10 years in the making

So, 2007, the year of the Italian Nut! A Ducati Monster 900, and god I always wanted one. From the first time I saw the pictures back in 1992, I knew I had to have the Monster. I had always put off buying one, as being a Ducati and Italian, it would be temperamental and expensive. How right I was!!

The usual view of the Monster for at least the first five months of 2007

Or just waiting outside Rosso Corse for them to open!

It was good, just to go from my friends in Chelsea, across London, drop the bike off at the garage, and pick it up a few days later. Of course, after parting with a fair amount of my monthly salary.... So, what did I do, apart from having an Italian bike a wonderful Italian friend, I bought an Alfa Romeo at the end of 2007..... That buggered it up! If I thought the Ducati was expensive, well I was even more skint after getting the Alfa!

Ah, the Alfa GTV.

The photography was going quiet. The wasn't a lot of money coming from the motocross pictures. I was spending more on fuel to get there, and then on food! So, I decided to quit the early Sunday morning adventures, and decided the Monster was the way to go. It took a while to get there, but I did by June 2007! A few summer adventures, two up (the first time with a pillion since the mid 90's!), and it was fun!

This was also my final year of having a holiday! Even though I don't enjoy holidays, this was a good one. This was the reason for buying the Monster! Isle of Wight for two weeks. 1400 miles covered on the Monster, and it only broke the speedo cable! As for the old mans Peugeot, will that leaked water all the way round the island!! It was a fun two weeks, meeting the local 'mad' bikers (local knowledge is the key though), heading off into the unknown, and waking up all the island with the twin Viper cans! And not forgetting the rain, I think it rained for most of the two weeks! Soggy bike gear all the time. But the Monster worked through out.

Work was still much the same, same stuff, same hours, same people!

2008, now this was a game changer year! It started off crappy, it went down hill, and by the end, I was in a bad mood!

The Alfa is dead...

Nine month of Alfa ownership, and she died. The electrics went pop! A melted fuse box, caused by dodgy wiring to the rear heated screen and the radiator had a big hole  in it. I gave up with it. I was back in Walton, and everything was wonderful... Nearly. The Monster spent a year working.

Then on the 6th November 2008, the world was turned upside down. HMRC raided the office. The boss gone, and as the chief officer said to me "looks like you are in charge now!" Thanks....I was now the general manager of the freight company, after one interesting day! This happened the week before I was going to a filming session of Top Gear. Thanks.... We made it though!

So, the close of 2008, I became a hair dressing, biking, general manager! Enter the age of the Eunos Roadster, lots of goodies

The old Eunos at Brooklands Museum.

A nice year of turmoil for 2009. One sacking, a few idiot employees, a few repairs to the old car, the bike was put in storage due to a blown engine (the first one), But driving the Eunos, with the roof down, it was fun! The old man hated it! Well, being small and fun, he would! The roof had to be replaced, the electric window motors, the electric aerial, and I added some touches to the exterior. It was the first car I started to mod!

A year of planning things in the pub, working god knows how many hours, not riding the bike, heading to MX-5 owners club meetings, it was fun! But things change, and it did a big way at Christmas 2009. We didn't expect it, but the old man was getting more and more erratic in his behaviour.

Back to playing with the cameras

Another thing I haven't played on for a while, my collection of camera equipment. Today I decided to dust off the Lowepro bag and give the old cameras and lenses a clean down. Tonight I was going to have a relaxing session with the camera, tripod, lenses and a Maglite.

Luckily, the yard where I work has three empty units and no external lighting within the confines of the industrial estate. The bottom corner by the canal is empty, with just a builders yard on the opposite bank of the canal. With all the camera gear set up, my Canon 30D and the stock 18-55mm lens attached, I headed off to the dark corner.

After faffing around for an hour with a selection of timed exposures, from 10 seconds to 30 seconds, and running round the car with the torch, either in a Tesco carrier bag to defuse the light or just changing the light setting on the torch. I finally had a selection of pictures to sift through and edit.

It was normal service, as with my motocross days, taking loads of pictures and only finding a couple that made me think; "yes I done a good job there!"

Here are the couple of images that caught my eye this evening;

With a bit more practice, I'll get the hang of it! 

Now I've found the instruction manuals for the 350D and 30D, I'll be able to play with the bulb setting a bit more.

Time to sign off and see what adventures I can have tomorrow.

Drained....

Then refilled!

Today has been spent mostly dealing with the coolant system on an R56 MINI. I did actually prepare everything. The old hoses were removed on New Years Eve, with a fair bit of swearing and wondering why I don't (or didn't) own a set of hose clip pliers. A couple of hours removing the air filter box, coolant expansion tank, remaining coolant and finding bodywork hose clips on the floor the coolant system was cleared out.

The MINI was left in the workshop, and the hoses were ordered from the local BMW dealers. On the way back from the dealers, I thought it would be a wise idea to actually buy some hose clip pliers. Job done thanks to Halfords.

After picking up the replacement hoses today, and two 5 litre bottles of coolant, it was time to play rebuild the MINI. Well, with no help from the forums (yet), as the instructions I found only covered the R50 and R53 MINI engines, through a bit of trial and error, I finally managed to refit the hoses and started bleeding the system slowly. With the ignition on, the heater set to maximum heat and fan on setting one, the first stage of filling the coolant system was done, slowly mind you! The engine was started, and left for a few minutes (remembering to refit the coolant expansion tank cap), and no heat was coming out of the vents! Ok, I need to do the final bleed of the system. Engine off, twenty minutes of searching through the interwebs MINI forums and finally I found a picture of the sort of area where the thermostat bleed valve would be hiding. Yes, they do hide it well, behind some wiring, right on top of the thermostat, in a small gap you can just fit a long screw driver in!Slowly the screw was turned, and finally I heard the nice noise of hissing and then looked to see coolant coming out of the bleed screw! Success! Screw tightened up, coolant topped up to the required level and engine started....

Hot air finally came out of the vents, no leaks noticed from any hoses, so finally the job was completed. In total it took approximately 3 hours to complete. Not bad for someone when last confronted with a complete coolant system bleed, I owned an Alfa Romeo that just had a total loss coolant system!

The MINI is back on the road!

Vehicle update time.

Let us start at the beginning. The vehicle I lusted after most of my biking life after gaining my motorcycle licence in 1993.

1: Ducati M900 Il Mostro.

904cc air cooled, 90 degree V twin engine. Dry clutch and lots and lots of character, as most of the Ducati range has. She was built in 1993, one of the first off production line, and (possibly) the oldest Ducati M900 in the UK.

I've owned here since 23rd December 2006, and we have had our ups and downs. Knocked off the bike twice on the same road, at different ends, and a week apart between each off. Two complete engine rebuilds, a few niggling electrical problems, worn out Brembo rear wheel, paint peeling off of the front wheel, but she has covered over 60k miles in the last 20 years, and approximately 35k of those miles have been covered by me!

Not too shabby for a 20 year old

2: MINI One 1.4

The changing faces of Dinky

The Dinky one. A car that I didn't think I would want, but now I've got one, I love it! I bought her on the 11th September 2011. One month later she was reversed into, and a bill for over £2000 was sent to the third party. After I collected the car from the repair workshop, it has been a slippery slop since!

The engine is still standard, not that there is a lot you can do to tune the 1.4ltr engine in the MINI One. Maybe a change of air filter for a K&N system, but unlike the 1.6 Cooper, you can't really do much else.

The interior is still standard (just about), apart from the addition of Union Jack interior mirror cover, Union Jack centre consol, Union Jack door handles and glove box opening button and a Union Jack parcel shelf cover from Go Badges. The stereo has been fully upgraded by NewMINIStuff in February 2012, and it does kick out one of the best sounds from the speakers I have heard from a car.

The exterior has been altered slightly. It's still a Lightning Blue MINI. The bonnet and front bumper were replaced by Cooper Tadworth workshop after the shunt. So far I've added the Union Jack (can you see a theme here!) mirror covers, DM wheel caps, and a Cooper S rear spoiler. The wipers have been changed to the flat aero design, Cooper S grille, genuine MINI spot lights and Cooper S fuel cap.

All of the above have been completed since October 2011, just to make the car stand out a bit more.

3: Suzuki GSF600n, the Bandit

It has become the one we do not speak of. The forgotten vehicle of my little fleet, and since 2006 I've been saying "yes I will rebuild the Bandit" on New Years Day, but it just seems to be put in more boxes.

Back in 2006, it was a 72k mile, 1999 Suzuki GSF600N. I have owned the bike since new. Nothing was really modified on the bike. Standard engine, just an aftermarket can was fitted (and fell off one bike ride). A few stickers were added to the tank, the wheels have been different colours, and the gear was changed from 15 tooth front sprocket to 14 tooth, to give it a little bit more acceleration.

The old Suzuki Bandit on her last ride out.

Well, that was a brief rundown on the vehicles under my current ownership. All three need a slight bit of repair, well one of them needs a lot of repairing and a miracle!!

I'll go off and start planing the restoration.

2013, The New Beginning

Well, it is finally here. 2013. We've had 20 hours so far, and the sun has shone, and I've been out to meet some friends, that I only seem to see on New Years Day.

So, a list of resolutions for 2013. Sod that, who keeps them?? I just have a list of jobs to do, and get them done in the best way possible. Hopefully they will be completed without the aid of a bodge job here and there.

At the tail end of  2012, I managed to get organised. A new tool chest, some new tools and I made some space in the workshop. Work is currently under way on the old (now 20 years old) Ducati Monster, to hopefully rectify the escaping electricity. A new battery has been ordered, the starter solenoid and wiring has been checked. Lets hope the new battery cures this annoying problem!!

 Chaos in the workshop

Now onto the MINI One. Well, the top and bottom radiator hoses split on Saturday. The car is off the road, until tomorrow. The replacement hoses and clips were ordered on New Years Eve at my local BMW dealers and should arrive there after 12pm on Wednesday! Tomorrow will be filled with a bit of paperwork in the morning then some refitting of hoses and bleeding of the coolant system. Exciting eh??

A nice clean engine bay

2013 is starting well. It's looking organised at the moment. I've even started (yes, I've actually started) planning the restoring of a 14 year old Suzuki GSF600n. It hasn't moved under it's own steam since 2006, and has been stored under the stairs at work since then. I could end up with a classic Suzuki Bandit and a working classic Ducati M900. Now, that would be a good year if I get both working.

Off I go, back to reading the workshop manual for a Suzuki Bandit.