Nationals Soon - Will I make it???????????

[Sidney'61]

Well I've had the car stripped down and i've been getting rid of all of the rust on the floor of the car so it's now solid but i now have a choice. I can spend the next month putting the car back together ready for the shows leaving it very scruffy but solid or I can keep it off the road and give it a thorough paint job so that I have a tidy car for next year. Hmmmmm choices

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

I think we should start a coutdown , I reckon we now have 31 days to go!! Less for us though as we leave on Thursday 19th and get the overnight ferry to Liverpool.

Lowlight work is progressing well, today I fitted the front wings, grill and bumper, its starting to look like a car again! Tomorrow I think exhaust, gearbox cover and kick plates for a start.

[rayofleamington]

5) Repair both A-posts on the pick up
6) Replace both cab sills on the pick up
7) Repair chassis on the pick up
8 ) Re-make rear wiring loom so it's not a birds nest
9) replace shabby marina disks and pads
10) dissassemble o/s front suspension and re-bush etc... (near side is done but was nearly impossible to dissassemble)
11) Do something so that rotten pick up bed floors do not fail MOT
12) Do something so that rotten pick up rear arches do not fail MOT
13) Do something so that broken indicator stalk does not fail MOT
14) Repair both front inner wings and flitch panels
15) Replace all tyres
16) make sure any nbew painting is just primer and looks hideous
17) ignore any option of refitting the interior or washing/polishing
18 ) fail MOT to find out what other jobs need doing
19) do other jobs for MOT

Well there's not many days left and I've got whiplash + I need a day out to find another modern car. I wonder if I should just quit trying

[Welung666]

OUCH! Hope you and any passengers were unhurt apart from the whiplash Ray!

[rayofleamington]

Thanks Lee. Margaret has it much worse than me with some broken ribs and a lot more pain
Her kid came of fairly lightly thanks to a full child seat (not just a booster) so the seatbelt was positioned better. The seat's going to cost £100+ to replace but money well spent compared to the risk of more serious injuries.
As for cars without rear seatbelts... My Minors are definately going to have them from now on!

[wibble_puppy]

oooh!! Ray!!!! *hugs you gently, and your family too* So glad no one was more seriously hurt

[ASL642]

Ray, sorry to hear about the accident, hope you are all on the mend soon.

[d_harris]

Firstly glad everyone has got away without anything *too* serious. Hope you are all right as rain soon.

What Happened?

[rayofleamington]

What Happened?

The guy in front (big Jag) had stopped to turn off the road - I didn't notice that until far too late.
I've had people in to the back of me, and I've seen it happen to others, but sadly it was my turn not to be concentrating
I still can't believe I was distracted for long enough for that to happen, but am glad the outcome wasn't far worse.

Anyway, back on topic. I got the rest of my pickup front suspension parts today. I also needed a new tie bar fork and nut, but couldn't get the nut on its own The parts I needed were included in the full tie bar kit so I got that. The kit was fairly priced so I shall try to forget that I only needed half of it.
The rear left load bay / arch is way too rotten to repair as there is no decent metal to patch on to. I'm amazed it was pretending to be solid for the last 12 months, as every time I've prodded it in the last 2 weeks I've managed to make big holes.
Therefore I had to shell out £££'s for a replacement . With the general poor state of the pick up it wouldn't matter if I'd made a bodgetastic one from bits of old oil drum but I just don't have time for that kind of bodgery anymore

[HarryMango]

The guy in front had stopped - I didn't notice that until far too late.

You're as good as Lewis Hamilton now Ray

Hope you're not too sore

Rog

[8009STEVE]

Is that all you have to do?

Try this:-

1 Finish off fitting metal panel in the middle
2 Finish off the wood on the off side
3 Fit the third axle
4 Plumb in the rear brakes on both axles
5 Manufacture the twin rear wheel arches on both sides
6 Make the rear doors fit
7 Fit and wire the rear lights
8 Fit seat belts to the front
9 Fit front seats
10 MOT?
11 Make and fit rear seats
12 Fit interior
13 Wash and polish

How is everybody else doing? So far 1-5 and 7-9 are done.

[ASL642]

Just do what needs doing for the MOT and come!

[rayofleamington]

5) Repair both A-posts on the pick up
6) Replace both cab sills on the pick up
7) Repair chassis on the pick up
8 ) Re-make rear wiring loom so it's not a birds nest
9) replace shabby marina disks and pads
10) dissassemble o/s front suspension and re-bush etc... (near side is done but was nearly impossible to dissassemble)
11) Do something so that rotten pick up bed floors do not fail MOT
12) Do something so that rotten pick up rear arches do not fail MOT
13) Do something so that broken indicator stalk does not fail MOT
14) Repair both front inner wings and flitch panels
15) Replace all tyres
16) make sure any nbew painting is just primer and looks hideous
17) ignore any option of refitting the interior or washing/polishing
18 ) fail MOT to find out what other jobs need doing
19) do other jobs for MOT

Well I've only managed #10 and half of #11 and 1.5% of #14 but I did manage to loose 2 days car hunting (now sorted) + spent most of last week babysitting and lost another day with the inlaws (fathers day...)

So now I can stop thinking about having the pickup ready for the National and start worrying about having it MOT'd for the LEO!

[Sidney'61]

I just blew the spare fuse today trying to sort the electrics so've got to go out and buy some more before i can sort the rest of the electrics out, generally everything is going together fine so if there are no more drawbacks it should be done by the end of the week