Summer has come and gone , I've had a huge time going away in the camper most weekends . Done LOTS of miles
Mostly I've been going to old car events , traction engine rallys vintage plough events, swap meets etc .
Found a few treasures , met a bunch of people I only see at those places , it's been great.
The truck has performed faultlessly , used a lot of petrol , attracted more than it's fair share of attention , there must be some way I can charge for all the tourist photographs , LOL.
So the camper is off for the winter and I hear a little noise in the engine bay ......... not supposed to be like that
After some educated guesses , I decide to fix it before it becomes terminal.
So into the shed with it . Out with the engine etc , investigate the insides ....... find stuff ...LOL
I find the fibre cam gear is badly worn and the noise is the excessive backlash thrashing the crank gear.
Cool , I've got a NOS gear in the box, no trouble , just press the old one off and the new one on
Got that done at the engine shop , nice job.
Get home fit it all up , line up the dots ..................................
Hmmmmmm ........ what's wrong with that pic ??
Yep keyway not in the same place ??????????
That sent me round the garden path a few times , finally got it figured out (earlier after market parts ) got the cam timed , made some gaskets got it back together and back into the truck.
Phew.
So it seemed like a good time to fix the wee weep the radiator has had for years . Off to the local Radiator shop , "nope the core is too old , gotta put a new one in."
$$$ !!
Much ado about delivery times and I get it back , fit it up .... nope , bolt holes in the frame are horribly wrong
Yep , that's 20mm out of alignment ... how the hell ???
So they tried to fix it 3 times , failed 3 times, words were exchanged and I came away with a different view of the shop.
Incompetence won.
I took it into the city , got it fixed properly , no fuss , just more $$.
Just waiting on USA supplier now , for the engine mount rubber . (took 20 days to process my order ?? man , it's hard to get good help !)
I'm starting to chaff at the bit , gotta get the truck back on the road .
Its been a busy fortnight , during the truck repair , the yellow 240D benz diff failed (old age and high miles), the blue 300D benz rear CV joint failed (old age and high miles)(fixed it) my mother died (old age)(can't fix that) the flat is FINALLY inspected by EQC for the earthquake damage of nearly 3 1/2 YEARS ago. and they find asbestoes in the stipple on the ceiling so a whole 'nuther drama erupts over the removal of that , time moves on .........
I reckon it's gonna get smoother soon ............