Wednesday, 23 October 2024

More Maintenance

 This afternoon I re-packed the exhaust. I bought the wadding almost a year ago but had been putting it off as it was bound to be a pig of a job & I looked deep into the engine bay at the rusty bolt on the clamp with some trepidation. But with my magic ratchet & enough extension bars to reach right out of the car it came undone easily, then the clamp moved off the outer pipe easily.

I undid the nut holding the tailpipe onto it's rubber mount easily, but the exhaust wouldn't move. I applied a little WD40, but it still seemed to be stuck, so I inserted  breaker bar up it's tailpipe & pulled - was that some rotation? Yes it was, with a wiggle it came off the car & I set about opening the can.

This was pretty much the same story, I drilled the rivets, it didn't move, I gave it a squirt & a tap & off it came.

So it was a comparatively simple job to re-fill it with fluff & put it all back together.

Sunday, 13 October 2024

Pine Ridge (Again)

 I've been engaged in a number of things today, I've done a little on the Stylus - nothing interesting, I just swapped the front & rear wheels, the LSD seems to scrub the rear tyres, so evening out the wear seems like a good plan.

I also "customised" the 3D printer, It has a selector knob on the front which has always seemed unnecessarily dull, so it got brightened up.


But before either of these things I took myself off to Pine Ridge Golf Club (relax, I've not taken up the "sport") for the monthly car breakfast meet.

There was the usual spread of stunning cars & some that were "less so" (I'm afraid a charcoal grey Fiat 500 Arbath with a few lurid green stickers on doesn't do it for me", but each to their own.

On arrival it was immediately clear that there was an event on because the roundabout just inside the entrance looked like this:-

That's a Packard & the only thing it lacked was a couple of violin cases with machine guns in on the rear seat.


The next thing to grab my attention - & I'd still not cleared the roundabout - was this. 

At first glance I thought "someone's HotRodded a '50s Bentley", but no, it appears to be a Lagonda used for classic motorsport by the look of it, but the lack of bumpers & hubcaps & the stance, just perfect.


 The place was heaving & I had to drive round the car part three times looking for a space, fortunately someone left, just as I was circumnavigating the roundabout for the forth time.

"Roar Willys" was there, I'm seeing a lot of this car this year, it's been a few different colours in it's time.
Further in there was a Minor with the Willys esque bonnet that was available in the '80s


Meet the "Desoto Firesweep".

Really? "Firesweep"? Did no-one in the marketing meeting start humming "chim-chimeny, chim-chimeny, chim chim cheroo"? OK, the car probably pre-dates the film.

Like a lot of American cars of this era it's all rear over-hang, the bonnet wasn't that long & the bit where the people go wasn't that big, but the boot was enormous.

Three bustles, that's a Model B, a Model A & an Austin Devon

Classic - though it might benefit from more orange than the indicators are currently offering, but I'm biased.

And - It seems slot mags are back in vogue after 30 years in the HotRod wilderness.

Variety - it's a good thing.

It often feels like car culture is under attack, meets with a "broad church" are the best defence.

This 100e appears at a number of local meets, I like it a lot, it has the roll cage & racing roundels, but the standard 1172 engine with period tuning parts.

It's cool.


Two faces of HotRodding at the moment, though one's heart bleeds for the small boy, if the powers that be have their way, there'll be nothing interesting when he is old enough to drive.

Not a Dodge Charger of Dukes of Hazzard fame, but a Plymouth Road Runner. The same car, just a different face.

This is a Dodge Coronet - another variation on the same theme.


More Pop, they're a little like a British Model B, they never go out of fashion, they just get new styles invented to mod them into.


 No idea what it is, but it was fabulous to look at.

And that's about it for photos I'm afraid, there were many many fabulous cars there, many of which I've posted pictures of before.

Saturday, 12 October 2024

Still Got It

 Today I was on my own at home, so the car got jacked up for some attention (girlfriend's off photographing planes). I didn't do a great deal, I just took the Panhard rod off (again) & drilled the adjustment jam nuts for wire-locking as some time ago a "clonking" from the rear suspension had been identified as a rattling rose joint after the jam nut came loose. I also drilled both of the Panhard rod pivot bolt tails & put locking wire through the holes. It won't stop the nuts coming loose, but it will stop them coming off & leaving the Panhard rod flailing about & the car going sideways.

And before anyone says "one of them's anti-locked you old fool", that's the left hand thread end and yes I did make that mistake & had to re-wire it the other way.

Did it need wire-locking? Not really, but it's nice to use the old aircraft fitter skills from time to time.