michael.thompson's blog

Well, we've been extremely busy over the winter and given our Robin Hood a complete makeover . . .

After some shenanigans we've finally sold our Robin Hood and swapped it for an MG TF

Since our mad dash to get the Davrian ready for (the aborted) Blyth show, this month has been mainly about "running in" and snagging.  We've had the car out and about, on longer and longer runs, and so far, so good, although I'd quite forgotten how hard you have to push to make four drum brakes (without servo assist) stop a moving vehicle.

I've been remiss in posting progress to the blog, but that doesn't mean we've been idle.  We had set ourselves a goal of taking the Davrian to the Classic Car and Bike Show at Blyth this year and we'd have made it had the atrocious weather not made us abandon plans to go to the show.

I can't believe it's been a fortnight since I last gave an update.

Anyway, the dashboard shell is all trimmed up and ready to be reinstalled in the car.  There's a photo below, but as I painted the bare shell black (hoping it would mask any mistakes in the trimming) and I've used black vinyl for trimming, you'll be hard pushed to spot the difference since last time.  

I know it seems unlikely but we've actually begun work bringing the Davrian back into use.

The last job we did was to strip out virtually every piece of wire we could find from front to back. Having got fed up of chasing electrical faults all round the car, we've bitten the bullet and decided to install a completely new loom

After an embarrassingly long wait, the Robin Hood cockpit has finally had some attention. 

A new GPS speedometer has replaced the old unreliable mechanical one, and a new Tachometer replaces the old disfunctional one.

Not really an improvement to our cars but we saw this while on holiday and wondered if we should consider this as a paint colour for the Davrian.

Well.  It's a rare treat to see another Davrian at a motor show, but we were completely non-plussed to pass one on the road.

Having spent the day repairing (or not) the fuel gauge/sender on the Robin Hood (more of that in a separate blog) we spruced ourselves up (as far as we can) and headed off to Romanby Jazz and Swing Club in Northallerton to be entertained by one of the bands we follow - the Swing Commanders. 

Nothing really changed. 

However, the Robin Hood is out of storage and taxed for 2022 and we're now preparing for an iminent MOT.

Looking forward to 2022 and some tinkering...

Well, apologies for the delay - I seem to have created an entry and then not published it.  Oh well you'll get two updates for the price of one!

The picture shows the new engine mated to the gearbox but without all the ancilliary services reconnected.

Thanks to Nigel Heighton for giving up his time to help reconnect all the fluid lines before Brian returned to complete the electrickery.