Captain Mainwaring

Threads like this are one of the reasons I love AS so much. 

Very nice Jagwar. Funnily enough just yesterday I watched Tedward of The You Tube driving a lovely black XJR 100. A wonderful thing, but all the plasticky Ford switchgear in the centre console is a bit of an odd contrast with the rest of the interior.
I forget how well these did Stateside. Good luck with the engine. Will be following with interest.

After I fired up the engine via the battery charger on Monday evening, I left the battery to charge overnight. In the morning, the charger battery level light was still only on amber, which I assumed meant that the battery was refusing to receive / hold charge. Time for a new battery. 
Getting hold of the correct replacement battery should have been easy but Euro Car Parts, specifically their website, made the process very complicated and it took me two days to source the correct battery.
I have been advised that the battery that was in the Sierra was not right for the car. Apparently, the battery was more suited to a diesel engine or a much larger capacity pez motor.

I measured the battery.

I also measured the battery tray, which has three holes for the clamp bolt, which means that the battery tray can accommodate different sized batteries. Clever.

Replacement battery purchased and fitted.

The weather forecast for today was dry and sunny so I decided to take the Sierra to work.
I got my surveying kit in the boot.

I drove from home along the M40 and M25 to Old Windsor, then into Windsor, then along the M4 and A404 to Marlow, then to High Wycombe, then back home, approx 65 miles, I think.




The exhaust fumes smell has been fixed. Evidently, exhaust fumes have been getting past the old gaskets / loose manifold and downpipe fixings and replacing the lot has fixed the problem.
On route home I popped into Wickes to buy a fence post.

Which fitted easily inside the cabin.

I have a few more jobs in mind for the Sierra but you will hear about them next week as I have non car related plans for this weekend.

That DALL-E 3 generative engine seems to be obsessed with the V8.  I had enough trouble getting a radial into an engine bay a few pages back.  Even specifically asking for a four cylinder engine weeks later, I still get this V8 concoction that I really don't want to go hunting where a pipe or hose leak is!

Shouldn't complain though, as using the very same API direct from OpenAI who develop it, its use gets restricted behind a paywall.  But now through Microsoft, even an ancient Microsoft account gets free unlimited use.  I still have my original Hotmail account from 25+ years ago getting daft images like this out of the thing  (except I bet you wish I couldn't) :
Volvo Ice Cream Vans







(Still would)

Not the best picture, but here's my Grandad in his MK1 Passat. Despite him being well into his 50s, this was his first car after having saved for years for it. 
Terminal rot saw it's demise after a few years, and to replace it he went to his local AR dealership and bought himself a brand new A-plated Metro, which he absolutely hated. Had to be returned to the dealers on a few occasions for warranty repairs. 
I don't half miss him...

I posted a pic already but my late grandad also had a mk1 Passat, although it didn't have twin headlights like that. I saw one of the sister Audi 80s at Rustival in March and was quite emotional looking inside 

Not the best picture, but here's my Grandad in his MK1 Passat. Despite him being well into his 50s, this was his first car after having saved for years for it. 
Terminal rot saw it's demise after a few years, and to replace it he went to his local AR dealership and bought himself a brand new A-plated Metro, which he absolutely hated. Had to be returned to the dealers on a few occasions for warranty repairs. 
I don't half miss him...

That coupe looks very good

Not the best picture, but here's my Grandad in his MK1 Passat. Despite him being well into his 50s, this was his first car after having saved for years for it. 
Terminal rot saw it's demise after a few years, and to replace it he went to his local AR dealership and bought himself a brand new A-plated Metro, which he absolutely hated. Had to be returned to the dealers on a few occasions for warranty repairs. 
I don't half miss him...

Not the best picture, but here's my Grandad in his MK1 Passat. Despite him being well into his 50s, this was his first car after having saved for years for it. 
Terminal rot saw it's demise after a few years, and to replace it he went to his local AR dealership and bought himself a brand new A-plated Metro, which he absolutely hated. Had to be returned to the dealers on a few occasions for warranty repairs. 
I don't half miss him...

Not the best picture, but here's my Grandad in his MK1 Passat. Despite him being well into his 50s, this was his first car after having saved for years for it. 
Terminal rot saw it's demise after a few years, and to replace it he went to his local AR dealership and bought himself a brand new A-plated Metro, which he absolutely hated. Had to be returned to the dealers on a few occasions for warranty repairs. 
I don't half miss him...

Not the best picture, but here's my Grandad in his MK1 Passat. Despite him being well into his 50s, this was his first car after having saved for years for it. 
Terminal rot saw it's demise after a few years, and to replace it he went to his local AR dealership and bought himself a brand new A-plated Metro, which he absolutely hated. Had to be returned to the dealers on a few occasions for warranty repairs. 
I don't half miss him...

Congratulations, that looks absolutely fantastic. Brilliant, brilliant work.

Congratulations, that looks absolutely fantastic. Brilliant, brilliant work.

I've been looking forward to this day for the past two months.
Once the Sierra was back on its wheels, I undersealed the jacking points that were concealed by axle stands / ramps.


The other side is the same.
It was time to pull the Sierra out of the workshop. As the underseal was still fresh and the car isn't taxed, I only drove the Sierra to the end of the road and back to outside my house to take photos.
At this stage, I recommend that you rewind to page 4 of this thread and remind yourself what the Sierra looked like on the 30th January, the day it arrived from Northern Ireland. I am pleased with the results and I'll let the photos do the talking. Please note that I haven't washed or detailed the bodywork and trim yet, hopefully I will get a chance to do that next weekend.






The bonnet, roof and boot lid look much better in sunlight than they do under a LED lamp. Yes, if you look closely and at the right angle, you can see the fine scratches but overall, the paint looks great.



Remember how the four corners looked? The tarpaulin that the Sierra was stored under rubbed the blue paint off down to primer / bare / rusty metal. My masking off and dabbing of blue paint has worked well. Up close, you can see the touching up but I am pleased with my low cost solution.




The sills and inner sides of the rear wheel arches look much better too.




The boot lid and rear valance now gleam.

I left the engine to idle for about 15 minutes and it ran well, nice and quiet, with no smoke. The temperature gauge reached half way quickly (and stayed there) but the coolant level was still low. The idle speed is a little too fast, I need to work out which screw needs a tweak.

With the Sierra outside, it took me two hours to clean the workshop. EVERY surface was covered with a layer of black overspray dust, which spread when I was painting the bumpers. Got there in the end.

I put the Sierra back in for another week, until it can be taxed and driven from the 1st April.

The 1st April is a Monday. According to the forecast, the weather should be dry. Let's hope so.

 

Threads like this are one of the reasons I love AS so much. 

Some low quality Fuengirola spots. I was quite drunk when I took these which might be readily apparent. What's the Bini ripoff thing?

I was parked I hasten to add even though it doesn't look like it.

Thanks for the heads-up, you had me worried for a bit there... until I had time to lay down in the dust:










Sorry some of them are upside-down, they look fine on the laptop until they're uploaded.
Yes, there are some crusty bits, but I'm sure nothing my MOT man will knock me back for. I'll let him have an honest poke about before I get under there with a wire brush and the underseal. It's a shame some numpty has mashed the front of the sills jacking it up, but what can you do? 
The trailing arms, the weird Y-shaped rear subframe, and its brackets to the sills are all the wrong shade of brown, but still look solid.
Other than that, quite relieved really, and the back half of the exhaust looks recent. Which is nice.

Fuck me, how big are their buses?

Some shots from today's running day at Golders Green... plus two from the camera that I've not been able to download yet!