I’m tired of trying to keep the car in tip top condition.
Every time I try to fix this or that something else happens.
Last time after the front clam job, there were bubbles in the paint.
To sort them out another 2 months without the car.
Once that’s sorted the scratches in the front at Donington (no problem with anybody, it’s just that it happened)
Now working on the car leave the engine cover open and suddenly a gust of wind rips the hinges through the roof, now the roof is truly broken by the very same hinges it came with!
And this bloody computer is sooo slow!
Just need to finish working on the car but have a cold and now it’s raining (for the 5th time today!
Mind you, I’m seriously contemplating just driving the car like Tut, don’t worry about any scratches, broken clams, actually, even having a clam or even paint!
If I wanted to fix every detail that happens to the car it would always be in a garage!
Thinking seriously in not even insuring it comprehensive next time, only third party.
I’m going to have a beer and come back later to finish working on the car.
I have started thinking the same as well just going to keep on top of mechanical maintenence but stuff the cosmetic side of it. My cars gel coat is cracked all over the place, paint peeling around the wheel arches looks a right mess when parked next to some other cars but why spend �2-3k for it to happen again?. The less you care about it the harder you drive it and will be more fun anyway.
Tell me about it Uldis, just sorted a few little things on mine, all ready to go until I spotted antifreeze dripping from the front. Now need a rad. Had the car 2 months and not even covered 200 miles. BUT I STILL LOVE IT. I don’t care if it causes me a new problem every month, they look sound and drive the best. As for chips and scratches i’ll do then when I crash it. Hang in there mate.
Chuffing bad luck with the engine cover - maybe you can take some comfort in sharing it here and hoping that someone else won’t suffer the same fate because they’ll learn from your experience.
I was wondering whether you could tether the lock end so it could not over-extend but the cover seems that fragile it may well snap somewhere else!
I have adopted your suggested philosophy with regard to paint and the front splitter - i.e once its stonechipped or craked the its actually quite liberating that you won’t worry about more of the same and its going to stay that way rather than spend any money fixing somethng to only worry about the inevitable happening again.
The best thing would probably be the modification stsrted by Pesky, the dual shocks that hold the engine cover up.
The problem with that is that they don’t open enough for a tall person. And they add weight
The stop on hinge mechanism is not strong enough and will bend upwards.
To me that cover should be on or off, and this is the mod I will do next, after I receive my MS roof (eh Sean? ). Then I’ll repair this one and just leave it aside.
A couple of pics after I tidied the roof up. I’ll drive it like this.
Looks like you are having a bad day, I would suggest something a little stronger than beer perhaps!!
I agree, you can become far too anally retentive about small piddly issues and easily lose focus on the enjoyment of the car through them. my advise is top just go out drive the car and only repair something when it is really broken…
same here Uldis… must be something in the weather in Scotland .
In the space of a week (last week) my ‘perfect paint’ now has two gel-coat cracks (spiders) one on the rear clam where it looks like the garage, just had a slipping alternator belt rectified - they also broke the mounting bolt and had to make up a new bracket arrangement – fools !! – have bashed the clam from the inside (near petrol filler) with a spanner or wrench that maybe slipped - i’m in dispute with them at the mo’ (I didn’t actually notice it untill 3 days after getting the car back… so you know the story.
The other is a car park incident on the front pax side wheel arch where I noticed what looked like paint scuffs… it was… and on closer inspection the gel coat is cracked thru’… bah humbug !!
Both trivial compared to your roof but I agree no point in chasing never ending cosmetic perfection… I have been thinking about a Valentino Rossi Team Camel colourscheme using vynyl stick-ons/stripes and stuff which could maybe be developed over time to cover srapes and scraps as they happen …LOL
Also harks back to the days when Lotus were sponsored by Camel… my only dilemma in this is my obsessive hatred of cigarettes !!..
I have been thinking about a Valentino Rossi Team Camel colourscheme using vynyl stick-ons/stripes and stuff which could maybe be developed over time to cover srapes and scraps as they happen …LOL
Also harks back to the days when Lotus were sponsored by Camel… my only dilemma in this is my obsessive hatred of cigarettes !!..
Bad luck Uldis, I can only imagine the sickening feeling as the wind flipped it up
I was thinking of a similar thing Rox. My car attends lots of trackdays (or at least it will once the boyz have finished their extensive TLC treatment )attends lots of race meets and sits visibly in the paddock. If a sponsor wanted to go for a complete car sponsorship for a year for just the cost of the sponsorship decals I would wear them for a year.
I could ask my employer - imagine a ‘Sky HD - Feel Everything’ stickered up car
The best thing would probably be the modification stsrted by Pesky, the dual shocks that hold the engine cover up.
The problem with that is that they don’t open enough for a tall person. And they add weight
The stop on hinge mechanism is not strong enough and will bend upwards.
Not nice that Uldis - but a Msport roof should fix it
You cant open the cover any higher than the stop anyhow and my struts open it that far and a bit more hence the stop is a bit bent …
Just remember complete removal means you put the cover down somewhere and when the wind gets up it just blows away - had that happen to the bonnet of my mini - ended up with just bits of CF everywhere
No, I’m not putting it through insurance, I’m goig to use the car lke that!
The MS roof thing is not really because of this, but because I fancy the bigger opening and will later make a bespoke half air box below the MS engine cover (which I have) and force-feed air to a new airbox I’m going to make.
Bad luck on the roof! I had the same thing on my exige, have the roof off now and hoping to do a repair to allow me to drop the lid off and on depending on the weather. But don’t say anything to anyone, I hear that some people think thats voodoo black majik mumbo jumbo bad karma and satanic. It’s a doddle to get off though. Do you have somewhere to get it repaired?
No, I really mean it, I’m going to use it like this!
But don’t say anything to anyone, I hear that some people think thats voodoo black majik mumbo jumbo bad karma and satanic. It’s a doddle to get off though.
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