In May 2013, my boyfriend Tom and I are planning to walk from London to Brighton in aid of Mind, the mental health charity. It's a 100km endurance walk and, while I'm not usually totally sure of people doing things like this for charity (I mean, some of the funds are going to offset the cost of running the event - why not give it all to charity?), this is for me both about raising funds and raising awareness of Mind. And mental health in general, for that matter. The walk starts in London on the 25th May and finishes on the 26th in Brighton; what would have been my Dad's 70th birthday. Appropriate and yet entirely co-incidental.
Many of you will be aware that, in 1999, when I was nine, my father died. A recently retired airline pilot with a loving family and plenty of friends, you'd have thought he had everything he wanted. But depression isn't that choosy and, on the 19th April, he took his own life. Everyone I've ever spoken to who knew him said what a brilliant person he was - kind, calm, professional. The sort of person I can only ever hope to be. I miss him every single day and the pain doesn't get any less, you just learn to live with it. But it means that any single thing I can do to stop someone else from going through it all is worthwhile. Mental health isn't as obvious as physical illness but it doesn't make it any less important. People are still somewhat reticent to discuss it too, and that needs to change.
It makes me sad that Tom never got to meet my Dad but, nevertheless, he wants to walk with me. Anyone else who'd like to be part of the team is more than welcome!
A link to, undoubtedly, a Justgiving page will be stuck in here when we've booked our places :-)
Tuesday 11 December 2012
Sunday 16 September 2012
General bits of maintenance...
Poppy needed some general maintenance done a couple of weeks back. Spark plugs were changed with very little effort (although one of Tom's leads split - whole different, rather long story!) and then it was on to a full oil and filter change. These are meant to be done every three months or something but, due to not actually being made of money, I can't really afford to spend £30 on a fresh flush of oil and a new oil filter, plus about another £15 for the spark plugs, quite that often - once a year will suffice as long as she's running well, for now, I think!She had to be put on ramps, which was utterly terrifying to drive her up to, not least due to how low she is. Then it was on to taking the filler cap off, undoing the plug on the sump and letting the oil drain out into a waiting bowl. As you can probably see, I missed somewhat as wasn't expecting the oil to spurt quite that far! The socket required for the sump plug was a surprisingly large one - 19, and it took a bit of doing to get it undone.
Once that was, eventually, completed and the oil was draining out slowly, it was on to getting the oil filter extractor thingy round the oil filter, attaching an extender bar and cracking it off. As I have the smaller hands of Tom and I, that one was my job - once the engine had cooled down a little, it wasn't awful. Admittedly, you can't see anything at all when your hand's underneath the engine trying to twist the oil filter off! Once the extractor was wrapped round and the bar was attached, it took a bit of effort to push against it but the filter cracked off without too much trouble.
Nonetheless, replacing the new filter was easy, just with a little manoeuvring in around the pipes and lines, but it took far less time than getting it out did! The sump plug's washer was replaced and the plug put back in, and tightened to the required level, and, after wiping up and getting rid of the used oil, the oil and filter change was complete!
Apparently, I did it so well that Tom got me to do his a couple of days ago! Just as straightforward although his oil was a damn sight hotter - ouch!
Shift Boot Changes
We bought three sets of shift boots and oil after noticing that the shift boots on Bluey were utterly worn and leaking smoke into the car. Changing Blue's boots took a fair bit of trial and error but made such a difference. When fiddling about with Poppy, I took the gearstick leather cover off and noted that the top boot was pretty worn through; odd, as no smoke had been coming in at all but there we go. See below!
Tom's girl, Lucy, was up for helping me so we got stuck in with the spanners and screwdrivers. Taking the gearstick and boot out was no problem, and the turret was full of oil, reassuringly, but it took a *lot* of pushing and pulling to get the boot off the stick.
Putting the gearstick back together was pretty straightforward though 'lubricating the shaft' was essential in getting the boot back over it to the point it needed to be: the upper requires a lot of manoeuvring to get the ring down low enough. After that, it was just a case of screwing the centre console and other bits back on and twisting the knob back on.
Poppy drives just as beautifully now, although the shift changes did have a little resistance in them for a few days afterwards, and it didn't take more than half an hour in total to do the change of both boots and the oil - I can't recommend the Haynes manual highly enough, as ever!
Tom's girl, Lucy, was up for helping me so we got stuck in with the spanners and screwdrivers. Taking the gearstick and boot out was no problem, and the turret was full of oil, reassuringly, but it took a *lot* of pushing and pulling to get the boot off the stick.
Putting the gearstick back together was pretty straightforward though 'lubricating the shaft' was essential in getting the boot back over it to the point it needed to be: the upper requires a lot of manoeuvring to get the ring down low enough. After that, it was just a case of screwing the centre console and other bits back on and twisting the knob back on.
Poppy drives just as beautifully now, although the shift changes did have a little resistance in them for a few days afterwards, and it didn't take more than half an hour in total to do the change of both boots and the oil - I can't recommend the Haynes manual highly enough, as ever!
Monday 9 July 2012
A rather exciting adventure...
The plan for early morning on Friday 5th July was to get up and drive down to Dover. So that's exactly what we did; a 4am start and a 0445 leaving from home to catch an 0800 ferry to Dunkirk. Poppy and I had never been abroad together so it was pretty exciting! I drove down to Dover, roof down of course, struggling to keep my eyes open after such an early start. Driving onto the ferry was absolutely terrifying as, while my spatial awareness is pretty good, there's still an awful lot that could go wrong, but we parked just behind another '5, albeit a Mk3, and had a chat with the owners which was nice. Then up into the ferry for a cooked breakfast and a cup of tea. Yum!
Tom made me drive off the ferry into Dunkirk; we were off to a supermarket to pick up some provisions for the day's lunch as well as a couple of Artichokes for my mum (they're cheaper in France!). Having never driven on the continent before, I was utterly terrified and had a few 'where am I going?!' moments when lanes seemed to just disappear without warning. Good thing the boyfriend was there as a calming influence! He drove onwards from the supermarket, having deployed a Munzee there, with the intention of visiting Rotterdam. As it happened, traffic was against us, even relatively early on a Friday afternoon, and we spent most of the afternoon in traffic. Some driver swapping was necessary, both because we were getting bored and because Vodafone had buggered up both our phones, so calls needed to be made. That said, we saw some totally random parts of Belgium and the Netherlands, tiny little backroads that we'd never have otherwise come across so it wasn't all bad! The only issue we had was that, with it being hot and the engine essentially idling for so long, we noticed that the engine temperature gauge was reading higher than usual. No overheated engine for my car, thanks! Blowers went on 'hot', pointed at the sky, and we sat like that for about half an hour. Thank goodness we could have the roof off to prevent us heating up too; that's apparently an old Mini owners' trick - can't imagine it's so pleasant then! So, we ended up reaching the hotel in Haarlem about 1900 and checked in. Er, well, tried to; laterooms had made another mistake and not actually bothered to book our room with the hotel. The manager, a lovely woman, rang laterooms up to ask after we'd shown her our booking reference and suchlike and they said they'd sent the email previously. A likely story as two minutes after the phone call, it arrived in her inbox! Hmm, that's the second cock up they've made out of, er, two. There was some saving grace in that the hotel itself was lovely so we got undressed, showered, drank a couple of glasses of 8.5% alc. beer that we'd picked up in Carrefour (cue spinning heads!) and walked down to the hotel restaurant for a super tasty dinner before a walk into Haarlem itself for a beer.
Saturday was spent in Amsterdam; the car didn't move once! As this is primarily a car blog, I'll gloss over most of that day but suffice to say I rather like Amsterdam - there's something about the pace of life there that was really...nice. We found a lovely little bar, technically a Gay Bar but I don't suppose it matters at lunchtime, and sat outside in the sun on upturned flower pots in a quiet, residential area, with a few beers. Bliss!
On the Sunday, after quite a few beers the previous day, we woke at a decent time and, rejecting the possibility of a sauna at the hotel due to its requirement for nudism, grabbed a coffee (Tom's social engineering understanding helped here. Ahem) and got in the car to drive to Arnhem. Tom thought I'd like to see Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery as I've always been interested in World War history. The drive down was pretty miserable; not roof down weather by any means as it was absolutely pissing down. Side lights had to go on to see but not my main lights as I was too precious about my car to stick beam benders on the actual headlights! It was nice that, after only having done it once before, on Friday, I settled into driving on the right quickly, despite the rain. It was somewhat less nice that my car did leak a bit; it got taped up on the passenger side with parcel tape (don't ask why we brought parcel tape...) but I just got wet! There may be some seals that need replacing then...
We drove down to Arnhem, just over an hour from Haarlem, with the Wonderstuff playing in the background, and attempted to follow the signs for the Cemetery. As it happens, we may have got a little lost but only temporarily! Within a few minutes, we were parked up and, matching 'Club Mango' Paramo jackets donned, we got out the car. We read through the list of names and signed the visitors' book and wandered round, taking in the loss around us. One of the saddest things was the few men who'd been seconded from their original unit to another, sometimes a unit of a completely different country - they died with relative strangers around them trying to defend and fight for a foreign country. I guess the Cemetery, being WW2, hit me more than the WW1 ones have ever done in a personal sense - any one of these men could have been my Grandfather and I will admit that I had tears in my eyes walking around. The three decades between the world wars made all the difference for how recent WW2 still feels.
Fifteen minutes or so after we arrived, a man walked up to Tom and started talking to him. I was on the other side of the cemetery so missed their introduction but, when I walked over, he was telling Tom about his experiences and of how his father had buried a pair of young British soldiers and of his own search for their descendants. He took us over to see their graves and introduced himself as Rudy; an engaging Dutch man with some fascinating stories to tell. You can find out a little more about his story *here* . He took us to the Airborne Museum at Arnhem and managed to talk his way into us getting in for free; for showing us the Museum and telling us his stories, Rudy really did prove a highlight of our weekend and I couldn't thank him enough!
We finished our walk around the Museum and drove toward Dunkirk. Tom took the driving this time and we had the lid down the whole way. This did, admittedly, mean that we got soaked at one point! An awful lot of people driving past looked at us like we were completely nuts but an English couple did beep and grin; it clearly amused them that their fellow countrymen were quite so hardy. Or something. Probably more of the 'or something' ...! We had to make an 'emergency' fuel stop as the fuel line was right down but, seeing the prices in the Netherlands, we pressed on to Belgium. Good thing too as the fuel was over 20 cents a litre cheaper than where we'd previously seen it. That and we got 299 miles out of my tank; best ever that we've had. Admittedly, we did have to fill the 35-litre tank up with 37 litres but there we go!
A couple of hours of interview practice on the ferry home (thank you lovely!) and I took over the 3 hour drive from Dover to home. We put the lid down, as it wasn't raining, and, excepting a quick stop for Tom to grab a jumper, it was a clear, quick run home. Of course, the man who doesn't fall asleep in cars fell asleep so I took the opportunity to grab a few photos! He'd been drinking beer with a straw on the first bit of the journey after Dover, including driving through the customs checkpoint, so he maintained it was that and not him that fell asleep! We got home just before midnight and collapsed into bed, curled up together, to a good night's sleep.
What a great weekend. We'll be going back to Amsterdam some time, I hope, or at least another trip to the Continent some time soon. We need to capture the elusive Munzee just offshore from Dover aside from anything else! Thank you to Tom for being wonderful and sharing the driving with me all weekend. <3 you x
[photos to follow]
Tom made me drive off the ferry into Dunkirk; we were off to a supermarket to pick up some provisions for the day's lunch as well as a couple of Artichokes for my mum (they're cheaper in France!). Having never driven on the continent before, I was utterly terrified and had a few 'where am I going?!' moments when lanes seemed to just disappear without warning. Good thing the boyfriend was there as a calming influence! He drove onwards from the supermarket, having deployed a Munzee there, with the intention of visiting Rotterdam. As it happened, traffic was against us, even relatively early on a Friday afternoon, and we spent most of the afternoon in traffic. Some driver swapping was necessary, both because we were getting bored and because Vodafone had buggered up both our phones, so calls needed to be made. That said, we saw some totally random parts of Belgium and the Netherlands, tiny little backroads that we'd never have otherwise come across so it wasn't all bad! The only issue we had was that, with it being hot and the engine essentially idling for so long, we noticed that the engine temperature gauge was reading higher than usual. No overheated engine for my car, thanks! Blowers went on 'hot', pointed at the sky, and we sat like that for about half an hour. Thank goodness we could have the roof off to prevent us heating up too; that's apparently an old Mini owners' trick - can't imagine it's so pleasant then! So, we ended up reaching the hotel in Haarlem about 1900 and checked in. Er, well, tried to; laterooms had made another mistake and not actually bothered to book our room with the hotel. The manager, a lovely woman, rang laterooms up to ask after we'd shown her our booking reference and suchlike and they said they'd sent the email previously. A likely story as two minutes after the phone call, it arrived in her inbox! Hmm, that's the second cock up they've made out of, er, two. There was some saving grace in that the hotel itself was lovely so we got undressed, showered, drank a couple of glasses of 8.5% alc. beer that we'd picked up in Carrefour (cue spinning heads!) and walked down to the hotel restaurant for a super tasty dinner before a walk into Haarlem itself for a beer.
Saturday was spent in Amsterdam; the car didn't move once! As this is primarily a car blog, I'll gloss over most of that day but suffice to say I rather like Amsterdam - there's something about the pace of life there that was really...nice. We found a lovely little bar, technically a Gay Bar but I don't suppose it matters at lunchtime, and sat outside in the sun on upturned flower pots in a quiet, residential area, with a few beers. Bliss!
On the Sunday, after quite a few beers the previous day, we woke at a decent time and, rejecting the possibility of a sauna at the hotel due to its requirement for nudism, grabbed a coffee (Tom's social engineering understanding helped here. Ahem) and got in the car to drive to Arnhem. Tom thought I'd like to see Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery as I've always been interested in World War history. The drive down was pretty miserable; not roof down weather by any means as it was absolutely pissing down. Side lights had to go on to see but not my main lights as I was too precious about my car to stick beam benders on the actual headlights! It was nice that, after only having done it once before, on Friday, I settled into driving on the right quickly, despite the rain. It was somewhat less nice that my car did leak a bit; it got taped up on the passenger side with parcel tape (don't ask why we brought parcel tape...) but I just got wet! There may be some seals that need replacing then...
We drove down to Arnhem, just over an hour from Haarlem, with the Wonderstuff playing in the background, and attempted to follow the signs for the Cemetery. As it happens, we may have got a little lost but only temporarily! Within a few minutes, we were parked up and, matching 'Club Mango' Paramo jackets donned, we got out the car. We read through the list of names and signed the visitors' book and wandered round, taking in the loss around us. One of the saddest things was the few men who'd been seconded from their original unit to another, sometimes a unit of a completely different country - they died with relative strangers around them trying to defend and fight for a foreign country. I guess the Cemetery, being WW2, hit me more than the WW1 ones have ever done in a personal sense - any one of these men could have been my Grandfather and I will admit that I had tears in my eyes walking around. The three decades between the world wars made all the difference for how recent WW2 still feels.
Fifteen minutes or so after we arrived, a man walked up to Tom and started talking to him. I was on the other side of the cemetery so missed their introduction but, when I walked over, he was telling Tom about his experiences and of how his father had buried a pair of young British soldiers and of his own search for their descendants. He took us over to see their graves and introduced himself as Rudy; an engaging Dutch man with some fascinating stories to tell. You can find out a little more about his story *here* . He took us to the Airborne Museum at Arnhem and managed to talk his way into us getting in for free; for showing us the Museum and telling us his stories, Rudy really did prove a highlight of our weekend and I couldn't thank him enough!
We finished our walk around the Museum and drove toward Dunkirk. Tom took the driving this time and we had the lid down the whole way. This did, admittedly, mean that we got soaked at one point! An awful lot of people driving past looked at us like we were completely nuts but an English couple did beep and grin; it clearly amused them that their fellow countrymen were quite so hardy. Or something. Probably more of the 'or something' ...! We had to make an 'emergency' fuel stop as the fuel line was right down but, seeing the prices in the Netherlands, we pressed on to Belgium. Good thing too as the fuel was over 20 cents a litre cheaper than where we'd previously seen it. That and we got 299 miles out of my tank; best ever that we've had. Admittedly, we did have to fill the 35-litre tank up with 37 litres but there we go!
A couple of hours of interview practice on the ferry home (thank you lovely!) and I took over the 3 hour drive from Dover to home. We put the lid down, as it wasn't raining, and, excepting a quick stop for Tom to grab a jumper, it was a clear, quick run home. Of course, the man who doesn't fall asleep in cars fell asleep so I took the opportunity to grab a few photos! He'd been drinking beer with a straw on the first bit of the journey after Dover, including driving through the customs checkpoint, so he maintained it was that and not him that fell asleep! We got home just before midnight and collapsed into bed, curled up together, to a good night's sleep.
What a great weekend. We'll be going back to Amsterdam some time, I hope, or at least another trip to the Continent some time soon. We need to capture the elusive Munzee just offshore from Dover aside from anything else! Thank you to Tom for being wonderful and sharing the driving with me all weekend. <3 you x
[photos to follow]
Saturday 26 May 2012
Fitting the CB
* With thanks to my wonderful boyfriend, Tom, for doing most of the work here while I made dinner! *
Just we did like in Scarlett, we decided to fit a CB radio into Poppy. It was fairly easy with Scarlett so we thought it'd be just the same this time 'round. How wrong we were...
Unlike in the Mk2, the MK1 radio mount is fiddly and in an extra hole in the boot so, while swapping the aerials round wasn't too bad (just watch your paintwork!), screwing the aerial cable on to the base of the aerial was a bloody nightmare. In the end, my little fingers came in handy in doing this bit but it still took us a good 15 minutes!
That done, we attempted to remove the radio/clock cubby and radio to have a look behind and swap in the CB etc. Sounds simple, right? Yeah...or not. Firstly, whoever had the car previously and fitted the remote locking had glued the clock cubby back in and that was, frankly, just a state. Secondly, as photos to be uploaded soon will show, we got the clock out and...wow. Well, I've never seen wires THAT messy. Tom was pretty worried about the safety, too. There was a ridiculously long, curled up, cable in the space too - I'd found a disconnected end of a cable in the boot that didn't seem to go anywhere after my MOT anyhow and we'd not been able to work out what it did. It did, it seems, nothing as it connected to the metre of cabling behind the radio that ended in yet another unconnected connecter. Er, what? Tom reckons it was once a CD changer but was now a complete waste of good space. Took the wire cutters to it, anyhow, and successfully removed 2 metres of utterly pointless cable. Weight and space saving too!
The black box confused us for a while - transpires that's the immobiliser. For anyone wondering, it seems that disconnecting the immobiliser from its cabling to fiddle around behind the radio is perfectly safe and the car will still start after! Nonetheless, with that in the way, the CB was never going to go in so I left Tom trying to move all that to the back in the spaces while I got on with dinner.
A little later, when I wandered outside to check, it transpired that the radio was pretty much jammed in, too, so we spent 10 minutes or so fiddling around with screwdrivers trying to press down the metal spokes on the side to get that out - eventual success (though putting it back in later was as much of a hassle again!). It also transpired, with all these bits out and the wiring tidied a little (Tom wants to put some real work into that but last night wasn't the time and we didn't have all the equipment we needed), that my CB has the aerial cable coming straight out of the middle. This is fine. Except that my car has a metal brace straight down the middle of the radio slot - that's going to need a bloody big hole drilled in it! CB doesn't quite fill up the hole either, although, admittedly, neither did the clock cubby: I suspect that this was why it had been glued in.
Not to worry - we still need to order a new Mic for mine as we only had one lying around the house. Possibly with a couple of adjustable/angled aerial mounts - both on the MX-5s are off at a slightly jaunty angle! So...lots to do, but we're getting there :-) Having a CB in the car should be a laugh, especially as Tom and I are planning a cross-Europe road trip in September with both cars and a couple of friends. Fun fun!
Just we did like in Scarlett, we decided to fit a CB radio into Poppy. It was fairly easy with Scarlett so we thought it'd be just the same this time 'round. How wrong we were...
Unlike in the Mk2, the MK1 radio mount is fiddly and in an extra hole in the boot so, while swapping the aerials round wasn't too bad (just watch your paintwork!), screwing the aerial cable on to the base of the aerial was a bloody nightmare. In the end, my little fingers came in handy in doing this bit but it still took us a good 15 minutes!
That done, we attempted to remove the radio/clock cubby and radio to have a look behind and swap in the CB etc. Sounds simple, right? Yeah...or not. Firstly, whoever had the car previously and fitted the remote locking had glued the clock cubby back in and that was, frankly, just a state. Secondly, as photos to be uploaded soon will show, we got the clock out and...wow. Well, I've never seen wires THAT messy. Tom was pretty worried about the safety, too. There was a ridiculously long, curled up, cable in the space too - I'd found a disconnected end of a cable in the boot that didn't seem to go anywhere after my MOT anyhow and we'd not been able to work out what it did. It did, it seems, nothing as it connected to the metre of cabling behind the radio that ended in yet another unconnected connecter. Er, what? Tom reckons it was once a CD changer but was now a complete waste of good space. Took the wire cutters to it, anyhow, and successfully removed 2 metres of utterly pointless cable. Weight and space saving too!
The black box confused us for a while - transpires that's the immobiliser. For anyone wondering, it seems that disconnecting the immobiliser from its cabling to fiddle around behind the radio is perfectly safe and the car will still start after! Nonetheless, with that in the way, the CB was never going to go in so I left Tom trying to move all that to the back in the spaces while I got on with dinner.
A little later, when I wandered outside to check, it transpired that the radio was pretty much jammed in, too, so we spent 10 minutes or so fiddling around with screwdrivers trying to press down the metal spokes on the side to get that out - eventual success (though putting it back in later was as much of a hassle again!). It also transpired, with all these bits out and the wiring tidied a little (Tom wants to put some real work into that but last night wasn't the time and we didn't have all the equipment we needed), that my CB has the aerial cable coming straight out of the middle. This is fine. Except that my car has a metal brace straight down the middle of the radio slot - that's going to need a bloody big hole drilled in it! CB doesn't quite fill up the hole either, although, admittedly, neither did the clock cubby: I suspect that this was why it had been glued in.
Not to worry - we still need to order a new Mic for mine as we only had one lying around the house. Possibly with a couple of adjustable/angled aerial mounts - both on the MX-5s are off at a slightly jaunty angle! So...lots to do, but we're getting there :-) Having a CB in the car should be a laugh, especially as Tom and I are planning a cross-Europe road trip in September with both cars and a couple of friends. Fun fun!
Monday 21 May 2012
Powered by Badgers...
So, Poppy is now powered by Badgers. As it happens, Tom doesn't believe in Badgers (whole different story...) so, when I saw Badger stickers at Hippy Motors, I just had to get some for my car!
Apparently, her name is Andrea the Rocket Badger. She's rather loud. My car is not.
I may have also found a cute spider (his name is Boris)...
Apparently, her name is Andrea the Rocket Badger. She's rather loud. My car is not.
I may have also found a cute spider (his name is Boris)...
Wednesday 9 May 2012
Fixed!
After last week, when I wrote about Poppy's MOT fail, it became pretty clear that she needed some work on her. Admittedly, this was mostly because the MOT tester told me so...but nonetheless it made me realise that I hadn't been giving her enough love of late. I said before that I have two loves in my life - Tom and Poppy. Of late, only one has had the attention they deserve! That won't change but we will both be spending some more time with my car, I think.
So, she got her coil springs, shock boot and track rod end boots done last week, plus MOT retest, for a total of £345. Not as cheap as I'd hoped but there we go. Needs must. Tom wasn't up for doing the coil springs and I have no idea where to start (we will learn for Bluey's sake but I needed my car back asap!) so bit the bullet and paid a very friendly mechanic in Newbury, Carl Day, to do it all for me. £345 all in could have been a hell of a lot worse. After all, he doesn't make enough to charge VAT, which brought the price down! It was all done at Dallas Autos in Newbury.
So, on Friday evening, I heard that she was all done and MOT'd, and we picked her up on Saturday morning. She's sitting a lot better now and is a much happier car. I was just happy to have her back after 5 days of not driving!
By the by, Tom brought me a "stress ball" style ninja back from InfoSec last week. Frickin' awesome! *sneaks in a ninja-y way*
(I suck at sneaking. Seriously)
So, she got her coil springs, shock boot and track rod end boots done last week, plus MOT retest, for a total of £345. Not as cheap as I'd hoped but there we go. Needs must. Tom wasn't up for doing the coil springs and I have no idea where to start (we will learn for Bluey's sake but I needed my car back asap!) so bit the bullet and paid a very friendly mechanic in Newbury, Carl Day, to do it all for me. £345 all in could have been a hell of a lot worse. After all, he doesn't make enough to charge VAT, which brought the price down! It was all done at Dallas Autos in Newbury.
So, on Friday evening, I heard that she was all done and MOT'd, and we picked her up on Saturday morning. She's sitting a lot better now and is a much happier car. I was just happy to have her back after 5 days of not driving!
By the by, Tom brought me a "stress ball" style ninja back from InfoSec last week. Frickin' awesome! *sneaks in a ninja-y way*
(I suck at sneaking. Seriously)
Wednesday 2 May 2012
It was all going so well...
So, yesterday, Poppy went in for her MOT. I wasn't massively hopeful as she does have a crack in her windscreen (oh, ok, two!) but I wasn't expecting how badly she was going to fail.
It transpires that she has a cracked rear coil spring, so really needs both of those doing, as well as the boots on both track rod ends and the o/s front upper suspension boot being dead. Not ideal and three fails on the MOT, not including a whole host of corrosion-related advisories (hey, she's 23 yrs old, what can you expect?). So she's going in to be fixed by a nice local mechanic on Friday (MOT runs out tomorrow) before a retest. Poor little lamb!
Poppy's curious structural integrity aside, it's a bit of a blow to the bank balance - £345 in total inc. parts and labour, which is a damn sight better than the £700 quoted by another mechanic, but nonetheless not ideal. Oh well, at least that'll be coil springs and boots done for a few years I suppose :-)
It transpires that she has a cracked rear coil spring, so really needs both of those doing, as well as the boots on both track rod ends and the o/s front upper suspension boot being dead. Not ideal and three fails on the MOT, not including a whole host of corrosion-related advisories (hey, she's 23 yrs old, what can you expect?). So she's going in to be fixed by a nice local mechanic on Friday (MOT runs out tomorrow) before a retest. Poor little lamb!
Poppy's curious structural integrity aside, it's a bit of a blow to the bank balance - £345 in total inc. parts and labour, which is a damn sight better than the £700 quoted by another mechanic, but nonetheless not ideal. Oh well, at least that'll be coil springs and boots done for a few years I suppose :-)
Wednesday 25 April 2012
Poppy isn't noisy, honest...
Just a quick one for today but I had to document today's entertainment.
I was in town this morning for an interview (of sorts) and, on returning to the car in a rather large, busy car park, I started my engine. Suddenly, I heard one hell of a wailing and just could not work out what was going on. Then it clicked. The car parked next to me had its alarm going off. Why? Because the physical *noise* of Poppy's engine starting was enough to make it think someone was breaking in. Oh good god! I giggled and drove off before anyone could accuse me of trying to break into it or anything.
I guess I can't deny that my car is a LITTLE bit loud, now... :-)
I was in town this morning for an interview (of sorts) and, on returning to the car in a rather large, busy car park, I started my engine. Suddenly, I heard one hell of a wailing and just could not work out what was going on. Then it clicked. The car parked next to me had its alarm going off. Why? Because the physical *noise* of Poppy's engine starting was enough to make it think someone was breaking in. Oh good god! I giggled and drove off before anyone could accuse me of trying to break into it or anything.
I guess I can't deny that my car is a LITTLE bit loud, now... :-)
Wednesday 18 April 2012
Continental adventures
Last weekend, the lovely Tom and I took his little '5, Scarlett, to Europe. We were considering taking Poppy but I'm such an utter wimp when it comes to driving abroad (well, never done it...) so, er, yes. Probably should have done, in hindsight, as Tom had to do all the driving. We could have shared it in Poppy at least! Oh well, next time for sure.
Anyway, we got the ferry to Calais, stayed there on the Friday night, drove to Breendonk (concentration camp) and then, via the Netherlands for a quick geocache, on to Bruges for Saturday/Sunday. It was utterly wonderful - we got to see some beautiful parts of the world, picked up some cool bits and bobs, got caches in three countries and just generally had lots of fun. Tom had a great time too :-)
As it transpires, MX-5 boots make brilliant tables for on-the-go French bread & cheese lunches. Yum!
Anyway, we got the ferry to Calais, stayed there on the Friday night, drove to Breendonk (concentration camp) and then, via the Netherlands for a quick geocache, on to Bruges for Saturday/Sunday. It was utterly wonderful - we got to see some beautiful parts of the world, picked up some cool bits and bobs, got caches in three countries and just generally had lots of fun. Tom had a great time too :-)
As it transpires, MX-5 boots make brilliant tables for on-the-go French bread & cheese lunches. Yum!
Monday 2 April 2012
A very productive Sunday
Yesterday, the 1st of April, we woke up not quite as early as planned (I think I only got up just after 10 - oops!) to a sunny, chilly day. Perfect for some lid-down working on Bluey, the new race car ( ), which we did. And very successfully too!
Now, on stripping Bluey's doors down - taking the handles and door cards off, in order to put some silicone grease down into the runners to get the electric windows to stop squeaking, I suddenly realised that Poppy had a similar issue. So, once the doors were duly rebuilt as was, albeit with the addition of lots of grease, I went over to poppy to do exactly the same thing.
If you need to do the same, due to squeaky or slow windows, you'll need: a flat headed screwdriver, a Phillips screwdriver and some silicone grease. Firstly, remove the little cap at the end of the armrest handle and unscrew the screw inside. Unscrew the two below the handle and remove the whole armrest and handle. Don't lose the screws! Remove the screw that's just by the latch, pull up the handle as if to open the door and slip the back part of it off. Prise off the speaker cover and set aside. You'll then need the flat headed screwdriver in order to slip round the edge of the door card and pop out the little poppers that attach it to the door. Be careful not to break them. Once these are off, the door card can be removed by lifting it off the top lip of the door and setting it aside.
Wind the window down. Spray silicone grease down the inside of the runners (use lots) and down the edge of the window seal. Wind the window up and then down again and repeat. Now wind it up and down a couple more times to make sure it's running smoothly. If not, add more grease to the runners and the wheel in between them. Once complete, replace the door card and handles etc.
Easy peasy :-) and good fun too. Car maintenance has been more than I'd hoped for so far!
Thursday 22 March 2012
STOP PRESS! I've made a monumental discovery...
My car has central locking!
Now, admittedly, this shouldn't have been a discovery. I should have, y'know, noted the central locking controls on my keys and used the damn things. But I tried it for the first and only time, until today, on the day I bought her and it didn't work. Admittedly, that day, neither did the normal locking as the lock barrels had frozen so I've no idea why I expected the central locking to work...but I figured it just didn't and got on with life, enjoying the fact that, although my car "didn't have central locking," the little buttons made the lights flash. This amused me intensely. Today, when removing my PG Tips monkey's "tongue piercing" (a dressmaking pin) in order to check the drainage holes of the blue one when we were stripping her out (which, if you're interested, went very well - no more carpet!), I was playing around with the buttons, pressed one, forgot about it, then tried the door. It opened. Imagine my confusion. So I stepped back, shut the door and pressed the other one. Now the door wouldn't open.
Cue yelps of "my car has central locking!" to Tom and blushing when he asked why I'd not figured this one out before. For someone who's pretty damn intelligent, I can be incredibly stupid at times!
Oh, and just as an update to my original wishlist:
Now, admittedly, this shouldn't have been a discovery. I should have, y'know, noted the central locking controls on my keys and used the damn things. But I tried it for the first and only time, until today, on the day I bought her and it didn't work. Admittedly, that day, neither did the normal locking as the lock barrels had frozen so I've no idea why I expected the central locking to work...but I figured it just didn't and got on with life, enjoying the fact that, although my car "didn't have central locking," the little buttons made the lights flash. This amused me intensely. Today, when removing my PG Tips monkey's "tongue piercing" (a dressmaking pin) in order to check the drainage holes of the blue one when we were stripping her out (which, if you're interested, went very well - no more carpet!), I was playing around with the buttons, pressed one, forgot about it, then tried the door. It opened. Imagine my confusion. So I stepped back, shut the door and pressed the other one. Now the door wouldn't open.
Cue yelps of "my car has central locking!" to Tom and blushing when he asked why I'd not figured this one out before. For someone who's pretty damn intelligent, I can be incredibly stupid at times!
Oh, and just as an update to my original wishlist:
- Headlights have been adjusted, though the right one isn't quite right just yet - think the adjusting screw has been cross-threaded somewhat, so that needs to come out and back in again.
- Wheels have, as noted, been changed.
- Fuel economy is fab on long journeys, as it transpires. As good as, if not better than, my old Astra.
- Mats have cleaned up beautifully. Just need some carpet tape to stop the driver's side one from migrating forwards.
- Central locking has been fitted! Ahem. Ish.
Tuesday 20 March 2012
Some actual work...
Our new car, the racer (currently nicknamed Iris - she needs a punchy Japanese race name - see http://bluemx5.blogspot.co.uk/ ), had beautiful white powder-coated wheels when we got it.
So Tom and I decided it might be cool to swap the wheels out with mine so Poppy could have pretty wheels instead of the scratched up alloys she had beforehand. And that's precisely what we did on Sunday morning. Good thing too; the tyres on the blue one were much better than mine and it gave us a chance to look at the mechanics etc. on both of them...and they do need a little doing to 'em that we hadn't realised.
I'd only changed a tyre once before Sunday and that was a 'practice' so Tom had to remind me what I was doing. From there? Full steam ahead! I couldn't crack one of the wheel nuts as it was just too tight but, that aside, it was good fun :-) Poppy ended up with four very pretty white wheels and we did consider swapping the aerials as Poppy's is an original, somewhat akin to a coathanger, which is pretty awful and Iris's is a stubby one (useful considering she doesn't have a radio, huh?), but it was getting late and we had to head over to Tom's Mum's as it was, admittedly, Mother's day.
Anyway, getting stuck in and doing my own work was great fun and I'm definitely up for doing lots more. Good thing too, really, especially on Iris. It is *our* little racing car! Tom said he was proud of me for doing it, too, but I don't see the point of being one of those girls who sits back and lets their boyfriend do all the work before taking half the credit for it. Er, no, it's good fun and teaches you things. Of course, I fly planes so I suppose I'm hardly typical but nonetheless...
So what to take from this post? Get out and give your own maintenance a go :-)
So Tom and I decided it might be cool to swap the wheels out with mine so Poppy could have pretty wheels instead of the scratched up alloys she had beforehand. And that's precisely what we did on Sunday morning. Good thing too; the tyres on the blue one were much better than mine and it gave us a chance to look at the mechanics etc. on both of them...and they do need a little doing to 'em that we hadn't realised.
I'd only changed a tyre once before Sunday and that was a 'practice' so Tom had to remind me what I was doing. From there? Full steam ahead! I couldn't crack one of the wheel nuts as it was just too tight but, that aside, it was good fun :-) Poppy ended up with four very pretty white wheels and we did consider swapping the aerials as Poppy's is an original, somewhat akin to a coathanger, which is pretty awful and Iris's is a stubby one (useful considering she doesn't have a radio, huh?), but it was getting late and we had to head over to Tom's Mum's as it was, admittedly, Mother's day.
Anyway, getting stuck in and doing my own work was great fun and I'm definitely up for doing lots more. Good thing too, really, especially on Iris. It is *our* little racing car! Tom said he was proud of me for doing it, too, but I don't see the point of being one of those girls who sits back and lets their boyfriend do all the work before taking half the credit for it. Er, no, it's good fun and teaches you things. Of course, I fly planes so I suppose I'm hardly typical but nonetheless...
So what to take from this post? Get out and give your own maintenance a go :-)
Tuesday 13 March 2012
Getting a friend...
Poppy now has another friend!
We already had Scarlett, the red '00 Mk2.5 MX-5 (Tom's) and Gladys, the red '94 Peugeot (Tom's) and, technically, Little Em, Tom's '73 Mini...although she's not starting, so doesn't really count, and we'd been idly discussing a track car. Had we got the Mini started last year, that would have been our track car but, as we didn't...
He may have slightly bought a very cheap Blue Mk1 MX-5 on eBay.
Ahem.
She was picked up last night from Milton Keynes, which was fortuitous as I'd been in MK with work anyhow, and ferried home (via the chinese for his birthday dinner!) and, except the incredible amounts of oil burning due to a leak, she seemed ok. She's pretty solid and very pretty. Lovely white alloys, too, which will be being swapped for my scratched original 'daisies' - after all, she is a track car. Track days only for now but maybe a racer in future! Needs some work on the body to avoid any more rust and remove some badly done filler, as well as sorting that oil leak, but she's our project car. Just need to think of a name now!
Pictures to follow :-)
We already had Scarlett, the red '00 Mk2.5 MX-5 (Tom's) and Gladys, the red '94 Peugeot (Tom's) and, technically, Little Em, Tom's '73 Mini...although she's not starting, so doesn't really count, and we'd been idly discussing a track car. Had we got the Mini started last year, that would have been our track car but, as we didn't...
He may have slightly bought a very cheap Blue Mk1 MX-5 on eBay.
Ahem.
She was picked up last night from Milton Keynes, which was fortuitous as I'd been in MK with work anyhow, and ferried home (via the chinese for his birthday dinner!) and, except the incredible amounts of oil burning due to a leak, she seemed ok. She's pretty solid and very pretty. Lovely white alloys, too, which will be being swapped for my scratched original 'daisies' - after all, she is a track car. Track days only for now but maybe a racer in future! Needs some work on the body to avoid any more rust and remove some badly done filler, as well as sorting that oil leak, but she's our project car. Just need to think of a name now!
Pictures to follow :-)
Thursday 1 March 2012
Getting things straight...
Poppy's needed so many minor adjustments over the three weeks I've had her and she's come on a big adventure with me too. It's been great fun. More of that later...
When I got her, the boot was very wet - apparently, that's a common issue with MX-5s as drainage isn't fab but my god it needed some serious drying out. So everything got turfed out and dried; Tom is suggesting Hammerite to sort out the incipient rust in the boot soon, too, so that'll be a plan for the next few months. Everything was duly replaced and I headed off to RAF Cranwell for my Officer's Initial Course for a week (there was a Mk3 in the car park at Daedalus Mess too...never did find out whose it was) - epic adventure for my little car.
On my return, Tom gave me a present - well, two, actually. First was a metal 'Roadster' emblazoned tax disc holder. It looks much nicer than the plastic MX-5 OC one that the previous owner had left, and ripped, in the windscreen. Second? A geocaching Travel Bug which has been stuck on my fuel cap for geocachers to 'discover' when they see my car. Not sure what this geocaching thing is? Have a look here: www.geocaching.com
There are now only three pressing things to be done to my car over the next few days/week:
When I got her, the boot was very wet - apparently, that's a common issue with MX-5s as drainage isn't fab but my god it needed some serious drying out. So everything got turfed out and dried; Tom is suggesting Hammerite to sort out the incipient rust in the boot soon, too, so that'll be a plan for the next few months. Everything was duly replaced and I headed off to RAF Cranwell for my Officer's Initial Course for a week (there was a Mk3 in the car park at Daedalus Mess too...never did find out whose it was) - epic adventure for my little car.
On my return, Tom gave me a present - well, two, actually. First was a metal 'Roadster' emblazoned tax disc holder. It looks much nicer than the plastic MX-5 OC one that the previous owner had left, and ripped, in the windscreen. Second? A geocaching Travel Bug which has been stuck on my fuel cap for geocachers to 'discover' when they see my car. Not sure what this geocaching thing is? Have a look here: www.geocaching.com
There are now only three pressing things to be done to my car over the next few days/week:
- Wash her! She's currently filthy after the drive to/from Cranwell.
- Adjust the headlights as they're lighting up most of West Berkshire on full beam but, well, not an awful lot of the road.
- Put some more air in the tyres.
Got an MX-5 Nutz meeting next week, too, so she needs to be shiny for that so everyone can admire her to their heart's content :-)
I definitely have two loves in my life: Tom and Poppy!
Wednesday 15 February 2012
Poppy's Interior
I went outside today to take some photos of Poppy's interior as is:
My PG Tips monkey lives in the ashtray...'cause, y'know, why not? Either way, the interior is tidy.
Headrest speakers, a roll bar and wind break too.
MOMO steering wheel
Pretty standard centre console, although the bluetooth radio is pretty good.
Chrome trim looks good but am considering different coloured dials and red needles. Hmm.
Not strictly the interior but I absolutely love this little touch.
So that's how Poppy currently looks; this will be updated as and when I modify her - give something of a datum off which to work, anyhow. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!
So that's how Poppy currently looks; this will be updated as and when I modify her - give something of a datum off which to work, anyhow. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!
Friday 10 February 2012
Snow!
So, lets be honest here, I'm a wimp when it comes to driving.
I categorically hated taking the Astra out in the snow (this may have been something to do with once skidding and driving straight into a bank...a bank of earth, that is, not a money lending facility) and that wasn't a rear wheel drive. The MX-5 grips much betters on the roads as a general rule, although that'd arguably not be all that difficult, but is apparently a right nightmare to drive in the ice and snow. Of course, me being me, I heard these rumours and, at the first sign of any snow, panicked.
That said, we went out and got some pics of Poppy looking very chilly - I drew a heart on her boot, mostly for entertainment's sake, but it has come out very well!
Today has dawned a beautiful, crisp, sunny day with a couple of inches of snow here. So I hope everyone has fun driving today. But be safe!
Wednesday 8 February 2012
Poppy's first long run
Well, yesterday, I took Poppy from Reading up to Banbury for work. I was secretly dreading the drive up as I thought her fuel economy would be sod all but, actually, she did very well and we got 260km out of half a tank. As it only took me 25 litres to fill her up from "almost empty", suggesting that her gauge is screwed, that's damn good really. Anyway, she drove like a dream, purring happily up the A34.
I took her to Abingdon today, with work again, and thoroughly enjoyed the drive. Admittedly, it was soured somewhat by the exceptional road rage incident I encountered while passing a lorry up a hill, again on the A34 - I'm not entirely sure where the bloke behind me expected me to go when he spent a few hundred metres tailgating me and beeping his horn. Idiot. She was, however, suitably admired at the Abingdon office - glad my colleagues have taste ;-)
I forgot, too - I need to change the horn for a less pathetic one (the current is definitely not in keeping with the rest of the car's image) and I'd like to get a more practical ashtray replacement. All the current one is good for is my PG tips monkey living in it.
Anyone want to buy a Mk1 ashtray?!
I took her to Abingdon today, with work again, and thoroughly enjoyed the drive. Admittedly, it was soured somewhat by the exceptional road rage incident I encountered while passing a lorry up a hill, again on the A34 - I'm not entirely sure where the bloke behind me expected me to go when he spent a few hundred metres tailgating me and beeping his horn. Idiot. She was, however, suitably admired at the Abingdon office - glad my colleagues have taste ;-)
I forgot, too - I need to change the horn for a less pathetic one (the current is definitely not in keeping with the rest of the car's image) and I'd like to get a more practical ashtray replacement. All the current one is good for is my PG tips monkey living in it.
Anyone want to buy a Mk1 ashtray?!
Monday 6 February 2012
Welcome!
Welcome, welcome, one and all. Come in, make yourselves at home while I put the kettle on...
This is my blog about my beautiful new 1989 MX-5 Mk1, Poppy, and the journey she's (hopefully!) going to go through over the next few years in my mission to make her as perfect as she can be. Quite frankly, she's not far off as yet but I think we can improve her a little.
I bought Poppy last week for, frankly, very little. She'd been acquired by a 19 year old as his second car (*ahem*) and he realised that he couldn't afford the insurance as it was worth twice what she was. I had no intentions of buying an MX-5 to replace my faithful, but rather tired, little Astra but the boyfriend convinced me to go and see her. He bought his MX-5, Scarlett, to replace his Peugeot at the very beginning of January and absolutely fell in love with her - he thought I might like one too.
Well, having seen her at her previous home and had a look around, I was smitten. Didn't drive her that day, as I wasn't sure about driving a car so utterly different to anything I'd ever driven, but the boyfriend had a quick drive. Well, that was it - she drove wonderfully, apparently, and I decided to buy her there and then. Yes, without ever having driven her.
The following day, we went down and picked her up - I drove her home, via a pub for some dinner, and she really was wonderful. Took a bit of getting used to, considering I'd only been driving an Astra for the previous 2 1/2 years, but I did fall for her well and truly.
Poppy has a twin exhaust and beautiful chrome blower trims, as well as an awful lot of the cute additions that came with her actually being an Eunos import, such as the 'Roadster' emblazoned passenger mat, and a pretty good bluetooth radio. However, my wish list for the next few months:
This is my blog about my beautiful new 1989 MX-5 Mk1, Poppy, and the journey she's (hopefully!) going to go through over the next few years in my mission to make her as perfect as she can be. Quite frankly, she's not far off as yet but I think we can improve her a little.
I bought Poppy last week for, frankly, very little. She'd been acquired by a 19 year old as his second car (*ahem*) and he realised that he couldn't afford the insurance as it was worth twice what she was. I had no intentions of buying an MX-5 to replace my faithful, but rather tired, little Astra but the boyfriend convinced me to go and see her. He bought his MX-5, Scarlett, to replace his Peugeot at the very beginning of January and absolutely fell in love with her - he thought I might like one too.
Well, having seen her at her previous home and had a look around, I was smitten. Didn't drive her that day, as I wasn't sure about driving a car so utterly different to anything I'd ever driven, but the boyfriend had a quick drive. Well, that was it - she drove wonderfully, apparently, and I decided to buy her there and then. Yes, without ever having driven her.
The following day, we went down and picked her up - I drove her home, via a pub for some dinner, and she really was wonderful. Took a bit of getting used to, considering I'd only been driving an Astra for the previous 2 1/2 years, but I did fall for her well and truly.
Poppy has a twin exhaust and beautiful chrome blower trims, as well as an awful lot of the cute additions that came with her actually being an Eunos import, such as the 'Roadster' emblazoned passenger mat, and a pretty good bluetooth radio. However, my wish list for the next few months:
- New black mohair hood with a glass screen (my vinyl/PVC one is in pretty good nick, albeit with a few minor tears, but I'm not loving the PVC rear window).
- New dials - possibly white with red needles.
- New mats.
- Digital clock, or at least an analogue upgrade.
- Fit central locking (we have the bits, it just needs installed).
- Possibly improve the fuel economy. Somehow. Bless her, she does seem quite thirsty.
Oh, and I've spares to sell so if anyone needs a tonneau cover or, in a few months, a good condition, albeit not perfect, cheap hood, do let me know!
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