IMOC Ullapool drive -

finally some details about the trip.

Left Glasgow around 715am (ulp) and drove up to Aviemore via Rannoch Moore -> Fort William -> Newtonmore then finally Aviemore itself. The Newtonmore section of the journey is just stunning, stunning views and the road is mostly free flowing.





Anyway, the weather had started ok then a bit of drizzle until finally reaching the Cairngorms themselves at which point it proceeded to chuck it down. Anyhow, the rest of the troops turned up soon enough and of for some hot food we trotted. Apon leaving it was decidedly not t-bar weather so we turned North tomwards Inverness to meet up with the last of the group. At this point some folks topped up the ole petrol tank but I had done so in Fort William so I was happy to wait til Ullapool.

The run from Inverness to Ullapool was good though it was a bit wet to really have a good play on the road. Nevertheless fun was had. Got to Ullapool and filled the car with petrol then headed to the campsite. Ah now the fun began.

Having picked our spot for the tent myself and Mark, the only campers, then proceeded to try and put up his tent. Er didn't happen. The ground has about 2 inches topsoil then it goes to rock hard slate, or something like it. So we were trying to drive the pegs in at a sharp angle while the gale force wind and driving rain was trying to pull the tent out of the ground. And it did so. For 30 minutes myself and Mark could not get the pegs to stay in the ground. The wind was intense and our mood was not helped when an estate car complete with family drove past. They had given up cause the husband was in the tent when it got blown down the campsite! Arrrgggggghhhhh..............

So, we decided to put up my tent and we managed it, then put a couple of toolkits in it hoping it would be enough to keep the blighter on the ground. Using the same technique we managed to get Marks tent up. I mean, with views like below how could we not have succeded?




By the time we had managed to get the tents up we were soaked through to the skin but at least the rain had stopped. So with the carry out opened, we stood drinking, in the wind getting blown dry. It worked too. So carry out finished, we called up the rest of the gang, found out where they were and headed off to meet them. Taking one last look at the tents, we prayed they would still be there when we returned pished as newts from the pub!

More to follow....

has it really been a week

ok I'll get something written up tomorrow and even get the pics posted too.

imoc run completed - what a blast

indeed such a good laugh, great company and some of the most amazing roads ever. I'm still sorting my way through the pics I took, most are scrap (poor light, poor operator or just plain squint!) but the biggest problem is I lost my Adobe Photoshop disc so I can't easily create the photo gallery. Silly me.

Anyway, even the crappy weather couldn't stop the fun though it did very nearly blow away our tents! A family left the site cause the father was in the erected tent and got blown down the site!!! They packed up and left ffs!. We managed - couple of tool kits helped.

I'll get pics up soon and a proper write up too

braker braker -

well rear calliper on ok, no problems there. Handbrake cables next to be renewed as the gaiters are split.

Front callipers, well the passenger side unit has some thread issues with the top mounting screw and the drivers side pad cradle is scored heavily on the slider. They'll all need to be replaced at some point.

Brakes seem much better but until I start pushing them it's not so easy to tell. One thing we did notice was the front Toyota pads cover more disc space than the generic pads in there before. That's good no?

brake pads mmmm -

so there was I complaining for long enough my brakes don't work so well. Finally got round to checking them as the rears had started making funny scrapping noises. BOTH inside pads worn down to the backing plates and one gubbed passenger calliper. It's never cheap running cars but every so often you get hit with a few costs in the one short time period. Pah

Hopefully have the brakes fully swapped and working this weekend coming. Will need to be otherwise no IMOC run and I'll be dammed if I miss that.

On another note, I noticed the overflow pipe on the main coolant system was kinda leaking after engine shutdown. Oops, so being the lazy tike I am I swapped it for the newer cap on the chargecooler core. Seems to be a stronger fit so hopefully solved that issue.

On yet another note, the chargecooler pump seems to be making some noise now too. Double boo.

bumper cam is (almost) go -

indeedy it's very close to being installed. I have acquired the extended run for the cabling and even got one run fitted to the car. Shame it started raining and pretty much stopped play. Ho hum. Got a few more things to do and then it's actually trying the blighter to see if it works.

I have found the mic cable to be somewhat short, actually it's nowhere near long enough to fit into the boot so for now I'll just hide it behind the carpet in the cabin nearest the engine bulkhead. Hopefully it won't pick up too much crap from the car interior - ie me talking rubbish and playing music which others don't like. Pah - like I care lol.

New brake pads were collected from Toyota and a new windscreen fitted. Suffice to say I am skint now but thankfully getting a mate to fit the pads so a few tinnies of cider will ease his pain. Bargin for me really.