no , you are safe. the cctv , thermal imaging and claymores only cover as far east as truro!! the 39 is a lovely run as long as you dont get stuck behind too many tractors.
Funny lot, BMC. When the car first came out in 1964, it was fitted with a rear anti-roll bar as standard. By the end of 1965, they'd taken it off again. It actually rides pretty flat when cornering regardless, and did nothing about to help the "SBS" or Saggy Bum Syndrome which hydro cars suffer from when the boot is laden. No self-levelling headlights back then.....
Several companies came up with solutions using the Aeon Hollow Rubber Spring (You can still buy them today), including Firestone. I managed to track down the installation sheet for theirs a few years back and recently managed to buy a Princess kit for an entire 5 Englsh Pounds. Not for the metalwork, but for the rubber springs. Bargain.
And the spring assister bolted home on the trailing arm.
So that's the offside done. Turned it round to do the nearside to find that offering the spring unit up is impossible. The fuel tank has got to come out...... That wasn't in the instructions.
Seeing that I had my head firmly planted within the wheelarch for a couple of hours, I suppose it was inevitable that I'd eventually notice the scabby bit at the end of the sill. Poke it, poke it - you know you want to.
Having run MrsP to the car show at Tatton Park, I have had to deal with A COMPLAINT. MrsP couldn't open the passenger side window. I've known about it for a while, but, hey, I don't sit on that side. I had even acquired some new window channel, as that was the root of the problem.
That's Woolies Universal Window Channel no. 317 - HERE. Forms into a nice square section when pushed home into the channel.
So, three doors were dealt with without any particular problems.
1/ Remove door furniture and card.
2/ Remove window stop bracket at the bottom.
3/ Get the window right down and slide the glass off the rail.
4/ Rotate the glass through 45° and slide out through the top of the door. No need to remove the chrome trim.
5/ Remove old channel. Might pull out, might disintegrate.....
6/ Clean door channel.
7/ Work the new channel section home. Ensure pushed fully home in the corners.
8/ Clean window bottom rail and coat copiously with copperslip.
9/ Re-insert glass, ease down to the bottom and refit to rail.
10/ Refit stop bracket.
11/ Seize opportunity to fill the door bottom with cavity wax.
12/ Wind window up and down a few times to ensure the glass sits properly.
13/ Refit door card and furniture.
The rear passenger door was a complete and total s@d. Finished up removing the winder mechanism with the window in the up position. I could hear the ghost of Torquemada giggling faintly...
Then I had to put the window mechanism back in. It only took 40 minutes and a bit of swearing. Once it was in the right way, I couldn't get the glass back on the rail. Finally, in a moment of extreme stupidity genius, I took the tension spring off. All back together in moments. Err, the spring. Figured out that the tension was lowest with the window in the fully closed position. Torquemada is now looming over my shoulder laughing out loud. I got it with water pump pliers and a large screwdriver in the end.
Awkward, fiddly job, but rather satisfying when done.
Pride comes before a fall. Drove to Burnley and back today. On the way, that window dropped an inch. On the way back, it dropped half way down. Presumably insufficient tension on the spring.
Oh dear. Nearly a year gone by. You may recall that things had gone a bit wrong with my garage being broken into and a considerable quantity of tools being stolen. Shortly after that I lost Mother and Dad needed a considerable degree of support. He's 95 and fighting fit, but this was almost a blow too many. I then complicated matters further by getting a job. I had been self employed for 30 years, so having a job interview after 35 years was a real shock. Anyway, I now do three days a week in the bodyshop for a local restoration company. Got to pay the electricity bill somehow.
The car has basically behaved very well, needing little beyond servicing, despite numerous trips down to Cornwall and back. There were a few bits and pieces:
Gearbox selector housing leak finally resolved with a thick gasket which actually fits and replacing the studs with cap head bolts so that the torque could be easily and accurately set.
So we're kind of up to date. Anyway, Bank Holiday weekend, sun's out, MrsP has gone camping, I have a large pot of stew to last the weekend and a crate of beer. What could be better than to break out the angle grinder and the welder? The nearside rear wheel arch was looking a bit fat, so I poked it. Well then, that's my job for this weekend.
Repair panel made for the inner tub and fitted. Also welded up the other end where I found that my cutting disc wasn't as worn down as I thought it was... Shot plenty of etch primer in there before:
Repair panel welded home and after a first flat back.
It's all gone rather well so far, so I am becoming deeply suspicious. The joys of a wipe of filler tomorrow. At least I've got two whole days to get it right.
With immaculate timing, the sun crept round the end of the garage ready for the top coats. I don't know how I manage to plan these things... Yeah, right. Three coats of Damask and it can wait until tomorrow.
Masking off this morning, flap refitted. Doesn't look too bad. Heaven help me if Chris ever actually sees it in the flesh! I'll give it a week and see how it buffs up. The car is otherwise covered in filler dust, so that's got to go.
But not today. I fancied something rather more sedate after the weekend's activities so far. Trim panels, then.
"A" post trim panels to be exact. Look at the state of these cards. Warped to blazes. No wonder the panels keep falling off. They've only lasted fifty two years. Shocking.
Sounded simple enough, didn't it? My advice to anyone considering this job is:
PAY SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT!
Nightmare; absolute bl@@dy nightmare. That turned into a day and a half's work. Blind and inaccessible rivets was the principal problem. It's obviously meant to be fitted with the dashboard out of the car and partially disassembled. Just as well I'm small enough to fit under the dashboard. It's all gone back together with self-tappers and Spire clips where appropriate. I'm not going through that again.
Anyway, looks much better than the mess which used to in there.
Possibly... There is a list of these small fiddly jobs which just ought to get done to get the car looking nice. Here's another one:
There's always been a missing trim on one of the rear doors. The one I've got has got disintegrating hardboard. Now that I have some spare vinyl from the scrap seat covers, it's the time to deal with it.
She hasn't needed much of late, been behaving very well. So, the events of the last few days came as something of a shock. We were chased out of bed at 6.30am on Thursday by one of my neighbours coming back from her nightshift. Blundered outside to find this:
I don't swear much (usually just after the hammer/thumb interface), so MrsP was somewhat taken aback at my language. Anyway, I'm a B-minded, stubborn old so-and-so. Being a 'Crabaholic of the worst water, I have spare glass in stock. Got that fitted by 7.45am and at 8.15, I hot-wired the car and drove to work. I win, sort of.
Sunday was time to sort it all out properly. Started off with a bit of lathe therapy:
It makes putting that locking ring back on a doddle. This is after the raid on the box of dead Wilmot Bredon locks to make a new key barrel to fit my key. Also turned out a new trim ring as that was all scratched and bent. I even got the buffer out and polished it.
Can't quite finish putting the centre dash back together until this little cubby is replaced. It's papier maché and is quite strong when intact. Unfortunately it's been attacked with a screwdriver, so now useless. Tony from LOCI has a couple of decent ones, so it'll get sorted soon.
Then on to three hours of mindless tedium scraping, digging and vacuuming glass out of the car and door. Seats out, carpets out, bits of trim out - complete pain in the backside. Door put back together, everything else put back in and back in the house in time for the footie.
Anyway, nett cost of repairs = £0. Not quite true - I bought our neighbour a nice bottle of red for being a good neighbour. CCTV footage from our own system and some of the neighbours shows that this all took place at 3am. Unfortunately, you could drop a bomb at 3am and I wouldn't notice... Not quite enough resolution to be useful to the police. I do take a little bit of satisfaction that even if they had managed to activate the ignition, they'd never have got her started because of... things...
Post by grumpynorthener on Dec 5, 2022 13:14:36 GMT
Total Scum is all I can say (The perpetrators that is) - and what did they achieve other than wasting your time - Nothing - I suppose it could have been worse but I hate seeing our passion vandalised by mindless idiots
Three coats of Damask and it can wait until tomorrow.
