Dean's Activa/XM/V6 and now Talbot blog

[robert_e_smart]

What the 2.0 BMW engine with blown turbos, and ingests inlet manifold swirl flaps, aye great!!!

I am working on a MG TF thing at the moment. I must say that I am impressed with them. Build quality is crap, but its easy to work on, and parts are cheap going by the amount of improvements the owner is asking me to make for him.

just got a brand new GKN cv joint with gaitor/nut/grease/circlip and fixings for £13 off the shelf at a motorfactors not some guy shifting on some nos, unbelievable good value.

Now that is a bargain, why p**s about changing CV boots!

[Citroenmad]

What the 2.0 BMW engine with blown turbos, and ingests inlet manifold swirl flaps, aye great!!!

We had a BMW engined Freelander which was superb, very economical for its size/weight and pulled our horsebox and two horses with ease. Only problem we ever had with it was a failing cam sensor, which was a cheap and easy fix for the local Rover specialist. It was faultless otherwise.

[Deanxm]

Finaly got it stripped back, the damage didnt go as far as the exhaust thankfully, just the heat shield. The lower cross member has been drilled out and removed and all the damaged suspension removed, just got to pay a visit to the scrap yard now, since ive got to pay for this and he doesnt look after the bloody thing i wont be putting the A/C condenser back in or the fans for it either so with that and not having to regas it should save about £80, he will only run it into the ground anyway so whats the point
got the bonnet straightened out along with the top crossmember, sprayed the crossmember too and plastic welded the headlamp mounts back on so we should be looking at under £100 now depending on how much i can find a matching aloy for, sods law these ones are rather rare ish.

Only gets better from here on in

CIMG3546 by Deanxm, on Flickr

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[CitroJim]

It's looking good Dean

Good luck on the wheel otherwise you'll have to adapt an XM wheel to fit....

[Deanxm]

if i dont find one by the end of he week it will be shod with steelies. my enthusiasm for this car is waining now, hard to stay interested when the owner isnt

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[Deanxm]

Wheel shopping monday then its gone, got back at two from work which was handy as i had not touched it since the last entry here, its all running now, all i want to do is line the bonnet/wings and bumper up then do a few plastic bits.

CIMG3555 by Deanxm, on Flickr

CIMG3556 by Deanxm, on Flickr

CIMG3557 by Deanxm, on Flickr

CIMG3558 by Deanxm, on Flickr

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[CitroJim]

Wow That looks a proper quality job Dean. Excellent

[Deanxm]

Rather annoyed i broke the number plate getting it off though, it had those damned anti theft screws and it was stuck on, never mind.
With the number plate (mumble mumble) the bill has come to £48 plus whatever the wheel is, not bad considering. no A/C now though.

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[Deanxm]

well been a while since i posted because nothing has happened at all, but then this morning the Activa and i wer coming back from the hospital at about 1am and there was an almighty bang and then no power, damn intercooler hose popped off, looks like whoever the prat was who last worked on it, whoever he is didnt tighten the clamp up properly.
But more anoyingly i came out at about 2am monday to find she had disgraced herself all over the carpark, im using about 1/2-1 litre a day and seams to be a rear height corrector diaphram has popped and is pouring over the exhaust , just topping it up for now as tomorrow i bring home my little girl born on monday morning at 11;30am, weighing 8lb 14oz, bit of a shock as we had been told she was a boy and after she was born she was instantly put on mum without any checks, it wasnt until the midwife came to clean her up after about 45minutes it was discovered some parts were missing


Little baby Ellie (maybe)3 by Deanxm, on Flickr

Thank you all for your congratulations, thought it best not to foul up the other snow thread.

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[DickieG]

A little cutie there Dean, congratulations I'd love to have seen the moment when those 'missing parts' were discovered

[Deanxm]

It was a surprise thats for sure Richard, i was sure i had heard of another Ellie about and sure enough a search took me to Xantiamans blog, where i saw he too had an Ellie, and a silver Activa (sorry Gareth im not your stalker realy)
The idea behind the name came from a baby book, we were going to call her Oliver (Oly) when she was a he so when i was putting myself to sleep with this book on tuesday, i was looking for names, we were going to go for Faith but it just didnt click, when i saw Ellie was derived from Ellen which in turn comes from the name Helen, Helen is (according to the book) Greek for the sun or, wait for it, the SON we thougt was coming, got the same ring as Oly so that was that. Yes its a bit of a ropey link but thats what we are sticking with.


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[robert_e_smart]

Dean,

You have a true Gem there! The main thing is that baby Ellie and Mum are well. Keep 'em right, weigh in the Activa, get the XM back into service and all will be magic!

Robert

[CitroJim]

Wonderful stuff Dean Elle is a lovely name and she sure is a little cutie She'll have her dad doing exactly what she wants him to do in no time at all

We were very much led to believe Robyn was a boy before she was born and hence had no girl's names for her. That she's called Robyn is not because we'd chosen Robin previously; in fact had she been a boy she was going to be called Adam. So she took us completely by surprise and we decided to give her a good Aussie name...

I don't recall being surprised or shocked when I saw she was a girl. I was too busy being overwhelmed by what has been the very best thing bar none I've ever experienced in my life. The experience was exactly the same again when Sian was born. No naming issues with her as we knew she was a girl from 16 weeks. We'd long before chosen Lauren for her and that was her name almost right up to the day she was born except...

It seemed every girl born that week in MK was called Lauren and we did a quick rethink and so she was Sian; a good Welsh name that roughly translates to Jane.

And here they are now 19 and 16. Seeing and helping them grow from helpless little newborns to fully-fledged adults has been the most amazing, wonderful and satisfying thing I've ever known Dean, you've it all to look forward to! You are now a very rich man albeit a money-poor one. Children have an ability to consume money like an Activa consumes petrol

Robert How dare you suggest Dean weigh in the Activa. Shame on you

[Chris570]

Children have an ability to consume money like an Activa consumes petrol

Robert How dare you suggest Dean weigh in the Activa. Shame on you

Wow can children really be THAT bad, I mean come on a V6 maybe, but Activa consumption, that's a tall order. Before you pipe up Robert I'm sure the XM TCT is just as bad.

Congratulations Dean, is she registered with an FCF account yet? Also is she getting a Xantia or an XM first.....

[robert_e_smart]

XM TCT is not exempt! TD convert all Xm TCTS!