Dull But Necessary

Since the road trip last year, the Fury's starter motor has been making a horrendous noise. A sort of clanking clacking noise - it started the engine - mostly, often on the third or fourth push of the button, so there were always more pressing things to fix - or at least more interesting. So it didn't get done.

But with the fund-raising "Holly-Blatt" coming up next weekend & the Rally Des Jonquilles on the horizon I really needed to get it sorted before it left me stranded somewhere. Research on Ebay came up with prices between £60 & £115, then someone on the SKCC forum recommended a place near reading - they didn't have a 1.8 Sierra starter in stock, but could re-build mine in pretty short order.

So yesterday I dropped the starter in to Burghfield Starter and Alternator Centre. It was a “Bloke-in-a-shed type operation. He seemed very efficient & knowledgeable, diagnosed the faulty clutch straight away. It was (or at least seemed) OK when I took it off, so I guess there was something loose inside that sometimes caught, sometimes didn’t – that would fit with the symptoms. Later on the guy called to say he’d had it in bits & ordered the new parts.

Today I've had a call from the starter man. The starter’s ready to pick up – Hurrah! I didn’t because it’s near Reading, much easier to collect while I’m at work on Monday.

I also had to replace three tyres on the Zaf, so while I was at Martin’s Tyres, I got them to mount two of the Toyo 888s for the Fury. They are noticeably more square at the shoulder than the Yokohamas they replace, which led to a problem straight away – no steering! There was a little steering to the right, but none at all left, because the new tyres were rubbing on the front wheel arches. A couple of hours with the drum-sander & a Dremel were required to restore the ability to change direction.

Then I realised the parts I ordered to extend the video camera wire had arrived, so I started looking a routes for that. Quite a good day really.