N19

Local classic car show held in town today. Not entirely my cup of tea, but it's only 5 mins walk from home. The most Autoshite worthy attendee was this Allegro. The owner has at least three on his drive! Back home, work in progress doing the last of the brackets. The to-do list when the car comes back includes quite a bit of reconditioning as well as reassembly, new bolts and fixings in almost all places I work, new fuel lines, then a full service which really should include cambelt and water pump.

All quiet on the western front. Welder has finished work on one side of the wing, sill and a pillar, and is moving to the other side. Car should be back with me in a couple of weeks (although I'm away for a bit then!). In the meantime, I'm researching paint work, trying to work out exactly how much it'll need. There'll certainly be bits on the wings, under the bonnet, and the rear sills. Whether it then becomes easier/better to just do the whole panel I am unsure.

A couple in Borehamwood. The smiley transit has been there for years, the Fiesta only arrived recently. Transits advertising a local garage and each year only seems to do the journey there and back for a ticket. Fiesta hasn't been MoTd since computerisation.

Meanwhile, somebody in finance is wondering why they're getting through tonnes of change now...

Drive it day today - I usually use it as a good excuse to take the Capri on a longish drive around, but this year it it's definitely missed. photo above from Feb 2022. Current status - body work shop is busy pulling away at things. It looks like previous repairs have patched on top of rusted panels etc. My knowledge of bodywork is almost non-existant, but I know that's a Bad Thing. One of the repairs to the wings was in 1996, and another in 2007, certainly for the former I suppose nobody would have expected it to last another 23 years?? Ordered some replacement panels to the body shop. The welder messaged me with a somewhat -ve view of their usefulness, enclosing this picture. All of which means that the whole thing will cost more than I'd hoped, but I'm in it now and I did expect that! Meanwhile, back at home, I've been continuing to go around the removed parts and put right anything that needs putting right with them. These are the bumper front fixings that hold the bumper to the chassis rail, taken back to metal (at one end) and primed. Handy holding-whilst-spraying attachment pictured.

Re: the Pass The Picasso - I knew I'd seen it somewhere before! January 2020 in Borehamwood...

I'm a great fan of lists. They help immeasurably in tracking where you are and what's to do. Especially if you're coming home from work and have, say, an hour you can spend that evening on it... You can quickly see a little job and get it sorted. Rather than go out, scratch head, try and remember where you were, fiddle a bit, give up.

The Mondeo was making an odd warbling noise from the aux belt. Not sure where it goes to, but will investigate tomorrow. Got the carpet cleaning machine onto the Capri carpet, right hand side done. Water still coming out black!

Today being the last day of my annual leave from work, I did promise myself that I wouldn't spend all day pissing around with broken cars, and true enough I only did a bit in the evening. While the car is away, I've got a few mini bits and pieces which need work, such as these bumper brackets. Some idiot reversed over one of these a few weeks ago (ahem) so a bit of percussive repair technique was required to return it to shape. Only a spray can job, but taking the time to do it properly should hopefully pay dividends come re-assembly time. The mini dremel-type thing was £20 offve Amazon, perfect for sanding down the detail bits on this that the wire wheel is too big to reach. I also have the entire carpet in my living room, covering most of the usable floor space, while I gradually clean it down.

Having ordered up the gasket required for the Bluebird, I remembered that I'd previously done just that, and looking in the parts box there it was. So, clean up and everything back together, engine run, no leaks, hurrah. New nuts and bolts for good measure. Except.... is that a chuffing still to be heard...? I goes and looks at the back silencer, I could order up a new rear section, but for now, some gungum will hopefully keep it reasonable. The welder started looking at the Capri last night. Props to him, he doesn't hang around. The top of the wings are totally rotten and he's reckoning that's going to be half of the time needed. Sending him links to the pattern panel list that's available. So far, very impressed at the communication.

It's blunt, it is what it is, and it's from Yorkshire. Like me!

Bluebird exhaust has been blowing for a while. I've only been able to tighten the odd nut up and/or try slapping a bit of putty on it thus far. The garage being empty now gave me an opportunity to see about doing something with it. Gaskets pretty tatty. Hoping a new set will sort it.

They certainly don't feature in any form of crash safety - I'd not like to whack into it! Ironically most would have been ripped out in the nineties on capris I'll bet replaced by higher spec ones.

Arrangements made for the Capri to be picked up this morning to go away for welding works. The plan had been for the local garage to do this, but their welder left in January, so they don't have capacity to do anything other than MoT plates. Through some contacts they put me on to somebody who can do it, and who from what I've seen and heard has the right attitude. The remainder of the interior was taken out, mainly boxes and bits of soundproofing. (pictured - tea break sitting on the floor) This morning, took a photo of these two together (possibly for the last time if the ULEZ claims the Bluebird - although if I'm able to find out about the NOx levels of the Mondeo, I may be on to something). Soon enough, it was Beavertail time. I've never driven anything up onto the back of a recovery truck before, the smell of clutch was something to behold! Waved goodbye (it's very weird seeing your car being trailered away...). One of the neighbours asked me in a concerned fashion whether I'd sold it! Welder rang a couple of hours later, he sounded super chuffed by it and will have a proper look tomorrow, but he's quite happy with it (and also happy that I left it in a running condition). Immediately I managed to fill the garage with all the stuff that'd been sitting in the back of the Capri or around the sides. Mostly it's various parts that live with it, so a bit more sorting out and then they can live nicely to one side. There's a few parts which need some work - bumpers and associated bracketry, for example, needs a thorough wirebrushing, rustproofing and repainting. That'll keep me busy for a bit!

My own Capri is about to go away for welding repair, mainly to the sills and a pillars but also the arches need attention. Although it'll doubtless end up being more than I'd budgeted for, it'll be done and not need doing again when it becomes a more extensive job.

Productive couple of hours this evening. I popped by on my way home from work and one of the guys from another lockup was there with a large van blocking any access - can be a character, so I decided to go home and do a few other bits first. On the return he was still there, albeit packing up. First and foremost, chips eaten. One door I managed to get on yesterday, but tightened up properly once I could pull the car out. Door switches removed (there's a mod you can easily do to give a buzzer-if-lights-left-on warning for the drivers door open, which I may do on reassembly). The doors are heavy buggers, and need to go on at a certain angle, one of the hinges was very stiff (which actually helped reassembling!) A little tip - which I don't know if it'll work on other cars, but... a bit of string tied to the hinge (on the door), then threaded through the bolt holes on the bulkhead. Gives you something to pull on to pull the hinge the right way and close enough in, to be able to hold it all in position whilst running the first couple of nuts on. A quick snip with the stanley knife and it pulls out. Ta da. I've written up the order of disassembly just so I can be sure for when I put it all back together. We are currently at 67 items (and another couple just popped into my mind). Hello to @Andrew353w who popped to say hello whilst I was mid horn removal. Was good to catch up and hopefully see you again some time :).

You'd have been most welcome Andrew, but just got home after a busy couple of hours. First stop of the day was Costco Watford, to swap over the wiper I bought last week for the Mondeo. Some little git had swapped an old one into the packet! Refunded and a new one bought. Whoever decided to put the bolt for the heater/blower box right behind the windscreen wiper motor on Capris, 40-50 odd years ago, I dislike you! But we got it out in the end - just needed to use the open end of a spanner moving it about 3 degrees at a time. It's now sitting in the bath in my flat having been flushed through both ways - no crud came out, just antifreeze, which is good. I re-routed the coolant hoses under the bonnet to bypass the heater matrix, let the car run for a bit, lovely to smell and hear the engine in the sun again. Shock absorbers next thing to come off. O/S took quite a bit of 'persuasion', I've become quite a fan of 'Crack-it' - freezer spray with lubricant. Usually, sprayed on and left for a bit,a breaker bar will then work. Having had significant grief with the O/S, I sprayed up the N/S and stopped for tea-break to let it do its work. Creme egg break complete, the N/S came off nice and easy. They look a bit cosmetically tired but seem ok. As the scope of the job increases, I think anything that can be done afterwards with reasonable ease will have to wait (see also re-covering of seats) as I concentrate time (and money) on the bodywork.

It wasn't the floor bung - the carpet's remained wet all week. I've sealed up the tops of the scuttle panel, which had very deteriorated foam underneath, so we'll see if that makes a difference. Capri wise, although I never intended to go quite this far, it's probably going to be stripped entirely and the shell sent for blasting. It does make sense, if I'm going to spend time, effort, money on getting work done, to make sure that every single bit of rot is gone on the shell before it gets rebuilt. That does mean a more full-on stripout than I'd anticipated though. I'll be removing more ancillaries tomorrow, putting the doors back on and doing a heck of a lot of labeling up of the loom (this bit worries me for reassembly time!). It'll go up to the garage to have the engine and running gear removed before being sent away for the blasting. Meanwhile there'll be plenty of time to clean, repaint, tidy up all the odd parts.

They did from c.2005 to c.2012ish, in the Stenhouse area, for services 2 & 22. A small number of buses allocated to these routes had guide-wheels fitted, it was only over a certain part of the route though - the rest was on normal roads. It closed down to facilitate the tram and the buses were re-routed to adjacent roads.

I gave the Mondeo a proper wash, and did the wheels. I picked up a set of simoniz products (£3 for about 7 or 8 bottles of stuff) and tried the wheel cleaner. Surprisingly, a lot of the brake dust melted off after a bit of agitation! these wheels have never been anything other than murky brown... I accidentally ended up parked next to a Fiesta of a similar vintage and colour. It sounded dreadful, engine tappety as heck. Capri, still waiting for a date that the welder can start work on it. Annoying that it's taking so long, but it's not the biggest priority for them I know and I want it done by someone I know will do it properly. Got in the Mondeo today to discover the carpet soaking wet in the drivers footwell. I don't know if this was to do with my excessive pressure washing the other day! the floor bung seemed loose, so I blobbed some silicone sealer on it, and gave the carpets a thorough wet vac. I've left it with newspapers in the footwell.

L-reg Mk1 saloon seen at the traffic lights at half 10 last night - was a bit surprised as I imagined most of them would be giffer/enthusiast owned! And then when pondering it today, same spot, a T-reg silver saloon mk2. Clearly the traffic lights at Barnet Church are some sort of spawn portal for early Mondeos.

I've done a bit of digging since this hasn't appeared at our petrol kiosk. It is only in certain stores, by the looks of it, some medium-sized superstores are having the oils range changed over towards the end of the month, and as a result they are reduced to clear.

I headed down to the lockup this afternoon and tried to start the Capri, starter motor clicked but no turning. Out came the mending hammer and the jump leads... I gave the Capri a quick 'bed bath' to remove the dust and so on that's accumulated through sitting in the garage. then off came the passenger door.... To try and give myself a bit more 'working room', I put up a shelf on the side, having measured where it'll fit in relation to the body shape of the Capri. I also realised how difficult reversing into a garage is when the doors (and hence wingmirrors) are off! When I popped into the local hardware shop for some shelf brackets I saw this in the car care section - the batteries expired in Jan 2004, so it must be a good 25 years it's been on the shelf? Anyway, for £2.99 I picked it up. Just need to get some non-expired AA batteries now...

The thing is, non-compliant vehicles will gradually ramp down (at least with 'normal' owners) as they suffer uneconomic bodywork/mechanical issues, get sold on, owners pass away etc. What benefit will be brought by bringing this curve forward a few years? If you would like to look at excessive emissions, how about the glut of delivery vans chasing each other around the same estates delivering two parcels each. Or the minicabs sitting idling outside the roads round the back of the hospital for hours. Or the double deckers running empty for miles across town because it has been decided, for example, that the 91 (from Crouch End to Aldwych) should not be run by either of the two garages which it practically passes the door of, but from a garage in Stockwell (?!).

I'll definitely bear that in mind... especially when I come to re-fit things. The wing will need to come off anyhow to work on the top inner rail. It's a pain, but it's got to happen and better get it sorted properly now. I think those cameras are ULEZ ones yes. There's another which seems to have gone up at the Arkley Hotel bus terminus. My strategy is Capri (exempt), Mondeo (not exempt, use sparingly a few times a month when need arises, use for long-distance journeys back home and cross country), then something-new-and-boring-and-cheap-and-compliant-and-autoshitey-and-easy-to-work-on-and-reliable for day-to-day trundling around.