Prom Duties

My excited little 13 year old boy, who traveled home with me nearly 3 years ago when we first picked up Amy, is all grown up and finished big school!

The tradition of late is for Proms to be held (when did THAT start, I don't remember such a thing except in American films!)

The sub tradition is to be dropped off in a posh car. So Amy was called into action despite the dynamo not being fixed. Could NOT have Amy running most of the time only to miss this notable event. Worth the risk, chances of her battery giving up was remote as no lights needed, no windscreen wipers needed so the drain was very small.

These pictures will part of the family memory book and wasn't going to pass that up.

She was in good company, we followed a vintage MG drophead most of the way there from town and there were plenty of other classics floating around including a couple of old Routemaster style vintage red buses too.

Old school picture

Quite liked this.. Was mucking about on phone.

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First show of 2016 - Hurst. (and dynamo issue)

A small affair - Hurst Country Fayre. Just can't believe it's taken me until June to attend my first show this year. Time has flown past for some reason.

But anyway, time has arrived at last Amy was proudly shined up and ready to go at 7.30 this morning!

Started her up easy enough, but she was a bit lumpy. Spark plug number 4 coked up again. So had to clean off before setting off. Ran smooth as anything on the way there.

On the journey though the igintion light remained on. A few switchings on and off of windscreen wipers / headlights confirmed that the dynamo has stopped doing it's thing. (probably - go for the simplest answer first)

The amp meter just wasn't doing anything. Maybe all these noises have been the darn brushes all along. 

Ordered a new set from my phone. Won't drive until fitted.

New bumper fitted - Nice (in the rain - doh!)

It took a bit more effort than expected. Taking the bumper off was no problem. Fittings weren't quite how I had envisioned them, but that was no big deal. At the end of the day it was only undoing a few bolts to remove it.


Clearly one of the "correct" bolts had gone astray at some time and one of the mountings wasn't right. But it didn't take too much to correct that with a suitable replacement nut and bolt.

Plus a better condition over-rider fitted. One of the chaps in the club had one going, which I gratefully received!

So Amy now looks beautiful from the front, just ready for Hurst Village Country Fayre tomorrow.

(It did absolutely tonk down with rain mid swap over.. but perservered and got the job done - soaking wet!)

Next job is to do the rear. (which will take a while I am sure.)

Shiny new Bumper

Here she is. What a great looking job. Will swap over soon. Next it will show up the over riders, then the rear bumper, then the hubcaps.. Slippery slope of expense! But one thing at a time. That's the worst item sorted.

And new Fan Belt goes in / ACCC / New Bumper

I guess there is a knack to things when done often, but I guess I made things real hard for myself! But anyway, the new belt went in after lots of huffing and puffing. Things are running quietly still. Sounds like there is a bit of noise coming from the dynamo bearings, but that may have always been there, hidden by the other noises that the flappy belt was causing.

I may consider getting a new Dynamo, as not really that expensive.

No real opportunity to have  proper drive, due to the on / off heavy rain. So I will be going to this month's ACCC meet at Brooklands in Roly the Mazda!!

Picking up my newly chromed front bumper later too, on the way there, so another "upgrade" to look forward to.

All work done is being logged on the new "About Amy" static page of this blog.

Fan belt needed REPLACING!

As ever, tings aren't as simple as at first seemed. The noises did come back pretty quickly, so a closer look was in order. Umm too right a closer look was in order. What a state.

The hunt for a replacement is on, hopefully sourced relatively quickly and easily.

In the meantime Amy runs a quiet as anything with this removed ;-) !!

Update.. Good old eBay. Replacement belt ordered. £15 quid. Cant argue. Rain forecast all weekend and most of the week, so no big loss of driving time.

Fan belt tightening only took nearly 3 years!

In a quite early post I mentioned that the fan belt was a bit iffy  and that it seemed loose and needed tightening. Upon checking that was 10th September 2013 that I first noticed. Then after developing what I thought at the time was a belt squeal it was 9th November 2013 when I first tried (and failed) to do something about it!!

The noise at the time turned out to do with air leaks around the inlet manifold causing a whistle rather than a squeal from the belt. Therefore despite it seeming too loose at the time, it wasn't the issue and it never got tightened in the end. Mainly because I couldn't shift the nut that held the dynamo in place to be able to tighten the belt and gave up.

In the last few weeks, Amy developed a kind of jingly rattle at tick over and sounded ever so slightly rough. In a different way than before.

A few internet searches suggested that the fan belt tension could be the culprit. It's bound to have got a bit looser with wear over 3 years.

Anyway, the nut was still as inaccessible as ever, and a real bugger to get loose. But persevered this time. The dynamo itself took a bit of tugging to shift too (it's probably been in that position for 7 or 8 years - even longer probably) but it moved eventually, pulled it up so as to have the recommended 1" play and re-tightened in place.

And she's back to normal, noises reduced back down again. Ready for the summer!!