AlexMF

Hi pal, it's quite nippy, could probably make it a bit faster with a service... the clock says 44k but it could be 2nd or 3rd time around. the aim is to make some quick cash on it, so either get it through an MOT and flog it or just break it/weigh it in... the large puddle is from where i ran over the brake cleaner container.... (that'll be another £20 spent at parkers) and the other puddles are brake fluid and gearbox oil from the dreaded Corsa C clutch change i became involved with last week... don't need any more transplant projects, i've got a 1977 clubman estate half way through a vauxhall c20xe redtop transplant, which is costing me far too much £ hence the need to make some wonga on the fiasco, i mean fiesta.

N reg ford fiesta LX (read poverty spec) 1.3l endura engine, £50. bargain.

did 3 on-line mental assessments on tuesday, just got a call to attend a manual assessment day this monday... fingers crossed!

to generate that sort of misfortune probably requires murdering someone.. corsa clutch is done! currently preparing my friends transit connect (known colloquially as "super transit") for a road trip this evening, to collect £3k of bespoke car parts i've just acquired for £650. only problem is that people have panic bought all the diesel. i'll be nipping to tesco for 50 litres of vegetable oil then...

it's looking better than it's neighbouring index finger, which i smacked with a lump hammer.

yesterday was worryingly busy for me...the lazy student. passed 3 stages of on line tests which hopefully will get me to interview stage for a job. after the tests, went to a tesco express car park in melton mowbray to re-gap the points on a friends mini. friend had to abandon it there and walk to work. seeing me dismantle the car (grill off, plugs out, dizzy cap and leads off) in their car park some well meaning employee phoned for the police. awkward conversation ensued, and i re-gapped the points. went on a road test, made it as far as the speed camera on double yellow lines on the main road in melton, broke down, caused huge traffic jam (was farmers market day, oops) thought "oh i must have left the bolt securing the points in a bit loose" re-gapped the points again, wound the bolt in, then set off to the tesco superstore down the road (I needed the loo and a spot of lunch) broke down outside, pushed the car into a spot. dismantled the distributor, found a loose wire on the condensor and that the points had mostly been on fire. walked to the auto-spares place bought new points and condenser walked back. fixed mini. then continued epic 2 evening battle to change a clutch on a corsa, vauxhall really don't want you DIYing. should be able to finish it this evening. got home and slammed my thumb in the car door.

that is what happens to a man who doesn't leave the house for social reasons in over 3 weeks! resisted the urge to visit the pub (i collapsed.)

just submitted my last ever set of philosophy midterm papers. i can't decide whether to go to the pub or collapse.

congratulations Ben and Julie!

aha hello Mr Nick!

haha if Andy fancies making the trip to melton mowbray in a couple of weeks i'm sure i could plug it in to the diagnostics at the least.

yeh i know what you mean gav, if the head has warped i'm up that creak with that canoe with no paddles.

yes Robbo, I agree about the mondeo tdci's, my dad buys them for his employees as company cars, (we have at least 3 at any one time) and they have all been fine... i was merely pointing out that if Andy were to change his car because he found his current engine to be unreliable it would make no sense to buy the same engine again...

yeh sorry i abbreviated head gasket failure to HGF, i'd buy one and stick an multi layer steel gasket on it, new stretch bolts and it would be sweet in an evenings work. I was more worried about the IRD failing than the head gasket...

yeh i'd read something about freelander alloys, something about pre 2001 wheels won't fit post 2001 cars but post 2001 wheels will fit pre 2001 cars or something. (from the latest edition of LRO) what freelander have they got? was considering buying a HGF 1.8 k series one to mend MOT and turn a profit on...

in the same vein as my reply in "what made you sad today", got asked what i thought a problem with a highly modified a-series mini engine was, ( it was blowing head gaskets, melting pistons, wouldn't rev...) i told him it wasn't getting enough fuel and needed a general tune up. he came back to me a couple of weeks later saying, "so and so has said this", etc etc and he kept trying all their suggestions apart from mine... (that it needed a bigger carburettor and a rolling road tune up). so he calls me up last night and says, my mate's dog's uncles dead mum once went to the pub with a car mechanic (<this may differ from actual chain of events) and he knew what he was talking about, unlike you weekend warriors... he says it needs a bigger carb, do you know any one with a set of twin HS4s or a weber dc0e40? at which point i contemplated having some ruffians use him to re-enact the memorable vinnie jones and a man's head vs a car door scene. but instead sold him my set of twin HS4's... words fail me.

Oil smoke is blue... so plumes of black smoke isn't oil, however a service (oil and filters etc probably wouldn't go amiss) black smoke is an imbalance of fuel to air, so yes possibly turbo but without more info ( e.g. do you have less power than before the smoke started?) it could be anything out of a list of things, blocked EGR (my hot favourite), faulty injectors, faulty injector pump, carbon build up in exhaust ports, blocked Diesel particulate filter. if you stamp on the throttle in a turbo diesel ( i mean like squash the pedal into the carpet when overtaking) you do get a bit of black smoke as it sucks some carbon out of the exhaust ports and chucks it out. sounds like it needs plugging into a diagnostics machine before anything too hasty occurs... wish i could afford to change the car every time something went wrong.... if i'm not mistaken the mazda 6 diesel shares its engine with the mondeo, so out of the frying pan into the fire with that suggestion!

went to see my mate at his work on wednesday lunch, because that is when the snap-on van visits! 200 piece socket set, ratchet spanners, normal spanners, screw drivers, mole grips and striking pry bars... let the bank account recover a bit then back for impact gun and trolley jack... oh and a new tool box after the pikeys walked off with the last one!

barn where my mate and i keep all our project cars and tools got broken into last night. they've taken all the tools. (snap-on, kamasa, mac-tools, blue point)....probably about £1000-1500 worth. made my week....not.

job interview this morning at a company i did a 3 month internship for. i was told there was no work for me, and even if there was I was overqualified for it, and they were unable to match what i was worth financially. good. glad i went to that. less than no idea about what to do now!

i know it's not entirely what you mean, but involves a bollard and the rear offside corner of my C2.

went to the barn this evening, expecting to do work on the clubman, when I arrived I was greeted by a bull that had eaten pheasant food... according to the farmer, and died (some one explain this to me please!?). a dead rover 25 and irate owner (again! 2 weeks ago starter motor, last week head gasket, this week alternator...), a ford mondeo with a ruined hub (think shopping trolley wheel wobble), and a vauxhall vivaro in need of a service and MOT. so naturally, i did the bare minimum: moved the bull from in front of the barn door with a MF6140 with MF 845 front loader, and muck forks, loaned the booster pack to the long suffering and increasingly impoverished rover owner, did the service on the van, removed the hub from the mondeo and went to the pub. bed time, finally.

nice knocker!

present mrs goon rang me at midnight to wish me happy new year....upsetting because she is back in victoria, 10hours on a plane/ 8 hour time difference hooray.

got a bottle of Penderyn wysgi (from welsh wales) 46%! and a bottle of japanese whisky 51.4%! cognac collection is better though, 1982 bottle of justerini and brooks special reserve. and some generic corvoisier... oh i've got a few bottles of vintage port as well.. 20 year old warres and a 10 year old warres and a couple of bottles of taylors