Blake's Den

I remember back in the very early 2000's one of my school teachers traded in his 1.0 K11 Micra for a PT Cruiser. He thought it was the best car ever and couldn't stop talking about it. We all thought that he was mad!

I managed to get some more welding gas last week which meant that I could crack on with some work at the weekend. After spending a bit of time off camera fettling the wheel arch and getting the fit right I decided to get it welded in. I've heard that people have problems with the arches and I can see why, they are quite fidly and difficult to get aligned. I don't think that I made too bad of a job of it. Lots of tidying up still to do along with paint and seam sealing but it is a big step forwards.

Great to see another Mini on these pages. I was out in my '97 cooper today and it never fails to put a big smile on my face 😊

Very niche! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Haynes-First-Years-Jeff-Clew/dp/1859604188

I don't think that is quite the case. I've got a book which covers the history of Haynes and the feedback that they had in the early 90s was that many did not understand a technical cut away of a gearbox. They say it was actually harder to do the photographs (pre digital of course)

I've got two for a Mazda Montrose. I think there are only 6 left on the road and one owner is on here!

Yes! I've got an extensive collection. I really like the technical drawings from the old manuals. Haynes stopped using these and went to photographs as they were easier for the average person to understand.

I'm biased towards mini's, I've got two of them! Summary: great fun, big smiles, you feel very vulnerable driving it, they will rust everywhere. Even as a mini owner I can't comprehend the price they make now. I actually believe they aren't value for money. The days of cheap mini's are long gone.

I've made a bit more progress at the weekend. I fabricated up a little repair patch for the boot floor and I had a go at fitting the replacement rear wheel arch. I think that it will need a bit more fettling before I'll have a go at welding it into position. I'm nearly out of welding gas so I'm not sure when the next update will arrive!

I'm surprised by how much love there is for this old bus. I'm kind of getting it now, Korean reliability is definetly quite good! I've had the car back on the road for a year now and it has just passed it's second MoT under my ownership (no advisories!) so I thought that I'd do a quick video summary/review to mark the occasion.

I've just found this thread and it is amazing! Lots of memories from gowing up in the North East during the 80's and 90's. Here is a pic of Gateshead town hall that I downloaded from somewhere when researching my family tree. Nice Daimler DS for the mayor!

I'm fine for steering wheels at the moment. One is just about the right amount 😆

More progress this week. I tackled a rather tricky (to me) repair to the rear seat base and boot floor. I fabricated a repair panel out of the 0.8m steel and I was quite happy with the results. I don't think that the video shows it off that well but I know that the new wheelarch should fit a treat when I get around to it.

I'm happy that it has survived but I'd be happier seeing it in a scrappy! Its actually a SW23. These were the 120hp versions of the SW20 which uses the 3SFE (?) engine from a camry. No rear spolier and no front fog lights. Quite rare because people didn't buy them! Only sold from 1990 to 1992.

I believe it is to make it look like an E-type jag, even through its also supposed to be a Ferrari. Nobody must have told him that the engine is behind the seats......