Practically Classics Forum

my eldest is 5 very soon, ill have to start saving

Mine is 17 in september, makes you wonder how they are going to manage , 2 grand to insure a car, 200k for a basic house, everyone wants a degree for any decent job so 30k student loan it just goes on and on.

Nephews monthly cost for his insurance alone is £170, almost as much as what a full year costs me on my modern. 19, passed his test 4 months ago now.

Although it's a few years ago now, we found that for each of my three boys, Direct Line came out the cheapest until they had a couple of years NCD when we just used places like 'Compare the Meerkat' to get quotes. They were also very quick to pay out when youngest lost his Escort in a fire and paid us more than we thought it was worth . . . . . . . . . .

I hate to break it to you Kstrut, but student loan debt will be closer to £45k assuming a 3 year course. £9K a year loan for fees and the approx £5k a year for the subsistance loan wich is meant to cover rent, book and food but in reality doesn't even cover the rent! anyway..rant over...sorry about that!


Thanks for all the insurance suggestions. I will be doing a major trawl shortly and will let you know the outcome.

Well, Poppy has been in pretty much daily use since back on the road and I've loved every minute. However, she was running a bit lumpy over the last cople of days until fully warmed up and then problem cleared. This morning though, she's thrown a tantrum and refused point blank to take me to work! I had to use the company Civic so eldest daughter won't be amused when she wakes up and discovers she has no car to use today. (I really must get her Daewoo on the road.)

At least Poppy had the good grace to break down on the drive rather than the roadside so I will forgive her and can still say that that she has never let me down on the road...well...apart from when the points closed up on me...oh... and when the security cut out switch melted..but apart from those 2 occasions, she has never let me down on the road. (And I got her going again both times without resorting to recovery men so they don't count do they?).

A very quick check this morning revealed that fuel is getting to Stromborgs finest achievment so I suspect the ignition side. Although I changed the points, condensor, leads and plugs earlier in the year, I had bought them just after she went into the lockup, so all about 3 years old now. I have spares for all of them so I will work my way through replacing them at the weekend. If that doesn't work, I will replace the coil which is still the one that came with the car when I bought her 13 years ago. If that doesn't work then I'll be back on here bothering you chaps for an answer!

With the amount of driving I've been doing, the front seats have finally given up too and really are dreadfully uncomfortable. So much so that I've been forced to actually do something about it. So, I've stolen some of Mrs FB's scatter cushions from the lounge. She hasn't noticed yet.

Although I was a bit miffed at not driving to work in an open car on this gloriously sunny day, and as much as I love driving Poppy, it was nice to slip into the airconditioned comfort of the Honda and enjoy the absolute confidence of being able to complete my drive...

Oh dear. Did I say that out loud? I've let the side down haven't I? Does this mean I will be banned from the forum? I will do pennance if that would help.

Fatbloke wrote:Well, I know this is tempting fate, but not had to get the spanners out much but have been driving about in the sunny weather a lot.

I knew it!!

At least she is safely at home Tinkering is much more pleasant on your own drive than in your office car park.

TerryG wrote:At least she is safely at home Tinkering is much more pleasant on your own drive than in your office car park.

When the ignition stated to give up on the Singer, it kindly finally gave up once I had her in the garage
Best place to happen and Im sure you will sort her quite quickly.

Once piece of advice id offer regarding the coil. There are quite a lot of fake ones on the market so make sure you buy from a good source.
Would it not be a good time to do an electronic conversion on the distributor ?

Kev

If you do replace your coil, don't use an ebay bargain item, as Kevin says, there are lots of fakes about and you get what you pay for. I always buy Bosch, they aren't expensive when you consider you should get 10 years out of it.

I have to confess that my first thought was the "condenser" in the distributor. That's mainly because the first time I came across the problem was with our '61 Herald (in about 1969) and remembered the occasion all too well. What I did this afternoon is a different matter...

Obviously, changing everything else first is the way to go - as Father did with our Herald. He was a lot better as a Vicar than as a car mechanic