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

[Ohdearme]

Also...must resist this!

 

[Ohdearme]

Two days of slog in the garden, combined with it being a bit chilly first thing enabled me to slip the shackles of fatherhood/husbandry to poke about on the Galaxy.

 

There are some cosmetic things I want to do but today was about mechanical stuff. Namely, a leaking calliper and a blowing exhaust.

 

Got the rear wheel off and noticed the rear pads could probably do with a change.

 

 

Jumped in the Jag to give it a run out and also treated it to a new front wiper and fitted it in the car park. Changing wipers for some reason always takes me longer to do than it should to figure out how to put the clip in.

 

Today my excuse was that I was also distracted by this mismatched majestic bastard of a vehicle that had arrived twixt the the time I entered and left the motor factors.

 

 

Not sure where the caliper is leaking so I wire brushed it and dumped a can of brake cleaner, wiped it down and left it to drip and find the while I attended to the harmonica at the other side of the car...

 

[Ohdearme]

Poking the exhaust revealed more holes and prior attempts at gun gumming, so for the sake of £2 I thought I’d try it again.

 

 

 

Pasted it up and left it to cure. I left it a bit and then tried warming it with the engine but it just blew out the holes so I’ve done it again and left it overnight.

 

Worst case, plan b involves snipping the can I’ve left on the microwave and a couple of jubilee clips. Left a note that hopefully the wife will notice.

 

 

At this point, I received help* on the brakes.

 

 

One of the slide pins is seized but looking at the back of the disc, it has been applying pressure evenly and hasn’t worn the disc badly.

 

As long as the other disc is ok, I can save £35 quid and take the precautionary discs I bought with the pads back.

 

I didn’t have any heat available or time to get some spare today and gently* persuading the pin out didn’t work so a new set of slide pins are on order from eBay and I’ll pick up a new can for my torch when I get chance.

 

 

For now the drive is looking delightfully shitely...going to have sort that bonnet colour mismatch out too.

 

[Ohdearme]

It would seem cars are like children...you shower them with a bit of attention and then they want more...

 

Not content with having me splash out on it with an £8.50 wiper (complete with spoiler, I may add!) the Jag decided today’s foggy weather was the perfect moment to conk a bulb out.

 

 

Stopped on the way home to grab a pair of bulbs and the capacious engine bay made for an easy swap, cut myself as is the norm for me and motor vehicles.

 

 

Any Jag-ists know if this beam angle looks right though? Seems a bit shallow on the left, barely lights in front of the bonnet.

 

 

 

Wife also helpfully sent me this to ponder over...

 

 

Guessing something isn’t shut right but it’s still up in the air on three wheels so isn’t going anywhere fast.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[purplebargeken]

The new gaiter looks proper lush. It's real leather too!

[Ohdearme]

The new gaiter looks proper lush. It's real leather too!

I’ve found somewhere that will redo original carpets for the interior as the door trims and floor could do with a refresh...holding off this as apparently wife keeps mention something about finishing the kitchen.

 

Got a couple of H380 bulbs today too to see if I can’t get some reversing light action on the Galaxy. Probably do it at same time as swapping the rear lastic panel finally.

 

Will mean the end of the dealer plates though as I can’t justify a shiny new bum and manly old plate.

[Ohdearme]

Balls, just took the dog out for a walk and on the way past heard the Galaxy quietly ‘hnnngh-hnnngh-ing’ to itself as the locks performed a merry dance.

 

Done some wiggling and poking and the lock seems to have over rotated, maybe the paddle feel out but after much comedic upping and downing of windows and attempts to quickly lock/open/slam the door like its the bloody till off Open All Hours (the old good one, not the new shit one) I’ve got it working.

 

More accurately, I’ve reached a point where it’s stopped not working, for know.

 

Also checked the exhaust repair and it has set well but I stupidly allowed my exploratory caress to move up to second base and disturbed another hitherto undetected slab of exhaust wob covering twice the size and twice the holes of the first bit.

 

Tin can wrangling will be the order of the day next.

 

This is not me but captures the moment perfectly.

 

 

Edit - checked the part and mid section is only £30 quid...never changed an exhaust so I might be tempted to try it for a laugh*

[mrbenn]

Apologies if I've missed it earlier in the thread, but wouldn't this have had remote locking as standard? Wonder if it's worth getting a cheap ebay remote and coding it in, locks might be happier without the manual prodding.

[purplebargeken]

Good point Mr B, can't bloody remember.

 

That is a good price for exhaust bit, go for it.

 

Doors frighten me.

 

Sad about the plate.

[Ohdearme]

Stopped on the way home from work to pick up fire in a bottle and free off the caliper.

 

Much heating, banging and mole grip related wiggling resulted in a freed pin!

 

 

Greasy new eBay pins inserted and ready to mount to car tomorrow!

 

[Ohdearme]

Wasn’t feeling the love today, tried to wind back the rear piston with pliers but it was having none of it so I’ve relieved myself of £17 and ordered a full wind back tool set from eBay. Will come in handy again so a sensible purchase imo.

 

Popped by the Galaxy donor’s house as he’d taken some roof bars off for me and a few other bits. I’m £20 lighter for the trouble.

 

His Galaxy was looking significantly lighter than that...

 

[purplebargeken]

Fuck me, the scrap man ain't getting rich on that!

[Matty]

Wasn’t feeling the love today, tried to wind back the rear piston with pliers but it was having none of it so I’ve relieved myself of £17 and ordered a full wind back tool set from eBay. Will come in handy again so a sensible purchase imo.

 

Popped by the Galaxy donor’s house as he’d taken some roof bars off for me and a few other bits. I’m £20 lighter for the trouble.

 

His Galaxy was looking significantly lighter than that...

 

Wtf happened to the paint?

[purplebargeken]

I think he might even have removed the paint.

[Ohdearme]

Re: the paint, he paid about £200 for the Galaxy a few years ago and that quarter was essentially hammerite!

 

As for mine, I tried to do the brakes this morning because it looked sunny outside, it was windy as fuck and freezing and I eventually lost my rag after twatting my knuckles for the tenth time and went to buy cider.

 

A few of those later and the sun had actually warmed things up so I went back for round two.

 

Wind it up!

 

Shiny guide pins done

 

Passenger side was a lot faster once I’d persuaded the caliper to come off the disc. Getting the pads in generated a fair few more expletives and one of the slide pins on this side was a bit stiff too, not seized like the other so a bit of wiggle testing with a spanner and it’s freed off so I rebuilt it as is.

 

If it becomes an issue I’ll swap it off but I need the thing mobile again for a bunch of reasons.

 

 

All that’s left is to fire her up and bed them in...

 

Bugger.

 

Trickle isn’t working either as I think the battery voltage is too far below recovery level for it. Will have to wait to resolve as I’m out of the country for a few days.

[purplebargeken]

That battery was on it when I bought it, I stupidly left an interior light on when she was at the barn and it flattened the battery, that was when I had the fun* with the bonnet release. It recovered well with a gentle trickle charge though.

[Ohdearme]

It’s been fine but I’ve had it stood for probably two weeks so I kind of expected it to be low.

 

No big shakes just keen to get it up and down the road to test my brakes before I declare everything a success!

[purplebargeken]

Ah, okay. Am sure the brakes will be fine now

[Ohdearme]

Battery was too goosed for my trickle charger but luckily the old man had a charger in the garage so the Galaxy was pressed into service today to collect a £40 Facebook bed from round the corner.

 

The drivers rear brake is binding smelly smelly on exit of the vehicle and a hot to trot rear wheel

 

I’ll take it off and poke about tomorrow if I get a chance.

 

Bugger.

[bangernomics]

Like for van skillz

[Timewaster]

Just for info, I remember my ex boss having a S reg Galaxy that was only a year or so old. Same colour and spec as yours but tdi.

He would write often come in to work swearing that it had unlocks itself in the night and he kept finding it with all the windows down when he left it locked with the windows up.

 

So it would seem Tadts.

 

My MK2 has never opened it own Windows but if the a door (or usually the tailgate as it requires a slam) is left open then the locking can get itself into a lock/unlock/lock/unlock tizzy.

[purplebargeken]

Haunted Galaxy!!!     

[Ohdearme]

In effort to distract from the ‘haute tension’ that is hovering Renner Roffle participation, I came home and did a car thing tonight.

 

Brand new beast of a battery added to the Galaxy, Old was a 440CA I’ve stepped it up one because I could and stuck a slightly bigger battery on it.

 

 

It fits nice and tight but I do need to find a bracket for the leading edge. It’s not going anywhere as held at the back but still would like it as the MOT man prefers.

 

The Jag rolled over to 161616 today and will soon be returned to imp, it has been a lovely loan and great fun, if a little creaky inside (cable tied glove box is an obvious culprit!).

 

Driving it is a very leisurely affair and it usually means I relax on the way with Classic FM. Except today...

 

I was mired fourth in a procession of dawdlers behind an L plate bus doing 30 on a 60mph straight road so naturally, I pressed the ‘S’ button (which made the gear surround come loose) then indicated and launched past the whole bloody train roaring with laughter at both the joy of acceleration and the fact I also had the centre bit of wooden dash in my lap as that flew off under such astonishing* g forces.

 

Even though it’s only the 3.2 it gets illegal fairly quickly.

 

Interior safely reassembled, I parked it on the top of the multi storey today so it could soak up the sun and have that lovely baked/warm claggy air feeling when I got in to go home.

 

I also broke it to the kids the Jag will be leaving, ‘but we love daddy’s brown car!’ Weirdos both went and kissed the bonnet?!?

 

so have a shot of sprog #2 looking wistfully as I do after parking the thing.

 

[Ohdearme]

A quick fumble of eBay for battery clamp and I recognised the lump of metal in the picture as the same as a piece of metal I found in my office but couldn’t figure out where it came from.

 

Turns out Ken had put in the post with some other stuff!

 

Bonus points for that man!

 

[purplebargeken]

Cool, soz about the lack of bolt though, so not quite everything.

[Ohdearme]

I've probably got one lying around or some threaded rod I can cut down somewhere.

[Ohdearme]

I’ve been distracting myself of late by investing heavily in roffles and failing to win.

 

I was given the opportunity to live the life of a roffle winner last week by ferrying a delightful AX from Folkestone to Leeds.

 

Njgleeds in lieu of petrol money offered to take a look at my circular inferno-matic - aka my toasty rear brake.

 

The solution made itself pleasingly evident when the carrier was unbolted and three separate bits of pad fell out.

 

 

 

In all my years of brake changing I’ve never managed to achieve such a bent pad, despite my general lack of skill.

 

A quick grind back of the callipers, a trip for me to the motor factors for some hopefully more robust pads and some copper grease later and all is well in the Galaxy!

 

He also dropped off a couple of spare rear seats. I’m not in need of them but plan to strip the frames so I can make a picnic type table to make the best use of the swivel seats.

 

Next job, the rear plastic panel and fixing the front grille, should be easy now we have the light nights too.

[purplebargeken]

Pad be fucked.

 

Never seen that type of thing in my life, wow.

 

Yay for the rear panel and the front grille planned fixing. 

[Fabergé Greggs]

Looks really nice, this. Was well tempted back when it was for sells.

[Ohdearme]

Guess I’ll be looking at the brakes again one of these fine evenings.

 

On the way back from the school run a bit is clink and then a distinctly metal on metal sound as the brakes were applied.

 

Coming from the rear drivers side again so we may be looking at another busted pad and I think probably warrants a whole new caliper as can’t be arsed rebuilding it bit by bit.

 

It’s not even like I had the whole caliper off this time to fit the pads, just dropped them in situ and tightened up.

 

Oh and the heater fuse popped (again) the other day. Apparently, some long toothed Galaxy codger of an owners group assures me it’s a mk1 design flaw on the heater. More accurately, the fuse box under dash as there’s a build up of heat with a few things on it causes the fuses to go.

 

Whether that is horseshit or not is for another day, I’m simply going to buy a massive stack of 20A fuses.

 

At least I got a week of commuting out of the old girl, she’s got less than 500 miles to go to hit 160k.