What did you do today?

[Hooli]

I think you'd be safe to say, that's fucked.

[panhard65]

Ouch. Did/do the valve head just fall off or impact damage?

I am not sure what caused it but I suspect it has over revved and snapped the valve as the other valves have hit but the belt was timed correctly. The driver says it just lost power though. The annoying thing is it has fucked the injector as well and most secondhand engines come without injectors. i will quote it properly and see what he says

[mercrocker]

Haven't used the Cowley since its new MOT a week or so back....Drove it out of the garage this morning but as I was locking up I tried hard not to notice a sizeable slick on the floor. Got it back to the house and sure enough its widdling coolant out. Expensive nice new blue coolant.

Being a glass half-empty type I suspected first head gasket and then core plug. All I can actually see is what is running off the bottom ledge of the engine block, its basically nice clear blue with an oily tinge from the crud it collects from the sump joint on its way to the floor. The actual trail is, I believe, drying onto the warm block and I am pretty certain its the heater valve. Or the hose. Or the clamp. Or the gasket.....

I only want to do this once so I have ordered a new valve, hose etc. Now, these new valves are often shit so I have avoided the £20 EBay specials and ordered from NTG Services, their gear has always been good quality and they have these ones made for them. I am hoping, quite without foundation, that this together with a flush out of the matrix will actually produce some noticeable heat other than a faintly warm smell.

Coronavirus means the car won't be going to North Devon as planned this weekend and I would have spent double the cost of the valve on BEER (the brown stuff, not the town) so I suppose in my twisted brain that this is actually a FREE heater valve upgrade. Woohoo.

[LynehamHerc]

I think that man maths is going to become even more popular.

Once the family have forgotten the MGB welding bill I'm going to get another project, assuming that I'm solvent, alive, not homeless etc.etc..
(Sorry about the gallows humour but that's the sort of twat I am)
Researching what it's going to be should help distract me from all the shit flying around and worrying about my family, especially my youngest son who was due home this week and we won't see for at least 3 months now.

[SiC]

Booked the Boxster in for an MOT tomorrow.

Nothing really to report as the car has been in storage for half a year pretty much. Only ongoing issue is that coolant is getting somewhere out of the cooling system. Pretty sure it's the coolant container - which I have a new one to go in. Just having the time and effort needed to do it. Only really a problem if the car has got fully to temperature and the thermostat kicks in. I think the system is pressuring due to being hot and leaking out a split in the container. TADIS. Temperature gauge reads normal.

Top mounts need doing but I'm hoping they're good enough to pass the MOT as is for now. I intend to send it to a Porsche specialist down in Devon for a proper sort out. Doing top mounts will mean a 4 wheel alignment is needed, so want to use someone who knows what they're doing with these cars when aligning it all up.

Could also do with an Aircon regas. Works but noisy. Likewise the ignition switch needs sorting as banging on the dash gets tiresome after so long.

MOT should be ok but I'm a bit nervous. Mostly that it sat idling when MOT'd, which may boil the coolant off a bit too much.

[SiC]

Boxster passed thankfully. Rear tyres advisory which is fair. They're getting to the point soon that the date code is 5 years old anyway. Plus would nice to have matching Michelin Pilot Sport 4 all round too.

Unfortunately all my tools are in storage still, so I can't even do any work to fix the issues on it while in lockdown.

Going to need a few pennies spending on it to get it completely top shipshape again - service, new coils fitted, coolant tank, top mounts and realignment basically. But then will be a 100% sorted, 20 year old car.

[Nibblet]

Back on to the Saab again. Got the various front bumper bits that I bought over in Cardiff out and started cleaning up the bars and painting them. Also wheeled old Green outside the garage so I could open the doors fully and get the front wings properly screwed on.
If the next few weeks stay the same I'll probably get the bugger running

[mercrocker]

Every cloud.....

[SiC]

Is emptying the storage unit essential to go out of the house for? I'm really missing not having any of my tools and being able to do stuff.

[LynehamHerc]

I guess that it's partly how far away it is and how necessary something is, if for example you need something to fix a water pipe that might* leak soon. If you don't know what box it's in you might have to bring it all home.