Davie's french attraction.

[Michel]

I'm putting on the 15's. It's more for a bit wider tyres than the 155 section. The set of 4 cost me 30 quid, with two new tyres on them. Shaun has two new tyres he had bought for his 205 which are going on the front. I don't know if I'm going to sell the 14's yet, but if I am you will get first refusal Mike. All 4 tyres although plenty tread are crap.

I'll certainly take them if you decide to shift them on. You can remove the tyres if you can get it done free, make them smaller and lighter to ship. I'd get them refurbed in gunmetal grey anyway.. or if you have a cheap wheel refurb man up there, I can pay you up front to have him do it before they come down.

[daviemck2006]

The snow has hit here big time today. I am considering going to collect Gabby from my mate if he hasn't started taking the fuel pump out yet. It has winters on it so may be better in the snow than the 107. I've noþ seen my mate for a couple of weeks so I've no idea if he has done anything or not. I would suspect not, as I told him there was no hurry, then he took ill. If there is still snow on Friday it would probably be better than the 107 for work. Ok, it's leaking from the fuel pump but probably has been for a while and another day or two running probably won't make much difference.

[daviemck2006]

Gabby wouldn't start, presumably because she's been sitting for nearly 4 weeks not started, and the temperature being below freezing, and still veg in her not derv, and the battery being a bit down. My mate has admitted that after having a look at things he is not that keen on going the job, so I'm going to go down the road of a breakers fuel pump and get it swapped elsewhere, or in another month or two if the weather ever warms up. She will run again, and will get the paint I'm promising her.

Bigpug is going to have to go to a garage and get sorted then get cleaned up and possibly a fresh MOT, I think it only has a couple of months on it, and sold on. I've no I retest in her, which is a shame cos it's a nice looking thing.

Lilpug hiding Rom the winter weather in her lock up.

Whitebug doing what it says on the tin, starts when asked, goes when asked and stops when asked. Traction crap with sunnitec tyres on the front. Probably they should only be used on sunny days, they turn into solid plastic with no grip in the wet or snow. Shaun has given me two unused Yokohama Prada tyres to fit on the 15" alloys to go with the back ones. He bought them for his 205gti which never got fitted. That should improve things a bit. Hopefully get them fitted this week sometime.

He is no farther on with finishing off blackbug. As far as I am aware it just needs radiators fitted, electrics connected, and bumper lights ect fitted and now a MOT and its ready to go. His Skoda seems to be just about behaving itself. His mx5 threw it's toys out of the pram after it sitting unused for a while. It started no problem, handbrake seemed stuck on so he gave it some revs and tried to get the car moving. Something about the brakes broke, the car moved, a pad fell out, on the way jammi g between the caliper and the alloy, cracking the alloy. I do keep telling him to leave the car in 1st or reverse and the handbrake off if they are not getting used, so it's tough on him. I'm not taking a wheel off to look to see what broke. He has gone as far as getting a cheap set of wheels for it.

That's about all the car news, my news is that my health has been poor but it is improving. I hate when the health is poor, having to ask for help with things I would normally do myself. Had I been ok I would think that Gabby fuel pump would have been sorted by now, by myself. I'd doesn't look too difficult to remove the pump from the car according to the BOL. I really could have been doing with her winters the last week! They are multi-fit wheels but I think 17" wheels would be some big for a wee 107 lol. There will be the pitter patter of tiny feet again in the family in another 4 months, that will be both my daughter's with two children each. So hopefully a good summer ahead to keep the black dog at bay. If I get Gabby running and painted to have a weekend away to say the national I will be happy. If so I will try to beg, borrow, steal, buy or even hire a wee caravan for that. I would fully expect Gabby to be a superb tow car, every other pud or citròen diesel I have towed with has been brilliant. If I go to the northern that will be a 205 and a b&b job.

[daviemck2006]

Forgot to say I've done a convert from a piece of crap vw polo to a frenchy. Shauns mate who drove Gabby and was wanting to buy her has found himself a pug 306 1.9d turbo, in blaze yellow, 1998 R plate done 134000 miles in good nick. Such a much better car than an 06 polo! In fact I'm a bit jealous!

[Stickyfinger]

A little squirt of brake cleaner into the intake Davie....kick it over !

[daviemck2006]

A little squirt of brake cleaner into the intake Davie....kick it over !

I'll wait untill the weather heats up a bit then hopefully she will go ok. I will only be thing her home anyway and parking her until it's mild enough for me to get the spanners out and take the pump off.

[Zelandeth]

If you've got to resort to a garage to get Bigpug sorted Davie I've never had a duff experience with Cameron Autotech over in Cuminestown. Not the cheapest, but they've always done top notch work on my cars. The disclaimer there is last time I was in there was the last MOT on the 107 before it came south, which would be April 2012! Had been using them since well before I was driving though as I was in charge of maintenance of my father's cars from about 1998 onwards. Credit to them - they didn't bat an eyelid at me walking in with Dad and me doing all the talking!

Sure you'll get it sorted out though.

Sounds like the tyres you have on your 107 have similar properties to the Death Rings that mine came with from the factory. They were horrendous on anything other than a warm, dry road. In the snow or even just slush it was downright lethal. The ABS on mine has always been somewhat hyper-sensitive, and with the original tyres it had a tendency in winter conditions to make it so that you simply couldn't stop. I first discovered this in conditions that I can class as "slight slush" when I went to stop from walking pace - and proceeded to sail straight into the middle of the island by Morrison's in Inverurie. Mercifully the bus driver coming round picked up on my expression of mild panic - and the fact they saw me madly flailing for the handbrake - and we managed to avoid each other. It got parked up back at the flat later that day and didn't move again until the following spring!

First car I've ever had with ABS in the winter, hence the fact that I now have an inherent distrust of it. Likewise stability control. That near punted me into the middle of the roundabout just past Kintore on the A96 one evening in my Dad's 207. I know how to deal with the front end washing out a bit because I'm "making progress" (well...as well as you can in a 1.4HDi 207...), I do not however know what to do then the electronic stability control decides to have an outright panic because it's detected a bit of wheel slip and virtually chucks me into the island. Scared me silly that did.

My 107 wasn't too bad in the bad weather after it got the new tyres fitted, but I still never really trusted it - partly due to the manic ABS system, and partly due to the fact that I really struggled with the lack of steering feedback. Just never felt that I knew what the front wheels were actually doing.

Be careful using the front as a snowplough...managed to pull the number plate off mine backing out of spaces in a snowy car park. Twice. Pretty sure I invented some new swear words the second time!

[daviemck2006]

Cameron Autotech was actually who I was thinking of trying. I know they have a half decent reputation, and they are also a Bosch service centre. I have them earmarked for when I pull the fuel pump off Gabby if I am going to get it rebuilt it is going there. If they do it I would think I would get a warranty of some king from them. I know me us I g veg was probably why the pump seals dissolved, but that would have been the last straw, 20 years and 218000 miles would have as much to do with it!

The abs on whitebug is far more sensitive than blackbug, and also the red 09 reg I first had. Even in the dry it's kicking in under really not very hard braking at all, to the extent I was wondering if it is faulty! I shall wait until it has new tyres on before I decide that. I expect your 107 Zel had continental eco tyres on when new, as had my red one, and the black one, and white has two on the back and one in the boot. They are horrid things on a 107, as much that I will never buy continentals. The ones on whites rear are date stamped in 2015, and haven't done many miles, but at under e years old, still have 6.5 mm tread are cracking all the way round in the bottom of every tread. Horrid things! We have found in the standard size either uniroyal rain expert 3 or falken to be best, I prefer the uniroyal. On 15's the two tyres on the wheels that are going on are arrowspeed, 7mm tread, and its getting Yokohama Prada on the front. The size is 195/50x15 which are slightly oversize for rolling radius, they should be 195/45x14. However for £30 for the wheels with the two rears already fitted and free yokos from Shaun one cannot complain! I would say to you when your activa needs new boots to go for the uniroyal too. I know they come in the correct ratings for the activa in 15" and although mine are 17" they were brilliant on the activa, and on gabby.

[Zelandeth]

Uniroyals would usually be my first choice, they've served me well on Saabs over the years. Can't remember what I wound up putting on my 107...which is really bugging me now. It did the same thing, originals still had a heap of tread left all round but we're perishing badly. Difference it made made me regret not binning them the day I got it.

Only worse tyres I think I've driven on were the Dunlops that the Skoda had on when I got it...but I'll give them a pass given they were from 1986! They were replaced with Pirellis I think - though that was basically because they were the only ones I could get hold of in the correct size - turns out not many things use 155 full profile tyres any more!

[daviemck2006]

Got Gabby started today. She just was not willing to go. Whipped out the fuel filter, it was not pretty but I have seen much worse. Put in a new filter, and filled it up with fuel and she started nearly instantly and running much smoother. So as she has been idle for a couple of months off I went for a run in her to charge battery and clean brakes etc. How I have missed that car! She is in service again now, as stated in another thread went to a Bosch service centre, where she is going to go for a replacement fuel pump once I find one. The leaking fuel is not going near the timing belt so that's a relief. The ex Citroen tech says no problem changing the pump, it's a job he has done umpteen times before, he has all the necessary tools including what he called a bent spanner for one of the bolts! So he will get the job to do. If they sort out Gabby then they can have a go of bigpug. I'm getting to the stage that I am not really up for major slandering, I think I will be limited to basic servicing only on simple cars. Bigpug ain't simple so it goes. Whitebug and lilpug are simple so they stay. Gabby is simple enough to stay also.

[CitroJim]

Davie, brilliant to hear Gabby is back in service

I have one of those bent spanners too A job I've done umpteen times too...

[daviemck2006]

It shows which car I prefer between bigpug and Gabby which one i have gone and seen about getting going again! I think it was a combination of a dirty filter, and the filter tub have no fuel in it when I took the lid off it, could it be possible that two months of not being used coupled with the fuel pump leak had let the fuel run back down the pipes airlocking it? I haven't been using her for fear of the fuel contaminating the timing belt, which it is not. She will be used sparingly now anyway now I have the 107 for local workhorse duties. Once Gabby is sorted properly then bigpug will get looked at, possibly by the same garage. It's about 15 miles from home, was recommended by a couple of folk including Zel, and they seemed to talk the talk anyway, he said as soon as you have a pump get it in and done. And then said we like working on older cars doing real mechanics instead of plugging in a computer and changing the bit the computer says! They had a mix of mechanics between older guys and younger guys and about 8 cars in the workshop all being wo?ked on at the same time so probably have the flexibility to do jobs at short notice instead of the three weeks that every local garage quotes.

[CitroJim]

That sounds like a great garage Davie

Unusual now to find a garage that actively enjoys working on older cars!

[Zelandeth]

If there's fuel getting *out* of the pump, logic dictates that air could also get *in* through the same location over a period of time, especially if the leak is from the actual lift pump part...though I seem to recall I did have some issues with the filter housing sealing completely at one point (could see bubbles in the clear pipe to the pump), though it never actually seemed to have the slightest effect on running...and they disappeared when I changed the fuel filter for the first time anyway.

Speaking of fuel filters, found one in the garage the other day! What is it with me and buying consumables three or four times because I've forgotten I already have them...

[MikeT]

....the filter tub have no fuel in it when I took the lid off it, could it be possible that two months of not being used coupled with the fuel pump leak had let the fuel run back down the pipes airlocking it?

In my mind, this statement (empty filter housing) raises a doubt the pump is the source of the leak, though I'm struggling to explain why. More a hunch at this point, I guess.