Banana's 2nd mini tour..................

[FLYING BANANA]

...........................of the UK 2017 starts tomorrow. We are off again to the West Country, staying with Matt & Shirley again. Hoping to meet up with Allen & Val for food/coffee/cider. I'm collecting a few bits from Darren, which Matt is going to fit for me. And a bit of sightseeing as well to be done.

I'll keep the diary going, as it seems we have quite a following now.

So should you get to see us, see picture attached in case you are not sure what you are looking for, don't forget to wave, toot or flash those restored headlights.

Mileage 183,620

[keithst24]

Have fun mate, hope the weather stays good for you.........get some more of your cracking photos taken

[FLYING BANANA]

.................................., well almost, Devon. The only hold up on the 240 mile trip was the car park aka the M25. Oh! And Banana blew yet another indicator bulb. Good job I bought a supply.

Two stops were needed on this trip down but other than the occasional idiot driver no incidents to report. Still seeing people on the phone including lorry drivers. And nice to see the Kojaks with there Kodaks out in force.

And another first for me was all the way there and I never used my Satnav, iPad version. That stayed in the boot.
Soon sitting in Matt and Shirley's front room drinking tea, and chatting.

Shirley was off to her club so that meant Matt and I were having to fend for ourselves food wise. So we collected our tea and it was off to the Coffee and Car meet at the New Passage inn. Where Matt and I sat in the sunshine and ate our sausage and chips. Think the rest of the crowd were a bit surprised as Banana swept into the car park.

Managed to get ole Yella in the sun for a few pictures and one other chap put his Typhoon ZR up alongside for some Monogram pictures. Then inside for a drink, soda and lime for me as I was driving, and a chat.

Then time to depart, been a long day for me, we said our goodbye's after I showed off Banana's LED boot and under bonnet lights.
Now back at the house slurping some tea, yes tea, before turning in.
Busy day tomorrow as Matt has a donor car that Banana is going to inherit a few bits.

Picture of Banana by the river topping up her Yellowness.

[FLYING BANANA]

....................................for Banana, she is 13 years old today. Matt was going to fit the 'new' carpet panels in Banana's boot. Opened the boot and took the plastic liner out, oh! it was wet on the underside, and the boot carpet was saturated. Oh! Poo. Well, Matt investigated and found the rear lights were loose. Then Matt sorted out the side trims and made them water tight as well.

Meanwhile I cleaned out the swimming pool and got everything dried, as best as I could. Matt the took out the CD autochanger bracket, the autochanger was removed last year. Then Matt secured the reversing sensor to a new mounting, tightened up the rear lights and re-attached the side trim.

We then cleaned up the 'new' carpet sides, these were now ready to be put back. Matt then took out rear floor/carpet from a donor car and I got it cleaned up. With all new clips were installed in the carpet sides, 'new' floor with the carpet in place and Banana was done. A quick spray of Vanilla car freshener and all was done.

Next job was to find out why the front indicator had stopped working. Then it would work. Anyway Matt found that the connector was loose. We now having that working.

""""So Happy 13th Birthday Banana""""

We have stopped for lunch and then my 'learning' will continue as I'm going to assist Matt in stripping a ZT.
We are out to dinner tonight with some friends from the MG-Rover Coffee and Car Club. And on Friday we are meeting up with Mr & Mrs Ratty, Allen and Val.

[FLYING BANANA]

...............................how easy it was to drop the rear axle assembly on a ZT providing you have a rattle gun.

After lunch we was back out in the sun, it was so hot Matt had to put sun cream on his head to stop getting burnt. First job was to drop the rear axle on the dead ZT. I was quite impressed on how Matt achieved this job, which he normally does on his own, but today he had help in the shape of Me.

Well, all I really did was hand him the sockets that were required. Once the assembly was dropped onto the trolley jack and moved to the storage shelf. Next job was to drop the fuel tank. We should have made sure the tank was empty before carrying on with the task. Matt thought there would not be much in there.

Matt siphoned off 4 gallons. Just the dregs left in the tank. I then left Matt to go and have a shower, as we was going out later to the carvery. Shirley had been out all day with the grandchildren and was back now.
Once we was all clean again it was time to head off to the carvery in Exeter, we took "Morris", Matt's ZTT.

"Morris" soon ate up the miles to the Toby carvery, met Tania, Mark and Marshall at the door. Mmmmm!!!!!!!! Food. And very nice it was as well. I even had a pint of Stowford Press. Bill paid and we convoyed back to Tania's flat, which has the most stunning view over the sea at Dawlish. Sat and chatted and drank tea. But the time passed ever so quickly. Matt was shattered so we said our goodbyes and returned back to the house. Early night. Busy day again tomorrow. Got the rest of the ZT to finish off.

I actually enjoy "working" on my trips away. I've missed working on cars, taking them apart. Understanding how 'our' cars are put together. Seeing where MG-Rover cut corners to save money.

So what with Allen showing me how to cut down trees, using a orbital sander on the hull of a boat, moving a small boat 12 miles under it's own power on the water, and now Matt showing me the how to's on our cars. I just cannot wait to retire.

[Rooney]

So lovely to read how much you're enjoying life Bob.

Flying Banana really did save your life

Have a cracking time buddy

[stevenicks]

Cracking write up Bob, I really do enjoy reading about you exploits and adventures. Keep them coming .

[Astraeus]

Lovely place Dawlish. Visited it when I was 16 (erm....a few years ago) on a day return from Dundee that was free with a student railcard! Yes, it was possible starting and ending return journey on same day. Via London and an overnight train. My mates and I were into our trains and it seemed like a good idea.
Great, innocent fun.

We also had fabulous weather and a blether with some very attractive females on the Beach!

Enjoy your break Bob. Weather makes such a difference

Chris

[FLYING BANANA]

...............................some tools. Been a long, long time since I used sockets. Last time the sizes were Whitworth or AF. And you only need a hammer, crowbar, flat blade screwdriver and a pair of pliers to get the engine out.

I cannot believe how many plastic clips were used in the interiors of our cars. Anyway Banana has some more bits for me to fit from the donor car.
About 18months ago I ordered a fancy set of mats for ole Yella, the ones with MG ZT embrodiared on. Well the driver's side has worn through. So in the swimming pool was the original set of mats that I bought from Halfords. Got them dried out and re-fitted them this morning. Then Matt gave me those out of the donor car, and then a friend of Matt's dropped a set of original MG mats, just need a good clean.

With me assisting passing tools to Matt whilst he continued stripping the car, I had a couple of jobs to do like taking the door locks off and removing loads of plastic clips. Shirley kept us supplied with endless cups of tea and cold drinks.
One of the jobs that Matt was doing was to strip out the entire loom. It has all the wiring in place for all the toys. Again I was collecting parts and moving them into the various boxes. Shirley then called us into lunch. Home made butter squash soup and ham rolls. Mmmmm!!!!!!!!

One refuelled we was out in the hot sunshine to continue. The loom was soon completely stripped out, no cutting of cables, all the plugs still in place. Next job was to prepare for engine and front subframe removal. Believe or not I was really enjoying myself. A couple of Matt's friends popped in to chat but we just carried on stripping the car. Clutch master cylinder, centre console, steering wheel, airbags, dash board brace bar were all removed. Some parts kept and some to be scrapped. As Matt said you can only keep so much.

Trolley jacks in place and the sub frame unbolted plus the engine mounts loosened off. With careful planning the complete front assembly was removed. Shirley came out with two glasses of chilled soft drink. More of Matt's friends dropped bye to say hi! Either that of they wanted to look at The Yellow One. Engine dropped. Time to clear away the tools and the spares. Some parts that were not needed was loaded back into the scrap car.

Dinner time, mmm!!!! Spicy chicken and pasta. Tasty.
Matt and I are off to skittles tonight whilst Shirley has a evening in watching the telly.
I've caught the sun, got a bit of a tan.
Another busy day tomorrow just finishing the car off, then the carcass can be removed. Then we are off to meet Allen and Val for lunch.

And have I been taking photo's, well yes I have. Taken pictures of the stripping, car that is, not of Matt. Just for reference for the future in case I need to pass on any valuable info for other members.

[FLYING BANANA]

...........................working again on Saturday. I'll be bringing 2 front wings back with me for a forum member who lives in Leicester, but has a relative living in Barnet North London. So we can arrange a meet up point for me to drop off the parts.

Watched Matt's skittle team last night, they needed to beat this team to stay in the league, only just beat them by a mere 4 points. And I slurped a couple of ciders. A cracking evening with cracking people.

Easy day, well the morning anyway. Really looking forward to seeing Allen & Val lunchtime.