7 May
It's been well over a month since I updated the diary, but the dearth of entries has been because not much has happened. Pat and I have been for a little jaunt every weekend, often just to a garden centre for a coffee and a sticky bun (strange - nothing garden oriented though). Kitkat has behaved, there were no wrecks and nobody drownded (quote from 'The lion and Albert' poetry at its best). And then we got to the end of the month and I started to prepare for the kit car show season proper.
Stafford in March was a dress rehearsal. May sees the show calendar get onto full swing. 6th-7th, Stoneleigh. 13th, Tiger's open day. 20th, Macclesfield. 27th - 28th, Harrogate. The 20th also conflicts with Jim Dudley racing the B6 at Mallory Park, so we thought we'd have a break from shows and go and cheer him on, but more on that later.
So a week before Stoneleigh, Sam and I try to pack Kitkat with all the camping gear we will need. It won't fit. Even installing Sam and then pouring eveything in on top of him doesn't work. We always ended up with the equivalent of a large suitcase too much stuff.
Ian Cassappi has built a very smart chrome carrier that fits on the back of his Cat between the roll bar and the spare wheel carrier. I thought I could build something similar (though a bit cruder) out of chrome pipe and compression fittings, but a quick trip to Great Mills put me off. The compression fittings are huge and would look silly. So I considered building it in copper pipe and having it chromed, but for that I'd need to buy a blowtorch and pay for the chroming and there wasn't enough time.
So I spent four quid on a fist full of two by one timber and in one afternoon knocked up a very respectable carrier that anyone would be proud to have attached to the back of their pride and joy. Ok, it wasn't exactly art, but all it had to do was get our gear from home to Stoneleigh and back. If it did it once it would be a success. If it survived to be used again, it would be an investment. And we could always take it off Kitkat during the show and put it back on when it was time to go home.
Saturday 6th May and we plan to drive to Stoneleigh at around 15:00 to get there about 17:00 in time for a barbie with the half dozen or so others who intend to make a long weekend of the show.
Not wanting to leave things until the last minute, we pushed Kitkat out of the garage and filled it up, stashing things in out of the way corners, under the dashboard, behind the seats etc. Then we went into the garage to fill up the little stove we had borrowed from Phil. Glancing out of the garage door I noticed Kitkat was enveloped in a cloud of thick black smoke which was pouring from the scuttle. I yelled for Sam and we tore off the bonnet, trying desperately to get the positive terminal off the battery, but could we find the correct spanner? Nope. Evenually we managed and Sam was pulling the carefully stashed bits out from under the dashboard. I stuck my hand in and grabbed a handfull of molten wiring. It was all a bit of a smelly, painfull mess.
After it and my fingers had cooled, we set about cutting out the bad wiring. It was my fault, of course. When I fitted the clock I intended to put an in-line fuse in, but not having one handy, made a mental note to do it sometime, then forgot. Bunging the camping gear under the dash disturbed the wires and shorted them out, putting the entire contents of the battery straight to earth.
The rest of the loom looked ok, but when we tried the starter there was a tiny engine cough, then nothing. No lights, horn, wipers, indicators - nothing.
I went for a cup of tea and told Pat the trip may be off. I was a bit dejected.
After the tea I tried the starter again and there was the tiny cough again, then nothing. We tried jumpering the battery from the Rover's and Kitkat started and ran Ok, so it was just the battery that had taken a pounding during the fire. Two hours on charge and it should get us going again. And it did.
We got to Stoneleigh and had to get out of the car to disinfect our shoes, which was a bit of a production number for Sam who still had to travel under the camping gear despite the carrier. Then we drove into the showground and set about trying to find the Tiger owners' section. While we were parked someone rushed over and pointed out that we were depositing water all over the floor. It had been smelling very hot on the way down, but I'd not been worried. The temperature guage was still stuck at eighty five - where it always was. I made a mental note to fill up with water and you know what happens to mental notes, don't you.
We found the Tiger owners' section and everyone was very impressed with the carrier. Tiger owners are nice people. Liars, but in a nice way. The carrier was later described as the best 2x1xfar.
Andy McMinn had been getting some fleeces embroidered with the newsgroup Tiger logo, so most of us were wandering round in our new uniforms. Very smart. We put up the tent and after a bit of a chat it was decided that we'd have the barbie on Sunday night, and go to the pub on Saturday. We all jumped in the cars and roared off into Kennilworth heading for a pub near the Castle that Ian and Lynnette knew. Half way there, the mental note came back to bite me. The temperature gauge soared round to 115 degrees and Kitkat cried 'ENOUGH' grinding to a halt on double yellows in the middle of town.
Of course, I was at the back of the crocodile and everyone else went merrily on their way towards Sainsburys (we were getting in some nibbles for later and some eggs for breakfast). Eventually Sue and Ed came to see where we had got to, finding Sam guarding the car while I went to a nearby Italian restaurant for a few pints of water. I wandered back with a four litre ice cream carton full of hot water, which disappeared into the expansion tank without a problem. That got us to Sainsburys where were popped another three litres in.
Off then to the pub, but sadly they were full and couldn't seat another fourteen, so we went to the pub next door.
They had a similar problem and to prove how busy they were, let slip that they had a party of fifteen coming at nine - a party reserved in the name of Dudley. 'We know them,' we chorused. 'They won't mind us nicking their tables.' for it was none other than the Tiger Dudleys. We tried to get our bill added to theirs, but the pub was only so credulous and no more. As a token of our appreciation at letting us (albeit unknowingly) gatecrash their booking, we all signed a thankyou card made from the table reserved sign.
Something was irritating me. I couldn't find my camera. I know we set off with it, but we couldn't find it now. Little sleep Saturday - campsites are noisy places. Sam woke early Sunday, couldn't get back to sleep so got up and was polishing the car at half past five. What a son!
Sunday, the turnout of Tigers was amazing. Some counts made it as high as fifty four, but there was one Robin Hood and one Avon mixed in, so let's just say over fifty. We met and talked to loads of people, toured the exhibitions, checked out all the stalls. A good day, but cold!
The evening barbie was great. The live band put on as entertainment by the show's organisers, didn't entertain us for long, so it was back to the campsite for more beers stood outside our tent. Sam and I were knackered, so went to bed early. Sam nodded off, but I couldn't shut out the chatter from the ongoing party just the other side of our ripstop nylon, so it was a bleary eyed Andy that wandered into the light at seven the next morning.
Fewer Tigers today - less than twenty five when we counted. We toured the halls again and, on the Tiger stand, spoke to Chris Allenson of Z Cars - the chap that fitted two bike engines into one Westfield and made everyone's mouths fall open at how fast it could go. Then he did the same thing to a Tiger B6 and made it go even faster. In June he hopes to make a try for the 0-100mph record. We checked whether Jim would still be racing the B6 round Mallory in May, but he isn't so we'll be going to Macclesfield instead. Jim did ask if we were going to the Tiger track day at Curborough and we were keen until it turned out that I'll be away with Pat in the Isle of Man when it's on. Damn! That'll teach me to get romantic for our silver wedding.
Broke camp early - around two. Managed to get the tent back into its bag. Still no sign of the camera. We had hoped we had burried it under the tent, but no. Home just after four. A long soak in the bath, pizza for tea, then upstairs to write this. Tomorrow I'll phone the showground and ask if anyone has handed in my camera, and if not, talk to my insurers. I'm not lucky when it comes to insurance. I pay the premiums on time, but whenever I suffer a misfortune, I find it is always excluded from the policy. 'Oh, and because you phoned to ask if it was included, Mr Timmons, we've increased your next premium for wasting our time.'
So for now, it's sorry to everyone who likes the photos, tough to those who think I write too much, fingers crossed for the insurance and hello to Phil's Czechoslovakian friend who may revisit the web site one day.
3 June
The insurers turned out to be reasonable, but a bit slow. I got the replacement camera on Saturday - four weeks after we lost the original. They tried to get me to accept a plasticy replacement at first, but the original was aluminium, so I stuck out for a better offer. In the end they came up with half as much again, so by adding a little to it, I've ended up with another Fujifilm - it's fantastic.
Little to report on the Kitkat front. Except I've made a boot! Using aluminium sheeting, I folded and rivetted what looks like a window box which drops inside the GRP at the back and sits on top of the tank.. It's surprisingly roomy - the tonneau goes in together with a small tool kit, maps, cloths, polish etc. All I need now is to make a locking top for it and we have something to leave Pat's handbag in when we stretch our legs after a jolly trip to a tea room.
Talking of jollies to tea rooms, we went round Derbyshire last Saturday and ended up following a BMW convertible and a Cougar for a few miles round some twisty roads. We were at the back and it was all quite pleasant. Then we got to the bottom of a long, straight hill and the Cougar started to press the BMW. The BMW responded to keep him back. Picture the faces of both those drivers (and mine) when Kitkat accelerated past both, doing 105mph uphill. I know, I've bragged about it on the newsgroup already, but I can't get the smile off my face.
Of course, I didn't really do 105mph because that would be illegal - Chris Evans was banned for doing that in Billy Piper's Ferrari and I wouldn't want to break the law and be lumped in with Chris Evans. Lumping in with Billy Piper, though, I might consider.
The bad news is that Kitkat is away from home at the moment, and I miss him. The Weber man has tried his best to get the car to cruise at 70mph without jerking about, but despite getting some special jets from Weber, he failed. In the end Weber has said that it is a problem they are aware of on some Zetecs and a few (very few) Pintos. Add one to the list of Pintos it's a problem for.
Anyhow, the carbs are currently back at Webers to have the progression tubes machined out (I think that what they're doing - it's all gibberish to me). The car will be away a couple of weeks, which means I might not have it back for this weekend.
Sam and I went to the Harrogate kit car show and met up with Nik Aveyard who was helping to man the Tiger stand in the absence of the Dudleys. Nik is the organiser of the Yorkshire Tiger Owner's club (better title required) and he was the only member for a while. However, now there are a few more of us, he is trying to organise an event or two - if only a trip to the pub. The first was to be this weekend at Harewood where he is doing a hillclimb event, but if Kitkat's still laid up, we might not be there. It wouldn't feel the same in a tin top. Fingers crossed.
Chris Gibbons, the chap building a Lowcost out at Maltby (a few minutes from me in Sheffield) finished it and got it through SVA last Friday, so he brought it round on Saturday to give me a spin. It's got a 1300 Escort engine at the moment, but it still goes like stink. Great fun and a credit to him. He works with plastic as a job, making tanks for kit cars, so the Lowcost is pannelled, dashboarded and otherwise finished off in black plastic. Sounds odd, but looks great. Especially the gate for the gear shift.
Oh, nearly forgot. I tried yet again to fit the pedal box cover to keep the heat off my feet. I can't see how it goes, so I've filled the hole round the pedals with some ally and it seems to keep most of the heat away. The pedal box is just dead money now, so I think I'll see if I can trade it in with Sue for a couple of chrome wing mirrors.
Once Kitkat comes back I'll do some photos of the boot and the pedal cover.
23 June
My idea of trading in the pedal box cover was approved by Sue and I am now the proud owner of a couple of fine chrome wing mirrors. They attach by using them to replace the top bolt that holds the screen support in. They are a huge improvement because the old ones blocked the view out of the side panels, making seeing what was approaching roundabouts a bit of a lottery. There's a photo of the new ones here . This photo also shows the new bonnet that Tiger provided to try and match the existing GRP colour a bit better. It's not perfect, but it's a lot closer. But more importantly, it fits so much better. The old bonnet was too short and showed far too much piping. The new one fits perfectly just revealing the bead of the piping. Compare that to the old photo.
So, once that was in place, I could apply the last stickers that I'd been holding back until I was happy with the bonnet. The web address and tiger shield have gone on the bonnet edge and the black 'Tiger' name along the windscreen support ally. You get a better view here.
Now I've got my new camera I have taken a photo of the boot (I've inserted a link higher up this page, but you can get to it here as well, and this is the cover for the pedal hole. It looks a bit weird, but it works quite well. Then there's a picture of the new reversing light here and a shot of the new, smaller steering wheel and red ally foot plate here. The smaller wheel means I can now lift my knee up high enough to get my left foot out from behind the clutch. Before, that involved twisting my foot round and pulling it through the gap between the brake and throttle - not very convenient and more than a little dangerous in an emergency, And now, in an emergency I can parp the twin air horns and frighten the life out of anyone within five miles!
So what's been happening apart from all that? Well, we went to the Newark show in the tin top because Kitkat was still at JP's having the carbs sorted. There were a few Tigers - half a dozen or so. Tom Ward's maroon Cat was there, but I didn't recognise any of the others. There were also several miniature steam engines chuffing round - I want one!
The carbs came back from Webers duly adapted and John tried to set it all back up. Unfortunately he couldn't get the emissions right, so set about checking everything he could think of. The compression was fine on all four cylinders, but number three didn't appear to be contributing anything to the performance of the car apart from loud bangs from the exhaust.
Off came the cylinder head and sure enough, there was a crack in the head gasket. The head had also warped a bit and the exhaust valve seats were in need of attention. So all that got done (that cut a long story short!) and I got Kitkat back yesterday. The trouble all stemmed from Stoneleigh when we dumped all the coolant on the floor, then tried to drive to Kidderminster. The temperature gauge went through the roof and Kitkat ground to a halt. We thought we had got away with it, but we hadn't. An expensive lesson.
A few weeks ago my friend Mark popped round with his family. I'd taken them all (except for Tess) for a spin when the car was first legal, and Will had been a bit impressed, so when Mark asked them what they fancied doing one weekend, the answer was to come and see Kitkat again and have another go - with Tess joining in this time. Mark decided he'd try a drive and here's a photo of him and Will on their return. I know that report was a bit out of order chronologically, but hey, this diary is for fun, not legal evidence.
Sue and Ed have got Aerocat back on the road, following a complete rebuild after their roundabout accident. I hope to see them and it in a week or so when we meet up for a pint somewhere. While Sue and Ed were at Harrogate they met a chap called Geoff Gregg who was building a Cat and he was pumping them with questions. They suggested he read this build diary, but he wasn't on the net, so I sent him a photocopy of all the stuff. He phoned to thank me yesterday and ask a couple of questions. We're going karting near York tomorrow, so we might detour round to Bradford and drop in on him. What we do for an extra bit of a drive!
That's all for now. More when we return from the silver wedding trip to the Isle of Man. Four days in Kitkat - my bum aches just thinking about it.
15 July
Karting was great. We went up to Tockwith, near York and met Paul and Kathryn Ward (Lotus Elise). Paul was kind enough to crash five laps from the end and Kathryn got a crappy kart, which meant I won. Then off down the pub for a de-brief, but not before I went the wrong way in the karting car park and nearly, very nearly crashed into the Lotus.
On the way back from karting, we did detour through Bradford to 'The Avenue' where Geoff was supposed to live. Sadly 'The Avenue' we went to was a road down to a water treatment plant. The security guards thought we were daft. We never got to meet Geoff.
Before we set off for the Isle of Man, I made a cushion to try and a) give a bit more padding under my bum and b) support the back of my thighs. It is made out of a jumble of bits of foam stuck together and covered in a badly sewn black vinyl cover. I know it looks awful, but it works. The trip to the ferry at Heysham involved two and a quarter hours on the motorways, and I got out of the car as fresh as I got in. On the way I also discovered a wonderful aid to driving Tigers long distances - earplugs! While we waited at Heysham we found that, because of foot and mouth precautions, all cars were being sprayed with pressure washers of disinfectant. We were advised to wind the windows up! We got wet.
The island was beautiful, as ever, so I got creative with the camera. We also took the opportunity to get around a few 'off the beaten track' tracks. No problem. Most of the time, the weather was good - sometimes very hot, other times, cool, but clear. But on Tuesday evening, around five o'clock, it started to rain, then it turned into a cloudburst which lasted forty minutes, then it settled down to a steady pour for the rest of the night. We put up Kitkat's roof and drove back to the hotel. It was really scary. The rain was so bad we couldn't see the road. The roof let in water at the front, the sides, the back and the spray from the front wheels came up the inside of the sidescreens and dumped itself on our laps. However, the roof did keep most of the weather out and the screen demisters worked well enough to keep the screen clear, and we made it back to the hotel in one piece.
On Thursday, we were driving along when a red Escort van started flashing its lights and the driver was waving and pointing at the back end of Kitkat. We pulled over and he hopped out of the van with a big grin. "Don't worry. there's nothing wrong." he said. "It's just that there are now two Tigers on the island - and I've got the other one!". His name was Mike Dixon and he has a Super Six. Although he doesn't have access to the web, his son does. So if you read this, Mike's son, drop me a line in the guest book.
For the silver wedding anniversary the kids sent us a large bouquet of flowers to the hotel. Very nice, but how to get them back home in the open top Tiger? We managed by covering them in a Tesco carrier bag and Pat sat with them in her lap trying to stop the bag blowing away.
One thing became clear on that trip - despite the cover on the pedal box hole, there was still an enormous amount of heat getting to my feet. It was uncomfortable, so I decided to fit exhaust wrap and see if it helped. Other people on the Tiger newsgroup had talked about it and it seemed the wrap cost about forty quid for enough to do all four pipes. I risked eighteen quid at Larkspeed in Rotherham for five metres of wrap and wondered whether I'd bought chocolate stuff - ie it would melt, fall apart, not work, or whatever. But no! Five meters is enough to do all four pipes. There's a knack - the tape starts to unravel at the cut end as you work with it, so I ran it through the sewing machine a couple of times to put a row of stitches in to stop that happening. There is also a tight edge and a loose edge, so I wound it with the tight edge visible. Clamping was simply a matter of using big jubilee clips.
I'd heard that when first fitted, the wrap tended to smoke a lot as it got hot. And it did.
Once the wrap had stopped creating its own fog bank we went for a spin and it seems to have made a massive difference. My feet are now simply comfortable. There's so little heat getting into the car, it's a bit too cold! But the car seems to run better as well. That's helped by the fact tha John at JP Autotechnics had the car in again to tighten everything down when we got back from holiday. He also sorted out the tappet that had started to knock. The car now runs 'like a sewing machine' in John's words. There, that's twice I've mentioned sewing machine in one diary entry. Now that doesn't happen everyday.
This afternoon (Sunday) Steve Deeks came round to measure up where the holes need to go on the front panel to get the steering rack though. He's a bit held up with his Cat build at the moment, waiting for some rack rubbers to arrive, so he figured if he measured Kitkat, he could at least make a start on the panels.
Tonight we met up with Sue and Ed at the Snake Pass Inn which is halfway between us and them. We had a pint and some grub and had a good look over the rebuilt AeroCat. It now sports new smaller headlights, blue spot lamps, chromed indicators, round rear lights, a Zetec engine, wooden steering wheel - streuth, you'd hardly recognise it. Still missing a windscreen and wipers, though.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading.
29 July
Tigers and sunshine go together. When Kitkat first became road legal it was December and simply having a run round the corner involved getting wrapped up in multiple shirts, jumpers, fleeces and coats such that fitting in the car at all was a squash. With the weather like it is at the moment though, tee shirt and shorts is all we need - and sun cream.
Since the last entry there hasn't been much happening with Kitkat, but I did pop up the road to meet Mark and Sam (see 5 November ) to see how they are getting on with their Locost. The engine is in, although when I called it hadn't run. Mark was due to fetch some panels the next day and hoped to have something that looked a bit more like a car by the end of the week. Just to inspire him a bit, we went for a spin in Kitkat - you have to, don't you?
On Thursday I had a scare! I was driving down a pretty fast road towards Sheffield and was following a 4x4 which had two large rolls of foam insulation fastened to the roof. These rolls were about three feet round and three feet long and the way they were tied to the car made it look like Mickey Mouse. I was having a smile and pulling out to accelerate past when the string broke and both rolls fell off the roof, bouncing across in front of me. I braked hard and had to swerve between them, but as they were bouncing all over the place, that wasn't easy. One glanced off Kitkat's offside front wheel, but luckily didn't do any harm. The 4x4 driver braked and I had to avoid him as well - it was all quite hairy for a while.
However, what did impress me was the way Kitkat handled it. Steering whilst braking hard is a recipe for all sorts of scary handling, but Kitkat behaved beautifully.
Finally, today I solved a problem that has had me thinking for a few weeks. The paint at the edges of the cockpit gets chipped very easily by people's rings as they grab on to get themselves into or out of the car. I've touched it up several times, but now the touch up is looking crappy. I had a design in my head to use hockey stick moulding and some vinyl to put a slightly padded cover on the edges, but I was always unsure whether I would be able to get the vinyl to remain tight enough not to look shabby.
Then last week Sam and I were in Great Mills (which is now called Focus) and saw some edging strip that is designed to cover up the raw edge of kitchen chipboard worktops. It comes in a variety of finishes and has a slight lip which is exactly what I wanted. However, it looked to be a gnats too small. Today I went back with a tape measure and checked everything again and thought that maybe I'd get away with it. Two edging strips and five minutes with the Powerfile later, and we have a pair of very neat beechwood effect edges protecting the cockpit sides.
I know beechwood sounds an odd choice, given Kitkat's colour scheme, but this winter I intend making a beechwood dashboard and then it will all tie in nicely. For the time being it looks a bit strange, but far better than the chipped paintwork.
