:: Diary - August 2006 ::

:: Saturday, August 5, 2006 ::

TVR Club meeting.

First along to the garage and spend an hour and a half trying to polish out the scratch that appeared on the boot at the Knockhill show.

Two applications of scratch remover, two polishes and a wax later, and a burnt-out electric polisher, I have reduced the scratch to a condition where Stevie Wonder might not see it. If it's dark. And he was looking at it from Detroit.

When I take the car out of the garage and into the daylight, though, it's not that bad, unless you know where to look.

They are still BASTARDS though!

The meeting itself is good - 2 or 3 new cars, a Griffith, a Cerbera and a Chimaera that (I think) I haven't seen before, plus a good number of regulars. Quite a big meeting.

:: Sunday, August 6, 2006 ::

Today I have the car entered in the Culzean Classic car show (now held in Irvine). The drive down is, em, entertaining as the rain is pishing down. It goes off just as we arrive though, and stays off for the rest of the day.

           

           

The show itself is a hoot - at least this time there is a space reserved for us, so it doesn't take long to get organised. We also have the statutory absorbent gazebo!

Dave is permanently distracted by the need to have a shot of the radio controlled cars. I am permanently distracted by the proximity of a burger van, staffed by a burd who could frost your toilet windows from 50 paces. Her face is so sour that I decide that extra pickle on the burger would be overdoing it for the day.

Oh remember I mentioned a month or so ago that they had stopped making the front indicators? Well I read last night that mid-90s Kia Pride ones fit. Not exactly prestigious but it's a step up from a Sherpa minibus. We also noticed that the indicator on a Jaguar XJS is the same size as well. It's looking promising! I'll keep an eye out in a few scrapyards and see if I can get one cheap to try, before I buy new ones.

I spend a few minutes looking around the car and refreshing my "job to do" list. Wish I hadn't.

After the show four of us blooter back along the A71, with the weather much nicer now.

Tuck the car away in beddy-baws and wave night-night. Next weekend I have a shedload of garden painting to do (including the shed itself) so the renewed todo list for the car will have to wait.

:: Tuesday, August 8, 2006 ::

I find myself driving past a Kia dealer, by some amazing coincidence, so I drop into the Parts Department. Indicator units for a 1996 Kia Pride are about £25 each, but you can buy the orange lens for £3.84 plus VAT. That'll do for me! I order 2.

:: Friday, August 11, 2006 ::

Back to the Kia dealer and collect the indicator lenses for a grand total of £9.02.

Then along to the garage to take the two indicator units off the car, and back to the house.

This shows the old unit - the black reflector bit, and the orange lens glued on. First step is to separate the two bits.

Fortunately, because they were assembled by the Leyland empire in their heyday, they were never fixed together that well in the first place. Some gentle levering with a screwdriver prises the two bits apart. I had to be very careful here not to bend the ends of the black reflector (that the mounting screws go through) because if that breaks off, I'm stuffed.

TARAA!!! Black bit removed intact.

There is a tiny plastic lug on one end of the reflector (beside the screwhole) which has to be removed - I twisted it off with pliers then filed the stump smooth.

Then put the new lens on - a couple of spots of glue to hold it in place (I didn't glue it all the way round in case I need to get it apart again!) and a smear of clear silicone just to waterproof the join, and it's ready to go back on the car.

So that's that sorted. There is another problem looming however - the Leyland indicator has a lip on the edge that holds the rubber bunper in place. The new one doesn't. I will have to stick the bumper down to the bodywork - I have double sided tape and trim tape so I'll try that.

Shed and fence painting tomorrow if weather nice. Indicator and bumper fixing if it's not.

:: Saturday, August 12, 2006 ::

Weather indifferent, and so am I.

So to give the weather a chance to make up its mind, I go along to the car first. Changing the indicator over is easy - it fits the moulded recess perfectly. The screws are a bit short though, so I need to get new ones.

I try the double sided tape on the bumper but it's just not strong enough - the rubber just straightens out.

The rubber has a metal strip moulded into the back edge, and there are two screws holding it on, just at the wheelarch. I think there are meant to be another two to hold the front edge on. I need to take the rubber off, drill two holes through the bonnet into the reverse of the bumpers and screw them on properly.

Unfortunately I don't have my drill or a decent screwdriver at the garage so I decide I might be better taking the car to the house where all my tools are. I fashion a temporary repair to hold the bumper on while I drive the car to the house. Then I notice that the weather has brightened up so I decide that I should do some shed and fence painting instead.

So the car will have to be left till another day.

:: Saturday, August 19, 2006 ::

It's too rainy to bring the car to the house to fix, so it's over to the garage with a selection of drills, screwdrivers, files, tapes, washers and screws (I thought washers and screws was a prison laundry detail but never mind) to refix the bumper.

Step 1 - remove gaffa tape and drill hole in the bonnet to line up with the metal strip in the back of the bumper.

Step 2 - tape bumper back into position and poke a sharp drill bit through from behind to mark the strip.

Step 3 - remove whole bumper and drill hole in strip to recieve large self-tapper.

Step 4 - replace bumper and remount with self-tappers and large washers.

Then I replace the front indicators and it doesn't look to bad at all! I think it looks much better than the originals, although opinion is apparently divided. Since this is my car and my site though, nobody else's opinion matters a toss, see?

If you are thinking of doing the same, all the faffing with bumpers shouldn't be necessary - I only had to do it because the bumper hadn't been replaced properly when the bonnet was repainted. The indicators themselves are a straight swap for the original Leyland ones.

It's noticeable that, every time I give a car to somebody else to fix, they charge loads of money and it's never right. I might not always get things right first time but at least I can bodge stuff up for free!

:: Saturday, August 26, 2006 ::

Tomorrow is the Callander Classic show. The weather forecast is crap. The weather might turn out fine but the BBC weather site changes its mind every 10 minutes. I think they just look out of the window, rub a bit of seaweed, and guess.

Anyway, along to the garage to bring the car back to the house. I give it a clean and a polish up just before the rain comes on. 20 minutes later I give it another clean. Then I polish the wheels, the rubber bumpers and dust down the engine.

Then it rains again.

:: Sunday, August 27, 2006 ::

Up bright and early to go and meet Dave for the run to Callander. It rains on the way. Twice.

We arrive at the appointed hotel de breakfast, 10 minutes early. After laying snares, then mines, to trap a member of staff, we are finally shown to a table 25 minutes later. I order the full Scottish heartstopper. Which is nice.

Then we set off for the show, arriving our usual "fashionable" 10 minutes late. Porous gazebo and flagpole set up then there's a frenzy of polishing and cleaning, mainly from Dave, but most of the others join in too. Including me.

Right, car cleaned and polished again, and looking sparkly.

Then it rains again.

Another clean and polish after the rain goes off - hopefully it'll stay dry this time.

Much blethering and chatting to visitors, including people I recognise from other shows. I'm doing too many of these.

The car looks absolutely fantastic when the sun's out, amazing colour and shine. Yep that'll do!

Another really enjoyable day with the club. Photos on the day are available here