YHO chronicles

[epipete]

(Don't suppose anyone has a spare ashtray inner? Mine is now showing signs of my impatience )

Chuck it away and fit a satnav there - much more use than an ashtray which never gets used!

I've got various nuts, bolts washers etc. in my ashtray!

I have the most useless article ever invented in there - a remote control for the radio

[muley]

Well, this is embarassing...

MOT due in a couple of weeks, so I ran through a few simple tests, just to make sure it won't fail on anything daft (lights/horn/washer jets etc) and while testing the hazard lights, although the relay was ticking, the indicator on the dash was flashing rather than the tell-tale on the switch itself. A quick check outside and the nearside indicators were going but nothing on the offside. All the indications (pun mostly intended) of a problem with the switch. Swapped the switch over and no change - hmmm. Next enquiry - is the switch socket loose? Remove switch again and give the socket a gentle poke (it was gentle, I promise) at which point it disappeared backwards into the void below the ashtray

How the heck was I going to get that back? Through the radio apperture - nope. Round the back of the dash from either footwell - yeah - right! Final solution - take the ashtray out (brute force and ignorance, I'm afraid to say) and hey presto - unfettered access to all sorts of goodies inside. Out with the superglue....!

(Don't suppose anyone has a spare ashtray inner? Mine is now showing signs of my impatience )

I'm not surprised, to get the old girl through the MOT that switch always needed a bit of (gentle?) encouragement. To be fair I never used it - I never broke down

Jim

[maz_r]

It happens - the plastics can get a bit brittle over time and the thin bar at the top of the holder which clips the socket in place has snapped. Still a few dabs of superglue at the corners of the socket should do the trick

[dapinky]

(Don't suppose anyone has a spare ashtray inner? Mine is now showing signs of my impatience )

Chuck it away and fit a satnav there - much more use than an ashtray which never gets used!

I've got various nuts, bolts washers etc. in my ashtray!

well, if you had the 'improved' SE instead of the S2, you could put them in the armrest

[GeoffSmith]

I didn't say I had that many. They obviously matched the storage to the number of bits that fall off.

[maz_r]

More bits and pieces done today, before taking YHO to the garage to have new injectors and fuel filter fitted. MOT due this week too

Fitted gas struts to the boot - mostly easy stuff, but the pressure has stopped the remote release working - either not enough 'pull' or not a long enough throw on the current motor, some more investigation required.

Finally got around to replacing the auxiliary coolant pump as the original was seized. SLK replacement sourced. The fuse was blown too which caused a moments panic but soon found and fixed. All working well now once coolant topped up; ran through the fans cycling on and off about 4 times and apart from clouds of steam from the spilled coolant, all seems well.

[maz_r]

New injectors fitted and fuel filter changed.

MOT passed with no advisories (yay!)

So that's all good.

Feeling pretty angry though as I have been taking my Elan to the same place for 6 years and when I got home today, I discovered that whilst in their care, the front bumper has been scraped and has cracked. Fuming at the moment as they never mentioned it... They are now closed and by tomorrow they'll probably say I did it (probably a disservice but I am NOT a happy camper)

[maz_r]

Now in a conversation that goes:

Me: While you had the car, it's been bumped
Them: We didn't do it
Me: It wasn't there when I dropped it off
Them: We swear we didn't do it
Me: It wasn't there when I dropped it off
Them: We didn't do it
Me: It wasn't there when I dropped it off
Them: We didn't do it

Ad infinitum, Ad nauseam...

[HJ2]

Ahrg, the horror...

[Elanlover]

Now in a conversation that goes:

Me: While you had the car, it's been bumped
Them: We didn't do it
Me: It wasn't there when I dropped it off
Them: We swear we didn't do it
Me: It wasn't there when I dropped it off
Them: We didn't do it
Me: It wasn't there when I dropped it off
Them: We didn't do it

Ad infinitum, Ad nauseam...

Might be time to replace "Me" with "My Lawyer".

[maz_r]

Just spoken to the legal advice team at the insurance company and they said to claim and let the insurance investigate it, replacing 'me' with 'my insurance investigators'...

It is such a shame 'cos if they had fessed up, we could have worked it out, I'm sure. They promised faithfully at the garage to look at the cctv footage and see if it was another customer...we shall see.

[epipete]

Perhaps you should advise them that your insurer/lawyer (and yourself) will want to see the tapes as well before they erase them!

It's also worth mentioning to them that the repair of your bumper will cost them £200 whereas the loss of your business over the next several years will cost them £2000

Pete

[CalElan]

A few years back my wrx was in the shop for some bodywork when I saw it headed in the opposite direction at a break-neck speed. I went directly to the bodyshop who told me it was out-back. When it clearly wasn't they said it was on a road test to check the work. It had a rear-bumper replaced! The 'funny' part was 2 weeks later when I was washing it one side of the bumper fell off! I always write the mileage on a sticky note and stick it on the speedo when I leave any car with someone else. Fecking garages!

[Fredjohn]

With modern technology a date stamped phone camera photo of the speedo mileage emailed to the garage on day of dropping off the car should do the trick and discourage any potential joyride.
If it doesn't, you've clear proof of speedo reading with no possible dispute of fiddling the photo.

[maz_r]

Just a quick note on recent works, for the record.

New steering wheel duly fitted; Momo chosen mainly (and I apologise in advance for this) 'cos it had red stitching

I kept the original boss and used one of these to adapt from the nardi fitting on the boss to the momo pattern; simple enough. Took 2 attempts to find a decent horn push though...

Not got a great way to cover the existing boss in a tidy way yet, but I saw on here someone using a gaiter of some sort, which looks like a good idea.

Anyways, I like it

A lot of black and red going on

Also, as previously mentioned, i have trouble getting heat into the brakes so decided to replace the pads. Spoke to PNM who said that their standard pads were probably best; duly ordered. Simple fit, thinks I. How wrong can one be! Can I get the retaining pins out? On no. Phone call to PNM just to confirm I'm not doing something stupid, but no, what you are doing is correct, they say; hmmmmm. After much whacking with a hammer, I got one pin out, but the other won't shift at all. Better let some professionals to have a look.

Yesterday the car went into the garage and they have done the necessary, although their phone call to say it was finished included several expletives!

What it should look like....

And here is why:

What the garage had to do

Some stainless replacements were ordered and fitted (and seriously greased!). After all that, the braking seems better but still in the bedding in phase, so not up to maximum efficiency just yet.

[muley]

I thought those pins might create a problem. I liberally dosed them with copper grease, but not enough it seems,

Good luck with the car.


Jim

p.s. looking at your FB profile I should prolly 'befriend' you!

[maz_r]

Sun is out, the sky is blue (or was before it threatened to rain)....

So many jobs planned, so little time. and of course, 'cos it is me, everything takes 20 times longer than it seems to for everyone else. Whenever someone says '5 minute job' on here, I have to mentally think '2 hour job...' (OK - so that is 24 times longer, but you get the drift.)

Firstly, I was going to have a go at fitting the red red carpets; as some of you know, I have been collecting red carpet pieces (and thank you for your donations to the cause - you know who you are!), so the question is which pieces do i use...?

To which the answer of course is none, since i decided to do a few quick cosmetic jobs first Three hours later...

...I did mange to fit a couple of the upgrades I've got hold of over the last few weeks. Spot the difference: first mod fitted

First mod fitted

Second mod fitted:

second mod fitted

[HJ2]

M'c Laren mod & clear indicators

[lotusflasherman]

what's that shoulder doing there? Is that a headed pin retained with a clevis pin or a rollpin?



All the rollpins I've ever seen are parallel so you can tap them in from outside and to remove just keep them going through. Those require getting on the inside of the hub and drifting them outwards. What a silly idea.

Mods - somebody stole a wiper arm and clear indicators.

Have you got clear side repeaters too? Got mine from ebay for 'peanuts' - buy Mini fitment are they are an easy swap. (That's a proper Mini, not the obese BMW thing.)

[maz_r]

Correct on both counts.

Clear front indicators, courtesy of Richard (wolfie308 on here). If any one else is interested, he has a couple of extra sets on the shelf. Website here.

I put black side repeaters on a while back; off fleabay, as you say.

Single wiper conversion from Jamie N - thanks mate. I went for the 'normal' mounting rather than the race-a-like vertical - just a personal choice.

Those pins are held in by some 'R' clips; the shoulder is on the outside and they are supposed to be removed by drifting them inwards...unless they've been fitted for a while.