first day back
 After a couple of weeks off, I knew it was going to be a struggle when the alarm went off this morning. Made it for 8.30 though. Needed doemthing to kick start me. Thankfully there`s a good cafe 10 yards away from my workshop, so filled myself with one of there excellent full breakfasts. Fuel for the day. It turned out to be a day for the landlords cars. He`d got a few backed up. He`d sent a couple elswhere but he said he was glad I was back as at least he knew they`d get done properly. Nice to be appreciated :)
Anyway he first deposited a Vauxhall Corsa that was sold. He gives cars to me to give them the once over and report to him with a list of what`s wrong with them. There was actually little wrong with this one apart from the rear brakes wanted adjusting up as the handbrake lever went all the way to the top. There was a smile on his face when he found out it wasn`t going to cost him anything apart from a couple of hours labour. After that was a Renault Negane that had failed M.O.T on a couple of items. One new bulb, a rear silencer and repaired the wires to the washer pump and the car was sat on his forecourt with a full M.O.T which brought another smile to his face. Looks like my rents sorted for this week then. I was then gifted a Rover that he`d sent to another guy that had a blown head gasket (nothing new there then for a Rover). The guy had changed the gasket, but it was still overheating. He ended up putting another engine in it as it was found to have a cracked liner. It still overheated. The guy had this car for over a week and it was still overheating. Landlord (Rick) asked me to have a look at it see if I could find anything. Checked it obver, found it the engine had been fitted O.K and all the pipes were clear. The thermostat was working and the electric fan was cutting in when it should. Hmm, I thought to myself, surely he`s checked the radiator. Felt the radiator and sure enough it wasn`t getting warm in the center. Fitted a 2nd hand one (Rick`s a cheapskate:)) problem solved. I don`t know, bloody amatuers. The radiator was probably the cause of all the problems from the start. The day then ended up with Rick bringing me a SSangYong Musso???? Strange vehicle, bit of a Heinz 57 variety. Can honestly say this motor has seen better days. Electric mirrors didn`t work which after further investigation was found that the mirror glasses had been glued in place to bits of wood as the insides of the mirrors has been taken out!! All the brakes were seized up solid and the pads down to the metal. The exhaust blows, The clutch is noisy and the front propshaft is almost in 2. Add to that a couple of illegal tyres and this ones going to cost him. I took all the wheels off, ordered some new pads, which will be here first thing, then thought sod this I`ve done enough today. Washed up, locked up and came home. At least I know what I`m doing tommorrow. Should be a nice earner actually.

First musings

Welcome to the trials and tribulations of an overworked, underpaid mechanic. I`ve been off work for a couple of weeks and am starting back tommorrow so I thought I`d start up this blog where I can share my day to day experiences of repairing (or not in some cases ;)) the motor cars of the general public and car traders that visit my humble garage.

I rent a small workshop from a car dealer near where I live. Well, I say rent, but really I don`t actually pay any rent to him, but I give priority to his cars at "special" rates and he doesn`t take anything off me for the workshop or equipment. It works rather well and saves us both money in the long run. It`s a small workshop that can only fit one vehicle in at at a time, but it`s well equiped with a good ramp, hard tiled floor, plenty of light, bench, welder etc. It`s also warm and dry in the winter, which is great, and a good suntrap in the summer which is even better :)

Where this is going or what may come, I can`t really say. I intend to write about what I`ve been working on,  what I`ve done to it, record any short cuts, hints tips, reapair methods etc,  upload pictures of the strange and unusual that I come across (all the time) and I`ll probably end up sharing a few rants about general life in here too. So, it`s an early night for me, get myself ship shaped and Bristol fashioned for the morning and see what it brings me apart from heartache and grief