Something sorted out

I was washing and vacuuming Becky II when I decided to take a look at the cig lighter socket as it has been loose. I had a spare so I canniblaised it for parts and put it all back together. WHile I was at it I decided to test my phone holder/charger as the charger wasn't charging my phone. After sorting out the socket I plugged in my phone holder and the charger is working so I'm pleased with my work. While I was in the garage I decided to make a list of jobs that are needed to get Brown roadworthy. These are:

Replace the battery.
Replace the front tyres.
Sort out the blowing exhaust or replace it.
Replace the ignition parts or fit electronic ignition.
Fit solid carb mounts.
Adjust the carburettors.
Change the engine oil and filter.
Replace the transmission fluid.
Adjust the handbrake.
Respray the car. The car has had a poor paint job at some point in the past.
The widscreen might need to be replaced because it is scratched. I'll need a new sealing rubber.

I've finally manged to get a job (albeit temporary) so all being well, I should be able to get Brown back on the road.

Taxing

I overcame the final hurdle this morning when I got 12 months road tax for Becky II. I'm £125 lighter but the car stays road legal for the rest of the year. On another positive note, I've finally managed to get a job albeit temporary (until the end of March). If I can get Brown through an MoT then that car will also be back on the road. A bit unlikely but putting the car through would give me an idea if what is needed to pass. I keep on promising to take this car down to the testing station that I use. One day hopefully...

Ups and downs

Yesterday (I'm writing this at twenty to one in the morning!) was an emotional roller coaster. Becky II went back to the garage for the welding and retest so I was without transport for the day. 5 o'clock came round and I hadn't heard anything so I made my way down and when I got there the welding had just been finished and the car was having the retest. Fortunately, she passed so I have that all-important piece of paper. All seemed well and on they way to get Anita from the local Sainsbury's where she works Becky II died on me and wouldn't start again. I ended up calling the breakdown service (included with my insurance) who couldn't get the car going again so they recovered the car back home. After some head scratching and component swapping (from Becky) I decided to consult my workshop manuals. To my surprise, it was the Haynes manual that provided the answer. I was getting a spark fron the coil but there was no spark at the plugs. According to Haynes, this is either a faulty distributor cap or rotor arm. Both these had been replaced recently with new parts. I knew better than to assume that the new parts were fine so after more part swapping the fault was traced to the rotor arm. I'd already swapped the HT leads earlier on and because they were in better condition I kept them. A short road test proved that all was well. In fact, Becky II seems to be running a bit better with Becky's HT leads. I'll be returning the rotor arm to get it exchanged. Lucky I kept the box it came in!

I think I've sorted it...

I took a look at the handbrake today. I removed the OS rear brake drum and I found out that the linkage had seized up so I freed it off, cleaned it, greased it and it has done the trick. The handbrake now works on both wheels and holds a lot better. I think I need to adjust it further to make sure it'll pass on Thursday's retest.

More MoT work done

I've now crossed 3 items off the fail sheet. I've completed the lower suspension arm swap with the donor parts coming from Becky. She also had to donate the anti-roll bar after I was unable to liberate the nearside lower suspension arm. It is a lot better and even Anita has noticed the difference. No more rattles.

Just the handbrake to do next...

Well well well...

...in the words of Jeremy Kyle.

Becky II failed her MoT. I was expecting this so it isn't much of a surprise. This is what she failed on:

Offside rear tail light.
Offside front suspension mounting corroded.
Offside front floor pan corrosion.
Nearside rear outer sill corrosion.
Nearside rear inner wheel arch corroded. I found this when I was adjusting the handbrake and is the worst of the corrosion.
Nearside lower suspension arm bush loose.
Offside lower suspension arm bush deteriorated. This explains a knock which I've been ignoring.
Offside rear parking brake recording little or no effort.
Handbrake efficency below requirements.

I've arranged for the garage to do the necessary welding and got the car booked in to have it done the the car retested. I'll do the rest of the work myself. I've already fixed the tail light. I had a spare bulb which I've fitted so that's one item ticked off the list. To fix the handbrake, I'll just have to clean and regrease everything which should sort it out. I'll just swap the front lower suspension arms with Becky's as they should be fine.

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me...

MoT time.

Becky II's MoT is due on the 21st so I've booked her in for Friday. That should give me enough time to sort out any failure points. The only thing I'm worried about is the handbrake efficiency so I'll adjust it before the test. I'm using the same testing station as last year so I know the job will be done properly.

Fingers crossed...

Phew!

I've just had a scare.

As mentioned in an earlier post, my insurnace was due for renewal and I was able to make the payment so a cheque was posted. I hadn't heard anything since. Because today was the last day of my current policy, I was waiting for the postman with baited breath. Nothing arrived from Footman James (my insurers) so I gave them a call and I was told the the documents had been posted yesterday so that's a weight off my mind and the first hurlde overcome.

The next one is the MoT which is due on the 21st. I shall be getting the car tested before this date like I did last year and I shall use the same tester again as they're classic friendly. I was looking at the soon-to-expire current certificate this morning in the car and noticed that the mileage was just over 56,000 when I had the car tested last year. Becky II's mileage is now just over 76,200 at the time of writing so it now comes as no surprise that the front tyres were worn. The joruneys "down south" I've been doing have contributed to a fair percentage of the 20,000 miles I've done in the last 12 months. This will be coming to and end soon and the trips to Thatcham will be to Ripon so less mileage and wear-and-tear. Fortunately, I have unlimited mileage on my insurance so that's not an issue.

The third and final hurdle is the road tax. I might put 6 months on to avoid it coming due at the same time as the MoT and insurance. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Tyre-some.

I was checking the tyre pressures on front tyres of Becky II when I discovered that the front tyres were seriously worn. Because I don't have any money buying new tyres wasn't an option but I had other options. Because I have 3 Acclaims and a spare set of wheels in the garage, I can just swap wheels over which have better tyres. The only problem is that all 3 cars have different size tryes. Becky has 155s, Blue has 165s, Becky II has 175s (with a 155 on the spare) and the spare set has 155s. What I ended up doing was picking the best 3 out of the spare set along with Becky II's spare wheel. I preapred the wheels by inflated them to 30psi, blackening the sidewalls with my tyre dressing spray (97p from the local Wilkinsons) and fitting the best 2 to the car with the other going into the boot in the spare wheel well. After that I got my torque wrench out and after looking up the figure I toruqed the wheel nuts up to 59 lb/ft (80 nm) as per the workshop manual. I now heve 155s on the front and 175s on the rear. This is not illegal and it certainly won't fail the MoT (which is due in 5 weeks!) I've since put quite a few miles on which included a stretch of dual carriageway where I got up to 70mph and all is well.

That's what I call a result!

Insurance renewal...

I got a letter from Footman James today. My insurance renewal is due on the 3rd of February. If things stay as they are then I won't be able to renew my insurance and this will finally force me off the road and put an end to all this. It is something I've dreaded for the last 12 months. It's as bad as losing my licence. I feel like a part of me has died. Things can only get better as the song goes.

Moving forward

Since my last post I decided "sod it!" I'm not going to let my personal problems get in the way. It'll take more than unemployment to stop me.

One of the first things I did was to tidy up the garage and it is now a much better place to be. It is certainly a good way of giving my "mojo" a boost. During my tidy up I came across an Acclaim cambelt which I'd originally bought for Blue. Becky II has done nearly 71,000 miles and will need a cambelt change during the next oil change at 72,000 miles so that'll save me some money. I also tidied up the interior of Brown. If I'm to get this car back on the road I'll need to get in the mindset of the car being in use which means a tidy interior. One of my pet hates is a car interior which looks like a bin on wheels. I was fixing a Fiesta last week and the interior was a mess so when I'd done my spannering I cleaned the car inside and out. Anyway, getting back to Brown. I charged the battery but I think it is past it as there's a label dated 2003 which puts the battery as at least 7 years old which in my book is past the useful lifespan of a car battery. With a duff battery I'm just using the nearest car (a Citroen AX) to jump start Brown. When I had this car on the road I've been having no end of trouble with the points. I bought an ignition booster kit from Maplin a couple of years ago which I'd assembled so I wired it up so that it was operational and jump started the car and it ran so the ignition booster works. I just need a permanent home for this booster and I think somewhere under the dashboard will be the best place. The reason I'm going to get Brown back on the road first is that the only money I have to spend will be getting the MoT certificate. The road tax is free. The other jobs I know will need doing will be:

New front tyres (the last pair I fitted have worn on the edges due to the tired front suspension prior to rebuilding and rebushing it)
Replace the scratched windscreen and the rubber.
Replace the battery
Finish fitting the handbrake cables (I only did one side. I unearthed the other new handbrake cable during my tidy up) and adjust the handbrake.
Replace the brake fluid.
Change the engine oil and filter.
Change the transmission fluid.

I've also got a list of jobs to do on Blue as and when money permits.

Change the transmission fluid.
Check the brake shoes and the handbrake mechanism.
Sort out the rust on the sills and front valence.
Clean/replace the fuel line
Fit a battery
Repair the aerial socket on the radio/cassette
Clean and repaint the front wheels

There will be no futher posts...

...for the forseeable future. Don't worry, I won't be closing this Blog. Due to my continued unemployment with the associated lack of funds (I've had my benefit stopped so my income is zero) I won't have anything to write about so I shan't be posting any updates unless my circumstances improve. Becky II is still my daily driver but if things stay as they are until next February then I'll be forced off the road as I won't be able to afford the insurance is it'll be due then along with the tax & MoT.

That's all folks! (for now)

A minor breakdown

I was on my way back this morning when I drove through a puddle and the Becky II lost power and then died on me. She wouldn't start again so I had to abandon the car. The ignition had got wet and the only thing to do was to leave it to dry out. Fortunately, I wasn't far from home so I walked the rest of the way. I'd just bought the current edition of Practical Classics so I had a read of that. An hour and half later I returned to Becky II and she fired up on the button. I wish they could all be that easy!

Not much to report...

I've not really had anything to report of note recently. I had to replace the brake pads & shoes on Becky II in late May/early June, Blue's tax ran out so that's on SORN, Brown's tax is also due so that'll be SORNd as well and Becky's SORN is due for renewal. Becky II will be due an oil change soon but fortunately, it isn't an expensive or difficult job. Just messy! The last few oil changes I've done (not on any of my cars) seem to have got more oil on the drive than anywhere else!

Cosmetic work on Brown

Having got Brown running again I decided to do some cosmetics on the car. First I repainted the rocker cover with silver Hammerite smooth and then I refurbed the alloy wheels with some wet & dry and repainted the segments with black Hammerite smooth. The beauty of these jobs were that I didn't have to spend any more money because I already had everything I needed to do both jobs.

Handling things

The driver's door handle on Becky II broke last night when I was at the local Sainsburys. I knew it was on it's way but I didn't expect it to let go so soon. Like I did on the passenger side before the MoT I robbed a door handle from Becky to replace the broken one. Apart from trying to undo a screw with the wrong size screwdriver everything went perfectly. Becky II now has MK1 door handles on the rear doors and MK2 door handles on the front doors. Not ideal but 100% functional.

Servicing on Becky II

With another journey "down south" and with Becky II coming up to 60,000 miles I decided to do a service. First was the engine oil and filter change costing me less than £10 because I still had an oil filter among my spares. The spark plugs cost me £15 for a set of four. I thought that it was a bit steep but I'm sure that not all NGK spark plugs are created equal. There's the ones made in Japan and ones made in Brazil (or somewhere in South America) but the Japanese ones are supposed to be better quality. My £15 plugs were the Japanese ones so I'm not so worried about the price. Due to the Easter holidays I'm unable to get hold of an air filter until next Tuesday. I still had Margaret's old air filter and that was in better condition than the one that was in Becky II so I swapped the air filter. I'll do until I can get a new one. All this has made the car more responsive and hopefully I'll get even better fuel economy on my long distance run.
While I was at it I decided to tacke some minor niggles before they got any worse. One of the windcscreen washed jets was blocked so I removed the vent panel to get the jet out to unblock it. I noticed the there was a patch of rust on the bulkhead (a common rot spot that often gets missed) so I wirebrushed it to get rid of the loose rust and paint and painted it with some Hammerite.
The handbrake seemed to have quite a bit of travel and wasn't quite holding on so it was adjusted and is much better.
The front bumper had been bent so I had a try a straightening it out. The best way would have been to remove the bumper but I didn't want to fight lots of rusty bolts so I removed the nearside front corner. The bolts came out surprisingly easy so I coated the threads with copper grease to avoid any future problems. Using a steel bar I was able to straighten the bumper. It still isn't 100% perfect but it is now much better. Maybe a visit to the Guru might be the answer. I had a bit of difficulty lining up the bolt holes for the bumper corner but with the help of my persuaders (2lb lump hammer and a jack handle) I was able to get the bolts back in.
I washed the car, vaccuumed the interior ,used my upholstery cleaner on the seats and blacked the tyres.
I touched up the bootlid badges with some silver Hammerite and this has made a big difference to the look of the car.
While I had the Hammerite out I also touched up the wheels where spots of rust had appeared.

Brown lives!

Brown is now running again. During a search for a Windows XP installation disc (this PC went down so I ended up reinstalling Windows. I turned the house and garage upside down to find it) I came across the print outs from the BL workshop manual for the Dolomite 1850 distributor. Today was a glorious day so I decided to open the garage doors and drag Brown partly out to do some spannering. Following BL's words of wisdom to the letter I removed then replaced the distributor and set it up. Hooking up some jump leads from Becky II I was rewarded with Brown's engine coming back to life. I set the timing with a stobe light and gave the car a short run. The car isn't quite running right but I think this is most;y due to lack of use, stale petrol and the need for some fine tuning. I've noticed that the front carb is overflowing but whatever the problem is it can be easily fixed as I have some spare carbs. It is either a sliver of rubber stopping the float valve from closing, a sticking float valve or a leaky float. I treated Brown to a wash afterwards. This is a big boost for me so I can now move forward.

Blue has had the replacement fuel tank fitted and the car is now running again. There is a fuel filter in the engine bay just before the fuel pump to catch the rust that's in the fuel line. Ideally, I'd like to replace the fuel line but because it runs along the interior of the car I'll have to remove the seats and carpet to get at the fuel line. I had the chance of a decent fuel line when I helped break the Acclaim at Paul Darbyshire's on the 31st of January. I wish I'd liberated it at the time. I can either rob Becky's or see if Barry McGrath has one in his collection of spares. Once a replacement fuel line is fitted Blue's fuel problems should be gone for good.

Becky II just keeps on going. I liberated the CD player from Brown and fitted it and got it working on all 4 of the speakers so I now have a decent sound system and FM radio which is better than the MW/LW radio that I had before.

IT LIVES!

Yessss!!!!!!! Blue is running again. The weather improved enough for me to be able to fit the replacement fuel tank in Blue. The whole job went without a hitch apart from one of the fuel tank bolts shearing off. Fortunaterly, I had some spare bolts from when I'd helped dismantle the donor car. To avoid a repeat performance (not that I'm planning to drop the fuel tank again soon) I coated the threads with copper grease. I had problems getting the car running again but once I'd got petrol to the carbs to prime them the car ran without any trouble. I road tested Blue and she performed faultlessly so I'm sure the fuel problems are banisahed for good. To be sure I've fitted a filter just before the fuel pump to catch any crud that's still in the fuel line (even though I flushed it out) as the replacement tank has it's original fuel filter.

Taxing times

Becky II's tax disc runs out at the end of this month and because I still had enough money from the sale of Margaret I bought a 12 month tax disc so I'm road legal on this car until next year. I wish the weather would get a bit wamer and drier. I woke up to yet another dusting of snow. Things aren't much better in the garage. The replacement fuel tank for Blue is getting under my feet and because it is so cold I don't particularly fancy doing any spannering on Brown. Once I'm earning a decent income I can lavish some money on getting this car back on the road again. Getting her running again would be a big boost for my "mojo" but it probably won't happen without some spending of money.