Between pedal cars and other stuff, I haven’t been near the Chevrolet for weeks. The weather forecast for the next few days is pretty good, though, so
I’m going to bring it along to the house so that I can use it, and also tidy up a few things without carting half the garage along to the farm.
First, though, there’s the small matter of the Porsche. It was serviced on Wednesday, and it has a sticking brake calliper. I used it last Sunday and
did think it was sticking a bit - one wheel was slightly warm compared to the rest. Anyway, caliper siezed. So I ordered a new one on Wednesday night and
it was delivered yesterday. So today, children, we’re going to play with brakes.
I’m not going to go through the detail but basically, it takes me about an hour and a half (and almost half of that is bleeding the bloody thing at the
end) but it’s all sorted!
With that finished, I walk along to the farm, which somebody seems to have moved an extra 3 miles away. I’m knackered by the time I get there.
With the Chevy started and extracted from the garage, home seems to have moved another 20 miles away…
When I get home, I discover the boot won’t latch shut after Ive taken stuff out that I’ve brought home. Without 3 tonne of plastic covers and shite,
I move a horseshoe clip and take the key lock out, then unscrew 5 screws and remove the whole boot latch. A bit of a check, a few strategic squirts of
grease, work it in, and everything is working perfectly. I add a few drops of oil n key lock and put it all together again. Simple!
Just as I’m tidying up, my daughter persuades me to go for a wee run, because she’s never been in the car before.
We park up and admire the local ned cruise, who seem to be good at zooming around and making lots of noise, but shite at parking and at setting their
volume controls. Nice sunset though!
I also discover that I can’t lock the passenger door, the lock’s too stiff.
The weather forecast was right! It’s lovely!
So first, I lubricate the door lock, again with the old spray grease. Working again! Then I set off for a wee morning cruise. The car seems to be going well!
On the way home, I stop at Sainsbury’s to collect a few groceries. While I’m sitting in the car adjusting the radio settings, a women starts taking
photos, then she sees me and comes over. She has a wee seat in the front, then asks to try the back… oh aye?
“Oh it’s nice and bouncy - you could have some fun in here!” she says… Oh aye?
“Did you restore it yourself? You must be good with your hands?” Oh aye?
Well, seeing as it’s high noon in a packed Sainsbury car park, I forego the obvious next step, and shuffle off to get my groceries. Apparently, shuffling
off in a packed Sainsbury car park can also get you arrested… who knew?
When I get home, I do a couple of wee jobs on the car. The first of those is to tidy up the wiring to the ignition coil, which is a mess. I untangle it
all and bind it in one of those coily-springy plastic things.
Then I take off the alternator, and polish off some surface corrosion etc and repaint the brackets.
I polish up the indicator stalk and the gear lever - nice and chrome again! You can also see that the steering wheel paint is a good match for the rest of
the interior.
Then I degrease the engine bay - I’ve already got the engine pretty clean, but I clean up the inner wings, heater motor etc! It looks pretty good!
I also clean up all the rubber hoses.
So with all of that done, I park the car back up the drive.
Then I go to move the Range Rover back as well, to block it in. I turn the key, the ignition lights and other warning lights come on, then go off after
half a second, and the car’s dead. Try again - same again.
So I go in and get the spare keys - both of them give exactly the same result… very strange.
A bit of an online search suggests that the battery must be really flat - apparently, if the voltage drops too far, it switches off the ignition to
protect the computer from spikes etc. How can the battery be flat? I moved it out this morning!
It’s getting dark now, and the answer becomes clear - the side lights have been on for 8 hours… don’t know why, didn’t put them on this morning - not
intentionally, anyway.
So… Chevy started, moved forward, jump leads on, Range Rover starts!
I leave it running for a bit, then move it back and connect up the trickle charger, and leave it overnight.
It’s never ending, this!
We park up and admire the local ned cruise, who seem to be good at zooming around and making lots of noise, but shite at parking and at setting their
volume controls. Nice sunset though!
