The (sort of...) Jap scrap (sort of...) sensible turnip garage

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Great spot for pictures round there

Actually pretty much anywhere in this beautiful place of ours

 

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[Daniel]

Absolutely class

 

[big_pete]

That is literally the perfect EVO, the only one on the planet I actually lust after.

You will have to take a spin on some of your milk run roads lol

 

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With Princess still in bits I decided to take Mitsi out for a wee spin round the block. Three weeks and 4.5k miles later we are still driving I have never experienced heat like on this trip. I have also never seen so many cyclists in one place! But some half decent scenery along the way, nice enough roads in places, and the cyclists just made for an interesting autotest Oh, and two world championships along the way just because, well, why the heck not

 

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Me stopping by the office in Cambridge for a couple of days this week

 

[Todd]

Love these updates.

Do you take last minute notions and head off with no real set route/plan?

 

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A bit of both I suppose. It usually starts as a random notion, but I do like to know where to stay and where I'm going so I do tend to do a lot of planning before heading out. Don't want to waste time trying to find somewhere to stay at the end of a long day, or finding something is too far, etc.

With these cars security comes into it too sadly. So finding quiet spots with good parking and such matters too. But those spots tend to be the nicest anyway so no hardship

There's still room for the unexpected. For example, I hadn't planned on heading up Gross Glockner. I just accidentally realised I was passing right under the southern end of it and, well, would be rude not to

 

[Graham2]

Incredible trip, Nick. I would love to road trip around Austria in the near future, just need to get rid of this milk float first

 

[Boydie]

Class, so jealous - its a dream road trip to do the Alps

 

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The world is right again

 

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Took Princess for a wee drive. To Sweden Where she made new friends in a field in the middle of nowhere:

Vallåkraträffen 2023

Was over in Sweden the other week and it just happened to coincide with Vallåkraträffen, one of the biggest car shows in Scandinavia. It started out back in the late seventies and early eighties in the tiny village of Vallåkra when a few local car nuts decided to put on a car show with highly...

rmsmotoring.com

Don't know if I ever mentioned this but I'm quite fond of this wee car, lol So good to have her back on the road, even if it is only just in time for winter. Worked perfectly the whole way. Ok, the lights went bananas at one point, but then they fixed themselves again so who's counting - magic!

And I never used the roof on the whole trip, 2.5 weeks. Did get a bit damp the last couple of days through Yorkshire and Scotland, but no bother. Just don't stop! The umbrella did come in handy though at one point when parked up at a roadwork on the A1(M) just as the skies opened

Looking good in Sweden:

Gatecrashing one of the biggest Volvo and custom car shows around :

Playing hide and seek in the office car park:

It's funny the different reactions these cars get. Basically, everyone loves a cute yellow plastic canoe - who could be mean to those eyes Volvo - either invisible, or you are chatting memories with someone who really knows for a bit in car parks. Or at the lights, lol - true! Honda and Evo? A bit more of a ... mixed bag At the one end, the die hard petrol heads chatting memories in car parks. Or at the lights, lol. At the other, people who are really not fans, for whatever reason, and display said not-fandom quite explicitly I guess they didn't get enough love as kids or something

I just love them all. Totally different, and epic in their own ways!

 

[EF Ian]

Your trips and the photos you take on them are awesome.

 

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Well, been a mixed week. Good news first. Red got out for a bit of exercise last week and a fresh MoT. Straight through, no problems. Didn't notice the i30N in the background until just now That's a nice looking car too and that's the perfect colour I think. Though they're nice in white too.

Stepping out of the Lotus into the Honda feels like getting into a bus But that's soon forgotten. She's a cage fighter, lol, monsters rally stages, absolute beast. Love it!

Swapped over yesterday for Emma. Making the most of the last of the light summer evenings, especially with the weather of late. Wee run up the coast tonight. Summer finally arrived in Northern Ireland Gorgeous! Nice views too

So, Princess then. She had an incredibly lucky escape. I hope at least. Parked her up on Saturday night off the ferry and went to bed. Did the usual preflight checks the next morning and she was way down on oil. Oil everywhere - engine bay, exhaust, drive shafts, suspension, and like a lake on the undertrays. Could see a clear oil trail out in the street and to just infront of the neighbour's house. So it's flatbed time again, but at least the engine was still running fine so fingers crossed there was no serious damage.

So major operation cleanup on the way. Like mopping up after the Exxon Valdez. Thank lord for Cleanse and Lazer!

Will be renewing the exhaust wrap as well while at it. Was past it anyway but now partly soaked in oil as well.

Just another day

 

[EF Ian]

Hope all is well with the bearings and all you need to do is sort the leak.

 

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Hopefully a simple fix, a damaged hose. Could have been much worse. Fingers crossed and all that

 

[civicglacier]

Amazing thread and amazing fleet.
Long for the day I can just take off
Somewhere like that in the car.

Scenery in Austria looked amazing

Get the hose done and fingers crossed .

Are they braided fuel
Lines in her too?

 

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Either braided or OEM Honda depending on where they are.

 

[Ben P]

Any interest in selling one of your volvos?
Father in law is after one

 

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Any interest in selling one of your volvos?
Father in law is after one

Not at the moment, but thanks for asking. That question does get asked every now and then though, which is nice to know

 

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Princess is away, fingers crossed all she needs is a new oil hose. Travelling in good company there

Olive has finally got those rear bushes replaced. Long story short, but after being let down by two local garages some Polish boys round the corner came to the rescue.

These bushes have clearly never been touched in twenty five years. Friend of mine works on oil rigs in the north sea and he said they looked like something they find out there

Seriously though, so much for English MoT, by a Volvo dealer no less. Like a new car now. This is why we buy old xxxx from Japan

I also had a go at sorting out the seats. On the 850R they used alcantara centres with leather sides (T-5R was the other way around), and after 25 years that alcantara was a bit, well, ripe, lol. I was set on a retrim, but then I saw someone else here on RMS using sandpaper to restore old alcantara. Sounds nuts, but a bit of goggling later and I had a go.

The idea is to use an abrasive surface to "lift" old dirt and sweat and whatnot that's got ingrained and "bobbled" the fabric. The key is just a very light rub, you obviously don't want to actually sand down the fabric. The amount of crud coming out was quite astonishing and literally eye-watering, lol. Spraying with carpet cleaner and brushing out with an upholstery brush also helps, as does having a vacuum at hand for all the debris.

Hard to see the difference in the pictures, but trust me, it's night and day even just after a first wee trial run. Even bigger difference sitting on them

I'll be working away at that over a few evenings now.

The gear shifter and steering wheel are also past their prime, lol. On the 850R the shifter was in grey leather, but for some reason they used some god-awful grey plastileather thing on the handbrake and at the bottom of the steering wheel. So I want all of that redone in nice actual leather, and retrim the rest of the wheel too.

In the meantime I found a wooden gearknob in great condition so I swapped that in. It doesn't match the rest of the wood trim obviously but it's nice until I get the original done properly. For the steering wheel I have a wooden wheel that was on Emma when she arrived. Might pop that on for now as well. Or I have a spare T-5R style wheel as well. We'll see.

Getting the shifter off means hunkering in the back between the front seats, bracing against the floor, and pulling hard straight up. Hoping to catch yourself in time when it goes so you don't dent the roof

In the meantime, Emma has been over to England. Glastonbury, Purbeck, Cambridge, Yorkshire for the Elvington Torque Volvo meet, and back via Scotland. Perfect the whole way. She does need a new oil seal somewhere, but only used half a litre in 1500 miles so can't complain.

That's all folks, thanks for reading

 

[SoobyDoobyDo]

Stunning pictures! Thanks for those pictures of the mitsu, found some new computer backgrounds one of the best looking evos in my opinion…also love the lotus and Volvo, I can appreciate having a nice turbo estate. Thanks for sharing, those looked like some brilliant trips!

 

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You're welcome, and thanks for the kind comments

 

[richie_mck]

I have somehow completely missed this thread. Wow, what an absolutely amazing collection Nick, that'll give me some reading for later on.

 

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A small update this time, have just been bumbling about in Olive of late. Just lovely to float around in. Old school auto is smooth and surprisingly agile in sport mode. Completely original car, nearly thirty years old but comfy and relaxing. Until you put your foot down and she comes on boost, lol

The old wipers were well gone, barely touched the glass on the driver's side. Never really noticed until the rain the last couple of weeks. At first I thought something was broken, then I realised they were still whatever was on when I bought the car New PIAA ones on now, should work better.

She has also gone all Scene on me after Elvington!

Added to the memorabilia collecting. I'm not quite at @Gaz86 level , but finally got hold of one of these. They're ridiculously rare, and this one came complete with virtually unused manual and the original T-5R supplement

Picked up a new decoration for the shed at Elvington, fits right in!

Finally trying to decide what wheel to use in Olive while getting the original retrimmed. Have these two sitting. The one on the left is T-5R style, but a little thicker and with "ears". The right is a rare wooden one that was on Emma when she arrived. It's a bit "orange" but I think it might suit Olive... But the other one is nicer to hold, lol. We will see. First world problems, lol.

Have a big pile of Volvo bits coming in from Germany, but more on that another time

Thanks for reading.