So, been doing some more welding this weekend. Everything was cut out, new bits made and some welded in on Saturday but I stopped early as I didn’t want to make any noise with the angle grinder after 5pm. Having done this type of repair a couple of times already I’m finding it fairly simple. Then Sunday afternoon I finished it off but again had to stop because I felt it was too late to grind back the welds. Today I attacked it for a while and I’ve slapped on some oxide paint which I’m waiting to dry as I type. I should get a skim of filler on it before going out tonight but doubt I’ll get any primer on top like I wanted to.
I would have got more done on Sunday except I had to do some work on the Acclaim. It started to make a grounching noise from the n/s/f as you slowed down on Friday and the only idea I had were the brake pads must be getting low. I had my doubts as before the HCR I checked to see how much meat they had on them and all seemed fine. Anyhoo, turns out there was no material left on one of the pads and the rest were well past their best and due replacement. They’ve lasted less than 20k miles which is crap. I’ve never been happy with them since I fitted them. They have no real feel and fade easily. Happily I bought some asbestos ones at the NEC last year so grabbed them only to find they were nowhere near the right size or shape. That obviously made me less than happy but luckily I had another spare set… Sadly they’re identical to the ones I hated before but I had no choice so had to use them.
Straight away I went online and bought some EBC Ultimax. I hate EBC Green Stuff, I think they’re shite but as these are meant to be OEM spec and what’s on there now is rubbish anyway I thought I may as well try them. Now I’m left with a choice, let the rubbish ones wear down or fit the EBC ones right away?
I’d been meaning to get some new number plates for the Acclaim since I got her 4/5 years ago. I’d planned to get German style metal plates as I felt it’d suit the boxy lines of the car. Typically I never got around to it, until this week. Someone (not me!) didn’t see a small wall when parking the car and managed to remove to front plate without realising! I’d forgotten you now need to send off ID when getting plates until I started trawling websites. So, a quick look on eBay and I found myself some pressed aluminum plates I could get a lot more quickly. They’re not German style and they’re reflective. Might keep the Police away… I didn’t realise how bad the old ones were until I took a snap with the flash on.
Next job yesterday was to sort out the car insurance. I got a renewal letter and the cost of my premium had gone up by 90%. So I did some quick phoning around and no-one could match it. One actually said I’d had a really good deal! So I phoned my original broker back to find out what had changed and apparently they made a mistake a couple of years ago. All the cars are insured to be parked on the road at night and they’d been charging the price for storing them all in a garage. Ahh well. If I want to be pragmatic I can say this years insurance is effectively free and £250 for three cars parked on a road in Luton isn’t bad.
Now my old friend. A few years ago I repaired the n/s area in front of the rear wheel on the Herald. Soon afterwards rust started to appear and I assumed I’d left a pin hole in the paint. Seeing as I have to repair a section next to that anyway I thought I’d rip it all off and do it in one. What has actually rusted is the old metal I’d used, not the new. I’d tried to be clever and use as much of the old metal as possible but that obviously had a touch of rust on it I’d not seen but disturbed. Shouldn’t take long to sort out and I’m happy to be doing it as I’m not impressed by how I did it before! What I did before is safe and stable but clearly my methods and techniques have changed for the better as I’d never do it like this again! Here is the bit of rot I’m gonna remove at the bottom of the b-post. I’ll replace the rear tub in the future…
More very slow progress on the Herald and I’ll make this quick anyway!
Since my last entry;
engine has been fired up
doors have been fitted and fiddled with
spacers made and put under the body mounts
brakes bled
handbrake freed
wheels on
windscreen/rubber/insert in
drivers seat…
gearbox tunnel fiddled with
and probably a few other bits and bobs
I’ve taken the drivers door off again so I can paint the tread plate. Of course, it would be highly illegal childish and dangerous to have a play and see what it’d be like to drive without it there.
Oh, and here you can see the quick tidy I’ve got to do on the other side…
