This week (end of April 07) the car had its first trip to my local Indy for a brake fluid change, wheel alignment and general health check. The brake fluid was mostly because the last 'official' record was 6 years ago. As it turned out there were no problems and Jason guessed that it had been changed more recently than the record due to its condition and that the bleed nipples were fine (apparently they seize up if the fluid doesn't get changed regularly.
The wheel alignment was a different matter. It was well out! In particular the toe-in was 10 mm out from the book settings. With this remedied the car already feels less nervous at the front, tracks better on uneven road surfaces and is much more flat under heavy braking. For anyone interested in the technicalities of wheel alignment I found the site below very good at explaining how the alignment affects a cars behaviour on the road;
http://www.familycar.com/Alignment.htm
Apart from some very minor issues (which I was aware of and will be attending to), Jason gave the car the thumbs up and reckoned I'd found a good 'un.
Of course I still had to spend the weekend doing stuff on the car myself (it's an obsession now). This included:
1. Fitting a new rear wiper blade
2. Painting the hats on the front discs. These are new Zimmermans that were fitted just before I bought the car and had already started to rust badly and looked very unsightly. A bit of elbow grease to remove the rust and some black heat resistent paint has made them look so much better.
3. The wheels, particularly the rears, were badly kerbed due to the car spending the previous two years on the streets of London. Again some elbow grease and some silver touch up paint has made them look a lot more respectable.
After only 2 months of ownership I've just totted up that I've already spent £1,642 on the car (mostly parts). But I don't regret a penny because of the enjoyment it is giving me.
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