Kit's Khaos

[PR19_Kit]

I do that almost every day ... I try not to send the shocks of the Subaru Forester work car (& my off-sider) through the top of the car. 

I hope Subaru's equivalent of me had done that at their test track a few times, just in case.

By far the worst test driving was on the Belgian Pave track, which was a triangular course about 1/2 - 3/4 mile long and it was so rough we weren't allowed to drive for more than 30 mins without changing drivers. 2-3 days of doing that and my ears were ringing for weeks, and my lower back was buzzing the whole time. NO fun at all.

Sometimes we did it with the car instrumented and the data cables stretched across to our Land Rover Station Wagon mobile lab, running alongside, on nice SMOOTH tarmac!  Alright for some.

[PR19_Kit]

Good news, bad news day here.

At long last it looks like I'll be moving house on the 19th Feb. Delays, delays and more delays has been the story of 2026 so far, but it now seems to be happening. 

While driving y'day the steering on my Vectra was getting heavier and heavier, so much that parking it was just about impossible and took ALL my arm strength to move the wheel! I staggered to the local garage and they found that the steering header tank was empty because, somewhat ironically considering what I did for work, that a hose had split and emptied all the fluid out! 

Needless to say spare hoses aren't available from the manufacturers any more (the car was only built in 2008....) but in my business I knew LOADS of people who could make custom hoses, so one of them is doing just that.

[Steel Penguin]

glad to hear a date has bee sorted   
sorry to hear that the leak was sprung, and rather surprised that the hose is no longer available, i would have though support was longer term that that ,  But glad to hear that the ole insider knowledge was able to be applied and is currently getting the problem sorted. 

[McColm]

Have you tried Unipart? At one point there used to be loads of wrecking yards all over the place so parts were available or something similar by a different car manufacturer would be suitable.
It's good that you have found a replacement.

[Pellson]

There is some pan-European legislation stating that car manufacturers have to secure spare parts supply for at least ten years after production of a model. It seems most interpret that as never providing parts after that ten years. Annoying.

[PR19_Kit]

It's especially true of Stellantis, who scrapped vast loads of old spares from the stock they got when they bought Vauxhall. Seemingly it never occurred to them to offer the spares to the umpteen owners clubs in this country.

It's not just any old hose that's failed, it's a very long one that goes right across the car (via the front bumper even!) and the car itself is pretty rare there's very little chance of finding one in a scrap yard.

[NARSES2]

Good news, bad news day here.

At long last it looks like I'll be moving house on the 19th Feb. Delays, delays and more delays has been the story of 2026 so far, but it now seems to be happening. 

Touching wood for you here Kit. Moving house can be one of the most frustrating experiences out there  Almost as bad as getting probate through   

[Rick Lowe]

glad to hear a date has been sorted 
sorry to hear that the leak was sprung, and rather surprised that the hose is no longer available, i would have though support was longer term that that ,  But glad to hear that the ole insider knowledge was able to be applied and is currently getting the problem sorted. 

All of the above.   

[Old Wombat]

It's especially true of Stellantis, who scrapped vast loads of old spares from the stock they got when they bought Vauxhall. Seemingly it never occurred to them to offer the spares to the umpteen owners clubs in this country.

This is because they looked at it thusly;
- If we sell all these spare parts into the open market then they'll be cheap
- If spares are cheap, people might be tempted to drive these old cars as their daily drive
- If people are driving old cars for their daily drive, they won't be buying new cars
- If people don't buy new cars, we won't make money
- 
- SCRAP THE SPARES!!!!!

[PR19_Kit]

But the people who are in the owners clubs will be driving those older cars ANYWAY, it's what they do.

The 'Old Vauxhall' would never have done that, they even GAVE us the moulds for the nose of the HP Firenzas and Sports Hatches that my club exist to support. And they gave me a prototype too, for starting the club. That's the sort of behaviour than means 'Customer Service' to us, the customers, not the pure greed that Stellantis have shown.

[Gondor]

Good news with the house, but you do realise that you are going to have one hell of a logistical nightmare in moving your kits to it. Saying that, you have probably thought of that and keep having nightmares over it.

[Pellson]

Good news with the house, but you do realise that you are going to have one hell of a logistical nightmare in moving your kits to it. Saying that, you have probably thought of that and keep having nightmares over it.

Thing brings another old moving story to mind. A mate of mine who is a whisky connoisseur was moving house, taking some help from a professional moving company. As he had a rather substantial number of bottles containing only about an inch of whiskey each, one of the blokes tasked with packing these up in a seemingly endless number of cardboard boxes somewhat grumpily commented:
"Why not just pour all of this together in one of the bottles and be done with it.."

 

[Steel Penguin]

Good news with the house, but you do realise that you are going to have one hell of a logistical nightmare in moving your kits to it. Saying that, you have probably thought of that and keep having nightmares over it.

Thing brings another old moving story to mind. A mate of mine who is a whisky connoisseur was moving house, taking some help from a professional moving company. As he had a rather substantial number of bottles containing only about an inch of whiskey each, one of the blokes tasked with packing these up in a seemingly endless number of cardboard boxes somewhat grumpily commented:
"Why not just pour all of this together in one of the bottles and be done with it.."

 

it would give a unique blended result that for certain,  and wheres my wheaping quietly icon? 

[PR19_Kit]

Good news with the house, but you do realise that you are going to have one hell of a logistical nightmare in moving your kits to it. Saying that, you have probably thought of that and keep having nightmares over it.

Not really. As I don't have to sell the house right away, and I have rented containers at both ends of the trip, I can move the kits from one side of the country to the other by car load. I'll be back every couple of weeks for ages yet, trying to get the house into state to actually make it saleable!

[Rick Lowe]