Disaster

Bad day today.   Although I did say I needed something to go wrong so I could work on her.  :-)

 

You probably remember when I leaned in and started the car when she was in reverse and she ran back and bashed into my daughter-in-laws car.    Well I just did it again, only this time she was in a forward gear.  I had just finished replacing the instrument panel and wanted to see if all the electrics worked, including the rev counter.   So I waggled the gear lever to make sure she was in neutral and started the engine.   She wasn't in neutral so she started and shot forward 6 feet and crashed into the work bench.   And just to really make my day, I had propped the bonnet up against the work bench and she crashed into that :-(  And then I saw water gushing out of the bottom as well.............

So the damage is:

A 'flattened' bonnet

A totally wrecked nose cone:

and a badly damaged radiator (both left and right at the bottom).  The bottom hose is supposed to come out horizontally but it has been pushed vertically, breaking the joint.

 

And you can see the bottom mounting brackets for the nosecone have folded back (They should be horizontal)
 
So far I've found a replacement radiator at a car place on the way to Lincoln for £85 (It's off a  Rover SD1), so will probably get that.  

 
I will try gently bending the bonnet back in shape but may finish up taking it to a proper body shop, or even get a new one if Great British Sportcars have one in stock.
 
I have a spare nose cone in the spare bedroom, but it is yellow.  So do I completely change over to yellow to match it, go multi-colour or spray paint it blue ?

The good news is that, apart from the radiator, it is all cosmetic.    But she will be off the road for a few weeks I guess.

P.S.   I pulled a muscle in my back as well :-)

New Speedo Pinion

I've changed the speedo gear wheel to a 24-tooth one and now the speedo does not work.   More work required.

Battery Dead

Back from a great month-long holiday (Touring the West Coast of the USA, Cayman Islands, Bahamas & then Washington DC) and settled back in.   
 
So got to the car and she was dead.  And I mean totally dead, 0V showing on the voltmeter and nothing showing on a meter across the terminals of the battery. and it would not register on a charger.   I knew the battery was on it's way out, but I have never seen one fail that comprehensively.   Luckily (or forward planning ?) I had bought a new battery some weeks ago so out came the old one and in went the new one.   All the lights came on and she started up instantly, even though she had been sat for a month. 



I suspect I broke the battery myself by leaving it on a trickle charger when not in use over the last few months (not while we were away though as I wanted to see how the battery was looking).   It was supposed to be a 'smart' charger, but I only ever saw it pushing it out 14V so I suspect it was continually overcharging the battery.  It was a cheap one from Lidl, so I think I will just use it as a normal charger now and just charge the battery when it needs it.