What has been keeping me quiet ?

[Bonzo]

Been quite a stranger to the forum recently .... What's that I hear you say " Bleeding good job too "

So what has been keeping me quiet ?

Well apart from the usual health related issues & the bad frame of mind that comes with it. ( Nuf said about that )

I have been doing a few jobs about the house as & when I can, slow going but with Juniors help we have made a little progress.

Have been waiting for a dry settled spell so as the new roof can go on the workshop ... Not looking like that is going to happen any time soon !!

Whilst waiting we set about the rough embankment at the side of our back garden, more or less a bit of a wildeness, nothing more than Mine waste, rocks, nettles & brambles.
Here's how it's looking today.



Cleared the weeds, excavated most of the rough bank to ground level , used the rocks that were put to one side to build a small wall, piled all of the excess spoil on the remainder of the bank & grassed it out.

Have probably gained about 5-6ft of width to our back lawn ( I use the term lawn, loosely )

Will plant some shrubs on the bank later in the autumn, just chucked some grass seed on it for the time being.

Wifey well happy with the result.

Downside, it took me over 4 weeks to do such a small job !

Just waiting for the rain to stop so as the new roof can go on the workshop, when are we going to have a dry month ?

More to follow

[Davey]

Good to see you're still about Ronnie, I had wondered how you were getting on. Nice job on the garden, it doesn't matter how long it took you got there in the end and it looks good. Mrs being happy is a bonus.

D.

[vmax1974]

Welcome back ronne doesn't look like it was too small a job to me would have took me years to do that one good to see the wife happy and you able to get on and do a few things weather should clear up soon..... Well I hope so been trying to get time and weather together myself

[flyerncle]

Good to hear from you Ronnie, ongoing niggles are a PITA.

[robo]

Hide the thread ronnie or tt will kick off about the bloody fish pond again

Bob

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by robo

Hide the thread ronnie or tt will kick off about the bloody fish pond again

Bob

Time for a little confession Bob !

Most of the rocks I dug out of the bank came from a fish pond that I built a good few years back.
Didn't realise back then that fish ponds & overhanging Sycamore trees are not good bed fellows.

Hmmmm, that reminds me, I have recently rekindled my interest in ornithology .
Must post up a few photos sometime.

[robo]

Originally Posted by Bonzo

Hmmmm, that reminds me, I have recently rekindled my interest in ornithology .
Must post up a few photos sometime.

Surely Ronnie that would go on twitter Dont mention the pond.



Bob

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by robo

Surely Ronnie that would go on twitter

Bob

I'll have to find out how to start Tweeting.

This thread is making me feel kinda " Chirpy "

[ayjay]

Anyone want some FREE pond fish

(They keep multiplying)

[Bonzo]

Firstly, thanks for the kind words & smiles chaps.

Part 2 is back to a car related theme ( Sod all to do with the Roadster build though )

Some of you may of read that I have a growing collection of Ford Sierras.

Junior has a Sierra as a daily driver & being as they are beginning to get scarce, I thought it would be a good idea to find a spare car as a source of spares.
Spotted a fairly local one on ebay & ended up buying that.
Sierra Sapphire Ghia, 2 litre DOHC, auto gearbox ( Probably why it did not sell for more )
Short Tax & long MOT.
I drove it for a few weeks & all is well.
Going to be a great source of parts, if I can bring myself to break it.

Now to the point.
Junior is bored with the shocking fuel economy of running the Pinto engine, with the current price of petrol, can't say I blame him.

The plan was to rip the DOHC engine from the Ghia auto & fit that into Juniors car.
We started to hunt for a MT75 manual gearbox & flywheel, been looking for quite a few months, nothing but expensive ebay offerings.

A few weeks ago my eldest told me of a Sierra that had been sitting in a field for the last umpteen years.
Tracked down the owner, done the deal & bought this pile of scrap parts home using my trusty old A Frame & Jeep.



Was assured it was in good running order when parked up & to cut a long story short, once I got it home it did not take too long to get it up and running.
Now starts on the button, drives fine & sounds quite sweet for an elderly DOHC engine.

Bit of a result, that engine & box can go in Juniors car, I can now leave the Sapphire Ghia intact for the time being.

I'll give you all an update of my build progress later.