Tell me its not only me !!!

Ok, so have a weeks holiday and decide to do a few things to the old girl..(not the wife)…change the thermo switch, change the stat, new top mounts, inserts etc and do the gear linkage bushes etc.

So first thing that happens bolt shears in the water pump…decide to buy a new warter pump, wait for that to arrive and come back to it later.. make a start on the top mounts..takes me nearly a day to get the the mounts off and the inserts out, nothing would shift the nut at the top and then nothing would shift the insert, eventually get them out only to discover that one of the springs has broken…order new spring…ok back to the water pump..remove old pump…go to remove the alternator..guess another bolt shears !!!…lots of cursing…go to remove the pivot bolt only to find its spline and rounded off and will not move…eventually get the alternator moved up enough to get access to the water pump bolts…loosen these off praying nothing else breaks..only to find i cannot get the damn hoses off the water pump..they have some stupid damn clip that i cannot get off…

So started Tuesday now Thursday evening, have one side with  new top mounts etc..water pump still attached to engine by the damn hoses..one sheared bolt in the top of the alternator and not even begun on the gear linkage..

Back to work next week and need the car to get me there…need my luck to change.

Its not just you mate. Its just the joys of tinkering with old vehicles!  

It's all worth it when everything is fixed and back together agin though.

Except you know in the back of your mind that you encountered several other things to look at at some point in the future whilst fixing the last lot of things and the joy starts all over again!  

Get some water pump pliers for the hose clips, or mole grips.

happens to me all the time  8O

Those clips are a bit of a pain. funk-star is right though, they come off pretty OK with mole grips. Hope all goes OK with the car though, sometimes when everything goes wrong you do think why, what's the point. But you realise in the summer when your out enjoying the weather in your mk1!  :wink:

ok all bits done (apart from broken bolt in alternator) anyway take it out for a liottle drive and it is making a really bad knocking noise from the drivers side, there was a slight noise before which i figured was the Cv joint.  could i have made this worse or does anyone have any other ideas ?

funk-star said

Get some water pump pliers for the hose clips, or mole grips.

was just goingt o say the very same

I always use water pump pliers for undoig those water pipe hose clips

dont loose faith tho mate.. You'll get there

got the clips off eventually, now replaced with nice jubilee clips.  only thing now is ruddy knocking !!

could be your water pump bearings causing impeller to knock on pump housing. :dontknow:

planning on a bit of a quick blast today before it got dark

took the cover off and there is petrol everywhere

after tightening all the jubilees near the fuel pump its still peeing out everywhere

probably at least another week before I get to go for that drive  

broke down today on the middle of roundabout while on the way to get tracking done, looks like fuel pump now,  depression increases.

it's not funny now, but it will be in 6 months,

Ah Mk1 motoring at its finest....