R1152

That is almost my perfect style of project, I do have a hankering for these grey bumpered Alpines 
I hope someone can save it

The old 1999 Ford focus developed some drivetrain shunt yesterday while out doing a few errands. 
A quick check around the wheels,suspension revealed nothing out of the ordinary, but on lifting the bonnet the engine looked at a slight angle. 
Gave it a rock,and sure enough it was moving freely.
The bolt on the bottom gearbox mount had sheared and fallen out!!

A gentle drive home was in order,fortunately it was only 10 miles or so.
Today I put it up on the ramps.

The bracket with the broken bolt is removable. 

Tried welding a nut onto it,but it didn't work,so had to drill the broken bit out.

Found a suitable nut and bolt from my stash. 

And all back together again. 

Hopefully the old girl will trundle on for another few miles yet.
 

Unstrap it from trailer. 
Chain it to a tree. 
Drive away. 
You're welcome. (Saw a Scirocco unloaded thus at a scrapyard once) 

Strange but true . Whilst casually looking at the offside front tyre on my X-trail this afternoon. What's that?
 

That's my mud flap 

This is what I fished out, unfortunately dead.

There’s been one of these missing from my collection of crap for some time. I’ve had loads of them over the years, this one will be staying. They are starting to get scarce and rather expensive here too. 
Welcome to the lounge that is my W124. 
 
CFD 

I made an interesting discovery today. 
I've always wanted to know what my Grandad's first company car was knowing that he had a Ford Consul L in the mid 70's. Well I got chatting with my dad this morning and he told me that before my Grandad had the Consul (which was the second company car he owned), the first company car he had was a Silver 4-door Datsun saloon in around 1973/74. At first I thought it could be a Laurel C130 as my dad describes it as one of the top end spec models, but after looking through some photos on the internet, he said it was a 260C saloon. My dad recalls the grill with the two square chrome pieces in the centre, and that it was silver with a black vinyl interior, so something similar to this:

That's my news for today, I might ask my uncle if he's got any photos of it.

Three cars on my drive
None of them are working
Thirty years of hurt
Never stopped me dreaming...
On Friday the low coolant light started coming on intermittently in the BWM although the temp gauge stayed in the normal central position. Arrived home to the smell of coolant and a hiss from under the bonnet. A fine jet of steaming coolant was being emitted from the expansion tank - a known weakness on these.
Closer inspection revealed that a fastener was missing from the top of the rad

so the rad rocked backwards allowing the expansion tank to rub against the alternator pulley and belt wearing a groove in it.

I'm holding the rad in place with some cable ties for now so I can get it to a local garage to sort it. I'm farming the job out as yesterday I had my first FTP in the BX when it failed to start after the Shiteisteddfod and I need to sort that out. It appears to be getting fuel and spark, cranks fine but won't start.
I had my first dose of the AZ this morning and my arm is throbbing and I've got a headache in spite of taking paracetamol.  Oh, and it's just started raining. I might just give up on today and go back to bed.

FTFY

This is rather quaint

but awfully cramped!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324585582960?_trkparms=aid%3D1110010%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.DISCCARDS%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20200818141627%26meid%3Db4bc7e471fe541d998098586bbfb4ed3%26pid%3D101110%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D274758619663%26itm%3D324585582960%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2563228%26algv%3DDiscOrganicBase&_trksid=p2563228.c101110.m1982

Start preparing early for next winter's OMGSNOKAOS
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/397875577494802

 

I love that a current bus company retains a heritage fleet.

Okay, @vulgalour has that Ekco CR32 in the cabin: but I spotted this -
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294049653961
What intrigues me is the dial using pre-war station names even though it's a post-war set - but it's also a pre-"Copenhagen Plan" dial as the Third Programme is on 514m, which makes the dial pre-1950.
However... isn't the Lanchester 6V?
One modern (FSVO) transistor (spits) radio that really was intended to be a stand-alone pull-out radio for cars was the Bush TR90.

Sadly yes. Ive no intention of giving  the car back to correct it as I know the workmanship wouldn't be acceptable or timely and the fact is I'm now 200 miles from him instead of 40 odd miles.  No way am I going down the "ready in2-3 weeks" only to be told 2 days before the agreed date..it is delayed ...again. I've still got a single Rover seat with him I was supposed to collect Tuesday and ne has jsut asked for another week
 
The TL/DR (in a grandpa simpson long winded story way) this  was all organised in the before times. By the time I'd got it  back from the painters (March 2020) refitted the  chromework, lights and dash etc got a broken electric window working it was the end of June  and off to him and I accepted despite stamping my feet and holding my breath,  delays out of my control had happened. But we agreed on an August finish, which became September,  then October  and finally near the end of November when I managed to collect it and take it to my sisters  to store it (because , hey, let's move from London to Wales in the middle of a pandemic).   I've no desire to waste my time further schlepping cars about and more importantly to me being without it for probably months and get it back possibly fixed - I'd rather be enjoying it and using it.

Well this theme continues today 🤦‍♂️
Anyone fancy sending me some good luck ? 😅

Seeing the frankly sub par fitment job the trimmer did on my Jags interior, moreso given the cost and the fact he had the interior itself  for 11 months and the car for  6. The icing being the electric windows and stereo now dont work either.

Class 35 "Hymek", LBF. 
(The locomotive.) 

I could go on about the decline in technical standards in broadcasting, but I won't.
This is from the BBC's own production guidelines at https://www.dropbox.com/s/sjsjlf4qtm68xc3/TechnicalDeliveryStandardsBBCFile.pdf?dl=0
I've captured the broadcast via get_iplayer.

does anyone have a link or screenshot or such?  
the Facebook link from @Tadhg Tiogar is for group members only sadly so I cant see whats contained within
not going to lie I want to see if TPA managed to make it onto TV  

The cobbler's children are often the worst-shod.

Saw my first HubNut sticker "in the wild" today.
Back of a blue R-reg Disco at the Black Cat roundabout.

I'm pleased to report there will be another Lanchester video soon, because today Pat and I finished installing the interior.  It did involve getting enough dust and grime in my hair that I looked like I had a bad hair dye line and I ended up hitting my head and getting blisters, so it all went about as well as you might expect.  Far from the Mr Chodmondeley Warner experience, working on the Lanchester is much more of a series of suprising adventures that the likes of Sir Digby Chicken Caesar would venture forth on.

I don't need any more cars. I have no room for any more cars. But also, this is 10 minutes from me.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224446488898
 


It's on my watch list purely for research purposes. The quote I got from my welding mate to sort the rear arch is also purely for research purposes.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284279286196?hash=item42305da9b4:g:yewAAOSw2XVgjaMv

What he said. A modified 1990 BMW. Every warning bell ever made is currently ringing.