PhilA

More decadence, can almost guarantee those lenses are likely self colored pmma; the skoda ones will be unstabilized polystyrene and the lada ones pmma with cheap lacquer sprayed on. Fun with plastics

Yeah, that's no fun. The block is fully drained also. Tonight we shouldn't see too much but tomorrow night is supposed to be windy and cold, that's going to be the problem. Phil

Hard freeze coming. No antifreeze in the Plymouth. Winterizing in progress... Done. Can't freeze if there's nothing in it. Phil

Some hard freeze weather coming, so time to make sure the antifreeze is good in the cars. That's going to be good now. It was +19c today, you wouldn't know in a few days it's forecast to be -5. Phil

It is, because it follows the outward styling being pushed by GM (and a lot of other manufacturers) at the time, which involved a massive overhang past the rear axle. Brazil, however has always been the place where the designers get to try something different- partly because at the time people in Brazil would buy anything with wheels, partly because they'd been pushed heavily with Spanish vehicles and their rather less dowdy engineering. Therefore you find some real oddities in Brazil - stock looking, bland Americana with intriguing underpinnings, far advanced from anything sold in the States; VW continued this trend well into the late 80's. Phil

Local driving school here runs a 2006 Chevy Impala that's been resprayed in a really nice electric blue, and repaired* expertly* with purple here and there. They also run a giffer-spec 2005 Ford Crown Victoria, in metallic cream. Amusing because the instructor is so short she can barely see over the dash. Phil

Hid the car in a lineup tonight. Made me smile.

Was linked to a for sale advertisement for a twin carb intake manifold, carbs, fuel rail etc for the Pontiac- for not an extreme amount of money. Two cracks in the alloy. Okay, not so bad Local pick up in New Jersey. Yeah not driving 3000 miles for a broken intake manifold

Most people wouldn't notice the gauge sitting in the red anyway, unless a big pointy finger on a spring popped out of the dash and a klaxon went off. Then having noticed it, they'd have no idea what to do with the information. My Renault would vary the temperature from 1/2 to just below the red (a change of 10 degrees), the fan cutting in just as the needle was about to broach the warning zone. It would do that if sat in traffic on a warm day. As soon as you'd start driving again it would go back down to the middle. The Pontiac creeps slowly because it's such a large engine (physically, there is a lot of iron and a lot of water to heat and cool) so I'm sure most modern cars with tiny engines and a thermos flask full of coolant in would have the temperature gauge wagging like a metronome in traffic and people would simply freak out. Also 5psi of oil pressure on a hot engine isn't usually a worry but there's no point in showing the actual pressure, given that it will drop at a steady speed as you drive as the oil heats up. People think the magical electronics negate the laws of physics. Phil

We had a small bottle of Holts paint-on selective yellow rattling around in our mk1 Fiesta for years after we went to France in 1985. My old man scraped it all off as soon as we got back. I remember the black triangles stuck to the lenses also to prevent glare. Those were the days. I don't have a problem with the scene adopting the look, but a lot use a thin foil which is totally the wrong color (see: the Golf), usually far too green. Phil

Good lord, the place still looks like the Luftwaffe ave been visiting nightly. Sheffield looked better Keep going

Weather was pleasant today (read sunny, not raining or blowing a gale like the last few days). So I set about doing something useful. Pulled the manifolds off. The exhaust had become chattery. Sure enough, that's been leaking. Split it all down, cleaned up and made some new gaskets. Went down the RTV route with it this time. Reassembled it all. Nice and quiet again, with no exhaust coming into the cabin. Great improvement. Phil

Personally I would make a reverse teardrop there at that drain hole. Drains when parked and actively draws through when driving, sucks the water from the underlay. That's the kind of solution you'd expect anyway.

Question: Can this car do a burnout? Yes To show its displeasure, it blew the exhaust manifold gasket.

Added another. All just hand tools. The die bender has been particularly useful. Those should be the most complex shapes now; the rest are all just big long straight runs. Phil

Bought some pieces. Brake pipe one of seven. Phil

The US did, for decades... It was the car designers that wanted it to change.

That's weird. Looking at the US spec equivalent, it's marked 65-75-85 fahrenheit (18-24-30 Celsius). Strange, because all the cars I've had with "exact numbers" marked on the dial (not just low, warm, high or blue to red) over here have been calibrated 60-90f (15-32c). I guess they thought the numbers had some sort of Zen.

I noticed that about the indicators on UK models- there's no cancelling the "Lane change" 3 flashes. Odd because that's much more suited to the use of signals here. A car's lighting there is used in different ways there to here and that often doesn't percolate down to the designers. Both cars here that do the 3 flash thing can be made stop by pushing the lever all the way on past the latch and then to off. The European models seem to lack the additional switch position inside that knows it's latched and not just tapped. You can't wind the driver's window down on my Pontiac if the handbrake is on. The levers foul. New cars aren't alone.

Hmmm. Very possibly!

First drive shows ride quality is resumed. Strange witchcraft voodoo this morning, the dew on the car has gone all strange. Gearbox changes really nicely though, lending credence to the theory that it just needs a heavier oil for summertime. Phil

These ones, despite being the same p/n as the old ones are dumpier by the wrist. Clearanced the mount. That'll work. Phil

Didn't do much other than wrangle a broken light bulb out of a rusty socket today. Ain't much but it needed doing

Ordered a new pair of shocks. Woo. Car currently has a case of lowered. Phil.

Gearbox is getting better now it's got a few miles on. However, tonight was interesting. Hit a bump* in our lovely* road and BANG SCRAPE Top shock mount sheared off, leaving the shock to bounce along the road attached only to the axle. Not overly impressed by that...