Saturday 5 June 2010

DHC report nr. 97; First drive

Yesterday, with the front screen’s sealant fully cured, I fitted the lower wind screen finisher and the wipers. Should have been a quick one but the nut from the right hand wheel box put up quite a fight. Took me well over an hour and a half to fit the nuts. After that the wiper arms were easy indeed.


Final job was fitting a new battery and connecting it up, she was ready for her first outing. And this afternoon the car left the shed under her own power for the first time in just over 17 months. As the car officially isn’t roadworthy without an MOT, I decided not to venture to far from home. Luckily there are enough interesting roads within a 10 mile radius for a gentle shake down run.
Really nothing much that was wrong. Only the coolant warning light refuses to go out, and after about 50 kilometres she developed a slight knocking under (hard) braking. But I am not too worried about that, as going over all suspension nuts and bolts was planned for tomorrow afternoon.
Other thing that needs some attention is the alternator, which looks like it’s on its way out. Near the end of the test drive I noticed that the indicators were only working very slowly. A quick look at the voltage gauge learned that the alternator was only charging marginally. So I will have to use the alternator from ‘t Kreng to get the car to the MOT and order a new one.

Safe for these few problem the test drive was rather good fun. This together with the fine weather made me forget that the car isn’t road legal yet. It was a rather enjoyable afternoon. And most importantly she looks absolutely gorgeous in the bright sunlight ...










With the car back in the shed I carried out a few more checks, but no real problems. Still a small leak at the front of the rocker cover. Turned out that I hadn’t tightened one of the screws properly. Also had a look at the wind screen washer which didn’t work. But after filling the hose with water that problem was solved, clearly the pump isn’t self-priming.
Will see if there are any other things that pop up tomorrow afternoon ...

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