Rusty Triumphs in Scotland

[fried onions]

I always chuckle at the septics 'joke' slang as rubber being a condom. What rot. If anything their own terminology of eraser is much more apt.

[Drum]

Few things as pleasing as a surprise mot pass. Well done Captain.

[Eddie Honda]

Amazing what the threat of borrowing a French car can do...

[Cruiser45]

staggering.makes you wonder just how supposedly bad a car can get and still get that magic bit of paper.keep motoring!

[captain_70s]

staggering.makes you wonder just how supposedly bad a car can get and still get that magic bit of paper.keep motoring!

My Dolly 1850HL had a collapsed subframe mount, the subframe was resting on the steering column resulting in the steering being ridiculously heavy and not self centring.

Passed it's MOT with an advisory for stiff steering...

[LynehamHerc]

!!!!!

[SiC]

This eBay listing and its text caught me eye:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3521352266

[Cruiser45]

incidentally,it wasnt a dig,but having seen how desperate things had got with it,the fact it flew through is food for thought.of course,it doesnt make it drive any better having a full ticket!

[captain_70s]

This eBay listing and its text caught me eye:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3521352266

Rusty in the same places as mine. Common grot spots and hard to access. I've seen them repaired before, there was some impressive fabrication and repairs to those areas done by a chap on RetroRides a few years ago but few people will bother. Myself included, for now...

I like the way he describes the bumpers as "immaculate" when they are both obviously bent and the chrome trim is mangled as hell...

The car is driving pretty well. Main complaint was the brake travel although that appears to be improving greatly with use, presumable air is gradually making it's way to the top of the system. It does seem to wander a bit on the open road although RML suggested Trigger's example also didn't like going straight so it may just be an Acclaim thing. The ride is crap, especially at low speeds on rough roads it really crashes over bumps. Again, that may just be an Acclaim quirk, the Dolomite is far softer.

[captain_70s]

Update:

Acclaim

The only functioning car on the fleet continues to live up to it's title of only functioning car on the fleet. Indeed it's just back from a 1,400 mile roadtrip around Scotland.
My parents had asked if I could house/pet sit for them while they went on holiday for a week, I said yes and then planned a roadtrip around Scotland for the week prior. So me and Girlfriend_70s would tour up the West coast, through the Highlands and down the East coast Mon-Thurs before arriving at my parent's place near Strathdon and staying in the Caringorms for the next week.

In preparation for the trip I gave it some fresh oil (10w40 because modern car) and a new filter, gave all the other important fluids a glance to ensure they'd not fucked off, checked the tyres and... Erm, that was pretty much it.

I did fit one new part, although in fairness it was a biggie.



With the prospect of doing many miles up steep hills on rough roads looming I decided to splash out on an exhaust that wasn't very loud, very low and very rattly. The new one is an Italian made IMASAF mild steel example which had to be bought from Germany, cost £250(inc postage) and is the only complete system you can buy for an Acclaim.

On the flipside it fits perfectly and I now have a decent exhaust, and when it rots out I can have it replicated in stainless.





It was alarmingly easy to fit, and unlike the British supplied Dolomite exhaust I bought some years ago actually fitted to the car it was made for. A mate kindly lent me his driveway, which made life much easier...



For a reminder this is how it sits at the rear compared to the old one:



With the exhaust fitted on Saturday I collected Girlfriend_70s on Sunday (torquing up the downpipe bolts on her parent's drive) and embarked on our adventure on Monday morning.







When we rolled up to my flat after a fortnight of travelling we'd covered 1,381 miles since setting off, with the only thing required by the car being a splash more oil after 1,100ish miles and regular topping off of screenwash.

Except when the exhaust fell off...



Where the rear and front section of pipe connect I'd thought an interference fit would be enough to hold it after having to mash them together with a rubber mallet. Turns out it is enough to hold it, but only for 1,000 miles worth of heat cycles and a few dirt tracks...
I pulled over and used my wax jacket to lift the exhaust back into position and assaulted it with the mallet again. 5 miles later, in a Tesco car park, I added a clamp I'd previously declared superfluous but chucked in the boot "just in case"...



Aside from that the car was grand, despite 30C temps and 20% gradients. Now I just need to give the thing a major clean... And sort the rough idle... And weld up the growing hole in the O/S sill...

Dolomite

Two engines have been sourced via members of the beige.

Engine No.1 - A mk4 Spitfire engine donated by JudicialGrunt. Will need going over but is a plug and play deal. Currently on a pallet near Bedford awaiting me arranging a shiply.



Engine No.2 - A 1300fwd engine which Jikovron spotted for sale cheap near him. Apparently these have a different crank to rwd cars so I don't know if it'll be usable/worth converting to rwd use. We shall see, worst case scenario I have to buy a 1300fwd to put it in. This one is near Chesterfield.



Aside from that I've done fuck all with it and it's just sitting outside the flat with a flat tyre looking miserable.