Practically Classics Forum

Another enjoyable instalment - putting all this together would make a great magazine article as we can all learn how to (and how not to) undertake all the work you have achieved.

Mike

Thanks Topaz. Glad you're still with me and enjoying the blog.

After the kind suggestions from you chaps, I did email PC with the 1st 4 sections or so of the blog asking if they wanted me as a contributor/readers saga.

No reply though, so I guess you're stuck with me and I won't give up my day job!

don't email the office, email Neil (PM admin or his contact details are on PC's website) or Danny. They respond to emails fairly promptly.
(unless you are emailing them about site maintenance then you have to corner him at a show)

Thanks Terry. I sent the email to Neil Campbell and Danny Hopkins using their email addresses from PC's web site.

I'm sure they must get hundreds of people writing in wanting to be contributors though and I guess that they have enough for now. I sure that they are not after the ramblings of a bumbling incompetent fool cluttering up the mag.

Fatbloke wrote: I sure that they are not after the ramblings of a bumbling incompetent fool cluttering up the mag.

- - but the difference between you and the other bumbling incompetent fools is that you have injected some humour into your ramblings which have made me laugh out loud and identify with the mistakes you have made - far too many people take this classic car game too seriously. Another magazine has been running a very (very) long series about the restoration of a Stag - but not everyone has the skill, experience, equipment or finance to undertake a project like that and given a choice I would rather read your contributions . . . . . . . . .

Mike

Thanks Topaz. Very kind of you to say so.

Well, the Chap at Canley very wisely suggested that I be careful when removing the old brake pipe so I could use it as a pattern for bending the new pipe the correct way. I fully intended to follow this advice right up to the moment I realised the old pipe ran behind the heater matrix which I would have to remove. I consulted Haynes on the removal of the heater matrix and discovered that it would involve being upside down under the dash with my legs waving in the air. As I'm far too old (ok...fat) for those sort of antics and the fire service is far too busy to come out to put me the right way up again, I decided to consult the forum again as to whether there was any technical reason why I couldn’t re-run the pipe by a different route. There wasn’t, so I resorted to my usual technique of butchery and brute force to remove the old pipe.
Whilst butchering the old pipe, I realised that I would have to remove the nearside engine valance to get at the 4 way splitter that the other end of the new brake pipe needed to connect to. To remove the valance I would have to remove the radiator…again! I was getting quite good at draining and removing the radiator by now so it was soon all done. With easy access now achieved, the new MC was fitted along with the brake pipe re-routed in front of the heater matrix. (Sorry to all the perfectionists, but I plan to remove the heater after the summer to try and get it working properly. I will route the brake pipe correctly when it is off…I promise!) The nearside engine valance and radiator were successfully refitted and topped up with the correct water anti-freeze mix…again.

Poppy now had her front wheels back on the ground for the 1st time in several weeks and she was very carefully turned around under her own steam to allow the back to be put up on stands so I could replace the wheel cylinders, brake hoses, springs etc. which all went surprisingly well and with the help of my patient pedal pusher (Mrs FB this time) the braking system was soon full of Dot 4 instead of air. Mrs FB retired to order the Chinese take away that was the price of her assistance and I was happily driving up and down the driveway in front of the row of lockups enjoying the fact that Poppy not only goes but now stops.
“So, Just got to patch the steering gaiter and she would be ready for the man from the ministry”. It was this thought that reminded me that I hadn’t checked the simple stuff like lights, wipers etc so I proceeded to do so. The good news was that all the lights were present and working correctly, as were the wipers. The bad news was that the washer pump had packed up yet again and whilst cleaning the steering gaiter ready for the patch it developed a couple of severe splits between the “bellows”! I should be used to these emotional highs and lows by now but I wasn’t. The Prom was only 2 weeks away and I was starting to panic! So I collected the take away on my way home and consulted another bottle of Merlot.

To be continued…

Brilliant stuff! Aye, the answer usually lies in the Merlot. And if it's not in there, try the OVD or Pussar's rum, they know lots of useful stuff about life in general.

Do be careful though, you appear to have turned almost purple in one of these photos. That would worry me because if I were to turn purple, none of my ties would match my skin any more.

Probably all the Merlot JPB!

JPB wrote: Do be careful though, you appear to have turned almost purple in one of these photos.|

Fat Bloke + Small Space = difficulty breathing = purple face. Solution = bigger garage / work outside

Notice I didn't suggest that you stop being a FatBloke as that would mean you can't attack the Merlot every night . . . .

Mike