Lots of Love Needed (A Tall Order)

[ScottyDave]

Time for another update, a lenghty one.

October half term I returned to the Hebrides for another spell working on the Charger, picking up Amy my youngest from Hull (opposite side of the country ) on the way.
Arrived on the Saturday night after a little bit of a choppy crossing, with the weather in Ullapool I had expected the crossing to be cancelled
Sunday didn't do a lot during the day just a dog walk and a little chill to recover before fitting a couple of pieces of trim.

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Sunday evening after being fed by our mum we started tininkering do small bits n pieces, eventually getting to the point of fitting the driveshaft....on nipping up one of 1/4 bolts sheared in the axle that was it for the day after that.
That was a big problem as there aren't many options when it comes to sourcing parts or tools on the island.

Monday came and after sorting the transmission lines to the radiator and rubber mounting the exhaust myself and Amy went for into town for a bit of lunch and to see if I could find a Tap or Easyout.

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Went to the local motorfactors, yay they had a 1/4 tap, boo it was part of a £60 set, oh well nowt else for it but pay the money.

Back home and got the bolt drilled out and luckily I had a spare, bolted the driveshaft on. Now to sort the brakes.

Tuesday started with bench bleeding the new Master, fitted it and started gravity bleeding the system, N/s front O/s front bleed nipple won't seal, Rears nothing

Sod it... took Amy to the pub for lunch.

Back to to the garage via the motor factors to collect another pair of new bleed nipples, O/s now seals
Rears, still nowt. Getting fluid down to the distribution block but not out a quick Google suggests stamping on the brake to recentre the shuttle, yay fluid to the rear This brought us to the end of Tuesday, we were booked on the Thursday morning ferry to return home and the Charger was yet to move under its own steam.
Wednesday dawned and after sorting a couple of other bits we popped to the ferry terminal to try and rebook for a Friday crossing...no joy fully booked.

Pressure now on to finish the Charger...

Wednesday afternoon disappeared quickly and at 4:50pm it moved under its own steam for the first time.

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https://youtu.be/vu_HMT_-3iM

I took it to our mums for tea a 4 mile round trip,

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With still lots to do, the night was the same as the afternoon. As there was now no time to fit the heater box all the openings in the firewall and fresh air intakes had to be blanked.

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Once done the Charger was loaded with everything that was coming back parts, fixings, tools etc and driven to a petrol station for another test drive, 11 mile round trip.

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she's now done 15miles in 20yrs. This last drive highlights a major issue there's something seriously wrong underneath, lots of bangs and crashes. Back to my brothers and its driven up onto blocks to see whats going on.
It's the over axle pipes, no clearance with the full load
Its midnight and I have to be up at 5am to make the ferry, do we we remove and start modifying?

Nope we take the over axle sections off and fit turndowns problems solved

Thursday morning and myself, Amy and the Charger are at the ferry

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Its a better crossing this time,

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getting of had a bit of a challenge as the car infront was unaccompanied

https://youtu.be/k8C8AAKbzic

She's on the mainland only 670mls to go, and I wonder if I'm doing the right thing... will we make our hotel outside Edinburgh or will we be waiting for a recovery truck?


To be continued...

[MattH]

Absolutely amazing, proper road trip!
I didn't realise it was so close to actually being driven, and then driven all that way back. Fantastic.

This is a fabulous tale of a battle against all the odds. You should take a bow. Just look back at how the car started off.

[Blue]

Nearly there, you’ll be needing a new project soon with all that time on your hands….

[Pete]

It's pretty epic, chaps!!!

[SJH]

Well done, a truly epic restoration and a great read !

[ScottyDave]

Thanks for the comments chaps. Being a member of this club has definitely helped a lot, so thank you for the support and advice along the way


So time to continue the story...

The day started dry and after a fuel stop in Inverness to fully fill the tank for the first time we continued on and pulled into Ralia cafe near Newtonmore for a coffee approx 100 miles after disembarking the ferry, the Charger is running and driving well and is giving no reason to worry.
Whilst drinking our coffees a couple of people wander over curious as to what it is, ask to take some photos a chat a while.

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Back on the road and heading south she's still running well and we're making good time,

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The rain starts as we get closer to Perth and another top up of the tank £29 which isn't much considering its Super Unleaded going into the tank.
Leaving Perth we pick up the M90, a route I rarely use we're heading for the Queensferry crossing and an overnight stop at a Premier Inn to the south of Edinburgh, rain's getting heavier.

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https://youtu.be/l_JwV9Ewbhk

Its an uneventful journey around Edinburgh at the start of rush hour and arrive at our hotel around 4:30pm.

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After a good night's sleep although Amy reckoned she could hear someone snoring
We set off around 10:30am expecting to reach Hull by 3:30pm....Ha how wrong we were, the traffic was awful with us not reaching Hull till 6:30pm

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So we reach Hull and after saying goodbye to Amy I head for home. Knowing the A63 junction had major roadworks I make my way out of the city.
While driving along a poorly lit street I decide to try the High Beam.... POP lights out

I pull into a side street and try to find the fault but with the darkness I'm having no joy and I breifly consider sleeping in the car till sun up. Anyway as I have electrical connectors and cable in the boot/trunk I hardwire direct from the battery to the Low Beam relay socket with a bullet connector incorporated to disconnect at stops.
Eventually I arrive home around 11:30pm,

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Saturday morning I have a look at the lighting issue and Doh it's a silly mistake on my part, I'd fitted a 20amp fuse in my lighting circuit BUT I have 20amp low beam and a 20amp high beam, I should have fitted a 40amp fuse

So its home, it drove 670mls without missing a beat and the only issue was blowing a fuse that was too small for the circuit it was protecting.

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It still hasn't properly sunk in that 20yrs after I parked it up its finally on the drive.
There's still loads to do but I can do that at my leisure now and enjoy the driving at the same time.

[Stu]

I woke up at 4.30am and have spent the morning reading this thread from start to finish, whilst getting myself up and ready.

Hats off to you Mate, what an incredible resurrection. Great story, great determination and amazing work.

Looking forward to seeing it in the metal at some point in the near future.

That’s got to have been a hell of a feeling to finally pull onto the driveway.

[Blue]

Thats certainly an epic journey to end an er, epic journey! Shows you built it right to have covered that distance pretty much without issue. Not many would have even contemplated taking on a car in such a poor state especially as it was so far from home as well. Just shows what can be achieved when you put your mind to it, this thread will have been an inspiration to many so thanks for sticking with it and documenting it warts and all. Well done and I'm glad it was you doing it and not me, Hopefully many happy miles to come!

[MattH]

Absolutely brilliant, you need to get Classic American to do a feature story.

[Pete]

Absolutely brilliant, you need to get Classic American to do a feature story.

We can have a word with Ben at the NEC if you wish, Dave?

[DougieJ]

Just epic Dave.

Wish I'd known you were up then - was up in Lochinver at that time and would have come down to Ullapool just to see it come off the ferry.

[ScottyDave]

Wish I'd known you were up then - was up in Lochinver at that time and would have come down to Ullapool just to see it come off the ferry.

Sorry Dougie, we didn't know if it was close to happening till it drove out of Stephen's garage Wednesday evening.

[cadboy]

Dave

You have done a great work and as has been said, when you put your mind to doing something, it is achievable.

Well done mate and can't wait to see her.

GOOD JOB

[Dom66]

Fantastic And an epic first trip after all that work ! Thanks for sharing

[Demon James]

Truly incredible, Dave. Given all of the challenges and logistics, craftsmanship and down right true grit, this has got to be one of the most remarkable and inspirational restorations out there.

Thank You for taking the time to document and post so much detail in an all consuming way, hat is well and truly off, Sir. Awesome