:: Diary - November 2015 ::

:: Sunday, November 1, 2015 ::

Yes, I still own a TVR! And it’s still in the garage, where I put it 5 weeks ago so that I could get on with a few tasks without carting stuff back and forwards to the farm. How many of those jobs have I finished? Well, none… How many have I started? That’ll be “none” again, then…

On the bright side, that means that the car isn’t in bits so I can use it for the TVR car club meetings today.

I have arranged to meet up with Jim and Dave for a run beforehand. The weather forecast says “dry” and this might be our last chance before the winter. So we meet up at 10am, after I have been for cash, then fuel, and the usual prevarications.

We have arranged to meet at the petrol station along the road, and there isn’t much parking room. I arrive last (but still early) and because we are in everybody’s way, I just set off again and end up in front, although I’m not sure what the route plan is. There was something about “Lanark” so I set off in that general direction, before I stop to let Dave in front.

Onwards through Lanark past a client’s house where I once turned up at 8am and asked for breakfast because I couldn’t afford my own because he wouldn’t pay me. His wife gave him a kicking, he gave me a cheque and I gave him a wide berth afterwards.

Then it’s up the Clyde Valley and into Airdrie, past the bodyshop that did the Porsche. Were did we go then? Oh yes - northwards again past the place where Mike’s wife works (you remember Mike? Him with the S4C? No me neither). Then we head off along some back roads so that Dave can show us Falkirk’s tribute to Cadillac Ranch alongside Route 66 in Texas.

OK, it’s not the middle of the US desert, they’re not Cadillacs and nobody hopes you “have a nice day” but this house is surrounded by a pile of decaying Volvos, for some reason. This is a Google image from 3 years ago - you can barely see those cars now because they are camouflaged by a thick layer of green shite.

Good though, eh?

Onward again, around Falkirk and on to the venue, where Dave’s brakes give up just on the edge of the town, and my brain gives up at the other edge and I drive past the entrance.

We are meeting up with William from Northern Ireland, so we have some good chat while we narrow Dave’s brake problem down to the servo. A suck and a blow through the vacuum pipe seems to get everything working again!

Then it’s inside for lunch and the usual exemplary service. I can’t even remember what the chat was about - but it was good as always!

All too soon, it’s time to head back, with Dave in front so that he can crash into the back of someone else. It turns out to be working fine though!

Another great day with the wee car!

:: Saturday, November 7, 2015 ::

Right. Yes. Right. Let’s sort a couple of TVR things today.

First, the cigar lighter, for those occasions when you fancy a celebratory smoke of Havanna’s finest, as you relax in the limousine-like draught-free comfort of your TVR. Or, more likely, when you want to plug your sat-nav in to find out where you’re going (or, if Adrian is leading, where you already are).

It was a bit intermittent during our summer trip up north, switching off and then needing the security code every 5 minutes when it came back on. I was relieved when it stopped working altogether.

The first step is to check it with a voltmeter wired up to an old lighter socket. Dead as a dodo’s granny. So I need to get in behind, which means removing the centre console. I remove the two screws from the back of the console, then left the console up, pulling off the fresh air vent hoses.

That lets me turn the console over to get to the lighter wiring. The centre wire has come off, simple. I put the wire back on, check that it’s working, then turn the console back right-way-up.

Then I decide that the wiring is a bloody mess, all twisted together, so I unplug the radio wiring and sort it all out, before I replace the fresh air hoses (that’s a bleeding challenge itself) and put the console back.

Next task - the passenger window. Ages ago, I had problems with the window switch, which would always work to put the window down, but sometimes not put it back up again, which was a pain when you wanted to park the thing. The wiring didn’t reach to turn the switch over, so I turned the wiring over at the motor so that down was up and up was down. Then I replaced the switch, so it goes up as well as down, but only if you press it to go down as well as up. Clear?

I still can’t turn over the wiring at the switch (that was one of the objectives of untangling the wiring, but it still doesn’t reach) so I take off the door trim and swap the wires back - so now it’s up for up and down for down.