vulgalour

Pretty sure the clutch doesn't have a servo.

I don't think we'll need to go that extreme tbh. Had to do an errand to drop off a CV at a local bakery, since I'm looking to get something part time to bolster the income a bit without robbing me of too many hours from my regular artwork job. That meant taking the Princess since it's about a five mile drive. Clutch fluid was where I'd left it when I topped it up, so it's not leaked out overnight, and gears were working as they should. Interestingly, on the drive there and back I couldn't get the car to do its usual dead spot thing when setting off when cold. Clutch control at lower speeds was much better too. This might be coincidental, the dead spot issue is intermittent and I've never actually solved it, time will tell. Car was perfectly fine for the 10-15 miles I had to do today, we'll see how it performs over the next few weeks. I'll be checking the clutch fluid weekly like I do with oil and water (and should have been doing anyway, really) to keep an eye on it. There's no sign of any leaking inside the car or in the engine bay so if it is leaking it must be a very tiny leak. One of those things where you have to wait for it to get worse before you can fix it. As for how the master cylinder is mounted, it bolts to the bulkhead with a rod going to the pedal box. Master cylinder is a horizontal type and has the reservoir built in half way along its length. Looking for reference I found some from July 2020, and it looks like I did rebuild it back then.

I made sure to staple a business card to my CV. Do you know what, it was a woman of a certain age on the counter too. I'm halfway between their two shops, distance-wise so I'm quite literally ideally placed for location and neither are particularly far away from current home. There's been a couple of funeral director vacancies come up too, as usual the hours are the problem since they do tend to be a bit all over, which would be fine if the pay was a bit higher so I could afford to just have that as a job so I didn't need to worry about juggling current job and the weird hours. Funeral work doesn't particularly bother me, it's a career path I've tried to get into before, but the hours and the need to have a very reliable car to get you where you need to be at short notice has always been the difficult bit. Happily, not in a mega rush here so I can be a little bit picky. Hopefully something part time will pop up that will work well alongside my current job and give me some work variety and wage security which is what I want most. I'm literally looking for the sort of job that doesn't expect me to work towards climbing the corporate ladder, or Being Part Of A Team, or whatever. Just a job that pays a wage and expects nothing more than my regular attendance and sunny disposition.

Rejection letter achieved! That's actually impressive in and of itself, I wasn't expecting anything on the first attempt. Found a vacancy at a local bakery that would suit so I'm going to try that out next, they want applicants to go to the bakery in person, which is a bit old school and suits me fine. Pretty sure I won't get it though, it's for the front of shop work and I can't remember going into a single bakery where that role was done by anything other than a woman of a certain age, which I am not. Perhaps it's my absence from the mainstream workforce for so many years, or perhaps it's the area, but the requirements on a lot of vacancies are a bit moon-on-a-stick. Minimum wage means minimum effort, right? It doesn't mean the employee is expected to be working 'continental shift' which is a thing I thought had gone out of fashion and am horrified seems to be back again. It's also weird how many employers expect a part time minimum wage monkey to be driving between multiple locations without any offer for covering that cost. All your wage is going to vanish on fuel and insurance before it even gets to the rent. Let's not even get started on the duplicitous way that wages are actually listed on a lot of vacancies, with things like 'pro rata' being an NHS favourite to obfuscate what you actually earn. Not sure what the deal is with the 'must speak English properly' and 'must have permission to work in the UK' statements on the vacancies is either. It could be good old Lincolnshire racism, that's been an abiding memory of the county since I was a child, or it could just be England being England. I don't feel particularly optimistic about getting a job I actually want to do, I will say that much. It's early days still, we'll see what happens.

As mentioned on the blue, the other issue could be the master cylinder seals. Seal kits are available, the clutch master cylinder itself not so much since it's one of the unique-to-Princess items rather than a parts bin special. Since it does work, I can't see that there'd be anything more wrong than a tired seal in there, I don't think I've done anything with the clutch master cylinder so it might still be all original.

The hose is easy to get, it's getting the one that's the right length that can be a bit of a lottery. Since I know there's different ones now my chances of winning are higher, but if all else fails there's always Pirtek.

Slight fright today, although I was half expecting it since things have been going so well. Yesterday the clutch pedal felt 'off', but I couldn't figure out if it was just me being tired, or the car being cold or what, so just had to wait and see. Today on trying to reverse out of a parking bay I couldn't actually get reverse. Now, the Princess has done this to me before a couple of times, I know the drill. If the gear change is notchy, that usually means the oil is getting low so I check that and it wasn't as low as it would have been to affect the gear change. Dropped a tiny bit of oil in anyway to bring it to almost the full line and it made no difference. That means it's clutch cylinder related. It's not the clutch, it's not slipping, I'm just not getting full travel of the arm in relation to the pedal. That is usually failed seals in the clutch cylinder or a collapsed clutch hose. Checked those out and both are dry and don't show signs of damage. Checked the fluid level in the clutch reservoir and it was actually very low. It's been a while since I've checked this and the car had been sat around doing nothing for a while, it made sense that it might have disappeared a bit like brake fluid does sometimes. Topped it up, still no change, opened the bleed nipple to check the hose wasn't restricted and found that there was air in the system, probably because the fluid had dropped a bit too low. Once bled, all gears back to normal and reverse considerably better than it's been for a couple of weeks. We'll see if normal service continues, it might, or I might need another clutch hose (there's at least three different lengths, which I found out last time I tried to get one) or to rebuild the clutch cylinder again. Time will tell. It's a bit of a relief something went wrong to be honest, it's been a bit overdue.

Just back from a little pub social, and had a great time. I even remembered to hand out some business cards for once. Tonight was made even better by one person mentioning their dad has two Princesses he's "getting around to one day", so I'll have to find out more about that. Couple of other folks were facing a bit of a trek on foot in the cold to the taxi rank, so I gave them a lift and that seemed to be quite exciting for all concerned since I so rarely have passengers. Princess is behaving suspiciously well, going to have to give it some attention this weekend to keep it sweet I think. Just generally having a nice time, it's good to have a break from the stress and actually be making connections with new people. Got to remember days like this when I'm feeling a bit stressed on other days, it's what'll see me through the bullshit.

Few more pieces uploaded to the shop today. https://www.angyl.co.uk/shop/p/mazda-929-coup-original-artwork https://www.angyl.co.uk/shop/p/austin-allegro-saloon-original-artwork https://www.angyl.co.uk/shop/p/jaguar-e-type-original-artwork

Considering the spare car I broke was 2 house moves and 2 counties ago, no, I didn't keep hold of the spare engine though I do have the head from it. Buying another car is not an option either, I'm flat broke, to the point that today I applied for a part time job and will be continuing to do so until I acquire one or my income improves. What things the Princess shares with others are easy to get hold of, there's a few bits of BL parts bin in the cabin, some classic Mini mechanical bits, but the vast majority is Princess specific and unobtanium. The spares stash from the orange car is almost all gone now, used on my car or on others, or had to be culled with successive house moves as I've had to decide what I can and can't keep. Better yet, in a few years I shall be moving house again and may need to cull things further if things don't improve. Things aren't super right now, I'm managing but it's a bit of a balancing act and I'm trying not to fall off.

I wonder if it might by this '39 Rover 20: https://www.classic.com/veh/1939-rover-twenty-tickford-foursome-drophead-coupe-nwqq6jp/

Yup, one of the first in fact since I have a photo of that one from 2012. Nice to see it still out and about.

We're getting ahead of ourselves here though, there's nothing currently wrong with my rear screen or seal so I'm not looking for a fix.

I'd have to build the frame up a bit because the glass is only a bit larger than the hole and you'd need more surface to bond to.

Call centre work is a big nope for me, I have one really big gap in my cv due to a call centre job causing one of the worst mental breakdowns I've ever had and vowed never to subject myself to it again.

This house move has continued to kick my arse. Today I made my first application for regular work in 17 years. Just looking at part time right now to bolster my income and manage my hours sensibly but it feels like a step in the wrong direction. Not much choice. Without some sort of viral incident that suddenly drops several grand on me I'm just treading water and I need to crack on and get the cash flow improved. Not sure how easy it's going to be to get back into the mainstream work force after so long being self-employed and being in my early forties, and don't worry I'm looking at shitjobs because that's all I'm qualified for. Shelfstacking, warehouse operatives, office monkeys, that sort of bollocks. Just need a safety net, especially since it's very likely the tenancy here will end in a 2-3 years and I'll have to find somewhere else to live solo. Not dropping the artwork just yet, and I'm carrying on as normal while I fail to get job interviews, I just need to make sure I've got a back-up plan in place. We'll cross the bridge of things like trying to get commuting insurance on a 40 year old car when we get to it.

The best bit about the sanding and doing the whole car is my friend with the red Rover is taking lead on this project so I don't need to worry about it beyond doing what I'm told to do, which is nice. The rear screen seal is definitely unobtanium and unique to the Princess. Now I will admit that you probably can scratch build something from off the shelf parts and it will probably technically work. However, the problem with the rear screen seal is it does double duty as a trim item and it has square corners instead of rounded ones which is much harder to get right. The bottom edge of the seal is moulded differently so that it serves as a trim to fill the big gap between the bottom of the rear window and the top of the boot, without that bit you just have this gaping hole and because of how the boot is hinged you can't really put a different trim on there. That said, last time I removed the seal and screen to repair the top of the frame the seal was in pretty good shape and the glass being toughened was much more tolerant than had it been laminated. Trouble is, if I remove the glass and seal and either get damaged I'm a bit stuffed, spares simply don't exist unless you find someone breaking another car. Annoyingly I did have a spare set from the orange car I broke a few years ago but in a previous house move they somehow *disappeared* and I've not been able to replace them since. Window fitters I have spoken to won't even touch the Princess unless I can provide new glass and seals and even then they won't guarantee against breakages, so this is one I'll probably be having to DIY anyway. Soap and string time.

Today friend visited so we could finish the work on other friend's white Rover. All done and dusted, time for it to head out and possibly be replaced with another car, we shall see. Visiting friend did mention the little oil spots all over the drive where the Princess parked and had a giggle about it so we had a look to see just what we think is leaking. Number one culprit is the phenolic spacer on the mechanical fuel pump. These was an issue when the O Series was a new thing, many a Marina has been plagued by it. I need to pull off the pump (just two bolts, no hardship) and fit some new gaskets, going to try cork instead of paper this time to hopefully cure it. Just tightening the bolts doesn't actually cure the leak, instead it can make it worse if you overtighten especially if you managed to crack the spacer. It's not a huge leak, just one that collects in the casting beneath the pump and then leads to a hot oil smell. Number two culprit is the gasket at the bottom of the filler neck tube. Since I have the later iteration of the O series in FWD application, I have a filler neck tube that puts the oil in at the bottom of the block instead of the filler neck built into the cambox cover. I've had to wait for enough oil to accumulate on the front of the block to highlight this one after cleaning everything down to be sure, but now I can see it's the highest point of the oil leak in that area I know what to fix. Another fresh cork gasket here should solve things for a few months to a year before needing to be replaced. Number three culprit is less clear. Some of the waterpump bolts are a bit oily, not all, and it's not very clear where the oil is actually coming from. It's not the speedo cable or the oil filter this time, so those leaks appear to be cured. It could be coming from further up, perhaps the camshaft, I'm not sure. It also has a bit of oil collecting at the front corner of the head-to-block gasket seam but since I've still got good compression across the board and no mixing of oil and water I think this is actually leaking from somewhere else and finding the path of least resistance rather than OMGHGF. Number four is suspected to be the sump gasket itself. However, this could also be any of the above leaks finding their way to the lowest point of the engine and making it look like the sump gasket is leaking. Or it could be both. We also chatted about materials cost and did some rough planning for getting the paintwork done. It seems the most sensible thing is to start with the roof and satin black sections first since they can be fully separated from the rest of the bodywork with no need for blending. This also means I can break the cost down a bit, I need a new windscreen so it would be good to get the roof painted with that removed, may also remove the rear screen if we feel we can risk the rear screen seal which is fully unobtanium. I'll also tackle all of the door shuts and probably the engine bay with good quality rattle cans because there's not a lot of surface area and again, colour matching and blending isn't vital because of the nature of the areas, most of it needs to be plain black with the exception of the engine bay which I want to be pink. After that we can do the rest of the bodywork. Friend is keen to see it done mostly because he's a good egg who knows how much the car means to me and how hamstrung I've been to get it sorted. £500 should be enough to get all the materials and then it's down to us to do a metric poopload of prep and welding and sanding and sanding and sanding and sanding and a little bit more sanding with some extra sanding just for fun before we do the sanding.

It's another one that wasn't on the list as far as I can tell, so now it is an added to my ever growing list of cars to organise and upload.

There's some more original pieces available in the shop, skip on over to https://www.angyl.co.uk/ to see what's up at the moment. If you've seen something I've done in the past that you'd like to buy, just drop me a line. If it's still in stock it's likely available, even if it isn't posted in the shop yet. I do commissions too if there's something particular you're after. https://www.angyl.co.uk/shop https://www.angyl.co.uk/shop/p/chevrolet-corvette-original-artwork https://www.angyl.co.uk/shop/p/mk1-ford-escort-mexico-original-artwork https://www.angyl.co.uk/shop/p/bmw-e30-touring-original-artwork Commission are also OPEN at the time of posting this.

Accidentally met the owner as I was getting ready to leave so I got to tell her how excellent her Beetle was. Grandaughter also approved of the Princess which was a good car because it was in the best colour which is pink. The kids are alright. A rare example of a private plate done well too.

Looks like this one wasn't on the list, thanks for the tip off

It is, been around a while that one. Is that a stretch Tiffany Classic next to the Maestro?

Tonight I have signed up to the local gym. That's not the grump. They have a fitness app I would like to use, it is available easily enough through the Google or Apple Store. I am lumbered with a Google device so that's the choice. Only I can't get it to install. Hilariously, when I try to log in to my Google on the phone it tells me the password is wrong. I use the exact same password on the PC, no bother. It's not flagging up a 'unknown device' or similar at me, it just refuses to work. Then it decided to make the page for actually downloading on the phone go so slowly as to be unusable. I'm also told this is normal and people are okay with it. That can't be right. I thought the whole point was the convenience, and so far I can think of only one instance when having a smartphone was convenient and that was only because I didn't have my dumbphone with me at the time to make a phone call.