:: Diary - November 2006 ::

:: Saturday, November 4, 2006 ::

Collect the car from the garage, for the TVR club meeting. Interesting to note after I take the dust cover off, that there are definite drying markes and water runs on the boot lid. I have no idea how they got there because the car didn't get wet last time I used it. Odd.

Anyway, off to the meeting, a good natter and a couple of new (well to me anyway) members.

The car is going really well - it really does sound good, and with much better low-down torque (or at least a better impression - no need to change down to avoid chuffing exhaust leaks).

I drive home the long way, every single mile reminding me that I didn't mean it when I threatened to sell the car in the midst of exhaust-manifold-induced depression. I have to go to the borders tomorrow and the weather looks promising so I'll be blatting there and back!

:: Sunday, November 5, 2006 ::

My wee drive to the Borders. I decide that out-and-out blatting is not the order of the day (the slight dampness on the road seems to have seeped into my pants - discretion is the better part of valour). Nevertheless, the drive is huge fun, I can't get over how good the car sounds.

I get back to the garage before dark o'clock as instructed last week. As I am putting the car away, the guy who owns the Honda Gold Wing in the other half of the garage, shows up. It turns out that he owns a Motor Factors, and gives me his card. He says he'll get me any parts I am strugglng to find. Handy or what?

:: Sunday, November 12, 2006 ::

Weekend off from the car this week - just too busy. It's a sad day when life gets in the way of enjoying yourself.

I have quick review of "must do" jobs for the winter:

1. I bought a front suspension ball joint months ago (£11.00 or so from the 'bay, costs several times that from Saab (yes yet another maker's parts bin raided - I think that TVR must have bought job lots of cheap bits and then engineered ways of fitting then all together). Anyway I need to fit that - the existing one has a split boot although no play.

2. I need to replace the bearing, where the steering column passes through the bulkhead (just above your tootsies). Mine creaks and clonks and has more play than a Woodbine up a close, and has been like that since I got it. I have no idea how it has passed 4 MOT tests like that. I'm not overly worried about the noise but it affects the steering "feel" - it's not easy feeling what the tyres are doing when the steering wheel is vibrating your fillings out.

I was reading that some owners were chuffed that they got the bits (bearing, housing and plastic bush) for £60 from a TVR specialist. Time for another visit to Ebay! First I find the bearing part number and find it on the bay for £1.25 plus about 30p postage. Another 5 minutes and I find the plastic bush as part of a steering column kit for a Ford Sierra - £3.00 plus £1.50 postage. I suspect that I will be able to re-use the existing housing. So that's a total cost of let me see - £4.25 plus £1.80 postage. Something of a saving on TVR's price. Ordered and paid for! If I do need a new housing I'll order one from Ford - they are about £20 or so there.

3. Next winter job is to repaint the chassis - this means scraping and wire-brushing off the existing loose paint and plastic coating, treating any bare metal and then painting with Hammerite. It looks easy when you write it down. In practice, it's a pain in the bum - the chassis is all wee manky tubes and the biggest bit of the job is just getting the damn thing clean so that the paint will stick. I'm not looking forward to it, but like the exhausts, it'll be worth it once it's done!

:: Thursday, November 16, 2006 ::

All the ebay bits have arrived and seem to fit together ok.

Now I only have the easy task of getting them to fit the car! This involves removing the whole steering column and steering wheel, changing the bearing and then getting it all back together again. Lovely.

:: Saturday, November 25, 2006 ::

Remembar a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that there were drying marks on the boot lid and I couldn't understand how they got there while the car was in the garage?.

Well now I do!

Went along today just to collect the trolley jack (for brake pad replacement on another car but that's another story) and noticed a couple of wet bits on the dust cover. Close inspection reveals a line of drips in line with one of the roof trusses.

Now I know that the weather recently has been wet and windy enough to make Noah gopher wood, so the car is a lot better off than it would have been if left outside, but still - it's not ideal.

Even less ideal is that the other half of the garage is now occupied by a Honda Gold Wing (which fits in the corner so is no impediment) and a trailer with two dirt bikes on, which doesn't and is. Manouevring the car in and out is going to be nearly impossible with the trailer there, because:

1. The door is fairly narrow and in the middle of the front wall. The trailer edge is about one third of the way across the door.

2. The garage floor is about 3 or 4 inches higher than the yard, so I have a pair of wooden ramps to reverse in and drive out. The exhaust only just clears the wooden sill of the garage (it didn't originally but it's worn a little groove in the wood!)

3. The yard slopes slightly across the front of the garage, downwards away from my side of the garage. I could put the ramps at an angle (ie pointing towards my side of the garage) but I think that, if one wheel goes down first, I'll ground the exhaust on the edge of the garage floor. I'm pretty sure that I can't go in and out at an angle.

4. This means I have to go in straight, and then wiggle the car to the edge of the garage in a series of forward / reverse cuts. The garage isn't a lot longer than the car so a number of shuffles are necessary.

I looks as if it might just fit and be able to wiggle across but it's going to be hell! I think that smaller shuffles will be needed because there's now no room to angle the car for the first one.

Bugger.

Anyway, another week with no TVR work done. I couldn't even be bothered at all last weekend. The garage is too far away to just "pop out" for a wee tinker of an evening - work is a planned expedition to load the right tools etc that I might need (and, usually, those I think I might not but will, when I get there). Also, the guy is not keen to open his door when it's dark - don't blame him for that - it's very remote.

All of this, combined with the slight leakiness, is leading me to wonder if I should start looking around for another garage (or maybe another house!)