A couple of months have passed since The G40 was tucked away in her new home. But it was time she saw the light of day again. My Vento was going into the body shop for some work so I needed the G40 to use as the daily for a week or two. Hopefully I’d be able to do a few tidy up jobs too.
When I opened the door to the garage I was shocked. She was filthy! When she was put into the garage, she was very wet from her trip down. I connected the battery and jumped in. She fired to life straight away. Hearing the supercharger whine sent tingles down my spin and gave me an instant smile! Time to move her, well, that bit didn’t quite go according to plan. She wouldn’t budge! It appeared that the brakes had seized on. A few jumps of the clutch didn’t realise them. Not a great start really! I quickly discovered that it was the drivers size rear drum that was sticking. Quickly off with the wheel, a few taps with a rubber mallet and she freed up! Attempt number two was a success and she saw the light of day again after 2 months. What a great feeling it was to be out and about in her again.
What with being a bit grubby, I thought it best to make a start on cleaning her up again, starting with the interior. Thinking back, when was the last time the interior had been cleaned? My guess would be early part of 2007! Ok, so the car hadn’t had much use, but the seats had a couple of grubby marks on them and the floors were a bit dirty. Now you may think I love all things to do with cleaning a car. You’d be wrong, I do no like cleaning interiors!
I quick trip to Halfords saw me coming back with a few bits and pieces to make a start. I quickly got stuck into cleaning up the seats. All the grubby stains have now gone but it did highlight to me that the interior was starting to tire a bit. The rear seats and door cards had really faded and the seams were breaking at the top of the rear bench! Classic G40 interior problems. Also, one of the bolsters on the drivers seat has started to soften in a specific place. I shall have to keep my eye out for some new interior bits
Unfortunately, the bad news didn’t stop there. Earlier this year I had done a job which I thought would cure water getting into the boot. That areal base! After some extremely heavy rain and tonnes of surface water, it has become apparent that this wasn’t the source of water getting in. The boot carpet is drenched on the drivers side. This really isn’t what I want to find. The up and coming forecast for the next week is rain rain and more rain! Some time ago I bought the boot seal, I was going to hang onto it until I had the car resprayed, but I think the time has come to give that a go! If that doesn’t stop it, I shall just have to keep looking!
Also, at some point this week, I plan to refit the door strip which has been progressively getting worse!
All in all, not the best start to 2010 for the G, but it’ll get better I’m sure! Its still a bloody great drive though
So, to the door strip. Over the past 5 years it had been getting worse and worse. Now, from a weeks solid use up and down the motorway in the pouring ran, it was pretty much hanging on by the last thread. Time to act!
It didn’t take much effort to pull the trim off the door. The clip section which is meant to be secured to the door had broken into three pieces, all be it not perfect, but it would was still useable to put it back. The fun part was yet to come. All the sticky remains on the door. So me and my trusty assistance set to work.
After some time it was done, I tidied the strip up and boot some new sticky tape on (I’d had this for some time as I’d planned to do it sooner) and I carefully stuck it back to the car and held it in place with some tape!
It was now complete and looked far better. Ok, its not perfect, but it’ll do until I can find some strips in better condition!
She’d also had a clean during this and had been to her first meet down in Hampshire!