Harrison's Garage

[rob88h]

A_WOV - Mini setback

In January I made a booking for a load of bodywork to be done on the Mini at a Mini specialist in Kent come May. May came and went and the start date slipped back due to their other projects overrunning presumably, fair enough. Each month I checked in and finally I’m told they’re taking the business in a different direction. They must’ve really not wanted this job to have been worth winding up the business for 🤣.

I’m not sure on their circumstances, so I don’t want to moan too hard, but the Mini is NOT going to thank me for having sat idle since January, lol. Four months in the carport and then three under a tree. 

 

Self-inflicted “barn find”. The dog is not impressed. 

[rob88h]

M_CEC - FTP, Rob 1: RAC 0

The Volvo let itself down this evening. I may not have completely* fixed things. 

A bouncy jaunt down a puddled farm track resulted in a complete lack of ignition. A restart was possible, though not swift nor stable when running. 

Out with the WD40, off with the HT leads and everything got a good dousing. It started, it idled, so I shut the bonnet… and it died. I tried the same again (expecting different results obviously), but instead of slamming the bonnet I edged forward gently… and it died. I wiggled everything again and widened the net to the earths as  they’re in the wheel splash zone, so, maybe. Now though, it would not start at all! A couple of coughs and that was about it. 

With no tools other than the WD40 in the car at the moment , the RAC were called and I walked off to the cafe to charge my phone and have a drink. Apparently it’s busy times for the RAC right now! They started sending out messages with suggestions - nice intentions, but mildly infuriating: “We think you might have a problem with your battery. So here’s some info to read before your patrol arrives”. 

After sufficient charging (phone) I got a message saying Charlie was on his way so I wandered back to the car. I tried all the same things again (expecting different results obviously) and then it started up and idled ok! This time I decided to be more systematic and poke things to try and make it cut out. Huzzah, wiggling the coil elicited the cut out. 

Fiddled with it a bit more, fed it a load more WD40 and started it up again. This time I couldn’t get it to cut out again. I moved it down the track to test it under driving load with great success. Then the RAC arrived 😂

 

He was quite pleased it was fixed actually, and he did follow me for a few miles to check it was all ok. Looks like it’s back on for FOTU!

I’m not 100% sure which coil connection it was...  but it is work for now. 

[Eyersey1234]

On 6/8/2021 at 10:22 PM, rob88h said:

Having done all my chores for the day I’ve gone out in the Focus at 10pm for reasons my wife didn’t quite* understand. 
If you’re reading this, chances are you get it…

(been monitoring her car for days to not miss it 🤓)

An Eyersey style mileometer moment lol, and no Mrs Eyersey doesn't understand either 🤣

[rob88h]

M_CEC - Festival Of The Unexceptional 2021 

What a brilliant show. It's the first time I have been and it really was my sort of car show. The Volvo had let me down for the first time ever just days before, so I was a bit worried about the trip, but it made it, and it sat happily in the queue to get in with no drama. An unexceptional journey. This signifies the first show this car has been in too, which is nice. I had a good mooch around and I think* it was the only 440 there; mild pride. I saw 480's were there and a 460 phase 1 was there, but I didn't see another 440 or any 440/460 phase 2 specifically. What I did learn was that there are still plenty of 205's out there, so no need to rush out and get one before they're all gone, haha. I also learned that I have an above average tolerance for viewing chod, as I couldn't get around the show before most of the stuff was leaving.

Pick of the show for me: the three door 340 DL in the concourse section. It reminded me of the good old days with E880 SOM and H135 HDO, that personality defining moment in my life where at 19 I had two knackered grey 340's 🤣. I think this 340 was also spec-for-spec the closest to any one from "Harrison's History" that I found during the day.

[rob88h]

A_WOV - Exhumation 

I don't know how this happened, but I've done a mere 173 miles in the Mini since 12th July 2019. I mean, I know why, the Mini is a piece of shit, but I don't know where all the time has gone. I'm trying to remember what went wrong and when, but essentially in July 2019 it had just passed an MOT and  I did pretty  much all those measly miles going nowhere in particular that summer as I was mainly using the S123 and XJS. I put the Mini in a friends garage over winter, acknowledging that I wasn't really using it and then by Feb 2020... well we all know what happened. In April 2020 I recovered it, so I had it to play with at my house in the garden during lockdown 1.0 and a wheel cylinder popped on the way home! I remember limping it home on the deserted roads as I didn't want to meet an RAC man and catch the dreaded virus. Pretty dumb in hindsight.

On 6/15/2020 at 9:18 PM, rob88h said:

Other than the stupendous rampant corrosion this Mini has not been too bad and mechanically I’ve only had complete clutch failure and complete brake failure.

During lockdown 1.0 I rebuilt the brakes just by throwing parts at it...

On 8/30/2020 at 7:47 PM, rob88h said:

I didn’t get the adjustment quite right and they’re binding too much. Damn.

Then, for just under a year it sat at the bottom of the pile. Looking back I rebuilt the crashed Focus, got and "restored" the 480, had the Baleno twice, including quite a bit of work, sold the S123 and XJS, did various things with the 440 and bought the Granada, so I'm not giving myself a hard time about being lazy, but it is a shame I did nothing. Part of the out of sight out of mind attitude with the Mini was that I booked it in with MiniCraft for a renovation of the upper parts of the body once the 18 month MOT had expired, so it just hung around waiting for that. With the bodywork repairs officially cancelled recently (unfortunately) I thought it was time to see if I could get out in it for the summer, then find someone else to do the body work over winter, or next year. 

As I left it, the front brakes were binding and I couldn't do anything easily as the adjusters were seized, which meant going back into them, stripping them, exercising the adjusters from inside rather than mangling the spanner attachments and rebuilding them again.

While in there I took Mr. TidyBeard's advice and chamfered the leading edge of the shoe to make them less grabby and then went about re-assembling them and adjusting them properly once the adjusters were free. The offside was ok, but the nearside could not be setup and it was becoming obvious that the drum circularity was...erm... not circular. After having ordered parts for the Granada I found £11 for a drum for the Mini an absolute boon, so just got new ones. This probably explains why the Mini used to pull left on hard breaking and had a tendency to lock that nearside wheel.

While I waited for delivery I addressed some rust because it's a Mini. Not bad rust, just some peelage from a recent repair cleaned up and repainted.

With the new drums and the ability to tweak the four shoe adjusters the brakes are now bellissimo. I treated it to a wash because I think a washed car presents better to an MOT tester. I wish I hadn't - the paint on the nearside A-pillar fell off in one sheet with just some gentle sponge action. Incredible, never seen that before and left me laughing.

With that the car was driveable again, yet with 24 months having passed since it's last MOT, I decided to put it in for one to get a better idea of the immediate "to-do" list. Today I can report that it has pretty much passed. That's a result in the AutoShite world. It hasn't actually passed, but it's as good as!

The dipswitch thing is from a period correct theft attempt, where the steering column cowling now moves around with the indicators, so if you indicate left then go for main beam the cowling is in the way. Part of the charm, lol. I'm not sure the hazards not working is a flippant thing with an old vehicle - of the four switches on this car that's probably the most important 🤣

Regardless, the major defects are going to be repaired immediately and the Mini will be driven. The target: 174 miles before the next major setback. I'll report back on how that goes, 50:50 it does it.

[rob88h]

A_WOV - First time out in years. 

I had an excuse to take the Mini out today; somewhere to actually go, so I studied the map to find the most wanderous route possible and embarked on a 30 mile achievement. 

The indicators died. I almost ran out of fuel. It nearly overheated. 

I’d read up on indicators and hazard circuits recently because of the MOT, and bypassing the hazard switch brought the indicators back. 
I was having so much fun I didn’t realise the fuel gauge was reading below empty! Luckily, I was near a petrol station and the gauge did respond to fuel being added rather than it just being broken (like most things). 
While taking a few photos by a field the temp gauge (retrofit) crept up towards H. I’m not certified for traffic jams yet! I think a coolant flush and probably new thermostat while I’m at it is called for. 

All in all though it was a goood time. It has been so long since I’ve driven it, it’s like a new purchase, lol. 

A mental to-do list is forming, but for these more than 5 miles but less than 50 miles trips, providing there is no traffic, this car is good to go! Brakes are good, finally. 

[rob88h]

On 8/10/2021 at 5:39 PM, rob88h said:

The target: 174 miles before the next major setback.

Between the 2019 MOT to the 2021 MOT the Mini covered a mere 173 miles... Now it's just done 175 miles in 4 days and I've enjoyed every traffic-jam-dodging long-way-home mile of it.

Shite gravitates:

[Shite Ron]

28 minutes ago, rob88h said:

Between the 2019 MOT to the 2021 MOT the Mini covered a mere 173 miles... Now it's just done 175 miles in 4 days and I've enjoyed every traffic-jam-dodging long-way-home mile of it.

Shite gravitates:

Nice Mini and great 2CV in the best colour with the best lights, there are too few of these left, just how I remember them.

[rob88h]

Another impromptu Mini car show. 😀

I’ve had to fit some adapters to get the drivers seat further back in the Mini, as the last 500 miles has started to hurt my feet in a way complacent little me was beginning to complain about. I was beginning to think of using the Volvo for trips instead of the Mini. Bad thoughts! Drive the Mini everywhere while it’s still working!

[rob88h]

M_CEC - Prize winnah 🏆

”Thank you very much for entering the Volvo Owners Club Virtual Car Show 2021… …We are delighted to tell you that you are Runner Up in your class - please find enclosed a Halfords Voucher for, £15 and Photo of your entry”

 

Dead chuffed with that. I had completely forgotten that I’d submitted it, so it was a nice surprise to get in the post!

And before the heckling, it was in a class with 460 and 480 😅. So it’s not a runner-up despite being the only 440 in a 440 only class that had just the one submission, haha. 

[rob88h]

A_WOV - Well that went well… Now Grounded. 

The Mini managed 520 trouble free* miles so far this year, then let go in a fairly serious way. 

3/4 of a tank of Super Unleaded pissed out of a split rubber line at the fuel pump inlet. Not good. 

I have a fire extinguisher in the Mini, but thankfully I didn’t have to use it!

Check your fuel lines people.

[rob88h]

A_WOV - Bodge Discovery, whoop.  

I’m waiting on a set of fuel lines, so I thought I’d start on some more “while it’s off the road” jobs, starting with the cooling system. I have to change the seized heater valve and cable, so the dash cards had to come out. While there I gave the top of the fire wall a prod (why?! why did I do such a thing?!). 

Outside:

Inside:

 

Now I’m the proud owner of a damp rag covered in filler 😀.  I presume the other side will gift me similar treasures. It’s a pity the body restoration plans fell through earlier this year so I wouldn’t have had to endure such crushing disappointments myself. 

I got the heater cable out and replaced at least. The old one was quite corroded (like everything, lol) and now it’s out I can see it was unlikely to ever free off in its housing. 

[rob88h]

W_FOB – Target achieved

I’m very goal orientated; I find I need to work things towards a purpose. For most of my cars “Just being on the road” is achievement enough, but the ever-dependable Focus, aka the boring car, operates on a level above any of my other hobby-car tat in terms of not letting us down. See above posts for citations... With less frequently interrupted operation comes the obvious mileage accumulation based goals, so that’s what this car aims at to earn its favour within my mind.

It has just passed it’s current goal of 155,000 miles, signifying a higher mileage achieved than the ’02 Civic ep3 that it replaced when that succumbed to a gearbox failure related death. No ceremony, but happiness that Ford > Honda in this unscientific game of car related reliability. The next target is 192,000 miles, a big ask considering it’s oil consumption already quite noticeable! (it’s the 1.8 petrol) 

Quote

A bigger problem is the oil control rings on the 1.8 which is so widespread by now most will be suffering with it, eventually this results in an MOT fail and a smoke screen, unless you can be bothered with knocking the pistons out it pretty much writes the car off. This is that common that I’d be inclined to avoid the 1.8 unless it’s practically give away money.

- Quote from @sierraman's buyers guide.

I’ve just done it’s now every 5000 mile oil change (That’s how long it takes to go from Max to off the dipstick ☹). The significance of 192,000 miles is that we’ll have doubled the car’s mileage since we purchased it in 2017 at 96k. At the rate we use it, it’ll need to survive 4 more MOT emissions tests.

[sierraman]

Unless you can be arsed to take the pistons out and re-ring then it’s just a case of dropping some oil in it periodically. By this point changing the oil isn’t going to buy you much more time, so I’d just top it up with whatever shit you’ve to hand.

No idea how much of a twat it is to take the pistons out but I would imagine you could do it in situ. Sounds like a right ball ache actually the more I’m thinking about. 

[rob88h]

Plan is to keep topping it up, keep it clean and see how far we get until the Ministry say No…

If it comes to a head on MOT emissions test day, which is in January, I’m unlikely to do the work in the depth of winter, to be honest. 

[sierraman]

Chuck one of those tins of shit in that Quentin Wilson sells. Can’t do any harm.

Beats stripping the engine down any day. Plus once you start taking these things to bits there’s always various shit that crops up along the way. It’s never ‘just a set of rings’

[rob88h]

A_WOV - 520 miles to beat.

The reliability clock can be restarted! The fuel stays inside the car and successful test miles have been accrued!

I’m pretty sure these bad-boys will out live the rest of the car. 

September is closing in though… one evenings tinkering with some simple fuel stuff and the light is already going. This is what it used to be like when you had to use the car and it wasn’t just a hobby. Grim. 

[rob88h]

In other news, I’ve made two tentative car acquisitions. I’ve been doing so well with fleet reductions I thought I’d treat myself. 

[rob88h]

Harrison’s History #50 – Ford Fiesta EO08 KKC

Since I joined AutoShite at the beginning of Lockdown-one.A I’ve really slowed down my car acquisition rate, partly by travel restrictions, partly by habit-breaking due to travel restrictions, partly by watching others going through car caper hassles instead of living it myself, and partly having settled now on a few cars that I actually want to keep longer term.

However, every now and again some opportunity comes along where you really can’t say no. So, for my 50^th car celebration bonanza I’ve marked the milestone with this suitably exotic Fiesta. I’ve known this car since 2014. It’s had a decent non-car-guy owner, not the kind that washes it every Sunday, but the kind that gets anything looked at and repaired and serviced when it needs it.

I’m impressed with it so far – it’s a really similar feel to our ’08 Focus, with better gokarty handling but at the cost of a much harsher ride. It’s quite affected by road surface, being pretty loud on a poor road but alright on smooth tarmac. I’m not planning on keeping it too long, but it’s nice to add a 6^th Fiesta to my history (first of this generation) and an Essex reg to my quest to have a reg from every area. The plan so far is to experience it for a bit, get it a new MOT and then sell it on to make way for another car I’ve agreed to buy...

[Eyersey1234]

5 minutes ago, rob88h said:

Harrison’s History #50 – Ford Fiesta EO08 KKC

Since I joined AutoShite at the beginning of Lockdown-one.A I’ve really slowed down my car acquisition rate, partly by travel restrictions, partly by habit-breaking due to travel restrictions, partly by watching others going through car caper hassles instead of living it myself, and partly having settled now on a few cars that I actually want to keep longer term.

However, every now and again some opportunity comes along where you really can’t say no. So, for my 50^th car celebration bonanza I’ve marked the milestone with this suitably exotic Fiesta. I’ve known this car since 2014. It’s had a decent non-car-guy owner, not the kind that washes it every Sunday, but the kind that gets anything looked at and repaired and serviced when it needs it.

I’m impressed with it so far – it’s a really similar feel to our ’08 Focus, with better gokarty handling but at the cost of a much harsher ride. It’s quite affected by road surface, being pretty loud on a poor road but alright on smooth tarmac. I’m not planning on keeping it too long, but it’s nice to add a 6^th Fiesta to my history (first of this generation) and an Essex reg to my quest to have a reg from every area. The plan so far is to experience it for a bit, get it a new MOT and then sell it on to make way for another car I’ve agreed to buy...

Same colour as the 56 reg one I had. Good cars, I still miss VK56 YMC though I do prefer Eccles. 

[wesacosa]

had my mum's red 5 door for a few weeks when the Favorit failed to make it past Hull on the FOTU trip.  decent enough drive, felt like kind of last of the old school small cars before they got all fat and heavy 

[rob88h]

Things that seriously impress me about the Fiesta compared with my other cars:

• The car can be unlocked (and locked) without putting the key in the door. 
• All the doors unlock and lock together. 
• There is one key for everything, not separate keys for different doors and an odd key that seemingly does nothing. 
• (It starts, haha, that’s unfair to the Volvo and Focus, they start)
• It has a cup holder (game changer)
• The radio a). works b). can pick up more than just Radio 4.
• My phone plugs in for tunes (Millennial credentials +1 level up) 

 

 

[AndyIggs]

Lovely steer them Fiesta's, I have an 06 Zetec S which is not ground breakingly fast but once up to speed is an absolute blast around the B roads. They also handle surprisingly well, I've had mine for over 3 years now, I just can't part with it!

[Eyersey1234]

2 hours ago, AndyIggs said:

Lovely steer them Fiesta's, I have an 06 Zetec S which is not ground breakingly fast but once up to speed is an absolute blast around the B roads. They also handle surprisingly well, I've had mine for over 3 years now, I just can't part with it!

I had mine 12 years, only sold it as it was going to cost too much to get through the MOT

[rob88h]

On 9/15/2021 at 8:42 PM, rob88h said:

In other news, I’ve made two tentative car acquisitions. I’ve been doing so well with fleet reductions I thought I’d treat myself. 

Make that three… 🤭

It’s like waiting for a bus! I managed to abstain since April (abstain is definitely the right word) and then in October three purchases come along. 

[rob88h]

Harrison's History #51 - London Taxi Inc TX2 LG05 DXX

3 hours ago, rob88h said:

It’s like waiting for a bus! 

Much like waiting for a bus, I gave up and got a taxi.

It's a fucking heap and insurance was a bastard - but I bloody love it.

[LightBulbFun]

10 minutes ago, rob88h said:

Harrison's History #51 - London Taxi Inc TX2 LG05 DXX

Much like waiting for a bus, I gave up and got a taxi.

It's a fucking heap and insurance was a bastard - but I bloody love it.

Oooh fuck yeah!

its well established that I like my London Taxis so always happy to see another join autoshite

I look forward to seeing how you get on with it and hearing more about it  

[Crackers]

Jesus. That looks awful. Good work.

[Eyersey1234]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

Oooh fuck yeah!

its well established that I like my London Taxis so always happy to see another join autoshite

I look forward to seeing how you get on with it and hearing more about it  

Would you get a taxi to join REV if you could? 

[LightBulbFun]

1 minute ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Would you get a taxi to join REV if you could? 

Oh yeah for sure, it would be ideal 2nd complimentary vehicle for me, for when I actually need to take passengers or serious cargo etc 

but logistically just cant make it work, even ignoring the whole parking issues, all cheap ones are not ULEZ compliant 

and something like a 40 year old FX4 which would be ULEZ exempt is just something I cant afford, a project 1979 FX4 which @wuvvum posted in the ebay tat thread couple months ago went for £2K which I just cant afford sadly not to mention its a project, and I dont have a garage or anywhere to do that sort of work

(an FX4 is what I really want in terms of London Taxi, but I would settle for a TX if I could make it work for a good price etc)

 

so the TL;DR is in true irony because I live in Central London it means I cant get a London Taxi...

 

(id also very much like a Routemaster if anyone is trying to figure out what to get me for Christmas or something! LOL)