My epic adventure to collect Daffodil was absolutely excellent
The train journey to Westbury via London was amazing.. I rode a Pendolino to London and a Hitachi Bi-Mode to Westbury... Both trains and the tube as well as the London Termini stations were deserted... Tumbleweeds could be seen blowing around
I could tell when the Bi-Mode switched from overhead electric to diesel just past Newbury... I could smell faint diesel fumes
Neither train was a comfy as Alasdair's C5 X7 though
After settling in, we looked into the cause of a strange misfire on Daffodil. Like a random loss of power that quickly recovered but with no real pattern or frequency. Having had a similar problem in the past on both Daffodil and Sally - they share the same Bosch Monopoint injection - we had a look a the throttle pot. Luckily Alasdair had procured a replacement and fitting it has entirely cured the issue.
The throttle pot is odd on the Bosch Monopoint as it's part of the throttle body and not strictly renewable. The correct course if it fails is to replace the entire throttle body!
This is the offending part - car and engine removed for clarity!
- Bosch Monopoint Throttle Pot
The aftermarket wireless as fitted was a bit roughly installed and I tried to improve it. In doing so I did something else...
I started up and noticed the charging warning lamp was on. Bugger
Alternator has died
We tried to see if one was available but none anywhere locally
I did some more tests involving voltmeters and got very confused. The charging light was off when the engine was not running and came on when the engine started? That's bizarre! The voltmeter told me odd things too! I looked at the warning light wire and found no 12v on the alternator end of it. Knowing that can stop the alternator working I set about seeing why. All seemed OK and then Alasdair asked if I'd checked fuses... No, I hadn't!
To cut a long and painful story short, I'd managed to blow a 30A fuse when looking at the wireless
Had I gone to the fusebox first I could have saved us a lot of time and aggro! All was good with a new fuse
Lesson: Check the simple things first!
The run home went beautifully, she never missed a beat and neither did I
In those past few days I learned a lot about me and how well my recovery appears to have progressed
Let's hope it lasts...
I even got some good runs in whilst I was down there too
I love this picture of All Hallows church I got on my early morning run yesterday... Atmospheric
- All Hallows Church, East Cranmore
Daffodil needs a little work... The front wheel bearings are a little worn and the front suspension wishbone bushes may be a little tired but apart from that she's absolutely amazing
And very frugal too... 160 miles on a quarter of a tank of petrol!
One job to do soon is to replace the rear brake drums/hubs and the drums have slightly damaged wheel stud threads from over-zealous (garage) tightening in the past... I have new drums and bearings in stock all ready to do the job... With only three wheel studs per wheel one cannot risk damaged threads!
She also needs some new speakers... The old ones are very poor...
Plenty of little jobs to keep me amused
However hard I look I just cannot find 5th gear... It's even disappeared from the gear stick knob!
- Where's fifth?
One big unexpected bonus is that it's had quite an engine upgrade
- Big Engine for an AX!
Bottom line is that I'm absolutely over the moon, both with Daffodil and what I learned about me
The only sad bit was the news I lost an old friend to the Big C on Friday
Now to start clearing the garage so she can live inside
Rucksack contains some car bits as well as my human needs 
I'm also giving this rucksack a good test with an eye to more daring adventures in tne future 
