Speedo

Thought it was about time I got the speedometer fixed.

So, over to Caterham, the place not the car, to see Redline who fitted the five speed box back in December. Ever since then the speedo hasn't performed, and it was assumed this was a simple fix as a result of the box swap.

But oh no.

The right-angle drive in the side of the gearbox had snapped. This in itself is no big deal, but when you consider it's hidden in the transmission tunnel, and can't even be seen without removing the engine and box from the car, one starts to appreciate the complexity of the problem.

After a coffee (good customer care at Redline), it was agreed the best way to reach the snapped drive was to cut an access hole in the sidewall of the transmission tunnel. This may seem a little drastic but it means access is improved permanently should there be any future reason to get to the speedo drive.

And sure enough, like a loose tooth that just needs a little coaxing, the snapped off chunk of the old right-angle drive was free.

So, time to "just " fit a new one.

But oh no.

The newer style of right angle cable drive is slightly deeper, and within the confines of the transmission tunnel there simply wasn't the space to the side of the gearbox to fit a new drive.

So the access hole was enlarged slightly, the new drive fitted (bit of a git to fit but hey), and a simple cover plate sealed over the hole.

The new right angle drive is fitted, a new cable is fitted and I can now tell how fast I'm going.

Time for a gratuitous Speedo shot, which actually has very little to do with aluminium cars but is worth a look:

Back door action part 2

Now that I'm pretty much back on my feet work has begun in earnest on swapping the rear door on the Defender.

First job was to dismantle the new door. Easy enough, and quite pleasing in that when the inner door card was removed, out dropped a 10mm nut, whose sole purpose appeared to be to rattle round in the bottom of the door thus maintaining a decades-old Land Rover tradition. Once bare of glass, interior trim and wheel bracket I took the door to a bead-blasting company in Farnborough. In keeping with their location's historical significance in the world of blokeishness, these were proper chaps who hide in a workshop, assaulting bits of old cars with a high pressure jet of fine grit to cleanse them of any surface contaminants such as paint and corrosion. People like these appreciate the finer points of cups of tea and can thus be relied upon to deliver.
£20 later and the door looked like it had never been painted. This process not only removes rust but also separates the men from the boys so far as cars are concerned. To a Land Rover, figure head of sturdy British engineering, bead blasting is like an exfoliating power shower; to lesser cars, those built with consumer values and production costs more in mind, it is a near-death experience and almost certain disintegration.

The door now requires repainting to match the Blenheim Silver of the rest of the car.

The Seven has also seen it's fair share of TLC this week. The new roll bar is in place, but due to the geometry of the uprights, the tonneau needed tailoring slightly. I got this done as a favour through work by the chaps who normally repair life rafts and so have access to men's sewing machines.

In less than an hour the holes in the tonneau were suitably elongated, and better still, in order to avoid the awkwardness of cash changing hands in the working environment, the chap who did the work has requested payment in Cherry Bakewells.

Barred

Has it really been two weeks since I last posted? Unbelievable, but then I guess that's a knock-on effect of the ankle which is, at this rate, going to take months to put right. The problem is two fold. One, I can't actually walk that easily on it yet and two, I don't have any foot wear that fits over the swelling. But no matter.
Last weekend Widget came over to laugh at me limping round the house, to share some cake, and to help fit the new roll bar to the Caterham.
Just as suspected this wasn't a straight forward swap, but needed various other bits removing first, then refitting once the roll bar was on, then removing again along with the roll bar when we noticed that because of the forward slope of the new roll bar the headrests can only be fitted prior to the roll bar being in place. But then Caterham ownership is one long learning curve.
We also learnt it's best not to drop seat-harness top hat bushes down the back of the seats but luckily, Widget has very narrow arms.

(Cake of choice for today was My Kipling's French Fancies. Or just Fancies as the French call them)