Sunny Jim's Hearse: The Grim Sleeper - Self-healing Mode Engaged

[Sunny Jim]

Dropped off for welding 

keeping some interesting company 

Is it an Alvis?

 

[High Jetter]

44 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

Is it an Alvis?

No, a Bentley! What's with the script on the pick-up - Sgaffalding?

[loserone]

21 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

What's with

Wales

[Sunny Jim]

It's Welsh, sgaffaldiau = scaffolding. Just like English anglicises some French words Welsh welshifies some English words. Batris a ecsôsts are good examples.

[N Dentressangle]

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Sunny Jim said:

It's Welsh, sgaffaldiau = scaffolding. Just like English anglicises some French words Welsh welshifies some English words. Batris a ecsôsts are good examples.

Every day's a school day. Thanks. 

[Sunny Jim]

1 hour ago, N Dentressangle said:

I must admit I didn't get the reference and had to do an image search. Now off to see if Harold and Maude is available to watch online. 👍

[N Dentressangle]

15 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

I must admit I didn't get the reference and had to do an image search. Now off to see if Harold and Maude is available to watch online. 👍

Here it is:

https://archive.org/details/harold.and.-maude.-1971.1080p.-blu-ray.-x-264-amiable-1-692-p-1

It's a great film - you'll love it.

[Sunny Jim]

As of this afternoon this has an MOT. One advisory for "underbody covered in underseal" which it is so I'm not going to quibble.

It's been a bit of a battle but new front wheel bearings and new upper bushes and ball joints on the front suspension mean it's mechanically sorted too. Fortunately there's still some funds in the kitty for fripperies such as painting flames down the sides, window tints and curtains for the rear. Target is to have it ready for Glastonbury at the end of the month.

[N Dentressangle]

Daimler Limosuine.

Love it

[tooSavvy]

6 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

Daimler Limosuine.

Love it

Ahh but.... U  die to try 💀

🚙💨

[Sunny Jim]

Going to be sleeping in The Grim Sleeper for a week while I'm working at Glastonbury. Because everything is all a bit rushed and last minute and I'm leaving tomorrow today I roped in a mate to help make some curtain rails this afternoon. 15mm copper with brass fittings.

I don't yet have any curtains to go on them so for now I'll just hang some blankets up for some privacy. (I do have a skilled seamster on the case to make some velvet curtains but as I only got the rails finished today I haven't yet given him measurements).

[Sunny Jim]

Got on site and parked up at 8am this morning deploying safety* ramps to level up.

Going to have to find something more substantial than this chair to use as a step else it's bound to end badly.

Temporary curtains and fairy lights up.

Boot tent means I can keep the tailgate open which is essential in this heat.

Cobbled together an awning out of a tarp and the sides of an old gazebo to have somewhere out of the sun/wind/rain to cook. It's on the East side so it'll stop the morning sun making the inside of the hearse too hot if I want to have a lie-in.

I'm sure I'll refine things but quite happy with this set up for a first attempt.

Fingers crossed 🤞 the weather stays like this.

[Rustybullethole]

Happy days. Don't work too hard. 

[N Dentressangle]

Pure brilliance.

Fuck luxury glamping - kipping in shonky hearses is what Glastonbury should be about

[Sunny Jim]

Been a good day catching up with old mates and making a few new ones. I'm thinking of introducing a pun box along the same lines as a swear box: whenever anybody makes a death pun I'll charge them a quid - should pay my bar bill.

Quite cosy innit?

[Sunny Jim]

I went to move the hearse where I store it at work yesterday and was greeted by an Anti-lock (ABS) warning light. I did some googling last night and perceived wisdom is you can sometimes get lucky and cure it by tightening the 10mm bolt on the connector to the ABS module. So I tried that and wasn't lucky.

Next on my list of free possible fixes was undoing the connector and cleaning the contacts. There's not a lot of room to work as it's shoved up against the inner wing and the bulkhead. Like much of the rest of me my fingers are long and thin so I got to there in the end. The plug is the female side and the pins are on the module. I couldn't see the pins let alone get the can of contact cleaner close enough to spray them so I just gobbed a load of contact cleaner in the plug and put it back in place. No dice, light still lit so I moved on to the wheel sensors.

Hmm, I'm no expert but that red cable loosely held by a poorly crimped ring connector on the NSF doesn't look factory and might just be the cause of my problems. It came apart with a tug to reveal a blackened end. I'd like to tell you that I made a proper job of it and crimped and heat shrunk a new ring connector onto the cable unfortunately I had neither any ring connectors or even my crimping tool with me.

Dear reader, I bodged it. Opened up the tabs of the old ring connector, chopped back the cable until a shiny copper conductor was revealed and shoved it back into the ring connector which I crimped with a pair of pliers. Insulation tape had to do instead of heat shrink.

Fired up the engine and the light still didn't go out. Fuck it I thought, I'm tired and I'm hungry and I never do my best work when I'm tired and hungry so decided to head home. I'd done quarter of a mile or so when I glanced down at the dash and realised the Anti-lock light was no longer lit - wahey, success it's fixed*!

Thinking about it the car probably had to be doing over a certain speed for the module to ascertain that the wheel sensor was sending a signal. Dunno, not sure so I can't even say if anything I did this evening fixed it. @RoverFolkUs's sig about not tinkering with stuff if you don't know how it works often comes to mind when I'm mucking about with my jalopies but to be honest I'd be very limited in what I do if I stuck to that. At some stage (possibly not until the light comes back) I'll revisit it and do a proper job of crimping a new connector on. I'm guessing the red cable is to provide an extra earth but I don't know why it's required.

 

 

 

[comfortablynumb]

Red for earth.

Because of course it is 🤣 

Edit - it's not positive earth is it.....? 😁

[Sunny Jim]

Paid a nice fella called Slav £200 to tint the windows. Chuffed with how it's turned out and will hopefully help keep it (a bit) cooler inside.

[Homersimpson]

With the ABS light, my S-Type of a similar vintage was the same, once fixed you needed to drive it for a short distance for the light to go out.

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

Paid a nice fella called Slav £200 to tint the windows. Chuffed with how it's turned out and will hopefully help keep it (a bit) cooler inside.

Spooky hearse, you don't know what it's carrying!

Or who?

Edited July 16, 2025 by High Jetter

[KruJoe]

No Skellibones evident now.  Without the tint he really tickled MrsKJ...

...and caused a slight kerfuffle in the heritage centre car park 😅

[beko1987]

52 minutes ago, KruJoe said:

No Skellibones evident now.  Without the tint he really tickled MrsKJ...

...and caused a slight kerfuffle in the heritage centre car park 😅

Did they think it had turned up to cart a member of staff away? 😂

[Sunny Jim]

New tyres on rear and old rears moved to the front in preparation for Rustival.

I've gone for Pace Alventis (no, me neither) largely on the basis of them being £50 and B for economy and wet grip.

 

[tooSavvy]

Wisely side stepped 'Sailum'... sail-straight ons 😉

Maggikk

🚙💨

[Sunny Jim]

Dug this out of the corner of the carpark at work where it had been resting over winter to check it over before Rustival. The coolant needed topping up but all the other levels were fine - tyres hadn't lost any air even. 

The ABS fault light stayed lit on start up but went out after I'd driven a few miles. I left the handbrake off while it had been parked up but applied it when I stopped to pick up a few bits from a shop and now the handbrake light won't go out! Handbrake is off as far as I can tell (stopped facing downhill, applied handbrake and put in Neutral, release handbrake, handle goes all the way down and car starts to roll) so the issue is presumably with the switch?  Haven't actually managed to locate the switch yet as handbrake is wedged between the transmission tunnel and the seat buried in a load of thick carpet and underlay. Can confirm that there doesn't appear to be a 20p piece stuck in the mechanism.

Otherwise it's good to have it on the road again. Looking forward to the drive to Coventry - just got to decide whether to set off Friday after work and kip in the back somewhere or get up at silly o'clock and do it in a oner on Saturday morning.

[Sunny Jim]

FFS Jaguar - consulted my copy of the workshop manual and it looks like the seat and centre console have to come out to access the handbrake switch - that ain't happening before Rustival.

[catsinthewelder]

Just bear in mind that the handbrake light is also the brakes might not work warning light on some cars.  Have you definitely got brake fluid?

[Sunny Jim]

I started it up in the carpark and initially drove it round the corner and into a shed where I did my checks. BFR was up to the mark and the fluid was clean when I took the cap off to look. I came home in it this evening and plan to drive to work in it tomorrow, I'll make sure to check the fluid again before I set off. Thanks @catsinthewelder

[Wibble]

9 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

I started it up in the carpark and initially drove it round the corner and into a shed where I did my checks. BFR was up to the mark and the fluid was clean when I took the cap off to look. I came home in it this evening and plan to drive to work in it tomorrow, I'll make sure to check the fluid again before I set off. Thanks @catsinthewelder

Sounds like a dodgy switch and it’s good to go. Safe travels.