A somewhat postponed trip down to Redline Sports Cars today. Left Manchester an hour behind schedule & in the rain (as forecast, to be fair) but as I expect to be without the car for a good three weeks the hood was down… didn’t get too wet! The sun was starting to show by Birmingham & by the time I was half way down the M5 it it was lovely. It’s always a pleasure driving into Wiltshire.
I made it to Redline with only one ‘practice’ circuit of the site required, before I parked my male ego & looked at the site map. Good to see Jeremy & later Joe. Had a quick look over the car & talked through the job list before leaving it with them. The two major items are the new hood (I have lived with Selotape over the growing split in the vinyl rear screen for three years so I can’t be accused of rushing this one!), & chassis checkup/Waxoyl. I now know from the Marcos Forum that there are 13 bungs in the chassis (to be removed when Waxoyling properly) – just the sort of essential information that will get me invited to wild, crazy swinging parties I reckon… Anyway there also the minor jobs including;
- Replacement electric aerial
- Suspension check (ride seems harder than last year, after a few potholes!)
- Water ingress through windscreen jets
- … the windscreen jets!
- Oily fumes coming in through windscreen vents
- Waterproofing door cards (water seeped around door speakers a few weeks ago, but does not seem to have damaged speakers themselves)
- Air director thingy (i.e. windscreen/footwell/split)
- LED bulbs to gauges (I need to check these out more, as SMD bulbs appear to be the way to go, rather than unidirectional ultra bright LEDs). Do I go for blue or white ones though?!
- Secure offside dashboard (been on & off so many times I don’t think there’s anything left for the screw to bite into).
Jeremy has suggested the chap making the new hood will tweak the flaps at the front to make them a bit more effective, which sounds very promising. Not as good as the later hood frame & cover with all the metal plates & acres of rubber & velcro (that will disappoint some people on Google), but that was £££ when I spoke to MHS. And let’s face it the hood is not up much anyway, rain or shine. I also got to see a half-built Invicta that Joe is finishing off. It’s a fab Mercedes blue, & looks very imposing (2m wide!). Hope I see it again when it’s finished.
The car is still doing about 13mpg (Waaaaah!) & the conversation drifted onto ECUs, & Joe has left me to ponder a Unichip (as chosen by the factory) or I have been recommended Omex. Neither of which are cheap but in the medium term would pay for themselves if they take the mpg into the high teems or low twenties. Now… where’s that lottery ticket?