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Father Ted

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I've got quite a few bits done this weekend.  The Rover 75 has a shiny new MOT, which is nice.  I was able to patch the exhaust up OK using a bandage and Gun Gum as the hole was in quite an accessible place - although it is going to need a new rear section at some point as the pipe is pretty rusty where it goes into the back box.  The drop link was just as twattish a job as I was expecting - the bottom end came undone no problems, but the top was a right pain in the arse - not helped by the fact that you can't even see the bloody nut unless the steering is on full left lock, and you can't get a 17mm open spanner onto it unless it's just at the right angle - can't get a ring spanner on it either as there isn't enough clearance between the top of the thread and the bottom of the spring.  I tried getting a spanner on the flats of the ball joint itself and unwinding the whole thing - which worked for about four turns before it seized solid.  I did a test poke around with the angle grinder to see if I could get it off that way, but decided I couldn't without taking chunks out of the spring cup.  So out came the hacksaw - that was fun as I could only get about 3" of movement in before the saw hit the inner wing, so it took me quite a while to get through it.  The new link is on now though, and it's quietened things down a hell of a lot.

I spent some time poking round the 530d I bought last weekend.  The main job was to get the tailgate working - I sort of succeeded at that, as I found that once the compartment in the tailgate which holds the warning triangle etc. is removed, there are three small holes in the bottom of the remaining trim, poking a screwdriver through the leftmost of which enables one to flick the catch manually.  It can be done from outside by popping the tailgate window (which works fine) and then leaning in.  So that's good enough for my purposes, for the time being at least.  It also now has a towbar with working electrics, after I found a spare socket and mounting plate which I'd bought years ago and never used.  I've had to mount the socket to the right of the towbar as by the time I'd cut out all the frayed wiring it wasn't long enough to reach round to the left, but that's not a massive issue.  The screen wash is also now fixed so the car is fully functional, and might be taking over daily duties from the Rover for a while as the load bay is wider so I can fit the automatic Raleigh bike in easily - getting it in to the 75 requires a lot of jiggling around.

I had a go at resealing the fuel tank leak on the Renault 6 - I bought a big tub of Plastic Padding leak fix shiz, which was a lot better than the little tube I used last time.  It took a while to chip all the old stuff off and clean the tank up, but the new putty went on easily enough - I'm going to leave it to cure for a few days before I fill the tank right up though.  I was hoping to have a look at removing the heater valve as well, but I didn't get time in the end - although I did replace an exhaust hanger which had broken, which should take a bit of strain off the front hanger.

Whilst I had the stuff out I thought I'd also have a crack at redoing the Spacy - it has for some years now had an oil leak from between the crankcase sections, which I'd previously tried patching over with the same stuff I'd used on the Renault fuel tank - that worked for a while, but obviously wasn't properly stuck to the crankcase as when I started chipping it off it came away in great sheets - I must not have done a good enough job of cleaning it before I applied the product last time.  The problem is that unless I drain the engine completely of oil, it is always going to be trying to seep through, and I don't want to attempt to drain the engine as the drain plug doesn't look like it would be in any hurry to come undone, and if it did it would be even less eager to seal again.  Anyone who has worked on early '80s Honda bikes will know what the quality of the alloy is like.  So I ended up tipping the scooter on its side, waiting for all the oil to drain down, then blasting the opposite side join with brake cleaner.  Once I was satisfied no more oil was coming out I wire-brushed the crankcase to make a bit of a key, then slathered the repair putty on.  I'm going to leave the bike on its side for a couple of days to let the repair cure properly without getting oily, then I'll flip it over and do the other side.  Hopefully that'll work - if not, the last resort is to nick the engine from the spares bike which is oil tight, but that's more hassle than I really want at the moment.

Spent a bit of time with the multimeter and the Y10, which are now firm friends.  The front foglights have never worked since I've had the car - on investigation this appears to be mainly due to iffy bulbs and corroded connectors, as both lights have power getting to them.  I've ordered a pair of H3s and will take the lights out at some point and give everything a good clean, see if that gets them working again.  I still can't get power to the live feed for the rear wiper though, and I have no idea why - it's getting as far as the contact inside the boot, but no further.  I'm probably going to end up running a separate wire from the contact up to the top of the tailgate and then back down to the motor - easier than trying to figure out Italian electrics methinks.

Biggest progress this weekend was on the Raleigh Runabout I bought off of Purplebargeken last year.  My attempts at the time to get it running were all futile, and I ended up deciding that the carb was the issue - but didn't get any further before it was time to put it away in the garage for the winter.  A couple of weeks ago an identical carb came up on eBay as spears or reapers - I bid and got it for 13 quid, which I didn't think was too bad.  Spent a few hours on Friday stripping, cleaning and making one (hopefully) good one out of the two.  This afternoon I got the moped out of the garage, fitted the carb, ran a fuel line down from a temporary tank, span the engine over with the cordless drill and this happened.

Well chuffed at that.  It obviously still needs some fettling - the throttle is very sticky for one thing - but it goes, it sounds sweet and I've ridden it round the garden - the brakes are decent and even the lights work.  I now need to buy it a new fuel tap as the one that was on there is utterly shagged - then I can take it for a cheeky spin up the road.  I might even finally get around to sending off for a V5C...

 

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Went over to the Wirral Classic car show with the 2CVers yesterday. 

Saw some real chod and some real classics! 

2CVs 

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Choddy Classics.

Yes... the first car I saw as a drove in was a Renault Fuego. Day made instantly! 

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Taking the award for the awesome yet rubbish category... a Plymouth Prowler!!! Wow! 

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And some proper shiny classics

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This was amazing, only mechanical work completed, it was cosmetically perfect in my eyes!D6901CE0-78BE-4788-A07D-C94E1E60831E.thumb.jpeg.d51b3ad3dff5034b40780b6157db0e4f.jpeg

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Our stand was well populated, although it did have an air cooled interloper!

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Cracking show, lovely atmosphere, much post show sunburn... ouch!! 

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Went to Harewood Hillclimb yesterday for the first time. 

Really enjoyed it. Wasn't sure how busy it would get so went early and watched more of the practice than the actual hillclimb. It was fine though, we could've gone later and will next time. 

The proper hillclimb cars are proper weapons. Fantastic to watch.  Have some photos:

IMG_20190512_102210.thumb.jpg.fa85eb71383036e7f7af42c5a9c8045d.jpgIMG_20190512_101745.thumb.jpg.76ef414ad86a1638f2f0e8f75439aa21.jpgIMG_20190512_102248.thumb.jpg.3c426efe1e2f4af4f71af91ee42c3822.jpgIMG_20190512_102435.thumb.jpg.c19673aa2fdc89d7233febb6a8e6de88.jpgIMG_20190512_113756.thumb.jpg.8dc42948217d2b49e5f0758fa253a847.jpgIMG_20190512_114229.thumb.jpg.7a271c97df71663e260f94a08ea8da0c.jpgIMG_20190512_114036.thumb.jpg.34e82d0f9ebe566a1bcb8a70a5a7fb77.jpg

Imp Jr was well excited to see an actual working Imp as opposed to the knackered one in the garage.... 

 

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Oh well. 

Some of these things were going through the speed trap at 130mph. Fucking nuts. The speed they came down the straight past the farmhouse was fucking scary. 

I've been trying to upload a gif but its not having it, probably too big a file at 13mb? Have this instead. 

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Am definitely going again. Well worth the £10 per head entry fee. 

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I usually go a couple of times a year but I'm full of the snotties at the mo so I gave this one a miss. There's which a vintage meet in a few weeks which I enjoy more than I thought I would so may be there, then the big guns are back for 2 days in July. Sometimes I prefer the more local events as opposed to national ones as they often have a more varied field.

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11 minutes ago, spike60 said:

I usually go a couple of times a year but I'm full of the snotties at the mo so I gave this one a miss. There's which a vintage meet in a few weeks which I enjoy more than I thought I would so may be there, then the big guns are back for 2 days in July. Sometimes I prefer the more local events as opposed to national ones as they often have a more varied field.

I thought I'd prefer the older stuff but the proper cars were fantastic to watch, the speed was amazing.

Saw the Vintage meet was on. Will have to see if I can get along. 

Have just uploaded a few short vids to YouTube, lets see if that works. 

 

 

 

 

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The view from my kitchen window this evening.

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The Impreza is normally parked on the road, but as it looks like I may have sold it I thought I'd bag a space for one more night.

Buick saga is ongoing.  Hopefully new rear hubs will see it fit at last.  Poor old Sealtainn.  This is turning into the longest collection caper in history.

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Bit of a fleet update......Not much happening so there aren't any juicy tales of newly found rust - least not until I get the toffee hammer out again.

Just taxed the Minor for the first time without an MOT.    Did about 1000 miles since the last one which is quite shameful wastage.   Will get it tested some time over the summer but enjoying it for commuting at the moment.    This means the Fezzer is currently up the barn doing nothing and would be for sale if it wasn't so warmly re-assuring having a spare motor.     

T25 is providing excellent sleeping facilities at various rock and roll clubs around the country and has just done a 500 mile run up and around the Peak District - it will be my mobile tea-room at work this weekend which means I don't have to listen to twattish conversations in the mess room Saturday and Sunday.    

Cowley is doing the occasional work run but mainly being kept for longer journeys but did provide a great talking point outside the theatre last week where we saw Marty Wilde.    

I would mention the 190E but I honestly haven't set foot in it for a month, I noticed it needed a clean the other day but if Mrs Rocker ever parks it for long enough...... 

Nothing new to report otherwise.    Oh, there is a development - after 15 years of ownership the self-cancelling on the Minor has suddenly decided to start working but only on left-turns.   Its confusing the hell out of me - not least because I have been using the left flashers as reversing lamps in the car port for over a decade and they now switch off just as I start lining up!

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The Jag (2.7 diesel XJ) started making noises from the front of the engine, including a loud squeak when the engine is switched off. 

It turns out that the clutch inside the alternator pulley had seized. 

It took a few hours to remove and few more to replace but it's done now and a local place put a new pulley onto the alternator for £100 so not to expensive, and another £50 for a new drive belt that needed doing anyway. 

They aren't easy to remove though as you have to jack up the right side of the engine an inch and ratchet strap the engine over to the left as hard as you can in order to get the gap between the block and the subframe big enough to fiddle the alternator out. 

 

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Today started off well. The queue at perry's aylesbury was 8 deep when we arrived at 9.28am, me and Charlie looked at all the corsas and astras cunningly disguised as suv/soft roader shit

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I was told to then sit down by Amy when my joke about all those cars will be recalled in 2 years when they catch fire, a few people laughed... (bloody car park was a sea of Zafira b's. 

I then downloaded the LG app and turned the TV to cbeebies and many children joined me and Charlie. 

Why was I sat in a vauxhall garage, ZX parked in the prime spot outside the door? Amys Zafira went in for it's recall today. All done in 2 hours, no issues there however they then did a 'health Check' on it. The man apparently said if it failed they would not release it... 

Not quite sure how that would have gone down, we didn't ask for it... Luckily I must keep it in fine fettle as it passed

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Including the spare wheel which they visually inspected. As in actually looked at it. Bit strange as it's never had one, it's got the tyre pump and gloop kit. Says alot about their inspection! I asked the question on their Facebook page but they haven't replied... They measured the fucking tread depth on each tyre 3 times across the width yet did not notice the not there spare wheel! 

 I then posted this up on the Zafira B Facebook page too and forgot how the fellow Zafira B bretherin live... 

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Ah well, at least if it combusts itself now Amy will get an insurance payout because its been in

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1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

The man apparently said if it failed they would not release it... 

I'm not sure they'd have a legal leg to stand on if they tried to stop you getting your car back? But others may know better. My Mazda 323 recall was an 'MOT fail' but I just said I'll get it fixed elsewhere thank you...

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Without wanting to tempt fate, the 944 has been doing fine as my daily. 

Its a bit slow to start sometimes though. What's the most likely culprit? Starter? Fuel pump? Battery? 

I don't think it's the battery TBH. Maybe I should check it first eh? 

Have a photo I took the other night. IMG_20190512_205452.thumb.jpg.bd35981de04322ba62f375def8c5306d.jpg

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Neighbour text me at work today. Alarm wailing on my 145. They’d been out and checked it for me and referred to it as “the wedding car”.

Turns out I’d forgotten to lock it and postie was trying to leave a parcel in it.

Never been knew my neighbour had my mobile number, what a good egg. 04722e28fda1be7473279b4600cb1b7b.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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21 minutes ago, HillmanImp said:

Without wanting to tempt fate, the 944 has been doing fine as my daily. 

Its a bit slow to start sometimes though. What's the most likely culprit? Starter? Fuel pump? Battery? 

I don't think it's the battery TBH. Maybe I should check it first eh? 

Have a photo I took the other night. IMG_20190512_205452.thumb.jpg.bd35981de04322ba62f375def8c5306d.jpg

Slow to fire, or slow turning over? Could be the starter is not turning over fast enough, which is probably the starter rather than battery. If it churns but gets slower very quickly then check the battery. 

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1 hour ago, egg said:

I'm not sure they'd have a legal leg to stand on if they tried to stop you getting your car back? But others may know better. My Mazda 323 recall was an 'MOT fail' but I just said I'll get it fixed elsewhere thank you...

I would have been fully ready to challenge exactly that if my car maintenance skills weren't so damn good it wasn't needed... 

Part of me thinks they said that because Amy went in on her own as Charlie was happy in the car... But that would be sexist 

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2 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Slow to fire, or slow turning over? Could be the starter is not turning over fast enough, which is probably the starter rather than battery. If it churns but gets slower very quickly then check the battery. 

I think it's slow to fire which is why i was kind of thinking it wasn't the battery. Will see how I get on for a bit as just spunked over £300 on a refurbed wishbone which I need to fit. 

Might turn the key before firing to see if that primes the fuel pump too thinking about it. 

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38 minutes ago, HillmanImp said:

Without wanting to tempt fate, the 944 has been doing fine as my daily. 

Its a bit slow to start sometimes though. What's the most likely culprit? Starter? Fuel pump? Battery? 

I don't think it's the battery TBH. Maybe I should check it first eh? 

Have a photo I took the other night. IMG_20190512_205452.thumb.jpg.bd35981de04322ba62f375def8c5306d.jpg

I have a  2.7 944 while it's a good starter despite infrequent use it has a  slow turn and sounds gravelly until it fires. Think TADTS.......

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