Today I washed the cars

All three of them...

Megan got her way and we spend a lovely few hours riding our bikes in the Almond vale country park on the banks of the river Almond in and around Livingston. We were expecting rain, but as I had failed to organise the bike ride yesterday - it had to be today. We were very pleasantly surprised and the rain held off.
On our return I was inspired to wash the cars as a) they were all movable b) they were all very grubby and c) Molly has not been washed for literally years.

spic and span

less grubby

Of course you can guess what happened next... yeah that rain arrived. In the middle of the leathering process. I must admit I did feel a little daft leathering cars in the rain (and indeed thunder) but you guys out there in Readerland need some pictures of clean cars once in a while don't you?

Its a family affair

Another sunny Lothian weekend started with thick black clouds on the horizon, which put of any ideas of a long cycle ride on hold. So it was an opportunity for a spot of pottering (I like to potter you know). After a little gardening I took a sneaky peak at Molly to find this...

No not brake fluid - oil. Bum. So it was time to fit a new seal. Now, after many years of Morris minoring I have come to expect this kind of thing, so I had a seal in stock!

I was a Scout you know...

That meant it was time to rope in my little helper to get the half shaft out, replace the seal and put it back in.

Just before I put the wheel on I remembered to check the handbrake adjustment, but it wouldn't adjust - seized cylinder. Bum. Fortunately, last time I had to deal with a seized cylinder, I cleverly ordered two (see I have done this before!).

With that lot together again, it was time to enlist my little helper once more for some pedal pumping. Unfortunately it was a little boring for him and he kept getting distracted, so his big sister stepped in to finish the job.

Finally, Razor7 was interested in finding out how a front bunk in a Commer PB goes together, so I had to find out myself. The brackets went on really easily, I just need to sew the bunk itself now.

either goes with everything, or clashes with everything...

The fastest morris minor ...

... parts. I order the brake parts I needed for Molly late on Tuesday night, and they arrived today! Now that is service. East Sussex Minors (and their superb website) saved the day. Whenever I talk to people about old cars, they usually say something about "can you get the parts?" well this just goes to show you can - and quickly too.

Sometimes parts just look too shiny and nice to fit! I also got myself some brake adjuster hole plugs. Completely unnecessary but hey its all in with the postage...

So all in all, anothe good nights work. That MOT could be happening any time!

So the todo list looks like this:

• sill trims
• tighten up the wing bolts
• finish the seatbelts
• a bit of a cleanup underneath and some underseal
• fit the towbar
• bleed the brakes
• sort the passenger door catch (it suddenly stopped closing properly)
• check over the lighting circuits.

Sooo excited!

Brake Broke

So today I was geared up to bleed the brakes. I went off to Halfords to get the bleeder, had everything layed out ready to go. Last thing was to run round and loosen off each of the bleed nipples to make sure they were free.

You can guess what is coming next can't you. Yup, the bleed nipple snapped off. Bum.

So its a quick trip to the East Sussex Minors website for the required parts - and a bunch of spare spares, for next time (oh and there will be a next time). As I was unwilling to waste the rest of the evening a couple of other things got sorted, and of course I found a few more things to do.

• sill trims
• tighten up the wing bolts
• finish the seatbelts
• a bit of a cleanup underneath and some underseal
• fit the towbar
• bleed the brakes
• tighten the seat bolts (a little easier said than done)
• sort the front light wiring (again)
  

The wiring is a bit of a sore point. I am going to get a new loom, but I was wanting to wait until after the MOT. I'll just need to have a fiddle under the bonnet before the test.

On a more positive note, it looks as though the brake fluid leak was just down to a loose bleed nipple (I didn't tighten it up when I swapped the cylinder).

Getting there!

And thanks to Ruairdh for the offer of the EZBleed adaptor!

progress

a bit more progress

• sill trims
• tighten up the wing bolts
• finish the seatbelts
• a bit of a cleanup underneath and some underseal
• fit the towbar
• bleed the brakes (and sort the rear nearside corner)

I got ready to bleed the brakes last night, but the EZ Bleed I have doesn't have an attachment for Mollys remote fluid reservoir, and I'm not going to bother with that manual bleeding, so it'll be off to Halfords for a one man bleed kit.

one up one down

Good progress here today. Jessica got some attention today and the engine got started! Yay! The exhaust/manifold combo seems to be gas tight, so after a little more fiddling we could be looking at a go at an MOT.


Molly got some attention too. All four wheels were put up in the air and the seatbelt bolts were tightened up. I also popped on the sill trims (but they're going to need some more tweeking)
the todo list is like this:

• sill trims
• finish tighten up the wing bolts
• finish the seatbelts
• a bit of a cleanup underneath and some underseal
• fit the towbar
• bleed the brakes (and sort the rear nearside corner)

then we could be looking at another MOT!

time to fit the towbar, so I can stop falling over it!

Oh and we have a new addition to the fleet ;o)

Happy place

Everyone has a happy place. A place (you may have more than one) where you feel at one with the world. I have one, its here...

Yes its under Molly. Its a little bit dark, quite cool and remarkably clean. I popped under there tonight to tighten up the shock absorber bolts.

Unfortunately there was a bit of a nasty surprise...

Yeah a little pool under the wheel and a soggy tyre - that's there is brake fluid and it shouldn't be doing that. Hopefully its a loose connection (its the corner where I replaced a brake cylinder a few months ago).

'twas a busy evening and I managed to get a little work done on Jessica too. A few months ago (again) I got a modified inlet manifold so I could fit an SU HIF 44 carb. These carbs are much more efficient that the existing Zenith, so should improve performance and reduce fuel consumption. As the manifolds are off (due to the failed gasket and cracked exhaust manifold) , I could think about fitting the new carb and manifold.

Looks nice doesn't it? There are a few things which need sorting before it can be properly fitted. Like how to fit the air filter. There ain't a lot of space, so a cheeky card patten was required to make up a plenum chamber thing to allow the filter to be fitted at a right angle to the carb.

I can't fit it yet as I have a bit of a problem with the exhaust manifold. The existing one needs some modification and I don't have the facilities to braze cast iron, to its going to have to wait. So the old manifold/carb combo is going back on. Its all pretty clean and works well so it should be OK for a bit.