Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[CitroJim]

Surely you do all the paperwork online? It's only 5 mins or be job and all is registered instantly. No wondering if the DVLA have lost it. Sam for tax.

We wish

There's a big back-story here Mike that I'm not going to go into all over again on here but one day when I see you I'll tell you - it is a horrible tale to tell and I'm still trying to get over it - the scars remain very deep and are very easily opened

[Zelandeth]

The bottom line though is that we're well on the way to having it sorted out now.

...I rather doubt I'll end up waiting till the end of the month, despite common sense saying it makes sense!

[CitroJim]

The bottom line though is that we're well on the way to having it sorted out now.

Yes, last hurdle jumped and on the home-straight now Took another phone call to the DVLA again this afternoon to get it finally sorted but I must say, on the three occasions I spoke to DVLA today they were exceedingly helpful... Top marks to them.

If all is now good Zel, a V5C in your name should be dropping on your door mat in a few days...

[Zelandeth]

I have to admit that I was absolutely startled when I spoke to them yesterday...was speaking to someone within 60 seconds of dialling the number and they couldn't have been more helpful...utter contrast to when I last had to phone them up a few months ago, when I waited nearly an hour on hold before speaking to anyone, and even then it felt like I was bashing my head against a brick wall for all the help they offered.

I can't believe I'm saying it - but they've actually been a pleasure to deal with...

[CitroJim]

I can't believe I'm saying it - but they've actually been a pleasure to deal with...

Yes! Agreed, they were.. Incredible and it's a very recent change too...

[Zelandeth]

Oh, hey look... I'm picking up half the wedding party today. Nice to have been given...sixteen minutes notice. *Frantically empties all the stuff out of the rear seat and footwells*

[CitroJim]

Oh, hey look... I'm picking up half the wedding party today. Nice to have been given...sixteen minutes notice. *Frantically empties all the stuff out of the rear seat and footwells*

Could have been worse, it could have been ten

Hope it all went well Zel...

[Zelandeth]

Well first time I've had the Lada out of town properly after dark. The headlights are as bloody excellent as I remembered from my last one. Nice also to find that the muscle memory for the third stalk for main beam/dip still worked properly. Those headlights seem good now, they must have been really impressive back in the day, especially on a budget car.

It also I reckon has a vacuum leak or similar again. It's idling about 500rpm fast and missing like a Mini on a damp morning. Absolutely fine under power, just sounding like a sack of spanners at idle. I'll investigate this week sometime. Let's face it, this is a monthly maintenance task...

Have had a quick look around the Activa today, unsurprisingly the to do list is small! Want to give her a good exterior wash to get rid of the green around a few edges, and to wax the hell out of it before the weather really turns.

Only other things noted were that based on the findings of my version 1.0 ears, the battery is struggling a bit from a cold start - she's not been in regular use for a while though, so not going to bat an eyelid at that until it's spent a night on the charger. Likewise she seemed to stumble a bit initially at idle, again not going to blink until she's had a proper run and a bit of an Italian Tuneup. I have a sneaking suspicion that both of these things will miraculously vanish once she's got a few miles under her wheels.

The interior really is a lovely place to be...no one seems to do leather seats quite as nicely as the French (okay...Volvo in the 80s were up there too). So much nicer than the cardboard that passes for leather in current VW group motors...

[CitroJim]

I'm always amazed at how good the Saxo lights are Zel... When compared to the Xantia and XM lights of the period certainly...

You'll find the Activa lights are OK, possibly because the relay mod has been done...

The Activa has always been a slow cranker at times. I thought it was resistance in the cables and battery clamp.. It may still be and is worth a check... Battery is OK as that one was off the 207 originally and was not very old when I swapped them. The old Activa battery was a slow cranker but is still doing perfect service on the 207...

The idle stumble is a new one Zel, she must have caught that from the Lada Although, having said that, the TCT is not the smoothest of idlers...

Hope the Lada idle and running problems are soon resolved... Like my Saxo, the joys of old-school monopoint injection

[Zelandeth]

To be fair, I've know the car a couple of days...so I'm still quite willing to just tick these off as things it just does if that ends up being the case. I only noticed the idle miss a couple of times at idle because I happened to walk behind the car right after starting it, and it only happened a few times before sorting itself out - so hardly a major issue. Unlike the Lada's which is all over the shop.

Very much not worried about either of these things to be honest.

[CitroJim]

Very much not worried about either of these things to be honest.

That's good Between us we have all the skills to sort out any issues anyway

[Zelandeth]

Actually had a surprisingly productive day around the house today. However does mean that I didn't really have much time to do anything car related.

I did however get two tasks done. Firstly to plug the Saab into the battery charger as it's rather flat and I really don't want to kill a year old battery.

Second was to attack the Activa with the pressure washer. Now...How do you go about pressure washing a Dante Red Citroen? VERY CAREFULLY...That's how. Luckily I've been playing this game long enough to be pretty good at that.

The car in general wasn't actually too grubby to be honest, save for a couple of fingerprints on the wings that were the inevitable result of the recent work on the front brakes and driveshafts. What there was however was a lot of green gunk growing in all the window seals, the roof gutters, around all the bumper/door trims and around the sunroof.

Easy enough to deal with though!

This stuff...

(I've been using that bottle for about two years now...That should give you an idea how far it goes)

...a microfibre wash mitt and some warm water actually did make a surprising amount of difference to the look of the car overall.

If it's dry tomorrow and time permits I'll try to give her a quick skim over with the polish and wax, as that I reckon will make quite a big difference.

[CitroJim]

Zel, that looking good Sorry about the greasy fingerprints!

That green moss growth was always a fight with me and I could never fully shift it... Pleased the pressure washer did the trick

Excellent

I have to confess I'm very bad at washing cars

[Zelandeth]

No worries Jim. Both the fingerprints and moss are inevitable really. Periodic attention with a pressure washer is really the only solution I've found that works 100%. Some cars seem to be far more prone to it than others too.

[Zelandeth]

Based on my math, hopefully the V5 should be due to drop on my doorstep as of tomorrow. *fingers crossed*

Been helping look after a friend who's having some health troubles for most of this afternoon, but did manage to sneak out for half an hour - mainly to make sure that all of my cleaning, polishing etc supplies were where I thought they were. I couldn't resist a quick test.

I managed to get the spoiler and bootlid done before I ran out of daylight...this was the only angle I could get a photo of which really gives an idea how deep a shine came up aside from the corners where the clearcoat is damaged.

That was just after a very quick skim over with the clay mitt, polish, buff then wax over the top. Total time spent: About 10 minutes. Plus side of it being windy is that it makes the polish/wax flash off that much faster!

There were quite a few little black specs stuck all over the spoiler when I started - they've all vanished now, so must have been just surface contaminants.

Just had a very expensive bill land in my inbox too for parts for the Lada...£510 worth of them!

[] Injection spec fuel tank: £250.
[] Fuel pump: £120.
[] Fuel hoses (x3): £21.
[] Brackets (assorted): £3.
[] Washers (x10): £10.
[] Layshaft flexible coupling: £12.
[] Upper and lower balljoint set (all four): £40.
[] Reversing Light Switch: £5.
[] Clutch fluid reservoir: £5.
[] Engine Mount (x2): £10.
[] Gearbox Mount: £5.
[] Shipping: £32 (the fuel tank needs to go separately due to the size).

I don't want to think how much that would be for that lot on most other cars! It's a lot of money sure, but it's only being spent once, and will make the car both better and safer at the end of the day. I also probably only need one ball joint right now - but they're cheap enough that I may as well just buy the full set - as I'm just going to throw the car (metaphorically speaking!) at Two Wrestlers at some point with the instruction of "stop the thing creaking at me!" and ensuring that they have all the possible offending parts on hand. Plus let's face it, I'll need them someday.