LEJOG 4 Heroes

The last post

2010-11-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I posted an update and to be honest I have been a bit tardy in bringing everything to a close- however with tomorrow being Remembrance Sunday I thought it was right and fitting to write my last post.

All the money has been collected and sent to Help for Heroes and through the donations of all my friends, sponsors and the many anonymous people who put money in our tin or texted the short code we have raised over £3600!!

This is well above my wildest expectations and I want to thank everyone for their generosity, I know that Help for Heroes will put the money to good use.

The only unfinished piece of business is the car. We have been unable to fix the fuel starvation and it still runs like an absolute dog emitting backfires and stopping after a few miles.

The most sensible thing to do with it is send it to the scrap yard.

Sadly I have never been particularly sensible so I have found someone to do a full renovation of the old girl- I want to get her back to the condition she would have been in just a few years after rolling of the production line.

I fear this will cost me far too much money but she deserves it and having left her on the drive rusting for several months it feels appropriate to get her sorted over the winter before the weather does more damage and more importantly before the Vodafone share price drops again.

So thank you all- this is the end of this blog but who knows next year I might come up with another crazy idea and start another.

Until then thank you all and I hope you have enjoyed my writing.

Where did it all go wrong?

2010-08-18T03:04:00.000-07:00

The short answer is on the A34 through Stafford!
We left Carlisle quite early and were making good time trundling along in glorious sunshine. We were so confident that we would be home in time for tea that we rang home and told our dog sitter that she could go home!

Then we hit pretty nasty traffic in the centre of Stafford and things started to go wrong. At a particularly busy round about the car started to cough and splutter and died a couple of times. I got it onto the verge as best I could and got the bonnet up.

I was pretty confident that all I needed to do was change the battery over to the one I had been charging all night so 5 minutes later we were back underway.

Unfortunately 500 yards down the road in an equally inconvenient place it died again.

Fortunately a very kind man was on hand to help us push it down to a small service road where we were out of the way of the traffic.

It seemed that the spare battery was not properly charged so we had now officially broken down- it was time to call in the RAC.

The RAC were fantastic and got Andy the patrolman to us within 30 minutes- he had a quick look and agreed that it was probably lack of power in the battery that was stopping the fuel pump, spark etc. The route cause of this was that we had been running our luck since John O Groats by driving without a dynamo.

Amazingly just 6 miles down the road was "Mr B's" a classic car and Morris minor specialist so with a bit of charge back in the battery we limped to the 6 miles to Mr B's workshop.

Mr B very kindly checked the dynamo and pronounced it dead- unfortunately he didn't have a replacement but referred us to some one who did. Our super helpful RAC man jumped in his van and went to buy it- hindered only slightly by the fact that the shop would not take a credit card.

Once we had the part it took only 20 minutes or so to fix and the car fired up with no red dynamo warning light. We jumped in and zoomed off.

Unfortunately about 200 m down the road we had to call Andy again as the car had lost power and died. Over the next few miles we would change a part or adjust something, drive a mile or so and then pull over again as it became apparent that our problems were very much still present.

After about 5 hours we were stumped, the dynamo, points and condenser had all been changed and the car was still running as rough as a badgers ass so we decided that it was all over.

1752 miles after we left Thatcham the car was loaded onto a recovery truck and had a piggy back home. Both Lynn and I were gutted. In fact Lynn admitted that she was close to tears when our brave little car was being loaded onto the lorry.

After an enlightening drive home with our Kamikaze recovery driver- who taught me a great deal about the communications industry ( who would have thought that 3 owned Orange!) we finally arrived home at 10.30pm - nine and a half hours after we broke down. There was just enough go in the car to trundle it down the close before it coughed and died.

The following morning it wouldn't start at all and we had to push it around the close to get our modern cars off the drive to go and collect the kids.

Having now had 24 hours to reflect (sulk) about everything I have decided that I will not be beaten. Over the next couple of weeks I( with the help of some professionals) will try and get the car running again and then I will do those final 130 miles. However as technically we failed to complete the trip I will fully understand if anyone wants to withdraw their sponsorship.

Hopefully I can get the old thing running again by the bank holiday weekend as I am meant to be showing it ( and the Ferrari) at a local car show. However I think that all depends on the mystery fault.

Looking on the positive side I am prepared to bet that less than 2 hours at the Thatcham Mini centre will have her purring like a kitten again!

Disapointing end

2010-08-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

After several new parts and 5 hrs of spannering by Andy the RAC man we were forced to admit defeat 130 miles away from home.

Swap??

2010-08-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

If we can't find the parts we might consider a swap....?!

Oh poo!

2010-08-16T05:33:00.000-07:00

We have a small technical problem....

Catch Up from Yesterday

2010-08-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

The coverage has been dipping in and out whilst we were in Scotland so thought it was worth doing a full catch up.

We left Carlisle at around 9.30 and had a quick breakfast of Almond Croissants, apples and Capri Sun as we drove towards the borders.

Despite the little issues getting started the car continued to run really well and on the faster roads we were on we averaged around 50 miles an hour.

I have to hand it to the Scottish they know how to make a good road- all the roads were excellent fast A roads with non of this namby pamby English 40 mph speed limits och noo we could barrel along at close to 60 with nae bother.

The journey was pretty much uneventful, the car ran nicely and we only stopped for natural breaks or to fill up with fuel.

Things started to get exciting when we saw our first sign with John O Groats listed on it and as the miles clicked by I started to feel a sense of achievement.

The weather was beautiful, the other drivers friendly and supportive and we were only a short distance from our second objective. The scenery along the A99 was amazing, we took lots of photos whilst zooming along which we will publish in a gallery once we get home.

We decided to stop at Wick and check in to our hotel before doing the final 16 miles to John O Groats.

Unfortunately when we got back into the car the ignition warning light was on- it had been fluttering at low revs for a while but I was confident it was just a loose fan belt so we sped off to John O Groats and to hell with the consequences.

We got there and I have to say it is a massive anti climax. The place is an utter $%&** hole- even the sign showing how far it is to Lands End has been taken down because it keeps getting vandalised!

We got a few pictures taken, got the hotel to stamp our end to end form to prove we had been there and zoomed back to the hotel for some food.

Whilst at the hotel we decided that my original plan of trying to get home in one day from Wick to Thatcham ( well over 600 miles) was a bit ambitious. Instead we decided to stop over in Carlisle again.

So this morning we were up early (having charged the car battery overnight at the hotel) and I got the spanners out to tighten the fan belt and hopefully cure the red warning light.

Unfortunately with the belt tightened it still refused to go out which I diagnosed as a kaputt dynamo- however the weather was good and I surmised that with a charged battery we should be able to get to Halfords in Inverness to get a second charged spare to get us home (no chance of getting a dynamo!).

So that's exactly what we did. The car kept on trucking and the bonnet up photo below is simply me swapping between one old battery and a freshly charged new one.

Also bought the kids some small souvenirs at the gift shop and had a coffee to keep me awake.

The final highlight for me before we left Scotland was to see 2 Morris Minors chugging towards us- that's the first sightings since Cornwall

We arrived at our hotel in Carlisle around 7pm, immediately put the spare battery on charge and I am now off for a well deserved plate of tuck and a beverage.

Not broken down...just resting!

2010-08-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

Just pulled into Stirling services for a quick coffee and some air.

We made it!

2010-08-15T02:10:00.000-07:00

Last night we pulled into John O'Groats at around 7pm. Will update blog later as 3G coverage is very poor.

Are we nearly there yet?

2010-08-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

YES WE ARE!!!!

I canna give her any more captain, she's gonna blow!!

2010-08-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

Well into Scotland now. Zooming along the A9 just past Stirling. This is what A roads should be like. Making lots of head time as once we reach the highlands things could slow us down.

531 miles in 16 hrs

2010-08-14T00:21:00.000-07:00

What a day! It took significantly longer than we had anticipated to get to Carlisle and we finally arrived at 11.30 pm.

So why did it take so long?

Firstly the route we chose was all A roads that had not been converted to Motorways, as far as I can see this means that a B road has been upgraded to an A.

We particularly lots a lot of time as we drove through the Exmoor national park around Lynmouth. The roads (which were apparently A roads) were extremely windy with lots of 180 degree hair pin turns and in some cases gradients of 25 %.

This has two effects on the car- going up it meant that we rarely got out of second gear and going down it cooked the brakes. The smell of burning drum brake was worrying and the fade was extremely scary- we took a bit of a video which we will try and upload from the Iphone.

Secondly we picked the peak time for driving tractors and caravans around- in some cases we spent hours behind tractors that would not pull over on roads where the powerful 1098 cc engine in the Morris could not zip past them.

Around 2pm we got to Bristol and were introduced to a whole new hazard- the bike chain ninja! I kid you not on the side of the A 39 to Gloucester we came across a man wearing a security guards crash helmet with neck pads and body armour wielding a motor cycle chain like a nunchuk and leaping up in the air to put in the killer strike on the lamp post that was attaching him. What a fruitcake! Fortunately the doors were locked as they kept popping open so we just ignored him and kept driving.

At Ludlow we did a quick tot up of the miles we had done and realised we had about 200 more to do- mainly because I had added up the mileage wrong when calculating the stop overs. Fortunately my wife is very understanding and we did not argue- we just got on with the driving.

However as it go darker and the rain got harder it became almost impossible to drive down the windy A roads so we took the decision to cheat a little bit and join the old A6 on the 1960s map- which has subsequently become the M6.

We carried on tanking along at about 55 miles an hour and finally pulled into our hotel at 11.30.

The real hero out of all of this was the car- she had happily trundled along for nearly 16 hours with no real brake and when I checked her fluids this morning the only thing she had consumed was petrol.

We did learn last night that the windscreen leaks a bit, and that the lights are not very bright, and that the back light on the speedy only works intermittently but mechanically she has been fine.

I got up at 7am this morning and went to check her over as when we pulled into the hotel last night the indicators weren't working. The reason I discovered was because with lights and wipers going full bore for about 5 hours we had flattened the battery.

On a lesser modern car this may have been a problem but on Cowley's finest all I need to do was connect the little red starting handle- give it one turn and she roared into life!

I checked the terminals on the dynamo and the fan belt and all seemed OK and 15 minutes of ticking over later there was sufficinet charge in the battery to start her with the starter motor.

What a wicked car. We hit the highlands today so hopefully we will get some good pictures, we completely missed the lake district as it was pitch black when we passed through.

I suspect we may encounter gradients worse then 25% but I am sure the little car will manage beautifully.

11:30 pm and reached Carlisle

2010-08-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

What an eventful day. Far too tired to
blogzzzzzzzzzz.

OMG it's 18:15 and STILL have around 200 miles to go!

2010-08-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

Just pulled over for a driver change and looked at the map. Not looking good as only just out of Ludlow. At this rate we won't be in Carlisle until 22:00! Looks like take away for tea.

Behind schedule

2010-08-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

Running well behind schedule so not time to update blog with details. Will update fully this evening.

Top Gear were right!

2010-08-13T02:33:00.000-07:00

After a quick pit stop to change drivers (James couldn't map read or use the iphone to update the blog) we are not making great time - stuck behind the countries best loved vehicle!

Day 2 (06:55) St Just

2010-08-12T23:08:00.000-07:00

Early breakfast after an raven earlier wake up call from sea gulls. I have taken control of the blog and WILL be driving this morning. Of cource, We need to get the old wreck started...once he has been given his cooked breakfast we will be off.

Day 1 - 265 mile- done!

2010-08-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

We have arrived safely at Lands End after a relatively uneventful journey.

The car performed really well all afternoon with non of the feared over heating or misfiring. In fact the only bit of jeopardy we had to worry about was almost running out of fuel. I was charging along quite happily with Lynn asleep ( the best way to avoid arguments I find), however when she woke up she indicated the fuel gauge was pointing on empty. At the time we were tanking along the A30 which is long, undulating and apparently utterly bereft of fuel stops.

It got so bad that I pulled over to refill using the emergency fuel in the boot when we spotted a service station on the horizon.

The rest of the journey was fine and what has been really enjoyable is the love we are getting from other motorists- I assume that's why they are beeping their horns and waving at us.

When we got to Lands End the fella on the gate very kindly let us in for free and we went and got our end to end form stamped and authenticated before having our pictures taken.

On the way back we saw this sign. We decided to stop to let the car understand that this was the first and last garage we would be visiting on this trip.

We are now back at the in St Just working out our route and timings for tomorrow.

Overall we managed to average 40 miles an hour including breaks although each hour we got faster as I got more comfortable with thrashing the old girl- at one point we managed 70 down a particularly steep hill but it's not an experience I would recommend- it felt a bit like making your Granny sprint for the bus!

Our next stop off tomorrow night is scheduled to be Carlisle which by my reckoning (using the map and a piece of string) is about 420 miles away so a good 10 hours driving. I hope the old thing is up to it- it's about time she took a turn at driving!!

Will try and post more updates on the move.

134 miles so far (14:40)

2010-08-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

Car running well - taken a short stop to refuel ourselves. Averaging a little slower than we hoped but still think we are on target to get to Lands End at about 6pm.

Thatcham 10.24 am- Wig up and move out!

2010-08-12T02:23:00.000-07:00

This is my last post from the comfort of my office. The kids have been dropped off with relatives and the car has been fueled and packed- there was a definite creaking from the suspension and that was before I get in!

I am wearing my lurid shirt and my CND medallion and soon the wig will go on.

So wish us luck- our next post will be from the Iphone once we are underway!

Tracking App is now online

2010-08-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

With only 36 hrs before we set off I can now confirm that our tracking app is live and online. You can reach the app by going to http://helpforheroes.wincast.com/

Any one following us will now be able to see exactly where we are due to the marvels of mobile technology and a lot of development help from our sponsors WIN.

Would love to write more but I have far too much to do!

Final Preparations

2010-08-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

This weekend was my final chance to do the last few maintenance and preparatory jobs on the Morris before we set off.

Did all the basic stuff you would expect, checked tyre pressure, topped up oil, greased nipples(on the car), filled wiper washer, checked tread on spare etc.

I had also been toying with the idea of flushing out the radiator to ensure we reduce the risk of overheating but was uncertain whether I should risk fiddling with something that appeared to be working OK.

In the end I decided to do it.

What a mess- I drained out the radiator (all over the tarmac in front of the house) and pretty much dyed everything including the engine bay a rusty orange colour.

Then I flushed it out with a hose until the water coming out was almost clean, closed it up and put in the flushing liquid I had bought from Halfords.

20 minutes later (and yet again missing the bucket I meant to drain it into) the most foul orangy black slop was removed from the radiator.

Topped it all back up and hopefully it will work that much better if we get stuck in holiday traffic around Cornwall.

With that job complete it was time to pack everything into the boot. This included spares, foot pump, tyre weld, oil, water, spare fuel, fuel additive, tools, duck tape (which will fix anything) hazard triangle, torch, high vis jacket, overalls etc etc. in fact the only essential that we didn't pack was the strong drink we will need after each day of driving. As you can see from the pictures there will not be a whole lot of space for luggage in the boot so we will have to travel light.

Then I used rainex water repellent on the windscreen- the wipers on the car are pretty slow (only one speed) and I have read that if the windscreen is treated properly you can drive OK even if your wipers fail- we will see!

Finally I checked all the electrics (lights, indicators, wipers etc. It was at this point I discovered that one indicator wasn't working and my headlights had failed. PANIC!!!!.

However I think this must have been a dodgy earth as with a bit of fiddling it all came back- possibly the 10 gallons of orangy gunk that splashed around the engine bay had messed up the contact.

Then it was one final test of writing the blog wirelessly (which will have been successful if you are reading this) and we are pretty much ready to go bar fuelling up and packing our bags.

In a weeks time I hope to be writing this from my hotel in John O'Groats- fingers crossed!

7 Days to go

2010-08-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

Only 7 days before we start our epic marathon and I keep remembering things I meant to do to the car!

I am trying to drive the car every day and I keep imagining different faults but I am sure they are all in my head.

Did a final push on sponsorship with friends and colleagues and we are really close to the target so hopefully we will achieve £2k before we leave.

This weekend I will do a few last little servicing jobs and then it is packing and off we go.

Damn- just remembered I need to check if the car has a jack and if not get one.

Double Damn- need to check out what the spare is like.

OMG also need to get those big jerry cans from my Dads- feels like it might be a busy weekend!

Over £200 Collected

2010-07-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

The day at the carshow was great fun and I met loads of other Morris Minor owners who offered invaluable advice on pre journey maintenance and the spares that I should carry.

At these events I am always impressed by how friendly and generous people are- always happy to talk to the slightly weird hippy bloke in front of the rusty Morris! The radio and newspaper certainly helped as many people had heard about what we are doing and came over for a chat.

I am off work this week ( enjoying a few days at home with the girls and the puppy!) so I have had ample time to do a few jobs on the Morris and in preparation for our adventure.

First I fixed the boot catch which annoyingly would not close.

Then I went on line and ordered a boot full of spares including fan belts, fuses, rotor arms, plugs and a couple of condensers from separate sources as these seem to fail very regularly.

Finally today I got round to counting up the money in the collection tins. This was money collected at work, at Welford and Wickham Produce in the Park, Henwick Fields car show and at the race course on Saturday.

The grand total was £216 getting us very close to our £2k target so I hope with one last push we will achieve it before we set off. I am currently working with a colleague to sort out a sweepstake as to when and where we will break down or have a row which should raise a few extra pennies.

Only 14 days before we set off- I can't wait......Lynn can!

An exciting few days

2010-07-25T01:35:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days things have really gathered pace. On Thursday my radio interview went out (although I missed it as I was in London) although they also covered it on their website.

http://www.newburysound.co.uk/couples-retro-charity-drive-i-6547.php

We also featured in the local newspaper the Newbury Weekly News ( see picture).

Yesterday I spent most of the day polishing the Ferrari and also spent a good hour or two on the Morris in preparation for the car show at Newbury.

The Morris scrubbed up quite nice and in the sun even her rusty chrome shone.

I decided to go to the car show in costume to try and raise a few extra pennies and I am writing this blog dressed as a hippy sat by the car and Newbury race course.

Assuming this posts OK then we will continue to update using my Vodafone data connection for the entire journey.

22 days and now all the family are involved

2010-07-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I will be setting off on my trip in just 22 days. Things are really hotting up now in one final push to try and hit the £2k target before we leave.

Earlier this week I sent the photos and some press releases to the local Radio station Newbury sound and was delighted to do a radio interview earlier today.

So far I have not heard my 50 seconds of fame but I am looking forward to it and hope that people will log on to follow the blog and maybe come and see us at the race course this weekend.

I have also been working with WIN's PR team to develop a press release for use in the industry press so again hopefully this will bear fruit and we will see the total rise ever higher.

Finally as you can see I have also resulted to using our cute puppy Merlin to try and get some extra pennies! How could anyone say no to him?

Finally a Blog Update!

2010-07-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Quite a few people have taken me to task for my tardiness in updating the blog- I can promise you I have not been idle but I never get round to writing an update.

In the last few months I have been trying to use the Morris as much as possible and have been attending classic car shows so that I can shake my Help for Heroes tin and get some more sponsorship.

A few weeks ago I attended a show at Henwick fields in Thatcham. It was a fantastic little event and as ever the public were very interested in our little trip and extremely generous with advice and sponsorship.

On the way back from this event the car started to misbehave quite badly. She had been misfiring a bit for some time and despite checking all the leads etc. I could not find anything wrong.

On the 2 mile journey back from the show it got very touch and go with her lurching around and making the most disconcerting noises!

Fortunately quite recently I had read of a similar fault in Classic and Sports Car Magazine and the writer of that particular article (who also lives in Thatcham) got some good advice from the Thatcham Mini Centre and CJR.

I gave them a quick call and they confidently and correctly diagnosed it as a condenser fault. They told me it was an easy job and agreed to pop round and collect the car whilst also giving it the once over prior to the trip.

The car had one last hissy fit to throw- involving three enormous backfires and my close being filled with smoke- before the guys replaced the condenser and points and showed me what to do next time.

Best of all they generously only charged me for the parts (£10) so my 1960s car got fixed at 1960s prices!

Once the car was running again it allowed Lynn and I to partake in another piece of nonsense- taking some picture of us and the car in our 60s gear.

The plan is to use these with the local press release so not only readers of the blog can see me looking like a complete ass but so can the entire population of Newbury.

I have another show next week at Newbury race course and suggested to Lynn that we should do it in the outfits- she wasn’t keen but I will try and win her around because I really like the sensation of having hair again!

It’s less than a month before we set up so I promise I will do more updates- hopefully the local press will drive more interest and we will hit £2k before we leave!

Pimp My Minor

2010-05-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

For some time now I have been trying to sell panels on the minor to corporate sponsors. I am now please to announce two such deals.

The first was to my mate Rick who runs Berkshire Property Maintenance. Rick very generously sponsored the rear pane of the car and even put in some incentives for extra sponsorship if I can get the car in the press etc.

Pretty certain I will manage that so hopefully there will be some extra money on it’s way to Help for Heroes as soon as the press releases are written.

My plan is to get the kids at Lynn’s school to write the releases so it would be a very hard hearted hack that will ignore them!

The second corporate sponsor was WIN. WIN are a technology service provider and text aggregator and have not only sponsored a panel on the car but also set up a text short code so that anyone can text in to sponsor us!!

They are also investigating whether or not they can track us on the journey se we may be able to have a LEJOG tracker page for the drive- this will allow all interested parties to see where we have broken down at any time day or night!

Finally I persuaded Lynn’s brother to do the sign writing. The car was finished about a week ago and looks wicked. Steve’s company impact graphics have done an amazing job despite the rubbish paint finish- in fact now the graphics are on I think the car handles better as the rigidity has been increased significantly.

The next major job is to do my press releases and try and get some more coverage and sponsors- we don’t have many more weeks to get to the £2k target so the more exposure we can get the better.

Over the next few weeks I intend to expose myself across the local area so watch out Newbury!!

Meet Sky

2010-05-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks I have been pretty slack regarding updating the blog but I and my ever growing team of helpers have not been idle!

Last post I did was immediately prior to going to a big car show in Basingstoke equipped with collection tins and lots of literature about the adventure.

As you may recall from previous posts I still have an issue with the door popping open when driving but I had a cunning plan to solve this. I thought that if I locked the door there would be less chance of it flying open in transit.

So when I had packed the car prior to starting I locked the doors. Then I started her up and left her running to warm up- slamming the door closed as I left the car. OOOPs!

One Morris minor happily chugging away with the keys locked inside and no spares!!!

Fortunately 1968 locks are not that tricky to open and with a bit of wiggling of my preferred tool we were in!

The show was good and we had many donations and long chats with other owners and even met the person who sold the car to Colin whom I bought the car from.

That was a pretty illuminating chat where I learnt that the car had been bought from a scrap yard for £300 and then restored to it’s current glory?!

The haunted door appears to have been a feature back then too.

Last weekend we attended the local schools produce in the park event and again shook our tins and encouraged the school children to name the car.

We had lots of entries (some not so complimentary such as Rusty and one chaps insistence that it should be called Kevin!) but when we drew the name out of the hat the car was christened Sky.

So Lynn Sky and me are now only a couple of months from our epic journey and I still haven’t worked out what the average speed will be- will book a day off and do a long trip soon!

12 Months of motoring secured!

2010-05-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

Dave has worked his magic on the Mog and I now have a full 12 months of MOT!

Off and on it took Dave about a week to get all the welding etc done but even then he was unable to cure the enormously annoying habit of the doors popping open for no apparent reason. Maybe the car is possessed!

Although it may seem a small fault it is seriously off putting to be going round a corner only to hear a KLUNK and feel the wind rushing though whatever hair you have left.

I may have to weld the doors up Dukes of Hazzard style and enter and exit via the windows.

We have a car show to attend this bank holiday Monday and I hope to take the Mog and the Ferrari along with some collecting tins and stickers publicising the run and the blog so hopefully I can land some more sponsors.

That all depends on the bank holiday weather and at present the outlook isn't great.

One step forward two steps back

2010-04-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

Have been a bit of a slacker recently and not updated the blog for a while, however that is because I have been making the most of the weather and getting more little jobs done on the Morris.

Firstly over Easter I picked her up and drove her home. She performed perfectly with no oil leaks and managed even the biggest hills with no evidence of a mis-fire.

In fact she was running so nicely I forgot what I was driving and got a bit enthusiastic on the Basingstoke Road causing the back to slip out a bit and squealing protest from the rear tyres!

The following weekend I decided to tackle the seats.

This was an absolute pig of a job. Removing the seats was easy enough and getting them out of the car was equally simple.

What I needed to do was remove the rubber straps which hold in the seat cushions and then replace both the cushions and the straps with un perished and slightly better tensioned new articles.

It was the type of job that probably has a specialist tool or a real knack to it as the rubber webs have to be pulled really tight and then their little hooks have to be seated in the holes drilled into the seat frame.

It was soon very evident that I did not possess the right tool or the knack to do it so I had to resort to brute force and profanity.

I got it all done in about an hour but the following day I really ached.

As I still had some daylight left I decided to take off the hideous maestro mirrors that the car had fitted and put on some more period chrome ones. This again proved a bit difficult but with some grade A bodging I managed to get them on - they look lovely BUT are so small they are almost totally ineffective!

Monday this week I finally got round to taking the car for it's MOT. I left it with my mate Dave the mechanic and kept everything crossed.

Unsurprisingly it failed requiring some structural welding and the brakes needed sorting. As these are both critical safety features I have left it with Dave to sort- who knows what other nasty surprises he will un-earth!

Looks like the leaks are fixed?!

2010-04-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I got up at some ungodly hour and made the 45 minute drive over to my Mum's to try and fix the oil leaks on the Morris. Readers of previous posts will know that the car didn't leak oil before I tried to fix it a few weeks back, at which point I personally contributed to the shortage of crude which is driving up petrol prices!

We identified the problem as the seal on the old style oil filter.I purchased a replacement from Bullnose Motif spares ( opting for a newer type of fitting that takes a standard disposable style filter cartridge).

As ever my brother Steve was helping me out and we got right into it planning to complete a short list of jobs by early afternoon.

The jobs were:

1. Replace oil filter assembly
2. Replace sump gasket (had been weeping a little)
3. Replace another small cork gasket on side of engine

We drained what oil was left and then Steve got on with the oil filter whilst I cleaned the sump and prepared the cork gaskets -which had to be trimmed with a stanley knife.

Steve discovered that the oil filter assemply had an enormous amount of nasty white gasket sealant in it ( as have all the gaskets we have changed so far) but pretty soon we had the new fitting and gaskets in place.

There was one oddity- although the old assembly had an oil pressure sensor and a spade connector to hook it up, the new one had a sensor but no connector.

We resigned ourselves to the fact that I would either have a permanently on or permanently off oil light.

We got the sump back on and tightened up but decided we wouldn't do the final cork gasket as it looked like we would have to remove the exhaust manifold.

The car is already blowing at the front of the exhaust so didn't want to risk any more damage. The plate above the gasket was very loose so I tightend it up and hoped this would resolve the leaks.

We filled her up with the one remaining can of classic car oil available from Halfords in Newbury and started her up.

To my surprise I initially had an oil light on when I turned her over but as she got up to pressure and fired it went out- is there another sensor somewhere? Will need to check in the manual or with the owners club.

We got the car up to temperature and checked the oil again- still good- no signs of leaks.

Time for a test drive. The original fault that I had hoped to rectify before we had the oil heamorage was that the car missed when being driven at speed or under load.

Steve and I jumped in ( thats the load part- he's nearly twice my size!)and zoomed up some of the biggest local hills we could find- it all seemed OK.

Checked the oil and amazingy it was still in the car. Yippee!

I will be driving the car home over the bank holiday weekend so we will see how it manages on a longer journey.

It will also allow me to see if I have successfully fixed the problem with the door popping open on roundabouts! We drive through Basingstoke so plenty of opportunity to test that particular fault!

If it all goes OK next jobs are sort out the dodgy exhaust and then get it through an MOT.

Fingers crossed I won't be calling out the RAC on my homeward journey.

Sponsorship update and the answer to my oil leak?

2010-03-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

It's only Tuesday but already the week has delivered a number of pieces of exciting news. The sponsorship total is growing daily and as I write this we have achieved about 68% of the target. (Still plenty of opportunity to give though!)

I hope to give this another boost soon as I have been working with a number of friends and colleagues regarding corporate sponsorship and I will be announcing soon a number sponsors whos logos will feature on the car (and probably hold it together).

However today I received a very significant donation from Carcoon. For those of you who don't know what a Carcoon is it is a small inflateable bubble that keeps your classic car warm and dry. I have two of them for my other cars ( Ferrari and Alfa Romeo) and they have been exceptional at keeping the curse of Italian cars at bay (rust).

I e-mailed the guys at Carcoon on Sunday telling them about the quest and they came through brilliantly today with a very significant donation.

Today I also received what I hope will be the solution to my oil filter woes. I e-mailed morris minor spares and they suggested a conversion kit to a spin on oil filter. It has arrived and the weekend after next Steve and I will be taking a full day to try and get the old girl running again.

As this is becoming such a team effort I have updated the blog with links to friends or organisations who have helped me out so please check them out.

Finally yesterday I also received a belated birthday gift from my team at work- they had got me a Haynes restoration manual for the morris (which will be covered in oily smudges very soon as it will be invaluable) and a set of air horns to fit to the car. As yet I am unsure what tune they will play but I am sure it will allow me to loudly proclaim my arrival at journeys end. Thanks guys!

Minor Mishaps- a less then positive weekend

2010-03-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

This was the big weekend when I planned to service the Morris and solve all her ills. It started well enough on Friday; I took her out from under the covers and started her up to make certain that the battery was OK. She started fine so I used her that evening to collect the girls from Guides.

Saturday morning and I was up and about early to do a few chores before popping down to Halfords to get some oil ready for the service.

Unfortunately the Morris had other ideas- she flatly refused to start which meant I had to push her around the close to get at my other car. Using the modern car I drove to Halfords and bought my oil (cost nearly as much as the service pack!) and some jump leads.

By the time I had got home, started the Morris with it’s freshly re-charged battery, and got on the road half the day had gone already.

The plan was to drive the car to my Mums house (about 45 minutes away) and crack on with the service and gasket replacements. The 45 minute journey took slightly longer than planned as the car really started acting up- losing power and really wheezing as it went up hills- and finally about 5 miles from my Mum’s it gave up entirely.

Five minutes later- some choice language and a bit of under bonnet tinkering and we were off again- finally arriving at our destination with only one break down and 6 door openings. (Did I mention that the driver’s door pops open from time to time- it makes journeys so much more exciting!).

My brother and I set to work with the service and this is when the real problems started. Firstly we drained the oil and then refilled her to flush it out. As I was refilling her I could hear the oil slapping on the workshop floor. I immediately blamed Steve (my brother) for not replacing the sump drain plug- if only it were that simple.

Instead the oil was poring out from under the rocker cover. We removed the cover and discovered that the gasket had actually folded under the cover leaving a big hole for the oil to leak from. No problem we had a spare gasket and replaced it easily.

Plugs, leads, distributor all easily replaced and things were looking good.
However once we had completed the service and refilled the oil we again discovered a massive puddle under the car. We had failed to get the gaskets to seal properly on the old style oil filter and so another 5 litres of Halfords finest was dribbling across the workshop floor.

It was now getting quite late and little people kept popping into the garage to enquire how I was getting on and making big hints that it really was time to go home- but the car was not driveable.

We decided to divide and conquer. Steve cracked on with the oil filter and I went to the back end to replace the rear suspension tie rods which had been an advisory on the MOT. This was a relatively simple task requiring only four bolts to be undone and the new bars put in.

WRONG. Despite pounding the blighters with a hammer and using the foulest anglo saxon I knew I could not get the darn things off. We concluded a ball joint breaker was required so I decided to call it a night and go home in Lynn’s car.

The good news was the oil was in and we had run the car up to hot with no puddles.

Sunday morning I was back down to Halfords- third time in two days- to buy a ball joint breaker and yet more oil.

We all jumped in the car and were on our way down to my mum’s when I got a call from my Dad. The alarm on the Alfa was going off. This was a bit of a surprise, as to my knowledge the Alfa doesn’t have an alarm, but I could certainly here the horn blaring away so we diverted to Dads to sort it out.

I wasn’t really feeling like diagnosing the problem so I just disconnected the battery and got back in the car to go and sort out the Morris. The joys of classic car ownership!

With the new tool I had the bars switched over easily- I ran the car for a while and there was no evidence of oil seepage so I took her for a test drive.

I drove the car as hard as I could up the steepest hills and as far as I could work out the stuttering had been cured. YIPPEEE!

Back at Mums I checked the oil again- curiously there was nothing on the dip stick. I thought I’d better swing it back into the workshop to refill the oil at which point I discovered a she was leaving a green snails trail of oil wherever she went! It was that bloody oil filter again!

I gave up.

In summary I arrived on Saturday with a working car and left on Sunday with an immobilised heap still languishing in the workshop having been “fixed”.

Maybe this is going to be tougher than I thought.

I have a car- now the hard work begins!

2010-02-17T13:36:00.000-08:00

Today I picked up the car that should take me across the UK and back on my Lands End to John O’Groats adventure. The car is a 1968 Morris Minor in smoke grey. She has an 1098 cc engine and at her prime was good for just over 70mph- although that was a while back and like us all she is probably not as spritely and energetic as she used to be!

There is something very exciting about buying a new car, firstly there is the nervousness that it may not be as good a s you think, then there is the excitement of giving over the cash and getting the keys and finally the joy of the first solo drive- and in the case of classic cars the risk that you won’t make it home!

We collected the car from Eastleigh and drove it down the M3 and onto the A34. On the test drive and around town she behaved fine but once onto the motorway I noticed a distinct reluctance to perform.

If she was going any faster than 60 or under load (going up a hill for example) she started to pop and fart in the most disconcerting way and lose power.

At one point I had to pull over and let her have a bit of a rest and this is on a 20 mile journey so I don’t think she is quite ready for the big one!

That said with such a simple engine there were only a few things that could be causing this problem- either fuel starvation or ignition problems.

When we arrived home after a journey where our fingers were tightly crossed I popped up the bonnet to see which one of these was most likely.

From what I could see the plugs and leads and presumably points and distributor had not been replaced for a while so these seemed like likely candidates. While I had my nose under the bonnet I also noticed some oil leaks and a blowing exhaust.

Add onto this the repairs that need to be done to the seat bases, the rear tie bar bushes and the fact that the MOT expires a day after we start on our journey and you may think that I have bought myself a whole heap of trouble.

But fear not- none of these things are expensive to fix and the seller was very honest with me about the leaks and bushes and to be honest you would be mad to consider taking any classic on a long drive without a full service- add to that the bargain price I paid (£1350) and I am confident with a few days work she will be running sweetly.

Parts for the Morris Minor are really cheap and I was able to secure all the bits I needed plus a few cosmetic parts for just £127- this included plugs, leads, filters, condenser, coil, seat bases x2 seat webbing x2, seat clips (40), rocker cover gasket, sump gasket etc etc.

A quick jump onto Amazon and I had a Haynes manual sorted and I have already persuaded my brother to help me do all the work in a couple of weeks.

I have already started compiling a list of jobs to be done which I will publish shortly- the biggest challenge will be ignoring the cosmetic jobs as she could use a re-spray . I keep telling myself that the car may not be any good after the trip so I mustn’t do too much tarting up.

Plus I hope she will be smothered in corporate sponsors logos which will cover up the holes and filler any way!

139 miles, 4 cars and nothing bought (yet!)

2010-02-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

The weekend started in the most frustrating way . I had been watching a reasonable looking MGBGT on E-bay. Unfortunately the auction ended at 11.20 on Friday morning – so work interfered with my ability to bid! I consoled myself with the fact that the £1200 price would undoubtedly go through the roof in the last minutes of bidding . WRONG some one bought that little beauty for only £1260!

Saturday morning arrived and the girls were all very excited at the prospect of viewing 4 cars in one day!

First stop Devizes where a dealer had an Austin A30 (who we christened Millicent) and an MGBGT for sale.

Lynn discounted the MG immediately and having started it I can’t blame her- it was very close to the budget and made some expensive sounding clunks from the gear box/ drive shaft area.

The A30 looked great and was just a joy to sit in. To start it up you first needed to switch on the ignition and then pull the toggle switch that worked the started motor.

It started first time and ran nicely so the whole family climbed in and we took it for a test drive. It was great fun – particularly the trafficators (indicators that pop out the side of the car) but the steering got a bit vague at anything over 35 and braking was probably what you’d expect on a 55 year old car.

The safe top speed was probably about 45-50 mph which would seriously extend our adventure from the planned 4 days to closer to a week.

Finally the car would have left only £5 in the kitty and I would definitely have wanted to fit seat belts so grudgingly we moved on.

At Eastleigh we met a 1968 Morris Minor called Molly. The kids liked Molly immediately and although cosmetically she was showing her age a bit (some one had given her the equivalent of Botox more then a couple of times) she was exactly as advertised- a decent honest classic.

She started up on the button and the owner gave us a tour of the small bits and pieces we would need to do. Sadly we couldn’t test drive her as she was blocked in by scaffolding but that comes down this week so we will be back – probably with a fistful of fivers.

The kids were now severely cheesed off having wasted an entire day being hauled around the county in the back of my car (which they hate because apparently I drive too fast).

Our final stop was an MGBGT in Winchester. The owner was fantastic taking pity on the girls and inviting them in to play in his garden while Lynn and I took the car for a rapid spin. It drove nicely with no uncomfortable noises. There was the usual MG rust but the price was very competitive. We drove home for a well earned Chinese and on the way I received a text from the MG owner offering to drop the price by £200 to support our charity run.

We have only got one car left to view on the shortlist (another Morris Minor as previously featured in the blog). At present I think the family are pushing towards Molly – who seems like the practical choice with 4 seats (for children and dog) but I do so love sports cars!

I will reserve judgement until I have test driven Molly.

Here comes Noddy!

2010-02-03T14:05:00.001-08:00

The fund raising is going really well and I am extremely proud of myself as I have managed to create a facebook account and publish on there too. (With some help!)

Unfortunately the search for a car is not going quite as planned.

Of the cars I posted last week nearly all of them have been sold before I even got a chance to view them and very few new options have appeared on the classic car websites.

Worse still I have had to abandon my plans to get an MG midget or Sprite as I went and had a look at one and it took only a matter of seconds to realise I was far too big for it.

My legs were too long and my shiny bald head stuch up over the top of the windscreen - according to my wife I looked like Noddy!

I am currently pursuing a couple of Morris Minors ( I would really like a convertible but no luck yet) and a rather nice looking MG BGT which is in Cardiff.

The plan is to try and book some test drives this weekend.

I am sure as soon as I have the car I will find that there are lots of jobs to entertain me and I am really eager to get cracking.

Recently one of my sponsors suggested that Lynn and I should do the trip in period costume i.e Flares and mini dress for the 70s etc. If I can achieve £1000 in sponsorship by my birthday on 28th of Feb I (and reluctantly Lynn) will do it.

Search for my car

2010-01-21T14:34:00.000-08:00

It's less than a week since I started on this crazy scheme and already many of you have been so generous with your sponsorship. Thankyou

This has made me realise that I need to start looking for the car that will take me on this adventure.

Having surfed around I have identified a number of models that may be right for the job.

Firstly there is "Gutsy Gertie" a 1958 Austin A35 Deluxe (it has a heater!!). The car looks in outwardly good condition but by the owners admission requires some TLC.Price £1850 so some space in the budget to deliver that TLC.

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Next up is a rather nice looking Austin Healey Sprite. It's 1971 vintage so just a year older then me and has the powerful 1275cc engine. Apparently the engine is running a bit rough due to the carbs needing balancing. At £1500 its an interesting option and because it's white it will be a great platform for all those corporate sponsors logos.

It's back to 1952 for our next candidate. A rather cute looking split screen Morris Minor. It only needs minor cosmetic work and is well within budget. It has the added advantage that it has back seats in case I need to bring the kids along too.

Last and by no means least is a rather tidy looking Triumph Spitfire currently living in Kent. The 1300 cc engine will ensure that I am not bankrupted by fuel costs however it will need a new roof which could take me over budget as the asking price is £1800.

As my sponsors I would welcome your comments and suggestions on which one you think may be most appropriate and I will gladly take other recomendations as well.
A colleague at work suggested a 1977 Alfetta but I had to decline as I think lights, indicators etc are not really optional on this journey.

I have also asked friends in various owners clubs to see what they can find for me within the budget. The more people that are looking the better chance I have of getting a decent car so feel free to post anything you think might be appropriate or amusing!
The target is to have the car by the end of Feb so we can fettle and sign write it so watch this space for more updates.

It all starts here!

2010-01-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

So by now you will have received my e-mails and probably visited my Just giving page.

As time is short I have already started the quest for the car and it is surprising how very little a budget of £2000 bill get you.

Look at some of these little beauties I found that were within the price range but well outside of my technical skills!

"Non running classic for sale. New veneers and most of chrome in excellent condition. Lots of parts available but must be dismantled by person collecting. Rear axle off so difficult to move. £1500.

Or.

Triumph Spitfire for Sale. Easy Project (No Engine) £1000

Presumeably these projects are only easy if you don't want to drive or move the cars!

I am beginning to wonder if I have bitten off more then I can chew but as ever I travel hopefully and fingers crossed there will be a really fantatsic little car with bomb proof reliability out there within my budget. I just don't think I will find it on E-bay.