A Chip Off the Old Block

After gathering some raffle prizes from local businesses and from Vicki from Volunteering in Health we were all ready for 'the off' on our charity horse racing night. Thankfully our brilliant neighbours, Kath and Bill, allowed us to use their flat garden as we live on a slope. We also had a live band to help warm the chilly and windy500 night. We celebrated Steve G's birthday and Kath and Bill's wedding anniversary as well. Milly was proudly showing all her bits and looking good all lit up. We all had a great night with home-made curry, chilli and shepherds pie to feast on. At the end of the night we had managed to raise just over £200!

Horses ready for the 'off''

Milly on night duty

We decided that Milly should have some new seat covers to match the ones in the back that Lucy had made sometime ago. We took them to PLUSS in Exeter along with our material and they told us they would be finished in 3 days. A week later we discovered they didn't have enough material to finish the second seat so we had to rapidly order some more and get it to Exeter ASAP. After nearly 2 weeks we got one back just in time for an MOT but it was the passenger seat they covered first! So on the way to the MOT centre I suddenly realised the seat belt buckle was on the wrong side so I had to hurriedly swap it over in the middle of the road! Later the next day we collected the other one and I had to swap the seat back over to the passenger side along with the seat belt buckle!
While the seats were out we decided to do some cosmetic changes to the inside of Milly's cockpit so we set about taking out all the switches, radio, steering wheel in fact the entire dashboard and door cards! This wasn't on the list of 50 things that we had to do before departure! We washed all the bits and then painted them with Matt Emulsion and clear varnish. Some bling was added and all was reassembled with only a few pieces left over.

Dashboard all out. Eek!

Ready for painting

Not sure what all these wires are for!

Looking pucker with her new carpet and colour matched ashtray

Smart new glove box. Not that we have any gloves inside.

We had been accused by some team members (who shall remain nameless) of not having much 'bling' on the outside of Milly and therefore not much kudos. So we decided to add some decals of European cities that we liked the look of, Volunteering in Health sign-age and some chrome go faster stripes along the sides and radiator grill. We also added a hanging basket to the front towing eye. Another one is on its way! There will be further additions to be disclosed on departure day. 

   

We had arranged with Vicki from Volunteering in Health that we would take Milly down to the seafront in Teignmouth on Saturday to offer support for there fun day. People kept coming up and asking us for tea or coffee. It seemed that we were the only beverage establishment down there. So we were brought various supplies of tea, plastic cups etc and began selling. Now because Milly is quite short on the inside Lucy did most of this but when she went walkabout looking for bargains I had to take over. I had to be on my knees to do this easily and I'm sure people thought I had a growth problem as I could barely see over the worktop. We managed to raise just short of £60 on the day!
So we were all set for the next stage in preparation for the Windy500. We had decided to head to Swanage in Dorset to meet up with Team 38 for a couple of days. That would allow us to check we had everything in the right place and that the illuminated spice was fully operational. After a 3 1/2 hours round trip to Ottery St.Mary from Teignmouth with a total mileage covered of about 15 miles out, zero on the return leg, three stops to fill up with water, calling out emergency services and feeling a bit glum the man said ' Head Gasket has gone'. Bugger! So we had to have her repatriated on the back of a lorry to home. Trial run? Not what we had in mind but better I guess than some far flung place we've never heard of and trying (badly) to communicate with locals.
Lucy found some stuff on the internet called Steel Seal which was 99% guaranteed to fix broken cylinder head gaskets. Guess we must be the 1% ! I fled to Newton Abbot and purchased the yellow liquid for £35 and followed the instructions carefully. When Steve G looked at the water gushing out of the expansion bottle he diagnosed a major meltdown and that the head gasket was definitely gone! Bugger! I was still quite calm surprisingly. So, I drove Milly into our brilliant neighbours again and we started to remove the offending organ. At about 9.55 pm we got to the head gasket and it wasn't too bad. But there were some serious cracks in the cylinder head between the valves where there shouldn't be. We decided therefore that it was a bit more serious than we first thought and there was definitely several chips missing off the old block.

The crack between the two valves is big enough to fit a 10p coin in!

The next day I took the head to an engineer who was going to do a pressure test and then see what we could do. For now Milly is not even on a life support machine. She's in a coma waiting for the machine to be turned on! And probing around the inside of Milly feels like being a mechanical gynaecologist. According to the engineer the cylinder head was too bad to repair and we would need a new one. Don't ask me the cost - its a secret! What I will say is that it will cost significantly more for her new heart than we paid for Milly in the first place! Is she worth it? Ask me on the start line if we are there.
So, Lucy picked up the new cylinder head, sorry, heart, and Steve G and I set about transplanting it in place that evening. On this occasion it wasn't raining and it wasn't dark! It made a pleasant change.

Shiny new valves and no breaks.

Her new 'heart' in place.

Looking good!

Well, when I say 'WE' I mean Steve G. All he'd let me do was wash all the old oil off pulleys, covers, nuts and bolts and other random bits he could think off. By the time I'd done that her new heart was in place - amazing! Torquing up those heart bolts made him sweat though! He did let me attach some hoses and electrical bits and pieces and various water pipes later on. A new bladder was fitted and now we were ready to set up the timing pulleys etc. Hurrah! The cam tensioner broke! So that was the end of that for the night - 9.30 pm. Some more new bits will need to be ordered in the morning before we could continue. At this rate there will be no old bits left to replace! The next 36 hours will be crucial!

Torquing up the heart bolts and sweating!

The man man - Steve G proudly stood next to Team 6.

On the positive side of things the new windsock and magazine rack have arrived and the another hanging basket has been dispatched. They won't make her go any better but at least she'll look good if she breaks down again! 

If anyone reader wants to donate to our causes then on-line we have a link www.justgiving.com/team-milly 
If you wish to contribute to Volunteering in Health then you will need to contact us directly via this blog or Facebook and we will make private arrangements with you.

Sexy Lady.....

After a long time out of the blog scene another one is here all ready!
Last week saw Milly have some mechanical bits fiddled with underneath, her new wheels balanced and rear brakes adjusted. Steve G was made to sweat again as Milly continued to prove to be a stubborn old girl. This week she had new front discs and pads, her bladder problem sorted (again!), fog light connected and two battery level indicators fitted. All in all a good week. Oh ! And she has now been lowered at the front end by about 40 mm, with the help of a huge spanner attached to a 2 metre scaffold pole to create the right leverage to undo the torsion bar nuts. This made Steve sweat again!
We took Milly in to show Steve G at work the results of his labours from last night and he immediately got the steam cleaner out to remove the seagull poo from her body. So now she really looks like a sexy lady with those new shiny alloys, a wash and brush up.
We hooked up with Vicki from Volunteering in Health in Teignmouth, our local charity. We are supporting The Memory Cafe, a part of this charity, as well as Julia's House in Dorset. We showed her round Milly and she was very impressed, as were her two colleagues. They have given us some raffle prizes towards our Race Night on 11th May. We collected some other raffle prizes from our area and got a new chicken feeder for our hens while we are away on the Windy. I did want to take one with us for fresh eggs but I think the smell of chicken farts would be too much for Lucy !
When we have a few more bits of bling finished on Milly there will be some photos.

If any reader wants to donate to our causes then on-line we have a link www.justgiving.com/team-milly If you wish to contribute to The Memory Cafe then you will need to contact us directly via this blog or Facebook and we will make private arrangements with you.

How Milly looked on one of her trial camps in The Cotswolds.
She looks great here but now she look even better!

Milly Looking good but behaving Badly

it's been a long time since we last posted and a lot has happened. We broke down again going to the New Forest and arrived a day late to be greeted by requests for Basil and gas from team 38.The new kitchen was duly admired and the cold beers welcomed. They made fun of poor Milly but on the way back, they needed her help as their brakes were not behaving well.
A week later, we set off to Folkestone for a night below some white cliffs. The speedo stopped working at some stage and we discovered that the part we need is now obsolete. So, being brave but stupid, we boarded the ferry next morning for Dunquirke. Milly enjoyed her first trip on foreign soil and we spent the first night near Brussels. The next day we headed into Germany and stopped in Heidelberg at a municipal campsite next to the river. Milly behaved beautifully and we had an enjoyable evening in the town.The next morning we went south through parts of the Black Forest to Baden Baden where we purchased what seemed like a whole pig for about 2 euros for lunch. By the time we arrived in Freiberg, it was pouring with rain so this was the chance to try out Milly's weatherproofness. We plugged her in to the hook up and spent the rest of the evening cooking, eating and playing cards. All worked extremely well and we were quite self-contained.
The next day was sunny and held some real tests for Milly   mountains!! She has never been a fan of hills but as we ascended up to the railway through the mountain, she showed her displeasure by going slower and slower. The people following us must have been really impressed because by the time we got to the top, many more of them had come to see Milly. We drove her onto the train and went through the top of the mountain. She enjoyed the drive down the other side and took the hairpins in her stride. We had a week cruising up and down mountains and despite complaining a bit she behaved impeccably.
We drove all the way back through France with no mishaps. We thought our troubles with the cooling system were over.
Over the winter, Milly worked as Jim's van but come the spring we were ready to go again. We now had decals on the kitchen wall, an illuminated spice rack, a herb garden ( in case we were asked for basil again) and a hanging basket to make her look pretty. These necessary additions were greeted with scorn by some members of team 38.(I think he is just jealous and dismayed that he could no longer catch us without fresh basil) On the way home she overheated again despite the new alloys that she had been given as a present for being so good.
The next trip was to Oxford and she nearly behaved all the way there. The speedo had still not been fixed, so our mileage is low this year, and now the temperature gauge began to fluctuate. We had a great time at the wedding and after a quick trip around Oxford headed for home. Back on the M5, the red light came on so we pulled of at the next junction. Milly was boiling again and the fans were not kicking in. We let her cool. Filled her up again using our posh tap in the sink. And set off. We had a few more similar stops before we finally made it home. We hope it is and electrical fault again but Milly is in the dog house.
 She is looking very cool with her decals outside as well as inside and her posh alloys. Pity she isn't going too well.