CaptainBoom

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155255393412?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ynltlabsSsW&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=bFBT4QRWQOi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Today was the day I set to fitting the new CDD cv-jointed half-shafts, with new hubs.  I'm sure anyone who buys a pair will take due note of the fitting instructions, as indeed I did ..once I'd figured out how to convert those into a format readable by my old (2003) version of Microsoft Word. < CDD's instructions may be found here >
For those considering doing the task themselves, here's a quick pictorial review of my own experience.   I trust Classic Driving Developments (CDD) won't mind me reproducing extracts of their written instructions here, to go along with my own photos . . .
  
^ I loosened the rear wheel's nuts (with the car on the ground) and then raised the whole car up onto four wheel ramps. I moved one of those ramps to support under the chassis (with timber blocks on the ramp to level the car), and used the trolley jack under the back end of the trailing arm - to raise it normal ride-height inclination.  The second photo illustrates this, with the bottom of the trailing arm casting (for the damper link arm mounting) approximately level with the underside of the chassis rail. 
The wheel and the brake drum were then removed.
" 2)  Many of these cars have been repaired over the years,  so check the shaft fit dimension; this is the distance from the face of the diff flange to the face of the trailing arm at normal ride height, 400 mm for TR. "
  
^ poking the tape measure through, above the chassis rail - to measure from the back face of the brake plate to the joint of the diff flange measured 403mm on both sides.  I reckoned that was close enough as the instructions warn  " When fitting these shafts and when fitted do not allow the max droop to exceed 440 mm measured from the centre of the hub / shaft to the return edge of the wheel arch. "
Next up, is to remove the old half shaft. . .

^ I removed the four nyloc nuts (9/16" spanner) & their bolts (9/16" ring spanner), and rested the half-shaft on a block of timber on the chassis rail - supporting under the flange.  This helps when the shaft is being withdrawn (through the trailing arm and brake's back-plate) as its diff end / that flange is already supported to the right height.  
  
^ The hub nuts are undone (9/16" socket) and the old half-shaft complete with hub is withdrawn.  Note ; the brake is not disturbed. It just rests on the trailing arm studs.
 
I'd bought the cv-jointed half shafts complete with new hubs. The nut on the hub end is loose as the inner (diff end) cv-joint adapter does not fit through the trailing arm. "The driveshaft goes into the hub from the diff side and is then move back to engage the diff flange bolts / studs " . . .
 
" On receiving your drive shafts remove the outer nut and washer and while holding the alloy hub and the drive flange together pull it off the CV joint spline. Place on a clean surface, flange uppermost.   The driveshaft is provided assembled and all joints preloaded with grease, so no need to dismantle."
^ Undo the nut and pull the hub off the spline (thumb pressure on the end of the thread gets it moving).   I suspect their comment "flange uppermost" is to keep dust out of of the hub.  My work space may only be a poly-tunnel but it's not grimy !
  
^ aside from the hub, the shiny bits of metal a ferrous. Having seen a relatively new one with surface rust starting to appear, I opted to give mine (the shiny bits not the rubber) a coat of clear lacquer.  Radiator aided timely drying of said (smelly) paint.  No paint on the spline nor on the diff-mating flange face.

^ I substituted their " Wire brush & clean the inside of the trailing arm so no dirt will fall onto the spline / hub assembly." with ; double wrap with bubble-wrap the splines to keep them clean and damaged-free during fitting.
 
Next up ; " Various exhaust systems and dampers may have been fitted over the life of your car; so there may be slightly different procedures necessary. The lever arm damper on the near side will have to be detached from its’ chassis mounting (does depend on fuel pipe positions). Telescopic dampers also may have to be disconnected from the trailing arm. Stag / Innsbruck have telescopic which can remain in place. " . . .

^ on this side at least, I was very fortunate in not needing to dismantle, move, or even loosen any other component. The gap through which the splined end of the shaft must go, is a tight squeeze inbetween the lever-arm, the chassis rail, and the diff's flange - but with protecting sheet over the chassis rail, and articulating the joints, and thumbing the rubber gaiter upwards - it fitted.       
I haven't done the right-hand-side yet, so I can't say if that shaft will also go over Katie's  single exhaust pipe.  Tomorrow will tell !
  
^ Cv-joint adapter (the black bit) has studs rather than through bolts. New nylocs were supplied. These were duly engaged with the diff's flange and a nut loosely screwed on while i checked the other end.  Protection over the threaded end and the shaft's spline worked well.
 
^ despite the instructions (.. yes really ! ) - I wiped moly-Lithium grease around the spine, and the red grease (already in the hub) around the seal. 
The hub refits onto the half-shaft's spline and engages with the six studs from the trailing arm, projecting through the brake's back plate. The notch cut out of the hub's flange doesn't index with anything on this model of car ..that I can see. Perhaps it provides clearance on the Triumph Stag / Innsbruck.? 
" Do up the 6 off hub studs to 16 lbs ft. Be careful here; the thread of these studs are known to be ‘suspect’. If you have any doubt about their security consider fitting the 3/8 unc stud kit."   Note. nylocs were not supplied for these, but the use of new ones are strongly recommended.  x12 in total (5/16 UNF) are required (as standard) for both sides. 
As the hub was pushed on - the shaft itself moved inwards - whereby no thread was protruding. Reaching in to behind the trailing arm allowed me to easily pull it out to get the nut on.  The pair of shafts came with one plain nut and two lock nuts, the plain nut is fitted temporarily. 
" Now place the washer and the M22 PLAIN nut on the splined shaft and nip up.  Rotate the hub and listen for any scraping noise; you are looking for any fouling of the CV boot gaiter clip on the inner of the trailing arm housing. It will be a band 69 to 75 mm from the trailing arm face. If all is ok then remove the plain M22 nut and replace with the locking M22 nut. Tighten as much as possible.  Complete and check all operations."

" Replace the drum and road wheel.  When the car is on the ground engage the hand brake and chock the wheels. Tighten the driveshaft nut ( 32 mm AF) to 290 Nm or 215 lb ft.  If your torque wrench will not go this high then it is ok to tighten to 120 lb ft, and drive a short distance to a workshop to have them tightened to the full torque setting. "
Thanks to Rich (...yet again !! ) who lent me his shiny new Teng_Tools torque wrench which goes upto 258 ft.lb  so I could get on and do the job. However with recent upheavals I seem to have misplaced my 32mm sockets, but I have one coming tomorrow.  In the meantime it's done up to 180 ft.lb. 
I had hoped to fit the other side today, but a neighbour had issues with his car's headlamps, so I've postponed fitting the RH side until tomorrow. 
Hope the above is useful to those considering fitting these half-shafts to your car.   Sorry live axle car owners - you miss out on this sort of fun. 
More tomorrow (hopefully),
Pete

The old UJ jointed (right)  and the new CV jointed (left).
 
    

Stone Street is a very exclusive sort after area between Borough Green and Sevenoaks consisting of large houses with long gated driveways cut into the woodland so i'm sure the Mr Carpenter had suitably deep pockets.
There used to be a restoration place called Classic sportscar services in nearby Otford.
That colour makes it special too.

This is the sort of 'old tat' I used to come across in Stone Street.

It's just 2,500 or so miles since Katie's  wheels had new tyres which were balanced when fitted. And today I took them all off to be checked (for balance) again and trueness ..now that the tyres must have settled onto their rims fully. 
Surprising, to me, was that the first four garages & tyre centres I tried..  couldn't do the job for reasons of their having too much work. Another tyre centre had closed their business down.  But the next garage I tried, on the same industrial estate, was empty of work .!?  The chap there was most accommodating and despite each of the wheels being out of true - he seemed determined to get the best balance he could, putting on weights and where necessary removing them again to place new ones in order to get a marginally better balance.   Each of the wheels that had been used (ie., aside from the spare) required between 20 and 30 grams more and on each - the balancing weights were determined to be needed about 30 degrees further around the rims.  
Cost ;  £36 for the five.
We also determined which of the five appeared to be running truer, and so upon returning home I refitted the better on the front, and the worst was back in the boot as the spare. Those wheels which remained on the same axle (front or back) were swapped to the other side to where they were (..yes, I had labeled each as they were removed off the car).
A subsequent test drive down the A14 observed a further small but discernible improvement in (lesser) vibration, and now there's almost  no wobble of the steering wheel - at any speed ..despite the particularly light steering on this car.  Perhaps more significantly ; the engine vibration was clearly what it was, and similarly the rear axle vibration & its noises were more easily defined at their lower rpm. Those coincided with the frequency of the very slight flitching still detectable through the steering wheel. 
It's been an education to have worked through this systematically, one step at a time..  to now reach a point where each source of vibration can be pin-pointed (hopefully !)
Although having the wheels rebalanced resulted in only a very small (but discernible) improvement - I rate today's efforts as a success insomuch as it clarifies the way forward    ..the next task is to swap out the half-shafts.
There appears to be light from the end of the tunnel.
Pete

best part of 40 miles at 50mph would be one thing but when the chap in front of me insisted on toddled along at 42mph I got grumpy and overtook    ..A few minutes later, at the very next roundabout - he and the long stream of cars that followed were behind an articulated lorry  ..left behind with my not_very_Christian thoughts  
 
my destination ;  Norwich Cathedral . . .

^ apparently the second tallest spire in England.  In practice, the town has grown up around the Cathedral to such an extent that I had problems spotting it. Thankfully TomTom led me to the back door and parking in a very pleasant courtyard . . .

^  "The cathedral close is one of the largest in Europe and has more people living within it than any other "  ..I guess that doesn't include the Vatican ? 
As almost always, I drove Katie  with her driver's lid off (the roof half open), but park it with that half-lid back in place.  Driving in the November air was cool but still I like to see the colours of the sky and trees.  I also passed by, at different stages along the route, perhaps four or five birds of prey. They're a real delight for me to spot.

As a 900+ year old Cathedral and seat (with Saxon throne) of the Bishop of Norfolk for all those years, it's naturally a pretty imposing place, but nothing now to what it once must have been.  It was part of a St. Benedict monastery whose lands and buildings landscaped rather than enclosed it.  Like most other religious foundations it fell to Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1541.  The cathedral church however is still for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich ..and an active place of worshipful prayer and learning, which along with hospitality were the keystone Rules of Life of the Benedictine order. 
"This Norman cathedral was constructed out of flint and mortar and faced with a cream coloured Caen limestone.  An Anglo-Saxon settlement and two churches were demolished to make room for the buildings. The cathedral was completed c. 1145 with the Norman tower still seen today, topped with a wooden spire covered with lead.  Episodes of damage necessitated its rebuilding and the stone (96m high) spire was erected in 1480.  Inside., "the ceiling bosses of Norwich Cathedral are one of the world's greatest medieval sculptural treasures that survived the iconoclasm (..widespread destruction of religious icons) of the Tudor and English civil war periods".

 
"Combining features of ancient Roman and Byzantine buildings and other local traditions, Romanesque  architecture is known by its massive quality of thick walls, round arches, sturdy pillars, barrel vaults, large towers and decorative arcading."   (NB. The latter 12th century onwards Gothic style of window is easily distinguished by pointed arches).  The nave's barrel / rib vaulted ceiling reflects true devotion by the stone masons, not least because at each conjunction are carved and painted bosses.  Most are unique. . .
"There are over 1,000 bosses in the cathedral and cloisters ; the earliest subjects are natural, mostly flowers and foliage. Then come figural representations such as green men, acrobats, mythical animals, hunting scenes and single bosses which show a story such as events from the lives of the saints. Then there are narratives which tell a story in a sequence of bosses. The nave vault shows the history of the world from the creation. Later bosses revert to foliage or formal subjects such as coats of arms. The bosses can be seen most clearly in the cloisters, where they are lower than those elsewhere. The east range has much foliage, and a sequence of the Passion of Jesus. The north range has the Resurrection and scenes of Mary, mother of Jesus and the saints. The south and west walk have the Apocalypse, as well as the Annunciation and Herod's Feast.
Norwich Cathedral has the second largest cloisters in England, only exceeded by those at Salisbury Cathedral "   . . .

  
 
I stayed for the Cathedral's  Festal Evensong - Sunday choir service, and which started off with me sitting in the South Transept. The choir itself in the crossing, by the organ (presently with scaffolding for its refurbishment * ) but I soon moved because the acoustics in the transept were awful (distorted).  Instead I spent some quiet time in the ambulatory (passage around the outside of the central worship place and the Bishop's throne). listening to the choral service and taking in the wafts of incense, the ancient (c.13th) ceiling paintings and the varied details of Norman architecture. Off the Ambulatory are four small chapels, each very individual.
* Organ builders Harrison and Harrison spent three weeks removing most of the organ's 6,655 pipes to be transported to Durham for further work. Once complete, the pipes will be reinstalled between January and March next year. The scaffolding will be taken down after Easter 2023 and an 11-week 'voicing period' will follow.
 
^ If you want to really experience medieval architecture then dusk is a very good time to do so. 
  
The drive home was in the dark, and so after 40 chilly-air miles - the pub I've adopted as my local served a welcoming Sunday roast beef followed by apple pie in a moat of custard.  I came out and it was raining, so for the five miles home I dropped the driver's lid on the car.  In total that's about ten miles I've now driven Katie  with the roof up / on,  I must either be getting soft or else my timing to avoid the rain is getting worse ..perhaps both !  
That's it for another evening, I bid you a good one.
Pete

Hi all,
This year has been disrupted car wise for me, to put it mildly!
To save money, I ordered a leased VW ID.3 in October 2021. I still don't have it, ETA is Apr 2023 apparently. Since then I have been trying to plan around ever moving car delivery dates, which started as Feb 2022...
I decided quite quickly that I would need to sell my 2.8 Saab Turbo X to make way for the ID.3 and that my 1971 Beetle would also need to go so that my second car slot was taken by something I would actually use. The Beetle was lovely but it was bought just before COVID so it mainly sat deteriorating over that time, my work was fairly intense most of the way through.
Having sold the Beetle I bought an NC Mazda MX-5 1.8. I needed that because two wheel bearings went on the Saab almost as soon as I'd sold the Beetle and the ID.3 was suddenly delayed well into the summer of 2022. The MX-5 lasted about 2 weeks. On the day the Saab was fixed, the Mazda spun a bearing in the engine. It had been an OK example but, looking back, there were signs that this might happen including the thermostat that got stuck and the smoke at idle when cold.
Following the eventual departure of the MX-5 (annoying ebay buyer) I waited 3 months and then bought a 2006 Saab 9-3 Aero Convertible after the ID.3 was delayed into 2023. I am a serial Saab owner, by the way, writing in the Owners Club magazine etc. Almost immediately after buying that I won the roffle 406! I suddenly had one too many cars.
I SORNed the Turbo X and drove the 406 mainly for a bit until the MOT was a failure. As has been discussed on here, I didn't want to repair it but another member did! That car was great but surplus to requirements at the time.
After the 406 went the convertible was written off shortly afterwards. A deer ran into the side of it and values are so low for standard Saabs that it was a total loss. I didn't want the salvage, my wife rightly did not like the idea of my 9 year old going in a car that had potential structural damage. Also, l'm not allowed to do heavy car work right now. The car looked a bit bent to me. UKSaabs members were quite vocal in their opinions on this, disagreeing with me even more than you guys did when I was offering the 406 for scrap value!
For the last two weeks I have been using the Turbo X. Which has rewarded me with a bad NSF top mount and a few rumbly rear bushes. It was off the road for 35% of 2021 waiting for exhaust parts too. This car is a bit annoying.
Therefore, rather than fix it right now, I have bought another MX-5. A 2.0 Sport this time with an immaculate MOT history that looks and drives great and because it's November my insurance payout from the Saab covered it all. Fingers crossed that the engine doesn't go pop!
The Saab Turbo X can then go to a garage for repair without interrupting my commutes before I finally sell it.
Those Saabs are worth £7k+ as they are a special limited edition. However, that is when they are working properly! I might offer it for a bit less over on UKSaabs and see if anyone wants to fix it themselves.
If that happens I'll be Saabless for the first time in 8 years, a worrying prospect. In those 8 years I've had 6 Saabs, a reasonable turnover!
I'm now onto car 6 of 2022, which had better be the last one this year! Car shopping day is like Christmas day for me usually but not so much now with the increasing regularity of it and the stress when cars break. Now I just have a nagging doubt about whether this one will be a lemon too. I have lost confidence, despite being a reasonably confident car guy. I know we can all get caught out sometimes but this year has been trying. The engine failure was a particular low point.
My daughter loves this MX-5, she had her first trip in it this morning on the way to climbing lessons. Her smile and enthusiasm helps me feel better!
Photos of the 2 current cars attached.
 

I was more of a fan of Gabriella Drake



 

^ good night Jon boy.
 
  "Along with these I've also bought a new  driveshaft / propshaft  ..courtesy of Bailey & Morris, St. Neots" . . .

The reason for this was what Rich describes as my 'chasing a vibration' or perhaps more accurately the cause  of said annoyance .. which has been there since before I bought Katie.  I know that because when I bought and originally collected her from Bury St Edmunds - this car's vibration was so bad that Rich further commented something to the effect that it was a little "embarrassing to be on an open dual carriageway and being overtaken by lorries."  And at the first junction - I pulled off to check the wheels were on tight, there was no big bulge on / or the tread had part torn off a tyre (..and to investigate the engine overheating). The whole car shaked n' rattled, as did the steering, the bonnet and my teeth above 60mph.
Funny to think that the prior owner must have thought this acceptable. Perhaps he believed "They all do that sir" ..?  
My first guess as to the cause was the thick rubber white-wall-tyre embellishers.  They were the first things to go ..which improved things to a degree but nowhere near enough.  So I bought a set of pressed steel wheels to replace the wires and their splined hubs.  I repainted the steel wheels and had new tyres fitted & balanced. This happened at the same time as the (additionally braced) chassis swap. Things got noticeably better, but still not right above 60.  Next up was to measure and reset the body onto the chassis mounts, and add four more (mountings) ..which I knew wasn't the cause of the vibration, but with the car not being a unified structure - it excessively twisted and distorted along (subsided) unclassified country lanes.  At the same time I swapped out the flimsy grp gearbox cover with the steel one I'd made.  Again improvements were noted (..despite the dashboard brace / H-frame now not being fitted).  I was now faced with fine vibration rather than the whole car shaking (except at tick-over). 
Next up was to replace the old half shafts - one of which the spline was worn & clonky, and the other's wheel bearing was decidedly iffy, and then the cracked trailing arm. Again a slight improvement was felt. The car had reach the point where above 62mph the vibration was felt as more of a buzz through the throttle pedal and gear knob.  Then I swapped the cast iron cooling-fan-extension for the aluminium one I'd had specially made. Tick-over was much now much smoother, but that annoying vibration above 62 - 65mph persisted. 
Of course as I got rid of one source of vibration, then I myself was able to more finely tune into the next.  Still anyone would have noted that the car still vibrates at motorway speeds.  Dropping the clutch and it's still there.  Aside from engine work and tuning, I still have five obvious courses of action . . .
  to replace the prop / drive shaft for one which has new UJ's and is balanced  ..the cheaper and easiest next move.   to replace the second-hand half-shafts and hubs I'd fitted.  Uncomfortable with the prospect of hub failure - I spent the kid's inheritance and bought new. And because CV jointed half shafts are said to be smoother than even coated splines, I took that option.    to rebuild or replace the diff.  I don't know if this would cause the vibration and since oil was put in (..after my test driving the car, post chassis swap), it's not particularly whining.   to rebuild the front suspension and replace those wheel bearings.  I know the front suspension needs rebuilding with new lower trunnion pins, but I'm not getting a whole lot of vibration through the (thin wooden) steering wheel, and so I think that task will do little to rid Katie  of this vibration.    to have the cast-iron rear brake drums re-machined (for better balance) or else replaced.  I once had a Norton commando motorcycle and bought a brand new cast-iron rear brake drum for it. As i was completely restoring and rebuilding the bike I had it re-machined for balance. The engineer who did the work couldn't believe how out of balance the brand new part was.  For Katie, I long ago bought a pair of aluminium Alfin brake drums - which being lighter and purpose made (rather than a mass production item) I think ought to sort that out.  I've now also bought new brake shoes, so those are on the job list. I'm doing one job at a time though, just because I've so far followed a systematic approach and would like (..just out of interest) to identify and learn where the present vibration is coming from.  I suspect that it won't be just one thing but, as before, will be in part be attributable to each of the above items. 
Today - it was the prop / driveshaft's turn to be swapped out. . .

^ the new driveshaft has indexing arrows which mark the telescopic spline's alignment. The one arrow is just by the label (which tells me to grease the spline with lithium-based grease), and the other arrow can just be seen on the casting next to the UJ joint.   The old driveshaft has the indexing arrow on the tube, but for the life of me I cannot find one on the casting next to the UJ, so its assembly may have been be correctly orientated or else 180 degrees out. 
Before fitting this shaft, and because the satin black paint didn't seem very protective - I wiped it clean and gave it a decent coat of clear lacquer. I then let that harden overnight.  Taken today, my first photo shows it now looking decidedly gloss black.  Then this afternoon I undid the knurled cap and pulled the spline apart to wipe copious amounts of lithium based CV-joint grease within.  I likewise pumped the same grease into the CV joints.

^ the balance weight on the new driveshaft, is typical of those I've often seen.   I found no balance weight on the old shaft.

up, up and away ..again
  
^ undoing the old driveshaft nuts was awkward but do-able.  The front in particular was tight fit to get into and with a limited amount of room to work (9/16" open end spanner), which was not helped by the dampening weight I have on the back end of the overdrive casing.  
Oil leaks pretty apparently burnt onto the exhaust pipe. It seems as though it's mostly coming from within the bell housing, but clearly the adapter plate between the gearbox and overdrive is weeping oil too.   Sausages !     Still after two and half thousand miles we have no puddles under the car (from after a drive), just an assortment of drips here and there on the thick cardboard sheets I have under there. ..
I had read, after searching through the archive pages of the TR Register forum, that some owners had difficulty in getting their driveshafts out of their car's tunnel.  And so, with the extra long T-shirt plating I'd had added to this TR4A chassis - I suspected that the centre section of the exhaust and probably also the diff would have to be dropped out of the way. I hoped not to need to remove the gearbox cover from inside the car, but that was a possibility too . . .
   
^ I'm very pleased to say that Katie's  driveshaft came out without needing to remove, or even loosen, anything else.   Delightfully uneventful !
 
^ The old and the new are slightly different lengths (with the splines pushed in) but only by 6 - 8mm.  The UJ's on the old were floppy but with no discernable amount of play in them, but its spline had enough torsional slack to be clearly seen and to allow it to clunk. 

^ putting the new driveshaft up and through the tunnel, passed the damper, exhaust and additional chassis plating was no problem. I did try protecting the shaft from the edge of the chassis T-shirt plate with double overlaid plastic sheeting, but it didn't do anything and wasn't necessary. Getting my big hands and fat fingers up there to teh nuts was just as awkward as a lot of jobs on these cars but again quite do-able.   I'd bought and used new nylocs and, for peace of mind, put those on with medium strength Loctight. With a long ring spanner on the bolt head and an open spanner, doubled in length by interlocking a ring spanner onto its other end, I tightened those nuts as much as I could.  No room for a torque wrench in that tight space. 
Job well done    ..in a very dull and cool afternoon within this poly-tunnel. 
I haven't tried driving the car yet, but hopefully I'll note a further improvement (less vibration) at motorways speeds.  
Again my BIG thanks to Rich for his help in getting the excellent quality parts I needed, and to those with experience-proven advice on the TR forum - which help me know what I might be faced with.  
Bidding you all a good evening,
Pete
    
 

This popped up on Facebook. Oxford model brilliantly modified with the door open.

Shonky old camper

VW Van

And I spotted this one on a call out at the weekend.

Sorry it’s not the right angle, space for shunting cars about was limited!

I sat down with a little light reading last night.

Sat down with the service manual and tried to condense 6 pages of sequencing into a single page where all the data can be viewed at once.
Then, I read something I had missed.
So, the sequence of gears is as follows, with the front and rear gears either locked (L) or in gear reduction operation (O).
1st: O, O
2nd: L, O
3rd: O, L
4th: L, L
So, with the gear selection valves at rest, it's in 1st. 2nd causes the first gearset to release the band and clamp the clutch.
3rd has to do a complex swap- it engages the rear gearset and at the same time operates an override valve which quickly dumps the front gearset into reduction again. That override feature is what I had missed, and it's important.
Fourth is simple, it keeps the 3rd gear selection but removes the first gearset override valve, locking both gears solid for direct drive.
So, if that override valve (called the Dual Transition Valve) gets stuck in the open position, it'll override any changes requested for the front gearset to change state. So, requested gears 1 and 2 are both the same as 1, and requested 3 and 4 are both the same as 3. The shift point between the gears occurs at the speed 2-3 would and with moderate violence due to the rear band just being slammed on and the softer engagement of the gear itself being down to the way the front gearset is engaged.
That's exactly what it's doing. Replacing the pressure regulator has helped because the additional line pressure it creates correctly now appears to be enough to jiggle the dual transition valve out of where it gets stuck, and sometimes get 2 and 4 to engage correctly.
I'll pull the valve block off again and investigate that valve, likely it's got a light score, burr or ridge that's causing that valve to get stuck when the block heats up and expands.

Yes, yes I do remember Rob.
And I do have a burning hatred for Barry Manilow, as it happens, with his uber-smug face.

I mean, how could you not get tired of slapping him?
The worst thing is, you're not the first person, nor indeed the second, to make that comparison with Douglas Adams' character... I may have to face the very real prospect that I am indeed a minor Rust God.
Though not necessarily a Minor rust god.

Do you recall Rob McKenna from 'So Long and Thanks for All the Fish' by Douglas Adams?  The long-distance lorry driver that had never known it not to rain and had a book where he recorded all of the different types of rain that he had experienced?
Sad to say this but I think you might be the rust equivalent.  Do you also hate Barry Manilow?
Sorry to see this.  What an absolute pain in the arse.

Jeff Buckley with his manager Dave Lory

That's what the satnav is for! 
I know full well that I have absolutely no sense of direction.  Well that's not entirely true, it just takes me an awfully long time to form a mental map - and it's astonishing how much more difficult it is to learn after moving 500 miles so none of the place names you see on signs mean anything.  Stick me into a random location in north east Scotland even if it's not somewhere I've specifically been and I can probably route find reasonably well - because the places on the signs will be familiar enough I can more or less triangulate my position after a couple of junctions and work out where I'm going.  All too often if I lose track of my route down here I wind up not even knowing which direction I'm going, much less which town I'm aiming for.
At least we know it would just be coming straight back here to be serviced anyway!
He knows I enjoy it really, and it keeps me (mostly) out of trouble.
...Until he gets bored with it in the spring and I end up buying it and having to explain myself to the rest of the family.

Today I went to view a 1987 Saab 900i Auto 5door. It is driving with no adverse noises and has 6 months MOT. @Zelandeth came with me and noted it needs a service and 4 tyres. It it a bit Autoshite, good enough to enjoy but needs a few jobs to bring the maintenance up to date. Come MOT in May it will need a couple of plates but nothing drastic. 
Thanks to Zel coming with me I was in a position to drive it away but could not agree a price with the seller. The seller says they have two more people who have asked to see it, but I suspect they might get back to me. Watch this space!
It is not pink, but Rose Quartz!

I had planned on updating this through the day, but things did not exactly go to plan! Started off fine, taking my friend Elaine as she speaks much better French than I do. Made good time from La Chatre sur le Loir towards Niort and stopped for a coffee at the last services on the A10 about 40 miles from Niort. It takes roughly 2.5 to 3 hours to cover the run.

Weather was great and Waze took me straight to the car park, where I failed to find anywhere to leave the trailer as all carparks were full and I made my first mistake. I decided the car park with the chod looked accessible, even if the height would prevent loading in the car park. Of course, once committed I found the exit was on the floor below and the turning points and the ramp curve were as tight as only the French could design. As a result, at each turn I had to disconnect the trailer, manhandle it around and the ramp had literally a half inch clearance  either side. Elaine could not believe I got it down!
Once I had found the chod I had gone for, I dropped the trailer and had a look at what I had acquired. Two flat tyres and a totally flat battery.

First job was to attach jump leads and see if any life could be coaxed.

After a couple of minutes, lights came on so I added my jump pack and gave it a turn. It was last started in September 21 (indeed it has not been touched since then) but it started first try. Amazing. Left it running and tried to air up the rear tyres. One took air, but the other refused and as locking nuts are fitted, I came to the conclusion it would still drive   Hitched the trailer back on and headed out and as some of the church crowd had gone, I found somewhere to park fairly close. Back to the new* one, another jump and we headed for the exit. I had been sent the pass card for the barrier but no matter what I did, the barrier stayed down.
After a couple of minutes a man appeared who explained he had seen us working on the Rangie, had phoned his boss, who instructed him not to let it out as over a years parking was owed! Eeek. I had been assured the parking was paid (since confirmed as being the case) but French bureacracy confused things and we were informed we would have to return tomorrow when the office was open. We persuaded him to phone his boss who despite not being at work on Sunday was in the area and came down to see us. At this point I was really pleased I had Elaine with me, and after an hour of discussion, showing lots of paperwork, taking photos of my licence etc he agreed to let us take the car as we promised to get in touch with the notaire who had been dealing with it to sort things out. A result, but it cost us 2 hours.
Once out of the car park, on 3 half flat tyres and one completely flat, I decided to push my look and park on a clearway half on the pavement with the flat tyre visible from the road, and left Elaine with it whilst I went for the trailer. Of course, just after I had left, the police stopped but they were apparently just concerned Elaine was OK. By this time I had collected the trailer and RR and was heading back, but of course fell foul of the one way system. As I turned into yet another one way street, I realised I was wrong so pulled over to check where I was. At this point a police car pulled up, told me the quick way back to "ma femme" and then stopped the traffic to let me reverse out of the one way street! Top guys.
Got to the car, drove it onto the trailer, strapped it down and headed out of town. Stopped at the same services for more coffee.

Took three and a half hours to get back due to reduced towing speed, but all was good. Now back at my place, where it was dropped off and I took Elaine out for dinner as a thank you. 
Tomorrow, I will see what I have got.

My vote would be a flat or dying battery. Especially if that car has stood for a while without being used.
Do you have a multimeter handy? 

I've already started spending money on it, not to fix the niggles, but because I am a tart:

Stay tuned for additional shameless poncery. 

Evening all .. as Constable Dixon used to say.,
Katie and I didn't get out and about last weekend, most-part due to inclement weather, but today's forecast was for little chance of rain, and so again taking the opportunity while the weather is mild we went for a little drive (..as always with the roof open).   I had hoped to follow the old Roman Road, between Colchester and Cambridge, to Halstead and to visit Hedingham Castle's monumental square-tower Norman keep, with its fabulous Great Hall, but checking on the internet beforehand I see it's closed at this time of year. 
An alternative I'd shortlisted ..but where the driving is mostly just unpleasant, was also in Essex..   Hadleigh Castle  was once an awesome sight, with a strategic outlook overlooking the Thames Estuary.  Built (c.1215 onwards) by Hubert de Burgh, Chief Minister & Justiciar to King John (1199 -1216).
"Hubert was a trusted follower of the King (John was the one who was forced to sign the Magna Carta .. the first document to put into writing the principle that the King and his government were not above the law), and he (Hubert) was custodian of the Royal castles at Windsor and Dover.  At Dover he proved his military skill by successfully defending the castle during a prolonged and fierce siege, in 1216 (disgruntled English Barons wanted to oust King John and so had offered Prince Louis of France the English crown. He in turn brought an army to quash any opposition.  Although at first he succeeded in taking a number of strategic strongholds throughout SE England, Dover castle managed to hold out despite another attempt, in May 1217, and the French use of the trebuchet.  Dover Castle stood as a proud symbol of English resistance to Foreign rule.  Prince Louis failed and after being decisively beaten at Lincoln and then, in the August, loosing his fleet - with Hubert de Burgh’s own ship leading the attack.. he gave up on the quest).    Effectively ruler of England, during young Henry III's childhood, Hubert built this large turreted castle at Hadleigh as a statement of his power.  His success came to an end after quarrels with the king. As a result he forfeited his lands, including Hadleigh in 1239."
So although Hubert knew a thing or two about castles, the site of Hadleigh was an unfortunately unstable foundation. In short, the soil moved under the weight of stone and things started to fall apart (literally).  He was loyal to the throne, a valiant general, and had spent a fortune on building the castle ..only to loose it twenty years later, to the throne. Things don't seem to change much in politics ..except that it happens very much more quickly nowadays
It's a 50-mile drive to Hadleigh from the north side of Ipswich, and the drive was 'orrid.  The A12 came to a standstill, the amount of Essex traffic was extraordinary, and many drivers lived up to their reputation of always having something to prove.   I didn't want to drive all the way there and back on motorway & dual carriageways so I dialed-in a route via Maldon.  That only succeeded in landing me in the midst of traffic queues for Sainsbury's and B&Q.   ..Seriously don't these people know that the film The Matrix was pretty much about them ?   Anyway, going that way did find me signposted to Layer Marney Tower.   I had heard of it, but couldn't remember what I read. Still as I was passing nearby - I thought I'd go and have a look. . .
  
^ It looks a nice place to visit, but as the sign says 'closed' . . .

^ ah yes, I remember .. an unusually grand (over-powering in size) Tudor gatehouse ..to a manor house.  Not a period in history of particular interest to me but nevertheless magnificent brickwork  ..and I liked the guard rams in the driveway. 
Moving onwards and upwards I reached my destination .. in the fog. . .



^ The view from this elevated location overlooking the Thames Estuary were spectacular too. 
But.., there's always a bright side to life . . .

^ That rather little white dot in the sky is the sun.   However, looking straight upwards were clear blue skies.. And so although we were pretty high up ( for East Anglia)  it was but a sea-mist that had likewise come to visit the castle. 
And like all visitors, sooner or later they leave . . .

^ literally just half an hour later, the mist had all but dispersed and it was a beautiful day. 
As previously said, the geology of site was unsuitable for a castle with immensely thick stone walls, and so despite being rebuilt several times, over the next couple of centuries, and being a favourite of King Edward III - the towers leaned over and crumbled, and the south wall, complete with foundations tumbled down the hill.
By the 18th centuryit was a derelict ruin but the curtain wall was still an enclosure, and the north west towers was both still mostly there.  Not long ago, from the air, it looked like this. . .
   www.geoessex.org.uk
^ as you can see, referencing the scale of the people.. it was a pretty big place.  And seeing as it wasn't built by the crown or for the crown, it's certainly a statement with regard to the wealth of this man - Hubert de Burgh.   Rather like Framlingham Castle, in Suffolk, Hadleigh castle was built as an enclosure ..a curtain wall with towers and ramparts, but without a keep. The principle accommodation were great halls and numerous buildings, stables, and workshops built within.
The original towers appeared to have been smaller square ones, as seen to the right of the picture below, whereas the huge round  towers and the barbican gatehouse are thought to have been built by Edward III (around 1360 - 70), as these reflect the advanced designs in military architecture.
for King Edward III, at that later date, it probably looked something like this . . .

^ Overlooking marshland, then Benfleet Creek and the coastline of Canvey Island, Hadleigh Ray (estuary) over to the Thames it was a commanding position and statement of military power.  
Today, after the mist had cleared, I took these . . .
  
^ Round towers were expensive to build and less accommodating than the early Norman square towers, but they were a stronger defense against undermining (and subsidence).  Large halls on three levels provide luxurious accommodation, with a garderobe and latrine on each floor, as well as each with their own generous fireplace and windows..  In the second photo you might just make out the grey silhouette of a huge container ship on the horizon (just to the left of the tower) as it steams up and into the Thames estuary, most likely bound for Tilbury docks.     
  
^ detail of the chimney from the lower two floors, the third floor had their fireplace against another wall.  ..And the graffiti of names and dates scratched into the soft stones of the remaining window alcoves. You'll note that most of the letters are scratched complete with serifs, and even just a quick looks reveals the dates 1849, 1853, and so forth ..quite fascinating.   

^ Looking across to Canvey Island and beyond.  The weather turned out to be a nice afternoon and evening.   And the drive home, again via Maldon, turned out to be a good run with the sun behind us.  
Katie  & I bid you a very good evening,
Pete 

CV boots I've never had a problem with (I usually use brute force and one of the stretch boots and a cone). Even supposedly complicated jobs like timing belts etc- Fine.... This one was a bit weird in that on paper it should be a walk in the park comparatively, and yet descended into four hours of misery.
It's certainly put me in a position of re- evaluating things. I hit the big 'four zero' in July, and as part of coming to terms with the fact the end is now probably closer than the begining I'm going to look to give myself an easier life where possible from here on in 😆