An update after Origine RS!
What a weekend - a real pleasure to meet so many people I have corresponded with on this forum. Well done to Stephen and to Simon, to Paul for his scrutineering, and many, many others, who put so much effort into making the day a success.
You'll have gathered that I made it. All the way there and back, under my own steam!
To recap, my garage was fitting new brake flexi-hoses during the week and it was touch-and-go as to whether the car would be ready in time.
It was a bit of a stressful time as, late Thursday evening, the fitting of the brake hoses hadn't been properly started, so I decided to try to get my Gordini Turbo MOT'd as a backup. It has been off the road since December 2016. I dragged it out of my unit and took it for an MOT. On the way down, I realised the air horns didn't work! I had no tools with me so had to pop in to Halfords to get a stubby ratchet and 13mm socket in order to take the front bumper off... The car has a spare horn fitted, so I was able to swap the wires over and get the spare working. Fitted the bumper... and...
Massive fail. They had to abort the test due to the fuel pressure regulator leaking. My car has a Facet fuel pump and a Malpassi fuel regulator under the back. The latter was dripping fuel from its "failed diaphragm" telltale.
I drove it back home, tail between my legs, and just stressed about my A610 instead! The latest news from mid-afternoon was that the car wasn't going to be ready in time. I called in to see them - fitting the new flexi hoses was troublesome due to the body-side ends not being compatible with the OE locations. They'd also had to shorten (slightly) and re-flare the offside rigid pipe due to it being damaged when being undone. I knew this would happen as I'd tried, and failed, to undo it, for fear of damaging it.
By 5:30, when the mechanic working on my car was due to go home, the other guys in the garage said they would carry on until 6pm for me! 5:52pm I called. "Come up and get it, Andrew - we're just finishing!"
Amazing job - the poor guy who was due to go home was still there. He was supposed to be babysitting for his wife
The other guys were just refitting the wheels after checking everything. I drove the car round the block - fine! Let's go!
I owe them beer/Jack Daniels and flowers for the main guy's wife. The garage is really very good. They don't have the best reputation in the area but they always go the extra mile for me. I only have to call and say "it's Andrew" and they know who I am
Anyway, I did a bit more work on the car in the evening and again in the morning before we left - things like fitting the cover over the heater box, etc.
Drove up to ORS without a hitch. Car felt lovely on the motorway - remember this was the furthest I'd driven it since the major work of replacing the ECU.
On the way home, the right-rear brake overheated due to sticking on. There's another thread about this - next thing to try is new pads. I suppose I should have changed them at the time I did the calipers, but I didn't think of that at the time!
Andrew
