Final Preparations

This weekend was my final chance to do the last few maintenance and preparatory jobs on the Morris before we set off.

Did all the basic stuff you would expect, checked tyre pressure, topped up oil, greased nipples(on the car), filled wiper washer, checked tread on spare etc.

I had also been toying with the idea of flushing out the radiator to ensure we reduce the risk of overheating but was uncertain whether I should risk fiddling with something that appeared to be working OK.

In the end I decided to do it.

What a mess- I drained out the radiator (all over the tarmac in front of the house) and pretty much dyed everything including the engine bay a rusty orange colour.

Then I flushed it out with a hose until the water coming out was almost clean, closed it up and put in the flushing liquid I had bought from Halfords.

20 minutes later (and yet again missing the bucket I meant to drain it into) the most foul orangy black slop was removed from the radiator.

Topped it all back up and hopefully it will work that much better if we get stuck in holiday traffic around Cornwall.

With that job complete it was time to pack everything into the boot. This included spares, foot pump, tyre weld, oil, water, spare fuel, fuel additive, tools, duck tape (which will fix anything) hazard triangle, torch, high vis jacket, overalls etc etc. in fact the only essential that we didn't pack was the strong drink we will need after each day of driving. As you can see from the pictures there will not be a whole lot of space for luggage in the boot so we will have to travel light.

Then I used rainex water repellent on the windscreen- the wipers on the car are pretty slow (only one speed) and I have read that if the windscreen is treated properly you can drive OK even if your wipers fail- we will see!

Finally I checked all the electrics (lights, indicators, wipers etc. It was at this point I discovered that one indicator wasn't working and my headlights had failed. PANIC!!!!.

However I think this must have been a dodgy earth as with a bit of fiddling it all came back- possibly the 10 gallons of orangy gunk that splashed around the engine bay had messed up the contact.

Then it was one final test of writing the blog wirelessly (which will have been successful if you are reading this) and we are pretty much ready to go bar fuelling up and packing our bags.

In a weeks time I hope to be writing this from my hotel in John O'Groats- fingers crossed!