Hirstのブログ一覧

Currently it's a Bank Holiday weekend. We have a few of these each year, usually on a Monday. If you work in an office job, usually you'll have the day off. I work in finance, so my office is closed. They call this a three day weekend, a lot of people use this time to take short trips away (or drink beer).

I'm not going anywhere, but I have to write an article about some Daihatsu cars, so I'm looking at my brochures. These aren't all of them. I'm writing about the Charade G10 and G11/G30, Mira L55 and L70, Charmant A35/55/60. I'm lucky to have a lot of experience with Daihatsu cars, so it's easy for me. The article is for the Japanese car magazine I posted about before. The first issue was successful, so they're publishing it every 3 months, I get to write a few articles!

I've finished writing for today, I'll be visiting a friend soon so we can eat Indian curry at his house. Where I live, you can buy it cold from the restaurant and heat it up at your house later. The meat is already cooked, you just need to warm it up. It's an unusual system, I only know two towns with places like this! It's very convenient though. I've got the curry already, Chicken Spinach.



I also fitted a Kenwood cassette player to the Prelude. When I took it to the beach last year, it didn't have any radio at all. I had to listen to music from my phone...



Anyway, my friend just called me, so I'm going to eat my curry...

I got a new car radio. Actually, I got two of the same. Some guy was selling them from a message board and I thought they looked interesting!

Yoko CTV-2000. It says "Made in Japan" on the box, but there's no year. I think Yoko Electronics were a brand name only, they didn't make anything. There were a lot of companies in the 1980s and 1990s who would import generic electrical products and put their own brand name on it. Usually you can tell because the instruction manual has no brand name on it. These products were usually from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong. I'll be surprised if this was made in Japan, but I don't know.

Anyway, the display on the left is actually a TV screen. It's similar to the old pocket TVs, the type you would run on AA batteries. Unfortunately it can't pick up TV signals now, it's the old Analog system. But it has a port for a VCR!

Both of them are new, but I don't know if they work. If I get time, I'll test them and show you.

I saw this car last week, but I was able to get a photo today. Unfortunately, they're only cheap phone camera photos. I still need to get my big Fuji camera repaired.



It's a second generation Toyota Tercel L20. I know these are also known as the Corolla Ⅱ or Corsa, but Europe only used the Tercel name. We had the 3-door and 5-door models, but I haven't seen a 5-door model for many years. The Starlet and Corolla were both more popular than the Tercel, so you're more likely to see them. I haven't met the owner, but I know he likes older Japanese cars. I think he previously had a Civic Shuttle.



It's the "GL" grade with the 1.3L 2A engine, about 75ps. Though they're FF, the engine is mounted longitudinally like an FR. The interior grade looked similar to my BF3P 323-Familia 3-door, with manual windows and no sunroof. It's in good condition, the red paint looks faded in my photos, but it's just my cheap phone camera.



We also used the Tercel name for the Sprinter Carib 4WD. I still see these sometimes, people keep them as tough 4WD cars. My friend's father had one a long time ago.



Anyway, my BF5P 323-Familia also passed MOT inspection (車検) today. It needed a new front wheel bearing and new rear brake shoes, but nothing else. I'm quite happy with that. 1980s Japanese cars are so reliable and tough! Even though I drive it almost every day, I can rely on it.

I haven't done a Blog for a while. The memory stick slot has broken on my main digital camera and I don't like taking photos with my phone. I need to get that fixed soon! The weather has also been very cold and wet here, so I haven't spent much time working on cars.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I took the BF5P to the north of the country to see a friend for a few days. It's the first long journey I've used this car for, about 160km one-way. I changed the oil and filters before I left. It usually takes about 1 hour 45m to get there, but there was severe rain storms and some road construction on the way, so it took about 2 hour 30m. The rain was so heavy you couldn't see the tail lights of cars, only the water behind them. In situations like this, you have to remember that your car only has narrow 155/80/13 tyres!

If you want to see the route, this may work (the roads are very boring): https://goo.gl/maps/iMYM6vTgHYr



This photo is from a service station near his house. There were no problems with the car, it was a good journey. I was worried it may be noisy, because I would be driving at motorway speeds for most of the journey (70mph - 112km/h) in a car with only 3AT gearbox. Actually, it was nice and quiet. I enjoyed it!

The only problem is that I leaked a small bit of oil (about 0.3L). The Rocker Gasket was replaced by my friend before I got the car, but there's still a leak. The O-rings around the Rocker Gasket bolts look old and damaged, so I think that's the problem.



If I replace the O-rings and tighten the bolts again, I think it should be OK. I'll order these soon.



Anyway, at my friend's house we played "Big Tournament Golf" on his Neo-Geo. That's me, I beat him. 8 under par.



I also got these "Dunlop SP Streetresponse 2" for the BF5P yesterday. I'll probably need to wait until Saturday to have them fitted.

Now just I'm waiting for the weather to improve, it's very cold and wet.

I got a new garage! It's almost as exciting as a new car. It's very difficult to find garages for car storage in my area, so I feel quite lucky. I went over in the BF5P to take a look.



Actually, it's quite an old garage. I think it was built in the 1960s or 1970s. It looks like it hasn't been used for a long time, the old wooden doors were stuck together and it took a while to open. I wonder what type of car the previous owner kept in here.



I saw a sticker for the Honda Super Cub. It's a big garage to store only a bike. The owner probably had both a car and a bike, or maybe he wanted to store some other things. A lot of people use these garages for storing old furniture or similar things to that.



Of course, it's a real British garage.



The main residents are spiders and snails. They'll need to leave soon.



The size is quite good. One of the other garages was storing a new BMW 3-series, so it should be big enough for my cars. I think even my Laurel would fit quite easily.

Anyway, I need to clean it and do a few repairs, so I have some work to do. I'll probably paint the floor and walls in the summer and fit some battery-powered lights. There's some plants growing on the side, so I'll have to cut these down or it may damage the bricks.



I found these in the grass nearby. If the police want them, I'll give them back. If not, I think I'll keep them as decoration.