Eunos Chump

"Found a big hole in a sill; rear wheel arches dissolved when I attempted to wash them". That's the kind of thing I'd be writing if I'd bought a Spitfire as originally intended. This weekend, all I've had to do was petty tasks like painting the seat runners and fixing down the carpet in the drivers footwell (which involved taking off the sill trim; underneath it was as clean and solid as the day it left Hiroshima). I've booked a trackday at Snetterton next month, that's bound to leave me with some work. Other MX5's are expected (including Team Merlot ) so I'm hoping to pick up some modification tips. Must... go... faster...

This weekend I helped someone; I helped them avoid the heartache and disappointment of buying a computer from PC World. Whatever happens to me in the future, I'll know I made a difference, I made the world a slightly better place. On the car front, today I was reduced to reconditioning the sun visors . Yes, I've completely run out of other work to do. I do want to change the gearbox and diff oil, but that's sunny-day work. I intend to rustproof it thoroughly, but again that requires dry weather. Perhaps I should try driving it a bit more?

I have 2 torque wrenches, called Sunny Torques-worth and Mr Bad Torquey. Mr Bad Torquey is my enforcer, a brutal monster only used on the most obstinate bolts that cannot be reasoned with. It wasn't always this way; once Mr Bad Torquey was good like Sunny, but was changed forever during a tussle with a Peugeot 106 driveshaft nut, and now he no longer knows or cares when enough is enough. He absolutely will not stop, and you either shift or have your head torn off, there is no mercy. Mr Bad Torquey had to be called in during replacement of the front disks and pads on the 5. Nobody has ever defied Mr Bad Torquey so far... and today was no different.

I've nearly completed the list of tasks I drew up to bring the car back to health, it's all a bit worrying and I may soon be at a loose end every evening. Today I've removed the retro-fitted rear foglamp switch, which was a sinister looking thing that I suspect was originally the bomb release on a WW2 bomber. I also tried turning the OS reverse lamp into a fog lamp (so I can remove the fog lamp hanging off the bumper), with a red bulb, but it's not really bright enough though. I'm going to try one of those LED bulbs. Also adjusted the headlamps, fitted the carpet properly, refinished the speaker grilles, and fixed the washers.