BiTurbo's Field Trip to Wales: T-minus 1 day

"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228) 08/10/2018 at 20:25 • Filed to: europpomeet, oppomeet, BiTurbo's Field Trip, Fix It Again Tony

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So, we left our action on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with an ominous puddle underneath the Citroen, and a plan to sort it devised over a night’s drinking.

Props to Klaus Schmoll, the Stortebeker’s a cracking beer

Our cunning plan? Shall we see how much fluid it leaks in a day?

So, off we head into the Welsh countryside!

Photo courtesy of Duurtlang. Didn’t manage to take many pictures myself. You’ll see why...

Wales truly is a stunning place, with some truly spectacular roads. Narrow and technical, but in a lot of places with good open sightlines off into the distance so barring rogue sheep you’re pretty free to enjoy them as far as your bravery will take you.

Now, our plan with the Citroen wasn’t as harebrained as it initially seems. Some clever bods at Citroen built in some safety features into the hydraulic system in the event of leaks. By taking feeds from different points in the reservoir, in the event of a leak the power steering goes first. Then the suspension drops. Then, preserved til last, is the braking system. We’d already worked out it wasn’t a brake leak as that’d be jetting the stuff out almost as fast as it could pump it. Not bad for a bunch of drunkards ;)

...didn’t expect Duurtlang to be catching 4-wheel air mind you. Crazy Dutchman ;)

But wait...

What’s that tiny red speck in the distance?

Can you zoom in on that?

Closer...

The engine’s in the other end mate...

Oh look, it’s an overheating Fiat.

Turns out, my 2am coolant bleeding session wasn’t up to belting around the Brecon Beacons. Who would have guessed?

Still, hell of a scenic place to break down.

Rescued by the tools DrCanard brought in the BRZ. This was to become a bit of a theme...

Unfortunately, as I shut it down it decided to belch the majority of its coolant over said scenic beauty. I had prepared for little top-ups, but nowhere near enough for this.

But luckily, this scenery’s not just for looking at...

Spurred on by the ‘no overnight parking’ sign...

Nature provides!

After a few trips back and forth to the stream, and a lot of effort cleaning up the spilt coolant (seems ungrateful to poison the water source that’s just saved your bacon), we were on our way :)

Is it me or does this look like one of those stock photos where someone’s holding a completely inappropriate tool?.

Our destination after all this, Halfords in Aberystwyth (spelt from memory, lets see if it’s right...), where we could pick up some LHM for the Citroen and meet up with the rest of the gang. Only, after the delay setting off from Citroen research...and the delay with the coolant...we were now running significantly behind schedule.

Still, we weren’t alone when we arrived...

Yay it’s not just me!

Turns out some of the roads in Wales aren’t exactly kind on low-slung sports cars. Exhausts specifically.

Bit of Halfords’ finest exhaust repair, spot of lunch and the rearguard were back on the way! Again, not many photos. I think we were just happy to be driving :)

The awesome little Cappuccino was one of ours too, but I’m sorry I don’t know your oppo handle!

The pattern-recognition section of my brain appreciates how we’ve managed to arrange the cars by drivetrain layout...

Thankfully the trip back went smoothly, although we’d discovered by now that the BX was going through about 1 litre of LHM a day. At £13 a bottle, we may actually have to fix this.

Later that evening we reunited with the group at a very pretty pub with a very pretty barmaid and hatched a new cunning plan for the Citroen...

Part 3 coming up next :)

Svend > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/10/2018 at 20:49

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Did none of you heathens wash your cars, the Fiat is quite clean but dear god.

A warning next time ay. 

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Svend 08/10/2018 at 21:01

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If you come to the next one we’ll promise to wash them beforehand ;)

Oddly the guy in the 5 cares much more about having clean cars than I do, but Wales was just so muddy most of the time that we’d all given up by day 2 !

Svend > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/10/2018 at 21:12

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Oh no you don’t.

If I come to the next one, I’m cleaning them.

No way I’m letting you have all the fun.

FSI > Svend 08/11/2018 at 02:14

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The scratches and swihrl marks in my A3 would give you a heart attack......

But you’re still very welcome to join the next Europpomeet:)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Svend 08/13/2018 at 07:56

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Svend, you’re crazy but we love you ;)