FE54 - making her mine.

[talkingcars]

Fitting instructions for tow bar - remove insulation from top of chassis rail to locate marks for drilling.....

James' version - drill up from underneath through the two large holes in the underside of the chassis rail to locate main bolt location and enlarge from above with a countersink drill, then use these holes to place the upper plate before marking and drilling the other holes.

Worked great on the passanger side and meant I could easily fit the battery plate properly.

Then I went to do the same on the drivers side, oh, what's this in the way? According to the Rimmers site it's one of these http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-GRID003507 (no. 7)

I'll have to do it from above so off comes the insulation except there are no marks! So with educated guess work I worked out roughly where one of the main holes should be and drilled pilot holes until I located the correct position, enlarging this more or less took in the other pilot holes.

I then used this to locate and drill the other holes.
Cooking on gas now - not quite, from the previous rear end damage this side of the floor isn't flat so the bolts on the inner side don't reach far enough to bolt the reinforcining plate up. Simples, I got a pair of longer bolts.
Fitted the plate.
Now to the outer plate - bother - same problem - I've now sourced the second set of longer bolts.

[Lukeus101]

Did you get that folder ok mate?

[talkingcars]

Yes thanks Luke
and thanks to smoky Blair too.

Was going to post last night but had the drunken phone call from Mrs TC asking me to rescue her from the demons of a night out with the girls from work.......scary stuff LOL.

[talkingcars]

Not much to report - been busy sorting GV51, the lads R100, Mrs TC's ZR and the maestro and decorating.

Last week we took FE54 to Wales for a week staying in Carmarthen for three nights and Montgomery for another two. We did some fossiling on a couple of days, visited St Davids and Snowdonia and even ended up in a massive factory outlet centre and Mrs TC didn't want to spend hours shopping - if you get a woman like that - likes cars - hates shopping - don't let go.

The car ran well - Welsh roads are so suited to the ZS180, towards west, mid and north Wales there are so few cars you can really enjoy it. The only concern I had was the car seeming to miss a few times after filling up at Porthmadog but eventually I realised I was so laid back I was taking hills and bends in 5th and not 3rd!

[peterzs]

Good driving roads around Wales, glad its going OK.

[talkingcars]

So I've had a few issues recently - first off was the clutch hydraulics - I had intended fitting the Sheddist that came with the car but sold that, then there was the used one that came from the scrap yard but I sold that, finally there was the one on GV51 but that will be going in the maestro when I swap engines.

I was aware that the change was getting worse so had decided to get some bits togeather and make my own version. Unfortunatly (and typical for me) I'd left it too late.......

We have just had a chimney removed due to damp problems caused by the loft extension company plastering the loft room to the chimney rather than leaving the required cap! The result was our bedroom ceiling starting to collapse, we had it removed from the roof and through our bedroom and had the walls and ceiling plastered. I then replaced the floor with T&G as the 102 year old floor boards were knackered. We then rebuilt the built in wardrobes I built 10 years ago and refitted the interior with IKEA stuff. They were out of stock of 2 key components so I decided, after work to drive the 30 miles from work to the local store in south London (Croydon) to get these, not a wise idea the afternoon the M25 was closed nearby for 3 hours.

After queing for 30 minutes the clutch started to get near impossible to engage so I decided to abhort the trip and turn around, 200 yards from the turn the car wouldn't go into first so I switched off hoping to start in gear BUT the car wouldn't start, the starter was really sluggish!

I managed to roll across the road on to the ghost island. 20 minutes later I managed to start the engine and, while rolling down the slight slope slip into gear. I don't know how, but I managed to get across 2 lanes of traffic, up to the turn and on to the southbound carrage without stopping or changing gear.

Using clutchless changes I got into 5th and cruised down the whole length of the M23, I slipped into 3rd, again clutchlessly, off the main road and onto the back roads towards Horsham. Using the clutch to help going back into 4th the peddle went to the floor and stayed there.

I somehow managed the last 8 miles without the need for clutch pulling up outside the house 50 minutes and 30 miles from where the car broke down.

[peterzs]

Oops.

Hope you can sort the hydraulics.

[talkingcars]

I had quick coffee and a search of the "workshop" and I found my box of O/E clutch hydraulics and exactly where I thought they should be!

At 19.07 I was back outside.

The old bent and damaged slave bracket was off quickly showing that it had bent at the back end allowing the engine to body earth become loose explaining why the car was struggling to start.

I didn't fancy changing the whole system so studied the joint between upper and low sections, it looked very much like the compression joint found on many small bore hydraulic systems. Rather than try and find the Rover "special" tool I used Mrs Robinson and her five lovely daughters!

I then realised that the old slave was missing the plunger so I guess this fell of when the peddle went to the floor.

The best of bracket and slave were fitted, air filter refitted and tools put away and it was only 20.20, nice when a problem is quickly resolved.

[peterzs]

Lucky you still had all the bits, I normally dump them out and find I wanted something a couple of days later!!!

[talkingcars]

Before I built the workshop I'd still be looking now.