Aston Martin Rust Oration

It’s been an interesting few weeks – work has been frustrating but with moments of real satisfaction.

Two months of intense activity culminated in a trip down the Thames from the 2012 Olympics site with the CEO of the Port of London Authority in no less than the Royal Barge! And what’s more, I was given the opportunity to take the helm from Battersea bridge to Westimnster. I didn’t like to tell them I couldn’t see where I was going! I just followed a tug towing four barges of garbage down stream.

Aston evicted by piggies….

I’ve just got back from the farm  – had a very productive weekend, but had a bit of a fright as we thought the pigs were going to overwinter in the barn where I keep the spare Aston and Malcolm keeps (some of) his spare Renaults. In the end the pigs will be staying up  at the top of the farm – but we’ve moved all the cars into the lock up barn anyway.

Robert has been over from Spain for a few days – just long enough for him to get his Rochdale Olympic finished  – it’s a lovely colour and compliments Malcolm’s prize R4.

 Wensleydale and Camembert…!

The Aston Engine

So far the engine seems in remarkably good condition. There is evidence that it’s been rebuilt once before. The rough stuff probably came at the end of it’s career as a TV star. Gary pointed to a very gungy looking water intake. – “What do you think that is?” he asked – “Buggered if I know.” I retorted….

Turns out it’s egg…! Apparantly, a cheap and dirty way to plug a leaking radiator is to crack an egg into it. And that’s what the crew must have done in Sardinia during filming, when I inspected the radiator that came out of the car, it was indeed damaged and similarly filled with scrambled egg. So a new radiator it is then.

Engine number – it’s the original engine.

 Top end

 Bottom end with sump removed showing crank shaft

And the engine bay is almost ready to welcome the engine back when it’s been put back together. Although there is little major wrong, I’ve still got an eye-wateringly expensive shopping list of thins we need for the rebuild.

 New engine mounts

 Oil cooler hoses.

 Oil filter housing

 

The Very Tasty chicken pie we had for lunch….(Thanks Michael)

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 18th, 2010 at 10:45 pm and is filed under ROJ - The Rowan Atkinson Car. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.