it out ok.

Come out, come out wherever you are!

Not exactly up to E30 specs..

All fuses were present and correct – good news!

We turned our attention to the wires near the battery again. One connector had caught the eye of us last weekend, and did so again. One end had 2 wires, and 2 connectors, but what looked like the other part only had one pin.

We decided to go for broke and clip them together – It only bleeding worked! Disconnecting it caused it to die, confirming that it fed the injectors.

Almost as if these two should be connected..

Woop and indeed YAY!

We took it out for a wee spin and all was well -despite Paul looking a touch confused after driving it.

BMW e38 730i

After the CX was fixed, its was time to assist my Brother with aquisitioning his new conveyance. We’ve spent a few weeks looking for diesel cars for him, but never really saw anything that was tickling his fancy. On one of my daily sweeps for cheap tat on a variety of auction sites, a 1994 e38 730i was found.

The advert was duly sent. I thought no more of it, but evidently my Brother did. A few days passed, then he decided to go and see it. As is mostly the case, he came away clutching the new keeper’s supplement, with a deposit paid and the car ready for collection.

The Pug was fired up, and I set off to the gaff of the Brother to commence collectioneering.

Puglet prepared to participate in purchase procurement perambulations

The car was only ins sunny Barrhead – so barely 20 mins passed before we arrived and the deal was done. I got my first glimpse of it, and it looked superb!

Looks ok from far away!

With Foresight (and a check of the OBC) my brother had brought a can of unleaded to fuel it up, this was promptly done along with a check over for operating lights/wipers etc.

He’ll get used to this view..

It even looks good up close

He slipped into the blue leather and we set off for home. 20 mins later we arrived with no concerns, and it was parked up for the evening. I’ll pester him for a full report at some point.

Suitably executive

Adding value to local property prices

We then had a swift shuftery to the Parents gaff with their Seat Toledo – no fuss or trouble with something that new!

A sensible daily driver, and my 306

Back to its chilly home

Lada Niva Hussar

Not to be outdone, I’d also arranged to collect another car – Time to cross both Lada and 4×4 ownership off my list!

A friend was selling one at a most agreeable price, so I decided to bite the bullet and go for it – they are well known for being extremely capable off-road, so I could see it being a fun thing to own and use on “pay n play” days at local off-road courses. There was just the small matter of getting it home from the other side of the country..

We met up at a park and ride, and followed the owner to their unit.

This is not TATA, this is hello

A short hop along the road brought this into view:

It looks a Loadbeta (do you see what I did there?) than I expected..

We got it up and running, and I took it for a spin.

The lights were non existent, and it was stuttery in extremis. We traced the issue back to a lack of charging, meaning that the battery was draining rapidly.

With a journey of 60 miles ahead of us in the dark and snow, we decided discretion was the better part of valour, so sadly set off home without it. Although all being well, I’ll be back for it soon!

Rarely mistaken for the Blackpool Illuminations!

Til the next time!