mercedade

Once again, we are long overdue an update.
The good news is, I'm happy. The Pontiac is on daily duties at present. I am duly embracing the American commuter spirit by using the mug holders correctly and coating everything in scalding hot coffee.

I've decided not to start work on the MOT welding before the ticket is due, because the work looks to be so extensive that I wouldn't get it done in time and I'd miss out on my last opportunities to enjoy driving it. The work will instead be done once the ticket expires as it is looking like it will require cutting a length of the bonded plastic bodywork away to access the sills properly.
The battery adapters worked, although the only battery I had with the terminals the correct way round was the one in the Proton, so I've nicked the battery from that for now.

Of course, this battery was too big for the factory tie down to work, and was also so tall that I was worried about shorting out the positive terminal on the cross brace.
Copper brake line and the dust boot from a Lexus air strut to the rescue:

I came up with a better/more secure routing for the copper pipe, and put everything back together.

I definitely* will put the right battery in at some point. There's no fix more permanent than a temporary one etc...
At any rate, it meant I now had a car that started each morning, which meant it was daily driver time! 
The first proper run in it was to the Flower Farm meet where it was mainly used to entertain my son.

It's also done a few family days out, where it easily copes with 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 large dogs, the pram and all the assorted crap which we drag around with us.


The dogs like it if the unused seats are removed, as they can then sit between the front seats or stretch out in the boot. I need to get some seatbelt extenders so that the kids can both ride in the middle row - I've never known a car with such short seatbelts!
Whilst procrastinating over the larger jobs, I started sorting the small ones. One thing that jarred me was my rusty nuts.

I could see them from the driver's seat, and so this had* to be sorted. I designed and printed these at work:


Sorted:

No idea how long the PLA will last, but I can just make more if needed. It looks much better from in the cab and outside.
The modular seats are a great feature, it's been handy to have a car with a flat load space which I can use as a van. My mum needed 400 kilos of wood pellets brought up to the stables, and the Pontiac pissed it.

Kind of...

Once I get it through a ticket, I'm definitely sorting the boot struts out. In the meantime, I just use the nearest pole to hold it up.

I then got my Mitsubishi stuck.



It's stuck in 2wd mode, I thought it would cope with the mud but it just slid into the fence post and wedged itself in place.
This meant I had to use the Pontiac to move the car trailer (this was what I was getting the Mitsubishi out for).

It looks cool, but even though it's not that heavy a trailer you do notice it behind you. I wouldn't be mad keen on pulling it on the road. The mirrors are absolutely wank for reversing also.
Speaking of which, this was winding me up something chronic:

It's possibly not very clear, but the mirror adjuster stalk was pushed in flush with the trim around it preventing it being used. In this pic I've discovered and wound out the retaining grub screw. I then prised out the trim, pushed the switch back into place and tightened up the grub screw.

Sorted, we now have working wing mirror adjustment.
Next up was the non-working wash/wipe function. It used to work, but now it wasn't spraying out any windscreen wash. Turns out some fucking idiot (me) had connected the front hose to the rear pump, and left the rear hose dangling into The Void. Plugging things back into the right pumps sorted that out nicely.

The last major niggle was the headlight aim. It was like the car was cross-eyed and constantly staring at its shoes.
The headlights are easy to remove, one of the adjusters had been moved too far and needed taking apart and winding back on manually:


I then roughly dialled them in on the side of a beach hut.

It's not perfect but it lights the road up much better now. At some point, I'll need to obscure the LHD kick up for reasons of MOT obtaining.
Bonus dashboard at night content:

That's pretty much all the Pontiac fun from the last few weeks.
Next up: Citroen fun*.

This evening I had a few hours to put these new rear pads in. 
Apart from the E320, pretty much every car I've bought in the last year has its rear or front end in the air soon after I've bought it. 🤣

 
This is the offending side.


There certainly isn't much meat left on this pad! (More in a moment)

 
Slider pins are covered in white grease. Now I'm never sure if you should grease these pins? I thought you did but I have read that BMW say not to.

Pulled it all off and inspected it all.
Disc looked reasonable. It's had some heat through it but no massive scoring that I could see.

Slider pins were covered in grease. The bottom one I'd already started cleaning up (then remembered to take a photo) hence why it has less on it in this picture.

Piston doesn't look too bad under the boot from what I can see?

Carrier was crusty and filthy. I cleaned this up and greased the pad touch points. 

Piston went in but did take a fair bit of force with the spreader.

Now those pads...
Bottom is the inner and top is the outer.

I don't know what the pros think but my view is that I bloody luckily got away with not damaging the disc! There is a wafer thin amount of pad material left and the top just started kissing the raised lip of the disc.


I reckon the disc will be perfectly okay to reuse and isn't damaged? Incredibly close to doing so though.
I'd rather not change it if I don't have to, as they're not that old. Doesn't feel to have any high or low spots either.
Bloody lucky though!
The other side has loads of meat on the pads still. I didn't take pictures as I wanted to get it finished. The caliper piston and carrier were actually in far worse a state than the passenger side. Yet it span more freely. 🤷‍♂️

I put it all back together with new pads, cleaned up sliders and carrier. After pressing the brake pedal, the drivers side rear rubs ever so slightly but you get a tiny bit of spin after letting go. The passenger side however is really stiff and you need the wheel on for enough leverage to turn it. 
To me I definitely need a new passenger rear caliper. But tbh I think I might need both and be done with it. My thought is also that the drivers side might either be or become soon seized if the other side already has. 
I should also say while I think about it, I did try some hard braking on the way back. It didn't brake straight and true. More squirrelly and needed a fair bit of correction to keep it braking straight. Hopefully two new rear calipers will sort it all out properly.
Also noticed the passenger side has an older (rusty) Bilsten damper while the drivers side had a shinier newer looking Sachs damper. Tempting to lob a new one on that passenger side to have a matching new(ish) pair. Depends how much they are though.

Went to a local cars and coffee this morning. Some extremely nice tin on show - I'll put some photos up later. 
Anyway I glanced at that rear left.

Err yeah I've smoked that. Other side has a reasonable chunk of pads left on it. Absolutely baking hot that side but cool the other.
I can't get a caliper today from GSF, Euros or my local parts place. So I bought some cheap pads and I'll give the caliper piston/sliders a clean up and hope I can get away with it.
Cheapest pads I could buy too. Discs will stay on for now as even though they have obviously got very hot, there is a lot of meat left on them. I'll have a check for warpage but I don't think they're bad going on that it's not an intermittent scrape. Hopefully I haven't quite fully had metal to metal yet. 

 
If a clean up and new pads doesn't work then I'll have to get in a new caliper. I don't think they're expensive for an eBay special. GSF didn't have any even listed unfortunately. 
 
Hopefully I can get it sorted today so I can at least use it in this nice weather. Steering is 100% okay too. So must be when the rack gets hot on a long drive. Not checked the tyre pressures yet - just driven the thing. 

Been a lot of hits and misses this weekend.
First up, trying to torque the camshaft cap studs was a pain, 15nm was simply not happening, even with the two nuts tight against each other, it was still turning down the shaft when close to 15nm. Tried adding a third nut to see if that would help matters, but ended up stripping the threads on the nut.
In the end, I went for 10nm. It'll be fine, I hope. Fitted the cam, and new front cam seal before I torqued down the caps (minus one nut).

Then it came to the camshaft pulley. Following the torque figure, I didn't even get close to the Haynes figure before disaster struck.


That was....not ideal. I messaged Phill on a blind panic asking for advice, and he suggested drilling a 3mm hole in the bolt shank and hammering a torx socket into the hole to extract it. There were almost tears of joy when this came out.

Then joy turned into anger when I decided to check the figures in my Autodata technical data book.
Haynes (stated 80nm) for the sprocket bolt.

Autodata?

So the bolt failure was caused by a massive overtorque. Arse biscuits.
To try and take my mind off it, I tackled some of the minor jobs, first job was removing and re-sealing the body seams around the bootlid hinge. Forgot to get any photos, but I scraped the old, dry seam sealer with a plastic scraper, masked the area off with tape and applied a healthy layer or Pureaflex40 to the joins.
Whilst I was in the area, I managed to push the split section of the wiring rubber grommet into the hole, so it'll be a much better seal than the empty space that was there before!
I continued the minor jobs, treating screen rust spots before they become sinister,

Swapping out the rocker cover gasket:

And getting this dirty bottle cleaned up as much as possible.

Which cleaned up alright, but had highlighted how big the crack in the side of the tank was:

As it was the rarely-used rear washer tank, I elected to try and repair it rather than replace. I used an old soldering iron to re-melt the plastic along the crack. It's not pretty, but it's sealed up and shouldn't leak so that's a win.

The bottoms of these bottles have a sharp lip around their manufacturing joins which has been suggested aids corrosion by chafing through the paint - these were sanded down prior to install. The scuttle area had already been heavily lanoguarded about six weeks ago so all should be well there.
Unrelated to the BX, but a mate  followed me on the commute to work and told me one of the Rovers brake lights wasn't coming on every time. Luckily, I have spare bulbs, but it was quite interesting to see the where the filament had broken loose, flapped around a bit until it made the circuit and 'tacked' itself back on. Herman has had a front fog light doing that for years, so the build-up there must be spectacular.

Eventually, I decided to carry on with assembling the 3 pistons and liners, I'm still awaiting parts to assemble the final cylinder but this is a good start.
Turns out I needed to order another set of piston rings too, thanks to my ill-fated attempt to fit them last time:

Annoyingly, this was a pain in the arse. Autodoc did them at a reasonable price, but the delivery time takes the piss at around a fortnight. I found some on eBay with a two day delivery, so I placed the order on Sunday. I then sent the seller my details, and they cancelled the order! Apparently they weren't compatible. I've told them I want the rings and will assume the risk - the manufacturers of the piston rings list the set as compatible for every 1.6 XU engine except the XU52C. I can't see what difference there would be though, so I guess we'll find out in a couple of days.
Anyway, the ring gaps were checked prior to fitment, they were all bang on at around 0.50mm.


With the new set of plier-style piston ring compressors, I was STILL having issues with the rings. 
I asked Phill for advice, and he very gently pointed out I was being a bit of a fuckwit and assembling the oil control ring at the bottom incorrectly, which in turn meant the ring wasn't compressing properly. 
With the correct advice dispensed, and a slight tweak to the piston ring compressor, we were finally making progress! A fresh seal was fitted to the base of the cylinder liner before slotting it into place.

Eventually, I got all three complete assemblies in.

And clamped the liners down.

Then I nipped back to the house for a pee, and noticed that Mini had snuck into MrsH's car whilst she was unloading, and got himself locked in. Tit.

I decided to crack on with bolting in some external components, so the oil pressure switch, water pump and timing belt tensioner pulley went on (the old one was really rather grumbly and rattly)
The pump came from Autodoc and was their own brand (RIDEX) and it seemed pretty well made.

Next up, the crank bearing seats were cleaned, new shells were fitted, and the crank lowered into place. This was a pain in the arse with the liners and pistons fitted as the conrods were in the way, this was aided with some steel wire to hold them in the middle position.

The crank bearing caps had fresh shells and an oiling before being loosely assembled.

I'm still awaiting the seals for No.1 bearing cap so I've not fitted that yet.
After that, it was applying the last coat of lacquer to the windscreen frame rust spots. The paint colour match is pretty poor, but it won't rust and that's what matters.
I spent the remainder of the evening googling part numbers, dimensions and specs of the cam cap nut. The Citroen parts catalogue specified a nut and washer assembly, the Peugeot catalogue specified a flange nut. Seeing as this was what was fitted, I went with that, got the size and thread pitch and started searching. I eventually got three part numbers, and the phone numbers for potential dealerships that could have the nut I need in stock.
A bit of phoning around yesterday morning ensued. The Peugeot dealership said they could source the nuts, but they wouldn't be here till Wednesday and were £1.25 each.
My second dealership took the part number, said 'Yep, we've got 14 in stock here, and they're 63p each+VAT'. Didn't bother ringing the third.
The dealership?

Yep, I went in my Rover that's really a Honda, to a BMW dealership to pick up some nuts for my Citroen, which was sourced using specs from a Peugeot parts catalogue.

The parts fella that came out was very friendly, and couldn't believe what vehicle the nuts were for I ended up having a chat with him about the Rover parked outside and he was really enthusiastic. Ended up buying 10 nuts as it makes sense to replace the entire set.
Got home and checked the nut - it's a good fit, a bit taller and with a wider flange than the originals, it feels much more substantial. The nut is originally used to hold inlet manifolds onto various BMWs.
I started checking valve clearances but this ended up being a pain to rotate the camshaft without the sprocket bolted in. I checked the first 4 and found them to be juuuuust within limits, I'll check the other 4 later when I've got the camshaft bolt and torqued it in.
Boring stuff, but prepping for when it gets reassembled, the fuel pump gaskets were changed, thedistributor oil seal was replaced:

And the inlet manifold gasket was tackled. 

This took an absolute eternity - it was properly on there! The mating faces were eventually cleaned with a scotchbrite pad and WD40 to get a smoother mating face.

Today, I'm into my two days off that was pencilled in for engine building - not much bloody use of I've not got all the parts together! I'll be working on various other little jobs instead.
Cheers.

Well, the block is on hold until I get the new tooling and spares, so may as well crack on with the head. I've moved my leave at work one day later to Tuesday and Wednesday to work on the block - hopefully everything arrives before then 🤠
Starting with lapping the valves.

This was actually one of the most relaxing jobs I've done on this car. Nice and steady, and taking my time.
Results are promising too.




Should help keep the head a bit more gastight!
After a lot of tweezer action, fangs, and the air gun, I got the majority of the swarf out of the head chambers, I installed the valve stem seals - piece of cake with the insertion tool that came with the removal pliers.

Finally, it was time to re-introduce this haggard lash-up to reassemble the valves!

I was unsure if this was going to work this time around, but thankfully it did!

With the stems lubed and the collets greased, everything came together nicely and all 8 valves were fitted.

After that, the tappets and shims were greased/lubed and fitted, and the camshaft studs fitted. Going to check torque them again with the advice from @red5 (Thanks mate!).
But first, it's breakfast time.

Been thinking about this post all day. 
Yes it's useful to have a skilled mate who can rescue jobs and provide advice on tap. 
But... Learning is failing. Failing is learning. He will have learned from his mistakes and you can, too. God knows I have. 
I worked in a garage aged 14-21 in an apprentice type role, weekends and holidays in between studying. My mentor was incredibly patient and a good teacher. 
Then I moved away and for a long time I was paying Other People to fix my cars. Usually it was expensive and afterwards I'd always find stuff wrong or something that I didn't like. 
In the last ten years or so I've increasingly taken on jobs myself. Usually justified by the cost of the required parts and tools being less than the cost of a garage job. 
Sometimes, I get it wrong and break stuff. Sometimes I have to do it twice. Each time this happens, I learn stuff. 
My point being: don't be afraid to fail. You've got work to do on this Excel, maybe it would be easier to learn on an old Escort but this is the path you've chosen. The Excel will bite you I'm sure, it's old and British and that's just what happens. But almost everything can be sourced and replaced if needed.
Strip a thread - drill it and tap a bigger one. Learn how to tap at the same time. Fixed, and now you aren't scared the next time you strip something. 
Also I'm certain the Excel isn't your daily driver. This is important, because failure doesn't jeopardise your ability to get to work or whatever. Failure would mean a setback but not an unrecoverable disaster. 
All of this to say - more power to your elbow. You can do it! Get stuck in and you have the hive mind here to ask if you get stuck. 
(Cautionary note: don't listen to my advice. I'm changing my Maestro head gasket for the fifth time, so I must be completely incompetent).

In the shed again this evening and I've drawn up a plan.  Had a think about the interior too.
The passenger-side dashboard area above the glovebox that runs up to the windscreen is in an awful state, after it saw 3 years worth of weather before I bought it. 
The PO sadly left the window half open - with the prevailing elements literally hitting that side of the car.
But there was good reason for this - he was a very thoughtful bloke and it clearly didn't sit well with him.....but he had far more to worry about than the car.
He had a terminally ill wife to look after.   I think he just pushed it out of the garage, put an indoor cover on it (it's what he had to hand) and then left it.  Just didn't have the capacity for it, which goes without saying......and then afterwards he freely admitted he lost all oomph for life/for anything really.  Totally understandable.  He was clearly attached to the car however.  It took him about 2 years just to get to the point he was willing/accepting of selling it.  
Anyway - I've hatched a plan for the dashboard - I can't leave it as it is - first impressions (for the family) and all that, when they actually ride with me in the car. BUT it'll come after the MOT.   I'll detail what I do (so you guys don't make the same mistakes I might do..........or not use my solution, depending on how it turns out 😉.........)
Over the next few nights I'm going to hook the fuel tank area up so it's all ready to receive petrol, then head towards the engine bay and fit the waterpump, ancillaries and perhaps the radiator too then put the trumpets on the DHLA's but not the air box for the moment - I'm only starting it  and running it for a minute and ............the noise eh? 
I'll need someone to film that so have roped my middle daughter in for that role and then hopefully fire her up.   It's only got half an exhaust on too so it'll be loud both ends (said the actress to the.........you catch me drift!)
And then it'll be down to sorting all the jobs needed to get that MOT.  So rear lower seat belt bracing (need a new one on the drivers side - £50), tyres x4 (£400), 4 x tyre refurbs, do a couple of bulbs (one at the rear, with the SD1 light housing having been sikaflexed in.........nice, not an easy job to do well when buttoning it all back up) and then fit the headlights (needs wires cutting and sorting - bit daunting that) and the bonnet (sans soundproofing at this stage - although might buy some reflective sheeting to protect the fibreglass - thinking gold at this stage - gold and green go together and bling you know?) and i also need two rear dampers (£180 ish) and two bottom ball joints (£12 each) at the front.  
Oh and sort the door frame (passenger) - not difficult but a total bollocks of a job and also sort out the dash and the lower lip of the front valence needs a fibreglass repair and putting back on.  will have to drill through the screws that used to hold it on - another hassle of a job (do I have good enough drill bits I wonder).
Going to have to work at proper pace this week.  And it's a v v tight deadline.  
 

I spent alot of time in the vicinity of the Lotus this weekend.  I say vicinity because I was no more than 4 foot away from it for quite alot of saturday and sunday..............but much of it was spent thinking about the jobs that need to be done rather than actually doing them.
I'm a natural procrastinator (plus an absolute pessimist for most the time) at the best of times but what really hit me this weekend is that my friend, a mechanic (and a really good on at that) isn't going to realistically be able to help me with the car.
He's got too much on his own plate (wife has been v ill, now better, but still isn't and never will be, back to 100%) and he's got his own life you know?  He's got sh*t going on that I won't speak about on here but he'd help if he could.
Trouble is, in my own mind, I'd been falling back on him (he'll sort that, or he'll know what to do there, or he'll have a shortcut/know exactly how to do that job) so I hadn't been putting as much thought into the car as I should have been.
I'm not a mechanic..........and I grew up with a dad that did all the jobs on the car, without wanting me around (slowed him down!). I've always been into cars however..........but practical experience?  None really. I know the theory, and I'm mechanically sympathetic....................but actually doing the complicated stuff?  It takes me ages to work through a job, before actually tackling it. Part of the fear is getting it wrong.  And then having to buy more parts to fix it.  I just can't afford to do that right now.  Once I get a job, the pressure of that element will lessen, and speed will pick up.
It's the realisation that I'm on my own on the job that is the Lotus tbh, that has hit me.  
I've got to get on and fix it and I guess the satisfaction will be immense when I do sort it..................but in all honesty I'd rather have the help and know that the car is sorted (because he's worked on it).
I've got to get on though.
So I spent alot of time working out when I'm going to tackle the various outstanding jobs, and in what order.  
The priority is to make sure the engine works (we know it did 3 years ago) but it's been sat here for that time and............if it doesn't, there's no point tackling the door (frame needs changing) and other interior bits, if the engine doesn't work.
So this weekend I put the tank back in, sorted out the new fuel pump (needed bits transferring over from the old one, which I'd kept, thank god) and making sure I had all the bits for some of the ancillaries on the engine (they'd been taken off by my friend and put safely away.......so safely in fact I'd forgotten where..........found now..........they were in an awkward safe place........not using it again!)
I've just got to hook everything up back there in the boot (I'd not done this bit thinking mechanic friend would be over to tell me if I needed to put some of the white plumbers string (?) around the fuel pipe connectors to help stop leaks etc etc (a small thing, but again it slows things down as I have to think about that, whereas mechanic friend just knows.  It's a minor thing.........but the thinking time adds up to quite an amount as each job I tackle takes up unnecessary thinking time.......) and then I can move on to fitting the waterpump...........and putting the dash back together temporarily and then it should be ready to fire (I'll run the engine for a minute or so - it's not going to overheat) before I put the radiator and fans back in (needs a bit of fettling that - not an easy job at all).  And it's heavy as a package too).
 
Onwards!  (with slight trepidation).

I fixed the Bini driver side window mechanism, at the fourth time of asking. 
 

 
Would anybody like to read a write-up (shite-up?) about how much of a bitch of a job that was? 

Now that it's properly spring I thought it was time to dig the Renault 6 out of the garage.  It always needs a jump start after it's been sat for a while, and I cleverly* hadn't left any room to get to the bonnet when I put it away - I remember thinking at the time "that's going to be a problem - oh well, fuck it, I'll worry about it in the spring".  Well the good news is that my brake repair last year seems to have held as the brakes were still free, and thanks to the new tyre on the nearside front all the tyres were fully inflated.  So all I needed to do was climb in through the tailgate, knock it out of gear, climb back out again, grab hold of the back bumper and pull, and out it came.  
The Rover 75 and a pair of jump leads soon got it running, and I took it for a quick run round the block and was reminded of the issues that had cropped up shortly before it went into hibernation and that I hadn't had a chance to look at properly.  So that was the first task for today once I finally got my arse in gear.
The first issue is that the bonnet latch isn't locking the bonnet.  I couldn't immediately find what was causing this, but removing the latch soon revealed the problem - the mechanism is made of plastic (yes, really) and after 51 years one of the bits had decided it had had enough and snapped off.  So that's irreparable then.  Of course bonnet latches for Renault 6s are completely unobtainium, but a Google session suggested that the Renault 12 latch is similar - or at least the plastic bits are - and those are available (albeit at some expense), so I'm going to order one - worst case I can butcher it for its plastic bits and make one good one out of the two.  For now I've put a Bungee strap on to stop the bonnet flipping up - it's a forward opening bonnet so in theory shouldn't be an issue but aerodynamics can do strange things.
The other two were easier fixes.  The nearside rear indicator was behaving funny when the lights were turned on - this turned out to be a cock up on my part, when I refitted the light unit after the car was hit last year I put the earth wire behind the clamp instead of between the clamp and the nut, so it was flapping around and barely making contact.  The other problem was that the choke wasn't returning properly when the knob was pushed in - this was a slightly stranger one as it transpired that the clamp that holds the end of the cable had come off the carb - I certainly don't remember doing this (and I would have remembered as it was a fiddly bastard) so can only assume that the bolt had vibrated loose and fallen out.  One of the three screws holding the end plate on the carb had also vanished, but I found suitable replacements for both in my stash so that's all sorted.
I then chucked a bucket of water over it to get the garage grime off - next job is to make a template up for the repair section I'm going to need to make for the nearside front floor, but I didn't get time for that this weekend.

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent playing with pushbikes.  I did get the Mobylette fired up - it took a few more kicks than last year but still not bad for an elderly two-stroke engine that's been sat for six months - but I didn't get a chance to take it for a spin as I'd been hoping to do, and the forecast looks shite for this coming week so that might have to wait a little while.

Did the front discs and pads on my father’s i20 today finally. The bottom slider pin on both caliper brackets had seized so I sent it off to Bigg Red who returned it looking perfect. However my suspicions about binding at the rear have been confirmed. It’s going to be the same story, I can sense the bracket will be a nightmare again so to save time waiting around I’ve ordered up second hand calipers with the brackets that aren’t seized. New discs and pads on the way too and I have a feeling this has shoes inside? Perhaps someone knows. No idea.

Ah ha, you too then!
Surprised and pleased really.  It always felt like it was pretty much a collection of spares flying in close formation given it would never make any logical sense to restore given the value of P4s and the price of spares.  Especially cosmetic stuff and trim, which that car really wanted a lot of, before even factoring in paint.  Shame to lose the genuine patina, but it really did want the paint sorting to ensure the car didn't just decay rapidly if being used regularly.  At the end of the day if it helps make sure it lives on it's all a good thing.  Better this than stripped for parts or taking a quick trip round an oval.

After the LS400 got a fresh MoT last week I called into the garage to swap the Laurel for it:

They kept the Datsun all week, giving it a service and working towards this at the end of Friday afternoon:

Yay! I know it doesn't 'need' one, but having not had a test since 2020 I felt it would do no harm to go through a good checkover and get one if at all possible. Needed a washer pump (sorted by a similar-sized universal replacement), foglamps reinstated (loose wire) and a total of five gaiters on the front suspension and steering. No corrosion!
It had another Lexus friend when I picked it up on Friday:

With another one lurking outside:

No coincidence - they belong to Miss SL's BF and some parts swapping is on the agenda to get the R-reg one back on the road. S-reg DHP model is the nicer one of the two and is his long-term proposition.
In another bay they had a '90s JDM Toyota Estima which they're resurrected for a customer after it'd been off the road for a few years.
Was hoping to celebrate my LS400 returning to the road by taking it for a trip to Norwich yesterday, but Mrs SL wanted us to buy a tree so the Carina E was used instead. We briefly had a '90s Toyota convoy when this tidy Starlet followed us:

And we found a shiny Accent:

Don't think there'll be much car action to report today - got six bulk bags of gravel and one of bark mulch to shift.....

That's a shame. It looked pretty clean when one of the previous owners shared his progress on it on here in 2020/1. 
 
 

Spotted this today. Probably one for the didnt know they existed thread...avon tuning triumph acclaim...it looked absolutely hanging, no doubt it doesnt need an MOT now....

Bought a new toy and polished the car. Before and after door pics. Not bad for a first attempt. 

Just had a letter from the current owner of my P4 after finding my name in the history. Has given me a load of questions to answer 😂
I'm most glad it's gone to an owner who is going to restore it!

Grump because my wife phoned and said that some cunt had bumped the A4 in Tesco car park this morning and fucked off.


Not anything like as bad as I was expecting, barely noticeable on fact and it's certainly not the first time this bumper has been bumped anyway. Just as well its an old car.
All sorted:

Still looks decent:

The reason she knew someone had bumped the car is because someone else left a note on the windscreen giving the make, model, colour and reg plate of the car that bumped into mine, which was very good of them. I was going to call the police and leave it at that but considering there's no damage done then I'm just going to forget about it.

Ha ha, I left out the other sister thing today as being too fantastical. She's started another miracle diet, I think it's one of those where you have like 800 calories a day in packet soup etc, and starve yourself thin. While giving them £70 a week for food* supplies.
So it's day 3, are we by any chance going near Staniforths? Well no, wasn't planning on it. Why?
Surprise, we are going there, her diet needs a fuck off cream cake. But it's ok, the diet is based on ketones as well as 800 calories, so cakes are in.

Bloody hell, that's my old MG!! By eck its changed a bit, was a totally original rubber bumper one with original deck chair seats! I sold it for a grand to guy in Hull during lock down. I still have the heritage certificate somewhere. I'll have to get some tickets in the hope if winning the shite thing  back!! 

Missing my Mum and Dad massively at the moment but have to go back up to their house next month to sort more stuff to get it up for sale.
Am I mad in thinking of taking the Senator? It has done the journey many times in the past but has only done 500 miles since it’s recommissioning. It’s the only car I have that both my parents have been in, so I’m probably being over sentimental. It won’t be my last visit to the house, as I’ll need to go with a van to take furniture. 
 
So, is it too risky to take the Senny, or how many of you are willing to help if it goes tits up on route?
I would, of course, post photos of the journeys progress🙂

So firstly the car is great. I'm mega happy with it. Like any old car they give shenanigans. Especially old German Premium cars. Not least I do tend to go hunting for issues and finding stuff.
What is there to do?
 - Airbag light is on. I took a gamble buying this thinking it was just a loose seat connector. Having read the codes I don't think it is. There is errors relating to the "Satellite B Pillar" module and no communications. Googling says there is a module that lives in the footwell for the airbag system. We can all guess what happens to modules that live in convertible footwells. Go go BMW. Second hand modules can be coded in but you need BMW INPA. I don't have that, so I'll probably have to read and tool up. 
Need to fix the airbag system as the light is on and it'll fail it's MOT unless sorted.
 - Sticking steering. TADIS. Made worse by having the heater on full. Apparently you can replace the grease or something to help sort it. Need to do further reading. Doesn't stop it being used as a car though.
 - Heater fan temperamental. Anything above 50% on the climate control puts the fans on full. Then after a minute or two it cuts out. Wait a bit and it cuts back in. Not very useful for roof down motoring. Hoping it's the Hedgehog fan resistor module. Need to buy one and find out how to replace it in the car. Hopefully not a massive dash out job or something stupid. 
 - After a spirited drive off the motorway, I managed to now make the rear right brakes squeal. There is a light squeal when driving, more sometimes turning and louder when braking. Sometimes goes away. Presumably either sticky caliper or sliders. A strip down and clean up job. Had to do the same thing on the Golf too.
 - Wipers don't park at the bottom. Work absolutely fine but it looks like it's had a new windscreen in its past. Whoever did it I don't think put the wiper arms back in the right place. It's an easy enough job to just reposition them.
That's it really. A few cosmetic things I could do like replace the scratched near side wing but tbh I can't be bothered just yet. Just want to drop the roof and go for drives! 
Main thing is to fix the heater fan/fan resistor and the airbag system so the light goes out to pass another MOT in June. Caliper is just a Sunday afternoon/evening job. Steering is annoying but I'm going to leave for now as it's still usable as is. 

Making good progress and half way.
Heater fan stopped working below half at Stratford area. Now at Birmingham Frankley services to get my glasses out of the boot. Heater fan coming in and out randomly when set to full now. Iirc these are based on E46 and I remember they have a hedgehog something that causes issues? Just some old car fun.
Anyway roof is staying down for now as 18C. Pushing on. 
 

Washed and now time to go!