Engineering some life into the old beast!

After completing the work mentioned below to pass the MOT we now needed to try and make the car more reliable. The engine seemed fine but did have a tendency to get a tad hot. The engine sound can only be described as, “bag of old nails” but all this just adds to the cars charm.

We drained and replaced the engine oil, fitted a new oil filter and filled up with some fresh oil but sadly those nails kept-a jangling! I got hold of a cheap CD player to fill the hole in the dash and found that all 4 speakers still worked. It needs a nice big sub though ;)
Next we tackled the cooling system and managed to find all 3 water pipes brand new for £23.50, the stat was more of a pain at over £15 because it came complete with the housing it was pressed into. First we disconnected the lower pipes and drained the water then we flushed out the entire system using a hose pipe. After fitting the new water pipes and stat we refilled the system and bled out all the air. Hopefully now we will not suffer an embarrassing moment realising that our car is only good for one thing. Boiling water!

We also considered some of the moving rubber parts required to make the car reliable and inspected both the cam belt and alternator/power steering belt. After some careful consideration we decided the cam belt would be fine, but since we purchased one we’ll bring it along for all the good it might do if the engine grenades. The alternator/power steering belt looked real nasty, kinda like it’s going to snap but it was quite expensive at I think £20, so we decided to see if it will snap on the trip. If it doesn’t snap we’ll return it at the end of the trip and get some cash back, lol!

Lastly we've fitted a heavy duty battery and a 240 volt inverter to the car, so we got ourselves a power station with our own mains electricity supply!

Tomorrow I intend to add some colour to the car and put the stickers on. The wheels are getting it! I am going to buy 4 colours, one for each wheel. Should be fun, pictures to follow.........