N19

Yeah, they'd been there donkeys years, gone now. The estate is getting a badly needed revamp but the area they were in isn't being touched I don't think.

Top buying! Have always had a soft spot for Maestros. Used to be two parked on the Dollis Valley estate, rotting... Disappeared now though. Its lucky I neither have the money, time nor space for another car.

Interesting. I might have a nosey around the DIY shops...

Bluebird leaky place located, where the rear light seal has ceased to exist... Now just to see if the seal can be reinstated or whether it's bodge time. Seems to be some water sloshing around underneath the area too, so may have to find a way of draining that.

Yesterday I had a bad headache at work about an hour after I arrived, so went back to the car to take a couple of paracetamol. On arrival I realised I'd caught it doing the elusive leaking when cooling down. Seems to be one of the hoses coming off the temperature sensor housing, possibly owing to the notch in the housing... Chucking it down today so stuff going to sort it now, but progress!

The results could be very unphleasent. I'll see myself out.

Yep, that's the one! It's had a service and all belts done, and other than an odd moment of cooling system incontinence it behaves fine and is on daily duties. The front bumper was the biggest thing detracting from the appearance I thought.

A trip to the motorfactors and to toolstation later, job done* (* excluding fitting the foglights - one was impressively melted) Looks almost respectable now!

Bumper almost on. A couple of fixings changed over and a nut and bolt replacing one. Just off to pick up some self tappers, and also decided to go down to the motorfactors to pick up some new plates... May as well make it look decent!

The biggest visual eyesore of the Mondeo is the bumper, which features Mk2 gaffer tape that breeds ferociously. I ordered a pattern part off ebay, £40 delivered I think it was. The old one has come off reasonably* easily by disintegration as soon as the tape was removed. That saves the worry about how to fit it in the bin! And the new one seems to fit... Only issue at present is the plastic captive nuts on the inner wing are spinning out so can't remove the 4no fixing bolts. Just going to go down to the garage to pick up persuasion tools...!

Bluebird front plate reverted back to an old style one - always thought it looked odd with a new font up front. Going to sort out the trim... At some point.

Stupid things I say on a Saturday night : "Maybe I'll go and have a poke around and see if I can find the issue" Mmm, crusty. Swiss cheese.

Good shout. I'll have a look for anything obvious, or otherwise, get an assistant and a bucket of water... Actually, when it's dried, talcum powder might work to show up the origin...

Bluebird was very steamed up earlier today, so I went to nosey around. Boot very damp, not good. On investigation, the boot carpet had the beginnings of mould and the spare wheel well was swimming. Really not sure how, considering that all the bungs are in position. All drained away, wiped down, lots of newspaper, and I've got the carpet soaking in disinfectant now... Never rains but it pours eh? On the other hand, in happier news, started to properly sort out garage lighting. This is with one strip of LED rope light to cover the garage, another for the workbench. Will p

Out in the Capri today and I come across another one in the wild at the lights. In October! Not bad going for a random trip out.