I'd forgotten I started this thread, so I should probably do a Vulgalour-style massive update of all the things that have broken on it since the beginning of May.
Firstly, I still think it's brilliant. I was initially dubious of it's scat-relevnce tbh, but seeing as it's broken quite spectacularly I think it's doing it's best to qualify.
Surprisingly (considering I bought a convertible), the sun stayed out and I got quite badly burnt on several occasions, but I didn't care, because driving around with the roof down in the sun is absolutely for winners. unfortunately short hair does not suit my curiously small & round head, so after a couple of weeks spent buying hats then deciding I don't like them and they hurt my head after 5 minutes, I invested in an excruciatingly expensive wind deflector thing so my hair would stop flicking me in the eyes. Installation was relatively painless considering I had to DRILL HOLES IN THINGS, although inevitably it did piss down relentlessly the second I got to the stage where the hood was down and I couldn't put it up til I was finished.
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Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
Happily the sun came out again as soon as I was done, enabling me to blezz about like a mid-life-crisis-idiot for the rest of the day.
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Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
One ongoing issue I
was aware of was that the handbrake wouldn't work on the near side. I had grand plans to jack it up, take the wheel off, and squirt plus-gas at it for an hour or so, but fell at the first hurdle because the bastard nuts wouldn't come off. I managed, after much swearing to loosen all the other wheels as a bit of a run up, but the wheel I actually needed to get off resolutely refused to bend to my will, so I drove round in the sun a bit more instead and then had a beer.
I did change the oil at some point, which was a colossal pain in the arse, and I didn't pay enough attention to the level when I filled it up again. being that Sheffield is relentlessly lumpy, and my driveway is reminiscent of the north wall of the Eiger, I took an average of the dipstick reading uphill and downhill and called it near enough. This would later prove to be RUBBISH.
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Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
Untitled by
Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
Yeah, you have to take the roof off and a back wheel off to change the oil. Brill. At least that wheel comes off though.
So, having changed the oil, in true "dickhead who pisses away all the money on pointless shit and neglects the important stuff" style, I decided to replace the speakers. The old ones were completely fucked and cones on both sides torn like the lady parts of someone who just gave birth to a baby with a really massive head, so again, I allowed myself to get robbed blind on t'eBay.
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Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
New speakers were such a reSOUNDing success, I took myself off to get a slightly more soft-top-friendly haircut by way of celebration.
On leaving
£5 haircuts for losers™ I noted a sodding great puddle under the front of the car. My brief hope that a massive horse had wandered by and marked it's territory were quickly dashed, and upon getting my knees dirty I saw the radiator had a bloody great hole
(see above, lady, big baby) in.
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Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
Shit bags.
I checked, and there was still water in, so I drove home, and had another look to see if it had fixed itself.
bother by
Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
Nope.
I ordered a new'un off of that eBay (half the price of the speakers, 1/4 the price of the wind deflector) and it arrived the next day!
You'd think that by stuffing the engine in the least accessible place ever, all that room up front would make access to the rad easy.
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Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
RONG.
I did managed to fish it out eventually, and the genius move of clamping both hoses successfully* avoided the coolant all pouring out and
pissing down my driveway and into the flowerbed/garage/living room being disposed of correctly as dictated by environmental laws.
Untitled by
Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
Untitled by
Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
Untitled by
Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
Anyway, the placcy fan was an absolute pig
(see above, lady, giant head, etc) to get off, but I eventually managed to cut the bolts off it and wodge the new rad back in.
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Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
Shiny bolts by
Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
I even managed to successfully fill and bleed the juice, so that was a pleasant surprise. It looked very shiny, so I treated that awkward front panel to some shiny stainless bolts as well, seeing as I might actually keep the car more than a month. As long as it gets through it's MOT, anyway...
*cut to stock footage of Barrett driving past Sheffield*
Untitled by
Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
Untitled by
Tony Lloyd, on Flickr
So it went on a short holiday to Durhamshire to play with Ozzy of this parish...