vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,257
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Jan 30, 2020 15:18:48 GMT
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no power or water in the garage but for now, we're using it as secure storage and workspace since it's too small to actually use as a garage for any of our cars. The hedge is staying put, it offers some privacy and noise reduction and we fancy keeping it that way. Car ports are a little more versatile for what I need too, I can drop some tarps on the side to offer basic weather protection if needed when working, or to screen from any welding I'm doing since it's a fairly open spot. I'd actually like to build a 70s style carpart with the big metal V posts holding up a slim roof frame, but to do that I need my welder up and running again first.
It's all work for the future, for now what we've got does what we need.
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,555
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Jan 30, 2020 15:36:49 GMT
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For privacy and noise put in a decent fence! Looks much neater and you can get rid of the messy looking hedge and generate room at the same time! Seems like the back fencing has seen better days as well anyway. Easy DIY job.
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,316
Club RR Member Number: 64
Member is Online
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Jan 30, 2020 16:38:57 GMT
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Getting power out to the garage isn’t a major drama. Not with your house being so close. Bit of SWA and a small consumer unit out there and you’re golden.
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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Jan 30, 2020 17:17:54 GMT
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I have a load of spare swa and a consumer unit going spare if you need one.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,257
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Jan 30, 2020 19:05:51 GMT
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We're aware of the shortcomings of the fence and the hedge, they're both on The List. For now it's a case of prioritising the issues the house and surroundings have and doing our best to do everything within our time and money constraints. We've got the drive and garage set up as good as we can get it at the moment. Ideally, the whole back fence needs re-panelling as several of the panels are totally rotten and one has blown over twice since we've moved in a few weeks ago. The hedge down the side of the drive is under maintenance and we aren't changing it for a fence. Instead, we're pulling the dead stumps out of the hedge, planting some new shrubs repairing the decorative wall at the bottom of it and keeping it trimmed nicely. It's more within our means to do that than building a new fence. Not really sure how to get power into the garage at the moment in a way that's safe, it's not something I have any experience of doing and, honestly, there's far more important things to get through at the moment than getting permanent power in a garage that's too small for a car. If we need power outside, we've got extension cables and that'll do for now. In a few months, we can look at this issue more seriously, so we may well take up blackpopracing on that offer at that point. There's just so much to do at the moment it's ridiculous. Since moving in there's not really been a single day gone by that I haven't been working full time with my business and doing DIY. It's pretty exhausting tbh, and as much as I'd love to magically have the garage sorted and great, it's probably going to take a few months until we're close to that point.
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,555
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Hey, been there, done that myself over the past year and a half... Balancing the needs of the house (which were far more than anticipated and budgetted for) with the budget and the drain kids put on the finances... All while trying to improve the Granada. So no shame you just saying it like it is. And hey, it's always easy to comment from behind a keyboard...If this is your home to be for the coming decades than all will be as you want it within time. As said, I'm now nearing the two year mark and have 90% sorted. But that last 10 percent is neither in the budget nor easy to set myself to! So I get it, I do...
Edited to say that in my case, moving house has done so much for my/our families general feeling of happiness that that alone makes it worth all the effort, stress and even money! Hope you can say the same in a little while...
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As said, I'm now nearing the two year mark and have 90% sorted. Shhhh! Don't let my missus hear you say that. We've been here close to 20 years and I still haven't got round once.
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,555
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Jan 31, 2020 10:43:21 GMT
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As said, I'm now nearing the two year mark and have 90% sorted. Shhhh! Don't let my missus hear you say that. We've been here close to 20 years and I still haven't got round once. The problem isnt usually the initial pass in itself. It's often doable, in my case for a large part counted on an budetted for. It's the "while you are at it's" and the "well now you've done this"-es and the "oh I'd like this done also's" that mean you're never really done. And that's only round one, which is as a rule immediately followed by round two... I'm still foolish enough to believe that having done so much the past two years, the next ones will be a lot less involving doing a job here a job there....yeah right!
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,257
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Jan 31, 2020 11:45:55 GMT
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There's a few unexpected things we've encountered with this house. It's surprising what you let slide/put up with when you rent that suddenly seems much more of a problem when you own. If this was a rented place I'd just clean it and put up with it, repaint if the landlord permitted. Since that's not the case, you start looking at things like the old central heating installation which has really strangely located radiators and exposed pipework, putting that right (or at least, how we'd like it, since it does work perfectly fine) is expensive. Bathroom and kitchen are much the same issue. Neither have been done particularly well but they're both servicable so for now we make do with what's there and later, we redo it properly. Finding that balance between what we want and what we can afford is fun and frustrating. I like the challenge of re-using things already in the house, and finding more affordable solutions to what we want but sometimes it would be nice to just go out and Buy The Thing. Thankfully, the only kids we have are made of metal and live outside, so that's a lot less stressful than it might be I've already been eyeing up the kitchen cupboards that are still serviceable as useful storage in the garage/workshop so I don't have to fork out for new stuff that's only going to get damaged with use anyway. I'd actually really like to use reclaimed materials as much as possible when sorting out the garage/workshop, not so much for the cost saving as the fact I hate wasting perfectly servicable stuff. I've been keeping an eye out in the neighbourhood for anyone demolishing/renovating, you never know when someone is going to throw away a perfectly good shed, or bath tub, or bricks...
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,316
Club RR Member Number: 64
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Jan 31, 2020 13:44:22 GMT
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I’m the same.
Striking a balance between reclaiming stuff and buying new is pretty much my ethos. If you’ve the space to store stuff until you need it then some significant savings can be had. I’ve just recently scored enough free structural timber to reinstate about 1/2 the mezzanine floor in my garage.
Try not to let yourself get snowed under with clutter though. That’s my biggest issue. 😃
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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Jan 31, 2020 20:18:36 GMT
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Hi tried to send a pm regarding house stuff, I think it's hit every spam filter going due to the use of the K word....
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,257
Club RR Member Number: 146
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I have been giving the BX a few doses of Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure. The last few times it's rained I'd been having a look at what parts of the car were staying dry, rather than wet, in an effort to find the root cause of the water ingress. This led me to the assumption the leak must be either the windscreen surround or the roof gutter seam on the driver's side. Having found out the roof gutters are bonded on and something of a nightmare to remove, I wanted to avoid that job. So, an application of CTCCC was duly applied and the roof gutter and a good portion of the driver's side of the windscreen seal slurped up a decent quantity. Then I just had to wait for it to rain, which it did, and I was rewarded with a car that while not bone dry inside, had certainly allowed much less water in than previously. usually, that black floor grommet is full of water, this time it had collected just in front of it in a much more managable quantity. Since then, I've run some more CTCCC along the gutter which is no longer accepting any (probably means there was a leak there, now plugged) and then a couple of applications along the entire top edge of the windscreen surround. What was interesting was watching the successive applications disappearing in less and less places, presumeably as it was filling up little tiny holes that have been letting water in. Now I just have to wait for it to rain enough to see if the leak reappears. I've tried using a hosepipe to simulate rain to show up the leak and for whatever reason this never actually works, the car seems to have to sit in the rain for several hours before it lets any water in so that must mean it's a fairly tiny leak, wherever is is. In other news, BX has been on donkey duty today hauling furniture and Stuff to the new house when I spotted a skinny locker propped up against a garden wall. After a couple of door knocks, I learned it was put out for scrap, so duly scooped it up as potential garage storage since it's a nice solid thing. It was only after getting it home and showing pictures to a couple of friends that I learned it's a gun locker, which explains the weird bottom-hinged door. I'm planning to use it to store metal bar stock and garden canes and other skinny bits of useful stuff. I daresay I did alright for free on this one, it even still has the key. Oh, and I should add, the BX has magically self-healed. Whatever was causing the starting problem has gone away of its own accord and it's gone back to being completely ordinary about starting. It's been so useful while setting up the new house, the massive amount of load space when you drop the rear seat means I haven't had to lean on the other half for use of his Fiat Doblo very often at all. It's difficult to think of a better all-round car for what I want and need really.
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,916
Club RR Member Number: 40
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Gun safe might be worth a quick Gumtree or whatever your preferred sale site is as you might be able to get more useful storage for the £50 or so its worth. Weird about the starting, bloody cars ! James
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,316
Club RR Member Number: 64
Member is Online
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Gun safe might be worth a quick Gumtree or whatever your preferred sale site is as you might be able to get more useful storage for the £50 or so its worth. Weird about the starting, bloody cars ! James I was just about to say the same thing.
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,257
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Yeah... but if I sell it I have to deal with People. Garden canes and bar stock. They're easier to deal with than People. --- One recurring issue with the BX is the plug for the low coolant sensor. Every now and then, it throws the light on to tell you that you've run out of coolant and the big scary STOP light comes on. I've learned to ignore it when it does this because usually, after a while the light goes out again. Thing is, ignoring the STOP light is not a good habit to be in with a BX. What's causing it is a poor connection at the plug. Most of the time the connection is fine, but because the plug hangs down underneath the sensor if it's anything less than a perfect tight fit it wiggles loose just enough to break contact. Happily it never comes loose enough to fall out and bash into the fan on the alternator. Having a look at the plug I'm not sure if it should have one of those hairpin/locking wire things like a lot of the other plugs do, and any attempt to tighten up the connection in the plug has met with failure thus far. Cable-tying it in place is a solution, just not one I'm fond of, I consider that last resort on this one since like everything else on this car, I'd like to fix things properly if I can. Here's the plug. The black block that goes into the white plastic end tank of the radiator is the low coolant sensor.
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,318
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Are you sure that’s what the issue is with the coolant sensor? They usually have a load of limescale fuzz on the sensor prongs which stops the current flowing through the coolant and thus registers as open circuit, aka, coolant low.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,257
Club RR Member Number: 146
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I'm sure. I've cleaned the connector up early on so it wasn't on almost all the time. Now, when you plug it in it's always just ever so slightly loose and you can wiggle it a bit and get the light to come on and off. What I'm not sure about is that there's a wire clamp thingy missing which would should put a bit extra pressure on things and keep it connected.
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,316
Club RR Member Number: 64
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Release the spades from inside the plug. There’s probably a little tag latching them in, sticking out the back of the flat side. Squeeze them up a bit and pop them back in.
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,257
Club RR Member Number: 146
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I had tried that already, to no avail. It just works loose again and the problem reappears. The other suggestion has been to use a cabletie and while that's not my favoured approach, it's probably the best solution in this instance.
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cabletie... ...that's not my favoured approach what is this unusual sorcery you speak of its an actual cable !
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Last Edit: Feb 6, 2020 14:29:18 GMT by darrenh
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