|
26th May 2008.....Spent the day in the garage. Was going to go back to Enfield but the weather was terrible. Instead I took the exhaust off again and re-did it. (It was knocking on the gearbox crossmember. Had a go at setting up the timing and put Spot's modified bit of pipe on the vacuum advance. It did seem better after I'd finished but I didn't take her out for a spin. Then sorted all the paperwork out that had built up in the garage. Old articles, club magazines, VBOA stuff etc. Paul came over to borrow my welder so had a good chat and watched some welding. Another great day despite the weather.
25th May 2008.....It poured down. Had a quiet day messing around in the garage. Sorted all the 'booty' from Enfield. Had a few odd jobs to do for Joanne and had my Mum and Dad visit and David, Hannah and Kara, but a quiet day.
24th May 2008.....Enfield one of my favorite shows. I wasn't sure if Edd was coming with me or not. Now Edd normally doesn't do mornings, so a quarter to eight start at my house was a bit of a worry. I was looking out of the window from about seven thirty but no sign of Edd. So I said to Jo I've left my phone in DHR as I didn't want to forget it, so I'd ring him from the garage to find out what he's doing. Well just as I was going out the door, Edd phoned telling me he was at my garage doors and where was I. He said he'd sent me a text and phoned my phone but got no answer! We get to Enfield at about eight thirty and as we went to turn into our stand area my throttle cable stuck open and I got told off by some bloke in a white coat telling me to slow down. Only Steve Walton was there when we arrived so I had a quick chat with him as Spot turned up. I was with the VD boys today and Spot was on the Crayford stand.  The drivers club stand had 5 GT's, 1 HC and the customized HA van. After a cuppa for me and Spot and a cuppa and giant pasty for Edd we hit the jumble. We started at about nine and finished at quarter to five. About seven hours of solid jumbling. I picked up 3 mk1 engine mounts, a gearbox mount, an auto darkening welding helmet, some washer pipe and clips, a plug spanner to keep in DHR, some other small bits and best of all a radio which fits the centre console of the GT. It looks like it was made for it. Got home about quarter to six then, after Edd left, had a big Indian meal with the in-laws. Great day all round.
23rd May 2008.....Put the exhaust on then sat and gave the engine a test ready for Enfield. I needed to burn off the old oil from the exhaust manifold where I'd run it before fully fitting the rocker cover. I sat there for ages reving it waiting for the smoke to go. After a while I was a bit concerned so got out and had a look. Now guess what! The blanket I'd used to protect the wing had slipped onto the manifold and I've now burnt a huge big hole in it. Also the water washer pipe had slipped and melted as well. Dangerous by name, bloody lethal by nature. Still I cleaned everything up and she's ready for Enfield.
22nd May 2008.....I'm cutting it tight this time. Well tonight I managed to get the bearing round the right way and put the gearbox and gearbox crossmember back on. The prop is also back together so that just leaves the exhaust, speedo cable and clutch cable for tomorrow night. Oh and the bonnet. With any luck I should be able to go for a spin in her tomorrow night ready for an early start Saturday morning. I'm only going to Enfield which is about twenty minutes away so easily within towing home distance. I should have more faith shouldn't I?
21st May 2008....Tonight I've surpassed myself for stupidity and incompetence. Went up the garage tonight with renewed vigour and hope after Tony got her going for me again. Fitted the rocker cover and guess what...no your wrong, it didn't leak. Fitted the air filter...no problem. Fitted the rear part of the exhaust...this is getting easy. Went to fit the clutch cable and something was wrong, very wrong. After reading the book and numerous tries I discovered that I'd put the trust bearing on the wrong way round! How could I be so stupid. I know which way it's supposed to go! It was that time when I forgot to put them in altogether and just didn't think before fitting them. So I then had to remove the prop, the exhaust up to the four pipes, the gearbox crossmember, then the gearbox. Very late in the evening I just ran out of energy and will so left. I now have the bearing on, with the fork, how it should be, so will have another attempt at putting a car together tomorrow night. I'm thinking of taking up a new hobby!
19th May 2008.....Tony very kindly came round and help get DHR started. I wish I could be as methodical and less 'bull in a china shop'. I think it took him about an hour, but she started fine and has done ever since. I'd like to say it was a failure with a component, or something very unusual but it wasn't....it was just me again. My Outlaws nick name is 'Dangerous' and I'm beginning to think it fits quite nicely. Tony I can't thank you enough and even I should now be able to get her ready for Enfield this weekend coming.
18th May 2008.....Flod turned up on time and we had a cuppa and a look at the poorly DHR before setting off to the show. His coup is very nice. Much quieter than my HB and seemed to have plenty of power. He seemed to be enjoying her anyway and that's what matters. Even Joanne liked her. She's not into Viva's, as you all know, but she likes the slopping back on the coup and being bright red sets it off very nicely. The show was good, bigger than previous years. Whether that was because we had good weather this year I don't know, but there were more cars there and more jumble stalls. Nice to meet up with everybody again and the Drivers Club stand had 2 GT's, 1 coup, 1 HB and 3 HC's I think. Tony was also there early on, but had to leave early so parked over the way. I tried to tackle DHR later in the evening but my heart wasn't in it, so I gave up. What I did do was forget my camera so no pictures for the website this year.
17th May 2008.....Managed to get most of the car back together but will not make the first show I was due to go to tomorrow, Aston Clinton. I finished late in the evening and she won't turn over very fast again. I had this last time. I even tried another starter and battery but she just wouldn't fire, or seem likely to fire. I almost gave up earlier as an old problem came back to haunt me. The thermostat housing. I managed to fix this last time with plenty of sealer the wrong size bolt and the power of prayer. (My normal method). Not so lucky this time. I knew I should've corrected it but as always I never seem to have enough time. Luckily for me Paul over the road popped in just as I was getting stropy and saved the day by re-tapping it and finding a bolt to fit. Thank you Paul. Even with his help she still won't be going to Aston Clinton on Sunday. Still Flod's coming down in his new red coup so at least I'll be going in a Viva this year. This is the 4th year I've attended this show and haven't taken a car yet.
11th May 2008.....Not much progress again today first I'll say what I've managed to do, then the excuses. Connected the prop, put the starter motor on, fitted the bellhousing cover, (which took ages for some reason), fitted the gearbox crossmember with the newly glued mount. Right...now for the excuses. Before I started up the garage I did my good neighbour bit but cutting the hedge for the lady who's moved in next door. Remember it was about 120 degrees in my garage and I had my overalls on. Then just after lunch I got attacked by a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine, plus some very cold John Smith's. Joanne wanted a BBQ so the idea was that I would stop for a couple of hours in the heat of the day, then go back up the garage at night. I couldn't see to get the key in the garage door so fitting the head was a complete 'no' 'no'.
10th May 2008.....Tried to get to work on DHR today but kept having to stop for visitors. I shouldn't complain because lots of people don't have visitors, at the moment I have them, but at the wrong time. Still I did manage to get the block back in the car by myself. I have to do this in two stages as my home-made engine hoist won't lift it up enough in one go. I have to have a short rope to get it over the body, them rest it on some wood in the engine bay then extend the rope so I can lower it down the rest of the way. (See picture). I then fitted the correct speedo drive, which Keith May managed to  get hold of for me and topped up the gearbox oil. I fixed the broken gearbox mount with some glue. I re-fitted the flywheel, clutch and bellhousing and at about six at night decided to have one go at fitting the gearbox. Last time I tried this it took most of the morning but I thought, 'give it one go'. I got everything ready and bugger me it went in first time. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I did up the top two bolts then did the awkward two using my specially bent spanner. I laid there chuffed to bits with myself. I started to think of what was left to do under the car as I lay there. I then saw the trust bearing and clutch fork! Can you imagine what phrases came out of my mouth? I thought I'd give it one more try with all the bits in place this time and luckily for me it went in again first time. Just a note here for all. I kept the propshaft in the gearbox while I did it. It stopped all the oil leaking problems and I could turn the shaft easier when I was lining it up. Only down side was it was bloody heavy.
7th May 2008.....Had to have the day off to fix the Astra. Overheated, burst a hose and had to get Joanne to tow me home. I lost my rag with it big time, which is unusual for me but get this...you have to remove the cam belt to change the thermostat. How stupid is that. In doing so I broke the cam belt, so now you know why I lost my rag. All running again now but it's all lost Viva time. I hope I can have a free weekend coming up. Like any good creep I'm buying Joanne some flowers tomorrow to say sorry for losing it.
5th May 2008.....I had the whole day in the garage for DHR today, bank holiday Monday. Saturday and Sunday was spent working on the Astra as I had an overheating problem and with family popping in, no real time was spent on DHR. (Sunday I did watch both big football matches and had a wonderfull Indian with Janet and Derek, so it wasn't all wasted time). Today I removed the remaining bits that were in the way to enable me to lift the engine out, AGAIN. I'm getting the hang of this now! With the engine safely on the stand I then set about stripping the bottom end down so I could put a new rear end seal on. I lifted the crank out then cleaned up the piston tops. All the bearing still look fine so I've not done any other damage that I could see. After a general clean up I put a new seal in the bottom half, laid the crank back in and tightened it up but not to the normal torque settings. I'm hoping that this will bed the seal down to the crank instead of me using a hammer handle as described in the manuals. Time will tell! I got the crank back in and fitted, the pistons connected again and the sump cleaned up and ready to go back on. On the grinding of the pistons news - I'm not now. I'm putting the 2.3 head on now which has got the ported valves etc. but not big valves, so I'm leaving it. I need the car running for the first show in a fortnight at Aston Clinton so it's a job for another day. Sorry Spot!
Back to top |
