Beigey ('88 city) performed pretty well on this epic journey. We were 4 up but with propper mini seats in there was quite enough room for us all with our minimum amount of luggage stashed in the boot. Issigonis would have been proud.
We did have a couple of minor problems 2 near near death experiences though
!First problem was i couldn't squeeze more than 60 out of her on the A1. I know i was 4 up Beigey's 998 with her 1275 head and LCB can normally p*ss all over the smaller hatches on motorways. We stopped in Durham where i discovered that the Dizzy had ben loose and had slipped round to way retard the timing and the live to the coil had almost come off! These two problems sorted and we were soon bezzing up the A1 at propper speeds.
Second problem was in Dundee. The body of the little switch behind the brake pedal had decided to snap in two. This meant that there was no brake lights
. Exactly how long this had been going on i dont know, but they were fine when i set off from Leeds. A tube of Superglue from the local Tesco soon sorted this out.The first time we almost died was on the M90. We were suddenly cought in this torrential downpoor! Anyone else who's got 165x13 tyres or wider will know that they dont cut through massive amounts of water too well!
we slowed down to 45-50 ish, lights on and fogs, wipers on full speed. This w*nker in a Discovery obviously decided that this wasn't fast enough for him and drove like 1 inch off my bumper. maybe because i was keeping an eye on him i didn't notice the huge lake in the middle of the road. The car was suddenly engulfed in water. I mean i couldn't see anything!! I felt the wheels scrabble for the tarmad as best they ould and then just give up. AQUAPLANE!!! I just gripped the wheel for dear life and floored the throttle. We came out of the puddle (mnore like an ocean!) facing the central reservation travelling on a diagonal. I quickly straightened up again and we lived. Discovery w*nker man had obviously witnessed all this from his higher position and slammed all on so as not to interfere with my ballet. We were all a bit shaken!
Second time we nearly died was a bit more subtle. Throughout the journey the handling had felt a bit sloppy, especially on the passenger's side. I put this down to my replacing of the bottom ball joint on the other side making me aware that perhaps the other was soon due for renewal. It wasn't untill we had completed 450 odd miles of the total journey and we were at the border on the way back. I decided (god knows why!) that i'd have a quick glance at the tie bars. My eyes nearly popped out my head to see that the nut on the end of the passengers side front tie bar was held on by about 1/4 of a turn!!! And when i wiggled it, it fell off!!!
Whilst i was tightening this back on, i tried to explain to my unmechanically minded passengers how at motorway speeds this was about as neer to killing us all as i ever want to go!
by the way, I figured out that it was Quik-fit that loosened this nut. On thursday night i was in a rush to have the tracking put right before the journey, so i let them do it. The lad doing the tracking said that my tie bars (which are adjustable) were not the same lenghth and would I like him to even them out before he tracked up. I said ok. What i reckon he did, was to undo the locknut on the hub-side of the bar and then just turn the bar. The nut would have been gripped by the bush and washers at the other end and just loosened!
So, Good trip, not dead, and don't let quik-fit mess with suspension settings
Al
