These Little things Were Sent to Try Us

This was how the bonnet stayed open.

This was often the comment heard when I was a Nasho, and the army (and various circumstances) had conspired to make life very difficult. There were many similar sayings, but this is the only one, dear reader, that shouldn't offend delicate sensibilities.

Anyhow, Project Boring continues, but the frustrations are all little ones.

There was the saga of the windscreen washers. To be roadworthy, they must work. When I collected the car, they didn't. This was because the clip holding one of the hoses had broken. I fixed that by getting a clip of similar bore as the hoses used from Masters hardware. The bit I bought was for a home irrigation system - much cheaper. It's amazing what difference an automotive application makes to a price, and the difference is always to the North.

Why the washers didn't work. (Sorry about pic quality)

Replacing this made the washers work, but the reservoir bottle had a bad case of plastic rot, so for $35 dollars I bought a Taiwanese made reproduction. This fitted OK, but I cracked the bottom of it in a ham-fisted attempt to install it. After a lot of mucking about, I used bathroom sealant to fix the leak.

The repro is on the left.

Then I noticed that the stream on the passenger's side was weak, so I tried to clean out the tubing on that side. All I managed to do was break the arm of the three-way joint. This was fixed by using the tubing from a biro, which provided both strength, and a hollow tube.

It all works OK now, but this saga used up about half a day.

Then there were the bonnet struts. Again, they didn't work, so a stout stick was used to prop the bonnet open. I found a very obliging gent who re-gassed them for $30 each. This meant removing them from the car, and re-installing them when the job was done.

Problem was, I couldn't figure out how they fitted, and which was left and right. Eventually, I found a shot I had taken prior to removal, and it all made sense. Now the bonnet stays open when it should. Good.

This pic was very useful.

Removing the decayed tint on the rear window wasn't a "little thing". It was a major pain in the backside. It had to be scraped off, after I tried every chemical made by man to dissolve it. The tint peels off easily enough. It's the glue used to attach it that's the issue. Nothing seems to dissolve it. I tried nail polish remover, thinners, petrol. eucalyptus oil, and soap and water. None worked.

At least the soap and water provided a lubricant for the scraper.

A bugger of a job

That took about half a day in the middle of nasty humidity we are experiencing right now. The various strong smells given off by this combination of useless chemicals didn't help.

So tomorrow Ol Boring goes in for the second inspection.

Wish me luck...........