tea boy

Excellent!

The Doc Had us on manoeuvres at the weekend so I didn't get much time in the tent at all. I welded up the slots on the repair section. The new welder... Well, working it is like the Krypton Factor. When I managed to get it going it seems quite good, but I need to have some time to get used to how to work it properly. Monday and Tuesday evenings saw me bashing at the panel to try to get it to fit. I have got about ten hours in it now, and it still isn't quite right. Now I remember why I have been putting this job off... Last night was quiz night and despite a third of our team being AWOL, we won, yay! I have been thinking about how I am going to tackle the fit today and was expecting to be working on it when I got home, but The English summer intervened. In order to not waste an evening, I found the manual for my welder online. I didn't have much joy trying to read it on my phone so I printed it off. My old welder didn't have a manual, it had an on button, a power knob and a wire speed knob. The new one has those too, but the knobs do lots more things and there are buttons and a screen, filled with hieroglyphics. I might be a bit of a Luddite. Actually, I don't mind the technology, I just need to fully understand it. Anyway, homework for tonight is to study the 82 pages of the manual. If my brain doesn't melt I will be able to get on with the job soon, weather permitting of course. Cheers.

I thought that John Surtees was driving a Lola that day in Monza… I’m guessing a Rover 827 engine.

It always comes back... I haven't done anything with the car since Monday because I really need to be getting on with the wheel arches before I can do the next jobs. The problem with the arches is not procrastination this time but rather the lack of a working welder. I ordered it a few weeks ago and they told me it would be around the end of May before it arrived. That wasn't ideal, but that's what it was. Well it turns out that the tides from Norway have been quite favourable and it turned up at the yard this afternoon. I went to get it after I had finished all my jobs for the day. When I got home and I started to set it up the first problem was this. Which forced me to root through my drawers. I know not everything is perfect in Britain but we do have the best plugs in the world, unless you happen to stand on one without your slippers on... I specifically ordered a machine with the Binzel/Euro connector because I thought that I might want to use my four metre Binzel harness. I got that because I can get in to do stuff without having to have the welder stuck under my armpit and it has been especially helpful in the tent where space is limited. I did miss that when I was forced to use that Sealey set when my original welder packed up because the Sealey had a really short harness. I was glad that I went for the Binzel connector when I saw the new torch. The shroud is really heavy duty and consequently quite bulky. This would be ok if I was building a ship or something but it might be quite unwieldly in a wheelarch, for example. The shroud and tips are also Kemppi specific rather than the universal Binzel type, of which I have stock and they are also cheap and easy to find. I suspect that the Kemppi stuff would be less readily available and more costly. Also, the harness itself is much more heavy duty. It doesn't show up as much in the picture, but this would make my arms fall off if I had to hold it for too long. Once I had decided that the Binzel was going on there, I got it all assembled. It also came with a new regulator and some universal mig pliers. After all that waffle, I expect you are wondering how it performs. So am I because the Doc, who had been out to donate blood, returned home at this point with fish and chips, so I didn't get chance to test it. Cheers.

Saturday after my physio appointment and then breakfast at Ten Acres with the Doc and some friends from up the road, we went and ordered a new log burner. As we are on oil heating, and certain people are intent on making sure that the world can't get hold of any oil, it seemed like a good idea. In the afternoon I had the bright idea of trying to fix the central locking on the Doc's dogging car. The passenger front door didn't unlock. That was a horribly fiddly job which I wished I hadn't started, but I did manage to get it going again. Sunday was visiting my parents. Papa Tea seemed a bit brighter, but he still isn't that good. Today, the Doc said that I could help her doing some gardening, if I didn't have anything to do... Of course it suddenly became vital that I cleaned my car with a fresh stock of fallout remover because it was absolutely filthy. I think I last did it a couple of years ago and in the intervening time there has been quite a build up. The roof, bonnet and boot lid were the worst, being large horizontal surfaces. The door jambs also collected of bit of stuff. I didn't do these last time so they were ready. They look much more pleasing now. The sill step thing got cleaned too. I did end up with some water in the boot when I pressure washed it all off, so I dried it up with a towel and then used an air blower to make sure it was dry in all the seams, I had to fix the compressor first though, because it packed in when I was doing the nipper's Fiesta the other week. I spent about seven hours cleaning, all told, but it did get me out of the gardening. Cheers.

Wasn't it warm today? The chap at my first job always gets me biscuits and today it was a bumper bag of broken chocolate digestives. That picture was taken after I had a good go at them... It was still warm when I got home and I was even able to go in the tent without a cardigan. The tent is on the east side of the house so is usually in the shade and consequently quite cool. I'm really just killing time now because I need the welder to turn up so I can get on. I need to get the underneath sealed before I can put anything on there, I need to wax inject stuff and I can't do that until it's undersealed etc etc. So, as I still have some tape left, I thought I would use it. I did this stuff in the drivers side rear corner of the boot. I possibly might not have bothered with it because it will all be covered by the boot panelling. Actually, all the wiring will be covered by something so... I did a full covering rather than the loose spiral. I had that white electrical boxy thing off and scrubbed both it and the area behind it. That cable tie is not done up because I decided to swap it for a slightly larger one. Oh, I fitted the battery earth lead too. Like I said, just killing time. I could have done with the welder for the bank holiday weekend... Cheers.

The quiz was less than ideal, we finished third... from the bottom. In mitigation, half of our team were absent. The clever ones, seemingly. As I had run out of tape, I had to do something not tapey, so I drilled a hole in my freshly painted boot. This is a bit higher up the panel than it should be because I didn't want the drill chuck to catch the floor whilst I was doing it. Hopefully this won't be a problem. I touched up the hole with one of the Doc's artist brushes. Whilst the paint was drying I had a look at this bit of wiring. I know I said I had run out of tape and it wasn't due until Friday, but as luck would have it, it arrived early. With that bit finished I stuck some new cabe clips on the wires for the new hole. The paint was dry so I stuck it in. The hole being higher does make it a bit tight, but we will have to see if I get away with it. Cheers.

Cheers, Phil. It is going to be mostly standard, honest... Bit of a long day at work today and late home, but taping up wires isn't a terribly strenuous task so I got straight to it. Working through the boot lid is also less uncomfortable than inside the cab. This bit will clip to the side of that chassis leg when the new clips are on. Like so. It then goes forward towards where the rear bulkhead would be if the seats didn't fold. It passes through the 'bulkhead' through that rectangular spongey thing and then joins the rest of the loom. The rest of the wiring in that area needed re-taping and there was a clip missing, so I made a start on that next. But then I ran out of tape again. That didn't last long, but when I checked what I had ordered it seems that I had got a much smaller roll than last time because I didn't pay attention. Anyway, please accept my apologies because I am not able to make the taping wires look very exciting. This is mainly because it isn't very exciting... More tape is due on Friday. Quiz tomorrow night, so I will have to do something without tape on Thursday. Cheers.

It was the mother-in-law's birthday this weekend, which put the kybosh on any tent time. Saturday was a barbecue at the sister-in-law's, which disappointingly didn't involve a barbecue at all. There was lemon cheescake though. Please be aware that I am not the person in the picture! Sunday was out to a restaurant, an hour and a half drive from where we live but much closer to the sister-in-law, which I suppose is to be expected because she had arranged it. There was cake. Today on the way home from work I picked up another installment of my parts order. Just small bits and pieces but one of them was this cable clamp which I needed to fasten down the main battery lead in the front footwell. Also when I got home, the Tesa tape which was supposed to arrive on Friday, then changed to Sunday finally arrived on Monday. This meant that I could spend three hours kneeling, sitting and bending into all kinds of uncomfortable positions to re-tape the loom and to replace lots of these 'fir tree' type clips. Once my back and knees had had enough of crawling around in the cab I did a little bit more in the boot. I fitted that clip that had cost me hours of my life searching tinternet to find the part number of. I still need to work my way forward on that part of the loom to re-tape and replace several more clips. These are most of the clips I have replaced tonight, some of them just got slung out of the door and will have to be picked up later. In other M3 related news, this was waiting for me when I got home. I quite like quick steering and this is a brand new 'black tag' 2.5 turn rack which has made it all the way from Australia in less time than it takes for some tape to arrive from this country. The number of turns is on the casing. It is untouched by human hands. I have known about these for a while but have been put off by the fact that the quicker ratio can upset the traction control system, but now you can get a magic box which modifies the signal so that it works properly. Well, I hope it works properly... Cheers.

Yes, you’re right. I hadn’t looked at them, just advised by the MOT man that it was getting ready. Stupidly assumed that the old one was bolted on… I won’t fall for it again.

You will have to factor some weight back in to account for the required reinforced underpants...

Cheers, Sheriff. Thanks, Jevvy, pet. I didn't go in the tent last night because my Dad is not doing very well at the moment so we went to see him instead. I ordered some more bits the other day. Actually, I got my mate to order them for me because he knows the right person to speak to in the parts department. Some of them turned up today, the rest are coming from Germany. I called to pick them up on the way home from work. I was keen to look through the stash to see if the clippy things for the wiring loom were there and... Indeed they were. I immediately started by taping one in position then continued re-wrapping along the loom until I ran out of Tesa tape. I thought I had another roll but it turned out to be PVC and not fabric. I had ordered another roll the other day, just to be safe but it doesn't arrive until tomorrow so that is it for wiring tonight. Whilst I was in the tent the nipper arrived home, she's back from Manchester for the weekend. As I was at a loose end with my car, but still dressed for action, so to speak, I decided to stick the bottom ball joint on her Fiesta. Dead easy job, three bolts to the wishbone and a pinch bolt in the hub. Bish bash bosh done in half an hour... Except the one on the car was riveted on, not bolted. Again, no major problem, grind the heads off, punch them out, job's a good un. Except these rivets look like they were fitted before the dawning of time, or at least back when dinosoars were roaming the Earth, chomping on the bones of Doug McClure. I took the heads off both ends of the rivets and they wouldn't come out either way, even with the air hammer. I took the whole wishbone off and tried to bash them out on the bench, which didn't work so I decided to go at them with the die grinder. Part way through that, my compressor packed up. Anyway, I eventually got that half an hour job done in four hours. It's a conspiracy! Cheers.

Thanks. Re the welder, the last one that I have just blown up was borrowed... Yesterday I was lamenting the demise of this plug. When I broke it, several years ago now, I tried to find a part number to order a replacement but I was unable to. I looked for a used one and there was one on the usual auction site. At the time I thought that the price being asked was excessive, so I left it. Every now and again I would look but they didn't show up very often. Anyway, now the time has come that I actually need one to get on with the job at hand, and by happenstance, one was listed on the aforementioned auction site. This one was twice the price of the one I didn't buy because it was too expensive... I don't know if there is a lesson in there or not. It was in my post box when I got home. My preferred fitting method of fitting would be to de-pin them both and fit the new housing to the existing pins on the loom. That way I don't have to cut, solder and heat shrink and all that palaver. It just depended upon how easily the pins came out. On the plug there is a black collar which you pop up, than you can gently push down the tang on the pin and pull it out. I worked on the broken one first, just in case. You can see the black collar. You might also notice that part of the black collar broke off when I popped it up. Now I'm thinking that if I break the new one I've done my money and I'm back to square one. I retreated for a cup of tea and a contemplate. I still didn't feel like soldering so I just went and did it and it all went smoothly. There are some small rubber seals on the wires where the go into the plug, I lubricated them with this to aid insertion. With that done I could then re-tape that piece of the loom. Fabric Tesa tape to the right of the grommet, PVC to the left where it will be on the exterior of the car. If anyone was wondering why I am bothering to do all this taping, besides the tape no longer being stuck to the loom, it also looks like this in places. That is the result of lots of grinding ad welding in the vicinity. All the stickyness which was on the tape has left the tape but stayed on the wires, so I have been de-stickying them all individually. So far, I have only found one speck of welding spatter stuck to one wire, it hadn't caused any damage. Once cleaned, they were re-taped. I am starting to run out of areas to tape due to the lack of replacement bundling clips, let's hope that the BMW parts man can come up with the goods this time. Cheers.

The doc had locked me out whilst I was in the tent and it was too cold to sleep... I'll touch it up round the hole when it's drilled, should be ok. As I said on Sunday, I was re-taping wires. I did some more of that on Monday evening but, as you can see; This doesn't create exciting pictures. The picture above is the driver side rear light wiring. When I looked at the passenger side one this retaining clip had started to fall out of its hole. The one in the middle of the picture, which is item 10 on this. Now, I don't know what model BMW that image refers to, but it is not on the parts list for my car. I spent hours searching for that picture, then hours more trying to find a part number to go with it. Speaking of parts, I managed to get my hands on the bits that had to come from Germany. Now, I only gave them two part numbers to order for me, but somehow they only managed to order one of the two... It can't be that difficult, can it? Anyway, the parts they did get me were the strappy things which tie the wiring up to the inner sill. I started to strap it up but then I thought it would be better if I re-taped that wiring too. I did try to replicate the spiral type binding on this bit, but it still has smaller gaps than the original. Also visible in that picture is a blue plug thing. That passes through the heel panel and goes to the speed sensor. Except I don't want to pass this one through because ages ago, whilst working inside the car, I knelt on it and broke it... At the time I was unable to find a part number for a replacement so I subsequently forgot all about it. I still can't find a part number so I have ordered a used one, which has yet to arrive. Another thing which is going to hold up loom taping is this. That bundling clip is starting to fall out of its hole, along with just about every other one which I had to remove, so I need to replace them. They are held on to the loom with the tape so that's why I can't do the taping on those bits. Luckily, I have found the part number for those. I am doing all these boring little jobs not only because they will have to be done at some time but also because I can't get on with the rear arches without a welder. In order to remedy that problem, I have ordered one of these. The problem with that is that because they are a brand new model, there are none in the country yet as they are still on a slow boat from Norway and are expected towards the end of next month. I will have to find some more faffing about jobs to do for a little while longer. Cheers.

This week has been one of those weeks where things have conspired against tent time. I won't bore you with the excuses although they are mostly legitimate. Except for quiz night which was a total waste of time as we finished third so I should have just gone into the tent instead. I did get the odd few minutes, here and there. I found this thing. It didn't look like that when I found it as it has been on a shelf for so long that it was thick with dust. It is the stereo/nav mounting cage, or it would have been had the first owner actually specified that kind of thing when he ordered it. In my car it is just a cage and it fits here, in the boot. There are lots of holes in the sills and various other places which, luckily, are supposed to be there. These will need to be filled once we have sprayed some waxy stuff inside them. For that, there are lots of grommets. These are what we deem to be good grommets as opposed to the bad grommets which I have spent the last few years welding up. Whilst I saved them all, not all of them are in a good enough condition to be reused, so I had to clean them all up to find out which was which. I used the Doc's electric toothbrush to scrub them, I hope she doesn't mind. Once I had separated the wheat from the chaff, I had to measure them and then trawl through the parts list to find the required part numbers. Which sounds easy but is a really horrible process and one which I have yet to complete. Anyway, that brings us to today. After various chores and what have you, we went to collect the mother-in-law as she is staying for the weekend. She lives in a sort of retirement home type thing which, although it is full of old giffers, doesn't have any staff on site. The lack of staff became a problem when the mother-in-law knocked the fire alarm with her elbow as she was walking down the corridor and nobody knew how to turn off the alarm. Eventually, Sam arrived and saved the day... Once the excitement was over we went home and the Doc and her mum went to the Village Hall to do some jigsaw puzzles so I retreated to the tent. I have been wanting to clip up all the wiring harness which had been pulled out to be masked up for the floor painting job but as most of the clips broke on removal I had to order replacements. These arrived yesterday, but they arrived at my mate's garage in Grimsby and I was in Nottingham so I haven't been able to pick them up yet. Looking at the wiring, some of the tape has started to come adrift, so I decided that now would be a good time to sort that out. Like this one which goes through the seat base to the fuel tank. I cleaned any sticky residue off with some of this. And re-taped it with this. Originally it was wrapped in like a loose spiral where the tape didn't cover everything, but I couldn't do it like that, so I fully covered it. I did these along the tunnel. And the ones which pass through the rear seat heel panel to the ABS and pad wear sensor. There is also this wire dangling about in the boot. It passes through the boot floor and goes to the rear headlight level sensor. On it there are two 'fir tree' type clips to secure it into position and it is usually quite obvious where these go. In this instance however, I could not work it out. So ensued a long trawl through all my pictures to see if I could get a clue. What I discovered was this hole, here. The small one on the vertical face. The reason I only found it in my pictures and not in the boot of the car was because... This plate in the chassis reinforcement regime has covered it up. Seems like I need to drill a hole in my freshly painted boot... Cheers.