Today I mostly .....

[Zelandeth]

Only actual car related job I was determined to get done today was to make it so that I could actually see out of both the Caddy and Renault. The Caddy had developed a horrible greasy film on the inside of the screen which I was reminded of every time I was driving into the sun.

The Renault screen was just absolutely filthy inside and out. Plus had these marks left from stickers etc in the past.





That one on the driver's side was an absolute swine to remove because of how close to the base of the screen it was.

Also removed what was left of the old dealer sticker as it was just crumbling away to nothing.



Then gave the car a really quick hoover to get rid of the bits of sticker than ended up everywhere and gave the dash a *really* quick wipe down.



I'll need to get the sticky stuff remover involved to try to get the tape residue off the dash above the glove box.

The only bit I put any real effort into cleaning besides the glass was the instrument panel as it was annoying me how cloudy the plastic looked.



The first of my replacement parts arrived today which allowed me to deal with this.



The driver's side switch had lost both of its retaining lugs so wouldn't clip in place. It also periodically fell to bits.



Much better.



Small change in the grand scheme of things, but satisfying none the less.

The throttle cable as I suspected was seriously slack so was adjusted. You can see where the clip used to be.



You can see where the clip used to be - that has removed about 2" of free play at the pedal, so I definitely wouldn't have had even close to full throttle available before. Curious to see if there's any difference noticeable when driving next time I have the car out.

[Zelandeth]

Too cold to really do too much today, but given it wasn't actively raining or windy I did venture out for an hour or so until I started to run out of feeling in my finger tips.

First up as it hadn't been started in a little while was to get the Cavalier started up and run it fully up to temperature. Was pleased to see that it started right up without any drama despite the temperatures being well below zero.

Rear window demister isn't doing too badly either...I've had cars less than half this age where half the elements don't work. Only having two out is a pretty good show I reckon.



It wasn't as though you could tell that the temperature was basically hovering right on dew point all day today or anything...



It was left running long enough to get it fully up to temperature, fully demist everything and to get some decent heat into the interior. Never going to do as well as you would actually out driving with the engine under load, but better than just leaving it sitting all winter untouched I think.

The battery in the Renault has always sounded a little low so I stuck it on the charger for a few hours. There's a whole bunch of free space in this engine bay which makes finding somewhere to wedge the charger and/or extension lead far less of a pain.



Was showing as full within a few minutes, so either the battery isn't at it's best (given how little the car has been used that wouldn't surprise me - and being a Halfords cheapie), the connection to the starter could be a bit better - though 80s Renault starter motors have always tended to sound like they're struggling to some extent in my experience. I'll check the obvious candidates though just to be safe.

A package arrived which contains a set of lower ball joints, drop links and anti roll bar bushes.



Hopefully some combination of these things will deal with the knocking the current suspension is doing. I'll be chucking the car at a garage for that though, sod crawling around doing stuff like that at this time of year.

My usual solution to sticky residue left by tape and such is usually WD40. However the marks on the dash here really don't want to move.



Though granted, I may have more luck if I were to attempt this again when it's not -2C outside...

I've had a message back from a friend who does bodywork repairs professionally and they are happy to have a look at the 25 at some point over the next couple of months with a view to sorting the couple of bits of rust I've found. The instruction they'll be given here unless there are any *seriously* major show stoppers will basically be "If it needs or is going to need sorting in the next ten years, sort it." They're hopefully going to be able to offer some ideas on how we can best approach sorting the paintwork out too, though that's always going to be a major balancing act. What it really *wants* is a full strip back and respray - but can I really justify chucking probably the best part of three grand at sorting the paint on a car that's worth what, two grand on a really good day? Either way - once the welding work has all been done, one of the first things that will be happening is that it will be getting sent to a professional outfit to be rust proofed. Yes that will mean another sizable bill, but the peace of mind will be worth it I think. This is always going to be a car where if you start trying to make the numbers make sense you'd run away screaming I reckon - which is probably WHY they're basically extinct...They're just never going to be worth anywhere near the same in monetary terms as a Citroen CX, BMW 7-series, a big Volvo or a decently specified Saab 9000 from the same era. However this one has landed on the driveway of someone who doesn't really care about the numbers - and while I can't afford to have *everything* done in one hit, I'm not just going to say no to improvement work "because it's not worth it."

[rid54]

Well, most people seem to do mostly nothing, most days, nowadays...

We took the Niva (as usual) for a "shopping round", obtaining firewood, food and drink, these things being instrumental to survival in a cottage, in the winter, in Sweden. We've had the car for 11 years and it has proven fairly "unexciting" to date, doing what it is supposed to do without much protesting. And, of course, it has proved itself capable of doing things noone would expect any other "normal" car to be up to, when it comes to negotiating tricky surfaces and adverse conditions generally. It is beautifully unobtrusive and surprisingly comptetent, and it doesn't kill your economy.

On another tack, I spent a portion of the (few) daylit hours arranging an experimental HF antenna, using an 8 m pole and two old apple trees in the garden. Seems to work OK, caught a number of UK amateurs chatting away on the 40 m band, among all the russians, poles and italians who seem to be very active presently. Next step is to set up the system so the transmitter can deliver its output into a suitable load. "Impedance matching", it's called, just like stereophiles of old had to match their 4 Ohm speakers to their high-end amplifier. Too much mismatch and too much power and the smoke will leak out of the system...

So, not contributing much to the improvement of the world, but not causing too much damage, I hope.

[rid54]

... shoveled snow. We've had some 40 cm in the last 24 hours, and with the accompanying wind, chaos has ensued, of course. Public transportation has broken down and too many drivers today set their hope to ESP and ABS and whatever fancy systems their car has, and forget that driving actually requires some skill, more so in winter conditions. The Niva, of course, shines under these circumstances, but you still have to look out for your fellow clods on the road.

The other car in the family, a Škoda Fabia, is hospitalized due to problems with the "fresh air blower" (defroster fan). By workshop spine reflex, the blower motor was exchanged for a new one, at a ludicrous price. After being told the problem wasn't solved, they seem to have taken the car into pieces (at their own expense, thank god) and haven't got the problem sorted after 3 days. Perhaps we can trade it in for another Niva... Perhaps the money spent on having this fairly modern car (2009) fixed, might have been better spent fixing the small brake issue that keeps our 1984 VAZ 2107 off the road...

[Tom.]

... shoveled snow. We've had some 40 cm in the last 24 hours, and with the accompanying wind, chaos has ensued,

I woke up to similar here this morning. The snow didn't last long though, by midday the sun came out and it was all back to normal.

This morning



Midday

[rid54]

...enjoyed proper spring weather, with temps touching on the 20°C mark, cloudless sky and almost no wind. Almost weird... but the forecast for next week mentions snow, again...

So what better to do on a spring day, than do some "spring cleaning", burrowing through accumulated debris in the storage shed ("I'll sort this out when it gets warmer"). Much fun to be had, as you come across things you've forgotten you ever owned, including a pair of Niva brake drums, an antenna rotator and some long forgotten but neatly packaged summer clothes - they might come in handy, actually. Finishing the shift with a beer in the sunshine is a must.

[rid54]

Enjoyed sunshine, a beer, and avoiding the smoke from the traditional bonfire.

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[rid54]

...restored an old dosimeter (geiger counter/radiation intensity meter) that had ceased to show decent values on the dial while the earphones crackled away merrily when the unit was presented with a test sample. The instrument itself proved to be shot, the moving coil showing no continuity. Finding a 10 µA instrument proved to be near impossible, the suggestions that eventually cropped up were pricey beyond belief. Solution was a small IC amplifier and a 100 µA instrument (cheap, easily available...). Not the vintage look, but at least it gives you a visual representation of what's going on. The reading shown in the pic is not ambient radiation level (thank you!) but the internal high voltage check.

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[Geoff Stainer]

Anyone know what's happened to Zelandeth? he used to post almost daily, but seems to have disappeared.