GEEEE'z what an adventure!

[red_dwarfers]

Cheers chaps!

Must admit that I wasn't quite expecting this much welding but I've learnt a lot and am finding it a satisfying change from sitting in front of a computer.

[citronut]

I rather admire and envy you the work you're doing there as I'd love to do similar myself...

the answer is buy your self a rust bucket Jim,

stick in there Kev and your welding skills will end up matching your wonderful fabrication skills,

[Xantianut]

Ay up RD!

My dad had a deep and unswayable loyalty for one particular kind of car so he bought one every time.

A junkheap!

However, your GS is exhibiting a typical GS trait. All the best and nice to see a car that's slightly unusual being restored rather than scrapped. Keep at it! And pls keep us posted.....

[ren16tx]

Kev will enjoy every mile and kilometer in Annerbelle when she's done!! i know this to be very true!!!

[citronut]

Kev i hope Mr Salter aint leading you astray again this week end

[red_dwarfers]

The G welding is going well. Subframe mounting on the body is all welded in nice and strong along with the new floor angle section and large part of the inner wing. Just need to sort the rear part of the inner wing which needs to be welded totally from the wheel arch and the outer reinforcing piece. Then finish off with a section on the wheel arch around the sill.
She's got a set of yellow headlight bulbs too
I'll have to sort out some photos!
A friend has also let me borrow a G steering rack to help me sort out the problem with mine which will be a great help.

What ever makes you think I'll be going to France again this weekend?!

[Citroenmad]

What ever makes you think I'll be going to France again this weekend?!

Before long you will have been to France more times than I have!

I much prefer Scarlet to WOR! Who came up with that?

[citronut]

ok Kev i spoz you deserve yet another break from ARK EYE THE NOOOOOO ,

whats wrong with your steering ( keeps steering you across the chanel ) rack

[bxzx16v]

Come on Kev I need piccies

Mark

[red_dwarfers]

Writing an entire post catching up with everything that I've done car wise recently seems very daunting so I keep putting it off thinking that I'll be in the mood in a few days time. It's not realistically going to happen though so I'll just do chunks.

I have a photo of the G welding but I left the camera in Florence the yellow Visa yesterday after we had a holiday in Somerset and Devon. Started off with a local 2CV group's Christmas meal 'The North Somerset Tin Snails' which was really good fun before heading down to Slapton Sands to see the location of the practice D-Day landings Exercise Tiger and the massive cover up of the forgotten dead.
On Sunday we walked over to Burgh Island before retiring to the highest and most remote pub in Southern England, the Warren House Inn in the middle of Dartmoor. That pub has had the fire running since it was built in the mid 19th century, and legend has it the fire was started from the glowing embers of the old pub next door while it was burning down.

The Xantia went in for it's MoT test today. It failed on 3 things, wipers, OS steering rack alligator and front brake hoses. I've fitted the wipers, have a spare stretchy alligator and the hoses will be arriving tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be half decent this weekend so I can crack on with that, the crankshaft pulley, mirrors and check the spare tyre. I also need to stock up on spare bulbs all ready for the roadtrip to the Alps for the new year.

The steering across the channel rack has a bit of play on the NS. Garage reckoned it was something to do with an inner joint and the track rod end looked okay.

Scarlet was a name picked by a friend of mine. He was the same bloke that named my white Xantia 'The Dutchess' but I wasn't really into naming cars back then. That Grant and Chris again!

[CitroJim]

Gosh Kev, you have been busy

I needed to lie down and rest after reading that lot

[citronut]

you still have to separate and remove the track rod end to fit the stretchy alligator Kev

if your going into the French Alps go up the cable car at Le Grave and in the Ice caves carved under the Glacier , absolutely wonderful

[citronut]

ps.

link to Le Grave

http://www.la-grave.com/winter/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[red_dwarfers]

Thanks for the link Malcolm, I'll note that down.

After realising that Christmas Eve is on Monday I got cracking with the MoT stuff yesterday. I made a start on the OS hose, after wire brushing and plus gassing everything I got the 14mm nut on the caliper undone but the one on the body was a bit of a sod as I don't have an 11mm flare nut spanner and I felt the open end one was starting to think about slipping. The NS one was okay so that one got done.
Today I picked up a chunky 10/11mm Draper flare nut spanner which has a lot more meat than any in my set to start off with. I whipped that one on and had to put a fair amount of pressure on it before it gave in. I had a horrible feeling it slipped, it took a couple of seconds to build up the courage to have a look.
The old ones are pretty bad, the rubber has cracked terrible. I did make the mistake of screwing the body side on before the caliper end...twice

I was hoping the OS steering rack alligator would go over the top and to it's credit it did. I did start off using a cone but it wouldn't stretch over it enough. There was a good bit of faffing about trying to get the rubber over the rack but I got there in the end with very oily hands. I took my gloves off as it was easier to feel what was going on than it was getting an achy neck looking. It started raining when it got to going under the car, quite fortunate I suppose as it was only my legs that got wet.

I would love to say that the car is all back together but I need to screw the track rod end into the hub but the damned ball joint keeps slipping.

[myglaren]

Try putting a scissor jack on it, with a bit of wood interspersed to avoid damaging anything, and force the taper in sufficiently to prevent it spinning while you tighten the nut down.