Well it's summer, and for me, that means the start of MOT season. One MOT a month for six months, oh the stress!
My cars have a habit of following each other, if one fails, they'll al fail on the same thing. (Probably more to do with my MOT tester than the cars themselves)
So I can normally get a good idea of how the year will go from the first one, and that's Elizabeth, AKA the LS.
This year, I decided to try somewhere new for MOTs. This was determined last year after my last garage failed 3 of my cars on emissions. I later found out that they were trying to put it through the wrong test.
Instead of testing for euro 1 emissions, they were testing for euro 2.
The LS is normally pretty good with MOTs these days but I thought I'd do a bit of pre-emptive work nonetheless.
Along with the usual service I thought I'd replace the manifold vacuum sensor. The engine had been running with a bit of a flat spot recently and I thought this might be the culprit. It's also one of the only sensors that I hadn't already replaced at this point so what the hell!
These are rather expensive for what they are but I got a genuine one from genuine parts search along with some GM vacuum hose to go with it:
This is just as well because the old hose was in a very poor shape, just bending it slightly caused the surface to crack and fall way:
Old and new side by side:
Also got myself a new vacuum connector for the top hat to air box line.
I was never happy with this one I put on, was far too loose for my liking:
Totally unable to find an original GM part (I couldn't even find a part number for the originals) I bought a part originally for an original Mini.
Austin part number: 12B2062
The flat spot is now gone although I'm not sure if it was the new parts that did that or the drive I took it on afterwards. Either way, things seem a bit happier.
I then splashed out on one of these, from eBay don't you know.
Actually rather impressed considering it's a repro:
Next, it was MOT time, drum roll please...
Yay!
Great way to start the season and I was very happy with the emissions considering the mileage and original nature of the engine.
That wheel bearing did need changing though as it had been making some noise for about a year. Noting for it than to change it I suppose:
New Febi kit from the spares bin:
Fitting with the help of my mechanic John:
The old one was pretty knackered, full of iron filings:
And finally, today (well yesterday, it's now gone midnight since writing this), I've been doing a bit of prep for VBOA on the weekend.
Hovered her out, cleaned the floor mats and the headlamp protectors:
Gave her a good wash and dry, Polished the glass, sprayed the hubcaps with some wheel protector, blackened up the plastics and lubricated all the door hinges:
Today also saw a lot of work on the CD auto:
Although maybe I'll talk about that one another time as it's now gone three in the morning!
Tomorrow will be another day of washing and waxing, or otherwise making them shine as much as possible, before making the journey to Market Harborough on Friday. Can't wait!