Mally

Shad news….
Been gifted use of a garage


By my Boss, which is nice!

P38 news
The section of p38 carpet/ moulded foam underlay that was hacked out during its tow truck conversion has been sourced and dispatched from a suitable supplier, and they sent me this in lieu of a tracking note 💪

It's taken too long,cost too much,pissed me off on numerous occasions,failed on two stupid items,but finally this shitbox has passed it's test and is fully road legal for the first time since 2012.

Appropriate badge...

 
 

Fatha and dog approved.
Shame the weather hasn’t been up to much lately.

A week retired and I still have no time! The difference is this time it is up to me what I do and where I go, and that makes a huge difference.
The last few days have been spent getting my Classic 900 'vert Saab ready for MOT as it has been laid up off the road (OK, abandoned in a corner outside) for over 2 years but in 2 and a bit weeks it is going on display at the NEC for the Practical Classics show. No pressure then. A new rear half exhaust was fitted (I have welded it for the MOT for the last 4 tests), serviced it, checked and lubricated everything and tightened up the bolts on the cat. I managed to get an MOT slot today so off we went. Started off great, but going through Dundee the brakes started to stick on after gentle breaking, but were fine if used enthusiastically.
For about 8 years, the brake light switch has been a bit sticky requiring a pull up of the brake pedal with your foot to make sure the brake lights were off, so the sticking brakes were also cured with the same pull up. The brake light switch is a bastard to get to on these old Saabs, being behind the dash on the passenger side, so I have just lived with it. Got to the MOT station by which time the brakes were back to normal.
The tester put it on the ramp, and whilst he was away logging the car on, the brake lights decided to come on (no ignition required on these) so before he noticed, I quickly pulled up the brake pedal up to turn them off. The test started, and the exhaust was blowing, not badly, from the cat joins, yes, the ones I had tightened yesterday. Of course, the brake lights refused to work at all (never done that before) so a failure ensued. Not a problem as the left hand indicator repeater (tested yesterday) decided to call it a day, the wiper blades fell apart in the rain on the way down (new for the last MOT and done virtually no miles), the bungee cord that holds the battery in lost its stretch so an insecure battery and the movement had destroyed the insulation on the starter wire. The good news is despite the exhaust leak, it just scraped the Lamda sensor, everything else was fine. Finally, on the rollers, the offside handbrake decided not to work.
I now have two weeks to get it tested in time for the NEC. I have ordered the bits I need but I cannot start on it until Monday as tomorrow I am off on a collection mission. It will take a few days as it is nearly 500 miles from here, needs to be trailered and my friend and many good beers is on the way back! I will update the collectioning when I can, but it will not really be a live collection as I will be on my own so only update when stopped. Looking forward to meeting another shiter I have not met before on Thursday for the collection.

The decline of traditional media has caused so many problems. Last time I needed to mask up my car, I had to print out a load of Reddit posts. 

I kinda of knew what I was getting when I bought a high miler VW, but I thought I'd at least be able to shut the bonnet before it broke again. 

Even just taking it around the yard was enough to remember how lovely and agile it felt . 
Really looking forward to using this a bit . 

Next job is to take all the coolant hoses off and clean up the stubs where they fit as they are getting furry and give the system a good flush . Dad always kept good anti freeze in it so hopefully not too many horrors . I know there is at least one coolant pipe that has been “ dadded “ which needs to be replaced . Unfortunately it’s a pre moulded shape and different sizes at each end . I’ve been stock piling random coolant hoses for a while so hopefully I can sort something out . 
 
It’s starting on the button lovely now so that’s a moral boost in any project . 
All the electrics inc radio still work fine too . 
 
This MOT will be its last one too as it turns 40 next year. 
That will be my second “ free” vehicle on the fleet after the KE175 . ( family has owned it almost as long )

 

Some progress ! Got a new old stock carb from Italy . They are different from 104s and sambas which is a pain in the ass . 
Just given the engine a good jet wash off and ran it back up to dry it out .
Ive booked a few days on it in March to undo dad’s bodges and hopefully get it mot ready . 

 

I've just spotted that "automatic" badge on the bootlid.
 

I'm sure that should read "without god".
Sign writer with my sense of humour.

jesus christ thats rough, bless there souls

Thread resurrection. As I haven't seen anybody from the circus since last October there was many hugs from every body  saying they had missed me,  when I met them at Haydock Race course to move everything to Norwich Showground. I've never had that much of a reaction before. They are a good bunch of people and there is rarely any problems between anybody. Going to be here for about 3 weeks and I have got a fair bit of work to do that would have been done if I had been there in Holland, 4 weeks Xmas New Year, Glasgow, 2 weeks, Haydock, 1 week so a fair bit of stuff to sort. Starting with 2 bunk wagons that have leaks when it rains. What joy, chasing leaks. The water system I had has been somewhat wrecked by those that didn't have much of a clue so there's a few days to get that back to how I like it. I knew that would happen but I've said that I need to show somebody how it's done when I'm not there. Which at my age could be at any moment, or if my ankle gets any worse then I'm going to have to give it up. 
There's been a few minor changes. A few different trucks, different performers, but not all, some new showgirls, etc. I shall leave you with 2 pic of my new circus 'rig'. One of where we are and a dizzel shot. If anyone wants to know what its like let me know. I'm sure you will notice a slight anomaly. 

Just come back from a few days in Amsterdam. Never been and it's only a short flight, so thought why not. Very interesting place and I think we'll go back sometime to explore more. Mostly did the main shopping area and a gander through De Wallen. I think my wife was more intrigued than I was - even if there was some ... beautiful architecture there. 🤔 🤣


Went to a few museums. Some good, most not brilliant. Highlight was the very interesting Red Light Secrets museum. Disappointment was the Anne Frank museum. 
Not a huge amount of interesting automotive stuff out there unsurprisingly. Did see a few 80s Saabs and Volvos parked up, but their location wasn't somewhere I could get away with taking a picture - I don't think taking old cars as an excuse would have worked. 
Anyway there was quite a few of these tiny quadracycles buzzing around on the cycle lanes. Tbh less dangerous than the many high powered e-bikes carving up the lanes. 


Also quite a few electric car brands about that I've never heard of. Presumably the Chinese automotive invasion in action?

This is a terrible picture as it's just a reflection of me but can Google the brand. These shops are on the main high streets and take up a lot of retail space. So these brand must be going all in.

 
Presumably this beetle hit a tin can in the road, crumpled and became an art installation?


Old tram appeared on Saturday in the square. Didn't see this around until yesterday so I guess only comes out for weekends.


Quite a lot of the city stank of weed. Reminds me of University and doesn't bother me. However my wife hates it - not helped by the smell being ingrained into her mind that it's a welfare issue at work and something she needs to note down. So not the best smell brain contentions.

Bunch of 20-somethings Welsh lads in the queue to board the plane stank of weed and looked still stoned as they boarded. Naturally as they walked through the customs nothing to declare, they were picked out and went very wide eyed quite quickly. Rather silly considering customs will know exactly when a flight comes in from Amsterdam and will be like shooting fish in a barrel. We had to wait an hour for the bus, so hung around the airport. Didn't see them coming back out of departures door... 😂
Anyway definitely will be back to explore more. 

17th (On its own because it was a busy day)
Remember all that lovely work I did the day before? Fitted the tank, and height corrector rod?


Well, it was all for nowt, because the tank had to come out AGAIN, as I forgot to connect the tank vent line. Superstar.

Luckily, it is now a one-man job!
With that back in, it was time to crack on with the rebuild of the rear end. Starting with the fuel filler pipe:

And the exhaust, rear lights and rear bumper. The rear lights were tested for correct operation and found to be fine, although the brake light switch wasn't working very occasionally - this has been cleaned up and I'll keep an eye on it, testing it again closer to the time.

With the exterior done, it was time to tidy up the interior with a few jobs during the rebuild.
Starting with these rear vents. The sponge-like material was over 30 years old and was suffering terribly.

Luckily, fish tank bio-foam is an inexpensive alternative. Typically forgot to get a photo, but you get the idea.

The boot floor carpet was fitted, and side carpet panels re-secured, followed by the side plastic trims. The previously split c-pillar plastic trims were repaired with some repair tape from the rear, and the repair is pretty hard to spot. Handily, the snap occurred between two fasteners, which helped matters.
 

The parcel shelf was next, but had some faults, mainly the rod that runs along the forward edge wasn't securing the parcel shelf properly, and allowing it to flex. It was obvious to see what happened, the plastic had snapped around the rivet. 
Easy enough to sort with some stainless steel wire!

Forgot how much I liked the in-built sunshades on these.

Bit of trim has clearly been snapped for years - small hole and wire pulled that tight!

Rear carpet, rear trims and rear seat bases went back in.

When this car was in proper use, we fitted a new throttle cable to ensure it had a smooth cable run etc. This worked for all of three days, before the plastic tab snapped and it had to be cable tied in afterwards.
Luckily, eBay came up trumps for this:

Feels a little bit more substantial than the old one. Fitted.

Whilst in the engine bay, I whipped off the distributor pickup sensor, to replace the thermal grease that had gone very dry and crumbly. This sensor was the cause of our random unexplained cutting out problems years ago, and I'm keen not to re-live that experience.

With that done, the wheels were refitted, and the car lowered back onto the ground:

And the front seats/steering wheel were refitted, completing the rebuild of the car.

It was actually quite refreshing to see the car complete once again, but it was to be very short-lived, as I knew I was going to start working on the front end next. It just made more sense to fully rebuild the car and start from square one once again instead of having shelves full of parts that could easily go back on.
Cheers.

As we had a day of good weather, the cover came off the Beat, the MX5 was opened up and both cars run up to temperature and dried out. Despite a few teething problems fitting the cover initially, the Beat has stayed clean and dry which is a relief, given the torrential rain that has tormented us at times!

The sill end repair panel had been expertly lipped by my friend, who had shown me the various metalwork tools used to achieve a correct result. With that done, I measured the opening, completed the vertical lip fold and started shaping and trimming the panel for fitment. The sequence of photos shows the process of fitting it in, working out the shit bits to re-bend, and what needed chopping out.
 
 
The intention is for the panel to sit behind the existing panel. Whilst cleaning up the existing metalwork for welding, a cheeky glint of light caught my eye.

Bugger. Using lessons learned from watching my mate work the other patch, I measured and made a panel that would replace the grotty bits within the area in one hit.
 
Measured twice and cut once, before clamping it into place:
 
(The grot to the front of the patch is just staining - the inside and outside of the area is fine.) The welder was then fired up and for the first time in ages, I actually had room to wave the torch AND see at the same time - pure luxury!

Finally, the panel was clamped in place, just to check the final fitment.

Hoping to get into the garage tomorrow and clean the surrounding metalwork and get it welded in - doing so would give me just one more bracket to make and weld in within the area, which means I could finally look to flatting all the welds down and seam seal/prime/paint/rustproof the rear end and finally move forward of the axle!
In terms of the cars actually on the road - the Rover has been an excellent winter daily driver, apart from needing a throat clearing in minus temperatures, and the washer jets being awful again. Herman was called into use after a medical episode meant MrsH's Laguna is at work for a couple of days. Typically, the first time I used the washers on Herman, the pipe popped off and the bonnet gets a little river instead - another job to be sorted out dreckly!
Oh, and the Rover is in desperate need of a wash.

Cheers for reading!

Today marks 12 years of owning this car.  We've been through a lot together.  Other cars have come and gone, relationships the same, house moves, all the patchwork of life.  The Princess has endured.  Mechanically and electrically in far better shape than it was when I got it, structurally more sound too.  Cosmetically... we're getting there.  There's considerably less filler and rust in it now at least.

Never seen a bimota with a honda engine in it

Let's keep going. I'm catching up now - this was about last November. I started to have a good look at the passenger outer arch.  The corrosion noted to the inner wing and arch is down to a corroded inner arch. If only someone had dealt with that at the time eh? 


Repairing the inner wing is going to be a bit of a problem as the repair panels are not available. Best try and make one myself them. I read somewhere that you could use the outer arch and then shape to suit. This is going to be a nightmare. 
Best get the sill done first. Man, that is a bit of a mess. Maybes I can get away with cutting back part of the outer sill to start the repair.

Nar - reckon that is scrap. Take the outer off then and order new :-(. The inner and intermediate are salvageable so decided to fix the intermediate/inner in a couple of stages. First bit:
Now inner inner sill and jacking point. Bit tricky this as didn't have much to compare it too.

Couple of gussets

Then a little test (wheel was off the ground honest)

Yay! That'll do. Finish the intermediate off:


Weld up and outer on. This was a bugger. I struggled to get heat into the spot welds underneath with my little welder and had to redo a load. Why does this happen in the most difficult spot?? Anyway, end result is sound.

 
 
 
 

The rear wing comes in two sections. The front section fits quite easily, however I had to think hard about fitting the rear. I had a look at @juular's post and saw the fight he had. I decided to try another approach and trim the repair panels down, keeping as much of the original as I could. This is one benefit of a small welder: it is hard to get too much heat into it.

The repair panel for the inner arch is flipping expensive if you can find one. So I decided to make it some from some cheaper rear wing panels. This were a pig as they are double curved and then I didn't take any photos of the panels I made!! You get the idea from the below though

And the final result

I do, but I'm up to my eyes in our stuff and season starts in March.
I get my steel from Rob Mitchell at TMR. He could do it and will have insurance to back up his construction, but is some distance, and could be busy. I'll pm you his number.
Pieman will suggest similar, maybe closer people, but timescale could be your problem.

It always has been, @LightBulbFun but what you must also understand is it’s become as successful as it is because of the way people have always been able to get along, take the piss, help each other out and generally form a community without getting upset that someone has said something they disagree with.
You are more than welcome to partake but you must be prepared to fit in with the general ethos of the place. There are plenty of members who have gone out of their way to help you and offer advice but you need to stop getting so upset when the popular opinion doesn’t go your way 🙂

A picture paints a thousand words:
 

Moonpig sending me emails, despite me unsubscribing more than once, showing Valentine's Day promotions with my dead girlfriend's name all over them.

Yeah, thanks a fucking lot for that.