Suspension sinks on Sundays! C5 X7 that works hard + 206 GTi HDi (and 406 Coupe and 306 HDi). - MattBLancs

[Huskyxantia]

No , we were there for 45mins no sign of a delivery ive also noticed several garages in past ans noticed how the price goes up just before rush hour then back down again around 8pm surely this is illegal

[PaulC5]

In previous years when prices have been stable I have noticed prices going up for bank holiday weekends, probably expecting more sales as people go out.

I wonder when places with electric charging will start to put up price boards as for petrol/diesel.

[CitroJim]

I do fill up there when they are competitive but last time I went the receipt said "points this visit: 0" - do you definitely still get Clubcard points on fuel Jim?

I've just looked at my Tesco account and indeed, nul points from the filling station

I have £54 in vouchers but all those are accumulated from the other sort of fuel I buy...

I get my fuel in Tesco simply because it's the path of least resistance for me. That mantra applies to everything in my life these days and frankly I note absolutely no difference, either in my cars or van. The AXs seem very happy with Momentum 99.

And due to my limited mileages, its all academic anyway...

I have a good points-based revenue stream going by being a member of a shopping research panel. In return for scanning the barcodes of all I buy and scanning the till receipts, I get points that translate into all sorts of vouchers... It's worth about £250 per year in Amazon vouchers for very little effort

Do get a press as soon as you can Matt - you'll wonder how you ever managed without one

[MattBLancs]

A press - yep, remains "under consideration" but really, really must get my garage back, finally, into a "fits a car in it" status. Being able to get car jobs done independently from what Mother Nature is flinging down at me would be the biggest improvement for me.

Having said that, another bit of old tat has arrived to live in my garage - to accompany the surface plate which hasn't yet secured a proper home.

Eclipse No. 101

[ozfrog]

That wiper has some serious movement there

And not in the direction it’s supposed to be going.

[CitroJim]

Having said that, another bit of old tat has arrived to live in my garage - to accompany the surface plate which hasn't yet secured a proper home.

Its twin sits in my workshop Matt

[MattBLancs]

Minor bits of car progress:

Grey 308 SW, new front and rear wiper blades. Bit of experimentation: I'm trying the shorter drivers side (26") blade on both that and the passenger side positions (in place of an enormous 29" blade!)

As the passenger blade sits above there's an annoying line of water in the driver's eye line, tracing the arc of the edge of the blade.

So, a shorter blade moving moving that line to the left (but an inch and a half, every little helps!)

Bosch AP26U has gone on, Halfords trade (20% off as buying 3+) click and collect. New rear, again a Bosch item.

A slight knock on front suspension, have ordered a pair of anti roll bar drop links, Autodoc

[MattBLancs]

The Autodoc drop link order mentioned triggered a message on Sunday. Seemingly the Borg+Beck items I had ordered (which showed as in stock when ordering) weren't available. So they offered substitutes of QH (Quinton Hazel) brand. Given the B+B ones were just over a fiver each and the replacements listed at £13 each (but were to be supplied to me at the original price), I said "I accept the substitute" or at least I think I did. The next screen offered this confusing button to click / not click:

Spoiler: show

To "Cancel" or not to cancel, that is the question!?!

[CitroJim]

Hmmmm.... Something lost in translation there I fear Matt...

[MattBLancs]

In other news, I made a temporary shade:

Tarp, bungees and a couple of screw-in eyelets

To give me a little relief from the baking sun - this side of the house faces south and it was sweltering!

So I've been in the 'ole below most of the weekend

Earlier in the process

[MattBLancs]

First picture is late in the day, when the sun had finally moved off this area. (Remembered to take a picture just before taking it down last night).

The lead pipe "ambling" across the worksite is old incoming water. Dead (replaced with a blue HDPE line), capped off just the other side of the wall inside.

[CitroJim]

That shade was a good plan Matt!

Lead pipes are OK in the same way as asbestos is OK if left undisturbed. Lead pipes in hard water areas rapidly develop a film of scale which protects the water flowing through them. That doesn't happen if the water is soft and acidic. In that case tin-lined pipes were used.

A great and now almost lost skill is the jointing of lead pipes with wiped solder joints... Great fun. Some plumbers still can and not so long ago, some GPO/BT/OpenScreech telephone engineers too where lead sheathed underground telephone cables were still in use.

[PaulC5]

This could be around 20 years or more ago but at my dad's house the water pipes in the street were being replaced with plastic and I think he refused to have the last bit into his house replaced as he did not trust anyone to connect it to his house lead pipe. The water supply in Leeds is not hard but by then the pipes would have been 50 years old so scaled up to some extent.

[moizeau]

A great and now almost lost skill is the jointing of lead pipes with wiped solder joints...

The roofers over here do it as we have Galve guttering. Flame thrower heating a copper tip. A good joint looks as beautiful as a good weld.

[MattBLancs]

Ha ha, good to know! Thankfully it's dead so it's a bit "up to me" what happens. I'll get the nod from building control man that I can move the cap end from inside to the edge of my current excavations - is so I've a better plan for the bit I'd then cut back: I'll turn it into money!
From memory we'd about £80 worth of redundant lead pipe (gas and water) than was weighed in even we went through our house just over a decade ago.

Just sat in the Grey 308 as it's complaining of blocked DPF I'm told so a Diagbox session underway!