Yes dear readers, the French have stopped striking....at least for now.
My Desperate Scrapheap Challenge has now become a contender for the actual Desperate Van Challenge.
Before I tell you my amazing tale I want to congratulate Colin for getting his lovely ex-cake delivery van. Rumour has it that he found it while looking for cakes on ebay.....
First of all: The kit.
Adverts are always telling youngsters like myself to "wrap up", so I procured some latex gloves to stop myself getting an RTD (Renault Transmitted Disease).
The tool box is self explanatory; the bin bags were for the mountain of c**p in the back, and the German Bundeswehr jacket was to stop me being approached by nosy onlookers while I was concentrating on diesel engine surgery.
For those of you who do not my van story, here is a brief recap: I bought it from a field, drove it home, it broke down 400m before my front door, the battery died, and I wanted to blow the bloody thing up. After a few days though I composed myself and decided to try and fix it myself. Here's what happened.
I removed the passenger seats and engine cover, to expose what is a relatively good looking engine. The fanbelt looked almost new, which means it was changed only recently. It turned out to be rather loose, so I tightened it.
As the above picture pretty much shows my entire tool kit, I had no way of knowing whether this actually was the problem.
Only one way to find out.....
The kiss of life! Yes, that is Will's shiny rouge LDV snogging my Renault (In the Renault's defence - he was unconscious at the time).
We hooked up the jump leads and turned the ignition. Though it will have annoyed the hell out of the surrounding neighbourhood, I was ecstatic. White smoke and lots of noise - the beast was running. The real test of course was of course whether it would keep running. It did!
Our three van shootout is approaching soon, so now I just have to get the rest of the van up to scratch with my £90 remaining. Any suggestions are welcome - just put your comments below!
Comments (6)
Does Will always wear red lipstick when kissing??? other vans?
Posted by Sofie | March 17, 2007 6:41 PM
Posted on March 17, 2007 18:41
I hate nosy onlookers or neighbours, where can I get a german bundeswehr jacket to frighten them off??
Posted by Duncan | March 17, 2007 6:52 PM
Posted on March 17, 2007 18:52
Dylan, as I think I previously mentioned, I could let you buy the engine from the wagon, although as you only have £90 left, I think you will only be able to afford the econoscope. (It's worth £350 but as your a mate I feel generous, you know it will make the van run!)
Posted by Cookie | March 19, 2007 6:09 PM
Posted on March 19, 2007 18:09
Dyl - if you have any problems getting the van to the shoot, CJ has claimed to be able to carry 'vans' (plural) on his "incredible Bulk bice".
Posted by Angell | March 20, 2007 10:32 AM
Posted on March 20, 2007 10:32
Dyl I have to agree that i think purchasing the econscope would be a stroke of genius because at some point there will be an mpg test and with the econoscope on board you will destroy the competition-and no i'm not just saying this so that you give my boyfriend an extra few quid for our romantic weekend away!!
Posted by Pegler | March 21, 2007 10:16 AM
Posted on March 21, 2007 10:16
Well, well, well, Cookie and Pegler, what a lovely couple!! Go on Dylan give them the money for the econscope so not to spoil their romantic weekend!
Posted by Ingeborg | March 22, 2007 4:50 PM
Posted on March 22, 2007 16:50