Spyder restoration - long time coming

[peteracs]

Not had the enthusiasm to sort out current draw on the wipers, but did have a quick play to establish which wire does what which is not so obvious for all of them.

Simplest is the grey wire which is the fast speed, seems to work without help from any of the others.

Blue during intermittent, when relay clicks on, starts wipers, when relay clicks off, stops wipers. During slow seems to run them all the time.

Blue/White moves off start position in slow mode, not really sure what else it is used for as appears a little redundant?

Blue/Black This is permanent power which is used to return wipers when you switch off etc.

Hope this is useful to someone!

Peter

[peteracs]

Back at the Restoration Show last year I bought a pair of unbranded ‘white’ H1 (Xenon?) bulbs which I put into the full beam lights. They came up much whiter than the main beam ones which were original Halogen yellow. Nigel also bought a couple and one failed pretty quickly, so I decided to buy a pair of branded ones for the main beam. I bought a pair of Ring H1 XenonMax bulbs and they are suitably white in comparison to the old ones, hopefully will prove to be reliable as well…

Peter

[Nigel]

You have an effective recall Peter, and yes, one failed very quickly.
I can't remember what I've got in right now but that's a recommendation worth
pursuing.

N.

[WestonE]

I fitted Night Breaker Bulbs in the Montecarlo. I think they were from Osram who are a major Brand. They are very clearly better. I will consider the Beta Sypder bulbs change to LED when I have a running driving car.
 

[peteracs]

Recently for the HPE I added a ‘chromed’ plastic collar to the top of the gear lever gaiter. I was really pleased so I bought one for the Spider’s gaiter. Happy with the result again.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

That is so neat Peter! The trimmed early centre tunnel is much nicer than the later ones. I'm in two minds about what to do there and have a spare (very damaged!!) dash to experiment with in the coming months.
Guy

[peteracs]

The trimmed centre console was done by the trimmer and not original, the one in the HPE will be left as original.

[SanRemo78]

THat's fine Peter! Mine won't be original. I'm already planning a black Alcantara headlining and pillars, a modified dash and a VX interior. I'm not going to win any prizes for originality! I'm building it how I want to. And that's now going to include a blingy gear lever gaiter. 

[peteracs]

And that is how it should be!

[peteracs]

I think I have finally stopped an annoying drip from the hose leading down from the expansion tank. I had replaced it with a better second hand one I had, but still had a regular drip. In the end it turned out to be small bits of rust embedded in the inside of the hose where it mates with the expansion tank and the lower water rail. Will teach me to check any second hand ones I deem as serviceable in the future.

One job I have put off so far this winter is the under body protection wax type spray. I have not done anything under there since originally getting the car on the road, so it was time. I did inside the sills a few weeks ago with Dynax S50 and now it was time to use its sister product Dynax UB.

[peteracs]

I finally managed to finish using the Dynax UB which went well, if a bit messy of course. On applying the Dynax S50 to all yne cavities on the HPE recently, I realised I have missed some on the Spider which will be addressed.

With the arrival of the HPE, the Spider is currently living with Mark H's cars on a farm half an hour away, thanks Mark, but have just managed to find a secure place to store it in the next village which I am going to visit over the coming days. Plan is to move the car when we return from France in May.

On a further note, I have been mulling over this storing the car away from the house for a while and not too happy with it, so have decided to attend various events up to September such as Laon and LMC weekend and then the car will be for sale. This will give me both the impetus to get on with the HPE and not split my time over the winter etc with having to do jobs on two cars. Not an easy decision, but one which was going to have to be faced at some point. So...... if anyone fancies a Spider later this year please get in touch.

In the mean time plans for it are to replace the oil and filter, refresh the brake fluid and put a fresh MOT on it as has been nearly 2 years since the last one.

Peter