Lobster's Garage

[Lobster]

Seems like a subframe might just be sorted. Just the small matter of going and removing it, bringing it back, getting it blasted and painted and then have it fitted. This may take some time...

Meanwhile, R4 is taxed and back for summer so its not all bad.

 

[Lobster]

A little update.... although not much has happened really (because work) but here goes all the same.

F6 went for MOT a couple of weeks back and came back with a nice, clean pass. Whilst it was there they had a look at the loss of power, such as it is, at speed. Stripped and cleaned the carb and reckoned that it could do with a new distributor as the current one has some wear in it. I'll get that sorted at some point but theres no rush at the moment.

Twingo should be back on the road this week. Original plan was to get a second hand one but garage have sourced a new one for not that much £££s - probably as they don't want to deal with fitting a used one I suspect - but it probably works out cheaper than going and getting and removing the old one then getting it shot blasted and painted anyway. Probably saves me expanding my vocabulary of swear words whilst removing the old one too.

Incidentally, this weekend also marks the mid point between 4L Internationals - a year since last year and a year until the next. Roll on 2021!

 

[Lobster]

And my, how time flies. So here we are, mid way through August and what's new?

Twingo has successfully had a new subframe fitted. Not without some difficulty it seems but still, it's done now and had a few new bushes and such as well for good measure. It's also been thoroughly Waxoyled so should be around for a bit yet. Next on the list is the MOT - due October, and the back of the o/s sill looks a little crunchy so there's that. Plus it could probably do with four tyres as the existing selection are getting a bit low and also offer as much wet grip as a sausage in a PTFE coated frying pan.



Nothing to report R4 wise as nothing has happened to report.

So would you like to know about my daily? No? Well, anyway, it's this and I regard it a bit like that ordinary looking girl you knew when you were younger and was easy to dismiss as a bit dull but was actually very useful, practical and decent enough at what it does. Sorry for the slightly sexist analogy but it sort of works. Much like my Dacia which after 3 years and 51k is very good at doing what it does but never sets your heart racing. Off to Italy in it next week (hopefully...)



Still, I can't decide whether I want to keep it another couple of years, by which time it'll be nudging 100k or whether I want to replace it with something sexier... Hyundai i30N Fastback is properly giving me the eye at the moment...

 

[Lobster]

Last weekend, whilst all the normal people had a lie in, I didn't...
Nice early morning, 'spirited' drive blew the cobwebs away.

Meanwhile, Twingo returned to the automotive naughty step with a series of broken exhaust bits. Mister Auto came good though so hopefully they'll be fitted this weekend.

Dacia of many miles has been on summer adventures and almost needs a 60k service next...

 

[Leonardo.IT]

I hope you enjoyed Italy!

 

[Lobster]

I hope you enjoyed Italy!

Thank you! Yes, we really did! Stayed near Piombino hence the trip to Elba pictured, weather was superb and really enjoyed it

 

[André4Renaults]

I recognised the ship from "Rick Stein's Weekends Away" TV series. He went to Elba on it, after being in Corsica. Funny to think of 2 different nations that close!

 

[Lobster]

Yesterday, started everything up, cleared the snow off the Twingo. Today... snow is back.

 

[Lobster]

So as you may have seen, this week brought a new Twingo to Chateau Lobster. So far, all we've done is stick the battery on charge and have a quick look. So far though so good.... it looks pretty solid, one sill is a bit crunchy towards the back, the front window rubbers are kippered ( and probably made of unobtainium ) but other than needing a good clean, it looks pretty good. So tomorrow's plan is to clean it. Then after that we'll get into the oily bits.

 

[malcolm]

Looking good. Are you likely to have a spare Twingo anytime soon and can you insure them on a classic policy should you have got rid of your main car? I'm on a money saving spree and I like the Twingo.

 

[Lobster]

Well, spare Twingo - who knows. Plan for the first month or two is to get it up and running and see what happens next. Varying members of my household are rather keen on the incomer though Blue Twingo is on a classic policy so shouldn't be any issue there either. It probably doesn't make much sense to sell blue Twingo (I really need to name these things) as its had a small fortune spent on it. I suspect once we get to spring and both Twingos are up and running then I'll decide what to do. I love the blue one but the green one is an interesting spec and has a massive amount of history with it. I think I'll need to be objective and see where we are in a bit.

I'd actually thought about getting rid of my modern car myself and doing something similar. Trouble is, at the moment I'm doing too many miles to really want to do it in something 25 years old (2017 Dacia has 63k on now), I know I could but I just like the ease of getting in something, having my phone connect to it, having aircon that works and door seals that don't leak, sorry old car fans. That and the Dacia has probably done the bulk of its depreciating so might as well stay as it costs nothing and I own it already. That said, if I can reduce my annual mileage to something much less, then a diesel estate becomes less useful.

There are, as you can see, a lot of variables at play here!

 

[Lobster]

Progress. Of sorts.

After 24hrs on charge, I excitedly connected the battery, and... nothing. So out with bigger firepower and whilst it turns over a bit reluctantly it’s not getting anywhere close to starting. Pulled the plugs out and gave them a clean but there’s no action. I’ll go get a battery tomorrow and see if that helps. Pity as the battery is only about 16months old as there's a receipt from Oct '19 for it.

Aside from that, I finally found a use for my children and now it’s clean.

Not found anything in the way of nasty surprises so far (though I haven’t been underneath yet) but I’m starting to think it’s going to make a pretty nice car.

Time to get cracking on the inside this afternoon.

 

[laxeian]

Just reading through, noticed you mentioned leaky front window rubbers on green Twingo, just incase they are indeed made of unobtainium, there is a product that may help that I have used on my 68 Transit ( large, heavy window in rubber, even with perfect rubber the weight after a while would cause leaky rubbers), its called (not a joke but sure there’s been many made) iirc ‘Captain Tolley’s Creaking Crack Cure’, its like a clear liquid that you squirt/syringe under both sides of rubber, it creeps into cracks and sets, any excess can be wiped off with petrol etc. from paint and glass, off of eBay, it was a well used only fix from said Transit forum for leaking screens..

 

[Lobster]

I’ve heard good things about that Captain Tolleys stuff but surprisingly the seals don’t seem to leak, just they are out of shape-

Anyway, cleaned out inside and it scrubs up pretty well outside so far too!

 

[Lobster]

Twingo News - Blue Twingo has been shod with four new Toyo Proxes and then presented for an MOT. Result = Passed.

Green Twingo - Progress continues. New crank sensor and plug leads fitted and it starts and runs happily enough. There does seem to be a drain on the battery though so that’s probably next job. Screws on indicator lenses have snapped off and rusted in place, drilling the remains out isn’t something I’m particularly excited about tbh. Waiting for exhaust to turn up from Germany but other than that we might just about be ready for an MOT.

 

[petak]

There are a lot of twingos in Croatia, something like R4 30years ago. And there are a lot of them on scrapyards or for parts.

Personaly i do not have any but if you need soemthing that you can not find let me know and will investigate and try to find it.
But must think about postage as Croatia is little bit far from UK and postages gone up since this Brexit thing.

 

[Lobster]

So what did this weekend bring? Clean wheel arches and a new exhaust. That’s what.

New exhaust from Autodoc arrived so fitted that with only a small amount of swearing, and whilst it was up in the air I thought I’d give the wheel arches a good clean, despite having pressure washed the whole thing a few weeks back. Anyway, started on the n/s and all was well. Swapped over to the o/s/r arch and found a field. Started with a bit of mud behind the plastic fuel filler pipes but kept finding more and more. With that all cleaned out if probably sits a couple of cm higher! I think, when I'm feeling brave, I'll do the same on the blue one.





So next up is front brakes and sort the front indicator lenses. After that I think we’ll throw it at our local garage so they can attend to the crunchy n/s/r sill and hopefully, maybe MOT it!

 

[Lobster]

In between work and well, more work, progress hasn't been as quick on green Twingo as I'd have liked, but hey ho, there's no rush I suppose...

Still, brakes done now and everything seems largely ok. So today we made it look nice. And it really does! There's still a couple of flat and milky patches in the paint but it's a massive improvement. Next job really is to throw it in for MOT and see what happens. That might be a couple of weeks off yet as free time through the week is somewhat against me at present.
.

 

[Lobster]

Well, time to bring this tale up to date.

I'd been steadily working my way through all the jobs on this, thinking I'd get it finished for summer. One of the biggest enthusiasts of my progress on this was my Dad who rather liked my old Renaults and was of the opinion that I should keep this one. Then, about four weeks ago, Dad died suddenly. And with that, and all it entails, I decided that rather than spend time fixing it myself, it'd be better to just send it to my local old car friendly garage and let them finish it, that way I can just enjoy actually owning it. And in all honesty I lost the motivation to fix it myself.
So anyway, it's now done. Taxed, MOTd and getting a bit of use. Seems pretty decent and the contrast between the two is interesting given the green one is an earlier, R5 engined car with power steering. It's not all great as the clutch has started slipping a bit so it's back in for that doing in a week or two. So it's pretty much sorted albeit with a few small bits to sort and (hopefully) it'll get a run out to Festival Of The Unexceptional at the end of July. Beyond that, I'm just going to use it, and enjoy it. Beyond that, who knows although I'm kind of thinking that two Twingos is probably one Twingo too many though I'm not rushing into any decisions just yet.

 

[Stuart Delahoy]

Really sorry to hear about your father, a difficult thing to cope with at anytime.
Stuart.