Minimad5

Just some minor adjustments needed.

I feel so fucking lost though, wish I had some in person guidance/support.
 

I think this is how it's done ... 🤷
 

Going back to the subject of neighbours, an older lady who lives in the flats opposite was walking into the car park while I was erecting the tarpaulin, so she stopped for a chat.
I explained what I was doing and then I told her about some of the concerns earlier in this tread. She laughed and said, 'You're fine, nobody is bothered, you don't make a mess and it's away from the flats. It's good to have a hobby' Then she wished me luck and said 'Try not to set yourself on fire or anything'
🤣
 

@Six-cylinder has spice hut. I have my photogenic tree. First farm yard driveway drive complete.  With the rear caliper pipe clamped off. 

It's finally back home 

But I've a fair bit of work to do before I can use it properly. And it always takes longer to put things back together than take them apart. 

Popped in this morning and they surprised me again with the amount of work they've done in two and half a days. 
Shiny shiny. 




But not shiny enough apparently, they still have to mop and polish it. I asked if it was lacquered because it obviously wasn't before. Being a straight colour it doesn't have to be and it was obvious with how quickly the shine would wear off that it wasn't. So apparently it's had two top coats then two more of laquer with the colour mixed in to give a glossier finish. 
Door shuts done this time. The last respray was a bit brighter than the original and it showed in the door shuts and engine bay. They've matched it to the brighter colour but with the door shuts done that no longer matters, I preferred that anyway, it's a great colour. 

 
This is the lip that the tailgate seal sits over. This is what it looked like on Wednesday. 


I'd ground it back and covered it with Dinitrol rust converter and was going to plug the holes with Supersteel or the like and prime it before dropping the car off but it kept raining the week before so this was as far as I got. Most of it sits under the seal or behind the bumper so I wasn't that fussed. 
But now it looks like this. 

It looks like new! There's two bits of metal there spot welded to form the seam and then welded in either side. I can't see the joins at all. Only time will tell if it really is done properly, and even then only if I take the bumper off. I'm really pleased with that, well worth the extra £150.
More shiny shots. 


 
Nice colour contrast and Merc in the background. 

 
The Transit wasn't a customer job but a little sideline of their's. I had noticed quite a lot of vans about the place. So they pick them up at auction and do them up as there is a good market for fancy vans.

This was originally a silver panel van. They've fitted the body kit and side windows. The seats were fancy leather affairs with diamond stitches patterns and RS logos. A second row was fitted also in the same style. The rest of the van was lined in carpet ready for the next owner to do what they want with although he says they'd do more if  someone wants it. Like make room for a motorbike with the proper ramp and fixings was the example he gave.
I personally wouldn't want to drive around in this but I was impressed with the quality of the work, there was no sign of any silver paint and the carpet lining looked spot on. If I ever get a Sherpa I know where to take it. 
 
Anyway, Favorit should be ready on Tuesday. 

The repaired headlamps have been put back together for the first time, looking infinitely better for it

You know it makes sense Mat!

My chassis arrived last week from Richards and I couldn't be more pleased.

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Someone I know has just posted this hackneyed slice of prime motivational bollocks on their Facebook feed. For reference this someone doesn't work for a living, and as far as I am aware has never worked for a living (incidentally nor does her partner). Her little turd of a baby lion is showing every sign of following in his parents footsteps. 

I saw this. I'm more than happy to print t-shirts out with random (or your most hated enemies) number plates on them.
This could actually turn into a hilarious prank.

Woman walking in a bus lane gets a bloke a fine.
All because of her jumper. (Yes she does need more support at her age👀)
 

So, the pez shot;

Not going to lie mate, one of the few cars I regret selling. I didn't see the need for having two estates at the time 🤦‍♂️. 
That whisper quiet M112, effortless drive and sheer wafty-ness made it a bloody brilliant car (that and the brilliant rear suspension which soaked up everything with ease)

A tale of two collections, part two. 
Idly browsing Gumtree at the beginning of last week, I stumbled across a highly desirable piece of Autoshite. "Posted four minutes ago....". The location was sub-optimal. Redhill in Surrey. Two stops from Gatwick though...
A deposit was sent and a flight booked, all arranged for Saturday evening. A very excited wait ensued.
Set off about 5m on Saturday. Mode of transport one, a little Mercedes Sprinter based bus into Town;


Step two, the Glasgow Airport "Express";

I hate this bus. Nine fucking quid for a single journey to the airport from Buchanan Bus station. You can dress it up with nice upholstery all you want but it's £9 for a one way 7 mile bus journey is ridiculous. 
At least it's a scenic trip;

Anyway, it got there. I was on the 19:50 flight to Gatwick which was pretty painless. Toy train to South Terminal at Gatwick and onto a train to Redhill. 

Met the seller at home in Redhill and picked the car up, lodgings were booked in Milton Keynes to do the M25 portion during night hours. Here we see my purchase outside my salubrious overnight stop for the first time.

It's a 2001 Citroen Synergie 2.0 TD in SX trim. It's done 160k. Was purchased off a nice French couple who were really sad to see it go. It's a nice honest car that wears its miles quite well, don't think it's had a stint as a works van at any point! 

The sills have had a tickle at last MOT and one of the doors has a suspicious tidemark, there are dents here and there. There are plenty receipts though,the interior is in nice order and even the A/C works. 
Decided to make a bit of a holiday of it. Got a cheap return from MK to London on the Sunday morning and done a tourist.
Room with a view;

Tourist;

Spot of the trip, outside Euston Station;

Monday started with a visit to Crich Tramway which I thought was great, three different trams on the go all day. Highly recommended.  The editor has gone a bit haywire, so see video at the end. 
The steed in daylight;

It got home no problem. It even had just under 3/4 of a tank in it when collected and made it home absolutely no bother despite having A/C running whole time. Cruising between 62 and 70 variously. Seems to be very decent on fuel.
It's a comfy car, the two armrests are well positioned and the driving position pretty conventional. Not a great deal of room for clutch foot resting and no cruise being the only drawbacks. Far more refined than I'd thought. 
Some all important interior money shots;





You'll notice it has fancy seats from the Executive model in the back row. They're really nice and have twin armrests. There are various slots in the floor so you can arrange the seats in a myriad of different ways. I think I'll remove the middle three and bring the rear two forward to create an executive four seater. They can them tumble forward to allow for load lugging. 

I rarely need to carry more than a couple of passengers. The large load area is more useful. 
It's not had a timing belt since 2009 from the look of things, so I think I'll put it in for it's MOT and if all OK stump up for that. It does leave me with five on fleet (although MX-5 will almost certainly not be here past the next week). Will have to decide if it can stay as part of a group of four, or if something will need moved on.
With this collection trip, I believe that takes my collection mileage for October to approximately 2000 miles. Inverness, Basingstoke and Redhill. 
Tram as promised;

VID20211018124813.mp4

My left elbow has been giving me grief for nearly a year, when I rested it on a desk or something I got a stabbing pain like I was resting on a spike. I was sure there was a splinter or something but no amount of digging around could find it, but there was definitely a lump.  I'd have gone to the GP but obviously "the event" made that impractical.
Today I finally caved in, glugged a mouthful of gin and got my wife to properly dig at it with a needle and scalpel.
Much swearing and blood later:

Fucking knot wheels!

One of the first jobs that I wanted to do was to intsall a CTEK battery charger. I've had one on my Mini Cooper MPI for over 10 years at it has been faultless. Sure the CTEK chargers are not cheap but in my opinion they are well worth the money.
I seem to be attracted to cars with batteries in unusual places. In the Mini it is in the boot, in the Defender it is under the passenger seat. This makes it difficult to run the charging lead to the outside. However Land Rover has saved the day by installing terrible weather seals around the doors. This makes the Defender draughty but it does allow the cable to pass without snagging.
I've ordered a service kit so hopefully I'll get the oil and filters changed before it gets too cold / wet / dark.
 

This thread has brought back Hi-Cap feelings, sold it and do miss it 😭

Brooklands, VSCC's Halloween Driving Tests if anyone wants to see it in the flesh!
Yass, it's a 1960 Corvair 500. 25k from new, never painted etc. A lovely car. Here I am explaining the fan belt arrangement to some Frenchmen

I took some detail shots... The newly-plated brightwork really shi9nes agianst the black, and the 'coined' top half is just so bonkers. Gonna try and get together with the 'other' Palladium soon for some photos



 

As of this morning, the Palladium is now tucked up in its new home with the Riley. Haven't taken any photos as the headlamps need to be assembled and it looks a bit rubbish, but otherwise all the bodywork is done and it performed okay over the 60-odd mile journey back

Otherwise, nothing really to report except this satisfying milestone in the BMW the other day

Was good to see this in real life, and it is an utterly charming old tub.
 
Mechanically it's ace, and bodily it is in pretty damn good order.
A most pleasant day, and the Express left looking and running better than when it arrived.
The lichen On the front badge is superb..
Underside it is seriously good. We got all the arches rinsed out too,  @Lacquer Peel became a detailing god - a dab hand at driving the polisher, and putting wax on.
Work carried out:
It's had 4 new glow plugs
New rocker cover gasket
New oil filter
New oil
Engine bay wash and degrease
Hubcaps removed
Full body machine polish (just a light pass cos don't know how thick the paint is)
Coat of wax
Interior all cleaned too
 
have a video of its first start on the new glow plugs/oil and filter. @Lacquer Peel is hoping to get a cold start vid tomorrow to demonstrate whether the new glow plugs have improved things
 
 
 
And some more pictures too..
Cleaning the arches


 
Before and after on the front wing

before and after on the bonnet
And a nice view of the beading on the side of the van

But that's not all I found in this skip. I can't remember what first caught my eye, it may have been the Britool catalogue but something caused me to rummage deeper and here's what I came out with. 
Napier turbo blowers. 

 
Paxman Ventura

Another Paxman book. 

Some Mirlees stuff with Air Ministry contract number. 

 
But the best book, for me, is this. I literally jumped when I saw the English Electric typeface. 

It's not big or picture heavy and it's part 2 and I couldn't find part 1 but it is still a manual for the English Electric 16 cylinder engine as used in various forms in  British Rail class 40 and 50. I do love a class 50.
Cylinder head. They have a separate head for every cylinder. 


Danger! 

 
 
Whilst standing there rummaging through this skip the lady who lived there came out and asked if she could help. I showed her a couple of the manuals that I'd found at this point and how wonderful I thought they were and that I owned a bus with an engine that this manual covered. She was pleased I liked them and said carry on.
That delivery wasn't too far from the office so I had one of those big four wheel trolleys that look like an old pram that you must have seen about. Luckily it was quite near the end of my delivery so I loaded the front of my trolley up with all these manuals. When I got back to the office I showed a few other posties what I'd found. The main reaction was bemusement, they couldn't really comprehend that this was the best thing I'd ever found. 
A couple of weeks later the lady in the house called me in and through to the garage and said 'is this any use to you?' A 25  litre drum of anti freeze! This wouldn't fit in the trolley so I had to pop back in the car on the way home. It turned out to be ready mixed not neat but even so it lasted a while. Very useful when you have a bus that doesn't have a no loss system and needs topping up every time you go out. 
 

This reminded me of what I have upstairs. These came out of a skip on my old delivery. Best thing I've ever found in a skip. 

This looks like a date. 


All three books seem to start the same but there are differences. They are all different thicknesses for a start. 
They have details of of both O.600 and O.680.

This shows the fuel return pipe inside the rocker covers that I mentioned. 

Fuel pumps. Mine looked something like this but not quite. It was CAV but probably a bit newer. 

The thing to the left of the fuel pump looks like an air compressor. Mine definitely wasn't there, it was under the bus. 
Details here of a power steering pump. Can't have been an option that many took up in 1947. Again, it was on the other side on the RM. If it was where it was in this picture it would be impossible to get to. 

And there's even some colour bits showing the flow of something or other. 

 
One book even has a gearbox in it (like I say they are all different thicknesses). 

There's lots of nice pictures in here and lots of technical stuff that goes straight over my head. 

Have some TL11 roar to enjoy.