Real MOT Tomorrow

We've decided to drive the car back home so some more money has been spent to repair certain things and a MOT booked in for tomorrow morning. Pretty much everything that was found faulty in Aprils MOT has been rectified, some not so. So it's hit & miss if it will pass first go.
I had already put new brake pads on the front last Tuesday, this morning I did the rears which kind of went ok -ish.
Found that the end pipe before the axle bend in the exhaust looks a bit dodgy so wasn't tempted to push a screwdriver in to it.

Old rear pads: (remember car has stood for a while so discs are a bit rusty)


Also paid a visit to the local Halfords today, went in for one thing came out without it and bought two other things instead.
An emergency light bulb kit which is needed to be carried in the car when traveling on mainland Europe and a 4 way power thing from the lighter socket.
Its 4 way and switched plus it has blue LEDs! Bargain at a fiver.


Last Tuesday the official event car stickers turned up, it was one of those odd sunny/raining days so couldn't really apply them. Plus family stuff and doing the front brake it was about midnight before I got the first set on.
First applied was on the bonnet, along with one of Graeme's huuuuge Griffin stickers. These went on easy even though it was around midnight and outside under the light of one of those inspection lamps Lidl have recently been selling.

Next day in the daylight put a few more on, the door stickers were a sod to do and hence why they are so creased. The rest were mostly sponsor stickers from companies that have donated to the Noah's Ark Appeal or have helped us out in some way with equipment or bits.



Oh yeah, repainted the inner grill "antique white" and replaced the broken N/S headlight unit as the glass lens had shattered for some unknown reason.

What is more important?

MOT or stickers. Either way both are stressful.

Cheq's on Telly!

Watch Cheq on Channel 4's Scrapheap Challenge ;)

Re fitted what there is of the interior...

The rest of TEAM-PIPE will be glad to know I've dragged the car out from behind the fence of the back garden and started work on it again.
Re fitted what there is of the interior (still can't get the mud off it) that didn't get taken to the skip earlier on in the year.



Knee pad fitted and larger centre cubby hole created


Also added a bit of colour to the dull interior

Panic!

Beginning to have a mild panic develop now over all this. Lack of time and funds to sort the car out is the main issue. At the MOT a few months back it failed on a few brake issues which should be easily solved with some new pads all round and maybe a bleed of the system and some fresh fluid.
The other failure was on the O/S track rod arm, too much play. Never had that one before on a car so a little bit foxed by it. The MOT chap told me to take the gaiter off and check to see if there was a washer on the inner side, peen it over and that should fix it.
I'm thinking the fact there was very little PAS fluid in there didn't help either.

I'm slowly putting bits of the interior back in after stripping it all out. It won't be a complete interior but comfortable enough. I also have to wire in a head unit and some speakers of some sort. Oh and get the car out of the back garden (by removing the 6ft fence that is in the way) before I can work on the MOT stuff.

We have also decided not to bring the car back, it's either going to a "recycling" place in Helsinki or a chap from the Finnish Saab Club forums will hopefully be taking the car off us so it will live on in one piece.
We've also decided to drive up to Copenhagen, so we're doing the Dover to Dunkirk ferry to keep costs down.

Vacancy - Driver/Adventurer Required

Due to a team members work commitments we now have a space available within TEAM-PIPE.

Driver and all round good sport required to complete a team of four to compete in StreetSafari's Valhalla Run event this August.

You will need to have a good sense of humour and be a team player.
Valid passport and Driver licence essential.

Able to get time off from work between 17th (sign in night) - 22nd August. Add a few days either side of those dates for travelling time to and from the event start/finish. The Run is scheduled for August 18 to August 22, 2008.


Entrance fee has already been paid. You will just need to chip in with rest of the adventures costs.


See http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30596

Elkparts spreads the word

Well thanks to Elkparts the whole world knows about our planned exploits.

John and Julian kindly used their weekly email to publicise our trip in a bid to get the donations flooding in. Eschewing the usual update of new products available, the mail no doubt took a few readers by surprise - not least TeamPipe. It might not have been what their loyal consumers were expecting but some were obviously interested as within 24 hours we received money from as far as France and America.

Elkparts has been around as long as i have been into Saabs and is run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. The website caters for nearly all parts and models of Saab cars and often has discounted or clearance sections as well as lifestyle accessories and clothing.

You'll often see John at Saab meets up and down the country and the organisation isn't shy at sponsoring deserving events. Check out their site here for more information and to order the latest parts for your Saab - whatever the model.

On behalf of TeamPipe, i'd like to say thanks very much.

Noah's Ark Appeal Stickers

10" (I think) diameter stickers for the car kindly donated by Sharon of www.motormugs.co.uk

Spent today replacing the front shocks on the car for some good used ones (see previous post) as the car is booked in for it's MOT tomorrow morning.

Nottingham Saab's very generous donation

The team are pleased to announce that Nottingham Saab have made a very healthy donation to our cause. Their money is a huge boost for the team at this early stage and is hopefully a sign of things to come as the cash floods in.

The outfit have provided much needed expertise and often good old fashioned elbow grease to keep Graemes c900T16s on the road over the last few years. Always there to badger on the phone with questions there will no doubt be some more about the Valhalla run car as the departure date looms closer.

Anyway - on behalf of the team: Thank you very much Wes and Karl.

Nottingham Saab was established in Summer 2004, by Weston Moore AMIMI, a Saab Master Technician and between him and able assistant Karl they have over 30 years of experience. They offer a variety of services from servicing to tuning and bespoke fabrication. Nottingham Saab are an official Nordic Tuning centre and can offer their full range of products.

Check out the Nottingham Saab website for more details or call them on 0115 9309393 for more information.

Live Web Tracking

Delighted to announce that 3ARC have agreed to sponsor us a Tiny Tracker tracking device for the duration of our trip. So come August you will be able to track our progress on the event via the web in real time.
Two teams currently using 3ARC devices are on the StreetSafari Calais to Casablanca challenge.
www.3arc.com/craggyislanders
www.3arc.com/the2turners

Also while I'm at it many thanks to Dan & the rest at Paradise Club Classic Saabs for the front shocks.