More messing about while I wait for parts, and if I’m honest, avoid starting the cavity waxing.
Started with a simple, let’s add the paint code tag. All I need to do is line the little rivets up with the original (but painted over) holes, tap them with a small hammer, and Robert is my mother’s sister’s live in lover. Hahahahah, simple, yeah, right. The little rivets are miniscule compared to my fingers, far too small to hold and hit with a hammer (the rivets, not my fingers- I can manage that all day long). I tried fitting them into the tag, taping over the top to hold them in place, then striking with a hammer. I then spent time looking for the little bu$$ers, either on the carpet or under the car. I drilled the holes in the A-post out to 1.5mm to ensure that the rivets would know where to go, but they still preferred the floor.
I then found a pair of tweezers, and in the main, that was successful. Well, if you define success as finally getting 4 rivets in place and discount the 8 I lost (I did manage to find 7 of them eventually).
For fun I then added the door stay. Well, fun is a state of mind. I bolted the stay into place, having first needed to remove the speaker (good job that it’s only temporarily installed). The stay had half closed during storage, and I tried multiple ways to encourage it to full extension (oh, err, missus), all with shambolic failure. In the end I removed it, held it in a vice and persuaded it with a small plastic hammer. Once refitted, the pin on the door could finally be encouraged to slot home.
Next the door wipers (not sure if that’s the correct term, but the bits that squeegee the glass). First remove the glass, then pop the outer wiper in place, hold with masking tape and press home. Or not. I managed to get a simple technique when I did the driver’s side, but that was soooo long ago that I couldn’t remember how I did it. Anyway, after a lot of levering, crying and pinching, it was fitted.
The inner wiper was a lot simpler – just press it on.
I then refitted the glass and celebrated my success by watching the window glide serenely up and down. But it didn't. Tried the window switches on the driver's door - nada. Checked fuses (thanks to Jonny's fuse panel, a quick glance showed no reporting lights, so no blown fuses). Clearly the battery must be too flat, so connected the charger and tried again. Guess what, no difference. Proper problem solving now. What is the first thing to look for - where have I been, what have I done, what have I touched. Remembering that the motor is behind the speakers and that I had just removed and refitted the speaker, so a short moment later and full uppy & downy motion is restored. Phew.
I keep tripping over the lid latches in their bag on the floor, so maybe it is time to fit them. I decided against fitting the front one, a) because the froot lid is against the wall, not in the car, and b) the front of the car is against the wall, so difficult to access the slam area. The engine lid latch went in easily,
cable attached, spring finger thing attached to the lid and roughly aligned but the lid wouldn’t stay closed. Realised that you need enough tension on the release cable to hold the latch closed. Seemed somewhat strange initially, but I guess if the cable breaks, then the lid opens rather than leaving you with no way to open the lid. No matter, readjust cable and wonderful, the lid closes and opens.
Readjusted springy finger part, aiming for the lid to be held central when it shut, rather than pulled slightly to one side.
I then refitted the engine seal, well the longer one as I couldn’t find the small one. Looking back at my dismantling photos, maybe the fact that it wasn’t on the car originally might explain that. Having fitted the seal, it didn’t look right, and maybe having fitted it upside down was the cause of that. Removed it, decided it looked far too shabby against the rest of the car, so ordered a new pair of engine seals this morning.
I also looked to order a fan pulley wrench – the C-spanner. At close to £60+VAT for a P version, and nothing readily jumping out at me on a search, I found one from my motorbiking life that was exactly the right size, excepting for the pin part. It was 6mm diameter, whereas the fan pulley holes are 5.25(ish). I could a) drill out my fan pulley holes, or b) grind down the pin on the CV-spanner to about 5mm. As a) was far simpler, I did b)
