Just a quick little update today. Finally got some time yesterday to see why the engine wasn’t firing, having had both the battery and jumper pack on charge over the weekend. I worked my way down the checklists in the Haynes and Autodata books (told you this was all new to me) and after making sure that everything was plugged in securely, then cleaning the earthing points and the plugs…
The garage is great to work in – it means I don’t have to get absolutely everything done in an evening, I can just close the door and come back to it a few days later Of course, it’ll be even nicer once I’ve stopped the roof leaking and had it rewired by a sparkie who actually understands the word “safe”, but they’re minor things – hats off to the guys…
To get me through the delay, I consoled myself with a trip to Machine Mart on one of their VAT free days and came away with (amongst other things) a new bottom cabinet to hold the ever expanding collection of tools and gadgets. The new bottom radiator hose arrived in the post, so I immediately rushed out to the garage, fixed it up with some new hose clips and started filling the…
Imagine, if you will, that a week has passed… The front end of the engine is in a right state and lurking underneath all that dirt, goo and crystallised rust is undoubtedly the explanation for the seemingly inoperative cooling. It’s all ripe for a tidy up and new belts, particularly as I can’t find anything to tell me when the last cambelt change was. The thermostat housing came off without…
Right, enough of the mucking about with boxes … there’s a car to put back on the road for the summer, before it starts snowing and I wonder where the heck the nice weather went This is a catch-up exercise for the minute, so bear with me – I’ve been doing stuff for the last few weekends, but couldn’t find the interface cable for the camera. My compulsion for buying things…
Erm, well … you see it’s like this, sir … Boxes are now emptied (though I can’t remember where I’ve put half the stuff now), shelves have been put up, lights have been mended, a sink’s been replaced and half a square mile of York stone has been jetwashed – which means I can go out and play in the garage As well as working on the car, I need…
First of all, wow – thanks to anyone who awarded the thread some stars … it’s nice to know that people are actually interested Secondly, sorry, but I couldn’t make the Scotch Corner meet for reasons that will become readily apparent Thirdly, never, ever,ever buy a house without a warranted/certified central heating system If you happen to contract pneumonia and the central heating dies repeatedly leaving you with a f-f-f-freezin’ house it doesn’t…
Got to put all the bits back together in the morning and get the car running before I lose the internet connection (just in case the Haynes “book of incomprehensible photos” lets me down). Then it’s off down the road to the new gaff, tuck it away in the new garage and spend the next three days shifting boxes Pictures to follow when I get back to work on Monday
Seems like weeks since I’ve done anything on the car … and after looking at the thread it turns out it is The house move’s now on for a couple of weeks away, so I’m trying to box everything up whenever I’ve got a free minute. To show that I’m not totally slacking on the project and give you an idea how tedious it can be debugging a customer’s web application…
On a sad note, I heard that the old boy I got this car from passed away on Christmas Eve Hopefully he’ll have approved of what I’m up to. R.I.P. fella… OK, I actually feel guilty for not doing anything of late The last few weeks have been filled with visiting friends and family, and trying to get the house purchase sorted out – pretty difficult when everyone takes 3 weeks off…
Headlamp bowls now dealt with, for the moment, at least until I’ve got better access when I replace the front wings (did anyone say “scope creep” ??? ). Cleaned them out with a variety of brass cups and flap wheels in the drill (gotta admit I basically just got one of everything and kept trying each one to see what happened) … … then applied the magic rust killer ……
Rather annoyingly, I’m getting home from work too late at the moment to start cutting up bits of metal to practice with the welding … especially as the garage shares a wall with next door’s lounge To not lose momentum, last night I started to take apart the front end of the car to gauge how much work was needed here. The bolts on the outer bumper brackets didn’t want…
Well, today didn’t turn out quite how I expected, which seems to be par for the course at the moment Yesterday’s viewing of a house with a “detatched double garage” turned out to be a pokey workshop where the front wall was made of breezeblocks with fake doors screwed on the outside Started off with some general beads to get a feel for the welder and playing about with the wire…
Next on the list should have been a weekend of working on the car, but I ended up spending it driving a Transit to Newcastle twice and filling it up with house bits When I get the chance though, the next thing on the list will involve playing with a Mig welder I learnt to gas weld years ago, but that was always on the understanding that the student’s would…