Ruffgeezer's driveway journal - 16/07/24 Sellafield Berlingo

[ruffgeezer]

Sill repaired and Rover now has an MOT.

I could have spent some time dressing the welds back,  but as I'm away for a week after the next round of shifts, I really just wanted to get a coat of paint on it to prevent any rust.

The Rover celebrated its newly legal status by putting it's ABS light on, and as it relates to the corner where (a) the droplink had the wiring wrapped around it and (B) already had a fault with the pad wear sensor, I've a new ABS sensor to fit in the time I don't have.

[ruffgeezer]

Apologies for the lack of updates,  after replacing both RH abs sensors, I gave the old Rover a service before passing it on to a colleague who had just had his Merc ML shit it's engine.

I also spent a few days dribbling Captain Tolley's creeping crack cure into the seams of the boot, which certainly seemed to help prevent the in built swimming pool that had occurred during my ownership. 

Outstanding works:-

New XC70: new aux belt and tensioner, rear trailing arm bushes, a/c regas?

Getz: LHF strut top bearing, front arb inner bushes, inlet/ egr air leak

Ax: Well, it still runs?

Giulietta: Rear trailing arm bushes, boot lid rewiring 

[ruffgeezer]

Actually,  I drove the Ax the other day, probably the first time in what, 2 or 3 years?

I've been offered a prefab garage to replace the shanty town shitbox behind my current one. So the Ax must be temporarily evicted.

A morning spent clearing both ends of the front garage, and rhe Ax safely stashed elsewhere...

[ruffgeezer]

OK so no pictures of today's endeavour, but I have had the throttle housing off of the Getz again today to remove the egr pipe to replace the front gasket, and also to release the inlet manifold face and make a new gasket for the throttle housing.

I used 3mm cork gasket this time in the hope that it won't leak, but am now worried that it might not be up to a turbo application.

I suppose I shall find out tomorrow when the red hylomar has  gone off.

[ruffgeezer]

Changed the front arb bushes on the Hyundai today, bit of a cunt of a job as the abs unit blocks the access to one of the bolts.

Thought I'd celebrate that victory by wire brushing and painting the subframe. So yeah, I now have a new subframe on order and will have to refit the fucking arb to it.  Huzzah.

[ruffgeezer]

This is the state of the Getz front subframe so have a good poke at yours @wuvvum as this looked fine until I got to it.

 

[ruffgeezer]

So you know when you don't trust yourself to remember the auction's end date, and you drop a cheeky little bid to remind you and forget allllllllll about it?

Yep, me too.

[ruffgeezer]

Well the van delivery pixie has been...

A couple of hours before I can go home and see what I've been left with...

 

[loserone]

Oh that is fit.

Reminds me of this one

 

[ruffgeezer]

A little digging because I didn't recognise the livery.

 

Shite.  Perhaps I now need a gieger counter too?

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 17/05/2024 at 20:52, ruffgeezer said:

Well no thanks to the chinese flaring kit, which was fucking shite and has since been returned to vendor, the Rover now has a new brake pipe.  I reckon it'll want another go round bleeding it though as the pedal doesn't feel quite right.

I also replaced the droplink with the torn rubber boot - whichever Longbridge twat who signed off of that bit of design must have laughed all the way to the picket lines - what an utterly unnecessary arsehole of a job that was.

In XC70 news, a set of tyres is awaiting fitment.

The exhaust repair has been 85% successful - it is still a bit woofly when running but I really don't want to buy a new cat for a missing flange.

I've replaced a rear droplink and need one more for the front, the PAS leak has been fixed and I've replaced the buggered light switch.   I'm not sure how much more I want to do with it, I like the car but can't help but think long term I should keep the V70 or sell both and get a fresher XC.

 

bmw wasn't it?

[ruffgeezer]

Probably,  perhaps part of teh famed German sense of humour? 

[ruffgeezer]

After the sun finally went down and temperatures dropped enough for a little outside work, I chucked a battery on the new arrival.

Good points:

Good starter, runs well and reasonably quietly for a 2.0 hdi.

Bad points:

Heavy clutch, all the pas fluid has escaped, airbag light on,  smokey!

Worst case I've a nicely packaged low mileage hdi engine.

[ruffgeezer]

Well I chucked the Berlingo in for an MOT last week and it came up clean save for the pinion seal on the rack which is buggered. 

To celebrate,  I went to the scrappy this morning and bought a replacement rack, a Driver's door and the least shitty front wing could find, it's still pretty manky but not anywhere near as mangled as the one currently fitted. 

[Rustybullethole]

Twin rear wipers! Double fucking posh mate. 

[ruffgeezer]

I've slated Friday as replace the steering rack day, but my back is already rather grumpy from yesterday's endeavours. Oh well, needs must, I suppose!

[ruffgeezer]

Well I must say what a knackering day.

Changed a droplink on RuffDad's new van and re-adjusted the back brakes,  nipped out for a brew with each set of parental units, had a bit of grub and then came back to finish the XC70 towbar installation before tackling the Berlingo steering rack. 

Whilst fitting the rack I learnt that the fucking ants have compromised the block paving, so after completing the rack installation I had to pull up a few blocks to re-seat them on some fresh sand.

Well, you've now read this far, why not have a picture of a nearly finished Berlingo, some hastily relaid block paving and some ants that a drowning in a mix of boiling water and washing up liquid.

[warninglight]

Good find on the livery! They still use Berlingos as runarounds on site, mostly with next to no mileage.

Possibly the biggest, and probably the last vehicle to wear the old BNFL livery left a couple of years ago. 

[ruffgeezer]

Cor, that looks a bit specialist, what was that for?

 

From what I can make out, this one spent 3 years around Sellafield before being transferred to Gloucestershire, the string of garages responsible for the MOT testing would suggest that it made it's way down to Oldbury.

Ramco who sold me the van have been told they aren't allowed to provide me with any history, which is really annoying.  That hasn't stopped me emailing whatever the Nuclear power people are called this week to ask though.

[Jenson Velcro]

If not Oldbury, may possibly been at Berkeley 

[warninglight]

The Scammell was just the recovery truck for any truck breakdowns - as well as the fuel flasks moved by train there is a fair bit of low level stuff moved by road. The site is pretty much self-sufficient when it comes to transport stuff. I remember reading a comment when the Scammell left, of it being used to recover an HGV that was stuck on Hardknott Pass some years ago.

Ramco are used for most if not all of the redundant stuff being sold off these days. NRS (was Magnox) will probably be your port of call. I can ask around for someone who might be able to find the info you need, but I'm not on any of their systems... Who did you email?

The PX reg would tally with it being Cumbrian originally. David Hayton in Penrith supply their current crop of Berlingos etc. Not sure if they were the supplier 20 years ago - but they might have some history of it?

[ruffgeezer]

I found an email for someone who manages the oldbury site emails for magnolia, although that might be defunct.  Chasing all these various company names to work out whom has responsibility for those sites now is very murky territory, so if you are able to give me some pointers, it would be greatly appreciated. 

[ruffgeezer]

Today's endeavours have been replacing the front discs and pads, bleeding the PAS rack and getting to grips with the bodywork.

The scruffy wing from the breakers got a quick rub down and I used a can of Halfords paint to give the lower wing it's colour.

By this time I was hot, bothered and a bit fed up, so almost exactly like someone employed to paint fleet vehicles.

I'll add the yellow stripe with vinyl one the panels are fitted.

Whilst the wing was off, it allowed access to the front door  hinges which were fairly new but also fucked.

I bagged a pair along with this complete door which was a Billy bargain compared to the wing.  £30 for a rough wing, £40 for a complete door including window regulator, door card and mirror.

Once I've fitted the wing, I shall use the lines from each adjacent panel to give me the masking points for the door.

[ruffgeezer]

Far from perfect, bit not bad for one aerosol on a windy day.

Shame my hand isn't steady enough to have cut the vinyl straight.

 

Old and new side by side:

[ruffgeezer]

It's been a bit quite car-wise of late, and that's because I've been rather busy with the workshop.

It started as two sheds and a shanty shack very loosely attached to the side. These were built behind the current garages:

It doesn't look terrible here, but it leaked like a sieve and never really dried properly after heavy rain. 

This is looking from the back of the carport/shed lash up through into the double garage.

The ax has been secreted elsewhere to create a through route for the demolished sheds and the new garage panels.

There were 3 roofs here, the one on the carport and 2 over the sheds, most was third hand corrugated steel sheets. Heavy work to remove, but a glimpse at the available space.

All the shed walls were double clad, this is the back of rhe woodshed knocked through to the car port.

Any tin I couldn't fit in the berlingo was left out for the scrap man.

The skeletal remains of the sheds, the roof sheet in the background is roughly where the blue bike was leant further up.

Each time I built up a load of timber, the little berlingo was filled and taken to a neighbour whose whole property runs on a wood fired boiler, he is always happy to take any old timber, well apart from the bits that had been soaked in creosote. 

Of course nothing is ever simple, the fence that was supporting the roof was very well attached ton3 very rotten fence posts, as the fence is only temporary, i sistered in 3 new posts on the other side of the fence, but had to leave part of the roof structure up until I could do so.

Lastly the slabs are now just about clear for the delivery on Sunday, I've just to knock a few bits of old mortar off where the dwarf walls were, and repair the retaining wall at the back.

[ruffgeezer]

Here I am contemplating the task at hand:- 

The burning drum certainly earned ea's keep too.  Who uses MDF as roof strips?

[Rustybullethole]

Cracking work should make a world of difference for fettling/tat storage space. When can i move in? 

[ruffgeezer]

A few back breaking wlhours later we have most of the new garage. 

Only problem is I shall have to cut down the roof joists as they are too long for how I shall configure it.  

Also i reckon we might be a beam or two short, 4 beams for an 18ft garage seems a little stingy.

[ruffgeezer]

Not a bad final result really, the new owner intends on making it a mini camper of sorts.

And after a quick polish and linseed treatment:

[ruffgeezer]

Yeah, so that little soft patch on the drivers floor that couldn't bee seen due to the fuel cooler from underneath?

I have one photo, entitled simply, 'Fuck'

Once again Citroën's super rubbery under seal has hidden a multitude of sins.

As  result I've cut a floor from a van at the scrapyard.