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26th January 2010.....Have used DHR for work today mainly to see if she'd start and she did.

24th January 2010.....It was the VBOA meeting in Luton today soI thought I'd give DHR a run as I hadn't started her since before Chistmas. She wouldn't start! I had to connect up my son's battery which I was charging for him then she fired into life. She ran well there and back so she seemed okay. I've got a funny noise from the gearbox/clutch but if you turn the radio up it goes away.

19th January 2010.....Sorry for the delay in updating but I've not been well. Needless to say, all I've had from my 'so called' Viva friends has been abuse for being ill. Still I struggled through and am over the worst. Still not 100% but I don't like to go on about it. So I've nothing really to report because I've been staying in the warm, which counts the garage out at the moment. One bit of very good news though. The front screen on the estate no longer leaks after it's removal and clean-up. Through all that snow and the heavey recent rain and the inside is still dry. I might even put the carpet back in the front now I'm more confident.

5th January 2010.....We daily Viva drivers have got b*lls. I'm out there in minus I don't know what, scraping the ice off the inside of the car as well as the outside. I cover the front and side windows at night, but the inside still iced up. The heated rear screen is working but I still can't fix it properly to the screen as it's still to cold. And all that hard work with my new washer bottle was a waste of time as that too has frozen. Still she starts every morning and apart from wearing gloves and not breathing so I don't mist up, it's okay. And I know I shouldn't, but it does feel good when I drive past someone in a modern car that won't start. I thought I'd put these pictures up for your enjoyment.

3rd January 2010.....Went out to start the estate to take her to the garage. She started and I cleared the ice fro m the screen using my new heated rear screen. (Well the parts that were connected to the screen anyway). Once at the garage I fitted the new screen wash bottle and wir ed up a switch, then removed all the old system. I next wanted to find out why my reversing lights weren't working. I checked all the wiring and bulbs and all was okay. I then tested the switch on the gear box. The switch had power but wouldn't switch it, so I removed it to find the knob that worked it had broken. I'll need a new one to make them work. Next I removed my front screen. Water had been getting in at an ever inceasing rate. This rubber is crap but I haven't bothered to source a new one yet from Australia. So with the screen out I removed all the old silicone sealer others had tried to stop the water coming in and ran gutter sealer all around the screen opening after cleaning it all up. I then fitted the screen again, at the same time covering everything I touched in gutter sealer. It was on the seats, steering wheel, dash, bonnet etc. You name it, I'd covered it in sealer. Once the screen was back in, I spent hours cleaning it all up. The screen rubber looks a mess but I'm sure it won't leak now. (Famous last words!). So I then went to put the car back on the front and guess what.....yep! I'd left the rear screen heater on all day again flattening another battery! Another year but nothing changes. I will be removing the screen heater from fuse 2 to a fuse that only works on the ignition.

2nd January 2010.....You know I said, "what do they know", about not fitting the screen heater in the cold, well half of it was hanging off this morning when I went to put the estate in the garage. Bugger! Still, undetered I re-fitted it as best I could, but will need to buy some glass glue now! I then properly wired the switch and tested the unit and it worked. The Haynes book told me to use fuse 2 for the job and that's what I did, also adding another in-line fuse as well. Next I did an oil change, which went okay. I moved on to making a bracket to hold an Astra water bottle and pump to replace the colosomy bag on the inner wing. Once I did this, the cold had got to me and I decided to call it a day. I went to start the car and it was a flat as a hedgehog on the M25. Bugger! I'd left the heated rear screen switch on. I stuck a spare battery on her and took her round the front and put DHR back in the garage. I then proceeded to blow up two battery chargers.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

1st January 2010.....Well, well, well, I didn't think I'd ever live to see it. 2010! I have been so busy on the run up to Christmas that I haven't worked on the cars or updated this site. What with recovering from Edd's weekend as well it all takes it's toll. As most men will know doing all the Christmas shopping, writing cards, wrapping presents etc. there's just no time! Okay I didn't post any cards this year as I was to late and did most of my shopping on line and didn't wrap till two days before the big day....but I was so busy! Don't know about other parts of the country but we were also snowed in. Two days I couldn't get out of my road. I still have a pile of snow in the back garden now where Alex made a snowman. Anyway today was the first day I managed to get up the garage this year? (joke). It was bloody cold and even the drips from the end of me nose froze up. Not a pretty site I can tell you. Still I managed to stick the rear screen heater, which has sat in the garage for years, to the back screen of the estate. The leaflet said don't do it in cold weather but what do they know. After much struggling I managed to get a wire along the headlining and down to a switch on the dash. I then ran a wire via a crocodile clip onto a battery to test the screen heater and it worked. Brilliant eh!

9th December 2009.....I don't know where the years gone but December has arrived. That can only mean one thing...Edd's Birthday Weekend. Click here for all the grisly details.

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