What's made you smile today?
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What's made you smile today?
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I had a 1990 Montego diesel with that sort of locks.
Someone tried to steal it, but only got about 10 yards before the steering lock foiled him.
I fitted a more secure driver's door lock with reinforcing plate behind. Covered the passenger door lock with another plate and stuck a chrome cover over the hole.
The steering lock was utterly ridiculous. The thief had wrenched the steering to break the lock but the shaft had bent so the lock striker dropped back in after a few yards. The steering lock system was weak and more trouble than it was worth so straightened the shaft and filled the lock slot with JB Weld.
After that, always used a Stop Lock because I needed the car for work. What a plonker I was for not using one before.
PS. Aldi (or was it Lidl) have some stop locks for about £20.
The Range Rover classic I used to own had a key that would open the driver door and start the engine, a different key for the top tailgate, but nothing would unlock the passenger door from the outside, only the inside lock pin or the central locking.
When I was working on the car one day I found a little box taped to the chassis rail with another key in it, which opened the drivers door, wouldn’t start the car and woundn’t open the passenger door.
On day while getting in the car I accidental used the wrong key on my key ring which was the key for (my partner at the time’s) 1994 L-reg Vauxhall Corsa, it didn’t open the drivers door but surprisingly it fitted the lock fine, later that day I was showing my partner that the Corsa key fitted the lock, just happening to be on the passenger side now and turned it, almost as if to say it fits but it doesn’t work, but ‘pop’ the unlockable passenger door lock pinged open and I discovered while no other key would unlock it the key for a Vauxhall Corsa would.
This was an 86 Range Rover classic so in all honestly the internals of the lock had probably collapsed but it was a weird coincidence that the Vauxhall key just happened to work, very typical of any 80s car to be able to open it with a different key entirely and also very standard for British leyland to be about as secure as a revolving door on an A&E department
When I was working on the car one day I found a little box taped to the chassis rail with another key in it, which opened the drivers door, wouldn’t start the car and woundn’t open the passenger door.
On day while getting in the car I accidental used the wrong key on my key ring which was the key for (my partner at the time’s) 1994 L-reg Vauxhall Corsa, it didn’t open the drivers door but surprisingly it fitted the lock fine, later that day I was showing my partner that the Corsa key fitted the lock, just happening to be on the passenger side now and turned it, almost as if to say it fits but it doesn’t work, but ‘pop’ the unlockable passenger door lock pinged open and I discovered while no other key would unlock it the key for a Vauxhall Corsa would.
This was an 86 Range Rover classic so in all honestly the internals of the lock had probably collapsed but it was a weird coincidence that the Vauxhall key just happened to work, very typical of any 80s car to be able to open it with a different key entirely and also very standard for British leyland to be about as secure as a revolving door on an A&E department
Our COO was asked to resign yesterday. He is a French citizen that came to South Carolina for the job. Him getting canned didn't make me smile, though, as he is a heck of a good guy. He just couldn't transition from the French Nuclear industry to the North American Railroad industry. Apples and oranges. Big time.
No, what made me smile was that he insisted on a conference call with myself, my two much younger coworkers, and our semi retired boss, to tell us himself what was happening. He said that when he started, he was charged with finding a way to get rid of the holdovers from the move and reorganization, which was us, because we are paid much more than the prevailing wage in South Carolina. He went on to say that it only took two weeks to find out that we were the only group in the organization that knew what we were doing and decided not to do anything about us.
Later, after the call, he called me to ask for my personal contact info. I kept an old Raleigh Gran Prix bicycle at HQ because, as I told those in charge, they weren't worth jail time. Well, as I am retiring in October, the last time I was at HQ I told the COO that the bike was his if he wanted it. Because it's a 1974 and that's when he was born, he jumped on it. During the call between us, I said I was serious about him having the bike and he said it was already on the container to go back to France. He said he'd send me pictures of the bike in the French countryside.
No, what made me smile was that he insisted on a conference call with myself, my two much younger coworkers, and our semi retired boss, to tell us himself what was happening. He said that when he started, he was charged with finding a way to get rid of the holdovers from the move and reorganization, which was us, because we are paid much more than the prevailing wage in South Carolina. He went on to say that it only took two weeks to find out that we were the only group in the organization that knew what we were doing and decided not to do anything about us.
Later, after the call, he called me to ask for my personal contact info. I kept an old Raleigh Gran Prix bicycle at HQ because, as I told those in charge, they weren't worth jail time. Well, as I am retiring in October, the last time I was at HQ I told the COO that the bike was his if he wanted it. Because it's a 1974 and that's when he was born, he jumped on it. During the call between us, I said I was serious about him having the bike and he said it was already on the container to go back to France. He said he'd send me pictures of the bike in the French countryside.
Our COO was asked to resign yesterday. He is a French citizen that came to South Carolina for the job. Him getting canned didn't make me smile, though, as he is a heck of a good guy. He just couldn't transition from the French Nuclear industry to the North American Railroad industry. Apples and oranges. Big time.
No, what made me smile was that he insisted on a conference call with myself, my two much younger coworkers, and our semi retired boss, to tell us himself what was happening. He said that when he started, he was charged with finding a way to get rid of the holdovers from the move and reorganization, which was us, because we are paid much more than the prevailing wage in South Carolina. He went on to say that it only took two weeks to find out that we were the only group in the organization that knew what we were doing and decided not to do anything about us.
Later, after the call, he called me to ask for my personal contact info. I kept an old Raleigh Gran Prix bicycle at HQ because, as I told those in charge, they weren't worth jail time. Well, as I am retiring in October, the last time I was at HQ I told the COO that the bike was his if he wanted it. Because it's a 1974 and that's when he was born, he jumped on it. During the call between us, I said I was serious about him having the bike and he said it was already on the container to go back to France. He said he'd send me pictures of the bike in the French countryside.
Sounds like a good excuse for you to make a trip over to France once you’ve retired and lock down has ended. ?
It would be nice to go back with the bicycle I rode in Paris-Brest-Paris 30 years ago but this time just take it easy and have fun instead of riding 24 hr segments. Back then, I might have thought that was fun but I feel much better now.
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The best time I had in France was a boating holiday on the Brittany canals between Redon and Nantes.
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Got my mountain bike out last week to find both brakes seized. It has billet alloy callipers dash with four (count em) pistons. I was expecting a miserable time sorting out that lot.
Anyways, the pads came out all usable though one pair will be replaced. The dreaded dissimilar metal issue had jammed the pads. A good clean and some (very) careful smears of high solids anti seize and its all working again.
Yay!
Anyways, the pads came out all usable though one pair will be replaced. The dreaded dissimilar metal issue had jammed the pads. A good clean and some (very) careful smears of high solids anti seize and its all working again.
Yay!
Got the brakes done this weekend. So, turns out the original discs weren't as bad as I thought, nor the pads, but they were wearing slightly unevenly (but identical on both sides of the car). But decided to fit them anyway because £80 and the peace of mind knowing it's done for another while...
It was so easy, all the bolts came out fine, everything in tact, rubber all pristine, calliper pins sliding. Compared with my 10+ year old Panda where there was always a challenge due to the age or deterioration or poor mechanical jobs in the past! Everything was solid and like new (under the muck)
The hardest part was getting those damn alloys off. Used a bit of wood to protect the alloys and tyre with one hell of a makeshift wooden 'T', few smacks and they came off. I am now 100% confident there is no hope of doing this on the side of the road... hopefully no flats until August when my insurance renews and I'll be sure to add it in...
My uncle said he was shocked how heavy the alloy wheels were, he'd never handled any that heavy before for the size!!! I knew they'd be heavier than the Panda's but didn't have the experience to know if it was 'especially heavy'. Wonder why!
It was so easy, all the bolts came out fine, everything in tact, rubber all pristine, calliper pins sliding. Compared with my 10+ year old Panda where there was always a challenge due to the age or deterioration or poor mechanical jobs in the past! Everything was solid and like new (under the muck)
The hardest part was getting those damn alloys off. Used a bit of wood to protect the alloys and tyre with one hell of a makeshift wooden 'T', few smacks and they came off. I am now 100% confident there is no hope of doing this on the side of the road... hopefully no flats until August when my insurance renews and I'll be sure to add it in...
My uncle said he was shocked how heavy the alloy wheels were, he'd never handled any that heavy before for the size!!! I knew they'd be heavier than the Panda's but didn't have the experience to know if it was 'especially heavy'. Wonder why!
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Got my mountain bike out last week to find both brakes seized. It has billet alloy callipers dash with four (count em) pistons. I was expecting a miserable time sorting out that lot.
4 pistons per calliper ??
My mountain bike is kept in the warm so no real issues of any corrosion but SRAM calipers and levers with 2 pots per calliper.
The reason I ask is the front and back calipers and levers are the same but the front disc is much larger and the calliper sits on a spacer to fit the larger disc, I understand the reasons they’ve done it but the front brake isn’t as powerful as the rear, not that you want it to lock up but you’d not pull the brakes on enough to get the back wheel off the ground if you wanted, so thinking maybe I need a better front brake
I've been there twice and enjoyed both trips. PBP was one week and 1500km on the bike and two weeks in Paris doing the tourist thing with my wife and kids. All I can say about biking through Carhaix is that it was dark both ways.
Seeing Paris through my 8 and 12 year olds' eyes was a lot of fun.
My other time was for work. We have a factory in La Tour du Pin and I was there for training. I was given a little Citroen to get around in and the car was a hoot to drive.
Cleaned the inside of the oven door. I will now be able to see the food burning.
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Mine are Hope Mono M4, old hat by today's standards but very powerful and work best with sintered pads. I have ordinary spec pads in the front which are rubbish and need to be swapped but they are good enough until a the pads arrive.
At prices like this I'm glad they are easily serviceable.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HOPE-M4-...197723?hash=item447553badb:g:sH8AAOSwL0pgTM2a
At prices like this I'm glad they are easily serviceable.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HOPE-M4-...197723?hash=item447553badb:g:sH8AAOSwL0pgTM2a
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You'll find any oem alloy wheel is quite a heavy thing.
They are designed not to bend/crack when you hit a kerb at 50 nevermind potholes.
The Aphrodites are definitely tough, wife hit a traffic island tall enough to remove a side skirt in the DS3. Rang me rather shocked to say the least...I drove down, looked the car over retrieved and refitted the side skirt. Citroën do not bolt anything they do not to have so I could just hammer hand it back on. It ran like that until she hit another kerb and ground the edge but despite it's colourful life the wheels were still round and balanced. It didn't even need the tracking doing
The other option is actual lightweight alloys.. which do not like our roads at all and tend to bend or crack if you hit a good pothole.
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They’re a bit rich for my blood especially how often I use the bike but I will keep an eye out for a better front calliper, I might try some new pads first to make sure it’s nothing like the pads are contaminated.
What is the bike you’ve got to have a brake set up like that on it ?
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You'll find any oem alloy wheel is quite a heavy thing.
They are designed not to bend/crack when you hit a kerb at 50 nevermind potholes.
The Aphrodites are definitely tough, wife hit a traffic island tall enough to remove a side skirt in the DS3. Rang me rather shocked to say the least...I drove down, looked the car over retrieved and refitted the side skirt. Citroën do not bolt anything they do not to have so I could just hammer hand it back on. It ran like that until she hit another kerb and ground the edge but despite it's colourful life the wheels were still round and balanced. It didn't even need the tracking doing
The other option is actual lightweight alloys.. which do not like our roads at all and tend to bend or crack if you hit a good pothole.
I was surprised to be told my alignment didn't need re-done when I got the PS4's fitted... definitely thought I'd f*cked the thing rightly a few times now with our roads lol
At least the French know the cars will take a beating and have built accordingly lol
It's almost as if they are built to survive French roads and driving/parking.
Nothing survives French driving.... half the time they don’t even bother to fix them when they’ve had a massive smash. Saw a new Mercedes R-Class in a hyper market car park once with most of the front missing and had clearly been like that a while, head light washers still worked, weren’t attached to a bumper anymore as there was no bumper there but they still worked!
I think the French ethos is to make it look nice but if half the trim has dropped off before it reaches the end of the road most French drivers wouldn’t care.
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Does mean the core of the car is built like starbug though...
I've mentioned it before on here but a bloke in a Honda CRV managed to drive into the C3 while I was parked and only succeded in damaging his own car as everything round the perimeter of the car is bash proof black plastic.
There was a video of some shoplifters who'd been cornered in a hired C3 Aircross a few years ago as well. Rammed a parked VW Polo through a bay..hard enough the full front end was basically done. You'd think we'll that's it the radiator will have had it and they stalled so it's probably over.
Nah, fired it right back up drove it (with smashed windows where people had tried to get them out) out the car park and dumped it several miles away.
None of this Mini business of tracking every 12 months and the bonnet popping up over the window after a minor shunt.
Built to be abused then thrown away..which is handy given how it gets used.
Used car ad france ?
Probably the reason for the C3 air bubble sides is to protect against french driving, maybe because the French are so good at destroying cars and then throwing them away is why they made an effort for with the C3 and aircross models, try and keep them on the roads longer
