What did you do today?

[I am not Diesel]

I noticed that the front diff pinion seal was leaking on the Defender a while back so I finally got round to changing it yesterday. I have access to a pit so it wasn't a bad job to do all told. Took me less than half an hour and I also greased the props and changed the diff oil whilst I was at it. The clutch master cylinder needs replacing as well but I couldn't be arsed to do that. I find it easier to take the pedal box out complete and change the master cylinder on a bench. A job for another day. I also need to do some more rust proofing. The Dinitrol I applied a couple of years ago is flaking in places.

[Back_For_More]

Yesterday and today.....
E46 pads all round - just to be sure..... Then fitted the cheapex foreign you know where sourced front fog lights....
Begone foul original cataract version

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And behold the glaring fisheye

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Also silicone the rear foglight lense that wanted to part company with the boot..... Nipped up the exhaust and it's a lot quieter now.
This morning - B road blast through villages and Ashford forest to Seaford. Josh needed a hand with the XM - stripped, sphere off, New one in, all back together and snoot up in the air again in just on an hour.

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Back to this here London in time for lunch - all cockiness thwarted upon arrival and front offside tyre has a slow puncture - BASTARD

[nebuchenezer]

Drove to Whitby in the dark again

[Split_Pin]

I went to Upullit on Friday and bought 2 cupholders for the A4 (who knew that an Avant dash is completely different and that a Seat Exeo has a Convertible dash) and a new shark fin for the Saab to try and fix the terrible radio reception.

No more messy gap in the dash:

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Next I replaced the damaged drivers seat base. A horrible, fiddly job. Next time I'll just replace the whole Seat, but the base came free with the car.

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I have owned this car 2 weeks and so far I have:
Had the timing belt, water pump, aux belt and thermostat replaced.
Oil change
Seat base
Cup holder

I have a new arm rest lid in the garage waiting to go on and I also need to buy a new rocker cover gasket as its leaking. I also need to remove the locking wheel nuts.

Also on Thursday, I dried out and lubricated the 75s door mechanism to stop it freezing. It was the only door I didn't get around to last winter.

Oh and the back number plate fell of the TT yesterday but thankfully it was in a car park so I was able to save it.

Back to work today!

[angrydicky]

A kind fellow Austin owner sent me an A30 grill foc to replace the A35 van one which was fitted. It was a bit tired but polished up well.
The A35 grill badge is embossed while the A30 one is a transfer. I had a repro A30 badge in my spares which was very badly faded. Managed to soak the old sticker off in my ultrasonic cleaner and fitted a new one from Classic Reproductions.
The grill is fitted with a thin seal between it and the bodywork, these seem to be NLA. I took a chance and bought a used Somerset one from Graham Potts guessing it was the same seal. It was, just 6” longer. It was a fiddle to fit and required a lot of warming with the hairdryer to make supple enough to fit all the way around.
Came out ok though.

I took it for a run on my very own private road earlier. It drives surprisingly well, the steering and suspension are excellent and so are the brakes now I’ve fully rebuilt them.

Before

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After

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Really the only thing that lets down the driving experience is the gearbox which is quite reluctant to go up into third. Second gear synchro is non existent, but TADTS.

[Hooli]

That is a lovely cute little thing.

[PhilA]

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Squeegee'd the windows while the car sat and rocked itself while doing an impression of a diesel, pouring unburned clag out the exhaust.
Another cold day, today.

Phil

[PhilA]

and a new shark fin for the Saab to try and fix the terrible radio reception.

The shark fin is just for nav data (gps, cellular).
The am/fm/dab is printed on the rear window along with the defog. Bad reception is either a broken connection to the window or the amplifier module.

[paulplom]

Decided to change the fuel filter on the van. Took the lid off, disconnected the inlet pipe and removed the filter. Completely different to the new one. Put it back together and it started after a rew tries. Went back to the factors and they've updated the design to a paper element instead of cotton wool.
Fitted the new one and now the fucker won't start. It happened the last time too. Fired and ran just as the battery was dying. Now it'll fire every half dozen attempts and run for three seconds then die (same as last time). The battery is now just about dead and on charge overnight.
Any advice?

[dean36014]

Don't change fuel filters?