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)

Back door action.

Alas any car related activity has been all but suspended due to me sustaining to a broken ankle.
Bother.
But, the good news is the new rear door for the Defender, sourced on that Aladdin's cave of car parts; eBay, has arrived. And what a beauty it is. It'll need stripping and repainting to match the Defender's Blenheim Silver, but it's completely solid and is the later version of the Defender rear door - a one piece pressing with a more robust wheel carrier. Winner.
No idea when I'll get to fit this though. Can't even standup at the moment.

Waiting Game

The weather this past week has been great for being out in the Caterham. Even took the doors off last weekend for that completely open cockpit experience (although Aeroscreen users might disagree) and went for a blast down to the Seven Stars pub near Petersfield. This is rapidly approaching "favourite" status. Perhaps this is down to my route there predominantly being along the much talked about A272, well known for it's mixture of sweeping curves, tight bends and bikers wedged in trees.
Last week alone I went twice, both times in the Caterham, although on one occasion the Rev Limiter was fitted.

Both the cars should be treated to some new parts in the next couple of weeks.

The Seven is scheduled to get a new, thicker roll bar (left)and the Defender is due a new rear door. Both items are in the pipeline, one more firmly than the other. The roll bar is coming all the way from Darlington courtesy of the For Sale section of BlatChat, and I have a TD5 rear door bookmarked on eBay. The latter usually fetch a very good premium, although in my case I can afford to go a little higher on bids since the purchase is being assisted by a colleague of mine for whom I replaced a head gasket on a 300TDi Discovery a couple of weeks ago.

But it doesn't end there. At the Phoenix Night meeting of ReHaB on Wednesday, a bloke called Phil came along with some very nice seats fitted to his car. They're copies of Tillet racing seats, and very good copies at that. So good in fact, that some of the guys commented that they were even better than the must-have Tillet. And significantly cheaper. Maybe this is what makes them better? And there was me assuming it was purely a visual reference.

Whilst I'm looking forward to these two upgrades, I just know fitting either item won't be the "one size fits all" solution that both Land Rover and Caterham frequently promise yet fail spectacularly to deliver. I think it's down to the cars being hand built, and the fact that no two pairs of hands are the same.

For more on the Seven Stars go here (They serve Badger beer.....and badger's are cool):
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/13/13026/Seven_Stars/Stroud

Good as gold.

So, having received the reminder about the Caterham's insurance being due soon, that prompted me to check when that other twelve-monthly administrivia, the MOT test, is due. Or rather was due.
In the case of the Seven it turns out it expired over a month ago, something I totally overlooked.
Thing is, there are a couple of things I wanted to sort out prior to the MOT test. One sidelight has ceased to illuminate, the speedo still needs attention and the handbrake is less than enthusiastic in the execution of it's duty.
Sidelight turned out to be a straight forward bulb replacement, the speedo isn't tested on an MOT and I successfully tightened the handbrake.
And it gets better....
On my way back from purchasing a new sidelight bulb (or two since Halfords seem to think they only ever blow in pairs, obviously), I called in at a local MOT test centre to book an appointment. In keeping with the good weather, another ray of sunshine came my way when they were able to fit in the Caterham for it's test just four hours later!

And it passed.
It more than passed. The MOT tester described it as "Good as gold".
There was a trio of advisory points but in the life of a Caterham these are almost standard:
Slight play in the steering felt at the wheel;
A leak where the exhaust down pipes join the back box;
And the near side front tyre is approaching the legal minimum.
Pah!
At least the car's legal again.

Ok, Half a Big Weekend

Feel a bit of a fraud really.
After a long day at Gaydon among Land Rovers I couldn't face the frankly horrendous prospect of an 07:30 rendezvous for the Blat to Stoneleigh.
Note to self: Must try harder.
Actually, before I go much further in the Seven, I must get the speedo sorted. Last December the car had a five speed box fitted by the chaps at Redline, and the speedo hasn't been quite right since then. Being involved professionally in mostly aluminium cars and everything they represent, the fine fellows at Redline weren't exactly surprised when I told them and have tentatively agreed to fix the speedo but need to see the car first to assess the full extent of the problem. On paper it's "just" the speedo drive cable come adrift from the gearbox.