Seemingly never-ending car trouble..

Boycey0211

Boycey0211

Boycey0211

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I never usually post in motors but thought you could all do with a giggle..

So in June I bought a '66 Ford Anglia to restore as a project, spent quite a bit on a half completed project because a lot of the work had been done in the general direction I wanted to go in. Fast forward a bit to this month, and I booked 2 weeks off work so I could get right down to it and do some of the work thats needed.

First weekend off from work and I pop out to buy some replacement wheels for the other car (my Saxo, I know they're terrible but I love it). On the way back I discover I have not gear selection up to 3rd, luckily nursed it back home and diagnosed it as a clutch bearing fault. With the car being so old I decide to replace it myself to save money.

Long story short on that front, everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and it took me almost the full 2 weeks to get it back on the road. Good news is it now runs impeccably, and I was proud of what I had achieved.

So last night I pop out for a 3am McDonalds as I couldnt sleep/was hungry and had the worst wet weather driving experience ever. About halfway back hit a freak storm which reduced visibility almost to nil, and slowed down to a safe speed to get back safely. Out of nowhere the road was flooded, which it hadnt been 10 minutes earlier and I hit it at about 30mph.

Luckily I managed to keep control of the car, and got back safe, all be it a little shaken up. Cue to popping outside for a smoke at about 7.30 I discover that the nearside wheel arch is gone. At no point did I hear/see/feel it come off but its now somewhere in Norfolk.

Strange thing is that was the only part that I didnt disconnect to remove the gearbox so I have no idea how it had come loose, and the car I bought to plow money into still hasnt been touched.
 
Two weeks to change a clutch bearing! MTFU ;)

Seems odd that that caused the fault, I would have expected a gear linkage or something to be playing up if you could get other gears. If its all sorted now thats all that matters.


As for the wheel arch trim, all the water being forced into the arch probably just ripped it off, they are only popped on with plastic clips aren't they?

Just find one in your colour in a breakers (shouldn't be hard!), remove it and fit it. Shouldn't cost you more than a tenner.
 
that 2 weeks includes waiting for parts from the bay :)

I checked the gear links, they were all still intact, and the key was when it was put into gear with the engine off, on starting the engine even with the clutch fully down it would drive itself around!

On getting the 'box off the release bearing had completely disintegrated, and taken half on the clutch fingers with it.

oh and the metal clips are still attached to the wing, its ripped the arch straight off!
 
Indeed not, its probably cost me quite a bit! I was thinking the clutch would be the last thing I'd have to buy before the Anglia is up and running/saxo fails the MOT (inevitable)
 
Try driving an old Corsa, I have to dodge puddles daily because they rip the arches off so easily :( they've been no nailsd back on about 5 times :D
 
Do you mean the wheel arch liner or the wheel arch / front wing? If the latter....:eek:

As for the clutch, 2 week wait via ebay? I picked a clutch kit up the day my clutch blew from ECP, replaced it over the next couple days, the hardest part was getting the gearbox back on properly (Mondeo).

Should have bought the parts you needed from a decent place like GSF or ECP / CP4L and even online you'd have had the parts in a couple days, meaning well over a week to work on the Anglia. :p
 
no the whel arch liner is still there, its the part that attaches to the wing to fair in the wheel itself, inlcluding the side repeater that has disappeared :(

The clutch kit itself was the first to turn up, only took 3 days on next day delivery from a GSF competitor, the problem was both wishbone bolts and droplinks had to be ground out and new ones ordered, and the inermediate bearing was seized in so the 'box couldnt be dropped without it coming out, had to unbolt the carrier in the end which was bad as citroen decided to put both cable looms and cooling pipes in front of the bolts :(

Going back in was a lot easier as I knew where everything went, however it took two hours on the first night with me and a friend trying to get the box lined up and it wouldnt go on, gave up very stressed at 3.30am one night as it just felt nothing was going right, the next night I went down by myself and it went on in about 5 mins!
 
Just to clarify, the actual wing fell off?

Sorry to laugh at your expense but that made me chuckle:D especially given the irony of the whole situation.


Pics of bare shell will be fine btw :) post 'em up!

Boycey0211 said:
it took two hours on the first night with me and a friend trying to get the box lined up and it wouldnt go on, gave up very stressed at 3.30am one night as it just felt nothing was going right, the next night I went down by myself and it went on in about 5 mins!
Click to expand...

Been there, done that! Learnt just to walk away from things and come back later if they are being ****y. Either that happens or spanners go flying!

One of the best (well, most annoying) times was trying to line up my R5GTT gearbox to the engine with no engine stand, took ages to do it and I finally got it in before realising that I forgot to put the new release bearing in. That was a few years ago now though, I double and triple check things these days.
 
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That rain was pretty epic last night. We were at Snetterton sleeping in the back of the Mits and watching the 2CV 24hour (race was red flagged for a while due to track flooding).

Been up and down the A11/A47 several times today and haven't seen any Saxo wings at the side of the road but I'll keep an eye out, what colour is it? :p
 
not the entire wing, just the area around the wheel including the side repeater, sort of made me chuckle slightly too as my friend has nicknamed it 'the saxo of doom' for a while now. One thing after another it seems :(

Im going to pop back tonight to the area where it fell off, its somewhere between Swaffham and Marham as far as I can guess as that was where the huge flood was, its silver by the way :)
 
Great success! Went out and retraced my steps tonight, found the offending piece of trim in a bush! just need the metal mounts and a new side repeater and job done!
 
Doesn't surprise me about the trim falling off. I'm having to put up with a saxo (only because it was free) and last time it rained the whole dash lit up and now I have randomly clicking relays, no central locking and the vtr bodykit is falling off on the drivers side.
 
until this year its been fantastic (reliability wise), I've owned it for 6 years out of its total of 14, however I would never buy another one. Ever.
 
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