Having spent the last few weeks on the Ascot, doing everything I would do to it if I was to keep it myself, I finished the final job yesterday. That was removing, soldering and heat shrinking the connections in the footwells that used to go through the pretty green and hairy multiway connectors. At that point, other than waiting for the original stereo to come back from being refurbed at Clarion, as far as I was concerned I'd finished the mechanical and electrical work (just need to persuade BPSM to take a trip down to deal with the cosmetics now) and it was spot on. Everything, and I mean everything, now works exactly as it should.

But ideally, it needed a bit of a test. Daughter's Toyota MR2 has recently developed an evil wailing from the RH rear wheel bearing but a press is needed to remove the old one and press the new one in. Not too much of a problem as a mate has a workshop with a suitable press but he's only there during working hours. So I would need to remove the rear hub and get it down to him at a time when he would be there. As the Ascot was now sorted, I swapped cars with her last night confident that it would get her to work and back for the next couple of days and give me the time to pull her car to bits and get it back together again. At 8:50 this morning my phone rang. I've broke it, she said. She'd managed all of 50m from her driveway to the end of the road, the engine had died and now the message centre was telling her she had a gearbox fault, a traction failure, an ABS fault and the engine wouldn't restart. Got there and found that everything looked normal when the ignition was switched on, it was only when the key was turned to start the engine that the starter did nothing and the dash went blank. The negative battery terminal was loose. I can't remember when I last had the battery off but I obviously didn't do it up tight enough when I put it on. Tightened it up, jump started it from mine, checked that it was charging and she went off to work (and so far, hasn't broken it again).

What I don't understand is why then? Over the last few weeks I've used it a few times to run around in just to see if everything was working as it should. I've done a couple of hundred miles in it and never a problem. I've started it and had it idling for ages while doing other jobs and not once has it shown any signs of a problem. So why is it that the first time a woman used it, the damn thing dies?

Same sort of thing with my blue one.
Handed over the keys to other half last week. Since then she's trashed the fob "don't know how that happened, must have been in my handbag"
and somehow managed to knock off one of the rear boxes *I thought it was a bit louder than it sounds outside"

I'm still not sure how you knock a rear silencer off without mangling the bumper? That's quite impressive.

I think she prised it off with the key fob.
Not a scratch on bumper or tailpipe.

I was pottering down the a120 the other morning, pitch black when I lost everything, lights, motor, the lot, bit scary when you can see the side of the road,,
Managed to get it off the road ( more luck than judgement) popped the bonnet, gave my pos terminal although tight a little tap, hey presto back to life, thatbattery has been in there since I bought it,,

Ps, anyone else seen the 16k p38 on eBay,, there be lucky,,

no10chris wrote:

Ps, anyone else seen the 16k p38 on eBay,, there be lucky,,

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That one's the usual RPI bullsh!t. They take a run of the mill P38, drop in a new lump and Tornado chip it, oil change, new polybushes, SS exhaust, new bags, "almost new" tyres, new brakes.
I wonder if they ever actually sell any of these at the advertised price?
I'll sell them my VSE for £12k, then they can sell it on and make a nice profit on it without having to actually do anything :)

Don't say that... I'm hoping for £10K for my '98 with sub 84k miles on it when I'm finished with it...

Well I still can't work out just how my significant other makes cars incredibly magnetic - or at least magnetic enough to attract lots of distant ding-inducing supermarket trolleys (etc)... apparently (and/or allegedly.... just in case she reads this)....

Worst part of that RPi 16K ad. is how they say they will fix all the problems etc if someone buys it.....

The car is currently on air suspension, as it's supposed to be, and we will replace all four airbags with new plus rebuild the pump and valve block to ensure there aren't any problems with the system. For the money you can also expect all fluids to be renewed, new brake discs, calipers and pads to be fitted all round, a full 304 grade stainless steel exhaust system, poly bush suspension bushes all round, the front bumper and grille to be resprayed, a new heated windscreen and of course the rest of the car will be thoroughly checked over to ensure that everything works exactly as it should. The car is currently on petrol only, however you can of course specify an LPG conversion or indeed any other upgrades to suit your requirements, simply contact us with what you require. You may also notice that the photos show a scuffed front bumper and cracked windscreen however these will be fixed before the car is sold.

So how much does that make the Ascot worth then? Air springs have been on it for under 2 years, valve block and compressor the same, blend motors changed or rerfurbed, heater o rings done, full service with all fluids changed, heated seats repaired, brakes checked and pins lubed, kick panel multiwsy connectors removed, front door latches replaced, grille and front bumper painted and everything else I could find that I wasn't happy with. Running perfectly on petrol and LPG too.

Martyuk wrote:

Don't say that... I'm hoping for £10K for my '98 with sub 84k miles on it when I'm finished with it...

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Prices for goodun's are starting to climb a bit now, although diesels have had their day and values are still in freefall. I don't think a DHSE will every become collectable, except perhaps as a curiousity.
At the moment it looks like £10k plus is still the preserve of the "specials"- H&H, 30th Anniv, Westminster, VSE (!) etc in low mileage showroom, full history condition.
Yours could get there, but keeping the materials cost of whatever youre going to do to it down while adding value with your labour and skills is where you'll make your money on it, but you know all that stuff anyway :)

Pretty unlikely I'll get anywhere close to 10k for the Ascot but I'll be happy with 1500..... Just had a proper look at the RPi one on eBay. Noticed no sat nav and then saw its a 98 but they are fitting a Thor? How's that going to work then?

I though we'd established that the Ascot was a special edition for the Classic but not the P38?
Or am I mis-remembering?

We did but it's easier to refer to it as the Ascot as that's what the badge on the back says. Its got everything that an hse would have so is a high spec. Dina has named them anyway, mine is white man, the SE is big blue and the Ascot is that rather than just calling it the silver one.

Gilbertd wrote:

We did but it's easier to refer to it as the Ascot as that's what the badge on the back says. Its got everything that an hse would have so is a high spec. Dina has named them anyway, mine is white man, the SE is big blue and the Ascot is that rather than just calling it the silver one.

I’ve called mine a few names before, none that I’d repeat here, 😂

So, she's had it for 4 days now and has done 140 miles in it. I know she's done 140 miles because she rang me in a panic as the LPG level light had gone from one green led to a red one so she was expecting it to die on her at any moment. Called round tonight, checked the gauge on the tank which showed about a third left, took it down the road and filled it and it took 48 litres. Considering most of it has been to work and back so mostly in traffic, that's about what I would expect.

She did mention one slightly weird experience. Sitting in a queue to get into the work car park with her foot on the brake pedal and the dash beeped and came up with abs fault, the abs light came on but went out as soon as she started moving just as it should. Odd.......

Faulty brake switch? Funnily enough, Jacckk posted a couple of hours ago in "Electrickery" about a burning smell. His brake switch has gone the distance and he got an ABS fault on the dash. Might be worth a look at the wiring.