:: Diary - March 2016 ::

:: Saturday, March 19, 2016 ::

It’s only March, but it hasn’t rained or snowed for 5 days! So naturally an old git’s fancy turns to thoughts of Spring - and sports cars.

So today’s job is to give the car an oil change and a check over. The first bit is easy - start the car, move it out of the garage (well if it’s going to be sunny, I’m not going to waste it by staying in the garage, am I?) and let it warm up just a wee bit while I assemble the necessary stuff - a jack, 2 axle stands, a 13mm socket and handle, a drain tray and a gallon of oil and a filter that I bought yesterday. Oh, and a foam pad to lie on - concrete feels much harder than it used to.

So - jack up the car, put the axle stands under, put the tray in place and remove the drain plug. While that’s emptying, I slide the tray sideways (it’s big!) under the oil filter, and remove that. Since I changed the brake master cylinder, turning the filter is a lot easier - you can get both hand down there and turn it without tools. With the old Saab system, you had to use a filter wrench from underneath, which meant that all the old oil ran up your arm to your elbow.

While the car’s up in the air, I notice that the red POR15 topcoat has been sandblasted off bits of the chassis tubes by road grit thrown up by the front wheels. The POR protection itself looks ok though - a couple of bits that could be doing with repair before top coating again.

Then - put the new filter on, replace the drain plug (you only make that mistake once…), and fill up with nice clean oil.

Then start the car, check for leaks, slide out the drain tray, and lower the car.

After transferring the old oil from the tray into an empty oil can, I go for a wee drive to try it - and it’s brilliant!

Still need to fix (free up) the heater controls - they do work, but very stiff.
Need to clean seats and interior.
General tidy up required.
Need to check front brake pad wear.
repair chassis paint

Before all that though, I have to remember that the Porsche is going for service on Wednesday at 9am, so I need to swap the cars over before then. Preferably while it’s dry, seeing as the TVR roof is still AWOL!

:: Sunday, March 20, 2016 ::

The Porsche is booked in for a service this Wednesday (SP Autobahn in Stirling, if you want to know - great guy, knows his stuff, loves the old air-cooled stuff) and I have to be there for 9am. That would mean collecting it from the farm at daft o’clock, so I decide to swap them over, take the TVR along there and bring the Porsche back.

The TVR, as usual, starts first time, but runs like a wet fart until it is warmed up. It’s just about sorted itself out by the time I reach the farm.

With the battery reconnected, and a cycle of the immobiliser, the Porsche also starts first time, but at least runs ok straight from the off! (well it doesn’t quite - it has an odd “cycling of the revs” from idle speed up to about 1500 rpm and back, for the first minute or so. Apparently “they all do that sir” - a bit like steamed-up instruments in a TVR S Series…)

With the usual precision manoeuvring in and out of the narrow garage door, the cars are soon swapped over. Even I am amazed that in 10 years, I haven’t managed to scrape a car on the door, or tip it off the “temporary” wooden ramps to raise to from the yard over the door sill.

I drive the Porsche straight home - maybe 3 miles as the crow flies, 4 by road, but somehow by the time I get there, the car has done 40 miles… strange…

Anybody remember Mike? He used to accompany us on our TVR trips in his S4C, but sold it a couple of years ago, and hasn’t been seen since. Well he was in his garden as I passed, so I decided to stop and remind him of his past, mixing with us rough boys. He liked the car, had a shot, and then gave me some TVR S spares - just assorted bits and pieces that I will add to the stock in my garage.

:: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 ::

Porsche service day! And it’s freezing…

Now I don’t you if you know, but the heating system in an air-cooled Porsche is very effective, but it has more levers and settings than the old Victorian signal-box at Edinburgh Waverley. After footering around with it for the first couple of miles (while I remember what all the levers do - their labelling is not exactly comprehensive either) I have the car nice and toasty.

With the car dropped off, and a chat with a Cayman owner (they are nice those…) I have 6 hours to kill. The first hour or so is occupied by walking into the town centre, stopping to admire various car showrooms before the salesmen have finished their wake-up coffee, so you get peace. Another hour passes while I have a light fry-up breakfast and a read of the news.

4 hours to go.

I wander the long way up to the castle, and then sit on a bench while I think about whether to spend 14 quid to actually go inside. The battle between wallet and ambient temperature lasts another 20 minutes before I decide that I ain’t no Ranalph Ffeinnes so I am going to cough up the 14 quid just to get a heat.

As usual, of course, it turns out to be really interesting. Various displays and explanations of its history - you always learn some new piece of useless trivia. The only downside is that the place is full of school kids, in several different parties, so there are times when you can’t move. Or hear.

2 hours later, I wander back out, and then spend another hour in a cafe having a lunch.

1 hour to go.

I have a wee wander around the shops.

40 minutes to go. Time to walk back by a different route, which turns out to be much shorter.

I told him before I left that one of the driveshaft boots had a wee split, and if he had time, would he be able to change it. Well it turned out that another one has burst since I last looked (in September - and the car has hardly been used since) so he has replaced both - but as a result, the car isn’t quite ready. So I end up hanging around making conversation until it’s ready.

So with service and repair completed, and rear suspension cleaned and re-rustproofed, it’s time to go. And it’s running like a sweetie. And no risk of agony tomorrow.

Next task is to get under the TVR and check repair the paint on the outriggers. I’m thinking about that on the way home and you know what? I’m really not looking forward to it. I’m getting to old for this, Ive got a half-frozen shoulder that makes working under cars difficult (not least because I lose all feeling in one hand if it’s upside down for any length of time). I’ll see how bad it is (both the rust in the shoulder and the pain in the outriggers, or maybe the other way around).

:: Wednesday, March 30, 2016 ::

I’m passing the car trimmer today, so I decide to drop in and see how the roof panels are doing. I need them for a trip next weekend.

He hasn’t even started them.

He’s been ill, he’s been on holiday, his son isn’t available to help because he’s gone off to university, he’s another staff member short.

Fair enough. But he still hasn’t even started them.

I explain that I need to take them away, because I need a roof. It’s all very amicable, mainly because I might still need to take them back…

So… what the fuck am I going to do now?

I look at various options - cloth, vinyl, paint, tinfoil, carpet, creosote, ceramic tiles… it’s all too confusing.

The one thing that is certain, though, is that I’ll have to get this shit off it first. It’s got so much glue on that it’ll stick to everything… except the vinyl I bought!

I clean a bit with white spirit and it’s not bad - but it’s going to be a long messy process! At least I’ll have time to think about options for re-covering it, while I’m at it.