Sunday….
OK, today is PUBLIC TRANSPORT DAY!!!
If you’re from London it will probably seem alien to you that public transport in my book is usually rubbish.
If where you want to go is not north/south along some socio-economic highway but instead west/east across country the journey often involves a fair bit of messing about with different trains, waiting at cold stations and squeezing into outdated carriages with a million other disgruntled passengers…..or it was the last time I used a train.
Turns out, if you travel on a Sunday and the times of the reduced number of trains suit you it’s actually not that bad! My one and a half hour west to east journey across Manchester and up into the hills (back to the 1950’s) only involved one change at Manchester Piccadilly, for £14.10 (If you’re travelling the other way it costs 11s 10d).
Couple of Whatsapps with VT before setting out just to make sure nothing had changed (why would it…..
)
It’s looking a bit rainy so a quick question to make sure the wipers work. VT’s quick reply “they always have for me but it’s Italian…….”
Horrible memories of a driving an old E30 325i bought at night for too much money when E30’s were worth noth-ing and driving across Manchester with wipers that stopped working, lights that were dimming as the rain lashing down makes actual functioning wipers high on my list of things I would like to work today.
Anyway, might as well make sure my ‘emergency bag of tricks’ is fully prepped for all eventualities.
• SIP Pro Booster 802Li Power Pack
Pro booster. Cool piece of kit that will start a petrol car upto 5litres and is only weighs about a kilo and comes in a natty man-bag.
• A decent tool roll of spanners, screwdrivers, pliers, snips etc
• Cable ties
• Jubilee clips
• Fuses
• Some nuts and bolts
• Copy of
Motorpunk magazine to read on the train (awesome read)
• Self-amalgamating tape for any air leaks or dodgy wiring
• Electricians tape to use if above doesn’t stick
• Snickers bar
Make sure the car is added to my policy - £47 until renewal in June….bargain!
Right, let’s go!
On the train, found a forward facing seat, get comfy open Motorpunk Mag.
Nice view of not sunny / not rainy Cheshire
My dodgy looking backpack. I felt quite uneasy about carrying this with loads of pointy metal bits in it, a li-ion battery starter and general tools….sign of the times. Luckily there were zero transport police anywhere to give me the eye....
Picadilly with a suspicious looking bloke with backpack…not that I’m paranoid now…no…not all.
Find which platform will take me down the rabbit hole….platform 7 it is.
Slightly less nice view as we head towards the event horizon….it’s looking a bit on the moist side up there. Not to worry, the wipers work on the coupe VT promised me…….
Got picked up from the station by VT in the Turbo coupe, just showing off now
No pictures as there were quite a few people about, driving into other people in the car park so it wasn’t a good idea to stand still for too long.
Bit of woooshing and whistling of the turbo on the ride back to chez VT. Explain my logic on the ride as to why I’m not buying the turbo….hmmm, why am I not buying this finished car with nice seats and a turbo?
So, 20V waiting for me looking pretty. VT goes to show me, of course the wipers work because it’s raining now…….swish….wipe….thunk……not much wiping happening any more……
Ahhhh PTSD I’m going to be stuck ont’moors in a storm with no wipers in winter….
……OK, calm down you big mincer!
The very light rain has pretty much subsided, it’s just a bit cold and damp. We’re not really on the moors and we have the combined wisdom and expertise of two RetroRiders (and a Halfords pro socket set)
……let’s get to work A-Team style. (Bags I’m Face Man, you can be any of the others but I’m not waiting around if you’re gonna be Mr T, gold chains an' all that malarkey).
Wipers whipped off spindles and scuttle panel lifted, VT either doing his best not to laugh or squirming a bit, can't decide
.
It’s immediately obvious the linkage has popped apart at one of the pivot joints, pop it back together and we're good to go.
Wipe……..thunk…ah maybe not.
Luckily we had put everything back together before testing the wipers so we got the experience of taking it all apart again.
Imagine the the little rusty bit with the yellow circle round it (just below the slightly rustier spindle) sitting at the bottom of the rusty looking scuttle tray, that's where we found it. It was well camouflaged as a large bit of rust.
Then the two master mechanics worked out how it clips back on.......right we're all caught up now.
Bosh that on and reassemble……we are awesome!
Check no spanners or tools under the bonnet
Close bonnet
Brew
V5 and cash
Talk cars
Talk about cars a bit more
Talk about future plans for cars
Time to go.
Video in the next instalment....'The Drive Home'.
AL.
No pictures as there were quite a few people about, driving into other people in the car park so it wasn’t a good idea to stand still for too long.