Vintage Voltage. Quest TV

[Composite Guru]

21st Century Man said:

I thought the hole cutting was appalling, but not only that, leaving an exposed metal edge without primer/paint and then just screwing those plastic glands into it. They did the same with the charging point hole on the front, a huge amount of bare exposed metal and they pushed a rubber moulding onto it without any corrosion protection. It all came across as a very amateurish bodge, despite the cutting edge (yeah, that'll be left exposed to rust) engineering narrative. And as for £17k, I just couldn't see it. Poor, very poor.

Edited by 21st Century Man on Friday 3rd July 11:31

I thought that too. He didn't have a pilot and was making a right hash of it. Not something I would of shown on a programme.

Also the grinding of the front panel to fit the connector. That was epic too. I noticed after he fitted the edge trim around the hole you could see it when the badge flapped down but then later on they must of realised it looked w**k and sorted it out.

[Smollet]

wilksy61 said:

Goblin Works did indeed do a 500, I was thinking if they joined forces on any other cars what an absolute mess of bodgery it would be.

Non the less I will still watch both Vintage Voltage and Goblin Works on the slim chance they may get better.

I know what you mean. It’s a morbid fascination akin to watching something you know isn’t going to end well but hope springs eternal

[98elise]

thegreenhell said:

It also looked like the escutcheon they made for the charging port was not only unpainted, but didn't even match the profile of the badge, so it was clearly visible. It did all come across as a bit bodged together mechanically, even if the electrical integration might have been decent.

I came on here to comment on exactly that. They used a steel house door hinge and welded it to a plate.

I could fabricate a concealed hinge just using nuts, bolts and a bit of steel plate. You've only got to look at how a filler cap, or boot lid works and you have the basic principle.

Edited by 98elise on Wednesday 8th July 17:50

[AlexS]

PF62 said:

Smollet said:

CanAm said:

skeeterm5 said:

Why do they leave the gearbox in?

Especially in the case of the 500 as it was apparently a very special 5-speed box and the owner still had the original 4-speed.
I guess the answer is that it's easier and cheaper than making something bespoke, even though only one speed s really needed.

The whole gearbox situation baffles me. How many main stream electric car makers use a gear box?

None, which why like a lot of the other stuff they are doing, it is a bodge.

The Porsche Taycan has a 2 speed box.

[PF62]

AlexS said:

PF62 said:

Smollet said:

CanAm said:

skeeterm5 said:

Why do they leave the gearbox in?

Especially in the case of the 500 as it was apparently a very special 5-speed box and the owner still had the original 4-speed.
I guess the answer is that it's easier and cheaper than making something bespoke, even though only one speed s really needed.

The whole gearbox situation baffles me. How many main stream electric car makers use a gear box?

None, which why like a lot of the other stuff they are doing, it is a bodge.

The Porsche Taycan has a 2 speed box.

And can you name a second with a 5 speed box?

It was a bodge.

[Halmyre]

Biker 1 said:

Watching this right now. Sacrilege!!! I'm no Fiat 500 fan, but why the actual fk would you butcher a classic car like that & put a washing machine engine that takes 6 hours to charge in it????
And as for the muppet 'mechanic' who can't cut a hole with a hole saw, uses a sanding machine with no safety specs, & fks up a simple interference fit coupling..... Sorry, but this show is lame....

Wanton vandalism.

Would you buy a Rolex and junk the innards in favour of a cheap quartz movement?

[waynecyclist]

I was sad enough to watch the 500 episode again last night, £17k for 60 miles and 6 hours to charge seems madness to me.

Also respect that things are edited but it is not the best advert for them.

The Mercedes SL shown in the background is in one of the magazines this month.

[Export56]

Apart from the hinge that jumped out at me. It looked a fun thing. The cost was probably small change for the posh bird, as it appears she only drove it for 20 mins in a year. 60 miles would be fine for a few trips out in London, a chic runaround.

[LordLoveLength]

Amazed at the skill shown with the hole cutter...
As for the steel door hinge and the bodged rubber o ring to stop it rattling. Words fail me. I would be embarrassed to have that shown as representative of my business. Gonna look lovely with the rust stain down the paintwork!
Didn’t get any better with the body shop welding up the rust hole on the door.
Plenty of people doing conversions- are these really the best they could find?

They really should team up with Gobste works garage.

[droopsnoot]

LordLoveLength said:

Amazed at the skill shown with the hole cutter...

They must have different hole cutters to mine. Mine have a 4mm pilot drill, with the larger bit fixed around the outside. The pilot drill does the small hole and anchors everything in place while the hole cutter does the rest. End up with a nice supply of rough washers.

I was surprised that they got away with welding that seat belt mount right alongside the window rubber.

[aeropilot]

Halmyre said:

Biker 1 said:

Watching this right now. Sacrilege!!! I'm no Fiat 500 fan, but why the actual fk would you butcher a classic car like that & put a washing machine engine that takes 6 hours to charge in it????
And as for the muppet 'mechanic' who can't cut a hole with a hole saw, uses a sanding machine with no safety specs, & fks up a simple interference fit coupling..... Sorry, but this show is lame....

Wanton vandalism.

Would you buy a Rolex and junk the innards in favour of a cheap quartz movement?

Indeed, but that's not their fault, its the fault of the dumb women who owned it.

But I keep seeing that Gordon-Keeble in the workshop and dread the thought that is there for a bloody electric conversion...!!

Watching the Defender episode, you'd think they could afford a decent vehicle lift for the workshop.....

[rykard]

watching the defender episode,a few questions
why no lifts
they removed the transfer box ? I thought this made it easier to control at slow speeds when of road? The off road bit just seemed to be throwing mud up, no real driveability

looks a bit of a bodge to me

[CanAm]

The lack of a vehicle lift, with mechanics working under a vehicle on jacks and axle stands frightens me.

Maybe there's detail that's missed out for the sake of entertaining TV for the masses, but the whole thing smacks of a couple of blokes in a pub working things out on the back of a fag packet.

There was a quick glimpse of a Westfield in there too.

[Richard-390a0]

It does amuse me that even the most dodgy of back street garages have at least a pit or a two or four post lift these days rather than grubbing around on the floor like some home DIYer!!!. They obviously don't bother draining fluids before removing components either from the shot of one of them scrabbling around under the Landie after the Transfer Box oil spilled out all over the workshop floor. It's becoming compulsive viewing like Goblin Works just to see how much worse it can get...

[waynecyclist]

The more I watch it, it just strikes as the worst advert ever for them.

[Halmyre]

Worse than Bernie and Mawio?

[CanAm]

Halmyre said:

Worse than Bernie and Mawio?

Well at least they’ve not put 6” spacers on the wheels!

[droopsnoot]

Richard-390a0 said:

rather than grubbing around on the floor like some home DIYer!!!.

It's a very nice, clean floor though. I wish my workshop floor was like that.

The main thing that stuck out for me this week was how many things were repeated. Bloke under the back describes why he can't fit those electric handbrake calipers, in some detail. Cut to Moggy, who then explains exactly the same thing while standing up. Then we see them figure out that they can use the front ARB in the back and it'll sort it out, then cut to Moggy, who then tells us the same thing he was telling the other bloke while under the car. Same for the diff - someone tells us it needs uprating and better CV joints, then someone else tells us again.

If they want to fill a bit of time, they could explain how they do the heating and demist. Or how the hell getting a driveshaft modified costs £750, when a new one from scratch for my car (which will be about the same length, I reckon) is £150.

[CanAm]

droopsnoot said:

.......
If they want to fill a bit of time, they could explain how they do the heating and demist.......

They also mentioned having to keep the radiator because the Tesla electric motor was water-cooled, but that was the last we heard of this. How was the air suspension powered? Were those heavy batteries really mounted in the highest possible part of the engine bay?

So many unanswered questions!

[V8covin]

Richard-390a0 said:

It does amuse me that even the most dodgy of back street garages have at least a pit or a two or four post lift these days rather than grubbing around on the floor like some home DIYer!!!. They obviously don't bother draining fluids before removing components either from the shot of one of them scrabbling around under the Landie after the Transfer Box oil spilled out all over the workshop floor. It's becoming compulsive viewing like Goblin Works just to see how much worse it can get...

There was a 2 post ramp to the left of the LR,there was a vehicle on it but you couldn't see what it was because they'd put screens up