Got back from france last night at 1.30am, we took the rain with us lol
my wife got up this morning rang the doctors to book our daughter in as she got a manly eye while we were away (they now call you back to chat before booking appointments) and decided to take the puma to the shops, unfortunately the battery was dead
so she took the focus, the doctors called back and said that we would need to be there in 15 mins (10 mins from the surgery door to door so not normally an issue), I loaded the kids in to the puma and tried to jump it rolling down the drive, did not work so I knocked for damo a neighbour who came out and pushed me down the end of the road to the hill... rolling... rolling... clutch out... it lives! I belted down to the surgery and unloaded the kids keeping fingers crossed that the car would restart (10 mins later my daughter was diagnosed with con-gunki-eye-tus) tried the car and it was dead
I managed to get two women to push the car and try to bump start it but no joy... a quick call to damo saw him come to the rescue... tried pushing and bumping again... no joy
I started walking round the corner hoping to find a friendly sole at the garage to lend a hand... got round the corner and a man was trying to change the wheel on his land rover, well the wheel was changed but he had a weird problem, his bottle jack would not release so he was stranded with the wheel off the ground. he did have jump leads though. took them back and jumped the car (so glad to have a friend and neighbour like damo
I went back round to the land rover and he was still stuck, I suggested reversing of the jack as it was under the front drivers wheel (it worked perfectly the jack slid round and collapsed and the bounce in the tyre took the strain out of the fall, two cars once again moving!).
got the car home and left it running for 20 minutes trying to get a little power in the battery (it did not work) Io then knocked on the doors of the rest of the neighbours but they all have modern cars so not one of them had a battery charger.
a quick call to timmy magic and I had one that I could pick up from witham, I once again jump started the car and set off then realised that I was running on fumes, so I pulled in to the mount hill service station (if your in Halstead the guys there are top geezers), I figured I would leave the engine running as I filled up (not the best of ideas but necessity calls), then I realised that
I needed to take the key out to get the filler cap off, I filled up and the car refused to start again, the repair guys came out of the garage and pushed me in to a service bay and hooked the car up to their snap on charger 15 minutes later and the car started, they checked and the car is putting out 13.6 volts so at least I know the alternator is working.
I got to time ok and he dug out the charger as well as a glass fuse holder for the amp that I'm going to install once I get a battery that is strong enough (I have purchased some de-ionised water and epsom salts to see if I can refurb mine over the weekend)
The car is now on charge, fingers crossed that by the morning I will be able to jump in turn it on and be on my way.
I also had a chance to instal the new sony head unit, the replacement surround seems to be a bit of a poor fit as the clips do not line up with the frame, however after bending out the cage a little its in and holding ok.
The iso adaptors were so easy to fit and made me laugh when i thought back to the days I would have been twisting wires and insulating taping sh!t together, or trying to get bullet crimps to crunch properly.
I also fitted the new blue led interior bulb (will have a look see what its like tonight)
Whilst I was away I started thinking about daylight running lights, I know some people have stuck led strips inside the lights and they look ok, but I want a bit more of an OEM look, studying a picture of the light assembly there are 5 groves that are shaped in to the light that look like they could be drilled/dremeled a little to take an led at the top.
I will try and post a pic of my idea later, thing is it will require a spare set of lights to work on as I need mine in my car for work etc (looks like I will need to separate the front clear lens from the black part to make it easier to do the ruffing out, if any one has a spare they can donate it does not need to have the lens but if it does that would be good as I can try and do a guide to getting them apart and doing the mod)
thats it for today unless I get a chance to take some pics later.
