Well we are back....
6 countries, 2600 miles, way to much money the frogs for tolls, loadsa of beer consumed and a great time had by all.
Day 0, Laiback66 collects me from Woking station as I have cut my family holiday short to go and we head to Dover where the ferry has a 2 hour delay, finaly get to calais and into the bar to sign in. Then a beer later and we are off to the hotel which we cant find and get lost in road works around Calais.
Day 1, the start. 600 odd mile journey through France to Annecy, 10 hours driving, no problems and the Senator is running well until.....I rag it up a mountain and as we pull up it boils over! So, the Viscous coupling on the fan is shafted and its not going round. So get a hack saw out, saw out the aircon condenser to improve airflow, hard wire the aircon cooling fan up and problem solved...... It then get seven more interestin, were having a few beers when somebody says 'look at this turbo'. Outside there is a Turbo on a Volvo estate which is glowing red and I mean red. Then it gets better, having pressed the brake pedal there is a ball of fire as brake fluid squirts all over the manifold and lights!
The brake fluid was coming from the brake balance valve where there was a drilling on the side, the seal had melted!. As a temp measure a coin was epoxied to it (take plenty of 1 hour epoxy Rod!) and I bled all the brakes (good job because despite the full Volvo service history it had clearly never been done!) and they head off down the mountain using the handbrake and gears! Its now 1.00 in the morning.
Day 2 second leg to Bornio. head off down the mountain to the meeting point and get slightly lost on the way but make ift with time to spare. Find the Volvo boys and are pleased to see they didn't end up as a firey ball in the woods. Its not good though, here is no way the fix will hold or be safe and the turbo is still glowing red.
So, I removed the balance valve and scrounged two bots which fitted the drilling, cut the end off one bolt and added some additional cuts across the threads to create a tap. Used this to tap the drilling (it was only 3 mm deep so it wasn't easy) bunged a load of the green goo in it (as used on the V6 front cam bearings), a dab of thread lock for the threads and wound the bolt in until the green goo was oozing from the threads then added some additional black sealent (as used on the cam covers). Re-fitted, bled and checked the brakes and all is good again. The addition of a stella can helped as a heat shield to.]
Now to the turbo, it turns out the MAF sensor is goosed so its running lean and getting dam hot, so unplug the MAF in the hope that it runs on a default map, it does and on we go having abandoned a Granada with major fuel pump problems.
We take an alternative route via the Monte Blanc tunnel to try to make up time.
30 Miles away from the finish and we meet a home made 3 wheeler that one the Chezks has made and tow that to the finish so he can fix it for the morning.
We arrive there to find a very clapped out Mondeo estate with a knackered alternator.
Day 3 the third leg to Salzburg via Stelvio Pass. So, first off, put our battery on the Mondeo and there falt one on ours, jump start ours adn off we go. It starts with a Police escort and send off by the Major through the streets of Bormio whilst waving to our admiring fans.
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Then up Stelvio with Laidback driving, 3/4 of the way up a quick drivers swap and I have a go......the last leg was a bit quick and we got past 5 other cars before stopping at the top. BATTERY CHANGE......
A quick stop at the top to get a hotdog served by a guy who looked like Zak Dingle and swore a lot with a building behind which had Graffitti saying 'Nepal' hence the nick name of 'Zak Dingles Nepolise Hotdog stand'
Down the pass with only a few problems, one where I nearly killed motor cyclist who was on the wrong side of the road and the next where the Volvo cooked its brakes. We also passed one of teh teams in a BMW who had been hit by a lunatic biker and smahed his alloy (the bikers where dam right dangerous!), the biker was just about ok but his bike wouldn't run and he had to free wheel it down the mountain. Another guy we passed wasn't so lucky an was awaiting an ambulance.
A bit further down and The Mk1 Carlton has also cooked his brakes and boiled the wheel bearing grease.
So, on to the border and another battery change, keep going a biut more and yes, you guessed it....another battery change.
After another 3 battery changes we are approaching Salzburg and arrive at the Hostel. Meet up for the eveing, plenty of beer and get ready for the final push to Prague.....
.....will post some more later....
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Topic: Re: Czechwrecks 2006 - Member comments (Read 16091 times)