N19

Lunchtime tinkering today, reinstating the rear mudflaps. Old fixings rusted to hell, but came out without too much of a fight, cleaned everything up and fitted the new flaps. The rear drums could do with a bit of hammerite at some point. But we're just a wash away from FoTU! There, that's better.

Small world!

Excellent buying! You should still be able to get those tyres online, I've found that they often aren't stocked on the main wholesalers who garages use, but can be got via mytyres or similar.

Only just seen the picture but an "aaaaah" moment - I take a shortcut down your road sometimes and had noticed the Unos!

Just gone back and corrected a couple of others too, cheers for the heads up!

Whoops - sorry, I took a shortcut that didn't work! Fixed now I hope.

A bit of soldering later, I have one *mostly* working Clarion cassette player. I think the azimuth needs adjusting slightly though. Still, nice to have the original radio back. I stripped the other player down and the belt was indeed stretched. New belt put on, need to reassemble and test. Next up was fitting the new door channel, the old one having rusted away entirely. I'm becoming an expert at removing Bluebird door trim... Hopefully this is the last for a while, so it went back together with all the clips and surrounds this time. Novelty! There's still some play in the window, the bottom of the other side channel is also missing, but I don't know what if anything should be here anyway. This is where I regret not stripping even more spares from the yard we visited! Centre console courtesy light/sunroof switch cluster has been repaired, it doesn't look beautiful as there's some differently coloured plastic in there, and an amount of superglue, but it is functional and is out of eyesight unless you're looking for it. Next week I need to fit the rear mudflaps, then give everything a wash/tidy/clean prior to FoTU next weekend.

Motor belt is still present but I suspect may be stretched. Applying 12v to the motor directly turns it, except when loaded with a cassette. These are the fancier end of tape decks, and feature snazzy circuits to automatically change direction etc, which is completely stuck on changing direction - presumably as nothing moving with the motor going is the same as the end of the tape. Now, I have another identical one which was faulty (not turning on at all, previous to that no radio reception at all) but the tape mechanism seems to work fine when 12v applied to it. I think some form of transplant may be in order to make one good out of two duff ones!

A little bit of preparation of the parts picked up yesterday. Window channel rubbed down and de rusted. Mudflaps cleaned up And cassette player cleaned, mechanism oiled. Only works on the radio function at the moment. Could be that the issue with it is purely mechanical.

This morning I headed up to Wisbech with a friend and an empty car to raid a stash of Bluebirds for parts. Story was, a bloke absolutely hoarded cars (and many other things!) and when he ended up in prison (!) the fleet was put up for sale. A chap bought the batch to sell on for banger racing after getting the parts stripped. In fairness, they are pretty much all quite far gone. That's about 1/3rd of them, that were there, another 20 odd still in the forest. I'd hoped to swap over a manifold for one without the heat shield fixings sheared, but they all go in the same place really, so that didn't happen. Still, a nice haul of working radios, trim, a door channel, central locking unit, interior lighting unit, and other odds and sods. Oh and an original manual: All should make my Bluebird a bit more complete in time for FOTU next weekend! I now smell of old musty car and have to go out... oops.

Yes, been to Falcon a couple of times. Went in once for a can of paint and came out with a battery tester for your fag lighter... I'm easily parted with my money when in a factors.

Yeah, got some glue now. Will try it this evening. I'm in EN5 now yes - I've only the one bluebird but someone I know in Potters Bar has 5... Or maybe more now. If you're in need of any bits which might be acquired on a scrapyard trip let me know. Which factors is that? I normally go to Apex Corner but also go to BMF from time to time, and to the one in East Barnet and to Midnight's in Watford occasionally. All charming!

3M pad didn't last. Maybe the heat. Anyway, took a trip to Sheringham yesterday in the Capri : with appropriate sounds : there's a little old school motorfactors in the town, which I stopped at to pick up some mirror adhesive. And ended up buying some 80s tat accessories in the bargain bin... Going to try and re fit the mirror tonight when it's cooler. Also got a trip on Friday to pick up some bluebird parts from cars being stripped for banger racing. This may* sort out some of the niggles with mine, like the lack of central locking working, drivers window, missing trim etc.

I noticed that the tax status took a couple of days to update on the Mondeo recently. I kept the receipt in the glove box, just in case. I assume it shouldn't have anything to do with the current disruption at Swansea... but when it comes to dvlc who knows?

Took the Capri out for an evening run, including the stop at the iconic corner... Meanwhile, the heat has managed to melt the adhesive that holds the Mondeo rear view mirror on. Oops. Refixed with a 3M pad, hopefully itlll hold...