Garage Day 7 January 2026 – A New Year of Greasy Stuff and Little British Cars!!
Well, I do hope everyone got all the Holiday goodies they wanted! I can envision auto parts, gaskets, cleaning supplies, toys and other fun things!! And I suspect we all ate and drank too much. It’s OK, that’s what the holidays are for!! But now we have to get back at it! Lots of stuff to do.
The weather today was weird. It started off a bit foggy and misty, but got warmer? I think I saw somewhere that it was supposed to get to the upper 70s or lower 80s today. Don’t know if it did? Well, it did get sunny, but . . . . Some of us (I counted three) were wearing jackets and kept them on all day? Others were wearing T-shirts! Only one had on short-pants? I guess we’re all just a bit confused??
If you hadn’t noticed, we were at John’s garage in DeLand again this week. The focus of our attention remained the 1990 Plus 8. The majority of the work occurred before the Holidays, but we ran out of time. We just couldn’t get it all done before Santa came. Hell, we’re old and get tired and need to stop before things get out of hand . . .
The car was started a few weeks before the holidays. The last bit, just prior to the car starting, was a confused frenzy of activity coupled with questionable speculation. A few odd noises, lots of kibitzing and a perplexing array of weird happenings. We poked and prodded and laid hands where we thought it would help. Then the car started, so we called it good!
But we knew there were a number of things we still had to address. That’s what we did today!
We needed to get the cowl reattached and the bonnet back on the car. These things are hard to do without help. John did what he could, but a second opinion or another set of hands is always helpful.
We put the seats back in the car and tried to start the car again. Lots of folks napping (they said they did stuff?) under that car. Ok, so I guess they moved some . . . perhaps just to get a bit more comfy? We finally attempted to start the car again. Racing idle and other noises.
And then there were those pesky gages! No oil pressure, the temperature gage was pegged high (wired backwards?), and the alternator gage showed a discharge? Yes, and there was that ‘in your face’ engine light!! More tinkering, loosening and re-attaching this and that! We even finally looked at the manual (although we resisted for a good long time!)
We used just about every hand tool (and some power tools as well!) that John had. Screwdrivers, vice grips, nut drivers, open-end wrenches, grinding wheels, battery chargers, battery jump starters (2X), rachets and sockets, pry bars and whatnot. Again, lots of stuff to do, so you have to use tools!
The only mess we made was showering Rick with Antifreeze. (Not sure what color?) Some thought this shower greatly improved his disposition? We all know that Antifreeze is poison (well, at least for dogs?)
We tried to start the Trike but became somewhat befuddled by the typed (wow!!) starting instructions. At first, we weren’t all that trustful of the typed version. We only went back to the handwritten version once! The accepted modernity continued on! Lots of ignition switches and a compression release? It was definitely a challenge? And there were at least 4 of us trying to contribute??
We finally decided to abort the attempt due to an insufficiently charged battery. This car hadn’t been started in over a year? John brought the car down, off the lift, and put the battery on the charger. It just wasn’t plugged in long enough! Oh well.
Jeff brought donuts today, as Pete (the official assignee was absent.)
Next week (14 January), we are going to reconvene at the Braunstein Garage in Sanford. This will give us a change of view. There are still a few loose ends to tidy up at John’s Garage, but we need to take a break. Doug has donut duty next!!
See you there!!
Cheers,
Mark
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