Suspension woes

There's been a rattle with my Sprint whenever I hit a bump or a speed hump and whenever I set off there was a "twitch". It turned out that the two were related. I jacked up the OSR corner and after removing the wheel I found out what the problem was. The right hand tie bar was loose due to the nut becoming undone! Fortunately, it hadn't come off! Upon closer inspection I found out that the clip that is supposed to stop this very thing was missing on both tie bars. I suspect that whoever rebushed the rear suspension didn't reassemble it quite right. I've called Mark (the Sprint's previous owner) to see if he can shed any light on it and left a message on his answering machine (I normally HATE answering machines with a passion and I usually hang up) so I'm waiting for him to come back to me. I've got all the parts I need to replace what's missing but for the time being I've tightened up the nut and fitted split pins which is better than nothing. It has cured the problem and once I've replaced the gearbox oil (hurry up Brian!) all will be well for my forthcoming trip to Dublin next Wednesday.

The heat is (back) on

Sorry for not updating this as I've been struck down with a bad cough which kept me off work for most of this week just gone.

I went over to Brian's in the hope of trying to cure the lukewarm heater. We flushed the heater matrix (it was clear) and came to the conclusion that the heater valve was faulty. The fanbelt was retensioned and isn't squealing any more. I'm looking at tuning the carbs so I bought a decent carb balancer from my local Moss. While I was there I bought a 82 deg thermostat to see if that was the problem. Fitting the thermostat was easier than I thought and it has cured the problem. The car warms up quicker getting up to temperature as it should and the heaters are warmer than before. Problem solved!

All moved now

The move is complete & as you can tell from the pic Project Blue made it up to the new home. I comitted a schoolboy error when I reconnected the battery and ended up blowing one of the fusible links. I robbed Becky's to get the car going again and fortunately the car seems to be none the worse but I think I've killed the radio/cassette. I've got a nice Panasonic radio/cassette or I could fit that Sony CD player which was in Becky.

The Sprint's fanbelt has started squealing (only does it when I've got the headlights on - strange!) so it will need retensioning. Trouble is that it is a bit awkward to get at and the wet & cold weather hasn't really helped. I've also noticed that the overdrive sometimes slips so I'll need to check the gearbox oil level. (another awkward job when you don't have a garage with a pit!) I've fitted most of the parts that I ordered from Rimmer Bros. The wheel centres are on and I fitted the air intake hoses so the car is that bit closer to what it was like when it left the production line in 1975. I'm now on the reserve list for the Round Britain Run so if enough crews drop out then I'll be doing the run. The Dolomite Sprint is the car of choice (a no-brainer!) and my co-driver is Brian an ex-work colleague who restored a Herald 13/60 convertible. If you're reading this Brian I'll be in touch soon!

Splashing out

I've been giving the debit card a bit of stick. Well when Rimmer Bros are having a Dolomite Parts sale you've gotta take the liberty of getting a few essential bits. This is more importantly so when you've just entered your Dolomite Sprint in next year's Round Britain Reliability Run. I've have already ordered the following bits:
2 air intake hoses
2 wheel centres (missing from the rear wheels)
12 spark plugs
Air intake hose bracket (bolts on the the right hand side of the radiator)

I'm probably not done yet. I'm toying with the idea of fitting a spin-on oil filter conversion (told you the Sprint was nearly 100% original spec!) and getting a replacement engine steady bracket. I can't think of anything else I might need. The windscreen's leaking somewhere (I found water in the drivers' side footwell today) so a replacement windscreen rubber and sealing strip could be next on the shopping list. I've helped install windscreens on a couple of Dolomite Sprints before so I know what to do.

Parts on the move

I'm now at the point where the parts emporeum has to move. As I mentioned earlier there's an outbuilding which will be home to the new parts emporeum. I've now got use of my mate's van and I was able to shift one load of parts last night before my torch battery ran down. I'll be carrying on where I left off tonightby which time my torch should be fully charged. If there's enough room I'll also be getting the rest of my parts from the garage I had use of (if they're still there!). I still need to move Project Blue. This will have to wait until I've finished moving my parts. My tools are in the boot so it won't be a problem.

Moving

As I mentioned earlier Anita is moving house and the Sprint has been put into service to move stuff. It's amazing what you can do with these cars. Here it is parked on the driveway.

One of the first things I did was put this sign on the fence. I've had it nearly 18 months and I've finally found somewhere I can put it.

As you can gather I've not had any time to do any spannering. My parts collection still has to be moved along with Project Blue (once I've reconnected the battery. I removed it to charge it up). There is a small outbuilding which is suitable and it even has electricity and light so it might make a good working area (space permitting).