Back to the sorting office - different staff, same intellect

First off, I've knackered my hand and it's not overly movable for at least 10-14 days so not a lot is going to be happening in this coming period.

It's been about a week since the last update, so lets do a time line type thingy.

At the end of the last blog I mentioned that I had been in touch with Sextons and Dragon car audio.  Dragon were going to "come to an arrangement" about costing for the amp and sextons came in dirt cheap.  I, being tight, opted for the former and he was going to get in touch with me "early next  (this) week".  It's now Friday night and over a week since any contact so I've come to the conclusion that the guy who runs Dragon isn't a man of his word so maybe I shouldn't be trusting him with the car.  I'm going to be getting hold of Sextons at the start of the week to book it in. 

It's usually at this point I start looking at my phone to see the pics to remind me whats happened and update about it, but right now all my phone is doing is telling me to connet to iTunes and restore to factory settings.  I've plugged it into the laptop and after ignoring "upgrade software" messages many times, I decided to do it tonight.  Unfortunately, it appears Apple are tossbags and this "upgrade" is designed to wipe everything on the phone since it was last backed up.  I'm not happy. 

I know that I started the scumrunner up on Sunday afternoon and the dripping black goo from the exhaust is back.  Last time a decent thrash round the coutryside did the trick and again, this seems to have solved the issue.  Always worrying when you get that trickle of oil.

For no obvious reason, I feel now is a perfectly acceptable time to mention I've designed and ordered T-Shirts for the Flopppy Throttlers, so if you want to order one, let me know.

I ordered a cone filter induction kit (like K&N 57i) but cheaper and shinier and guaranteed to fit all fords.  This should have set alarm bells ringing as K&N themselves have about 30 different Ford kits, but I went with my gut and it turns out you CAN go wrong for a tenner.  It doesn't fit as once you've removed the cover to the air box, that reveals an additional skinny filter with a hose leading to the engine housing.  If you fit this cone then the skinny one is unprotected as the box lid will not fit.  Theres no real work around and despite the guy on eBay offering me a refund, by the time I've paid postage back to him thats pretty much knackered any cash.  Think I'll keep it and if I ever buy another Ford (maybe next years scummer) put it to use.

Onto the important bit, the sticky stickies turned up.  We now have the 1994 Lakes Rally graphics.  This involved another post office trip so bear with me...

I received an email on Tuesday morning saying my grahics had been sent via royal mail next day delivery (be there by lunch service).  Happy happy I was at that point.  Sticky stickies on their way.  Had to pop out Tuesday afternoon, got back to find a "sorry we missed you" card which annoyed me slightly but such things happen.  I have a few things on order at any given time.  As the sort office closes as soon as it opens on a Tuesday, I was going to have to wait til Weds to collect.  This means that as soon as my graphics turned up, I could go and colllect the other bit.

Lunchtime came and went and I was getting a little irked that postman Pat hadnt rocked up as promised so as soon as wifey got in from work I went to the sorting office (they now open late on a wednesday)to unleash my disgust at their service promises and collect my other parcel.

I handed my missed you card to the lady (yep - not chuckles this time) who asked if I had any ID on me.  Handed her my bank card which didnt satisfy her at all.  Here we go, pay attention as maybe you can pick up the little details that maybe passed Miss Marple by.

I had used my Paypal account in the name of Thompson Savage (company name) for a few purchases.  This is who the parcel was addressed to.  My bank card doesnt show me as having Thompson as a first name (because it isn't) but I had my company bank card with me.  Unfortunately, their signature scanning checking thing wouldnt accept it as it's looking a bit old and used now.  This left her with a dillema, does she give the parcel to me as I am NOT Thompson Savage, but Mr Savage.  How hard is it to figure out that I'm holding the missed you card, I have 50% of the name, i've got a bank card in 100% of the name and I'm getting the arse on that I can't have my parcel.  Maybe, just maybe, I want it and it's for me.  Rules are rules so she's asked if I have any ID with that address on (obviously apart from the card they pushed through the door).  I have a driving licence but thats all I have and now I've moved, the licence is in the wrong address.  Long story short, she gave in to logic and decided the parcel was indeed for me.

Really annoyingly, the parcel was my graphics.  They had turned up the day that they had been collected fromn the supplier.  They had excelled themselves in service time and that would normally be great.   If I hadnt spent all day wednesday waiting for the bloody things to turn up.  If I'd known thats what my missed parcel was, I could have got it first thing and gone about my day in peace and tranquillity instead of a snarling coffee fueled anger beast.

Just a brief interlude now, my phone has now died.  It is no more.  iTunes insists that my phone is in recovery mode and needs a full reset.  I have accepted this as a sad fact.  Whats really bugged me is now I've reverted to factory settings, it's telling me the boot menu is incorrect and wont even turn on properly.  If fury is a feeling that can be condensed into a simple category of 2 characters, then O2.  Grrrrrrrrrr, they're going to get one of my infamous emails in a minute.

Anyhow, I digress there just a tad.  I have received the sticky stickies and now quite happy about that.  The workmanship is superb and Mark at Vinyl creations has been great.  Theres lots of little bits and a few big bits to go on.  I've started with the little ones, placing them where I want them, peeling off backing, spraying the area with soapy water to enable them to slide perfectly into position, and the ones I have got on look superb.  I'd love to show you a pic but at this time it's not possible as my tossing wanky phone is broken due to the upgrade.  Unfortunately this job has been interupted by a trip to a&e because my hand turned a funky colour and started to swell a bit more than I'd like.  I've broken it several times in the past and unfortunately this has weakened a cluster of bones which tend to snap with the gentlest of nudges.  I now have an "old lady bingo bandage" type thing on - you know the ones, beige with metal supports.  Swelling not completed but in progress so a full cast would be pointless, so get to see how this one holds out for a few days then return for another x-ray.

Finally, we have a beauty to leave you with.  Once the cabinet where the rear seats should be is completed and all audio is running through and correct, it's going to look a little bit poo.  purple car, racing graphics, polished up white alloys, and some wooden crap in the back where seats used to be.  Not so.  Maxine (my mother in law) has come up trumps.  We now have a huge amount of purple colour matched fleece to cover the cabinet and make it blend (ish) with the exterior once built.

Well, I have to finish here as I want to email those snivelling little oiks at o2's customer service center whilst I still have venom and hatred with just a hint of sarcasm coursing through me.

Laters

Savage.

A fairly busy day...

It's been a cracker.  So much has been done in such a short space of time.

Firstly, lets have a picture update as I know there's one reader I spoke to today who only looks at the pictures as they're at college and meant to be working(!) but still find time to mess about on Facebook and skim through this.  Lauren - do some work, learn something or at least pretend to pay attention.

The vinyl rear names have turned up and as they weren't supplied by 5 star, they are correct first time. They look absolutely mint and for the money I'm chuffed.  The only issue that I had was during the application, the "i" in Davies didnt have the top dot as I hadn't pressed hard enough against the backing sheet at the time.  It really is hard work trying to line up a dot against an i when you have a sheet of paper covering both bits.  It is possible though as you can see.

The chaps that supplied it also do internal wall graphics so if you fancy a decal for the kids bedroom wall have a look at:  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/helkatgraphics They also trade under the name stickersandthings09 and you will see from the Just Giving page they threw in free postage so decent folk.

As with the last sunstrip, this one seems to have the bubble pox so I have had to resort to popping some in order for the vinyl to sit flush to the screen.  I hunted everywhere but it appears that neither I, not the wife, own a single pin or needle.  Would you believe it?  Even stranger is you cannot actually buy a single pin anywhere near me.  I had to waste a whole pound plus some shrapnell on a set of 4 (included a free thimble mind - bargain) which I will probably have lost in the next day or so anyway.  I've been popping and scraping for ages but it now looks pretty.  All of the pin holes are tucked into the corners of letters so they're not visible, but meant a lot of effort was needed to drag the air into the release spots.

We've ordered the first wave of our temp graphics for the car which having measured up will fit in amongst the '94 rally livery perfectly.  The temp graphics are there to attract sponsors and hopefully will be gone shortly once we have enough donors to fill the spaces.  So if you happen to spot the car when it's out and about, it will be unmistakeably us.  Give us a toot to say hi.  Or to say "You cut me up but I appreciate your dedication to learning how to drive in Europe, I forgive you".  That's what I will interpret seemingly angry horn blares as anyway.

So far as sponsors go, well, we have a new one I believe.  You may remember from the last update that I mailed 2 different companies to see if something could be done about the amp wiring as it's been driving me nuts, well both companies mailed back. 

The first mail was received from Sextons Portsmouth and they were very generous with their offer but it still involved me parting with funding (not a lot mind, it was a very good quote and they have a lot of overheads), and I was incredibly tempted to book it as soon as I had their mail. 

I decided to hang on though and glad I did as several hours later this company mailed me back:

Unless I'm misreading their message, I think we are going to come to an "arrangement" ref stereo install Vs Advertising.  The guy is going to phone me next week so we can go through the finer points.  This does however mean that I need to get the framework in place for the rear enclosure and get cracking on the actual build.

On a fundraising note, I gave the wifey's stepdad, Mick, a copy of this blog printed out with some sponsorship forms for him to leave in his works tea room with a covering note along the lines of donate even if you're a tight git.  After just a day, the tally is up to £26 so to the staff at Tesco Petersfield, thank you, it is appreciated and every extra pound really does make a massive difference.

Earlier today I was searching eBay, gumtree, freeads etc for some cheap white alloys to replace the tatty ones we have on there now and I think if we have the purple car with white race graphics, and purple text on a white sunstrip, then silver wheels just don't cut it.  I've been told about the idea of priming, spraying and lacquering  them and despite it taking time and effort, it seems the cheapest option.  I've just mailed the makers of this stuff and asked where I can get it from.  Found a few reviews but even on the manufacturers website it doesn't show where you can actually buy it!  Located a complete set on eBay but the price seems a little high by the time you add in postage.

Finally, I have gotten round to organising T-shirts for the Floppy Throttles.  As I'm tight, I refused to pay for rapid posting, so I'm on the slow dispatch and anticipate they will be here by the end of October.  Once they're here, I will get them snapped and uploaded so if any of you want one (might use them as bribes for corporate sponsors), let me know and we can come to "an arrangement" :)

A busy day has been had, so I'm off to get some kip on the new mattress (another eBay bargain... 10 inch thick memory foam, anti allergy, Aloe Vera and all sorts.  Not overly fussed about the bells and whistles but Jeez it's comfy).

Sleep tight people.

Savage.

It's back....................................!

Yup, you guessed it, sunstrip has returned. This is mark 2 of the sunstrip created by a company on eBay at half the price of the original guy and made by simply looking at a picture of the last one to create the perfect colour and font match.

Good work to the guys at JandDgraphics, if you need a sunstrip tell them what you're thinking and they can do it.  The ones they list as examples are for the mass markets such as Vauxhall or Playboy (I believe that there must be some law stating if you have a playboy sticker on your car, you must be a minger - the ones I've seen that applies to).  They do custom ones as well at no extra price and they are good quality and fast delivery.  Tell them you saw them on here.

That arrived this morning so got put on straight away.  I don't like the idea of Juliette missing bits (although right now theres a lot of her not actually attached, just filling up the inside of the car).

I'm going to work through the next set of bits in the order they happened for a change and rather than relying on memory, I made the sensible decision to photo most things as they happened so here goes:

The fire extinguisher has been mounted to the passenger seat as it seemed the best place for it to go - easily reached should the need arise.  As is usual with the car and plans, it didnt go entirely as intended in that the screws supplied with the mounting bracket weren't actually supplied but I have a spare few in the shed so easily fixed.  The one downside that I can put with the placement is that the screws that I decided to opt for are a little longer than ideal and the side bolster of the seat isnt that thick.  What this translates to is whoever happens to be in the passenger seat will be stabbed by a screw every time we hit a bump in the road.  On the up-side, I think I'm doing most of the driving so that leaves Gruff maimed more than me.

CB radio was another one of the headaches we were facing as it's too big to go on the dash but needs to be easily reached.  My first thought was to mount it to the gloveboxwith a couple of bolts but when we come to get rid of her, the Escort will look shite with bloody great holes through it.  Happily, in my shed of various left over bits from previous DIY, I had loads of cable ties.  Linked a few together, removed the glovebox, lashed the CB frame to it, and replaced it and it seems to be holding up ok at the moment.  Havent got round to wiring it up yet, but seems stable.

Five star print... Remember them?  yup.  Well the day after they received my email regarding their abilities to print a simple sticker they went a bit overkill.  We now have 8 of the buggers (albeit correct).  Nice of them to correct the cock up, but would have been even nicer if they hadn't made an arse out of their original attempt.

Whats missing from this picture?   Thats right - the seat base.  After a lot of swearing and a little blood loss, the seat finally came out.  This now frees up some much needed space and seems simple enough to replace when we come to sadly part with Juliette if the next owners want seats.

The gear knob was buggered when we got the car and we decided that it needed replacing at some point.  During one of my eBay moments I stumbled across the guy who supplied this one.  The retro "8" ball look was tempting but this chap will do any pool ball for any car (theres different size threads, depths  & mounts - not just put a hole in it you know).  The purple 4 spot billiard ball was the obvious candidate.  I paid, emailed him my choice and mentioned this blog in case he wanted to see where his creation would end up.  The man is unbelievable.  He mailed me back a day later to say he had refunded my paypal payment.  Not because he couldnt supply it but because he had read the blog he wanted us to have it free.  He did advise me that my charity blagging skills were a bit shit but nonetheless, he even paid postage and listing fees so it cost him to be this kind. 

If you want an interesting present look at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Epsilon-Alpha-Gifts.  The guy is pretty cool, follow the links through his eBay profile and it'll take you to his website.  Take a look, tell him I sent ya.

As we were going to pay for the gear knob we put the money straight onto the just giving page so effectively he's put £8 into the kitty.

Everything seemed to be going so well that something had to give.  well I wandered out the back to have a smoke and stumbled upon that sight.  Puddles forming under the car.  Never a wonderful thing to view.  Water stretched under the decking so no telling how bad this was going to be.  After a few minutes of abject panic and looking under the bonnet to see where this leak was coming from I decided to change tactic and see how far it was spreading to.  If I could figure out how much water had come out, then I may be able to figure out where the source was.

I tracked the pools under the decking to the wall of my house where I may have released a couple of happy words.  Thank f*ck for that - it's the house thats got a plumbing problem, not the car! :)  We had a blocked drain which was causing the dishwasher waste to back up, run under the deck and under the car.  Seems a bit odd really but I'm chuffed it's a major problem with my home than a hose from a cheap car.

We've ordered the full size rally tags for the rear windows, and the guy we got them from (eBay again) coughed for the postage, so thats another 2 quid on the JG site.  eBay item: 290476691491 seller stickersandthings09

Whilst I'm on the subject of saying thanks to folk that have excelled for us, I'd like to take a moment here to thank http://www.lovethosephotos.com/ - Jon Hayden is a wedding photographer but undertakes many different commisions.  He has dipped into his pocket without having to be asked just because he's a good bloke.

Another piece ordered today is the air induction kit.  The theory behind this is 2 fold - 1) to increase the airflow into the engine which aside from a slight performance increase, will lower the fuel bills and 2) to make it sound a little meatier than the 1.6 implies.  I couldnt get a cheap K&N, and the Green / pipercross were a bit lavish with the budget so I've gone for a generic ford jobby that hopefully does a similar job.  For a tenner you can't go wrong eh?

Yomay be thinking "what no stereo references"? and you'd be right.  I'd completely forgotten to mention them til now.  I have spent hours trying to find a way  get the power cable into the cabin.  I even had the car jacked up , wheel off, plastic trim away and trying to thread the thing through the existing cabling but to no avail.  I have given up.  Honestly, I have given up.  Earlier today I emailed two companies to see what they'd charge to install 1 power cable from bonnet to dash.  Both companies are local to me and Im intrigued to see what prices they come back with.  One is a franchise from a massive company and I think the other one is a single based company so see how they fare against each other.  I've included the blog address in my email so with a bit of luck they'll read this and quote accordingly :)

Finally, I think, I ordered a machine polisher to see if I can get rid of the sun damaging at the rear of the car.  It's an RAC one thats quite cheap and after a few runs over, the car is starting to regain it's lost colour.  I will give it a few more runs in the next couple of days to try and get this blended.

Not much humour in this update Im afraid but had so much to cram in, hope you dont mind.  I'll be back to childish next time so normal service can be resumed. 

I found a new button linked into this blog system that I use, it tracks where people are who view this.  If YOU are the 1 person in the Ukraine reading this, who are you?  what did you type in to your search engine to find floppy throttle and what were you hoping to see?

Just checked my eBay and as I'm writing I got a mail from the chap supplying the main rally graphics to let me know with a bit of luck, dispatch tommorow... woohoo.  Happy happy.  I am so looking forward to these as once on, we can start laying the sponsors out and getting it spotted a bit.  And once it's received thats another £20 we are putting into the www.Justgiving.com/floppythrottle kitty.

Not only are they creating the vinyl with a huge discount for the charity edge, they are doing it custom made for us with the white instead of the blue.  So Mark, at Creations in Vinyl, thank you for working ridiculously late hours and mailing me - I can go to bed with a grin (the wife's going to be thinking i've been at porn all this time).

Night all.

Savage

Just giving details:

Good stuff going on...

Right guys, gals and anyone who reads this, the JustGiving site is up and running at a current rate of £62 whole British pounds.  Thanks to those select few who have donated, but for the rest of you who have read and smirked at this blog, how about you donate a pound.  A quid.  Go on, it's not for us, it's for children in the UK who are unlikely to become adults due to life shortening illnesses. www.justgiving.com/floppythrottle

Right, thats the begging bit done with, so on to the reason this blog is here, to raise awareness of how hard it is to get a cheap car rally ready with a budget smaller than my attention span.

Probably not going to do in a particular order but in the last few days...

We have found a guy willing to reprint the 1994 Ford Rally team graphics in vinyl for our cabbie for very few shillings indeedy.  There's a few snags in that the original car was white with blue graphics and ours being purple, the blue wouldn't be as striking, but the chap is going to knock it out reversed with the blue graphics being white.  So in theory our car should look like a negative of the rally one ('cept with less power, no roof or bloody great whale tail).

Sort of like that bad boy but in reverse. 

We were looking at placing a large image of a manga girl bursting out of the side of the car in a chrome explosion whilst being restrained by chains and firing weapons (it looked absolutely awesome), but the supplier/printer turned out to be an arse.  It's the guy who supplied the original sunstrip.  We got back in touch with him, explained what we're up to, that the last one failed the MOT, advertising opportunity for him, looking to buy another sunstrip plus girl graphic (total was going to be thick end of £100 plus the original strip) and tight fucker wouldnt even offer free postage.  I asked if he could supply an internal sunstrip with the floppy throttle printed on it to save it destroying the wipers and he pretty much told me to make my own, but he'd supply the materials required (for obscene amounts).  If you fancy dealing with a complete tossbag who values £3 delivery charges over repeat business, take a look at http://www.vipergrafix.com/, but the customer service skills are shite, so be wary.

The door alarm bits have finally turned up, and are sat in the footwell waiting for me to get the enthusiasm to relist them on eBay. 

Another couple of eBay items found their way into my posession this week, a sensible set of Tornado 6x9's for the rear and a set of Torx sockets.  For those of you unaware, the Torx system is those silly bloody star shaped screws that companies use to deter you from taking stuff off.  Well, I've got a set now but no matter how hard I try, I cant get those screws holding the back seat out.

Still trying to improve the rear sounds, I gave up with the recommendation of removing panels to access speakers and gently (honestly, you should have seen my tender caress) removed the grills from the outside.  Once they're off it doesnt matter if you destroy the pods cosmetically as no-one gonna see them.  So grills off, speakers popped out, Power Blasters in, and grills back on.  Up yours Haynes manual, you know nothing about rear speaker replacement :)

I had a moment of rare excitement earlier as the postman plopped an envelope from 5 star printing through the door.  Oh yes, the rear windows naming tags had arrived.  Picture them, a St Georges cross (england flag) with the name Savage next to it, another just below it, with the Welsh flag including their dragon, with the name Davies next to it.  The identities of these 2 great countries thrown as a duo, Wales and England, seperate but united in this chariot for a common cause.  Forsaking the Northern Irish and the sweaty socks (Jocks) for truly this is the time where we shine as the more significant 50% of the United Kingdom.  Can you picture it, two different national flags, two names?  Yes?  well 5 star bloody couldnt.  Tossbags:

A lot of pictures going into this update I know, but it helps make you realise the issues we're stumbling against.

Finally, for this update Im going to mention the graphics again.  As you eagle eyed may have noticed, the rally replica shown doesn't have the trim halfway down the door that protects it from bumps and scrapes in a car park etc, so I have taken these from our own Juliette.  Looks quite nice:

There is no real fading where they were so a quick T-cut job and they looked like they were never there.  Surprisingly, they weren't attached by anything more than glue so just pulled off easily.  This got me thinking how annoyingly in the way the Ford, Escort & 16v badges are so feeling like a trim and badge ripper offererer, I removed these swiftly and easily also.  Bugger:

The 16v badge was just beneath the right hand light cluster and after 8 seperate T-Cut attacks, it now blends into the panel (although that panel is a slightly darker purple than the rest of the car now).  I'm really hoping that I can get the Escort and ford patches to do the same but otherwise, anyone want to sponsor the bits above the clusters?

Pretty sure thats about it for this sitting, I'll update again shortly.

Cheers

Savage