There's nothing like a bit of jewellery to mend a broken heart - or so I'm told, & certainly the arrival today of the Fury's new Wilwood 4 pot brakes went a long way to helping me get over the loss of the Fridge - OK I'm being ludicrously over dramatic - but the brakes are nice, just need the gearbox now.
A bit of anodised aircraft aluminium also helps with the anguish that is - having the car in several chunks waiting on a new gearbox. Having taken out the standard Sierra gearbox to donate to the Ranger, the Fury sits forlornly awaiting a new one from BGH via Raceline. Promised for the first week in June, but we'll see.
Well, I was up with the lark this morning, on the road by 06:30 in a kit car. Blatting? Hardly - I was delivering my Rickman of 14 years ("the Flying Fridge") to it's new owner. Yes the Ranger 16v GTi has gone to Yorkshire. After all the gearbox hassles, I got it all re-assembled & loaded with spares & bits & bobs. Naturally it did the trip superbly, doing something in the region of 40MPG from my very rough calculations.
Care to hazard a guess as to the cost of a single train fare Doncaster back to Guildford?
£84.40
It would have been cheaper to pay someone's petrol to come & pick me up! At least I would've got a seat!
It's not as if it was any quicker, it took just under four hours to drive there, four hours to get back - not including the car journeys at either end.
Anyway, yes I'm missing it, even the neighbours are saying they're missing it, though I suspect they will realise the benefits when I fire up the (much quieter) Zafira in the early early morn to go to work. Back to being a single kit car family (sigh).
On a more positive note I should get the new close ratio gearbox & four-pot brakes this week.
Well the time has come to reduce to being a one kit car family. The flying Fridge is going for a new life in Yorkshire. I'll miss it, but between Mrs Blatter & I we now have four cars, three of which are convertibles, which seems excessive, we also have my in-law's car on the drive most of the time.
The last thing to do before the Fridge went was to swap out the "reluctant" five speed gearbox for the known good one in the Fury - which has a posh close ratio one on order, so the Fury currently looks like this:-
I've been promised the new 'box in the first week of next month, so I'm hoping they're as good as their word. I shan't name them until I've got the 'box back just in case I need to curse them. As well as changing gearboxes & driving kit cars to Yorkshire, I'm also fitting a kitchen, so I'm rather tired & stiff at the moment. Eagerly awaiting my new parts & getting the car back on the road theough.
OK, a morning with Craig AND David. Having discussed with David (owner of the Mango Fury) the possibility of a blat, a posting on the SKCC forum entitled “Too Fast, Two Fury……..s” enticed another couple of members not heading for the kit car show at Detling, unfortunately one dropped out, leaving myself & the aforementioned Craig & David.
Gathering at the total Garage at fleet in the early early morning, we headed off at a brisk pace for a tour-de-Surrey. It was a bright morning & the travelling was good, but an abundance of traffic on the later stages limited our fun. We breakfasted at “Loomies” a fine roadside establishment oft frequented by the SKCC, at first we thought it was closed as there was a lorry parked across the entrance & our stomachs cried out in anguish, however we were not to go hungry, the lorry was delivering a Triumph advertising crew who would accost bikers as they went about their feeding rituals during the day.
While we feasted, a chap approached & requested tools. The throttle cable on his MGB had broken (presumably with the strain of trying to get it over 50mph), he had wisely bought a spare, so it was mended in a trice. While he had his head under the bonnet, he said to the chef (who had wandered out) “big meet today?” which I thought was rather a personal question until I realised he'd said “meet” and not “meat”.
Anyway, after rescuing the Morris-Oxford-disguised-as-a-sports-car (can you tell I’m not a fan of the MGB?) we headed off, only to find most of the white vans in the south east – one at a time - generally in front of us. On the homeward leg we were rumbling along behind a Volvo off-roader thing when the road went dual – so the Volvo pulls into the overtaking lane & stayed there. Mr Mango showed remarkable restraint in not undertaking it but I noticed as we arrived at that other Mecca of things mechanical & full-English like – Newlands Corner – that the local Police chopperflew low over head, had it been following us?My suspicions were further roused when within two minutes of us arriving a patrol car pulled in & cruised round the Three Must Blatteer's cars, "Oh cripes" I may have said under my breath, but in the best traditions of highway police, he was only interested in the cars.
Early home from work & straight out to the garage, 1hr 45mins later the gearbox with the reluctant fifth gear was lying on the drive next to the car, I should be able to take it in for exchange next week.
In other news I should be out in the car tomorrow as a short notice blat came up in conversation with David of http://www.mangofury.co.uk/ I've known him since 2003, but only met him twice - that's the power of the internet for you. Anyway, for the first time the two yellow Fury's should be running together - which is nice.
In other other news, Mrs Blatter has bought a new car - a red Focus CC - it's her I DON'T NEED A PEOPLE CARRIER ANY MORE car, as a result, the Flying Fridge will (hopefully) be moving on to a new home in Yorkshire once it's gearbox ills are sorted & I'll use the Zafira for every day transport
Things are a "little fraught" in the Blatter household at present - GCSE time dontchaknow. A simple greeting such as "had a good day" is likely to get one's head bitten off.
Well, I took the Rickman to Stoneliegh as a back-up vehicle for the SKCC's road trip. So it was full to the gunwales with Burgers, Baps, Bacon & Beer, The trip went well enough except that the Fridge still has no fifth gear - on the way home I did manage to engage top by matching the engine speed to the car's speed & letting the clutch up very VERY slowly.
Since then I've had an e-mail from someone interested in buying the fridge - but he's in Yorkshire, I've heard tell of another couple of people who may want it, but I don't know if they're any more local yet.
Decorating the kitchen / diner has occupied all my blatting time this weekend so the Fury hasn't left the garage. The trickle of new parts has continued, with a sump gasket arriving & a clutch on order. When the redundancy money arrives (six days - wahoo!) the trickle will become more of a flood, with the first big thing to be a "long first" heavy duty gearbox from BGH, then the Fury's box can go in the Ranger & I can sell it with a clear conscience.
With the SKCC forum quiet on account of thirteen of the main members being on a road trip "oop narth", I hitched the caravan filled with beer to the Rickman & pointed it at the M40. The journey took a little longer than anticipated, but fortunately I arrived before the thirsty, not to mention ravening hoards.
Burgers were eaten & beer drunk in copious quantities. Some disparaging remarks were made about the quality of the accommodation, but I was fine in the caravan. The following day the gales subsided, the sun came out again & I toured the show - much the same as in previous years, with a few new & interesting bits, the club stands showing the usual range of "interesting - how long did it take to build that?" to "interesting - how did that get through an MoT?"
Here's the SKCC's northern expeditionary force, parked up for a well earned rest
There's nothing like a bit of jewellery to mend a broken heart - or so I'm told, & certainly the arrival today of the Fury's new Wilwood 4 pot brakes went a long way to helping me get over the loss of the Fridge - OK I'm being ludicrously over dramatic - but the brakes are nice, just need the gearbox now.
