Uncle Jimmy

Guarantee you’d have something to say if a local youth bought something they couldn’t insure and said they’re just going to drive it anyway because they drive slowly and carefully. 
 
Also guarantee you’d have something to say if you or your family were hit by someone driving any type of vehicle and they had no insurance. 

I refer to my Reliant as 'it,'  sometimes with a two letter prefix and other assorted four (+) letter encouragements if it threatens to force me to walk.

As Red5 has invested a lot of time, effort and I imagine money into it I think that this would be a responsible course of action.

Ran out of light. Got that bit put in.

More bits n bobs.
Some of the interior trim was loose and flappy which always makes a car look scruffy, so I slapped some Evostick in the right places and raided Mrs D's peg bag (don't tell her!) for things to hold in place whilst the glue dried:

Bigger puzzle was why the car seems to use so much oil - a good pint or so in 300 miles. The engine doesn't feel or sound worn, although I haven't had the compression tester on it yet. There's also no obvious blue smoke from oil burning, which I'd have thought would be a good cloud if the pistons were rattling in the bores.
A bit of research suggested that the fancy dan alloy rocker cover might be the culprit. There's no baffle in front of the breather as there is in the original cover, so all the oil mist is being sucked straight into the carbs. Probably not an issue in 'normal' use these days for cars like this - B road bimbling and the like - but maybe more of a problem at a constant 3k revs on the motorway. I rigged up a jar and pipe to catch whatever came out:

60 miles of M5 produced about 1/4" of oil in the jar, so with the suction of the carbs it's not impossible that more being extracted. I'm not keen on aftermarket bling like rocker covers anyway, so I was happy to have an excuse to go back to standard.
Off with the alloy one, and here's the underside, sans baffle:

Badly RTV'd on gasket was giving some seepage too, and I took the opportunity to check and adjust the valve clearances whilst I was in there. 6 fine, 2 slightly wide so I nipped those up and things are now quieter and smoother:

Found a good original rocker cover on Ebay that didn't need paint and hadn't had its securing nuts gibboned down like most of them have. New cap in the latest Paddocks order and job's a good un:

Much prefer the original look!
All done in time for a quick trip down to ATS to re-set the tracking following me replacing the TRE's. Apparently it was miles out, despite me being careful to count the threads etc:

Off to Bristol again tomorrow!
 

No.  They had problems with the bottom end on the early 3 main bearing 1800 engine.  5 bearings plus a belt-and- braces oil cooler was the solution, so ever afterwards the B had to have an oil cooler, because sportscar.  Better off without one for road use so that the oil gets up to its proper working temperature.  Tbf oils have improved since the 1960s.  As you say thousands of Marinas, 1800s and Sherpas worked absolutely fine with no oil cooler.

but actually yes, it's one of these:

As everyone knows, Midgets are only really bought by those who can't afford a Spitfire.
As ever, the parts industry understands this and makes sure MG parts are affordable for the impoverished hoi polloi who have to drive them. This leads to some pricing anomalies, meaning that an oil cooler kit for a Midget 1500 is usefully cheaper than the same kit sold for a Spitfire 1500.
Obviously I had to use the right BMC part number, demonstrate an unnatural knowledge of real ale and lie about knowing any real live women, but they eventually  let me order it and here it is.
Fitting as soon as it gets a bit warmer.

Ee made I laugh!
Hopefully this excitement happened while stationary?

I mean, on the one hand, it's a day out, and a family at the cinema would spend more etc etc.
On the other hand: Mike feckin Brewer! As if that weren't bad enough, they can't sort out the traffic flow into and out of site. And it's possibly the only event where keeping traffic flowing is a necessity, due to creaky old cooling systems.
Think I'm going to give it a miss again until they've got their act together and replaced the 'old aaht yer aaand' freeloading sack of shit.

I actually prefer the later looks and backends than the early Spitfires. Market doesn't agree but I suspect that's because 70s cars that were released in the 60s never reach the same market values. 

Well, this car was bought to go to Bristol on the the M5, and that's what it did today. Here's the proof in the form of a pic of her in Trenchard St multi storey car park:

Driving impressions to follow...
Spoiler: we made it back

Tracking feels good - light, direct steering so you can flick between lanes like a bike. Plus the advantage of being able to identify by feel anything you run over 😉
I forgot to mention the best thing about this car.
Driving can be such a misery these days. People are so grumpy and aggressive, with mucho competitivo attitude. Riding a motorbike takes you out of that particular rat race / willy waving contest, but I'm normally reminded of what cunts some people are when I drive a car again. The Spitfire is different: everyone lets you out, no-one gets angry with you when you fuck up or pull out on them, folks seem to allow you room. I've been really pleasantly surprised how easy getting in and out of Bristol is in this car, and how nice it is to drive something utterly uncompetitive with modern cars but which is such a laugh to drive.
Should be available on prescription.

XM stuff today

oh yes

very easy to do actually, undo 3x 10mm bolts on the underside of the transmission and lever the plate out and you then get yourself absolutely soaked
want to see what came out?

it didn't smell burned at least! but it was very very dirty
filled it up with fresh reddish/pink stuff, around 3L i put in and that got me to the top mark on the dipstick
how does it drive?
well it seems to shift a lot smoother now! which is nice
going to do another change in a week or so
i dread to think when this was last done, a very long time ago i'd say

Snap. On mine, the housing that mounts to the bulkhead which the filter element sits in had come away from the bulkhead, allowing water to run off the screen straight into the intake of the heater blower.
I tiger-sealed it back on and all was well again for multiple years. The screeching from the blower motor fan eventually got too much and I replaced it for a good used one, I suspect the water getting onto the spindle killed it earlier than it should have. All easy jobs to do though.

3,000 miles of motoring later, I think it likes you

I've posted this previously on the 'cars that you never knew existed' thread and also on the 'ambitious towbars' thread but I think that it is time it got its own thread.
Introducing my 1975 Turner Ranger tractor! Four wheel drive, four wheel steer, mid mounted 1098 A series in longitudinal configuration (gearbox in sump) but mounted transversely driving the front and rear axles through a Triumph differential. Steering box from an A30/35, hydraulics from a Leyland 154 tractor, drum brakes and rubber cone suspension from a mini. Very small, very unusual and very fun 😀


I saw this on ebay a few years back and being a mini nut I had to get it. I've used it for light duties since, namely moving trailers and a caravan. Road registered thanks to the Friends of Ferguson Heritage club and absolutely scary to drive on the highway. 

The history of this design is quite odd. It started off as a Harry Ferguson design through his Ferguson Research company. They were originally designed to run on Calor gas and were sold as Calor Ranger's. Turner Engineering (who made the Calor Ranger's) also started selling the petrol versions badged as Turner Ranger's.
The rumours are that about 250 were made. Since acquiring one I have become obsessed and have done plenty of searches to find as many survivors as possible. I've found 26 examples (including mine) including one of the original prototypes which has a shorter wheelbase than the production models. I've also found various brochures and literature related to these odd machines.

Having seen his success on the Invacar thread and the '93 Mondeo thread then I might have to employ the services of @LightBulbFun to work his DVLA magic to find some more examples 🙂
Also, a few videos of this on my YouTube channel. Just one link below as I don't want to spam you!
 

Tidy as fuck that; very much my sort of motor, shame so little of that age that's in decent nick turns up anymore, Jealous I R! 

Sorry, it's not VX4/90 but it's interesting if you haven't seen it before. We've seen this road test elsewhere (thanks Trigger) and I think someone mentioned what happened to the car, but I don't remember the outcome.  I think it was stripped for parts.  Two were built.
(Text is blurry but click on the pic).  Note position of gearstick.
Fuel consumption, -  standard Ventora  20.8mpg / Black Prince V8 13.0mpg.  Ouch.  Bet it sounded lovely though.
Roadtest is dated June 1972 so any further conversions would have been on the FE Ventora.  (Unless they bought a stock of the outgoing FD Ventoras at bargain prices).  The newer FE Ventoras were around £2000 when introduced in 1972, a new Granada GXL was around £2300.

And time of an update!
(I've been I'll and its been raining.. I have my excuses ready!)
The girlfriends dad came over yesterday and the brakes were bled decently - I think my mentioning to her that if her project didnt make the road by the end if the month I'd can it for another hopeless project. The brakes now work, tho they feel to me a bit pants compared to the Rover and Jag. They will stop you though and lock up the fronts so could just be me. I've ordered  a master cylinder rebuild kit as it was only £12 and it's not a difficult  job to remove it,  though I've done mountain bike masters before never a car.   There is an annoying brake judder, so I'll  have to have the front wheels off and look at the pads and discs.  
With the brakes done it needed test driving, tho this mean dealing with the carbs.  Previously it had been running pretty well -by that I mean for an amature like me who has messed with 4 sets of carbs in his life.   So I'd continued to fix it till it was broke and would struggle to start, idle at 1500 rpm and not rev over 2k. I unfucked my handiwork and tho it's a bit rich and doesnt like going over 4.5k it sufficed for a test drive.
Which highlighted the alarming amount of steering slop and vaugeness whewhich turned out to be a cotter pin fitted incorrectly.  It wasn't going to fail or fall out  but you had  1/4 turn of nothing.   It took 2 minutes to get it out and a mere hour and half to have it fitted properly and tight snappy steering wa srestored! 2nd time out and though running a bit rough is  a delight to drive, easily the sharpest steering  and best  dare I say it..  sporty! of my gaggle of shitters.   Managing a manual was interesting, I only went 2nd to 1st twice when I wanted 3rd..😖 ,  all gears are smooth  to change and the Overdrive works  nicely in 3rd and 4th and I daresay performance will improve when I remove the 100kg or so of spare parts  from the boot too.🤦🏻‍♂️
 
 
 

The alloy ring is set/glued in from the inside before the 2 halves of the tank are welded together.  (Spare tankn pictured.. looks ok but internally but it's got a dent and the leading edge joining seam is rusty and deformed) 


Removing or replacing it would be involved work and the steelmof the tank is pretty thin. In an ideal world I'd love too but it's a bit impractical/beyond me. I suppose a circular ring cut in half and epoxied onto  the existing ring would work or even nuts epoxied/jb welded into place.
 
I've removed the sender and it would appear despite the gasket being ancient  it was (some of) the upper screw holes themselves allowing it to leak as nothing was dripping or leaking till I undid the lowest one.
On that note.. the screws..  all the same just nipped off rough . The rough end may have damaged it but I'm not sure they are the correct size/thread.

 
Fuel pickup and gauge sender out and.. oh and a free prize... no idea what that is doing in there

It appears to be greaseproof packing paper.
 
 
Currently on a coffee break.. airing the fumes out of the garage and awaiting a delivery of fuel tubing and gasket compound .

All FD/FE Vauxhall’s are bloody thirsty….. if you get more than 25 mpg, it’s probably because you’re pushing it….😀

stuff left to do pre MOT
repair drivers seat runner
replace drivers seat recline switch
repair blower fan
replace all interior bulbs
do a quick fix to the glove box
use rust converter on the last little bits
put some more diesel in (will do that on the way to the test)
bear in mind 8 or do days ago it looked like this

i'd say it's going to be roadworthy within the next 2 weeks