Something a bit different this week folks. I was going to cover the last 2 weeks worth of blog in one post, as nothing of any real interest happened last weekend. But, having finally got writing, I think that's going to be a bit long, so instead, here's last week, with a bit of this week thrown in for good measure, and if your really lucky I'll be back with another exciting instalment of "Pauls dull life" next week. With no planned Cycling or running I thought I'd have a weekend at home and catch up on a few of the odd jobs that I'd been ignoring all summer whilst I was busy having fun, but, as you'll soon see, things didn't go quite to plan. So, first job, sort the van out. A couple of months ago, it started making an awful noise, which I quickly narrowed down to one of the radiator cooling fans. Once I knew what it was, any urgency to fix it disappeared, and I added it too my to do list. Having gradually got worse over the last few weeks though, I spent an evening trawling the internet looking for a replacement, a task which was easier to say than do, as typically my van's completely different to every other version out there! Eventually though I managed to find a replacement at great expense, which turned up a few days later. Excellent service without a doubt, it's just a shame that despite having the correct part number and the picture on the advert being for the bit I needed, the bit that was actually in the box was completely the wrong part, which obviously delayed proceedings and required a bit of a rethink! Having discovered that the only new part in the entire world was the wrong one, plan B necessitated a second hand version courtesy of one of the E Bay scrappies, which arrived just as quickly and looked about right. Testing it on the bench looked promising too, so I cleaned it up and put it to one side ready for the next nice day when I could swap them over. Que, Saturday morning and with the weather looking Ok, I bit the bullet and made a start. Now, you'd think that swapping a radiator cooling fan would be a quick ten minute job, but how wrong you'd be. Not only are the fans on the back of the radiator, but they're fitted from the radiator side of the mounting, sandwiching it between the mount and the radiator and meaning the only way to get it out, is to take the radiator out. But guess what, the only way to get the radiator out is to take the front of the van off. Nice design Vauxhaul (although I think Renault may be the guilty party in this case)! Either way, front of the van off, radiator out, mounting plate off, fan replaced and back together again, and all by lunchtime. Result! Whilst I had the tools out, I took the opportunity to change the oil and all the filters too and have a general poke around, as you do, so fingers crossed that's the van good to go for the winter. Job one done! Oh, and I finally adjusted the handbrake so it actually works too. Personally, I was quite happy with the “leap from the brake to the clutch approach” when pulling away up hill, and the “leave it in gear when its parked trick”, but the MOT man wasn't quite so amused, so now I've fixed that too, just to keep him happy! And on to the next job, or not as the case turned out. Sunday morning dawned with a biblical rainstorm which necessitated a delay to the planned jobs list. Never one to sit around doing nothing though, I took the opportunity to swap the rim and hub (which is just about everything) on the back wheel of my work bike. I can't really complain as it's been on there for a couple of years of daily abuse, and it's surprising how quickly the rims wear due the brake pads rubbing them away. A situation which isn't helped by the road muck and salt being ground into the rim by the brake blocks. It's not one of my favourite jobs I must admit, due to the fiddly nature of trying to get the wheel trued up. But it is one of those rewarding sort of jobs that not only saves a fortune, but normally results in a better wheel than an off the shelf, mass produced item. And at the end of the day, I know as I ride around on it, that I made it and that's reward enough in my book. Wheel done and the rain still teeming down, I cast my eye around for a couple more inside jobs. The washing machine door had slowly sagged over the years to the point that it was almost unusable, so lets have a look at that. It's another poor design, made to the lowest cost and is only a pressed steel piece of junk. I had it off a few years ago and tightened up the pin with a bit of judicious hammer work, which lasted for a good while, but it's slowly got worse again and for the sake of £20, a new hinge was in order. 4 screws (of 2 different types, why would you do that) and that's another job done. Next, the bathroom window handle, which fell apart in the week. Again I suspect that we've had our moneys worth from these windows, which I would guess were probably fitted in the early 1990's, and whilst the bathroom one is top of the list for replacement, there's still a few years of life in it yet. So, cunning plan, I'll swap the broken bathroom handle with the one on the kitchen window that I sealed shut when I redid the kitchen due to it having a big draughty gap at the bottom and never being opened. Except when I actually looked at it, the bathroom is a L/H handle and the kitchen one R/H. Bugger! Not to be outdone, there's a little window in the lounge that never gets opened too, mainly because "The Emma" can't reach it, and it's a bit of a stretch for me, and why open the most difficult one, when there's 5 more that are easier to reach. So I stole that one instead, and at least we can now open the window that we actually use again! Eventually, mid morning, the rain stopped, which signalled time for the next job. More, “Pottering with Peugeots”, and another job that had been on the list for a while. Back in the spring “The Emmas” work steed had been picked up for an advisory on the suspension wishbones and Steering links on it's MOT. So being the kind (AKA tight) soul that I am, I said “I'll fix that for you” and they'd been on my “to do list” ever since. Having done exactly the same job on my “Bangernomics” run around, a few months previously, and identified all the problems, this should be a walk in the park this time! Give me an hour or so then put the kettle on, I said to “The Emma” as I headed for the garage, I'll be back in a bit for a brew and medals! Oh, how wrong could I be. First problem. The Track rod locking nut is totally seized solid. Big spanner, bigger spanner, blowtorch and heat it up, penetrating spray, bigger spanner and extra bit of tube for more leverage, get it even hotter, hit it a bit, get it even hotter, get it red hot and jump on the spanner plus extension bar combination. Oh that's got it! And it just got worse from there. The wishbone fought me every inch of the way, proving an absolute nightmare to get out. Now I know that this is a GTI, with uprated springs etc, but really!
Eventually though, brute force won and I got it out. Now all I needed to do was get the new one in. and that's where it really went wrong, because could I get the new one in, could I F**K! Eventually “The Emma” came to see what all the swearing was about, and did some Googling, just to check that I was doing things right, and confirmed that yes, my approach was spot on, so just put he new one in Mr P! Between us, we wiggled, we jiggled, we hit it, we levered it, we hit it some more, we stood and stared at it, we swore at it, we got a bigger lever, which “The Emma” jumped on until it bent, and then we gave up, and with a lot more swearing, levering, hitting and brute force, fitted the old one so at least we could move the stupid thing and went and had a beer! “The Emma” said that she'd just take it to the garage and get them to fix it, but that doesn't sit right with me. For a starters, allegedly I'm a highly skilled and well trained Aircraft engineer, with 30 years of spanner wielding experience. So swapping a bit of metal on a car shouldn't be too much of a problem. Secondly, I'm a stubborn old so and so and I'm not going to be beaten. But, most importantly, I'm a tightwad, who having been let down a million times over the years by so called tradesmen would rather do the job myself if at all possible. So I did what I do best and carried out a bit more research (also known as spending a couple of hours with Mr Google), and eventually, having watched a 100 “how to” videos, and reviewed a thousand websites, which all said to do just what we had tried previously, I stumbled across a random site which said. “Don't do that, it doesn't work, do this”! Which handily confirmed what I'd said to “The Emma” we needed to do before, but had been too tired, confused and stupid to actually do. So roll on this weekend and a bit of spare time. Get it jacked back up, fiddle around for ten minutes getting things set up as per my new advice, and what do you know, bish bash bosh, it's a walk in the park. Ok, Ok, it was still a bit of a struggle but an achievable struggle and not impossible. One side done and onto the next, where the same process proved just as effective, and I would have had it back together in short shrift, except it took me a while to work out that for some reason we had 2 right hand steering arms fitted, instead of a Left and Right as we should have (see my earlier point regarding tradesmen). Job done though and another few pence saved by doing it myself and a bit more knowledge locked away for future use. My wrists might hurt, my knees might be a bit sore, but at least I can sit here and say “I fixed that” and that's something that gives me immense pleasure!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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