vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 19, 2024 14:25:02 GMT
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Today I learned, while jump starting another car that was refusing to start, that my radiator fan switch has completely died. Luckily the over-ride switch a former owner fitted is still wired in and works. A replacement switch is £15-30 and May has been very expensive so that's going to have to wait until after big pay day in a week or two. Coolant change is due anyway, so I'll do that at the same time.
There's also a new video coming on Tuesday, Youtube has taken a bit of a back seat for me lately, I've had other things - job hunting, saving, the regular artwork job, fixing the Princess, etc. - take precedence. Not sure when or even if I'll be back to the weekly schedule while it's an unpaid gig.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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The RR Spotted Threadvulgalour
@vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member 146
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May 19, 2024 14:23:05 GMT
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That Minor pick up arguably looks nicer than either the Traveller it's based on or the factory pick up offering.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 17, 2024 10:09:48 GMT
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There's been a discussion rolling about the place that the Hyundai Ioniq 5 looks a bit like an Austin Princess in some of its styling and I determined that should the opportunity present I'd get a photo of that. Today, entirely by chance, the opportunity did present when I was leaving the gym as one had parked up behind me. First thing to note is the Hyundai is fecking huge! My brain is convinced the Hyundai is about the size of a Mk3 Golf until I see one in person, something about the styling makes them seem like they should be a smaller car. Second thing is that it's not a copy of a Princess, but the case could be made that it's a re-imagining or homage to it. From the waistline up there's a lot of very similar lines to the glass and the rear pillar, and the strong horizontal swage line is reminiscent of the sharp crease on the Princess (where my two-tone is split). There's even some similarity in the trapezoidal fuel filler flap between the two cars. That's obviously about where it ends on the styling similarities. The Hyundai also feels like it occupies a similar sort of space in the sort of buyer it's aimed at. Someone who wants something that looks a bit different, is technologically forward thinking (Hydragas on the Princess, electric power on the Ioniq 5), and has the means to buy something a bit nicer. Again, not an exact match, just enough of a similarity that the Hyundai sort of the modern day equivalent of the Austin... if you squint a bit. So now you know. That's what a Hyundai Ioniq 5 and an Austin Princess look like side by side.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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blackpopracing: That's what's fitted, just a little nubbin that screws into the back panel above the plate, it's very subtle when it's off. I bought two, expecting to get maybe three years out of the one that's on there so I'm pretty impressed it lasted quite so much longer!
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 15, 2024 21:23:55 GMT
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glenanderson: Looks like I can just knock the top pin out of the plug and that disables dip, that's a lot easier than putting switches and stuff in and easily reversed if I wanted to for any reason. For now I think I'm just going to run it as is until there's a problem and I'll deal with it later. bmcnut: They might, but I actually like my white and yellow plates. I'm thinking that maybe having the front one mounted flat to the top surface of the valance would be okay, it's still legible there and wouldn't block airflow to the rad. Pretty sure I'm allowed black and silvers now due to the rolling age thing they brought in, they just don't feel right to me on this car. generallee: they really do! --- My prediction was correct. That's dipped beam on both pairs of headlights. Nobody flashed me at all, or drove evasively, so I think the alignment is honestly close enough. The spread of light seems sensible. Main beam is frankly absurd I'm not sure when I shall ever need it. A friend dubbed these 'JJ Abrams Spec'. They don't lens flare like that in person, only on camera. The car gods give, the car gods take away and because I improved the headlights they decided that 11 years is quite enough service for my rear number plate light to give. I'll have to dig out the spare and figure out how to connect the ridiculous hair-thin wires it has.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 15, 2024 18:07:08 GMT
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Fully agree and intend to do so on the alignment. I'm wondering if I can just knock a pin out on the connector plug so I don't have dip on the inners but also I doubt anyone will really care. Worst case, I just unplug the inners completely and have them for show/spares.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 15, 2024 17:05:39 GMT
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Today, the wiring for the second pair of headlights arrived so I fitted them and learned that it must be easy because even I could do it. The only frustration is I can't wire the indicator and sidelight portions up yet because I could not find a single shop selling wire by the metre, I don't need a whole frigging reel of the stuff, I only need a metre of white and another of yellow... so that's an online order job. I was a bit surprised at how much I actually like this. Depending on where the camera is, the lights do end up looking straight or wonky, there's some weird optical illusion shenanigans going on. I do think I would have still preferred chrome reflectors to the black ones but I don't mind these at all, I think they go well with that slab of black plastic on the front of the car. When the indicator/sidelight portion of the LED units is wired up, those MG B units will get blanked off and I might move the numberplate up on to the valance instead of under it since there won't be as much clutter around it. Dipped beam (the camera and the sloping drive is making everything wonky, they look even in person). Main beam. I don't think I'm going to have any problems seeing where I'm going now.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 15, 2024 14:21:55 GMT
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In happier news, it's been about 150 miles and the oil leak from the fuel pump has not resurfaced. Not even discolouration of the cork gasket. Could it be, could I have finally fixed it?
Also, since the drive out for the job interview and fitting the LED headlights the car is just running way smoother than it has in yonks, it seems a lot happier and isn't such a chore to get going from cold. Was in stop-start traffic in the rain today, even got stuck behind a genuine rag-and-bone horse and cart (what is this, 1974?) and the car was just fine. No wiper slow down when stood at traffic lights with all the electrical gubbinz going, nobody flashing me because of my obnoxious lights, everything just being decent.
Second pair of headlights arrived, and the splitter harness so I can run the twins is on the way. The only thing I couldn't seem to find was anywhere selling automotive wiring by the metre so I can do the little extensions I need for the indicators and sidelights, all the electrical places I stopped in at only really sold stuff by the reel, so that'll likely have to be an online thing which is a bit of a faff considering how little I actually need. All my wire stocks stayed down south with the Lanchester because I thought it would have been more use down there, more fool me for not stealing a little bit for myself.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 14, 2024 10:50:18 GMT
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Nobody had their phones out, myself included. I think we were all a bit too gobsmacked at the situation really, it was sort of surreal the way he responded.
I hope the handle falls off his favourite mug.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 13, 2024 13:40:38 GMT
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I ordered a splitter harness, I'm guessing I can modify it by de-pinning the relevant socket so I've got main beam only function on the inners, I'll find out when it and the second pair of headlights arrives. --- DRAMA! Got hit-and-run today in broad daylight. Had parked up at the local supermarket as usual and once I was stationary the car next to me started to leave. Was getting a bit close... and then the car wobbled and he KEPT GOING. I honked my horn and got out and shouted at him and he only seemed to stop when he realised he'd drawn a lot of attention. Opened his window and stared at me while I proclaimed he'd hit my car. He just stared. He looked at the other pedestrians and then very slowly drove away. No apology, nothing. Just... drove away. I don't know if it was a shock response or what and it's not like I'm going to put this through insurance since it's only a paint scuff but still, the sheer shittiness of it! I didn't get his number, and the store CCTV wasn't on so I'm just sort of impotently angry about it. Luckily it's only paint damage and the paint isn't very good, except for the nice scratch he's put on my wheel trim right down the centre. The car that hit me was some big dark metallic blue mpv thing, maybe a VW Touran I'm not sure, bit new for my knowledge base. I hope he gets an itchy bum for the rest of the year.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 12, 2024 21:32:24 GMT
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Well... it got dark so I could try the new lights out and wow, I can actually see. When I was sat in the car to set off and turned the lights on I had to turn them off and back on again to be sure I was seeing what I was seeing, I genuinely didn't expect so huge a light output increase over a much better area. The other nice thing is because they draw so much less power than the halogens the car in general just seems happier about the whole thing. I found a dark car park to pull into so I could demonstrate with some photos, very aware of the connotations... Phone camera didn't know what to do with a head on shot, focus was all over the place, but you get the idea. Now, when I did the test trundle I did get flashed once by oncoming traffic and it's due to the oblique angle where the lights do dazzle. They were turning across the road in front of me and I think they got hit by the dazzle. Everybody else seemed not to notice. They do cancel out oncoming curse word lights except for one German SUV I encountered so that too is a huge improvement. I felt a lot safer because I could see more than I think I ever have in any car I've driven. I didn't change the alignment and honestly I don't think it's far off where it should be if it did move at all. I can see pedestrians at the side of the road much better now, and reflective signs show up at a more sensible distance than before. The quality of the light is very blue, a lot of other headlights I encountered looked very yellow by comparison. One of the bulbs for the speedo might have fallen out of its socket again, it does that sometimes which is why you can barely see it. I don't think I'm going to upgrade the rear lights to LEDs just yet, they're incredibly visible purely due to their size and I've got a third brake light. To celebrate, one of the wires to the spade connector for the flasher relay snapped and left me without indicators for the way home so that was neat of it. Quick bit of crimp work in the dark and I got them back again. Overall, I'm really happy with this as an upgrade at the moment. The only concern I now have is that when I do fit the new inners it might be too much light because just this one pair is significantly more light output on dipped beam than I was previously getting from twin main beam halogens.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 12, 2024 16:48:27 GMT
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Sometimes, you just have to take a step back and have a think and that's what I did with this. Why don't I just use longer screws to hold the retaining rings in place, thought I, and then I gave it a go. Well, that actually worked. It holds the headlight securely enough that I can wiggle the car with the headlight so I doubt it's going to be a problem! Did the other side too. Can't tell if the slight frown is an optical illusion due to camera fisheye and car styling, or if they're actually wonky, they don't look that wonky in person. Trims are all sorts of wobbly too so that's not helping. Anyway, by simply using much longer screws to hold the retaining rings these do fit and because the depth of the trim on the front of the Princess is what it is, there's enough space to push the headlights forwards a bit without it looking goofy. Shall we turn them on? Umm... yeah. I reckon those will do and I'll have another pair going on when they arrive so I think I might be okay seeing at night.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 12, 2024 15:17:05 GMT
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yeah, I'm thinking maybe have a loom that goes from the main harness and then splits to two plugs for the headlights themselves, a bit like it was done factory just with different connectors. Keep it as simple as possible.
Interview went okay I think. They're pretty desperate for reliable staff so I might stand a chance, and they asked me for my uniform size which always bodes pretty well I think. I'll know by the end of the week, it's a part time role but it's a long commute so I need to do some maths to figure out if it's actually worth it, and I might be borrowing a friend's car that's newer and better on fuel than the Princess just to get me going since it doesn't exactly feel fair to shove a 60 mile commute on the Princess just at the moment.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 12, 2024 13:09:59 GMT
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I could but I hate the dugga-dugga noise they make which is why I've been avoiding doing it. Had a go at fitting the LED headlights and have encountered some small issues. Nothing terrible, I'm pretty sure it can be worked around, but these aren't quite as plug and play as they might be. I do know these aren't really being sold as a twin headlight solution, so I did expect a bit of wiring shenanigans to get that aspect to work. This is fine, it can be done. What I hadn't expected was that they wouldn't actually fit without modifying the car a bit. The headlights on the Princess are held in place with standard classic car adjuster bowls that locate on two screw threaded bolts and one retaining spring, like so. The trouble is the shape of the back of the LED unit is such that it can't sit down in the adjuster bowl properly and the retaining ring can't be attached. So, I need to chop off a lot of the adjuster bowl which I could do by the magic of having a spare set and this is why it's not hoarding. A little bit of massaging of the metal to stretch it a little further and it does fit. However, there's now nowhere to put the retaining spring that stops the bowl from falling off so I'll have to modify these further to accomodate that somehow. That put paid to fitting these new headlights today, that's more work than I want to get into right now. Then I tried plugging in the LED unit to the outer pair as you would any other headlight and found it wouldn't turn on at all. It's only when I remove the twin headlight harness that runs from the outer to the inner light (inners are H1, and do main beam only) and plug the LED light directly in as if the car has only got single headlights that they work properly. What did surprise me is that I actually do like how these look on the car, you end up with a mostly black front panel with the chrome retaining rings for the headlights and that actually looks very smart. I couldn't mock it up safely for camera, too many bits to hold on to, so all you get is this shot of me showing just how much brighter the LEDs are compared to the halogens. If they're this bright in daylight I should be fine at night. Finally, the sidelight and indicator function on the new headlight units. The new headlights came with no instructions at all, not even a basic wiring diagram to say what things were for. Fortunately I found a listing showing the standard wiring practices on LED replacement units and now know that the white wire is for sidelights and the yellow is for indicators they just plug in like the originals did so that's easy. My next challenge is figuring out how to wire everything to do what I want. Wiring wise, they are pretty much plug and play, it's just the challenge of physically fitting them to my particular car. Is there some sort of standard harness I can use to wire the headlights together? At the moment, there is a three pin socket on the main harness that you plug a three pin plug into that then feeds another three pin socket for the outer headlights, and two female spade connectors for the inner headlights. I'm guessing if those female spades were replaced with a three pin socket it would work for the set up I plan to fit with the LED units? I hope it's something that simple at least, then the only hard bit is modifying the adjuster bowls to suit the LED units.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 12, 2024 10:59:38 GMT
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Did a 60 mile round trip this morning for a job interview. Princess performed just fine, don't know what I was worrying about. Didn't go over 50mph though partially because I didn't know the roads - lots of wiggly Lincolnshire country roads since I'm avoiding motorways at the moment - and purely out of mechanical sympathy. Fuel pump gasket is still bone dry so that feels like an achievement in and of itself, temperature stayed nice and constant, dropping down to 1/3 on the gauge on the faster longer stretches of road.
LED headlights arrived while I was out too... well one pair did. Have left a message with the supplier to see what's happened to the other pair, I suspect a packing error because who orders two pairs of headlights?
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 11, 2024 16:59:56 GMT
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Little before and after. Just a quick clean up to get rid of the old paint (it had lifted all the way down to the steel), fresh primer, fresh black aerosol. The goal here is to make it look a bit less unsightly and prevent water getting trapped and causing rust and I achieved that. If I've got time and weather tomorrow I might just go over the back panel that's still red, just to make it look a bit more finished. Again, not aiming for perfection, just making it look okay from 250 yards or so.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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May 11, 2024 12:54:20 GMT
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I've got a job interview tomorrow, it's a round trip of about 60 miles, so today I wanted to make sure I did all my pre-roadtrip checks. I know 60 miles isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, I just wanted to be certain I was as prepared as I could be. Popped the wheel trims off and checked the tire pressures and found the passenger side was a few PSI low so topped that up, also check the wheel nuts since it's been a while and a couple needed a tiny tweak. Checked the spare tyre too and that needed 10PSI putting in, I normally forget to check the spare so I'm proud of myself for that one. Checked the oil and the consumption has reduced dramatically since sealing up the oil filler tube properly, unsurprisingly. Only needed a little dribble to bring it to the full line rather than a couple of glugs (these are very accurate measurements). Coolant, brake fluid, and clutch fluid all exactly where they should be. Topped up the screen wash as that was quite low. Then on to actual fixes, first up was replacing the fuel filter since some red sediment had been pulled through from the tank and the filter was looking pretty grubby. Next up was to do the leaking fuel pump gasket. The cork gasket did hold for about 50 miles before starting to weep, and then leak, so that's better than I've had before from a plain gasket. You can just see where the oil pools in the cambox casting under the fuel pump, when enough oil gets in there it overflows on to the exhaust manifold and stinks so it's not my favourite thing. With the gasket removed you can see that oil leaks past it on both sides below the bolt line. There is good compression of the gasket and it is conforming well to the surfaces which don't appear to be significantly warped after having sanded things, it just isn't quite good enough on its own to seal everything up. I left the fuel pump draining the oil out so it was as dry as possible before reinstalling. The phenolic spacer is still firmly bonded to the cambox and isn't leaking so I left that alone. Weapon of choice for resealing is some Wurth red sealant which I'm told is supposed to be good for this sort of application since it's got good plasticity and I suspect part of the problem with this leak is that the vibration of the pump is breaking the seal with paper and cork gaskets so it needs a bit of help. Also cut a new gasket even though I could probably have re-used the one I had in there before, it's such a tiny gasket and I've got material it made no sense to penny pinch by reusing the old one that might leak again. That needs to be left alone for at least 30 minutes, which is why I'm typing this up while I wait since there's an errand I want to run but I can't while I'm waiting for the goop to set. I did a couple of small jobs, one of which was adjusting the striker on the driver's front door so that closes a bit better now, another was adding a dab of glue to the back of the velcro strip holding my carpet down since the self-adhesive on the velcro had failed. I also fixed my flaps. Whenever the weather gets warm the steel rod comes out of the plastic socket that operates the flap, pretty much every year without fail on this one. I should fit something to the end of the steel rod so it can't pop out really. I didn't this time, just relocated everything and put it back together so I can actually have some fresh air to the face again. Only other thing I want to do today is clean off that fuel-damaged paint and redo it in some fresh, something I can do once the goop has set and I can go get some black paint since I'm all out.
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Last Edit: May 11, 2024 12:57:41 GMT by vulgalour
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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I always forget a full tank and a hot day makes the Princess barf fuel down the rear quarter. I also learned today that the paint I used, which I wasn't entirely happy with the quality of, isn't fuel resistant. Just as well this is all getting redone properly soon then.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Been trundling around no bother today when I could smell fuel sometimes. That could have been all sorts of things really, Scunthorpe has a fair few filling stations and industrial zones and whatnot so I just put it down to Someone Else and carried on until I could park up. Took some pics when I got home of the carnage, I forgot the Princess does this. Yeah. Well that goes to show the paint I bought is not only nowhere near the quality I was expecting, it's also not fuel resistant. Can't really do much of anything about this until its dried out now. The cause I'm not entirely certain because it only happens when I brim the tank and it's a hot day, which is why I don't normally brim the tank. Maybe modern fuel pumps have the cut off trigger a bit higher in the neck of the fuel tank than they did when the Princess was new, allowing it to be technically overfilled? Maybe there's an issue with my filler cap (it never leaks any other time, only under these specific circumstances)? Maybe I shouldn't brim the tank. Easy fix at least, just need to let this dry out, scrape/sand off the ruined paint, and redo it in something fuel resistant instead. On the plus side I now know the easy way to get this paint off the car should it turnout to be a sanding pad clogger when we prep for proper paint in the near future.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,108
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Small update here.
That weird deadspot issue has totally gone. It must have been the air in the clutch hydraulics, it's the only thing that's changed since bleeding it out and I simply can't get the car to repeat the deadspot issue at all.
Recently I brimmed the tank for the first time in ages. New problem is that it is definitely dragging some rubbish through from the tank. I do have a filter before the pump so I'll swap that out, it's probably clogged. Over the years I've had periods where a red sandy sediment (not rust) has been pulled through from the tank so it's probably flushed a bit more of whatever that is out.
Oil leak from the fuel pump appears to be solved too, the cork gasket has thus far done the trick. Normally it would have at least started weeping by now and it isn't yet.
There's been a bit of a delay delivering my new headlights because of bank holiday so I'm still waiting on those arriving.
I've not done a list in a while, so here's where we're at on that:
Windscreen - order and fit (maybe order it next month if things go to plan). Already have a new seal to fit at the same time. Roof - paint when new windscreen is fitted. Front Driver's Inner Wing - small repairs to driver's side Front Driver's Outer Wing - media blast and paint NOS wing before fitting Front Passenger Wheel Arch - cut out rot, fit repair panel Rear Passenger Wheel Arch - cut out rot, fit repair panel Driver's Outer Sill - fit NOS outer sill Driver's Front Jacking Point - straighten, weld, and otherwise sort out Passenger Front Floor Pan - weld small hole Passenger Front Door - repair, paint, and fit spare door Driver's Front Door Hinge - determine what's worn and repair/replace it. Probably the top hinge pin. Suspension - Full regas of all units. Ideally find someone to remake the interconnecting pipes too, tricky since I have no template to work from. Rear Passenger Axle Mount - replace metalastic bushing Steering Rack - replace boots Headlights - Fit new LED units when they arrive Valve Shims - adjust to correct values General Service - We are due an oil and coolant change this year, perhaps a little past due now. ICE - fit head unit, speakers, and aerial. Still fancy twin electric aerials on the rear wings. Spoiler - repair crack in fibreglass spoiler and then get it painted Boot - make and fit interior trim panels for boot lid and boot interior Protection - cavity wax all the things, underseal all the things MoT - I'm exempt, and taking full advantage while I've got other things going on in my life right now. I would prefer to have an MoT all the same, just so I can be sure I've not missed anything daft. Profit? - unlikely.
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