A Change of Scenery

After time at work we decided to go away for a few days to give ourselves a change of scenery and a break. We booked some real nice hotels we liked the look of. We stayed in Surrey, London and Windsor. During our stop overs I was dragged around Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Windsor Castle and a couple of boat trips up and down the Thames. All were very good except Kensington Palace which I thought was a complete rip off. In fact I would say my Man Cave was more luxurious with the Mustang posters about the place than the dodgy postcards they were flogging in there. The London hotel was brilliant and I couldn’t ask for more. I was especially pleased with the breakfast for some reason; I could have what ever I wanted and however much I wanted, I got my monies worth. I was such a good boy that I surprised myself being dragged around the shops, in the hot sun not moaning and just carrying what ever was bought. It was like a camel in the desert, I got bought drinks and ice creams most of the day and I carried on humpin’ the bags about as normal again. I have taken lots of photos and thought I would post a few on here to see what people think. I’m no photographer but I like to take pictures, hopefully they look OK. And yes, I am ashamed to say that I did look like a tourist in my own capital city. *shakes head slowly*

friendly bee

Surrey hotel

Hampton court famous trees and palace

Hampton Court Gardens

Hampton Court doorway

me and the view of a Hampton Court

Tower Bridge

Tower Of London

changing of the Windsor Guards

Windsor Castle

St George’s Chapel Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

I have been busy doing bits on the car, like finishing the wire wrapping with tape, sanding the valance etc. I have also paid a visit to Mustang Maniac to get more Gibbs Brand Lubricant and smaller bits for the car. There will be a review of the Gibbs Brand Lubricant soon, trust me you really do want to try this stuff inside the home too. I have every intention to replace the car door hinges this week, but I will have to see how it goes as I have a few jobs lined up for me from the wife, like finish the tiling in the downstairs cloakroom, finish some painting in the utility room, finish the flower beds I started etc. Notice a pattern here? It’s funny because I don’t leave half a job on the car unfinished. But as my darling wife puts up with a lot from me I don’t mind doing a few jobs I started a couple of years ago, as long as it don’t interfere with Marts Mustang time that is. It may be a coincidence that unfinished jobs started at around the same time I got my Mustang.

I have been busy making another home-made tool, this time it’s a headlight spring tool. To hold the headlight bucket in place there is a fairly strong spring that has to be pulled to the bucket to hold the bulb in place. I have seen pictures of this tool but I have not managed to buy one. So I thought I would make one, this was pretty simple to be honest as it was a thin flat head screw driver I heated up and bent the tip over in stages with my blow lamp. I think it looks quite good! I bet the company didn’t know they now make specialist Ford Mustang tools as well!

I have added the review for the Sealey VS402 Vacuum Brake Bleeding Kit under the Review Menu – Tools, as I have had a few looks at the page under construction, so I thought I better finish it off!

Quick Links:

Home made Headlight Spring Tool – click here

Sealey VS402 v2 Vacuum Brake Bleeding and Testing Kit – click here

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Back to work

The last thing at the end of a holiday…

After a week off from work I set the alarm on the sunday night and got into bed depressed. The main reason being that my nice week had come to an end and now it was back to work. The turning on of the alarm ritual on Sunday night before you sleep is the signal that the holiday is over or the weekend has been and gone. Monday morning the alarm went of and it was like a sonic boom going through my head that honestly deserved the barrage of abuse that it got, not that it cared as it continued to bleep like it was doing me a favour. Then I hit the snooze, those few minutes never seemed to have happened, I ‘m sure a quantum leap in time stole those oh so precious minutes from me. It’s funny how that after the welcome back to work and the stories of what I had been up to had subsided, by the time mid afternoon arrived it was like I had never been away. I need another holiday.

Photos:

I have been a busy boy over the last week, I have added photo’s in all the usual places in the menus at the top for; Drive Shaft removal and fitting or click here for the quick link. I have added Rear Brake Rebuild Part 1, click here for the quick link, and Part 2 click here for quick link. These have the step by step instructions that I took as well.

Review:

I have added the review of my Dremel 4000 tool that I have been meaning to get round to for a while now. But, it has now been added at long last. Click here for the quick link or go to the Tools Review menu.

Forum:

I have asked the question about our ex Prime Minister between 1979 – 1990 is it Goodbye Maggie or Good Riddance Thatcher? Leave you answers on the forum via the link at the top, or click here for the quick link to leave an answer.

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Neglected blog and subtle hints

Don’t worry I am still here.

OK, I admit it I havent posted properly for a little while, two weeks actually. The word “post” is not in my good books with me at the moment. Let me explain, I have had the past week off as holiday, and I do use that term “holiday” very loosely in this update. I have been promising to replace our broken fence for the last 2 years now. But, I have had important things to do since then, like do my Mustang up! But my wife loves her garden as much as I love my car, the fact her prized climbing Hydrangea were getting damaged due to the fence being broken as it was swaying more than front row of a Barry Manilow concert. When the wind blows, the fence moves and bits break of, I get it in the neck and I promise to fix it, then I go on the car. I have been getting plenty of subtle hints though, let me take you back to Christmas just gone. When I was asked what I wanted for Christmas the standard response is, “bits for my car” or “tools”. Come opening prezzie time at Christmas I got some car bits, brilliant. Snap On vouchers, awesome. Then I got given few extra goodies that “I may like!” given to me in order; All Fat Max tools, hammer (OK I can use that on the car), small spirit level (can’t see how I can use that on the car, check the stance of the car? Nice thought though). General purpose hand saw for wood, (definitely can’t use that on the car, but I can change it, I will have to be careful how I phrase it!) Fine toothed wood hand saw, (now I was wondering what was going on.) Then came a long heavy object, yes, a 1″ Snap On breaker bar, Nope, it was a massive sledge-hammer. Now I can’t use that on the car, then the penny started to drop with the final little prezzie gardening gloves. OK, I had been saying that I need a sledge hammer to break the old concreate, I need spirit levels for the posts, I need saws etc. Last Friday we, or should I say, “I” had delivered nine panels, eight concrete posts, one wood post and a gate, three trellis, oh and post mix. Great, not. Saturday I was greeted with “we can paint the panels before we put them up”. To be fair it was a nice(ish) day and we had a laugh. So Saturday was a write off. Sunday, Mark came round to help put up the fence. He’s a good man, he works hard and is better with a shovel than I am. Well I am getting on a bit now, that’s my excuse anyway. We had fun getting the old spikes out, trying to work around the plants that can’t be dug up or it will kill them and trying to avoid tree roots. Sunday was a write off. Monday, Mark came back to finish the last two panels with me. It didn’t take too long. (Thanks to Mark for help on the fence, grand job mate). That left me with a part fence to cut down and gravel board to fit in the space. Then we had to go into town, on the way back we got some door furniture for the gate. Monday was a write off. Tuesday was about cutting the trellis to fit inside the concrete posts and hang the gate. Tuesday was a write off. That evening the wife was printing out some lesson plans and my printer decided to produce a collection of drive rollers and cogs out the front with half the paper. This was greeted with panic as the lesson plans needed to be done. Wednesday morning we checked the net and found a printer we liked. So off we went to get it. We got to the store which was empty and we were pounced on like a lion that hadn’t been fed for a few days. I brushed them away and looked at the printer, not bad, but the replacement cartridges were only £10 cheaper than the poxy printer. Are the manufactures having a laugh or what? Do they fill the cartridges up with mermaid tears or what? Anyway, we found one we liked and took it home. I went on the car when we got back to prep ready getting the drive shaft out and backing plate off for the brakes. Two hours later it was out and the brake plate as well. that evening the printer works well after a lengthy performance to set it up. Thursday I went to see Adam at Mustang Manic, I had a great laugh with him and got a complete hand brake kit for the car and a couple of drive shaft oil seals. A great day. Friday I spent all day cleaning up the plate and drive shaft with anti rust treatments. Great day. Today I put the backing plate and brakes together, put the drive shaft back in and got some of the Hand brake or Emergency Brake in place. Epic day.

So as you can see I have been busy, the wife is pleased with her fence and has been in the garden pottering about. I have been on the car for the last couple of days and will be again tomorrow. I will post a photo set of the drive shaft and rear brake build. I have added a review of my Metal Works tap and die set, which can be found under the Tool Reviews or click here for a quick link. I will post again very soon.

Am I forgiven?

Heres a little teaser of what I have been up to!

Note: I used all the tools I got for Christmas putting that fence up, these women are cute, but I don’t do subtle I just need to be told. oh, she did! Come to that I have used my tools from Snap On too, I don’t need to be told to use them though. 🙂

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Hat trick…

So its Sunday night, and I am thinking about work again. What prodded these dark thoughts? The weather again. Saturday was a good day as the sun was out, cold but the sun was definitely there. Today it has been raining, this stopped a fair bit of play on the car as the wind chill made it feel positively Siberian. But the hat trick this evening, it’s snowing! I couldn’t believe it. It had been locked in my own little world tweaking my blog and responding to a few emails that I had lost track of time. I hadn’t looked out the window, I hadn’t gotten out of my chair or moved from my screen. At work you are supposedly to have a five minute break every hour from your screen. At home do we? Nope, not me. I was to busy preparing my next review or news on what I have been up to, the time flies by and I’m getting tired. Now I have realised the time, I started to get my stuff ready for work and look out the window, that’s when I noticed the snow is starting to settle. I dare say that the journey into work will be chaos, there will be idiots on the road who think that their 4×4’s are invincible. I have news for you people, the car you drive has rubber tyres like mine, if you hit ice you will skid, just like me. I’m starting to get stressed about it already. This is not a good sign. I need a holiday, a month after Christmas and it seems like half a year ago.

The car, this weekend I have taken the brake drum off and posted pics of that under the photos section, or you can click here. I have sorted out the man cave again as it was getting in a mess. To cold to use filler, to cold to spray and with the amount of rubbing down I have to do I can’t have the door shut with all the dust flying around. So a bit of a non event Sunday. I mentioned earlier I was doing a review, that was for a Snap On torch I have. You can find it under the Accessories section, or click here for the quick link. I also put a real quick review of some soft jaws for my vice, that can be found under the Tools section by the Stanley vice, or click here.

Lets hope the weather improves here and also the USA gets over their bad weather too. Then we can all get on with doing what we like doing, in my case working on my car. The worlds climate has just mental, I just can’t remember it ever being this mad.

Thanks to everybody who has left comments this week on my blog, it really does make it all worth while to think that somebody has enjoyed a read with me. I appreciate it.