Project Bentley

So, I gave up using my internet connection to drag the rest of the photos in. Currently sat with this silly sod....

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....uploading the photos of his car from his computer and vastly superior line to the interwubs.

Now, please do note that we are complete amateurs at this 'car interior' lark when you look at these photos!

Central door panel, drivers door, now with added insulating material:

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A closer look:

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The outer panel, minus insulating material:

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And with:

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Oh, and the rear door on the drivers side is back together now:

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Certainly makes the doors a bit quieter when you shut them....how does the advert go, "just like a Golf"? Makes the central locking quieter as well. The car has also had a reasonable amount of water dumped on it (courtesy of our crappy climate) and none of that water has gotten by the doorcards yet.

Two doors down, two to go. Then some black carpets to match the new colour scheme on the doors and we're back to sorting the paintwork out.
 
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Not sure about doing that whole bit in black mate. The red does look good IRL (it'll look even better when we've touched it in to get the last bits of stray parchment colour out of the way), it acts as a sort of bridge to the piping on the seats. Black would probably work better with a lot more black in the interior (say, middle of the seat cushions, squabs and the headlining).
 
The Jag (XJ8 3.2 LWB):

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And a quick shot of the 18 year old warhorse that is the Granada Of Spooky Doom™

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Also in a couple of those shots you can see the Kia Soul that I'm rumbling around in at the moment.


***edit***

Please excuse all the leaves. Apparently they definitely got the memo about it being autumn, and committed suicide.
 
Superb, same wheels as my one, good colour that seafrost too.

A lot of expensive options on that car for a T reg too, front cup holders, rear wood centre console and heated seats, cruise, reversing sensors someone rowed the boat out on that one.

Just noticed it has got XJ Sport boot badges (black ones) not the original chrome, is that from the recent rear end repair?
 
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News from the fleet - the Granada Of Spooky Doom™ is officially on borrowed time. My mate has been given a 53 plate Vectra GSI.

Alright, so Vectras are pretty much akin to Satan on this forum. And I've never been one for holding back on critising them, I certainly have criticised the VXR version of it on here before. But if you're getting one for next to nowt, then the arguments against them have to be mitigated somewhat. There's just one problem.

An insignificant one.




A mere glitch.







The car won't move when you engage drive or reverse.

*sigh*

Guess what the next JRS "Project ....." thread has every chance of being....:D
 
The fault code translates to a solenoid for the torque converter (the code is P1743 IIRC). Odd thing is, we're not even slightly worried about it. The Bentley has thrown that much at us, it's become routine.

As the preacher says...."You keeps a pitchin' 'em, and I'll keeps a' takin' 'em!".
 
Fleet update again:

Vectra on driveway, TC looking like the problem, shall be sorted.
Jaguar making noise from timing chain country :eek: Hoping for the best.
Granada knackered.
Bentley only fully working car, albeit a bit scruffy with bits of the interior currently out.

So to recap, the oldest car out of the four is working fine. The youngest car out of the lot won't even move under its own power. Remind me again why newer cars are better?!
 
Fleet update again:

Vectra on driveway, TC looking like the problem, shall be sorted.
Jaguar making noise from timing chain country :eek: Hoping for the best.
Granada knackered.
Bentley only fully working car, albeit a bit scruffy with bits of the interior currently out.

So to recap, the oldest car out of the four is working fine. The youngest car out of the lot won't even move under its own power. Remind me again why newer cars are better?!

The oldest has had the most money and time thrown at it? ;)

That said, I know which I'd rather use so time and money well spent IMO.
 
The oldest has had the most money and time thrown at it? ;)

Under the previous owner, the Vectra had not long had a cambet (plus tensioners etc) done along with a couple of sensors also relating to the gearbox and a couple of tyres. So I think they're about even on wallet-raping right now ;)

That said, I know which I'd rather use so time and money well spent IMO.

Ditto. But the price was just too good to ignore as a replacement for the Granada Of Spooky Doom™!
 
Fleet update again:

Vectra on driveway, TC looking like the problem, shall be sorted.
Jaguar making noise from timing chain country :eek: Hoping for the best.
Granada knackered.
Bentley only fully working car, albeit a bit scruffy with bits of the interior currently out.

So to recap, the oldest car out of the four is working fine. The youngest car out of the lot won't even move under its own power. Remind me again why newer cars are better?!

Whatever you do DONT drive that jag.

If its making a noise you might be lucky and it hasnt skipped a tooth yet, you can afford it to skip 1 tooth which results in rough idling.

More than 1 tooth and its lunched the engine.

You can rent the cam setting/locking tool from JEC and the kit you need to do the tensioners is this http://www.britishparts.co.uk/.sc/ms/dd/ee/3922/TIMING GEAR SERVICE KIT
 

Absolutely. And the car is booked in at our tame mechanic for Friday. It's not at the point yet where it sounds like the expensive moment is upon us, but it's the first time we've ever heard any noise from the top end of the motor and coming off the back of those muppets that tried to kill it when it was away having the rear bumper sorted we're just feeling a bit gun-shy....
 
Absolutely. And the car is booked in at our tame mechanic for Friday. It's not at the point yet where it sounds like the expensive moment is upon us, but it's the first time we've ever heard any noise from the top end of the motor and coming off the back of those muppets that tried to kill it when it was away having the rear bumper sorted we're just feeling a bit gun-shy....

Bite the bullet and pay the money or do it yourself, you have been lucky you had the warning noise because you have the first generation plastic body tensioners, if it had been a slightly later car it would have the 2nd revision (still ****) tensioners and with them you just dont get a warning.

Seriously dont drive it to the mechanic, get it taken there.

Its the difference between a 1200 quid job or writing an otherwise lovely car off for want of a 3k plus engine.
 
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