MOT -

its a pass. Straight through with only missings fins from the radiators ( no leaks though ) and a bit of bending required to some support. Advisory but no fails. Very happy. Going to have some beers to celebrate though not too many since playing footy tomorrow as usual

MOT booked -

sadly not at my usual garage so I'm hoping not to have a fight over the emission CAT / NON CAT arguement. The turbo being an import on an M plate and not matching the DVLC MOT testers book ie SW20 chassis and 3S-GTE engine means its a NON CAT test but most garages just put it through as the UK model which of course does not exist.

I am however hoping that's the only issue. The tyres all look legal with the wear indicators still below the tread blocks indicating life left but to be honest with the weather closing in on us the tyres are beyond the safety margin of not binning it. The small matter of £350 a set however does stop it being an instant decision.

All the lights work as far as I know so I'll maybe give it a jet wash on Friday eve to make it look cleaner. Esp after the sunday drive to pitlochry, its looking a bit dirty now.

nice drive in the scottish highlands -

went out for a club run up near Pitlochry today, Weather was not so good, mostly wet and loads of wet leaves on the road. Just perfect for a mid engined turbo charged rear wheel drive motor.

I drove up through milngavie, aberfoyle, callender, Killin then onto Aberfeldy then Pitlochry itself.

I drove sensibly but still had some moments. Front end slides and a couple of rear end movements. Slowing right down for the corners and just balancing the car through the throttle helped greatly but some corners had leaves and some didn't. Some of the road surfaces were just rubbish and offered about as much grip as a greasy block of ice. I was really careful just to be smooth and really quite slow round the corners and then slowly accelerate back up to sensible speed. Although the speeds were slower than I'd normally drive at I still had some fun as I was thinking more about what I was doing rather than just hooning from one corner to the next. Turning onto the main road on the last 4 miles of the journey I got wheelspin in a straight line in 2nd gear. Damn it just lit up the rears.

Unfortunately we lost a mk1 on route due to engine failure so one down already.

After meeting up at Pitlochry we then drove around the route and we were real easy and slow, only one guy knew the road and he lead us off down the winding road. Again we were fairly slow not doing anything daft but the roads being so slippy I still had a couple of moments.

Then it happened.

Driving into a very slow left hander the lead car hit some diesel and round he went. It being such a slow corner we had all bunched up and some how we all stopped without incident / running into anybody. Me having ABS stopped no fuss but the mk1 behind me locked up and had to straight line the corner and then re apply the brakes. Colin managed fine and missed me ok. Luckyily the escort that was following Colin managed to miss him also.

The damage to Peter's car is bumper damaged, needing replaced, fog lights needing replaced, rear right alloy rim busted so needing replacement too. Nobody got hurt so we called a halt to everything and just headed off home.

The weather was now constant rain and really unpleasant to be out it. Pulling onto the A9 from Pitlochry and coming off the Broxburn runabout again I got wheelspin in 2nd gear in a straight line which certainly keeps you honest.

I've checked the tyres and they have more than the legal tread but really they could do with being replaced as they aint so good in the wet.

MR2's are completely different animals in the wet in comparison to the sure foot nature of the dry. Just have to respect the layout and not over drive it.

Take it easy out there

t-bar guides -

seem to have cured the leaks. Result. Its been raining here for a couple of days now and having checked the car it all seems nice and dry. I have now put the covers back on the mechanism as further adjustment of the guides does not seem to be required.

Other news - my prefered garage for MOT's has closed so I've moved to another that's even closer to home. They seem to know about imports so hopefully no emission hassles during the test but time will tell.

Also been bike looking and some nice bikes out there. Will wait and see what develops since its a buyers market and I have time on my side, like about 4 months lol.

Bit of a drive planned for tomorrow through some stunning scenery in the highlands so hopefully the weather will stay dry so we can have fun out there.

t bar eccentric guides fitted -

indeed and oddly enough it hasn't rained for me to check whether or not it all works. That's just fine with me.

Did not take too long to do either but I did have the help of a tidy guide from this guys website

I recommend anyone with a t-bar mr2 to do this if you find the roof is leaking. Of course if you park your t-bar in a garage then remove the t-roofs as soon as you get home. This will prevent the seals from being squashed and thus they won't leak with age. I however do not have this option so my t-roofs are in situ 364 days a year lol

Be safe out there

no more squeaking alt belt -

indeed the alternator and air con belts have been replaced and my how quiet the car is now. Turns out the alternator belt was actually in three pieces and from the sound of the squealing on start up none of them were running the same speed lol.

Car feels likes it driving better too but I suspect thats just a trick of the mind, don't take much to trick mine these days sadly.

Always nice when a repair goes according to plan

new belts please -

indeed I am getting a new alternator and aircon belt fitted in time for the winter, well sale also.

The air con is getting changed since it has to come off to get to the alternator belt. Knowing my luck the alternator will be duffed also :-((

Also noticed last nice that when lifting off during hard acceleration has the brake fluid light coming on. That would be worn brake pads then. More ££ more hassle. Darned cars~!