Projects At Home During Lockdown

[Grumph]

I’ve been doing a “ground zero” preventive maintenance job on the 1972 MGB GT we recently bought. It’s in superb condition but there was no written lubrication record, particularly with respect to greasing the zillion lubrication nipples, all of which are in hard to reach places under the car. Have had to spend quite a bit of money on peripherals such as a good trolley jack (not the tinny things that Repco sells) and other tools to make life easier, like a big syringe to change the diff oil.

Only one problem so far. Whilst accessing the gearbox level/filler plug through the top of the transmission tunnel (in an awkward place of course), I also managed to pull up a wire with one end of a spade connector through the hole. After much dicking about , I found that it was the overdrive power source. Getting it back in place required grovelling under the car into a space where a 5 year old’s hands would have been the right size. Got severe cramp in the palm of one hand which made me holler a bit but got there in the end.

I think we’re now over the tool and accessory buying hump and maybe 80% through the lubrication schedule. Perhaps that will stop my wife asking when we’re going to have a decent outing in it rather than pissing about in the garage, sigh……. That's the hidden side of owning a classic car

We had one of those some years back. It developed a noisy gearbox. Asking around I was assured it was all fixable - but the box and engine had to come out as there was no room to detatch the box in place.....Which your experience bears out. we found a mug, sorry, buyer and waved it goodbye.
Amusingly, it had mudflaps which the slightest cornering effort grounded noisily. I raised them in steps until hard effort couldn't ground them - about 3 inches.
The PO must have been either deaf or very slow.

[Blackbird]

We had one of those some years back. It developed a noisy gearbox. Asking around I was assured it was all fixable - but the box and engine had to come out as there was no room to detatch the box in place.....Which your experience bears out. we found a mug, sorry, buyer and waved it goodbye.
Amusingly, it had mudflaps which the slightest cornering effort grounded noisily. I raised them in steps until hard effort couldn't ground them - about 3 inches.
The PO must have been either deaf or very slow.

Haha - if something goes horribly wrong, it's going on a trailer to the specialists in Auckland or Mt Maunganui! Happy to do "normal" maintenance but driving it is the real attraction, not spanner work. You mentioned cornering - this baby has Spax adjustable shocks to stop body roll and electronic ignition for reliability.

[TheDemonLord]

Third and final coat of Stop on the walls - 24 hours, then final Sand, then Prime.

Project Number 2 is New Kitchen, ETA 17th of Jan

[TheDemonLord]

Final Sand is done - it kept looking at me saying 'you really should finish this off', and I kept finding new ways to not do it then and say I'd do it tomorrow.

There's a couple of spots where if I was being super pedantic, I might put an additional bit of stop on - but seeing as eventually that wall will be wallpapered, I'm fine with it.

Tonight if my motivation is high, I'll give the walls a Sugar Soap wash and dry - so that when I've got time off over the Festive Period, I can prime it at my leisure.

The Wallpapering, I'm gonna get someone in to do it - since I have no experience in that field, it looks messy and finnicky (major red flags for me) and since we got nice patterned Wallpaper, I want it to look nice, and if I do it, it'll probably look like shite.

I'm starting the prep on the Kitchen - removing all the gadgets and gizmos that see use once a year and popping them into the Garage. Also got the new Kitchen appliances delivered - but can't get them installed till the new Kitchen is in.

At the Moment, the Garage looks like a Builders store

More pictures to come when progress is made.

[george formby]

Soooo, you're putting in a new kitchen yourself but feel the wallpapering is a bit of a challenge?

I doff my hat in your general direction.

The secret to wallpapering is to use good quality wallpaper. It's forgiving.

Bit like cheap wrapping paper for the pressies or cheap toilet paper, yer finger goes straight through cheap wallpaper.

[TheDemonLord]

Soooo, you're putting in a new kitchen yourself but feel the wallpapering is a bit of a challenge?

I doff my hat in your general direction.

The secret to wallpapering is to use good quality wallpaper. It's forgiving.

Bit like cheap wrapping paper for the pressies or cheap toilet paper, yer finger goes straight through cheap wallpaper.

I'm just doing the Tiling and Gibbing and the Prep

There's a company putting the actual kitchen in.

probably should have clarified that - but yeah, Wallpapering, lining up patterns - I'm just full on 'Nope'.

[Drew]

Plastering needs to be right for paper too.
Hanging paper is a piece of piss, it just takes fucken ages if you dunno what you're doing.

[James Deuce]

New tyres next week and then the first big ride since all the updates. Looking forward to seeing if they were meaningful updates

[F5 Dave]

You haven't even started a wotitiz thread yet?

[James Deuce]

You haven't even started a wotitiz thread yet?

Lolz, no one cares. Doing the NI800 with a couple of old and dear school friends.
https://www.distanceriders.org.nz/20...e-reveals.html

[F5 Dave]

Ha, that's virtually the ride we are doing after boxing day . Have fun.

[James Deuce]

Ha, that's virtually the ride we are doing after boxing day . Have fun.

Will do and you too

[TheDemonLord]

Update - so I decided to pull the old ceiling tiles off early and start some prep work - glad I did - found a lot of Rat Poo up there (bloody Rats and bloody lazy cats...).

There's also some insulation (from where adjoining rooms had been done) so that means a little bit less work. The old Cieling tiles were affixed to Cavity Battens, which were a mish-mash of different lengths. Looks to have been cobbled together from whatever spare timber the person who did it had. Pulled all that off, tidied up the Joists.

Am currently planning the joists so that they are level and have got 7 Ceiling Battens cut to length ready to install on the joists in prep for the GIB sheets.

It's a bit slower progress than I'd like (thanks School Holidays and Day care...) - but I'm slowly ticking things off, then on the 17th, all Hell Breaks loose!

Will post some picture updates when I can get round to it.

Possibly also going to change the lighting for the room and will have to tidy up some of the cable runs in the Ceiling - but that's just a case of gratuitous use of Thermal Strap

[TheDemonLord]

Latest progress:



Old Crappy Ceiling being sent to the great joists in the sky



Old Ceiling Battens that were cobbled together to hold the tiles



Getting some Batts in whilst everything is off.



New, sexy Ceiling Battens, one piece, to length, ready for the GIB to go on.

[Reckless]

OK so back to bikes LOL

Nearly there 1040 installed and a few other mods
Just got to work out which colour I want the Marvics - Gold or white.

Huge amount of time gone in over lock down.
Damn pity the rider isn't as good as the bike looks LOL
Test day tomorrow



We did get a new driveway, race van, awning on the trailer and a couple other bits done around the house but only pics of the important stuff