Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 10]

[BigBen]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

rather less funny very poor dashboard illumination.

The little button that resets the milometer twists to set the level of dash illumination, try this it might sort it out.

The pot behind them often gets 'noisy' with age but a couple of movements may sort that out.

Ben

[FredClogs]

deeen said:

Krikkit said:

W00DY said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JAGUAR-XJ8-4-LITRE-1998-...

What a thing.

Wow, it almost looks new! Stupendous value for £5k.

It's an 18 year old Jag? Should be about 1k.

That's verbatim what the voices in my head were saying as I looked at the advert

Still, I'd love to have it for a weekend...

[Krikkit]

FredClogs said:

deeen said:

Krikkit said:

W00DY said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JAGUAR-XJ8-4-LITRE-1998-...

What a thing.

Wow, it almost looks new! Stupendous value for £5k.

It's an 18 year old Jag? Should be about 1k.

That's verbatim what the voices in my head were saying as I looked at the advert

Still, I'd love to have it for a weekend...

Pffff, what's an E39 or E38 worth in that condition? Or a W124/W126/W140?

[0a]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

0a said:

The SL lives! It now starts, runs, and charges the battery... paint next.

I still think that's a handsome car in a lovely colour.

Thanks. In the end it was exactly as thought here - the distributer cap (technical!) had moisture in it, and it has had a new alternator following tests as to how well it should be charging vs reality. It goes into the painters next, behind my mechanic's Mk2 jag bare metal restoration. I am promised good things. There will be some kind of bill presented.

The w126 looks fantastic. You need to plan a long continental journey in it asap and do a proper write up with photos.

The 560 really is rare and King of the 80s/90s Merc tree, very special indeed. I will have to organise another barge meet to see it!

Edited by 0a on Tuesday 18th October 21:56

[W00DY]

deeen said:

Krikkit said:

W00DY said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JAGUAR-XJ8-4-LITRE-1998-...

What a thing.

Wow, it almost looks new! Stupendous value for £5k.

It's an 18 year old Jag? Should be about 1k.

For a tired 3.2 perhaps.

Elegant, immaculate, opulent, quick and cool. And it's all yours for less than a Dacia Sandero. A fking steal in other words.

[Pit Pony]

Pit Pony said:

My "NEW" Omega Mv6 seems to be blue to me, but wife says it's Turquoise.

According to OOF it's Z20M

When Dealer did a search for a paint touch up pen they came back with one in Rioja. dheads.

So if anyone has a rear passenger door in Petrol Turquoise Z20M Blue, going spare, it would mean a lot to my wife, who said "Why have you bought a car with a dent"

Can't say why but replacing a 99 bhp mk4 astra which gave up both of us back pain, and me leg cramp, with a 218 bhp armchair/settee, with a giffermatic box and cruise, seemed to be a great idea at the time.

Pictures -

The perfectly functional low mileage astra, or instrument of back torture as my wife describes it



Blue Replacement.



Comfy Heated seating



It was cheap for more than one reason.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

BigBen said:

The little button that resets the milometer twists to set the level of dash illumination, try this it might sort it out.

The pot behind them often gets 'noisy' with age but a couple of movements may sort that out.

Ben

Thanks Ben. I did twiddle a bit, but will do it more vigorously to see if it makes a difference. I'm suspecting bulbs as it's better on the right side than the left.

[0a]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Thanks Ben. I did twiddle a bit, but will do it more vigorously to see if it makes a difference. I'm suspecting bulbs as it's better on the right side than the left.

This is the same on my W124 - anyone know how to change the bulbs?!

[r129sl]

0a said:

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Thanks Ben. I did twiddle a bit, but will do it more vigorously to see if it makes a difference. I'm suspecting bulbs as it's better on the right side than the left.

This is the same on my W124 - anyone know how to change the bulbs?!

Bulbs.

Pull cluster out with special hooks.

Change bulbs. All of them if you're anally retentive.

Spend ten minutes marvelling at how it all works back there.

Resist the urge to give it a haircut.

Put cluster back in.

Observe skinned knuckles.

[BigBen]

r129sl said:

0a said:

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Thanks Ben. I did twiddle a bit, but will do it more vigorously to see if it makes a difference. I'm suspecting bulbs as it's better on the right side than the left.

This is the same on my W124 - anyone know how to change the bulbs?!

Bulbs.

Pull cluster out with special hooks.

Change bulbs. All of them if you're anally retentive.

Spend ten minutes marvelling at how it all works back there.

Resist the urge to give it a haircut.

Put cluster back in.

Observe skinned knuckles.

On the Merc dashes I have removed it was also possible to push the dash out from behind by reaching up from below the steering column, mainly this was because I had no idea that special hooks existed.

Ben

[bob-lad]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Anyway, as you know, I now have this:


First impressions are of the comedy bus-like steering wheel, the comedically poor headlights and rather less funny very poor dashboard illumination. The car has some blemishes patina, and there are lots of little jobs to keep me busy, but overall it's in extraordinarily good condition.

The noise on acceleration is an angry snarl, quite unlike the relentless turbine-like smoothness of the Jag, and it stops and steers well for a bloated 80s fat fker. I think I might grow to like it.

That looks fab.

Obviously a more cavernous cabin than the Jag and louder when provoked (in a good way).

How does the waftyness compare?

[r129sl]

bob-lad said:

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Anyway, as you know, I now have this:


First impressions are of the comedy bus-like steering wheel, the comedically poor headlights and rather less funny very poor dashboard illumination. The car has some blemishes patina, and there are lots of little jobs to keep me busy, but overall it's in extraordinarily good condition.

The noise on acceleration is an angry snarl, quite unlike the relentless turbine-like smoothness of the Jag, and it stops and steers well for a bloated 80s fat fker. I think I might grow to like it.

That looks fab.

Obviously a more cavernous cabin than the Jag and louder when provoked (in a good way).

How does the waftyness compare?

How does the go-go compare? As you known, I found mine pretty snappy, especially in second gear, hauling from, say, 40 to 80.

[Lowtimer]

I've never had a 126 dash in bits but on a Porsche of this vintage it's not bulbs that are the issue, it's dullness of the once shiny reflectors that were used to bounce the light produced by the bulbs around the instrument cluster. German automotive design being a fairly incestuous and cross-pollinating industry I would not be surprised if it is the same on an '80s Mercedes as an '80s Porsche.

The task then becomes finding a way to re-shinify the reflectors. This might involve e.g. repolishing them, or covering them with some shiny substance such as thin foil tape, or thin aluminised Mylar (such as party helium balloon material).

[bob-lad]

r129sl said:

bob-lad said:

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Anyway, as you know, I now have this:


First impressions are of the comedy bus-like steering wheel, the comedically poor headlights and rather less funny very poor dashboard illumination. The car has some blemishes patina, and there are lots of little jobs to keep me busy, but overall it's in extraordinarily good condition.

The noise on acceleration is an angry snarl, quite unlike the relentless turbine-like smoothness of the Jag, and it stops and steers well for a bloated 80s fat fker. I think I might grow to like it.

That looks fab.

Obviously a more cavernous cabin than the Jag and louder when provoked (in a good way).

How does the waftyness compare?

How does the go-go compare? As you known, I found mine pretty snappy, especially in second gear, hauling from, say, 40 to 80.

The Jag has more power and torque but surprisingly a 200kg disadvantage.
An interesting comparison.

[bob-lad]

Lowtimer said:

I've never had a 126 dash in bits but on a Porsche of this vintage it's not bulbs that are the issue, it's dullness of the once shiny reflectors that were used to bounce the light produced by the bulbs around the instrument cluster. German automotive design being a fairly incestuous and cross-pollinating industry I would not be surprised if it is the same on an '80s Mercedes as an '80s Porsche.

The task then becomes finding a way to re-shinify the reflectors. This might involve e.g. repolishing them, or covering them with some shiny substance such as thin aluminised Mylar (such as party helium balloon material).

Or you could part blind yourself with LED replacements.

[Krikkit]

bob-lad said:

Lowtimer said:

I've never had a 126 dash in bits but on a Porsche of this vintage it's not bulbs that are the issue, it's dullness of the once shiny reflectors that were used to bounce the light produced by the bulbs around the instrument cluster. German automotive design being a fairly incestuous and cross-pollinating industry I would not be surprised if it is the same on an '80s Mercedes as an '80s Porsche.

The task then becomes finding a way to re-shinify the reflectors. This might involve e.g. repolishing them, or covering them with some shiny substance such as thin aluminised Mylar (such as party helium balloon material).

Or you could part blind yourself with LED replacements.

Then you would lose the dimming function as well.

[Lowtimer]

Also, on a Porsche at least, if the reflectors are truly knackered it doesn't really matter what kind of light you throw at them, you still won't get it where you need it to be. However I stress that this is a hypothetical read-across to Merc-land, not an empirical one.

[sam303]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Threadists. Many thanks for the collective positive noises about the new purchase. I deeply regret having to sell the XJR-S but an in-budget SEC is a rare thing and had to be snapped-up. If only I either had fewer car itches to scratch or, even better, a massive de-humidified barn, life would be different. But, like Shed and Rumpole, there is a SWMBO that becomes the over-riding factor in matters automotive.

Anyway, as you know, I now have this:


In a moment of thread-shame, I have to confess that I did the purchase thing all wrong. The charming vendor brought the car to me, and I've not yet even taken it to a petrol station, let alone photographed it in dim dusk light as I purchased fuel and over-priced sugary comestibles. Not only did he do the driving from the North-West, but he'd spent the thick end of a grand on work between me expressing interest and actually buying the thing; the perfect seller. After dropping him off at the station, I took the car for a spirited test.

First impressions are of the comedy bus-like steering wheel, the comedically poor headlights and rather less funny very poor dashboard illumination. The car has some blemishes patina, and there are lots of little jobs to keep me busy, but overall it's in extraordinarily good condition.

The noise on acceleration is an angry snarl, quite unlike the relentless turbine-like smoothness of the Jag, and it stops and steers well for a bloated 80s fat fker. I think I might grow to like it.

CdG, you do know that there are probably 3 or 4 threadists right now thinking "I'm having that when he sells it" It's absolutely lovely, well done.

[Lowtimer]

Including me.

[harrykul]

Back off boys, I've already called dibs a page or two ago!!!