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.