OCD does not go hand in hand with an old car.

Myrtle is kind of drivable now, by that I mean the semi auto-clutch is taking some getting used to, it is a little bit fickle. At times, I think it is either engaged or not engaged depending on how you look at it, by that I mean if I did have a proper right leg I would press my foot down to engage the clutch and release it to disengage and therefore be able to drive off. Oh! and her brakes have given me a few scares as she keeps loosing her pedal. Ern (my dad) thinks they may require bleeding again, after we fitted a new brake master cylinder.

I have come to realise that owning an old car and having somewhat of my own quirks, as in a spot of OCD that it can be quite stressful. Not everything is going to be perfect, and I am going to have to learn to live with Myrtles little idiosyncrasies.

I love wee Myrtle, so I am  trying really hard to reign in my anxiety and compulsion to get every little thing working and every single measurement, blemish, rattle or squeak sorted. Mind you that rattle on the passenger side door is bugging the hell out of me so I will have to have a look behind her makeshift door card.

So this morning's idea was to get up and give Myrtle a wash and a polish, then take her out for a little spin. I just wanted to practice getting used to her clutch and the gear change and kept my fingers crossed that her brakes would work somewhat when I needed them.

 

We didn't go far, just along to Craghead, turning up towards Wagtail Lane, or the lonely road as we used to call it when we were kids.

It was another beautiful morning, so I wound Myrtle's window down, yes wound it down, there's a novelty no leccy windows in the old girl. I tried adjusting her little wing mirrors I can just about see out of the drivers if I bob me heed about, but the passenger side is a lot more difficult to see out of. 

I made a short video today and got some pictures, then decided to drive up to Stanley, parked up at Asda, drew some money from the speed bank and went and got my hair cut over at the barbers. Upon coming back I was sure Myrtle was leaning over again... I had to reign in my OCD and drove home to publish me stuff and write this blog.

Myrtle 1965 VW Beetle

It takes some getting used to driving an old car I mean Myrtle is only a 1200cc, she will probably do 60 mph at a push, but she is quite content to amble around at about 40 to 50 mph, much to the annoyance of a lot of drivers. There really are some pretty unhappy and not very nice people out there. Not today as there wasn't much traffic locally, but whilst I have been going backwards and forwards in Myrtle I have received angry beeps, people undertaking me, and people overtaking me, which is a given, I just wish they wouldn't do it in dangerous places. There are some all together raggie drivers. One wifey was about 6 feet off my bumper the other week and not a happy bunny at all. She beeped at me and got a beep back, as Myrtle's horn now works Lol

Of course, it hasn't been all bad I have had a bus driver in his double-decker bus wave at me with a huge smile on his face, a couple of classic Mini drivers wave and a few people rubber neck as I go by with smiles on their faces.

I guess you either love or hate these Wee cars, for me Myrtle just makes me smile. She is heavy on the steering with a huge yet thin steering wheel, her brakes like I say are nowhere near a modern cars, she is noisy and rattly, to be fair no proper carpets or sound deadening down, and her door cards are not trimmed so rattling. She doesn't have a heater, or a radio and I definitely need her seats sorting as I can feel the old springs and something sticking in my back, but like I say I love her.

I'm also used to driving an automatic, my little Smart car Tango, which although is an auto, has a notorious horrible gearbox and, my new 12Up Beetle GSR which has a lovely Dsg box. So getting used to a manual 4 speed, yet relying on a sensor to dip the clutch is a bit daunting.

Myrtle 65

Cars have come such a long way, my cousin came to see me the other week with his brand-new Volvo, a lovely looking motor, however when he got on about all the safety features and the bells and whistles I just though Wow! I am surprised you now don't have to take a separate functional part to your driving test. I know it is not in the too far future of self drive cars, but hey where is the fun in that. Also looking at electric cars, yes the future, but Omg! There soundtrack is so boring as they whirrr! Along. I guess I am still old school.

Myrtle, Tango & Grandma

Wow! What an exhausting couple of weeks I have put in with Myrtle my 65 Bug, Tango my wee Orange Smart car & Grandma my beloved Beetle GSR.

I am actually attempting to write this with ever so painful, skinned fingers, that are down to Tango, I will get to the tale of that soon, but thought I'd start at the beginning with Myrtle.

After having a few practice rides out in Myrtle, with her semi auto clutch adaption fitted, it soon became obvious that her brakes were not working correctly. From time to time she would have a really soft pedal or in some scary instances no pedal at all. We thought the problem might have been an old sticking brake master cylinder, so we ordered a new one, and whilst we waited for it to arrive I set about trying to repair the damaged paint work underneath Myrtles fuel tank were old brake fluid had been leaking from the brake reservoir and the brake master cylinder, man that brake fluid is nasty stuff, it had completely eaten the paint, and caused it to blister and turn to mush.

Nasty stuff that brake fluid

Damage already done by a leaking brake reservoir

I had to order yet another rattle can of Mango Green paint, it's rather expensive stuff at almost £20 a can, with postage, and it doesn't match identically, however the job is done and my main concern having some protection has been achieved. Masking off the area was another mini nightmare, as obviously I had to watch for overspray. Masking off the car was a job in itself, and following this I had a little bit of a trouble spraying the required area as there wasn't much room.

Not much room to get in and apply paint

 

With the front end stripped, by this I mean the petrol tank removed along with the air ride cradle air tank, twin compressors and AirLift manifold, we decided to have one more go at what has been one of our nemesis on this wee car, and that is the wiper motor. Not joking this wiper motor must have been taken off between 10 to 15 times and messed around with. Whilst it works alongside the switch with 2 speeds, slow & fast, it just refuses to park. I had seen this guy on eBay offering to repair them, so sent it away. Apparently there was a terminal missing at 31b.

31b Terminal missing

In order to get the motor out I had to remove the windscreen wipers. I bought brand new wiper arms and even new wiper spindles only last year, Wow! I am not best impressed with the quality of the finish on the wipers, as I went to remove them I noticed they were all rusty, and residue had run down the spindles and just made everything look awful, another job to sort.

These were brand-new spindles along with wiper arms

Terrible quality

 

The motor was only away a few days and came back with a new terminal in place. We eagerly fitted the motor and... Crap! It still refused to park. I got in touch with Nick the friendly gentleman who had replaced the terminal, and he very kindly tried to give me some advice on the potential problem. Nick advised taking the small plastic protective cap off where the parking switch mechanism is and clean the contacts. It looks like an old distributor, with points. My dad removed the plastic cap,  and cleaned the switch contacts, however the motor still would not park. I must add at this point we had it hooked up to a battery on a workbench and properly earthed.

My dad decided to remove the alloy wiper cover, and he discovered that the small rubber seal at the base of the alloy cover was not seated correctly, it was in fact just say catching the small park switch and stopping it from making contact at the closed position. I informed Nick of this, and he advised to send the motor and complete mechanism back to him, and he would do a full inspection of the motor alongside the other parts, you see Nick had discovered my motor was actually from a 1968 Beetle so must have been retro fitted at some point. Problem with this is that it could potentially have the wrong wiper mechanism, and this could also prevent the proper function.

I am now just awaiting its return as I can't get anything built up, as the motor has to be put in place first.

Going back to brakes, they are now all sorted, new rubber brake hosing, brake lines to master cylinder and reservoir and a new brake master cylinder and all bled off.

Moving on to Tango, oh and a mention of my amazing dad, Ern. He just turned 80 in November of last year. When I say "We" work on the cars by that I mean I sometimes get to hold a spanner, or wrench, like when Ern says "Pass me the 10 mm". On rare occasions I have even been let loose with a screwdriver.

Myrtle in her what seems usual position & some maintenance on Tango

A few weeks ago I thought about putting Tango up for sale. No other reason than being bored I think, as the wee car has served me very well. I have owned her coming up to 6 years. I decided to give Tango a much-needed clean and this is one of those times that when we talk about hindsight being a wonderful thing I wish I had never started the job I am about to mention.

So upon cleaning Tango and going to polish her roof I noticed a sort of "bloom" in her roof panel. I polished and polished, but the mark just would not go away. I then went onto YouTube and watched a video of a couple of guys restoring a Smart car roof. It looked pretty straight forward, all I would need was an orbital sander and some discs. I already had an orbital polisher. I asked Ern to pick me up an orbital sander when he was down at Team Valley, and he also ordered me some sanding discs from Amazon as no one had the relevant grits locally. They arrived the next day and I set about completing what I thought would be an easy and straight forward job I mean how hard can sanding be right?

Tango's roof what a nightmare

Just one little patch of clear coat or so I thought

Ow! Ow! Ow!

 

Oh! I should probably mention that Tango has a panoramic roof, it is made from polycarbonate and not metal. The bloom had arisen from the sun and UV light affecting the top clear coat on the roof. The job entailed removing the clear coat and then, so I thought polishing up the polycarbonate underneath. 

Sanding disc fitted to orbital sander, 400 grit I set about sanding the first part of the roof. Within about 30 to 60 seconds it soon became clear that the discs would not last long, they clogged practically immediately. After going through all the 400 discs and realising I wasn't actually getting anywhere other than making a huge mess I decided to try using wet & dry and doing the roof by hand. Again had to go out and buy various grits of wet & dry. This time I appeared have more success in removing the top clear coat, but man was it hard work. Long story slightly shorter I actually spent over 7 days sanding the roof of Tango and some of those days were 10 or 11 hours at a time I kid you not. At the end of which I had an extremely sore hand, still have my fingertips are killing me, Oh and end result you may ask? Tango's roof although smoother than a babies' arse looks absolutely terrible. No matter what I put on it and I have tried a lot of products I just cannot get a shine and there are swirl marks. I have gone all the way from 400 grit right up to 1500 in stages, and I am now at a point where I can't possibly do any more I have conceded defeat.

I did a spot more research online and discovered that the roof issues are a common fault that Smart/Mercedes are aware of. At one time you used to be able to claim under warranty and even from your insurance, under glass replacement, not sure if this is just the US market. It's like I say the heat and UV rays destroy the polycarbonate roof, they either get crazing/cracks or like mine bloom in the clear coat.

To have a new roof fitted is extortionate, so tomorrow I may shop around for some quotes at a body shop and try and find out if anyone can pop a clear coat on my roof, as this should in theory bring back a glossy finish.

And finally on to Grandma my VW Beetle GSR. Grandma has been hibernating over the winter. I bought some new 20" wheels for her about 6 months ago and on Wednesday popped down to D&R Tyres at Shield Row to see Dougie about getting some new Michelin Pilot Sports fitted. I explained to Dougie my biggest concern was that my new rims may get scratched or scuffed during fitting. Dougie was spot on and assured me this shouldn't and wouldn't happen, he  then sorted out a quote for 4 tyres and also informed me of a deal where you get £100 back from Michelin on a pre-paid Mastercard, so when that arrives I can use that money towards a service on Grandma. Dougie said he would call me the following day when the tyres came in stock, and he could get them fitted when I dropped the wheels off.

Concaver CRV4 wheels

 

Good to his word the tyres arrived the following day and I dropped the rims off for fitting. I then went back home to continue messing around with Tango and Dougie rang me not long after to say the wheels were already to be picked up. I went down and the lads gave me a hand to pop the wheels in the back of my dad's car. Job sorted, the wheels look awesome, even the lads in the garage commented on them. Fitted balanced, with new valves and not a mark on them. A Top quality service by a local friendly firm, who offered a good deal and some great advice, can't ask for any more than that. Plus you can tell they care about their customers as they maintained social distancing and even-handed out masks to customers if they had forgotten their own. It's just the little touches.

Having got the wheels back I didn't fit them immediately as I wanted to give Grandma a good clean, as like I say she has been in the garage for months and upon going down to get her she was very dusty. As I got in her to start her up I soon discovered that her battery was flat...Again.

I don't have electric in our garage otherwise I would leave her on a trickle charger. A walk back up the street to see the chief mechanic, Ern. My dad drove back down in his car along with his battery boost charger and we soon had Grandma fired up, along with a dash full of various warning lights, oh and a soft tyre.

Could do with detailing under her bonnet

Once she had time to warm up I took her around the block and to our house, thankfully all the lights had gone out, well apart from the tyre sensor one. I then set about giving her a thorough clean, inside and out starting with hoovering her out. Her carpets were manky, you see there is a pot hole right near our garage and it fills with water on the drivers side. I can't step over it, due to my gimpy leg, so on the last occassion it was full of water and mud I must have stepped in it and transfered all the crap on the inside of Grandma. I had to actually wash her mats, put them outside to dry and later on in the afternoon discovered wor Baxter had pulled them off the garden bench/seat and had been lying on them. The little sod, now they need hoovering again as they have white dog hairs all over.

 
I gave Grandma a proper good wash then used a combination of my orbital polisher and by hand to apply and then polish my car. I used some new polish which I had purchased from another local business, one I didn't even know exsisted until my mate John mentioned them. The business is called Juicey Detailing and they are over at  Tanfield Lea North Industrial Estate Unit 11C. Again more great customer service from a very friendly chap. I bought some Bilt Hammer alloy wheel cleaner for Tango which is the best alloy wheel cleaner I have used so far, it stinks, but does a great job, oh and the polish was  by Chemical Guys, called V4 Extreme All-In-One Polish, which again is an amzing product, easy to apply and remove and it works great on minor scratches and swirl marks, polishing  up to a high gloss finish.

All polished and with new wheels fitted

Grandma

Wasn't sure if I liked the new look at first

May even be able to get Grandma a tad lower

 

Following all this hardwork, Ern and I removed my old winter wheels and fitted the new wheels to Grandma. I wasn't sure I liked them at first, but they are growing on me, plus they don't scrub or catch, which is such a relief. I got changed, grabbed my camera and went for a most enjoyable tootle up to Waskerley in Grandma, it felt great to go for a spin, she is just such a lovely car to drive. She has power on tap and I love the sound as she burbles away, or if when you put your foot down she roars and the turbo whilstles.

VW Beetle GSR

Love this car

VW Beetle GSR

 

Oh I also had my birthday this month, after all this graft yes I am feeling my age, it's hard work maintianing a car never mind three, not only on your pocket, but physically too LoL. Not complaining mind I feel very fortunate.

By that Wind was Proper Cold Like

 My last long lie in before heading back to work tomorrow. I have been shielding since December of last year. I didn't really have anything planned for today, however received a surprise message from my friend John, asking did I fancy a tootle out on the bikes.

"May as well". I hadn't even looked outside to see what the weather was like, but Ern had said it was really cold and had been snowing. "Give over" I replied, "snowing indeed". As I came downstairs to have a quick cuppa before getting sorted to go out, sure enough as I looked out of our kitchen window, poor Myrtle sitting on axle stands and wheel less had a covering of snow on her bonnet.

"I had better get wrapped up" I thought so after finishing my brew hopped back up to my room and grabbed my gear, making sure I got my legging out and my thicker Endura Hoodie jacket.

I had to quickly pop the tendons back onto my Bartlett Tendon along with the cams, as I have been using the knee on my road bike, set on my turbo trainer, so tend not to utilise the tendons when I am just spinning, it's a waste of energy.

By the time I just about got sorted John was at the kitchen window and ready to go. As I stepped outside to go get my bike WoW! Did I feel the cold, weird as it looked such a nice day with the sun shining and blue skies.

Sorted we were ready for the off, well we would have been if my dam Specialized would connect to the bloody Mission Control app. It was keep asking for a poxy pin code to connect. It must have been after my bike was away getting repaired the other week, that and "Oh yeah" my old Samsung Galaxy S9 had gone tits up the other week, it  kept closing apps and coming up with errors, so much so that I had to do a complete system install and try and retrieve as much of my stuff back as possible. Anyhoo after about 15 minutes of fannying on I eventually figured out the pin code, it wasn't a four-digit code at all like what the app was suggesting, it was actually the BLE Code that came with my bike and I had stuck in the instruction manual. Just in case you lose your code, if you remove the display/button on your top tube apparently it's also printed there.

Now we could go. John fancied a ride down to Beamish, sounded like a plan as we could get some shelter amongst the tree lined route for a little bit of the ride.

Feels like ages since we have ridden up the farmers trail, it was surprisingly dry, so although it was a bit of a climb, it was slightly easier due to it not being so muddy. I won't bore you with the details of the whole route, just that we went down towards Beamish Hall and then detoured into Beamish Woods.

Beamish

John was dying for a tinkle, so we stopped opposite the small pond, and he headed off into the woods to relieve himself. I was complaining about a dog bag when he returned, honest John just went for a wee, he didn't have a dump, it wasn't John's bag. Oh! And there was also an old discarded bike, man why can't people just look after places.
  

First picture of the day, and it's of a Dog Poo Bag. It's not John's I can assure you!

Second picture of an old rusty thrown away bike

 

  

Still Cold

 

As we rode out of the wooded trail area and got back on to the road the wind was freezing cold. It got even worse as we crossed over by Tanfield Railway and headed down the trail with open fields on either side. 

John got this picture from the small bridge at Tanfield railway

It was freezing coming down this stretch of trail

Proper cold on this part, the wind blowing right across the open fields

Looks a lovely day, the wind was freezing though

 

We stopped off at the old ruins of a building and got out of the wind for a while, and had a bit banter. John even gave me a small chocolate egg, saying "here you go m8 and chocolate egg for Easter". It's the only one I have received, it sucks when you get old and no one cares LoL. I would have liked to take more photos, but I couldn't feel my hands. I am so glad I always carry my Arctic ONE buff, today it came in especially handy, well more ear'y, if that is even a word, as my lugs would have got the full brunt of the chilly wind.

The One and only egg I received this year

A ride back to Stanley and home, opting to cycle through Tanfield Village and onto the cycle track at the Factories and that was another little excursion done.

Upon getting back home my bike then wouldn't upload to Strava. All this technology that is supposed to make your life easier does my nut in. Eventually figured out it was because I had two Strava accounts, so I have deleted one, and it looks to be working now. So that was Day 513x of riding every single day in one form or another.

This leads me to the bit everyone gets fed up with, Sorry, but it is for a very worthwhile cause and that is Arctic ONE. If you sponsor me a penny a day that is only £3.65, just think about my sore bottom...Errrr! Well maybe don't, but go raid your piggy bank and pay it forward. Thanks

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GlennJohnstone1

A visit to The Earl of Durham’s Monument

 It is Day 500 of cycling everyday today, so what better way to celebrate, (apart from you all donating a few quid to Arctic ONE via my link)

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GlennJohnstone1

Then to go out for a nice bike ride with John.

I was up and about much earlier than need be, just can't sleep lately. This gave me the opportunity to make a couple of scrumptious fruit loaf sandwiches, containing Strawberry Jam and Quorn Spinach and Red Pepper slices...Mmmmmmm!

  

Mmmmm! One of my special sandwiches

 

John was the designated leader of today's excursion, saying he fancied a ride to Penshaw Monument. It's canny deceiving how far the trip is, both there and back from ours is, just over 26 miles according to my Strava. I have to say it's not the most exciting route, travelling down the C2C and coming out at Birtley, then lots of riding mainly on footpaths where we could as the road going up towards where Lambton Lion Park used to be is both up hill and cars travel at mental speeds.

A little history about Penshaw Monument...

Penshaw Monument

Penshaw Monuments official name is The Earl of Durham’s Monument. It has
a secret spiral staircase in one of its pillars and once on top of the walk way this leads to an impressive view as you stand on the 70feet tall structure.

Penshaw Monument

 

In the 1920s a young boy fell to his death, so the staircase was closed to the public. In the 60s vandals broke the lock preventing people from access and there was a brief period where there was unrestricted access. The National Trust now maintains the Monument and around 2011 granted access to the staircase on special designated days.

My Specialized having a rest

 

The Monument which is a replica of a Greek temple of Hephaestus in Athens, stands 446 feet above sea level. It was built in memory of John George Lambton, the 1st Earl of Durham.

John at the bottom of Penshaw

 

There is no cycling within the Monument grounds, saying which it would be a pretty epic hill to climb. I struggled to push my bike up and had to stop for a breath and change my route a number of times, as it is hard going. Pleased I had my eBike as the walk assist came in very useful. Coming down was a bit more sketchy LoL
   

Man the push-up was hard, felt like my calf was going to explode

Another wee rest

Back to it

At the top I asked John would he like to try out one of my delicious sandwiches, not sure if he was just being polite as he said it was OK
I can't see him turning Vegan anytime soon. I think the photo maybe tells me he is not to keen LoL

Sharing me sandwiches with John

First bite "Nice Aren't they?"

Oh! And it was John's fault he cut our heads off in the pictures as he set up the camera on it little tripod.

View from the bottom of the hill

Sarnies ate, a quick drink, and we were off, negotiating the slippery slope back down the hill. The ride home was no less adventurous, but hey at least we were out, and it always gives us the chance to catch up and put the world to rights.

Mini Adventure in Wee Myrtle my 65 Bug

 Decided to have a bit of a spontaneous adventure in Myrtle this morning, well I think it was morning as to be fair it could have been partly afternoon, my body clock is all over the shop.

I gathered some gear, my new GoPro Hero 9, my DSLR camera and I asked Ern, did he fancy a little jaunt out to which he replied " No you are alright, take your phone, just in case", no faith in the wee car Huh Ern?

Anyhoo Ern changed his mind, and we grabbed wor coats and the gear taking them to put in Myrtle. I then discovered I had completely forgot how to use my GoPro, so had to quickly pop back in the house, checkout a short YouTube vid for instructions, and then we were ready.

I started Myrtle up and let her warm up a little, she started first click. I checked her air ride pressures, just in case she had lost any air. I also checked to make sure the semi auto clutch was in auto mode, you can tell if it is as a little light lights up just under the throttle pedal.

 

I gently popped her into first gear, with a little revs and proceeded to stall her immediately. It kind of takes a bit getting used to this new fangled mod. I didn't want to rev the pods off Myrtle, as I was worried I would shoot out of our backyard and across the road, so I was trying to be gentle on the accelerator. After another couple of attempts, stalling her each time, it could be to do with her not being warmed up I managed to pull her out of our yard and headed for the first challenge, the bloody great big speed humps in our back lane. I hate these things, they are massive. Even with 90 psi in the front and 80 psi in the rear I can hear Myrtle scrape over the humps.

Clutch system is pretty unobtrusive

We managed to negotiate the humps and I turned onto Durham Road and headed up the bank. I managed to change gear quite smoothly, again it's just about figuring out how to drive the system. There are a few small things to iron out, and I have been in touch with Bewick Mobility, where I had the adaption fitted about improving the setup.

Oh whilst I remember for anyone wanting this kind of adaption it is quite expensive. I didn't know about a thing called Access to Work, it's a government scheme for people with disabilities. It's setup to help people with their jobs, so that can be as in my case getting too and from work, or it can be for other work related things, like training or equipment. It is just a handy thing to know, and it is easy to apply. You get an adviser who deals with your application, and it's pretty straight forward. In my case as I work part-time, 4 days per week I had to pay a certain amount towards the cost of my adaption, but it still saved me a lot, and to be fair I didn't mind, after all it has enabled me to drive my little car.

Myrtle looks tiny

Ern with Myrtle

Back to Bewick Mobility and the small problems I am encountering. It's things like loosing all drive at certain moments, this requires me to pop my hand over the gearstick sensor to re-engage the clutch, or like if I let off the accelerator as I am coming down a hill, again the car loses drive, so I have no engine braking. I have noticed when I approach lets say a roundabout, and I am braking either to negotiate it or slow down for other users that the system disengages/engages depends on how you look at it, and the car will just rev, instead of driving, so if you imagine as a normal driver, it's as if you are dipping your clutch and just coasting whilst in gear. The car uses a computer which is tuned to the car's rpm. The motor which operates the clutch is neatly hidden under Myrtles back seat. I think once she is setup, this will be a great bit of kit.

Ern looking over the moor, they were burning back the heather

We had a drive up to Wakerley and up on the moors, Myrtle whilst she certainly isn't fast, she is only a 1200 cc, she did pull up all the rather steep banks well and got us to our destination.

I shot a little video of me driving her, showing the gear change and when we got up on the moors took a few photos.

Myrtle VW Beetle 65

I am so paranoid about Myrtle not sitting level after all my problems last year, so ended up driving to a flat area in a housing estate on the way home and airing her up and down to see if she sat level on a fairly level'ish bit of ground. She appears to be sitting higher than both my dad and I recalled, however when you look under her, she is sitting on her pan so can't exactly go any lower...

Paranoid about her leaning

Love this wee car, so much still left to do

She is soooo cute

I drove Myrtle home on what I considered "My air ride settings" and sure enough when we got home she couldn't get over the bloody speed bumps, so I had to reverse and air her right up again.

Upon getting her home and back in our yard my dad said he was just going to dip her petrol tank to see how much petrol was in her, as the gauge hasn't moved in a while. Well it appears Myrtle runs on fresh air as the tank was bone dry, so much, so I don't know how we managed to get all the way back LoL