At last I have wrested the car from Australian Immigration, albeit at a cost of some $1600 dollars. That has to be the most expensive car wash in the world and they have damaged the paintwork into the bargain. I am told that there is a six to nine month wait for paintwork in Australia generally and so the chance of getting it repaired, or for that matter an insurance settlement, is most unlikely.
We have thoroughly inspected the damage to Bridget and have found (when I say we I really mean Tim Harland of the Sports Car Garage, Perth) the following problems:
- Windscreen to be replaced
- Exhaust to be refitted
- Nearside rear shock absorber to be replaced
- Differential universal joint bushes to be replaced
- Fulcrum pins in steering nearside wishbone to be changed
- Nearside steering rack arm bushes to be replaced
- Offside wheel bearing to be replaced
- Carburettors to be tuned
- Full service
I have already started the work, with the exhaust completed, the front wheel bearing replaced and the shock absorber renewed. The differential universal joint has been replaced and just needs to be re-installed and then we can move on to the steering/suspension problems at the front before sorting the topside.
Once again we are discovering unusual items on the car. The front offside wheel had some play in it suggesting a problem with the bearing. We removed it and although we couldn’t see any unusual wear I decided we should fit the spare that I had in the boot. This I did, and even after several removals and refits, we still had a problem. I removed it once more when Tim (owner of the Sports Garage) noticed that the bearing was the wrong type. The inner bearing had a thin outer ring and wider inner ring, giving it the appearance of a shoulder. Evidently the inner and outer rings should be the same width. The crazy thing was that the one we removed and the spare I had supplied from my spares kit were identical but both wrong. Tim had the correct one in stock which we fitted and everything is OK, except that there appears to be a problem with spares supplies for this component that I need MGOC to look into.
The universal joint of the prop shaft required replacing, which we did, but once again we noticed that the shaft should have a grease nipple, but none existed. Tim drilled a hole and added a nipple for me and we replaced the shaft.
I am hoping that the rest of the items will be completed in time for Bridget and myself to leave Perth on Sunday the 2nd November which happens to coincide with the Red Bull Air Race. I only hope that we do not take away too much attention from them!