And now for the final tale in our update. Here's where the "very bad" stuff kicks in!
I hadn't had a functioning fuel gauge for maybe six months - the older style without a voltage stabilizer - so I bit the bullet and got a new sender/float for the tank, and used the later gauge with stabilizer (I had a few spare ones of those kicking around). Wiring was comparatively simple:
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And it works!
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Then I took an evening to really clean the car's inside, vacuuming and scrubbing glass. It's so much more "livable" when it's clean!
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I also hadn't had two-speed wipers for almost a year (despite having the two-speed motor), due to using a bad guide for wiring at the initial two-speed installation. I found a better way using dual relays, and it works! Need to replace that motor gearbox cover though.
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Heading into the bad stuff now. A comparatively minor bad thing compared to what comes next, but in June I discovered one of my driver's seat bolts had ripped through the floorpan (which, you'll recall, is only six or seven years old) and caused some terrible stress cracks. These were fairly easy to weld up, though, and I was careful to use the largest load-spreading washers I could find until I can have some proper load-spreading plates made.
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The morning of 1 July I came out to Mog to drive to work, and discovered someone had smashed the windshield overnight.
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I never found out for sure who did it, but I strongly suspect a drunken upstairs neighbor who has since moved out.
The smashed windshield made Mog impossible to drive, of course, and set me into a scramble to find the cheapest option for replacement. To my surprise, the cheapest option was importing one via my usual supplier in East Sussex! Even with freight across the ocean, it was less expensive to buy a new windshield from Britain than to get one from the marked-up American distributors. The new windshield (and many other parts) arrived overnight!
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The old cracked windshield was removed pretty easily - fifteen minutes with a knife:
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...and the aperture repainted, which it desperately needed:
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Mog's windshield seal had always leaked, so I sourced a new seal from a rubber extrusion company in Britain, figuring that a rubber company would know how to make a good seal. I was wrong. This seal only held onto the windshield with liberal amounts of adhesive, and when we attempted to install it, it simply would not fit into the body aperture.
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I got a fresh seal from the usual supplier, but still couldn't install it. I found a professional installer in Jefferson City, about half an hour's drive from where we live, that could do it - but I had no trailer, so I drove Mog without a windshield! Luckily a friend from work likes to ride a motorbike...
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The trip was no problem. In fact it was quite enjoyable.
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The professional installer was not impressed with the fit of the seal. He taped it in position and left it to re-form overnight.
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While he did that, I experimented with Mog's new rear view mirror. If you're a connoisseur of classics, you might recognize it from a 1960s Thunderbird - and boy is it a perfect fit! Day/night flipper, too, and wide enough to show the whole rear window.
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It took two days, but the installer got the windshield in. He said he and his crew fought the seal all the way.
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The new seal is a poor fit, and leaks badly in several places. I've injected some creeping sealant in the obvious spots (no rain yet, so don't know if it worked), but I feel like I shouldn't have had to - this is something the parts suppliers ought to look into.
By now Mog's license plates had expired, but what choice did I have but to drive it back home? Looks pretty good, though.
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I took Mog in for inspection, but it failed! When I got to work, I discovered why - the exhaust pipe behind the muffler had turned to Swiss cheese. It pulled apart in my hands as I withdrew it from beneath the car.
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Stripped with a flap disc on the angle grinder, cleaned, and primed...
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...and repainted. The primer, color, and clear paints were all rated for high temperature, and needed a baking procedure to set firmly.
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I had a local muffler shop make a new tailpipe. They made it exactly to the dimensions of the old one, but the old one had a troublesome tendency of fouling the bumper overrider (and the overrider acting as a funnel, so exhaust fouled the area around the fuel cap, too...), so I added a flashy chrome extension on the rear.
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Mog failed inspection due to exhaust leaks behind the muffler
and at the manifold clamp. Here you can see the sooty engine bay floor and fuel pump.
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So, to help remedy that, I got one of the new cast clamps from the usual Sussaxon (Sussegian? Sussexian?) supplier.
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Mog passed inspection with the new clamp and pipe - no exhaust leaks yet. It's now road-legal again and I'm using it as my daily driver. The windshield experience, and then failing inspection, had Mog stationary (except driving to and from the glassfitter) for almost three months!
But as you can see above, the new engine and gearbox are nearly done. Hopefully that will give Mog a new lease "of" life.
Oh, and another thing that will give my life new lease, too - I'm leaving my second job and going down to forty hours a week! That means less money, yes, but much more time to be with my family and do Mog things. Watch this space!