Saturday, February 16, 2013

And so to bed

Bought a Haynes manual and an owners manual for the Rover but other than that the only thing I have done is covered it with a tarpaulin!
Under wraps

I have done a fair bit more to PMW tho.

First off was getting the car high enough to get the engine and gearbox out - thanks Bryce for manually lifting the car (!) while I raised the axle stands each side bit by bit. Then it was fine to pull out the engine and box, put them on an engine crane while leaving the subframe and front suspension on the pallet truck.

Once that was done I took the opportunity to inspect the engine bay and as you can see in the next 2 photos the car is as solid as I thought - not in bad nick at all.

Whilst by no means a polisher (how dare someone suggest such a thing) I did then sped time cleaning the engine bay with thinners before using curust on all the surface rust I found. Next week I'll get the Teal blue aerosols out and give these areas a coat or two to help preserve the car and then if someone in the future wants to do a proper job the car will still be in existence for them to do so!
The areas with curust applied can be seen in the above photo. Another thing that can be seen is a braided clutch hose I fitted. This was something I had bought a couple of years ago with some Rimmer Bros vouchers I had been given and it felt good to be fitting something back onto the car.

I also took the chance to get some waxoyl in places which would be difficult to reach with the engine in place.

Then finally the car was back under wraps until next weekend.

3 good hours put in and 2 cars put to bed under the covers!

Sunday, February 03, 2013

Split screen

Split screen? No, I have not bought a VW Camper or early Morris Minor!

I am tempting fate and getting ready for returning to driving (application off to the DVLA today) which means looking at the car I am going to be using first.

I have been starting and moving UNJ about over the last year as well as other jobs listed on here so it's pretty much OK for MOT on March 20th although I must get round to booking that.

What has happened whilst it's been in hibernation though is the rear screen in the hood has split away from the hood fabric. In fact, it's got worse which seems odd for a non moving car. My suspicion is next doors cat that likes sleeping on the hood and may well be getting off the hood by going down over the sloping rear screen. Not sure if it' weight would be enough but it can't be helping.

Anyway, in the attached photo the problem is obvious. The granules that are visible are supposed to keep cats away!

Even duct tape won't hold it together!

Now I am pondering what to do about it. I assume a trimmer will be able to repair it but where to start and what's the cost likely to be?

One thing for sure though is that the car can't be used in the rain with it like this.