Today was not wonderful except that I won a minor victory in the end.
Too damned hot but I'm sure we're all feeling that.
I've got a couple of weeks off work so some of it is being spent on the=20 Pug. Today I headed off to a 205 specialist that I've found not far=20 away. They prefer to play with GTIs but lots of bits are the same as my=20 oil burner. I wanted calipers because they had some second hand in good=20 nick for =A330 for a pair, a door hinge because some bodger had welded 3=20 washers on the top of the driver's door on mine to try to get it to hang=20 and a couple of switches.
Got everything and headed for the next destination (work to pick up dog=20 food). *Ping*.=20
"I know that noise". The bodged fix to the clutch cable had just given=20 (as it turns out, the nail snapped). So I crashed throught the gears to=20 work and then headed up to a dealer where I knew they'd have the proper=20 cable in stock.=20
I didn't know when it went the first time that you can start a diesel in=20 gear so got recovered because I couldn't persuade it to crash into=20 first.
I got home and with everything hot from a 60 mile drive, I decided to=20 work on the only cool bit. The hinge.
Inner trim off the door, unbolt the hinge. Blat the cotter pin with a=20
7mm punch. Nothing. Try everything that doesn't need the door off. Take=20 door off.See top of body part of hinge. That's a weld! The cotter pin snapped so=20 they welded it back on! Then they welded the washers on to stop the door=20 wiggling and the cotter pin sheared off.
The fecking hinge would cost =A34 to replace and the cotter pin =A32 and=20 someone went to an effort to weld a stupid repair that would fail!
OK, so drill out the weld. That cotter pin is not made of steel.=20 Whatever it is made of it is a very hard alloy that doesn't drill well.=20 It got through three drill bits (although I'll accept that 2 were down=20 to my not noticing that my water trickle had dropped off so they=20 overheated).=20
Once the weld was gone I cut the bottom off close to the hinge and a 2lb=20 hammer got it moving.=20
3 hours to repair a pointless botch that could have been done properly=20 for =A36 at dealer prices for parts.I also learned that your don't tighten the hinge bolts with the door=20 open if you want to be able to close it.
On the plus side, I got rid of an annoying problem with my car door and=20 have been out at least three times this evening just to open and shut=20 it. There's a certain satisfaction in making things *right*.
Tomorrow, I replace the clutch cable and put GTI calipers and disks on a=20 glo engined pug.=20
Warwick