:: Diary - December 2008 ::

:: Saturday, December 13, 2008 ::

Haven't been near the car for weeks. I've just been too busy with work.

I got a nice email from a man who has just bought an S3C identical to mine - it's the same colour and everything. It even has the same glove box arrangement - the only one I've ever seen except for a photo of one in Sweden. His looks to be in pretty good nick though!

Anyway, so today I just decided that I need some TVR therapy, so it's off along to the garage.

First think I notice when I take the cover off, is that there is a lot of condensation on the suspension and bits of the chassis, the front of the body tub etc. I think that the cover is holding water underneath and not letting the car dry properly.

First job is to replace the front wheelarch - 6 screws and it's on. Then I replacs the front wheel and take the jack away.

Then I decide to put this wee gadget to use. It's an endoscope, ideal for the tricky bits of chassis inspection. I'm not planning on doing a full inspection today, I just want to see if the gadget works. It has a light in the end, and interchangeable tips - you can put an ickle angled mirror on for to see round corners! It works well, too - I run it along the top of the chassis rails under the sills, and I can see the tops of the tubes - seem to be ok! I can also see the tops of the outriggers (at the front).

Then suddenly it all goes wrong - I can't see a thing. I find that I have a huge dollop of Waxoyl on the end, and it's a right bugger to clean off without the gadget going all "soft focus" on me. I'll have to remember to keep the white spirit handy next time (and hope that the white spirit doesn't attack the lens on the end!)

I'll do a full "car in the air, wheels-off" inspection later, including the trailing arms and fuel tank cradle. From what I can see, though, it doesn't look too bad.

Then I decide to start it up, to see how it goes since I changed the ignition timing. The engine turns once and then the battery gasps its last. Fortunately it has just enough juice to work the boot solenoid, so I can get the jump leads out. I push the car to the door of the garage, and jump start it from the other car. After it's warmed up, it seems to sound better, and there isn't the same initial hesitation when you move the throttle, which is encouraging.

By this time I notice that the car is covered in condensation, so I decide to leave the cover off. I put the wee car cap on to keep the roof clean.

Not exactly a busy day, and I haven't done an awful lot. I would have preferred to have a drive but it's absolutely pishing down, and I don't want to put the car away wet again.

I'm a bit disheartened by the state of the car - the bodywork is manky, the interior is going (the carpets and seats are worn), the wheels need repolished, the engine bay is dirty, it just looks rubbish. Hey-ho.

:: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 ::

I decide to bring the car along to the house so that I can indulge in some holiday hoonage, and do some minor tidying.

I was promised a lift along to the garage today, but after waiting until 12:30 for my son to get up, and then another couple of hours faffing about, I decide that I'd be as well walking, so that I can be there before it gets dark (the farmer won't answer the door when its dark). After walking for an hour, I arrive to find that the car's battery is flat. I don't mean a bit low on voltage, I mean absolutely flat so that there isn't even a glimmer from the ignition lights etc. It's as if the battery is disconnected.

I've got no tools with me, no car to start it from, and there are no vehicles around the farm. So I walk home again, for another hour. Still, at least it passes the time...

:: Saturday, December 27, 2008 ::

Second go at bringing the car along to the house. I arrive a bit better prepared this time, with one of those jump-start power pack doo-dahs, a spare car and a set of jump leads. I also sacrificed a chicken (well a turkey) on Thursday, chanted to Krishna for 4 hours, lit 15 votive candles, put a turban on, faced Mecca 5 times yesterday, had a belated Barmitzvah and, for good measure, listened to the queen's speech about something called Christmas, which, for the rest of us, it's apparently against the law to mention.

So I connect up my winter festive holiday gift, and amazing enough, nothing happens. Not a sausage. I check the instructions. It says that, to prevent short-circuits, it's designed to jump-start only if there's at least 2 volts left in the battery. I connect my voltmeter - and there's about a volt there. I think the battery is kaput. Whatever the problem, the power pack is designed not to work on a battery that flat.

So. It's on to the conventional jump start, which works (after an initial problem with getting a good connection - I wonder if that was the problem with the power pack? I leave it running while I collect the stuff I want to take back to the house, and then decide to have a run for an hour or so to give it a chance to charge up a bit.

I only just get onto the main road, and I realise that the car is running like a wet fart. It sounds ok but seems down on power. I immediately think of my changes to the ignition timing...

Important Haggishead tip - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'll say that again for the hard of understanding - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. In fact, just for me, here it is again.

if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

An hour later I'm home, and I check the battery voltage after I stop the engine - 12.9 volts.

Then I loosen the distributor clamp bolt and mark the pulley mark with a bit of white paint from a little touch-up stick, that was originally Rover Arctic White (in about 1992) but is now more lke Roving Polar-Bear-Piss-in-the-Snow-Yellow. Connect up the timing light, disconnect the ISCV and throttle pot to put the car into service mode, and advance the ignition back to where it was (well in advance of where the manual says it's supposed to be). Stop the engine and check the battery voltage again. 12.7 volts.

The paint I put around the windscreen last year is coming off in chunks, because it can't stick to the glass. I think the edge of the screen is still leaking anyway. I go round the screen scraping off all the paint with a knife.

Now, attempt number 257 at sealing the edge of the screen. I bought some stuff called "Captain Tolleys Creeping Crack Cure (which I though was an ointment for piles but apparently not). There's a video on their web site that shows how it works, but basically, it's water based, you lay a bead along the edge of the crack, and it's absorbed into the crack, where it sets to form a transparent seal. I lay a bead along the top edge of the screen. It goes on like thin milk, but you can see it disappear as it runs down into a crack you can't see. I put a bead along the bottom edge, and it disappears slowly along most of the length, but over the first foot or so from the passenger side corner, it just runs away. I leave it for a bit and then put some more on - that disappears too.

After 3 or 4 applications, there is a distinct white area behind the glass, where this stuff has run in to seal it. There is a short length the same along the top edge, just where I thought that water was getting in. The bottom right corner of the screen also seems to be absorbing a fair bit. In line with the instructions, I decide to leave it for 24 hours to set, before applying any more.

I also put some around the windscreen wiper spindles (where it doesn't disappear) and around the throttle cable and the wiring loom grommet (where it does, slowly).

Check the battery voltage again. 12.5 volts.

:: Sunday, December 28, 2008 ::

Check battery voltage - 12.4 volts. Seems to be holding a charge reasonably ok - at least for one night!

Then I have a look at how the old Captain Tolleys sealer is doing. This is the bottom passenger side of the windscreen. You can see where the original black edging has peeled off the inside of the screen. Since the screen is bonded in between that black edging and the car bodywork, delaminating of the edge is bound to affect the screen seal.

The only permanent cure is to take the screen out and rebond it. Unfortunately, this almost inevitably breaks the screen, and I'm not sure that you can still get new ones. Even if you can. I'm told that the screen was originally fitted AFTER all the interior trim, so getting the old screen out also damages the trim. I'll do it when I have to, but I'll try to get by until then.

This is further along the passenger side - again you can see how the stuff has penetrated a screen that is supposedly sealed, and filled the gap behind.

This is top centre of the screen. Water pishes in when driving in heavy rain, and drips down on to the centre console.

This the bottom drivers side - again, the stuff has penetrated the "seal" and filled the space behind.

I'll give it another go later, to see if any more sinks in, or if the gaps are now filled.

:: Monday, December 29, 2008 ::

Another check of the battery voltage - 12.3 volts.

Now that the windscreen sealer that I put on yesterday has dried a bit, I can see where it's penetrated - just where I suspected that water has been getting in. I also see that it's disappeared around the drivers side wiper spindle, but there is a puddle of water around the other spindle (partly because the car is tilted slightly backwards so that I can get the bonnet open). I've never seen that much water sitting in that recess before - perhaps it was leaking through into the car before?

I trickle some more along the top and bottom edges of the screen, and around the drivers side wiper spindle.

Then I use some double-sided carpet tape to stick the front edge of the drivers side floor mat down - it's been folding back on itself under the pedals.

:: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 ::

I decide to take the car for petrol, because I want to use it over the next couple of days (especially tomorrow) when the roads will be relatively quiet, but petrol stations will probably be shut. It's going much better since I put the ignition timing back to where it was (which seems to be far too far advanced, according to my timing light - perhaps the "advance" on the light itself is adjustable? I have a feeling it was... maybe I should have checked the instructions before I threw the box out 20 years ago. It could be the light that's tired - now that I think about it, I bought it to fix a car I owned in 1977... Anyway, I won't be touching the ignition timing again unless I have to...

I also notice that the steering wheel is a little bit off-centre - I mustn't have got the splines right when I sealed the bulkhead bearing and put the gaiter on last month. This is the first time I've driven the car since! I'm not overly bothered by the off-centr wheel - the rack etc are all centred properly, it's only the top bit of the column that's out of line a bit. I can fix it by taking the joint back off sometime and refitting it a few splined further round. One day...

So with the car going better, I head for home, where I decide to check and adjust the tyre pressures - they are all a bit low, so I pump them all back up to 22, trying to ignore the corrosion on the wheels and the general mankiness of the bodywork.