vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,270
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Had a little bit of thundersnow last night and a few more inches of snowfall. I like how quiet everything is, all that irritating background noise of other people doing things and the constant buzz of traffic gone. All the other little noises muffled away by a blanket of chilly white stuff. Fine for me in my nice toasty house, not so much for the homeless, of course.  20180301-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr  20180301-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr  20180301-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr Nearly 8" of snow now and we're forecast for more. Rover is looking equally well iced, even sporting some impressive icicles.  20180301-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr  20180301-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr |
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,270
Club RR Member Number: 146
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As is often the case, the snow only stayed around for a few days. Recently, the Princess was pressed into service for an evening run to the shops and proved quite competent in the slush and dark. More competent, certainly, than the modern hatchback crawling along at 15mph in a 40mph zone on roads that were clear of slush, ice and snow and that had excellent visibility.
Today, I found out that the odd graunching noise I'd heard was actually my exhaust knocking/rattling somewhere. I've got a new downpipe on the way so I'm not doing anything about this until it arrives since it should also resolve that blowing joint. Been a bit paranoid about every new noise and sensation with the car but, to be honest, I seem to have nothing to worry about. Brakes are working much better for the car being used regularly, and since fitting that second earth strap the electrics are the best they've ever been. One of the rear brake lights that was out has come back to life when I gave it a wiggle, I suspect the other will respond equally favourably if I can get the proper wiggle on it.
What's really strange is the lack of oil leaks. This car has always marked its territory and now it's just not. The heaters are the best they've ever been too, which is welcome given the weather we've had, and even the condensation issues aren't too bad. Just at the moment, and I don't want to jinx things, the car is feeling the best it has in quite a long time and with the exception of parking it's a joy to climb aboard for even short runs out.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,270
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Today has been parcel day and in some of those parcels were things for the Princess. First to arrive was another nodding tiger. Long term readers will remember the one I repainted after the sun through the back window destroyed the flocking on it. The sun through the back window has destroyed the paint on it too! I think I'm going to get a super light UV tint of some sort on the back window, I can't be having that. Anyway, I'm now the owner of two lumpen nodding tigers, but they shan't be going back in the car until I do something about that back window.  20180307-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr  20180307-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr  20180307-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr Next to arrive was the speedo cable, this time one still in its original packaging and with all the protective caps intact, something I've not seen before with one of these items. It literally is as new. The listing I bought it from even showed a cross reference for the part so I could confirm it was definitely for my car so I was fairly confident it would fit.  20180307-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr  20180307-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr  20180307-07 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr Unlike the cable on the car - itself a replacement to the one that was on the car when I bought it - the end of this new one has a plastic reducer rather than just ending in a metal piece.  20180307-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr There were a few discrepancies between the two cables. The new cable is slightly longer, has a slightly different casting on the gearbox end screw, has a slightly different profile to the drive at the gearbox end, has a larger gromit (that actually fits the hole in the bulkhead), and has a plastic reducer piece at the speedo end. That said, it does fit perfectly fine and was actually much easier to located in the binnacle since I actually had a bit of cable to use.  20180307-15 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr A quick test drive shows that it works perfectly fine. I also found out why the other brake light was out, which is simply that the bulb had somehow fallen out of the holder so I put it back in where it belongs. The other thing to arrive today is the new downpipe. It is pristine, with undamaged flanges, straight downpipes, an intact gearbox stay bracket and a flexi joint that actually flexes about! I'm really hoping this resolves the exhaust issue.  20180307-08 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr  20180307-09 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr  20180307-10 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr Other thing I checked when I got home was for any oil spots under the car and there just isn't anything at all. I find this incredibly strange. Removing the old speedo cable and fitting the new one also didn't end up with me covered in oily sludge. All very odd. |
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Thst painted tiger looks like some kind of post apocalyptic mutant! scary, lol!
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,270
Club RR Member Number: 146
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I probably shouldn't have tried to do the exhaust today, I'm not quite over this cold so lots of fun coughing fits were had and Mike ended up doing rather more of the job than was perhaps fair as a result. Also, I forgot my camera, so was relying on my phone which isn't that good. Anyway, enough of me whinging, what did we do? Old exhaust off and after rather a lot of effort, the single slip joint was split so we could compare old and new downpipe sections. Happily they are both the same. Offering up the new one for dry-fitting and it pretty much fell exactly into place, a far cry from what we were dealing with before! Rejoining the two halves of the exhaust proved rather more difficult since both halves are aftermarket and the central slip joint required about an inch taking off the new pipe so the join would actually sit in the correct place. You do expect this sort of thing when you're mixing and matching parts, so it wasn't too much grief. As it happens, the front manifold joints that also used to be impossible to seal actually sealed really easily. It was as if the parts I had were actually supposed to fit together! Clamps tightened and minimal exhaust paste used just in case. It was not a chore to align, this was very strange. Mike spent some time making a new stay bracket from the one I'd fashioned some time ago for the old exhaust since all that was left of the car's original was this.  20180308-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr That's supposed to be a bent shape so it can clamp to the C clamp the exhaust came with. Our bracket is a little crude but it works, it should also help prevent the manifold joint from splitting, especially in combination with the better flexi this pipe has.  20180308-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr With everything on and double checked under there it was time to start the car. I did find an oil leak, though very minor, which is from the end of the oil pressure switch I suspected was leaking. We suspect there might be another minor leak somewhere, but it was hard to tell if it was wicking back from the oil pressure switch or creeping along the water splashed up from driving on wet roads. I'll replace the switch and then we'll know for definite. Also, I'd forgotten a new clip was fitted to the CV boot that I thought had one missing, so that's one less job to worry about.  20180308-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr Set the car back on the ground, started it up and... it's quiet. It's *really* quiet. It's never been this quiet all the years I've owned it. The exhaust rattle is now gone too, still not sure what that was knocking on but I'm glad it's not now. On the drive home the speedo packed in again, which was a little odd. I could hear it clicking against something as I was driving though so when I got home I checked and it looks like I hadn't quite clicked it home on the speedo properly, once unplugged and plugged back in again, it's working normally. Princess is now in better health than at the last MoT. That gives me the warm fuzzies. Providing I get a pass at test time (and I don't see why I won't), I should just have those tiny bits of welding to things like the door bottoms to do and paintwork now. This is where I've wanted to be with this car for ages, it feels good. |
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Congratulations! New exhaust looks good. Not a bad looking underside too.
What's the red car hanging up on the wall?
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Congratulations! New exhaust looks good. Not a bad looking underside too. What's the red car hanging up on the wall? My money is on a Triumph GT6. |
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,270
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Full marks! I don't agree with the method of storage, but it's not my car so it's not my problem. It's effectively the parts donor for the crashed one and is effectively good where the crashed one is bad, and the other way around, so it's perfect for the job. Not a project I'll be helping with, thankfully, I don't fancy that job at all.
Today I picked up a new interior for the Rover and some dye to get the spare carpet sorted. Later this month I should be collecting the parts for the folding rear seat conversion. Will be switching to a half-leather SEi interior, which is a step up from the current SLi one and a trim I prefer while the carpet colour I've picked will prevent the interior being a black hole. More on this at a later date.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,270
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Everything has fallen into place rather neatly at the moment. The Princess is presently my daily driver, I'll be booking the MoT soon. The Rover is all lined up for a fresh interior and that rear arch to be repaired.
Next weekend I'll be off to collect the last few items I need to turn the saloon seat into a rear hatchback seat, which includes all the various latches and trim pieces that weren't fitted to the saloon. I'm looking forward to this, it should be a fun job. I've got some dye for the spare grey carpet so that will be going burgundy to fit with the toned-down factory look I want inside the car. The new seats and door cards are from a slightly higher trim level than the SLi, the SEi, so they have additional adjustment on the seats, better side bolsters, half-leather and a harder wearing cloth than the SLi velour. They're black at first glance, but the cloth sections have a subtle burgundy/purple/claret fleck in them that I'm hoping the redyed carpet will pick up to help it match in with the wood and orangey-red dash illumination. Subtle isn't perhaps what's expected given the outside, but it's what I want, and I don't want the interior to be a black hole. Doing the orange carpet in the Princess proved nicely to me that a black interior is fine providing the carpet isn't also black.
Now, fitting this interior could be done without taking the Rover off the road but I've decided that I'm actually going to do just that. I want to stagger the MoTs and the Princess is capable of being my daily at the moment so I'm going to take the risk and go down to just one car for a bit, allbeit it the one car I have with an attitude problem. This means I can strip out the Rover properly, do the minor modifications of trim etc. in the back for the rear seat, repair the rusty rear arch and refit everything all in one go. The Rover doesn't always play nice when you disconnect the battery so it's best to avoid doing it, this way I should only have to disconnect and reconnect once to get all this work done and when I'm finished it will leave me with a car that technically doesn't need anything else doing at all which puts me in the best place for an MoT. It also means if I do need to go as far as dropping the petrol tank for any reason, I'll have the luxury of time and space to do that. An added bonus will be not paying the small amount of tax I do for the Rover for a couple of months while I build up that staggered MoT gap I want.
Hopefully this plan doesn't end in disaster with me stranded at home with a broken Princess again.
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Mar 11, 2018 10:11:49 GMT
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That all sounds like good news and a sensible plan to me. Glad the Princess is playing nicely at the moment.
I know what you mean about R8s and battery disconnection. When I had one we eventually worked out that you had to disconnect and reconnect the fag packet sized immobiliser box behind the dash a couple of times before it would go "oh, you wanted me to start; why didn't you say?" and fire up. The first time it did that there was me, my mate in whose garage we'd just changed the clutch, and an RAC bloke for the best part of 2 hours playing "start you bastid!"
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Mar 11, 2018 15:55:22 GMT
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Now that's more like it 'A Plan' rather than having to undertake continual running repairs - always nice when what you plan actually happens too - hope it all goes well
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,270
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Mar 12, 2018 15:58:55 GMT
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 It is raining and miserable here and the school run time so it's the perfect time to take the Princess out so I can get something supplies. I'm 99% sure the occasional chuntering is stale fuel, with a few miles on fresh fuel, the chuntering has pretty much stopped even on a damp day like today. Earthing problem definitely resolved for I had all the things on and the throttle cable stayed nice and cool. Mirrors are less than great in these conditions, but not terrible now I've almost got them set where they need to be. It is a little too easy to speed now that the car is so quiet, my usual audio reference points have all gone and the interior fan motor drowns out any potential references I might have, being the loudest thing in the cabin. Do have to drive with the driver's window cracked open a little because of the leaking windscreen seal but the aerodynamics of the car are such that I don' t get wet and it isn't uncomfortable. Long and short of it is today has given me another confidence boost with the car. If it can handle with stop-start traffic and miserable weather without embarrassing me, then it's probably fine. |
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CaptainSlog
Part of things
Posts: 510
Club RR Member Number: 180
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Mar 13, 2018 15:29:09 GMT
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I hope you are touching wood as you type that!
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,270
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Mar 13, 2018 17:01:16 GMT
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I take my friend Planky with me everywhere  --- Little job done today. After the throttle cable wanted to be an earth strap it still worked, but wasn't exactly the smoothest operation. To remove the cable you have to pull the cable out of the sheath so you can unclip it from the pedal, it's a bit wierd but fairly easy once you know how it works. The old cable had warped a bit, presumably from the heat of serving as an earth cable, and wasn't particularly bendy.  20180313-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr New one fitted, cable adjusted properly at the carburettor end and smooth accelerator restored.  20180313-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr I then bundled the Rover's spare carpet into the boot and took it home to dye since the new dye for that has arrived. The colour is exactly what I wanted and the first coat has gone over the grey surprisingly well. I'll update you on that when there's something to show. |
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joeytalent
Part of things
ITB Everything.
Posts: 440
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Mar 13, 2018 18:19:45 GMT
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I hope you are touching wood as you type that! Just get a wooden steering wheel or gear knob 😆 |
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Davey
Posted a lot
Resident Tyre Nerd.
Posts: 2,336
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Mar 14, 2018 10:11:23 GMT
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I take my friend Planky with me everywhere  |
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K11 Micra x3 - Mk3 astra - Seat Marbella - Mk6 Escort estate - B5 Passat - Alfa 156 estate - E36 compact
Mk2 MR2 T-bar - E46 328i - Skoda Superb - Fiat seicento - 6n2 Polo - 6n polo 1.6 - Mk1 GS300
EU8 civic type S - MG ZT cdti - R56 MINI Cooper S - Audi A3 8p - Jaguar XF (X250) - FN2 Civic Type R - Mk2 2.0i Ford Focus - Mercedes W212 E250
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,270
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Mar 14, 2018 14:30:11 GMT
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Today I did a longer journey at higher speeds and when I got home I felt confident enough in the car's abilities that I didn't even open the bonnet to check "just in case". That's a milestone in old car dailying as far as I'm concerned.
I had a weird almost-nostalgia moment too because today felt like the good days I had when I was dailying the car a few years ago. It's put me in a right good mood.
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qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,417
Club RR Member Number: 52
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Mar 16, 2018 22:16:17 GMT
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Today I did a longer journey at higher speeds and when I got home I felt confident enough in the car's abilities that I didn't even open the bonnet to check "just in case". That's a milestone in old car dailying as far as I'm concerned. I had a weird almost-nostalgia moment too because today felt like the good days I had when I was dailying the car a few years ago. It's put me in a right good mood. I strongly identify with both parts of that post! The moment you can just use your retro as a daily without really worrying or having to think about it too much is an excellent feeling. I also get so much enjoyment out of using a car that I have put so much effort into. Its very satisfying. |
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Mar 17, 2018 11:31:08 GMT
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reading you are in a good mood, puts us in a good mood
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,270
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Mar 17, 2018 15:27:48 GMT
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I'm still in a good mood! Even though I have a cold, again, because of this sodding winter. That meant we had to cancel our plans for picking the Rover carcass for the few bits I need but it's okay, it turns out the weather would have cancelled it for us anyway.  20180317-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr I don't feel too bad about being ill because of that, there's no way any of us wanted to do anything outdoors in that weather, even if well. Previously, I'd bought some more of the Simply Spray dye I used to refresh the Princess' carpet because I didn't want a dark grey carpet in the Rover. Instead, I wanted a dark red carpet. Now, I'm aware that dye usually has to go over a lighter colour and I was taking a risk by using a hue that was about in the same place as the old colour. There was a very good chance this wouldn't work, but there was realy only one way to find out. First coat always goes on alarmingly bright and certainly more purple than I fancied.  20180317-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr Second and third coats mellowed out considerably and once dry it was exactly the colour I wanted. Looks a little brown here because of the odd lighting in that room.  20180317-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr The reason for this colour change is partly personal taste, but mostly to match the new interior that I'd picked up from fellow R8 club member, who has an absolutely spotless R8 Tourer in Nightfire Red (sadly too dark to get a photo when I visited to collect the interior). I do really like the interior already in my car, and it's in reasonable shape. The interior I wanted was either the one with red inserts that only seemed to come in the Cabriolet or the half leather with black chevron cloth. Happily, I got the latter in the form of all the seats and door cards. They are for a hatchback rather than a saloon, this is actually also what I wanted since I'm converting my saloon to folding rear seats using hatchback parts that pretty much bolt straight in since the body tubs are essentially the same.  20180317-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr I wanted it to also look factory inside without being a factory option, so that's why the burgundy carpet. It picks up the colour fleck (burgundy, blue and green) in the seats. It's really subtle and nobody would normally notice. Generally, if you can pick up a small detail like this and incorporate it into a personalised interior, it doesn't look personalised for some reason. Instead it ends up looking like a factory option. It also looks less cheap than if you had a plain black carpet with plain black seats. There's probably some sort of colour theory thing about this that explains just why it is.  20180317-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr The new clutch hose for the 1100 arrived. Brand new part rather than NOS and about £25 delivered. Hopefully this will sort out the clutch hydraulic issues on the little purple monster. I'd quite like to take a little video of it being driven at some point for you all.  20180317-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr Princess is still being the daily. Every outing seems to improve things and flush even more tiny silver birch tree seeds out of the air vents. We've been out in good weather and bad and it just gets on with the job of being a car, allbeit a little slower than others until its warmed up a bit. I am hoping to start the cosmetic fettling if we ever get Spring, it keeps being too cold for painting.  20180317-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr |
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