Category: I’m a mechanic me…

[Both in the awful pun sense and the accurate description of the car sense]

Yesterday I spent the day with John (and for the first half of the day) Nikki, attempting to hand-build an exhaust to fit my beloved Rebecca’s LCB Manifold.

See, I could just about justify the money for the front part of the system, the LCB frontpipe; but the cost of the whole system was more than I felt I could justify; especially with that Janspeed silencer and a stainless steel back section kicking around in the garage.

So, we set about creating an exhaust on Friday, using the LCB front pipe and a sleeve to get that to join to the Janspeed silencer. It looked like, with a bit of a gimp on the angle the silencer went in, we should be able to join it to the backsection.

It went a bit pearshaped though (more…)

And, interestingly, 11.49 pm in Anchorage…

So yesterday, yet again, I ordered a huge pile of stuff I shouldn’t have. But it’s time to finish what I started with Rebecca. The only ‘expensive’ bit was the front section of exhaust, but I am now heartily sick of having an engine that noticably gets short of breath at 60 mph. Not only that, but I sold the carburettor to Nikki a good few months ago, and am yet to actually give her it (since it’s still on my engine). So hopefully I can get that sorted over the weekend… I’ll have to attack the silencer with an anglegrinder to have even the faintest hope of making it fit…
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So.

Today I need to work.

But first, I want to get the bits ordered to sort my car out properly. In January I’m going to have to be commuting to/from hospital and it looks increasingly unlikely that I’ll have sorted out Claire’s (the ‘zed’s) rusty frame by then; although I do need to get her engine taken down to London soonish.

At any rate, having a failing starter motor and peeing oil out is not really ‘ideal’ for a daily commute, and since I’ve actually managed to slightly reduce the credit card burden; at least temporarily; I’ve decided that I’m going to fork out the money to finish off my Rebecca’s engine upgrade.

However, it turns out that one component I need I can only get from a local motor factors; having rung round specialists all morning they only do one version of this particular component; and I want the OEM doesn’t leak part, not the Pattern leaks like sieve part (which I’ve already got).

I also want to get these parts *soon*; because I am not wildly keen on the working-on-car-outside-in-winter game that I’ve played before. The garage remains ‘full of crap’. I’ve just e-mailed another Marina/Ital club to try to see if anyone wants them before they go on e-bay.

I also need to get rid of the Hoover 1346A I picked up off Freecycle, having now got an oh-so-shiny Dyson DC01. Well, maybe not too shiny, but it’s in remarkably good condition for a second hand hoover. Of course, as is traditional it didn’t work when I got it; but it took me all of several minutes to fix it; the cable had broken at the point where it entered the hoover body; the cable is now, of course, about 2 inches shorter, but the hoover sucks like a good’un, so I’m happy.

But it does mean I’m now the ‘proud’ owner of 4 hoovers. A Goblin wet’n’dry, a Hoover Junior 119, a Hoover 1346A and a Dyson DC01. I don’t know how popular Dysons are in ‘merkia, but in hoovering terms they suck more shit up per pass than any other hoover I’ve encountered.

Indeed, our lounge, which was hoovered on Friday, well… lets just say that what came up was quite impressive. I guess how little came up is a testament to the 1346A ;-)

Were Dysons quite such a cleaning revolution in ‘merkia? I wonder.

Anyway. I think that’s sufficent rambling for today.

….after a really good weekend.

James (ex-flatmate, for the uninitiated, and all round decent bloke (and it turns out, bloody brilliant portrait photographer)) and Chrissy came to visit this weekend…

…and I just had a bloody good time.

Here’s some pictures of Sunday’s jaunt to Ashton Court (flying Kate’s *rockin’* kite)…

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Finally got the new pump on the car; although the job itself wasn’t terribly difficult, the weather conspired to make it as unpleasant as feasibly possible. The only thing which could have made it substantially worse was the addition of say, sleat, or perhaps a sudden cold-snap. Although it’s chillier than it was anyway.

But, apart from the odd scraped knuckle and having to shorten a hose by a couple of mms, the job was suprisingly pain free and simple. Although the extra 20 quid the new pump cost (on top of the mini pump’s price) – that was inconveniently painful. At any rate, a quick check suggests it’s on okay and no longer leaking.

Given the weather conditions I felt it might be ‘wise’ to sort out the electrical problem which has plagued my car since the new engine was put in; that of the side light not working – new bulb didn’t solve it – and the alternator not charging the battery when the heater was on, that also was winding me up – and I deemed it to be a problem given the current weather conditions.

So – the light, that was easy enough – a broken wire to the bullet connector (mmm, lucar) had disconnected the side light. One new bullett connector, enough solder to fill the titanic and that was done.

But the charging? I found a loose connector on the Alternator yesterday – and hoped that might be it, but no. Still not working. So today I spent a happy half hour cleaning every single damn connector on a 1964 Morris Minor fusebox (courtesy of Nikki) – it really was appulingly filthy – worse than the one on the car, but it meant I could just clean it and stick the new one on in place of the old one. Much easier than trying to note which wires went where…

…having done that – problem solved. I need to find some vaseline (I had some, somewhere) to smear on all the connectors – stop them from corroding again. But still, I think we’re ready for our trip back to my parents. Oh, with Johns help, the exhaust has been resealed – pending me getting the *right* frontpipe for my car. It’s ‘only’ 80 quid.

Bugger, that’s what I say.

‘Bugger’. Yes.

So, we headed north, north and east, to the east-middle-bit of the UK, where Trey’s mum lives; (grrr, typed mom). Anyway, having got here I noticed something, but I thought “I’m not going to look at that, at least, not too hard”. But eventually, I felt it was necessary – my car’s leaking… coolant. Yes.
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