2nd May 2005
Haven't done anything to the car other than give it a good clean. After the rain driving earlier in the week, the car was pretty filthy, so I got rid of all that. I gave the car a brief eyeball over and everything seems to be in the right place still, and not leaking, so that's all good. As the weather has been nice this weekend, I've been driving the car around a bit.
I've only one weekend of fettle time before the car needs to be ready for my trip to Scotland, so I'll make a shortlist of a few things I would like to get sorted out. Not sure how far through it I will get. In theory the car is in a pretty ready state as it is (as the repeated oil leaks have meant that I've not had the time to sort out the half doors and tonneau cover as I wanted :-/ ).

3rd May 2005
I finally got my bootbox through from Plays-Kool today. I ordered it quite a while ago, but seems to have taken a little while to be made and sent over. Still it's here now and looks pretty good.
So I spent some time this evening removing the existing boot cover panels, and started measuring up for the fitting of the box. It's not quite simple to do as my roll bar is welded in to the car, whereas normally it bolts in and so can be removed to fit the box. This means that I have to cut the bootbox in a similar fashion to the existing cover panels, with the two side pieces being fitting in around the bar, and the centre box part in between. This has the advantage that I can quite easily remove it for access to the rear end of the car.
So I measure and ponder and mark, and then check it a few times. I need a new jigsaw blade before I can make the cut... and a dose of courage!

4th May 2005
Not much time this evening, and I've not sorted a jigsaw blade yet (excuses...). But I decided that to reduce the chance of the gelcoat splintering with the jigsaw, to score it with a knife first. So I clamped some steel tube along the line and carefully scored it a few times.

6th May 2005
Time for more excuses. Craig offered to get me a jigsaw blade as he was at the local tool emporium the other day. However he has since vanished and so I still don't have a fresh blade for the cutting job. So this evening I decided to kill some time by making some cardboard templates for the side parts of the box. Once I'd started, I realised it was a very worthy task as it means I will get it right first time on the real thing, hopefully.

7th May 2005
So I got hold of the new blades later on last night, no more excuses. So I get on with the job this afternoon. From past experience when building the car, fettling these things to fit properly is a time consuming thing, so I expect it will take me a day or so to get it all done.
First thing to do is find some courage and cut the sides off the bootbox. Again I attach some steel tube to act a guide, and taking my time I get there. It wasn't so bad, and the cuts look pretty neat, though the jigsaw makes a slightly wide cut so it remains to be seen as to how well things will match up again.
Before the box will actually fit, it needs a couple of small fettles. There is a welded in vertical bar behind the drivers head, which is intended for a head rest to be attached. So I just need to cut a notch out of the front edge of the box to allow it to slide over this when fitting in. Also I find the box just needs a little material removing around the welds for the seatbelt turrets, just so that the box can sit down properly against the bulkhead cross member. The box then fits into position.
I then got on with fettling the side parts to fit around the roll bar. Checking the templates I made, they seem to be just the right size so they should be about right to use. Once I'd transferred the cuts over from the templates, there then followed quite a bit of cutting a bit, trying it, checking, measuring, and then repeat. I then had all three parts fitting in unison.
The next chunk of time was spent fixing the side panels into final position. Again this is quite time consuming as you measure, check, try, adjust, etc. as I am reusing the existing rivnuts in the rear bodywork. I started by doing the two side fittings on each panel, and then the front is currently held by the seatbelt eyebolt. As I intend to glass some flanges onto the side parts so they can be attached to the main box part (not least because they will need this to line up properly), I shouldn't need any more fixing points.

8th May 2005
Onwards this morning with a couple more hours on the bootbox. One of which was spent doing all the fixings for the main box section. Again, I re-used the existing rivnuts for this, so three across the leading edge and three on the trailing edge. I also had to make the holes for the seatbelt eyebolts to fit through.
Then I spent a little time fettling the fillets which I am going to fit in behind the roll bar rear stays. I'd ensured that I cut these out as carefully as possible so I can use the bit that I cut out, trimmed down, and will just stick them into place. Again a bit of measure, cut, try, repeat, but it looks like they will finish off those gaps ok.
With all parts now fitted, the next thing to realistically do is to make the flanges for the side parts, so that the three parts can be attached together. This will give it a little rigidity, but more importantly will ensure that the side part sit flush with the box, as they don't having been cut off. It will also help hide the gap between the box and the sides.
So I call on Craigs help as I've not done any glass fibre work before, despite having bought the bits to do some a while ago. We spend some time preparing the parts with protection parcel tape where we don't want things to bond together. Then with guidance I soon have some resin mixed up, with black pigment added, and then add three layers of fibre matting. Just got to wait for it to go off to find out whether I've got it right or it's all gone wrong...

9th May 2005
A quick visit to the garage this morning to split the parts apart. It was a little fiddly and required some encouragement, but it got there. However the insides of the flanges were still a little tacky, so I left them spread out to go off some more during the day.
When I got home in the evening, they had gone off properly, and I spent some time trimming them down to a more sensible size. I then fitted it all up and worked out where the holes needed to tbe drilled, double-checking that everything was aligned properly. Unfortunately, I then found that Craig still had my rivnut tool, so couldn't progress any further for now.

11th May 2005
Had a day off to make some progress with car things today. Principally this enabled me to and get some new tyres fitted to my wheels. I only have 1mm left above the markers on my existing tyres, which is great for dry grip, but I'm not wholly convinced it's a good idea to go doing 1500 miles around Scotland on them. So the morning is spent chasing off into the fens and getting the tyres sorted.
I got my rivnutter back from Craig, so was then able to finish off the bootbox fittings. I fitted the rivnuts and test fitted the box with all the bolts in place. All was well, so I left it at that for now. Although I did spend some time removing all the tape from both the box and the car, which made it all start to look more proper.
Whilst the wheels were off the car, I took the opportunity to remove the pads and clean brakes and hubs up a bit. I also spent time cleaning the insides of the wheels up, as they too have never been done, and were pretty well caked in brake dust build up.

16th May 2005
Had a break in car proceedings due to best man duties over the weekend. So back to it today as there's not long left now before I am off to Scotland in it. So I started checking over the rear suspension before it is all hidden away by the bootbox beinf fitted. It was all still torqued up ok, however whilst I was groping around underneath I noticed that the fuel return flexible pipe had started to perish and was cracked. Now it would probably be ok, but I'd rather not chance it so decided it has to be replaced. So I had to drain the fuel tank again, down to the level of the return. Messy, smelly, but done.
I also torque checked the front suspension, some of which was a bit loose! I then refitted the front wheels only to discover another problem. The balancing weights on the wheels have been stuck in the middle of the inside of the rim, and are just fouling the brake caliper. So I'll have to get them re-balanced with the weights on the outer inside edge - this is annoying expense.

17th May 2005
I can't actually get on with much until I've got the wheels sorted out, which I intend to do tomorrow, when I have a day of final fettling and packing. So this evening I fit the replacement fuel pipe, and run the engine up to ensure it is all sealed and working ok.
Also, someone at work gave me some foam which I use to make a couple of small pads for my seat. As I'm a bit on the boney side, I tend to get bruises on my back after driving the car for a while, so some cushions are probably wise. I've carefully sealed the foam into plastic to ensure I don't end up on wet sponges.

18th May 2005
A day full of rushing around to finish, I'm leaving for Edinburgh tomorrow! First job was to go out and get the wheels re-balanced - an annoyance, but once it is done, they fit straight on without problems. This also means I can re-fit the cycle wings as I'd removed them to make getting the wheels on and off easier.
Also whilst I was out and about, I picked up a small breather filter which I fitted onto the oil catch tank, in a bid to capture the oil fumes which spray the underside of the bonnet - it seems to breathe quite heavily. I also managed to find some plastic eyelets which I fitted to the car cover, they are much better for the job than the small brass ones which I had used before (some of which had fallen out).
I then took the car out for a quick test run, just for sanity to make sure everything was ok, and the wheel balancing was ok. I also took the opportunity to fill up with fuel before the morning, and also fill up the fuel can I'll carry for emergency.
Feeling lavish, I gave the car a quick wash. Actually it needed it as it was pretty well covered in dust from the bootbox cutting, and the front of the wheels were a bit messy from when I'd been cleaning the backs of them.

With the car back in the garage, it remained for me to fit the bootbox, and have a final sanity check over of the car. I also needed to make a lid for the boot. I'd decided that I'd go with a temporary cover, and got some cordex (I think it's called) from Craig. This was easily cut into a sensible shape, and I'll seal it by fitting foam strip to the underside, and then just tape it shut. I load the fuel, tools, and spares, basically emergency stuff, into the boot, and tape it up shut.

Thursday 19th May 2005
Haggislander Day One.
The tour proper actually starts on Friday lunchtime at The Falkirk Wheel. But that's quite a trek to drive in a morning, so a few of us have arranged to drive up today and stay over somewhere more local. So it's a fairly uninteresting drive to Edinburgh today, the majority of which involved droning along the A1 north.
The weather forecast isn't brilliant, but it looks like it will be showery rather than constant rain. And sure enough, as soon as I push the car out of the garage, it starts to rain! Fortunately it is very short lived. The first minor hitch reveals itself quite soon in that as I start driving I hear an unusual clatter, which is intriguing, until I notice the rear of the bonnet starting to flap around. Then I remember that I hadn't locked it down - that could have been a showstopper had it got airbourne!
All is relatively painless thereafter, as we convoy up the A1. We turn off onto the A68 which is a little more interesting as it's single carriageway with corners and things to overtake :-) The scenery also starts to become significantly more interesting, but it's hard to take it all in when driving. We arrive at the stopover early evening, and settle down to a drink and some food ahead of an easy morning tomorrow.

Friday 20th May 2005
Haggislander Day Two.
We had plenty of time this morning before we had to be at the wheel, so we made an extra-curricular visit to Rosslyn Chapel which was interesting. From there we drove over to Falkirk and the wheel, where we meet up with all the other tourers. We have a couple of hours here for lunch, where we have a ride on a boat on the wheel, which is a pretty impressive piece of engineering.
It's a little showery again, and we pick the medium length route for the afternoon drive to our hotel base for the next two nights, the Atholl Palace hotel in Pitlochry. Our route took up up through Crieff and round Loch Tummel. It continued to be occasionally damp, but I really enjoyed myself on the drive, great fun on some great roads, I laughed all the way! Shortly after arriving at the hotel the rains came, so that was pretty good timing, as we settled in and enjoyed dinner and the tour craic.

Saturday 21st May 2005
Haggislander Day Three.
Perhaps a little too much tour craic saw me nursing a bit of a headache in the morning, but a little time out in the car park readying the car for the day, and chatting with the emergine tourers, helped sort that out. Tourers tend to travel in groups of up to half a dozen cars, and I was sticking with my fellow cam7ers. Today would see us heading north for a lunchtime meet up and trip on the funicular railway at Cairn Gorm.
The morning was a good but quite long drive. Again some amazing roads, it's nice to have some hills to drive up and down! After a couple of hours driving I was feeling quite tired and was ready for a break, but there was plenty more to go yet. I had Craig in my passenger seat this morning, as his car was ready for the tour, and I'm sure he enjoyed the few soakings we got!
After lunch I was feeling reinvigorated, but given the time, we opted for the simple route back to the hotel. This turned out to be pretty dull, but the alternative was to go back the way we came, maybe we should have done this, but it meant we had a spare hour or so to relax at the hotel before dinner. It's not all about driving after all.

Sunday 22nd May 2005
Haggislander Day Four.
My avoidance of the liquid side of the tour craic paid off in the morning as I was feeling much more lively! The schedule for today saw us needing to check-out of the hotel and to transfer the another - fortunately our destination hotel was not very far away, so that gave us a choice of short or long routes today. In reality we didn't really fancy any of these routes, as we wanted to try to take in the F1 grand prix over lunchtime. So with this in mind we planned ourselves a shortish blat down a road which looked kind of interesting on the map. We would then go to the hotel for lunch and the GP, and then if we felt inclined, go out for another little play later. However, best laid plans...
There was only three cars today with a couple of the others doing other things, so we headed off on our road. It was a great fun road, and though we knew it was a dead-end at the end of it, a U-turn and drive it the other direction should be good. Unfortunately just as we arrived at the end of the road, Williams gear linkage broke which left us a bit stranded.
We weren't quite sure what gear he was in, so didn't really fancy the drive back with him only using one gear (it is a V8, but still), so we called for the support truck. We knew they were no more than an hour away from us. After two hours we got a little concerned, and there was no phone contact due to being in a poor signal area. However we soon discovered that there had been a canoeing accident in the river which ran alongside the road, and the road had been closed! We were one side of the closure, and the truck was the other!
Eventually that was cleared up, the truck arrived, and we got Williams car loaded. Down to two cars, my luggage went in the truck and I gained a passenger. As we were driving out to go to the hotel, we received a call that one of the other tourers had thrown his car off the road and needed the truck. So we had to divert with the truck to help with the rescue.
What started out as an hour or so drive had turned into an all day event, we got to the hotel about an hour or so before dinner! Oh well, it's all part of touring, we'd done ok between us on the breakdowns (i.e none!) until today.

Monday 23rd May 2005
Haggislander Day Five.
Todays activities were mostly optional, with nothing official arranged, quite a few people, especially those going south, had elected to head straight off from the hotel in the morning rather than doing the roadbook routes and meeting up for lunch. This included the cam7ers, but as I was staying in Newcastle for the evening, I didn't have such a long drive. So I tagged on with a couple of the ne7ers, and we did one of the routes in the roadbook - "The Trossachs" tourist trail was an absolute hoot, and the weather even cleared up for us whilst we did it!
The suggested lunch meet up was at Stirling Castle, but we didn't see many people there, just a few stragglers. After this is was time to start the return journey. We headed back to Newcastle via Edinburgh on the motorway, and then across country, through Keilder on the A68. This road was not as much fun as on the way up, as the weather was intermittently grim. We drove through quite a few heavy showers, and were battered the whole way by a strong sidewind which made it quite hard going.
By late afternoon, I had just about kept up with the others, and made it to Hoops house for my overnight stay - I had decided to split the journey home rather than doing it all in one big long drive.

Tuesday 24th May 2005
Haggislander Day Six.
Having been driving with a group for the last few days, I was all on my own today for boring and wet drive down the A1 home from Newcastle. There's not really anything more to say about it. I had fitted a temporary half door before leaving as the forecast wasn't great, and had been raining when I woke up. That was probably a good idea as I drove through some more good downpours, but it certainly could have been alot worse, it was at least showery rain.
I made it home early afternoon, and spent the rest of the day unpacking and drying everything out. That's it, tour over for another year! I enjoyed it more than the first one I did to Ireland, less rain I guess, but also I think I'm much more comfortable in driving the car now. Also having the choice of routes each day works really well for me, as I don't always like to have to drive lots of miles.

Saturday 28th May 2005
Took the car, dirt and all, up to Snetterton to watch Matt racing in the Caterham Mega Graduates race series. He'd been doing really well in the championship so far this season, and today proved to be no exception with him scoring a second position in his race. Well done Matt, very close exciting racing!

Sunday 29th May 2005
Finally got a chance to clean the car today. It was pretty filthy from the 1000-odd mile trip to Scotland. And it was fortunate I didn't clean it before as it seemed to get filled up with loads of dust, at a warm but windy Snetterton yesterday.

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