Mrs HH and I went to see Dear England - the play about Gareth Southgate’s time as England manager for those unaware of it - at Chichester Festival Theatre. It’s had rave reviews, which can sometimes lead to disappointment when one finally gets to see something. No fears there though, it was absolutely brilliant. It’s touring around I believe, so if anyone is wondering whether or not to go, grab a ticket if there are any available.
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I saw it when it first came out with Joseph Fienes as Gareth and thought it was absolutely brilliant so I’m glad that you enjoyed it as well. Anyone looking for tickets should search for Dear England rather than This England though
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Silly me! Thanks for pointing that out. Yes, it was thoroughly enjoyable, and the house was packed. It was good to see lots of young people in the audience, a rarity at CFT.
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It’s a shame that you need the replacement. But it’s great that your doctor is being so proactive and looking out for you. All the best Max.
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Indeed, but it is so worn and the joint damaged that there is liitle choice.
Then, I had a phone call from the hospital this morning, and I have been given a date in mid-January for surgery, that’s great, gives something to work towards. Just having the date takes away some of the anxiety. Cheers, Max.
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More issues exposed from work done by Jim Henson’s crew.
This is the outer bushing on the rear trailing suspension arm. It looks like they have used an air saw to cut the steel outer of the bush 
I will have to weld this to avoid any stress cracks developing.
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Warm today so GCH now off and aircon on instead. 
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This is one of the best things about a heat pump. When it’s warmer outside it drops the flow temperature, and because it knows the target temperature and is sized to match the rate of heat loss from the house, it just turns off when it isn’t needed. It’s used 3.8kWh to keep the house at target temperature so far today, at a cost of under 28p.
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My boiler flow temp will drop down as it is controlled by the Honeywell thermostat that controls how much and how long the boiler runs for. When it was -4C the flow temperate nudged 37C occasionally - I could push the flow temp down further and the t/stat would relearn and provide longer runs of 3 cycle per hour, I may try this at the next cold spell.
During mild weather once the flow temp has dropped below 27 it’s cheaper to use the aircon.
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Excellent communication from the manufacturer of my valve amp. After a service in Poland it should be dispatched back to me via the dealer in Scotland on Monday. I have full tracking details and, as importantly, I was clearly not imagining issues as they found a few things which needed addressing including one of which I was unaware.
- They’ve done a non-standard mod to add isolation and reduce an external buzz.
- Internal hum was at a standard level but again they’ve done a mod to keep it lower.
- They found the amp was sometimes not turning on so they’ve replaced the microcontroller.
- They’ve replaced the rectifier as it was slightly noisy.
- They’ve also replaced a ludicrously tightly fitting 300B with one which enters with greater ease.
- Currently doing some listening tests and going back to check the bias circuits as I’d reminded them of the drop in valve temperature and volume.
The most interesting one for me was the third bullet. My remote is here still. I always turned the amp on and off with the remote so never noticed the issue with the switch on the box itself. On the other hand, if the seller (who advised the amp was working as it ought) had tested the amp in the several months they had it and didn’t have the remote then how did they not notice this issue. It could of course have been damaged in transit but then what exactly was being tested before that transit.
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The ABS/DSC pump for the Dog Wagon returned from the motor rebuild. Removing the temporary replacement (which allowed you to drive the car but without ABS/DSC/Crusie Control/Hill start assist etc.. as the units are coded to the car’s VIN) and refitting the refurbished unit was another horrid job. To do it once was bad enough, to do it twice in a month is nothing short of sheer masochism. However, I got there in the end without making too much mess with the brake lines and fluid - buying little rubber caps for the lines beforehand was a great idea. Yesterday I bled the brakes and also did the annual oil and filter change while I was there. Once all done I plugged in the OBD reader and cleared the codes and the test drive showed all was now working as it should again. There are two final jobs to do - the first is to fit a replacement auxiliary water pump - I have one standing by but it’s not an urgent job as all it does is speed up the cabin heating. The other is to replace a couple of glow plugs - this is a job that’s again, not urgent and comes with some risks too; they commonly get seized in the engine and so sheer off when you try to remove them. As such, it’s for the brave or foolhardy only. I may just wait and let Munich Legends have a go sometime…
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Adding the Supercap upgrade to your your systems phono stage sounds much more fun😬
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I understand this. I had to fit a replacement auto gearbox (refurbished and then stored for years) on my Granada Mk3 which didn’t work properly so I had to take it out again and get it checked over - the specialist couldn’t find any issues. I then had to refit it again but this time I stuck with the correct mineral based ATF rather then the semi-synthetic. And it all worked fine 
All this was done with axle stands and a trolley jack on my own.
If you can get access to the glow plugs keep them wet with Plusgas. I wish I had done this on the Jeep unfortunately all the plugs were dying so cold starts were failing. One sheared so I now manages on 5 glow plugs and is OK.
Another thumbs up to you for doing this level of work on you own car 
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I use Munich Legends too. Great service.
Over the last 3 days I’ve had the pleasure of refurbishing our understairs cupboard following a water leak a few months ago that went undetected for weeks…..should have listened to my wife who said it smelt in there and I said it was the shoes!!!
So after drying, I’ve done some boxing in, putting a new ceiling in, painting and later today new flooring.
All done in a space that is 2meters long, 90cm wide and about 1.2 mtrs high, reducing to 40cm.
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I think a gearbox change is on a whole different level of pain. Impressed!
Thanks for the Plusgas tip. I’ll do that and then have a chat with ML and see what they can do.
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And, if you can, try to remove the glow plugs with a warm engine. Doing it on a stone cold engine in winter puts a lot against you. A good soak with plusgas too, but be careful with a warm or especially hot engine.
Make sure any socket is fully engaged and itself not worn.
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Thanks. I’ll do a bit more research on it and perhaps wait until the spring when it warms up a bit. Even when cold the engine starts just fine, just a little lumpy for the first few seconds. I’ve managed to find a set of 6 Bosch glow plugs for a very good price too.
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Cars were rather more simple when @Guinnless Granada was built.
My first car was a 1970 Escort 1.3L that I bought in 1974 from the company I worked for. In 1976 I had the gearbox refurbished by a friend who worked for a specialised refurbishment company. At the time I also took the opportunity of getting another friend to carry out a major engine check & overhaul.
My dad & I removed, & replaced, the engine/gearbox using two spanners, a screwdriver & a hammer!
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I few months ago I needed my glow plugs replacing, I was getting an error code indicating a glow plug fault.
My mechanic refused to swap them, saying there is a risk of them snapping. He put me in touch with a garage that uses an induction heater to ensure safe removal.
Something like this.
The glow plug fault wasn’t enough to switch on the engine fault warning lamp. But they definitely needed replacing, accelerating is now a lot smoother.
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