MadaboutKitcars

I bought the same batch and it has proved invaluable. I also bought a second-hand bench shear, £40 on eBay. This makes cutting a breeze, square edges with no distortion. The bench shear is one of (the many) invaluable tools that you never knew you needed until you had one.

Jag - I know my patch work quilt will be nothing more than a 'veneer', but I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do.

Whilst the bench shear does sound like a good piece of kit, I don't actually have a bench!

So expect my handiwork to be as rough and ready as the rest of this build.

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Saturday Slog
My reward for a tough week at work was to take my wife and daughters on a shopping trip to Uxbridge.

But it got worse, as my wife has borrowed a pressure washer and the driveway was on her hit list.

So I had to move everything that I've been using to jack up the car, or hold stuff down, which was neatly stacked on the drive.



I only carried it through the house and onto the patio, as it was too hot to continue to the bottom of the garden.

Then my garage wall needed a trim.



Before I had to cut and edge the verge (more about that later).



Then I could move my car off the drive, before being sent to mow the lawn and blow up the paddling pool.

When my chores were finally complete, I noticed just how much oil was blown over my wife's car and I was only idling for a few minutes.



Then I had to stick my head in the passenger footwell, with my feet hanging over the rear of the cockpit, so sort out my heater leak.

Most of the photos I took were rubbish, but this was after I'd removed the heat shield material from around the heater & hoses.



There was some slack in the jubilee clips, so I really hope that tightening these up has fixed the problem.

Especially as the only way to tighten one clip, was to loosen it fully, reposition it for a better screwdriver angle, and then re-tighten it.

At which point I had engine coolant pouring down on me in a space I could barely move it and struggled to get back out of.

Then it was time for the car to get washed for the first time since I got back on the road last November.

But before I started, I noticed another problem, as I'd clearly had a petrol leak that has bubbled and stained the paint.



My only thought is that I didn't secure the cap properly when I last filled up.

Washing the car ended up being quite depressing really, as whatever problems I have with my paint (white marks) are clearly there to stay for now.

But even if I have inadvertently ended up with a 'survivor' finish, I still love my car and all it represents.



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I'll end this update by returning to why I had to tidy up the verge earlier in the day…

While I was trimming the hedge, my wife was chatting to the lady next door and my promise to take her to church in the Swordfish came up.

Now given all the mess and noise my neighbours had to put up with during the build, the offer of a drive was the least I could do.

She was even happy to wait until the car was painted, as I did offer to keep my promise when the car was on the road in grey primer.

So as tomorrow (now today) was forecast to be the first real warm Sunday since the car was painted, we made it a date.

Given the fact she is 82, I wanted to sort out the verge out so that I could park along side it to help her get it.

We just need to practise getting her out before we go, as that is the part my mum struggled with given how low the car sits.

Which meant that by the time the car was clean and I finally had some time to myself it was just gone 6pm.

So I decided to go for a quick spin to double check the route to her church which is a few miles from here.

It was a lovely evening, still lots of sunshine and no drop in the hot temperature, so a T-shirt was more than enough.

Along the way, my rear view mirror was filled with a white Rolls Royce Phantom Convertible with the roof down, something like this.



At which point, the traffic ahead slowed to a snails pace and were both just crawling along for all around to see.

But you couldn't make up what happened for the next 10 minutes until we went our separate ways at a roundabout…

I must have got 20, or so, positive reactions and the poor Roller (which may have even been chauffeur driven) got tumbleweed.

From people walking past on both sides of the road saying nice things to children pointing & waving (obviously I wave back).

Plus cars coming the other way also commenting, flashing their lights, hooting, giving a thumbs up, etc. as they passed (even a bus driver).

If ever there was a journey to confirm that I am needlessly worrying about the standard of my paint job, this was it.

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Until next time, take care, Paul.

Did you leave your tank full by any chance, Paul? If so the petrol may well have expanded in the heat and overflowed out of the filler.

Nice to see you're still enjoying your car at every opportunity, I really miss mine so need to get my Speedster on the road asap.

You have my deepest sympathy regarding wife borrowing pressure washer for you to use. Mine has plans for me to do some 'gardening' (whatever that is) today.

Paul L I have some 0.9mm sheet aluminium here so if you cut a template you welcome to call-in and have what you need.

Mr T - I try hard not to fill the tank to the brim, mainly to avoid spilling petrol over the paint.

But it is possible the car could have over heated under the covers.

Just to be clear, my wife was the one using the pressure washer (borrowed from one of her friends).

So it was my car and associated bits of wood/brick/etc. that were in the way and needed to be moved NOW!

By chance I was talking about your car yesterday (see below) and your Speedster is already looking good.

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Mike - Thanks for the kind offer.

I had a look at how the patch work quilt might work yesterday (see below), so I'll keep you posted.

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Sleepy Sunday
First job of the day was to carry all the wood and bricks from the patio to the bottom of the garden.

Then I had to move my normal car, so there was enough space to park the Swordfish next to the kerb.

To say I was gutted to see a fresh leak from the heater when I removed the covers would be an understatement.



But there was no time to fix that now, as I had a 'date' and needed to get out of my working clothes.

Fair play to my 82 year old neighbour, Betty, who climbed into the car with no issues whatsoever.



Obviously, I took it easy and we had a very pleasant trip to church and, thankfully, she also had no problems getting out either.

Which means I've now taken two ladies in their 80s out for a spin, but my teenage daughters still wouldn't be seen dead in it.

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I was able to take a slightly scenic route home, via meeting my wife in Sainsburys, as we were having a small BBQ in the afternoon.

Along the way, I passed an interesting looking car in front of a garage, so I turned around, parked up and stopped for a chat.

Turns out it was a two seater 1927 Lancia Lambda with a V4 engine and the owner, in his 70s/80s, was a complete star.





He knew all the car's history, originally owner by a Contessa, fibreglass front wings added by a later artist owner, bonnet extended, etc.

He also wins the prize for best 'What is it?' question asked to date… "Is that a Sprite based special?"

I dropped Mr T's homage to the Lancia D24 evocation into the conversation, along with the straight 12 'Medusa' from Rods 'n' Sods.

Could have chatted for hours, but we were both supposed to be somewhere else, so we said our goodbyes.

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Then it was more gardening, before manning the Bar-B-Q, where the heat from the grill combined with the heat from the sun slowly cooked me!

By the time we'd eaten, the fact I've had a hectic few weeks finally caught up with me and I needed to have an afternoon nap to recover.

End of Part 1…

Sunday - Part 2:

So it was late afternoon before I had a chance to see what I could do will my aluminium off cuts and the cockpit walls.

Basically, I just want to turn this...



Into something like this…



But, as with most things on this build, this will not be as straight forward as I first hoped.

Take the top edge for example, the flat surfaces end below the painted cockpit edge.



If I want to bring the panels up to the green edge, like so…



They will all need to be hammered into shape to match the side wall contours.

Thankfully, there are good/obvious places to end the front and bottom edges of the panels (when trimmed to fit).



But where would the rear edge stop, given the curve I made to pull the corners together?



Using a patchwork approach would certainly help me work around the side seat belt mounts.



But in practical terms, I can't see a way to get decent access to the whole side for drilling/screwing without removing the seats.

In which case, this may be a job I can only make a start on (say the front section) now and come back and finish over the winter.

As taking the seats out will mean I can't drive the car which would be a pain now the nice weather has arrived.

Or, I have to commit to doing the rear cockpit wall and just accept this is a big job and wait until the winter.

Anyway, that is a problem for another day, so take care, Paul.

Congratulations to your elderly neighbour for going out for a spin with you, it just shows that age is often just a number and not a barrier to enjoying yourself.

'27 Lambda looks very nice, very similar to the better known Alfas of the same period and not a million miles from the original Marlin.

Hmm, always wanted one of those. Lambda homage as another future project, perhaps...

Mr T - I wish you a long and happy retirement, where all your car building dreams come true.

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Manic Monday
More gardening chores first thing in the morning, but I knew I'd get some car time later on.

So I set off around 10.20am and racked up just under 3 hours / 70 miles in glorious sunshine.

Actually, it might have been a bit too glorious, as despite the Factor 30 I still got sunburnt.

I fitted the GoPro today in an effort to start collecting footage for my next car video.

So here are a few screen shots from the footage I got.









Although I had a slight mishap when I first started out as the camera mount spun round as I was driving along.

So here I am effing & blinding as I had to pull over to the side of the road to sort the thing out.



The 'accidental' footage also reminded me that I was supposed to lose some (OK, a lot) of weight before the next film.

As it currently looks like I am carrying the spare tyre around my waist.

I had to get get back early(ish) for a family trip to the garden centre, followed by a nice meal out.

After completing the last of my domestic chores for the day, I'm off to put my feet up with a nice cold beer.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

PS
I almost forgot that I gave a group of bikers some room to pass…



But they really didn't have a clue how to ride in a group, or overtake safely.

Belated Photo
In addition to using the GoPro on Monday, I forgot about this conventional photo of the car 'resting' in the shade.



Thankfully, despite the Bank Holiday heat and getting stuck in traffic a few times, the engine didn't over heat.

In fact, the temperature gauge never even reached the half way mark.

In other news...

I've made a start on culling the GoPro footage I collected down to something I can actually cut together into a film.

One thing I learnt from 'The Harrow Job' is that you need a lot of 'other' shots to link all the on board clips together.

So I will see if I can come up with a better arrangement to take some more 'wheel level' footage next time I'm out.

I also need to find some suitable music that will not be blacklisted by Apple products if I use it on YouTube.

Finally, I've booked the car back into Enginuity in Acton in a few weeks to get my oil leaking/burning problem looked at.

Cheers,

Paul.

Highway Code Rule 166


This triggered a memory from Monday. When leaving Stoneleigh I turn right to wend my way through Cubbington and Offchurch to the Fosseway. Only a few hundred yards from the exit a Nova overtook a pedal cyclist coming towards me on the brow of a rise, well astride the middle of the road. He was 'Leader of The Pack' of another half dozen or so Novas, obviously going to the show. I did my usual SMDH combined with my well honed 'near head on collision' swerve technique but I doubt this penetrated to any worthwhile grey matter.

Rules of the road, what are they?

Regards, Mick

Mick – Don’t get me started on people who just swing out onto the wrong side of the road and into the path of oncoming traffic (who have the right of way) because there is something blocking their side of the road and they don’t want to waste a second of their journey to actually check if the road is clear first.

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The Harrow Job – The Sequel
I found a collection of Copyright/Royalty free music for YouTube videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music

But the best bit, is it allows you to pre-set the duration before you look for tracks.

The full-length version of On Days Like These was less than 4 minutes, so I had to cut a lot of footage out.

This time, I will aim for a running time of around 6 minutes and will try to include a few more camera angles in it.

So rather than Vorsprung durch Technik by Audi, I’m planning to use Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart.

Although it was tempting to use Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner which is also available on this site.

”I love the smell of burning engine oil in the morning.”

Cheers, Paul.

Short Saturday
I only had one chance to drive this morning, so I wasn't very happy to see ants crawling over the car when I removed the covers!

Once there were removed, I racked up just over 20 miles in around an hour and a half due to the frequent stops to set up the GoPro.

One of my 'caught on camera' moments shows that I had to pull on a jumper as it was a lot colder than last weekend.



At least I was able to get the next round of video clips:

- Front wheel level



- Rear racing view including the rear wheel



- Some scenery



As I need a collection of clips of just trees/hedges to allow me to cut the whole film together.

The good news is that I was home before the rain started (just).

But the bad news was I still had gardening chores to do.

Which meant that when the rain returned I just got soaked working outside.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

PS
Looks like I missed the 6 years since I bought my donor car anniversary a few weeks ago.

But when I look at the car today, I still can't really believe that I actually got the car on the road.

Can't keep up…
Over a week ago, I finally upgraded my shears to a hedge trimmer.



The good news is that this really allows me to shape a large section of the garden quickly.







The bad news is that it then takes a lot longer to clean up the mess that is spread all over the place.
( And I've still got another round of hedge trimming to do. )

Also one of my daughters wanted to take over a small section of the garden and this is her design.
( This is the area we had previously tried home growing vegetables in. )



This turned into such back breaking work that I was still struggling to walk several days later.

Which meant that although I also bought a new lawnmower at the same time, it was Friday before I had the chance to assemble it.



The old one, on the left, managed to last 20 years despite being heavily used and mechanically neglected.

But I will try harder to look after the new one, as 'they don't make 'em like they used to'.

I know gardening has nothing to do with my car being on the road, but this help to remind me why I am not out driving the car as often as I like.

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Saturday
The day started with another trip to the local dump before I got a chance to take the car out for a spin.

I took some more GoPro footage and managed to catch this 'on film' going the other way.



Unfortunately, I had a lot of problems with the camera and it kept changing settings on me for some reason.

So instead of filming, it would take a photo, or a sequence of time lapsed photos and I didn't spot this until I got home.

Also I managed to knock my flat cap up at some point, which combined with the camera angle make me look like Norman Wisdom.

I was changing the camera mounting in a car park, when an old man asked me if this was a Sammio Spyder!

So he certainly knew his stuff and it turns out he has a Daimler Dart and remembers '50s specials.

I also ended up in a local park to film an alternative opening sequence, as I couldn't get the angle I wanted in Harrow Hill to work.

The thick end of 20 people stopped for a chat while I was trying to film, including one bloke who wanted a photo with him in the driving seat!

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End of Part 1...

Sunday
The car goes to the garage on Thursday, so I needed to do a bit of tidying up...

The heater hose leak has got worse.



So I removed the centre section of the dash…



But that only gave me half decent access to one hose, so I had to crawl back into the footwell again.

I swapped two clips from the type on the right to the type on the left.



I also removed the zip ties holding the steering arm rubber gators in place (previous owner).



Then fitted some jubilee clips instead.





Out some thick tape on the inside surfaces of the passenger seat belt hooks.
( I had previously used some masking tape to stop the resonance rattle these made. )





I used some panel wipe to clean up the petrol streaks on the body work.



And touched up some chips in the Tetroseal.





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Then it was back to domestic chores and more gardening.

Tidied up this corner.



And did another section of edging the grass.



Before another evening BBQ for the family.

Hope to take the car out one evening this week to test the heater hose fix before Thursday.

Until then, take care, Paul.

In safe hands…
Due to rain in the forecast for tomorrow morning and a shed load of work meetings in the afternoon, I took today off instead.

I moved the car onto the street & covered it up while I got on with yet more domestic and gardening chores.



In the afternoon I was able to check and top up the oil before getting ready to head to the garage.



At which point the car decided to play up on me like a spoilt child!

There is still a leak from the heater, so I'm giving up and asking the garage to look at it for me.

Then the water temperature gauge decided to stop working for some reason.
( I did double check that the wire hadn't come loose. )

But I got a very warm welcome at Enginuity and lots of positive comments about the car from the team there.



It is booked in for tomorrow, so I'll have a better idea of what I am up against then.

Which means I some point I am going to have to start cleaning up the mess I've made of the drive.
( Due to the fact I park the car facing both in and out on the driveway. )



Until next time, take care, Paul.

Good luck with getting the car sorted and i hope you have it back for the weekend.

Any news on the Swordfish??

Mike - Unfortunately, the garage hasn’t had the chance to even look at the problems yet.
( Due to issues with getting other cars finished. )

So I am stuck in limbo at the moment.

Cheers, Paul.

PS
The only good news is that I've managed to finish most of my gardening chores.

So at least I should be free to go for longer drives when I do get the car back.

Saturday - Ying & Yang:
Next week will be very busy for me at both work and at home.

So I figured it would be worth a personal visit to the garage to check up on the car and pre-authorise spend if required.

Therefore I was slightly caught off guard when they said it was actually ready, they just hadn't worked out the bill yet.

As they were closing in an hour, there wasn't time for me to drive home in one car and then come back on the train for the other.

Instead, I simply swapped cars, drove the Swordfish home and came back on the train later on for the car I arrived in.

As I arrived in a car with a roof I wasn't wearing a hat and my bald head quickly got toasted on the way back.

But it was great to be back behind the wheel and I'm lovin' the T-shirt driving weather.



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Given that I had missed most of last Summer painting the car, I didn't want to be off road for a prolonged period this Summer.

So I was happy for a few temporary fixes to get me through to the Winter this time around:

Oil leak
- All the obvious (when the car in on a ramp) issues were dealt with.
- But the only way to guarantee the job is to pull the engine out at some point.

Emissions
- They spent some time sorting out my carbs and an air leak in the manifold.
- So the car should both run better and pass the next MOT with ease (it barely scraped a pass last time).

Heater leak
- The good news is that I wasn't making a complete mess of tightening up the heater hoses.
- As the bad news is the real leaking is coming from the heater itself.

Many long years ago I dropped my brand new micro heater when mocking up where to fit it.

At the time I thought I was lucky to get away with just a small dent.





But I obviously weakened the whole area, as it is this section with the hose connectors that is leaking.

So there is some rad fix in there as a temporary measure for now and I've already ordered a replacement heater.

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After picking up my flat cap and applying some suncream I was ready to go for a longer drive.

But I just couldn't escape the traffic jams in very direction that I pointed, barely covering 15 miles in an hour.

Then disaster struck when I stopped to fill up with petrol, although I'm still not 100% what happened exactly.

Either way, the end result was "rivers of petrol" overflowing out of the filler cap and all over the rear deck.

With the pump nozzle still in my hand, I watched helplessly as the petrol dropped neatly into the gap around the boot lid.

I mopped up the mess as best I could and headed straight home as carefully as I could.

I then used a watering can to rinse the rear deck area with water and then spotted one corner overflowing.

Sure enough, with the boot lid removed, the driver's side drain hole was blocked.



I used a bamboo skewer at both ends of the drain to free it all up.





But by this point, the petrol had already mixed with the black paint inside the rain channel and "tie dyed" the body work.



Which means at some point I will need to give a large section of the rear of the car a fresh coat of paint.

However, for now, I will just have to live with the 'lived in' look.

I'll be back in a minute with a slightly better Sunday report...

Sunny Sunday
Domestic chores and a lovely pub lunch with the family took up most of the morning / early afternoon.

But I did get a decent 2 hour drive after (my alcohol free) lunch and the weather was great.

The car is really running nicely after the carb tuning and it is still turning heads wherever I go.

Due to some road closures around St.Albans I ended up taking an odd way home and came across The Grove.

As I had my GoPro with me, I figured I might get some good footage on the long driveway.

There was some sort of black tie event going on and I couldn't even find a place to park.

So I just clipped the GoPro to the dash and headed back out.

The value of some of the exotic cars in this car park must have run into the millions and then some.



Here is just one example of what was on display.



I think I just need a few more shots of the car for my next video, so hopefully it will be done before the end of June.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

Oops!


Hi Paul

Sorry to hear of your tribulations, I know exactly how you felt!


Good luck with cleaning up your paintwork, I'd give it a try with a petrol soaked rag first, it might work and save you the trouble of re-painting.

Regards, Mick

Mick – I’d forgotten about your filling up mishap.

I will have a go at cleaning up the mess on the paint at some point.

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Very Quick Update
Last week was even more bonkers than I was expecting.

But I did get out for a short spin on Wednesday evening when I met a mate for a chat.

Previously, he has only seen the car on my driveway and it was mostly under construction when he did.

So, I think the sight of it parked outside his place was a bit of a shock (in a good way).

Actually, most people who saw the mess I was making on my driveway can’t believe the car is on the road.

Anyway, we clocked up a few miles and after a stop for coffee, it was dark on the way home.
( But just a jumper was enough to remain warm. )

Until next time, take care, Paul.

And I will drive 2,000 miles…

There was a long list of domestic chores waiting for me this morning, but eventually I was able to head out for a drive.

I clocked up just under 3 hours and just over 60 odd miles, which pushed me past the 2,000 miles on the road mark.

The low average speed was due to traffic and lots of stops looking for nice places to take a few photos.

My trip did include a decent stretch along the M1 to blow the cob webs out of the engine.

Although the wind buffeting made it feel like my flat cap was going to fly off at any second.

Here is a collection of photos from the day...













Until next time, take care, Paul.

Sweet scent of Jasmine…

A bit of a hectic day so far and it is not over yet.

It stared with some laundry and gardening first thing this morning.



Then my wife wasn't feeling great so she didn't want to be the camera car for the last few minutes of filming today.

So I decided to record a few more 'in between' shots to join the main clips together.

I tried a few different angles this time.





Before running the camera over for this shot.



With all the stops for filming I managed just under 20 miles and was home in time for the England match.

And now I've got some family stuff lined up for the rest of the day, so I'd better go...

Cheers,

Paul.

Catch Up - Part 1:

Wednesday
Took the car out for an evening drive.

But just before I left I thought the glass in the passenger side mirror looked a bit loose.

So I thought I'd better check it and sure enough it came out in my hands.



I then could not work out how to put the glass back in, so decided to come back to that later.

Stopped off at a Supermarket on the way home.



Where I discovered the footwell is an exact match for a box of beer.



It was only as I parked the car that I noticed this spring on the drive.



Clearly, while I'd been keeping my eyes on the mirror as it started to fall out…

This spring had been flying through the air in a different direction.

No wonder I couldn't get the glass to stay in place.

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Friday
Now that I have got my oil leak sorted out, I can travel to get my tonneau cover made.

My "Plan A' was to use the same people as Mister Towed, but they are in Norfolk.

So I looked a little closer to home and found a trimmers a few miles away.

They needed to see the car to check what they could do, so I left work early, armed with some photos.



I just about got there before they closed as the traffic was a nightmare.

But they were not confident they could get a good seal, given the odd shapes involved, so it was a "No".

At least I was able to fix the mirror.



Also, despite the heatwave and nose to tail traffic, the temp. gauge never reached the half way mark.

In the evening there was a 'Strawberry Moon'.

Which looked a lot better in real life that these photos.
( Note the number of cranes around Wembley. )





End of Part 1…