New Year, New Blog - Day 41

Day 41. 

Half term is here! A week, without pesky kids annoying me, winding me up or making me aggy. Perfect!

Yesterday I told you that I had been at the Simpson Autocare in the evening and I left you all in limbo as to whether Penny the Peugeot started. She did not start. So a hammer was used and after some gentle pursuasion, she spluttered into life and roared! It was an amazing and satisfying feeling that Chris and I had done that. Penny sounded magnificant. She then decided to make a terrible knocking sound just like before with the old engine. My heart sank a bit but then she stopped making the knocking sound and then it started again. I'm hoping that it will be something simple but like everything else with my stupid car, it will be complicated and very expensive. There are some photos of the rebuilt engine and Penny in all her shining glory.

The rebuilt engine.

And again.

From another angle.

From the back.

Penny looking and feeling cold and miserable.

Everything in place and connected.

Just needs to be fired up....

 It just means I'll have to wait a little longer to be able to drive her. 

Todays discussion will take place tomorrow. I am not pressured by time tomorrow so I can get a lengthy discussion going. 

I hope everyone has had a good day.

Until tomorrow.

Jim

New Year, New Blog - Day 35

Day 35.

A very successful day in my opinion. Spent about 7 hours at Simpson Autocare with Chris rebuilding my engine for the last time. We had to pick up a head gasket from Motex and then the real fun began. First rule of the workshop is to put the kettle on, so I did and needed the tea to warm up a bit. It was colder at the workshop than outside. In order for everything to go back together, I had to clean the engine head and somthing else but I cant remember the name of it. I will let the pictures do the talking.

A dirty engine block

Still looking dirty

A clean engine head

The tiny part that caused so much bother

Its tiny!

A clean engine block

Getting there.

Nice and clean

There are a couple more pictures to upload but the internet is slow and I'm off out to a friends to have pizza from Dominoes :)

I will upload them in tomorrows blog.

Until tomorrow.

Jim

New Year, New Blog - Day 11

Day 11 continued with yesterdays comedy of errors by my iPhone dying overnight and my alarm not going off. Thankfully I only over slept by 10 minutes this time. 

I kept waking up through the night and I could not straighten my arms whatsoever. It was much the same throughout the day, not being able to straighten my arms. I feel tonight might be much the same. 

Work was fun today, I made scones in food tech. It was the messiest lesson I have ever been to and one of the most enjoyable. That was the highlight of the day with the other lessons quite fun as well. After work, I helped with the year 7 rugby training. They played one big game for about 40 minutes but they enjoyed it. They have a game on Saturday away at St. Martins. 

I got some bad news about my car. She needs a new engine. The new glow plugs didnt solve the probelm, although they needed replacing anyway and now I get to help Chris change engines. It will be fun to do and afterwards I'll have a spare engine that I can take apart and learn from. I might be able to repair that one and sell it. So that bad news got me down a little bit so I decided not to go spinning and watch Transformers in bluray on my new TV. It is awesome!!


Anyway, thats all I have for today.


Until tomorrow


Jim

New Year, New Blog - Day 7

Day 7 and I noticed the amount of visits had gone up from 252 yesterday evening to 350 this evening. Almost 100 visits in 24 hours. I don't know about you but I find that amazing. Thank you so much everyone!

Today was my usual Saturday, wake up, wash, go to Simpson Autocare. My new turbo had been fitted on Penny the Peugeot and we started in anticipation that all would be fine.......not quite the case. She started almost fine, and ran almost ok, and kept ticking over, but there was a knocking sound in the engine (somewhere) so we got her back in the workshop after a few consultations, and stripped the engine down a bit. The first consultation was with Chris' brother over the phone about the knocking sound. He suggested it was the bottom end. I'm not too sure what that means but from the look on Chris' face it wasn't the best we could hope for. The 2nd consultation was with the mechanic next door, Martin. He thought it could be something to do with a leak in the cylinders or pistons (not sure which) or if the glow plugs are misfiring which could be (and fingers crossed is) causing the problem.
 I have been getting quite down about Penny and all the little things that have required fixing. First she wouldn't start, then found a broken oil sump and everything that needed replacing inside that, then the horn wouldn't work, then the turbo needed replacing and now the glow plugs need replacing as well. It seems like I brought a cursed car that will never get on the road! I do have faith in Chris though, and I know he will be able to get her up and running properly soon.

After I got back from the workshop, I had a bath and watched Jackass 2 (yes, at the same time) and this afternoon was awesome. My sister, Samantha, had ordered a Christmas present all the way back in December and it finally arrived today! How awesome!! A Sheldon bobble-head. Sheldon is a character from The Big Bang Theory and its one of my favourite TV shows.

 I read an awesome short story earlier, about a weekend in Essex. I wont go into details but if I get permission from the author to publish her work on my blog anytime soon then you can read it for yourself. It was a very good read.

Mum and dad had guests over for dinner this evening and they seemed to enjoy themselves which was nice for me, to see them entertaining others and doing a bloody good job of it!

Thats all for tonight, got a few things to sort out with some people.

Thanks ever so much for reading. I appreciate it.

Untill tomorrow

Jim