:: Diary - February 2012 ::

:: Wednesday, February 1, 2012 ::

2 expensive things happened today.

First, I got a phone call from the TVR Garage with the list of things they need to fix on the Cerbera. It's a big list, but once it's done, the car will feel like new, they say. Fred hasn't replied so it looks like I'll be paying for that myself.

While I am in early mourning for the pounds soon to be departed, I have to go out to a meeting for work. 2 miles from the house at 6.30 pm in a temperature of minus 3, I stack the Lexus into a post and wire field fence on a bend on a slippy road. You know how it is. I manage to avoid going through the fence, but scrape along it on the driver's side, and manage to dent every panel.

Nobody hurt though, a quick phone call to the cops so that they can track down the field owner, and I'm on my way.

:: Saturday, February 4, 2012 ::

I am up early to get the train down to pick up the Cerbera. First a train into Edinburgh, where the ticket collector is so relieved to have human company that he decides to stand and chat to me the whole way there.

Then it's a change onto a big boy's train set, for the journey to Newcastle. A burnt bacon toastie and a tasteless croissant later, it's time for another change, to a wee local train full of shoppers and football supporters.

I finally reach the garage 3 hours after the first train left the station, and after a kerfuffle getting the payment authorised by the bank, it's time for the drive home. I've been listening all last night to the severe weather warnings for snow, snow and more snow. Just what you need for driving a lightweight sports car over 100 miles, eh? I've decided to drive back to Newcastle and then follow the coast road, on the basis that it's less likely to be affected by snow, than the shortest route, over the border hills.

When I leave the garage, it's raining but not snowing yet, but, after the events of Wednesday night, I'm still driving like a granny. The car feels a lot better though, so it's not hard to keep up with general traffic and still pass the slower stuff.

The snow comes on as I drive around Berwick, and gets heavier as I drive north. It's starting to lie at the sides of the road, and between wheel tracks, and I still have 80 miles to go. Fortunately, it eases up, and then goes back to rain after 10 miles or so, so reasonable progress is made.

The car feels really good. It's nice and smooth, it's comfy, and it sounds good too. The heater even works so it's not bad at all. The only problem I can find is that it feels really skittish crossing white lines and wet bits in the road, but maybe I'm just over-sensitive to that this week!

Tell you what, though, it's good to drive a car that makes you concentrate on what you are doing. The Lexus is a great car, but you're so isolated from everything that it's easy to make mistakes.

When I get home, two and a half hours after I left the garage, I've decided that when the insurance is due for renewal next week, I'm going to ask about adding "business cover" so that I don't have to hire a car while the Lexus is being repaired. I get a free hire for 14 days (starting on Tuesday) but I think the car will be away for longer than that, somehow...

:: Sunday, February 5, 2012 ::

It's TVR Car club day today, and after picking Jim up, we head through in the Cerbera. Just before we reach the hotel, we encounter a dead Chimaera at the side of the road. Because we're not Mike, we spot this and stop to help. AFter a bit of diagnosis involving screwdrivers and spark plug leads, we diagnose that it's the fuel pump. I enjoy the privilege of age, and sit in the car to steer it, while the other two push it round the corner off the main road and into a bus layby. There, we're able to do the statutory "wiggle" test on the pump connections, and then check the fuel pump fuse and relay. The fuse is damaged but still seems to be intact, but we change it anyway. The engine bursts into life. Another success for the TVR roadside assitance team!

Even good Samaritans are relegated to the rear of the dinner queue though. Gratitude can be such a fleeting emotion...

The lunchtime banter is very silly, so naturally I feel completely out of place. We sort out (I think) what we are doing for the national meeting at Chatsworth in April. I am also informed that Jim's car needs a chassis repair not dissimilar to the one I did, and JIm is wondering if there's anyone who knows how to help. Adrian needs an exhaust welded to save him the £1,000 or so that a new one costs, but is impervious to hints that hotel rooms for Chatsworth cost £28, which is a meagre (but in my view wholly appropriate) recompense for anybody helping him to make such a saving...

There are educated and erudite philosophers who will postulate that knowledge, and the pursuit of it, are the key to human civilisation. They would have you believe that only through the accumulation of knowledge can the species progress through the future. They are, of course, demonstrably wrong. Knowledge is the key to making a living. You know something that somebody else doesn't, so you sell them what they need to know, or you sell them your time while you do it for them. Most garage mechanics work on the same principle. So giving your time and knowledge away for nothing is, in short, a pain in the arse.

Barter, however, is a different matter.

Anyway, after I have dropped Jim off, I get home and park a now-manky Cerbera in the drive. It still looks good!

The insurance is due next week (that's 3 years I've had it now - time flies when you're enjoying yourself)! I run an on-line comparison to see how much the loading is likely to be for my wee error of judgment on Wednesday night, and for most of them, it's not too bad. The renewal notice I have is comparable to the "no-accident" situation, so I think I'll call them and see what they say. If they load it, I know what my options are.

:: Monday, February 6, 2012 ::

I forgot to mention this on Saturday, but when I was coming back up the road with the Cerbera, just before the heaviest snow, I came up a long straight and over a crest, and there right in front of me, was a full-on Bell Apache helicopter gunship, hovering just above the centre of the road and pointing slightly nose-down right at me. You know, the helicopter that is designed for battle to hover just behind the horizon, then to pop up and use its radar to identify a possible 200 targets, identify the priority 16, moving or stationary, and kill them in 2 seconds. All of them. And then the next 16. And so on.

Well, seeing as there was only me and a 4x4 on that bit of road, I guessed that I was, at that moment, pretty far up the "instant annihilation" list. "Jees," I thought, "these Northumbrian cops don't half take speeding seriously." Fortunately, though, because of the prevailing weather, and my still all-too-fresh memories of my escapade of last Wednesday, I wasn't going fast enough to trigger the dreaded twin flash (no not a speed camera, at that moment I was more expecting a couple of Sidewinders).

I swear that it lifted a bit to let me go underneath, it was so low. I could see it until I was underneath it (and if you've ever looked out of the letter-box slit that's a Cerbera's windscreen, you'll know how limited the upward view is, you can't even see traffic lights if you're first at the stop line) and I could read the wee white stencilled markings for the lash-down points etc - then it peeled away to the left and disappeared behind a hill to await somebody not wearing a seat belt.

Fun, eh?

Anyway - today Jim phoned about his chassis. He finished work early today, and he's made a good start to removing everything for a body lift. A few more bolts and bits, and he should be there. I agree to nip by and have a look to make sure the body's ready for lifting.

Then Adrian texts me, and even though I have already booked my room for Chatsworth, I still (almost) agree to have a go at welding his exhaust. I'm just that kinda guy.

And then, as for the Lexus – well you do the decent thing and phone the police because you’ve damaged a farmer’s fence and you don’t know who owns it. They say they don’t know either, I need to find out. Meantime, they ask me to take my documents in, as a matter of routine… I can’t find the MOT – I know it’s got one, so do they, they can see on their computer, but no, they have to see the bit of paper. If I can’t find it or get a duplicate, I’ll get done for failing to produce. No wonder people just drive off into the night…

:: Sunday, February 12, 2012 ::

I finally got back to fixing the S today! Before I come to that, though, I'd better summarise other news.

First, the Lexus. It was collected on Tuesday and taken away to the car hospital, who phoned on Wednesday with a list of work required, and an estimated cost. They are my insurer's preferred garage though so they sort it out between themselves, I get the car back at the start of March, which is 4 weeks away. I get a free hire car for 2 weeks, so that leaves me for 2 weeks carless. I have 3 options: 1. pay for a hire car myself for 2 weeks; 2. insure a TVR for business use; or 3. borrow a car for a couple of weeks. There's a fourth option which is to not go anywhere by car for 2 weeks, I suppose. We'll see, but option 2 holds a certain appeal - I could use the TVR more often just to prevent if sitting. They don't like just sitting.

Also on Tuesday, I picked up the hire car - a Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 eco. I don't know if I can handle the power.

I got a duplicate MOT and visited the cop-shop so that's all sorted.

So that's the end of the news summary!

Today I decided to have a run in the Cerbera, and drop by Jim's to have a look at his chassis repair. He's printed off a very useful on-line guide, written by some sad ballon who needs to get out more, and has already got the body all disconnected and ready for the lift itself. We also look at removing the exhaust manifolds (another on-line guide!) - he's been soaking the studs in penetrating fluid for about 3 months, so they should shift. I agree to lend him my wee spanner I used to remove mine, and also the bolt grips I used on the rounded ones (uncharacteristically, because I never lend tools out). I also agree to lend him a trolley jack to help him lift the body evenly.

When I get home, I jack up the front of the S and remove the front wheels, and also the gas strut so that I can get the bonnet vertical. Then I remove the spring / shock absorber assemblies on each side. Fortunately I remembered to grease the bolts when I put them together, so they come apart easily.

I set up a wire brush in my angle grinder and start to remove the paint from the front wishbones. I've faffed about for so much of today, though, that I don't have time to do very much, but the bits I do clean, seem to come up nice and shiny.

I'll get the proper old togs on tomorrow, though, and get in about them with a bit more time.

:: Monday, February 13, 2012 ::

I start with a cup wire brush in the angle grinder, and knock the paint off the front wishbones on the drivers side. It's awkward when they are still on the car, and I did contemplate taking the front suspension to bits to do it properly - but I didn't. I'll add that to the list to do - I'll buy new top and bottom balljoints, and new wishbone bushes at the same time. So for the moment, all I am going to do is get them painted to prevent them rusting (the bottom wishbones are almost bare to start with).

Then I change to an ordinary rotary wire brush and get into all the bits the cup brush couldn't reach - well, most of them. I scrape the remaining paint off with the edge of a flat file, and then use a Dremel to get the last bits of paint off.

That's taken me 3 hours to do one side - it's now ready for repainting. I need to do the other side but I also have some work to do today so I'll have to come back to it later.

:: Saturday, February 18, 2012 ::

Well I haven't had time to get back to the S, I've just been too busy (and it's been a wee bit cold for my sensitive wee body).

I did however manage to renew the insurance on the Cerbera, and with a modest extra payment, I have it insured for business use. Even if that saves me a couple of weeks car hire till I get the Lexus back, it'll be worth it - and then I can still use it for work trips on nice days (if we get any!). So I thought that I had that sussed.

Life is never so easy though, is it? I had a couple of wee errands to do today, before I start on the S's suspension, so I thought I would take the Cerbera. It started fine (although I think I am going to have to refurbish the motor, it's sounding a bit sticky from time to time) and off we went. Now I've noticed, since I got the car back from its service, the off whiff of fuel from time to time, and I realise that I had better track that down before the engine bay catches fire.

Anyway, on the way home, I thought I'd fill it with fuel. Open the boot, and find the floor is soaking in water. I thought I had fixed that water leak, and I've got no coolant bottle leaking in the boot now either. Anyway, I fill it with fuel in a gale, and head for home.

Once home, I decide to mop the water out of the boot with a wee sponge, before it rots the carpets. As soon as I put my head in the boot, though, I can smell fuel. It's not water, it's petrol! I mop it up into a basin, and then empty it into an old fuel can - there's been just under half a gallon swilling around the boot floor...

This photo shows the boot, with the bright yellow colour showing where the pools of fuel were (and I do mean pools), and the lighter shading showing how much of the carpet had fuel in it.

I can't see where it's leaking from. The filler tube is bone dry, and so are the sides and back of the tank. I'm not sure, but I think that the fuel feed pipe is taken off inside the boot underneath the tank on the passenger side. I don't know where the return pipe is though. During the service, the garage said that they replaced a corroded fuel hose clip (which I thought was at the pump connection) but I'll have to check that.

However, I notice that the tank sits on a wee carpeted shelf, and the carpet is wet under the offside corner (where the red arrow points) so that suggests that the leak is mainly on that side.

Unfortunately, by the time I have got this far in the diagnosis, the garage's service department is shut for the day (to be honest, I was too late anyway by the time I got home). I'll have to call them on Monday and find out a wee bit more about this hose clip they replaced... There was no problem before, so the chances are...

If the car has to go back to them on a trailer, I'll be going with it, to see exactly where this new leak is, eh?

I've also left the car outside with the boot open to let some of the remaining fuel evaporate. That will also allow any leak (if there is one) to show itself again without the car's movement swilling the fuel around.

Hope nobody chucks a match over my garden fence (or on the other hand, I might not be that bothered any more...)

Some kind soul on Pistonheads then points out that fibreglass can be porous, and can absorb the fuel, which then never evaporates out, and forms a resin / fuel mix that's extremely flammable. Good point. So I go back out and remove all the carpets (fortunately the glue has mostly dissolved so it's not too hard). I hang the carpets up to dry (or maybe just disintegrate), and then clean the boot floor with a degreaser and dry it throughly.

This photo shows the ledge in the boot that the tank sits on, where the red arrow points in the first photo above. I've only taken this to convince myself how dry it is, so that I don't have doubts that I missed a bit when I go out checking for new leaks tomorrow.

Oh and while I was removing the carpet, I thought I had found a false fingernail - then I realised it was mine, the one I jammed in a Ford spring the day after boxing day. It just came off.

:: Sunday, February 19, 2012 ::

Well, after leaving the Cerbera overnight, there is a noticeable pool of fuel at point B again. Everything else seems to be bone dry.

So it's time to investigate further. I pull out the control boxes on top of the tank, and stick my hand down the back. There is a hose into the top right corner of the tank, right above puddle B. I think that this is the fuel return hose - the feed hose to the pump is in the opposite corner as far as I can tell, from reading what information there is on Pistonheads. The return hose feels dry though, and I can't feel any sign of any leakage around it...

I did manage to get the camera in and take a photo looking straight downwards - the back of the tank is on the bottom of the photo, and you can see that the shelf that the tank sits on, is wet. You can see the hose and you can also see (now that I've processed the photo, you can't see on the car, unless your eye is on a stalk) that the carpet alongside and underneath that hose also looks wet. I've just been back out to the car to check again, and it doesn't feel wet though... The bottom of the tank on that corner is wet though, and so is the very bottom edge of the carpet stuck to the back of the tank.

I rig up a mirror and a light to see the boot floor under the front of the tank at the filler end - it looks bone dry... There are no wet hoses anywhere.

Where next in the diagnostic process Holmes? Well let's find out if the leak is from the top of the tank or the bottom. Since the tank is full, I'll have to empty it. I nip down to B&Q for a length of clear (nd more importantly, clean) pipe, to be greeted by "Morning, can I help?" Well, I couldn't help myself. I put on my best cockney accent and said "Got any 'ose?" Fortunately he was old enough to remember the 2 Ronnies so he got the joke...

Anyway, home again, and I siphon 7 gallons of fuel out of the tank and put it into the S. Then I make a mistake: I switch the Cerb on to check how much fuel is left (it's now about 1/4 full) but forget that will re-pressurise the system, so if it's leaking under pressure, there will be fuel everywhere again. So I have to repeat the mop up and dry process again (the fuel from overnight is still in there anyway) and start checking for static leaks again... I'll also jack the car up and take the rear wheels off so that I can follow the route of the fuel feed and return lines.

In the meantime, I can now check the fuel gauge on the S - it has almost no fuel in it, and I'm not sure if the fuel gauge works since I had all the dash out - well, it does!

I was aided through the siphoning process by Jim, who has successfully managed to remove all of his exhaust manifold studs without breaking any, and is returning the spanners and stuff I lent him, in exchange for a trolley jack to lift the body. This removing exhaust stuff is easy-peasy - everybody says that they break, but Jim and Dave and I have never had any problem. All it needs is a bit of care, eh?

Another interesting thing. See if you post a question on the S-Series forum, saying "where do the hoses connect to the fuel tank", you get a pile of replies with photos showing exactly how it all goes together. On the Cerbera forum, nobody seems to know... Is that just because Cerbera are newer and so not as many owners work on them themselves, or is it because they are too complicated? I don't know... but after 2 days of searching, I have found sod all. 2 photos showing the tank with the carpet peeled off, and that's yer lot. As far as I can see, though, taking the tank out to get to the connections or to repair a leak isn't too difficult... famous last words!

First though, I'm going to see what the garage say when I call them tomorrow.

:: Monday, February 20, 2012 ::

First step - phone the garage about the Cerbera's fuel tank. They say that there's nothing they could have disturbed, so it must be a coincidence. I have to say that I have looked really hard at where the leak seems to be centred, and I can't see either how the work they did could have made any difference - but it's still an odd coincidence that there was no hint of a problem before.

I have breakdown relay and homestart etc so I decide to get the car delivered back to the garage on a flatbed so that they can look at it. I need to get on with the S, so that I've got at least one on the road by next weekend!

The AA man arrives within an hour (how can they never do that when you break down in the middle of nowhere?) and we load the car onto the lorry and off it goes...

Right, so this S suspension...

The offside is pretty much stripped to bare metal. You can see the debris of the old paint lying underneath, and the sheets that I put over the engine to try to contain most of the dust - not to stop it landing on the engine, but to try to prevent it being flung all over the inside of my garage...

So it's on to the nearside. As you can see, there's not very much paint left on the wishbones (although to be fair, there is a lot of muck stuck to waxoyl as well, so it's not easy to see the paint anyway).

After a couple or three hours with a wire brush and a dremel, I've got it pretty much back to bare metal. I also had to use a flat file and a small chisel on areas that I couldn't reach with the power tools.

The chassis also has a coat of waxoyl, with a lot of muck sticking to it, so it looks horrible - but it's mostly ok under the paint, although there are a few bits that need cleaned up and repainted. I think the next time I do this job, I'll strip the whole front suspension off the car and repaint everything properly, including the hub carriers etc... not today though.

I give both sides a clean with a degreaser, and leave it to dry.

Just before closing time, the garage phones - they have checked all the fuel hoses and connections, and the leak appears to be coming from a corner of the tank where there are no inlets, outlets or anything, so they suspect a pinhole in a spot weld or a seam. They have completely drained the tank, and are going to remove it tonight and test it tomorrow, and have it repaired if necessary.

After my dinner, it's back to the S, and the next stage is an etcher. It used to be called "Metal Ready" but they have changed its name and I can't remember what it's called now. I spray it on, and leave it for 15 minutes or so, re-wetting it so that it doesn't dry out. Then I wash it off, and dry all the wishbones etc carefully. Now I need to leave it again to dry, before applying the POR-15.

:: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 ::

I get a phone call from the garage about the Cerbera. The fuel tank is out, they have found a bit of corrosion, they have tested it and it's leaking very slightly from a weld in the front right hand corner - just where that red arrow pointed in the first photo on Saturday.

Here's the boot floor underneath the tank - it sits on a little raised section. They are going to send the tank away for repair, and try to get it back and refitted by the weekend.

I give the front suspension two coats of POR-15 in silver, using little sponge pads instead of brushes, like I used on the chassis. You can paint with the edge of the foam as well as the end, so it's a lot easier to reach the back and bottom edges of tubes.

It looks ok in silver. I am not sure whether or not to overcoat them in red now - I might leave them as they are...

The garage is absolutely covered in red dust...

In the middle of all that, I had to take the hire car back, because I only had it for 2 weeks. I don't expect to get the Lexus back for another 2 weeks yet. I might have the Cerbera back by the weekend. I might not. The S might also be ready by the weekend (depending whether or not I topcoat the front suspension in red). Or it might not. I'm carless. Worse than that, I'm relying on getting a TVR on the road if I want to get anywhere!

:: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 ::

No word on the Cerbera today. The tank is at the repairers, and should be returned to the garage tomorrow or Friday, so the car should be ready for collection on Friday or Saturday. I'll just have to see, eh? At least I won't feel like a suicide bomber when I drive it next.

In the meantime, I decide to get the S finished and back on 4 wheels. I start by reinstalling te front spring and damper units - first the top mounting bolt to hold the weight of the unit, then lift the wishbone slightly with a jack until the bottom bolt holes line up. Install the nuts and tighten. Job done!

One last check before I put the front wheels back on - all brake calipers working ok, all suspension bolts in place, everything fine - that is, until I check over the brake lines and find a tiny scupp on one of them, where I must have touched it with the wire brush in the angle grinder. It has only scuffed the outer plastic coat, through to the metal braiding, but I am not taking chances, not with brake hoses - AFter I have put the wheels on and lowered the car, I order a new set of braided hoses, to be fitted before I start using the car properly.

Then I remove all the dust covers (which are lying over the engine and might therefore get caught in the fanbelt, before I start the car up. It starts right away, as usual. With the servo now under manifold vacuum, I press the brakes hard and check for swelling of the damaged brake hose, but it looks ok.

Chocks away, and I roll the car out of the garage - the first time it has moved under its own power since October I think. I try the brakes in the driveway, and then , well, I know I shouldn't, until I've fixed those brake hoses, but I can't help myself - I have a short drive down my road, round the roundabout at the end, and then back to the house, again trying the brakes, which work ok but feel a bit spongy, I think they need to be bled properly with an assistant pedal-pusher.

I sweep up all the dust off the garage floor, and then park the car back inside.

I still have a few wee jobs to do before the spring, apart from just cleaning it and tidying bits up - I need to cut a couple of holes in the carpet for the footwell heater vents, and I was hoping to re-cover the inside of the roof panels, although I need to get new rubber seals in case the old ones break when I try to peel them off.

:: Thursday, February 23, 2012 ::

First things first. I noticed while I was working on the S that some of the red topcoat has come off the chassis repair - not the sill tubes, they still look perfect, but the cross-tube under the seat, and the front of the rear outriggers. The grey POR15 underneath is undamaged though. So I mix up a tiny batch of the red topcoat I used (it's a separate paint and hardener) and apply a couple of coats.

With a new blade in the Stanley knife, I cut a couple of holes in the sides of the footwell to connect up the heater hoses - but I cam't reach the hoses themselves, inside the wing, I'll have to figure that out...

Not today though, because a courier delivers the brake hoses that I ordered at lunch time yesterday. Now that's good service, and I didn't even pay for express delivery or anything.

I start with the nearside. Jack the car up and remoce the wheel, and then fisconnect the long hose from the metal pipe, at the bracket just behind the radiator. I have a blank connector that I screw into the female connector on the metal pipe, to prevent fluid loss. Then I loosen the lock nut and remove the hose from the chassis bracket.

Some S-Series cars I habe seen, have a single long brake hose that goes all the way from that bracket to the caliper, but mine has the "standard" two hoses on each side - one flexi from the chassis to the hub, then a short bit of metal pipe to another bracket on the hub, then another flexi to the caliper itself. I remove the short bit of metal pipe, which I think is still the original steel item (and not in great nick).

The lock nuts on the two hub brackets are siezed solid, and I can't shift them. I cut through the short hose to the caliper, and then remove the caliper end. That lets me get a 19mm socket on the large pinch bolt through the hub, to remove one of the brackets altogether. Once I get it in a vice, I can cut through the locknut with an angle grinder, to remove the remains of the hose, then re-shape the bracket to what it should be.

I also have to use the angle grinder on the other locknut on the hub itself.

After I have made up and shaped a new length of copper brake pipe to replace the old steel one, I can reassemble everything, starting at the caliper end, back towards the chassis, removing my fluid stop and connecting the system at the chassis last, so that I don't have fluid dripping everywhere.

Then it's a simple matter of bleeding the caliper, replacing the wheel and lowering the jack.

The other side is exactly the same - I have to cut the short hose to disconnect the bracket on the bench with a cutting disk, and I also have to cut through the connector at the hub.

But that's it finished - the only problem is that my pedal-pumping assistant has gone back indoors and I can't bleed the brakes.

Here's the two areas of damage - both seem to be only the plastic coating, there's no obvious damage to the metal braiding, but knowing that was there would get on my nerves every time I drive the car.

And finally, here's the state of the workbench by the time I have finished all that. I am not very good at tidying as I go... I end up with a pile of stuff in the order I last used it (apart from the angle grinder, which I picked up off the floor so that I wouldn't trip over it while I was taking the photo...)

Then I phone about the Cerbera - the tank is apparently repaired, and will be pressure tested tomorrow and returned to the garage for fitting. It might be ready tomorrow, but I think I'd rather collect it on Saturday - I'd better do some work tomorrow seeing as I have done sod all today.

:: Saturday, February 25, 2012 ::

The Cerbera was completed last thing yesterday, so today I have to go to collect it. This involves 3 trains. The first one, there were only 3 of us on it (plus the guard / ticket inspector woman). The second one was nice, from Edinburgh to Newcastle, with comfy seats, newspapers, and a croissant. On the 3rd one I ended up in a carriage with a huge group of grannies going to celebrate a 60th birthday, and just getting started into the carry-oot.

I collect the car, the roads are dry, it's sunny, so the drive back is free of the falling snow concerns I had last time. It's brilliant!

:: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 ::

I hate TVRs.

I haven't bled the brake on that last corner of the S yet, but that's not really the problem...

I still don't have the Lexus back, so I've been driving around in the Cerbera, noisy starter motor notwithstanding. I'm not going to try to fix it just now, I'll wait a week until the Lexus is back, so that I've got at least one car to get about in while the starter is out. That's not the problem either...

Today, I had to go a wee errand, about 30 miles each way. Before I left, I bought another tin of carpet glue, and stuck all the dried out carpets back into the boot. Good job I had the S to practice on, eh? THat's not the problem either...

Then I set off on my wee run. Got there no problem, got back no problem - until I reached the roundabout at the bottom of my street, when for some completely inexplicable reason, one of the exhausts fell off and started jangling along the road. One of the stainless pipes leading to the back box has split around a joint. I manage to detach the box from the mounting, despite it being bleeding hot, and get the car home with the box in the boot, where it does little to silence the racket the car is now making.

I'll have to take it tomorrow to get fixed - it won't cost me anything, but it's getting on my nerves now...

I hate TVRs!