Hello from Sunday night which turned into a Monday post again

Hello from the Monday after a very quiet and maybe even boring weekend at home. (But you know what? Exactly what I needed.)Our weekend turned into a dealing with various car projects weekend.Robert drove my Land Rover out from under cover and boy was it dusty!This part of my Landy hood is black!So we got out the hose and gave it a quick once over.Looking better.There are a couple nagging Landy issues on Robert's mind. The brakes aren't working as ideally as they should despite the previous owner fitting completely new braking gear on, and, since the car doesn't have power steering, turning the steering wheel to the right, produces a massive kickback of a rotation and half back to straight.So Robbie decided to investigate.My project for this summer is to get on with rebuilding my vintage mini and this is the powerful little engine.My first project is to strip the old paint and rust, take apart the engine, replace the seals and gaskets and repaint it in that beautiful Austin mini green.So while Robbie jacked up the Landy,I used his power drill plus some wire brush atachments to get on witht he mini engine.Look, half way done in one afternoon!After a while, R thought he sorted some things out and it was time for a test drive.This is the part I like!Well guys, the brake problems are still not sorted after the test drive and, after further investigation, it seems that the previous owner installed the brakes on completely backwards!So this means poor Robbie has to take all four of the very heavy wheels off, take the brakes apart and put them back together properly!Can you believe it?It's a good thing he loves me so much.I'm a lucky girl.

The Land Rover restoration catch up

We may have officially tipped the balance of the scale onto the chaos side with four cars on the go, but we're plugging along slowly but surely.My mini, Robert's new black mini, and Robert's Medusa project are a bit on hold for the Land Rover because we'd really like to drive it somewhere this summer. Before I get on with telling you how it's all going and probably boring you with tons of car photos, I'd like to say that Robert is the innovative creator of this project and I'm mostly kind of like the magician's assistant. (But maybe without the cute costume and the rhinestones)Well, let's see, let's start at the beginning of this Land Rover restoration:Soap and water! That's always a good place to start.Once the mud and grime were somewhat subdued, I saw a few problem spots. One was carpet backing glued onto one of the rear panels and also this:The caulked, chalky residue that happens when steel rubs against aluminum.Time to get the angle grinder.Well now, the carpet backing came off really easily, but I was in a hurry and didn't bother with a respirator. Big Mistake!I was finding it really hard to close the boot lid. I mean I had to push with all my might to get the bottom panel flush enough with the car to slip the locks sideways. R deduced that one of the previous owners had dropped the boot lid down without the chain attached and it hit and bent on the tow ball, so R took of the side braces and straightened them out.In the meantime, I had an ugly job ahead of me requiring gasoline, diesel, my hair dryer and toothbrush, and tons of hours. But it had to be done.One of the previous owners, (probably the same one who dropped the boot lid and bent it), had applied a tar based undercoating and glued down thick woollen insulation all over the foot well and under the seats and covered the original labels and made a huge, goopy mess. If I was going to restore this, the tar had to go.You see that one bright spot above with the original paint showing? That was an hour worth of work. See the side of the seat below? Yeah, that took three hours!By day four with tar gunk I was convinced the previous owner should be hunted down and shot! Tools of the trade!On Thursday, we took the day to drive out to the scrap yard to find some missing bits for the Dodo.We found some scrapped Landies and got to work finding and removing the pieces we needed.There's a Landi there with this short roof turning it into a pick up. I'm thinking it might be great fun to get that roof and have the choice. What do you think? R says there's no more room in the garages...lol.One of the things missing was a fan for the heater. A blue Landi had a lovely red one and R took it out for me while I picked wild flowers. (I know, I'm such a help!) Here are some of the things we got from the scrap yard. They include the red fan, a battery bracket plus tie-downs, and bump stops.We also got a spare tire, which sits on the bonnet and makes the Landi look super aggressive. it's slightly smaller than the wheels I have now, but will get me home in a pinch.In the meantime...lol...It's my birthday on Sunday, :D and for my prezzies I asked R for some needed Landi bits. He bought me some wonderful things, like these new rubber gaskets, and they've been arriving over the past couple days.Here are some of my prezzies and the scrap yard finds...and my cup of tea.And can I just tell you how wonderful Robert's been today?He's replaced the fan, replaced the drag link ball joint in the steering and scrubbed it down and painted it yellow, replaced the head lights, replaced the battery for a larger one, put the hold-down strap on the battery, replaced the wing braces under the wheel arches, and helped me with the sanding disk in the angle grinder.While mostly I got on with that horrible tar gunk...upside down...under the steering wheel...between the pedals...with gasoline and a toothbrush. :((I believe there is a "no more tar" light at the end of the tunnel, and it's flickering ever so dimly away in the distance, but it's there!)Also today, we took it into the construction site for a test drive!HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! :D :D :D :D SO MUCH FUN!!!!But then, what's that feeling? Oh no, the clutch is slipping in third gear. That's going to be an undertaking.But, this evening, R ordered me a new clutch plate and tomorrow's a new day. :)