What shiny aircleaners you have (looking so much better than they used to): next things to get a go with the silver spray paint will be the radiator cowl and throttle linkages.

Distributor with only one set of points

Swings and roundabouts

It's after 11pm on Sunday night, and I have again had a full afternoon and evening of 'fun' fiddling with Her Ladyship.

First of all, I was struck with a (very) minor revelation last night. As we're going on a long trip next weekend (more on that later), the subject of Dame Zara's troublesome sound system has returned to the top of my mind. In the fullness of time, I plan to buy a newfangled stereo that I can hide under the seat (or even in the boot) and control with a remote, and to put the original Radiomobile radio back in the dash - working or not! However, for the moment we are stuck with a 70s Eurovox cassette player that makes everyone sound like The Chipmunks; and with abysmal radio reception, particularly on FM (I'm beginning to suspect my sparkplug leads). Hence my brainwave: back in the dawn of time when portable CD players were new and most cars had cassette players, one could buy a mock cassette with a playback head in it and a line-in lead to connect an external CD player. Kathy has an old CD walkman - I wonder if one can still buy these cassette adaptors?

Well, as it happens, since the more recent dawn of the iPod era, it seems they have come back into fashion, as people try to use their iPods in cars that still have cassette-based stereos. So, for a measly 20-something bucks at Dick Smith, I bought a cassette adaptor and a ciggie-lighter-powered DC adaptor. And does it work?, you ask. Well, somewhat ... The power pack does indeed power the CD player, but it's a rather ungainly box sticking out of the centre of the dash, so I have cannibalised a spare cigarette lighter socket from the spare Galant dashboard sitting in the garage, and I will endeavour to mount that in the parcel shelf. The cassette doohickey does work, and the sound quality is fine, no interference from the engine, but the cassette player still thinks it has a 'real' tape in it, and the auto-reverse mechanism kicks in every 30 seconds or so trying to change 'sides'. This wouldn't be so bad, except that (as is common with auto-reverse decks) one direction has much worse audio quality than the other, and the mechanism is quite loud. So, some time this week I'll get into the guts and see if I can disable the motors of the player - it's useless for cassettes, anyway. The larger challenge will be to see if the CD player can cope with the vibrations of the car - we tried it way back in Gussie and it was hopeless - skipped all over the place. Anyways, if I can perfect the system, it's all ready for when I buy an iPod or similar MP3 device.

The next task was to finally fit my new set of points. One of the pictures above shows one of the pair sitting on the bench, looking all shiny and expectant.

And there's a closeup of the distributor, clearly showing the post for the second set of points.

(By the way, I did get around to painting Dame Zara's aircleaners the other week, and they're looking much better, making the whole engine bay look much more presentable ...)

Anyways, the points went in without too much trouble, and I adjusted them roughly, checked that the engine started and idled, and moved on to the next thing: the cooling system.

In my previous instalment, I had filled the radiator with plain water and a cleaning solution. It was now time to empty that out and refill the system with proper coolant.

First of all, I disconnected the two hoses leading to the heater and got the garden hose ready to flush it out (thanks for the tip, Brendan!). Using the longer piece of heater hose as a drain pipe, aiming at a bucket so as not to flood the driveway and drains with coolant, I put a fair amount of water pressure through the heater, blowing out some rusty crud on the first pass, and proving to myself on the second that the heater tap isn't doing too bad a job: there's a clear flow through the heater, and the tap does open and close, cutting the flow to the extent that you could hear and feel the pressure increasing in the garden hose when it was closed.

Next job was replacing the left-hand t-piece, which wasn't too fiddly a job (pic above). I chickened out on doing the right-hand one, as that entails removing the entire carburettor from that side, and while the old one is showing some age, it's not leaking at all or in imminent danger of exploding (I hope!).

The radiator was drained of its cleaning solution by opening the tap (actually, I removed the tap, as I couldn't twist it open while it was in place - but once off the car it moved freely: typical! Anyways, it went back on with some fresh silicon sealant on the thread, so I hope it won't leak), and a fresh mix of 50/50 Castrol coolant and water was added, along with extra corrosion inhibitor and a dose of Bars Leaks.

One final 'little' job: I noticed when I fitted it the other week that the new fanbelt was coming perilously close to rubbing on the brand new lower radiator hose. Now as I was poking around further in that area, it was clear that it was actually touching and that the fanbelt had started to chafe away at the hose and its clip where it enters the water pump. So I put the old, tighter belt back on ... once I'd unbolted the fan cowl, and loosened the alternator so I could slip its belt off first ... Anyways, the old one is sound enough, and there's now a good two finger's worth of clearance between the pulley and the hose, so no more chafing.

After a spot of dinner, it was time for a test-drive. By now it was about 9pm, dark and raining on and off. I started her up and nosed down the driveway. I pretty much coasted down the little hill of Church St to the lights, but as I pulled off up Flemington Rd it was clear that something was amiss: a bad misfire on the slightest acceleration. I slipped back around the corner into Southgate St and home, chugging up the little hill at barely 20mph.

Opening up the distributor, I discovered that my rough setting of the second set of points was way off - the gap was visibly too wide. So I narrowed it down (using a cut-down laminated business card as my approximately .015" feeler gauge - my proper feeler gauge set has rounded, 'Paddle Pop-stick' ends that are too wide to fit into the Dame's distributor) and took off again, this time around Royal Park toward the Zoo. Better, but still a little hesitant on accelaration or pulling up even the slightest hill. On the upside, the temperature gauge happily tipped into the lower third of the dial after a few minutes' running and climbed no more and - shock, horror! - the heater started working to the extent that I had to open a quarter window for some cool air on my cheek.

But I have to get the misfire fixed once and for all and there's nothing for it but a trip to visit the Diagnostic Technicians. We need to be in fine fettle to make it to Beechworth and back with at least eight other V8s next weekend: it's the DLCV's annual 'brass monkey' run.

Rubbery bits and happy birthday

Current milage: (1)53,970 (2270 miles since purchase in February 2006)
Latest costs: $240 (radiator hose kit, thermostat, fan & alternator belts, petrol filter, etc, etc.); $550 (registration renewal and third-party insurance)

Dear Diary,

The next time I take it upon myself to drain the radiator and begin undoing cooling hoses at a late hour on a wet, wintery Sunday afternoon, please stop me.

Firstly, it's a happy 37th birthday to both me (on 1 July) and Dame Zara (on 3 July). Sort of.

A number of witnesses (not the least of whom are my parents) and the NSW Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages will attest to the fact that I definitely entered this world on 1 July 1969. As Dame Zara's registration falls due on 3 July, the rego label says '1969', and I am assuming she still carries her original number plates, it's a not unreasonable stretch to say that her 'birthday' was 3 July 1969.

I daresay she was conceived quite a few months earlier at Brown's Lane, and spent some time at sea before landing on this strange shore - but short of shelling out an unreasonable amount of Sterling on a Heritage Certificate from the Jaguar/Daimler Heritage Trust, the gory details of her construction remain a mystery and we hereby declare 3 July her birthday. OK?

In early celebration, on the afternoon of *my* birthday Kathy & I undertook an entertainingly mis-navigated (by me) journey to Middle Urbia (Clayton, to be precise) to make the acquaintance of Mr Gary Ayre at JagAyre. Amid the carcasses of any number of Jaguars, Daimlers, and the odd 70s Roller &/or Bentley, the charming Mr Ayre disappeared into his dim and cavernous warehouse and returned (eventually) bearing a Trevor trove of rubbery bits from my 'to do' list, including: top and bottom radiator hoses, T-sections, a fan belt, an alternator belt and (in the not-rubbery department) a thermostat in its original green Jaguar box and a fuel filter element.

After not buying the slightly raffish Mk2 parked on his forecourt, we navigated our way back though the 'urbs and - once suitably dolled up - headed back much the same way for a slap-up dinner at Mizz Charlotte's in Brighton.

Not at all bright and not particularly early on a very rainy and miserable Sunday I ventured out to the garage and started on the 'easy' jobs: the fuel filter went in without much complaint; next was replacing the fan and alternator belts and fitting the replacement tensioner pulley that dad found for me...

Some hours later ...

The pulley was on (hurrah!), the fan belt was on (double hurrah!) and, after much swearing, the new alternator belt can wait and the old one will do for now. Short of taking off the whole fan and viscous coupling, and the fan cowl, and most likely not only the radiator but the grille as well, it wasn' t going in there. I known when I'm beaten.

Somewhere in the midst of all this belt action, I'd wandered (by virtue of the 59 tram) off to my favourite branch of Repco in beautiful Moonee Ponds and picked up some lengths of 3/4" and 5/8" heater hose (to make up the various lengths that join up the manifold rails and heater cables), and some noxious chemicals to flush out the radiator.

Despite the lowering sky and late hour once I returned, for some stupid reason I decided that this was the perfect time to not only pop off the hideously bulbous lower end of the exant bottom radiator hose and let all the coolant exaunt stage left into a cunningly placed bucket, but to undo not only the upper end of the lower rad hose but also the top hose and the thermostat housing. Oh the horror. Brown gunge everywhere - at least the thermostat housing came off with minimal levering and cleaned up (after a fashion) with some sandpaper.

But as darkness fell, I was faced with the unenviable task of putting it all back together - did I mention that another birthday jaunt was to take Beryl the Galant down the road to Suspension City to have her undercarriage dealt with, so if I wanted to motor anywhere on Monday, then it had to be in Dame Zara?

At this juncture, let it be said that I have never before tried to fit brand new radiator hoses to a car.

I have certainly never before tried to fit brand new radiator hoses to a car with a notoriously cramped engine bay as darkness falls, in the rain, in the dark, when it's about 10 degrees, largely lying - admittedly just within the comparative safety of the garage - in a pool of spilled, ancient green sticky coolant. And I got my hair cut yesterday.

Not to blow mine own trumpet, but - by dint of a bucket of boiling water and a tub of Vaseline I found in the hall cupboard, somewhat less skin on the back of my right hand than I am used to, and quite a number of rude words, I finally managed to return the old dear to continence, to refill her with water and the Bars Leaks radiator cleaner (which I found was rather caustic by the clever application of my rather chafed finger as a stirrer - ouch, that smarts!) and to sucessfully start her, get the noxious concoction flowing, and and get her to operating temperature without undue incident.

The astute reader (if any such has stayed the admittedly rather long course) will note that there are a few crucial steps yet to go before the job is really done - I still need to dismantle much of the manifold and carbs if I'm going to replace the T-sections (and I'd be silly not to); I haven't yet flushed the heater matrix (and seen if I have to return to Mr Ayre clutching $110 to purchase a new heater tap if mine is beyond the pale); and I will need to empty out the cleaning solution in a week ot two and replace it with a proper mix of coolant, anti-corrosion solution and Bars Leaks (to see if I can cure my weepy engine plug - I really don't fancy trying to get to that or to pay anyone else to ...)

All of this needs to be done before the weekend of the 22nd/23rd July, as we will be heading off to Beechworth and therabouts for the Daimler Club's traditional 'V8 Brass Monkey weekend' ... oh, and Gary Ayre found me The Screw to finally fit my second set of points! Perhaps the Hesitation Waltz will be cured!

In which he releases some Magic Lucas Smoke

'Twas a matter of time, really, until the Prince of Darkness made his malevolent presence felt. One of Dame Zara's foglights has always been dodgy - tap it and it works; switch off, switch back on - doesn't work. Bad earth, thinks I. Pulled it apart once, cleaned off one of the contacts with some wet and dry. Worked for a bit - next time I switched it on, nothing.

So today, after finally giving the dusty old dear a good spongebath and vacuum, I took the ailing foglight light apart again, gave both contacts a good scratch with some coarse sandpaper until they were shiny, cleaned off the general grot, put the light back together, switched them on ...

One worked, the one I'd just cleaned up was dead.

Then came the smoke! Acrid, grey smoke billowing out of the 'fixed' light, from under the bonnet and from the left-hand wheelarch. Mild panic on my part, but I had the presence of mind to reach in and switch off the lights.

Heart going at about a million miles an hour, I gently popped the bonnet and, some wafts of smoke aside, no flames shot up to greet me and it seemed nothing had been seriously fritzed. Closer inspection showed that I'd burnt the original cloth insulation of the wires leading to the left-hand foglight to a crisp, and half-melted the heatshrink cover over both wires all the way back to the connector on the inside of the mudguard.

I disconnected the fried wires at both the connector and inside the light, taped their ends just to be double-sure, took the bulb out of the offending light, put it back together, and left well enough alone and came inside to drink wine and eat smelly cheese!

The care package

The Pater Familias sent another of his distinctive care packages the other day - it was constructed from two empty wine casks and a lot of packing tape and was full of all manner of goodies, including:

• a non-squeaky pulley wheel for the fanbelt tensioner
• a big box of assorted electrical connectors and a crimper
• a timing light
• the mysterious missing screw for the second set of points
• an odds-and-sods socket set in an old metal case, including a 1/2" socket handle and a hand-modified square socket to use as a jack handle
• a spare carbie dashpot piston
• a radio interference supressor to fit across the coil

Almost every item was hand-labelled with little black engineer writing on masking tape, just to make sure I knew what it all was. Thanks dad!

After getting home from another long, challenging day at work (oh the joys of launching a new website!), taking Niven the 15-year-old toothless cat to the vet for his flu jab, and heating up some leftover risotto for dinner (did I mention that Niven and I are bachelors gay for the next fortnight, as Kathy is off in Oslo for a work junket?), I ventured out to the cold garage for a spot of fiddling.

First up, the radio supressor went on the coil, once I worked out which side it went on (positive is the battery/ignition side. What did we all do before Google?). But the f*%^@ng radio still picks up engine noise, and much more on FM than AM, so now I'm convinced it's the aerial ... (there's now a suppressor on the coil, another on the alternator, a noise filter in-line with the radio's power supply and a fresh ground wire earthing the radio case to the car's body. Surely that's enough!).

Next, I fixed the 'low brake fluid' warning light by dint of a few fresh connectors - strangely enough, 37 years' worth of brake fluid fumes and damp had corroded the ends of the copper wires.

A fresh spring was fitted to one of the heater flaps for extra 'sproing' when you lever the lever in the appropriate direction. (The heater, by the way, begins to noticably warm the car after about 15 minutes on these colder mornings - about exactly the time it takes me to get to work if the traffic's good. So I shiver until just before I turn into the carpark! Beryl the '75 Mitsubishi Galant is fulfilling her proper role as daily driver much more often of late - her heater fires up like a sauna after about 5 minutes, then you have to turn it off lest you pass out !)

Then, emboldened, I decided to open up the distributor and attempt to fit the second set of points. Unfortunately I was foiled straight off. The screw dad found is exactly the right thread, but is too long, so fouls the distributor base long before it's tight enough to do any good. So I'll have to lop it off before I can go any further. (Hmmm ... might need a vise for that - have a hacksaw to cut the screw, and a file to smooth it off, but nothing to grip it in as I work on it ... oh, Cash Converters, can you hear me calling?)

The dashpot piston went straight in the right-hand SU, and screws in much more securely than the previous one, which had stripped its thread and had a habit of popping loose every now and then (you could tell it had happened as soon as you put your foot down - instant flat spot, then surge).

By now it was getting late (10pm), misty and cold, so it was time to come inside. I made good my threat to Kathy to turn the kitchen into a workshop while she was away, unscrewing the two left-hand door caps and bringing them in to sand off on the kitchen table in preparation for a revarnishing. A glass or two of passable red and some nice music on ABC Classic FM helped out.

I also found a can of 'hammer look' aluminium silver spray paint yesterday, so am now all set to finish off the air cleaners the next warm weekend day that comes along.

Another to-do list

Really for my reference, but my flock of readers may be interested ...

• the old dear really needs a clean & polish! She's been out in the rain a few times in the last month and is looking very mud-spotty - a flaw of the darker colour, I suppose. But as it's getting wintery, it's hard to find a time when I'm free and it's not cold, raining &/or dark!
• the air cleaners were sanded off and primered the other week, now I need to get correct-looking silver paint (Hammerite?) and a warm-ish, dry day to finish them. I painted the fusebox cover and starter shield gloss black - a big improvement on the chipped, rusted appearance they had before. I might do the fan cowl as well once I have the silver paint.
• more painting: I should do the front valence 'box' and clean/rustproof/underseal the 'crow's feet' and everything at the front of the car. There's a rust hole at the base of the grille that I should get seen to, and the front bumper is quite rusty on the inside (although the chrome is very good on the outside).
• Dad has been busy on my behalf: he's found the missing screw for the distributor; made me up a socket so I can use a common-or-garden socket handle for my jack; found a new fanbelt tensioner to replace my rattly-squeaky one; and I sent him a wish-list of little bits and pieces to look for at Dunsters, a Canberra-based Jag service/wrecker place that's going out of business and having a big clearance.
• The front passenger-side door lock has gone doolally again (already!). Which means I need to take the door lining off again. Which means I should buy some plastic sheeting and take off all the door linings and have a good pre-winter waterproofing/rustproofing session. If I was really organised/dedicated, I should also get some new rubbers from Scott's - at least the main window strips if not the quarter-light ones - and organise some new unbuckled backing boards for the door linings ...
• something is rattling/resonating in the dash all of a sudden and it's very irritating. I suspect it's something in the radio/heater bit, which means I'll probably have to pull it all apart (again!) and make sure it's all tight.
• I have a bit of 'spare' money now that Kathy's sold Gussie (a long and complicated financial tale I won't bore anyone with), so I can finally get a few things done that require paying other people - a new rear window seal is top of the list; then a service for the auto. Next will be some quotes for replacing the headlining around the rear window (I'm hoping just that piece can be replaced and not the whole thing).
• Tony & Ennio the 'diagnostic technicians' at Kingsway (who have done work for us in the past on both Gussie and Beryl) are drooling at the prospect of putting their heads under Zara's bonnet - Tony used to have a V8 himself once upon a time, so he knows from Daimlers. Once I get the crucial screw from Dad, I'll fit the second set of points then perhaps entrust her to them for a full tune-up with all their machines that go 'ping!', checking the dwell angle, timing, tune of the carbs, kick-down, etc. Fingers crossed we'll finally get the 'hesitation waltz' cured by the time we've done all that!
• the left-hand exhaust is banging on the underside of the body somewhere when the car's idling. Need to get under there and see what's up - probably needs a new rubber washer of some sort. The exhausts are pretty rusty all over - I suspect I'll have some holes before too long. How much is a stainless steel system, I wonder? I think I'll be wondering for quite a while before I can afford it!
• I'm still losing coolant. I know I could do with new top and bottom radiator hoses, and I'll have to take off the fan and alternator belts (both of which need replacing as well) when I fit the replacement tensioner, so I think now it's *really* time to flush the radiator and heater and check all hoses for leaks. I suspect, though, that I might have weepy plug on the engine block - when the car's been sitting in the garage for a few days there's a little puddle of coolant that seems to be coming down the left-hand side of the engine from somewhere under the exhaust manifold. Tricky to get to and messy (hence potentially expensive!) to fix, I fear.
• when dad was poking around the other week, he noted that my spare tyre is a near-new Kumho and that I have three Kumhos and one Hankook on the road wheels, so I should probably put the spare with the Kumho on the back and use the Hankook as the spare ... but the spare wheel itself is the grottiest of the five, with chipped paint and some rust.
• the brakes are pretty good but I noticed that the vacuum tank in the right-hand front wheel-well seems to have a pipe coming out and back in to it in a loop, so I suspect it might not be connected into the system at all. It's more than likely that the tank was leaky from rusting out, so that will also need to be replaced in the fullness of time.
• I still haven't succeeding in completely quieting the buzz in the radio, despite replacing the suppressor on the back on the alternator, putting a noise filter in line with the radio's power supply and running a new earth wire from the radio body. It could well be that the stereo itself - a 70s Eurovox AM/FM/cassette player - has just had it. I had been thinking that I would buy an iPod and one of those FM transmitters and just use the existing radio for now, but more and more I'm thinking I should put the original Radiomobile back in the dash (working or not) and get a brand new stereo with a remote and put it under the passenger seat (or maybe in the glovebox - but I don't want to lose the storage space for 'stuff'). There are already two speakers in the front footwells, and they seem quite decent, so I'm sure they'll cope with a new CD player. The rear parcel shelf is so narrow I don't think even 5x7" oval speakers would fit there - where do other V8/Mk2s put rear speakers? I'd rather not put holes in the rear door linings ...
• in the longer term, I will get some colour-matched seatbelts, hopefully with period-correct metal buckles (At the moment she has ugly black 70s ones in the front and none at all in the back).
• winter nights seem like the perfect time to start on sanding back and revarnishing some of the simpler interior wood pieces - I'll start with the door tops, which are just like rulers. Even I can't mess those up!

Gussie's really gone now

At the last minute, Kathy tried to wrestle the keys back from Bruce, but sadly we had to concede she was really going ...
Gussie's pert little bum disappears down St Georges Grove for the last time ... 

Farewell Gussie!

Today we bid farewell to Gussie the 1967 Hillman Gazelle, who has been Kathy's pride, joy, and bank-balance emptier for the past three years. We got up *hideously* early on a cold, foggy Saturday and topped her up with BP Ultimate for the last time ....
After 39 years, Gussie had to lose her original black and white Victorian number plates as she's moving to NSW. (My George V-inspired winter beard's coming along nicely ...)
The ghostly imprint of JSC-917 will be there forever!
Meet the Copes of Newcastle, Gussie's new custodians. Bruce (the beardy bloke who isn't me) already has a Sunbeam Rapier and an MGA, and they've been brave enough to own Citroen DSes in the past, so they passed Kathy's strict vetting. Assuming Bruce can bear to hand over the keys, Gussie will become the first car for their daughter Jess, who couldn't come on the great journey, as she's at home studying for her HSC.

Moorabin Air Museum wheels'n'wings display

The Air Museum at Moorabin Airport - an institution I'd never heard of until last week - was having it's annual Wheels'n'Wings display the weekend dad was here. There were plenty of classy motors parked among among the planes.

But I think if I could have driven home in any car there (other than Dame Zara, of course!) then I would have picked this immaculate Aston Martin DB4GT.

There were three Alta sports racers there.

We've met this classy 30s Alvis tourer before (http://damezara.blogspot.com/2006/02/whats-collective-noun-for-alvises.html) and know that she's not a show pony - she can climb hills with the best of them.

This Type 37 Bugatti was among the vehicles on display - and we know it got there under its own power, as we saw it's 83-year-old minder reversing it into position!

Kathy and my dad look at a Bristol Beaufighter - one of many historic planes, both military and civilian, on display at the museum (website here:http://www.aarg.com.au/).

The Pater Familias comes to visit

If I am Chip, then the gent known as Old Block came down from Canberry for a visit, just in time for his 65th birthday. Having recently sold the Bugeye he rebuilt from a box of bits, he has just bought a 1966 Jag s-type - 3.8, manual overdrive, white with a freshly (and expensively!) restored red interior: looks very tasty in the photos he bought with him.

We went out to JagDaim and he bought a few face-palingly expensive bits and bobs (a new grille badge, the brake reservoir top, etc.) and to Scott's Old Auto Rubbers, where he failed to find what he was after, but I spent an indulgent $10 on some grommets for the fuel filler flap and a few more 'cones' for the door and boot edges.

Friday night I took him to meet The Chaps at the Daimler Club, where Jack Edmonds gave us some more very useful advice on the points setup.

Saturday saw us ensconced in the garage (after a quick trip to the scenic Repco in Moonee Ponds to buy an impressively huge shifter to turn the engine), attempting to fit the new set of points and condenser I'd bought on my previous journey to JagDaim - fitting the condenser was easy, but it turns out I'm missing the mounting screw for the rear points, so I'm still running on one set until I find the right screw ('3/16" Whitworth,' quoth dad confidently, an assessment based solely on looking at the empty hole!).

I successfully fixed the front passenger door lock, which had stuck on me the other weekend, almost stranding my only ignition key in the process! The key was wrenched free with pliers, but I had to take the door lining off to get a look at the innards - was very simple to fix, and a good opportunity to scrape off a bit of surface rust around the drain holes and make sure the drains were clear. A quick spray of rust converter and a good go with the aromatic fish oil, and I put the buckled old door lining back on - one day I'll get new backing boards!

Fuel pump and regulator were tested and found to be AOK, pointing more and more toward points/ignition problems being behind the misfire problem.

Dad had found me an almost-authentic jack - he thinks it was originally from a Rover - and we put it to use jacking up the front so I could change the oil and filter. Once we had her nose in the air, we tested the front wheels and suspension for play and found that the left-hand front wheel bearing was rather loose and tightened that, and that the ball joints and rubbers generally seemed sound.

Oil and filter replaced - I even got the canister filter to seal first time (tip: if you get the Ryco filter, it has three different rubber seals included in the box: the thinnest one is the one to use).

We did discover that the brake fluid warning light doesn't work, but it just looks like poor connections - the switch itself works, and the feed is getting 12v ... similarly the heated rear window shows a sound circuit through the glass and voltage through the switch, so if it doesn't work next time we fog up, I'll declare that it was always crap and wouldn't have worked even when new!

Here's my progenitor with a pressure gauge in hand, having checked that the fuel pump and pressure regulator do what they're supposed to do.

Fresh Penrite oil and a new oil filter fitted - and no leaks!

This rather dark photo doesn't do much justice to the original Smiths Radiomobile radio, which the previous owner found and sent to me - thanks Ros! If I ever do get around to fitting it, it will be largely for show - I think a hidden amp/iPod-based setup will be installed in the fullness of time ...

Rusty air cleaners really let the engine bay down, so I must get around to repainting them soon. Daimler pedants will note the Bosch alternator instead of Lucas; but only the really keen-eyed will spot that the screenwash bottle is held on with a dog collar!

Gussie's walnut is in a better state than Zara's! The Wheelskins leather stering wheel cover is a nice addition too - I've ordered one for Dame Zara as well ...

Gussie the Hillman Gazelle is now definitely, officially, really for sale. See here http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/used-car/HILLMAN/GAZELLE/Victoria/1715584.aspx and elsewhere. If you're seriously interested, send Kathy an email at kathyahope@optusnet.com.au.

'And there's even an ejector seat button!' Majestic Major owner David Waugh gives Dame Zara a once-over [pic: RB]

Is this my good side? (and, no, I didn't drive down the bank behind, despite what looks like tyre tracks!) [these photos by Richard Bowen]

Here's a very shiny Dame Zara in the dappled sunlight at Castlemaine during the Rally, next to the newest car there, a 1975 Double Six (V12) Sovereign coupe with a manual gearbox (perhaps the rarest of all XJ-based models?)

Take 45 Daimlers and 100 Daimlerites ... and send them to Bendigo

Below you will see some photos of the 9th national rally of the Daimler & Lanchester Clubs of Australia, held over Easter in Bendigo, Castlemaine and the other historical gold-rush towns of central Victoria.

Oddly enough, of all the photos I took, none of them feature Dame Zara! But as many (many!) other photos were taken by John Spry, Richard Bowen, Domenica Ashworth and others, I'm sure I will soon be able to post visual proof that she was there.

As we were late in booking, and frankly a bit skint, we only attended for the Saturday and Sunday, but we still had a blast and full marks to the organising committee for a great program.

My garage sessions of the past few weeks have shown some distinct improvements in a number of areas - but of course there is still work to do.

Dame Zara is currently a rare Daimler in that *all* of her main electrical features are in full working order! Not content with having a Smiths clock that keeps near-perfect time, I have also stopped the heater fan making its 'chewing up a cat' noises (thanks to some mouse-pad derived rubber bushes on the motor and a good smear of grease on the fan shaft); have fixed the 'ignition' tell-tale in the speedo; have pretty much cured the speedo needle of its wobble above 50mph; the boot light works again; and - by the simple dint of plugging in a loose connector in the boot - I have made the 'low petrol' light work once the tank gets below 1/4 full. Both fog-lights now light up, and I was very pleased to find that the somewhat weak low beams of the headlights are more than compensated for out in the country by very good high beams - high beams which lucky illuminated a fox in the middle of the road as we were zooming back from Bendigo to Castlemaine on the Saturday night at closer to 70 than 60 mph: the brakes and steering are working very nicely too, thankfully, and the suicidal fox survived to stand in the middle of the highway another night.

On the 'not yet quite right' list: while I have freed up the heater temperature cable and reconnected the 'car/screen' one, I have connected one of the flaps around the wrong way, so while the heater is *trying* to put out warm air, it's not *quite* doing it while the car's at speed as fresh air is blasting through - but it's toasty warm once you slow down, though, which shows that the tap is working and the matrix mustn't be too gunked up. The 4lb radiator cap is doing a good job of keeping the radiator pretty full of green goo in short-trip, around-town driving, but after the long highway runs the header tank was pretty much dry and I needed to put close to 2 litres of coolant in before we headed back to Melbourne. I suspect there is also a pressure leak in at least one of the many hoses that run around the engine bay, as even when nothing comes out of the overflow pipe, there is still sometimes a puddle of coolant left on the garage floor.

Then there's still the 'hesitation waltz', which makes sustained highway driving at 3500rpm/60mph (and over, where legal and safe to do so!) rather frustrating. Having asked the opinion of 4 or 5 Daimler hexperts at the rally, I of course received at least 7 different possibilities - so I'm still going to have to look in detail at the distributor (points and condenser), fuel pump and filters, spark plug leads, etc. before I can cure it. Actually, I'm beginning to get a little suspicious of the spark plug leads, as I replaced the supressor on the alternator and still get interference on the radio that changes with engine speed ...

I'm in two minds as to whether I should rely on the expertise of the club members and host a 'garage day' so they can have a poke around; or take to car to Mike Roddy and get the once-over from a professional, including compression tests, etc. so as to put my mind at rest that there is nothing seriously wrong. The latter, of course, will not only cost money up-front, but I'm sure to come back with an even bigger 'to-do' list than when I started!

'I *am* a laaadie!'

In Maldon on the Sunday of the rally (to whence we were conveyed by steam train, a form of transport predating even Daimler). We couldn't be arsed doing another quiz, so after perusing the many Junketeria in this historic gold town, and having a tasty lunch at the Lions Club while watching the local kids' billy-cart time trials down a steep street (complete with the local copper and his radar gun as timekeeper!), we thought a pint at the Grand Hotel was by far the better way to wile away the afternoon.

The very models of modern Major-Gen ... oops, I mean some NSW Daimler bods doing their best Fu Manchu impersonations!

More goings-on at the Chinese dinner: this is two-thirds of the rally organising team - (from left) Ian and Joyce Rowlandson; and Domenica and Keith Ashworth. The remaining third, John and Christina Spry, were no doubt running around taking photos!

Kathy admiring a Majestic Major - sure it's stately, but it wouldn't even fit up our driveway! Among the other limos on show, David Waugh's beautiful Majestic Major had suffered an unfortunate garage accident just in time for the rally thanks to some falling tiles, and had to appear with big scrapes and dents in her bonnet, mudgaurds and grille ...

Even Kathy's diversionary leg show (in her 'Suzy Wong' get-up, which got her plenty of admirers among the chaps, a not-surprising number of whom had fond naval memories of Honkers in the olden days) can't draw attention away from my chins! David, to our right, who I'd never clapped eyes on before, surprised the hell out of me by goose-stepping across the dining room and giving me a most convincingly martial salute!

The Chinese dinner: yours truly was trying to convince people he was Chairman Mao. I'm looking rather more like Leonid Brezhnhev here as I chat with Jack Edmonds about jazz 78s and pesky fuel pumps ...

One of the oldest Daimlers at the national rally; the most recent was a 1977 Sovereign V12 coupe ...

This 1954 Conquest Roadster (I think? I'll admit that I'm not yet up to full anorak status when it comes to model-spotting) was among the 45 or so Daimlers that attended the national rally held in Bendigo and Castlemaine over Easter, along with 100 or so Daimler-owning humans. (Just visible next to it is a car reportedly known as 'the Yellow Peril', NSW club president Peter Grant's 1951 Special Sports.)

new Rootes Group site

The Rootes Group Car Club of Victoria (RGCC) has finally moved its website and is beginning to update it.

The new address is http://vic.rootesgroup.org.au/ - I daresay we'll be putting a profile of Gussie the Gazelle up there before too long ...

it's now 6 o'clock on an autumnal Sunday eve, and a few hours aside, I have spent the entire weekend in the garage. I set out yesterday morning 'to tick a few thing off the list' and, many, many hours later, I have succeeded in a few little tasks:
- the little light in the boot now works
- fitted the new spat rubbers I bought ages ago at Scott's
- cleaned out the jacking tubes and liberally sprayed them with fish oil
- succeeded in making the driver's door fit a bit better (but the compromise is it's a bit stiff to open and needs a good slam to close ...)
- made the windscreen washers actually point at the windscreen and stay there (thanks to Loctite super-glue: how on earth do you get to the underside of the washers to tighten them?)
- and, after dismantling much of the dash, I have fixed the tell-tale 'ignition' light in the speedo. Actually, it probably wasn't broken in the first place, but what I did discover once I got the speedo out was that the lens for the light had been obscured by some melted plastic - the remains of the bulb surround which must have melted for some reason when the bulb got too hot.

What I haven't yet fixed is the heater - but I have worked out that it is missing a spring and a control wire (at least), so I've left it jammed into 'screen' position now so it'll demist the windscreen if necessary (it's not yet cold enough that I really need to worry about my toes!).

And as the battery pack for my drill has given up the ghost, I haven't yet drilled out the broken weld so I can try to re-affix the stud for the dash pad - I'm hoping that if I countersink it a bit it'll hold with epoxy glue. If not, I'll have to get it welded back on.

And what's all this industry in aid of, you cry?

The Daimler (and Lanchester) National Rally at Easter, of course!

Expect many a photo of Dame Zara's first appearance on a 'national' stage - although I think she'll demur at any suggestion she be entered in the Concours ... yet

I emptied what was probably 35 years' worth of dust, cobwebs and dead moths out of the rear light unit and gave it all a good polish ... and got the boot light working again

This ain't no SU! Some sort of after-market fuel pump has been fitted (it still ticks like an SU, though), along with a Purolator Pro-fuel regulator - I set it to 3psi, so we'll see if perhaps fuel starvation was the cause of the 'hesitation waltz.' (And the discolouration you can see in the photo is dust, not rust - a sponge-down and a good spray of fish oil should keep it nice and clean)

The process might look a little undignified, but now Zara's rear spats have brand new rubber seals. And both rear wheel-wells are thankfully completely rust-free. However, the right-hand spat has some bubbling near the fasteners, and there is a little patch of surface rust on both rear door closes where the spat meets the body - must deal with that before it gets any more serious ...

All this to get at one tiny little 3 watt bulb! And I still can't see how to undo the right-hand side mount for the instrument panel ...

I keep finding evidence of how unmolested Dame Zara is - here is the speedo, with a hand-written label from Bryson's, the biggest Jaguar/Daimler showroom in Melbourne in the 60s. Was the speedo sent out to be serviced? Is it a replacement? Who knows ... (the needle still skips about like mad above 50mph!)

the 'to-do' list

So, Dame Zara was bought as a 'usable' car, registered, roadworthy and a going concern.

Thus far, only five weeks in, we have covered over 1000 miles (1600 km), so there's not that much fundamentally wrong with her.

However, tonight I sat down and typed up a little 'to-do-list ... it's not so little!

the Dame Zara to-do list, as of late March 2006

Radiator/heater
• empty coolant and flush (use cleaning agent?)
• check all pipes and connections for splits/leaks (where is leak on LH side of engine?)
• chk thermostat (71 degrees?)
• use ‘water wetter’ or similar?
• add overflow bottle? If so need different cap
• remove heater and flush matrix (Coke?); chk heater valve and fix flaps/levers
• fix heater fan
• when re-mounting, chk that heater box is sealed on all surfaces

Electrical
• bulb for ‘ignition’ light
• bulb for boot light
• does rear screen demister work?
• chk self-cancel on indicators (works in one direction but not the other!)
• buy/fit radio suppressor: buy iPod and FM transmitter or get CD player?

Engine
• oil and filter change due
• buy/fit new points (and condenser?)
• chk all spark plugs and leads
• chk static timing
• tune carbies (idle speed about right now but dies on choke – too lean?)
• chk for oil leaks, any serious?
• cosmetics: clean and polish alloy parts; paint air cleaners, electrical box cover etc

Fuel system
• chk fuel pump (points, filter/s etc)
• new ‘doughnut’ mountings for fuel tank
• chk tank for leaks; does it have filter/trap to clean?
• does ‘low fuel’ light work?

Suspension/steering/brakes/underside
• chk front suspension for source of ‘clonks’
• chk all suspension bushes, ball joints, etc and replace where needed (rear should be OK - pretty much all new)
• RH exhaust rattles: new mounting needed?
• generally clean and chk for rust; underseal?
• remove and rust-proof/paint front valance
• chk brake vacuum reservoir for rust
• squeaky brakes: binding?

Body
• fit spat rubbers
• reglue/replace door rubbers
• clean up rear window seal and chk for leaks
• treat rust: spat, boot lid, under grille, RH side front bumper area—other rust?
• cut and polish paint; touch up chips
• buy and fit new window rubbers (incl quarters)
• try to improve front door fit, esp. RH
• lubricate/chk door locks (esp RH rear)

Interior
• try to fix speedo: needle and trip meter
• fit replacement headlight switch surround
• clean headlining, carpets and vinyl
• replace headlining around rear window
• fix rattly dashpad
• strip, polish and revarnish all woodwork
• repair/replace door linings
• seat belts: install rear belts; replace all belts with period/colour-matched?
• interior light lenses (x3?)
• fix/replace glovebox lock

Spares to find/carry
• points
• condenser
• HT leads
• spark plug/s
• oil filter
• alternator and water pump belts
• original jack (c/o Dad)
• other original tools & tool box

Other
• JDHT Heritage certificate
• any other paperwork/photos from previous owners, DLCV

blatting around the block ...

I went up to Canberra last weekend to visit the Parental Units and the Sibling Unit, which was fun.

Pater Familias let me drive his 1959 'bugeye' Austin-Healey Sprite around the block, which was a hoot. It really is a rollerskate with a Mini engine! He has rebuilt it literally from a few boxes of bits into a great little car - not concours-perfect, but loads of fun.

The experience was made all the more fun by the fact that I haven't tried to drive a manual car - let alone one with no synchro on first - since about 1990.

For the record, I only stalled once, and that was at the top of a steep hill when I didn't quite co-ordinate brake, clutch, gearchange and accelerator ...

Meet the rest of the family ... part the second

Gussie (below) has been Kathy's pride and joy for the last three years, and she is responsible for making my dormant, genetic old-car mania come into its current florid state.

It's a long story, but in short Kathy found Gussie after a long search (involving a Ford Zepyhr, a 'finnie' Mercedes, a Humber Vogue or two, an Austin 1800 and a few VWs, among others ...). Kathy has spent *a lot* of money on her in the last few years, and I've spent a lot of time fiddling; and we've had some great motoring adventures, including driving around Tassie, and over the Alpine Way to Canberra.

But now that Dame Zara has come along (and Beryl is nominally Kathy's car too), Gussie is very relucantly for sale.

So if you're a true enthusiast who is willing to take on a near-perfect example of a rare (if not spectacularly rarified) British car, get in touch ...

Then there's Gussie. Gussie is a 1967 Hillman Gazelle, an Australian-only concoction consisting of a Series VI Hillman Minx body mated with the luxury interior of a Singer Gazelle and the 85hp 1725cc alloy-head engine from a Sunbeam Rapier.

Beryl the Galant in dappled sunlight ... (which hides a few of the dings and lessens the funny panel gaps!)

Meet the rest of the family ...

Despite the healthy mileage I've totted up in my first month of Daimler-ing, Dame Zara isn't really intended to be everyday transport.

Therefore, meet Beryl. Beryl is a 1975 Chrysler Valiant Galant hardtop coupe (what a mouthful!). She was made in Japan by Mitsubishi and was a limited-edition import in her day (in Japan she would have been known as a Mitsubishi Galant, in the US a Dodge Colt). We bought her for a very reasonable price last year from a dealer who had in turn bought her from the deceased estate of a nice granny called Beryl. Beryl (the granny) had only managed to rack up 52,000 kms in 30 years! So Beryl (the car) is in remarkably fine health for her age. Her body's not 100%, but after a bit of mechanical work (reco carby, new fuel pump, new front shocks, new alternator regulator ...) Beryl is a faithful daily driver ... if only we could get her to be a bit more sprightly on the acceleration ... she's rather sluggish, especially when cold.

Where the bloody hell is Toorourrong Reservoir?

Well, we found out today, as Dame Zara had her boot filled with barbeque picnic supplies and we headed off for the exotic meeting place of Doncaster Shoppingtown carpark - just where you want to be a 9.45 on a sunny late-summer Sunday morning.

A party of close to a dozen Daimlers - mostly V8 saloons, but with one SP250 'Dart' sports car and two pre-Jag takeover 50s Conquest saloons added for variety - set off at 10 am for a gentle run through Melbourne's leafy outer northern suburbs and thence past Eltham, Diamond Creek and Hurstbridge as the houses thinned and we headed into hilly country on the way to Kinglake.

A bracing, upper-arm boosting climb followed, as I wrangled Dame Zara's 1500 or so kilos around many a hairpin bend as we climbed the range.

As we hit the top (the suicidal motorbike riders had gone off to terrorise other motorists) and swooshed through the sleepy little town of Kinglake, we were rewarded with a wonderful view over the thickly wooded hills before we zoomed down the far side - Dame Zara's brakes were well-tested as the convoy hurtled to a stop and took the near 180-degree turn-off to the reservoir.

With an attentive kookuburra looking on, anxious to pounce on any leftovers, we engaged in the great Aussie tradition of burning sausages, falling off camp chairs and, errr, perusing the spare parts catalogue of the NZ Daimler Club. Phwoar, rubbery bits!

Despite Toorourrong being one of Australia's premier platypus conservation sites, none of the mad little critters were to be seen today, despite Daimler Club stalwart Tony Dixon helpfully calling out 'puss, puss!' at every opportunity.

Oh, I must add that an investment of a whole $7.99 on a new 4lb radiator cap seems to have cured Dame Zara's embarrassing little problem with losing coolant (after pouring about $40 worth of the stuff onto the garage floor and various other surfaces over the past month ...).

In other quick fixes, nudging the idle speed up a hair has worked wonders - no stalling at the lights and even the 'clunk' of the auto is less (not gone, but better!). A rather hasty go with the caulking gun on the back window yesterday wasn't so successful - it'll keep the rain out, but it's a rather messy job.

hmmm ... maybe we all parked a bit close to the hedge!

Some of the DLCV BBQ crew at Toorourrong, with Kathy in the red t-shirt - if you look closely, you can see the kookaburra in the gum tree, waiting for scraps.

An assortment of Daimler rears at Toorourrong Reservoir, north of Melbourne.

Kathy behind the wheel on the way back from Bendigo with special guest passenger The Strunkster.

First month's report

Well, I've had Dame Zara for just over a month now. In that time, I've racked up 900 miles - so much for 'occasional use only'! The most recent trips were to Lorne on the Great Ocean Road (for a work do) and to Bendigo (to see the Cecil Beaton and Charles Rennie Mackintosh exhibitions).

The only real problems we've identified so far are that she loses quite a bit of coolant on longer runs - which should be fixed with a new radiator cap &/or an overflow bottle - and what we're now calling the 'hesitation waltz'.

The 'hesitation waltz' is an odd one, and something I suspect might take quite a while to sort out. Basically, around town and at speeds up to 50mph/80kmh she runs fine. But on sustained highway runs at 60-70mph (100-110kmh), she will occasionally jerk and surge - the rev counter doesn't budge (it's at 3300-4000 at those sort of speeds) and the road speed hardly drops, but there's definitely something wrong. But whether it's fuel starvation, an electrical quirk or something else, I don't know. What I do know is that she's never come close to conking out during one of these episodes and that if you back off the accelerator for a moment and then floor it, after a bit of a hop and skip she comes good.

Fuel consumption on these longer trips is good, though - I estimate about 23 mpg for sustained 60mph runs (much less around town, of course!)

Speaking of conking out, though, I do need to nudge up the idle speed as she stalled three times over the weekend - once hot and coming to rest at traffic lights, the idle (at about 500rpm cold) drops to under 200 rpm and the oil pressure to pretty much zero. A quick fiddle to get the idle up to 500 rpm in gear when warm should sort her. I also need to replace the little tell-tale 'ignition' light in the corner of the speedo - as she's so quiet, it's hard to tell when she's stalled!

She's also in need of a service to the Borg Warner 35 auto 'box. A trip to Pringle Automotive in North Melbourne should sort out the jerky shift from 1st to 2nd in D1; the 'clunk' from top to 1st in D2; and her reluctance to kick down from the accelerator.

I had my first 'leave well enough alone' episode on Saturday - after cleaning her, I decided to try to tighten up the dash pad, which is a bit loose and rattly. Easy enough to get off, but once I saw how fiddly it would be to get both dash panels off, I decided to leave it for another day. When putting it back together and re-tightening the bolts that hold the pad on, I stupidly gave the left one 'one last hoick' to make sure it was tight - and the stud snapped clean off! At least it's invisible under there, so if my fix is somewhat unsightly, no-one will ever see it.

Mizz Kathy atop a misty mountain in the Dandenongs with Dame Zara. Visible in the background, another Daimler or two, some Bristols and Alvii ...

What's the collective noun for Alvises? A 'brace'? Is the plural 'Alvii'? So is this a photo of a brace of Alvii?

A nice pair of Bristols envelop a hapless Daimler Conquest on the Ainsworth Winery B.A.L.D run - that's Bristol, Alvis, Lanchester and Daimler. But as there were no Lanchesters and a ring-in Riley, was it perhaps a RIBALD day out?

Dame Zara (to the left) joined some of her Daimler cousins for a day's jaunt through the Dandenongs and over to Seville on the edge of the Yarra Valley on a visit to the Ainsworth winery.

a grand day out

You'll see above a few photos from Dame Zara's first grand day out, a combined run with the Daimler/Lanchester club and the Alvis and Bristol clubs - dubbed by a wag the 'B.A.L.D' gathering.

Zara aquitted herself in fine style, powering up steep Dandenong mountain roads and sweeping through many a curve on the way down the far side to Seville.

The missing/hesitation we'd noticed at 60 mp/h on the day we'd picked her up seemed to be gone - we put it down to old fuel in the tank - but it reappeared on the way home. I think a trip to a sympathetic mechanic is on order, to check on the mysterious one-point distributor, the coolant-losing radiator and a few other little things.

Initial tidying (one could hardly call it 'restoration') proceeds apace. After a very thorough clean and polish last weekend and my earlier replacement of the rear bumper rubber, this afternoon's little task was to replace the perished rubber around the scuttle vent. A fiddly little job, and one that was causing some consternation until bad light stopped play. If I can't find that pesky little nut that dropped somewhere down the vent, I shall have to buy another ...

Another grand adventure was the trip to Miss Colleen's wedding yesterday in a *huge* rain storm. We did indeed confirm that the back window leaks. And that the rear window demister is - if not actually broken - thoroughly pathetic. As are the wipers. Oh, and the fan for the heater/demister? I thought it didn't work at all, then the other day I switched it on 'high' and it worked a treat - for about half an hour when it began making an awful graunching noise.

Anyways, the upshot is we made it through the flood, only somewhat damp and steaming, having seen our way via little circles made in the condensation of the windscreen with tissues. 'Twas a lovely wedding ...

The Yarra even looks vaguely blue! It must be a trick of the light.

That grinning idiot would be the author of these pithy missives. And the gorgeous vehicle is, of course, Dame Zara herself. The setting is the picturesquely grotty Port Melbourne foreshore!

Well, I have found my Dame Zara. She's a burgundy 250, tan interior, made in mid- to late 1968 and first registered in Australia two days after the day of my birth in July 1969. She's still got her original number plates and has always been fully registered; was repainted about 10 years ago; and had a full engine rebuild some 5 years ago.

I'll take delivery this Sunday. Expect photos galore!