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27th April 2010.....Tony came dressed as santa and bought me a present. Well okay he wasn't dressed as santa but he did bring me a present. He's lent me a  welder I could only dream about. With this there will be nothing I can't weld! He even left me a reel of wire bigger than my welder. When Joanne saw it she just raised her eyes and said "where are you going to put that". I don't care I just want to play. I haven't even pulled the trigger yet as I'm paying penance for my weekend away but Thursday night I'll be wleding anything that moves in my garage!
25th April 2010.....Sunday morning and I got up slower than the morning before. I'm just not made for these late nights any more. Anything later than 10:30 and I'm dead for a week. Deon set about changing his water pipe after boiling it the day before and Edd tinkered with the starter on Ermintrude, (which was hanging off). Edd then started putting touch up paint on Ermintrude, but I think he needed about another 5 litres to finish the job. Deon then tried painting the front nearside corner of his GT as well. Spot and I left about 11:15 as I wanted to go via Nottingham on the way home. (I told Spot it was on the way anyway). I had the chance to buy a metal shear. Ho w can you pass up the chance to buy a metal shear. So I did. I expect to have difficulty typing in a few weeks when I start using the shears more. How many fingers do you need anyway? The estate ran brilliantly on the way home, at a steady 60, covering 173 miles and doing it at 40.2 miles per gallon. After a cuppa and a moan about my lack of progress on SHW, spot left for the deep south. He now has a nice white van so another two hours in that should put him at maximum miserable git level by the time he gets there. We had another great weekend with no major cock-ups and nobody going home on an AA truck this time. Thanks everyone.
24th April 2010.....Saturday morning, just after my 5 o'clock jog, I get ready to work on the cars. Oh no that was my dream. 8:30 I slowly pull on my overalls and go out to find everybody getting ready to work on the cars. I started by helping check the suspension on Flod's GT. We altered the rear shock setting then install new shocks on the front. I moved on to help spot work on the estates door locks, or lack of them. We got them working but there is a small spring missing on the drivers door, so if you keep pressing the button when its locked, it opens. (It will probably still be like this next year). Spot then set-up the tracking using my newly made tracking tool. This was a bugger as one of the track rod end bolts had been rounded off previously. (It wasn't me). After a mound of bacon, sausage and bread disappear I also managed to get the reversing lights working with the help of Martin. The points and timing set set-up with the help of spot. Then Flod gives me an electronic ignition so out come the newly set-up points and everything is set again. Edd spent time on Ermintrude's, (his V6), carb and starter motor while spot worked on the front steering. Deon made up new brake pipe for his GT which is now back on the road after 3 years in storage. Later in the afternoon we took all the cars out for a run down the duel carriageway and spot took some good pictures as we passed each other. Except for Edd who went the wrong way and we never saw him. The evening was spent in intelligent, incisive conversation on current affairs topics, or was that me dreaming again. After plenty of beer and a nice curry we walk up the hill to bed. For the weekends pictures click here.
23rd April 2010.....After work I took the estate round to the garage and loaded her up ready for my weekend away. Parts to put on the estate over the weekend, Flod's 5 rostyles which he lent me, odd's and sod's I'd promised people, including some Peacock blue paint for Edd. I then had to wait for spot to arrive before we could leave for the wilds of northern England....otherwise known as Birmingham. Spot arrived at twenty past eight but we always talk Viva and drink tea before leaving. Basically he wanders around the garage pointing out things I've done wrong. I did get a few 'okay's' this time round, so things are improving. We didn't leave Hemel till about quarter past nine and got to Birmingham at about ten past eleven. While I was waiting for spot I'd had a tinker with the estates timing and points, needless to say she didn't run well on the way up. We still did a steady 55mph and didn't get lost this time. The roads in the midlands seem to lack lights and navigating using only Viva lights isn't ideal. In fact two glow-worms and a candle would be a good match for them. We ate a stew, drank plenty of beer, eat more crisps and biscuits, then drink more beer and got to bed about 3.
18th April 2010.....First job Sunday morning was to put the black GT passenger seat in the estate, which I'd forgotten to do on Saturday. Two of the drivers side bolts sheared the other week but this side went very smoothly. With this done I then got a bit carried away and put two new speakers into the rear side walls of the estate. Coming back to my senses I got cracking on the offside chassis rail on SHW. I first worked out exactly where I was going to cut it. Then I made a cardboard template to make an box section insert which will give the rail an extra bit of strenght. I took my time and made a very nice box section which fitted perfectly. After marking everything up, double checking my positions I cut the rail. (I did the offside as that was not connected to the rear valance anyway). I then cleaned what was left of the rail as far as I could reach, applied ku-rust and coated in Hammerite paint. After applying primer to the new box section I welded it into place. I now know where I'm cutting the back end and now need to make a new box section for the nearside rail, then the fun can begin. Pictures can be found here.
17th April 2010.....I don't know about the rest of you but I had a great weekend, (apart from Arsenal's title challege being over for another year). Saturday morning I did have a bit of a lay in but was still up the garage for 10. I took the estate around the back and gave her the once over. This included plugs, points, air filter, oil and water and also check the timing. With this done by lunchtime, the afternoon was spent on SHW. During the week I had been working out what I needed from 'shorty' and how I was going to do it. This meant I could cut 'shorty' in half again! I cut out the wheel arches and cut the sides off from the rear window forward. I also needed two bits from the floor so they were cut out as well. I then cut what remained up into smaller, more managable pieces and put it outside. Next I went to work on the boot floor in 'shorty', or should I call it 'even shorter shorty'. I removed all the paint and applied ku-rust to a large section of the boot floor. Some parts are in a bad way, it might mean more new metal! This took the rest of the day and I was rescued by Derek at about 5:30 for beer, wine and curry.
11th April 2010.....Before going to the VBOA meeting at eleven I cleaned off the bench top and took pictures of my compressor to send to Tony so he could tell me how it works and where to put oil. It has started to make a tremendous banging noise when running. By the time I got back from the VBOA he had replied with all the information I asked for and about DHR's noise. (I didn't take DHR to Luton because of the noise). With oil filled then drained because I'd over-filled it, it ran quite again. The switching off problem is still with me but now I know what the gauge is for I think I have a faulty safety valve. It lets air out before the tanks full. Deeper investigation when Tony or Spot come over next. I also managed to start to weld the first part of the boot floor in place which made me feel better. Last week I was a bit down with my progress but felt better this weekend. Here are the latest pictures.
10th April 2010.....I finished welding up the trolley so I can get SHW more mobile around the garage. Mind you I had a bit of a bugger with a gas bottle. For Christmas I'd asked for wire and gas, which Santa duly gave me. Today the bottle I was using ran out so I put a new one on. This lasted about three minutes before it ran out. Now this bottle was in a sealed bag with the green bung thing on it. Trouble is how can I take it back   because a. I don't know where Santa bought it and b. They wouldn't believe me anyway. Needless to say Santa will be getting no wine next year! After going and buying a new bottle I managed to finish up the trolley. After putting SHW on it I removed the front and rear suspension which had been on for her debut on the stage. Another small worry today was with DHR. I went to buy the gas in her and have noticed a wining noise from the gearbox when decelerating in second to a junction. It only does it in second. A second opinion needed I think.
6th April 2010.....Something I forgot when writing up last weekend was another success for me. About time I blew my own trumpet, but I managed to fix my welder. As I'm now a fully fledged welding god, I noticed, by sound alone, that the welder didn't sound right on Saturday. I stopped and found flat welds. All fully fledged welders know this points to lack of gas, so I checked. Sure enough no gas was getting through. I checked the gauge on the bottle and it said that there was gas. To be on the safe side I put a new bottle on...made no difference. Removing the pipe I found gas was getting to the valve in the welder. I put an air line on the pipe the other side of the valve and got air from the nozzle, therefore the valve was the problem. Being as reckless as ever I took the valve apart. All that ran to it was two wires. The valve was made of brass with a metal screw top. I guessed that the wires were working an electro-magnet which lifted the small metal spring loaded valve inside the unit. After blowing this all through with the air line and cleaning everything I put a very small amount of copper grease on the metal and re-fitted it. It worked!!! Yep, I fixed my welder without help, swearing, hitting things or losing my temper. The welding God returns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5th April 2010.....Today was designated a gardening day. I bought my seed potatoes over a month ago so had to put them in. Also cleaned up the greenhouse and planted my cucumber, lettuce, sweet corn and cauliflower seeds. I did spend the last two hours of the day in the garage working out how to make a metal frame for my chassis trolley. I did cut some angle iron and stated to make it but realised it wouldn't work so stopped. A footnote here about the frogs...I have beaten them! Taking the cover off the pond there is no frogs spawn in our pond and not a frog to be seen. So in the battle of the pond it's Dangerous one, frogs nil. 4 more pictures have gone in SHW's gallery, click here.
4th April 2010.....I only had an hour this morning as we were being taken out for Sunday lunch. I welded on the nearside box section and gave that arch a tidy up. Lunch was great with Guinness, then back to Janet and Derek's for cheese and biscuits with wine and port. The only thing missing was an afternoon nap.
3rd April 2010.....Had to go shopping first thing but was in the garage by 11:30. Back to SHW now and the arch tops. I made another box section for the offside which went very well and no bad mistakes. I could do with a metal shear though to make life easier. (Are you reading this Joanne?). Before this was attached I cut another two holes in the nearside arch top where there was weak metal and welded in new. I then welded on the offside box section and tidied up the arch, then covered it in primer. All looked okay but will be rubbed down again anyway at some point. A good day with music blaring and the only stop was for a chat with Paul.
2nd April 2010.....Good Friday and its living up to its name! Spent today on the estate. I fitted the drivers' seat from SHW first then the rain came so didn't fit the passenger one. I had to make up a new bracket with the captured nuts welded on for under the car. I used stainless steel ones this time. I put a new brake light bulb in, which isn't as easy as a saloon Viva I might add. You have to take the back section off and unscrew the top trim, then get your hands into the small gap behind the metal frame. I wired the battery condition gauge and spent ages working on the temperature gauge again, but with no luck. I found out there are two different types of printed circuit board, which I didn't know before and managed to get the dash lights working. I also put lights in the centre pod gauges as well. I finished at five and went for a well deserved Indian and a bottle of Merlot. Good Friday!
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