:: Diary - April 2010 ::

:: Saturday, April 3, 2010 ::

Right, today it's that exhaust downpipe joint. It was leaking a while ago, and I put one of those repair bands around it, with normal exhaust clamps at each end to hold it all together. So I have two clamps and two jubilee clips to undo to get it off - fortunately it falls off in a pile of rust flakes so that makes it easier!

Then I undo the three bolts at the front clamp, and take the downpipe off, and clean the inside of the downpipe, and the outside of the rear section, with a wire brush. Slip a clamp onto the rear pipe, then spread some Fire Gum exhaust assembly paste inside the downpipe and around the rear pipe, and put it all back together, with a single clamp this time.

Then I heat up the joint with a blowlamp to cure the fire gum before starting the engine. Leak cured!

:: Sunday, April 4, 2010 ::

Off to the local TVR Car Club meeting today. The car is still manky from last month, and from the layer of dust that's settled on it while I've been faffing about doing other stuff. So first I give the car a bit of a clean up with detailer and a couple of cloths, then put some wheel wax on the wheels.

Then it's off to meet Dave and Jim. As the car warms up it feels nice and smooth - the flat acceleration feeling I noticed last time has gone. That could be because I've changed the fuel filter - the last one has been on the car for ages so must have been pretty dirty. It could also be that I cleaned the air filter, although that didn't look too bad, to be honest. Could also be that I've repaired the exhaust. Anyway, it's nice now!

Off we go to the meeting in a convoy of three, stopping only to let Jim put the roof on when it starts raining. When we get there, there's a total of 13 TVRs, not bad for a pretty wet day.

Although it pisses down rain while we are there, it's stopped by the time we have to go home - so Jim and I get the roofs off, like the loonys we are, and off we go. I give it a bit more beans on the way back home again, and it seems to be running absolutely fine. Famous last words - disaster is about to strike, surely!

Good car this!

:: Monday, April 12, 2010 ::

Phoned up the garage to find out the latest news on the Cerbera. The latest news is... they haven't even started taking the engine out yet. I go mental.

It's not that I'm particularly desperate to get the car back - I just want it fixed properly. But the point is, they've said 3 times now that they are about to start, will get on to it this week, etc - but it hasn't happened! If they said "look it's going to sit for a month until we get round to it" then at least you'd know, eh?

:: Friday, April 16, 2010 ::

The weather is roasting, the sky is as clear as a garage's promise (no wait, is much less cloudy than that) so I decide to have a run in the S today.

I set off with absolutely no idea where I am going. When I get there, I realise it's the Forth Bridge then through Dunfermline (where I bought the car exactly 7 years ago tomorrow) and then back over Kincardine Bridge and Linlithgow. 2 hours drive without stopping - brilliant!

The car seems to be hesitating slightly on acceleration from low revs though, the slightly rough running I talked about before.

When I get home I check the resistance through all the plug leads, and they are fine. One of the leads is slightly loose on the plug though, so I spend a bit of time making sure they are all properly on.

While checking the king lead to the coil, I notice the two LT wires are on adjacent terminals (the coil is one of those Citroen dry coil things fitted to some Granadas (including my old one) and has 4 terminals but only 2 wires. I am sure that the "CB" lead goes on to the lowest terminal (which it is) and the "feed" goes on to the middle of the remaining 3 (not the bottom one as it is). I think there is some difference depending on whether or not you have a ballast system or not, but I decide to try moving it to the middle terminal and give it another wee run.

Now, I don't know if it's because the plug leads are properly on, or because I moved that wire, but it now climbs hills at idle, without missing. It seems to be better.

I tuck it away in the garage and hope the weather's nice tomorrow so I can "test" it again!

:: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 ::

Well, the weather wasn't nice on Sunday, in fact it pissed down for most of the day. So I didn't get my wee run I hoped for today.

But on the bright side, plans are now under way for our expedition to a national TVR meeting at Chatsworth this weekend. And the first part of that plan is to clean the bodywork up a bit - it's manky after that last wee test run. Just a dust over with quick detailer and a cloth.

While I'm doing that, I find that the window rubber along the top of the driver door has come loose. So I glue it back on, then lose half an hour while I enjoy a groovy cosmic glue trip on the garage floor.

Then I check and top up the oil, check the water level and tyre pressures. It's a long way to Chatsworth and back!

:: Friday, April 23, 2010 ::

The Cerbera doctor phoned today. They have stripped the water pump, and although there was a tiny leak, there's no evidence of any problem that could have resulted in it overheating.

He says that although he hasn't taken the heads off yet, he can see that the gasket has been fitted with red Hermetite. Now even on a normal engine, red Hermetite on a head gasket is a no-no - even a hammer-wielding knuckle-dragging bodger like me knows that. Head gaskets are designed to seal "dry", or perhaps with a specified lubricant or adhesive - but red Hermetite? I think not...

The receipts I have seem to tell a clearer story now... receipts for head gaskets and liners, etc for an engine rebuild - then two months later, 2 more head gaskets (presumably the ones in it now). So my previous seller has rebuilt the engine, and then possibly found it's still overheating, so replaced the head gaskets with the extra sealer, that still hasn't worked so he's punted it.

The doctor says that the Hermetite might have blocked an oilway, or possibly a coolant channel - but in any case, the presence of the red stuff isn't a good sign. So they are going to take the heads off and see if the liners are damaged or seated properly, and also pressure test the cylinder heads for cracks or water leaks. Then we'll see what we have to do from there.

But on the bright side, at least I'll get better fuel consumption when I've emptied all that weight out of my wallet.

:: Sunday, April 25, 2010 ::

Sometimes you have one of those days when everything comes together, when the weather's good, the company you're with is good, the location is good, and you're able to enjoy your wee car to the full. Well today was one of those days.

The national TVR meeting took place today at Chatsworth, about 300 miles from here, so we thought we might pop down for the day and maybe drop in.

This means that Git Jnr spend ages yesterday polishing the S, including the wheels. It didn't half look good!

So this morning, it's up at 4:00 am, having left the S at the front of the drive so that can coast down the hill miles from the house without making any noise, and then off to meet Jim and Mike at 4:30. Dave and Claire are also coming along, but Dave isn't allowed to drive TVR's yet, so they are hitch-hikers.

The days starts off on a high while I am waiting for the others to arrive. We have arranged to meet at a 24-hour McDonalds, and as I stop, a red corsa thing that looks like a wheeled catalogue for Halfords accessories emerges from the drive-thru (note the spelling - yes I'm down on the streets, me). While they are eating their kids happy meals in the car park, the passenger decides to engage in some antagonising of the public (ie me), so undertakes a series of whooping, whistling and jeering. The more I ignore him, the louder he gets, until he works himself up to a full technicolour yawn out of his mate's car window. I try not to laugh. Good job it's still dark because not laughing isn't one of my strongest points.

Anyway, the others arrive and we set off in 3-car formation, roofs off of course, despite the fact that it's bloody freezing at this time of the morning.

It's great this, motoring along in a TVR when there's no other traffic on the road (although being aware that what traffic there is, is still sleeping). After a few miles, I realise that the steering wheel is slightly off-centre, so that one of the spokes is covering the bottom edge of the speedo in the critical 50 to 90 miles per hour range. I have to keep waggling the steering before I pass speed cameras... It's been like that since I put the rubber gaiter over the steering joint, but this is the first time it's got on my nerves. The car also feels a wee bit wandery, as if the tyre pressures are wrong - but I checked them yesterday.

After a couple of hours, we stop at a convenient services for breakfast and a wee fuel top-up for the car as well. And to let Dave and Jim play (it stops them asking "are we there yet?" every 5 bleeding minutes).

Then it's onwards again, down the M1 through the longest length of roadworks known to man since Hadrian fancied a walk from Carlisle to Newcastle. Except he didn't have to contend with 50 mph average speed cameras, while surrounded by drivers who don't seem to understand what "average speed" means, so come honking past like like jet fighters then sling out the anchors to trickle past the camera before booting it on to the next one...

We finally arrive at Chatsworth at 10.30, and are ushered to our places among the other S-series.

First thing I notice is a display by the company who are fixing the engine in the Cerbera. We have a good chat about the symptoms, the likely causes, and the receipts I have for previous work and parts.

We meet various other owners from previous meetings, and it's great to catch up again. As I'm talking to one about the ignition coil, I open the bonnet to show him, and the hinge falls off. Great. Good job it didn't do that on the road down!

Fortunately (following last year's Cerbera experience) I have brought some tools in a tool box, so it doesn't take long to take off the inner wheelarch, bolt the hinge back together, and replace the arch. Easy-peasy - one of those jobs like changing a fuse or a bulb.

I also have a wander over to speak to the Cerbera owners, and find Tom there with his - just re-repaired following a camshaft failure on Thursday. It's drinking oil at an alarming rate, and drinking petrol at a rate that makes "alarming" seem quite mild, but he's here! I also speak to an owner who has had the Chevrolet engine conversion I was thinking about. Maybe next time (no, I don't want there to be a "next time!")

We have our picnic, we have sausage rolls, we enjoy the sun until late afternoon when it rains - at least that clears the field so getting out later should be easier.

By the time we leave, we have attracted a full Scottish contingent of 7 cars, so we set off in merry convoy, this time with me at the very back. We agree to stop for dinner at Scotch Corner services.

Now I still have half a tank of fuel left, and because Scotch Corner is closer than where I filled up, I reckon I have enough fuel to get me there. As we drive up though, the fuel gauge goes down on every left-hand bend, and up on every right hand bend - but every time it comes up, it's not quite as far as before - until eventually it reads "empty" and the needle is bent around the stop - and there's still 50 miles to go!

I go through those roadworks in the left-hand lane, constantly working out where I can stop on the verge or hard shoulder if my engine coughs to a fuel-less halt. But it keeps going - 50 miles with the gauge on empty... unfortunately while I've been farting about in the inside lane, the others have pissed off over the horizon.

But we get there, and have our dinner, the evening's entertainment being provided by a moaning bint at an adjacent table who "hasn't been asked that ever in a hotel before" - I don't know what it was she was asked, but I bet it wasn't "where did you learn how to be so patient". Anyway, she wasn't for listening to apologies either. Then her dinner took ages to arrive, then it was too cold (if she'd put her mobile phone off and eaten it when it was put down, it would probably have been ok). Fawlty Towers, it was...

Anyway, rather than stay for the whole episode, we head off up the road. By this time it's dark, roof still off, great!

I finally get home at 11:30 pm, shattered but having had a great day - one of those days that defines the whole TVR experience.

:: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 ::

Decided to clean up the S after its weekend exertions. First job is to clean the wheels.

Then I remember the wandery steering from Sunday, and the misaligned steering wheel, so I decide to look at that. First thing I notice is that there is about an inch of play at the steering wheel, before the rack moves. Feeling the joints while waggling the wheel suggests that the problem is in the column itself, not the UJs or the rack.

Before I take it to bits, I decide to get the steering wheel straight, by moving it round by a spline or two on the shaft. I unbolt the central nut and pull the wheel off (after noting exactly where it was aligned, so that I can put it back on in the right place). I fine that it doesn't have splines, but a hex fitting, so you can only move it in 60 degreee chunks, and that's no good, so I put the wheel back on. I'll have to turn it by a spline at the UJ at the bulkhead. That will also give me a chance to track down the play in the column.

So I pull back the gaiter from the top UJ, and mark the exact position of the joint on the splines, before removing the joint. Remove the top bolt and rotate the clamp and remove it from the column, then remove the pinch bolt and knock the joint off the splines with a rubber hammer. Waggling the triangular bottom end of the column confirms that I can feel some play.

Then remove the top and bottom steering column trims at the wheel, and remove two 17mm bolts that hold the column up behind the dash. As the column drops down, you have to disconnect the ignition switch, the wiper switch, the indiocator switch and the light switch, then pull the column down and backwards out of the car.

Here's the column out of the car. The yellow arrow points at a triangular bush where I have a tiny bit of play, that you can feel through the wheel. I have no idea where I might get a replacement bush, so I need to try a wee repair. I put two sides of the triangle half-way into the jaws of my vice, and then hit the top face with a hammer, not too hard but just enough to bend all three faces inwards very slightly. When I try the insert bit, it now fits perfectly!

I put it all back together, carefully putting the UJ on one spline out from where it was, to straighten the steering wheel.

A short test drive confirms that it's all sorted!