Vorsprung Durch Ticket (MOT) - Ohdearme’s turn of the century emporium

[Guest Hooli]

The Galaxy is devouring brake fluid somewhere but as to the leaks by all over the drive, builder fessed up his van is leaking a bit of oil so the pools on my driver were him not me.

 

I’m hearing a slight hissing/noise as I’m driving along from behind the driver side dash, sounds like a loss of vacuum and constant repressurising? Probably related to the fluid dropping?

 

Thoughts welcome as I know nothing of such systems beyond checking the level and fitting discs and pads.

Master cylinder seals so the fluid is leaking into the servo and maybe getting eaten by the engine.

 

That's my guess anyway.

[Sir Snipes]

Wouldn't you lose the pedal if the master-cylinder seals were letting fluid past?

[Guest Hooli]

Not if it's only a slow leak & it's refilling the master cylinder from the reservoir. It also could be in the section of the master cylinder that doesn't pressurise as you push the pedal so it wouldn't effect the pedal feel till it's empty.

[Ohdearme]

So this arrived today...

 

 

The final electrickery in the chain of heater stuff and not a moment too soon...

 

 

Testing before fully fitting co firmed two things.

 

1. It was the blower motor that was broken.

 

2. It is inadvisable to test a blower motors operation whilst holding it loosely in your hand.

 

Much swearing and a few broken fan blades have occured.

 

I’ll fit it anyway and then see if I can’t get the blade section off the outgoing motor at a later date.

 

In other news, it’s a bit misfirey in wet weather and no sign of low brake fluid again but eyes are peeled.

 

So progress, of sorts.

 

I name this shot “bollocks!”

[Guest Hooli]

Wouldn't it be easy enough just* to swap the fans before fitting it?

[Ohdearme]

Wouldn't it be easy enough just* to swap the fans before fitting it?

Almost, it would be a flap and two seconds to slide out were it not for the beam in the dashboard that looks to be designed precisely to thwart such flawless logic

[Guest Hooli]

No I mean the fan on the end of the motor while you've got it all apart.

Looks like one nut and it'd lift off.

[purplebargeken]

You plum.

[Ohdearme]

Not a nut it’s just a rusty pole

 

Balls.

 

Had it working but the fucker is imbalanced due to missing blades now and feels like it’s shaking dash to bits.

 

How to swap? Hmm

 

[Ohdearme]

That was a little more complicated than expected but I can now get blown in the front of the Galaxy.

 

Breaking a few blades had created a wobble monster fan that was shaking the dash so out it came.

 

Couldn’t swap the blades over so after a few attempts at finely* balancing the fan (snapping more blades and using duct tape in lieu of weights) and failing a rethink was needed.

 

One fan works, one doesn’t, can I play spot the difference and work out why?

 

That looks quite worn out in the bush and middle bit thingy department.

 

Less worn...

 

Couldn’t separate the motor from the blade so after a bit of thinking and poking about I settled for swapping over the bushes and hoping they made enough contact to make the old motor work.

 

A bit of needle nose fiddling to get the springs and bits reset ensued.

 

 

Reconnected and it works! There is air to the fans, my face, the windscreen, the lot!

 

Today’s lesson kids, it’s amazing what you can discover you’re capable of doing if you spend two hours on your knees in the footwell of a people carrier. However, it is not as amazing how much time you can save yourself by not being a clumsy twonk in the first place necessitating such a complex fanny on.

 

I also found some blanked out footwell light holes, presumably for those decadent Ghia driving pigs.

 

*scurries off to eBay to search for footwell lights*

[The Moog]

Good work captain!

 

Nice to see some proper fixing going on.

[Sir Snipes]

You have clean fingernails for someone fiddiking with an old galaxy.

[Ohdearme]

You have clean fingernails for someone fiddiking with an old galaxy.

Gardeners tip from the wife. Before doing grubby jobs dig your fingernails in a bar of soap so that fills the gap and washes out.

 

Or gloves.

[The Moog]

Gardeners tip from the wife. Before doing grubby jobs dig your fingernails in a bar of soap so that fills the gap and washes out.

 

Or gloves.

This relys on remembering to do it before hand rather than halfway through the job!

[mrbenn]

Nice work on the fan!

 

What's next on the fettling list?

[Guest Hooli]

Gardeners tip from the wife. Before doing grubby jobs dig your fingernails in a bar of soap so that fills the gap and washes out.

 

Or gloves.

 

Henpecked.

[Ohdearme]

Henpecked.

In this instance I did neither so my hands came out looking like I’d been giving the tin man a back rub or I’d been eating those hundreds and thousands you used to see as kids but never do any more (those things that looked like ball bearings).

 

Other fettle jobs include,

 

- Fitting the replacement rear panel

- fixing wonky number plate

- sorting the misfire and plugs

- getting a dry day to get under car and do fuel filter

- new drivers side heater vent as splines snapped.

- refix the window wonder in back

- hoover out and valet once I finished hauling bricks

[Ohdearme]

Had a delivery of builders crap and as I was occupier with kids, chucked keys at the builder to move the red bus.

 

I have spied the absence of a reversing light coming on.

 

Easy fix, etc.

 

WCPGW...

[Ohdearme]

So I connected a few dots over the last couple of days in the funbus.

 

I thought the lever to the right of the car was height adjust ratchet as it wasn’t doing anything, so what’s this one on the left side do?

 

Big thunk and I drop to the floor and the right side doesn’t do anything, maybe a broken cable but it feels springy.

 

File it under sort later.

 

Today clearing kid crap from the footwell, I notice something.

 

 

That circular mount looks like the kind you’d use if the seats rotated but Ken says they don’t...but what about that handle?

 

Could it be?

 

 

Yes!!! The scrap value of the car if ever needed has gone up by £200 Nora having these puppies fitted!

 

Plus we can now run it in full picnic configuration for trips out and the middle row as the dinner table!

 

Also drove a 70 mile round trip to collect a hat/coatstand to build up the ‘good books’ account ahead of an as yet undeclared potential jag arrival.

 

Misfire has been improved by filling with super unleaded (£1.22 at Tesco so not exactly splashing out) and is fine when warm.

 

Looking forward to doing oils and bits over Xmas.

[purplebargeken]

Well fuck me with a bag of Wurthers, you have turny seats???

 

Well that's amazing!!! No idea how I missed that FFS.

 

Impressed face underpants now being worn.

 

Now crack on with t'other bits man. :)

[purplebargeken]

as yet undeclared potential jag 

 

You're fucked.....

[Guest Hooli]

Jags are always* a good thing!

[mrbenn]

Can I come and sit in the corner of the room when you tell your wife about the Jag (and Visa)?

 

Will bring my own popcorn and am mostly house trained.

[purplebargeken]

^^ Mostly? Hmm, not sure about sitting in the Dolomite now.

[mrbenn]

 

I'm working on it. You can't rush these things.

[Ohdearme]

The Mondeo has been dispatched to the new owner and that leaves me with only two cars in the house.

 

Naturally, I’ve used the safety of 140 miles of distance and a video call between the wife and I to inform her that a new vehicle will be joining the fleet on loan until May to replace it on Wednesday

[Ohdearme]

What’s that? Clues you want?

 

They had some issues with this ages ago.

 

 

+

 

 

Note - not as hard as other quizzes on here.

[gadgetgricey]

The Mondeo has been dispatched to the new owner and that leaves me with only two cars in the house.

 

Naturally, I’ve used the safety of 140 miles of distance and a video call between the wife and I to inform her that a new vehicle will be joining the fleet on loan until May to replace it on Wednesday

 

No updates since.

 

It's not gone well

[Ohdearme]

She was remarkably sanguine about the whole thing although I did pre-emptively put four bottles of wine in the fridge for her.

 

She likes curvy cars so am sure she will be 100% delighted* with the jag when she gets to behold its majesty tomorrow...of course, I too have not yet clapped eyes on the thing yet either!

[Ohdearme]

 

Operation ‘Big Game Hunter’ initiated...covert interior shot of taxi to the station.