Once upon a time..
Close to Christmas. on the 20th of December to be exact. Two friends started out on an epic road trip. They had a goal a plan. Courage, tools and beer! Things they were going to need more then they knew when they met up at Istedgade in Copenhagen!
Istedgade Copenhagen 20.12.13 18.00
It was cold and dark. Even the working girls had a hard time smiling!
Our two friends started out on a 3 hours drive through Denmark! The goal was a fair city caled Aahus. Aahus is the lagest city of Judland. The only part of Denmark that is conected to the continent. So part of the drive involved crosing the Great Belt.
Great Belt Bridge 20.12.13 19.30
The bridge was beautifully illuminated it's a long one (I think the Japs has one that is longer but that's it) 18 km steel and concrete spanning the water between Seeland and Fynen.
The drive was uneventfull! after 3 hours of motoring the Friends found themselves at the center of the city (population 400.000) They call it the City of smiles! I can only recommend visiting!
Aahus 20.12.13 21.30
Having found their hotel. Our two friends had a couple of beers! Just to celebrate the first part of their adventure!.
You may think why this Christmas story is being told in this forum! Fear not! It is indeed about cars. This is a story about spare parts! How to find them, and how to get them home!
Faalund 21.12.13 10.30
This is the reason for the trip! A S3 xj6 from 1981. It's a gold mine of useful parts for Jaqueline. Engine with big valve head, 4 pot brakes, brake amplifier, steering rack and so on!
Let's call it Moby Dick! It's large, white, and a potential killer... And it's going to be riped apart so it's a fitting name!
Faalund 21.12.13 11.00
It's 7 years since it was on the road! And it's been standing still under a tree for the last year! It's cold, raining and our friends are working against the clock! They need to find out if the car is worth the 500£ asking Price and if they can get it roadworthy so they can catch the ferry back to Seeland (a much shorter driving distance) They start by pulling the plugs and doing a compression test! It's a great start! They get the engine turning and find that all 6 cyl are nice and tight and almost matching! This is a cold test! We vill get back to a hot one later! Next is fitting a new set of plugs and a set of leads from Jagueline! without expecting anything they gave the key a twist. INSTANT COMBUSTION and a couple of minor Heart attacks! straight six + no exhaust is kind of a surprise the Roar of the big cat could be Heart for a long way! The engine ran beautifully after fixing an air leak and some cooling hoses! Great Progress!
Faalund 21.12.13 13.00
Then our Friends lifted the car, cut off the offending bits of exhaust and had a look at the brakes! They looked ok and they decided to have a Little test drive! a short drive up and Down a country road proved the engine pulled, the gearbox shifted and the brakes braked. No wipers nor any heater did not help! Nor the fact that the clock was ticking!
Faalund 21.12.13 15.00
They had to face it! The time was to short! The last ferry would leave for Seeland at 17.30 no way they were gonna make that! A phone call later they had a place to sleep! Time to move! Money exchanged hand, fuel was poured into the tank and then a short trip 3 miles to the nearest gas station to clean the Windows and fill the beast!
Faalund OK Gass 21.12.13 17.00 (30 miles from Aahus)
After af bit to eat, they changed the wiper blades, cleaned the Windows and did af few other Things! They felt they were redy for the next part of the trip!
It started out OK... It was raining and the Noyce of the straight 6 was incredible! But the car drove quite alright. plenty of power and except for the condensation on the inside of the screen everything was ok! Until we got to the outskirts of Aahus... Old old brake fluid and sticking brakes made them self known.. NO BRAKES... They started to fade so the driver knew what was wrong. He flicked the long light on the car pulled over and started coasting to at stand still. In the meantime our other friend saw the lights. So he pulled over, and hit revers (to lasy to walk) Imagine you are sitting in 2 tons of White whale.. No brakes an you best mate reversing towards you.. Right hand lots of traffic.. Left hand Deep trench There was just room for the Jag to squeeze in beside the Diesel Fabia.
Time to analyse what went wrong! Old brake fluid + Sticking brakes.. Especially the left hand front Wheel = Heat. And the rears brakes were sticking too they are virtually inaccessible on a Jaguar. There was a bit of brake fluid in the back of the Fabia! so the friends started to bleed the brakes right there on the shoulder of the road.
Suburb to Aahus 20.12.13 19.00
We started on the right side of the amazingly the bleeding nipples where easy to turn. And then we moved on to the left. You may have noticed that the car is not too rottenwhen you look at the Pictures! Well.. It is.. The floorboards are wasted on it. Lifting on right prowed to be a challenge. The Jack made a huge dent in the floor before it began to lift the car! No biggy we don't need that part.
Well... The loud pedal is floor mounted in a Jack... So lifting the floor Means lifting the pedal... So when the car started after the road side repair the accelerator was stuck... Lots of rews.. Lots of Noyce.. Brown pants for Ralle who was standing bend over the engine.. But no damage done to the engine!
Subburb to Aahus 21.12.13 19.30
Working on the floor! Fixing the Speeder and errr... destroying the fuel line running underneath the floor... (more about that later)
Having bled the brakes we were ready Again! Not far to the hotel by now just 3 miles... Drove for one... Red lights... Rain on the road.... YES of cause the IDIOT behind the wheel had to spin the Wheels! after about 500 meters the colling warning light started to blink and the temp started to rise! Steam started to blow from under the bonnet! what went wrong?
Our friends found a quiet street.. Puled over and had a look under the Hood!
Ohhh.... Two broken engine mounts...
And one torn cooling hose..
Time to call it a day. Hotel--------> Bath---------------> Food--------------> Beer.................. * + fone call to Girlfriend.. (sorry not coming home)
Aahus (somwhere) 22.12.13 08.30
Workshop with sunrise
Aahus (somwhere) 22.12.13 08.30
Time to plan and fix! A Jack under the engine.. Made it clear that the only damage was to the Mounts and the cooling hose! Lucky.. Finding a pair of engine mounts for the whale in Aahus on a Sunday was not an option.. But the local home improvement market was open.. Bauhaus.. Our friends talked about using Wood and a couple of bolts to fix the problem but decided to use heavy duty shims and a couple of bolts.. The Pictures are better at telling about this then the author!
Aahus (somewhere) 22.12.13 10.30
Solid engine mounts.. And they worked.. (must remember to take out at paten on this)
They were a female hound to fit! Not a lot of Space on the whale!
Being cautious fellas our friends decided to service the brakes and massage the pistons in the calibre's back into life. The car was moved from the street to a nearby parking lot! Now that i could drive Again without destroying itself. Beside from all the rubber gloves and used condoms it was a nice place!s 22.12.
Aahus 22.12.13. 12.00
Now it's time to go back in time. To the day before! Remember the problem with the floor and the loud pedal? Yep.. Fuel running from a broken 10 mm fuel line..
Aahus 22.12.13 14.00
But a piece of hose, and some Work under the car had that problem fixed! Time to start the car and drive the 5 miles to the ferry! The rain came, and the wipers packed in! But at 15.30 the car was at the ferry and ready to sail!
Car Ferry Aahus to Seeland Oden 22.12. 13 16.00
Hitting Seeland it was time to look at the car Again.. Playing with the wipers and the blower.! Ralle did some thinking and got the Things back in working order! It was raining hard! But the trip from the cost to the workshop was uneventful! The big six pulled the cat through the night! It was loud an peaceful at the same time.. Doing about 50 miles through the rain and darkness.
Slangerup 22.12.13. 20.00
Finally at home..
Don't do this at home kids! we are "almost" Trained professionals!
I do not think the 40 bhp the fiat has can turn 295 rear Wheels faster then that 
