BXProject

Just got back in from working on the Focus, bastard thing had a leak from the thermostat housing only a month after I changed it! I thought at the time that the O ring wasn't big enough, as the housing seemed to bottom out before compressing the seal all that much. To make matters worse I'm off on holiday tomorrow, near on 1000 miles driving so I could do without this worry...

Might not mention this to my mate, as he's racing me down on the train. Don't want him to feel that his method of transport is superior! Fingers crossed it's sorted now.

your mate has his own train?! Cool!
Should be a fuck off big square section ring should it not? Had similar before where the replacement was just a smidge over half the size.. inferior parts ya know!
Best of luck, where be off to?

Off to France/Italy for sliding down the snow on a couple of planks...should be a laugh! Got Vanny's 12.9 mph to beat...

Can't recall the old O ring but the new one was round. In the end I cut a ring from the old 'stat to space out the seal and compress it more. Plus I cut a paper gasket out so that even if the seal does leak, it'll only bypass the 'stat and won't lose coolant. Bodgetastic!

I saw 'Focus', gave up caring

Made it to harlington ok, and picked up the manifolds on the way. Given that I've got this far I will chance it without breakdown cover, what could possibly go wrong? Everywhere is under water though, and m25 was closed. 7 bastard hours to do 280 miles!

nothing could go wrong until you said "what xould possbly go wrong"...
now though... well, nice knowing you man!
It takes that long to go around the M25 anyway, so you aint lost much!

Fuck fuckity fuck!

mat_the_cat wrote:what could possibly go wrong?

Tempting fate, much? All went well until we were 20 miles from the resort, then hit heavy snow. Passes were closed, and the only route open was a 100 mile detour through the Frejus tunnel @ 53 sodding Euros! Which was closed on one direction for an hour when we arrived. Got in at 2 am so lost the race, although we were on for within 15 minutes of them until we stopped for a bite to eat.

Here now anyway, and no leaks in 1020 miles. Vibrates like a bugger though above 80.

Trains are FTW

Latest pic from Sweden... cold has arrived, that's non liquid sea in the background

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Philhod wrote: Latest pic from Sweden... cold has arrived, that's non liquid sea in the background

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What's this javascript shit, Phil.

it's that long since i uploaded a pic on here i forgot how.

Take it from me. When the sea is frozen, it's fucking cold.

Philhod wrote: Take it from me. When the sea is frozen, it's fucking cold.

And you know this because........you were one of that hardy breed that broke the sea ice at Brighton that year that the sea froze and went in for a swim?

ERR....no. The pic was from Sweden where the ice has finally descended this year.

Was in a Bastu in Finland with son in law and his mates about 10 years back.
We were pissed when we got off the boat from Stockholm and decided to take the sauna to sober up ready for the evening session. After about 15 mins they all jog out of a door at the back and start rolling in the snow.
I got to the door and thought fuck that, jumped in the plunge and back in the sauna before the mad bastards came back

Back now, the drive back up went a lot more smoothly and was actually fairly enjoyable. Got an earlier tunnel crossing and drove home in a day but felt a bit wobbly afterwards, like being on a ship. Weird problem when I started it to come home - there was no turbo boost! Flat out at 55 mph in 4th trying to get up a slight hill was a bit concerting, and I was starting to wonder how soon after joining could I call the RAC... But after about 20 miles it had sorted itself - wonder what the problem was. No warning lights on the dashboard, and no excess smoke.

Bloody tyres though, I assume it's them with the vibes. Masses of weights to get them to balance, and I'm thinking that (effectively) having two heavy sections on a wheel/tyre assembly may still cause vibrations even though across the tyre they're cancelled out.

Still, they were good in the snow...we were behind a Vulva XC90 on normal tyres making its way up the hill to the apartment, and he tried several times and failed. When it came sliding back down to us with its wheels locked I thought it safer if I went past it, so pulled round it with no real drama. Drove up the hill, unloaded and watched him spinning all his wheels on the way up

Funny thing is the Disco is hugely better on traction than the Focus, and I think slightly better on braking in snow. That must mainly be down to the tyres rather than the drive system, as I'd guess an XC90 has something more sophisticated than a simple centre diff to lock. I think I may have had an annoyingly smug grin after that