Zen and the art of Aston Martin mechanics
What a great weekend!
The best ones are usually when it’s been a bugger of a week - or month in this case. The impending launch of The State of the Natural Environment report and the London mayoral elections have kept my nose firmly on the grindstone.
So Zen?? Well that’s my new toy - I lost my MP3 player on the way back from skiing (left on a Lufthansa plane) so bought myself this really jazzy 60gb media player a Creative Zen Vision W - the music quality is superb, and the size of the screen means I can watch movies when travelling.
This weekend I worked solidly on the engine, I’ve got two, but I’m planning on rebuilding the original one from ROJ to keep the chassis and engine number consistent.
The engine was pretty filthy, so I took it out into the sunshine and using my Boy’s Own Tool Kit compressor, sprayed it all over with gunk and then jet washed it.
I like this photo - it reminds me of two Star Wars robots having a chat:
Once I’d chased all the spiders out I rigged up the crane and with Gary’s help removed the gearbox:
After taking off the torque converter we attached the engine stand - this was an awkward job which required the help of both Gary and Malcolm - we hoisted the engine up high - then lifted the engine stand up to attach it, then lowered the whole thing down again.
By this time it was getting late and time for Chinese take away - I slept very well that night.
On Sunday I sorted out the workshop, chucked out some scrap and did a few odd jobs - it was such a lovely day that I spent sometime sitting in the garden reading the workshop manual.
My number two engine actually looks in better condition, but it’s untested and we know that the one on the stand actually works - once rebuilt it too will look smart again.
And the cherry on the cake - Malcolm drove me to Bedford station in his MGA - bliss.