Can't find the old thread, so here starteth the new.... (tho I expect someone will dig it up...)..
The old shed was laid up last October with serious chassis rot on the nearside front leg, so after the weather stopped falling to bits I replaced copious amounts of rotted tin with new sheetmetal, soorted out various other maladies with shocks and rot and got her ready for the MOT. Amazingly neither the clutch or brakes were stuck and the rest wasn't too bad, so after replacing the wipers, an indicator bulb and some fresh petrol I toddled off to the MOT station - except the nearside front wheen decided to part company en route! I had done the nuts up to 'drop one gonad' tight, clearly they needed 'drop two gonads'.....
Anyhoo, luckily I was travelling slowly behind an old git in a Scrappage crapper so I was able to stop safely - and the fact the Ital has fibreglass wings which popped off allowing the wheel to toddle its merry way down the road (having recently seen a 57-plate SEAT with a wheel gone AWOL, the damage on that was colossal!). I collected what I could find, walked home, got a jack/wheelbrace and was back in five mins; up with the car, on with the wheel, pinch a bolt from the nearside rear to put three on the front, tape the wing back on and home again!
The total damage was a bent brake shield, scratched paint and apart from the wing, a busted grease nipple.... the wing was Tiger Sealed back on, a quick phone call later and yesterday she sailed through the MOT with no advisories but in desperate need of fresh petrol!
What was a giggle was the look on the local Plods face as he drove past trying to find this 'badly damaged car', only to see it tucked up on my drive looking as though nothing had happened!
The old shed was laid up last October with serious chassis rot on the nearside front leg, so after the weather stopped falling to bits I replaced copious amounts of rotted tin with new sheetmetal, soorted out various other maladies with shocks and rot and got her ready for the MOT. Amazingly neither the clutch or brakes were stuck and the rest wasn't too bad, so after replacing the wipers, an indicator bulb and some fresh petrol I toddled off to the MOT station - except the nearside front wheen decided to part company en route! I had done the nuts up to 'drop one gonad' tight, clearly they needed 'drop two gonads'.....
Anyhoo, luckily I was travelling slowly behind an old git in a Scrappage crapper so I was able to stop safely - and the fact the Ital has fibreglass wings which popped off allowing the wheel to toddle its merry way down the road (having recently seen a 57-plate SEAT with a wheel gone AWOL, the damage on that was colossal!). I collected what I could find, walked home, got a jack/wheelbrace and was back in five mins; up with the car, on with the wheel, pinch a bolt from the nearside rear to put three on the front, tape the wing back on and home again!
The total damage was a bent brake shield, scratched paint and apart from the wing, a busted grease nipple.... the wing was Tiger Sealed back on, a quick phone call later and yesterday she sailed through the MOT with no advisories but in desperate need of fresh petrol!
What was a giggle was the look on the local Plods face as he drove past trying to find this 'badly damaged car', only to see it tucked up on my drive looking as though nothing had happened!
