vulgalour

One of the cars I was hoping to buy as my first was a Beetle with one of those gearboxes, it's the only one I've ever seen and the only thing remarkable about it. A sort of bottle green colour, probably an early 70s model if memory serves, got to have been around '98 back when I was nerding out about getting a Beetle.

Some pictures of today's proceedings then. There were lots of very tiny bits of welding to do, namely two on the inner sill right at the back. Access was reasonable, had I got a lift I could have even done a good job. As it was I did some shameful looking welds and hid them with seam sealer and underseal. That's the 'seatbelt mounting prescribed area' one sorted. Generally speaking, the underside of the car is in very good condition, a bit of time with a couple of outer sills and some reworking of old repairs and this would be perfectly fine for a very long time I reckon. As it is, I did what I could and topped up any damaged or missing bits of underseal I could see and get to. The 'a pillar hole' at the front was more difficult to do than I'd hoped. Someone has been here before, when I cleaned it back there was some filler (not a lot) and a line of weld, the rust had gone through outside of that. The bolt that holds the bottom of the wing on is rusted to a size of socket I don't have and because of the mud flap and plastic arch liner, I couldn't get much heat in there. I didn't want to end up dismantling large portions of the car to do this so I did a little bodge. One small hole could be filled with weld because it was smaller than the tip of a pencil, the other required an over patch the size of a thumbnail. I then flattened it back and tried to put just a bit of seam sealer on which ended up being one of those comedic situations where the more I tried to control the seam sealer, the worse it looked so just sort of... gave up on making it look nice. This is shameful work really, but it's fine for the MoT and I'm not hiding anything here, it's warts and all. The driver's side outer sill was a handful of very small patches needed that weren't particularly difficult to do. They didn't get much larger than they looked so that was good. I will say that prospective new owner will definitely need to put an outer sill on here in a year or two, the repairs I've done are good enough to see it through an MoT and tidy, but I doubt they'll last until the next MoT without needing some attention. After this image, I did trim off the excess material, flatten the welds, use considerably less seam sealer, then painted and underseal it all so it looks tidy. The most shocking part of all this work was the rear brake hose I had to replace. I couldn't see the damage until it was removed and sure enough there was a chafed groove in the rubber from the cable tie holding the old pipe away from the exhaust. That wasn't the shocking bit, rather that was the fact that both unions just came undone with a spanner without complaint. I didn't even use a mild swear. The old hose alongside the replacement really does highlight how much too long it is and I'm not sure what it was off. New hose went back on no bother and I didn't even lose that much brake fluid in the process. Next up will be replacing the discs and pads at the front of the car, bleeding everything, and booking the retest. If I'm really lucky we'll have decent weather this weekend when I've got some free time and I'll have it done then. My only concerns are going to be rear brake imbalance which is something I can't actually DIY since I don't know what I'm doing and don't have the tools to test it, and the emissions which I'm hoping I can sort with just going on the longer route to the garage so it's nice and warm.

As soon as I get that other tailgate down here there'll be a tailgate solution free for you to grab however works best. There is a friend heading to where the tailgate is in the near future who has a car big enough to bring it back to me so we're hoping that pans out. Either way, when we eventually sort it there is definitely a tailgate available for you regardless. You're getting said tailgate free because you need it and I'm paying forward Peter's generosity with the literal van load of spares he dumped on me gratis. Shame I've not got any MG specific bits to chuck your way, if I did I would. I do have a spare battery, it's a bit big as it's the old one out of the Princess, but it will hold a charge well enough so no worries about chucking me yours, though I do appreciate the offer.

Pictures later when I get the off the device. I've just finished tidying up here and have had another productive day. All the MoT welding is now done, it wasn't actually too horrible a job. I will say that new outer sills both sides would be sensible for a future owner, it'll do for another year as is I reckon. The rear brake hose was very easy to replace because the unions just came undone without any drama which was shocking. Just the front brakes to do now which is a straightforward pads and discs replacement and then it's ready for retest. Bizarrely, when I went to start it up to move it to a better spot for doing the front brakes I found that the battery was flat. That's a new thing it's not done before and it's not because of the welding, I remembered to disconnect it before doing any of that. Hopefully it's just a glitch and isn't going to make me pay for a new battery before I put it up for sale, we shall see.

That has "would suit an enthusiast" running through it like a stick of rock.

POV587R sent to me by a friend who happened to spot it. I continue to be amazed that they keep popping up from storage and similar, makes you wonder how many are hiding out there.

The overhang! Makes it look like the rear axle is practically under the b pillar. Amazing.

Here's a Wolseley 6/110 hearse to enjoy, since it's basically that time of year now. https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/152535645

Lanchester video time again. Taking a look at the lights and what's wrong with them.

What price happiness? Sure you could save money getting something more sensible* but at what cost?

If I were keeping it absolutely I'd replace the outer sills (if I could find any). I'm not, so patches will do just fine. In good news, I got one thing off the list which is the handbrake cable. Bit of a faff figuring out how to get enough slack to get everything fitted, but once I did I got a working handbrake again. Whether or not it's actually balanced is another matter, I can't really do anything about that but I can get the garage to have a look when it goes for the retest. ] That was the hardest/least desirable job of the fail list so I'm glad I got that done today. The weather is a bit too changable to get the welder out so that can wait until another day.

Today first item on the MoT fail was almost completed, that being fitting the new handbrake cable. Rain did stop play just after I'd tidied up for a food break so that was well timed. Once I've been able to finish connecting and adjusting the cable, I can do the inner sill repair, underseal anything that needs it at the back, and then probably do the outer sill repairs. Saving the front brakes until last.

It's amazing that those sill ends have lasted longer than those fuel hoses. Great to see your mojo back on this one.

Ah yes, I should have thought about that. I'm still pretty sure they're Maestro mirrors, all the casings etc. were identical to the mirror on the car. As I mentioned in the video, I'm pretty sure it's just the plastic insert that's missing. It wouldn't surprise me if Maestro and 213 mirrors are actually the same you know, they're such a similar design and it's not like BLARG were going to spend more money if they didn't have to.

It's definitely a Maestro mirror, the 200 mirrors are much curvier. What I reckon I'm missing is the plastic insert that the driver's side has.

10 working days so I timed it about as well as I could for those extra free days.

Have had a proper look at things, and a look through the spares. The only thing I was missing to fix all of this was the rear brake hose and I found a pair of those for less than £15 delivered so it seemed silly not to order that. They do look much more the length they should be too and suspiciously similar to the ones on the Princess. It might turn out I didn't need to order the rear hoses and could have just used the Princess ones I've got. Order of repairs will be the handbrake cable first, mainly because that's snapped in such a way that I don't actually have to open the drums to replace that bit of the cable, I just have to replace the bit that joins them to the front of the car which I already have a good one of. Then I'll probably do the welding on the sills. If that goes well, I might even do the door bottoms before putting the welder away even though their not an MoT item, it'd just be nice to draw a line under all the welding that's immediately needed. Front brakes after that. I found a caliper rebuild kit to do both front calipers that I totally forgot I bought so I'm even covered if it turns out I've got dodgy calipers. I've got a spare pair of calipers too in case the calipers need spare parts or replacing. I've even got brake fluid. I literally have no good excuse not to do this job. Then it'll be retest I guess. Emissions I can probably deal with the Italian way and if I can't find anyone to lightly bribe then I'll just thrash the nads off it for a bit before the test.

Decided to get some photos, have more of a prod. I've got no argument with the holes discovered, I think they must have found one and then gone looking, that's sensible really. I should have been more dilligent. Anyway, they are very small holes so I might just get away with some little patches. This is what I'm dealing with on the driver's side. Simple shapes, great access and doesn't actually feel particularly crunchy. So I can probably sort that fairly easily. Passenger side is a similar story, the outside hole at the front is a really easy fix. The inside hole at the back is a little trickier. I'm wondering if when this had underseal on it perhaps I mistook it for a drainhole and that's why I didn't do it when I did the arches. This might also be an old repair, it predates my work at any rate. The brake hose at the back is a bit of an odd one, it doesn't look damaged to me but I do agree that it looks far too long and does need replacing with the correct one. Lastly, there's no arguing with the snapped cable. I've got some cable that while not new, is in better shape so I can just swap that over in theory. It's all doable it really is and I know it is. I'm probably just being a fanny about it because I've got so much other stuff I need to resolve at the moment that I didn't really need this adding to it.

So much for an easy MoT pass and sell. I've now got some thinking to do on this one because I'm not sure what I want to do right this minute. Brakes, rust, and emissions were the failures. There's several little holes along the driver's side outer sill right at the bottom where the pinch weld is. Another in a similar location at the back of the passenger side sill. A small one at the leading edge of the passenger sill where the wing has trapped dirt. These are all very doable providing we don't get a can of worms situation. Emissions is probably because I took the car in cold and haven't driven it a lot lately. I should have warmed it up first. It's pre-cat and carbed, worst case I can lean it off for the test if I have to I suppose. Brakes are worn out fronts, which is entirely on me as I've new discs and pads to fit and just haven't. It also snapped a handbrake cable while on the rollers, I do have replacement cables I just don't want to do this job. It also has a chafed brake hose, something I didn't think to check for since the brakes hadn't actually been giving me any issues. It's all repairable, it's all doable. I just can't make up my mind whether or not its worth it for me at this point. I do need to sell it regardless. I'll have a bit of a think before I make up my mind, right now I feel like if I have to do a bunch of this sort of work I'd rather do it on the Princess which is the car I'm keeping and write off the loss with the Maestro.

I've been following a Morris Ambulance build over on the Youtube and it has encountered a bit of a mishap on the motorway recently and is in need of parts. Someone here probably have links to parts lurking somewhere. Absolutely terrible bit of luck for the guy, he's only just replaced the very rare screen and now needs to source and replace it all over again. He's also after some or a complete bodyshell to serve as a donor for repairs. It's an interesting build with some really good problem solving going on, I really hope he's able to find the bits and pieces he needs to sort it out.

It's still not going to get me to go in there and spend my actual money.

But I don't want to talk about it any more.

For a minute there, I thought that was a ridiculously narrow door.

It's alive! The Sherpa mechanical pump was just the ticket and it doesn't appear to be weeping any oil from the mating surfaces. Now I can finish the other rear brake, bleed the whole system, and probably give the car a really thorough clean which it's well overdue for.

I am delighted to report that due to a change of circumstances, the Lanchester is no longer for sale and the project can continue (allbeit at a slower pace). Pat and I are relieved that we no longer have to part with it and a solution could be found to the problem that caused us to have to sell it. I know I'm being a little cryptic about the reasons behind all this. It's really not that exciting, it's just not something we want to make public since it's our own business, but when everything is all fully resolved (which it's well on the way to being now, touch wood) I'll fill in the gaps. For now, we're just excited to be able to carry on with this much loved project.