The Transformation....

 Mark
30 Jul 2008

It's been a slow job getting this far with one or two little problems - a crank bolt that we couldn't remove and an oil filter that we ended up taking off bit by bit - but our little Trooper is looking rather super now compared with when she was rescued. Thanks to Mark Thorpe for helping solve the electrical problems that prevented her starting and to Geri for pointing out that the odd switch we found 'might just be an immobiliser...' after Mark and I were convinced all the electrics were sorted and tested and still perplexed over her failure to start. Thanks also to Haynes for providing a wiring diagram that seems to be for a different car.... Just need to finish working on the front brakes now....

Reader Contributed Comments

04 Aug 2008 | Geri (gschuch att orange dott net)

And who would have thought a 'girl' would know anything about cars, let alone an immobiliser! The Super Trouper is surely living up to her name! Onward to Africa!

She's a smoker....

 Shaun
20 Jul 2008, Somewhere in England

Free at last, Mark has pampered and tinkered with our Geisha Girl over the last couple of weeks...and what a response! She twinkles and flashes in all the right places, scrubs up well and when we turned her over she belched into life (quite un-ladylike I hasten to add) in a magnificent puff of blueish white smoke. Next time we turn her on we need to make sure she exhales blue...that's oil in her combustion chamber. White is bad...head gasket land and a complete overhaul from the inside out. Her gears work smoothly, front and back, as does the clutch and with a change of footwear (brakes) we will whisk her off to the dance. A quick check of her undercarriage by a specialist and then downtown for the dodgy MOT........our Japanese girl is shaping up in all respects. By the way found £1 and sixpence under the seats so that makes this donated car a money maker! Bargain!

Reader Contributed Comments

20 Jul 2008 | Geri (gschuch att orange dott net)

Well done lads! Wot a triumph getting the ol' gal going. You obviously have the magic touch. Let's hope the rest - brakes etc - are as easy to fix. But wot's happened to her wheels?

21 Jul 2008 | mark thorpe (markpthorpe att yahoo dott com)

Any of your neighbours from Liverpool? ;-) Well done on getting the beasty going. Glad the axle stands have proved useful . . .

Out of the Woods...?

Sean
8 Jul 2008, Somewhere in England

So it goes something like this. A very nice bloke gave us his car that had not been used for three years. Instead it had been incarcerated in a wooded clearing, cheek by jowl with the weeds, the snails and the rampant Japanese knot weed that dominated the place. She was Japanese, 21 years old and neglected. The valiant application of a petrol strimmer soon cleared the vegetative prison, and the arrival of the retinue with Andy's Disco (no bright lights) and the faithful trailer paved the way for her liberation......to be continued.

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Reader Contributed Comments

09 Jul 2008 | Geri (gschuch att orange dott net)

A good thing you got her out yesterday before the mud bath arrived! And I'm sure you two handsome gents will have no difficulty in turning on a Japanese 21 year old!!

12 Jul 2008 | Rob Palmer (palmerr att bscampus dott net)

What can I say, it looks brand new, I think its a plant?????good luck, look out fore the camels.

19 Jul 2008 | Mike (madmike att globalnet dott co dott uk)

Hmmm - Mark doing something that involves car maintenance! this must be a new departure for you as I seem to recall your previous modus operandi was to ignore the expensive requirement for servicing and run the car until it blows up - an Audi springs to mind which I seem to recall was taken away by the police and crushed!

The Fun Begins..

Mark
1 Jul 2008 

Well, we have now found a car courtesy of the 'Recycle' web site. Many, many thanks Tim Moxham. It's a 1987 Isuzu Trooper. That's the good news. So what's the bad news? Well, for a start it's been sitting in a field for nearly 3 years and gone nowhere. We now have to get it running, get it MOTd, get it taxed and get it to Timbuktu....... 

Reader Contributed Comments

01 Jul 2008 | Geri (gschuch att orange dott net)

And what the photo doesn't show is all the flies and midges that had made the vehicle their loving home! (and I've got the bites to prove it!) What a great start to a great adventure!

02 Jul 2008 | Sarah (sarah dott crowder att feroxcapital dott com)

Completely bonkers - but that's why we all luuuurv you! Good luck